Ahh, Nostaligia....!

Sometimes I get the feeling that we’re living in the middle of some kind of cultural “Dark Ages” because of how much the entertainment industry seems to rely on “Nostalgia.”

I started noticing they did this about ten years ago when VH1 launched that “I love the 80s” show.

I’m sure this technique has been around for a lot longer than that – the phrase, “return to simpler times” has probably been the slogan of countless politicians for ages – but it seems like we’re all feeding into it so much now that we’re not giving anything else a chance.

There are so many adaptations, remakes & “re-imaginings” of books, movies, stories that were popular over a decade ago that are just being re-hashed as a movie, cartoon, stage-musical, etc. that I’ve lost count. TV series that should’ve ended years ago are still on the air! Every profitable franchise with a storyline is being “re-imagined” to the point where I’m losing interest.

It was fun & novel at first, but it’s been ten years – can we stop reliving our childhoods and move on to something new to love?

The final straw for me is how they’re marketed the “new Karate Kid movie” that just came out. I mean, it’s clearly NOT a re-make of the original; it’s just total rip-off of it.

But since they advertised it as a remake / re-imagining / whatever, they can avoid all the “it’s just like ________” criticism that other movies get (ex. Avatar – “it’s just Dances with Wolves w/CGI, lulz”) while still profiting from the name of the original franchise!

You see, people won’t go see a movie that they think is a rip-off; but they will go see a movie that they think is a ‘remake.’….even if it isn’t.

Because of Nostalgia.

Sorry – somehow this turned into a rant. I didn’t even like the original Karate Kid movie….!

Meta-Fiction!

Read the synopsis of this book and tell me if it isn't the most complicated work of meta-fiction you’ve ever heard of. 

I had trouble just reading the plot summary. 

Sounds intriguing though, right?  Almost like the author's daring you to try and understand it. 

I now want to read (and buy) this book just to say that I did - I think it'll impress people.

......once I explain it to them. 

Wait a minute. 

About my Dad

I really hate bringing up uncomfortable topics in person for the very reason that it makes people uncomfortable. But since Father’s Day was this past Sunday, I thought I should take a post to say a few things about him for once.

You see, he passed away back when I was sixteen and ever since then, it’s been hard to talk about him….even with family. But I just wanted to say a few things about him here since....technically, I'm not talking - I'm typing.   

My dad had a pretty dark sense of humor like me. Not so much in the way that he would crack 'dead baby jokes,' but we would often get together and watch episodes of The Simpsons during it’s heyday (seasons 2 - 10). His favorite episode was “King-Size Homer” (Season 7, episode 7) where Homer tries to get declared “morbidly obese” so he can work from home.

He also had this really cool comic collection that he shared with me and my brother, consisting of a bunch of U.S. Army comics (Sgt. Nick Fury, etc.), a lot of old Justice League comics, and a bunch of “Tales from the Crypt” type comics. (like House of Mystery / House of Secrets  – the original series where The Sandman’s Cain and Abel came from)

Last thing I want to mention is how he’s the one who got me excited about playing video games. I remember when the original Nintendo system first came out, *he* was the one who played all the video games – particularly the Legend of Zelda series  and Mike Tyson’s Punch-out  – and we would watch / help him play; it was our version of “quality time.”

So yeah….a few things I remember about my Dad. 

Chalk Festival 2010!

On Sunday Me and a friend went to the (free!) Pasadena Chalk Festival at the Paseo Colorado.

Since I don’t really have a lot to say about it (other than “there was some really cool chalk artwork there”), I’ll just post a bunch of pictures I took while I was there:

By the way - there was some really cool Chalk Artwork there!

(Personally, I think this one should've won)

And since the new Arclight Theatre was up and running there, I also (grudgingly) decided to buy a ticket to see “Toy Story 3.” 

Now I don’t know if my “hating all movies that came out this year so far” had anything to do with this, but I really enjoyed the latest "Toy Story" movie. It was really good (in my opinion) 

See it for yourself and decide if you agree with me!  (It'll give us something cool to talk about at the water cooler)   

My First Jack & Jill

Now that I’ve had a day for my legs to rest, lemme tell you about the Jack & Jill! 

So I obviously didn’t place / win, (you should’ve seen who entered) but I think it was a good learning experience for the Jack & Jill at Camp Hollywood. There were over 40 dancers (20 couples) competing, so they divided the preliminaries up into two rounds. (I was in the second round)

A couple things I’m going to whine about:

• The songs they played were a lot faster than the ones they played for the first round.
• I thought it was a little unfair that some of the “pros” were in this competition with the rest of us amateurs.

But here’s what I learned the Judges look for:

• “Everyone can dance the basic steps, so do something that will set you apart right away.” (duh, obvious but I didn’t think to do it)
• “Smile!”
• “Make your movements big!”
• “Ask the judges for notes afterwards”

So basically what it boils down to is ‘showmanship.’ It’s technically a performance, so you gotta PERFORM.

(Again, duh – but I didn’t think to do it)

Happy Dad's Day!

Happy Father's Day, Dads!  

Try and act happy when your kids give you crappy gifts.  

Here's How! 

Training for Camp Hollywood

I’ve been making an effort to go out dancing more often in an attempt to train for the “Jack & Jill” competition I signed up for at Camp Hollywood. 

The competition’s in a few months, so I figured I should get started now. Of course my “training” just consists of me trying to dance with as many follows at as many venues as I can think of & trying to watch / remember / learn as many steps as I can from other dancers.

This will be my first lindy hop competition and I’m not really sure what they’re going to be judging us on other than musicality, form and how well we can improvise with our random partner.

For those of you who don’t know what a “Jack & Jill” competition is, it's:  

…..a competition in partner dancing, where the competing couples are the result of random matching of leaders (male dancers) and follows (female dancers).

Even though it’s one of the larger Swing events in the world, I figured I would sign up for the Jack & Jill at Camp Hollywood because of how less pressure there would be to do well. As many as 30 couples are out on the floor at once and judges can only look at so many people at once. I figure not that many people will be watching me specifically so if I royally embarrass myself, no one will really notice.

I’m actually more worried about signing up for the Jack & Jill this weekend at Third Saturday Swing – it’s advertised as a “Practice Jack & Jill” to prep everyone for Camp Hollywood, but since it’s a smaller venue (where amateurs will be lined up with pros), more people will be watching. (Yikes)

Here’s some videos I found of other “Jack &Jill” competitions to give you an idea of what it’s like.

Oh boy....wish me luck!