Rambo Rampage

With "Rambo" coming out, I decided to check out the first Rambo's as I had never seen them. To say the least, I was in for a pleasant surprise. I do not know why I had never seen these or why they are rarely on TV, but they are well worth the infamy and hype surrounding the movies.

The series starts with "First Blood" (1982) (one of the reasons I had trouble finding this movie was that it is not actually called "Rambo" as I had thought). "First Blood" is a romp, but drastically different than what I had imagined.

Ex-green beret and Vietnam war hero John Rambo returns home to find that there is a small war in his own country with those dissenting about the U.S. involvement in the war. He is arrested on bogus reasons and beaten severely. He breaks free and escapes to the wilderness. He sets up jungle traps to take down the police. He quickly seeks his revenge by destroying the entire town with a side strapped M60.

It really was amazing and actually a pretty good action flick. Not a lot of back drop to Rambo's character and the series does little to develop him other than a semi-compassionate raging animal. There is also little explanation of what happens to Rambo between the movies.

Next, comes "First Blood II: Rambo" (1985). By now, the world is well aware of Rambo and everyone tunes in for this sequel. He is removed from prison on orders of a general who wants him to rescue American POW's in Vietnam.

This movie is more along the lines of what I thought Rambo was all about. A wild man in the jungle with a huge knife and awesome explosives. I was not disappointed. The action rages as he manages to hi-jack a helicopter to save his fellow countrymen from the Vietcong.

The ending to the initial trilogy was appropriately titled "Rambo III" (1988). This time around Rambo must rescue his general and friend from the Russians occupying Afghanistan. This movie has terrific action and Guinness Book of World Records labels it as the most violent movie ever made. It was awesome and the hanging of the Russian and then blowing him up with grenades was incredible.

All of these movies were made before I was born, so I missed out on the Rambo craze. But I tell you, that craze is back. The most recent "Rambo" is as extraordinary as the previous three. The action is terrific and the violence is the most disturbing thing I have ever seen.

Rambo mows down the entire Burmese army with a gun turret and the bodies just explode. It was extremely graphic and gory.

Rambo must rescue a group of missionaries from the Burmese army. He handily destroys anyone in a 50 mile radius. The action is great and even more violent than it's counterparts because of the improvement of special effects.

Certain trends were lacking, however, in "Rambo." He did have his bow, but he had no explosive arrows. His knife was machete forged of steel rather than the large hunting knife in the first three (that noticeably got bigger with each movie). He also did not run around with his shirt off. I guess that is because Stallone is 62 and not as ripped as he used to be. There were no scenes with him holstering a meant-to-be stationary gun.

Something strange to note about the Rambo series is his obsession of hammering. In each movie, he is hammering on something. Peculiar.

In this most recent Rambo, Stone proves he is a battle axe and he gets better with time. Though his movement and stunts is supremely limited in this one, he is still a huge bamf. He kills everything in site. Pretty stunning actually. The drama in this one is probably better than all but the first one.

To sum it up, Rambo is one of the greatest action series ever. The great thing about Stallone in these, is that he does not use the stupid Schwarzenegger quips and puns. It is just straight up murderous action. You have to love it. If anyone has not seen any of these movies, then get up and go see them. It will be awesome.

Oscalujah

Kinda getting a late run at this, but I've been supremely busy.

Oscar noms came out last weekend and there were some screw-overs and some unexpected nominations.

The first thing I noticed was the ridiculous amount of nominations for "Juno" (Actress: Ellen Page, Director: Jason Reitman, Best Picture, and Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody). This really makes me angry. Unfortunately, it will probably win best screenplay (I think the director made the movie work, not the screenplay, so I would not be too upset if Reitman wins, but he won't). But come on. Best Picture? Really? This is totally ridiculous. Did they see the same movie I did? Because I have already expressed my hatred for this movie for ruining the indie genre, I will just leave it at that.

Back to my world. A huge surprise to me is this hype on "Michael Clayton" (which was recently re-released in theaters, so maybe I will get a chance to see it). Clayton picked up seven noms right behind "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood." (Nominations for actor and supporting actor, supporting actress, direction, original score, best picture and original screenplay). I really can't wait to see this one. Very confusing to see this get so many because when it came out, it got mixed reviews.

Another out of nowhere nomination is Tommy Lee Jones for best actor not for No Country, but rather for "In the Valley of Elah." Another movie we did not hear much about. "The Savages" seem to come out of nowhere as well (I guess because it wasn't released anywhere near me). Laura Linney gets her third Oscar nom in 7 years, which is pretty impressive (maybe she will win this one). Savages also picks up original screenplay (pray it beats out Juno).

I was glad to see 'The Bourne Ultimatum" get a few nominations even if its for the really technical stuff (which is very important for a film's success). Matt Damon's third installment picks up sound editing, sound mixing and film editing. Usually a movie that gets nominated for both mixing and editing will one of the two.

I was pretty disappointed "The Kite Runner" did not get more nominations. It was nominated for original score which was beautiful. I thought it should have gotten a shot at best foreign language film or best adapted screenplay. It really was a delight.

Another screw-over is leaving Eddie Vedder out of the list for best original song for his song "Guaranteed" in "Into the Wild." That's alright though.

"Lars and the Real Girl" and "Ratatouille" somehow get best original screenplays (may show how far movies have sunk).

By far the biggest letdown in all of the Academy Award nominations was the complete snub of "American Gangster." I thought this was a sure lock for best picture when it came out, but no, we have to have Juno. I thought Russell Crowe would have been perfect with a supporting actor nod. Aside from a couple nominations, it is almost as if the movie never existed. I think the movie came out too early and it lost its hype and was forgotten in the season (though that did not seem to hurt Clayton which came out a month earlier).

Family Manner

Because I now have a family following, I thought I would post about this past weekend.

Saturday we had Grammy's 75th Surprise Elvis Birthday Extravaganza Party Surprise Thingy. To say the least, it was a very impressive party. The collaborative effort my mom and her sisters had was extraordinary. They had this thing planned down to a T. It was very awesome!

They had to organize catering, location rental, food, drinks, decorations, invites and also put up with old codgers. It was definitely an incredible undertaking and it was well worth it for the look on Grammy's face. She was thoroughly surprised and enthralled with the party.

Ha, and the party featured an Elvis impersonator, who was straight up awesome. I think Grammy really enjoyed that and seeing all the people that showed up. It truly was a great celebration for a much-loved mother, grandmother and friend.

We all have wonderful memories with Grammy over the years and there are many more to come. As kids, Ethan and I loved spending time out at Grammy's as we went on adventures and ate all of her food. That truly was a childhood joy.

Congrats on hitting the milestone Grams (I know you are gonna go at least another 75 because you just hit your midlife crisis)!

This weekend saw another big event in the fam. The Williams moved on to the brighter side in Albuquerque. We have shared many special times as a big family and that will continue as the years grow, but there is a pain in the side when some of us move away.

There will be that feeling that they are no longer across the street when we need to borrow milk or just hang out and talk. But the Williams have found a new home that they need to make their own. Plus, it is really not that bad. They will still be around for all the good times and holiday get-togethers.

I really think this could be a great opportunity for the whole family to thrive. Because it is a large Spanish community, I strongly urge the girls to learn Spanish and be able to fluently communicate to a growing number of people in the United States. If you are fluent, the job opportunities triple. And cultural awareness can help change the world and bring unity.

This really could be a great opportunity and I strongly urge the family to make the best out of it. You will find that if you accept the changes and immerse yourself in a new society, the rewards will be great. The benefits of your new experiences will outweigh the costs of moving away from the family.

To Grammy and to the Williams, who will be greatly missed. May you find all that life has to give.

Evolution of a Fight Scene

The other night, I went over to the Seretean Center for the Performing Arts to see Tony Woolf speak about his use of fight styles in film, theater and the opera. I had never been to this place, but it has a nice, cozy theater complete with a pet bat named "Kirby" that flies around as it pleases.

Anyway, on to Tony Woolf, the reason for the show. He gave his life story about his travels all around the world beginning with his childhood in New Zealand. He got his start as a stuntman and professional wrestler.

He said his most dangerous stunt involved jumping from six stories into an indoor Olympic swimming pool. The guy that was supposed to break the surface tension by turning on the bubble machine did not realize you had to hold down the button. So, Tony saw the bubbles and jumped down, but by the time he reached the water, the water had settled and he smashed into it at free fall. The next day, he had bruises all over his body. Sounds really painful!

Tony has worked all over the world choreographing fight scenes for theater and film. His most notable work in America was working with Peter Jackson on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. From the way Tony described it, the trilogy was the most exhausting thing he had ever done.

His main duty for the movies was to create cultural fighting styles for each of the different creatures. He had to create unique styles for the elves, orcs, hobbits, wizards, etc. He had to figure out how each character moved and walked. Then, he had to train the actors.

Tony's unique approach to choreographing fight scenes involves directing the movement first as opposed to the actual combat. He wants to make sure that his actors have the movement down before incorporating the actual fighting. The man is very smart and definitely knows what he is doing.

He was done work on almost every continent as he spends time traveling and conducting workshops to teach his fight styles. He also continues to work with film and theater. Tony claims that theater is his favorite, especially Shakespeare.

From what I can tell, his job is pretty sweet. He said he spent a period of time in Japan where he worked one day a week choreographing a 37 second fight scene, and the rest of the time he explored Japan. Sounds awesome!

Tony is at Oklahoma State teaching some students his styles and collaborating on a book about his approach. He was a great speaker and with so many questions, the presentation dragged on for over 2 hours.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

So I went to Ryan Adams and the Cardinals concert the other night and it was pretty good. I love Ryan Adams, but I have a few problems with the Cardinals.

Before the start of the show, Adams was out there playing acoustic songs claiming to be someone else. He wore glasses to "disguise" his identity. Technically, Ryan Adams opened for Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. Pretty good stuff.

The show started heavy with some thick riffs to drown out the country slide guitar the Cardinals use. The second song they played was amazing (though I can't seem to find that song now). They played all of the greats including "When the Stars Go Blue", "Rescue Blues" and "Sweet Carolina."

The long set got rather repetitive with the annoying country slide predominantly featured throughout most of the songs. They played many from the latest album, "Easy Tiger", including "Goodnight Rose", "Two", and an alternate version of "Halloweenhead."

They left after about an hour and a half, but came back for an encore after about 5 minutes. The encore was the longest I've ever seen as it drove on for more than an hour. The encore was good, but they did not play his best songs. I typically think of encores that include the best work. I was slightly annoyed with a few of the songs.

Also, amazing how Adams managed to smoke like eight packs of cigs. He even smoke and sang at the same time (also had a cig in hand while strumming). I was kind of upset he did not play more harmonica. He only featured it on two songs and with that he did not use it much. I love his harmonica work especially on "Heartbreaker."

I will say one thing about the show, and that is that the songs sounded even better than their counterpart on the albums. I think that because Adams tries his best to make the most music he possibly can, some of his music is not as good as it could be. By the time the touring comes around and he and his band are clicking, the music actually takes form. Some of the songs mature to a state much above that which are seen on the album. For the most part, it really does sound better than his albums.

I do have one major complaint about the show, which was at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, and that was the crappy crowd. They were terrible! First of all, there were chairs set up in the space, which sucked majorly. Next, I looked around and realized the crowd consisted of a lot of older people (I guess that could be attributed to Adams' music as being accepted by a large variety of people). The worst part was the chit-chat going on during the concert.

Yes, people were chatting about unrelated events while Ryan Adams was performing!

I could not believe it. It was like we were at a bar, and there happened to be a crappy bar band playing. People all over the place were talking and laughing and hardly paying attention to the show that they dropped 40 bucks on. Ridiculous! I have never been to a concert where people sat around and talked and ruined the show for others.

I was peeved, but I tried to not let it ruin the show. This was my first time at Cain's, so it did tarnish my view on the place. Ryan Adams "fans" need to get with it and stop talking and start listening. Then, there were the country fans that danced. I think they were there solely to make me mad.

Ok concert, but not worth the $40 ticket, $20 T-shirt and hour and a half drive.

Writers Screw over Golden Globes

Instead of crying like a little child, I decided to crawl on here and take time out of my busy schedule to chat about this past weekend's Golden Globes. I, unlike the Writers Guild of America, found time and for no money jumped on here to simply write.

Because the writers are such cry babies about being paid 2.5 million instead of 2.4 million, the Golden Globes were cancelled. Writers and actors joined in boycotting the event, so they just cancelled it and announced the winners at a press conference.

Now to the part that matters, the winners (definitely not the writers).

Let's dive right into the big category, which is best picture - drama. "Atonement" took the award away from "There Will Be Blood","American Gangster","The Great Debaters","Eastern Promises","Michael Clayton" and "No Country for Old Men." The Globes usually screw this one up and the Academy tends to get this one right. I was not surprised at all by this. The Globes never pick movies along the lines of No Country, Clayton, Gangster, or Blood. From looking at the list of nominees, I knew it would be Atonement or Debaters (gladly it went to the better of the two). I did not see Blood, Clayton, or Promises. No question though that the best movie of this list is No Country.

I was shocked that "Sweeny Todd" won best picture - comedy or musical (though I cannot attest for the quality of the film). I figured "Charlie Wilson's War" was a sure lock. Thankfully "Juno" did not win - as it did not deserve to. Gotta admit, kind of a lame group of movies this year.

Daniel Day-Lewis got the victory that was determined from the initial preview months ago. No surprise there. The only shock will be if he does not win an Oscar. No one cares about the lame performances from the women this year. Johnny Depp finally gets him a win for best actor in a musical or comedy. He is well-deserving (so I'm told). Too bad, he still won't get that Oscar win.

Javier Bardem gets the supporting for No Country and he is definitely deserving. Cate Blanchett wins supporting for playing a man (pretty awesome).

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" nabs best foreign language film and best director. I definitely need to see that one.

"Atonement" grabbed the best score, which was terrific throughout.

And my favorite award, best screenplay, went to the Coen brothers for No Country. Not only was I excited that they won, but the fact that Juno lost was awesome. Seriously though, No Country is so good. The Coen brothers are geniuses and the movie is so multi-layered and figurative it is ridiculous. They should win solely on the ridiculous amounts of metaphors.

Good picks. And I hate the event, so I like that they just released them.

The Life of Riley

The weekend was surely a busy one, but with having no class on Friday, it was long and enjoyable. Saturday was a crazy day in sports as Oklahoma State had home games in both men's and women's basketball.

The general consensus about the men's team chance for success in the Big XII was that they would have little chance to actually win a conference game. They were ranked eighth in preseason polls, but due to poor performances, there was much speculation at whether or not OSU could live up to an eighth place finish.

If there was a chance to win a conference game, many said, that chance was the home opener against struggling Texas Tech. The first half was physical and tight and Oklahoma State took a four point lead by halftime. The second half, OSU came out gunning. Obi Muonelo hit 4 straight threes and James Anderson added another to give the Cowboys a huge lead.

The Cowboys went on a 33-6 run to start the second half. They would not look back as they pummelled Tech by 19. They held Tech to under 60 points. The best part was that Tech coach Bob Knight left Stillwater without his 900th win. Haha Bobby!

This was not even the best basketball game of the day. That happened in the evening as the No. 25 Oklahoma State Cowgirls took on the No. 6 Sooners in Gallagher-Iba. The bedlam match up usually brings the most attendance of the year for the Cowgirls with half the crowd being from Norman.

This night would turn out to be very special. Not only was the attendance record broken, but it was shattered by over 7,000 people. The gym was sold out at 13,611 people. The previous record had been around 6,000 people. The attendance was more than doubled the previous record. It was absolutely incredible. It was also a record for the most attendees of a girls basketball game in the state of Oklahoma.

There were more at this game than the previous men's game. For most of the girls, this was the most people they had ever played in front of. And for all those that came, they were in for a serious treat. Sophomore point guard Andrea Riley went off on a scoring rampage.

45 points!!!!!

That is simply unbelievable. I am still in shock about her performance. I have never heard of such a thing (after the game she claimed to have scored 52 points in a game when she was 13). This kid is amazing! She has a great attitude and loves competing. Very competitive and very tough. I have never seen anyone as fast as her on the court.

On one special play, she traversed coast to coast for a sweet layup in 9 seconds. She started from under her own basket with 9 seconds on the shot clock, put a move on every Oklahoma defender (including a sweet behind-the-back crossover to break a girl's ankles at mid court) and layed the ball in as the shot clock buzzer went off.

She was terrific. Congrats to Riley and the Cowgirls for their first win against Oklahoma in 10 years.

Interesting Note: Ben Roethlisberger's sister is a freshman forward for Oklahoma. I scanned the crowd, but no B-Roeth. O, and Hakeem Olajuwon's daughter plays for Oklahoma as well. Celebrity status does not seem to generate wins.