WIZARDS RULE

Wizards of Waverly Place movie was excellent — they have the best ensemble in tween television. David DeLuise + Maria Canals-Barrera are the best + funniest adults I’ve seen on a tweens show (used to be Robert Carradine + Hallie Todd of Lizzie McGuire) and their writers give them solid stories. David Henrie, Selena Gomez and Jake T. Austin all excel at both comedy and the more serious moments.

The Wizards movie had adventure, comedy, heart, growth, suspense and 11.4 million viewers. See it if you haven’t; it’s a fun ride.

BREAK FOR BREEZES

Took off for a surprise visit to the family + ocean this week so it’ll be awhile before I catch up. Saw Harry Potter #6 w/ the little brother — not as scary as I expected, but some very nice touches. Core Potter (Radcliffe, Watson, Grint, Richman, Smith) crew continues solid…caught Lightning Thief trailer, just a hint but an interesting one. Bandslam’s disappeared from the closest local theatre — stolen while I was out of town — BOO — but I’m going to see if any of the second run theatres grab it — must see again w/ Gayle so we can have a conversation about it…it’s not as much fun going to a unique movie w/ out someone to thrash out the details with after.

Ah, and a beach photo for you:

Ah, and a beach photo for you:

A RANTING RAMBLE

Ok, I’m taking on faith you have those movie stubs to something original — Bandslam, (500) Days of Summer…I’ll let you off the hook if it’s Julie and Julia or District 9, but G.I. Joe, well G.I. Joe is part of the problem — Hollywood’s ADDICTION to remakes.

Tonight I was having a fairly long + involved Twitter conversation w/ @IDOL_HANDS about remakes starting with the news that Todd McFarlane (Mr. I created Spawn and own the world’s most expensive baseball) is planning a remake of The Wizard of Oz with some Ripley/Alien DNA mixed in. And then for a couple of days, the universe has been buzzing (mostly anti — there’s a Twitition against it) about Robert Zemeckis + Disney’s plan to remake The Yellow Submarine. TYS is not my favorite Beatles movie but it is so one of a kind you have to respect it…my favorite Beatles movie is Hard Day’s Night (must buy), one of the best, cleanest + simplest band movies (I’ve mentioned this before).

I think my friends @TheWebFiles sum it up best: “Telegraph of London says “Twitter killing Hollywood movies?” http://bit.ly/5uF1L Solution? Stop making crappy movies.”

I promised FT links…well, Peter Aspden had a column about Twitter but unlike Vanessa Friedman who paid enough attention to know it didn’t suit her, Aspden tweeted 3 times, follows 3 people + thinks that’s education enough to toss off a column about it…oh, and FT editor folks, if someone’s talking about Twitter in an article (this is happening more frequently + I first noticed it w/ The Pet Shop Boys profile), could you include a link to their @ tag. Thank you. @ me at @lonelypond

And another few links — in a non rant fashion — the aforementioned Ms. Friedman on Mad Men and their trousers.

And the aforementioned Mr. Aspden on Brigitte Bardot (he is considerably more informed + interested about Ms. Bardot than Twitter)…this bit made me perk up: ““Bardot is as important an export as Renault automobiles,” observed Simone de Beauvoir in her perceptive 1959 essay “Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome”, a welcome reminder of a time when intellectuals were genuinely fascinated by popular culture.”

Simon Schama’s review of Nicholson Baker’s The Anthologist, which indulges/experiments in verse. I will have to get the library to track me down a copy of the book.

And Harry Eyres finally gets Man on Wire.

Have been transferring CDs to iTunes with plans to make a travel playlist for adventure so I must be getting to doing that. Disappointed to not find the Buffy CD where I expected but the pile included Red, Hot and Blue, Aly and AJ’s Into The Rush, all Depeche Mode The Singles Cds, Pet Shop Boys Very, Carmen McRae, Adam Ant’s Antics in The Forbidden Zone + E.C. Scott’s Come Get Your Love. Mix songs from that with what’s already in my library + it should be interesting. I’ll hit you with a mixtape when I’m done.

Good night!

Note: Warehouse 13 fun; good Eureka so far; no, don’t take the Wizards of Waverly place characters’ powers away in the movie (Gayle claims it’s a tease — Dad will keep his + they’ll continue as wizards in training); enjoying The Middleman DVDs + looking forward to a new season of The Big Bang Theory. Now, read a book and go see Bandslam, darn it.

I did mention rant ; )

MUSIC NOTES

Some music + web magic:

My buddy, @AdamSinger, has posted a free + downloadable mixtape on his blog + is doing an experiment in how far social media can take it. So join in + listen.

Techcrunch article about the places to find music on the web, including my favorite, last.fm, + citysounds, very cool site that gives you the music playing in cities around the world — Chicago, Sao Paulo, Sydney…become an international music jetsetter.

And I had some fun the other night on Jamendo, a site that provides free + legal downloads of music from the artists who created it. I was looking for an alternate solution to me playing Gayle’s keyboard badly for the latest Blink Kitty Love episode, Girlfriend, spent some time searching for tenor sax pieces, they were all a bit too mellow but I did download one called JAZZTOON by JPMOUNIER to experiment with (and listen to).

WEEKEND PLANS (YOURS)

Go see Bandslam and then take a date to (500) Days of Summer…Bandslam (marketing controversy) is not selling a lot of tickets and that’s too bad because it really is very well done, excellently acted and has great soundtrack. Some problems but worth the price of admission. Go. Now.

(500) Days of Summer was just really excellent and more like a great conversation/third date than a movie. Go. Now (now plus the 120 odd minutes you need to see Bandslam — which you can also take a date to).

And then come back after the weekend + check out the latest FT links, a long rambling post about movies, commitment, writing, walking, rocking + a few other things that meander by.

But I want to see your ticket stubs first.

NO LONGER FREE CLASH TRIBUTE

And it’s over, but here’s some more info about the Sandinista Project.

’til midnight pacific time tonight 8/21 — free download of 36 tributes to the Clash’s Sandinista album.

And here’s more info about The Clash’s original Sandinista.

GIRLFRIEND?

The new Blink Kitty Love episode is up on blip.tv. Ty has a GIRLFRIEND?!?!?!?!?! And she’s not in the band.

ACTIVATE?

MTV Splashpage reports smallVILLE plans to bring have the Wonder Twins bring the fun…now, I’m all for the casting of Allison Scagliotti as she is becoming one of my favorite parts of Warehouse 13, but the Wonder Twins are two of the wackier superheroes to pull out of DC’s oddity bin. smallVILLE has officially piqued my interest; mark this day down. Let’s see if they can actually follow through.

You’re not watching Warehouse 13?!?!?!?! You should be — solid characters, developing story arcs + FUN.

RATSLAM

I now have a favorite Pixar movie…Ratatouille. Watched it on the Disney Channel last night + was very impressed with the animation, the story, the directing, the authenticity of the characters, the way everything moved. Wow. And none of the usual Pixar tinge of maudlin to interfere. Great animation — there were so many scenes that relied on action rather than words (I could tell because Flash came in and stared at the screen since no one was talking). Great stuff. It’s on my list of DVD purchases to watch again and study the how to features. Oh, and Peter O’Toole continues amazing.

Bandslam — yes, I went to Bandslam on opening day…me and a paltry 100,000 or so other people. And I’m going to go again, because I think there’s chunks of story in the music that goes along with the story + I need to hear it again. I found myself disappointed at the end + I’m not sure why. The movie needed a rock star doing that final number. I think Vanessa Hudgens is an excellent actress, nay, I will go so far as to say a MOVIE STAR, and Aly Michalka rocks out and I think that was part of the trap. I kept switching them in my mind; it happens once you start directing things — you think you can do better…But then I continued thinking about it. Part of the problem was each one of the three main characters goes through major issues/changes — and the narrator’s seemed like the least interesting of the story arcs (gee, two hot girls want to hang out with me, I’m a freaky musical genius, but shock, dark Dad secret). So we spend the most time hearing the voce of the character I was least interested in. I loved the band they made up; it’s going on my list of favorite fictional bands: Dusted Bunnies, Josie and the Pussycats (also the cartoon), 5 Leo Rise, No Man’s Land and now I Can’t Go On I’ll Go On — I’m pretty sure there’s another couple and when I remember them I’ll do a favorite fictional band entry (suggest yours in the comments)…

I suggest seeing Bandslam because there are excellent parts in the middle, it made me laugh, it made me care, you want to see Aly Michalka fronting the band, Vanessa Hudgens can dominate a scene seemingly effortlessly and Lisa Kudrow does an excellent job at being a mom, a cool mom, a funny mom, a big sister groupie and then back to a mom.

Aly and AJ have changed the name of their band to 78violet and have an album coming out this fall. You can still get in on the design the 78violet logo contest (until 8/30).

BONDING

Go here + watch the periodic table PARTY — great video promoting science careers.