My Last Blog For A While...So Lots to Cover!

Behind me and my trusty man purse is the Jersey shore. What a fun trip and beautiful day that was! I am 40 and I have never been to New York. I've heard so many stories, friends of mine who have gone, but being there was absolutely amazing.

I saw 2 movies this past week that had to do with New York City...how rare is that to find a movie about New York? Yes, just about every movie ever made takes place there. As I walked the streets it seems every corner was the set of some movie I saw. But the two movies I saw this week, "Adventureland" and "Julie and Julia," had New York figure some way into the plot line.

First off, today's WHAT THE HECK! Why do all these movie critics like "Adventureland?" (I saw it on DVD, by the way, where most people will see it.) The movie is the most boring draggy no point piece of film I have seen since "Married Life" (oh, do NOT see this movie, it will depress you and give you a headache). I'm tired of movies making pot some kind of cool thing. This isn't 1979 anymore! Seth Rogan at least stopped toking by the time he did "Funny People" (or not as much). "Adventureland" was supposed to show the 80's the way they really were. The soundtrack was supposed to be the quintessential 80's soundtrack. I heard a Cure song and one from girl band Expose. The rest sounded like it came from the 70's (Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love" wasn't being played by ANY radio station by the time the period of the movie takes place). For a MUCH better movie (that makes better use of REAL 80's songs even though it takes place in the modern day) see "(500) Days Of Summer." That movie drags a little but at least its approach is fresh.

I'll admit "Julie and Julia" drags a bit, too, but, it takes on the monumental task of tying together 3 amazing personalities: Julia Childs, Julie who tries to make all Julia's recipes, and FOOD ITSELF. Food is a character in the movie; it is an object of love. Stanley Tucci is fantastic as Julia's husband. Meryl Streep does a fantastic job portraying Julia without being a caricature. Nora Ephron directed and wrote the screenplay. She put her love of New York in it as well as the heartbreak of wanting to be a New Yorker but having to live outside of it due to economic reasons. There is other heartbreak in this movie with Julia and Paul Childs not being able to have children. This only takes part in a small sequence in the film, but there is so much in this movie that takes place in only an instant that is meant to convey so much more. The movie is over 2 hours because there is so much to cover.

Which makes me think, why do movies out today have to be about silly passe topics like pot or cgi created creatures that no one cares about? New ground needs to be covered by the film, tv, and story writers of today, not relying on outdated themes. Maybe a lot of pot is consumed in the making of these movies so they need to put it in the movie since it's an object of love.

In any case, I was so glad to spend some time in the city that has been the set for many a film. Oh, and don't listen to people that tell you New Yorker's are less than friendly. Outside of the tourist areas, I met some extremely nice natives who were more than happy to talk about the city and talk to me about my current home, Alabama. It turns out that Southerners aren't necessarily as hospitable above the Mason Dixon line. One food server told me that while New Yorkers tend to be laid back, patrons that hail from the Bible Belt tend to be quite rude and impatient.

That's another WHAT THE HECK? I looked at my Facebook under one of the photo's I uploaded from my NYC trip and someone who is very Southern wrote she wouldn't visit New York even if you dropped her in the middle using a helicopter! I wrote back she should take the subway because it's much more fun.

I think a lot of people in my current surroundings have no clue what New York, L.A., or San Francisco are like. You can blame it to the high cost of travel, but for others I think it's they just don't want to leave. They don't want to explore. Of course, I find this ridiculous since I came here from there and was very willing to explore. I've lived in the South for 2 years now, and in 11 days I will be heading back to California.

I will miss a lot about the South. There is definitely an amazing hospitality among some of the people here. The countryside is so beautiful. The BBQ is so delicious! The birds are amazing, too. I have heard so many bird songs I have not heard any where else. I won't miss the mowing and the holier than thou attitude of a lot of people here. I won't miss the rampant unchecked urban sprawl, the lack of proper community planning. I won't miss the lack of adequate restaurants (fast food abounds). But that's just about it. I liked it here while I was here (except for the job I had and the good ole boys club attitude I had to deal with which I wrote about in previous installments). Luckily, I'll still have my house here which I will rent out.

One more great thing about living here in Huntsville: the best public library anywhere! I never checked out a book, but the CD's! What a fantastic selection!

That's it for now. I'll write again after I get settled in CA which may take a while. Please leave comments and check out all my links on this page to keep track of Mike's One Minute What the Heck and Michael Matthews. Let me know what your WHAT THE HECK is so we can discuss it. Talk to you soon!

Sorry if this blog "dragged."

Mike

Without CGI There Would Be No Comic Con

There I am standing on the corning of "Bull Street". How fitting!

This is one of the many fascinating squares of Savannah. Even if you've never been there, you know one particular square fairly well. It was the set for Forrest's tales in "Forrest Gump."

This city is fantastic. My wife and I spent five days there but we could have spent five months. While on this trip we brought along our lap top. I was tempted a few times to write a blog, but I focused on just observing all that was Savannah. I left work at home, if you call this work (no pay is involved!).

We've been back for a while. I haven't blogged because nothing has really hit me lately. I guess I'm pretty bad at this. I started writing because I found I had some strong opinions about stuff. Lately, however, the only thing that has really been bugging me is the massive propaganda machines you see everywhere. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, but what really gets me is how people just swallow what they hear. Some even swallow and become crazed robots for whatever machine's fooled them.

Today's WHAT THE HECK?!? Why don't we stop and take the time to just...take the time?

I was thinking about Comic Con a few weeks ago. People went dog-on-dog crazy about this thing eventhough when you look closely at the movies offered, yes, there's some imagination and creativity involved...but isn't it all just so much CGI fluff?

On You Tube lately they've been showing one of the episodes of the old Bill Bixby TV show "The Hulk" where he gets a special guest visit from Thor. These, of course, are characters ripped right out of comic books. It's amazing this show was even on the air with the cheapest special effects in the world! The Hulk was not a CGI created character, it was a real person named Lou Ferrigno (who you might have seen lately in "I Love You Man") just covered in green make up and wearing greenish eye contacts (which were only made for movie studios at the time---not in massiv circulation until the 90's when brown eyes suddenly really could turn blue). Thor was...well, just silly. His costume looks like any Viking costume you can pickup at the local latex stinking Halloween shop. At the time this was really the only comic book based TV show on television or in the movies for that matter simply because people could not be bothered by the low tech effects. It required you to use your imagination. That is, until CGI came along...

One of the movies talked about at Comic Con is a remake or a "reboot" of "Tron". That was one of the first movies (if not THE first movie) to use extensive computer graphics. This movie also challenged people to use their imaginations (the effects were pretty low tech despite the scale of the movie). A computer could not yet depict an entire luxury liner going belly up into an icy ocean or massive robots punching it out in an action packed racist movie. Now, Tron will be flushed out with all the latest computer generated imagery and people won't have to use their imaginations. They'll just have to sit there and let the fake visuals pummel them into submission (and take their hard earned money in the process).

These movies that use these effects are what I call part of the ADD movement. I know someone whose DVD library is full of "ADDDVD's". I can see why he's hooked. So much eye candy stimulating the brain, you can't help but be at the very least slightly amused. But where is the art? Even drawn animation has been COMPLETELY replaced by computer animation. Eye candy is winning over. And as a result, the sugar from this candy is decaying our brains. It's already happened. How come nobody cares that all our movies are just remakes of things we've already seen: TV shows, comic books, even older movies? Sure, "it's all been done before," but why aren't we complaining about it? We just go to the theater and hand them our money and there by enabling the movie companies.

There is so much hoopla about the new sci-fi movie "District 9" because Peter Jackson, who directed many movies that were remakes of older movies or famous books, took a chance on a new director and a story that had never been heard or seen before. As I write this, the results of its first week have not come out, but I hope they are good.

So in the end I say, like your dentist, AVOID SWEETS! Avoid the eye candy that rots your imagination! Go out there and look for the originality. If you can't find it, create it! I will be your biggest benefactor! (Even though, this job don't pay zip!)