During my weekend getaway to San Francisco, passed the Sam Wo Restaurant in Chinatown. I've never actually eaten here, but it evoked a memory I had of Conan O'Brien's visit to San Francisco on the Late Show. He created an ad for the narrow, 3-story restaurant in which you enter through the kitchen. I'm checking out that Sam Wo Mystery Room next time.
Battlestar Galactica, one of the most socially and politically relevant shows on TV, took part in a United Nations panel in New York last night. If you haven't seen the show before, go get the DVD's and start now. This is not a run-of-the-mill sci-fi show, more like a military drama. The show deeply immerses itself in a very character driven plot that tackles human rights, terrorism, and spirituality. BSG ends its 4 season run this Friday, which is sad but great that it gets to end on its own terms.
It seems Star Wars obsession has reached its point to where a film is coming out about the downfall of George Lucas since the prequel trilogy came out. Nerd rants galore about childhoods ruined and a proliferating money-making machine continue to litter the internet since 1999. The documentary, The People vs. George Lucas, is set to release this year and is currently looking for fan interviews on the status of Star Wars and Lucas the last decade. I've been disappointed about it all but seriously, get over it! Change out of that robe and collapse your plastic lightsaber, there's other things to do in life.
If you stayed up late last night to see the last episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, you know that it is the end of something truly special that ran for a miraculous 16 seasons. Conan's moving from New York out to L.A. to take over for Jay Leno on The Tonight Show starting in June while Jimmy Fallon takes over the Late Night slot. I'll miss all the self deprecation and silly characters (Pale Force, Horny Manatee). Due to the late night time slot and true fans, the show was able to do what it wanted and we loved it for that. Moving to The Tonight Show we'll lose some of that character as it's moving to an earlier time slot and thus will most likely be more reserved. So here's to Conan, thanks for all the memories! We look forward to success in L.A., even though it won't be the same.
Although much hasn't been shown in the couple of teasers released for this summer's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen but the usual Michael Bay fare of explosions, things coming down from the sky, flyovers, and film grain, many of the new characters have been slowly been released over the internet. One of note is Devastator. If you children of the 80's remember having (or for me, remember someone else having) the bright green-yellow and purple robot comprised of six construction vehicles, you can't forget that he was quite the Decepticon. Instead of the upstanding and statuesque figure of the 80's, Bay brings us a hunched over, hulking, and menacing brute. Since we haven't seen footage of how big this thing's going to be on the screen, I think we can get a sense that it'll be humongous - the giant thing in the trailer with the 2 wheels ripping stuff up is just one of the six.
Because The Lonely Island dudes released their first album today titled Incredibad. Not completely familiar with that name? You've probably seen former Channel101 trio's Saturday Night Live Digital Shorts, as they produce the usually out of studio sketches as well as write for the show. I'm convinced they've kept SNL sort of afloat recently since the departure of Will Ferrell. They were responsible for that aweful movie known as Hot Rod - I'm thinking they should stick to short comedy sketches for now. Anyways, Incredibad is comprised of many songs that have been displayed as Digital Shorts in the last few years.
OK, nerd rant! Here we go: so there have been many rumors floating around the feature film adaptation of the '60's TV series The Green Hornet. Released around the same time as the iconic Batman series, the show played a more serious angle compared to the cheeseball star-studded Caped Crusader. This adaptation was announced to be a comedy-action flick - probably a loose comedic adaptation like Starsky and Hutch, Wild Wild West (*shuddering at the fact I'm referencing this film), or even The Brady Bunch Movie. Comedic actor Seth Rogan announced he'd be co-writer and play the lead character, while there was talk that Stephen Chow would not only play Kato but also direct the film. Now it's up in there air of whether the film's still alive and if Chow will even be in the film, sounds like he's probably not going to direct. I'd really love to see Chow in this film, it would be a disappointment to me if this film is a comedy and someone like Jet Li gets attached to this movie (Li already did Black Mask). My only apprehension with Chow being director is that it would be his first American film and I'm not sure if he'd get the freedom to direct his usual slapstick work that you see in his Chinese films. Here's hoping that if this film does get made, it's not the usual star-studded schlock remake of a franchise aimed at a generation that has no idea of its origins (The Longest Yard).
....and hopefully with more plot to fill up an hour and 45 minutes. I just saw Quantum of Solace, which is very much more of the sequel to Casino Royale than just the next Bond film. The film takes off exactly where Royale left off and if you plan on seeing Solace I strongly recommend holding off until you see Royale again or for the first time. The revamped Bond in Royale has been more interesting and believable than Brosnan's last few forays with 007. Solace seems to continue with what was good with Royale, the story and the new Bond, and use them as bookends for the film. It places what should be important in this film in the beginning quarter of the film and the very last scene. The rest of the movie is action scene after another, using way too many quick and shakey camera shots. I guess the director has to blame for this, unlike Royale so many of these scenes seemed too confined and you seem to miss the big picture of whatever locale they were in. Since it was only the director that changed and not the writers, I'm hopeful that the next film made will continue and develop the story and current state of the revamped Bond character much further than Solace did. All this Bond reminds of the best Bond, Sean Connery.....and Celebrity Jeopardy from SNL. There were many of these sketches with or without Connery (played by Darrell Hammond), here's my fav 5 w/ Connery:
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