Holograms?

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Joe Froemming

Holograms, combined with live music, are becoming something of a rage now. After Tupac’s hologram performance from the grave at the Coachella music festival, other bands are coming out of the woodwork to bring back dead members in the new digital age.
Case in point is Queen, which is planning on using a holographic Freddie Mercury to perform at the 10th anniversary of the band’s musical, “We Will Rock You.”
Now, this is kind of cool and creepy all at once. Cool because, face it, ever since the original “Star Wars” movie came out, people thought holograms were awesome. Creepy because these people are dead and shouldn’t really be performing live still.
It also raises the ethical issue of using footage of a deceased person and parading it on stage for money. Say, in a hypothetical situation, Paul McCartney decided to use a hologram of John Lennon for his live shows to perform old Beatles songs. Since most Beatles fans have seen  live concert films of Lennon in “A Hard Days Night,” “Help!” and “Let It Be,” we would be paying to see nothing really new. Cool? Once again, yes, because holograms are awesome. But totally creepy as well.
I was unaware we had hologram technology like this until the 2008 election. There was Wolf Blitzer using holograms in his “War Room,” and I was stunned. But those holograms used living people, not old footage of dead politicians giving speeches.
So it is a double-edged sword. Holograms can be a cool concept, but they raise ethical issues of using a dead person’s image without their say.

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RIP Adam Yauch

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Joe Froemming

I woke up this afternoon to hear the awful news. Adam Yauch (aka: MCA) of the Beastie Boys had died at the age of 47.

My friends and I basically grew up with the Beastie Boys. I spent my teenage years listening to “Paul’s Boutique” and “Check Your Head” religiously. Trying to figure out what they sampled and laughing at their mocking pop culture lyrics was what my buddy and I did at work on our down time.

I remember when I first heard the Beastie Boys. My brother bought their first album, “License to Ill” on tape when it came out and I, at the age of 7 I believe, loved “Brass Monkey.” Of course, that tape would be played to the point that it probably wore out.

Like I mentioned above, my buddy Scott and I would listen to “Paul’s Boutique” and “Check Your Head” over and over again during slow moments at work. I pointed out to him that most of the samples on “Sounds of Science” was The Beatles and he pointed out the bass line on “Egg Man” was Curtis Mayfield. We were music dorks like that.

We would play “Ill Communication” when it was really slow because of the explicit lyrics.

One Halloween, my buddy Lucas and I dressed up as the cops from their video for “Sabotage.” We had the suits and fake mustaches. We were 19 and were a hit at the numerous Halloween parties we ended up at.

In college I would write reviews for the vinyl reissues of “Paul’s” and “Check Your Head.” The vinyl remasters were amazing sounding. As I write this, I’m listening to the sonic masterpiece on the record player that is “Paul’s Boutique.”

I’m saddened to hear of MCA’s passing. His gruff vocals were great alongside Mike D’s and Ad Rock’s. They had such a great dynamic among the three of them. I mean, this is a group that made references to Jack Kerouac, “Charles in Charge,” Johnny Cash and 80′s game show hosts on the same side of one of their albums.

I knew Yauch had health issues. I remember because it was found out just before they released their last album, “Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2.” It delayed for a year as he was going through his health problems. When it was released, I figured he must have beat the cancer. It is yet unknown what it was that did him in. But that album was dynamite. Truly a great album.

But Yauch and the others basically made the soundtrack to my teens and 20s. I still listen to the Beastie Boys to this day. Maybe not as often as I did in my younger days, but today I will listen to them all day. Because the Beastie Boys remind me of some of my best times. Rest In Peace, Mr. Yauch. Your music still resonates with new generations, and that is a great testament to your talents.

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How I almost got tricked into getting a Hulu Plus account

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Joe Froemming

Well played Hulu Plus. You almost got me. You once had all these amazing shows and I was just about to sign up for your monthly subscription.
But, suddenly, most of the TV shows I enjoyed watching on your website (most notably the FX channel’s content) disappeared.
Gone. Poof! Just like a red shirt in the original “Star Trek,” the programs I wanted to watch were gone.
But that wasn’t what broke the deal. I justified to myself that if you had “Seinfeld” I would give you another chance.
Nope. “Seinfeld,” “The League,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Sons of Anarchy” are not available on your site.
Plus, I hear you still run those annoying ads during commercial breaks.
The shows I do watch, suffice to say, are already available to me through Netflix.
Now I read that you are thinking about only offering your content to people who have cable TV. Well, if I got cable TV with a DVR, that sort of makes having Hulu Plus pointless.
You almost had me. If FX programs were available, you had “Seinfeld” and there were no ads, you would have won me over. But you failed.
I dodged a bullet with you, Hulu Plus. If I hadn’t done my research, I would have been suckered in. I’ll stick to my Netflix and Cackle (which has some episodes of “Seinfeld” for free).

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Beatles, 2.0?

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Joe Froemming

Recently, Sir Paul McCartney’s son, James McCartney, announced an idea he’s been kicking around having the sons of the Beatles group together and dreams of becomeing something “better than The Beatles.”
Yup, not surprising that such an announcement would come from a McCartney (Paul being somewhat infamous in the 70s by leaking potential Beatle reunion rumors that would never happen).
He said that Sean Lennon and Dhani Harrison are “into” the idea. Seems a little surprising, seeing that Dhani Harrison is much like his father and doesn’t spend much time in the limelight and Sean Lennon spends his musical ventures in the indie circuit. Plus Zak Starkey (Ringo’s kid) already plays with The Who and other bands.
But this is more about how disgusting this idea even is. The Beatles are classic. Not everyone likes them, but most know who they are and many who don’t like them sometimes admit they had talent.
Not that the Beatle offspring are untalented. This is more about James McCartney basically riding his father’s coattails to such an extent.
Does James, Sean, Dhani and Zak have the chops to make music. Sure. Will the music work with them performing together? Maybe. But will it be, as in James vision, better than The Beatles. I can honestly say no, no it will not.
But the arrogance of this guy is sick. He’d be happy just to “be equal to The Beatles.” First off, who is James McCartney? I’ve heard of the other three, enjoyed some of Sean’s music, but in 10 years of working in record stores I never once heard of James McCartney.
Secondly, there is no “equal to The Beatles.” That is ridiculous. It would be like the children of The Rolling Stones boasting such a thing.
Of course, when I first heard this, my first thought was “This guy needs money.” That is usually my first reaction to most news I consider insane. But his dad is a billionaire, a former Beatle and I’m pretty sure he’d help out his own child.
So, why is this guy going on BBC and throwing around such ideas? It seems like a cheap publicity stunt. I seriously could not see Sean, Dhani or Zak being “into” this idea, because it seems like something none of them would be into.
So, James McCartney, just get back to where you once belonged, obscurity.

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Why didn’t Screech drive and other questions about ‘Saved By The Bell’

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Joe Froemming

My tastes in pop culture may at times seem a bit strange. Like everyone, I too have guilty pleasures, and one of them is the late 80s, early 90s teen comedy, “Saved By The Bell.”

I’ve recently been re-watching a show I enjoyed two decades ago through the mighty power of Netflix. And some questions started popping up in my brain about some aspects of the hijinks at Bayside High School.

The show follows a gang of friends: Zack, Slater, Kelly, Jessie, Lisa and the ever annoying Screech.

But the questions I have go from the abstract to the logical and so on. I mean, what these kids get away with boggles the mind.

Question 1: From Indiana to California?

The first season of “Saved By The Bell” was actually a show called “Good Morning, Miss Bliss,” that took place in Indiana at John F. Kennedy Middle School.

This is a weird season to watch because while the principal is still Mr. Belding, and Zack, Screech and Lisa attend said school, suddenly in the second season these characters are living in California and Mr. Belding is the principal at the high school.

Now, it is never explained in the show what just happened. Did Mr. Belding get a promotion and these kids followed him out there? What happened to Miss Bliss? And the other kids left behind in Indiana? We’re suddenly faced with these new people who seem to have been friends their whole lives and Belding has always been that school’s principal.

Watching this on Netflix also raised a weird question. Why is it episode 16 is the whole first days of high school for these people? I mean, this far in, we don’t need to be introduced to characters we’ve been following for 15 episodes already.

Question 2: Zack’s ability to freeze time

Of all the characters on this show, Zack Morris seems to be the craziest. Not in the “haha” crazy, but in the Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho” crazy.

I mean, he will say “time out” and the world around him stops so he can address the viewers. A nice trick, but with all his wacky plans, wouldn’t he use a “time out” to cheat on tests (which he tries to do many a time)?

Also, he talks to the camera and people are just walking by him. Do they think he is insane? Do they not wonder who this kid is talking to? As a viewer, I’m wondering this. As a viewer, I find this to be totally insane, the behavior of someone I would not want anywhere near me. As he is narrating on the show, it reminds me of Bateman in the film version of “American Psycho” narrating the goings on in his life.

Question 3: Screech gets hit by lightning

During one episode, the character Screech is on his parents’ roof and is suddenly struck by lightning. Zack, the only one to witness this, does not call 911 (once again, the act of a sociopath) but finds his friends ability to see into the future as a way to win back his radio and get Slater’s (the jock of the group) bomber jacket.

If a friend of mine got struck by lightning, the first thing I would do would be to call the authorities, not figure a way to exploit someone who more than likely is suffering from being struck by lightning!

Of course, Zack’s plans backfire. But at no point after people find out about Screech getting struck by lightning do they even suggest he go and see a doctor. What’s wrong with these people? Are they all insane?

Question 4: The ‘Tori’ effect

Like those other kids from Indiana, there are many characters who we get introduced to who somehow disappear into the void without any explanation as to where or why.

There are a couple examples. The first that comes to mind is Jessie’s (the overachieving smart girl) brother-in-law, Eric. Eric comes to the picture toward the end of a season with a two-part episode.

Eric is an unlikable character, but the gang finally warms up to him after his whole blackmailing Zack and stealing Mr. Belding’s car infractions. The final scene they all accept him as one of the gang.

Then suddenly, without word, the next episode and for the rest of the show he is mysteriously gone. Never mentioned again.

As to why I call this the “Tori effect” is that in the middle of the final season, Kelly (popular cheerleader) and Jessie mysteriously disappear and are replaced by Tori Scott.

For about 10 episodes we have this new character to deal with, only to get to the graduation episode, where Kelly and Jessie (for some reason) are back, and Tori is gone, not mentioned and forgotten in the void.

What happened to this girl? A new character we finally sort of gotten around to just vanishes, without mention and why Kelly and Jessie suddenly show up again?

Question 5: Mr. Belding is a horrible principal

How did Mr. Belding ever become a man in charge of anything? Here is a guy who lets his students get away with anything they want.

For instance, in one episode Belding lets Zack be principal for a week. Who would allow the school’s most irresponsible student run the place? A terrible principal, that’s who.

Of course, Zack abuses his authority and starts all kinds of problems we do not need to delve into here. But when Zack is in charge, Belding goes insane and acts like a hyped up teenager.

Another troubling aspect about this guy is during one episode when his wife kicks him out; he goes not to any of his adult friends or his cool brother, Rod Belding, but to Zack. He sleeps in Zack’s room! Not only is that creepy, but incredibly wrong. In the real world, that would be a huge scandal.

And mentioning his brother, why does Belding think allowing his brother, who is a pilot, to be a substitute teacher? He’s not qualified and causes more trouble than it’s worth.

His inattention to the world around him is troubling. The gang throw parties in his office, rig up lockers to open randomly and he lets Zack graduate when he is one credit short by letting him dance in a school production.

Question 6: Why didn’t Screech drive

This is actually the first question to come up when I mentioned the show to the Daily Globe’s Sports Editor Chris Murphy.

The scenario is the gang gets drunk at some party for the first time, except Screech. Instead of letting the sober guy drive or calling the elusive “Tori” Zack decides to drive everyone home.

Of course, they wreck a car. And they try to cover it up, but they get caught. But Screech offered to drive and he was completely sober!

And Zack’s punishment is having his cell phone taken away (why he has one is another question considering how expensive those were in the early 90s). Baffles the mind.

There are other questions, but I’ll end on this note. It’s enough for people to ponder about for a while.

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Just Go Away: Courtney Love

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Joe Froemming

If there is one person left over from the grunge era who has more than overstayed her welcome, it would be Hole front woman Courtney Love.
Sure, in the ’90s we all had our chuckles watching her downward spiral into what we all hoped would eventually be obscurity, or at the least, rehab.
But every few years, she pops up in our radars, acting like a lunatic. Remember when she sued the surviving members of Nirvana? Or her various tweets on Twitter that always seem to land her in some sort of legal battle?
Now her target is … The Muppets. Yes, Courtney Love is so hard up for attention these days (her upcoming memoir has been a laughing stock of the message boards online) so she attacks poor Kermit and the gang for the use of her late husband’s song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
Now, it’s a good song. The Muppets are just awesome. The fact that Kurt Cobain should be honored by The Muppets is pretty cool.
Love claims the use of the song sullies it, but those who have actually listened to the lyrics know the song is essentially a bunch of random words thrown together and mumbled by Cobain.
Perhaps Courtney Love just needs the attention. The fact that most people wrote off her band after “Live Through This” (which many secretly think was ghost-written by Cobain) probably nags her.
But be that as it may, Love has been a train wreck since the early ’90s. How she was allowed to raise a kid for 17 years is downright insane. That poor kid, Francis Bean Cobain (yeah, this is what happens when parents are on drugs, they name their kids awkwardly) probably never knew what a normal life is like. Her father is an icon (debatable), and her mom is a drug-addled modern-day crackpot, who has been on both crack and pot.
Remember when Courtney Love released that solo album of hers? Yeah, me neither.
So, why can’t she just go away. Duck down from the limelight and get rid of her Twitter account. Her tweets rival Kanye West in insanity.
I’m sure her memoirs will become Internet cannon fodder, and she will do something insane, and then, like a Yetti, wander off into wherever the heck she dwells.

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‘The Rum Diary’

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Joe Froemming

I recently purchased the film version of Hunter S. Thompson’s “The Rum Diary.” It didn’t make it to the town I live in when it came out in the theater, but that’s not surprising considering it was not a huge film to begin with.

First off, I was not expecting another “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” or “Where the Buffalo Roam” by any means. “The Rum Diary” is loosely based on Thompson’s early years in journalism in San Juan in the late 1950s. He wrote the book years before he developed his signature “gonzo” style. The book was finally released in the late 1990s.

Ok, this adaptation of “The Rum Diary” is not as spot on as Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of “Vegas,” but I argue that the intent of the book (ie: aging and lost in a world without direction) is decent. Once again, Johnny Depp portrays the pseudo-Thompson, this time the character is Paul Kemp. Depp does an incredible Thompson, but the thing that bothered me watching “The Rum Diary” was that Depp is a little old to be playing a 30 year old. It wasn’t so bad as to be distracting, but it did pop up in my mind as I watched the film.

One item bothered me (as did many fans of the book) was that they deleted a pretty major character, Yeamon, and basically combined Yeamon with Sanderson (who is relatively minor in the book). Aaron Eckhart does the role well, but it was a little disappointing.

I found the special features (though only two of them) to be interesting. One was a documentary while filming “The Rum Diary” and the other (more interesting) one was from Thompson’s friend and documentary film maker, Wayne Ewing, from the beginning stages of getting his so-called “lost” novel (excerpts were used in 1990s “Songs of the Doomed”) from manuscript to book, then from book to film.

Thompson unfortunately did not live to see the final product, but I think he would have approved of it.

I will have to watch it a few more times before I can judge were I would put it in the list of the three films based on Thompson’s writings, but I’m already thinking it’s in second place for now.

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Why did they do that? ‘Ghost Rider’ sequel

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Joe Froemming

This is a brief, but a well-needed pondering that could have been part of my last blog about film sequels.
Why on Earth would anyone put money down and thus continue to work on a project that is a sequel to a movie that was terrible in the first place?
“Ghost Rider” wasn’t the worst film I’d ever seen, but it certainly ranks toward the bottom of my list of films I’ve seen.
Now there is “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” which answers the never-asked questions from the terrible first film.
How bad does Nic Cage need money? I mean, here is probably the most hit- and-miss actor I can think of. When he’s good, he’s amazing. When he’s on a bad streak, he’s a walking joke.
So, why did they do this? Why invest in a sequel when the original was not a box office smash? The world’s a twisted place, I guess.

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Return of Monty Python?

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Joe Froemming

There have been recent rumblings that the comedy troupe, Monty Python, will reunite for some unknown project (i.e. movie).
They recently participated in a film project based on the (kinda) memoirs of their dead co-Python, Graham Chapman. And they have somewhat lessened their venom at one another over the years, getting together so they can add a bunch of special features to the special editions of three of their films, “Holy Grail,” “Life Of Brian” and “Meaning Of Life.”
But even as Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and John Cleese all seem to be on board with reuniting after decades of kind of not liking one another, the lone hold out on a Python reunion is the one guy who spent those decades working on numerous Python-related stuff. That would be Eric Idle, who gave Broadway “Spamalot,” a musical based on Python sketches and films.
But, the Pythons claiming a reunion has been bantered about since the early 2000s and I’m not holding my breath. Would it be cool? Sure, but would it be as good with one of the original members dead and the others having mostly retired from comedy for a while now? I doubt it.

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Adaptation

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Joe Froemming

Since the U.S. made its version of the popular BBC comedy, “The Office,” a widespread argument on Internet chat boards has gone from friendly disagreements to almost insanely hostile arguments.
There are some shows where the adaptation into other cultures has worked fine. The American “Office” was good for about four seasons. The original only had two.
But it still made for a good sitcom in an era when most comedies on TV rely on goofy premises and over-the-top characters.
A few months ago, I watched the BBC’s “Being Human.” Normally, any show with a premise about a vampire, werewolf and a ghost sharing an apartment would drive me into a rage.
But I gave it a chance, and surprisingly, it was pretty good.
Then I saw the U.S. version.
Wow, they took a show I enjoyed and completely stomped on it. Took a well- written show with good characters and turned it into some sort of weird “Twilight” rip-off.
I know some people will defend the American version, but I simply can’t. It’s bad. SyFy has delved into some mindframe were their programs have to be in the same vein as other popular shows/movies. Remember “Star Gate Universe?” It destroyed the quirky humor and tried to make it like “Lost” meets “90210.” And it got cancelled right away, as it should have.
As should their take of “Being Human.” They tried, but failed. This is one of the few times in pop culture I will not sit in the middle and argue both have their merits, like I did back in 2005 with the American “Office.”

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