Grown-Up Adventures

I was looking at my calendar, and noticed that I'd be putting in overtime over the next couple of weekends, so this was going to be me my last free weekend for a while.  I pondered what to do...go for and adventure, or do laundry.

An adventure it was!

Normally, my adventures culminate in going to see a movie.  But, there's not much out there I want to see right now.  Granted, I am a Tim Burton fan, but Dark Shadows just isn't grabbing me.  Same with Men in Black 3, not just capturing my attention.  So I knew seeing a film would not be my goal.

And then, it hit me.  I was going to go in search of a fabled treasure I hadn't been able to find for a while.  I was going to find...the new filter I needed for my vacuum cleaner!

Now, you're probably thinking, "Wait a minute, Mark.  I'm your Facebook friend.  A month or so ago, weren't you bragging that you broke down and bought the filters online and you were patting yourself on the back for your cleverness?"  Well, yes.  But there was a flaw in that plan.  See, with the big Canada Post strike last year, a lot of online retailers switched from using Canada Post to couriers.  One day, a few weeks ago, I came home from work to find a note on my door from the courier saying that I was never home when they tried to deliver the package, so my new vacuum filters were returned to sender.  Son of a....  Got a full refund, though.  But still, no filters.

So today I vowed that I would not be coming home until I had a new filter for my vacuum cleaner!  With various parts numbers in hand, I went off to the city.

And promptly found it at Wal-Mart.  Since I had such a tough time finding these filters, I was hoping to buy several and stock up, but Wal-Mart only had one left on the shelf.  One is better than none, so I promptly snatched it up and lamented that my quest was over so quickly and easily.  So I got to browsing through Wal-Mart, and getting upset at myself for spending so much money.

I have such a weird body shape - big round belly and short, stubby legs - that I have a tough time finding pants in my size.  So I tend to go a little overboard when I find pants that fit.  And because of that big round belly, it's even tougher to find shorts when summertime comes around.  But they had pants and shorts and I went nuts.  So those who hoping to see me bottomless this summer, prepare to be disappointed!

From there, it was down the road to Best Buy, a store that frequently makes me weep because I want so many nice, fancy, new gadgets like flatscreen TVs and such, but I just can't afford them.  However, it's still a pretty affordable place for DVDs, and I heard that The Secret World of Arrietty is out.  I saw it when it hit theatres back in February, and I wanted to pick it up.  If you never read my original review, it's from the famous Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.  Ghibli's most-famous director, Hayao Miyazaki, didn't direct it, but he did write the screenplay and storyboard it.  It's an adaptation of the classic British children's book The Borrowers.  It's a somewhat melancholy film, very unusual for an animated film, but I really liked it.  So it's now a proud addition to my Blu-Ray collection.

I almost picked up Whispers of the Heart, too.  I blogged about this many years ago when I bought, watched and reviewed every Hayao Miyazaki film.  Much like The Secret World of Arrietty, it was written and storyboarded by Miyazaki, but he didn't direct it.  I've been very tempted to buy it and check it out, and it's been all remastered in hi-def and released on Blu-Ray, piggybacking on the The Secret World of Arrietty hype.  So close to picking it up, but for some reason, it was significantly more than The Secret World of Arrietty.  And after having bought the filter and all the clothes, I was starting to fret about spending too much money.  So Whispers of the Heart will have to wait for another day.

From here, my adventure took me to the most adventuresome place of all...West Edmonton Mall!  You should follow me on Twitter, because whenever I hit West Edmonton Mall, I love to tweet my observations about the mall.  I was walking around Professor Wem's Adventure Golf when I sent out this tweet:  "I've never played mini-golf in West Edmonton Mall.  Must add it to the bucket list."  It's true.  Out of all of West Edmonton Mall's attractions, I have yet to play a round of mini-golf.  But I know the history of the mini-golf course.  It used to be called Pebble Beach Mini-Golf, and was meant to be a mini-golf version of the legendary golf course of the same name.  But, in the early 1990s, after the whole Fantasyland lawsuit, they decided to switch the theme of the golf course to their Professor Wem character.

After that, I tweeted, "Also for the bucket list:  get better goals than play mini-golf at West Edmonton Mall."

I then wandered by Zeller's, and was shocked to see that Zeller's was having a huge closing-out sale.  I was wondering why Zeller's would be closing down, and then I remembered.  Zeller's - and it's parent company the Bay - were bought out by American super-chain Target a year or two ago.  And it was announced shortly after the buyout that all Zeller's stores would be re-branded as Targets.  I do know for a fact that the one in West Ed is scheduled to be re-branded as a Target.  So, it'll be closed for the rest of the year most likely, and re-open next year as a Target.

So I went bargain hunting in Zeller's.  It's weird.  I started reflecting on how we're losing all our iconic Canadian department stores.  The end began in the early-1990s, when Wal-Mart bought up all the Woolco's and turned them into Wal-Marts.  Then the Bay bought out Woodward's.  Then Eaton's went bankrupt.  The Bay is pretty much the only one left.  The Zeller's location in West Ed is reflective of that.  The Zeller's location used to be the Eaton's in West Edmonton Mall.  But then, after the bankruptcy, Zeller's moved into the location.  And now it's going to become a Target.

While browsing in the electronics section, I finally picked up The Muppets:  The Green Album.  I'd been tempted to pick this up for a while.  About a year ago, as part of the hype for The Muppets, Disney produced this album which consisted of modern rock acts covering classic Muppet songs.  I'm sure you heard of it, because the first single was OK Go covering The Muppet Show Theme, and like all OK Go videos, it briefly went viral.





And then I bought NERF darts.  There was a Cracked.com article not too long ago that pointed out the quirky things that "cool workplaces" are supposed to have and one of them was that everyone has NERF guns and NERF wars break out at any moment.  There was a guy at the station a few years ago who wanted to turn the station into the stereotypical "cool workplace" and bought everyone a NERF gun.  Despite his best efforts, NERF wars never broke out.  I'm the only one left who has a NERF gun, and all I use it for is occasionally pestering the news guy by firing it at the glass of the news booth while he's reading the news.  However, a few darts have disappeared over the years by falling down furnace vents and such, so it's nice to get fully loaded once again.  Thanks to Zeller's closing out sale, got a pack of 45 darts for $5. 

After that, I think I had enough adventure, so it was time to go home.  As I returned to my car, I opened up my copy of The Green Album, popped it into the CD player in my car, and reflected on how much technology has changed.  When I was a kid, I would by nothing but cassettes, but my parents' car didn't have a cassette player, so I couldn't listen to them on the drive home.  By the time my parents did get a vehicle with a cassette player, I had upgraded to CDs, so I still couldn't listen to them on the drive home.  And now I have a car with a CD player...and I primarily buy digital downloads. 

And that was my day in the city.  Tomorrow's going to be laundry day.  And now that I have a new filter for my vacuum, I can really give my carpets a good vacuuming.

*sigh*  If buying a new vacuum cleaner filter is an adventure, then I guess I must be a grown-up.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

Welcome to this week's edition of Fishing in the Discount Bin, the ol' bit on my podcast that I resurrected here on my blog.  Reviewing my notes, we're into a spate of Christmas movies, and as I mention in this entry, December is a very special time in Japanese cinema...that's when the new Godzilla movies come out!  So now, it's the Godzilla movie I actually saw in the theatres during my time in Japan:  Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla.  This review is originally dated December 19, 2010.

Skyfall: Trailer, Poster, and What We Know

Didja hear?  There's a new James Bond film coming out this holiday season!

It's been four years since we last saw 007 on the big screen!  That's tied with the four years between Die Another Day and Casino Royale as the second-longest gap between James Bond films.  (The longest is still the 6 years between License to Kill and GoldenEye).  The delay was because, as has been widely reported elsewhere, MGM Studios (the folks who own James Bond) had some bankruptcy woes and had to do all kinds of financial restructuring to get back on track.  The same delay also affected the production of The Hobbit.  But anyway, things are cleared up, 007 is returning to theatres, and James Bond will return in Skyfall.

Of course, Daniel Craig is back for his third outing as James Bond, and Judi Dench is back as M.  And they finally re-introduce Q!  Q is going to be played by Ben Whishaw.  Javier Bardem, introduced to American audiences as the bad guy in No Country for Old Men, is the villain in this one, Raoul Silva.  Lord Voldemort himself, Ralph Fiennes, is a government agent who oversees MI6, and Naomie Harris, Calypso in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, is the newest Bond girl, Eve.

The official plot description was released as this:  "James Bond's loyalty to M is challenged over secrets from her past. When MI6 is attacked, it falls to Bond to seek out and eliminate the threat regardless of the cost to himself."

What really makes this Bond film unusual is the behind-the-scenes talent.  The director is Sam Mendes, director of such legendary Oscar-bait as American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Revolutionary Road, and Away We Go.  This is his first, big-budget, Hollywood action film.  I'm kind of sad, because this will be the first James Bond film since Golden Eye that doesn't have music by David Arnold.  Instead, Mendes decided to bring on his longtime collaberator Thomas Newman.

We got a poster late last week.

 

And the trailer went online over the weekend.

Skyfall hits theatres this fall.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - The Sound of Music

Welcome back to Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I dig through my old notes for a bit I used to do on my podcast, and post it here on the blog.  As I mentioned last week, my old notes are currently dated December 2010, so we're into a spate of Christmas movies.  We now get to a film that seems to be on TV every Christmas, The Sound of Music.  This review is originally dated December 18, 2010.

Failure to Agree

For the first time ever, I feel I must start a blog entry with these words.

This blog is the property of Mark Cappis.  The views expressed are his and his alone.  This blog does not reflect the views of 94.1 the River or Newcap Radio.

Now then.

Last night I was out for a drive, enjoying this late spring/early summer weather, when I got a call on my cellphone.  It was my colleague, the news reporter down at the radio station.  I was in a bad area, so I couldn't quite hear him on the phone.  Eventually I heard, "Just come down to the station when you get back in town!"

I got back into town and swung by the station, and the news reporter was behind himself.  It's the third Tuesday of the month, which means it was Athabasca town council night.  Having started here as the news reporter myself, I knew council started at 7PM.  It was around 7:20...far too early for a council meeting to end.  That's when our news reporter started telling the tale.

The town council meeting was only 15 minutes long.  It was canceled after 15 minutes, because council could not agree on the agenda.

I was flabbergasted.  How could such a thing happen?  Our news reporter then went into detail.  The meeting started with the usual pleasantries...a cheque presentation, the announcement of some new staff members, the usual photo op stuff.  Then it came time to approve the agenda, a fairly routine procedure in meetings of all kinds.  There were some last minute additions to the agenda, also a routine procedure in meetings.  With the newly amended agenda, it was time for the agenda to be approved and the meeting to begin.

One councilor was absent, so council was down to six members.  Three voted for it, three voted against it.

Hmm...this was a problem.  So, in the interests of moving things along, the new agenda items were removed, and the agenda was once again put to a vote.

Three voted for it, three voted against it.  Deadlock.  Again.

Council turned to the chief administrative officer for a ruling.  The CAO simply pointed out that they can't have a meeting without an agenda.

So the meeting ended.  After 15 minutes.  Because, quite frankly, they couldn't agree what the meeting should be about.

I finally had to ask...what were those last minute agenda items?  What items were so contentious that they brought Athabasca town council to a halt?

There were three last minute additions, the news reporter said.  The first two are in-camera items.  As that's the stuff that's done in private, we have no idea what those matters were about.  But the third one had to do with the procedure for adding last minute agenda items.

Let me make that clear:  the government was brought down because they couldn't agree on a last minute agenda item on the procedure for adding last minute agenda items.

I burst out laughing at the absurdity of that statement.  And our news reporter just stood their shaking his head.  The stories he tells about town council...the things that don't make the news.  This is a council that has become very wrapped up in proper procedure.  This is a town council that has grown to love its red tape.  There was an issue between the town council and the local paper not too long ago.  An artist's rendering of a new bridge under construction was handed out in the agenda package, and the newspaper printed it.  It turns out the newspaper wasn't supposed to do that, as the artist's rendering is not supposed to be public knowledge yet.  Now, most agenda items begin with a lengthy discussion as to whether the item at hand is public knowledge or not.

Late last year, one town councilor was upset because one of his blustery speeches never made it into the official record, because it never got a seconder.  So, in the name of speeding things up, this councilor began the movement to do away with seconding motions.  It passed.  And rather than speed things up, this seems to have double the length of meetings.

Our news reporter constantly tells tales of a council that has grown obsessed with nitpicking procedure rather than getting business done, and I can't help but laugh at the absurdity.  Sitting around nitpicking procedure is something I've seen bring down many a high school club, but never a municipal government.

Word on the street has been for a while now that our town council has grown very dysfunctional.  I was rather blind to this until I attended the all-candidates forum for our by-election back in February and the council's dysfunction and failure to agree on most topics was the most common topic there.  I didn't quite understand it myself until this incident tonight.

The agenda is what says what a meeting is about.  Town council can't even agree on what they're meetings should be about.

I almost say council should take a sitcom approach to things.  They should all be locked in a room and not let out until they've resolved their differences.  Thing is, councils all across the country do that.  They call it a retreat.  But when our new mayor came to power a year and a half ago, he did away with retreats, saying that they were just expensive vacations on the taxpayer's dime.

Shortly after retreats were abolished, town council then increased travel allowances for councilors so they could start attending conferences out-of-province.  I remember making the joke at the time that the honeymoon was over for council, as they'd be taking separate vacations this year.

Turns out I wasn't joking.  Our town council is a very dysfunctional marriage.  It's falling apart.  There were three delegations at town council last night.  Three groups looking for support from their leaders to improve this community.  And they were sent home without being able to present their cases, because council determined their issues weren't as important as a last minute agenda item on last minute agenda items.

This town can be great.  The people can do great things.  But they can't, because our leaders are too busy bickering about how to dot the i's and cross the t's.   

UPDATE:  I see out local paper already has an article up about it.  Click here to read all the sordid details. 

Mermaid Sex

As I've stated, I don't know how many more radio experiments I'm going to be posting, as I purged the hard drive a few years ago and most of my experiments got lost in the shuffle.

I was seriously debating whether to post this one or not, but then I remembered I did put it in one of the earlier episodes of my podcast, so it's already out there in the public consciousness.

We've all reached a point in our life where the curiosity gets the better of us, and we go behind the beaded curtain into that backroom of the video store.  Or we finally venture into one of those shops where the windows are all blacked out.

This is the tale of when I succumbed to such curiosity...and the Disney classic it forever tainted.



Mermaid Sex by Mark Cappis

YouTube Videos from the Athabasca Outdoor Show

I made YouTube videos!  I don't do it as much as I used to, but occasionally I do feel some inspiration and give it a shot.

This past weekend was the 4th annual Athabasca Outdoor Show.  I was live on location for the whole show, but I did get a few moments to wander the grounds and check it out.  And since the station's booth was right next to the stage, I was also able to catch the big performances.  We had Access Hip Hop do some dancing, and the Big River Band also performed a few songs.

So check out the Athabasca Outdoor Show!






But wait! There's more. A deleted scene!

One vendor was there selling toys and had one of these.  I remember these from my youth.  It seems that just about every small town department store had one of these and I would be mesmerized by them.  Almost bought one, but I figured that just filming it would be just as enjoyable.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Die Hard

Welcome back to Fishing in the Discount Bin, the resurrection of my old podcast bit where I'd ramble about a favourite movie of mine that I own on DVD.   Going through my old notes, I've reached December of 2010, so we're about to get into a whole spate of Christmas movies, followed by the movies I got for Christmas, ending with the blockbusters of 2010 that I blew my gift cards on.  Today we get into what's always referred to as "the Christmas movie for guys," Die Hard.  This review is originally dated December 17, 2010.

Thank You

The first thing they tell you at NAIT is that the money in radio isn't very good.  "You'll never get rich in radio," they said.  "The only way you'll ever make any money is if you work in sales, and if that's your goal, you're better off switching your major from broadcasting to marketing."  It's a reality I've faced for the past few years.  I'm constantly fretting about my finances.

Back in the fall, the fretting got so bad that I finally took a second job.  I enjoyed it, even though it ate up a lot of my spare time, and with summer on the horizon, things are about to get very busy at the radio station.  I knew it would be a matter of time before my second job started eating into the time for my first job.  So, two weeks ago, I gave my notice at the grocery store.

I worked my last shift at the grocery store last night.  As I was filling up a bucket with soap and water so I could get to work scrubbing the slime out of the lettuce cooler, my second boss turned to me and said, "I really hoped you'd choose us over the radio station.  Why are you going to work in radio?"

I put the bucket down and looked at her.  "Because being on the radio is all I ever wanted to do since I was 10 years old."

"Say no more," she said.

I know that I fret too much about the money.  I know that some times, I let an angry caller get under my skin.  I know that, some days, my colleagues get on my nerves.

But when all is said and done, I can't imagine myself doing anything else.

So if I haven't said it before, let me say it now.

To those who happen to listen to me everyday

To those I work with every day to help me be my best

To those who propped me up when I was pounding the pavement looking for that first gig

To those who talked me out of dropping out of NAIT when days were at their darkest

To those who humoured my requests to stop in at CLCR whenever I visited Augustana

To those who listened to me at Augustana who started convincing me I might be able to make a living at this

To those who humoured a 10-year old who was playing with a tape recorder in his room.

Thank you.  Thank you for your love, kindness, and support in this crazy career I've chosen.

And I'll probably be hitting you up for money real soon.

Mystery Pack #2

So, a few weeks ago, doing this "posting old radio experiments" thing, I shared a little something called Mystery Pack #1.  This was an attempt to do something a friend of mine suggested...come with a really short podcast (under 5 min long) to provide a tasty surprise for folks when they set their MP3 players to "shuffle."

I thought I only made the one episode as a "proof of concept."  Turns out I made a second.

As I said last time, my big problem with this was coming up with engaging content.  This is actually an excerpt from my podcast.  I remember when I initially recorded it, I was like, "Ooo!  That's awesome!  Gotta save it for a mystery pack!"  And I did.

I'm glad I saved the original audio for doing this.  Any attempt at re-creating it would drain it of its energy.

Anyway, for this second mystery pack, it's the story behind this photo.

This is the story of the greatest day of my life.



The Second Mystery Pack by Mark Cappis

Targ Time!

Alrighty, gang, trying to get back into some kind of normal schedule here, so that means it's time to bust out a new episode of U62: The Targ! 

In Episode 5.21: Stuffy Nose, I battle this springtime cold to share my thoughts on The Avengers (did you hear?  I've seen it!), muse about the recently-announced plans to privatize the hot springs in our national parks, and I finally check out series 2 of Sherlock. 


Click here to go download it!


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New Amazing Spider-Man Trailer

There was a recent episode of ItsJustSomeRandomGuy which made a subtle joke that's really quite accurate.  With all the fuss between The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, people are kind of forgetting about the Spider-Man reboot.






But yeah, a new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man also went online this week, what between The Avengers being released and the new Dark Knight Rises trailer.






I do like what I'm seeing in this Spider-Man reboot.  As many have pointed out, it's great seeing Spidey taunt that robber like that.  Wisecracking Spidey was something that we didn't see much of in the Sam Raimi films. 

It looks like they're finally trying to distance this from Twilight.  The first two trailers really made it look all Twilight-y.  And I'm really interested to see where they're going with this whole "mystery of Peter Parker's parents" thing.  And we're still not getting really good shots of the Lizard!

Oh, well.  July 3 is when it hits theatres, and I'll still be checking it out. 

The Avengers Review

In the mid-2000s, Marvel Comics secured a financing deal that would allow them to start producing their own movies based on their properties.  The first products that they produced on their own was in the summer of 2008, with the pretty good 1-2 punch of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.  Buoyed by that success, Marvel announced a grand scheme for their film franchise.  The slate was Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, all leading up to the supergroup where they all join forces, The Avengers.

Well, the endgame has hit theatres.  The Avengers is upon us.  To produce this meshing of the heroes, Marvel called on Joss Whedon.  Whedon is a talent that I mostly like.  Despite insistence from my friends that I would love it, never got into Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  I was late to the Firefly party, but by the time I got around to it, I enjoyed the heck out of it.  I did have a friend who once dismissed Whedon as "a geek who writes for geeks," but when you're doing one of the biggest superhero teams in comic history, seems to me that's the kind of guy you'd want doing it.

The film opens with SHIELD doing some experiments on the Tesseract (aka the Cosmic Cube, last seen at the end of Captain America), when something goes haywire, and it opens up a portal, bringing forth Loki, last seen at the end of Thor tumbling off into the cosmic abyss.  Loki proceeds to swipe the Tesseract, and begins to go about his evil plot.  SHIELD director Nick Fury figures it's time to assemble...some help.  As the Tesseract began emitting an unusual gamma radiation signature before it was stolen, he enlists the world's foremost expert on gamma radiation, Dr. Bruce Banner, to help track it down.  To battle the immediate threat of Loki, he calls Steve Rogers back into action.  To help put the final pieces of the puzzle together, he calls in SHIELD's consultant, Tony Stark.  Thor eventually shows up, seeking to bring his brother Loki to justice and reclaim the Tesseract for Aasgard's vault.  With back-up being provided by top SHIELD agents Black Widow and Hawkeye, Loki's plot soon comes to light.  Loki seeks to lead an army of invading aliens, known as the Chutauri, to conquer the Earth.  With this broad band of heroes before him, Fury figures it's time to dust off a scrapped SHIELD program known as the Avengers Initiative.  Can this group of heroes put aside their differences, become the Avengers, and save the planet?

One thing I've lamented about the dearth of superhero films over the past 12 years or so is they're so darn serious...they just don't have the sense of fun that I've long associated with comics.  What can I say?  I'm a Silver Age guy.  That's one of the few reasons why I enjoyed the Fantastic Four films...they have that sense of fun.  Well, I'm very glad to say that The Avengers is FUN.  It is very fun.  It is fun in spades.  It knows when it needs to be serious, and when it needs to be lighthearted.  A proper balance is achieved.  Not just fun, but funny.  The quips and superhero one-liners will have you busting a gut.

And the Hulk...oh my God, the Hulk steals the show.  Every time that Bruce Banner hulks out, it is magical.  Again, with the character of the Hulk, the temptation is to show him as nothing but rage unleashed.  But in this film, the Hulk is having fun smashing.  It's nice to see a fun Hulk.  And I do agree that Mark Ruffalo is probably the best Bruce Banner we've seen to date.  This is a man whom, thanks to his condition, has a full handle on his emotions without being emotionless.

Robert Downey Jr, as always, is awesome is Tony Stark/Iron Man.  He and Steve Rogers/Captain America take an instant dislike to each other, as Stark is so flippant and Rogers still has World War II "golly gee wilikers" earnestness to him.  Stark, however, takes an instant liking to Banner, as he realizes that Banner is probably the only guy who can successfully challenge him to the title "smartest guy in the room."

I loved Captain America  last year, and it was good to see the Cap pretty much the same, but as he frets in the film, his 1940s attitudes are a little out of place.  (He has one very politically incorrect scene with Nick Fury that made my jaw hit the floor.)  Black Widow's interrogation of Loki is a great scene...really, every hero gets a wonderful little character moment, from Thor trying to reason with his brother Loki, to Black Widow and Hawkeye lamenting their assassin/mercenary pasts.

Really, I'm struggling to come with things I didn't like about this film.  Perhaps Tony Stark does get a little too irreverent in some scenes, bordering on grating.  Things do kind of slow down in the exposition scenes, and you really want to see the heroes go back to punching each other or the bad guys.

This is just an amazing, fun, and mindblowing superhero film.  And I really hope the sequel promised by the post-credits scene comes to pass.

4 Nibs

Click here to read my review over on my main site.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Godzilla (The 1998 American Film)

Welcome back to Fishing in the Discount Bin!  For those just joining us, this was something I used to do on my podcast, but I grew tired of doing it.  But I wrote so many reviews before growing tired of it, that I decided to start posting them on the blog, rather than having them stagnate on my hard drive.  Today, we do a movie that I loved bunches when it first hit theatres, but has since become regarded as one of the worst summer blockbusters ever made:  the American Godzilla.

This review is originally dated December 3, 2010.

Yes, You Do Use It

I've blogged it before, and I'll blog it again.

When people learn I have a math degree, they sometimes come to me and say, "Oh my gosh!  I have this incredibly hard math problem because I'm (usually they're renovating their house) and only a guy with a math degree can solve it!"

When I take a look at the problem, it usually boils down to a Grade 5 word problem that they could easily solve themselves if they didn't waste Grade 5 math class sassing their teacher about how they'd never need it when they grew up.  

Third Dark Knight Rises Trailer

Three big superhero movies coming this summer.  The world's all nuts for The Avengers right now, but right behind it, The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan's third and final Batman movie.

I made this observation a few years ago...don't know if I blogged it.  When it comes to the superhero trilogies of the past 10 years, it tends to play out like this:

Movie the first - The origin story shoehorned in with the best known storyline.

Movie the second - Free of the constrains of the origin story, the creators cut loose, explore the heroes as best they can, and invariably create the best of the franchise.

Movie the third - Since all the actors are signed to a trilogy, the attitude is, "Fuck it, this is the last one, let's throw in all the cool shit that the fans want to see." 

But Christopher Nolan and his Batman films, he's kind of thrown this model out the window.  For the first movie, he ditched the best known storyline and focused purely on the origin story.  For the second film, that's when he brought in the arch-enemy, really pushing the hero to its limits.  So for the third...well, I have no idea.

As I mentioned with the previous trailer, it's really neat that they are bringing this trilogy to a definite end.  Comic books aren't designed to end, which is why they've been running since the 1940s.  When it comes to a superhero's end, everyone's got their own idea of what it should be.  For Batman, it's pretty much agreed that the best telling of "The End of Batman" is The Dark Knight Returns.

So a cinematic end to Batman.  The mind boggles.

Reminder of what we know....  It takes places 8 years after The Dark Knight.  Christian Bale is back as Bruce Wayne/Batman.  Michael Caine is back as Alfred.  Morgan Freeman is back as Lucious Fox.  For the new characters, Tom Hardy is Bane, Anne Hathaway is Catwoman, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a Gotham City cop.

Trailer!






My thoughts: I'm digging Anne Hathaway's Catwoman. That line at the end, "My mother warned me...." seems very Catwoman-esque. Really glad they cleaned up the sound issues with Bane's mask and we can actually hear him.  And Bane tossing aside Batman's mask like that?  Does he "break the Bat?" 

I can hardly wait to find out!  July 20 is when it hits theatres!

The Targ Is Back! At Last!

Holy moly!  It's been darn near a month since I've had a chance to sit down and record a new episode of U62: The Targ!  But I found the time, and for I've got Episode 5.20: Backed Up.

First topic is explaining what the heck happened to me this past month, followed by a desperate plea to you, my listeners.  We then go through some epic comic book crossovers that are coming up, and then work though my podcast prep file, which includes tidbits on Titanic 3D, McDonald's in France, and the richest duck in the world.


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Fishing in the Discount Bin - Avatar

Welcome back to Fishing in the Discount Bin, the ol' segment that I used to do on my podcast that I decided to resurrect on my blog because I didn't want my old notes to go to waste, and it's nice to always have content.  I think, with this one, we finally run out of the ones that I actually produced for my podcast, and get into the ones that were gathering cyber-dust on my hard drive.  And it's too bad, because we finally get to the #1 movie of all time, Avatar.

This review is originally dated November 21, 2010.

2 New Trailers!

Two new trailers went online in the past couple of days, and let's get too them, because my blog is starting to skimp on content!

First up, the latest adventure for those real American heroes, G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  I've already blogged many times how I'm looking forward to this.  Granted, the first movie was a rather cliched comic book action film, but OMG SNAKE EYES WAS REAL AND TOTALLY DOING REAL NINJA STUFF!!  *ahem*  Sorry, my inner child got a hold of the keyboard.

And it looks like Retaliation ramps up the ninja action by resurrecting Storm Shadow from the dead and throwing Jinx into the mix.

Trailer time!







So...plot hole the first I'm raising from this trailer.  How come no one raises their hand and says, "Umm...Mr. President, how come our new elite strike force is the evil army we were fighting last time?"  Other than that, it still looks very much like the first film and I'm looking forward to it.  In theatres June 29!

Next up, it's the new one from Pixar, Brave.  Again, this is another one I'm looking forward to, because I love me my Pixar.  We've been told it's their first fairy tale, set in medieval Scotland.  But for the Pixar fans like myself, we hope it'll get rid of the memory of the pure sellout that was Cars 2.






Not gonna lie...the more I see of this one, the more my expectations drop.  I'm starting to see more and more of the Disney Princess cliches popping up in these things.  But, who knows?  It's Pixar.  Maybe they'll do some totally awesome deconstruction of those cliches.  We'll find out on June 22.

The 2006 Magnificent River Rats Festival

Something a little different for my radio experiment today.  Well, I guess it's not really an experiment, because I actually went out and did it on the radio.

Today marks a very special day for me.  For today is my 6th anniversary of living and working in Athabasca.  When I first started here on April 24, 2006, I was not the wacky  morning guy that I am today, but instead, I was an intrepid reporter, working in the newsroom.

I had a somewhat contentious relationship with news when I was going to NAIT.  I knew from the outset that I didn't want to do news for my radio career.  When you do the news, you spend a lot of time running...a lot of time chasing.  You're chasing stories, you're chasing leads, you're chasing down people to interview...you're always on the move.  And my impressive gut should be proof enough that I don't like to run.

But even though I didn't want to do it, I was good at it.  Or at least, that's what my news prof kept telling me.  She was always encouraging me to go into news.  As my time drew to an end, her gentle nudges were starting to turn into forceful shoves.  Back then, I was still passionate about writing, too, and figured a good way to pick up a few extra dollars would be by writing for the school paper.  I mean, hey, I was chasing down and writing news stories anyway for news class...why not get paid for it?  I remember impressing my writing prof one day because, I was facing my deadline, and in writing class, during the 15 minute break, while most everyone went outside for a smoke, I sat down and started frantically writing my contractually-obligated three news stories for the paper.  When the paper came out a couple days later, my writing prof was impressed.  Not by the fact that I wrote all three news stories in 15 minutes, but that I wrote them in 15 minutes and they were good.  As her final act to convince me to go into news, my news prof sat me down and said, "Between what you've done in the paper and what you've done in news class, any radio newsroom will see you as an asset."

In retrospect, I really, really, REALLY should have listened to her.  After NAIT began the period I like to refer to as "The Great Year of Unemployment," as I pounded the pavement, looked for announcing gigs, and getting turned down left and right.  But, at the end of my rope, as the Great Year was drawing to an end, that's when I started applying for news gigs.  And I got callbacks.  And I got interviews.  And I got hired to go to Athabasca.

It's always tough when you move to a new town and your job is to do the news.  I mean, how can you tell people what happened today when you don't know anyone or what's going on?  So it always takes some time to get up and running.  But luckily, I did have one big thing coming up on the horizon...Athabasca's Magnificent River Rats Festival.

Covering the development and the planning of the festival was always a good story.  And then, when the festival came, I was in love with it.  I knew I had to do something special with my news coverage, and that led to doing the kind of radio news that you don't get to do too often in a small market...the kind that's elaborately produced with ambient background noise.

I was a little worried about how this news story would be perceived by some of my colleagues...when I first started, I had a co-worker who told me that the mere concept of interviewing people was too "hard-hitting" for a small market.  But I went and did it anyway, and when I sent out the story to the sister stations, I did get a couple of e-mails back from my fellow newshounds saying that they loved it and they ran it in their own newscasts.


But perhaps the greatest compliment was when I sent it to my news prof to show off how I was doing in the real world, and asked the humble question, "So, umm, would this be something I put on my demo?"  And she replied with two words:  "FUCK YES."

So, here then, to celebrate my 6th anniversary in Athabasca, is my news coverage of the 2006 Magnificent River Rats Festival.



The Magnificent River Rats Festival 2006 by Mark Cappis

Fishing in the Discount Bin - River of No Return

Welcome back to Fishing in the Discount Bin, a feature for my podcast that I worked really hard on until it started to eat up too much of my time.  Rather than let all my notes go to waste, I decided to start posting them here on my blog.  For this entry, we get to the Marilyn Monroe classic River of No Return.  This entry is originally dated November 2, 2010.

How the Mainstream Media Works, Part 27

The sad truth is, I seem to be running out of old radio experiments on my hard drive.  When I made the transfer from my beat up old laptop to my shiny new desktop a few years ago, it looks like most of my experiments didn't make the transfer.  I'm tempted to get my old laptop out, fire it up, and see if I can find some, but I also think first I should try to get my laptop fixed.

I dunno about my laptop...I think I picked up a virus or something.  I've deleted pretty much everything that's non-essential from it, and it keeps telling me the hard drive is full.  I wouldn't mind getting my laptop operational again, if only to use as a netbook when I'm on the road.

But I'm still finding one or two things to blog about.  A few weeks ago, when I first started this, I began with my dramatic rendition/production of How the Mainstream Media Works, Part 26, which was a blog entry by writer Todd Babiak when he still worked for the Edmonton Journal and wrote a blog there.  I always did like Mr. Babiak's writing...I really should saunter on down to the library one of these days and check out his novels.

Anyway, it turns I adapted another of his blog entries into a dramatic reading/one-man radio play thingie.  I chose the very appropriate How the Mainstream Media Works, Part 27.

I really did like his series of How the Mainstream Media Works blog entries...I do remember wanting to attempt to produce a couple more like this before I got distracted and moved on to something else.

But anyway, here's my reading of How the Mainstream Media Works, Part 27 by Todd Babiak.



How the Mainstream Media Works, Part 27 by Mark Cappis

Brave Art

When it comes to animated movies, I love concept art.  It's just the artists, cutting loose, trying to figure out the look for the film.  You see familiar designs in its earliest forms, and you see some really unorthodox ideas that never panned out.

Pixar's next movie is Brave, and I stumbled across this bit of concept art of the film's heroine, the Princess Merida.

And here's the finished design, as it appears in the film.  It's toned down, softened, and I admit, I kind of miss the "crazy eyes."

I sure hope Brave is a return to form with Pixar.  Like a lot, I wasn't too impressed with Cars 2 last year.  I'm liking what I see so far from this film.  Some online are already claiming that it rips-off How to Train Your Dragon.  I guess that's just the fate of Pixar and DreamWorks.  Ever since A Bug's Life and Antz came out so close together, they'll always be accused of ripping off each other.

In addition to these pics, Disney also released this neat featurette about the character of Merida.








Brave hits theaters on June 22.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Ghostbusters

Time once again for Fishing in the Discount Bin!  So, I was doing this thing at my podcast where I'd rant about one of the many movies in my DVD collection.  Life got in the way, and I started finding the feature too labour-intensive, so I gave it up.  But, I wrote so many reviews before I produced them into my podcast that I didn't want them to go to waste.

So I'm posting them to my blog!

Today, we get to a movie so awesome it leaves me speechless...Ghostbusters.  This entry is originally dated October 30, 2010.

Blasphemy

Nothing fancy with this week's radio experiment...just a little bit of music editing I wanted to try.

The Newsroom Trailer

I wish I could be all hipstery and say I was fan of Aaron Sorkin before anyone else was, but that would just make me sound all hipstery. 

I'm sure you're familiar with the name of Aaron Sorkin by now.  He's gained quite a bit of fame in the past years for writing such Oscar-winning and -nominated scripts for hit movies like The Social Network and Moneyball.  I guess if I wanted to be all hipstery, I'd point out that I was a fan from when I first saw A Few Good Men, which he also wrote.  But no, I became familiar with him through his television work.

His most recent TV series was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and while I did thoroughly enjoy it, I lament that it never really found it's point.  His best known TV series was The West Wing, where he was the creator and pretty much wrote every episode in its first four seasons.  Got to admit, I never really got into The West Wing.   Don't know why...but what little I saw, I loved.  I still absolutly adore his first TV series, Sports Night.

Seriously, dudes, if you've never seen Sports Night, check it out.  That show is just freaking brilliant.  I watched it in its first run...I picked up the special 10th anniversary complete series boxed set a couple years ago, and re-watching it, I kept thinking, "I forgot how amazing this show is."  I'll totally loan you my DVDs so you can watch it.  And that's how awesome I think it is and that you should watch it.  Because I never loan out my DVDs. 

And Sorkin returns to his Sports Night/Studio 60 fascination with the behind-the-scenes workings of television with his new TV series The Newsroom.  This time around, he takes behind the scenes of a cable news show.  And I just discovered that the series is drawing some ire up here in Canada because Sorkin totally stole the title of one of our most critically-acclaimed and revered TV programs.

Regardless, Sorkin has assembled an all-star cast for this one.  Jeff Daniels (yup, the Dumb and Dumber guy) is our lead anchor Will McAvoy.  Sam Waterson (still best remembered as Jack McCoy on Law & Order) is the president of the network.  British actress Emily Mortimer is news program's executive producer.  And some how, amongst all that talent, Olivia Munn snuck in there. 

It premieres on HBO in the USA this June, and HBO has released a trailer. 




Some online are already drawing the comparisons to the opening minutes of Studio 60 in this trailer...looks like both series open with a renowned television personality having a very public meltdown about the current state of the world, sending their respective networks into damage control.  But it looks like that, unlike Studio 60, which then led to the television personality being fired, The Newsroom sees the personality get to keep his job and try to make the improvements he feels are neccessary. 

Truth be told, watching this trailer, I'm seeing more in common with Sports Night, if only because the shots of the cubicals and TV controls rooms and in the office of the president of the network just look awfully familiar  And if this show winds up being Sports Night 2.0, I'll be more than happy with that. 

It starts up on HBO on June 24...no word on who's airing it in Canada. 

Ted Trailer

Well, may as well use this holiday Friday to blog about more of those trailers I was talking about earlier in the week!  Here's the first couple of trailers for Ted.

Seth MacFarlane is the creator of Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show.  And I've got to say, I'm not as big a fan as I once was.  Don't get me wrong, whenever I see Road to Europe come on in reruns, I will sit down and watch it to the end because it's still one of the funniest half-hours ever.  But earlier this year, when they did their big hurricane crossover, and Family Guy's episode was that one where they're all trapped in their house so Meg finally confronts her family about why they pretty much abuse her, and in the subplot, Brian tries shrooms and has a bad trip...yeah.  That was one of the ugliest half-hours I'd ever witnessed.  Stopped watching Family Guy soon after.

That being said, though, I'm still very curious about MacFarlane's debut as a film director, Ted.  In addition to directing, MacFarlane also wrote the script with a couple of Family Guy writers.  I saw MacFarlane on Conan a couple of months ago, and he described the plot thusly: 

"It's about a little boy who makes a wish that his teddy bear would be his best friend forever.  And the teddy bear magically comes to life.  So, naturally, the film takes place 30 years later, when the boy and the bear are all grown up, and spend most of their days just hanging out smoking a lot of weed." 

Mark Whalberg plays the little boy, MacFarlane voices the teddy bear, and Mila Kunis is the girlfriend that threatens to break them up.

As is the case with such comedies these days, there are two trailers.  First up, the green band trailer:


   

And the "red band" trailer, which you only see in front of R-rated movies and has swears and stuff.

Gotta say, I was finding that pretty funny and laughing through pretty much the whole thing.  Ted hits theaters on July 13.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - UHF

Welcome to another installment of Fishing in the Discount Bin.  This began life as a feature in my podcast, but when I got too tired to keep going, I gave up on it.  But, not before I wrote a crapload of reviews to eventually incorporate into the podcast.  Rather than see them go to waste, I'm now throwing them up on my blog!  Today, we get to one of my all-time favourites, UHF.  This review is originally dated October 23, 2010.

Osaka Cowboy

Time to dig through my hard drive and find another one of my old radio experiments to upload and share.

This is another thing I produced many years ago.  I was fresh out of NAIT, just messing around with my home set-up, trying new things, and maybe whipping up some neat stuff to spruce up my demo.

One thing they always warned me about production is that a producer's bread and butter is the "single voice over music."  This is about 99% of the commercials you hear on the radio.  Just one person speaking, with some music in the background.  As crazy as it sounds, I find producing such things to be utterly fascinating.  I mean, it sounds simple, right?  They also warned us in school that it's producing so many of those that drive young producers to seek other careers...they just get so bored making so many.  But, how could you get bored?  So many different kinds of music...so many ways for the announcer to read the copy.  I wouldn't get bored...I would go mad from having so many choices.

And it's still one of the things I gravitate towards when I just want to try something new.  I read something like an old blog entry, slap some music underneath.  And sometimes, I get very...elaborate.

Like this one, for example, where I tell a tale of my time in Japan.  Despite my efforts to acclimatize to the different culture, there were two times where I felt completely out of place...like a total redneck from Hicksville, Alberta.

This is one of those stories.

Total Recall Trailer

Wow.  Lots of great trailers went online this past weekend.  I wish I had the time to sit and blog about them all, but this is turning into a really crazy busy week.

So, if I had to pick one, it would be the entry from the pointless remake file, Total Recall.

The 1990 Arnold Schwarznegger classic gets a gritty reboot...even though the first one was kind of violent and really gritty to begin with.  Colin Farrell takes over for Arnold as Douglas Quaid, the bored factory worker (construction worker in the original) who dreams of something more in life and decides to go to Recall, the fake memory outfit to get the fake memories of an exotic secret agent fantasy implanted.  But, before you know it, everything goes to hell, and he's living out the secret agent life he ordered.  Or is he?

Instead of going to Mars, it all takes place on an overpopulated and dystopian Earth.  Kate Beckinsale takes over for the before-she-was-famous Sharon Stone as Quaid's wife/agent keeping an eye on him, and Jessica Biel takes over for Rachel Ticotin as his true love/fellow resistance fighter.  And Bryan Cranston takes over for Ronny Cox as the villainous Cohagan.

The remake was directed by Len Wiseman, the man responsible for the Underworld franchise and Die Hard 4.  And, in answer to your most pressing question, Wiseman has assured us that yes, the 3-breasted hooker makes an appearance.

It hits theaters on August 3.  Here's the trailer.





I've got to say, that does look pretty slick.  The first one's special effects were pretty cutting-edge for it's time, so this really shows you how far we've come.

Oh, and here's the poster.

Time for Targ!

I think you know the drill by now.  Sunday means it's time to roll out a new episode of my podcast U62: The Targ.  This time around, we've got Episode 5.19: A Lazy Saturday.

I spent the titular lazy Saturday in my PJs, firing up my equipment at home, and rambling about the Canadian, the demise of the penny, and wondering why I don't read more.  I should read more, because books is awesome.

Anyway, give it a listen, and it just may inspire you.


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Fishing in the Discount Bin - The Nightmare Before Christmas

Time for another "Fishing in the Discount Bin."  For those just tuning in, I did this thing at my podcast called "Fishing in the Discount Bin," where I'd rant about one of the many movies in my DVD collection.  Even though I only did it around 10 times before getting wore out with it, I wrote 30+ reviews.  And now, I'm sharing them on my blog.

It was getting near Halloween when I wrote this, so that means we're getting into Halloween movies.  First up, The Nightmare Before Christmas.  This entry is originally dated October 16, 2010.

Mystery Pack #1

A few years ago, a friend of mine was telling me a tale.  Comic book artist Todd McFarlane had done this museum exhibit of some his work.  McFarlane created a "virtual exhibit" of his work so fans all over the world could see his work.  And, on each page, he embedded an MP3 about what was going through his mind when he drew those comic book panels, where he was in his career, and stuff like that.

My friend, also being a comic book artist, took inspiration in those tales, went through the website's HTML code, found and downloaded the MP3s, so he could listen to these tales on his own time.  One day, while riding the bus to work, he was listening to his iPod on shuffle.  The song ended, and suddenly, Todd McFarlane started talking to him.  The MP3s had accidentally synced to his iPod. 

And he loved it!  He loved hearing this little tale from Todd McFarlane, and then the music continued.

"You should do something like that," my friend said.  "Like a podcast, but really short episodes.  Only two minutes long or so." 

And so, I began planning out what I called The Mystery Pack.  My artsy-fartsy plan for it was this.  You'd download a dozen episodes or so into your MP3 player, hit shuffle, and wait for one to pop up.  It was an attempt to recreate the surprise that my friend felt that one day when Todd McFarlane started talking to him.

But, as with a lot of my radio projects, I found the difficult part was trying to dig up engaging content.  I only really just made this one episode, in order to get a feel of what the whole thing would sound like. 

So, here's the first and only episode of The Mystery Pack.

 

Doctor Who Aggregation

If you listen to my podcast, you know I pretty much said all this stuff in this week's episode, but I feel like blogging on this sunny Monday afternoon, so I may as well repeat myself!

Last week, a whole bunch of news came out about Series 7 of Doctor Who, currently filming in the UK.  The biggest news is the announcement of the Doctor's new companion!  It's already been announced that the next series will the be the last for Amy and Rory, so it'll be time for a new sidekick!

And that new sidekick will be played by...Jenna-Louise Coleman.  Here's the first picture of her in her companion regalia, as released by the BBC.

We don't know much about her character yet, like her character's name, but we did hear that she beat out 500 other candidates in the audition process.  We've been told that in her auditions she could talk faster than even Matt Smith, so that means we'll probably have to watch the episodes in slo-mo to understand what they're saying to each other.

But, with this announcement, comes some sad news.  It was also announced that they're splitting the season up again.  We're going to get the first 5 episodes this fall, they'll take a break for the Christmas special -- in which the new companion will be introduced -- and then the remaining 8 episodes next spring.

It was also revealed that the fifth episode, the one before the Christmas special, will be the final one for Amy and Rory.  They've told us that Amy and Rory's departure will be a big, epic battle with the Weeping Angels.  Says current showrunner Stephen Moffat, "Not everyone gets out alive, and I mean it this time!"

(i.e.  Rory's going to die again.)

One episode that's already been filmed is going to the Old West.   They've been filming it in Spain, which is a great choice because Spain is where they filmed all those classic Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns.  And there's a very special guest star in that episode...Ben Browder, star of the cult-classic sci-fi TV series Farscape and Stargate SG-1.

And, to top things off, the first trailer was released today!  Here's our first glimpse at Series 7!

Who Wants a Podcast?

Ah, Sunday morning.  Time to sleep in, make an omlette for breakfast, and play some records on the ol' record player.  That's how it was done in my childhood, but we're in the 21st Century now, so instead of records, it's podcasts!

Today, I've got Episode 5.18: The Adventures of Snurkles McGee.  You may have heard the controversy of Michael Bay's re-booted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles origin, I say good-bye to the submarines at West Edmonton Mall, and I recap some of the big announcements for Doctor Who.

So, if you have the inclination, give it a listen! 


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Fishing in the Discount Bin -- Superman II

The preamble!  I used to do a thing on my podcast called Fishing in the Discount Bin, but it got too hard so I stopped.  But, not before scripting a whole bunch of entries that I stockpiled and never produced.  Not wanting to waste it, I dug it out of my archives and started posting it to my blog.  And now you're up to date.

Following last week's review of Superman, it's only logical that we get to Superman II.  This was originally written on October 2, 2010.  

Deep Sea Adventure, The Edmonton Journal, and Me

Yeah, I had a real thrill today, so I hope you don't mind if I take one last moment to milk it for all its worth.

I was at work today, taking a moment to check Facebook, and I got a Facebook message from my Mom.  Mom said that she did a spit take when she sat down for her morning coffee, looked at The Edmonton Journal, and saw that I was quoted on the front page about West Edmonton Mall's dismantling of their submarines.

I had to go to the Edmonton Journal's website right away, and sure enough, there I am being quoted about West Edmonton Mall and their submarines.

So, for those who've been asking, here's how it came about.  Yesterday, I was checking the news online, and I came across this article at the Edmonton Journal's website announcing the end of the submarines.  I was a little bit sad, because they were always there at West Edmonton Mall when I was a kid, they were really fun to watch, and we all heard that joke about how the Mall had more subs than the Navy.

So I shared that article on the various social networking sites, including Twitter, with the message, "Another part of my childhood being sold off." 


I then took a nap, because I had to work job #2 last night, and I woke up, checked Twitter, and saw I had a direct message from Edmonton Journal reporter Bill Mah, who saw my tweet and asked if I would share some of my thoughts on the submarines. 

I sat down and wrote him a somewhat lengthy, rambling e-mail of my memories of the submarines.  He e-mailed me back almost immediately saying thanks, and that he wouldn't be able to use all of it.

Of course, in my low-self-esteem way, I thought the true meaning was he wouldn't be using any of it, but he did use some, and needless to say, it brightened my day.

For those who might be curious, here's my complete collection of thoughts that I sent to Mr. Mah:


I originally hail from a small town called Entwistle, which is about one hour west of Edmonton on the Yellowhead highway.  When I was a kid, trips into West Edmonton Mall were a rare and special occasion that only happened once every couple of months.  On those trips into the Mall, my parents would do best to steer us kids away from all of the big attractions like Fantasyland and the World Waterpark, lest we start begging and pleading to go on a ride or two.  However, there was no avoiding the Deep Sea Adventure, as it's always plopped down right in the middle of the Mall.  Me, my brother, and my sister would stand at the edge of that indoor lake and watch the submarines go around and around.  We'd implore our parents if we could go on it, but they'd always say no.  They would, however, give us a penny to toss in the lake.  And of course, we'd try to hit a submarine as it went by.

In those early days, the only way I rode the submarine was vicariously, thanks to the books of Eric Wilson.  He had a successful line of mysteries for kids back in the late-1980s, and each one took place at a well-known Canadian landmark.  His book about West Edmonton Mall is called Code Red at the Supermall, and the Deep Sea Adventure figures prominently in the book, as several of the submarine pilots and scuba divers are prime suspects.  That book painted the Deep Sea Adventure as being akin to the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, with a very hyperactive host spinning wild yarns of going on a search for a missing submarine.  The book made the ride sound very exciting.

For a while there, it seemed like I would be riding the submarines quite a bit.  I had a blustery uncle who used to work for an outfit called Alberta Mobile Air, and AMA had won the contract  in those early days of the Mall to provide the air for the submarines.  That uncle promised all kinds of benefits from having that contract, and promised he'd be able to get all all kinds of free passes to the submarines.  Never panned out, sadly.  He's one of those uncles that talked a big game.

I finally got to ride the submarines in 1990, at the tender age of 13.  It was the waning days of Christmas vacation, the family had gone to the Mall to see Home Alone, and we had some time to kill before the movie.  So, after years of asking, my parents finally said, "Yes!  We will go on the submarines."  I remember being very excited.  Standing there on the dock, watching the submarine rise before me, I couldn't believe it was finally happening!  When we piled onto the submarines, I was a little surprised at how cramped it was inside.  My memories of Code Red at the Supermall having faded, I was wondering what exactly you'd see on this submarine trip.  I mean, the water's so clear, you can see most everything underwater in that lake. 

Well, much to my surprise, that's when I learned about all the aquariums that are in that lake, and I got to see all those wonderful fish.  The submarine captain wasn't as dynamic as in Code Red at the Supermall, but he made his fair share of corny jokes.  Passing by one of the giant fiberglass clams, he said, "And there's our Mick Jagger impersonater!"  At the end of the trip, when the submarine releases it's air and rises, the captain remarked, "And now you're about to see what it's like to be an ice cube in a glass of 7-Up."  But the big thrill was finally seeing the inside of the cave. 

For those who don't remember, the island that now houses the Booster Juice was once a mountain, and the trench that encircles it was once a cave.  I always wondered what was inside that cave as a submarine disappeared in one end and came out the other...and I finally saw it was these amazing models and mock-ups of underwater scenes.  The one that stands out to me is a giant squid devouring a submarine...that looked a lot like the one I was in! 

Needless to say, I found it very exciting. 

The second -- and final time -- I rode the submarines was in 2003.  Now, I found myself in the role of the blustery uncle, as I was treating my niece and nephew to a day at the Mall.  Much like that night in 1990, we were there to see Finding Nemo, and had some time to kill before the movie.  What better way to kill time before the movie than by riding the submarines?  So I took my niece and nephew on the Deep Sea Adventure. 

It hadn't changed much since my first time those 13 years ago.  Still small inside...still amazing sites and all those amazing fish in those aquariums.  A lot quieter, though.  No big performance like in Code Red at the Supermall, not witty comments...most of the ride was in silence.  But my niece and nephew still loved it.

In a way, I'm sad that many of my beloved icons of West Edmonton Mall are gone now.  The Drop of Doom was taken out before I ever worked up the nerve to ride it.  They got rid of the whale statue in front of what is now Victoria's Secret over a year ago, and hasn't been refurbished and re-installed yet like they said they would.  And now, the submarines are going.  But, in another way, that's also what I like about West Edmonton Mall.  It's a very dynamic place.  It's always changing, there's always something new to see.  And I'm sure there'll be another new icon for a new generation of youngsters to look at and wonder...and beg their parents to go on.

Relentless Spot

So, I guess Tuesday will be the day I clean out my hard drive and post my old audio experiments.

Sadly, I don't have anything elaborate for a home set-up.  I have a pretty good USB studio mic that I blew my RalphBucks on many years ago.  And for software, I use Audacity, a not-too-shabby freeware program that my production instructor at NAIT suggested to me.  It gets the job done, for when I have inspiration at 3AM and feel like trying something.

I threw this together about seven years ago, when I first discovered Audacity and got my mic.  A friend of mine took to her blog and shared this label from an energy drink called Relentless.  She thought it was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever read.

So I made it into a ridiculous commercial. 

I've always been rather fond of it.  So, yeah.  Here's my Relentless commercial. 

Can't Think of a Good Title

Made a quick trip into Edmonton yesterday.  I really wanted to see John Carter, and at the rate it's tanking, I figured the clock was ticking if I wanted to see it on the big screen. 

Sadly, I didn't want to see it because I was familiar with the source material.  I wanted to see it because it was directed by Andrew Stanton, the Pixar soopah-genius who directed A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, and Wall-E.  Being a Pixar geek, I wanted to see his first big screen offering.

Long story short:  I liked it.  You can tell they really wanted it to start a franchise, though.  There's lots of vague motivations and mysterious Martian technology, and you just know that the answer given on the set that day was, "We'll answer in the sequel!"

Anyway, the complete review is over on the main site.  Click on over!

From there, I went on over to HMV.  The sad thing is, I can't go into HMV anymore without exploding into a terrible inner monologue.  I love my DVDs and Blu-Rays...but then I remember my current financial situation and guilt myself into not buying anything.  And then, on top of that, I guilt myself for guilting myself into not buying anything and denying myself happiness.  As you can see, I wind up sprinting out of the store in tears because of all the guilt.

But there's so much I want!  That nice new Blu-Ray of the original King Kong was there, and I've been denying myself that for a year.  There's the new Blu-Ray of American Graffiti and they finally had the original MASH in stock...always thought those two would make a nice double feature because they're my Dad's favourite movies.

But eventually I cheaped out.  One thing I do infrequently is surf the discount bins for movies I like, and they're so darn cheap, that I just can't say no.  So for $10, I got the original Police Academy and Adventures in Babysitting...two beloved comedies from my youth.

And, the hot hipster clerk finally talked me into signing up for HMV's rewards program.  Let that be a lesson to you, kiddos.  If you ask me for over a year, I'll eventually break down and say yes.  But the process will be sped up if you're wearing hot pink Baroness glasses.

Then I did a quick breeze through Chapters.  I saw The Last Unicorn was on special  I've loved the movie version of that since I was a kid, and always thought about reading the book.  So I picked that up.  Leafing through it, it seems to be an easy read.  I just have to sit down and start reading the damn thing...something that's gotten so darn hard in my nearing-old-age.

Don't know how to end this, so like they taught me in school, when you don't know what to say, just play the next song.

New Targ!

Hello Sunday!  The day of rest.  There should be a law that everyone gets a minimum of 1 day off a week.  That would be awesome.  That way, everyone would be free to listen to the new episode of U62: The Targ!

This week, I roll out Episode 5.17: Lady Pink Hair.  I elaborate on my thoughts on Justice League:  Doom.  I pick apart the Dark Shadows trailer a little bit more.  And I lament the destruction of the first Harvey's.

So, yeah.  It's pretty much a recap of this blog for the past week.  But then, that's what most of them are. 


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Oh, and in case you're wondering about the name of this week's show, I followed my old traditions of, "I don't know what to name this show, so I'll name it after the first thing I see on my desk."  And the first thing I saw was this picture, which is currently my desktop wallpaper.  




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Dark Shadows Trailer

So, in 2012, we're getting not one, but two new Tim Burton films.  Secondly is Frankenweenie, coming out this Halloween (and I've already blogged about it), but the first one is Dark Shadows.

This is a movie version of the cult-classic soap opera of the same name.  It was on in the late-1960s/early-1970s, and what made it unique from the other soaps was that it drew it inspiration from Gothic horror.  Vampire, werewolves, and ghosts were all frequent characters on the show, and our lead, Barnabis Collins, was a vampire.  It spawned two features films, and the only exposure I've had to it is some half-remembered commercials for its prime-time revival in the early 1990s.

Anyway, both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have professed to be fans of the original TV series.  So, when they announced they wanted to do a movie version, it seemed like the property was in good hands.  With his trademark Gothic style and love of Hammer horror films, a movie version of Dark Shadows seemed right up Burton's alley.

But people started having doubts.  Some of the first photos released back at Christmastime didn't really ignite passions.  And the fact that the film comes out in a little less than two months (May 11 is the release date) and there's been little to no promotional ramp-up had people thinking that things did not bode well.

And then the cracks started to show.  A review from a test screening popped up on Ain't it Cool News a few days ago, and some of the Dark Shadows fanboys were agog.  Says the reviewer, "this film wasn't quite the Gothic horror I was expecting...It's more of a horror comedy, closer in tone to Beetlejuice or The Addams Family."

Yup.  Following in the footsteps of Starsky and Hutch and the new 21 Jump Street, they decided to make it a spoof of the original, rather than a straight adaptation.

And most fears were confirmed when the trailer came out yesterday.





From what I gather, the Dark Shadows legion is pretty pissed off.  But you know what?  For me?  A guy with little-to-know exposure to the source material?  I found myself laughing at this.  I found it funny.  And since I am a Tim Burton fanboy, I'll probably go check this out when it hits theatres on May 11. 

And as has become my way, here's the poster so I've got a thumbnail for the social networking sites.

Fishing in the Discount Bin -- Superman

For those just joining us, welcome to Fishing in the Discount Bin!  I was doing this bit on my podcast for a while where, as my friend described it, I would just "go off" on one of the many movies in my DVD library.  I abandoned the bit after 10 episodes, but wrote up 30+ reviews first.  And I don't want to see those reviews going to waste.  So, I post them on the blog!

This week, we get to what many still regard as the gold standard in superhero films, Superman.  The original date on this review is September 26, 2010.