The Zephyr Experience

It’s strange seeing how much I like baseball that I’ve never been to a New Orleans Zephyrs game before. Ten years later, free tickets fell into my lap, and I find myself in the middle of over-commercialized, nonchalant AAA baseball. The atmosphere at Zephyr Field is unlike any other sporting event I’ve attended. I’ve never been to a game where over 95 percent of the audience could care less about what was happening on the field. I don’t think it would be a stretch to suggest that majority of the “fans” couldn’t tell you how baseball is played. Of course when it’s “one dollar beer night” in Metairie, it’s hard to care about anything. I too found myself lost in the humid buzz that only Louisiana weather mixed with lukewarm Bud Light can create. Good thing there was a scoreboard or no one would have known when to leave. Our seats were great; only four rows from the Zephyrs’ dugout. I’ve never actually been that close to the field since I’ve watched a high school game. Sitting that close to the action opened new experiences to game for me such as hearing the coach scream at the umpire and actually being able to understand what he’s saying. It was a relief to know someone at the ballpark cared who won. I also discovered what a buzz-kill a foul ball flying at your face can be. It was great to see that Minor League baseball still has the charm and aura that Bull Durham revealed to us. There’s nothing in a AAA ballpark that isn’t for sale to the highest bidding sponsor. It would be sad to see baseball whored out this way if it weren’t so amusing. Who can’t smile at the “Hamburger Helper Skillet Challenge” and the like in between innings? I can’t blame them; if the audience isn’t interested in the game, you’ve got to come up with something. Nothing compliments dollar beer night better than “Jewish Heritage Night” complete with Jewish baseball trivia (of course Shawn Green was an answer) and kosher food in the Coors Light pavilion. It’s wasn’t the Wailing Wall, but I’m sure it was the next best thing. And that’s the unpredictable gimmicky nature of Minor League baseball that keeps Americans and me coming back for more.

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Huge improvement. Rise of the Silver Surfer continues Marvel’s streak of making sequels that surpass the original. Unfortunately, it also continues another streak: putting silly dance numbers in Marvel superhero movies. That streak now stands at an obnoxious two in a row (see my review of Spiderman 3). When comparing this film to the first, there is hardly a comparison. The humor is funnier, the writing more coherent, and the subplots more relevant and integral. However, when comparing this movie to any other movie, I can see why many critics will pan it. The movie’s themes are cliché and progress in a formulaic fashion that leaves their conclusions predictable and boring. Rise of the Silver Surfer is slow to start which is detrimental to a movie that is only an hour and a half to begin with. I’m pretty sure the average Fantastic Four audience is not interested in how difficult it is for Reed and Susan to plan a wedding. The exposition kick-starts the age old theme can also be found in every other comic book movie ever made: “Can we ever live a normal life?” And the character development does not get any more ground breaking than that. Fantastic Four shows its audience nothing new or innovative in the way of plot or special effects. The movie’s bright spot is its humor. Director Tim Story’s experience with comedy films (Barbershop, Taxi) shines through in his approach to Fantastic Four. At least Fantastic Four never takes itself seriously, and it doesn’t expect you to either. At every point in the plot where the action or drama seems too tense, a wise crack shows up just in time to bring the mood back to where it should be. However, sometimes the humor can seem to be forced and out of place. Fantastic Four never pretends to be anything other than a mindless special effects display so keep that in mind when buying your tickets. By the way, I have to say that casting Laurence Fishburne as the voice of the Silver Surfer was a brilliant move.

Now where will we see cool movies?

The Advocate is reporting that Siegen Village is closing. I remember in high school when that theater was the best one in town. However, once Tinseltown was built, it lost its popularity. But in recent years, it was had redefined itself the closest venue Baton Rouge had to an "art house" theater. Now, there's no where here to go see indy movies that are only playing in "select" theaters. I'll be the first to admit that Seigen Village was in no way a "select" theater or even a great place to see a movie. The sound was like a phonograph that was turned up way too loud, and the whole building had a distinct "we never really clean the bathrooms all the way" musk about it. But at least their was an alternative to seeing something other than "Mindless Sequel 7." Oh well, now we'll either have to wait until DVD or drive down to Canal Place to see cool movies. I think the last movie I saw there was the local film, At Last, but I could be wrong.

Wedding Website

I've finally launched the website for our wedding. People who are unfamiliar with where Christ the King or the Faculty club is can go to the site for maps and other information. There's also some neato pictures up there. Click the banner or the link below to see it.

http://www.christinandpatrick.com

Spider-Man 3

Third time is hardly a charm. I guess what goes up much eventually come down. The Spider-Man franchise was experiencing a rarity that few previous movie franchises had faced before: the sequel was better than the original. This most notably was the case with the Terminator movies, and most recently with another comic book movie, X-Men. But just like those two other franchises, Spider-Man couldn't "pull a Seinfeld" and quit while he was ahead. Spider-Man joins the ranks of those trilogies by adding a third movie to the series that does not deliver.

Spider-Man had been following the "one movie, one villain" template in the previous two episodes. Those two movies were great. So I guess Sam Raimi fell into the same trap that bachelors fall into when they first learn to cook on their own. Most men in the early throws of bachelorhood will read the directions on the back of the Hamburger Helper box that say "cook for 20 minutes on medium heat." In lies the trap: they then think that if they cook it for 10 minutes on high heat, it will cook faster while maintaining some "cooking time ratio" they think exists (this is also the first time a bachelor learns how to disable a smoke alarm). Raimi falls for the movie equivalent of this trap by suggesting that if one villain in a movie is good, then surely three villains in a movie is triple good, right!? Wrong, sir! See exhibit A: every Batman movie after the first one. In fact Spider-Man 3 most parallels the third Batman movie, Batman Forever. Like Batman Forever, Spider-Man 3 is hokey edging on ridiculousness. Some scenes were outright cheesy with villains making agreements to kill Spider-Man like they were trading baseball cards and there is even a dance number! At least the dance number in Batman was relegated to Prince's music video and not made a major plot point like in Spider-Man 3. In the comics, the black costume made Peter Parker selfish, vengeful, cold-hearted, and overly aggressive. In the movie, the black (or really gray) suit turns Parker into the same type of person but not to the degree it should have. One thing the suit does in the movie that it didn't do in the comics was transform Peter Parker into some kind of silly, emo, dancing machine (complete with emo hair-do). I don't why they went in that direction. Something tells me Hollywood is trying too hard to appeal to tween-aged girls.

All in all, the script was not well thought out. It contains too many sub-plots and characters going off in so many directions that not even the best writer could wrangle them all in. On top of that, the villains are Sandman, who was never that interesting in the comics, and Venom, whose concept of being the evil version of the hero never results in quality writing, and New Goblin who isn't that strong due to the campy acting of James Franco. The movie is formulaic. Just like the first two, it begins with the main villain being created through a scientific accident. And again just like the first two, it ends with a kidnapped Mary Jane hanging on to something while Spider-man battles the villains. Just a thought but why doesn't some investigative reporter in New York put it together that Mary Jane is the one always getting kidnapped. Hey journalists! You think she might mean something to Spider-Man!? 'Nuff Said!

Thanks for a Successful Art Show

This past Friday night was a great night for ICON Studios. Our art show, Instrvmentvm, at Rasputin was a success. Thanks to everyone who showed up and drank vodka with us. It was the most people I have seen at an art show in a long time. We hope to have many more of these and because of the great showing, I'm sure Rasputin will let us. Heath, Dave, and Keith had some great artwork on display, but I haven't heard any feedback from anyone about what they thought (so leave some comments and let me know).

Now, it's time for us to get back to work bringing art, culture, and liveliness to Baton Rouge. But first, here are some pictures from the event (with special thanks to Christin for taking them):

First Reorder

This past weekend I received my first reorder for Like That. So I want to thank Jim Hanely's Universe in Manhattan for selling a lot of my books. If you are in New York, go down to West 33rd Street and buy a copy of Like That so they can put in an unprecedented third order! Speaking of New York, there is also another comic shop in Manhattan that started carrying the book: Forbidden Planet on Broadway.