Doctor Expendable

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

The weekend was pretty good. Beautiful weather, clear blue skies, and a Brew Jazz Funk festival in Squaw Valley to go check out. See, it was Jazz instead of Blues, which is even better for enjoying the truly schpedoinkal day. Another added bonus, it was an event to raise money for the local animal shelters & human society… so everybody wins… and every time that I was buying a beer, I could say with a straight face, “This is for my dawgs!!!” The music was great too. Anyway, here are some pictures…

Site of the 1960 Winter Olympics... then again...

This guy swept the skiing medals back then...

Washboard & wah wah guitars make me happy

After the sun started going down, I decided that I was going to see a movie in theatres, which I don’t do much, especially by myself (mostly because it’s a little lame). So what movie did I go see? Of course I went to see “The Expendables” starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Steve Austin, the Governator, Bruce Willis, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, and a basically every action star from the past 30 years (except Steven Seagal because he was shooting “Machete” while being a Louisiana sheriff & Jean Claude Van Damme because… well, I’m not sure why). I’ve been keeping you updated on this movie for YEARS now… so I had to see it through, despite bad reviews. Seriously, if you’re expecting this to win Best Picture like Stallone’s first flick Rocky, you WILL be sorely disappointed. However, if you wanted to see a bunch of sh*t get blown, asses whipped, one-liners, gats & tats, motorcycles, waterboarding, REALLY cheesy dialogue, even cheesier monologue (sorry Mickey) and satisfying your once-a-decade Dolph Lundgren fix… then this is the movie for you. Oh yeah, the story. Almost forgot. Mercenaries, big time job, dictator on island in South America, CIA turncoat, hot daughter of dictator revolutionary, you know the drill. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed it… and that’s because I know what to expect… and it delivered. I thoroughly recommend it if this is your kind of movie. If not, you weren’t going to see it anyway. Enjoy “Eat, Pray, Love” and those angsty vampire flicks. The important thing is… Expendables got the number one spot on the weekend box office… which means…

Expendables SEQUEL? - With "Salt" currently sitting on a little over $100 million domestic and with the international rollout kicking off shortly on the Angelina Jolie spy thriller, talk has inevitably turned toward a possible sequel considering the ending leaves things wide open (spoiler alert?). In fact according to The Los Angeles Times, everything is ready to go if the film is greenlit. The film's scribe Kurt Wimmer has ideas for how to advance the story, director Phil Noyce is said to be interested in returning, and star Angelina Jolie has previously said that she's keen to work on a sequel and in fact has a relatively free schedule coming up as Tim Burton's "Maleficent" and the Kay Scarpetta films are still some way off. The question now is simply one of money. Costing $110 million to produce, the film's domestic performance simply isn't good enough on its own. As a result the studio is waiting on how the film performs in key international territories where star-driven escapist spy films tend to fare better at the box-office. Meanwhile with "The Expendables" opening to a strong $35 million over the weekend, sequel buzz has already begun and Sylvester Stallone tells The Hollywood Reporter that he's already 'plotted out' the follow-up film's direction - "I believe this group has to continue to evolve; it just can't become the same people. So how do you get new people introduced into the group, and how do you have some of the other people leaving? Those are the challenges." Ugh… I can help you with that Sly. Is Carl Weathers still alive? He’s in the sequel… and Michael Jai White, cuz I dig that cat. As for your complex plot schemes for a smooth transition of characters… allow me to help. How do you have some people leaving? Retiring? No, that’s too easy. How about explosions or some kind of other violent death? Perhaps betrayal from within the group. Then you’re not sure who your friends are. Interesting subplot. How do you introduce new characters? “Hi, my name’s Black Dynamite (or Mike Hawk or Bull Dozer or whatever stupid name you want in there… seriously, Hale Caesar?)” Done. You’re welcome. Let me know when the sequel comes out. And see if you can get Antonio Banderas as a bad guy in this one. And Michael Biehn needs a job.

A movie I saw yesterday on TV was… wait for it… “Undead or Alive: A Zombedy” starring Chris Kattan (“Corky Romano”) and James Denton (“Desperate Housewives”). Long story short, a cowboy (Kattan), an army deserter (Denton) and a hot Indian girl meet up while a city is being overrun with brain-craving zombies thanks to a curse by Geronimo. That’s really it. I wish I could tell you more about it but… that’s really it. It has a few funny moments because it’s basically a mockery of zombie flicks… and come on, the star is Chris Kattan. Anyway, check it out if you want… but even as zombie flicks go, it’s kinda dumb, but briefly funny. Just thought I’d let you know how I spent my Sunday afternoon flipping through the channels after shooting some hoops.

X-Men Update - Australian actress Rose Byrne ("Damages") is in negotiations to play Moira MacTaggert in Matthew Vaughn's "X-Men First Class" for 20th Century Fox says The Hollywood Reporter. In the comics MacTaggert is a scientist and an authority on genetic mutation who also serves as the love interest of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy). Meanwhile Jason Flemyng ("Clash of the Titans," "Kick Ass") has apparently been cast as the teleporting mutant Azazel in the project reports Coming Soon. The character was the lead of an ancient race of mutants who looked like demons and could teleport into other dimensions. He was also the father of Nightcrawler. The pair join the likes of confirmed cast members Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Alice Eve. Filming on the project kicks off in London at the end of this month. Yeah, just another update. You know how I do.

So yeah, that’ll probably be it for today. Happy birthday to Boorappa!!! The Wingman will be coming back from Alaska soon & I think Mrs Wingman will guilt trip him into a trip out here soon enough. Bubbles moved her stuff safely to San Francisco over the weekend (thanks to my directions & assurance that if she drove through the desert long enough eventually she’d see signs for San Fran). Can’t wait to visit Utah in a few weeks and see my family, especially the niece & nephew who say good night to me just about every day they’re up at grandma’s now. Those kids are f**king cute. Period. Anyway, you already knew that. Have a great night everybody!!!