Entertainment

Goodbye, UA Cine

The old UA Cine theatre has not been in operation for years and years, and the building has stood empty. It’s back a little ways from the road and I hadn’t noticed how derelict it had become. It’s slated to be torn down in 2 weeks or so, according to the security guard who didn’t want me taking pictures on the property. It was a really cool old building with two huge-capacity theatres. The lobby was glassed in, if I recall correctly, and the doors to the two screens were just right there off the lobby… I think those were probably the 2 openings showing in the photo above. I don’t recall ever seeing the light-up “box office” pole in the top left corner of the above photo. Kinda neat. I have half a mind to hop that chain link fence and snag it. I’m sure that it’s sadly destined for the junkyard.

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Space Maxi-Mountain!

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I just saw the most BIZARRE advertisement on television. An animated maxi-pad with wheels zoomed up, down, around and sideways on a ROLLER COASTER TRACK. I have no idea what the point of it was, as I was too busy contemplating a Feminine Hygiene Thrill Ride to pay attention to the assuredly convincing argument being made by the voiceover. Perhaps the point was “Your Period: Like The Judge Roy Scream, Only Bloodier!”

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Spider Pig

Spider pig, spider pigDoes whatever a spider pig doesCan he swing from a web?No he can’t, he’s a pigLook out!Here comes the spider pig!

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A Few Covers

Crazy cover songs I’m listening to tonight: Van Morrison and Roger Waters singing “Comfortably Numb” live. Eh. I’m not wild about this cover; it sounded exactly like the original album version of “Comfortably Numb” (nice) but with Van Morrison’s voice (just weird). Echoing Green covering Figures on a Beach’s “Accidentally 4th Street (Gloria).” Awful cover. I adore the original but this just sounded like something you’d hear at 11 p.m. in a gay dance club and then immediately forget. Quick story about Figures on a Beach: In college in the early 1990s, I was a vice president of the Campus Activities Board and the powers that be sent me to a national convention where bands and other acts performed in showcases, trying to get colleges to bring them to campus. On the trade show floor, where all the acts’ managers had booths, I was perusing a list of the talent that one company represented, and when I saw Figures on a Beach listed, I asked the manager about them, as I was rather a fan. He was quite shocked and said,”Really? You like them? They’re friends of mine and I kind of just put them on there for kicks!” Too bad they cost double the budget for our entire year. Boy Least Likely To singing George Michael’s “Faith.” Freaking weird! I don’t like the original version, and I almost skipped right past this cover, but the hypnotic combination of the smooth-voiced male and female singers harmonizing throughout, and an instrumental chorus of slide whistles, a xylophone, and one of those little wooden clacker things that makes a zzzzZZZZPPP! noise, sucked me in. “Mad World” by Gary Jules, originally Tears for Fears. AMAZING. I like it even better than the original. It’s just Mr. Jules and a muted piano. I think […]

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Caught red-handed showing feelings

I’d forgotten how much I love Pink Floyd’s film “The Wall.” We saw it at the Inwood last night at midnight with Brittney and Chris. We weren’t the oldest people in the audience but we definitely fell in the high end of the range. Near the beginning of the film, someone’s cell phone rang. The girl sitting in front of me turned to her boyfriend and asked, quite seriously, “Was that in the movie?” Sigh. Doc’s cluster headache cycle is just not going away. No screaming bad ones, but he has a headache almost constantly since about February. Saturday we went to three different health food stores looking for this capsaicin nasal spray which is said to help with migraines and anecdotally with some peoples’ clusters too. The first one was just a distribution center in an office park (closed), the second one was Roy’s Natural Market (closed on Saturdays… seriously, WTF?), and Whole Foods did not carry it. We may have to order it online. Our Whole Foods trip wasn’t a complete wash though; we spent a long time staring at the fabulously gorgeous desserts in the dessert cases. They are too pretty to eat. I just want to look at them all day! I purchased a new bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Castile Soap. I love this stuff. The label, if you aren’t familiar with it (and if you’re not I suggest you read it!), will lead you to the conclusion that dear old Dr. Bronner was nearly all his pancakes short of a stack, but by God (pun intended) he can make some damn fine environmentally friendly non-sodium-lauryl-or-laureth-sulfate-containing liquid soap. It’s expensive but a little goes a long long way.

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Miso, miso

I have to do this, it’s been running through my head for days now (this mixed with First Born Unicorn and Crumbelievable!) Remember the time we had that soup? Soup, soupOh tasty soup, soupOh spicy carrot and corianderChilli chowderCrouton, crouton: crunchy friends in a liquid brothI am gazpacho, oh!I am a summer soup, mmmm.Miso, misoFighting in the dojoMiso, misoOriental prince in the land of soup!

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First Born Unicorn

On Friday night, Doc and my Mom and I watched a nifty old movie, “The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao.” Tony Randall plays Dr. Lao, Medusa, the Abominable Snowman, a serpent, Pan, Merlin, and Apollonius of Tyana (the blind seer). It also stars Barbara Eden, pre-Jeannie. I love the classic special effects – cheesy and obvious to our 21st century eyes, but undoubtedly stunning for the time. Also, we discovered that the line in the chorus of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Californication” is, indeed, “FIRST BORN UNICORN.” Seriously. “First born unicorn, hard core soft porn.” I just… I have no words. How can I possibly have words to describe that?

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