Hey Arnold: October Remember

"I was always dreaming about very powerful people, dictators and things like that. I was just always impressed by people who could be remembered for hundreds of years, or even, like Jesus, be for thousands of years remembered."

     - Arnold Schwarzenegger

It's a Dammaged Goods kind of month with plenty of awesomely 80's inspiration going on in the forms of Jean-Claude Van Damme's Birthday, Carl Weathers night and Arnold, Arnold, everywhere!  Just yesterday, The Oak headed to Columbus, Ohio for the rededication of a bronze statue featuring his bodybuilding likeness.  Originally unveiled in 2012, sculptor Ralph Crawford's 8 foot, 600 pound ode to the inspirational Arnold has been moved front and center outside the Convention Center where Arnold and promoter Jim Lorimer have held the annual Arnold Expo and Bodybuilding Classic since 1989.  Arnold also owns a piece of nearby shopping center Easton I believe which used to house a Planet Hollywood.  The event hosts bodybuilding and fitness competitions along with gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, fencing, table tennis, yoga, martial arts, strongman, archery and more.  1000's of athletes descend on Columbus in late February/early March while the events bring in over 150,000 spectators.  I've attended several years and it's always fun to walk around the floor checking out the exhibitors, guests and events.  Back in the day you got A LOT of free samples of protein, energy drinks, fat burners and the like but now that they got ya, companies don't need to hand out as many goodies since crowds will show up with or without the freebies.  Kind of like Comic-Con...

Next week on Wednesday, 10.15, I'll be seeing Arnie in the flesh when he along with writer/director James Cameron and producer Gale Ann Hurd attend a 30th anniversary screening of The Terminator at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.  Humans From Earth hosts the shindig that sold out in mere minutes.  Originally released on October 26th in 1984, the $6.4 million guerilla style, B-movie, Tech-Noir masterpiece went on to gross a respectable $38 million smackers and firmly established Cameron, Hurd and Arnold as filmmaking institutions.  Arguably the real stars of the flick, the human prey and her protector, Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese, played by Linda Hamilton and MICHAEL BIEHN would also flourish from their connection with Cameron.  Hamilton starred in groundbreaking sequel T2: Judgment Day 7 years later before marrying the brilliant but workaholic Cameron and divorcing in 1999.  Biehn would go on appear in Cameron's 1986 Aliens, replacing James Remar over a weekend and then 1989's The Abyss.  A one day cameo in T2 would be the last official pairing but the two nearly collaborated again on 1996's Titanic and 2008's Avatar.  Biehn would work with Hurd on kids sci-fi flick Clockstoppers as well as syndicated action series Adventure, Inc.  This will be my...6th time seeing The Terminator on the big screen?  And you can bet your ass I'll be leading the applause when Biehn's credit comes up.

A week after The Terminator on Friday, 10.24, The Egyptian hosts another Arnold infused special event, this time with a screening of Predator as part of Dammaged Goods' night with special guest Carl Weathers.  The seminal macho "men on a mission" flick/sci-fi thriller from John McTiernan and Joel Silver sports a terrific cast along with the Oak including Weathers, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham and Shane Black.  Part action movie, part 50's alien invasion, part jungle nightmare, Predator has stood the test of time to become one of Arnold's and the genres most beloved and quoted films.  An Arnold-less sequel, 2 crossovers with Aliens and a reboot/sequel have yet to equal the original in terms of quality or box office.  A new sequel is in development at Fox courtesy of writer/director Shane Black that is rumored to include Arnold's character Dutch.  Carl Weathers will join us for a Q&A where we'll discuss his work on Predator as well as other memorable roles in the Rocky series, the Joel Silver produced Action Jackson, Happy Gilmore and Arrested Development.

Now everyone say it with me..."Get to the choppa!"