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GODZILLA 2014 Trailer

 

The Biggest news for 2014 amongst Kaiju and Sci-Fi fans alike has to be Legendary Pictures reboot of the Godzilla franchise with Gareth Edwards (Monsters) directing. The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe and Bryan Cranston (in his first film role since the conclusion of the epic "Breaking Bad" TV series).

First glimpse we got of The Big G 2014 came in a teaser trailer shown at the San Diego Comic-Con in July, 2012. This powerful clip showed us a decimated San Diego (?) landscape with a voice over of J. Robert Oppenheimers (Father of the atomic bomb) speech culminating in the line "Now I Am Become Death, Destroyer Of Worlds" after which we get a brief glimpse of Godzilla uttering that classic roar. As of this writing there has been confirmation that Godzilla will have his Atomic Breath and will be sparring against at least 2 Kaiju.

December 10, 2013 and the (first) trailer is released to an expectant fan base and just about all of us found it electrifying. It can be broken up into 3 parts.

1. The HALO Jump (High Altitude - Low Opening) sequence. This method is usually deployed when the aircraft is in imminent danger and must fly above the surface to air (SAM) missile zone. Does this mean Godzilla was blowing planes out of the air with his Atomic Breath ? I certainly hope so (Thanks to Bill and Frank for bringing this to my attention). This segment concludes with the paratroopers gaining visibility of a city in flames as they emerge through the cloud cover, but wait there is something moving there in the smoke and we spy a very familiar dorsal fin ever so briefly.

2. Shock and Awe. Here we see quick jump cuts of the civilians, military, scientists and M.U.T.O. Emergency agency personnel also known as the actors.

3. G Itself. same shot as from the 2012 teaser but Epic just the same. We will only know for sure this coming May when the film is released but everyone is in your corner.

The Return Of The King.

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Almost a Year to Date.

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SMOOCH

RUSH - Clockwork Angels DVD Screening 11/18/13 AMC 25 Theater - Times Square, New York City

On the eve of the DVD release of the "Clockwork Angels Tour" Fandango Tickets gave us an opportunity to attend a screening at select theaters across the country of the concert film. I arrived one minute late due to technical difficulties retrieving my ticket from the AMC ticket machine and the screening had already begun at seven p.m. sharp with no coming attractions. 

The film began with the Watchmaker intro film and then onto "Caravan" as I thought to myself but "Subdivisions" was the opening number, I quickly surmised they were screening set 2 of the show which took place after intermission at the actual performances and made sense as the second portion of the concert and promised "tour documentary" would be a 2 hour experience all its own and give the attendees something to look forward to as we would be getting the complete DVDs on the very next day. I have read conflicting reports concerning the sound quality at these screenings but that is down to each theaters acoustics and speaker systems (more on that below). AMC 25 has a superb audio system and crystal clear projection system at least in theater 17, to get a little technical here there were High Highs and Low Lows and the decibel levels were just right, no audience members yelling "Louder Please" in this crowd.

The photos here were taken off the "movie screen" with an iPhone 4 (flash off), and here's a nice pic of Geddy. AMC 25 was nicely filled to about half capacity with the audience in rapt attention, we cheered at the end of most songs and laughed during the watchmaker films (the intro film opened the show and "Office of the Watchmaker" closed the concert portion) and at the appropriate moments in the tour documentary which was shown afterwards as a nice extra. There was certainly a friendly buzz and excitement in the air as will be common in a room full of RUSH fans and the adoration we all have for our favorite Canadian trio made for the most comfortable viewing experience.

There is currently an unrelated film called "Rush" out and whomever programmed the marquee for theater 17 dropped the ball on this one, I doubt if most even noticed and being the good natured goofballs (no offense to the serious minded fans) that make up a large portion of the RUSH community we would only find this humorous, I certainly did.

I was the last one out of the theater as I wanted this photo op, well here it is. Some theater seats and projector glow.

Earlier in this post I had mentioned the individuality of in-house audio and projection systems inherent to each movie house and room and this goes without saying. I did not notice if this was played back in 5.1 surround yet I am sure it was, the audience was too busy enjoying the intense performance and were not there for a "Dolby" demonstration. Some years back I attended a screening of the T. Rex concert film "Born To Boogie" which had been remastered into 5.1 and after its conclusion Producer Tony Visconti was on hand for a Q & A and began by stressing that "If you get a chance you must hear this in five one, I think what we just got was two one", this was completely good natured and most endearing but just goes to show that all theaters are not equal.

I think that these one-off DVD screenings are a great opportunity to see this footage for those of us without a private screening room in our homes and I applaud whomever came up with the idea. It has always struck me that these would be great events to sell the actual DVD at but most are premiered before release date and that might tip the "soundscan" video sales chart ever so slightly. Virgin Megastore did set up a merchandise table of CDs/DVDs and the "RIO" DVD at the screening for "RUSH IN RIO" in 2003 but that was in agreement with Atlantic Records. The WEA (Warner Elektra Atlantic) rep came to my job at around 7 that night and handed me a promo copy of the DVD, I was so grateful and said "Thank you so much" to which he replied "you never ask for anything".

Upon arrival in Times Square off the D train and headed for AMC 25. 

I think Mickey is going through that young woman's purse.

Elmo and Cookie Monster lament that they missed the Clockwork Angels screening, too bad they had to work, the watchmaker is also a taskmaster.

Filmed off the screen.

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STEVE HACKETT - Selling Programs 9/25/13 Best Buy Theater - Times Square, New York City

I tend not to post set lists or even write about concert experiences on here out of sheer laziness but this was a little different as I volunteered to sell tour programs in the lobby in generous exchange for a Steve Hackett t-shirt of my choice. So two months after the event let me get what I remember down.

Gearing up for the upcoming show i would browse the Steve Hackett Facebook page almost daily and a call came out for two volunteers to sell tour programs at the venue on the night pre-show, I concluded that it would make the night that much more interesting and I would rather do it than not and awaited a confirmation that I was picked, picked I was and Stephanie got me in touch with Adrian. I was instructed to arrive at the Best Buy theater at 6:30 p.m.a half an hour before doors opened. Oddly a Chinese Maneki-Niko "Good Luck" cat was facing me on the stairs outside of my apartment to wish me luck. 

I got to times Square with time to spare and having only been to the Best Buy theater (when it was called NOKIA) once to witness King Crimson in 2008 I activated my Google Maps for directions, so up 44th street I go approaching the west side. As I neared 8th avenue I began to worry, Nokia was right off Broadway and there was no Nokia in sight. It is now about 6:50 p.m. and one panicked phone call to Jamie and I am back on Broadway, I asked a flyer distributor if she knew where the Best Buy theater was and she said "right over there on 45th street", Now there is a Big difference between 44th and 45th street. I get to the ticket window and they refuse me"You are not on the guest list" I explain I am not a guest I am here for merchandising, one walkie talkie call and I am let in (after showing my ticket of course) and the doors are open as the crowd enters, down the escalator I jog and make my way to the merchandise table, I apologize for being late and the dude says "it happens" and hands me 10 programs instructing me to wander around. My other fellow volunteer (I forget his name, we did say hello) is at the bottom of the escalator selling programs so I try to find a different spot, there really isn't any so I set myself up at the bottom of the escalator near the bar as I was given no change and figured if anyone did not have exact change they could make some at the bar.

"Steve Hackett Programs, Steve Hackett Tour Programs" I proceed to announce but my partner is already doing that so I take the soft sell approach without being fake at all, I am amongst like minded fans after all. People browsed the programs and bought some too, I only sold 8 copies in 45 minutes but these were nice programs and priced right at $15 whereas most are priced at $20 and up. I had some nice conversations based on people's t-shirts and one young woman had a very nice "Foxtrot" tee, just the Genesis and Foxtrot logo on white. One guy took the program off me and started chatting with his friends about Lou Reed and other artists yet he still had the program in hand, with my New York eye I kept watch on him and then he started walking away, I caught up with him and said "Dude, Dude" (which I never say) and it turns out he thought the program was free (or so he said) he handed it back to me. 

I get back to the Merchandise table ten minutes before showtime and its a different person there. I hesitated to hand over my 2 remaining programs (actually I bought one of them) and the one hundred and twenty dollars cash but this man's smile and British accent won me over, it was Adrian who actually designed the t-shirt I had chosen and had had my eye on for months on the Hackettsongs website, I also purchased a copy of "Sketches Of Hackett : The authorized biography of Steve Hackett" and it wound up being a signed copy. Here is my email back to Stephanie.

SMOOCH

MOON