Disney Daze

Halloween is in full effect at the Disneyland resort in Anaheim with the 3 hour Happiest Haunts tour being sold out 15 minutes after going on sale and Mickey's Halloween Party and trick or treating taking over the park several nights a week. With Disneyland closing at 7:00 PM Friday, the crowd invaded California Adventure Park so we decided not to head over. Saturday we supported the House of Mouse by taking in touted # 1 show The Lion King, an expanded version of the 1993 mega hit starring James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Jeremy Irons. Playing a limited engagement at Costa Mesa's beautiful Segerstrom Center for the Arts across from giant mall Southcoast Plaza, the 90 minute movie was expanded to a 2 hour and 40 minute show that sees elaborate costumes, moving sets, song and dance. I can't say I'm the biggest appreciator of live theatre but you had to admire the effort. The venue was quite large and the cast, crew and orchestra put on quite a show. There were bars on each floor where you could pre-order a drink for intermission even though you couldn't take them to your seats, random...

On Sunday it was off to Disneyland to make use of our Annual Passes. It was surprisingly crowded but we were taking a tour so we'd be in good shape. This is our 3rd or 4th tour at Disneyland after learning about Walt Disney himself, getting the lowdown on California Adventure Park and the general Welcome look around. Tours are an awesome way to experience the park as not only do you learn a lot, get hard to see looks behind the scenes and a special pin but best of all you get on several rides without waiting! Today it was Cultivating the Magic aka checking out all the plants in the park. Disney's magic is in the details and horticulture is a big part of it. With nearly 200 employees taking care of the plants, it's amazing some of the things you walk by not realizing how much time and effort goes in to maintaining. Some eye opening developments for me were learning about the vast types and numbers of plants used throughout the park like decades old trees lining Main Street or a Chinese redwood over in Adventureland. Or how the fences and walkways change between lands. At one point it was pointed out that stalks of corn were growing near Tomorrowland while the Jungle Cruise's lush rainforest is all irrigated and an Energy Star winner meaning that Disney isn't wasting a lot of money or resources to keep up appearances. Rides we were able to walk on to were The Jungle Cruise, where we got our own boat, the Haunted Mansion (bypassing the huge line) and those little boats over at Storybook Land. It was a brisk two hour tour and our guide was great. We were recognized by another tour guide so I guess that makes us regulars huh? See ya next week for the Happiest Haunts 3 hour extravaganza!

Fall Flicks: The Walk

 
After that terrific morning workout it was off to The Outlets of Orange aka The Block for some breakfast and a movie, Robert Zemeckis' tight rope spectacle, The Walk. It's been years since I've been to The Block but it's held up pretty nicely. You have lots of brand names stores like Calvin Klein, Banana Republic, DKNY next to hold out restaurants like Cafe Tu Tango, Market Broiler and newer additions like BJ's Brewhouse and The Saddle Ranch. It's kind of funny the Sunset staple has expanded to Universal City, Triangle Square and The Block but it's a fun spot and they give you cotton candy. The AMC houses no less than 30 screens and is quite the movie palace. There's quotes on the floor, giant posters as wallpaper and a half dozen of those Coke machines that make you 100 plus favors of fake. Our early screening of The Walk was old school with open seating.

Based on To Reach the Clouds, the memoirs of street performer and tight rope walker Philippe Petit, The Walk tells the tale of a driven daredevil and his quest to walk a high wire between the soon to be open World Trade Center Towers in New York City in 1974. The always likable Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the Frenchman who learns how to walk the wire from circus promoter Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley) as he contemplates how to fulfill his dream of walking between the American towers. Forming a gang of accomplices, Petit heads to New York and sets in motion his plan to break into the tower, string the wire across the open 140 feet, do the walk and not get thrown in prison. It's a pretty straight forward affair filled with fun, danger, a touch of romance, heavy French and New York accents and more than a few intense moments of rigging, walking and extreme heights. I heard people were getting sick and vertigo from watching but our 3D show brought us nowhere near vomit inducing. Some people are just weak I guess, I mean if you get sick watching shaky cam in a Bourne Identity flick I just can't relate. After the low budget Flight brought Zemeckis back from technology driven affairs like Mars Needs Moms, The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol, The Walk is an economical crowd pleaser that has sadly not made a huge dent at the box office. But with hits like Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, Cast Away and Flight to his credit along with pushing the limits of filmmaking technology, it won't take long to see him bounce back.

Workout of the Day: Traveling Man

After that late night and awesome meal from Wendy's, of course I took advantage of the hotel gym in the morning. It was actually a pretty well equipped space with dumbbells, a cable/chin station, several benches and multiple cardio options. I went basic for Chest and Biceps with:

- Chins and Push Ups
- Incline DB Press and Zane Incline Curls
- DB Flys and Concentration Curls
- DB Pullover and Hammer Curls

In general went for 12/10/8 for reps to get a nice pump. Finished off with some forearms and Standing Calf Raises, using the foot of the bench and holding a Dumbbell in my hand before a few minutes on the Elliptical.

Gotta Eat! Junk Gold

It was a short holiday weekend down to Orange County where we'd be taking in The Lion King stage show as well as a tour at ol' Disneyland. The OC Auto Show was in full effect so our standard Anaheim hang outs The Double Tree and Red Lion were booked up. We opted for The Double Tree in Orange a few miles down the 5 since they had a shuttle to the park and were right next to The Outlets of Orange, formerly The Block. I used to live and work down here so it was a bit of a time warp seeing Best Buy, Wendy's, Krispy Kreme and Friday's from our hotel window. It was a nice

spot and pretty quiet up on the 11th floor. As usual we over packed weekend supplies that included chips, bars and chocolate while we picked up some delicious Seagram's 7 Apple Orchard whiskey along with some Munchie Mix, pork rinds and Combo's. While I've been doing the 8 hour window eating thing, it was time to kick back because it's not everyday I can walk to a Wendy's. They've been advertising $4 meals where you get a Jr. burger, chicken nuggets, fries and a drink. Apparently fast food joints have moved away from the dollar menu and embraced small meals like KFC's Five Dollar Fill Up, Jack in the Box's $6 Night Meal or McDonald's Double Cheeseburger and Fries for $2.50. I went old school and grabbed a Classic Double (in my youth it would have been a Classic Triple), fries, chocolate Frosty and chicken nuggets. It was all Damme tasty. It's funny to see people forecasting the death of struggling top dog McDonald's but a little research shows that they posted roughly $5 billion in profit last year. Not made, but PROFITED off near $36 billion in revenue. You know who is second behind them? Starbucks with $12 billion in revenue. I think they'll be ok...

(Pre)miere: Live-Evil at Comikaze

It's been a wild ride this last year and a half producing events that's seen Dammaged Goods presents at three different theaters around town hosting a multitude of guests from Sheldon Lettich, Dolph Lundgren and Steven de Souza to Carl Weathers, cast and crew from G.I. Joe and Transformers and of course, the recent two day He-Man and She-Ra event that saw no less than five screenings and over a dozen guests. On Saturday, October 31st, I can add comic convention moderator to my list of accomplishments as yours truly will take the stage at Los Angeles' largest comic book and popular culture convention, Comikaze Expo! That's right, I'll be hosting the west coast premiere of Live-Evil exclusive to the Comikaze crowd on Halloween night. Written and directed by Ari Kirschenbaum, this quirky, throwback flick is a mash up of Ghostbusters, Dawn of the Dead and The Twilight Zone. Having been accepted to a half dozen festivals on the east coast and picked up a few awards, Live-Evil stars Vladimir Kulich (The 13th Warrior), Charlene Amoia (How I Met Your Mother), Vincent M. Ward (The Walking Dead), J. Richey Nash (Hitting the Cycle) and Tony Todd (The Rock, Candyman). It's Halloween night in a small college town when supernatural forces are unleashed resulting in walking nightmares and zombies armed with machine guns.

The fun starts at 5:00 PM on Saturday, October 31st with the exclusive screening followed by Q&A with Kirschenbaum, Kulich, Amoia and Nash. Admission is included with your Comikaze Day Pass and stay tuned for location updates when the full schedule is released. This year Comikaze welcomes the likes of Stan Lee, Carrie Fisher, William Shatner, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Jim Lee, Grant Morrison, Rob Liefeld and many, many more. Get your tix and stay up to date HERE.

Sneak Cinema: Death Valley

This Saturday sees the Hollywood red carpet premiere of Death Valley, a noir style crime thriller set in the harsh desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. What starts out as a drunken wedding run turns into a struggle to survive after a hit and run pits a group of strangers against one another. Directed and co-written by longtime Stunt Coordinator T.J. Scott with a script assist from Brad MacPherson, Valley stars Katrina Law (Arrow, Spartacus), Lochlyn Munro (Scary Movie), Victoria Pratt (Heartland, Mutant X), Nick E. Tarabay (Longmire, Crash) and Kelly Hu (X-Men 2). The film hits VOD on October 20th, until then check out the sex, sun, booze and betrayal packed trailer:

Animated Goods: King Arthur & the Knights of Justice

For your second heap of 90's awesomeness, let's take it back to 1992 for syndicated animated series King Arthur and the Knights of Justice. I grew up watching this show and really dug it, one year I fashioned a Sir Gallop costume for Halloween out of cardboard, string, sweat pants, PVC pipe and a couple of baseballs. It's been ages since I'd watched the show but a friend had recently rediscovered it and I'm now 6 episodes back in. After a rollicking electric guitar heavy, 90's rock theme song, the series starts with King Arthur and his Knights having been captured by the evil Queen Morgana and imprisoned within some diamonds in a cave. Wizard Merlin is unable to free the ruler and gazes into the future, coming across Arthur King, a likable quarterback from modern times and his football team The New York Knights. On their way home from a victorious game, the 12 football players take a shortcut in the rain and end up transported to Camelot. Merlin enlists them to free the true King Arthur which will require finding the 12 Keys of Truth. Being a bunch of city boys, the football team can't fathom how they'll be able to protect the kingdom while they search for the keys. Luckily the magic round table gives them each armor, weapons, a specialty item that can be summoned and the skills to fight and ride.

The team pledges "fairness to all, to protect the weak and vanquish the evil" in order to receive a He-Man-esque transformation and go out to kick Morgana's forces in the pants. Lord Viper leads the huge and powerful if dumb Warlords who have names like Axe, Bash and Blackwing. Both sides have armored steeds decked out with projectile spears, battering rams, smashing wrecking balls and catapults. Each episode sees the Knights go on a mission to help nearby townsfolk or locate a key of Truth. The characters are pretty broad with the fair and leveled leader of Arthur, big dumb guys Trunk, Brick and Phil then the I-talian builder Tone, geeky Asian Zeke and fast talking Sir Breeze among them. Tone was always my favorite for some reason, it must have been it his overblown accent and ability to build the Brooklyn Bridge in half an hour. The action is entertaining as swords clang, stuff gets launched everywhere, Warlods knocked off horses, etc. No beheading action but you know, this is Saturday morning stuff here. The fantasy aspect is played up with a magical unicorn who talks through mind bullets, dragons in caves and the like. Then you get some basic morals as one knight finds his courage, kids stand up to overwhelming odds, Arthur puts himself into knowing danger for the benefit of others, etc. Sure a lot of it doesn't make sense (why would you take a shortcut during a horrible storm? Why are there only 12 players? Why would one of them be the bus driver? Why are they so cool with being forced into Merlin's plan?) but it's a cartoon, folks, just go with the randomness and enjoy it.

King Arthur and the Knights of Justice ran for two 13 episode seasons in 1992 and 1993. I can't recall season 2 where they face off with Asian influenced enemies so it will be cool to watch or rewatch with nearly fresh eyes. I remember some really ugly figures from Mattel of Viper, Arthur, Lancelot and Darren which seemed like rejects from Masters of the Universe. Then again the line did reuse the Slime Pit and one of the vehicles so I'm probably not far off. Marvel Comics put out a three part series and a SNES video game hit in 1995. You can pick up the entire series on DVD for a cool $8 from Amazon and relive the glorious 90's with me. "Knights, Knights, Knights! Yeah! Knights, Knights, Knights! Break it down!"

Paneled Goods: The Kindred

After revisiting Divine Right I hopped into some Backlash, the badass, mutagen enhanced soldier turned Stormwatch combat instructor. Before receiving his own monthly series, The Lash was teamed up with fellow resident masked deadly smartass Grifter from WildCATS for miniseries The Kindred. You see both Backlash aka Marc Slayton and Grifter aka Cole Cash were part of Team 7, a covert ops action squad that were exposed to the Gen Factor, a crazy, pink, radioactive type dealy that gave them all powers. Backlash is able to turn into mist and utilizes psionic whips to take fools out or swing over stuff while Grifter got the short thrift as his powers of telekinesis waned but he ages slowly and heals fast. But he's a deadly sharpshooter and was trained by an alien warrior so it all works out. Exposure to the Gen Factor gave Team 7 powers but also made some of them mad and commit suicide. Tapping into "The Rush" accelerated the mental and physical deterioration.

Hitting stores in 1994, four part The Kindred follows former teammates turned bitter acquaintances Backlash and Grifter as they attempt to rescue their former leader John Lynch and his assistant Alicia Turner. They've been kidnapped by a villain called Bloodmoon and taken to Caballito island. Lynch and Turner are put on trial as we learn that Bloodmoon is actually Robert Diaz, a thought dead member of Team 7. Injured and left to die, Diaz washed up on Caballito island where he was taken in by The Kindred, human/animal hybrids resulting from secret experimentation done by Lynch's contemporaries at International Operations. Basically The Kindred are the results of an early version of the Gen Factor so it's Lynch's and I.O.'s fault times two. It's action and one liners galore as Backlash goes in with the troops, Grifter turns up, they're captured, they escape, they rescue their comrades and shocked to learn that Diaz is still alive. Grifter tries to help his former friend but after so much pain and the mental derangement of the Gen Factor, Diaz is hearing none of it. After lots of bloody battle and explosions, Grifter has the chance to save Diaz after a bridge collapses but Backlash can't hold up the two of them and forces Grifter to let go, essentially killing Diaz a second time. While Backlash and Grifter begrudgingly team up for the series, by the end Grifter is back to thinking that Lash is a self centered @$$hole only looking out for himself.

As if you didn't know, I love 90's comics. The supersized bodies, egos and action all make for some fun and intense reading. With a globe spanning security force, secret mission backstory, genetic experiments gone wrong, hostile buddy dynamic and exotic locales, you really got a lot of bang for your buck. Sure it's overblown with the action, one liners, muscles, hot babes and all but that's the point, it was the action decade! You get Grifter talking about someone suffering from lead poisoning after shooting them, quoting John McClane as he swings in shooting, scantily clad, uber buff men and shapely women and oh so many masks with exposed hair. The layered and intricate backstory adds history and heart to the goings on but never gets too confusing between I.O., Team 7 and whatnot. Jim Lee and Brandon Choi provide story details while Brett Booth gives it all a kinetic and violent edge with lots of destruction, physical dust ups, fire and more destruction. This is also the series that sees Backlash jump kicking a man-bear as the Island of Dr. Moreau influence is used to excellent effect. Next time we dig into Backlash's ongoing series!

Ask Me a Question: The Monster Squad

As if four movies on Saturday weren't enough, it was time for the weekend's fifth on Sunday with a matinee of 1987's The Monster Squad at The Ace Theatre in downtown. As I already mentioned, it was frigging hot this weekend and The Ace is right next door to the Eastern Building where they shot Predator 2. So going into scorching hot downtown was in a sense, like reliving Predator 2 since that took place during a heat wave. The great folks at La-La Land Records invited us after attending He-Man & She-Ra Day at The Egyptian last month. La-La had new copies of Bruce Broughton's excellent score available in the lobby and co-host Creature Features had tables full of prints, posters and other cool stuff. Upstairs there was a VIP reception where you could mingle with attending cast and crew but honestly I wouldn't recognize anyone besides F/X gurus Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. The bar(s) were open so I enjoyed a couple of Jameson and ginger ales before and during the flick. We saw Back to the Future here a while back and I feel like the inside changed somehow, the seats seemed closer to the stage or something...

Eric "Quint" Vespe from Ain't It Cool News was the host and apparently he organized the first revival screening of Squad back in 2006 in Austin. Since then the flick has experienced a resurgence thanks to many a repertory screening and a 20th anniversary special edition DVD. Creature Features hosted a Monster Squad event at The Aero years ago and it played during last years Beyond Fest. Sadly composer Broughton couldn't attend but Vespe brought out actor Stephen Macht, cinematographer Bradford May, Gillis and Woodruff for a pre-movie panel:

- May was a young camera man hired by non-union director/producer Peter Hyams to shadow him. Ended up on Monster Squad and had a great time.
- Film shot for just over 3 months, utilized much of Warner Brothers backlot including Hazzard Square, the lake featured in the film is now office buildings.
- Peter Hyams' wife liked Stephen Macht in a television series, Hyams asked actor if he wanted to be in the movie, they shook hands and that was it.
- Macht's movie wife Mary Ellen Trainor (Lethal Weapon, The Goonies) was a terrific human being and the two became lifelong friends. Had no clue she was ill and sadly passed away in May.
- Stan Winston's studio hired to do the Mummy, Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein and Gill-Man f/x. Wolfman is based on Winston's own personal appearance and hair style. Gill-Man was first time Woodruff was in a suit, would later be the Alien in several films. Was in Gill-Man suit for 14 hours once. While shooting in lake, didn't want to pee in suit as he thought it might change material color.
- Originally wanted to use Universal monsters but studio passed.
- Gillis is still semi-embarassed they used remote control cars to move bodyparts around.
- Tom Noonan was method and stayed in character as Frankenstein, would answer direction with grunts and never let child actors see him without make-up.
- Macht doesn't think the film could be remade because it was a simpler, more idealistic time in the 80's. His son Gabriel (The Spirit, Suits) grew up on the film and still loves it.

While I own The Monster Squad and played it in the background, I've never actually sat down and watched it so seeing it on The Ace's beautiful screen was absolute best way to experience it. Basically, a crew of teenage kids who love monster movies (Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, Brent Chalem, Michael Faustino, Ashley Bank and Ryan Lambert) end up in possession of Van Helsing's diary. There's an amulet, a prophecy and virgins involved but Dracula and his monster cronies have returned and it's up to the kids to stop them. Directed by Fred Dekker with a script assist from Shane Black, Squad is a great 80's flick where kids curse, monsters are scary and realized practically, a kid can write the Army a letter in crayon and they show up while still injecting some real life drama like fighting parents and child bullying. Plus there's a big score by Broughton and a montage set to a snazzy 80's pop tune. In addition to the kids cussing, you also get one of them killing the monsters via wooden stakes and arrows then making and shooting silver bullets and it's no big deal. See? Don't coddle children, let them eat dirt, it'll be fine.

After the flick, Vespe introduced cast members Andre Gower (Sean), Ashley Bank (Phoebe) and Ryan Lambert (Rudy):

- In true Shane Black fashion, some of the dialog has a hard boiled detective/pulp novel feel. Gower was instructed to deliver the final line of the film with Clint Eastwood style steely aplomb.
- As kids they had no idea what a big production the film was, they could only work 6 hours a day and had 3 hours of school a day.
- On set teacher watched out for them, objected to Lambert climbing up into the treehouse set.
- All remember Treehouse set being great, so detailed and realized.
- Shooting in square was hard as giant fans were blowing them around, debris everywhere.
- Bank's scene and terror with Dracula Duncan Regeher was real as she had never seen him with his evil red contacts and he really frightened her.
- None of them knew the film had such a cult following. Lambert was in San Francisco playing in bands when first heard. They've attended multiple screenings around the country and love seeing film with fans as each crowd responds to different things.
- Fat kid Horace actor Brent Chalem was shy at first but eventually gelled with crew. Sadly passed away from complications with pneumonia in 1997.
- As adults, give major props to the crew who actually made the film while they went home.

Everyone involved looked back fondly and really appreciated that the film was still playing so well nearly 30 years later. After the Q&A, the actors hung out signing posters and taking photos while I grabbed Bradford May a moment. You see, May went on to have a prolific directing career mainly in television with Nash Bridges, The Equalizer, The Twilight Zone, Dallas, JAG and multiple TV movies making up his 100 plus credits directing and as a cinematographer. For me it all comes back to Michael Biehn as May directed 1997's Asteroid, a $20 million dollar, 4-hour miniseries that was watched by 30 million viewers. Biehn starred as the gritty and heroic leader of FEMA and May told me it was a huge production, shooting for nearly 4 months, mostly in Denver. I have a copy on VHS at home even though it omits some 60 minutes of footage from the original broadcast. But May is a great talker, he had stories and decades worth of technical knowledge in his computer but somehow doesn't make it dry or hard to understand. It was a nice cap to a very fun afternoon.

24 Hours: Dog Day Afternoon

 
After Steve Jobs over on the west side we trekked across town to Hollywood for our last night at The Egyptian Theatre for Beyond Fest. I was pleasantly surprised the commute didn't take too long on the early evening and we ended up catching a piece of matinee screening of 1925's The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney. This was really cool as it was a silent film with a small orchestra playing live. Out in the lobby was tons of Phantom memorabilia like posters and busts. It was over to favorite happy hour spot Boardner's for some dranks and grub where it got more crowded than I think I've ever seen it. Hot too as it was a real scorcher this weekend, my car's temperature gauge read 100 and 101 more than a few times. Back to the theatre where the sold out crowd was waiting in the courtyard since none other than Al Pacino was appearing to talk about Dog Day Afternoon. I'm a big fan of Pacino and director Sidney Lumet but I had actually never seen the flick even though I own a two-disk special edition of it. Christian and Grant got the audience going as usual with free giveaways, tee shirts being chucked and shot into the audience and free DVD's where one jerk off didn't pass it back to the winner. The audience booed and shamed him but I don't think he gave it up. What a douche..The night was being brought to us partially by Warner Brother who are just releasing it on special edition blu-ray. Moderator Bret Ratner produced a new documentary on co-star John Cazale that is included.

Dog Day Afternoon is based on a true story where Pacino plays Sonny, a not exactly seasoned bank robber who with partner Sal (Cazale) get caught up in a media frenzy when their heist goes wrong. We start to learn about Sonny and the pressures he's facing that lead him to try and rob a bank. By the end I was really wondering if they'd make it after everything they'd been through. Pacino is terrific as the frantic and funny Sonny while Cazale is quiet, odd and slightly menacing. The mainly female cast that make up the bank tellers are great and you get a young, serious and handsome Lance Henriksen as a mostly silent FBI agent. It's easy to see why the film was nominated for six Academy Awards in 1976, eventually taking home Best Original Screenplay for Frank Pierson. Lumet does a great job of making a talky drama resonate with personal relationships, defying authority and taking a shot when everything seems to be crumbling around you.

After the film, Bret Ratner introduced Mr. Al Pacino who looked randomly great with his big hair, suit and a shirt that exposed much of his smooth, tan chest. Pacino still has it; terrific energy, a real zeal for his craft and a sense of humor:

- Ratner is a huge Pacino fan, mother took him to see Buffalo 66 in New York where they sat in the front and got spit on by the star for two hours.
- Pacino was doing theater mostly before he fell into films, was coming off The Godfather, Serpico and The Godfather: Part II which is no small feat of now classic films.
- Had worked with Lumet on Serpico, also a true story, and quit Dog Day not once but twice.
- Lumet was an advocate of rehearsal so cast had several weeks to prep for Dog Day.
- Pacino pushed certain actors into the film, including Godfather I & II's John Cazale for Sal even though the character was written for an 18 year old.
- Cazale was a great friend of Pacino's and quite the ladies man, discovered Meryl Streep in a Shakespeare in the Park production in New York.
- The script was solid but during rehearsal cast started to build upon and improvise. One example is the phone call between Sonny and his lover Leon (Chris Sarandon). The two were originally supposed to have a scene face to face but Pacino felt the phone call would serve story better.
- Infamous Attica! scene came from assistant director who suggested Pacino use it during a scene where he's outside of the bank talking to police and surrounded by the crowd. Topic of bloody prison revolt was still a hot topic, when Pacino called out Attica to the extras, they responded enthusiastically and the classic scene built from there.
- Pacino has been acting since his early youth, doing plays, always performing and by the time he got famous and found success, it was difficult to go back to that early feeling of freedom and exploration.
- Didn't want to meet the real Sonny as the events had already happened and didn't want to caricature.
- Asked about never working with Martin Scorsese, Pacino hopes that a project including the director, himself, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Bobby Cannavale firms up, Ratner hopes to produce.

It was an awesome night and great to see a living legend in the flesh. Beyond Fest has outdone themselves again for a third year running. Sunday saw a tribute to Wes Craven featuring half a dozen distinguished guests and things wrap up tonight with the west coast premiere of martial arts extravaganza The Assassin. Can't wait to see what they have up their sleeves for next year.

24 Hours: Steve Jobs

After From Dusk Til Dawn 3, Planet Terror, Dunkin' Donuts and the gym it was off to west Los Angeles for a screening of Shame: Apple Edition aka Steve Jobs at the Landmark. Here's a tip, don't park in the theater side structure on a Saturday, it was a frigging mess. Go a few feet down Pico to the main mall lot and simply cross the street or bridge. We were a few minutes early and checked out the upstairs bar for a cider and glass of wine, respectively. They have light bites but if you're in the mood for food, the area has lot of options like the Westside Tavern, Gyu-Kaku, Islands, an Indian restaurant I once saw Goldie Hawn at (no Kurt though) and gastropub The Gulp within walking distance. Playing in a handful of spots in LA and New York, Steve Jobs like Sicario before it is an early awards hopeful. Based on the book by Walter Isaacson and adapted by Aaron Sorkin, Danny Boyle's Jobs takes a unique approach to a bio pic by studying it's subject via several lengthy scenes set backstage at three product launches in 1984, 1988 and 1998. Michael Fassbender plays the legendary Jobs with Kate Winslet, Seth Rogan and Jeff Daniels as his right hand woman, former partner and former boss.

I can't say I know too much about Steve Jobs beyond that he was a very public figure lauded for his insight and vision as well as his less than rosy social skills. Apple is an unstoppable juggernaut in the technology world but comes off as a bit of a cult to me. You have one of their leaders talking about wanting to help the environment yet have you ever seen how much packaging comes from a pair of earbuds or an adapter? Then he called the film opportunistic which Sorkin countered that Apple pays Chinese workers pennies an hour in horrid conditions to make products that are sold at premium prices. But the Jobs did help make Pixar what it is which in turn cemented Tim Allen's legacy so hey, raise a glass to love your past. Through the three main scenes with flashbacks sometimes happening at the same time, you get a simple yet thorough ideal of the person Jobs is, at least the version the movie would have you believe. I had no clue he was adopted and knew nothing about his rocky relationship with his daughter and her mom. It's little human touches that like that break him down to a basic level you could relate to which at the same time made me wonder how much of it was actually true. Fassbender is one of my favorite modern actors and does a superb job here of playing Jobs through the eras as driven and intelligent but also a bit of an asshole because he wants things to be perfect. Dialog is unsurprisingly crisp throughout and Boyle's editing and use of music keeps talky things going so I was never wondering what time or drifting off.

Early iterations had David Fincher directing with Christian Bale starring which would have been  something as I think Bale would have transformed himself into Jobs more so than the Fass did. Leonardo DiCaprio was courted for a time but I honestly don't think he would have been the best choice. In these early award days, I'll give Fassbender an edge over Sicario's Benicio Del Toro. We'll see what Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks give us next week with Bridge of Spies.

24 Hours: Morning Man Workout

By the time I got to the gym around 8:00 AM, I'd already been up four hours, seen nearly two movies, picked up doughnuts and hadn't eaten since 6:00PM the night before. My hands were a little shaky from low blood sugar but I figured that would be prime fat burning time in the gym. It was a bit crowded already but luckily it was all folks taking classes, not using the free weights. Shoulders and Arms were on the menu as I got in:

- Arnold Press superset with Rear Delt Raises and Dumbbell Upright Row for 3 giant sets
- Preacher Curls w/DB Triceps Extensions
- Gironda style V-Bar Dive Extensions w/Incline DB Curl
- Dip Machine w/DB Hammer Curls

To get a good pump, I tend to do 8-12 reps then add in a few half reps at the end of each set. After 3 supersets of arms I came back to Shoulders and did a few sets of Cable Raises for the medial delts then finished off with Calf Raises, Back Extensions, Abs and Forearms. No cardio today but I'll make up for it tomorrow. I weighed in a few pounds lighter than last week so the Intermittent Fasting seems to be working with no ill effects on my training.

At home cooling off I read up on Vince Gironda's Facebook kept up by former student Robert Torres. He does a great job of posting inspirational and educational stuff about Vince along with pupils and contemporaries like Frank Zane and Larry Scott. There was a great video of actor Clint Walker's home gym from the 60's which has all these great, space saving features that utilizes benches and poles to make for flat and incline as well as dips and a preacher bench. It's interesting to see something like this as the principles from back then still apply today that it's not about being a bodybuilder but simply working out to feel good, fitting it in whenever possible, eating quality food to recover, sleeping enough to recuperate and making sure you get your chins in!