Pomo Canyon

I took the Oriental Wife and Number One Son camping over the weekend. We hit Pomo Canyon, a site tucked back in a stand of Redwoods a couple miles from Sonoma County State Beach. A good time was had by all, even despite those meddling racoons that woke us up twice in the middle of the night and got into the rice we'd forgot was still in one of the pots. It's all good, though, I think that bandit-faced son-of-a-bitch knows who boss in Pomo Canyon.

WTF?!?!

Question for Tokyo David:

What the fuck is up with Japan?

Just curious.

Quintessential Cop Movie

That's right, me and the Oriental Wife watched "Dirty Harry". It's really pretty amazing that a movie that came out in 1971 had full frontal nudity, the "f" word, and graphic violence that included beatings, shootings, assaulting children, and the rape and murder of a young woman.

I was also surprised to see the seeds of many cop/thriller movies that followed, from "Lethal Weapon" to "Silence of the Lambs". I've always thought of "Dirty Harry" as a film most famous for its dialogue, but it's clear it had a lasting and broader impact on the genre.

Of course, it's still the dialogue that stands out 35 years later. There are tons of quotable scenes, most obviously the "Do ya feel lucky, punk?" bit. For some reason, another exchange has quickly rocketed to the top of my favorites:

District Attorney Rothko: "Where the hell does it say that you've got a right to kick down doors, torture suspects, deny medical attention and legal counsel? Where have you been? Does Escobedo ring a bell? Miranda? I mean, you must have heard of the Fourth Amendment. What I'm saying is that man had rights."

Harry Callahan: "Well, I'm all broken up over that man's rights."

UPDATE:

Oh yeah, and this one was pretty good too. The guy was an equal opportunity offender decades before "South Park" or "Family Guy".

De Georgio: "Harry hates everybody. Limeys, micks, hebes, fat dagos, niggers, honkies, chinks, you name it."

Gonzales: "How does he feel about Mexicans?"

De Georgio: "Ask him."

Harry Callahan: "Especially spics."

Joker

A friend gave me crap today for liking Steve Miller. How can someone not like Steve Miller? The guy's songs are like Christmas caroles -- you've heard 'em a million times, you're probably even sick of 'em, but at the same time they impart a comfortable familiarity. What caroles do for winter, Steve Miller does for summer. Sun-drenched days in particular demand regular doses of Miller, whether it's "The Joker", "Livin' in the USA" or "Jet Airliner". It just ain't the same without him.

Speaking of "Jet Airliner", that song is the probably the source of this dispute with my friend. He argues the Paul Pena version is better. Who is Paul Pena? Only the guy who wrote the song in the first place. Pena was a blues musician who came oh so close to making it big, only to have his debut album yanked by the record company at the last minute. He found a brief measure fame near the end of his life when he was featured in the documentary "Genghis Blues". That movie chronicled Pena's hardship-filled journey to the Russian territory of Tuva to participate in a throat-singing competition.

The soundtrack of that movie is actually better than Pena's album, which I believe was released only after "Genghis Blues" rekindled interest in this forgotten blues artist. His version of "Jet Airliner" is solid, but more like a rough gem that Miller found and polished to a high sheen. It's always been one of my favorite Miller songs, and his treatment is catchier and and more inspired than Pena's.

Oh, and if you like throat-singing, check out "Back Tuva Future", featuring Tuvan megastar Ondar, who became friends with Pena. Ondar -- rockin' the trachea like no one's business.

Convention

Posting will be light the next few days. I'm heading off to Vegas.

A Book Review

I posted a book review over at Daddy-O. Go take a peek.

Too Deep

Lebanon might be busy trying to cope with real smoke on the water and fire in the sky, but that's not deterring Deep Purple from vowing to go ahead with their scheduled concert in Beirut next week:

Currently in the midst of a two-year-long world tour for the album "Rapture of the Deep" -- including a performance scheduled for Thursday, July 28, just outside of Beirut for the Baalbeck Music Festival, Deep Purple does not plan on disappointing Lebanese fans.

Here's a suggested playlist:

--Fireball
--Nasty Piece of Work
--The Battle Rages On
--Smoke on the Water
--Burn
--Fire in the Basement
--Dead or Alive
--Freedom

Deep Purple is a band that truly believes that music is a universal language and their fans are a huge part of their success. "There is a moment that begins on stage,when there are no managers, no journalists, no outside distractions -- just the band and the audience," said Ian Gillan, of Deep Purple.

Just the band, the audience, and the spectacular Israeli-supplied pyrotechnics show.

Who Is John Galt?

Brad Pitt apparently.

And Angelina's going to be Dagny Taggart.

No shit.

Hollywood's favorite couple is set to help bring Ayn Rand's philosophical epic Atlas Shrugged to the silver screen.

Jolie seems as good a choice as any actress to me. Certainly better than the other alternatives discussed: Ashley Judd and *gag* Julia Roberts.

Now, an Atlas movie has been bandied about for years, but it sounds like one finally may get off the ground.

Lionsgate is backing the production, and its being produced by the same duo that made "Ray".

The philosophical consultant on the project is David Kelley, who was shunned by hardcore Objectivists for his more tolerant attitude towards those who questioned the orthodoxy.

And get this: they may make it into a "Lord of the Rings"-style trilogy. I'm assuming the final installment would simply be Brad Pitt delivering Galt's philosophical ultimatum, which lasts 57 pages in the paperbook version of the novel.

About the only thing they need to pin down is a director.

Let's hope it's not Uwe Boll.

More PS3

Firing Squad, a gaming hardware site, looks ahead at the launch of the PlayStation 3, and what they see are a number of formidable challenges Sony has to overcome.

The upshot is that they think the damn thing is too expensive, has a confusing split product line, is crammed with complicated and unproven technology, possesses an unknown online component and will be accompanied by a decent, but not killer, line-up of launch titles.

Hmmm. Where have I heard that before?

Trippin'

My dozen readers may have noticed that posting has been rather, uh, non-existent the past week. That's because I was on vacation in Seattle. Oddly, the Rainy City was at least 10 degrees warmer than it was in the Bay Area, which is 800 miles south.

I only got back last night, having departed Seattle at 7:00 a.m. in a 1969 Ford Galaxie 500 XL convertible. I've owned that car since 1998, and had it in storage for the four years I was in China and getting settled here. Finally, it was time to bring that baby down.

It was a great trip, and the 6.4-liter V-8 performed admirably despite being pushed pretty hard by my buddy and I (I think we hit 102 mph at one point). But the sun and wind did a fine job of blasting my face and arms a nice, glowing red.

Superman Returns

Saw it. Liked it. Not sure if I loved it. It's too dark visually, there's too much lovey-dovey, not enough mayhem, and some of the casting is simply weird. Yet I'm finding myself turning a lot of it over in my mind.

Brandon Routh is good as the Man of Steel, but they don't let him flex his muscles enough -- literally or figuratively. The biggest and best action sequence is near the beginning, and while we're treated to some derring-do after that, it's nothing spectacular. Routh also doesn't get a lot of speaking time, which is odd, because he's pretty good when he does speak.

Kevin Spacey makes a damn good Lex Luthor in my mind. He doesn't quite have the panache of Gene Hackman's rendition, but he's effective at portraying a cold-blooded snake of a villain.

Lois Lane is where the movie sort of broke down for me. Kate Bosworth is certainly a looker, and I'm not questioning her acting chops. But Lois has morphed from a frenetic but likeable star reporter to a sullen, moody bitch. Margot Kidder wasn't beautiful per se, but she conveyed a spunky attractiveness that made her death in the first movie believably tragic for Superman. I guess we're supposed to think the Superman's extended absense has taken a heavy toll on Ms. Lane, but it's hard to reconcile the perpetual grump we see now with the charismatic go-getter of the past.

A final casting quibble is with the choice of Frank Langella as Daily Planet editor Perry White. Langella has a somewhat sinister screen presence, and his blandish performance upends the images of news editors as cigar-chomping lovable assholes we've seen from Jackie Cooper (who played White in the original "Superman") or J.K. Simmons (as J. Jonah Jameson in "Spider-Man"). Just didn't work for me.

Still, I find it hard to fault the movie as a whole. It's wonderful entertainment, and fairly thoughtful entertainment at that. It's the first good Superman movie in nearly 25 years. Superman was probably my favorite superhero growing up, and the first movie was almost as definitive a cultural event in my life as "Star Wars". His simple credo of truth, justice and the American way is one that can serve us well in these complicated and often dark times. Superman doesn't kill and he doesn't torture, but he gets the bad guys no matter what. "I never lie," he tells Lois Lane in the first movie. I use that on my own kid today when he fibs or tries to wriggle out of taking responsibility for something he did. "Does Superman tell lies?" I'll ask, and he'll immediately respond, "No", and 'fess up. That's some powerful mythology right there.

The new movie ponders the question, "Does the world need Superman?" The answer is clearly yes, and thanks to movies like this, we have him.

Oh Yeah, They're Going Down

I wrote here two months ago that Sony is in danger of losing its video game leadership.

Looks like some analysts agree with me.

The comments also appear to be overwhelmingly against Sony, too.