My Mom Can Shred

KareBear, Pastor Bill and KareBear's partner in crime, Peggy

Yes, the guy in the middle is a pastor.

Somehow I imagine KareBear is tearing up "Crazy Train"

Wolf-Man is coming back to hassle you

Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright.

I like The Wolf Man.

I'm not as big a fan of the original The Wolf Man movies as I am of the first two Frankenstein pictures. But I do think the original Wolf Man is a really good time. Horror. Romance. Pathos. Wolf clubbing.

I knew the story of the original Wolf Man from one of my monster movie books from when I was a kid, and its been spoofed, imitated, etc... so often that the story seems, perhaps, more simple than it actually is thanks to its immediate familiarity.

Suffer poor Lon Chaney Jr., who is talented, but who never landed his father's career or reputation. Yet, Lon Chaney Jr's actually a genial sort of Wolf-Man, and you really pull for him. I can't really imagine anyone else in the role, but part of that's sealed with time. Like many of the monster movies, the Wolf-Man is a sympathetic figure cursed with an affliction rather than a creature of outright evil (see: Dracula).

Now, its never a good time being a werewolf. You tend to kill and eat your friends, tear up the countryside and generally cause a lot of havoc that you normally would not. And without the benefit of getting to be a player, a la Edward Hyde.

The movie also features Claude Raines, and, dammit, when it comes to genre movies, YOU CANNOT GO WRONG WITH CLAUDE RAINES.

here's a fan-made trailer for the original:



Anyhoo, looks like they've finished a lot of principle photography on a new version of The Wolf Man, starring Benecio Del Toro. This is a bootleg video of ComicCon footage. Watch it before Universal pulls it down.



The director is Joe Johnston, who isn't my favorite director, but who I think could handle the material pretty well. Especially if he just really cuts loose. Plus, hey, lovely period outfits for the art film snobs.

I don't know why some trailers look wrong, and some look right. I suppose a lot of it has to do with the Keanu Reeves quotient.

Plus, you know, the promise of werewolves.


Wolf Man then


Wolf Man now

In case you missed it, Steven's B-Day. Birthday celebration, desserts, video and Steven's generally positive demeanor, all by Lauren.

Dark Knight in IMAX and in Perspective

Jamie, Jason, Wagner and Wagner's brother, Jeff, and I all ventured out to see "The Dark Knight" at the IMAX at the Bob Bullock Museum today. The show was sold out, as, I believe, all shows were sold out over the weekend for the IMAX.

It's true this movie is doing gangbusters. And on a second viewing, and sort of pondering what else I've seen this summer, rightfully so.

A second viewing revealed some plot holes I missed watching the movie the first time. Mostly regarding stuff like "well how did Batman know to be there then?" I'd say I'd let that slip, normally. But I reserve Batman simply KNOWING where to be for Batman as supporting character and seeing how he creeps out even his fellow JLA'ers. In a comic, cartoon or movie about Batman, he's a detective, and him figuring those sorts of things out is often what the story is about.

But, you know... Batman is cool like that, so if he just knows where to be, then... awesome. But had they done too much of this, its the same sort of thing that usually makes me say "I have absolutely no idea what is happening in this movie..." What bugs me about that sort of thing is that Batman IS a detective. At least in the comics. So would it have killed them to say "how did you find me?" And then have Batman give some idiot simple explanation.

I actually think I followed the plot a lot better this time instead of just gritting my teeth and letting the movie knock me over like a rogue wave. And, I am happy to say, the Batpod was just as cool on a second viewing.

Given the stories on all the clams Batman is making for Legendary and WB (and hopefully the folks who worked on the movie), I looked up how its ACTUALLY doing in an historical perspective. You can see where it's currently sitting at Box Office Mojo's adjusted dollars comparison page. Unlike every entertainment reporter in the world, this site actually takes inflation into account when making hyperbolic declarations about the success of a movie.

Right now, Dark Knight has almost made as much/ sold as many tickets as... Batman. Go figure. That said, I recall seeing Burton's Batman in the theater about five or six times over the course of several months, and Dark Knight's been in release for about four weeks. So... we'll see.

But its also sort of fascinating to consider ticket sales for something like "Cleopatra" when you compare it to the actual population of the time, number of screens, etc... In a way, it makes you really realize how even movies are narrowcasting to such a degree that when a movie DOES make superstar money these days, its worth looking at why that's happening.

How was Dark Knight in IMAX? I have no idea. We were sitting so close to the screen that I know the effect was totally lost on me. Aside for being able to say "Oh, THAT'S what it would be like to be a microbe floating somewhere near Morgan Freeman's face!", I don't know if I got everything out of it I could have. Jason actually got up and moved to the back and had to tell me the screen changed aspect ratios throughout. I hadn't even noticed because I was sitting in the middle of the image.

World Now Significantly Less Soulful

If you noticed that things seemed a lot less groovy today, there's a reason.

Isaac Hayes has passed away.

We're losing too many of the great ones.

Steven G Harms is old

I couldn't post on this before, because Lauren was attempting to keep things a surprise, but Happy Birthday to Steven G. Harms.

Last night we met up at Threadgill's on Riverside for some home-style cookin', and a whole crew of Harms friends and admirers were in attendance. Lauren busted out some really great desserts at the end (which I am not sure was okay with Threadgill's policy, but they didn't argue, either). So cupcakes AND cherry pie for all.

I had a brief passing thought that JimD should have been in attendance as his George Baileyness led, in one way or another, to many of the folks celebrating Steven's birthday. I also worried that if we were in the first act of a film and all celebrating such a nice birthday (we somehow managed to squawk out Happy Birthday in tune), that this had to be one of those coming of age movies in which someone was going to die in the third reel.

So, I am doomed.

Happy Birthday, Steve-N.

Byrne & Eno, together again

Do you like David Byrne? I do. Maybe not as much as some, but I have something like 80% of his stuff. Unfortunately, some time around 1995 I quit being able to remember the name of every song on every album I owned, so don't ask me what is on what album or anything. That part of my brain just doesn't function.

It seems Byrne and Eno have once again decided to collaborate. Funny, because just this week I was ripping "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" to iTunes for the first time, as well as Byrne's "Grown Backwards" and Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets". I've owned all of them for a while, but hadn't made the transition to iPod status.

Here's a link to a website for the new album. be careful, as there's self-starting audio.

There's a free MP3. That's pretty cool.

The site includes tour dates.

I happen to already have tickets to see Byrne as he's headlining (as far as I'm concerned) ACL Fest this summer. I'm glad I already had tickets. I think if his only swing through Austin was part of ACL Fest and I wasn't going? I'd be very irritated.

But I have tickets, so I'll try not to think about how ACL Fest is sort of screwing up Austin as a destination city for bands on tour. I'll be there at the AT&T stage for Byrne at the 6:30 show. Let me know if you're there, too.