Odd Day...

This has been a very odd day.

It started sunny with a slight fog coming inland from the lake that gave the drive into work a beautiful ominous. Then once I got into work, I learned that someone within the company had passed away over the weekend. I wasn't in this person's department, but I'd see him around. He was a bit of an introvert and very much kept to himself, rarely making a sound. Now he's gone and very few people really knew much about him.

Now I'm a pretty shy guy. I feel horrible when I first meet a new group of people. But as I get older, I realize that you gotta get out there and get to know people. There are quite a few groups of friends I'm very glad and proud to know! And I wouldn't have that joy in my life if I continued to be the introvert I was back in my grade school and high school years.

It's another example of life being way too short.

This blog is sounding like an obituary column as of late. On to the geek stuff!


This weekend was just awesome outside! My gaming group made the best of it as we played SpyCraft outside with a good amount of beers and burgers to boot. The game itself was a quick, yet fun introductory game that had an NPC character that was described as looking like Jessica Alba! What wasn't there to love about a game like that? Fun as heck, I tell you! Props to our game master, Mad Mario!


I've been getting a chance to catch up on some movies I've missed out on within the last year or so. Are you itching to know how I felt about them? You Aren't? Too bad, suckers! It's my Blog of Geekdom. Deal with it! Here we go....

• The Fantastic 4 - Speaking of Jessica Alba, this was my first introduction to her as Sue Storm (aka: The Invisible Girl), 1/4th of the superhero team of the movie's title. Many a comic book geek awaited this film with baited breath, but when it came out, many were disappointed with the result. This is why when I saw it a week ago, I decided to have absolutely no expectations for it. This strategy worked in my favor since instead of seeing what should have been another, balls-out, rockin' action flick based on a Marvel comic book (much like the Blade and Spider-man movies), I saw a cute, fun, quick action movie. Nothing out of the park, yet enjoyable enough to kill a couple of hours with. Though the effects and set pieces were pretty good, the plot and story could have easily have been a made for TV movie. They've just released the sequel in theaters a week or so back and fan-boys are getting into it fair better than its predecessor. I think I'll wait for rental.
• Ghost Rider - Another Marvel comic to feature film action thriller staring Nicolas Cage (a closeted comic geek himself) playing the role of Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcycle rider who has sold his soul to the devil and thus obtained unholy and otherworldly powers. Unholy and otherworldly meaning his head turns to a flaming skull, he can shoot fire balls from his hands and he can whip a flaming chain around. Now, I remember reading the comic book from the 1970's and I loved it, however the movie follows a more recent, updated version of the comic book which I didn't really get into. Though Nicolas Cage was his fun, quirky self, the special effects were good and Eva Mendez was the love interest, I ended up feeling the same way about this film that I did for F4. There was also some truly cheesy and corny scenes that had me cringing a bit. A cute, fun afternoon viewing, but nothing more. A good rental if you're a fan-boy.
• Children of Men - This grim, post apocalyptic thriller left me both numb and thinking. This is not a fun filled sci-fi romp that is "the Blade Runner of the century" as the ads for it touted. This is a dark, foreboding warning to the human race about what could bring civilization to it's knees. Both right wing and left wing extremism is studied here as the women of the world have all become infertile for the last 17 years. A fascist police state rules England while leftist terrorists tear apart what little is left of the country. The end of humanity is in sight until one unsuspecting man finds himself in the middle of the whole mess as he winds up escorting the first pregnant woman in 17 years to safety. Visually this movie is dark, but the view of future technology is quite believable. I enjoyed this movie a lot, but I doubt I'd own it in my collection. Too grim to view in more than one viewing, but it certainly should be viewed!!!!
• Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny - Any huge fan of comedic, acoustic, operatic Heavy Metal duo Kyle Gas and Jack Black were anticipating the release of this movie for a long time. This movie had loads of buzz about it within the geek community prior to its release. When it finally hit the big screens fans felt it didn't deliver anywhere as much as it should have, and after viewing it this weekend, I have to agree. There are a bunch of times that I found myself laughing out load throughout the movie, but not anywhere as much as I have in the past times I've seen them perform on television and video. There was something missing here and I can't put my figure on it. Maybe it's the lack on comedic spontaneity that they have in their live act. One disappointment was the fact that prior to the film coming out I heard that Ronnie James Dio had a role playing himself in the movie. I was stoked! But, he's only in the film for about 4.5 seconds sadly. Anyway, like most of the movies here, it was enjoyable, but not something I would have enjoyed as much had I plunked down the cash to see it in the theater or buy the DVD.

I'm also getting caught up on HBO's Deadwood. I just finished season 2 of this 3 season series. I'm hoping that sometime soon, after I view season 3, series creator, David Milch, gets his act together, and give us Deadwood fans the 2 two hour movies that are to tie up the series. This is one awesome show with a stand out ensemble cast and incredibly original writing that explores the many different aspects (both good and bad) of human nature... that and there's boobies.

I'll be quite busy in the weeks ahead. I'll try and stop on in here once during the 4th of July/Summerfest season. If I don't, have a good time with cook outs, beer, cigars and good friends! I know I will be!

See ya.

Zangz.

An evening of cigars, music reviews, movie reviews, notes on death and general bitterness against rich, French men....

The end of a work week comes a few hours earlier for me as I took off the afternoon. It's such a beautiful summer day that I just had to take advantage of the weather and head home for some beer and a cigar.

If you haven't yet, check out the latest Zangz's Pod of Geekdom as it's part 2 of our celebration of Star Wars reaching 30 years old.


I know you're wondering what I'm rocking out to lately. Well right now I have the latest Buckcherry album, "15" on the ol' media player. There's a song called "Everything" that's pretty frellin' good. Then there's the latest Sevendust album, "Alpha" that a co-worker lent me. It blew me across the room. It's sad that these guys don't get the recognition they deserve. I'm also looking into more Dream Theater music. These guys are just too frackin' talented and you're too frackin' lame if you haven't checked them out yet!!!!


The world needs more female bass players. Just thought I'd throw that one out there.


In geekier subjects, I did get a chance to see both The Illusionist and The Prestige. I enjoyed both of these movies that were both about Victorian era magicians. I have to say that I enjoyed The Illusionist a tad better. Even though I figured out the "plot twist" of the ending early on, I really enjoyed the actors' performances. The Prestige was quite good, but it was bit confusing. And I wasn't impressed with the whole reveal of the ending. I felt it was a bit of stretch that really didn't do the rest of the movie justice. But it was still good. Especially David Bowie as Nikola Tesla!

This week I'm going to check out the first Fantastic 4 movie and Children of Men. I'll let you know how they are... if you actually give a dren.


Hey. James "Scotty" Doohan's ashes were indeed shot into space. However, the rocket went off trajectory and ended up crash landing in some jungle that hasn't even been explored that much yet since it is incredibly hard to get to. So instead of his remains being laid to rest out into the galaxy, they're in some jungle were I can guess that there are species of bugs and plants hat have yet to be discovered. The remainder of his ashes were scattered over Puget Sound in Washington. Ain't life odd?


More death talk:

I'm no longer a huge Real World fan since it's deteriorated into a, shallow, booze ridden, whore-fest, but I did watch quite a bit of Real World: San Diego. That's why this announcement made me kind of bummed out in a weird way. Maybe because the passing took place near where my mom lives or just because I have a soft spot for rocker-punk-goth chicks. Anyway, it's one more reason to realize the good die young and greedy, French bajillionaires of the world get Salma Hayek . WTF?!?!?! There is no justice, is there? (Sheesh, I'm in a bitter mode here. Better start smokin' some cigars darn soon!!!)

And on that note, time to enjoy some puffs. See ya!

Zangzque. (I believe that's French for Zangz, Miss Hayek. Though I'm no bajillionaire, I have an awful lot of lovin' to give.)

SW30: Part DUECE!!!

Part two of the well received podcast we put together celebrating the 30th anniversary of the greatest movie known to both man and woman-kind can be downloaded and listened to right here!!!

Please feel free to leave us feedback, either here or at iTunes! We've only heard that people have thoroughly enjoyed Pt. 1 through word of mouth. Please, if you liked it, by all means stroke my ego! God frackin' knows it needs strokin'! .... among other things of mine (yes, that was a sad pathetic joke.)

In quickie other news, I went to go see this band, Heavy Nova, the other night at their CD release party that ushered in their new album, "Miles of Cock". Now before you flag this post, cock refers to roosters, as there are a bunch of them marching along a road on the CD cover. When it comes to harder edged rock getting the publicity it deserves, it usually gets lost in the shuffle nowadays. So please check out the band's website as the guitarist, Brian, is an awfully nice and talented fellow. (I have no idea who that babe is on their website, but sadly, she wasn't at there show the other night).

That's all for now. Check back with you at the end of the week.

Zangz.

And now for another uninspirational entry into the world of a geek.....

June is upon us already, fercrissakes! Just a short time ago I was bemoaning the snow and cold. I better lap this wonderful weather up while I can, 'cause in a very short time, we'll be back into the frozen tundra that is the upper Midwest.

Anyway, time to move on to more dorky subjects....


Well, Sean Connery finally made it official. He will not be popping out of his film retirement to reprise his role as Indiana Jones' father in Indy IV. You can read the story here. At least he seems to be good natured and good humored about turning down the role as he's quoted as saying....

"I love working with Steven and George, and it goes without saying that it is an honor to have Harrison as my son," he said. "But in the end, retirement is just too damned much fun."

"I do, however, have one bit of advice for Junior: Demand that the critters be digital, the cliffs be low, and for goodness sake keep that whip by your side at all times in case you need to escape from the stunt coordinator! This is a remarkable cast, and I can only say, 'Break a leg, everyone.'"

Class act, that Connery is. Sadly, it looks as though he's left films for good. This guy was one of my all time favorite actors. Certainly at the top of my list. You don't see a lot of today's actors quite as ballsy as Mr. Connery, that's for sure. Many of them are busy getting pedicures, manicures and collagen treatments. Connery has chunks of guys like that in his stool! Connery is THE MAN!


So I've joined this online DVD rental shindig, thingy. We'll see how this all goes. I got my first batch this week. The Prestige, The Illusionist (duelling Victorian magician movies!) and disc three of season 2 of Deadwood. Perhaps I may have some reviews on these here sometime soon.


Last weekend I had a chance to go to a historic reenactment of different wars. Though the event focused mainly on the Civil War, I had some friends there reenacting the English Civil War (mid 1600's). If you've listened to my podcasts you may know some of them. There was Mad Mario, his wife Hope and Bruce. They were all strutting around in wool and armour in 70 degree weather. Props to them! They also had huge 12 feet high pikes to deal with. I went with my mom and bro-in-law and they were both impressed with my historically gifted friends. Bruce especially loves to teach people about history. He explained in detail how the pikemen would take on opposing armies' calvary by placing themselves in a crouch position with the pike at an angle that would impale a charging horse and its rider. Isn't history cool!!!!


So on the suggestion of a co-worker I picked up the new Dream Theater album, Systematic Chaos, and I love it. These guys are usually lumped into the category of Prog-Metal. They're all Berklee School of Music grads and can put a hellova lot of successful recording artists to shame when it comes to musicianship and talent. Usually I'm not a huge fan of long, drawn out 15 minute songs, but their Ministry of Lost Souls is a heart wrenching, powerful epic tale that I'm a bit addicted to. If you're into hard rock for purely the music, check these guys out!!!!


So, everybody is anticipating the new Transformers movie based on the cartoon and toy line. Me? I'm more of a G.I. Joe kind of guy. I may wait until rental for this one.

The next Bond movie (Bond 22) will be filming at its traditional home of Pinewood Studios. Story here.


My group who is involved in my stagnant Call of Cthulhu game are now all harping me for a new one. We'll see, we'll see.


I'm jonesing for a cigar, so I'm wrap this up here.

Until next time, make sure you do something incredibly geeky to cheese off the socially elite!

Zangz.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY STAR WARS!!!!

(Note: I added to this post since it was published. See below.)

Yep. Thirty years ago, this very day, THE greatest motion picture series known to mankind was birthed with the first of its kind to be released to the masses of humans as a grand gift from the gods! Many of us blessed with a geekesque nature lost our friggin' minds as that first scene with the Republic Blockade Runner being chased by the immense Imperial Star Destroyer played out on the large screen before our young, virgin eyes (insert you own "virgin / Star Wars geek" joke here... ya cold, heartless bastages.) forever implanting a huge boost in our collective imaginations. Science Fiction, Fantasy and pop culture would never be the same.

In tandem with the special occasion, we have put together a special podcast that has been posted at Zangz's Pod of Geekdom. It's the Zangz's Pod of Geekdom's Star Wars Special. Check it out! One reviewer says, "Great podcast Zangz! An excellent group and very entertaining discussion."

Ok, so that reviewer happens to be Roberto Del Amorte who's been on a few of my podcasts. Still, I didn't pay him to write that and it is very entertaining!

Right now thousands of lucky Star Wars fans are converging in LA for Celebration IV, a huge Star Wars convention. Lucky bastages. Leslie, from the podcast, is there having the time of her life. Maybe we'll have her give a report for a podcast.


My dad is visiting from Houston and staying with me. We've already enjoyed a cigar together so it's going good so far. It's not all arguing over politics. I don't know if I'll get a chance to see Pirates this weekend as hanging out with Dad takes precedence. I've read some decent reviews on it and really want to check it out. Perhaps soon.

Edited 5/27/07, 8:38am: Well, we did get a chance to pop in a viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds' End yesterday. I know all you faithful readers out there (Rob....sigh) are chomping at the bit to know what I thought of the movie, well wait not more!

The third installment to the Pirates trilogy is, much like the other two, a visual smorgasbord of fantastical delights! Like a ride at Disney, it takes you to odd and wonderfully dark places with some crazy swashbuckling action thrown into the mix.

Johnny Depp reprises his role as the rogue pirate, Jack Swallow and is just as good as he was in the first two films, yet his character is slightly less utilized in this one since there is sooooo much going on in this film. All of the other actors do a great job with their characters as well. I really liked the fact that they brought more out of the character of the Voodoo queen, Tai Dalma, played by the beautiful Naomie Harris. She's quite fetching in a rotting teeth kind of way.

Of course the visual effects and CG work are mind blowing and top notch, possibly attempting to gloss over some of the flaws in the storyline.

Speaking of which, one of the flaws of both this Pirate movie and the last (Dead Man's Chest) is that the plot is waterlogged and bogged down with waaaaay too much Pirate mythos and lore that the screen writers seemed to be constantly pulling out of thin air as the movie moved along. Were they making it up as they filmed? One moment there was some ancient pirate mystery to be solved, the next moment another pirate myth had to be addressed, then another, then another. The first film, The Curse of the Black Pearl, was the most cohesive as it had only one big storyline to follow, Jack Sparrow reclaiming his ship from the cursed undead pirates who had taken it. In this one we jump from one quest to another to another to another so quickly, we lose sight of who doing what to who and even who the antagonists truly are.

There's also a bit of corny, goofiness that takes a bit away from the coolness of the movie. A musical number at the beginning? Wedding vows during a massive swashbuckling sea battle? C'mon. A little less cheese, please.

All in all, I'll definitely get this one on DVD and it will sit right next to the other two to complete the trilogy. The first one, however, will probably be the one most watched.

'Nuff said. Read on......

Oddly, I was under the impression that it was set to be a trilogy and not a series of films. Well, here's a review from Harry at Ain't It Cool News where he hints that it's to be a whole series. Hmmmmm? That would be cool as frack, but I don't see Johnny Depp stuck to one character for too long. I think he'd be one to jump ship (pun intended... not a good pun, but still intended) and go do more bizarre, quirky characters he likes to do. Hopefully he will not be doing any type of sequel to the crap-fest that was The Libertine. I greatly enjoy Johnny Depp's work, but The Libertine.... not so much.

Both Lost and "24" have come to their season's end. "24" ended with a bit of a whimper and Lost ended with yet another mystery for us fans to try and ponder. I have to admit that I think I've fallen out of love with "24". Though I enjoy it, it hasn't brought anything new to the table in the last couple of seasons. I found myself switching over to Heroes every Monday night. And how about that ending? Ka-Boom! So much for the Bothers Pitrelli.

Taking a break from Star Wars RPGing, our gaming group has decided to play a little SpyCraft for a while. We'll return to Star Wars this fall/winter. SpyCraft is always fun for us James Bond fans.

Speaking of James Bond, Dad and I enjoyed the Casino Royale DVD last night. Though he slept through most of it, I enjoyed watching it for the umpteenth time since its theatrical release.

And speaking of "release", I believe now is the time to release you from my chronic and silly ramblings. At least for now. So give a nod to those who have served our country this coming Monday, and make sure you enjoy a brat, a brew and a good cigar as well!

Have a good Memorial Day and a great Star Wars 30th Anniversary day!!!

May the Force be with you!
Zangz.

This Podcasts is coming to a galaxy near you...

This weekend started off absolutely wonderful as Friday night marked the recording of my upcoming podcast, Zangz's Pod of Geekdom's Star Wars 30th Anniversary Extravaganza. A bunch of us met at Mad Mario's home and we sat around a table, surrounded by cords and microphones, and told yarns and stories about our favorite science fantasy movie. Many a tale was told and many a beer was swilled as my producer, Double "A" Man, utilized his portable recording studio to collect our thoughts on the subject matter.

This special podcast will be a two parter. Part one should be posted within a few days and you'll be able to find it right HERE!

I'd like to thank my fellow Star Wars enthusiasts, Mad Mario, Bruce and the lovely Leslie for their involvement and participation in the show. We all had a real great time, especially myself, Mario and Bruce after a few Samuel Adams, as you'll probably be able to tell when you hear it.

I think my best podcasts are the ones where I have other people to interact with. If you've listened to a whole bunch of them (the two of you) you'll see where technically A-Z Cast.net has really progressed. I gotta tell you, Double "A" man and A-Z Cast.net are starting to pull out all the stops when it comes to these podcasts. We started recording the show from my home phone and now he brings a whole recording studio to the show.

On top of that, My friend has added another show to the A-Z Cast.net podcasting network. It's called the "Kashmire Music Club" and features up and coming bands. Please, check it out HERE.

After the show myself and Double "A" Man stood outside and talked for a bit. We discuss how podcasting is a whole new, free form frontier that corporate greed and big business have yet to destroy with their cadre of corrupt corporate lawyers and lobbyists. Say what you want and produce what you want. Very cool.

While we were discussing things I enjoyed a nice cigar. Unfortunately, no mater in what direction I moved the smoke would always find its way straight into Double "A" Man's face. But her assured me that he enjoyed it (???? Different strokes for different folks, I guess).

That's right, gang, it's cigar season as the weather here has gotten quite a bit warmer in recent weeks. I'm nicely stocked for the months ahead and will be enjoying an outdoor smoke from time to time. In fact since today was so nice, I went out and enjoyed another one today. Then I found myself walking down to the local cigar shop and getting a few nice big ones (cigars, you sickos!). I would have smoked another one but my old nemesis, Mother Nature, intervened and it started to rain. Perhaps if there's a break in the rain tonight I may indulge myself.

My dad is coming into town this week for the Memorial Day weekend so I'll be spending the week cleaning the heck out of my Vault of Geekdom Headquarters for him to stay here comfortably.

So for the next week or so I'll be busy. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend! When I post again I may have a review of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. So stay tuned.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

Zangz.

"Balls on Fire" and other interesting names for blogs.

A week come and gone. Friday is here. Beer in hand, smile on my face. I'm ready to face the weekend. There's also a box of cigars that awaits me on Sunday at a Mother's Day cookout that my bro in law procured for me. Now if we could just get the temp to stay above 70 for more than just a day or two that would be a decent weekend!

For anyone interested, here is a picture of the two dogs I was sitting a couple of weeks ago, Frodo and Pipin. Both are my sister's. Don't let the big eyes and fuzzy ears fool you, the one on the right (Pipin) is a frellin' poop factory and quite the mischeivious pup. He's cute, but don't trust him. Within that little mind he's plotting to take over small countries, I tell you! If you are ever asked by my sister to sit for him, watch yer back, you poor sod.

Weekend plans? Well, I got to do a little research for the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Star Wars special Zangz's Pod of Geekdom podcast. So a viewing of Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope will have to be done tomorrow. Then, if it's nice enough, I may go out and do some errands, take a walk or lose another 8 hours of my life to either Crackdown or Oblivion.

So, I have this friend, Spanky, who's been raving and raving about some guy's editorial blog over at some community newspaper's website. Spanky kept yapping about it to me day after day. I think Spanky is a big fan of this Franklin guy. So much so in fact that I believe Spanky even camped out on this Franklin guy's front lawn until this Franklin guy's wife came out and chased him off the property with a broom while swearing at him in Russian.

Well, in any case, I finally checked out this guys editorials and do have to say that they're quite fun and have a ton of geek/pop culture references in them. You can check them out HERE if you like.

I don't have time to check out a lot of websites on the net all of the time, so this guy's blog is in competition with sites like THIS and THIS and THIS (How does this Franklin dork compete with that last one? Huh?)

I do think that the "Roasted Nuts" is a little risque for a small town community newspaper to title one of its editorial pages, though. Why not just "Burnt Nards"?

(Ok, who am I kiddin'? Spanky and this Franklin guy are one in the same. I was just trying to be clever and hide his identity. But since nobody reads this frackin' blog anyway, who's going to be the wiser? Certainly not Spanky (Franklin) since he never reads this blog anyway! However, it is true that his wife did chase him off of his property with a broom while swearing at him in Russian.)

What did I get my Mom for mother's day? I got her THIS! She doesn't read this madre-frackin' blog either so it's not going to ruin any surprise anyway.

Looking forward to the last Pirates movie. Let's hope the plot is not quite as "all over the place" as Dead Man's Chest was. It comes out in a couple of weeks.....

Right around that time my dad is coming up here from Houston for a visit. He'll be staying with me so I hope he's going to like video games, the music of Type O Negative and Monster Magnet and loads of beer, 'cause that's what he's going to be exposed to during Memorial Day weekend.

How cool is this?!?!?! Bruce Willis is actually a bit of a geek, like us, and he's responding to fans on a message board. Watch the geekiness unfold HERE! You may have to read through a lot to figure out what's going on, but it's well worth it to read Bruce's smack talk against nay-sayers while also hanging out with the geek crowd and answering some questions. Very cool, Bruce.

I have little else at this point, so go download some pictures from here and do with them what you will, you dirty old bastages!

Until the next wasted time, Zangz has left the building.

Zangz.

Under Renovations

Yes, time has indeed passed and I'm way behind on posting some blogs. But, I did have to house / dog / cat sit for a week there, so cut me some frellin' slack, would ya.

The whole sitting experience went well. I only had to clean up poop twice (Mr. Pipin, you naughty, little bastage!). I'm done now and back to residing in my Vault of Geekdom and can now continue to plot ways as to spread the geek love all over this nation and realms beyond. One good way to do this brings me to my next subject.....

A new podcast has been posted!! It was posted a good week ago, but it was posted, none the less. You can download it right the frack HERE!

This time I yammer on about the wonderful Elder Scrolls games.

Both myself and my podcast producer, Double "A"-Man (from AZCast.net), have decided to cut back a little on the podcasts. We have a good 15 under our belt and have been consistently posting them for a decent 8 months. So we decided instead of posting them every 2 weeks we're going to go to a monthly format. It's all about quality over quantity, folks. Now, don't go jumping off of bridges or anything. I'll make sure you all (well... the two of you) get a decent dosage of Zangz fix.

Stay tuned. I'm drumming up something special for the 30th anniversary of one of the greatest movies ever made!

I know it's quite early in the season to be talking about Haunted Attractions, but a couple of them went down in Orlando recently.

Skull Kingdom was a staple of haunted attractions for tourists visiting the Disney area for many years. Recently the owner decided to close it down and cash in on it. Instead of taking a $100,000 offer from a company to buy the facility, he decided to take it to auction, not piece by piece, mind you. One sum for the whole enchilada. Not a good move. He made $26k, way under the price originally offered to him. Rumor has it he absolutely lost his cool at the auction when he realized how he frelled himself and was outraged at the offer. He kicked everybody out of the Skull Kingdom facility and has refused to give the haunt to the company that bought it (the same company that made the original offer of $100k).

Sadly, once they get their hands on it, the people who bought the facility will tear it down and sell most of it off piece by piece and use what they keep for use at a water park. Thems the breaks, folks.

Since we're talking about dumbassed moves, Haunted Attractions and Orlando, I have some good news / bad news about the grandaddy of 'em all, Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion.

The good news: The fine people at Disney have decided to finally toss out some green and give the ol' manse a decent renovation to upgrade a lot of the effects, many of which were really starting to be dated and show their age.

The bad news: The rocket scientists at Disney have decided to achieve this masterful task by closing down the Haunted Mansion (one of their biggest draws during tourist season) during.... TOURIST SEASON!!!!! It will be shut down through all of spring and summer for, hopefully, a fall reopening. Now, wouldn't any person blessed with 1/4 of a brain realize that perhaps the late fall and winter months, when there's not quite the throng of paying customers, would have been a far better time to shut the facility down for the upgrade.

Why is it that every time a huge corporation does something good, they always have to frack something up to do so?

Anyway, another interesting tid-bit about some of the changes is that Disney is finally putting their own back story to the haunt. In years past fans had made up their own interpretation of the dark history of old Gracey Manor.

This weekend the big summer blockbusters get into gear as Spider-Man 3 hits theaters. I think I'm going to wait on this one a bit. Though, I liked the first two, I was never really into them. I've heard that this current one has a plot that is a bit of a mess.

I worried when I heard that they were going to have three villains and two girlfriends for Spidey to deal with. Too many characters can really ruin a good story. Just watch Batman Forever and Batman and Robin to see what I'm talking about.

There is one good reason to see this movie, though. Bruce Campbell has another one of his famous cameos. I've heard that this time it's funnier and longer than in the two previous movies.

Still haven't seen Hot Fuzz. I gotta check that one out also as their previous Shaun of the Dead was friggin' brilliant!

Why a 2nd Incredible Hulk movie? Why? Why?

My buddy Carlo's back from serving in the middle east, Yeehaa! I hope to have him on a podcast soon!

Things to look forward to this summer:

- Dad's coming home for a visit.

- My buddy Goof, his lovely wife Gayle and their 7 month old will be

coming home for a visit.

- Seeing Weird Al Yankovic at Summerfest with Goof and Gayle.

- Cook outs!

- Cigars!

- Beer!

Crackdown is just that...pure crack. Damn near as addictive as Oblivion, I tell you.

It's fun as hell when you can pick up a burning body and throw it off the top of a 90 story building and then watch it plummet to the ground below. I always make the "falling to the death scream" under my breath when I do that (AAAAAAAaaaaarrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....thud).

Why are fans freaking out about the TV series, Lost, coming to an end in '09? The series creators have always said, from the get go, that the show will run about 4 to 5 seasons and come to its end. What has me all cheesed of is that it will not be back this coming fall, instead the next season won't start until early 2008. Grrrr....

This is all I have in me for now. But I'm sure I'll find more to bother you with at a latter date. See ya.

Zangz.

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.