Farewell to “Lost”

I know much has been written about the recent series finale of “Lost”, so, I won’t bore you yet another analysis of what they got right and less right at the end. But I will tell you that we freaking loved every crazy minute of that finale.

Yes, there are still a couple of unanswered questions — If women couldn’t have babies on the island, why were Ethan and Aaron both born there? What was Widmore’s real end game and how did he find the island again? And where the hell was Walt, who was so central in seasons past, in all this craziness? — but overall, we thought the show ended perfectly.

And as far as the much-maligned “flash-sideways” go, we thought they were some of the coolest moments of the entire series. Seeing Locke finally experience a true and lasting love with Helen, watching Jack be the loving father he never had to his son, David, that shit was beautiful.

But the real kicker was seeing Ben do the right thing and selflessly help his “daughter” Alex this time around. OMG, the post-dinner scene with him and Rousseau in the second-to-last episode just about killed me. I was sobbing!

Christine and I also wept like babies — poor Greta looked so confused! — when Sun and Jin and Sawyer and Juliet were reunited in the finale. That beautiful music and those series-encompassing flashes were just…wow…I’m getting weepy again just thinking about it.

I’ll probably be nerding out over the finer points of the show for years, so for now, let me just say a huge “Lostie” thank you to everyone involved with bringing this trippy, genre-bending series into our lives.

You guys rocked our world for six amazing seasons, so, thanks for the memories, amigos…and, as our Dharma Initiative friends would say, namaste!

Google celebrates Pac-Man’s 30th

Wow, today was really a big day for 30th anniversaries…who knew that video game legend Pac-Man was celebrating a monumental birthday today as well? Google knew, that’s who!

And in honor of the big yellow dude’s 30th birthday, the crazy-cool folks at the Googleplex are featuring a fully playable Pac-Man game where their logo should be on their home page. Wocka wocka yeah!

Better yet, if you double click the “insert coin” button on said home page, you can play a two player version of the game with Mrs. Pac-Man, who, as everyone knows, was always way cooler than her husband. I mean, hello, she had a bow on her head and shit. How cool is that?

And even though I can’t figure out how to insert a fully playable version of Pac-Man into my blog, I can share with you one of the best songs ever written about a video game. I’m talking, of course, about Buckner and Garcia’s cheese-tastic “Pac Man Fever”!

My brother and I practically burned a hole in our 12-inch single of this song back in the day and now you can too. Click here to celebrate thirty years of the sweet yellow fever. Happy 30th, Pac-Man!

“The Empire Strikes Back” turns 30!

Thirty years ago today my brother, my Dad, my Stepmom, Wendy, and I piled into our van and drove to San Jose to see what was then known simply as, “The Empire Strikes Back”, for the first time on the big screen. It was opening day and we didn’t have no internet machines back then, so, we got to the Winchester Century Theaters at the crack of dawn to get in line to buy tickets.

And then we waited, and waited, and waited some more, and roughly four hours after we got there, we got our tickets and went inside to see the movie.

Now, I’m sure the Winchester Theaters have aged a bit since then — the place was practically crumbling when we saw a midnight screening of the first “Harry Potter” flick there back in 2001 — but in 1980, that theater was the shit, baby!

Seriously, the screen was so big and the sound was so loud that I literally shook through the first half hour of the movie. I know that sounds crazy, but my brother and I had been waiting for this movie to come out for three years and my eleven-year-old brain simply could not take the excitement. I was in such shock to actually be in a theater watching that movie that I couldn’t even focus on what was happening onscreen. Crazy!

Anyway, when I did calm down enough to enjoy it, the movie rocked our world, and thirty years later, it is still the coolest “Star Wars” film in the series. I just watched it again last week with Greta and though I didn’t tremble through the first half hour like I did then, the thrill of sharing this monumental movie from my childhood with my daughter just about killed me.

So, in honor of the movie’s 30th anniversary today, I thought I’d share this collection of cool-ass “Empire” posters I found online. Happy birthday, old friend, here’s hoping the force is with you…always!

Katharine Hepburn postage stamp

Like all good classic movie geeks, Christine and I have dutifully laid down some serious dinero for the USPS’s cool-ass “Legends of Hollywood” stamps over the years. In fact, we usually buy a whole sheet to keep as a souvenir, you know, one more thing for Greta to sort through after we die.

Anyway, this year’s addition to the already-rocking collection is none other than legendary, four-time Oscar winner, Miss Katharine Hepburn. Awesome! Even cooler is the fact that the photograph they used for the stamp — Hepburn as she appeared in the 1942 film “Woman of the Year” — was taken by the late, great Clarence Sinclair Bull. Seriously good stuff all around.

Oh, and lest you think Kate Hepburn is the only cool stamp on sale these days, the USPS also released a really beautiful set of stamps highlighting “Cowboy of the Silver Screen”, featuring Tom Mix, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and William S. Hart. Wow, kinda makes you wanna pay your bills through the mail again, huh?

In any case, I’d hurry down to your local post office before these groovy stamps disappear. Or better yet, order them online like we do…no lines, no hassle and shipping only costs one dollar! So worth it!

Woody Allen @ Cannes (2010)

I know I said I wouldn’t geek out too much about Cannes this year, but, just wanted to post some pics of my boy (or should I say, old man) Woody Allen, who premiered his 41st motion picture over the weekend at the festival. Forty-one movies!? Wow, even if half of them suck ass, that is some batting record, man…

Entitled “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger”, Allen’s latest stars Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Gemma Jones and “Slumdog Millionaire” hottie, Freida Pinto. And like several of the Woodman’s recent flicks, this one was shot in London, so, here’s hoping it’s more like “Match Point” than his God-awful “Cassandra’s Dream”. Urgh…that movie suuuuucked!

Another interesting thing I read today is that Allen’s movies always screen out of competition at Cannes at his request. Cool, huh? I mean, say what you will about the dude, that is a very non-Hollywood thing to do…so, rock on Woody!

Cannes Nerd 2010

Judging from the lack of comments the last time I blogged about the Cannes Film Festival, I’m guessing nobody cares about the Festival de Cannes like I do. And that’s cool, I’ll geek out over every last little detail of the fest on my own…but, seeing as it starts today in Cannes, I did want to at least show you guys the poster for this year’s festival.

Featuring the ageless Juliette Binoche, this year’s poster isn’t nearly as cinematic as the David-Lynch-designed poster for the 2008 fest, but, it’s still kinda cool in its simplicity. And hello, it’s still Juliette Binoche!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Ridley Scott’s out of competition “Robin Hood” is opening the festival tonight followed by what I’m sure will be a pretty rocking party. And speaking of rocking, Tim Burton is heading the jury this year, so, hopefully that will yield some cool winners down the line.

Of course Kate Beckinsale (huh?) is also on the jury this year, so, who knows. I’m not saying she isn’t pretty and everything, but, really? Kate Beckinsale is judging serious films now? Hmmm…not sure what I think about that one yet. Hopefully her fellow actor/jury mate Benicio Del Toro will help balance the scales a bit…

In any case…whoo hoo, Cannes is up and running, amigos! Vive le cinema! Vive le Festival de Cannes!

“Machete” trailer…for Arizona!

I know I totally missed the boat on this one, but last week, Robert Rodriquez and the filmmakers behind the upcoming Mexploitation pic “Machete” released a brand new “illegal” trailer for their movie on Cinco de Mayo. Even cooler was the fact that they tacked on an angry opening message aimed at the backwards-thinking politicos in Arizona. Ha! Suck it, Arizona!

Christine and I have been looking forward to seeing this movie ever since it’s debut as one of the “fake trailers” in the spectacularly-underrated “Grindhouse” double feature a couple of years back. Not only does it look bloody hilarious (emphasis on the bloody!) but it also stars Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin, Robert DeNiro, Michelle Rodriquez, Jessica Alba, Don Johnson, Steven Seagal, and it features Lindsey Lohan as a gun-toting nun. Seriously, there hasn’t been a cast this cool since the first “Kill Bill”. Awesome!

And best of all, it also features longtime-Latino-character actor, the badass Danny Trejo in a rare leading role! Orale pues! It’s about freaking time, hombre.

So, check out the trailer (with the volume really low if you’re at work) keep on boycotting actual Arizona products and we’ll see you in the theater this fall when “Machete” opens everywhere!

Diddy Riese Cookies & Ice Cream

OK, I know I just complained about how much we hate hospitals, but, that said, there was one thing that made going to UCLA Medical Center every other day for the last month bearable. Actually, I guess there were two…one was seeing and spending time with Laura and one was Diddy Riese Cookies & Ice Cream.

I don’t know how we managed to live in Los Angeles for 18 years and not know about this place, but, thanks to Laura’s hospitalization, we finally discovered what just might be the best deal in town. Thanks, Laura!

Located in the heart of Westwood since the early-80’s, Diddy Riese don’t just sell fresh-baked cookies and ice cream in a variety of flavors, but they also smash said ingredients together in a tasty ice cream sandwich for you for the low, low price of $1.50. Yep, you heard me…$1.50!

As expected with a deal like this, you do have to wait in a long-ass line, but, trust me, it moves hella fast, and the wait is so totally worth it. The cookies are great, the ice cream flavors kick ass and that crazy-low price makes everything taste even sweeter going down.

So, though valley-dwellers like us might pay a whole lot more than $1.50 in gas just getting there, Diddy Riese is definitely worth the trip. Deeeelicious!

Time flies…

I know it’s only been a month since I posted something new, but, let me tell ya…it feels like it’s been a frigging year. I don’t know what y’all have been up to, but this has been one seriously long-ass month around here, amigos.

On April 1st (which was my birthday, for anyone still shopping for gifts) my sister-in-law, Laura, was hospitalized for what at first looked like a stroke. As if that wasn’t scary enough, it turns out that the stroke was brought on by a rare neurological condition called Moyamoya Syndrome. In the simplest terms — which are the only one’s I can wrap my unscientific mind around — Moyamoya is an inherited disease that causes certain arteries in the brain to become constricted which can often lead to blockages and strokes. When the main arteries get blocked, they sometimes generate tiny offshoot blood vessels that resemble a cloud of smoke in X-rays, hence the name Moyamoya, which translates as “puff of cigar smoke” in Japanese.

Once the doctors realized what they were dealing with, Laura was moved to UCLA Medical Center where she sailed through brain surgery like a bad ass and is now in the rehab wing across the street. It will be a long road to a full recovery, but she is already way further along than most people are at this stage, so we are  all very optimistic. And did I mention how punk she looks with a rad, half-shaved head? Awesome!

Anyway, the good news is that, if all goes well, Laura will be coming home on Friday to complete her rehab from home in Glendale. Yay! I’m sure she’s dying to get back to some semblance of normality and being home will totally help in that respect. Hell, I think she’ll be happy to just have her own Tivo back!

And of course we’ll all be happy to be done with hospitals, not to mention that obscenely over-priced parking structure at UCLA! I’m sorry, man, but hospitals suck so bad. And trying to keep Greta from touching every shiny, germy surface in sight when we visit is next to impossible. Urgh, I practically bathed her in hand-sanitizer that first week we visited.

So, as things ever-so-slowly ramp back up to normal, or the “new normal” as my brother Ryan calls it, I just wanted to thank everybody out there for bearing with us as we completely abandoned our blog. Sorry…

And as far as the month of April goes, I usually love you, baby, but you kinda sucked this year…here’s hoping May is a whole lot better for everyone. Most especially for our favorite little puff of smoke herself, Auntie Laura. Get well soon, sweetie…we love you!