Alright, back again with the latest.
First off, the Lakers-Suns game Tuesday night was awesome. Despite some horrendous traffic getting to the Staples Center, my friends and I made it in time for tip-off and were treated to an intense game that kicked off the NBA season with a bang. While not seeing Kobe play was a slight letdown, the Lakers hardly looked like they needed him, as Lamar Odom had a Halloween-appropriate MONSTER of a game, and 19 year old Andrew Bynum put up some intense numbers as well. I mean, sure, my hatred for the Lakers is pretty much unwavering, but, dammit all, after that game I was a Bynumaniac. Byn-o-mite! Anyways, just seeing reigning league MVP Steve Nash play in person was pretty awesome - to see his court vision and passing skill up close really is a sight to behold. And even though Amare Stoudamire was largely ineffectual after his return from a season-long injury, he did provide one vintage slam that had me crying in Bill Walton-esque glee: "Throw it down, Big Man - throw it down!" So yeah, despite the first half being all Suns, the Lakers owned the second half and dominated the boards, coming back to win the game by a decent margin. I was disappointed that the Suns couldn't pull it out, but, hey, whatever. I was watching the game from center court, only a dozen or so rows up from the floor, in the Staples Center's VIP seating area, complete with upscale concession stands and optional straight-to-your-seat food service. Niiiice. Not a bad way to spend Halloween, and a pretty exciting matchup for my first ever Lakers game.
Now, the Halloween season is finally over and it's time to shift gears to November and the holiday season. Looking back, it was a fun if somewhat exhausting October, but I managed to fit in a pretty large assortment of Halloween activities. My second annual trip to Knott's Scary Farm was a great time, and was a perfect way to kick off the Halloween season. Friday, October 13th saw another successful Horror Movie Marathon, with a good group of eager film fans. The week after that I headed to Hollywood for the El Capitan's premiere of the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D, which was great, and then Halloween weekend itself came and all kinds of craziness occurred when I headed down to Manhattan Beach to celebrate. And even though it's November, the fun isn't quite over yet. This weekend is a belated Halloween party in Pasadena, which should hopefully get a huge turnout and be lots of fun.
But aside from that ...
Man, it should be an exciting few days.
- This Friday, my most anticipated movie of the last few months finally drops into theaters -- Borat, baby! By this point, the movie's been overhyped and overexposed to an off-putting degree, but who cares? The bottom line is that I am pretty confident that Borat will be one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I like! I've been a fan since I first saw Borat on Da Ali G Show a few years back, and I mean, wow, I can't believe that that they even made a Borat movie, let alone that Borat has of late been one of the most hyped films in years, even gracing the cover of Entertainment Weekly. Who wouldda thunk it? Whatever the case, Borat's Ali G Show skits are some of the best, smartest, most bitingly satirical, and just plain funniest stuff I've ever seen. Cannot wait to see this comedy classic in the making.
- Then, this Tuesday (man, I can't believe this date is already here) ... it's one more trip to the Hollywood Bowl, this time to see, for round number 3, my all-time favorite band: AEROSMITH. This is going to friggin' ROCK. Not only is it Aerosmith, but, they will be joined by, of all people, Motley Crue! Yes, I will be seeing Aerosmith AND the Crue in one concert, as part of their joint Root of All Evil Tour. Hells yes - I can only hope that the pairing with Crue will sway Aerosmith to stick to some of their harder-edged stuff, and skip songs like "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing." I want to hear some hard rock, baby. Eat the Rich and other, grittier 90's stuff would be awesome to hear live from Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and co. And man, the Crue, live? That is going to be insane. I don't know much of their stuff beyond the stalwarts like "Girls, girls, girls" and "Dr. Feelgood," but, well, is it too much to ask for a rotating, suspended drumcage? Yikes! Or should I say: YEEEEAAAAOOOOWWW!
So ... I am hoping that these two events will help live things up a little over the next week. Because, man, otherwise I am just dragging lately, not feeling very motivated or enthusiastic about things in general. But yeah, no better cure for the blues than a little bit of good, ol' fashioned, ROCK N' ROLL.
TV STUFF:
- Let me get right to it: last night's LOST was just a great, great episode of television. Last week, I really enjoyed the ep but still felt frustrated by how the show's bigger picture was shaping up after the somewhat anticlimactic reveal of the second island. This week, not only did we get an absolutely gripping self-contained tale, but, man, the bigger picture stuff really came into focus this week. But even beyond that, let me really give credit where it's due here: as much as I've complained about the larger-scale continuity issues of the show, Lost has done a masterful job at putting together a kickass 6-episode opening storyarc to kick off Season 3. This arc reminds me in many ways of the standard 6 issue comic book storyarc, where a self-contained tale is told even as it fits into a larger and more complex ongoing series and universe. But yeah, my point is that even if the series as a whole has had some major issues at times with plotting and pacing - these last five episodes have really nailed it, so that the anticipation and dramatic intensity heading into next week's concluding chapter is now, quite simply, off the charts. As far as this particular episode, there were so many scenes that I loved. I loved Juliette's secret video message to Jack - it was surprising, intense, a great setup for next week, and yet still left you wondering who to trust. I loved that glimpse of the eye-patch guy on the TV monitor in the hatch - that is just classic, creepy, and a really fun little tease of things to come. I loved almost everything with Eko in this ep, and that's saying a lot as I have NOT really liked his character up to now. I feel like Eko's been a character with a cool look and premise behind him, but, has mostly represented all the worst aspects of the show. He talks in riddles, spews lame mantras about faith and religion, never communicates what he knows or thinks to the other castaways, and usually came off, to me, as more cheesy than cool. In this ep, finally, Eko was cool. The flashbacks were very effective, his fight with the smoke monster was visually great and very satisfying, and his (SPOILERS), death was done well. Even though some are up in arms about killing him off, I think Eko's death added a lot to the plot and his dying warning of "You're next" was one of the most satisfying plot twists to date on the show, simply because it capped off an episode where everything, for once, felt like it was moving forward at full steam. Yes, there were a few rough patches (the newbie characters, I agree, are slightly lame and definitely shoehorned into the plot), but, at this point, next week's ep is my most anticipated episode of Lost in a long, long time. Business has just picked up.
My Grade: A
- Now, I am happy to say that this week's VERONICA MARS was a great return to form for the show after a few weeks of slightly under-par episodes. Remember last week when I said that this season was missing that feeling of Veronica being in over her head, of maybe biting off a little more than she can chew? This week, we got that back - that feeling that Veronica, for all her wit and brains, might be a little out of her league. Once again, there wa a real sense of danger about things, particularly when Veronica had a gun held against her head. The look on her face as the assailant snatched her necklace was priceless, as the usually cool and quick-witted Veronica could only manage to growl "you're going to regret this." Pretty much everything clicked in this ep, from Keith Mars' case with Ed Begley Jr, great as usual as the college dean, to the back and forth with Weevil, to the return of the love-to-hate-him Sherriff Lamb, to the hilarious meeting between Veronica and her geeky admirer, who pretty much personafied the majority of this show's male viewers, I'd hazard to guess. Although my faith in the power of Mars wavered only slightly in the last few weeks, I can once again say with confidence that this is up there with the absolute best shows on TV.
My Grade: A
- I also felt like 30 Rock had another strong episode, with some more hilarious scenes between Tracy Morgan, Alec Baldwin, and the scene-stealing NBC Page. The show has not quite gelled yet to the point where the storylines and characters are as strong as the jokes, but, hey, I get a few huge laughs out of each ep and the cast is firing on all cylinders. I think the show needs a more grounded male lead to help even out the fact that almost every non-Tina Fey character on the show is insane, ala Jason Bateman on Arrested Development. Right now, Tina Fey is the show's only real tie to normalcy, and a little more balance is needed, I think. But yeah, bring on the move to Thursdays.
My Grade: B+
- Still have to watch Monday's Heroes, but also looking forward to tonight's Office and Smallville.
Alright ... well, only about 4 more hours to go here ... leave me some comments, I need a distraction.
ROCK.
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