It’s been a long, strange trip but in the 14 months I’ve been officially hostingSticks of Fire, it’s gone from blogspot hotspot to dot-com phenom. I knew at the time I approached Tommy about upgrading things that he had something great going on… Little did I know how much it would grow.

Tommy Duncan is probably the Bay area’s most unheralded media star. He gets invites to speak in various capacities (round table discussions, conferences, TV spots) and pretty much has Tampa covered with himself and his cast of supporting writers.

And now, Tommy has taken the next step by getting into a business alliance with Tampa Gold. When that officially kicks off, Tommy will be departing from my server space at Dreamhost and going to the land of far-far-away… Or on shared hosting package with Tampa Gold, take your pick.

I haven’t seen profit from hosting Tommy’s site and I haven’t requested payment for doing so. I never stuck in some personal reference (“Hosted by Dreamhost” etc) or anything like that… It made me feel good to be doing this.

But to just make a long story short, I want to wish my buddy well with his new venture and I hope it takes him where I couldn’t take him — to his rightful place at the to of local pop culture and beyond.

The other par happens to be the fact I am not overwhelmed with what I am seeing in the trailers. The fanboys have been oohing and aahhing on Ain’t It Cool, but what I am seeing is the exact reason why I didn’t jump on Van Helsing a few years ago: CGI to the extreme and marketing tie ins galore.

This isn’t wishing ill on Peter Jackson who is awesome, this is saying that Universal may have coughed up another turkey by trying to re-interpert an old piece of their property. I hope I’m wrong for Jackson’s sake though…

And it’s an Apple.

As someoen who’s been a PC user since his old man bought one about 15 years ago, I’ve only had brief interludes with Mac’s. Not just that but I’ve had zero to no experience with laptops as well. I’ve wanted to try out laptop technology but I haven’t. I’ve wanted to take advantage of wireless access points when traveling but I haven’t had the chance.

With plans on doing Press stuff at the St. Pete Times Forum this year, having a laptop will be a necessity. i’m just hoping this little baby is going to work out great.

But they do have their pluses.

A new reporter for AIn’t It Cool happened to be at a happening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York where the Weinsteins and Quentin Tarantino got together to give the audience a little taste of the story behind Mirimax pictures. Being big on Tarantino and admiring Mirmax and what the Weinsteins have done with it, I just had to read this thing and I’m glad I did.

If you’re a die-hard for movies and like to know the behind the scenes stuff, check it out.

I’m about back where I was a year ago — or over a year ago at that. I am not quite able to go out and do stuff on my own but I am not a gimp anymore. I don’t want to be stcuk home all day and at the same time — it’s not like I can go out and do something.

I read an article by Rick Reilly about Lance Armstrong and then I listened to Max Cleland’s speech before John Kerry was introduced to the DNC and between both stories of overcoming — I felt like I was wasting what I have accomplished and what I can accomplsih. I’m ready to do again but I don’t know what. I am not totally read y to do again but I can’t just sit here and wait. Time won’t let me. I won’t let me for that matter. I’ve done too much waiting for the opportune time in my life for certain things as is.

Lightning does strike twice with me…. But waiting for it to hapen is getting really tiring, especially when I should be able to accomplish on my own.

So I was f’n stoked on a Saturday Night when the Lightning tied the Stanley Cup finals. Keith, of course, is in disbelief. He had expected to be attending one of the upteenth city parites that would be going on if–no, WHEN the Flames had won.

But it didn’t happen that way.

So what happens when Keith gets home from Saddledome? He’s got to book hsi flight to Tampa. He had tickets lined up since the Flames / Lightning NHL Finals had been set. Game 7 tickets in fact. The series hadn’t been as good as we both had hoped but – gods – this was a game seven! You can’t scalp tickets for an event like this for less than 500 bucks… We got them through Ticketmaster before the game was even scheduled – so we’re in luck.

Sunday night, Keith was due to start flying to Tampa — going to Vegas first and then getting a connector flight / red eye to Tampa. Only problem was his flight was 2 hours late to begin with, which thus made him miss his connecting red-eye flight to Tampa.

Back in the Bay area I am going nuts Sunday night trying to figure out WTF has happened to Keith. He’s stranded, or is he moving? Flyte Comm basically confirmed where Keith was — just leaving Alberta – about the time I was ready to call it a night.

I decided to indeed call it a night, wondering what the hell was going to happen and how Keith woudl be when he finally got here – if he got here…?

I wake up bright and early Monday morning and have a sense of urgency running over me. Not just urgency but anxiousness. Within a couple of hours the Lightning would be playing for a world title and I would be in attendance.

Maybe.

My first thought is – where Keith? His connector fflight took off on time (fuck America West) and that meant he indeed missed his connector flight. I fought on the phone for a good hour trying to find out what happened to him and I find out (through America West customer service) that he’s “Taken another route and going to another city. He’s all right.”

Well, whoop-de-shit. He’s OK. Now where is he? “Sorry, can’t say… but he’s all right.” :rolleyes

I call his cell phone (which I am still told is a wrong number by parties that call back later — but it’s the same number that America West has in their system and same number I have from Keith directly) but I still tell him on his message service to give me a ring to let me knwo what happened and where he is…

I find out a little while later it’s Orlando, and he’s still on his way here.

Fast forward to his arrival around 4 in the afternoon — he’d been bounced around by America West with a few other Calgary fans and then finally gotten to the Bay area via bus, gotten his car and headed to the Burbs and my place. My parents suddenly had a complete change of heart and invited him to stay with us while he was here – nice gesture for people who were also giving me a hard time about having a stranger from out of town showing up without their knowledge (even though I had told them several times).

After a shower and a quick explination of being bounced from Vegas to Dallas to Orlando by America Worst airlines. He grabs a shower, then we skedaddle from the suburbs to our date with Lord Stanley’s cup.

I’ve never felt so guilty about winning before until that night. I could talk to you about the crowds at the St. Petersburg Times Forum in downtown Tampa, or getting screwed at a private lot and paying 25 bucks to park… I could tell you about horrendous conditions where we sat (talk about SLICK! Slipping and slidding everywhere!) or the asshole giving Flames fans a hard time a few rows behind us (who got yelled at by a hot mother who didn’t want her child to have to hear the obscenities coming out of the mofo’s mouth)… But most importantly the Lightning won the cup that night and I felt guilty as hell. i couldn’t celebrate because of how damaged Keith was from the loss and the horror of flight the last 2 days.

Still, it was a great event… I was really proud of some local fans who came up to Keith and shook his hand and pated him on the ack instead of jeering him after the Lightning won the cup.

The next two days were a whirlwind — I was on a high thinking about what had happened Monday night (the Lightning did the unthinkable – they won the Stanley Cup!) and wanted to show Keith around as best I could.

Clearwater Beach, Bellair. downtown Dunedin, Downtown Tampa — well, Downtown Tampa sorta got ruined because of the Victory Parade and me waiting for a friend who never showed up to chill with us…

That night ende4d the whirlwind as we attended a Devil Rays game – which I was purposely avoiding at most costs. Unfortunately for Keith it seems his attendance fo the game started a 11 game Rays winning streak (maybe 12 after tonight’s game against Toronto).

I could ramble on and on about things but I’ll skip that. Having Keith around was an excellent experience and I just wish it could have been better for him — well, better without the Flames winning the Cup. smile

But as it stands right now, I’m starting to feel I was right about Van Helsing with the thought it is going to tank. Or at least the reviews are starting to come in and no one is caring for it much besides Harry Knowles and the fan-boy Ain’t It Cool News crowd.

Yet I am sticking to my guns… More marketing than movie making. More play-toy designs than plot. More potential spin-offs than story. Marketing and the big studios is what kills film. You want a good monster movie? Go watch 28 Days Later which doesn’t use too much CGI to instill fear. If you want a good action/Sci Fi movie? Go watch Equilibrium which hasn’t gotten enough attention. Yes, both of those movies re-touch on subjects explored in other movies… But at least they aren’t films devoted to the almighty dollar and marketing before film-making and telling a story.

Van Helsing is a great example of trying-too-hard.

The movie hasn’t even come out yet (which features Universal giants/film character legends of horror in Dracula, Frankenstein, etc) and Universal has not only a sequel lined up but also spin offs and a TV Show… They are planing for Van Helsing to be huge when it is released and from some fanboy buzz I have seen on the web – it will be.

Maybe this is just me being cynical and wishing ill on something I am not very fond of? Last movie that I heard huge money rumblings about before the films ever were made as the “Lord of the Rings” films — and of course I love those now. Maybe Van Helsing is going to be able to do the same thing in the long run (Kate Beckinsdale doesn’t hurt either)?

But, then again? What if the overly-CGI and over-the-top action in the movie and a mixed up plot goes and leads the majority of Americans to stay away? “What happened?” will be what is uttered most on the Universal lot but the truth is we know just what happened — they gave in to marketing before they made a movie worth seeing.

I got word Monday morning that my little bundle of joy is going to be returned to me this week. Yes after more than a month I will get my Playstation 2 back. *a warm and contented sigh is issued by John*.

Meanwhile, I also blew a wad of cash on 3 DVD’s — 3 special DVD’s because they are non Special Edition DVD’s. Yes they are PIRATED DVD’s but they are special none-the-less because HAN SHOOTS FIRST! What the hell am I talking about? The original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD which I bought off Ebay. Yes, the Special Edition/ official release of films will be on DVD this fall but I didn’t care for the Special Editions to begin with.

Han shoots first and no girlie screams when Luke and the Emperor fall to their respected dooms. *a warm and contented sigh is issued by John*

:smile

A couple of years ago after The Phantom Menace came out in movie theaters, there was a copy of the movie circulated that cut out Jar Jar Binks from the movie, along with some other cuts. It was titled The Phantom Edit. Personally I think about the editing room and how much Star Wars Episode 1 could have been better if they had left out some of the crap that was in the movie (a lot of the kiddie stuff with Anakin, 3PO and R2D2, etc) and I was thinking to last year’s “Attack of the Clones” and how things could have been improved with that one.

…and it bothers me that it would have been so much better if Lucas had just been a little more liberal with the knife.

I mean, any story is better if you cut the fat. Cut out the bullshit and try to make a long story short… It works in writing and it works in cinema too. I mean, think about this — did they REALLY need to define the Force in Star Wars Part 1 as a fucking parasite in the blood? Absolutely not. What about Back to the Future? Did they need to show Marty’s mom acting really irresponsible more than they did in the final version of the film? Nope, and it worked. They didn’t need to show Marty drugging his father to get him to go back to sleep either… Both shots were cut out from the final version of the movie (but available on the DVD) and would have given just a bit too much information. It wasn’t important that they were in the final version of the film but then again it would have been strange if they had been.

Any Star Wars faithful would balk at the idea of C3PO and R2D2 being cut out from Episodes 1 and 2 but honestly – what point do they serve besides comic relief? Couldn’t there have been written quips in characters lines in order to get them some comic relief in the film? Also the stunning false visuals that they had too many of in Episode 2 needed to be trimmed down a bit. It got to be useless and annoying to see CGI everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, they painted a stunning picture but at the same time, nothing was real (and there’s nothing to get hung about, strawberry fields forever). It wasn’t like they hand-designed miniatures as they had in the first film which awed movie goers because every visual WAS real to an extent.

CGI is good in moderation (as long as you have a good movie attached to the CGI), but over doing it… well, that just bores people. I had that problem when I saw The Matrix Revolutions but I could live with it – the story made up for short comings of reality.

Maybe I’m just too picky with things? Eh, take out the maybe. I AM too picky with things. But then again, if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be leading my true life.