Author: King Tom

My Sixth-Generation Star Wars Set

Throughout my life, I haven’t made it any secret that I’m a fan of Star Wars. I’ve even written about it on the blog once in a while.

However, for various reasons, I didn’t write about what I got for my birthday last month- the Star Wars complete saga Blu-Ray set.  Between getting it and now, I’ve watched the movies and the bonus features.  The bonus features are great to finally have (although it would have been nice to have some of them cleaned up a bit) and the movies look incredible. Others have written about changes made to the movies, and while I don’t begrudge George Lucas the opportunity to change his movies, most of these changes are just unnecessary. Darth Vader’s new NOOOOOO at the end of Jedi is more bizarre than offensive. But the change that affects me the most is the blinking Ewoks.  That’s just creepy.

By my count, this is the sixth ‘complete set’ of Star Wars I’ve gotten (or made) over the past twenty five years (four versions on VHS, and two on DVD), and I would bet that none of those versions are the same.

I’ve done the whole watch the saga over a few days thing before and can’t say I’ve noticed anything new this latest go-around. It’s still an enjoyable watch, especially seeing how the Prequel Trilogy improves with each installment and how the scope of the Original Trilogy grows each movie. Before getting the set, I read J.W. Rinzler’s Making of Star Wars and Making of Empire Strikes Back, which provided excellent background to the movies. It’s clear after reading them (and reviewing the different drafts of each movie) that while George had some ideas and themes he wanted to explore, at no point did he have the whole saga (whether it was a six-, nine- or 12-movie saga) planned out beforehand.

Unfortunately, the amount of background information for the Prequel Trilogy isn’t as abundant. For Episodes II and III, George wrote the movies as the art department developed characters and places. However, I recently found (or rediscovered) something that gives an idea about George’s original plan for The Phantom Menace. The Episode I Insider’s Guide CD that came out back in ’99 (which I still have somewhere) had bits from the original script sprinkled throughout. Michael Kaminski, who wrote the Secret History of Star Wars did a great job of compiling all the script information.

The original story for The Phantom Menace was much better than what we got (and I say this as someone who enjoyed TPM). The movie isn’t as childish; Jar Jar isn’t a bumbling fool, Anakin is more mature and there’s more depth to the interactions between the characters (for instance, there’s actual racial tension between the Naboo and the Gungans). The only drawbacks I can think of is that Qui-Gon doesn’t enter the story until the last third of the movie (Obi Wan is on his own) and Palpatine’s maneuvers to become Chancellor aren’t shown. But overall, the story just feels better.  Give it a read sometime.

Who knows, maybe one day, George will have the technology to go back and make that movie (or any other draft he wants). But I’m betting that won’t happen until seven or eight editions of the Star Wars Complete Saga from now.

King Tom1 Comment

Hope and No-Neck: Reunited (and It Feels So Good)

Well, No-Neck’s eye job didn’t last that long.

Despite The Civee’s best efforts, Hope’s continued gnawing at No-Neck’s eye sockets (and the surrounding fabric) meant her favorite stuffed animal was in danger of being put out of commission permanently.

Thankfully, we have someone who can sew in the family: Grandma. Only problem is, she lives on the West Coast.

So earlier this week, I mailed No-Neck and another of Hope’s favorite stuffed animals, Ga-Ga the Cat (something she actually named herself, unlike most of the rest of her stuffed animals) out to Grandma. Hope quickly discovered they were missing. At first, she’d look at us and touch her neck (her sign for No-Neck) and we would pretend we couldn’t find him. But she quickly learned something was afoot. She grew tired of our lame excuses and got pretty clever by doing things such as pointing to pictures of giraffes to highlight the absence of a particular giraffe in her life. Over the past day or so, most of her giraffe-related communication would result in crying.

Thankfully, Grandma worked pretty quickly and this afternoon, we got a box in the mail with two of Hope’s missing friends and a bunch of other Halloween-related goodies (and some candy for The Civee and I).

Here’s Hope going through the box:

Thanks again, Grandma!

 

King Tom4 Comments

The Secret to a Great Indian Buffet

There used to be this Indian place called Bayleaf  The Civee and I would go to that had an amazing lunch buffet. The buffet was great because there was a big selection and the food was always fresh. In fact, when you ordered the buffet, they would bring out a just-cooked plate of tandoori chicken for your table.

The Civee and I would frequently comment that Bayleaf put too much money into their buffet for it to last. Sadly, we were right. Bayleaf closed their Columbus location and moved an hour away. The Columbus restarant was replaced by a similar (but not similar enough) Indian place, the name of which escapes me. We took Hope to the new place and while it was okay (if not on the unnecessarily spicy side), it wasn’t worth the drive.  We thought the days of having a great Indian buffet in town were over.

But yesterday, we checked out this place that opened up in our old neighborhood called Aab. We got there at noon, just as they opened for lunch. They had a big selection, and even though there was no plate of tandoori chicken for each table, the food was fresh. And good.  Even Hope liked a number of the dishes (and the mango lassi we had for her to drink), probably helped by the fact that because it was for a buffet, the food wasn’t that spicy.

I wasn’t the only one who thought the buffet was great.  As I was loading up my plate, I overheard a couple sitting near the buffet discussing how much they liked the food.  The guy said (and I couldn’t make up a line like this): “that tandoori chicken is so fresh, I could spank it.”

I hope he was talking about the chicken.

Despite the odd commentary, he was right, the freshness of the food made it good (which was also probably helped by the fact that we got there just as they opened) and there was also a variety of dishes.

I can’t say we’ll go to the Aab lunch buffet all the time. But it’s nice to know we have a new place to replace an old favorite. And I hope that guy resolved his issues over the chicken.

King Tom1 Comment

Rest in Peace, Mikey Welsh

Earlier today, former Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh died.

Mikey was with Weezer from 1998-2001. He replaced Matt Sharp during a time of uncertainty and inaction for the band. Within a few years and after a few false starts, Weezer (with Mikey in the fold) released the Green Album in 2001, bringing the band new success after a time when people thought the band had called it quits. He left the band in the summer of 2001, weeks after performing on shows like the Video Music Awards and Saturday Night Live.

After leaving Weezer, Mikey took up painting and started a family. He made a few appearances at some of the band’s live shows and recently joined Facebook, where he shared stories of his early years with the band.

I’ve written before about Mikey’s first year with the band, when Weezer struggled to rediscover themselves after the commercial failure of Pinkerton.  One thing I didn’t write about in that series (and something that wasn’t apparent until later) was how Mikey’s personality brought a new dimension to the band.  He was great with the bass, and his personality was refreshing, bringing out the best in drummer Pat Wilson.  In addition, he was a force to be reckoned with on stage.

My first time seeing him was my first Weezer show in Cleveland in August of 2000. He towered over lead singer Rivers Cuomo and was extremely animated (but without the histrionics of his predecessor).

I don’t know what else to say other than he’ll be missed. One of my favorite Weezer moments (music-related or not) is an interview he and Pat did with Rolling Stone in the fall of 2000. He looked like he was having fun.

King Tom

Answering the Skipper Dan Question

So I was checking out my Sitemeter log and noticed a lot of activity early Sunday morning (and by that I mean around midnight).

Pretty much all of the visitors arrived after Googling something to the effect of “skipper dan parody of.” They arrived at this page, an entry I wrote a few years ago about Weird Al Yankovic’s song Skipper Dan. But I don’t think I ever mentioned the song Al was paying homage to in the original post. To answer the question, Skipper Dan is a style parody* of Weezer’s song Pork and Beans.

I apologize for my poor blogging in the past and hope whoever was staying up late Saturday night win their trivia contest.

*More like Frank’s 2000″ TV : Anything by REM than Eat It : Beat It

King Tom

The Season Goes Pretty Quickly

I’m going to sound dim here, but I didn’t realize until today that it was the last full day of the baseball season.

Sure, I knew that the playoffs start Friday. And I heard on Yankees games a bunch of times this week the possible one-game playoff for the Wild Card could be held Thursday. But I never put it together that today was the last day of the regular season.

I’m used to having the last day of the season be on a Sunday, with playoffs starting Monday or Tuesday. This whole starting the division series on a Friday and ending the regular season in the middle of the week just seems unnatural.

It’s been a fun season for the Yankees, and I have to admit the close Wild Card races are definitely keeping things interested. I’m looking forward to the postseason, but I’m also wondering where the regular season went.

King Tom

No-Neck Visits the Optometrist

Well, it wasn’t laser surgery, but one of Hope’s favorite stuffed animals had some major eye work done.

Most of Hope’s stuffed animals have some type of eye trouble. They can’t help it. It’s not only how she gives affection, but also how she copes with teething.  Many of her stuffed animals have eyes that are plastic buttons sewn onto their faces. And Hope just loves to gnaw on their eyes. At first, the symptoms present as just some scratched up eyes. But in time, the fabric surrounding the eyes comes undone, leading to the eyes coming out of the head. Here’s Hope in action last week with No-Neck the stout giraffe:

The Civee and I decided poor No-Neck had enough. We took him out of service for a few days and The Civee sewed up his eye sockets. I’ve been told that this took some time to do. It seems to be working. Although there are a few other friends of Hope that need similar repairs done, and the problem is many of them have smaller (I’d say beady) eyes. At the same time, it’s probably worth it as we wouldn’t want her swallowing one of the small plastic eyes. And by the time the next stuffed animal is ready for some emergency eye surgery, it may even be my time to pick up the needle and thread.

I’m not going to say that Hope hasn’t noticed anything different. We think she’s going through a teething phase now and seems to be chewing on everything (or trying to). But new eyes or not, she’s still taking No-Neck everywhere she goes.

King Tom1 Comment

Phone Chuckin’

In a previous life, I used to work off-air at a TV news channel where our studio was also the newsroom. I was often in the background of many a live newscast. On one evening broadcast, a sports reporter was doing a voice over for that night’s live show. All of a sudden, his phone (or it may have been a pager) went off. As he was giving his voice over, he unclipped the phone from his belt, and in one motion, chucked it clear across the newsroom, where it shattered against a wall a few feet away from me.

My previous phone gave me plenty of reasons (mostly releated to its speed, or lack thereof) to chuck it across the room, although I never did.

I’ve had my new phone for three months and today came close (which is to say not really at all) to chucking it against a wall. I was at lunch, looking forward to the opportunity to view some websites and send some e-mail, when I took out my phone and saw it was downloading a forced update, rendering it unusable for five minutes. For a split second, I was frustrated by the timing. Then I thought about my old phone, which never had an update (as it was probably obsolete the day I bought it), and remembered the phone chucking story.

Then, when the phone finished updating, I wrote (or should I say am writing) this. Something else I couldn’t do on the old phone.

Although, now I’m tempted to dig out the old phone and find a brick wall when I get home.

King Tom

Weezer’s No One Else: And if You See Her, Tell Her It’s O-hey-hey-hey-hey

I first got Weezer’s The Blue Album sometime in December of 1994. I was already a fan, having heard and enjoyed both Undone and Buddy Holly earlier that fall.  But listening to the CD was an eye (or ear) opening experience.  Opener My Name Is Jonas was a solid melodic rocker. The second song on the album was even better.

No One Else sounded like the perfect rock song. At first listen, I knew an album with songs like this, Buddy Holly and Undone was special. And I was right- the rest of the album was great. All these years later, No One Else is still electrifying.

The reason I’m writing about this today is that 19 years ago today, Weezer first played No One Else during a show at the Coconut Teaszer in LA. As Karl Koch explains in the Weezer Recording History:

Unfortunately no recording has turned up for this show, which was in my opinion , a turning point for the band. They played tighter than ever before, had a better sound, and (after internal debate) debuted “No One Else”, a song that started to steer the band in a previously invisible direction.

A few years back, I e-mailed Karl to ask what he meant about the debate and new direction. Karl replied; “Rather than sticking with a heavy Pixies-influenced sound, “No One Else” was one of the first songs to have the band wondering whether they were going in a “‘pop’, [or] too ‘commericial’ sounding” direction.

It is easy to see a slight Pixies influence (and a much heavier one in the band’s earliest demos) in Weezer’s material. But while that influence is still there, Weezer is much more melodic and pop-friendly than the Pixies.

(I always got a kick out of that unofficial video)

No One Else was played regularly by the band through 2002.  My favorite live version of it comes from the summer of 2000, where for a few shows, they began the song with an extended intro. I was lucky enough to be at one of those performances and later get a recording. Even though the quality is suspect, you still get an idea of the intro in from this recording of the Cleveland ’00 show.

No One Else was eventually shuffled out of the band’s playlists in favor of singles and more current songs (although it has enjoyed a bit of a comeback during the Memories Tour). Even though it’s no longer in the band’s current repertoire, it’s nice to know they made the right choice all those years ago on September 15 at the Teaszer.

King Tom3 Comments

Rivera the Great

Out on the West Coast late last night, Mariano Rivera collected his 600th regular season save. He’s only the second pitcher to reach that mark, and with a handful more saves, he’ll be the games all-time leader in that particular category.

Now some (namely, cranky former Yankees closer Goose Gossage) have said that today’s closers don’t work as much as those closers who had to walk ten miles to the ballpark (barefoot, no less) and therefore, they claim, the modern save has no value. To a point, they’re right. Most modern relievers are coddled arms that rarely pitch more than an inning. And most of Rivera’s recent work has been of the one-inning variety. But Rivera is no ordinary closer (or pitcher, for that matter).

Over the past 17 years, he has a record of regular- and post-season success that is unmatched (Tom Verducci did a much better job of running down the numbers here than I could). True, Rivera didn’t play during the days of the Yankees bullpen Datsun, but he has a better record than any reliever (including Gossage) did back then.

Five and a half years ago, I wrote about Rivera’s first game with the Yankees. How, as a starter, he was horrible.  That was before he developed his signature cutter.  It’s hard to believe the odds that that pitcher would develop into one of the most reliable pitchers ever.  And it’s hard to believe that he’s been doing it for 17 years.

King Tom