Recently in Entertainment Category

Originally I was thinking about taking the eldest daughter to Six Flags today but the wife has to leave fairly early to go see the Braves play tonight. Maybe we will go on my day off next week.

I think that she and I are going to see the new Batman movie today. I'll have to post a review of it once I get home. Love's me some Batman...

One of the things I inherited from my father is a love for 50's and 60's rock and roll. Everything from the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly to the Animals and the Zombies. The wife tunes out most of it, disliking anything prior to the '70s but she puts up with it.

After having read Eric's entry about Winston I dropped by his site and read the last post by roomie with a tear in my eye. I had never been to Winston's site and now I am sad because of that fact.

I came across this little gem from the Everly Brothers over there and knew I had to post it for your amusement.

I love a good horror movie. No. really. I love them. Anything from the genre will suit me, from Hitchcock to King, even the old monster movies with Karloff and Price. It seems as if my oldest daughter has inherited the love of horror from me as well and although I enjoy watching the films with her I don't think I will let her go with me to see Frontier(s).

Why?

Looks to be just a wee bit too gory for a ten-year-old. I am pretty psyched about it actually and although it may not be playing anywhere close to my house since it is getting a limited run starting May 9th and showing for only one week, the DVD release will be coming a week later.

Frontier(s) makes other movies look like kiddie shows. Judging from the trailers and clips I saw at the web site it's going to be a pretty terrifying flick. If you aren't into horror movies and the like, you may not want to see this one.

Uncut. Uncensored. Unrated.

Not too many movies make it to the theater without being rated. Frontier(s) was originally slapped with an NC17 rating for extreme sadistic gore and violence, so rather than cuttting it down to an "R" rating and losing some of what makes the movie so horrific they decided on the limited theatrical release followed shortly by the DVD. How many movies have you seen that look as if they might have been good had they not been cut up and the good parts removed? I know I've seen plenty of horror movies that just weren't horrible. That's because the movie creators allow their creations to be butchered just to get an "R" rating. Obviously by not doing this Frontier(s) has created a bit of a stir, but that's all good, just means more people know about it.

If you want to check it out you can see the unrated trailer and several other clips over at the Frontier(s) web site and you can also watch the official theatrical trailer below...certainly not for the weak of stomach...

If you watched the trailer, what do you think? Wanna go check it out with me? :)

Priest has got a new album out entitled Nostradamus. The title track is pretty good. The beginning of it sounds like something from the days of Stained Class or Sin After Sin and the rest of the song reminds me of the Ram it Down album. If the rest of the double album due out in June rocks like this does it's going to kick some ass. Check out the song!

Here's the Album Cover:

Think 'Double vinyl, gatefold sleeve concept album,' and some of rock's all-time classic recordings come to mind. But in the realm of heavy metal, there has never been a double vinyl (now disc!) concept album that has managed to balance a thought-provoking storyline with metallic thunder. That was, until now. Metal legends JUDAS PRIEST will be releasing their sprawling double disc concept album, 'Nostradamus' via Columbia Records on Monday, June 16th in the UK/Europe, and a day later in the US on Epic Records.

FUTURE OF MANKIND

I'm pretty psyched about the new album and can't wait until it's release. Hopefully like the last Priest album this one will sell on iTunes. It's easier for me to purchase it there and then just burn the CD myself.

The larger than life legend and actor Charlton Heston, who has been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease for several year has passed away at his home.

According to IMDB, Heston has been in at least 126 TV and movie roles over the years although the last few years he has really been more interested in promoting American values, and gun owner rights. He was also very heavily involved in civil rights early on, before it became fashionable for stars to do so, having been a supporter of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a man of his convictions, much like many of the roles he played in the movies.

It's kind of funny that I came across this a little while ago since I was writing about Vegas and getting kicked OUT OF Caesar's Palace in 1987. The thing is, although I was 18 (almost 19), I had no valid ID. Heck, I didn't even bother getting a driver's license until I was 20 and almost married. I didn't have a car, what did I need a license for. It's not like it is today. Back in the eighties I opened my first checking account so I could deposit my paychecks, without identification. Today you can barely buy bottled water without ID.

Anyhow, while I have never been a huge fan of Cher, some of her stuff is pretty memorable and I can certainly see the value she has added to the music genre, particularly the dance scene, over the last forty years. Holy cow, has it been 40 years? Cher has been performing for over 40 years actually and has released something like 25 different albums during that time, selling over 200 million records, not including the stuff she did with Sonny Bono while they were together.

I had thought Cher was finished with liver performances after her farewell tour that lasted from 2002 until 2005, but apparently not. She is going to be performing at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Her show is called, aptly enough, Cher at the Colosseum and debuts early next month (May 6th). It's going to have something like 18 dancers, flying acrobats and (of course) tons of costumes. She is rotating out with Bette Midler and Elton John, who also do shows at the Colosseum. I would be interested in checking out the show just to see what kind of effects she is able to add in with her music. From what I was reading, she is replacing Celine Dion, so that will certainly be a big improvement. They are also already selling Cher tickets at Caesar's Palace Las Vegas if you are interested.

I am pretty awful about sending cards when it's time for people's birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, etc...I am much better at sending emails and thank you notes that way. I don't think it's the cards that I have a hard time sending, it's just about anything in an envelope for some reason. I pay 99% of my bills online and the other one or two on the phone before I will mail them. That doesn't mean that I think cards are bogus though. Just look at the custom Photo Greeting Cards that CardsDirect has for instance.

I really like the photo cards. If the picture is well done then sending out photo cards during the holidays is a really cool idea. CardsDirect.com has over 70 different designs of greeting cards to choose from and some of them have really nice designs. I prefer the full color photo without any borders or doo-dads myself.

You can get a box of 100 for a little over $100 and while that may sound like a lot, think about it. When is the last time you printed out $100 photos on your inkjet printer and how many photo cartridges did it take? Not only that but it's not just the photo, it's the whole card, inside and out. The time and money I would save by ordering from CardsDirect make it worth the small expense. Heck, I might even get them in the mail rather than just sitting in a box in the top of my closet like the last Christmas Cards I bought.

I love the Indiana Jones movies and although Harrison Ford is getting pretty long in the tooth I've been looking forward to the new Indiana Jones movie due out in May of this year. If you haven't seen any of the previews yet, this might interest you.

I'm looking forward to the movie. This may be one of the only ones that I will actually go to the theater to see. I much prefer to wait for DVDs so as to avoid the cost and the crowds but if this is any good it will be well worth it.

I enjoy what I do on the web but make no mistake about it. I don't consider myself a serious writer. I suppose if I were to take the time to reteach myself the rules of grammar and then find something that would catch the audience's (YOUR!) attention, then I might be able to write something a bit worthwhile. There are a few bloggers that are actually worth reading though. I have links for two of them here.

One is Eric. If you haven't been to Straight White Guy and read a few of posts then go check it out. Definitely worth the time spent and you may even get caught up reading and wonder where the time has gone. Apparently he's had a piece published in A Southern Journal. That was a story I had not heard yet so it was fresh for the mind when I came across it last night.

Earlier this week my brother sent me a link and I have been remiss in posting it here. If you haven't read his book, Republic, you are missing something. He is in the midst of writing the sequel and the first three chapters are online. Bear in mind that they are a work in progress, and as so some of the details may change and they still have to be edited for grammar and spelling. He also sent me a couple of links to the podcasts as well.

You can check it out at YouTube or subscribe through iTunes.

Podcasts are OK but I much prefer reading for myself and so spent the other evening reading all three chapters when I should have been writing about them instead :)

As much as I've been reading and hearing about Lindsay Lohan's now famous photo shoot with Bert Stern (the photographer that did Marylin's last photo shoot) you would have thought she hosted Jesus at the last supper. And why? It's a poor imitation of an extremely sensual set of photos.

You can check out Lohan's photos over at New York Magazine. Have you ever seen the ones of Marylin Monroe. Lohan is missing something vital in the photos. Marylin Monroe looks sensual, naughty, like she was having fun. Lindsay Lohan just looks like she's trying to be something she's not. A very poor imitation.

Something Eric posted while I was out of town got me to thinking. That's a pretty mean feat in itself, but I digress.

I'm not sure what it is about Atlanta but Heavy Metal acts have just never done very well here in the ATL. Huge bands that sell out two and three shows in NYC, Miami, LA and other cities barely fill the arena here. Hell, some of them just skip us altogether. They will play in podunk, Missouri and buttfuck, Alabama but just scoot on past Atlanta.

When I went to shows more often back in my teens, up until I hit about thirty, quite often a band would tour and I just wouldn't get to see them. The first big tour that Metallica did in the southeast was opening for Ozzy Osbourne. I caught that show in Knoxville, TN. I think I've even posted about meeting the band and road tripping to that show.

So what is it that Eric said that caught my eye? Other than the fact that I enjoy Tom Waits quite a bit more now than I did when I was sixteen? I saw John Waite's (obviously no relation) solo tour after leaving The Babys in the early eighties and the first of two opening bands for a particular act. He sucked. The second opening act was Steve Marriott and Humble Pie (exactly how it was being billed). Now don't get me wrong. I like Humble Pie. A lot. As a teenager in 1983 I wasn't particularly excited about seeing them though.

Imagine if you can, the lobby area at the civic center filled with the screaming hordes of fans (sort of like chipmunks in effect) of pop has-been John Waite, All of the stoners and other hippies going to see Humble Pie. Sort of an age difference for one thing but then you add in the fans for the man they were going to see and there is what makes it so utterly fucking ridiculous.

Ronnie James Dio on his first solo tour after leaving Black Sabbath.

I guess the promoters thought that Dio was going to be doing stuff from his days with Elf and Rainbow and didn't bother listening to any Sabbath, much less any of his solo album. That or they weren't thinking at all. Rainbow in the dark indeed.

Waite, Humble Pie, Dio? Not exactly a match made in heaven. Almost as ridiculous as Tom Waits opening for Buffalo Bob, which is what prompted me to write this. It actually started out as a comment to Eric's post but obviously ran a bit long.

Part of this video is Willie Nelson's new single Gravedigger. He does a passable job with the Dave Matthews cover. Boy is Willie starting to look old or what?

I've been looking at home theater equipment again in preparation for setting my HTPC back up. I had to put it off right before Christmas so we could pay for the Marine to come home for the holidays. There always seems to be something else that needs to be paid for. I already have most of what I need anyway. I have the TV tuners, one of those HDMI switches and most of the PC components to go inside the PC case as well. I may even use the Marine's old computer instead of picking up a new barebones setup, although I sort of wanted something newer. As long as it's going to be a dedicated media box I can probably get away with using his old one though.

Denny surprisingly posted an entry entitled Sunday Metal today and of course the band of choice is Priest. I don't know why it surprised me because these guys are truly good musicians and it takes one to really appreciate another.

I have probably even posted this video before and maybe the mp3 as well, but this has to be one of my all-time favorite Judas Priest songs. I have seen them in concert several times over the years and for some reason this just never got played until the late nineties on the painkiller tour. Not that they don't play it live in concert, it just wasn't part of the set list any of the times that I went to the darned show.

Beyond the Realms of Death is off of an album called Stained Class which in my opinion is one of their top three albums which include Sin After Sin and Sad Wings of Destiny.

This one was recorded a couple of years ago and although they are getting older, they still rock. Halford can't hit some of those higher notes anymore but rather than sounding crappy trying to hit them he's toned it down on the scale a bit.

Actor Heath Ledger, famous for movies including Brokeback Mountain, has died in a Manhattan apartment according to New York Police. CNN is reporting that he died of a possible drug overdose. Ledger is 28. Police spokesman Paul Browne said that there were pills found in the vicinity of the bed.

In addition to Brokeback Mountain and several other forgettable movies, Ledger is also supposed to be starring as the Joker in the Dark Knight, the Batman sequel.

Updated 1-15-2008 - According to several news reports I have read last night and this morning including this one from the BBC, Britney Spears still can't see her children. Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon left in place a ruling that bars Britney Spears from visiting her two sons.

Britney showed up at the hearing and was photographed by the vultures but only her attorneys stayed. The story from the BBC:

There is also some video from the Associated Press,

Updated 1-8-08

According to this article over at CNN mental health professionals around the country are somewhat frowning on Dr Phil McGraw's behavior and say that showing up in her room last week was going too far. According to McGraw, Britney Spears' family asked him too but that is kind of lame and seems like he is just looking for more ratings.

Dr. Jeffrey Sugar is Chief of child and adolescent psychiatry, crisis and emergency services for the University of Southern California and he says that having been asked by her family is not enough. Spears is an adult and has the right to decide who is let into her hospital room.

Also according to a statement on Dr. Phil's web site he had hoped to film a show this week that might help other families facing the same troubles as Spears.

Same troubles?

I don't know that anyone in America has the same troubles as Britney. Maybe on a smaller trailer trash scale I suppose.

Updated 1-7-08 Apparently Dr. Phil was planning on doing a show with Britney Spears but because the situation is 'too tense' has decided to cancel that.

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I wrote a little blurb earlier in the week about Britney Spears being hospitalized and was pretty crass about the whole thing so I though I would write some of my thoughts about the whole deal. It doesn't mean I will be any less crass or less of an asshole, but I did want to post more than a paragraph or two on the subject.

I am torn when I think about Britney Spears and her troubles. On one hand I see an extremely irresponsible parent not taking care of her children and basically just screwing up her life and that of her offspring.

On the other hand I feel sorry for Britney. I see a girl who was thrust into the spotlight and got too famous too fast and just doesn't know how to deal with it. She has no real role models to speak of to give her advice.

After the episode Friday a court commissioner gave sole custody of their two children to ex-husband Kevin Federline and suspended the pop star's visitation rights.

Britney Spears was released from Cedars-Sinai hospital and spent most of the day Saturday with her father Jamie.

She was released on Saturday and left the L.A. medical facility via an underground tunnel, accompanied by that lying sack of dog turds Dr. Phil..

Dr. Phil released a statement saying:

Although Britney was committed Friday morning under California's 5150 Hold, which means that she was considered a danger to herself and could be held for 72 hours, they released her stating that she was not suicidal or homicidal, so she did not need to be hospitalized.

So here's what I see.

1. She can't get away from the paparazzi. EVER.

2. Her Aunt, supposedly like a second mother to her, died of Ovarian cancer.

3. Her career is failing because she has made some ugly mistakes.

4. Her marriage has failed.

5. She's told daily that she has failed as a mother, you just have to look in the papers to see that.

6. Her little sister is pregnant.

7. The list goes on. and on. and on.

Now all of these things are true, but seeing them on national TV and newspapers and tabloids every second of every day has got to mess you up pretty bad, particularly since it has only taken two years to get there.

Hell, even Britney's attorneys want to dump her. When a lawyer doesn't want your money, that's got to be pretty darned depressing.

...

You know, I'm not one to hit People or TMZ or Perez very often. I used to go to Perez Hilton a couple of years ago but I just don't get into all of that gossip crud very much so it was kind of a shock to look around People reading the stories about Britney. I mean there is stuff there like what she bought, not in general terms but stuff like "Britney bought grandma's cookies, cracker jacks and a humongous diaphragm". WTF is that all about anyway? Were she went, what she ate, exactly what she was wearing. No wonder she is going nucking futs. I woulda run over that photographer's foot as well I think. Besides, the assholes are in the way, they are lucky that more of them haven't been run over.

...

I had some other thoughts I wanted to put down but they are pretty much escaping me at the moment. Perhaps I will remember more tomorrow or Tuesday after I have had a bit of sleep.

Apparently police were called to Britney Spears house Thursday night to mediate a custody dispute and in the process she was taken to the hospital to have tests done and see if she was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Way to go Britney! Keep this up and you'll get mom of the year. I guess she's trying to gear up and be a responsible role model for her pregnant teenage sister.

The story at CNN says that their children were returned to Kevin Federline, who has primary custody, while the good doctors at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles get to decided whether to hold her for psychological evaluation for 72 hours.

Although it's listed as 'breaking news' the only reason this story isn't on top at CNN and Yahoo is the Iowa Caucuses last night. There aren't very many things going on in the world today that our limited minds want to know more than another Britney scandal.

Apparently the argument at Spears' home lasted about three hours last night before police turned the children over to Federline.

I'm jealous. Last time I got drunk nobody called the fire department to my house. What'd she do, threaten to burn herself down? And that would be a great loss because?...

Now that's a crowd. "Hey Joe, you got your camera phone?"

According to Google the incident 'involved a family dispute that police worked to resolve peacefully by court order'. Looks pretty peaceful to me. Six police cars, and ambulance and a fire truck were called to her house at 10:30 last night to help resolve it peacefully. Perhaps they were having a donut party afterward?...

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary's Thoughts, Adam's Blog, Right Truth, The Amboy Times, Big Dog's Weblog, Conservative Cat, Nuke's, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Woman Honor Thyself, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Celebrity Smack, Wolf Pangloss, and Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Sorry about the slow loading times for the site today. I'm not real sure what's up but it appears to be hanging up on MyBlogLog's JavaScript tracking widget. I will give it another hour or so before I yank it from the site.

I have been getting quite a few hits lately from the post I put up a couple of years ago when Meedio and crew sold out to Yahoo and crapped all over the users that had donated and purchased Meedio from them. Anyhow, at that point I was hosting Meedio here for download but the bandwidth got to be too much and I took the file offline.

Here is a link for anyone interested in downloading Meedio. It seems to be pretty reliable. I will also see if I can locate some others when I have the time and post them as well as others.

http://members.chello.be/sf15418/MEEDIO.1.41.setup.exe

During the next few weeks you may notice that once a week a couple of folks will be dropping by to put up a guest post or two here and quite possibly at my tech site. We'll see how it goes.

It's nice every once in a while to get different views on stuff and with the posts that I do about politics here and there it will fit right in. The Marine may even be persuaded to write something every once in a while if he can tear himself away from the X-Box 360.

Speaking of guests my brother may drop in occasionally as he has done in the past. If you haven't had the chance to read his book, Republic, you should head your happy ass on over to Amazon and get a copy.

I think I found a gadget that I want to get. I have been considering getting a plasma TV later on in the year to replace my aging television and hook to my HTPC but one of the things I want to make sure and do is to keep it low key. I came across a plasma lift that's built in to a cabinet that looks really cool. Set right I would be able to keep it in front of a picture or something on the wall behind it and then only have the Plasma TV come up when it was needed. Pretty cool actually.

Speaking of the HTPC, I should have all of the equipment I need to build a new one by February or so. I am looking forward to it. My ten-year-old asked me the other night when I was going to put BeyondTV back on. The whole family got used to being able to watch what they want and pause and skip commercials and when I took it out they hated it.