Oh, What a Lovely January

January is such a dead month.  There’s very little going on, as everyone is getting over the holiday rush and preparing for the year ahead.  At least, that’s the way it’s always felt to me.  So naturally, it’s a time for self-reflection, or at least weekends out of the house, spending all those Christmas gift cards you got.  I needed to get out.  I needed to get my mind off things.  So, it was off it the city.

As I’ve blogged before, I don’t feel too guilty about spending a lot of money if I’m sure to pick up at least one thing I need.  This time out, that one thing was a new set of headphones.  Now, you may be sitting there thinking that headphones are nothing, but for us radio folk, they are a tool of the trade.  And I was disheartened this past week when my favourite pair of headphones just up and quit working.  I plugged them into the board to start doing my show, and the left side was just completely gone.

Granted, my headphones weren’t top of the line or anything like that, but my sister gave them to me for Christmas a few years ago.  They always filled the bill, and it was like having my sister right there with me.  So I was sad to see them go.  But I got a new pair, and I’ll be breaking those in on Monday. 

Sadly, I didn’t find the one thing that I was really looking forward to spending a gift card on.  I’m not much of a gamer, but damn it, I really wanted an NES Classic for Christmas.  With a Best Buy gift card in hand, I stopped in at Best Buy to see if any were back in stock yet.  With a sympathetic shrug, the clerk checked the computer and told me, “No.”  So I guess I’ll just keep trying until they are. 

I never had a Nintendo when I was a kid, but I always wanted one.  So the NES Classic is my last, best, nostalgic chance to get one.  Did I tell you of how I screwed myself out of the chance to get one when I was a kid?  I don’t think I’ve ever blogged it, but I know I tell it on the air just about every Christmas as an example to all the kids out there how they’ve got to be good for Santa.

It was the early 1990s, the height of the console wars.  Christmas was coming up, and Mom started hinting that Santa was thinking about bringing us kids a video game console.  “But, he can’t decide if he should bring a Nintendo or a Sega,” said Mom.  I was Team Nintendo all the way.  All my friends had Nintendo.  All our cousins had Nintendo.  Whenever we rented a video game console from the corner store on a rainy weekend afternoon, it was a Nintendo.  Nintendo just made sense.  But my brother...my brother was Sega all the way.  My brother was deep into military aircraft when we were kids, and as such, he was hooked on the Sega classic After Burner.  He wanted a Sega just so he could get his After Burner fix. 

So, over the dinner table that night, my brother and I broke into a debate over the merits of Nintendo versus Sega.  And the debate quickly devolved into an argument.  And as the argument was about to devolve into a fistfight, Mom broke us up and said, “HEY!  If you’re going to be that way, Santa’s bringing you NO VIDEO GAMES.  EVER.”  And thus, we did not get a video game console that Christmas. 

I still got my Nintendo fix.  I had a paper route, so I diligently saved my paper route money for about six months.  When I had enough, I bought myself a Game Boy, as it was Nintendo’s hot new console at the time.  I loved that Game Boy.  Played it quite a bit.  But there’s still a part of me that wanted a Nintendo. 

So I’ll keep occasionally dropping in at Best Buy and the odd video game store until they’re back in stock.  I mean, hey, I may be nostalgic for one, but not nostalgic enough to drop $500 for one on Kijiji.  At that price, may as well go to a used video game store and buy a Nintendo proper. 

Since people know what I like, the bulk of my gift cards this Christmas were for Cineplex, so that meant I was next off to see a movie.  Now, January is usually a pretty slow time for movies, but there still happens to be one out there I had my eye on.  I was going to see The Founder.  Now, I get it.  The Founder doesn’t look like my kind of movie.  No superheroes, no spaceships, nothing.  But I do love fast food.  And my love of fast food has extended beyond just running out to McDonald’s whenever they introduce a new promotional burger.  I have spent countless hours reading up on the history of the various fast food franchise and their origins.  Many told me back in the day that the book Fast Food Nation would turn me off fast food forever, but instead, I found it to be a fascinating peek-behind-the-curtain for this billion dollar industry.  So, yeah.  I wanted to see The Founder. 

The Founder tells the true story of Ray Kroc.  In his early 50s, Kroc had been a salesman for all his life.  He’s OK at it, enough to buy a nice house and get married, but Kroc wants more.  When we first meet him, he’s selling restaurant equipment, and trying to move these fancy milkshake machines that can make five milkshakes at once.  While checking in with his office one day, he learns of a restaurant that’s actually put in an order for 8 of his machines.  Curious as to what kind of restaurant would need to make 40 milkshakes at once, he decides to investigate personally.  His journey takes him to a little California hamburger stand called McDonald’s.  He meets the founders and owners, Dick and Mac McDonald, and quickly becomes enamored with their business.  They’ve developed a whole new method of food preparation and restaurant management that they call “Speedy Service,” getting people their food and out the door within 30 seconds.  Kroc senses this could be huge, and enters into an agreement with the McDonald brothers.  Kroc gets to work selling McDonald’s franchises, and thus begins the tale of how Kroc turned that humble burger stand into the fast food empire we know it to be today. 

The Founder is a really good movie, you guys.  Michael Keaton plays Kroc, and he manages to walk that fine line between charming and sleazy that most salespeople need to walk.  Equally good is Nick Offerman as Dick McDonald, who quickly begins to regret the Pandora ’s Box he opened when he went into business with Kroc.  I also love how it plays with convention a little bit.  When Kroc and the McDonald brothers go out for a drink, and the McDonalds starts explaining how they came up with their concept, the whole film plays like a documentary for that segment.  It’s like we’re watching the A&E Biography of the McDonald brothers. 

And that was about all I did in the city that day.  Although, I kind of regret that i didn’t make it all the way down to West Edmonton Mall, as I’m sure I’ll be running out of time to check out HMV.  News broke on Friday afternoon that HMV is planning to close up shop, and shut down all of its Canadian locations.  And with that, the last great Canadian record store chain will be gone.  Man, HMV had been one of my regular stops at West Edmonton Mall for as long as I can remember. 

When its current location first opened up in 1999, I remember what a big deal it was.  One of those stores that comes along that the media trumpets as “revolutionary.”  When it first opened in ’99, one of its biggest features was its rooms.  These were pretty much stores within the store.  You could go into the country music room, where all the country albums were and country was playing on the loudspeakers.  You could go into the hip hop room, which was pretty much the same thing, but for hip hop.  And there was even a listening lounge, where you could preview the newest albums before buying them.  Back in those hazy lazy days after college, that listening lounge was the popular place where I’d meet up with my friends in the city for a night on the town. 

And that’s not even HMV’s original location in West Edmonton Mall.  Their original location was where Victoria’s Secret now is.  Bought a lot of albums there.  Hell, bought a lot of VHS tapes there, when I started getting into movies.  I remember blowing my mother’s mind, when I picked up the Star Wars trilogy...the famous “one last time” edition from 1995, which wound up being the last official release of the original theatrical editions.  “You actually like Star Wars that much?” asked my mother, slightly confused.  Hell, I remember when HMV used to have two locations in West Edmonton Mall.  They had a second, smaller one, over in Phase I for a couple of years.  I remember having an awkward encounter there with the girl I had a crush on in elementary school.  We had moved on to separate high schools by then, and made the awkward comments about how much we had...grown, and that was the last time we ever saw each other. 

That’s getting me nostalgic for all the record stores that used to be in West Edmonton Mall.  As a kid, I remember visiting A&A Records and Tapes in the Mall, until HMV moved in and put them out of business.  Music World used to be in the food court, where the eyeglass store is now.  Again, bought a lot of VHS tapes at Music World, because I was starting to become a snob about aspect ratios, and it was the first place I saw with a dedicated widescreen section.  Over where Chapters is now, that used to be the West Edmonton Mall location of Sam the Record Man.  Didn’t shop at Sam’s that much, as I always found HMV to be a little bit cheaper.

Sad seeing all these record stores go, even though I am part of the problem.  Ever since the smartphone era begin, I buy pretty much all of my music digitally now.  And streaming music services like Spotify make it even easier.  But ya know, with the resurgence of vinyl, I am half-tempted to get myself a turntable some days.  If I go through with that, I guess I’ll have to buy my records online.  I blogged back in December that I wandered into HMV to pick up the soundtracks for Star Trek Beyond and Rogue One.  Those might wind up being the last albums I ever buy at HMV. 

Speaking of smartphones, did I mention yet that I finally bit the bullet and upgraded my smartphone?  Did that about two weeks ago.  I figured I should update you, as pondering over when to upgrade kind of dominated the “my day in the city” blog entries last year.  But yeah, with everything on my iPhone 4S being all slow and choppy, I finally said, “Screw it, I gotta do it.” 
Ran down to Spruce Grove, because there’s a Telus Store there where I got my 4S 4 years ago, and they treated me really nice.  After mulling my choices online for most of 2016, I finally settled on an iPhone 6S.  As I told my friends, I’ve bought too much stuff on iTunes to turn back now.  And again, that Telus Store treated me really nice.  They brought up my account, and discovered I qualified for a free upgrade.  So all I really had to pay for was a new SIM card and the protective case. 

I’ve spent the past two weeks playing with my new phone and getting accustomed to it.  I’m annoying the three people who follow me on SnapChat because I can finally use filters without my phone crashing.  I’m finally playing Pokemon Go.  Yeah, I’m about seven months late to the party on that fad, but I’m having a lot of fun with it.  With my increased duties at work, I don’t have much time to go out for my evening walks anymore.  But damn it, Pokemon Go is getting me out, because these 5km eggs aren’t going to hatch themselves. 

The only real problem I have with my new phone is my PC is now so old that my phone won’t sync to it.  So I can’t download my tunes!  Yeah, if there’s anything I’ve ever bought on iTunes, I can always download that from the cloud, but any of my albums that I’ve ripped over the years, and I’m SOL.  So I guess next up is I gotta get a new PC.  And I also wouldn’t mind a laptop or tablet, for when I’m on the road. 

But maybe I will be satisfied with my new phone for when I’m on the road.  I can’t get over how much bigger this 6S is compared to the 4S.  I can see myself comfortably watching Netflix on this. 

As I’m winding down on this rambling, I’m thinking I need to get a podcast again.  So much of this would have been good show prep for a podcast.  And there’s so much more to talk about.  Like the latest trailer for the Power Rangers reboot.  Or the latest trailer for Logan.  Or the next Star Wars movie has a title now.  (The Last Jedi, in case you haven’t heard.)  So much to talk about, and so little time. 

And the usually quiet January is almost done.  So If I’m going to do it, I’d better do it. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Batman Returns

Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I sit and blog about one of the movies I own.  I'm doing something I always wanted to do...plowing my way through the Batman franchise.  Next up on this list, Batman Returns.  This is originally in my notes at April 17, 2016.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Batman (1989)

Here we are again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I blog about a movie I own. Right now, I'm making my way through the entire Batman franchise, and we get to the one that really kicked off this current run...Tim Burton's film from 1989.  This is originally in my notes at April 16, 2016.  

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Batman (1966)

Here we are again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, that thing I do where I blog about a movie I own.  Today, I'm starting something I've wanted to do for a long time:  I'm plowing my way through every Batman movie.  I'm kicking things off with the Adam West Batman from 1966.  This was originally in my notes at April 26, 2016.

Memories of Eternia

It was with a healthy dose of nostalgic glee that my brother gave me a Masters of the Universe calendar for Christmas this year.  I was pretty lucky to have a lot of toys when I was a kid, and the holy trinity of the 1980s -- G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Masters of the Universe -- was pretty well represented in my bedroom.  As an adult, looking back, I declare Transformers to be my favourite, but Christmas always makes me the most nostalgic for Masters of the Universe.

It probably has a lot to do with the fact that my very first crystal-clear memory of Christmas has to do with Masters of the Universe toys.  I was about six years old.  The cartoon had just premiered, so naturally, I was nuts for it.  We were spending Christmas with my Opa and Oma down in Red Deer.  The German tradition is you open your presents on Christmas Eve, so, there we were, tearing open our presents, and I was overjoyed at the first two Masters of the Universe figures I ever had the pleasure of receiving:  the evil Skeletor, leader of the forces of evil, and his minion Faker, an evil robot duplicate of our hero, He-Man.

And they were the perfect to take command of the biggest gift I got that year:  Point Dread and the Talon Fighter.  Point Dread was a playset:  a tiny tower just barely big enough to hold a single action figure.  But it was just a glorified landing pad for the Talon Fighter:  a jet aircraft designed to resemble an eagle.  And, wouldn't you know it, just big enough to hold two figures!

While in canon as a base of operations for the heroes, it didn't take much imagination to declare Point Dread had been overrun by the villains, and was now a hideout for Skeletor and Faker.  I loved it so much.  I played with it for several months after Christmas.  In Grade 1, we had to keep a daily journal, and I remember several entries dedicated to the machinations of Skeletor and what he was doing with the power of Point Dread at his command.  But my most vivid memory is always of coming home from school one day.  My mother had tidied up my room.  I went to my room to play and there, perched upon my dresser, was the Talon Fighter, perched atop Point Dread, and in the cockpit, Skeletor and Faker were ready for action.  It looked so perfect.  The sun was coming through the window and hitting it the right way.  God, it was like the idol at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

And from them on, most Christmases in my childhood were highlighted with a new Masters of the Universe toy or two.  One year an aunt got me Wind Raider.  Wind Raider!  The hero's main jet fighter on the show.  I'd only ever seen it on the cartoon, but never in the stores, so I was starting to think it was made up for the show.  There was the crawling Dragon Walker.  I remember opening up the kitchen table and taking out the centre leaf, and setting it to traverse a wide crevasse, as it did on the TV commercials.

But the one that was long talked about afterwards was the Christmas of two Snake Mountains.  Snake Mountain -- Skeletor's domain, and the second-most famous playset in the toyline, after Castle Greyskull.  Another Christmas Eve at Opa and Oma's.  I tore into my biggest Christmas present to find it was Snake Mountain!  I thanked my uncle.  Then I tore into another one, from another uncle, to find it was...also Snake Mountain!  My uncles shot each other a worried glance, as it turned out they forgot to co-ordinate with each other.  While I tore into one, my uncle said he'd return the second one and get me something else.

I finally got the much-coveted Castle Greyskull earlier that year, for my birthday.  My birthday happened to fall on a Saturday that year, so I was up before anyone else to watch cartoons, as I always did on Saturday.  I quietly crept down to the living room, turned the corner, and was face-to-face with that grim green skull that was the face of Castle Greyskull.  I was quite startled, so I turned around and went back to bed.  A little while later, my Dad got up, and heard me rustling around in my room.  So Dad took me down to the living room, and there it was.  Castle Greyskull!  Battle Armor Skeletor!  Battle Armor He-Man!  Mekaneck!  All for me, and on my birthday!  Greatest birthday ever!

Sadly, by the time I got Castle Greyskull, Point Dread had been well-played with and had actually gone missing, so I was never able to try on of Point Dread's features:  the top half of Point Dread could attach to one of Castle Greyskull's towers, thus creating a Talon Fighter landing pad at Castle Greyskull.

And that's probably why I get most nostalgic for Masters of the Universe.  I don't have anything left.  I still have a few G.I. Joes and Transformers that I managed to hang onto over the years, but no Masters of the Universe stuff.  In fact, Masters of the Universe is the one toy I had where I made the conscious decision to get rid of it.  When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I was thinking, "Yeah, I'm done with this," and sold it all at a garage sale.

I've never been the kind to browse eBay and try to re-collect my Masters of the Universe stuff.  I'm more content to just sit back and be nostalgic.  But part of me wouldn't mind getting Skeletor, Faker, Point Dread and the Talon Fighter once again, to perch majestically on my dresser. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - The Peanuts Movie

Here we go again, on the first Fishing in the Discount Bin of the new year!  Taking a look at one of my favourite animated films of 2015, The Peanuts Movie.  This is in my notes at March 19, 2016.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - The Good Dinosaur

Here we go again, on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I sit and blog about a movie I own.  We return to my beloved Pixar with their other film from 2015, The Good Dinosaur.  This is in my notes at March 16, 2016.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Die Another Day

Here we are again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I watch a movie I own and blog about it.  We come to the end of Pierce Brosnan's run on James Bond with Die Another Day.  This is in my notes at March 16, 2016.

I actually sat down and watched Die Another Day on Blu-Ray a few weeks ago, but haven't gotten around to writing this.  I've never had a flu bug like that before.  I had literally 0 energy.  I'd wake up in the morning and lie in bed for an hour just because I didn't have the energy to get up.  That was the first week.  Second week, I finally had enough energy to be moving around.  And then the third week, I was whisked off on vacation.  But now, here I am, to type this up, because in my flu-induced delirium, I was able to watch Die Another Day. 

And this is how Pierce Brosnan's run on James Bond comes to end...the film where people finally said James Bond had gone too far.  Surfing on Arctic tsunamis...an invisible car...a Madonna theme song and cameo...it was all finally too much.  Now that I own and have re-watched all the Brosnan Bonds, I finally agree:  nothing beat GoldenEye. 

The film opens with Bond doing an excursion into North Korea to take down a North Korean general who'd begun dabbling in arms dealing on the side.  In what was considered a revolutionary twist for the Bond films at the time, the mission goes south and it ends with Bond being captured.  In another considered-revolutionary-at-the-time-twist, the classic Bond opening title sequence is a stylized representation of the torture Bond endures. 

Anyway, Bond is finally released because of a prisoner exchange.  Because of some terrorist attacks that happened during Bond's imprisonment, M thinks Bond cracked under the torture and revealed state secrets.  Bond denies this, saying the only other possible explanation is there's a mole in MI6.  It would also explain why his mission went south, because he was ratted out.  So, Bond goes rogue to clear his name and sniff out the mole.  It's an investigation that soon leads him to billionaire industrialist Gustav Graves and his orbital super-weapon. 

Of course we need our Bond girl, so we have Halle Berry as NSA agent Jinx Jordan.  Man, there was a lot of hype at the time of giving Jinx her own spin-off franchise, but it never came to be.  But Berry's Jinx is a great Bond girl.  Suave, sophisticated, a tough fighter, quick-witted...very much Bond's equal. 

But yeah.  When we get to Iceland, with many scenes filmed in the famous ice hotel, that's where things get crazy.  That's where we get the invisible car and gadget overload and ice surfing.  Although, the car chase across the ice is pretty cool.  For once, the villain gets a gadget-laden car, too, and is able to fire back at Bond.  But, I remember when I first saw it, the director's stylistic choice of constantly messing with the camera speed to create some pseudo-bullet time effects really comes across as annoying. 

There is some fun, though.  This is the 20th James Bond film, and it was released during the 40th anniversary of the film franchise, so the director dropped in multiple Easter eggs referencing all the previous films in the franchise...most of them are old gadget's in Q's lab.  The rumour at the time was the director believes in the fan theory that "James Bond" is a code name, and that's why there have been different Bonds over the years, and he wanted to use that to have previous Bonds make cameos.  But, the producers nixed him. 

I remember when I first saw it in the theatre.  It was during my time in Japan.  Because of international release dates, a lot of the Christmas blockbusters of 2002 came out in the spring of 2003.  The spring of 2003 was also when the Company told me that they wouldn't be renewing my contract and sending me home to Canada, which really threw me into a depression.  Since movies are my escape, and all the Christmas blockbusters were coming, I was going to see a movie pretty much every week to try to cheer myself up.  I'm pretty sure Die Another Day was the film when the clerk who was always working the nights I went to the movies looked at me and said, in her best English, "Wow, you come here a lot." 

Rogue One and Done

Blah blah blah went to city something something Christmas shopping yadda yadda yadda ROGUE ONE, BAY-BEE!

It's not a Star Wars movie unless I've got Yoda looming over me.

A photo posted by Mark Cappis (@chaosinabox) on Dec 17, 2016 at 8:33am PST

Don't know why I went to the 10:30AM show on Saturday.  As was pointed out to me when I bought the tickets, at work I'm back on the morning shift, which means I've got my afternoons free, which means I could have easily gone in the afternoon.  But I didn't.  And I stand by my choices.

So when Disney bought Lucasfilm a few years ago and promised to flood our lives with new Star Wars product, one of the more intriguing things was the proposal of standalone films, aka these "Star Wars stories."  As Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy once remarked, "It's about thinking of the Star Wars universe as a setting, rather than a saga."  And for their first one, they decided to go with one of the more wondered-about untold stories in the Star Wars universe:  how exactly did the Rebels steal the plans to the Death Star from the Empire?

Well, it was a daring mission carried out by Jyn Erso and her crew.  Erso's got a personal connection to the Death Star:  her father Galen was one of its chief architects, until he grew a conscience and walked away from the Empire.  The film opens with the chief of the Death Star's construction, Director Krennick, tracking down Galen to drag him back to the Empire and finish what he started.  We then flash forward to Jyn as a grown-up, who's been living largely on her own in this wartorn galaxy.  But then the Rebels drag her in to the conflict.  A defector brings word of the Death Star nearing completion, and Galen was able to smuggle out a message about it.  Jyn is needed to verify the message and, if possible, help track down her father to find out more about this message.

Of course, we need a crew on this mission.  The standouts to me were the droid K-2SO and Chirrut Imwe.  K-2SO was an Imperial droid who was reprogrammed, but the reprogramming altered his personality, giving him a very dry sense of humour.  Picture C-3P0 with more sass, and in the body of grappler.

Chirrut Imwe was a Jedi temple guard back in that more civilized time.  While he cannot use the Force, he is a firm believer in it, and frequently lets his faith guide him.  His official title was "a Guardian of the Whills," and dude, that's a deep cut Star Wars reference.  "The Whills" was an early name George Lucas had for the Force, and Lucas's original title for the entire saga was "The Journal of the Whills."  Anyway, director Gareth Edwards said that Chirrut was based on the character archetype of the warrior monk, and played by Hong Kong action legend Donnie Yen, he plays that archetype to the hilt.  And much like K-2SO, he's got a dry quip for just about any occasion.

If I do have a problem with it, it has to be with our heroine, Jyn.  I just don't feel like we got enough time with her to get to know her as a character.

Special effects are, of course, amazing.  They give us some great angles of the Death Star that really play up its size and scope.  Thanks to digital technology, there's some gratuitous cameos from long dead characters.  And the final space battle is spectacular.

And, much like Luke's appearance at the end of The Force Awakens, the last 10 minutes are a gigantic nostalgic gut punch that left me in tears.

All in all, I give it a solid 3 out of 4 Nibs.  A great addition to Star Wars.  Full review on the website.


After that, out into the mall to do a little more shopping.  But now, with my Christmas shopping finished, I thought I'd buy a few frivolous things for myself.  As my mother frequently tells me, "Treat yo-self!"  (Sorry, Aziz Ansari, my mother was saying it before you.)

So I wound up spending a lot of money at HMV.  First, a new Blu-Ray.

A photo posted by Mark Cappis (@chaosinabox) on Dec 17, 2016 at 4:02pm PST

Long ago,I blogged about the logic of buying a holiday special on home media.  I mean, the one time of year you're going to watch it is the one time of year it's on TV ad nauseum.  But now, I figured out why:  it's the only way to see it uncut.

Going through Facebook's "On this Day" feature, I see I've been making the same complaint about Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town for about seven or eight years now.  In recent years, they've been deleting one of my favourite parts.  And I can see why they cut it.  It's the same reason why it's my favourite.  It's so hilariously out of place.

Using the Christmas song of the same name as the springboard, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town tells us the secret origin of Santa Claus.  Santa, you see, was a rebel, who delivered toys to a town where toys had been banned.  Santa is eventually arrested, and Jessica the schoolmarm tries to rally the people to free Santa.  Through her efforts, she begins to realize she has feelings for Santa, and that's when we realize she is the who will become Mrs. Claus.  And her awakening comes in the form of a very psychedelic musical number.  I mean, it was 1970.  That kind of animation was the rage.  It's very much a product of its time.  And compared to the stop motion of the Rankin-Bass holiday specials, it's very out of place.  Which is why I love it.  And why it's a prime candidate for deletion.

But now I can enjoy it in glorious hi-def!

And even though we live in the era of digital downloads, I bought a couple of CDs.  I've blogged before that I think Michael Giacchino is one of the greatest film composers working today, and now he's done the music for my two favourite franchises with "Star" in the title.  So I picked up his scores for Star Trek Beyond and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Buying Star Trek Beyond was more to complete my collection.  A few years ago, a lot of music labels that specialize in film soundtracks released the complete, uncut scores for every Star Trek movie.  And have them all!  No Star Trek Beyond score was leaving a gap in my collection.  I love the stuff that Giacchino has written for Star Trek.  I easily put the main theme he wrote for Star Trek up there with Jerry Goldsmith's legendary theme.  And speaking of Goldsmith, I swear I can hear echos of his stuff, and James Horner's Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock scores in Beyond.  I especially like the piece entitled Night on the Yorktown, when the Enterprise arrives at the starbase Yorktown for some much-needed shore leave.



And then as others have pointed out, Giacchino seemed destined to do the music for a Star Wars movie.  He's about the only one still doing John Williams-style, full orchestra, "everybody gets a signature theme" film scores.  Some concerns about Giacchino doing the music for Rogue One, as he was a last minute replacement for Alexander Desplat.  Giacchino only had six weeks to pull something together.

And I think he did a great job, listening to some of it on Spotify as soon as it went online on Friday.  Listening to the theme he wrote for the Imperial forces, entitled "The Imperial Suite," reminds me of the variation on the Mission: Impossible theme he wrote for the opening credits of Ghost Protocol.  The notes are there, but there in a different order.  If that makes any sense.  I don't really know a lot about music composition.

My favourite cut has to be "Guardians of the Whills Suite."  This kind of replaces John Williams' "Force" theme, as it comes in whenever someone starts talking about the Force and matters of faith.



Listening to it back-to-back with his Beyond score (as I have been while I write this), yeah, it sounds like Giacchino may have borrowed a little bit from his Star Trek stuff when he put together Rogue One, but the dude was under the wire.  I hope he gets to do another one.  I would love to hear what he can do when he's got the time to do it right.

And that's my latest dispatch from my latest trip to the city.  Last one before Christmas now, as the Christmas shopping is done. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Mission: Impossilbe -- Rogue Nation

Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I blog about a movie I own.  We dip into the Mission: Impossible franchise with Rogue Nation.  This one's in my notes on February 26, 2016.

A Happy Holiday Targ!

December is upon us, and I just had an itch to do a Christmas podcast.  As I explain in the podcast, every three or four years, I figure I need to freshen up my Christmas music library, and buy a bunch of new Christmas albums.  I did that last year.  So as I was scrolling through my Christmas music, listening to the tunes as I decorated the apartment, I figured I should share this music in a podcast.

And this, Christmas Special: Scarecrow’s Second Christmas Mix Tape.  I mostly play a bunch of my favourite Christmas songs, and in between, I share some stories of the season.

• I celebrate some little victories.
• I share what I want for Christmas (a classic NES, if they can still be found.)
• I share a little bit on the history of A Christmas Story
• And a special holiday edition of Mark Tastes Random Things, where I try all the Christmas pepperminty stuff from Tim Hortons.

All this and more in Christmas Special: Scarecrow’s Second Christmas Mix Tape.

Check it out at the main site!

Just A Little Late

It wound up being a busy week.  For this entire week, I've been wanting to sit down and blog about my day in the city last weekend, because, as you know, it's kinda my thing.  However, I haven't found the time because of the previously mentioned shake-ups at work which have left me busier than I've been in a while.  So, here I am, on a chilly Friday night, and I'm finally able to put pen to paper.

Last weekend, wanted to head into the city to do a little more Christmas shopping.  Ya know, it's that time of the year and all.  As I always do, I sat behind the wheel of my car, iPhone plugged in to the sound system, listening to my favourite podcasts on the way in.  When I arrived, I grabbed my phone to notice that the battery had gone down.  It appeared my car adapter had quit working.  Reason #3728 that it's time to upgrade my phone.

Yeah, I've been complaining about this since the summer.  My iPhone 4S is really starting to show its age.  Things load a little slower.  I can't listen to a podcast or music for more than an hour without it crashing.  During my summer vacation, my brother-in-law raised his eyebrows at the fact that I was still rockin' the 4S, because I've got a bit of reputation for being a tech guy.

But yeah.  Back then, I knew the announcement of the 7 was imminent.  And here we are now, in the post-7 world.  As expected, the 6S went down in price accordingly, and the SE as well.  Crunching the numbers as I have been, the SE would probably do me quite well.  If I read the tech specs correctly, the SE is pretty much the guts of a 6S in the body of a 5C.  But if that's the case, I may as well spend the money and get the 6S for its nicer camera.  Or maybe I splurge and get the 7, because a bigger memory comes standard.  But the 7's got no headphone jack!

I'll probably bite the bullet and upgrade next month.  January seems to be the time I buy new tech.  I do all the research you see above, and then I just go into the store and buy the shiniest one.

But, before I spend for myself, it's time to spend for others.  I did my Christmas shopping.  And I dare say, I did pretty good.  I'd say, right now, I'm about 95% done.  The last time I went in was pretty much a recon mission.  This time, though, I knew exactly what I wanted, so I was able to get in, grab what I needed, and get out.  I was able to call it a day by noon.

But of course I didn't.  Had to see a movie.  I went to see Moana.

I'd been kind of excited for Moana.  Not because it was the latest Disney animated film.  Not because Broadway's current superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda did the music.  But because the directors are John Musker and Ron Clemments.  These guys were at the forefront of that period in animation now known as the Disney Renaissance.  Of the four films considered the pinnacle of the Disney Renaissance, they did two of them:  The Little Mermaid and Aladdin.  This was their first foray into computer animation, and I wanted to see if they could inject a little of that ol' Disney Renaissance charm into the proceedings.

And for the most part, they do.  Guys, I liked Moana a whole heck of a lot more than Frozen.  Maybe because it was a little more...traditional.  I like the songs better.  I found them more humable.

Or maybe it's because Dwayne Johnson steals the show as the demigod Maui.  The character just oozes that trademark Johnson charm.  Almost as much as Robin Williams stole the show in Aladdin, does Dwayne Johnson steal the show as Maui.  And just as scene-stealing our Maui's tattoos, that feature a little cartoon version of him that kind of serves as his conscience.  It's a clever addition.

Don't know what more to tell you, gang.  I really liked it.  Full review over at the website.

But before I left the city, I figured I'd pop into HMV and buy a little something for myself.

A photo posted by Mark Cappis (@chaosinabox) on Dec 3, 2016 at 4:58pm PST

The Black Cauldron is one of my favourite Disney animated films, gang.  When I was a kid, and go visit my Oma and Opa in Red Deer, Oma would usually take us down to the theatre to catch the latest Disney animated film.  And the Black Cauldron is one that just stuck with me.  I mean, it's the only Disney animated film with a zombie army!  How awesome is that?

Anyway, I've had it on DVD for a while, but it's part of Disney's "Gold Collection," meaning it's one of their very first DVD releases from the early 2000s.  It's not even in widescreen.  Well, it is in widescreen, but not anamorphic widescreen.  This 25th anniversary edition has a smattering of new bonus features, and is finally anamorphic.  I was holding out for Blu-Ray before upgrading, but as it's one of Disney's lessers in their animated film canon, that's looking less and less likely to happen.

But, because of the busy-ness that's kept me from blogging, it's also kept me from watching it.  Starting to develop a stockpile of "to-watch" DVDs and Blu-Rays again.  I finally broke down and bought Jem and the Holograms out of a discount bin for $5 a few weeks ago, and haven't gotten around to watching it.

It's just the holiday season, gang.  If it's not Christmas stuff at work, it's Christmas stuff at home.

Don't know how to end this, so just like at work, if I don't know how to wrap up the bit, just play the next song. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - The World is Not Enough

Boppin' along on Fishing in the Discount Bin, blogging about a movie I own after I watch it.  Going through another run of James Bond films with The World is Not Enough.  This one is in my notes at February 15, 2016.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Spectre

Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, my weekly bloggin' about a movie I own.  Just when I think I'm done with Bond, a new film hits theatres that has be talking about him again.  This time, the film in question is Spectre, and this is in my notes at February 15, 2016.

A Rant Too Long for Facebook: StarWars.com at 20

Two years ago, I was reading the coverage from a tech conference.  This one article was confused as to why Pizza Hut was giving a keynote address at a conference for web developers.  The author eventually discovered that Pizza Hut was there to talk about their website.  When Pizza Hut launched their website in 1994, it was the first website for a major pizza chain that let you place your order online...bleeding edge technology in 1994.  So Pizza Hut was there to talk about the 20th anniversary of that milestone. I walked away from that article thinking, "Have we really reached the point where websites are celebrating 20th anniversaries?  Is the Internet really that old now?  Am I?"

It's a wave that's been washing over me once again as my social media lit up with the celebration that this past Saturday, November 26, was the 20th anniversary of www.starwars.com, the official Star Wars website.  As they share in the extensive oral history they compiled to commemorate this occasion, starwars.com was originally launched to promote the special editions coming in the spring of 1997.  But, with development on the prequels well underway, and dot-com bubble not having popped yet, George Lucas knew he wanted a toehold on this new Internet thing to start spreading the gospel of the prequels.  And here we are now, 20 years later, and it's still the online hub for all things Star Wars.

As I read up on this, I had two fond memories of starwars.com that I felt like sharing.  First up, was the incident that made starwars.com, the release of the first Episode I teaser.  It was on a wintry November night in 1998, much like this one.  I was still in college, living in the dorms at Augustana University College.  That previous summer, the dorms had been wired into the campus computer network, and I tell you, having high speed Internet in the time when a 28.8k modem for your dial-up was considered fast...well, it was the best perk of living on campus.

The trailer went online, and even with the campus Internet, it was slow going to download that trailer.  I had a special download manager on my computer, so I set it to download the trailer at 2AM.  I figured that would be when the campus computer network would be at its least-used.  I woke up the next morning to the trailer, watched it several times, and it was all we were talking about over breakfast in the cafeteria.

A lot of my classmates were studying computer science, and as such, they were in tight with the campus IT folks.  They learned from the IT department that, while so many students downloading  the trailer didn't crash the network, there was a not-insignificant slowdown in service.




The second memory has to do with Hyperspace.  For a while there, starwars.com had a paid subscription service called Hyperspace, a section of the website that granted you exclusive access to all kinds of exclusive exclusives. 

2007 marked the 30th anniversary of the franchise, and to celebrate, Hasbro released some of the most beautiful Star Wars action figures...the McQuarrie concept figures.  These figures went back to the beginning, and were based on Ralph McQuarrie's original concept art. 

And it turned out that one of those Hyperspace exclusives was the McQuarrie concept R2-D2 and C-3P0. 

Now I didn't have a Hyperspace account.  Didn't see the need.  But I had a friend with one.  And I needed the McQuarrie R2-D2 and C-3P0 for my collection.  So I plied him with e-mails asking him to buy it for me and I'd totally pay him back and all that stuff.  He said he'd look into it.

A couple weeks later, I came back from vacation to find a box from the FedEx guy sitting on my desk.

It even came in that nifty protective plastic bubble.  They used to sell those protective plastic bubbles at starwars.com's online store, and I thought about buying a case or two for my collection, but the shipping and handling out of the States was ridiculous.

Anyway, that's it.  Just some ramblings about the 20th anniversary of starwars.com that was a little too big for a Facebook post.  Looking at the calendar, I see that the next 20th anniversary of a website that's going to make me feel old comes a year from now...November 2017.  Which website is it?

My website, chaosinabox.com. 

Christmas Time is Here

A friend of mine was asking me not too long ago what my biggest nostalgic trigger is.  "What instantly takes you back to that time when you were seven years old, and you were at your happiest?"  Truth is, it's always been going to the movies.  Especially that first thirty seconds when they're scrolling through the production company logos.  It's that feeling that you're about to be taken on a journey...that anything can happen.

I know, it may sound strange, but I grew up in a small town where the nearest movie theatre was an hour's drive away.  Going to see a movie was always an event.  And now, with the holidays right around the corner, going to the movies was always intrinsically tied to Christmas.  I mean, if you're going all the way into the city, you may as well make the most of it, right?  Weekends in December when I was a kid fell into a routine of a full day of Christmas shopping, hitting all the shops around Edmonton and checking people off our list, dinner at a really nice sit-down restaurant, and maybe, if there's time and the latest Disney family feature out, a movie.  Good times.

And I could use a little more of the good times right now.  I've been out-of-sorts as of late.  There's been some shake-ups at work, which has caused the Charlie Brown Christmas-esque holiday depression to set in a little earlier.  So I definitely need a nostalgic distraction right now.

Typically, when I blog about my days in the city, this is where I tell you about the stuff I bought as part of my retail therapy.  Well, given the time of year, most of the stuff I bought was my Christmas shopping, so to blog about that would be getting into massive spoiler territory for my friends and family.  Let's just say I made a really good start on my Christmas shopping and leave it at that.

So with the first round of Christmas shopping safely tucked away, it was time for a movie.  I decided to check out Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  Now, I'd always been pretty indifferent towards the Harry Potter franchise.  Read the first book.  Saw all the movies except the last two (Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2), but it just never grabbed me the way it grabbed a generation.  But, ya know, Fantastic Beasts being a spinoff and no prior knowledge of Harry Potter being required, I figured it'd be a pretty good jumping-on point.

Too bad that seeing Fantastic Beasts turned out to be one of the most unpleasant movie going experiences of my life.  There was this guy.  Firstly, in a half-full theatre, he decides he has to sit right next to me.  He has no concept of personal space.  He's hogging the armrest.  He's jabbing me with his elbow whenever he reaches for his popcorn.  He's sitting with his legs crossed and constantly kicking me when he adjust himself.

And then, the yelling started.  I have never experienced the person who yells things at the screen during a movie.  I was starting to think that it was just a hacky sitcom joke.  But this guy starts yelling at the screen.  The first fantastic beast we encounter in the film is called a Niffler.  And the guy shouts out, "THAT'S A NIFFLER, EH?  HE'S PRETTY CUTE!"  The next magical beast we encounter.  "LOOK OUT FOR THAT NIFFLER!"  And he just keeps going.  "MACUSA IS STUPID!  THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC IS MUCH SMARTER ABOUT THESE THINGS!"  "I WANT TO STUPIDIFY THAT GUY OFF A LEDGE!"  "I THINK HE'S THE OBSCURUS!"  "I HATE THOSE SECOND-SALEMERS!"

On a side note, I think he may have been mentally handicapped, because three-quarters of the way though the film, one of his friends finally turned to him and said, "Shh...shh...remember, we talked about this.  You can't talk to the screen here."

I should of said something.  Hell, at the very least, I should have moved and found a better seat.  But my standard response to an unpleasant situation has always been the "The is fine" comic, so I just said, "This is fine" and tried to watch the movie.

But other than that, how was the movie?  It was OK.  When my Harry Potter-lovin' friends explain the universe to me, I would always tell them that I'd be interested to see the Men in Black of the wizarding world...those wizards and witches who are sent in to cover things up when wizarding affairs threaten to break the barriers between the wizarding world and the Muggle world.  And my friends are like, "Dude!  Those guys exist!  They're called Aurors.  I tell ya, JK Rowling thought of everything!"  So it's nice to see Aurors at work and what they do.  They play a pretty major role as Newt Scamander's rampaging magical beasts threaten to expose the wizarding world.

In fact, just the interaction between the wizarding world and the non-magic world, as the villain's plot is to break down those barriers and declare war on the non-magic world.  I'd always been curious about the mechanics of how these two worlds co-exist.

That being said, I didn't think our new hero, Newt Scamander, was much of a compelling hero.  I get that he's kind of shy and timid, but that sadly means we don't really get a chance to know him or why he's dedicated his life to these fantastic beasts.

But I will give it this.  At least it works as a movie.  My biggest problem with these franchise starters these days (e.g. John Carter, Terminator: Genisys, Independence Day: Resurgence) is that they leave so many loose threads and unanswered questions with the attitude, "That'll be answered in the sequel," that you rarely get a satisfying ending.  This remembers that it has to function as a movie, and we do get an ending.  So, yeah.  It works as a movie.

I give it 3 Nibs with an asterisk, because that rude guy threw off my concentration so much, my rating may change when I see it free of distraction.  Full review on the website.

And speaking off full reviews on the website, I've been meaning to take to the blog and ramble off some of my off-the-cuff comments on Doctor Strange.  Yeah, I saw Doctor Strange a couple of weeks ago, but I never got around to doing my "rambling blog entry about my day in the city" that I typically do.  So, just some off-the-cuff comments on Doctor Strange that you won't find in the full review on the website.

I really liked Doctor Strange.  I know it's starting to get trendy to hate on Marvel for not taking any creative risks, but the other side of that is they've developed a winning formula that you know is going to deliver.  I mean, speaking as a frustrated DC guy, Doctor Strange is kind of what I wanted Green Lantern to be.  The way Doctor Strange uses magic to conjure up all manner of weapons, and do reality-bending combat...that's how Green Lantern should have been using his ring.  The way Steven Strange is all cocksure, but then learning humility is what sets him on his heroic journey...that's how Hal Jordan should have been portrayed.  The way Doctor Strange and Baron Mordo start out as friends and allies, but their differing philosophies eventually put them on opposing paths...that's how the relationship between Hal Jordan and Sinestro should have been portrayed, instead of Sinestro slapping on the yellow power ring in the post-credits stinger and going, "LOL, I'm evil now."

But yeah, Doctor Strange is another solid entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  3 Nibs.

Back to the present.  After Fantastic Beasts, it was time to head home.  But first, dinner.  As I've blogged before, I tend to avoid going to sit-down restaurants when I'm on my own, because I feel silently judge for being there by myself.  But strangely, I don't feel silently judged for going to animated films by myself.  (You're next on my Christmas blockbuster to-watch list, Moana!)  This time, though, I knew I had to brave the sit-down restaurants, all in the name of Star Wars.

I was mildly intrigued a few weeks ago when I saw the TV commercials, and learned that the fast food tie-in with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is with...Swiss Chalet.  Swiss Chalet's not a fast food place.  So, when I stopped at the power centre in St. Albert where I typically eat before leaving the Greater Edmonton Area, rather than Wendy's, I went to the Swiss Chalet on the other end.

It was very strange being there by myself, but I made the most of it.  This is the 21st century after all, so I could pass the time by burying my nose in my smartphone.  As I did that, I had to chuckle to myself.  Everyone laments how people burying their noses in their smartphones is destroying social interaction.  What would have happened if I started wandering around the restaurant, chatting with random strangers, attempting to make friends?

This being that time of year, I treated myself to Swiss Chalet's famous Festive Special...their quarter-chicken dinner served with stuffing, cranberry sauce, and a box of Lindt chocolates for dessert.  I think I stumbled through it with a minimum of social awkwardness.  And I was given my reward...a Rogue One collector's cup!  

A photo posted by Mark Cappis (@chaosinabox) on Nov 26, 2016 at 5:44pm PST

And for those already asking, yes, these are of a much sturdier construction than the flimsy ones that Subway was giving out last year. 

I returned home, and set about unwinding.  Thanks to my encounter with Captain Loudmouth, this trip to the movies wasn't quite the nostalgic trip that it usually is.  But, if I learned anything from this time last year, the biggest nostalgic trip to the movies will be when I got see Rogue One in about a month. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - The Dark Crystal

Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I blog about a movie I own.  Today...today we get to a film I've been wanting to revisit ever since college...The Dark Crystal.  This is originally in my notes at February 6, 2016.

Movie Review - Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders

Well, DC and Warner Brothers have gifted us with yet another straight-to-DVD animated Batman movie.  As I've mentioned for a while, I've mostly grown bored with them and have been giving them a pass, but this one...this one I felt was worth picking up.

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders

Directed by Rick Morales

Starring the voices of Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, Jeff Bergman, William Salyers, Wally Wingert, Steven Weber, Thomas Lennon, and Lynne Marie Stewart.

Backstory

It's been fun watching the pendulum swing on the old Batman TV series from the 1960s.  When I was a kid, and Tim Burton's Batman came out, and Batman was all dark and gritty again, it was derided for what it did to the Batman mythology.  But in the past 10 years or so, it's been rediscovered and re-embraced as this wonderful addition to the Batman universe.  Things have really stepped up recently, as Warner Brothers finally cleared up the legal quagmire surrounding the show and is now able to merchandise the heck out of it.  And when Warner Brothers started pumping out these straight-to-DVD movies, it didn't take long for people to start thinking, "Hey, wouldn't it be neat if they did one that was just like the Batman show from the 1960s?  Bring back Adam West and Burt Ward to voice Batman and Robin for one last hurrah?"  And here we are, and they also brought along Julie Newmar for one last hurrah as Catwoman.

Plot

On a peaceful Gotham night, as billionaire Bruce Wayne and his youthful ward Dick Grayson kick back to watch their favourite variety show, they watch in horror as the show is taken over by their four most fearsome foes:  the Joke, Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman.  It's to the Batpoles, and they take to the streets as Batman and Robin to stop their evil plot.  Their plans involved a duplicator ray, a trip to outer space, and plans of global conquest!  But, Catwoman has a little something extra:  Batnip, a drug of her own design that will turn Batman to the dark side.  Will Batman and Robin stop these fiends?  Will Batman actually fall to the dark side?

What I Liked

SPOILER WARNING:  Yes, Batman falls to the dark side, and the entire mid-section of the movie is Catwoman and Robin teaming up to take down an evil Batman.  Making Batman the bad guy is the most hilarious twist they could do on the classic 1960s formula.  Especially as he first starts turning evil, and Batman goes through this phase where he starts acting like the more modern, angst-ridden, moody Batman.  Hearing Adam West's Batman start doing lines from The Dark Knight Returns as he puts on the Bat brass knuckles is gut-bustingly funny.  Or when he does the classic bit of mysteriously disappearing from Commissioner Gordon's office when Gordon turns his back mid-sentence:

Gordon:  He's gone!  Like a bat in the night!
Chief O'Hara:  Well, that's not very Batman-like.

And poor Robin is stuck there wondering how he's going to get home. 

And it's full of in-jokes and references to other facets of the Batman mythos.  My particular favourite is this dig at The Dark Knight Rises:

Catwoman:  I'll turn myself in, Batman, on one condition.  When I get out, run away with me to Europe, where we can sip tea in cafes and live happily ever after!
Robin:  Holy unsatisfying ending. 

The voice acting is great.  Yeah, Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar all show their age in their voices, but damn it, they're giving it their all.  And the voice actors they got to do Joker, Penguin, and Riddler to some damn fine impressions of the original actors.  The music is great as they capture the sounds of the 1960s show perfectly, if just a big bigger and more orchestral.  And the tone of the 1960s show is preserved, but the scope is greatly expanded. 

What I Didn't Like

Not much, man.  Not much. 

Final Verdict

One of the most entertaining straight-to-DVD Batman films they've pumped out in a long time.  Bring on the sequel! 

Oh, didn't you hear?  They already announced a sequel.  Finally, Two-Face comes to the 1960s Batman universe, voiced by William Shatner. 

4 Nibs

Bonus Features

Not much for bonus features on this one.  A couple of featurettes about the making of the film, some previews for the other Batman straight-to-DVD animated films, and that's it. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Labyrinth

Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, my weekly ramble about one of the movies I own.  This is another situation where I feel I have to remind you that I write these several months in advance.  For it was back in January of this year that we heard of the tragic death of David Bowie, and that's what inspired me to pick up Labyrinth.  This is in my notes at January 31, 2016.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - The Time Machine

Rollin' again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, my weekly blog about a movie I happen to own.  This time, we get to a true classic of the sci-fi genre, The Time Machine.  This was originally in my notes at January 31, 2016.