A Septic Spiel of Spooky Scares, Super Heroes, and Strange Stories from Miles Beneath the Crud of New Jersey!
The Sexy Armpit is saddened to hear news of the death of TV Producer Sherwood Schwartz. Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Schwartz was a writer, creator, and producer of shows such as My Favorite Martian, The Brady Bunch, and Gilligan’s Island. Even before TV took over, Schwartz was a writer on radio shows like The Bob Hope Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. He lived to a ripe age of 94 and left behind a legacy in television that will live on forever in reruns.
Long time readers of The Sexy Armpit will recall me posting about the film The Perfect Age of Rock n Roll. I’m excited to announce that the film is finally getting it’s official release! I was lucky enough to see it a few years back at a private screening and be the first to review the film. After tracking the evolution of the film and hearing about it’s awards at film fests and other positive feedback, I’m pleased that it will finally be released for all to see. Congratulations to Scott Rosenbaum, Joe White, and the rest of the cast and crew who poured their heart and “Lost Soulz” into this project.
The Perfect Age of Rock n Roll is about the erratic relationship between 2 band mates (Jason Ritter and Kevin Zegers) and how their music has brought them back together on a journey across the country. On the way they discover their rock and roll roots as well as get involved with the same woman (Taryn Manning). As I said in my review, this ain’t the Partridge Family! The title of the film represents the idyllic age of 27, an age at which many famous rock musicians died such as Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison to name a few.
If you’re a music fan, especially rock, metal and the blues, you will dig this movie. It’s for guys and girls alike so you can watch it with your boyfriend or girlfriend. The original songs on the soundtrack by Steve Conte and Andrew Hollander kick so much ass and I recommend downloading them for a reasonable price on iTunes. After seeing the movie the songs will definitely be stuck in your head.
For the Jersey aficionados like me, many scenes were filmed in Jersey. You might not realize that Jersey isn’t all fist pumping and juiced up guidos, we also offer line dancing and mechanical bull rides at The Colorado Cafe, which happens to serve as one of the clubs the band plays at in the film. The film’s co-writer is New Jersey born Jasin Cadic who is also the lead signer of the metal/industrial band Star Killer and the director of The Dirty Pearls latest video for “Who’s Coming Back To Who.” Be sure to check it out in the comfort of your own home ON Demand on August 5th!
Back in middle school I remember absolutely dreading summer reading assignments. That dread slowly subsided as some of my friends and even myself grew to discover that it’s actually enjoyable to read voluntarily. Of course I’m being facetious, but I do know a lot of people who don’t read at all. Even my best friend would prefer not to read The Sexy Armpit because reading is just too much of a task. Part of me agrees with him, but only in the sense that there are so many other enticing diversions out there that don’t take as long.
“Based on the 80’s Universal Pictures film XANADU which starred Olivia Newton-John, follows the journey of a magical and beautiful Greek muse, Kira, who descends from the heavens of Mt. Olympus to Venice Beach, California in 1980 on a quest to inspire a struggling artist, Sonny, to achieve the greatest artistic creation of all time – the first ROLLER DISCO–hey, it’s 1980! But, when Kira falls into forbidden love with the mortal Sonny, her jealous sisters take advantage of the situation and chaos abounds.
This hilarious, roller skating, musical adventure about following your dreams despite the limitations others set for you, rolls along to the original hit score composed by pop-rock legends Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, and includes, “Magic”, “All Over The World”, “Suddenly”, “I’m Alive”, “Evil Woman”, “Have You Never Been Mellow” and “Xanadu”, to name a few.”
When I think back to when I was a little kid obsessed with MTV, there were always certain videos that would excite the crap out of me. I would be pumped up for days leading up to those Top 100 Videos of All Time countdowns that always seemed to air in the summer. I planned accordingly. I made sure my schedule was cleared, which really just meant that I would forego my typical adventures with my Batman, Star Wars, or Real Ghostbusters action figures. Swimming in the pool was prohibited unless there was a shitty 6 minute video on or an excruciatingly long block of commercials. When my friends or neighbors knocked at my door to ask if I wanted to play kickball down the street, I laughed diabolically in their face. Didn’t they realize the magnitude of this event? It gave me a chance to re-watch all my favorite videos. Back then I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my day.
Let’s see, there was Michael Jackson, Billy Idol, Madonna, Prince, Aerosmith, Guns n Roses, Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister, Poison, Peter Gabriel, The Cars…the list was endless. Since the days of those classic music videos, not only has MTV abandoned music videos altogether, but we’ve also seen the emergence of too many other music video channels. There’s MTV 2, Fuse, VH1 Classic and others. None of which I ever remember to watch due to the fact that I have 900 channels. I JUST WANT MY OLD MTV BACK MUTHATRUCKA!!!
One band has kept it real and has just created a couple of music videos that recall the classic days of MTV and they are The Dirty Pearls. If you haven’t become acquainted with them yet, this is a prime time to jump on board. If MTV still played music videos, these two videos would positively be in heavy rotation.
I was actually part of the filming for “Who’s Coming Back to Who” at Don Hill’s in New York City (RIP), and I’m visible in a few shots throughout the video. Since I won’t make you play Where’s Waldo, here are some of the shots I can be seen in:
The awesome video for their latest track “Static” was filmed with the camera to either the X-Box or the PS3, I can’t remember which one. This video is right up there with the videos for Dire Straits “Money For Nothing” and The White Stripes “Fell in Love With a Girl.”
Horror comedies aren’t for everyone. Many of my hardcore horror friends feel that there’s no reason to waste time on horror comedies when there’s a severe drought for some good old genuinely scary horror films. I think we have room for all kinds of horror related films, tongue in cheek or not. I adore films like Stan Helsing, Once Bitten, Transylvania 6-5000, and others. Chillerama, the upcoming horror comedy anthology, promises to be a modern crown jewels of this genre. You can have a sneak peak of it on Saturday in Metuchen, NJ.
Filmmakers such as Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Adam Rifkin, and Tim Sullivan will all direct shorts that will comprise Chillerama. One of those shorts is Tim Sullivan’s, I Was a Teenage Werebear, which he wrote and directed and it will make it’s New Jersey premiere this Saturday July 9th at Metuchen’s Forum Theater. If you’re a regular here you”ll remember that the Forum Theatre is where Geof from The Man Cave and I went to check out The Full Moon Pictures Roadshow and Evil Bong 3-D, and you can read the recap here. In Sullivan’s bio on IMDB, Werebear is said to capture his love for “camp and rock and roll”
Adding to the bonus sneak peek at the Chillerama short is a showing of Detroit Rock City which Sullivan was associate producer on! How did they know I am a HUGE KISS FAN as well? The 1999 film about a bunch of friends doing their damndest to get to the KISS concert at Cobo Hall in 1978. I saw the film when it hit theaters and loved it, regardless of the fact that it never made much of an impact with moviegoers.
Writer/director/producer Tim Sullivan hails from Plainfield, New Jersey, so this premiere is a homecoming for him. He’s responsible for such films as 2001 Maniacs, Driftwood, and 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams. Sullivan will also be holding Q&A sessions after the films. The event is hosted by Dread Central’s Paul Nomad.
For more info and tickets go to the official theater site:
http://www.forumtheatrearts.org/
http://www.facebook.com/forumtheatrearts
In the Transformers episode “Make Tracks,” the Megatron and the Decepticons steal hundreds of cars and attempt to turn them into drones to add to their powerful squad of evil robots. Tracks, the Autobot, poses as a stolen car and discovers the Decepticons remote facility that changes the stolen cars in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. The Pine Barrens are made up of over a million acres of protected forest area, so this was a perfectly diabolical scheme. No one could possibly hear or see a gigantic space age industrial plant that creates Transformers in the middle of a forest that is intersected by two major highways. Gee, great plan Megatron! Way to go!
Of course Optimus and his Autobots save the day, but if you’d like to watch the 2nd half of the episode that is based in New Jersey, it’s posted below. Thanks to YouTube user Bernard9782 has made it happen. Thanks to the Transformers Wiki, an unbelievable source for all kinds of minute Transformers tidbits.
If you read my last post you know that watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was my little homework assignment for the night. If I plan on seeing a sequel or further installment of a film franchise, I never half ass it. I have to watch them all or I feel like I’m not getting the full effect. I realized a while ago that I had Revenge of the Fallen on DVD but never watched it, so that’s exactly what I did tonight. I did have ulterior motives though. I didn’t just watch it to get caught up on the films before seeing Dark of the Moon, I also wanted to pick out all the New Jersey shots.
In Revenge of the Fallen, Sam Witwicky (Labeouf) is now attending college. When his parents come to visit him, his mom Judy inadvertently buys pot brownies and starts to get high. She runs around the campus grounds and gets into some wacky hijinks – scenes I never thought I’d see in a Transformers film. But then again, I didn’t think I’d see a Wheelie cuss like a sailor either…or hump Megan Fox’s leg. That’s sort of creepy because he’s a robot, but I can easily get on board with his motive.
A few of the college scenes were originally shot at the University of Pennsylvania, but ultimately moved the shoot to Princeton University. Neither institution wanted to let the Michael Bay production use the university names in the film due to the aforementioned pot brownie after effects as well as the scene where Sam is almost raped by a slutty Decepticon, YES, I did just write that. Ultimately, the institution that Sam attends is merely referred to as a “college.” According to the Transformers Wiki, in other Transformers media, Sam goes to college in Albany and also Philadelphia, but Princeton is actually named in the novelization of Revenge of the Fallen. *Raine Wilson also makes a cameo in a lecture hall scene as one of Sam’s professors.
With a run time that was about a half hour too long, a convoluted plot, and too much leg humping, Revenge of the Fallen is not a film I’d watch again. And surprisingly, for all her criticism, Megan Fox’s hotness was this film’s saving grace, and I’ll also throw a piece of that credit to the crotchety but entertaining, Jetfire (R.I.P.)
Through the years it was easy to get bogged down in the excessive amount of Transformers incarnations through the years. I have to give credit to the property though, it’s enjoyed a long evolution and hasn’t ever really gone away.
Transformers would not have enjoyed the same type of resurgence if the 2007 big screen adaptation was never released. I doubt there would be the same type of clamor for Transformers stuff if Michael Bay never got his filthy rich hands on them. But what has shocked me most about the franchise is how much of a difficult time I recently had getting into the original ’80s animated series. I noticed that Hub network has been airing reruns of the original Transfomers. Just for nostalgic purposes and for the fact that the 3rd Transformers film, Dark of the Moon, is being released, I set a couple of episodes on my DVR and tried watching them.
As much as I felt I would be in for some ’80s fun, sadly, the episodes were borderline boring and even a bit hard to understand. Although I’m a sucker for old cartoons, especially those I loved as a kid, going back and watching Transformers just didn’t hold my attention at all. Expecting a 25 year old cartoon to enthrall and entertain me seems totally unrealistic, but even the silliest episodes of He-Man and She-Ra still mesmerize me. It’s a shame too because I was a fan of Transformers as a kid, and so were most of my friends, since we were the Prime (pun intended) audience for it. I had my Transformers lunchbox and a bunch of the toys, but it was never a full on obsession for me.
Attempting to pretend like I was a transforming robot was awkward and not nearly as fun as holding aloft my magic sword and becoming the most powerful man in the universe. Now, I know that a lot of people will vehemently disagree with my sentiments, but I have my reasoning. Subconsciously perhaps, I made more of a connection with human or human-like characters. I always preferred GI Joe over Transformers and although I enjoyed Thundercats immensely too, He-Man and She-Ra always edged them out if I had to choose what show I liked better.
In my eyes, the best part of the original animated Transformers series is Megatron. he was the reason I watched the show. I always liked villains and I appreciated how he looked, sounded, and acted in the original series way better than how he is in these new films. That’s not to say I didn’t also love Optimus Prime. What boy in the ’80s didn’t think Optimus Prime was awesome? He’s the quintessential character of the franchise. Even in the new films he still kick ass. The hero has a modernized look but is thankfully still voiced by the iconic Peter Cullen. Anyone else would be 2nd rate.
Regardless of how the original series holds up, the film franchise and even the recent Transformers Prime are both well done and easy to get into especially if I was 7 years old right now. I have yet to watch Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, so hopefully I’ll get to it before Dark of the Moon disappears from theaters, which will probably be in about 3 weeks. Then it’s straight to DVD and Bluray by the end of August. Maybe if Megan Fox played her cards right she’d be in Dark of the Moon and I’d make it more of a priority. Damn her and her Hitler comments. Funny how when I was a kid, I wanted Optimus Prime, and now I need Megan Fox to hold my attention.