I don’t think I’m the only one with guts enough to admit that as a kid growing up and watching Star Trek: The Next Generation that I had the hots for Wesley Crusher.  Felt badly for him honestly, he had looks and brains and was always being cut down by the rest of the crew because of his age.

Unlike so many youthful actors, Wil has outgrown and overcome what is probably his best known role.  He is now a successful blogger and author who has no issues talking about matters of his private life, let alone discussing and dissecting his professional life.  Thankfully, as a reader of his blog, I was able to catch the recent episode he did of Numb3rs and have to say he excelled at playing a jackass.

Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to read his books, but will defiantly get my hands on them when I can afford to.  What brought about this spotlight was his new drinking game that I happened across while reading his blog.  He has this brilliant new drinking game regarding the new American Gladiators.  Everytime host Hulk Hogan says “brother” you take a drink.

Having watched both the two hour premier and the regularly slotted episode I have to think that anyone participating should have something handy to be drinking from.  I know I counted at least 5 “brothers” out of Hogan’s mouth last night, am thinking however, that this game should include “girl” as well, as it’s said just as often.

Aside from the brilliance of his drinking game, and before I get into a side tangent about the new Gladiators, I have to say that if you’re not reading up on Wheaton’s blog you’re missing out.  He has a sense of humor that was sorely absent from his role as Crusher, and there’s nothing more fun then reading his dissections of old ST:TNG episodes.

So if you have a fondness of Wil Wheaton, which I do and simply cannot do him justice with this small blog entry, warp over to his blog and give his wit and wisdom a chance to sink it.  You won’t regret the time well wasted there.

Day late, dollar short…. Could have sworn today was the first. Sorry for the delay.

Lets begin by exploring the term horror.

According to Answers.com horror is:

1. An intense, painful feeling of repugnance and fear
2. Intense dislike; abhorrence
3. A cause of horror
4. Informal, something unpleasant, ugly or disagreeable
5. Horrors informal. Intense nervous depression or anxiety.

We’ll be throwing that last definition out for the month and focus on the part that came from the latin horror from horrēre, meaning to tremble.

Therefore, we’re focusing on what makes us tremble. With sidetracking to just plain old fashion Halloween fun thrown in.

Let’s get it started with some good old fashion movie horror. Or in this case, the brilliant bad guys that make me tremble.

Something I don’t discuss enough here is music. I mention a song here and there, but it’s definitely lacking, which is odd for me because there is always something playing in the background. Silence and I are not friends, hell I’m not even sure what silence is.

Lately I’ve been focusing on two bands that are such opposites from one another that some wouldn’t even consider adding them into the same play lists. One of them I’ve briefly discussed in the past, which would be Blue October. The other is TOOL; which is decisively harder and even a bit more violent in the lyrics and music.

Sloane introduced me to TOOL when I moved down here with a pair of songs. Prison Sex and Ænema, neither of which I can really get into lyrically. Something about vulgarity and language that readers might find offense, but never the less it’s good music. Ænema became a quick favorite because it’s all about the flooding of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas and the destruction of people who are more worried about their coffee, hair and law suits and advises the populace to “Learn to swim.”

The best way to describe Prison Sex, however, is to yank a cleaner line from the song. “Do unto you now what has been done to me.” Lyrically the song isn’t that bad, but it does call up some interesting mental images.

You can find the videos on You Tube, though I suggest you don’t try it while you’re at work.

They remind me of Pink Floyd in their heyday. The music comprises of sweeping intricate melodies and rhythm, they have a god by the name of Danny on the drums after all, perhaps one of the best drummers I’ve heard honestly. Lyrics are comprised of vivid imagery and given forth in the impassioned voice of James Maynard Keenan, and to my knowledge he writes all the songs as well.

It’s a dance of lyric and music that has no problem taking on some of the issues in society. The recently released Vicarious from the album 10,000 days tackles the issues of media violence and watching death from afar like the addiction it is.

TOOL can’t be shuffled into another box of words talking about how wonderful they are. Like all good music and like any great band they have to be experienced as simple description fails to embody what the music is like.

At least it fails me to come up with the words to truly discuss the band as I’m still caught up in the experience of the music. Give them a try; check out the audio samples found on their site. If you don’t like them, all you’ve lost is a few minutes of time. If you do like them, let it open a whole new world of music for you.

For every outstanding leading actor in the world there are at least two who need to regulate themselves to background roles. Hardly overshadowed by the leading role, they tend to lend more to the movie if they remain in support, allowing them to shine brighter there than they can in the primary spotlight.

Can these people work in the leading spot? Many of them often do, but they don’t seem to fit there. It’s like trying to watch someone escape the confines of a bad script only to have the audience realize that the role would have been much better done in the hands of someone else.

I offer six shining examples of this for your reading pleasure and opinion.

1. Jack Nicholson
This is an actor you either love or hate and if you hate him you want him in small doses. Sure he can carry films on his own, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Shining, but he performs better in smaller roles, which help him confine the overwhelming personality he possesses that sometimes gets in the way of his acting. No one in this world could have given the “You can’t handle the truth” line from A Few Good Men better than Nicholson, and who else could have so easily seduced The Witches of Eastwick. But give him a starring spot, like in As Good as it Gets and its too much, so much that it made me never want to see the film again.

2. Tim Curry
I’m afraid to see this man in a lead role when he does so very well in support. He makes evil and darkness feel like less of a sin as he tramps around in massive costuming for Legend and he’ll scare the hell out of you as Pennywise in IT. Clue’s role of Wadsworth is probably the closest I’ve seen him in a leading role and while it may have been the script itself it was almost too much for even his skillful hands. Even Frank’N’Furter was over the top but give him a supporting role and he can even outshine the leading actors.

3. Geena Davis
As a leading actress she often leaves something wanting, the cast around her seems to carry her more than they should need to. A prime example of this is A League of Their Own, where the supporting cast enabled her to appear like she could be a leading lady, but if you cast her in a purely support role, such as in BeetleJuice, she’s a talented actor because she can work off the skills of the cast around her instead of letting them support her.

4. Steve Buscemi
One of my favorites in the supporting role, and no one can play psychotic support like him. When you have a record for cinematic deaths, it’s hard to even picture him in a leading role. He pops up in a lot of Sandler films and has a habit of stealing the scene when he’s on screen. A marvelous go to guy when you need someone who plays sleazy and his unmistakable voice is perfect for the background role. Anything else and he’d simply steal the whole move instead of a scene here and there.

5. Bill Paxton
When Paxton does a leading role he does it well, as shown by his character in Twister. He is, however, much better in the background, as evidenced by his roles in Aliens, Weird Science and Streets of Fire. Paxton is an excellent character actor in that he can play the sleazebag almost better than Buscemi, but often displays good intentions and a heart of gold as he does it. He has immortalized the line “Game over man” and while he can show a penchant for cowardly characters you can’t miss seeing the strength as well.

6. Jeffrey Jones
Has this man ever held a leading role? I know he’s come close with roles like Ed Rooney (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and Charles (Beatlejuice), but he appears to pop up in the most unexpected places, especially for random cameos. Jones has played the vast array of coward to hero and any mix in between and there is no doubting that when he’s on screen he steals it.

I still can’t get over the fact that he’s only a year older than I am. Orlando has made such an impact on acting it feels like he’s been around a lot longer than he has. While I haven’t seen some of his earlier work, I was suckered into knowing who he was when Lord of the Rings came out. After all, who wasn’t drooling over the hottie elf boy?

Since that role it’s hard to find movies with him where he’s contemporary and relaxed. Bloom excels in period work though I could certainly understand if he ever decided to avoid it for the rest of his career. While he wasn’t well known when he was wearing fatigues in Black Hawk Down; he has since been seen wearing anything from tights to frocked coats and everything else in-between.

Bloom continues to walk the fine line stardom. As a younger actor the people he’s worked with is astonishing. Working beside Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen in Lord of the Rings is incredible. Then to move on and work with Johnny Depp for Pirates of the Caribbean only speaks highly of his abilities. He appears to have learned something from everyone he’s worked with.

Stepping away from the actor as a whole, I have to admit my favorite role is not one of his biggest trilogies but the work he did with Ridley Scott in Kingdom of Heaven. The film itself is epic, and I’m not talking about the type here. The character of Balian is one the viewer can relate to. I’m not sure there’s another actor who could have pulled off the character like Bloom did, walking the emotional scope of angst and loss to the final hope that finds him.

With the work done in PotC: At World’s End, however, I have to say I am fully amazed with the real depth of the character Will Turner. He’s definitely more than just a pretty face competing with Depp’s Sparrow for the sighs and coos of the ladies in the audience. I need to see it again so I can break my rules and review it.

In the meantime Bloom is taking a bit of time off from the silver screen to act on the London stage. IMDB has his next film release down as rumored for the film Pompeii, and I’m certainly not going to complain about seeing the man in period dress again if the rumors are true.

Think I’ll go get PotC: Dead Man’s Chest watched so I can get the review up.

I’m late, very late, in getting this post up. I was reminded of it by perhaps the most loyal of my readers, hellfire she prints posts and takes them home. But too, she’s a little biased, having known me for all my life.

What prompted the idea about doing a spotlight on Cruise was Cilla reminding me that I was ga-ga over the man most of my life. I knew plenty of others who were as well, but I would pull the age card now and then, especially around some of my younger cousin. I still have to admit he’s hot, and when I was a kid I’d turn movies on just to watch him and that smile. The man has dimples deep enough to swim in after all.

Where as before you’ve seen me discuss how the best thing about Legend is Tim Curry’s Darkness I didn’t always think that way. I drooled over the sleep figure of Cruise as Jack in his little tights. Yum. And I followed him film to film, anxious to see each one he starred in. He was the best thing about Top Gun, the only reason to watch The Color of Money and the hottest uncredited cowboy in Young Guns. His Irish brogue was hideous but he could get me to watch a movie about NASCAR and then there was his turn as Lestat.

At that point I knew I had a crush on a god. It wasn’t just his acting though, this man saved people. Headlines ran rampant with news on how he kept someone from getting run over a car, of how he was helping and saving people left and right. The man was not only cute, but a hero as well, could it get any better?

No, it got worse. Right about the time he and Nicole Kidman divorced. He just got weird. Sounded like he was dating everything that crossed his path and then he introduced his Scientology on top of it. The headlines about rescues vanished and he showed up as Austin Powers in Goldmember. Don’t get me wring, I like the Austin Powers movies, but UGH!

After that he began to oversaturate the market. Hell you saw his name more than you did Tom Hanks. Over the last few years what little privacy he kept went out the window and everything he did was exposed, but still, showing how crazy you are by hopping up and down on Oprah’s couch was just a little too much, the god of my crush started looking like an absolute moron.

Around that time, for me, he committed the ultimate sin, him and Spielberg. They remade War of the Worlds and modernized it. Down came the posters, the movies were only watched on cable and I hadn’t bought a Cruise film since. My interest waned to the point the only reason I want to see MI:III is to see Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Admittedly the man can still act, but he lost the perfect shine he had in my eyes. I don’t hurry to see his films, I don’t care who he’s dating or married to and I have no interest in that child, which makes me all the happier that he’s not shoving it all into the limelight again.

Looks like he has a pretty busy schedule though, which means he’ll be flooding the market again. Even rumors of either playing Hitler or one of his cronies. Meh, unless the movie looks good I’ll pass. I won’t ay just to see him on the screen anymore.

I’ll confess though… as I said before, he is a decent actor. Perhaps he may even approve once he remembers the world does not revolve around him.

Well, I was going to write about a movie, which will hold till next week, until I signed into Yahoo this morning and was informed by Jenn that one of my favorite actors was having his birthday today. And since I’m a fan of Tim Curry’s I just couldn’t let it slide. Not that he’s ever likely to stumble upon this post on this tiny blog site.

But how do you choose one standout film of an actor you enjoy? Sloane said to write about the one that left the biggest impression on me and I did that with my first actual review entry. I still think he makes Satan sexy.

I’m hardly an expert on the works of Curry, I know he’s done more than I’ve seen and gods know they’ve all left an impression on me. From horrifying to transsexual and running a gambit of comedy in between the Englishman leaves an impression on a lot of people.

Can I name favorites? That’s easy … Legend, Rocky Horror and It; where as Sloane’s rather fond of Clue and the role of Wadsworth. All right, I admit it, I like Clue as well, but it’s hardly one of my favorites.

I think I like Curry at his sleaziest, and he does so well in those roles. I don’t like clowns to begin with but Pennywise takes the cake and Curry embodied the role that Stephen King first penned. Then there’s Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers, sinfully at his most vile as he tries to usurp the French throne and queen and beyond that The Shadow as Farley Claymore. His roles are amazing but you’ve got IMBD to tell you that.

Curry is among the actors that I could listen to talk for hours. His voice, cultured and hypnotic, well, he could read the dictionary and I think I’d still be enthralled. Though, what I like most is that laugh of his, it’s completely unmistakable.

So while I cannot personally wish the man a happy birthday I can recommend every film I’ve named here and many of this other roles. In the meantime I think I’m going to go drown myself in Tim Curry movies.

In my attempt to cover more than just movies, which seem to have an abundance of posts, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of who I could cover musically. There are so many artists that I adore, so much music available in the world to be listened to, and the one standout in my mind, no matter the mood I’m in, is the late Harry Chapin.

Probably because I got my name from one of his songs and grew up listening to his music. Possibly because no matter how grim some of his songs are, Sniper and Dance Band on the Titanic, they are a comfort to me. Some people have comfort foods; trust me I do too… I love to cook, but additionally I have comfort music and I really cannot explain how much his music is a comfort to me.

Chapin was a unique blend of singer-songwriter-artist and activist. This man was doing things for hunger and poverty long before Bob Geldof and Willie Nelson. To my knowledge he wrote everything he sang. The man was simply amazing and his music is a nice reflection of the soul, touching on many subjects in his time period that even today most artists won’t touch.

Yet even amid his darker songs there are love songs unparalleled. She Sings the Songs without Words and Shooting Star are some of his best compositions in my opinion when it comes to expressing unconditional love and adoration.

Is Chapin’s music known today? Yes, but unfortunately for one song alone for the majority of the populace. And trust me, it’s one everyone seems to know and desire to cover. Cat’s in the Cradle.

Unfortunately Harry Chapin was killed in a car accident on his way to a concert in 1981. His music is hard to find in stores, his name forgotten among some. His legacy lives on in his family with daughter Jen performing and writing just like her father did. Even uses one of his guitars.

Can his music be found? Yes. His family has a site set up that has all his music on CD, and you can find a decent collection of it at Amazon as well. These are some of the few places you’ll find it.

I can go on and on about Chapin and his music, but here all I can do is encourage you to have a listen. I cannot tell you you’ll like everything, but I believe you’ll find something you’ll enjoy.

Oh… and the song? Corey’s Coming.

I can’t remember if the actual memory of Queen’s music came with Flash Gordon or Highlander. I do remember I was young… eight or nine I think. I remember getting a further introduction to their music because it was a bonding experience with my Dad, kicking back on the floor of my parents’ room while he played A Night at the Opera for me.

Given the amount of music Queen had released by the time I was eight, I’m sure I probably heard some of it before then and just didn’t know who sang it. At that age I don’t think I cared about any music other than what my mother listened to. Still, the time we spent listening to Queen opened a door of commonality for us and he has had a great influence on my taste in music.

I digress however. I’m here to discuss Queen, not my past.

I think what brings this particular post is a wonder if Freddie Mercury would approve of the advertisement use of their music, were he still with us today. Coke used “I Want to Break Free” for their Coke Half or whatever it was and now Dr Pepper is using “I Want it All” for Diet Dr Pepper and I know I’ve heard another set of advertisements using one of their songs, but at the moment its not coming to mind. It’s probably the Harry Chapin I have playing on the radio at the moment, but that’s a whole different subject and musician, isn’t it.

I do know that while the ads don’t drive me to go out and get a Coke or a Dr Pepper, they do drive me to computer and my massive collection of Queen discs. After that introduction to their music I glutted myself on Queen’s music. I still find myself looking through the selection at the music store to see if there’s anything I don’t have. There are a few, admittedly, that I’m missing, but the three collections of their greatest hits keep me sane on a bad day.

I always found their music uplifting, despite some of the connotations of the songs. There are days I tend to think of “The Show Must Go On” as my theme song. Then again, I’m sure everyone has theme songs and they just don’t share them.

I know, after having only been introduced to their music in those tender years that I was distraught when I learned of Mercury’s death in 1991; got my hands on Innuendo as quickly as I could since it was the last of Queen’s recordings. That disc has another of my personal favorites with the song “I’m Going Slightly Mad,” which I recommend for anyone having one of those nervous breakdown days. Read the rest of this entry »