Snakes on a plane? Try FISTS on a plane!

I have just witnessed my first fist fight aboard an airplane. To borrow from Peter Griffin: freakin' sweet. The plane landed and there was the usual uncomfortable anticipation before you can wiggle out and grab bags from the overhead compartment. It's a delicate dance to time it just right - you don't want to stand up too quickly, especially if you have the window seat. People get visibly agitated waiting for their turn to grab their stuff and get off the plane ... it's kind of amusing actually. This time, it was extra amusing, to say the least.

I guess quarters got too close and two groups of travelers got on each other's nerves during the overhead compartment tango. A dude and his woman started throwing down with two guys - all the brawlers probably between the ages of 25-35. The less-than-masculine airline attendants were powerless in stopping the battle-for-the-bags. The JFK melee seemed to last longer than the Pacman vs. Cotto title fight last night, it went on for a good while.

What a way to start this trip! It was 7 am Eastern, but still 4 am Oakland time. It got my blood pumping and ready for some sausage and pancakes, mmmm. To borrow from Homer Simpson: mmmm, syyyyyrup. I'm starving. This shuttle ride to the hotel can't go cast enough. Although the Connecticut landscape is fun to look at - all the leaves are red, orange and yellow.

No one said this would be easy

Today's good o-dogg music brought to you by ... THE POSTMARKS, as seen on TV's YO! GABBA GABBA. Very James Bond, very cool ...
Look 'em up on Facebook, Twitter and all the rest, true believers. Enjoy.

The Raiders must fire Tom Cable ... NOW

Perception is reality. Whether these women are out to get Tom Cable or not, court documents and police reports going back 20 years do not paint a pretty picture. Domestic violence is just not acceptable, and this seems pretty damning.

The Raiders will surely lose to San Diego today and then are off for 2 weeks with a bye. It's the perfect time for a clean break and to put an interim coach in place. My goodness, how the mystique of the renegade, outside-the-law Raiders just continues.

Al Davis needs to take control of this situation and then cede control of the team's day to day football operations to a younger, more legitimate football man, such as John Madden. What say you, Raider Nation?

HBO's BORED TO DEATH ... hardly boring

Love this show. How can you not love it? It's on HBO and features the comic stylings of Jason Schwartzman - the star of one of my all-time favorite flicks, RUSHMORE.



Episode 6, where George and Ray help Jonathan spy on a hooker from craigslist, was pure genius. Where else can you find funny adventures that tie in comic book art, pot, spy gear and prostitution with the comic delivery of a Schwartzman? No where but HBO, I tell you, true believers.

Alien Abuctions ... of THE FOURTH KIND

I am there opening weekend. Can't wait.
Good feature if you have 5 minutes to watch:

Voltron: down with the ro-beast!

Good stuff, true believers.

My life is now almost complete ...

... all I have to do is live another 70 years with my wife, see the Raiders win another Super Bowl, travel to outerspace, and dote on grandchildren as beautiful as my two little munchkins.

Other than that, now that The Sounds have been confirmed to be on Yo Gabba Gabba!, I am fulfilled.

If only they made adult shirts and hoodies of my favorite Yo Gabba monsters ... if only ... //sigh//.

THE SOUNDS in concert = Kick Arse

I saw The Sounds at the historic Warfield Theatre on Market Street last night. The good news was, it was right off the Powell Street BART station, so it was a nice ride door to door from Pleasanton, practically to the front porch of The Warfield. Weather was perfect, as it usually is with the gorgeous and warm Octobers we get here. The bad news was, frakkin' BART runs the last direct train back to Pleasanton at 12:15 am and we had to leave the show early. Oh well, at least we left on a high note: the last song we saw before making a mad dash for the BART station was my all-time favorite electro-pop-rock song, aptly named "Rock and Roll."

The first two opening acts left a lot to be desired. Foxy Shazam was all gimmicks and no substance; the lead singer danced around like a monkey, ate a cigarette, kicked water bottles around and generally made an arse of himself. Semi Precious Weapons was a grown up version of Foxy Shazam, with less gimmicks, but a lot of 70s glam rock schtick including sheer, golden tights and diamond-studded high-heeled boots. It was very "Battle for Milkquarious," and "Velvet Goldmine," to say the least (both flicks worth watching, btw).



Then, Shiny Toy Guns came out and saved the day with a professional set of legit rock songs, including "Le Disco," which was cool to hear in person. If you ask me, "Major Tom," blew the roof off the place and that's where the show really got religion for the crowd. The lead singer's rendition of this classic gave me goose bumps; she sounded like an inter-galactic pixie, belting out the lyrics Earth below us, drifting falling, floating weighless, calling home ... hoooooome ... ho-oo-oo-oo-ome!



Last but not least, The Sounds came out and rocked the bacon, looking, acting and sounding like a legit headliner. It was sweet while it lasted. We went out on a high, having seen "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake," "Midnight Sun," and "Rock and Roll" all in a row. What a show. Too bad we had to cut it short. Thanks BART.

I gotta feeling that I don't belong

Another winner from Apple iPod's line of catchy TV ads, this tune courtesy of Miss Li & Amanda Jenssen's "Bourgeois Shangri-La."

Enjoy.

New Levi's TV Ad Campgain

This is really good stuff. Very inspired effort from Levi's ad agency, whoever they are. I just bought a pair of GAP jeans, but now I'm inspired to make my next pair Levi's because I like what they stand for in these ads: THE PIONEERING SPIRIT OF FREE AMERICANS.

Meet Me Halfway

Wow. A perflect blend of a great song and an awesome Science Fiction/Fantasy video. Fergie's voice is amazing and the space-age visuals are mesmerizing.

Can you imagine a secret portal where you could meet someone "halfway" between your reality and theirs? I just read a book that suggests the human consciousness can actually transport itself outside the body to wherever it wants ... anywhere in the galaxy. The CIA has supposedly been working on this as a form of "remote viewing" for espionage purposes.

Where would you go? What would you do if your consciousness could seperate from your body and go wherever to see whatever?

Who is Dick Whitman?

I propose he is the shadow. Faceless, nameless, lurking deep down where no one can see him - not even his wife, Betty. I wonder if in the work place we are all Don Drapers, hiding and supressing the Dick Whitman of our true being for the sake of corporate decorum. Think about the happy face you put on at work ... just to get through the day, while the Dick Whitman inside you is screaming to get out.

Invest in AMC's Mad Men if you haven't already - it truly is a corporate catharsis of sorts.

Claremont Hotel & Spa Pix

We are not alone ...

More to come (once I have the time to get deep & philosophical) ...

My 366th Blog Entry: CruZader #2 in living color!

Wow, now I have 1 whole year, plus a day, worth of blogs ... too bad it's taken me like a handful of years to reach this milestone. I know, I know, I've been absolutely sucking at posting updates lately ... not that anyone reads this dreck.

Hopefully I'll have more time to get my blog on in 2010. Happy Holidays, TB'z.

Happy B-Day To Me (and the munchkin)

My son and I have birthdays about a week apart, with a 30 year gap in between, and yet my little buddy and I are one in the same.

Haven't had any time to blog these days and I certainly don't now, as I'm typing from a phone ... Quasi-tweeting, I suppose.

Oh well, no cake & punch for me, I guess.

Toodaloo, true believers, thanks for checking in.

O-dogg

Michigan 38, Notre Dame 34 - welcome to NCAA Football, Tate Forcier

Man, I thought Miami beating Florida State on the last play of the game last week was the best game I've seen since Boise State's upset of Oklahoma years ago. Of course I am biased, but Michigan upsetting ND was even better for me.

Freshman QB Tate Forcier was awesome and has probably cemented the job for the next 3or 4 years ... or however long he wants the job. I thought I was amazed by Miami's sophomore QB, JaCory Harris, who is about the same size and just as skinny as Forcier. Both are calm in the pocket and can flat out play the game of football, they both remind me of Jeff Garcia in a way. If only the Raiders' manchild, JaMarcus Russell, had some of the natural instincts of Forcier and Harris ... probably too much to ask for from our 300-lb Baby Huey.

Well, in summary, it's been an awesome ride in college fb, starting with Miami, then followed up with an Ohio State loss, a Cal win and a huge MICHIGAN W!

Happy Anniversary

I haven't been back to the historic Claremont Hotel Resort/Spa since my wedding night. I'm very much looking forward to a relaxing 3-day weekend at this absolute Bay Area treasure, nestled in the foothills between Berkeley & Oakland.

This will be a nice bookend to the visit we recently made to the nearby Dunsmuir Historic Estate/Mansion where we were married. Dunsmuir photos to follow on a future blog entry ...

Disney buys Marvel Comics (aka. Marvel Entertainment)

Wow. I guess it wasn't enough that Mickey Mouse owns ABC, ESPN, Hockey's Mighty Ducks and Major League Baseball's L.A. Angels - now he owns the Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America and the Incredible Hulk.

I don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, would I love to see Marvel characters all over Disneyland, with Marvel-themed attractions and rides? Yes, I would. Would I love to see Pixar pump out some sweet CGI feature films about my favorite comic book heroes? Yes, I would.

On the other hand, do I want to see the Disney logo replace the famous Marvel logo on comics, t-shirt tags and the opening credits of movies? No way, Jose.

We'll see how it pans out ... I just hope Mickey leaves the Marvel brand alone, as they have done with ESPN. Please Uncle Walt, no crappy cross-overs where you use our beloved characters to market to tween girls with some drek like "Wolverine meets Hannah Montana." Gag me ...



Disney to Acquire Marvel for $4 Billion! From: Superhero Hype.Com

Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Iger said.

UPDATE #1: In a conference call, the companies said that the deals for movies for characters at other studios (Spider-Man, X-Men, etc.) will stay in place under the terms set by Marvel and the other studios.

UPDATE #2: John Lasseter met with Marvel last week about a possible team-up between Marvel and Pixar and got "pretty excited, pretty fast." They say there's definitely an opportunity there.

UPDATE #3: The deal with Paramount Pictures to distribute five films--"Iron Man 2," "Thor," "Captain America," "The Avengers" and "Iron Man 3"--stays in place as well, but Disney would like to self-distribute down the line. "When the time comes we'll take a closer look at it."

Sons of Anarchy Season 2 - coming Sept. 8th on FX

Three words: East Bay Grease.

Hellz Yeah, these are the type of dudes that would roll up to Ricky's Bar in San Leandro to watch a Raiders game or a PPV boxing match. No doubt.

Love the municipal name dropping on this show: Oakland, Hayward, Stockton, Lodi ... they all get love from these leather-clad bikers out of the fictional East Bay town of Charming, Calif.

Got my tickets to THE SOUNDS ... and the Raiders!

I ... am ... pretty ... excited. On this fine Sunday morning, tickets went on sale for The Sounds at the historic Warfield Theatre in San Francisco and I snatched up a pair of duckets with the quickness. Happy belated birthday to me.

In happy-early-birthday-to-me news: I also got a ticket for the Raiders season opener vs. the Chargers on ESPN's Monday Night Football. I can't wait to see Oakland's AFL, throw-back legacy uniforms that will commemorate 50 years of Raiders football here in our fair city.


Woo-hoo, two things to look forward to that will act as the bread of my birthday sandwich. Go Raiders ... and Go Sounds (that sounds funny, no pun intended).

Mad Men on AMC: the secret, tortured lives of Barbie & Ken

I caught the very last episode of AMC's Mad Men Season 2 last year, and found it intriguing enough to watch lask week's Season Premier of Season 3. Can't wait for tonight's Season 3, episode #2.

Through the magic of Comcast's HD OnDemand offering, I'm now enjoying each and every episode of Season 2 ... and golly-gee-whiz, how it all makes sense now. Having watched the last show of last season, I was left wondering how and why Betty Draper cheats on her husband, Don. Noooooooow I get it. Wow.

There is an old saying that men "lead lives of quiet desperation," which is very true of the lead character Don Draper. What becomes painfully obvious is that his actions lead poor, quietly suffering Betty down a dark path of lonely desperation. This show makes ABC's Desperate Housewives look like a crappy, cartoonish soap opera.

Mad Men, set in the glory days of 1960s Madison Avenue, chronicles the lives of prim and seemingly proper advertising executives, including their dark and complicated love lives. Imagine an x-rated, technicolor version of Leave it to Beaver and you have Mad Men ... sans swearing and nudity, plus cigarettes. Trust me, this show doesn't neeed swearing and nudity, otherwise it would be on HBO on Sunday nights - it is plenty graphic and yet exruciatingly subtle.

If you subscribe to the addage "misery loves company," then tune in and jump into the lives of this cast of beautiful 1960s characters that are so full of pain and suffering on the inside.

I AM NOT A ROBOT

This, from Marina & the Diamonds.



This song/video fits in really well with my current obsession (and re-obsession) with "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," by one of the original titans of Science Fiction, the great Philip K. Dick from right here in Berkeley, Calif. I'm currently reading the 24-part comic book adaptation, which isn't really an adaptation, but a literal word-for-word re-telling of Dick's seminal book. The words are paired with sequential comic book art to complement the story, which is spread out over 24 glorious installments.


The reading of "Androids" has me watching the 1982 film Blade Runner with whole new eyes ... dare I say more vividly open, human eyes now that I have read Dick's brilliant source material?

Here's another vid from Marina & the Diamonds that has nothing to do with Dick, or Blade Runner for that matter, but everything to do with obsessions. Enjoy:

Not much Captain America movie news, but this will have to do ... for now

Louis Leterrier Talks Captain America, Avengers
Source:Los Angeles Times August 10, 2009

The Los Angeles Times recently spoke to The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier and got quotes about what he's seen of The First Avenger: Captain America and his dream for The Avengers. Here are several clips from the article:

LL: ...I have seen some of the design work they’re doing for Captain America and it looks amazing. It’s a period piece and it’s like “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and with more gadgets...

GB: Well that makes sense, I know Feige and his team turned to Joe Johnston because of his art direction work on “Raiders” and the fact that he directed “The Rocketeer.”

LL: Yes, exactly, so it’s “Raiders” meets "Rocketeer” and “Saving Private Ryan.” It’s going to be so cool.

LL: ...You know, you asked about my dream, I’ll tell you my real dream: To work with Joe Johnston and [“Thor” director] Kenneth Branagh and Jon Favreau and make like a triptych. We do four movies. We release them one a month for the summer. Or even every two weeks or three weeks. And the whole summer would be Avengers summer. So we do it the way they make television shows. One story arc but told in installments by different directors. So all of the directors that touch part of the Avengers world would do a part; we could make the movies shorter, maybe less than an hour and a half, and we use the same sets and save Marvel money. I would love to sit around a table with all of them a kick around the story. That’s my dream.

###

Werd up, Louie. Avengers summer ... schwing!

Phantogram: MOUTHFUL OF DIAMONDS

UPDATE #2: LYRICS (partial anyway).

You've got a mouthful of diamonds
and a pocketful of secrets.
I know you're never telling anyone
because the patterns they control your mind.
Those patterns take away my time ...
Hello,
Goodbye.
(Chorus)
Pack your bags and leave.
I wish i could believe.

UPDATE: After succesfully e-mailing the band, an EP CD is on the way to Casa de O-dogg. Tight ...

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK! Enjoy the Phantogram beats & lyrics, true believer. You can find this dynamic duo on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and all the rest. Look 'em up & hook 'em up, along with the Noisettes. O-dogg recommended.