Come Sail Away....

So I went to see classic rockers Styx this past weekend, well at least the current incarnation anyway. They only have one full-time member that is from the original band and one that has been with them since their fifth album tour in 1975. Their original bass player still sits in when he can and was there for this show.
At any rate, they still got it. After about 38 years, 15 studio albums, several live albums and numerous line-up changes, they still put on a great show. Lots of energy, and always fan-friendly. Of course the length of their set has gone from well over 2 hours down to about 90 minutes. I guess they're starting to show their age a little bit.
I could go on for quite a while as this is my favorite band and I know way to many trivial factoids about them. However, I will keep it brief. Suffice it to say, we had a good time. They played most of the hits, we were hooked up with great seats (courtesy of their PR guy and Road Manager...Thank You), and we made it back home before midnight. I'll throw some grainy camera phone pics on here for your perusal.
It is a shame that I have to find these classic bands that are still touring just so I can see a great show with talented performers who can write good music. We're missing that in this current generation. I doubt anyone will be going to see many of today's bands in concert 30 years from now, but that is a discussion for another time.....

Joss Whedon Is Not God

(Warning: The following opinons are not favorable to Mr. Joss Whedon. Read at your own Risk)

Ok, I'm not a fan, so sue me. I've tried to get into his work, but cannot seem to find the appeal. Mr. Whedon became a television writer on the coattails of his father and grandfather. Both wrote for credible shows over the years. He has managed to gain a ridiculously large fan-base due mostly to what can be summed up in one word, Buffy.

Writing the screenplay to the original movie, Mr. Whedon was not satisfied with the finished product. One has to wonder if this was before or after it was not well-received by the critics and movie-goers. Somehow, though, he was able to convince someone at Warner Brothers to pick it up as a TV series. Over seven seasons and a network change, he managed to win awards and an almost religious following. When Angel and Firefly came along, nobody cared whether or not the shows were any good, just that they had his name on it.

I have been able to sit through the train wreck that was Ishtar, and the critically acclaimed, but most boring movie ever made, Passage to India. However, as hard as I tried, I was never able to sit through an entire episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I felt my IQ, as well as my will to live, being drained by the minute. The plots were boring and predictable (except when they didn't make any sense at all) and the characters were written completely with no depth at all. The tongue-in-cheek dialogue was stupid and rarely funny. I had high hopes for the episode in which she finally came up against Dracula. I thought, cool, she's going to fight the king of all vampires. Instead, they portrayed him as a bumbling fool and Buffy was able to take care of him easily in a final showdown that lasted all of 3 minutes. After that, I really lost interest. I know she returned from the dead, gained a sister that never existed before, blah, blah, blah. This show was just written for fan-boys who wanted to watch Sarah Michelle Gellar every week and for the girls who wanted to be her. At least I hope that's it. Because if someone was watching this for story content…….

Next was Angel, a superior show to Buffy with a campier feel. However, this was not the sole creation of Mr. Whedon. Established TV writers David Greenwalt and Tim Minear helped. Still, the show was mediocre at best. This idea had been done before, with Rick Springfield no less (Forever Knight), and has been done since (Moonlight) by David Greenwalt, go figure. Still, the show managed to limp through five seasons, mostly on the momentum and fan-base of Buffy.

Then came Firefly. What can I say. I had high hopes for this one. A change of pace for the writer, trying to tackle a purely sci-fi premise. Unfortunately, it was ill-conceived. Set in a solar system with hundreds of habitable worlds (what?), it told the boring story of a boring captain whose boring resistance fighters lost some boring war. He became a boring freighter pilot with a boring crew. Did I mention the show was boring? The only bright spots were Adam Baldwin's character, and the mystery surrounding Summer Glau's character's past. It was nice to see Ron Glass again, too. Once again, most of the characters were completely one-dimensional. Suddenly, though, the religious zealots of the Church of Whedon, could not keep the show on the air. Fourteen episodes were filmed before the show was canceled, only eleven of which were aired until syndication.

But, miraculously, Mr. Whedon and his fun-bunch found a way to resurrect this bore-fest from the ashes like the legendary Phoenix, and turn it into a major motion picture entitled Serenity. I couldn't believe it! I did watch this big budget stinker once it made it to video (I borrowed a copy from someone. I couldn't bring myself to pay money for a rental.). Let me say that it was fun watching Miss Glau kick butt (even though this was the scene that aired in every preview) and I'm glad she's continued the tradition in the new Terminator series (which, in contrast, is really well written). Mr. Whedon directed this and tried to bring some closure to the ill-fated series for the fans. In doing so, he managed to kill off Ron Glass' character and fan-favorite, Serenity pilot Hoban "Wash" Washburne played by Alan Tudyk (the latter for no apparent reason other than for the supposed "drama").

Mr. Whedon is currently working on several other projects, such as Dollhouse, and recently walked away from the Wonder Woman movie after eighteen months of work and several rewrites. He cited the reason as being that he and the studio had different ideas of where to take the story. Yeah, the studio actually wanted a story and that's not Mr. Whedon's strong suit. In the midst of all this is the one bright spot, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. This online show was done as a “video blog” with music and singing, and starred Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion (I won’t hold Firefly against him). This show is actually kind of funny. I have to give a lot of the credit to Joss’ brothers, however, who helped write and produce the story and the songs.

But, finally, I heard an interview with Joss Whedon on NPR about his stint as a comic book writer and received the quote that made all of this fall into place. He said (paraphrased slightly)"No one wants a 3 dimensional character anymore". That explains a lot if this is his writing philosophy. It does not explain, however, why so many people like his stuff. Maybe he's right. Either way, I'll take my chances with the crowd who expects a good story and characters you can feel something for.

At this point, some may ask why I know so much about Mr. Whedon if I am so loathsome of his body of work. My answer is simple. I like to know what I'm talking about if I'm going to criticize something. Most critics today could take a lesson from that. Too many times I've read reviews that miss the mark so completely because they didn't take the time to learn anything about what their criticizing. I'll admit my lack of knowledge of the entire Buffy mythology, but I bet someone could write me up a summary in less than a paragraph. That's probably the amount of good story telling content seven years of episodes amount to.

Note: I posted this a while back on MySpace and it appears that an Admin somewhere deleted it. I think I may have offended a Whedon disciple at MySpace.com

Makin' Movies...On Location

Hello, All. I was on location at a production meeting for an independent short film today (more info to come later). It never ceases to amaze me, the eagerness that people have to be involved in something creative. There were some talented people assembled ready to work with little or no budget. The crew was back from a previous venture or two, more seasoned from the experience. There is a named actor that has committed to being involved. It looks like this might be pretty cool. We shot some 'screen test' type footage so that the actors could try to get into character. Stay tuned........

In Theaters This Week...

Well, the summer blockbusters haven't quite kicked in so if you're tired of Hannah Montana being on top at the box office, here's what's coming out 4-17-09:

Crank: High Voltage
Probably the pick of the week for sheer mindless entertainment value.
Starring: Jason Statham












State of Play
For all-out star power, this would be the one to see.
Starring: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright Penn, Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniels












17 Again
In the "been there, done that" category for this week. How many times can they remake the same movie?
Starring: Zac Efron, Matthew Perry

Reality TV vs Good TV

Yep, Reality TV has given networks a cushion for these tough economic times. Pennies to produce and high ratings make executives salivate. The problem is, these shows have taken away from good, solid, entertaining, escapist television. People watch this stuff because it does not challenge them. They do not have to think, and contrary to what current Hulu commercials say, Reality TV is what is turning American viewers' brains to mush.
Now, that's not to say there are not creative islands in the sea of mindless drivel that has become our Prime Time viewing selection. There are still some writers working in Hollywood who care about telling a story. Unfortunately, most of these have reduced themselves to being very formulaic in nature. Shows used to be amusing, thought provoking....you know, fun. Now all we have to look forward to is to see if our favorite singer or Survivor got voted off this week. Sad state of affairs.
I used to succumb to the allure of the Reality show myself. I saw singers, survivors, dancers, apprentices, big brothers, moles....all of it. But no more. I will pass on these in favor of a documentary or occasional "dramedy". I can no longer support programming that bumps good shows off the air. If you want my attention for your advertising dime, hire some actual writers!
I want a story, plot, acting, drama, comedy, action....fantasy, not reality! I live reality every day. I watch TV to get away from it. If you want me to tune in to these shows, you better go over the top with them. Bring back Richard Branson and the Rebel Billionaire show. Now that was something! It was like Apprentice Extreme International. They flew all over the world solving business challenges and performing actual death defying stunts.....Awesome! You want me to watch Survivor? They better be in Antarctica really trying to survive instead of laying out on some beach somewhere!
Anywho...my network fix is down to about 4 or 5 non-reality shows per week. I don't have the presence of mind, time, or inclination to try to keep up with much more than that. And, I definitely don't want to waste any more time watching other people stab each other in the back for their pot of gold.
And now, my marvelous media minions...maul my message over in your minds and feel free to make musings manifest themselves here if you wish. I will return after a word from our sponsors....

And so it begins....

Hello my new media minions. Welcome to my menacing media blog. Thoughts and opinions will be addressed regarding music, movies, books, etc. It is no longer easy to separate these different forms of media in today's electronic world. Books are movies, music is video, plays are musicals that were once movies and are re-made again into new movies....well, you get the idea. Hopefully I will be able to produce the volume of commentary to generate a blog of continuous streaming consciousness for readers to peruse at their leisure. Whew! That was a bit wordy. But, it is a blog after all! Well, I will set about to determine a topic while continuing to construct the overall atmosphere of this page. I will return after the commercial break :-)