"Come along, kiddie winkies!"

Welcome to my dominion.

# of PS2 games: 180

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▲ ▲ Triforce FTW!

• 11Jul 09

  Rant on under-appreciated movies

  Being a movie guy myself, I'm actually care about what should happen in a movie. It should be entertaining and have a good plot. Of course, these are two main elements of the motion picture. However, what I'm tired of seeing is films that are being downgraded for the wrong reasons besides those two, or were completely forgotten. You might not agree with me, but I got a few examples of under-appreciated movies.

  Example #1

  

  Cats Don't Dance

  This was made as a slapstick musical comedy directed by Mark Dindal, who also directed The Emperor's New Groove a few years later. It had a great songs that fit the definition of a musical, such as "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", and "Tell Me Lies" (both sung by Natalie Cole), plus it was entertaining, funny, anda great filmto watch. Even Roger Ebert himself enjoyed the film.However, Warner Bros. were in for a competition, as the film was released in theaters at the SAME TIME as Disney's Hercules. You can guess who the winner was back in 1997. To be honest, I did enjoy Hercules when it came out on VHS, though I didn't enjoy it enough, as I only watched it once. I watched it again because back then, I didn't feel like watching it again after that for some reason. However, if I had to choose what film was better, it would've been Cats Don't Dance. The film did moderately well at the box office, but director Mark Dindal wasn't pleased. He actually blamed Warner Bros. for lack of advertising, and to tell you the truth, I agree with him. If there was more advertising for the film, it would pull in more money and a wider audience. Barely any DVD of this movie, whether bundled with Quest for Camelot or not, was pretty hard to find, and I got mine via eBay, thank you very much.

  Speaking of Quest for Camelot, that's another example...

  Example #2

  

  Granted, this wasn't as great as Cats Don't Dance, because this one wasn't really much of a musical comedy. It was a musical adventure based on the novel called "The King's Damosel" by Vera Chapman. Though the partwhere King Arthur's sword gets stolen by a griffin right in front of himlooked kind of silly,the story was decent and the filmwas entertaining, and it did a good job by going along with it. Hell, Cary Elwes of"Twister" and "Saw"fame is in it, as well as Monty Python's Eric Idle. Oh yeah, and the song during the credits is actually performed by none other than Journey's very own Steve Perry. JOURNEY FTW!!! Anyway, the movie was pretty good, and is worth watching if you want an epic musical. Plus, the bad guy kicks ass.

  Example #3 (and yes, this is the final G-rated film on this list)

  

  Yes, I had to bring this movie up again. Let me say this, just because a movie isn't completely accurate to the original source (like a FOLKTALE for that matter), doesn't mean the film isn't good. This is the case. Granted, a lot of people like myself who watched the film as a kid enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a lot, and it's a film I can still enjoy as an adult.I don't like it because it was released the same year as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album (pandemonium 1973). That ain't the reason. The reason is because the film knew how to combine the magic of Disney with an english folk tale and become a success, and is a film I cherish for many years. Hell, the film was nominated for an Oscar for crying out loud, and is one of my inspiration for my cartoon fox. I can ramble on about how much I love this movie, but you know what. I'm not going to, because you probably know most of it already. Bottom line, if you haven't seen it as a kid, or haven't seen it for years, you owe it to yourself to get nostalgic and watch the film yourself.

  Example #4

  

  Windtalkers is your average World War II movie, and a pretty damn good one at that. However, people hated it because "they're used to the U.S. shooting Nazis instead of the U.S. shooting Japanese". I consider this hypocritical. Look at "Saving Private Ryan", which took place in Japan. Did they enjoy it? Yes. Should it count with this movie? I think so. So what if there's no Nazis in this WWII movie. It's a WWII movie none the less, and as I said, it's a pretty damn good one, considering that Nicolas Cage of National Treasure fame kicks a load of ass in this movie.

  Example #5

  

  OH! HERE'S A WINNER! Heavy Metal. An R-rated animated film based on the adult fantasy magazine that revolves around stories ripped straight from the magazines that have to do with eroticism, science fiction, fantasy, and horror, all rolled into one movie. Why don't some people enjoy this movie? Because some people don't get the message. Last time I checked, the film is about a glowing ball called the Loch-Nar "educating" a young girl by showing visions of how the Loch-Nar was worshiped and used. Wow. Not that hard. To me, this is a great example of great storytelling. Each story in this movie pulled me in, making me want to know more and what happens next, which is what a story should do. In fact, come look at this.

  These are just a few examples. In closing, I just wish that there are more intelligent movie goers like good movie critics that can appreciate different kinds of what could have been great films that would go down in motion picture history.

  • Posted Jul 11, 2009 9:15 pm PT
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• 10Jul 09

  Second week complete.

  Well, my work at Harmony Road Music Centeris complete, as I had more to do than painting walls. I had to clean some instruments (percussion instruments and pianos), and do a bit of sweeping. While I was cleaning instruments, I noticed something. Almost EVERYSINGLE piano and electronic keyboard is a Yamaha. Is it me, or is the owner of Harmony Road a fan of Yamaha products? I dunno.

  So the owner appreciated the work, and it was another job well done. I get to work in Northeast Portland next week. To be honest, I love this job. I get work AND cruise around Northwest Oregon, which is the best part. Oh yeah, and of course, I get paid next week, of course. I'm getting closer to my PSP.

  Moving on, I got a question for you. What is the creepiest thing you've ever seen in a movie made for kids. I don't care if it was from your childhood or not, it has to be something COMPLETELY weird and/or creepy.

  Mine would have to be "The Siamese Cat Song" (watching this will probably make you agree with me on this)segment from Lady and the Tramp. Granted, I have not seen that movie in a hell of a long time, but seriously, who the hell would find that scene normal?I can't go though the whole movie without bringing that up again. Even at the "Oh this is the night" song segment, I still say to myself "What the **** was up with those siamese cats?" Also, is it me, or is the song kind of stereotypical? I think someone at Disney thought that World War II was still going on and thought that the Japanese was still an enemy of the United States, and he/she isprobably an idiot.For the record, the Pink Elephants segment in Dumbo comes at a close second, because watching that makes me feel like I'm on LSD...and I don't do drugs, mind you.

  Speaking of Disney, someon on YouTube asked me about the new Disney animated flick coming out in December, called "The Princess and the Frog". From what I've seen, this film is using hand-drawn animation, and it has been a hell of a long time since the studio released a 2D animated movie. I hope the movie isn't going to suck, and God forbid if it does, because the people who watched animated films like this see that the film is terrible, they'll lose respect for the company, as well as myself. In fact, when it comes out on DVD, I plan to purchase it and watch it, then I'll decide if the movie sucks, blows, sucks and blows, or a good movie.

  Last but not least, gaming. What the hell have I been doing with my gaming hobby? Well, I am planning to re-arrange my shelf by putting games from other systems up there that are in DVD-$tyle cases, plus putting my PS1 and PC games in CD cases on the side, and I plan to continue on Disney Golf to beat the damn thing and get all of the characters, etc.

  Now, I'm going to chill. Later.

  • Posted Jul 10, 2009 9:19 am PT
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• 8Jul 09

  2nd week is almost over...

  ...and I get a paycheck next week...

  HALLELUJAH!!!

  PSP and Animaniacs, here I come.

  

  Smoke if you got 'em. BTW, this was a drawing from a long time ago. It's Fritz.

  • Posted Jul 8, 2009 8:55 pm PT
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