LA FLORIDIANA Will and Karen's Cabbage Key and Key West Kraziness, Part Three by William Moriaty | |||
THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEW "Beyond The Sea" by Mike Smith | |||
ODDSERVATIONS Romper Room Memories, 1973....Will Eisner Is Gone...."Sellevision"....While They Suffer, Let's At Least Make Sure We Feel Good by Andy Lalino | |||
BLACK DOG One Angry Young Man by Joshua Montgomery | |||
THE OGRE 2004 To Me by Clayton Smith | |||
SPLASH PAGE Hell Didn't Freeze, Well, Maybe Not Yet....Some Comments Regarding The Year's End by Brandon Jones | |||
MATT'S RAIL Happy New Year....I Am The Champion....Winter Fest by Matt Drinnenberg | |||
MIKE'S RANT Congrats....25 More....Passing On by Mike Smith | |||
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HELL DIDN’T FREEZE, Well, Not Yet!
Hurricanes don’t cut across the state of Florida, but they did in 2004 -- three times! Four hurricanes in six weeks was just the prologue to the earthquake/tsunami halfway around the world. With the threat of disease, the death could escalate to incredible numbers. Maybe hell has frozen over.
In 2004, we learned the polling a couple of thousand people and exit polls are meaningless. Voting in Florida can, not only go smoothly, but be in record numbers. The media proved to us that their agenda can be more important than the news, so we bid farewell to Dan Rather. Yes, Rather is gone, so maybe hell has frozen over.
Alex Rodriguez was traded to the New York Yankees, in spite of the efforts by their rival, the Boston Red Sox. The Sox overcame a 3-0 deficit, won four straight to beat the Yanks, then swept the series to end the Babe’s curse – maybe hell has frozen over.
The Stanley Cup comes to Florida, the Arizona Cardinals beat the Bucs, and Ron Artest revealed to us all what a bad idea players going into the stands to fight could really become. I never thought it, maybe hell has frozen over.
Comic books and music are probably the most disappointing because there’s always new stuff, but it always turns out to be recycled crap, mindless and unoriginal. (yes, of course there are a few exceptions) – sound familiar Hollywood.
Mel Gibson is an idiot for putting up $30 million of his OWN money to make a RELIGIOUS film – of course that idiot is putting over $500 million back into his account. “The Incredibles” and “Shrek 2” prove what I’ve been saying – families are going to the movies and will see the films again and again when they are good. Disney films are not, should we check for ice in hell….
Maybe Not Yet
We’ve been at war before and the deficit will be the end to us all. Goldberg’s book “Bias” seems more brilliant with each passing week. Gay rights have been oppressed before and we’ve complained about entertainment for years.
So, why are there no snow cones in hell? Because life goes on and we turn the page into a New Year.
Round the clock coverage of the Tsunami and football playoffs ring in the New Year, but look harder.
The end to the Star Wars prequel experiment, another Harry Potter book, a few more superhero movies, Wade Boggs entering the Hall of Fame, more Andy Lalino putting Tears for Fears in the same sentence as REM and U2 --- the PCR will have it all.
I’m sure there’ll be the same old debate about the economy not REALLY doing well and that Bush is REALLY an idiot. The tales Abu Ghraib will try to paint the entire military and the US as mindless animals who enjoy torturing Iraqis. The DNC will continue to concede the gay rights movement as more and more states will put bans in place. We might even finally have a Supreme Court justice change, but all in all, we will move on.
You don’t want to miss out.
Terence Nuzum, at any time, could begin to debate the legitimacy of film as art while supporting “House of 1,000 Corpses”, “Freddy vs Jason” and attacking Hollywood filmmakers. Drew Reiber will say the same. Special note here, if you didn’t read the three-part series Terence did: “30 Bands that made the 80’s not suck” – go read it, go now, we’ll wait.
Comics will come and go and we’ll try to find some decent titles to recommend. Of course, “Elektra”, “Fantastic Four” and “Batman Begins” hit the big screen and expect more of our comic themed cartoons to hit the shelves on DVD.
Maybe another new columnist will join the PCR as Andy Lalino did in 2004. I’ll miss the “Meet the Beatles” comments by Mike Smith, so we’ll have find a substitute ASAP.
We’ll debate GPS technology and how it can be abused. I expect more UFO talk and a sighting or two – it’s been awhile. The Oscars are right around the corner and U2 is expected to start their tour right here in Florida.
Will there be another Saints and Sinners film festival? How many complaints will there be over the remake of “The House of Wax?” Why is Robert Rodriguez doing another movie in 3-D? Why would “The Brothers Grimm” come out the week after Harry Potter and two after the next Pixar film “Cars?”
What will Apple do with all of this money from the iPOD sales and how do I get one of those portable Sony playstations? Will 2003 phenom band The Darkness release a successful second album (I just hope they lose the spandex).
How will we criticize the wealthy and successful for their donations during the tsunami crisis? Will the Democrats ever concede an election or will the challenges go on forever?
Some Comments Regarding The Year’s End
Best PCR “moment”: "30 Bands That Made The '80s Not Suck" by Terence Nuzum. Just fantastic work, with photos and commentary – awesome job.
Best Movie: “The Passion of the Christ”. It gets my vote because of the impact. I mentioned the box office success, but this really stirred the flames of the religious communities. Prior to release there fears of anti-Semitism (which never happened) and the constant flow of pessimism after its release that the movie would fizzle (which never happened). It’s arguable if there was impact on the election, but the movie itself was by far the biggest of the year.
Best Movie I Enjoy Watching over and over: “The Incredibles” and “Shrek 2” head the list but “Dodgeball” was best senseless comedy in vein of “Airplane” and “American Pie.” Awesome.
Best Album: Big & Rich’s “Horse of a Different Color” – I can’t stand Country music, so I was surprised when a couple of my friends forced me to hear “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).” These guys have blown up and really reached outside of the Country music community – the music on ESPN’s commercials for poker and the theme song “Deadwood Mountain” for the new “Deadwood” series.
Best Moment: Probably more of a great patriotic moment, was on Election day with the lines around the corner. All of the talk was about early voting etc…and yet the American public responded in huge turnouts, especially here in Florida. On that same note is the success of the Afghanistan election. Millions of voices were heard for the first time and it was put on page 15 of the USA Today.
Worse Excuse for a Movie: I guess this is more of my attack on Michael Moore as a filmmaker. I’ve never read much that was applicable to his other films, so maybe I just never knew this about Moore. Some call Speilberg a “satanic hack”, then Moore is Satan himself. “Fahrenheit 9/11” is NOT and was NOT ever a documentary, yet he threatened networks to show, blamed the government for censorship and attack his Oscar eligibility. He tells half of the story and uses timely editing to omit facts and mislead the public. Just like he uses references to magazines and newspapers, he never goes to the source documents. Pathetic and sad – hopefully the sequel will help his opposition next time.
Biggest Disappointing Movie of the Year: “The Village” – it’s nothing like it was advertised and will leave most viewers pissed off. Honorable Mention: “Van Helsing” – more greedy CGI.
Worst Album of the Year: Sure I could attack Lindsay Lohan or Ashlee Simpson, but come on – that’s too easy. Tears for Fears “Everybody Loves a Happy Ending” I don’t know how you can ever criticize an artist for putting out a product for the money and support this pile of crap.
Enough for now...Happy New Year!
"Splash Page" is ©2005 by Brandon Jones. Webpage design and all graphics herein (except where otherwise noted) are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2005 by Nolan B. Canova.