Archives For entertainment

one band to rule them

November 12, 2004 — Leave a comment

After nine studio albums, three bassists, two live albums, one EP and in my case 18 years of waiting, I finally saw Metallica live. It was worth the wait.

Through a work connection I managed to score box seats at the Gaylord Entertainment Center, in downtown Nashville, Tennesse. Contrary to popular belief Nashville is not a solely country music town. The music scene is thriving with a diverse number of artistes making it, a necessary stop on their tour. I wasn`t front and centre with Metallica sweating on me, but I could see and hear them clearly and that`s pretty much all that mattered to me.

The opening act was Godsmack, a hard rock quartet, probably most famous for, I stand Alone, from The Scorpion King soundtrack. That I didn`t really care about one way or another so we got there a little late and by the time we`d gotten the over-priced beer and found our seats they were just finishing up their set.

The show was in the round, meaning no matter where you`re seated in the venue you could see the band. The centre of the stage was also a massive rotating platform which allowed you to see the only fixed member of the band, drummer Lars Ulrich, front and centre at some point during their two-and-a-half-hour set.

The stage management was mind-blowing, considering the stage consisted of a pair of elevated platforms on a moving rotunda. Housed under these platforms were the sound, guitar, video and effects techs who managed the ten mikes and multiple distortion pedals located all over the stage, organised the guitar swaps between songs, directed and edited the output of the multiple fixed cameras that peppered the stage and executed the flames and explosions at appropriate times. The sound was kind of flaky for the first three songs; but I`ve realised, at the Gaylord at least, it takes that long for the sound engineers to compensate and balance for acoustics and the crowd. But once that was settled, the sound was perfect.

Metallica performed something off every album, starting with Blackened to a final encore of Seek and Destroy. They covered a lot of favourites in between, not limited to Call of Ktulu (which front man James Hatfield said they hadn`t played live in a long time), Sandman, One, Fuel, The Four Horsemen, Nothing Really Matters and Master of Puppets. New bassist Robert Trujillo also unleashed a classic rendition of (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth that was an homage to original bassist Cliff Burton, who died before the band hit their peak. Metallica known for the epic and hectic touring schedule have been on the road, worldwide on The Madly in Anger with the World Tour since May 2003. The tour continues in the US until December.

The band also promised a different set list at every show and diehard fans can buy copies of the live shows they desire as Metallica has started following in the footsteps of other artistes by offering authorised copies of their live recording on their website.

I had my issues with the band-specifically with the Napster debacle-and wasn`t singularly impressed with the new offering St Anger, but after last night`s performance I can forgive them almost any transgression. The show was engrossing and impressive; to have an arena full of multi-generational fans-the new young Metallica fans and the diehards who`ve been listening since the band formed in 1981-on their feet, entertained and enthralled for over two hours is no easy feat. Metallica sets the standard for a live show. It`s not about the pyrotechnics and videos; it about ability to entertain the fans live and for that reason, they rock!

edit; i submitted it to a paper in trinidad, so i`m posting the version that will hopefully appear there.

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murder, death, kill 2

October 27, 2004

i have finished; i came, i saw, i shot, i kicked Halo`s ass. on legendary no less. i have to say it was a fun and somewhat easy game to play. now i`m just left to wonder how long are we going to have to wait for the OS X port of Halo 2. i see no need to invest in an Xbox, solely for playing Halo 2.

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meet The Sims?

September 23, 2004 — Leave a comment

i`ve had a copy of the Sims since last October when i renew my .mac membership; it was one of the freebies. well owned might be a better description, i had it shipped to vic and it was in her possession until recently.

i installed and attempted to play it for the first time yesterday. i create characters and make sure they`re employed, housed, fed, practice good hygiene and social interaction, ad infintum. i played for five minutes before i though this sounds remarkably like what i have to do everyday.

what is the point?

i`m not much of a gamer. i grew up with the first generation of computer games that weren`t about the rendering, but more in like with the chose your own adventure books, then came the arcade classics and finally; for me at least; the atari 2600/5200 consoles. i enjoy the occasional one person shooter or arcade type space game but the idea of playing a game that imitates real life just leaves me cold.

over the Labour Day weekend i played halo on an Xbox and it was quite entertaining but i learned my lesson about console gaming four years ago. while i was living in fl and i had a lot of time on my hands, i rented a PS2 and Oni from Blockbuster for a week and in that week, i did very little else. i would come home from work, a little after 5 pm heat up dinner and sit in front of the tv until 2 and 3 am, get up at 6 and play for at least an hour before i had to get to work. luckily i only lived 10 minutes away. i decided after that i didn`t need a game console in my house because i`m the type of person to play until the game is licked and that`s not conducive to good family relations.

i do also enjoy playing games on my computer but having seen many a keyboard destroyed but abuse of whatever the `fire` is, i tend to keep it at a minimum, particularly on my personal machine and at work you don`t really want something that encompasses your whole screen and requires three or four different prompts before you can quit, so i stick to the word games on yahoo.

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hooray for hollyweird

September 21, 2004 — Leave a comment

i`m a big movie fan. i will watch almost anything. i grew up with my mother`s taste in movies or more accurately films. she was a huge fan as well and has regaled me with tales of her and my father spending all day at the various movie theatres in Port of Spain watching whatever was showing.

her influence wore off, because in my second to last year of high school, i cut class every afternoon to spend time in one of the six movie theatres in Port of Spain. sadly there are only two left and just barely at that. the theatres that remain are old school; one screen, a balcony with a box area, a house section on the ground floor and the space between the elevated screen and the front row of seats that used to be the orchestra pit.

there is also still a drive-in; or was when i left Trinidad last; that was barely holding on. it was there that my mother too me to see Star Wars, not episode IV, not A New Hope, just Star Wars and i was hooked. it was also the site of some necking that turned into one of the more interesting nights in my life; but that is a tale best left in my mind.

in my love of movies, i`ve sat through; and continue to do so; some truly horrendous shite which far outweigh the gems, but that`s what makes the gems so good isn`t it. there are movies that i`ve avoided, based on the hype generated; prime example being Titanic, which i haven`t seen to this day, movies that i`ve only need to see once that still resonate; Saving Private Ryan, movies that i will watch over and over again even on broadcast television; Shawshank Redemption.

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albuquerque travelogue

September 3, 2004

apropos a title as any.

last night we took the boychick to see weird al. his birthday is on Monday, so this was part of his birthday present. he was thrilled, we didn`t tell him where we were going until we got there and he didn`t find out who it was until we sat down. he was thrilled, i think we earned a boatload of cool parent points last night.

i think this holiday weekend is appropriately titled, there is going to be a lot of labour involved. we`re driving to my mother in law`s this evening after work to start painting the walls of the play room.

an aside about painting; i love house painting, i think it`s one of the most relaxing things in the world, it`s one of those zen things for me.  in relaxation terms, it`s right up there with doing laundry for me. last weekend while we there i painted the ceiling, i`m tall enough and the ceiling was low enough for me to just stand there with the brush and get it done, this weekend we`re doing the walls. i`ve joked if i became independently wealthy, i`d probably paint houses and pump gas to pass my days. the pumping gas is another tale.

on saturday, we`re off to my brother in law`s for his annual lakeside labour day soiree and then back to my mother in law`s to finish painting the room on sunday. on sunday evening or early monday, we`re back home and there are supposed to be a parade of people through the house to celebrate the actual date of the the boychick`s birth.

this weekend is going to be exciting to say the least. i hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable weekend with special thoughts to the people in Fl.

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cash cow

July 29, 2004 — Leave a comment

call me a cynic but it seems that graphic novels, seem to be the new cash cow in Hollywood and as a fan i`m loathe to see them ruined, so far the bad outweigh the good.

here is a short list:

Constantine from WB, with Keanu in the lead role. i`m leaving this one alone, i just recognise the character from a couple of Gaiman books.

Alan Moore`s Watchmen; the only thing that`s confirmed about this is that it`s supposed to be directed by Darren Aronofsky, who did Pi and Requiem for a dream, this might not turn into a fiasco.

Sin City; with a cast of thousands and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, in a sea of possibilities this looks like a damn good pick.

and wrapping up the rest of possibles are a couple from Neil Gaiman, including; Death: the high cost of living, Books of Magic and Mirrormask which now in post production.

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Viva Nashvegas!

June 17, 2004

i lost my virginity last night. well of a sort.

I`ve been Nashvegas for three months now and i attended my first live show at the Ryman auditorium.

For those of you unfamiliar with Nashvegas it is one of the premiere live music towns in the world. there at least four stadium venues; the Starwood amphitheatre, the Gaylord entertainment complex, the Ryman auditorium and of course the Grand Old Opry, plus a myriad of smaller venues and it`s not just country music. Nashville is a must stop on all tours, from OzzFest, Dave Matthews and Prince to Hillary Duff and Simon & Garfunkle. Plus there are all this up and coming indy bands playing at bars all over the place. This weekend, the $5 music series, Dancin in the District kicks off with Cake.

I had the great fortune to start my Nashville live music experience at the Ryman with Keb` Mo`. It rocked. From the opening act to the final encore, I can`t remember the last time i enjoyed a show so thoroughly. the lights, the sound engineering, the performances, the professionalism.

i`ve always said, if i had to take up a second career path it would be sound engineering and not in studio, but live. there were a couple of minor hiccups during the opening act; Shelby Lynn`s first couple of songs, but for the rest of the night, the sound was perfectly balanced.

professionalism at a stage show is something that i always admire, i mean you already have the patrons there, you could just play an hour and leave and we, the patrons would just have to live with it. Keb` Mo` played for close to two and a half hours, interacting with the crowd, trying to acquiesce to all the requests shouted at him. what was also interesting to see was everyone was taking care of their hearing, ear plugs all around, none of this getting older and not being able to hear because of too many loud gigs.

all in all i would i have been glad to spend the night doing anything with vic, but being at the concert was icing on the cake. and we got home to more good news, which precludes me having to drive to Memphis at some ridiculous hour tomorrow morning.

edited for subject change.

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we’re not making a ‘film’ here

June 11, 2004 — Leave a comment

We went to see Chronicles of Riddick last night. for free, no less. we had to stand outside for a while and of course yesterday was the muggiest day of the year, thus far. We also had to sit through Regal Entertainment`s The Twenty which i firmly believe is the reason the floor of movie theatres are sticky; it`s your brain leaking out of your ear. the twenty featured ads for the new Universal Studios Mummy themed ride, Evercrack 2, oh sorry Everquest 2, some new limited series on TNT about terrorism closely followed by an ad for the US Army. It boggles the mind, but we`re not here for that.

After the obligatory ad for Pioneer and the competition they`re hosting; what you didn`t think we got in to see a sneak peek of Riddick on my good looks and charm alone did you?

What can I say about the movie? It`s not high art and in light of some of the other crap that we`re being offered as entertainment this year, we could have done worse, plus it was free. It was entertaining, Judi Dench was great, wasted but great. Most of the special effects were quite good, particularly the matting for Dame Judi`s character. Vin Diesel looked good, did some cool shit, kicked some ass and in at least one scene had every woman in the audience`s panties soaked. Thandie Newton put in her best performance since… well ever, I don`t particularly like her, but I suppose seeing her in costumes that relied on an over abundance of cleavage and smouldering looks, she was damn near perfect. The end is pretty much what you expect when you walk into the theatre, the plot is fairly straight forward and the gaping holes are kept to a minimum.  

Chronicles of Riddick is not high art, it`s summer entertainment and could help you pass some air conditioned hours in the company of friends on afternoon, I should warn you however, if you have motion sickness problems or are in danger of psychotic flashbacks when strobes are involved I`d advise you to avoid some scenes in this movie.

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predictability

May 3, 2004 — Leave a comment

i generally watch four hours of tv a week. i`m very specific about my tv watching, Alias on a Sunday, Gilmore Girls on a Tuesday, Smallville and Angel on a Wednesday.

last night the wife who is a disaster flick fan got me to give up alias for nbc`s 10.5. what a waste, a lot of good talent for a poorly written, poorly edited piece of dreck.

i had the whole plot outlined in 15 minutes including the nuclear detonations. that why i generally don`t watch much tv, it`s too predictable. even the commercials are predictable. the other thing last night was the constant commercials for friends, my god, talk about milking the cow.

i don`t give a shit. never liked friends. i know some people that would think that my last utterance was sacrilege, but it`s true, i`ve never found it particularly funny, it`s never moved me. i`ve never found that level of self-absorption even mildly amusing. if i want light and frivolous fantasy, i watch charmed, that at least is a little more believable.

where does the good writing go? i know television is the lowest common denominator, but it`s getting a point where between the level of stupidity between scripted and `unscripted` television is completely blurred and once something appeals to the masses everyone seems eager to fall over themselves to copy it.

there is a short story, i can remember by Roald Dahl, the Great Automatic Grammatizator [don`t be lazy, go look it up], which describes a computer that writes novels, i think that day has come, especially to television — tired, formulaic, detritus.

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subtlety and nuance

May 2, 2004 — Leave a comment

i`m a big music fan with diverse tastes, but i can`t stand modern R&B. I grew up on Marvin Gaye and the Motown sound, so all this crap now masquerading as music, just makes me wince. i am not a prude, not by anyone`s stretch of the imagination, but what passes for R&B today, disgusts me. i don`t need to have everything explained to me, the same way i don`t need to see the print of your labia through your clothing, it just lacks subtlety.

listen to Marvin, Teddy, Barry, sure they`re talking about sex, but it doesn`t have to be blatantly in your face. Go back even further to the jazz standards,  it`s still subtle.  I was listening to the Lady Ella`s Isn`t this a lovely day, it`s about staying in with your lover on a rain day, structured and beautiful without ever being nasty. even Grace Jones, showed more discretion in her one hit than any of the current crop of R&B posers.

this phenomenon isn`t limited to R&B, it seems wide spread over musical genres, from calypso to rock, people don`t write anymore. or is it that people no longer read, so the subtlety of word play is lost on them?

or as Sparrow said when confronted by accusations of lewdness — “Kill them dead, is the vice in dey own head”

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