Even though he left his answer in riddles/code, it's fairly obvious he knew what was what. Pat is an evil rhyming/encyclopedic genius. Enjoy more of his musings at his blog over HERE.
The answer to the previous challenge was:
James Cameron's 1984 sci-fi classic, The Terminator. This is the one that started it all folks. Arnold would go on to become the biggest star in Hollywood and future governor of California. Cameron, well he pretty much holds the entire global box office in the palm of his hand nowadays. All that stems from the sheer awesomeness of this one, low budgeted, sci-fi B movie that knocked everyone on their asses back in the 1980's and continues to do so nearly 30 years later.
The Terminator is about a time traveling robot assassin from the future who must execut...er, terminate a young woman so her unborn son stays that way, and doesn't grow up to mess with the evil robot's future world. Sound insane? It is. The thing is, even if you ignore the film's plot, The Terminator is still one badass fucking chase film. It's literally like a relay race of death/carnage. What James Cameron did on a shoe string budget with The Terminator boggles the mind when compared with his most recent crap fest, Avatar. Yes, before Cameron got all George Lucas on us he was one hell of a filmmaker. Throwing millions of dollars at a shitty movie and dressing it up with special effects does not a good film make. The Terminator's cast does all the heavy lifting in Cameron's original masterpiece (although Stan Winston's makeup effects do look pretty cool...for their time). Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn and Arnie's mug are the only effects needed to sell this story alright?! Well that, and lots of guns.
"It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel
pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until
you are dead."
Make no mistake about it, The Terminator is a dark film. Arnold plays the terminator (Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 for you fanboys) like the grim reaper on steroids. He prowls the dark underbelly of Los Angeles, blasting his way to Hamilton's Sarah Connor character come hell or high water, killing her friends, family and anyone unlucky enough to cross his path. You know, aside from the gigantic time traveling robot aspect, Cameron also succeeds with injecting a gritty dose of realism into the film as well. The Terminator is a wildy fantastic sci-fi film that takes place in (seemingly) real world Los Angeles and thanks to Cameron's direction, you almost believe this type of wacky shit could really take place. Like how Christopher Nolan makes you think some rich nutbag could actually run around in a Bat suit. It's really amazing how well this film holds up nearly 30 years later.
Because of the film's dark suspense elements and geek-tastic plot, Cameron dubbed The Terminator as "tech-noir," a mix of classic film noir and science fiction. This was also the name of the dance club where Arn...er, the terminator first encounters Sarah Connor and where Tahnee Cain & the Tryanglz song, "Burnin' in the Third Degree" from the previous Take a Guess Challenge is heard.
Cameron had the whole time travel gimmick down before Zemeckis could take us Back To The Future. He also realized that audiences love robots and guns. When their powers combine...awesomeness was born.
Can any of you bloggers tell me which movie features this song?
Feel free to answer below in the comments section. Please refrain from using google/wikipedia/browsing the youtube comments to find the answer...cheating gets you nowhere! I'll post the answer tomorrow (or the next time I update) and the winner gets my total movie nerd respect and a shout out/link for being awesome.
Check out previous editions of my Take a Guess Challenge HERE.
I owe Rivers Cuomo and Weezer a lot. Sure they've deteriorated into a campy joke rock band these days, but they've given me tons of great music/memories over the years, and are also the lads who first exposed me to Best Coast when they tapped Bethany and Bob to open their 2010 Memories tour. I was in awe of their stripped down femmed out Beach Boys meets Ramones sound. A new fan was born.
This was my first time seeing Best Coast since then but the year long wait was worth it. They were headlining their first big time show at the Wiltern. New album out, new touring band members, playing swanky venues...it appears that big things are happening in the Best Coast camp these days. We arrived during the end of Abe Vigoda's opening set. JEFF The Brotherhood was next. I can honestly say I dug their fuzzed out, crunchy rock'n'roll attack. I think I'll be keeping my eye out for them in the future.
Best Coast took the stage around 10:30pm and their sleuth of adoring, mostly female fans, went nuts. I gotta say, I'm still not used to these normal people concerts where attractive people tend to congregate. I'm used to scores of sweaty dudes and the occasional trophy girlfriend at metal shows. Nothing prepared me for the amount of hot ladies roaming around the Wiltern. Imagine all the models from those American Apparel ads showed up, had a few drinks and started dancing. Thank you Best Coast. Thank you.
Oh yeah, so the band was amazing. The new lineup is superb. When I saw them open for Weezer they were a trio without a bassist and a "eh" drummer. Their new drummer is solid as hell and the addition of a bass player made a world of difference. The band's sound was more full and powerful than last time. Also, Bethany's voice was simply stellar. I remember her having trouble singing "Island In The Sun" with Rivers in 2010, now she was belting out Fleetwood Mac covers like a champ. They played pretty much all of their debut album Crazy For You as well as a bunch of new material off The Only Place. All the new songs sounded great, meaning I have to get off my ass and get the record all ready. Tons of fun with Best Coast at the Wiltern. Tons.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging to bring you this AMAZING development:
Will Smith rapping the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on the Graham Norton show:
Is this not the coolest shit ever? EVER?! That studio audience...those lucky lucky bastards.
Smith is in Europe promoting Men In Black III (and slapping reporters) and although I'm sure the new MiB film is going to suck, nothing can diminish my nostalgia for Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
I saw Best Coast performing at The Wiltern last night. Tons of fun. Tons. A proper review should be coming next week, here's their recent Letterman performance to hold ya'll over.
So I got a new phone. This may not seem like Earth shattering news but to me it's sort of a big deal. I've had my previous phone for close to 5 years now and have enjoyed it's indestructible qualities and lack of high tech hassles.
RIP
Meet the Samsung BlackJack II.
My phone/side kick for the past 5 years. This birthday gift from the summer of 2007 was damn near unstoppable! It survived being dropped, wet, smashed with weights and hit by drum sticks and kept on ticking. Sure, it stopped vibrating, recording/playing video or music, was locked out of my voicemail account and stopped connecting to the internet, but I still loved the damn thing. No expensive data plan or voice mail hassles meant a cheap phone bill and ability to dodge people I wanted to avoid (ie: work). Sadly, sometime last week my precious phone stopped reading it's SIM card meaning I could no longer receive or send calls/texts. Not only that, but I couldn't even access all my contacts either.
This tragedy forced my hand. I begrudgingly upgraded to...*gasp* an iPhone.
finally caved/sold out
Yep...I had to step into the 21st century sooner or later. Now I have a fancy smancy iPhone (with expensive date plan & all =/) but I swear I'm still the same black hearted jerk I was before, please don't mistake me for an Apple douche! I've had this phone for almost a week and as much as I loathe typing on the touch screen I gotta admit, it's a damn cool.
In fact, this is how I look walking around with my new phone:
*NOTE*
Yeah I choose a iPhone4 because it was $100 cheaper than a 4s and I really don't need that Siri contraption to guide my life.
Words. Words can't describe how much I loved this movie. The first time I saw The Avengers, I quietly muttered, "Joss Whedon...I love you," under my breath as the credits rolled. I say, the first time because I saw The Avengers TWICE last weekend. Yes, I was on the frontlines of geekdom on the film's opening night at the Arclight in Pasadena. The theater was like a giant club house. We hollered, laughed and sat awestruck with mouths aghast (at least, I did!) over the miracle that unfolded before our eyes. That was the first screening.
20 year dream come true!
Round two happened the next night, i.e. Saturday...less than 24 hours later, with my girlfriend at our local movie theater. She's become quite familiar with the Marvel universe after having viewed all the previous Marvel films leading up to The Avengers (plus years of listening to my geeky rants about mutants, Celestials and Thor kicking Superman's ass) but even if she wasn't tainted by my Marvel fanboy-ism, like our friend who came along and had never seen any of the other films before, they both loved it! Not only is this the pinnacle of comic book movies, it's also a totally rad summer popcorn blockbuster that doesn't blatantly insult your intelligence (take that Michael Bay!).
So the movie, it's amazing. Joss Whedon's script and direction are superb. The film's pacing is exhausting but in a good way. I'm sure you've all seen snippets of commercials for movies that say "So and so from the Daily Bugle calls it, 'a nonstop thrill ride!" Well, that's how The Avenger's is. Whedon's film is a legitimate nonstop thrill ride. It's the fastest 2 hours and 15 minutes of your life, trust me. Not only is the action and special effects mind bogglingly awesome, but The Avenger's is also one of the funniest movies I've seen in ages. There are several L-O-L moments throughout the film that had the entire audience in stitches.
Of course something must be said about the cast. They're phenomenal. All of them. Even Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner (as Black Widow and Hawkeye) who did jack shit with their roles in Iron Man 2 and Thor, even they brought it home with their performances in The Avengers. All praises due to my boy Loki! Again, after stealing the show in Thor he's like super smooth evil asshole perfection in The Avengers. Also, The Hulk....never has he been more awesome than in this movie. NEVER!
Hands down, the raddest movie of the year. I don't care how great The Dark Knight Rises might be, nothing compares to the 20 year nerd-gasm I had watching The Avengers (twice!).
Happy Birthday to my favorite member of The Wu-Tang Clan: Ghostface Killah! Ghost, aka Tony Starks, turns 42 years old today. Enjoy some classic Ghostface, with his insane stream of conscious near indecipherable flow.
*bonus clip*
Ghost signing some crazy girl's breasts:
I know I'm a little late with this one (afk all weekend) but I had to post something about this.
Last week, Adam Yauch aka MCA of the Bestie Boys passed away after a three year battle with cancer. He was 47 years old.
I was never a rabid Beastie Boys devotee, but they made such a HUGE musical impact over the course of their career, even a casual fan like myself can't help but stumble over the news of MCA's passing.
I've been listening to a lot of Beastie Boys online this weekend. Lots of memories/nostalgia washing over me. I'm sharing their video for "Intergalatic" today. Takes me back to 1998, sitting at the lunch tables in 8th grade with my friends looking through the CD booklet for Hello Nasty. Not only is this probably my favorite Beastie Boys song, but MCA directed the video himself.
I'm usually a fan of brunettes. In fact if you've kept track of all my past Female Obsession inductees, you might notice the lack of blondes (save for Kristen Bell, of course). Well, it's time to break the streak with the one and only, Miss Scarlett Johansson.
Nerd Swoon
Scarlett first came to my attention in 2003's Lost In Translation. She was so unconventionally gorgeous in that film. The movie opens with shot of Scarlett wearing pink sheer panties. That's one hell of an introduction if you ask me. A friend of mine let me borrow Ghost World shortly
after, that's when I truly jumped on the Scarlett Jo bandwagon. She was only 16 when she made this movie, playing an awkward teen outcast to perfection, but this is the film that made me realize she was more than just a pretty face and was an actual, talented actress.
So Scarlett's career exploded in the 2000's.
She became a big huge movie star, working with A-list directors like Woody Allen (Match Point, Vicky Christina Barcelona), Christopher Nolan (The Prestige) Cameron Crowe (We Bought a Zoo) and Michael Bay (The Island....well, you can't win them all!). Aside from her main acting gig, she also SINGS, and does some modeling on the side. Small endorsements for little mom and pop brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Dior, Louis Vuitton. Nothing major.
Scarlett was married to Ryan Reynolds, star of the "hit" TV show Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place and blockbuster film, Green Lantern, from 2008 to 2010. They officially divorced in 2011, the same year nude photos of Scarlett were hacked/stolen from her email account. Sucks Miss Jo had to go through such a messy ordeal, but deep down all her pervy fans across the globe rejoiced.
Russian Spy FTW
I'd say Scarlett has bounced back pretty well though. Just yesterday she received her very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and now, stars as Black Widow in Marvel's newest film The Avengers (aka THE MOVIE I'VE WAITED FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE!) which is sure to be one of the biggest films of the year.
Here are some photos of Scarlett looking amazing:
I'll leave you with this video of Scarlett being adorable.
*BONUS SCARLETT JO OVERDOSE CLIP*
The single greatest achievement in the history of mankind:
I had to see this movie. I absolutely had to. The nostalgia factor was too strong. I simply could not resist...
So the last thing the world needed was another American Pie movie. I was really surprised they even bothered. I guess they figured old suckers like me would come out in droves to satisfy their morbid curiosity and seek closure in their lives, after spending the past decade wondering what happened to Mena Suvari's character (hell I don't even remember her name).
So it's the American Pie groups thirteen year high school reunion. Why they celebrate this milestone I don't know. Either way, the dudes are all grown up now and thoroughly hating adult life. Career's, relationships, family life...it isn't what they had thought it would be. This reunion gives the guys a chance to relive the past, make some new fun/wacky memories and hopefully create a spark in their otherwise suck ass lives. Of course the cruel wall of reality intervenes. The guys are in their 30's now and can't really get away with such stupid shenanigans anymore. That's about it. This movie is like a midlife crisis for millennials. 30 is the new 50 I guess.
Luckily, even though most of the main characters are pretty much boring shills who suck the life out of every shot they're in, there are FOUR saviors of this film who always bring the lulz or a major smile to your face.
#1: STIFLER
Steve Stifler has emerged as the heart and soul of the American Pie series. He pretty much carries the entire film. He says "fuck" a lot, is still girl crazy and although he's a mentally stunted man-child, he's totally fucking awesome.
#2: JIM'S DAD
He may have been the lame adult for most of the series but now that the rest of the gang are lame adults themselves, Jim's dad reigns supreme in the comic relief department. Seriously, he steals every scene he's in.
#3 ALI COBRIN
I don't remember her character's name but she plays Jim's neighbor. He used to babysit her when she was a child, now she's hot, grown up and wants to get busy. She gets naked, has an AMAZING body, and gets naked. Did I mention she gets naked???
#4: MILF GUY #2
Just look at him! The moment Harold appeared on screen with that rockin' mustache everyone in the audience (all ten of us) gasped with excitement. He might have been a uber obscure character in the first film but MILF Guy #2 is back and brings the lolz!
That's it. Those are the four reasons I enjoyed this film. Without them this film is nothing....but thanks to them I laughed pretty hard.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be writing a review of a Refused concert. The band had been broken up for years before I ever discovered them during the early millennium. They were my posthumous punk rock heroes. A band of ghosts, who's final album, The Shape of Punk to Come, I gladly let haunt me for the next 11 years. I always hoped Metallica would stop sucking one day, or that Rage Against The Machine would reform, but I never had such thoughts about Refused. After the band self destructed in the fall of 1998 during a torturous tour of the Eastern United States, their official press release claimed the band would never reunite and urged newspapers to burn all of their photographs. The title of this release, also a song from their last album, "Refused Are Fucking Dead."
Flash forward to January 2012. Refused announce their triumphant return. Music geeks around the globe rejoice. I wasn't down to bust the bank seeing them at this years Coachella but WAS ready, willing and able to make the road trip up to San Francisco for their special show at The Warfield. I was lucky and snagged balcony seats within seconds tickets went on sale. The Warfield has a capacity of like 2,200+ and the show sold out in literally one minute. So I was lucky enough to snag two tickets for the show. Icing on the cake for the whole event, the Hives were playing in support of Refused as well. Two of my favorite Swedish rock bands playing together. Mind = Blown.
So my girlfriend and I, after surviving a wonderfully sweaty concert with The Hives the night before, woke up early the next day and drove six hours up North to San Francisco. We had awesome little vacation but the main purpose of the trip never left my mind: REFUSED.
The night of the show we arrived on time for once. That never happens in LA. Always stuck in traffic or having to hassle parking. Anyways, we got there on time, found our seats and I finally got to see the opening band, The Bronx. It's funny I had to go to SF to see an LA band. Again, they were always on opening slots of tours and I'd always arrive late! Oh wells, they were awesome. The Hives were next and were uber entertaining. It was fun watching them perform to a less enthusiastic crowd than their mob of loyal fans who danced all night at The Glass House. Tonight the band was in attack mode, still full of fun loving energy but determined to make the Hardcore/Metal head die-hards standing with their arms crossed acknowledge that The Hives existed.
So The Bronx and The Hives both rocked. In fact I'd say just seeing the two of them together would have made for an awesome show by itself. But of course everyone inside the theater started getting ancy as soon as The Hives wrapped up. The time was approaching. REFUSED was next!
Finally, after a dozen year wait, Refused took the stage and everyone in the venue went nuts. They opened with "Worms of the Senses/Faculties of the Skull," the first track off Shape of Punk to Come, and I was suddenly transformed into an alternate Back To The Future style alternate reality/timeline. This could not be happening. I thought I was dreaming...but I wasn't! Refused was NOT fucking dead. They were alive, kicking, and rocking the fuck out.
They played pretty much every song off The Shape of Punk to Come (except "Protest Song 68'" which was ok with me), "Rather Be Dead" "Coup d'etat" "Hook, Line and Sinker" and "The Slayer" from Songs to Fan The Flames of Discontent and a super old track, "Everlasting."
Dennis gave a cool little speech before "Rather Be Dead" and it instantly reminded me of my post from early 2011 about the Arab Spring uprisings.
I dedicated this same song to all those suffering during the throes of the revolution. Sad but true how prophetic Refused's music has become over the past 14 years.
So the band sounded amazing. You'd never guess they'd be inactive for so long. Hell, they even looked pretty much the same! They're pushing 40 these days and you'd never know it. The crowd response was insane. The pit was bouncing and moving all night. Dudes climbed up and where stage diving into the crowd. Just about everyone was singing along the whole night as well. Everyone in the audience had about a decade of practice so, we sounded great also.
Highlight of the night, when the band came back for their encore and started playing "New Noise," the floor started shaking. Refused almost triggered a massive San Francisco Earthquake this I'm sure of.
"New Noise" was my ringtone on my girlfriend's phone for oh, at least 5 years. Now we both stood together as Refused ripped through the song in person. Totally surreal, amazing experience.
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