The First Bond to Fall...

Being a big James Bond fan, I thought I would jump in here quickly with a bit of sad news for those of us who have followed the exploits of the British secret agent and his forays into the media.

Actor Barry Nelson, who portrayed the first James Bond in a 1954 live TV Climax mystery theater, passed away last week at the age of 89.

Here' s what ABC News had to say about it.

LOS ANGELES Apr 13, 2007 (AP)— Barry Nelson, an MGM contract
player during the 1940s who later had a prolific theater career and was the
first actor to play James Bond on screen, has died. He was 89.

He is the answer to the trivia question: Who was the first actor to play
James Bond? Before Sean Connery was tapped to play the British agent on the big
screen in 1962's "Dr. No," Nelson played Bond in a one-hour TV adaptation of
"Casino Royale" in 1954.

Actually, in the TV adaptation, the character of James Bond was rewritten as an American CIA agent who went by the nickname "Card Smart Jimmy Bond". The villain, Le Chiffre was played by famed character actor, Peter Lorre.

Nelson spent his last years traveling the world with his wife.

That's all for now. I think I'm spoiling you all with three posts in a week, so I gotta get going. I'm off to be trained how to take care of my sister's two dogs, Frodo and Pippin while she's off gallivanting on vacation in a week.

Zangz.

P.S. You may also want to check out my last blog below if you haven't yet.

The Profits of Doom - LIVE!

Grrrrrr....

After many failed attempts to get to Blogger via Mozilla Foxfire (I get a error message that then closes Firefox when I get to Blogger's sign in page), I'm now forced to use IE browser, which I hate. No good reason for it, other than Blogger may have changed something on it's page that freaks out Foxfire. So I'm not in the greatest of moods here. I'm hopefully going to make this one short, but sweet.

In one my last posts I mentioned that I was going to see my musical favorites, Type O Negative live in concert this week. Here's how it went....

First, you have to understand, that there are certain challenges when living in the upper Midwest. The number one challenge is braving the weather. Mother Nature, again, provided my hometown with a wonderful blizzard that left us a few inches of cold, slushy, heavy gunk the was blowing at us with gale force winds.

Of course me, being the brianiac I am, was under the impression (back in March, when I bought my ticket) that it would be half-way decent by mid-April. I wasn't thinking 80 degree weather, but I was at least under my own ignorant impression that I wouldn't be walking to the venue in a snow storm.

The venue isn't all that far from me and parking in that area isn't always the best choice for many reasons. So, if I'm seeing a show there, I usually enjoy a good natured jaunt through the downtown/college area that takes just under an hour from Zangz's Vault of Geekdom Headquarters.

When I got home from work that evening, the big snowstorm that went through the town just earlier had subsided. So I put on my warm leather jacket and started off. Of course, God, who was conspiring against me with the help of Mother Nature, thought it would a fun shtick to start up the wind and snow again once I was well on my way there.

Once I reached the venue, I looked like a drown rat amongst the cool goth kids who probably were thinking, "Who's the creepy, moist guy?"

Well, once I warmed up I made my way into the main concert hall that Type O have played time and time again. I went up to my favorite perch where I can see everything perfect and don't have to worry about being crushed by the frenzied moshers. Once I got up there I was told by a security guy that to be up there was an additional $5. Realizing I was getting way too old for any moshing bull-frack I whipped out the ol' Abraham Lincoln, bought an $8 beer at the bar and relented with the fact that I'd been just nickled and dimed. Oh well. This was Type O Negative after all.

So I sat back with my beer, found a decent vantage point and enjoyed the show. The first opening band was Brand New Sin, a headbanger band with a slight dose of southern blues. Though the crowd was small at this point, they seemed to enjoy Brand New Sin, as did I!

After a 15 minute change over, the next opener came out. It was Black Metal avantegarde legends Celtic Frost. Their spooky intro tape lasted for what seemed like 20 minutes. Finally they took the stage amongst the smoke and dim, spooky lights, then they stood there for the remainder of the intro tape (another 5 minutes). Jeeze, play already!!! Finally they went into their opening song and from then on it was all out, full-on gloomy dark and powerful music. They intensified their music with an equally dark image as they all wore King Diamond-esque make up.

They certainly were darn fine musicians, but much like their intro tape, their set went on and on and on and on.........

They finally ended their show with a dramatic bow and left the stage.

Next up was going to be Type O Negative! But not before their sound crew tortured the frack out of us. First they'd play decent metal songs over the speaker system while the roadies switched the gear and put up Type O's set. So, all was good at first. Then they'd stop in the middle of a decent song and start playing a different one. Once the crowd got into that song, they'd stop it in the middle and start a new one. Then things got even more painful.

The house lights went down and the gloomy, blue stage lights came up which usually marks the entrance of the band. No such luck here. Instead they played the "Chicken Dance" song.... over and over and over... on a loop tape, don't ya know. Once again all the lights went down and the music stopped, usually marking the start of the show. Again, God frowned down upon us as the Chicken Dance was replaced by "It's a Small World After All", over and over again.

T.O.N. have a good time frellin' with their audience. Their last tour it was non stop marching band music before the show. The tour before that it was The Bee Gees greatest hits (which, comparatively, wasn't that bad at all!).

Finally all the lights went down and Small World came to an end. The four propagandist banners featuring Typ O's insignia (an "O" with a "-" in its center) which provided a backdrop to this evenings shinanagins lit up and the National Anthem of Kazhakstan (anyone seen Borat?) played at top level over the speakers. Then the drab four took the stage and went into a rendition of "Magical Mystery Tour" before plunging into their own stuff.

The set list went like this (I aped it from somebody at the band's message board)

Intro - Kazhakstani national anthem

Magical Mystery Tour (Beatles's cover)

We Hate Everyone

Profit of Doom

Anesthesia

These Three Things

Xero Tolerance (first half)

Hey Peter

Xero Tolerance (second half)

Halloween in Heaven (a highlight of the set!!!)

___________________________________

[I don't know if this was an encore or a break to fix Peter's Base, but there was a bit of a break in the show here.]

Love You to Death (another highlight!)

Christian Woman

___________________________________

Encore

Waste of Life (just the intro of it)

Theme from the Munsters bass solo (from Peter Steele)

Black No. 1 (a couple of members of Celtic Frost join in the chorus)

Ode to Locksmiths (outro - the chorus part that goes "We ain't going home...there's nowhere to go")

Their stage set was pretty simplistic as the stage room was limited. They had the banners with their logo on it, as I said before. They also had a couple of construction blockades painted in Type O black and neon green set in front of their speakers. They also had a number of audience participation lights that have been used on sitcom and variety show sets ("Applause", "Laughter", "Boo" and "You Suck"). These played a key roll in the aforementioned Chicken Dance blaspheme that took place prior to the band taking stage.

The band were in fine form as they seemed more energetic than the last time they played here.

Kenny (guitar, second vocalist) was especially energetic and playing incredibly well. Pete (bass, main vocals, main songwriter) seemed to be having a good time except for one point were he had to sit on a stool for a couple of minutes during a song. (rumors of back problems plagued some of the earlier shows on the tour), but after a while he was back up and jamming full throttle. Johnny is always a great drummer whether he's playing for Type O or doing his part time gig with Danzig and this night was no exception. Josh, as stoic as usual, takes to the keys with reckless abandon.... even though he looks like Moses. Imagine a stoic Moses banging around on a keyboard and you'll have a visual of the brilliance of Josh Silver.

The only two quibbles I had with the show was 1) the fact that the center mic's level was lower than the others, leaving both Kenny and Pete a bit agitated a few times. They both had to signal the sound tech to turn it up. Then 2) they could have done at least two more songs for their set. I now that their songs are long to begin with and time is limited, but would it have killed them to do two of their best songs, "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" and "Dead Again" would have been quite welcome over "Xero Tollerence/Hey Peter" for the umpteenth time.

Otherwise, this show was flawless and a very good time was had by all!! I enjoyed it better than the last time I saw them on the "Life is Killing Me" tour. Well worth being nickeled and dimed by the venue.

Well, that's all I have in me for this evening.

"May the power of Christ compel you!" (says Zangz's waving a bottle of Charles Shaw at no one in particular, trying to be as funny and cool as Peter Steele but, once again, failing miserably.)

Zangz.

New One!

Yep, another podcast is up. You can access it right HERE! This time around, I discuss some of my favorite Saturday Morning programing that we all enjoyed as kids. They just don't make Saturday mornings like they did back in the 70's.

You may also notice that we're starting to get a little more quality driven. The sound is a lot better and we're having fun with some SFX in the intros.

So, have a listen, won't you.

Zangz.

I've been GROUND!

The month of March continues to suck the life-blood out of my small, poor, worn out wallet as Type O Negative come to town this week. There are very few concerts I go to any more. But, Type O I make time for. They're a remarkably tight band and usually have a few surprises up their sleeves when they play live. So that'll be happening this week. I'll report on that at a later time.

Speaking of Type O Negative, here's just how much of a inattentive dumb-ass I can be. I bought their new album about a month ago, right? It's just today that I noticed that my copy came with an additional live disc of some of their music. WHATADUMBASS!!!! But it is pretty cool. It's like the Easter Bunny came one day early.


And speaking of fellow dumbasses, can you believe the stir that my favorite movie, 300, is causing amongst the liberal throngs. I consider myself to be relatively liberal most of the time. But, silliness like this makes me more and more moderate every day. I don't want my blog to become a festering dung heap of self absorbed political philosophy, but for people to call the movie a right wing propagandist film that was funded by the Bush administration is just... well... DUMBASSED!

Get a grip, people. If this movie had any real (not imagined from the minds of dumbasses) political agenda, one could just as easily see the invading Persians as the Bush administration and the evil Xerxes as George W. Bush. It can go either way if you think about. It's also based on a comic book that was written about 10 years ago, fer crissakes. On top of all of that, if any filmmaker in Hollywood ever united with the Bush administration for any reason, they'd find themselves on a blacklist and ousted from the business. Hollywood and George Bush mix as well as vinegar and wine. So stop yer whinnin' about it and enjoy the film for the full fledged butt-kickery that it is.

'Nuff said.


I guess the big deal of the last week was that I went down to my neighborhood movie theater last night (a classic old one, not one of those multiplexes) and sat down to enjoy myself a big huge helping of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse. Oh, what a wonderful action packed, splatter ozzed, eye candy filled, pulp fest it was!!!! I have to say, straight out, that this is my second favorite movie of 2007 so far (300 is first, so far). It clocks in at over three hours of crazy-assed action.

The Grindhouse films of the '70's were B-Grade, "R" rated pulp movies that were shown back-to-back in more of the seedier theaters of the time. Tarantino and Rodriguez bring that whole feel back with a double dose of schlock and shock with Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror showing first and then being followed by Quintin Tarantino's Death Proof.

Planet Terror, from Robert Rodriguez, is a fast paced, unstoppable force in itself. The outrageous plot, non-stop uberviolence and immense gross-out factor smacked me upside the head... in a good way. It's a great entry into the whole Zombie genre that actually does a decent job of character development between the gushing gunshot wounds, beheadings and puss spewing. You find yourself rooting for the main leads, El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) and Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) in their huge, violent battle against the plague infected zombies. Watching Rose McGowan on the big screen certainly does a nice job on your peepers (that's "peepers" as in EYES, you pervs!), but to watch her make good use of her "special leg enhancement" is frackin' beautiful!!! This flick was my favorite of the two as it played easily to my fan-boy, geek sensibilities! Babes, blood, blow-ups and Zombies! This was a real fun ride.

Quintin Tarentino's Death Proof was a completely different ride. One thing you'll have to understand going from the blood crazed and explosive Planet Terror to the slightly more subtle Death Proof is that Tarentino loves dialog... lots and lots of dialog. He also loves a good, healthy dose of character development.... lots and lots of character development. The first part of Death Proof might seem like a bit of a radical slow down from the previous Planet Terror. But if you're a big fan of Tarentino, fear not! This is right up your alley. He gives us some great characters, great dialog, and if you can wait long enough, some pretty incredible vehicular action.

In a nutshell, this little story is about why not to take rides from strangers. No zombies here, but Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike is one formidable psychopath! This IS Kurt Russell's movie. I've always liked Kurt Russell. Hell, I've based my Star Wars RPG character of Jodz Burdoz on his BTILC character, Jack Burton. That's how geeky I am and that's how much I enjoy Kurt Russell. I guess it's partly because I've grown up watching him. I remember being a kid and going to the drive-in (remember those?) and watching a Disney double feature. One would be something like Herbie the Love Bug (pre-Lohan) and it would be followed by one of the crazy teen movies that had a young Kurt running around his high school with some form of special power that was usually a science lab mishap.

Ok, then. Enough of this Kurt Russell man-crush crap! Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike is one of his best characterizations to date. First you kind of like the guy. You want to buy him a drink in a bar. But, by the end of the movie you're rooting for him to get the livin' smack beat out of him. Even though his character isn't anywhere near as fleshed out as a lot of the others in this film, Russell does an excellent job with it. As nasty as he gets, he's fun to watch.

The set up for the real fun to start is a bit long, but worth the wait. The car chase is pretty phenomenal and I wish there was more of that in the movie! Which leads me to the only problem I had with the telling of the story: (Major Spoilage! Highlight to read!)

Tarantino spends a huge load of time building up a bunch of characters of a group of girlfriends out for a night on the town (well actually, one Austin dive bar). Their story takes up a good, solid half of Death Proof. Unfortunately it all goes to rot when, well into their story, Stuntman Mike takes them out of the picture. Then we have to start all over with more character development from a different group of girls who'll have to deal with Mike.

For me that was kind of a waste. I feel Death Proof would have been a bit more parallel and fit better with Planet Terror if Tarantino would have condensed the whole first half of Death Proof and given more time to car chases and road rage. But, I guess that's the fan-boy in me. More action, less talk. One thing Tarantino is famous for is the dialog. And he certainly delivers there. There is some really great Tarantino-esque dialog that Quintin's fans won't be disappointed with!

I can tell you this the very final shot of Death Proof had the audience roaring with laughter and applause.

Great movie(s), great cast and fun uber-violent action! Good times! Grindhouse!


Hey, Haven't done this in a while, Have I? So here's a .....

ZANGZ'S BLOG OF GEEKDOM'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT

TRONGUY.NET
Just when I though I was pretty frellin' geeky comes along this guy. A TRON uber-fan who isn't afraid to show his Geek-Freak flag fly high. This guy is living proof that "It's all about the suit, babe. All about the suit." Filled with pictures and media for you all to peruse. God bless you, Jay Maynard. God bless you.

Well, that's all for today kiddies, I guess I could go on and on about a email discussion I'm currently having with my friend Carlo (a Reserve serving in the Middle East) about how friggin' hot Hero's Ali Larter is and how we want her to step on us. But, I think I'll leave that for my inside voice so as to not scare up any more restraining orders.

So, I'm outta here! Come home soon, Carlo!

Zangz.