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I'm looking around at some possible buys. You think this would impress the chicks?

Since When Did VH1 Know Squat About Heavy Metal?

I'm going to disagree with about 90% of this list:

40 ALICE COOPER MAKES A COMP USA COMMERCIAL
39 GENE SIMMONS MANAGES LIZA MINELLI
38 AVRIL PERFORMS "FUEL" AT METALLICA ICON
37 ADAM CURRY HOSTS HEADBANGER'S BALL
36 FAITH NO MORE's JIM MARTIN GROWS PUMPKINS
35 JOE PERRY HOCKS HOT SAUCE ON EMERIL
34 BRUCE DICKINSON FENCING/WRITES A NOVEL
33 MICHAEL BOLTON & KISS TEAM UP FOR "FOREVER"
32 AUTOGRAPH'S STEVE PLUNKETT WRITES 7TH HEAVEN'S OPENING THEME
31 VINCE NEIL STARS ON THE SURREAL LIFE
30 LEMMY WRITES MAN-ADVICE FOR JANE MAGAZINE
29 BON JOVI CUTS HIS HAIR
28 RONNIE KEEL GOES COUNTRY/BECOMES RONNIE LEE KEEL
27 PUFFY & PAGE TEAM UP FOR "COME WITH ME"
26 RATT HIRE UNCLE MILTY FOR THEIR VIDEOS
25 MOTLEY CRUE HIRES JOHN CORABI, DITCHES VINCE NEIL
24 MARIAH DOES DEF LEPPARD'S "BRINGIN' ON THE HEARTBREAK"
23 METAL ORCHESTRAS - METALLICA, SCORPIONS, DEEP PURPLE
22 EUROPE
21 BON SCOTT PLAYS THE RECORDER
20 KISS GOES DISCO WITH "I WAS MADE FOR LOVIN' YOU"
19 KIP WINGER POSES FULLY CLOTHED IN SUITS FOR PLAYGIRL
18 ALICE COOPER TRADES IN HIS BAD HABITS FOR GOLFING
17 TICO TORRES STARTS BABY CLOTHES LINE
16 TED NUGENT FORMS DAMN YANKEES
15 VANILLA ICE GOES METAL
14 OZZY PEPSI COMMERCIAL
13 PAUL STANLEY STARS AS PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
12 NELSON
11 EXTREME'S GARY CHERONE BECOMES VAN HALEN'S SINGER
10 MICHAEL BOLTON EARLY METAL CAREER
9 KIP WINGER BALLERINA
8 METALLICA CUTS THEIR HAIR
7 SHERYL CROW COVERS "SWEET CHILD O' MINE"
6 JETHRO TULL WINS THE FIRST EVER METAL GRAMMY
5 PAT BOONE GOES METAL FOR AN ALBUM OF METAL CLASSICS
4 HEADBANGER'S BALL CANCELLED
3 CELINE DION COVERS AC/DC AT VH1 DIVAS LAS VEGAS
2 OZZY GOES TO WASHINGTON TO MEET BUSH
1 VINCE NEIL LEADS GIANT CHICKEN DANCE

For one, I think anytime you note a "low point" for anything, there's got to be a threshold of people that recall the moment. And since there's not a lot that can recall some of the more recent entries here (esp. #1), this list has some serious flaws.

Clearly, there are three entries that can argue for #1: KISS going disco, Pat Boone crooning some Dio, and Jethro Tull being considered heavy metal by anyone on the face of the earth. It's arguable, I think, which of those goes in what order. But I'd have to personally rank Jethro Tull at the bottom of the barrel, with KISS's dance moves closely behind.

After that, this list because rather specious ... how many people really knew about Kip Winger taking ballet classes as opposed to those who count themselves disappointed by Gary Cherone's tenure at the front of Van Halen? Clearly, VH3 has to be in the bottom 5 of any list.

Entries like "Nelson," I can understand ... but Europe? You gotta be kidding me. Once they dumped the original guitarist for Kee Marcello, they were clearly a force that deserved more attention. #32, in particular, grates with me as I fail to see how that's a low point. I'm fairly sure that many would consider the theme song to 7th Heaven far superior to "Turn Up the Radio," anyway. I wouldn't, but I would note that Autograph's strongest points were it's catchy, radio-friendly songwriting as well as some expert two-hand-tapping guitar solos by Steve Lynch. Something missed with regards to Ronnie Lee Keel's move to country, however, is that he still packs a solid rock guitarist in the band, making the combination something of a curiosity for even diehard metalheads. As far as the divas and wannabes covering metal classics, the only one I recall is one that I do think deserves to be somewhere in the 30-40 range is Celine singing "You Shook Me." Clearly, the content was not self-evident to the handlers of that show, it was the initial VH1 Divas show ... and it was Celine freakin Dione singing AC/DC.

Items they may have missed (in no particular order) ...

• Pretty Boy Floyd (I add this as a fan)
• Beavis & Butthead (c'mon, this utterly killed the poppier bands out there)
• Vinne Vincent Invasion and/or Yngwie J. Malmsteen (again ... as a fan)
• P.M.R.C. (the absence of this entry seriously discredits VH1 as any source of music info)
• Billy Idol on Letterman (who could forget a stoned-out Idol regaling Dave with the various drugs given names of his songs ... proudly)
• Guns N Roses' attempted comeback (if you want something relatively recent)
• Metallica seeing therapists (great movie, but some things speak for themselves in terms of lameness)

Christmas Bounty

Won via a silent auction for the grand sum of $10:

• A Yamaha CDV-1100 Laserdisc Player
• A smattering of laserdisc movies:
  • Star Wars ... circa 1989 release
  • The Mask ... the primary reason I bought the lot
  • Superman
  • Batman
  • Batman Forever
  • Aliens
  • Jurassic Park
  • Close Encounters
  • Stargate
  • To Wong Fu
  • Terminator 2
  • Bugs Bunny Classics ... WTH???
  • Twister
  • The Color Purple
  • Three of Hearts ... they can't all be winners
  • The Prince of Tides ... as if there were any doubt?

A Place Where Nobody Dared To Go

Mrs. Lovejoy: Heh heh, Ned Flanders is on the phone.

Rev. Lovejoy: [groans] Mmm...hello, Ned.

Ned: [breathless] Reverend...emergency! I -- it's the Simpson kids -- eedily -- I, uh, baptism -- oodily -- uh -- doodily doodily!

Xanadu playing January 14th ... Midnight movie ... Museum of Fine Arts.

Seriously! FINE Arts. Are they truly ready for a Clown Car Invasion? We'll find out, won't we?

Tinny Tim Speaks for Me re: Kelly Bundy

Wait ... Christina Applegate getting a divorce???

Oh wait ... getting divorced because she's already got a replacement lined up.

Never mind. Queue up the talking robots:

[Cubert, Dwight and Tinny Tim sit around the table, bored. Enter Bender with the TV.]

Bender: (gasping) Guys, guys something's happening on television again.

[He puts the TV on the table and plugs the plug into his ass socket. The TV flickers on just in time for Entertainment And Earth Invasion Tonite. Morbo and Linda sit in the studio. The studio backdrop features flying saucers hovering over the Hollywood sign.]

Morbo [on TV]: Welcome to Entertainment And Earth Invasion Tonite. Across the galaxy my people are completing the mighty space fleet that will exterminate the human race! But first, this news from Tinseltown.

[Footage of Antonio's breakdown appears behind Linda.]

Linda [on TV]: Following Antonio Calculon Jr's breakdown on set, the popular TV show All My Circuits will hold an open casting call for child robots to replace him.

Bender: An open casting call for child robots? Tinny Tim? Are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?

Tinny Tim: What's that sir?

Bender: That I, Bender, am perfect for the role!

Tinny Tim: You raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly sir! [He raises his crutch.] Bravo!

*sigh*

One Expensive Hobby

Setup in a shopping cart on MusiciansFriend.com ... just in case I win the lottery:

Old Navy, New Spokesperson

For the record, I am once more a fan of the Old Navy television commercials since they've made Kristin Chenoweth their spokesperson.

Duck Soup

So a web programmer, a bank jockey, a lab rat, and a security guard walk into a Chinese restaurant ...

Not sure how the joke works inbetween the setup and the punchline, but it ends up with a rather well-reviewed restaurant getting a very slow turnaround on a prime table on a rather busy Sunday.

The day started off poorly. I'd injured myself the day before, thereby missing out on adding to my CD collection at an earlier gig. Adding insult to injury (quite literally), the restaurant was not where I'd imagined it. Seems that Southwest Freeway has some oddities with the odd/even numbering system of it's addresses. Odd is supposed to be on the south and east of streets. So what the hell is 8319 Southwest Freeway doing on the northwest side of the freakin' highway? Oddly enough, it was right where Google Earth had it pinned.

I'd departed the bus of my choice and somehow managed to get lost ... on foot. Save for an equally lost Ulysses picking me up alongside the freeway in tears, I'd probably be dining at Long John Silver's instead. Needless to say, the place I thought I recognized the name of the restaurant from was not the place we were to convene. Instead of a well-publicized storefront, this place was tucked safely into a cozy little L-shaped strip center easily missed by ... well, at least half the clown crew.

Be that as it may, our 11:30 party convened at noon and I was hungry for me some duck! Never had the stuff before, and I generally stay away from eating cute animals or animals I've played with in my younger years. Still, something spoke to me about Peking Duck. I draw the line at rabbit, but duck just somehow slipped through my decision set.

Peking Cuisine is noted for their authenticity among the Beijing expats. Not that I've got an extensive set of comparison points with regard to Peking Duck, but I can't complain when the food was pretty darned good. The gameplan seemed to work out just perfectly, with two additional plates (General Tso's Chicken and some beef dish that I didn't get around to) balancing us all out to just about full with a bunch of empty plates to show for it.

Still, we clocked in at a bit over 3 hours, which is easy for this weary band of clowns. Too much to talk about, too much to catch up on, and too much to entertain one another with. It was duly noted that this must be tried on a monthly basis. Since the Peking Duck idea was hatched by Uber and the Clown Caucus concept taken by your's truly, I hereby leave it in the hands of the other half of the cast to determine January's "Feast of the Clowns." I like the idea of the restaurant being a somewhat-to-very adventurous pick (Chinese food not being adventurous, but Peking Duck at least being somewhat of a treat), although the brainstorm of us raiding a Chucky Cheese's has it's allure. Oh, and can we just make a pact right here and now? None of this vegetarian nonsense, ok? I like to know that something other than in addition to the people sitting next to us suffered for our meal.

Kids Today ...

I've said it onc, I'll say it again ... kids today are a bunch of pansies.

Scheduling

PEKING DUCK: Directions? Time (hopefully 2pm)? Pricing?

Rocky in SA

(This is Joe's review of last month's production of The Rocky Horror Show theatrical performance at the Cameo Theater in San Antonio. I was there and generally agree with this review on most counts - UZ)

The Rocky Horror Show has just been given a revival that provides a happy occasion on two fronts. One, the cast seems to really enjoy the show and have a good time putting it on. Two, the audience enjoys it as well. I’ve never encountered an audience so keyed up and so excited over a production of any show. I enjoyed myself a great deal. Yet over all I would not say it was an entirely succesful production, though it is a good natured and truly entertaining one.

It feels a bit foolish to carp. In the twenty-plus years I have loved this work, I have seen abysmal production after abysmal production. Whether you like the movie or not, one thing it did was to preserve the original outlook of the people who put this piece together (stiched together from various sources and jolted to life, just like Frankenstein’s monster), and considering the woefully misguided stage versions I’ve sat through (which generally have had the high-wattage energy of a retirement home needlepoint class), even a half-decent production is nothing to turn one’s nose up at. This production is more than half-decent, but it doesn’t quite work quite a bit of the time, and that’s a problem.

The good things first. Staging almost the entirety of the show on a catwalk that stretches the length of the room is a great idea. This show, even before the advent of audience particaption, was always one that embraced and practically placed itself in the lap of the audience. A proscenium setting largely kills that possibilty, while theater-in-the-round wouldn’t allow for the presentational razzmatazz in which this musical is soaked. The staging here circumvents both problems. The usherette walking through the audience throwing out goodies to the crowd as she sings her ode to the late night horror show is wonderful, and the concept fits the show’s ambient tone: she’s wearing a teddy rather than a skirt, and she tosses out, not condiments, but condoms. In one sense, this moment embodies the various elements of the show (nostalgia, rock, horror, sex) better than any other in the evening. The band is strong, too, as they are all night long, and the lighting is effectively tatty showbiz, taking us into a slightly fog-tinted, colored-spotlit world of the imagination.

But immediately following this opening, Columbia rushes out to chant the midnight movie audience rouser “Gimme and ‘R’…” which makes no sense at this point (it would work as a pre-show bit, but to stop the show right after it began is pointless). And this sort of thing goes on all night. The show stops. For a 80’s rock bit. For an actor to go wildly out of character with ad-libbs. For a can-can. None of this even tenuously related to the story.

But then that’s the big problem with this production. The story isn’t told. The dialogue is barely staged, the songs minimally choreographed. The relationships are quickly lost. And so the pleasure of putting cardboard characters through their B-movie paces disappears, as does the saga of Brad and Janet’s seduction/corruption by the “dark side.”

One actor really maintains the truth of his performance, and that’s Brad, who is not only the best performer in the show, but easily the best Brad I’ve ever seen onstage. He’s committed to his feelings underneath his cartoonish exterior, and often displays a tight-lipped rejection of the decadence which surrounds him (like Sean Connary in Zardoz, his Brad knows he can’t escape the mess he’s in, but thinks he reatains some dignity by refusing to succumb to it; neither turns out to be right). Which makes moments like “Once In A While,” his solo in the floor show, and “Superheroes” surprisingly touching, really the only points in the show where that effective blurring of parody/earnestness in the orginal material is truly brought to life.

No one else in the show comes close to this, though they are often good. But the show has no story anymore for them to thread a performance to, and as the evening goes on, most sense of distinct personalities is lost.
Maybe it wouldn’t be if we could hear them. Given the band, and the loud audience, microphones seem a necessity, and the entire cast wears headsets, but some of them short out with distressing frequency, and even when transmitting often send out noisy obtrussive crackles. A lot of the dialogue is inaudible.

Yet I’m not sure that’s the entire problem, because the Frank, who is also the director, barely bothers to act his part. He has a persona, no doubt. He’s a gracious grand-dame, more presiding over his vehicle than actively fueling it; he has a great voice and an appealing stage presence, but he doesn’t differenciate. Everything is played on a slightly reserved, even keel. He tosses off Frank’s creation speech (the characters height of mad scientist insanity) as if he were reading stage directions in rehearsal, and the entire event is smothered by the large device to create Rocky being wheeled across the catwalk, anyway. He has no real anger when he chases Riff Raff in after Rocky has escaped, no antagonism when he calls Janet down with “Planet Schmanet Janet.” He seems to simply want to sing the songs, but all he does is sing them. He barely moves at all, other than to walk back and forth. He is sort of the rock equivalent of an Eastern Island statue. A smiling one.

Like most productions of this work (why, I don’t understand), camp isn’t the goal, beyond the faint aura of camp which hovers over the basic idea of drag and gender-bending. The peformers don’t play in a dreadfully-delicious deadpan manner (what Richard O’Brien once referred to as “Peyton Place-style acting”). Instead they play their parts in the vein of broad comedy. It works better here than in most produtions, I think because if they don’t have a camp sensibility, they do have a unified sensibility, and a consistent world is created for the show.

If it all seems to fall the pieces as the evening goes by, there are two saving graces at the end. One is a fairly well-conceived “Super Heroes.” The other is the brilliant decision not to turn Magenta back into the Usherette, but rather have both Riff Raff and Magenta sing the reprise of “Science Fiction/Double Feature” as they lightly prance down the catwalk. As if they are giving us the ending they wanted all along. And though this turns the song from a slightly mournful number to a more lighthearted (if sinisterly so) ending, it works, and leads quite nicely into the curtain call. Maybe that sums up the whole show. It may not be Rocky Horror in essence, but it works quite nicely and left this audience member pleased. It left the majority of the audience much more satisfied than that. This was an extended run performance, and the show seems to be a yearly staple in the city. The show has found it’s audience, and it gives that audience what it wants. Isn’t that the goal of popular entertainment?

Goat Alert in the Mainstream Blogosphere

The torch has been passed:

SOMETHING INTERESTING! My main concern about recent liberal scandal-mongering has been worry that, at some fundamental level, nobody cares about this. As the chief of staff in The Contender says to his own muckraking team: "Stocks? You brought me stocks? I want something interesting -- goats! little boys!" That's what the people care about. Not it seems that we may have a sex angle to the Duke Cunningham story as we learn that lobbyist Brad Wilkes ran a "hospitality suite with several bedrooms" at two different Washington, DC hotels. This is a family blog (except for the stuff about goats) so I won't spell out one's potential concerns about the sort of "hospitality" on offer at these suits, but it certainly could stand some inquiry.

--Matthew Yglesias

Goats ... there's nothing they can't do!

Second thought: Did I get out of this business of goats while the getting was good?

GOOD IDEAS FOR FILMS THAT SUFFERED FROM POOR EXECUTION

See, I'm attempting to goad you others into either parodying these posts or competing with them. Since only UZ has shown activity anywhere near this methodology, I'll just keep on with this angle awhile...

OUTPOST IN MOROCCO - 1940's desert adventure generally done straight with Kubrick veteran Marie Windsor opposite George Raft, who is cast against type as an easygoing French Legionnaire. Raft is quite effective in the part and Windsor is, for once, properly used as the Hedy-Lamarr-level babe she was at that time. The film appears hastily made; they should have taken more time with this one.

RED DAWN - I'll attempt to get past the obvious geopolitical questions about how an invasion of America by Warsaw Pact forces could have happened (books by Tom Clancy have more effectively handled similar questions) and bring up the more serious issue regarding film production: why did director Milius (normally pretty shrewd) try to make two movies at once? It's a predictive version of IS PARIS BURNING? grafted onto SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT. Nobody said it was illegal to try to do either of those things (a war movie and a redneck buddy picture), but there's a reason, you know, why JUDGMENT AT NUREMBURG was not done as a musical comedy: if it's serious, keep it serious. If it's light, keep it light. Mix the two and you only compound the problems you'll have anyway in bringing up divisive political speculations.

LORD OF THE RINGS (1978) - Think that last one was an argument-starter? You haven't seen conflict until you mention this one at a comic convention. The thirtysomething animation bigots will be up on their hind legs in a jiffy. I'm as complimentary as anybody of Peter Jackson's accomplishments and I realize Bakshi ran out of time and money. But with more resources in those two areas, the screenplay and score (both absolutely fantastic) would have been better assisted. Pistols at dawn, fanboyz?

RAISE THE TITANIC - For an allegedly terrible movie, it sported the only performance by Jason Robards with which I can in any way sympathize, as well as a wonderful John Barry score (available in reperformance by the City of Prague Philharmonic). Clive Cussler's adventure yarn posits (as was the popular witness-report-based theory in 1980) that the liner had survived intact and could be salvaged; the model shots for the raising were done with a "small" replica about 60 feet long in Maltese waters and were as good as pre-CGI methods had made possible. The idea perhaps could be (in an alternate history plot) reworked around known intact wrecks such as the West German submarine Wilhelm Bauer or maybe using the never-lost SS United States, now being refitted near Philly. Hopefully, someone returns to the general approach of Cussler, which was to cast a spy yarn around the core sentiments present in the resurrection of a vessel that represented the peace and "elegance" of "a more civilized age" (after Obi-wan Kenobi's light sabre soliloquy).

THE FOUNTAINHEAD - From the novel of, of all things, battling architects (based on that point in aesthetic history at which late-19th-century historicism began losing out to the Prarie School and the International Style), this one's the result of a pretty obvious programmatic problem: suppose you had a production team of Mel Gibson, Charlton Heston and Bruce Willis trying to make THE GRAPES OF WRATH? They might get it done, but their hearts wouldn't be in it. Same thing here. Director King Vidor unsympathetically works against the script by using cartoonish scene overlays in character exchanges, and another problem operates in that the freshman actress Patricia Neal didn't get convincing until about halfway through. A shame, since the seasoned Raymond Massey was better than ever as the newspaper magnate on whom the story turns, a self-made but self destructive man whose soul is pitted against itself.

MOST JAMES BOND FILMS - Read the books. There's less Roger-Moore-period lime green shag carpeting and more leather soles on rainy streets, the way it's spozed to be. It's been awhile since I saw it, but DR. NO offends me the least in this regard, and the Timothy Dalton portrayal was pretty fair as to the grittiness of spydom's daily grind, provided one lives through it.

FATHERLAND - This cable movie with Rutger Hauer was based on a book with a few flaws, but with better matte paintings and other optics tricks (where was the money for John Dykstra or somebody??) the planned 1930's expansion of Berlin seen in realization would have been overwhelming. On the other hand, general knowledge of Albert Speer's work is pretty low; I'm afraid to ask the average teen who won that war. So the market for a remake would seem limited.

THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN - What a waste! I'm considering doing my OWN script for this situation, which not only involved the first incursion of Allied troops onto Nazi soil, but the attempted defense of said real estate with jet planes (Germany had several in the last 18 mo. or so of the war, two models of which, a fighter and a medium bomber, were scrambled to the Battle of Ludendorff Bridge). That's what I said: jet planes in WW2. The braindead buttfucks who run Hollywood have never mined this incredible development. The mentioned film also managed to misuse the superb talent of Ben Gazzara in a part that ponders the morality of robbing bodies in wartime while the Fall Of History's Wackiest Dictatorship To Date looms as potential material. Actual eyewitness books tell incredible tales of the Ludendorff Bridge defense that would make great movies with NO changes.

Guess that list'll do for now.

Duck!

Coming, one week from today .... mmmmmmmmmm

Re: Were You Sent Here By the Devil?

FINALLY, blogging and threaded comments used for a truly constructive purpose. There can be no greater day than this ... let it be said, let it be written.

Charlie Brown Would Shoot Himself

What in the blue bloody heck is going on in this world?

Time to load up the "Holiday Tree" with Black Sabbath tunes, sit around and watch grandma get drunk off her annual bottle of schnappes while regailing us with tales of her premarital affairs with young boys heading off to war. Turns out she was a 'special gal back home' to many of our boys in blue. Shortly after these stories begin, you drag yourself to the bathroom, where you discover cousin Jennifer snorting coke of the toilet seat. Mom is off paying the delivery guy for dropping off her homemade dinner, while dad is cleaning his guns and eyeing your sister's new boyfriend, whose name you found out the previous night is apparently "Oh My God". At least that's what she kept yelling out despite your presence in the top bunk.

Merry Xmas, now let's go to the bar.

But He Told Us ... Where We Stand

There is a plot afoot to keep me from getting a decent night's sleep this week and it involves putting some of my favorite movies on television late in the evening. What today's kids don't understand is the old feeling of joy one used to get when a favorite movie was broadcast. These days everyone buys every DVD ever made for a dollar and therefore any movie is within reach and remote control. I sometimes think this detracts from the excitement of catching a favorite on the tube and being held to one's seat by the unfolding events WITHOUT the capacity to fast forward to the "good parts".

Sorry, what was I saying before I became an old crank? Ah, yes... one of my favorite movies on AMC. What follows doesn't qualify as a review, but merely a few kind words about a movie for which I have deep affection.

Two nights ago, it was Close Encounters of the Third Kind, followed by The Day the Earth Stood Still. CE3K happens to jockey regularly within my top 3 favorite films of all time. Yes, I was certainly a part of the Star Wars generation and owned as many of those toys as I could get my hands on. BUT... at age 7, I was fully aware of how superior and meaningful a film Close Encounters is. After all, I had only one Star Wars t-shirt, but I had two CE3K shirts... and a plastic bendable figure of the alien! How many of you can say THAT?!!

But this isn't about that movie. It's about the one that followed it, though there are some thoughtful comparisons to be made between the two.

The Day the Earth Stood Still remains one of the most atmospheric films of that glorious era when science fiction was at its peak. Then, it was all about outer space, whereas today's sci-fi deals more with inner space. Robert Wise made a very understated film, helped by a score that is a perfectly eerie backdrop to this quiet movie - one more deeply disturbing than anything about triffids or tarantulas.

I think what makes this movie so successful is a sort of inversion on the usual formula. It starts simply enough with the alien Klaatu (played by Michael Rennie, a man who STUNNINGLY resembles my father) being shot upon offering a gift to mankind that is misinterpreted as a threat.

The inversion is that the actual appearance of the aliens in this type of film is usually at least somewhat delayed. The audience is on edge in anticipation of the alien coming to disrupt the normal course of events, and the alien is usually some grotesque mess whose visage on screen is invariably accompanied by a blaring trumpet and a scream from the nearest female. But this movie gets started with the alien from the very beginning and, while it is the point where Klaatu is shot and thereafter that the film becomes menacing, there is again an inversion: it's not any initial wrath from the alien that upsets us, but the fear of backlash from the humans' behavior. It's as if everyone realizes how rash and dangerous WE are and we live in fear of the judgment from the alien. Rennie is great at walking very comfortably among the people, while it is they who are quite twisted up about the recent events and "threat".

There's a fairly strong religious subtext to this film: A being from "out there" comes and exhorts us to disavow our ignorant and violent ways, urges us to change lest we destroy ourselves. And all he gets for his trouble is more of the same from us. Mr. "Carpenter" (the name Klaatu adopts as his alias - not very subtle) is actually killed toward the end of the film, only to be resurrected, whereupon he delivers one final sermon and then ascends.

The only issue I have with this theme is his explanation of the role of the robots the aliens have designed to keep all the lifeforms from disturbing the galactic peace. I see one of two possibilities: 1) the aliens represent our conscience, given to us by God and enforcers of our morality, or 2) man has, in fact, constructed god as a means of deterrent for actions that cannot practically be monitored and enforced every second by mere human eyes. This second theory has much deeper ramifications beyond the context of this film, and I intend to learn more about that as I read Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, a book I bought a while ago but have yet to get to.

I think this movie stands apart from its genre for what it tells us about us - something science fiction ought to do, but somehow seems not to most of the time. Granted, sometimes the allusions are apparent (ala The Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the Red Scare, a connection the director of that film has disavowed - I can't believe that). But this film was important not only as an artifact of its time, but for a message that is indeed timeless: I have met the enemy and he is us. This may all sound rather trite, but from an era where so much of the cinematic presentation seems now quaint (stilted dialogue, goofy effects) and therefore utterly inacessible to the average teen except through a thick cloud of irony, this film truly rises to the top. Message: put aside your MST3K tapes for a while, and check out a true classic of the genre.

(Parting shot: one of the most vivid memories I retain from a decade-ago-at-least visit to Austin to play with their RHPS cast is of getting into costume at the director's apartment with a dozen or so other folks, and someone flips to this movie while channel-surfing. A few people watched with complete disinterest before someone asked what the movie was, and no one in the room could provide the answer but me. Not for the first, nor the last time, did I weep for those who profess so much affection for the film they were about to shadow, yet know so little about one of the sources of its inspiration. Still, I take heart that even though the cast didn't recognize this movie when they saw it, perhaps those first wonderful words spoken by those big red lips would inspire someone in the audience to seek out this gem and develop a deeper appreciation for Richard O'Brien's beloved classic, and from whence it came.)

Got 8-9 hours of extra time?

Here's an actual post with news of which you can make use:

http://www.di.fm/edmguide/edmguide.html

The above link goes to a categorized exploration of the history of electronic music from the 1950's to today. From Walter Carlos to the Pet Shop Boys to any number of recombinant forms from last week, there are quick samples of lots of stuff you don't have to buy or search for.

MOVIES I'M POSITIVE THAT I DON'T WANT TO SEE

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND - The 1961 rendition of the fantastic Jules Verne novel, it didn't need Ray Harryhausen monsters since there weren't any overgrown mollusks in the book. I may actually force myself to see the thing since the female interest (an actress with which I am unfamiliar) is recommended by some IMDB commentors and the score's from Bernard Hermann.

LEONARD PART 6 - this flick, starring Bill Cosby, was the subject of an unusual press junket: Cosby hit the talk shows telling people that the film was garbage and to avoid seeing it. I trust him.

GLITTER - In preparation for a threatened Clown night involving everybody bringing a bad movie and spinning the Jack Daniels bottle to see whose klinker was viewed, I purchased this thing. I have not viewed it due to worry of nausea, since while flipping channels last week I caught sight of Mariah, a real hottie in the 80's, now a bit heavier and murdering some otherwise acceptable song with a voice not quite what I remember from the day.

BABY SNAKES - I'll be in the mood for a Zappa videofest sometime, but not for about a year. I'm a FAN and there's still a limit...

BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN - I will not see this film UNLESS on a serious drunk with selected coconspirators, such as Kelly, Jeff/Kassie, perhaps a kidnapped Steffie... you get the idea. You don't? Good; you can't be considered an accessory.