A pillaging of my childhood or the next great action spectacle from Hollywood? Since Michael Bay’s directing, I’ll guess the former.
[flv:/media/transformers.flv 400 300]
1 down, 15 to go…
Things You Never Imagined
That episode helped a bit. None of our longstanding questions have been definitively answered, but we’re given enough information in tonight’s Lost to infer more than a few things about the Others and their reason for being on the island.
Grindhouse | A-
directors: Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino
starring: Rose McGowan, Kurt Russell, Freddy Rodriguez, Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey, Michael Biehn, Naveen Andrews, Marley Shelton, Bruce Willis, etc, etc, etc.
While Grindhouse is actually made up of two separate films, I’m going to review the whole shebang as one experience, as it is just that–an “experience.” If you haven’t heard, Grindhouse is an ambitious double feature conceived by directors Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City) and Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill) that hearkens back to the “grindhouse” era of film in the seventies. You could plunk down your four or five bucks and be treated to back-to-back flicks about zombies or car chases or vampires or ruthless women seeking revenge, along with a whole host of trailers for similar films “coming soon.” Those types of nights at the movie theaters would be real events, the kind of thing you often hear your parents relate about their youth, and from actors and directors who grew up going to the theaters on Saturday nights to see these films, and thus inspired them to take up that very pursuit. The thing is, I never experienced any of that. Everything I’ve heard about it has been second and thirdhand, so I only have this vague grasp on the overall concept.
Hail to the Chiefs
Six 20-goal scorers. Four 30-goal scorers. One 40-goal scorer. A 40-win goaltender. An NHL record-tying 10 straight wins to start the season. 308 goals. 53 wins. A President’s Trophy. All this, despite 260+ man-games lost to injury. All this…is meaningless, my friends. The Sabres finished one of the most memorable regular seasons in Buffalo sports history with a 4-3 loss to the hated Philadelphia Flyers. Fitting that the season ended against a team the Sabres all but destroyed on October 17th, crushing the Flyers 9-1. That loss led the Flyers to fire their coach and GM and started them on a spiral descending into the dregs of the NHL. I rather enjoyed that. However, the “real” season starts wed/thurs night, against the Leafs/Islanders. All the countless hours of work in the offseason, all the dazzling offensive displays, all the gritty work in the corners by defensemen, all the spectacular highlight-reel saves from Ryan Miller, they all mean nothing if the Sabres don’t end up winning the last game of the 2006-07 NHL season.
Smokey & the Banditas
We’re in the homestretch now, so I expect things to pick up a little bit in this current batch of episodes. Unfortunately, that momentum didn’t really pick up with tonight’s “Chockful o’ Setup” show. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, but I’m ready for some real development and reveals of the Others’ past, what’s going on back in the real world, and the origins of Dharma on the island. Based on what I’ve seen of the slate of flashbacks for the rest of the season, I think we’ll get plenty of each.
As for tonight’s Lost, we got the Sawyer Makes Nice Project, some redundant flashbacks to Iowa, and our old friend Cerberus. Nothing too spectacular thematically, thus I shall get straight to my fast food analysis vis a vis bullet points.
Big Red
Dear Editor,
Few things are finer than reading the paper on a Sunday morning, cup of joe in hand, gnawing on a toasted bagel, and reading the letters to the editor in the sports section. Actually, nevermind–I get aggravated and concerned about the ultimate fate of humanity when I read some of these letters, a fact which gives me great anxiety and spoils my morning. Here are two such letters which my reading of led to a 6% decrease in my mental capacity:
The Sabres better get Ryan Miller straightened out or they will not get too far in the playoffs.
He lets too many easy shots get by him. Against Atlanta there was no one in front of him for about 15 feet and he let two goals in.
I still have no faith in him. Good luck.
Ed Kopias
Buffalo
And I’ve lost faith in humanity, Ed; thanks for that. Go ogle over Dominik Hasek and his stellar stats in Detroit; I’ll stick with a 40-win goaltender backstopping the team with the best record in the NHL.
Time marches on in this exciting hockey season. Despite injuries, Buffalo keeps on winning. Everything is going well except for one annoying question. Why is it that Daniel Briere and Chris Drury are still being ignored as far as next season is concerned?
Martin Biron and Jiri Novotny are gone, and the locker room is not disrupted, as Darcy Regier predicted.
My advice to Tom Golisano is to call Larry Quinn and Regier into his office and fire these two clowns. Sign Lindy Ruff to a 10-year contract and then get a higher echelon that knows how to run a hockey franchise, and watch the Sabres prosper.
Joe Mullen
Cheektowaga
Joe, I’d like to sign you to a 10-year contract with a state psychiatric facility. I’ll even throw in a leather recliner and a 42″ plasma TV, on which you can watch the Sabres’ playoff run–a 100+-point team constructed by none other than Darcy Regier.
Billy Dee!
Welcome to the all-new BillyDeeWilliams.com, the site dedicated to being the definitive resource for all things Billy Dee!
Billy Dee Williams (born William December Williams Jr. on April 6, 1937 in New York City) is an American actor who for a period in the 1970s rivaled Sidney Poitier as the most popular African-American actor in American film. Williams graduated from Manhattan’s School of Performing Arts.
His first big break was in the acclaimed television movie, Brian’s Song in which he played Gale Sayers. His next hit came in 1972 when he played Billie Holliday’s husband Louis McKay in Motown Productions’ Holliday biopic Lady Sings the Blues. Diana Ross starred in Lady Sings the Blues opposite Williams; Motown paired the two of them again three years later in Mahogany.
Arguably, his most famous role is Lando Calrissian, which he played in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Williams had originally auditioned for the role of Han Solo during the casting of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. He later reprised this role, when he lent his voice for the character in the 2002 video game Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, as well as the audio dramatization of Dark Empire.
Williams appeared in numerous other films, most recently lending his voice to Oedipus (2004). One of his most notable roles was in 1989’s Batman as district attorney Harvey Dent. Williams originally took the role believing that it would land him in a sequel playing the supervillain Two-Face, but the studio did not use him when the time came for the third installment, Batman Forever. Instead, the part of Harvey Dent/Two-Face went to Tommy Lee Jones.
William’s television work included a recurring guest-starring role on the short-lived show Gideon’s Crossing. He has had a brief cameo in the hit TV show Scrubs season 5, where he plays the godfather of Julie. He is also well-known for his appearance in advertisements for Colt 45, a low-cost brand of malt liquor, for which he received much criticism. Williams responded indifferently to the criticism of his appearances in the liquor commercials. When questioned about his appearances he was quoted as saying, “I drink, you drink. Hell, if marijuana was legal, I’d appear in a commercial for it.”
He also plays a live action character, GDI Director Redmond Boyle, in the video game Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, making him the second former Star Wars actor to appear in a Command and Conquer game.
Billy Dee Williams also portrayed Pastor Dan in an episode of “That 70’s Show.” In this episode entitled “Baby Don’t You Do It”(2004) his character is obsessed with “Star Wars”, and uses this to help counsel Eric and Donna about their premarital relationship.
Williams made a cameo appearance as himself on the TV series Lost in the episode “Exposé”.
Filmography
* The Last Angry Man (1959)
* Black Brigade (1970)
* The Out-of-Towners (1970)
* Brian’s Song (1971)
* The Final Comedown (1972)
* Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
* Hit! (1973)
* The Take (1974)
* Mahogany (1975)
* The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)
* Scott Joplin (1977) as Scott Joplin
* Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) as Lando Calrissian
* Nighthawks (1981)
* Chiefs (1983) (TV miniseries)
* Marvin and Tige (1983)
* Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) as Lando Calrissian
* Fear City (1984)
* Number One with a Bullet (1987)
* Deadly Illusion (1987)
* Batman (1989) as Harvey Dent
* Secret Agent OO Soul (1990)
* Driving Me Crazy (1991)
* Giant Steps (1992)
* Martin (TV series) (1992)
* Alien Intruder (1993)
* Steel Sharks (1996)
* The Prince (1996)
* Moving Target (1996)
* Mask of Death (1996)
* The Contract (1998)
* Woo (1998) (cameo)
* The Visit (2000)
* The Ladies Man (2000)
* 18 Wheels of Justice (2000) (TV series)
* Very Heavy Love (2001)
* Good Neighbor (2001)
* The Last Place on Earth (2002)
* Undercover Brother (2002)
* Oedipus (2004) (short subject) (voice)
* That 70’s Show (2004) (TV Series) (one time appearance) as Pastor Dan
* Scrubs (2004) (cameo)
* Hood of Horror (2006)
* Constellation (2007)
* Lost as Himself
Gimme Shelter
| Oh, a storm is threatning My very life today If I dont get some shelter Oh yeah, Im gonna fade away War, children, its just a shot away Ooh, see the fire is sweepin War, children, its just a shot away Rape, murder! Rape, murder! Rape, murder! The floods is threatning War, children, its just a shot away |
 The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed Release: 1969 Lyrics: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards Music: The Rolling Stones |