Common Thought of Sir Rantsalot

With the incredible success of the first one, a sequel had to be made. The hype got even bigger due to mass merchandising (more on that later), and brought about a fan base as big as Star Wars!

In 2, Manhattan is getting ready for the last decade before the new millenium, and a river of slime is overflowing beneath New York. A painting of pure evil is put up in a museum, and it’s believed to be the root of all the bad happenings. There’s definitely a lot more comedy involved. I remember seeing this in theaters and dying from laughter.

Eddie Murphy was originally supposed to be Winston Zeddemore, but we all know how annoying that would have been. Ernie Hudson is more down-to-earth and has a perfect fit as Winston.

After the films and the cartoons (more on that next blog), the DVD’s were released, and were on high demand, that re-ignited the fanbase who’ve been longing for a 3rd to be released but, due to the stubborness of Bill Murray and high budgets, it’s on hold… possibly forever.

It didn’t stop the fans from making their own visions of what could’ve happened after the second film.

A good majority of fans have done films online, such as Ghostbusters: The Animated Series (In one of the episodes, they encounter the Necronomicon from Evil Dead… TIGHT!), and Freddy VS Ghostbusters, which features Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street (obviously it’s a shot at Freddy VS Jason).

More is to be expected.

Next will be about the merchandise.

Catch ya on the flipside

DON’T CROSS THE STREAMS!

If you’ve seen this symbol before, you know of all the buzz behind it. I was watching the overrated “Be Kind Rewind” the other day and they did a poorman’s remake of this movie, and it got me thinking about why this film is #1 in my all-time favorite movies.

The film’s title is Ghostbusters, and I have been a fan long since I can remember. How? I’ll never know.

These next few blogs are in memoriam of pretty much everything Ghostbusters in honor of the highly awaited video game coming in the fall.

The phenomena started on SNL with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd traveling through time and space under the name Ghost Smashers, and that didn’t work out too well because of John Belushi’s passing.

The name Ghostbusters was already in use by a live action series, and it’s nothing like the guys with the proton packs. This one followed two guys and their gorilla, going around and stopping werewolves and other mythical beasts. It wasn’t bad actually, the intro was kinda catchy too.

How the name got licensed is still a mystery to me. Because the name went on with that company. But I’m not going to get into that.

The year was 1984, the month was June, and a comedy with an all star cast came out. Supposedly, this was to be one of the highest profitted comedies to rake in during opening week.

The film is about 3 college drop-outs who go into business eliminating paranormal. Combine the comedic talents of Harold Ramis, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd poking fun at what would be scary to a majority of us, and it’ll do. Ernie Hudson didn’t get enough credit though, Winston happened to be my fave ‘buster. I quote a good majority of the lines to this day as well.

Next blog will be about the aftermath of this movie: the sequel(s), cartoons, merchandise, and lastly, the games.

Catch ya on the flipside

Remember: Don’t cross the streams!  

As I was listening to Billy Joel’s Big Shot the other day from the disturbance of sleep from my alarm clock, I listened to the lyrics carefully, and noticed how well it describes America’s favorite trashbag heiress: Paris Hilton.

The song goes as follows:

Well, you went uptown ridin in your limousine,

With your fine Park Avenue clothes,

You had the Don Perringon in your hand,

And a spoon up your nose.

I take it that last line had something to do with cocaine. Anyway, the song goes on about stuff that Paris Hilton had gotten on the tabloids for.

Frankly folks, I could care less about her and the way she spends money. I’m really tired of hearing how she is trouble with the law, how she’s got a new reality show, a sex tape, a clothing line, a perfume, a record deal, blah blah blah. Granted, she is attractive, but a toothpick. She’s about as slim as a piece of chewing gum, and yet she gets all of these endorsements… she’s slowly becoming the next Howard Hughes; and someone as spoiled as her doesn’t deserve that. This isn’t out of jealousy, but annoyance. I guarantee if you turn on the entertainment news, you’ll hear something about her.

Main point here, Billy Joel’s awesome for seeing into the future by means of that song. And I’m tired of hearing about how tough of a stuggle Ms. Hilton is having. I heard recently, she’s not going to get inheritance from Hilton hotels, but that won’t matter… She’s made tons of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

I’ll bet if she tried living like the common folk for a couple years, she’d commit suicide.

RANT OVER

Catch ya on the flipside  

One day while I was shopping at Uwajimaya, I noticed this restaurant on the side of the building that wasn’t in the sense of being famous. It’s a hole in the wall, a restaurant that doesn’t make a big scene on commercialism, but it stands out. Thos kinds of restaurants have the best damn food imaginable.

The name of this restaurant is Samurai Noodle; I have always been big on Japanese cuisine, so I figured I’d give it a try. The environment was crowded, but it was small and to the point, “come for the food” is practically all it was saying, for there’s only like 7 spots to sit at.

The menu consists of 8 different kinds of Ramen, chicken, beef, soy, pork, etc. there’s also rice bowls and cups in case you’re not in the mood for soup. I ordered chicken ramen (shou-yu) and sat next to the window.

Little did I know that I was in for something big and tasty, for this isn’t the kind of ramen you’d find in a styrofoam cup or in a small plastic package, it’s FRESH! Daily they make ramen noodles and concentrate on the broth last.

The average bowl of ramen consists of a huge saucer with lots of chives, a big slice of the meat you ordered, dry seaweed, and other tasty stuff.

The Stranger once described Samurai Noodle with these words, “I have found God, It’s in a bowl of ramen Noodles.” That’s pretty much how I felt, the broth was delicious, the noodles tasted awesome upon entering the mouth, and over all, IT ROCKS!

If you finished your noodles but have broth left over, you can order extra noodles for  $1.50. You can add stuff on to your ramen like fish cakes and other good stuff.

The one thing I didn’t care for too much is that you couldn’t get free Green Tea, and a lot of Japanese Restaurants do that. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying my food.

I’ve taken a friend of mine there and he ate everything to the last drop. He claims it’s the best Japanese dish he’s ever had.

My father and his girlfriend went and thought that it had very good flavor.

I took my ex-girlfriend there on our first date, and she claimed that it was gross…  that’s because she ordered the fish broth, (not on the menu anymore) and her heart’s black, so it affected her tastebuds.

All in all, it’s not cheap, it’s $5+, but it’s worth every penny. Next time you’re at Uwajimaya, check it out, and prepare for super happy fun time in you’re mouth. I also think one’s to be opened in the U-district.

**** out of *****

Catch ya on the flipside

Seriously folks, if you don’t like Seinfeld then you’ve major problems. To this day, I still watch the adventures of Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer religiously. Each and every episode is about a teeny little problem that occurs. In some ridiculous way by the end of each episode it get solved. Jerry whines, Kramer does something farfetched, George yells, and Elaine gets embarassed. Why does it work so well? I have seen the Soup Nazi episode at least 5 times and I still can not get over the line, “NO SOUP FOR YOU!”. Cracks me up everytime.

How does a show that’s plot lethargic and so mellow remain such a phenomenon? I’ll tell ya why, we can all relate to it. I’m sure there’s been a time in all of our lives where we all refuse to eat something someones father made for us after he forgot to wash his hands after using the bathroom, misplaced thoughts on paper taken by the wrong hands, etc. 

I have been watching Seinfeld from the ripe young age of 11 on, I remember chatting with my friends about shows we watch and they were all agreeing on “Friends”, and I said, “I like Seinfeld better” of course, I got made fun of, screw them. Friends sucks. Granted, they didn’t have the intellect they do now, but neither did I, but I still liked it for Kramer and the dry humor.

I was glued to my seat for the final episode; I remember how big of an event it was, it was all over the newspaper, TV Guide, and I was ready to watch until the end. When the final episode aired, MTV did something special; during the commercials of the final episode, MTV aired a few short minutes of a showed that needs to be resurrected as well, Cartoon Sushi. Cartoon Sushi was a showcase of psychotic animation from the US and Canada, since I have always been into animation, it was a feast for the eyes. On the last episode of Seinfeld, the gang got locked up for their antics throughout the years. I remember shedding a tear or two. I will never forget where I was.

Recently, my friend bought the complete series for close to around $300, he claims it’s worth every penny. It even came with a dope coffee table book with production notes and junk.

For Jerry Seinfeld’s mindless thoughts and dry humor, he’s earned the spot of one of my favorite comedians. Bee Movie was definitely a goo-un for it kept it’s own with a bunch of material from Seinfeld.

Well, I’d love to rant more about Jerry Seinfeld, but the show’s coming on soon!

Catch ya on the flipside      

Myspace has done wonders in my life, it’s helped me find long lost friends, ex’s, introduced me to new bands, find bands from all over the world, keep in touch with people better than e-mail, post stuff for sale, blah blah blah. Case in point, I hate it with a fiery passion; I check it everyday non-hesitantly just to see if I got a message and stuff. It’s like a drug that was made legal for use by everyone thanks to this scumbag who calls himself Tom. Huey Louis… there you go (his song “I want a new drug”). Case in point, I logged on Thursday and one of my “friends” happens to be the manger of El Corazon, and she had stated that there was a free secret show going on in the Emerald City, starring a metal band that risen to the top in popularity thanks to a video game that’s pretty addicting itself… Guitar Hero. Originally on Guitar Hero 3, the software was all ready for release, then I guess during a test run, some programmers installed a song for play on the game entitled “Through the Fire and the Flames”. This song was originally supposed be a joke; the track is insanely off the wall with guitar, bass, drums, keyboard and everything else, it made me straight up say, “Metalli-who?”. I guess the popularity of this song had everybody in an uproar, and record sales went through the roof.

The band’s name is DragonForce, from London, England. They started in 1998 by ways of guitarist Herman Li. The band claims video games are the biggest influence on their music, for their off the wall sound. They’re one of those bands that seem like it’s all about the guitar, and not the vocals, even though the vocals are good.

I first heard DragonForce when I was flipping through the channels late one night, and landed on Headbangers Ball. I thought to myself, “these guys won’t last, just a normal rock band that’ll have it’s 15 minutes.” Boy, was I wrong. I went to a party with a friend of mine, and he started playing ”Through the Fire and the Flames” constantly. A few days later, I could not get the damn song out of my head, I had to go buy the CD. So I did, and listened to it to the point where I was bored with it.

Months roll by, DragonForce seems like a thing of the past, and I have found other bands that are cool. When up until last Thursday, I received word on the unholy website myspace that… oh wait, I already told this part didn’t I?

I spread the word to some of my friends, in hopes that they’d be there. But, 1 friend of mine couldn’t make it. I had conflicts with showing up because I had tickets to a Mariners game that day as well, but the game was 1300 (1 pm) and this show was at 2000 (7 pm). I left early because the game was going nowhere, it was tied at 1 til the 14th inning, and it was 5pm already.

Anyway, the show was pretty damn awesome! I was suprised to see a band as big and as epic as DragonForce to bring their A-game to a small club like El Corazon, and I usually don’t like going there for it’s size and the lack of hearing the band due to it’s loudness. But that was a long time ago. I could hear everything perfectly (even though the instruments were insanely loud), it wasn’t too cramped, and I liked it, perfectly. The band was awesome to the crowd, throwing water at the sweat englazed crowd, throwing guitar picks, making gestures, telling everybody to get up, taunting each band member while still playing like it was their last time, and giving praise to Seattle by telling us how awesome we are. This is a band that only plays arenas and ampitheatres. So to see a band like this in a small venue is considered a supreme honor especially if it’s in a city that’s not as famous as New York or Los Angeles.

For their encore, guess what song they played? If you guessed Through the fire and the flames, you win! It was pretty much total bliss to hear it live. And I got such an adrenaline rush, that I had to go nuts and fight through the crowd to the front, and looking back, that was a good time! I still can’t believe that was free. And it’ll never happen again.

I want to go play Guitar Hero now. And I’m sure you do too.

Catch ya on the flipside

PS There’s video of the show on youtube, but I didn’t want to put them up on this blog due to stealing someone else’s thunder, so if your interested, go to youtube, and type Dragonforce el corazon.   

Trye Parker and Matt Stone have solidified themselves in comedy concrete not by just doing South Park, but the films they’re involved with as well. With Team America: World Police, they’ve pulled many a gutsy move as far as statements about certain countries go.

Team America: World Police was done completely by use of puppets, which can be signified only as strange nowadays, now that there’s CGI Animation, special effects and others. The inspiration for use of puppets was brought about by a children’s show called Thunderbirds. If Matt Stone and Trey Parker are present, you can imagine that a lot of rauchy, screwball-esque type comedy is headed your way.

The plot is down right ridiculous, but like I said in one of my previous blogs, “it’s a comedy, it’s supposed to make you laugh.” Terrorists are overrunning the globe, America’s had enough, and a team of specialists are hired to stop it all. Kim Jong-Il is pissed at the world so he wants to make every thing right by bringing chaos to the world. Enter an actor named Gary to sneak information about whats going on with Jong-Il’s master plan.

This movie is still talked about to this day, myself and most of my friends included. Some of the best one-liners you will ever hear, “Durka Durka”, “I’m so Ronery”, “Matt Damon”, “America, F*** YEAH!”… I could go on. There’s tons of swearing, a sex scene, vomiting, gay slurs, and more galore! Bear in mind that these are all done by puppets! The only “real” cameo is done by two black cats who claim to be panthers.

All in all, it’s wacky and it’s smart. Trey Parker actually shipped 5 copies of this movie to Kim Jong-Il himself in hopes that he’d see what kind of person he truely is. For a movie that screams America, but takes a potshot at America as well, this stands out in a sea of crappy movies.

F*** YEAH!

4 out of 5 salutes to Old Glory

Catch ya on the flipside

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

What can be said about the Ace Man? He’s made quite a dent in everything media. He’s done voice acting, ranted about his manliness and has kept his own with the likes of being on the radio. Before he did any of that he taught boxing and even stepped into the ring a few times. With all of his success in the media, it was time he showed the world how well he could write a movie… and act in it as well. The popularity of this film was nothing too special though, it was in independent theaters for a few weeks, and then 1 or 2 months later, it’s on video.

Jerry is a down on his luck construction worker who’s about to hit the big 4-0, he’s bored with his job, his girlfriend and pretty much life. On his spare time, he teaches boxing at a local gym. Back in the day, he had boxed and wasn’t on top, but he was a good fighter; a scrawny bag of bones like him would deliver a hell of a punch, therefore, the alias “The Hammer” was given to him. When he gets challenged to step in the ring, he gets observed by a scout from the Olympic U.S. boxing team, he’s then asked to join. But there’s something fishy about wanting a man his age to join a team of highly tuned boxing machines. 

The acting was typical Adam Carolla, smart-assery all the way. By that I mean, insults left and right, a slight joke here and there, and it kind of made it stand out from all the rest of the movie that was going on. The other characters were down to earth and had nothing special about them, just like actuality. Life isn’t all special effects and miracles, it’s hard to rise to the top, no matter how many times you get drunk. Boxing is and always has been one of my favorite sports. So it was pretty nice to see one of my favorite comedians dish out his skills.

All in all, this film’s for the guys all the way. If you’re looking for something that isn’t quite as epic as Rocky or Cinderella Man, but have the strength to see a film that’s on the level of the average Joe such as Beer League, check it out. 

4.1 out of 5 Knockout Punches

Catch ya on the flipside 

On top of the music buisness by the time he was 13, inventor of punk rock, druggie all the way, partied with the Beatles, chopped his brother in half… in case you don’t know who I’m speaking of, it’s the late Dewey Cox. Dewey Cox changed the music industry from the time he was 13 and performed with his band. He then married, and had a bunch of kids. He had at least 30 great albums.

What’s that? You’ve never heard of Dewey Cox? Good, because he’s not real. He’s a creation of Judd Apatow; and played by John C. Reilly. This film delivered a very different kind of funny, just for the ordeal of the many things it was parodizing. John C. Reilly is an odd actor; I’ve seen him do serious roles, angry roles, independent roles, and just plain silly roles. It’s nice to see him climb to the top in a lead role finally. He brought nothing charismatic, but he did bring his A-game to the role which made it seem like no one else could fill the shoes of Dewey Cox.

The story was flat out ridiculous, but it’s a comedy. Comedies aren’t supposed to make you have deep thoughts or exploration for meaning, no, they’re supposed to make you laugh. Mainly the idea of “comedy” has been taking the wrong way these days (Sideways), and parodies are getting more lame (Meet the Spartans). The creators were definitely on to something when they made this film. In a sense, it’s a hardcore rip on Walk the Line (the Johnny Cash movie), and it manages to deliver everything that wouldn’t seem like an insult to the Man in Black. Lots of idiocy was brought about by the use of drugs, such as when Dewey and his band snorted a bunch of cocaine, they all thought it would sound good if they played a song sped up. The result was, “It sounds like the kind of music a bunch of punks would hear!” That had me rolling on the floor laughing.

All in all, it’s a good one. If you’re looking for something original in the sense of parody, check it out. If you want to be viewing a film thats nothing but lame fart jokes and stupid knock offs, Meet the Spartans awaits you. In the spirit of Spinal Tap and with the energy of Walk the Line, I encourage you, down lifes rocky road, if you’re gonna walk… make sure you Walk Hard.

4 out of 5 Guitar Strings

Catch ya on the flipside