Perhaps You'd Better Start From The Beginning

When I discover a book series, television show, comic book, and musical act that's new to me but has been around for a while, I like to start from the beginning.

This goes back to when I was a child and loved to read but I wouldn't buy X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman or Superman comic books because their story was already in progress. When Marvel started the New Universe I collected several of the title since I could start at the first issue.

When I hear a song from a band or artist, I check their discography and start from their first album. Thankfully streaming services let me listen to the album in full before I decide to buy. For my birthday and Christmas, I ask for iTunes gift cards to expand my collection. It's frustrating when I hear an awesome song then discover it's on the artist/band second or third album. Even more so when I listen to the first album and don't like any of the songs on it.

Books are forgiving because most of the authors I like rarely do sequels or trilogies. When I was a younger geek and a Dragonlance fan, two bookshelves were dedicated to the world of Krynn.

Movies I'd Bring To My Post Apocalypse Bunker

A "re-imaging" of the classic "Desert Island" scenario.

The Shawshank Redemption

The Big Lebowski

The Evil Dead 2

Army of Darkness

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Fight Club

Buckaroo Banzai

The Princess Bride

This Is Spinal Tap

Monty Python and The Holy Grail

Time Bandits

The Green Mile

Goodfellas

Clerks

Dogma

Pulp Fiction

Wristcutters: A Love Story

Dawn of the Dead - the George Romero version

Night of The Living Dead - the Tom Savini version

WALL-E

A Christmas Story

The Dark Knight

Highlander

The Salton Sea

The Crow

Joe VS The Volcano

Trainspotting

Movies Not For Children

Cable television in the 80’s provided a vast movie library which made me the first imdb app 
long before the internet. Luckily I was able to watch ones that weren’t meant for children 
because if it was rated PG my parents didn’t mind.There were some R-rated ones I could 
watch if they didn’t have female nudity, but the violence was ok.

Here are a few examples and why as a kid I enjoyed them despite them not being science 
fiction, fantasy or action movies. I was born in 1971, the dates next to the movie are their 
theater release followed by my age. According to wikipedia, it takes on average 4 months 
for a film to come to Cable TV.

The Four Seasons (May 22nd, 1981 Rated PG, age 11) It was the beginning when they 
were at the cabin making the big meal that hooked me in. I enjoyed that these couples got
together and did this every season. As first I didn’t understand why the younger woman was 
on the boat because I would flip back and forth when Alan and Lou were gathering wood. 
Much later in life I watched its in entirety and enjoyed it at a new level.

9 to 5 (December 19th, 1980, age 9) Rated PG - The humor was understandable, I loved
the fantasy sequence induced by marijuana. I thought it was funny when the women have 
Hart tied up in the bedroom with the hang glider gear and garage door opener. 
One of my favorite tropes is at the end when they explained where the characters went.

Iceman (April 13th, 1984, age 13) Rated PG - This is one my father, brother and I watched 
together although I can’t remember if we saw it in the theater first. It had a element of 
science fiction since Charlie survived the freezing process to be revived 40,000 years later. 
Even at a young age I understood when Charile was asking Shepard where his kids were
before the other doctor explained it. Of course the best part of the movie
is the musical number.

The Big Red One (July 18th, 1980, age 8) Rated R- Because Luke Skywalker was in it! I 
also liked the scene when they had to dig foxholes and the tanks drove over them. The part 
when the they infiltrated the mental hospital, then fought the nazis while the patients had
no idea what was going on. Despite me not being it’s target audience, this was probably the 
first adult movie I watched from beginning to end.

On Golden Pond (February 12th, 1981, age 9) Rated PG - Part of the reason was Doug 
McKeon’s character was a little older than me, and I liked that he got to drive a boat, and go 
fishing. The other part was Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, I liked that this old couple 
acted young.

Max Dugan Returns (March 25th, 1983, age 11) Rated PG  - Matthew Broderick was cool in 
WarGames. I liked the house they lived in, before and after Max remodels it. Recently 
rewatched it on Netflix and it still holds up.

Amadeus (September 19th, 1984 age 13) Rated R - I couldn’t tell you why I liked this movie. 
Maybe it was scene when Salieri sneaks into the dessert room, all those cakes and cookies 
looked great to me. I thought Tom Hulce’s laugh was funny. The music was amazing, 
I still listen to the soundtrack to this day.

Roxanne (June 19th, 1987 age 15) Rated PG - One of my favorite romantic comedies with
a great actor, Steve Martin. I have never seen an original Cyrano de Bergerac but 
considering how much I love and how many times I’ve seen Roxanne maybe I will.

Blade Runner 2049

Supposedly Blade Runner 2049 didn't live up to it's box office expectations. Has the jaded, video-sated public finally had enough of the soft reboots and remakes that aren't needed.

Has going to the theater become so expensive that's it a lot cheaper to view it on demand, wait till cable/DVD.

Or people are afraid to go the movies in fear of getting shot?

Let Me Pop In This 8 Track

For as long as I can remember I’ve liked soundtracks to movies and television shows. Whether they’re original songs written for the movie or existing ones used to amplify a scene. One of my earliest memories of a soundtrack was finding a cassette of when I was a geekling singing ‘Day By Day’ from Godspell.

The second I can remember is the record album of The Black Hole, not only did it have the score from the movie but dialog from the movie was included.

I’m sure we had Star Wars A New Hope on vinyl as well but it was the disco version we listened to more.

Using my letterboxd account I can put in order of a film’ release date and The Breakfast Club soundtrack may have been the first soundtrack I purchased myself.

As I got older my collection of movie soundtracks grew with it. The bonus to liking a song from a movie would generate an interest in the band that contributed their song. Muse’s ‘Take a Bow’ was in the trailer for ‘Watchmen’ movie is a great example.

Sometimes I’d buy a soundtrack for a song and unfortunately the rest didn’t appeal to me. Berry Gordon’s The Last Dragon was that first, I liked 2 out of the 10 songs.

Now with iTunes I can buy the songs I like from a movie or tv show though a single song can cost more than the whole album.

Forget The Alamo

I went to see ‘American Ultra’ at the Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers last week and while I enjoyed the movie, everything else was a disappointment.

We’ll start with the couple on my left that talked throughout the movie, despite me informing the sole waitress that was taking care of the entire theater.

Because she one woman, in a theater, filled with rude customers, the grilled cheese sammich and fries I ordered was another let down. The first fry I bit into was cold, and the sammich was only a few degrees warmer.

The rest of the audience talked here and there, a man burped loudly twice.

Seems the Alamo has forsaken most of their policies, as people were being seated as the trailers played. I read other recent reviews and it seems that the Yonkers Alamo still has a lot of hits and misses when it comes running this branch of the franchise.

Do I give it another chance or go back to my routine of seeing a movie several weeks after it opened on a Tuesday.

Fun Filled Friday, Slacker Saturday

I didn't regret waking up at 5 A.M. this past Friday, it gave me time to do a load of laundry. One of the benefits of my apartment building is 24/7 laundry. While my clothes dried I made a black bean and sundried tomato omelette to give me energy for my hike later.

I guess it gave me more energy than I needed because as I was folding my laundry, I wanted to check the time and temperature. It was an undeniable urge which made me anxious. I told myself to finish this task and then I could check.

Since it was 10 A.M. and 2 hours before my hike, I decided to get my food shopping done. I timed it well and got home at 11:15, put away the groceries, washed dishes, and then made lunch. 11:40, and out the door for a relaxing hike with Westchester Geeks.

Saturday was a change of pace which started with me sleeping till 8 A.M. followed by another omelette (I made 2 cups of black beans earlier in the week and didn't want them going to waste). I relaxed with my coffee while binge-watching 'Chuck' (which made me think of another blog to do).

After lunch, it was time for 'Aliens' one of the great sequels in my opinion. I remember when I saw it at the theater, back in 1986, how people cheered when Ripley came out with the power loader and told the Alien Queen to get away from Newt. My favorite line actually is 'Somebody wake up Hicks'.

All in all a good 3 day weekend.

Don Jon - Review

I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt wrote and directed a great movie. The trailer was misleading and that is a good thing, I won't say how to avoid any spoilers. The only part I found unbelievable was that he didn't know to clear his computer's browser history.