The Big 6 – 0

“In the film world, we can all be heroes. In the real world, where heroism can cost you your life or the life of the ones you love, people aren’t so willing to make those sacrifices. When they do, they are set apart from the rest of us.”~John Rhys-Davies

Time to let out my inner nerd!!!

This day in history, for giant monster film fans and for fans of the Godzilla film series.. The third of November in 1954 was the release of the “kaiju” film GODZILLA.

Now sixty years later, Godzilla fans rejoice with their top of the line Blu-Ray edition of the film or special edition DVD’s that have been sitting on shelves for the past several years are becoming unwrapped and played for the first time ever in order to watch this Japanese classic.

Like many others, I grew up watching these bad boys during my wee youth. I can recall getting excited every time “King Kong vs. Godzilla” was on television. And even before the age of ten, I kept cheering for Godzilla to emerge victorious from the ocean during that film. Even though it was King Kong that came through the waters and Godzilla was never on screen again during that epic battle ending. I remember every time I watched that movie, wanting… begging… wishing for a different ending. But it never came.

As I grew older I realized that the movie had actually called the match a stalemate and a tie as NEITHER creature won. I still contend to this day that King Kong was getting his ass kicked. But that’s for another day.

I can even remember being terrified of watching “Godzilla vs. Hedorah” or “Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster.” Having a foe that deadly was a huge risk, even for Godzilla, in my own opinion. To this day I believe that I have not watched that particular film all the way through from beginning to end.

And now there are 28 films in the franchise. On top of that, you have your two American made films. Godzilla (1998) and the Gareth Edwards film Godzilla that came out this year in 2014.

I remember as a fan being super pumped up for the American version of the film in 1998. It was every where according to merchandising. Taco Bell got on board as well as other brands. And then sitting in the front row at the movie theater practically breaking my neck looking straight up at the screen to what would ultimately be such a shock to my system as I became one of the millions of extremely disappointed fans and movie goers. And this year with Edwards version of the film, I was much more relaxed and content with what I saw than I was way back in 1998.

Although I did go back and watch the 1998 version again recently and it was not a bad film. In fact, it was a decent movie. The problem was that it just was not Godzilla.

But a BIG NOD to the G-man today. Happy 60th, big guy!!! May there be even more films to put into the franchise as we go along.

 

Zero Dark Thirty

Jessica Chastain

“He only profits from praise who values criticism.”~ Heinrich Heine

If you personally have any vested interest in this film, then you probably will want to skip this blog post.

I saw this movie on Sunday, the same day as the Super Bowl.

Yes, I knew that the “big  game” was on but I just didn’t have any interest in it whatsoever.

I had been wanting to see this film ever since I knew about it, and I had planned on seeing it earlier but time constraints held me back. But last Sunday I just up and left and went to see it.

I don’t normally watch films at the theater anymore and I was absolutely and quickly reminded as to why that is the case.

After spending nearly $30 for concession food and to get into the theater, and over 150 minutes of watching this film, my money could have been put to better use.

I had allowed myself to become a bit nervous based on a conversation I had about the film’s scenes of torture. And as I sat there in the dark (with only two others in the entire room) I realized that these torture scenes were rather quick and to the point of the film.

But I was unphased. The torture scenes were similar to the scenes in the film, “Safe House” starring Denzel Washington. THOSE scenes were a little more intense.

The film progressed in the longest fashion that I had ever known. I realize that there was a full story to tell since the film started out with a few bits and pieces of the attacks that happened on the 11th of September. So there was over a decade to cover before the film got to the point of the plot: Find Bin Laden.

This could be classified as a thriller. It could also be called a drama. But the whole “based on true events” tag line (if it ever used it) was questionable. I hate it when Hollywood uses that to promote a film that has a story and a plot that supposedly had happened in real life. As it was said to me earlier, watching films in the theater is supposed to be an escape mechanism.

Quite honestly, I figured that this film was going to focus more upon that. But it stretched out in long scenes that dragged and dragged and dragged.

Covering over a decade of a timeline shouldn’t have to be that difficult. I’ve seen films that were done many decades ago that covered over several centuries in a timeline of a plot that took LESS time than Zero Dark Thirty.

It also could be that I had higher expectations of the film. And it didn’t deliver what I had expected. Although it was very amusing to see James Gandolfini as Director of the C.I.A. that was rather close to the President of the United States. Or was it amusing that he had more hair on his head than he did when he starred in The Sopranos?

Two-thirds of the film was to cover seven years in the hunt for Bin Laden. The rest of it actually was the siege on the compound in Afghanistan…. a story that we ALL know by now.  

It was quite lengthy in duration as the ending of the film. And I began to wonder how accurate it was to what happened in reality.

It was very interesting to me that they would put on film a quick view of Bin Laden after he had been eliminated…. laying there bloodied and dead as they continued to put bullets in him to make sure. But they never clearly showed his face during any time of the film. The actor who played Bin Laden is Ricky Sekhon.

Then at the end, I just rolled my eyes as the camera came in close to the main character Maya, as played by Jessica Chastain. And that was that.

I realized also other reasons why I do not go to the theater to watch these films.

Not only are concessions stands the Devil ($18.50 spent: which is my own fault), but the volume in theaters is insanely loud. No matter if they have to be loud enough for a crowded theater, its still too much.

As a child, I always had issues with extremely loud noises. I think that during Zero Dark Thirty, I jumped a half a dozen times because either gunfire or an explosion was so frickin’ loud. And then I remembered that I had this same issue watching “Savages” in the theater. The last movie that I had seen in the theater.

I am sure that the  couple who sat about ten to twelve rows back behind me had fun watching me bounce up and down in my wheelchair like a Jack-In-The-Box every time something went KA-BOOM!!

I didn’t even bother to stick around for the final seconds of the credits just to see if something was added. Something that many people miss, but doesn’t happen 100% of the time.

As I left the theater and walked through the front door, I turned on the television and found that the Super Bowl was at halftime and Beyonce was on stage doing her thang. I was so exhausted from the disappointment of it all that I had no interest in watching the second half. Although I do know that there was a power outage in the third quarter and there’s been some really hilarious jokes floating around on the Internet about it. And I do know who would end up winning. Isn’t that the important part anyway??

I think however that my expectations were far too high for this film. The excitement build up that I had when I found that they were making a movie about the hunt for Bin Laden had soared to a level of high that never should have been reached.

Then again, perhaps this film was made in too much haste.  At least for a Hollywood production. I figured documentaries and special programs would come, and they did. But a Hollywood produced film, I never really thought would come so soon.

The only example I have is the film “Selena” starring Jennifer Lopez. That film came out within just a few years of Selena’s death. And now when I watch it, I just wonder what Hollywood was thinking making a film so soon. But without this film, Lopez wouldn’t reach the status and level of fame that she has today.

So who knows? Maybe this film will catapult Jessica Chastain’s career?? I for certain had never heard of her until this.

All I know is that in my opinion, I should have waited for the DVD release. And as much as I was disappointed with it as a whole, I know that when that DVD release comes that the darn thing will end up in my collection.

I was asked later in the evening which movie I went to see.

I’ve been referring to it as “Zero Dork Thirty” ever since.

 

 

 

Sugar In Puberty

“When I was 14 years old, I decided I could cook. It was either that or puberty. “~ Dom DeLuise

As we all know, going through puberty really sucks!!

I remember when during that time in my life that I had re-discovered this television channel called “MTV”.

Yeah, it was actually MTV and not this rubbish it is today. It was actually music videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But on the weekends, they would have their Top 10 Video Countdown.

MTV was a channel that was forbidden growing up. I don’t honestly remember why. But we were not supposed to be watching it.

However, I would always sneak downstairs and watch it in silence, usually with the volume off.

And then one day I found myself watching the Top 10 Video Countdown and then my life would change forever.

I had not paid any attention to what I was watching. I did notice a lot of women dancing around, doing different things, and wearing VERY short shorts.

And then I saw this…

It caught my attention to say in the least. With a body and mind going through puberty as I grew from a boy into a man, how could I NOT pay attention.

The image in the music video progressed. Back then, the high heels, the big hair and often times … really bad hair, and the tight fitting shorts.  

Things were going on inside of me, weird things. But for whatever reason, I liked it!! In fact, I LOVED it and wanted MORE of it!!!!!!!!!!

I didn’t know who she was, I just knew that I liked what I saw. My acne-loaded face began to grin from ear to ear.

I watched as she moved around in those high heels, being twirled around and hugged upon and whatever else. But her image would not last very long on the television screen in this music video.

This was not the age of technology where I could just pause live television and rewind it back and stare and drool.

I would say that I made a mental note of at least which music group made the music video.  It was not something that I had in my music collection.

The image would stay in my head for the rest of the day.

Then at the end of the year, MTV would always do their Top 100.  Again, I got extremely lucky to have been surfing through the television channels with the sound on mute and I would catch the music video again.

It was as high as #13, I believe.  I don’t remember now.

A few days later, I would see an advertisement on MTV that they were going to show the Top 100 again. And I made another mental note of when it started. Ten videos shown (in their entirety mind you), and so it would be on somewhere within the eighth hour which allowed for music videos #100-20 to go by.

My brain synchronized to be downstairs at that time so I could see the delicious redhead one more time.

This time I would catch myself nearly missing out because I was playing with my younger brother in a bedroom upstairs. When it came to me, I told him that we had to go downstairs as fast as possible. I told him that I wanted to show him something.

My poor younger brother would sit there for almost 45 minutes nervously because he knew that we were not supposed to be watching MTV. And he just didn’t want to get in trouble.

Then it came on. I told my younger brother to be extremely quiet and just watch. She would begin to pop up on the screen eventually.

When she did, I pretty much lost control. I went up to the television screen and I kissed the woman’s face on it. There I was standing there, kissing the television.

Let me just add that kissing a woman in real life is nothing like kissing a woman on a television. In real life, her face doesn’t taste like very thick glass.

What happened next, would make me cringe for many years afterward.

I felt someone grab me by the arm and squeeze the life out of it.

I turned around, and it was my father.

My younger brother was crawling along the floor behind my father as to not to be detected by him as he made his escape as he crawled far enough to be out of reach before he was safe enough to jump up to his feet and run like hell back upstairs.

I got into so much trouble!!!!

I was yelled at for what my father’s point of view was, kissing the butt of a woman. I also was yelled at for watching a channel that I KNEW that was forbidden in the house. I was instantly grounded. Grounded from watching television, grounded from going outside. And not to mention I had to spend the rest of the night in my bedroom.

Not only did this woman in the music video began the unleashing of attraction to women, but the song itself would cause some sort of trauma because after that day when I would hear it on the radio,  I would simply cringe and want to die.

My memories of seeing a delicious redhead but rather a cold, dark memory of how I had been “caught” doing something that I should not have been doing, and the consequences that were dearly paid afterwards.

Fast forward out of my budding years into manhood and into my adulthood, at a time when I was living with sister and her family. I was going to be left all alone during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday. So I used my sister”s Netflix account and started renting movies that “I” wanted to watch. And I didn’t have to give way to what the rest of the the adults in the house wanted to watch.

I think I had in the queue anywhere between eight to ten various vampire films. It was a collection of probably the worst low-budget films, mixed in with some foreign classics from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.

Enter: Graveyard Shift.

A low budget film that dealt with a very old vampire who was a taxi cab driver. He was a very sad vampire who would only drink the blood of women who were hopeless and at the end of their desperate lives.

I would after so many years, come across this woman again. 

The woman who had captured my attention when I was so young, that I instantly recognized her when she came across the television screen.

But this was different. This was a full length picture. And she came on kind of early in the film. I thought for sure I’d get something more. I knew that if a person acts in a film, and they have a speaking role that they are to be listed into the cast of characters which either rolls at the end of the film or at the beginning.

And she did have a speaking part. I was tempted to skip through the DVD to the very end to find the cast of characters, once I figured out what her character’s name was.

But I didn’t. I wanted to see just how much of the vampire story she was going to be a part of. Her character was of a stripper. And there was nudity. Can you imagine what that could have done to me if I had seen the film when it first came out and I saw her naked as a kid going through puberty?

Again, just like her appearance in the music video, she was not on screen for very long at all. But she did speak!

This pathetically lame film from the 80’s turned into a piece of gold.

So when I got to the end, I realized that I never caught on to what her character’s name was. I had to go back to watch and listen closely to see if I could catch on. I was successful.

Her stage name was Sugar Bouche. (Probably pronounced “bush”.) I immediately spent the rest of the night on the Internet trying to find out as much as possible that I could about her. But it was Sugar that entered into my puberty!

Polish born Sugar Bouche lives in Toronto, Ontario. And has had small parts in a variety of films. All of which were either low budget or just didn’t do very well at the box office. An actress, a singer, and surprise surprise- an exotic dancer in the Ontario area for a while before she left that all behind and CURRENTLY is more focused on the rights of animals around the world.

She had her own “dot com”. And I e-mailed her, giving her the stereotypical adoring fan message. I told her about how long I had been looking to find out who she was and was so glad that I found her and I couldn’t wait to find her more and more and more.

Researching her on the IMDB website was also helpful. I would be able to buy these crappy films off of eBay just to see her in them. And nine times out of ten, her character was a stripper. I would also buy her album that she recorded called “Future Gospel”. Yet I didn’t listen to it much. It was really there for nostalgic purposes of being part of a memorabilia collection that included very old and used VHS cassettes of the films she was in.

But I would become rather disappointed in the “dot com”. Even though I was receiving back replies to my messages, I caught one message that said “she/her” instead of “I/me”. Someone else apparently had been running the site. Or at least the e-mails.  

Soon after, the “dot com” would vanish and would be no more. But I would find Sugar Bouche on MySpace, then on other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Her focus was on the animal activism that she was involved with.

Her being in Canada made any dream of meeting her in person a very challenging one to the point of surrender of thinking that I probably never will. But one never knows, anything is possible.

Today, I have no idea where she is. I have no idea what she is doing in her career. I do know that her Facebook profile is still running and available. And the reason as to why I am writing about my stories about her in the first place is because the 27th of September is her birthday. Or that is what it has been posted as.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUGAR! Wherever you are!!