Blue Angels, Jones Beach 2010

The Jones Beach Airshow has become a Long Island tradition. This year, the headline act was the Blue Angels. They are the Navy's team, and the pilots are chosen from the very best of Naval aviation to fly the F-18's. While I have had issues in years past trying to get some decent pics of these fast jets (shutter lag, haze, etc), this year the planets aligned. Well almost. While the video camera turned out to be not charged, the stills turned out well. I sequenced the best shots together into an online slideshow. Comments appreciated!

Blue angels

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Reviewed by Jonas

Overall Grade: A

THE BIG BOOK OF PORN by Seth Grahame-Smith

Sure, everyone knows something about dirty movies -- but what about their history? Their biggest stars, both male and female? What does it take to make one? What are the silliest titles? These are some of the areas covered by The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty Movies by Seth Grahame-Smith.

Grahame-Smith's approach to this world is both informed and tongue-in-cheek. He has no problem recognizing the problems of his subject ("Most of today's pornos have the artistic content of a septic tank...") or bashing anything he doesn't personally like. He also has a sense of humor, keeping the mood light from start to finish: During his history of porn, dark or negative events are given the header "limp moments in porn history."

So what's in The Big Book of Porn? "A Brief History of Porn Movies" provides a quick, well, history of porn the movies, from the first movies made to 2005 (when this was published). "Know Your Classics" discusses twenty "essential" movies -- not chosen for their prurient value! "The Pantheon of Porn" goes through the author's picks for the most important stars (male and female) and directors in adult entertainment. "What to Watch, Where to Find It" gives porn genres, sources, and possible future. "It's a Small World After All" dedicates a paragraph or two to porn around the globe. "Make Your Own Porno" is a how-to guide to creating a skin flick, from start to finish. And "Extra Features" has various items: a glossary of terms, useful websites, a calendar of events for annual adult conventions and award shows, and 300 of the silliest, funniest, and unbelievable titles out there. There are also random inserts through the book, like the story behind the arrest of Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman) and a poem to the dirty old days of 42nd Street. And yes, there are photos.

The Big Book of Porn is a light-but-solid look at the universe of the skin flick. Many of Grahame-Smith's choices are subjective (I take issue with his leaving out star Asia Carrera and director Andrew Blake) and some of the topics are covered far too briefly (the "big book" is a little over 200 pages long -- a lot of which are photos). The author's humor helps diminish these problems, as he moves the tone of his book from a serious history or analysis to a fan chatting in earnest about his passion. The Big Book of Porn is far from the definitive work on adult cinema, but it's a fun read -- and a good start to further exploration.

Overall grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch

BEOWULF

What happens when an ancient epic poem becomes a fully computer-animated movie? You get Beowulf, a decent reinvention of what may be the oldest English work ever.

It's 507 A.D. and something is indeed rotten in the state of Denmark. King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) is a merry old ruler, interested in celebrating and partying with his subjects -- and his reluctant wife, Wealthow (Robin Wright Penn). An attack by the giant, hideous monster Grendel (Crispin Glover) throws the kingdom into turmoil, leading Hrothgar to offer great rewards to a hero who can slay the monster.

Enter Beowulf (Ray Winstone) and his faithful companion Wiglaf (Brendan Gleeson), who braved a storm to gain glory by slaying the monster. Beowulf is a combination of braggart and hero, ready to exaggerate his victories while also proving a mighty warrior. His weakness is for women, which is a problem when faced with Grendel's Mother (Angelina Jolie), a sinister and slightly alien seductive demon.



This Beowulf is not the classic poem; as director Robert Dimeckis notes in the dvd commentary, "It's all about eating, drinking, fighting and fornicating." Beowulf certainly delivers when it comes to fighting, as the hero battles sea monsters, the horrid Grendel, and a giant dragon -- all of which are wonderfully rendered with cgi. (The same is true, in a very different fashion, for Grendel's Mother, clearly based on Jolie herself.)

Beowulf falters with its humans. While this movie's monsters are very impressive, the cgi humans looks like artificial creations from a 1990s video game. This is a shame, considering the voice talent is excellent, from Hopkins' regal and tired king to Wistone's hero that is aware of his flaws. And Angelina Jolie is literally irrestible here, with her evil yet captivating voice.

Screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary do a good job adapting this very long classic poem to a movie-length time, and the story holds together pretty well. I just wish that Beowulf didn't have such an artificial look to it. (Dvd extras include making-of features (including the actors working in extensive sensor-detecting devices), slightly unfinished extra scenes, and lots of background on the story and art.)

Overall grade: C
Reviewed by James Lynch

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT: HEAVEN by Walter Iooss

Walter Iooss may be the most loved and least known man in America. What does he do? Fellow beach denizen Warren Buffett sums up Iooss' job nicely in his introduction to Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: Heaven: "For 38 years Walter has been taking the most beautiful women on the planet to its most extraordinary natural wonders, to photograph them mostly naked. Simple." Yes, Iooss has been taking photographs for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue special since the 1970s, and Sports Illustrated: Heaven is a gorgeous collection of some of these photos.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: Heaven showcases some of the world's most famous models, many of whom got their start thanks to Iooss' pictures. This collection includes: Christie Brinkley, Cherly Tiegs, Carol Alt, Kathy Ireland, Heidi Klum, Rachel Hunter, Rebecca Rominj, Paulina Porizkova, Tyra Banks, Marisa Miller, Brooklyn Decker and Bar Refaeli. These are some of the most beautiful women in the world, from the 1970s to the present, photographed at their very best.

Belinda Carlisle sang that "Heaven is a place on Earth" but Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: Heaven makes a good case for Heaven being divided among several places on the globe. The pictures here were taken in numerous locations -- from Hawaii and Montauk to Brazil, Vietnam and the Maldives -- and Iooss' photos display the beauty of nature as well as that of his human subjects.

For those who can get their minds past the beautiful women here, this Sports Illustrated collection has something many of their other swimsuit collections lack: organization. At the start of this book is a table of contents that includes the location of the photographs, the models photographed there, and the years in which those pictures were taken. (The models' names are also printed near their photos throughout the book as well.) This simple feature makes navigating through this book, to find a particular photo or set of photos, very easy.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: Heaven also has comments by Iooss about both the locations and the models. While most of these comments are about how beautiful the women are, there are a few surprises, like Iooss didn't like his photo of Cheryl Tiegs that launched her into stardom or how he didn't like the Cayman Islands: "There is no place to go, the whole island is overbuilt."

If there's one complaint with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: Heaven it's that, for some reason, a few of the photos were made into collages or had graphics put on their borders -- and if there were ever a bunch of photos that didn't need anything extra, it's these! But that's a small price to pay for seeing a master of photography displaying almost four decades of what may be the most beautiful women in the world -- in swimsuits! In a coffee table book! 'Nuff said.

Overall grade: A+

Reviewed by James Lynch

ZOMBIE DICE

So, do you like rolling dice and eating brains? Then Zombie Dice is the game for you! This Steve Jackson Games has the players as zombies, competing to eat the most brains first.

The key to Zombie Dice is, well, the zombie dice. These six-sided dice have three symbols: Brain, which you need to win; Shotgun, which can end your turn; and Footprints, which mean your would-be victim got away. Dice come in three colors: green, which have three Brains, two Footprints, and one Shotgun; yellow, with two of each symbol; and red, with three Shotguns, two Footprints and one Brain.

Each turn a player shakes the cup holding the dice, selects three dice at random, and rolls them. If a player gets three Shotgun Blasts their turn ends. If not, they can stop or keep going. A player who stops scores a Brain for each Brain rolled (keeping track of them by something other than the dice), puts all the dice back in the cup, and passes it to the next player for their turn. If a player keeps going they set aside any Brains and Shotguns rolled, then reroll any Footprints, plus more random dice until they have three dice to roll. Players can get more Brains if the keep going -- but if they ever have three Shotguns they lose all the Brains they scored that round and their turn ends.

When a player scores 13 Brains, players finish the round (the rules don't specify exactly what this means; my interpretation is each player gets one more turn) and whoever has the most Brains at the end wins!

Much like Steve Jackson Games' Cthuhu Dice, Zombie Dice is very simple and very quick. I'd give the edge to Zombie Dice for having more strategy. This game does have a big risk-big reward element, and knowing just by color which dice are more potnetially helpful or harmful will influence whether or not a player pushes their luck. Zombie Dice is a fun, easy, diverting little game. Brrrrrrainsssssss...

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL

Ian Dury was one of the main forces of the punk/new wave music scene in England in the 1970s -- but what about Ian Dury the man, the artist, the father? Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll is a look at this flawed genius.

Andy Serkis plays the adult Ian Dury, and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll focuses on Dury's life and career during three periods: His struggling music of the late 1960s, fame and success through the 1970s, and excess and failings in the 1980s. Through these times the most important people to Dury are his wife Betty (Olivia Williams), who Dury separates from but cannot divorce; Denise (Naomie Harris), Dury's mistress who sometimes gets on better with Betty than with him; and Baxter (Bill Milner), Dury's young son.

In this movie Dury is, overall, a rascal. He's passionate about both art and life, perfectly suited for partying and performing. (At one point he tells young people he thinks of himself more as an entertainer than a singer.) He's also reckless, self-destructive, and almost indifferent to the pain and chaos he brings to those around him. Flashbacks show Dury struggling with polio, while his limp in the present is the least of his problems.

As with many biopics, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll focuses almost solely on the star, with other characters existing to react to the central character. Fortunately, Andy Serkis is terrific as Dury, making him larger than life -- and very aware of his flaws while not trying to change them. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll isn't about the music (though the music performances here are energetic and show why Dury was so popular) but the man. The style of this movie is sometimes uneven -- fast flashbacks, slow dramatic scenes, occasionally having Dury telling his life story during a rock concert -- but director Mat Whitecross makes both Dury and the supporting cast real people instead of shallow stereotypes. For a portrait of the artist as a charming narcissist, check out Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.

Overall grade: B+
Reviewed by James Lynch

9 TO 5: DAYS IN PORN

Pornography is such a provocative and controversial item it's easy to forget about the people involved in it. This is addressed in 9 to 5: Days in Porn, a documentary that examines the lives of adult film professionals.

There are several different people (the director calls them "characters") in 9 to 5: Days in Porn. They include: married couple Otto Bauer and Audrey Hollander; new starlet Sasha Grey; sisters Alicia and Joanna Angel; superstar Belladonna and German star Katja Kassin; Dr. Sharon Mitchell, a former porn star that became a doctor fighting disease in the porn community; Mark Spiegler, agent to many new and established stars; and several other men and women working in the San Fernando Valley making porn.

The focus of 9 to 5: Days in Porn isn't the industry (nothing on the impact of the Internet or current trends) but what it takes to survive, professionally and personally, making a living by putting one's sexuality out there for all to see. Those shown here are quite a diverse group. Sasha Grey started with an ambitious and creative mission statement and proudly compares her line of work ("we're sexual athletes") with "normal" teens. Otto and Audrey are a couple with their own strengths and problems -- neither of which involve their roles with other people. Spiegler is pragmatic (warning about not throwing away one's earnings), while Mitchell warns, "Denial is the backbone of pornography when it comes to health care."

9 to 5: Days in Porn is a pretty good look at the people who make their living working in the adult entertainment industry. While the documentary sometimes avoids the doubts or problems of the subjects (director Jens Hoffmann said he didn't want to repay the people's trust in him by showing them crying or at their worst) it also doesn't glamorize the industry either. Several people note that the stigma of being a porn actor follows people after they leave, and they also warn that entering the industry for the wrong reasons can destroy people.

The goal, and achievement, of 9 to 5: Days in Porn is to show the people involved in porn as three-dimensional people, not stereotypes or airheads or victims. This documentary is a good behind-the-scenes look at the different types of people working in a very controversial and popular genre. (DVD bonuses include deleted scenes, filming at the AVN Awards Show, and a q&a with director Jens Hoffmann at a film festival.)

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch

CTHULHU DICE

So, you want to be a cultist, serving Cthuhu and driving your fellow cultists mad, but you want to do so without spending a lot of time or learning a lot of rules or needing a lot of space. What to do? Cthulhu Dice, from Steve Jackson Games, is the perfect solution. Thie die-rolling game is very cheap, very simple, very compact, and pretty fun.

Each player in Cthulhu Dice is a cultist who starts with three sanity tokens. On a player's turn the main player is the Caster, choosing a Victim (another player) and rolling the special die that is the heart of this game. Roll a Tentacle and you get one sanity token from the Victim. Roll a Yellow Sign and one sanity token from the Victim goes to Cthulhu (an area in the center of the table). Roll the picture of Cthulhu and all players lose one sanity token to Cthulhu. Roll an Elder Sign and you get one sanity token from Cthulhu (if one is available). And if you roll an Eye, you get to choose the result of your roll. After the Caster is done, the Victim gets to roll against the Caster. After that the person to the Caster's left becomes the next Caster, and so on. If a player has no sanity tokens, they're Mad: Any tokens they get from other players go to Cthulhu and they can only regain Sanity tokens with an Elder Sign.

If a turn ends and only one player has any sanity tokens, that player wins. If a turn ends and no player has any sanity tokens, Cthulhu wins and all the players lose!

Those are all the rules to Cthulhu Dice. Each game takes 5-10 minutes, and each set comes with one die, 18 sanity tokens, and instructions. Since players don't need to roll dice simultaneously, it's possible to play with several people using only one set; serious gamers will want the four different dice colors, while hardcore gamers (yo) will also go for the two glow-in-the-dark dice available online.

Cthulhu Dice is one of the simplest games I own and among the simplest I've ever played. The only strategy per se is who to choose as your Victim and what result to use if you roll an Eye. So while skill is next to absent and luck is vital here, Cthulhu Dice is still fun. This is a game you can carry in your pocket, teach in almost no time at all, and play multiple times in just a few minutes. Folks looking for deep strategies in their gaming should look elsewhere, but Cthulhu Dice is a neat game for a few quick plays or something to play before a main event.

Overall grade: B-
Reviewed by James Lynch

IRON MAN 2

Superhero movies and sequels go together these days as much as superhero movies and cgi. Given the success of the original Iron Man, a sequel was all but inevitable. Despite having the same director and most of the same cast, Iron Man 2 is disappointing.

Six months after the events of the first movie, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is enjoying the spotlight, single-handedly bringing about world peace, and loved by the public. Unfortunately, radiation from Stark's artificial heart is slowly killing him. Russian criminal Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) has created powerful electric whips, and business rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) wants to undermine Stark Industries.

Every hero needs friends and allies. Petter Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is back as the concerned aide who is made C.E.O. of Stark Industries. Lt. Col. "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle, replacing Terrence Howard from the first movie) is the responsible friend who will become War Machine. Director Jon Favreau steps in front of the camera as chauffer Happy Hogan. And, foreshadowing the eventual Avengers movie, there are appearances by Nick Fury (Sameul L. Jackson) and martial artist-super spy Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson).

The characters in Iron Man 2 are very one-dimensional, from all the people asking Tony Stark innumerable variations of "Are you alright?" to Justin Hammer as a ineffectual, unpopular copy of Stark's success. Robert Downey Jr. is still good in the role, but here he has less room for growth and discovery than in the first movie. And for an action flick, there are numerous stretches of this movie that are pretty boring. Iron Man 2 isn't terrible but it's not all that enjoyable either.

Overall grade: C-

Reviewed by James Lynch

The XX, XX (Young Turks, 2009)

The XX are a London-based group consisting of Romy Madley Croft (vocals and guitar), Oliver Sim (vocals and bass), and Jamie Smith (programming). Their debut CD XX was recorded with a fourth member, Baria Quereshi, on guitar and keyboards. Their unusual arrangements combine vocal duets with minimalist instrumentation evocative of The Velvet Underground for a generally sparse, but emotive, ambience.

While XX received a good deal of favorable critical response for its originality, I felt that the album lacked sufficient quality material to hold up to the scrutiny that comes with multiple listens. In other words, a few songs grabbed my attention initially, but nothing really held it for long. Even the strongest track on the album, "Infinity," suffers from being derivative -- the Bm-A-E chord progression and the heavily echoed guitar come straight from Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game." Having said that, there is something unique and intriguing about their sound. The light, simple playing fits the mood of the songs well, and the ability and willingness of Croft and Sim to share the spotlight equally bodes well for long-term collaborations.

I do think that The XX have a few good musical ideas, and they'll almost certainly have plenty of opportunities to develop them further. A number of music publications jumped the gun in naming XX the best album of 2009, though. The songwriting just wasn't memorable enough to warrant that kind of distinction.

Overall grade: B-

reviewed by Scott

"Crystalised"

BUBBA HO-TEP

Did you know Elvis didn't die? And that he's fighting supernatural evil? Neither of these are as glamorous as they sound in Bubba Ho-Tep, a terrific adaption of Joe R. Landsale's short story. And Bruce Campbell playing Elvis is truly perfect casting.

Well, it turns out that many years ago Elvis, tired of the fame and drugs and selling out, switched places with Elvis impersonator Sebastian Haff. A trailer park explosion destroyed all proof of Elvis' true identity, and falling off a stage (yes, Elvis made his living impersonating himself) led to mental problems and a broken hip. Now Elvis is old and ornery, tired and cursing at folks in the Mud Creek Shady Rest Convalescent Home in Texas. He suffers through strokes, a nurse (Ella Joyce) who doesn't believe him, needing a walker to get around, and a growth that may be cancerous.


Something is rotten in Shady Rest: A mummy, wearing cowboy hat and boots, is feeding on the souls of the residents. (Two undertakers hauling a body bag to their waiting hearse is a repeated scnee.) The only person besides Elvis who knows about this creature is Jack (Ossie Davis, in one of his last roles), who gets a lot of information on the creature. Of course Jack thinks that he is JFK, even having an elaborate conspiracy theory to explain how he wound up there. ("They dyed me this color!")

Bubba Ho-Tep is directed by Don Coscarelli, who has done several other horror movies (including the Phantasm series) and he does a terrific job balancing the comedy and horror of the material. The characters aren't goofy, cuddly eccentrics but foul-mouthed people frustrated by the ravages of age.

Speaking of the actors, the leads are wonderful. Bruce Campbell always does cocky well, and here it's tempered with the bitterness of a very steep decline. Ossie Davis also has fun with his role, delivering outrageous theories with a deadpan delivery and conducting himself with so much dignity, by the end you may think he is JFK. (He's not. I think.)

The horror in Bubba Ho-Tep is not all that scary (charging with a motorized wheelchair, battling a scarab beetle with a bedpan) but the acting and execution is great. Dvd extras include commentaries (including Bruce Campbell doing a commentary as Elvis), Joe R. Lansdale reading some of the original story, and deleted scenes.

Bubba Ho-Tep is goofy, it's foul-mouthed, and it's tremendous fun. Hail to the King!

Overall grade: A-

Reviewed by James Lynch

THE ART OF BELLYDANCE

For me, The Art of Bellydance was definitely an impulse buy: I know little about actual bellydancing and less about the music, but I thought I'd give it a try. It turned out pretty well.

The Art of Bellydance collects thirteen songs by artists I never heard of (no Shakira here). While some of the songs could be considered "typical" Middle Eastern-style songs, there's a good deal of variety here. The songs are divided fairly evenly between instrumentals and songs with vocals, and the latter include Arabic, English, and Spanish. Further, while some songs are traditional others have the influence of techno ("No Gravity"), rap ("Chicky") and Latin music ("Abdel Khader").

The Art of Bellydance is a good intro to this style of music. I may not go out seeking more music to bellycance to after this album, but I'll give this a listen when I feel like shakin' a little.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

GLEE: THE POWER OF MADONNA

It's safe to say that nothing has done more to promote song covers recently than the TV show Glee. Recently this show of singing teens got access to Madonna's music catalog, resulting in a whole episode revolving around her songs. The music from that episode has been collected on Glee: The Power of Madonna.

Most of the songs here are pretty straightforward covers. There are a few exceptions: a nice mash-up of "Borderline" and "Open Your Heart." Jane Lynch tosses a few lines about the show into "Vogue," and "What It Feels Like for a Girl" sounds oddly poignant when sang by men. And with only seven songs on the album, this is a pretty fast listen.

Glee: The Power of Madonna is decent, but if you know these songs you'll know what to expect.

Overall grade: B-
Reviewed by James Lynch

THE MACHINE GIRL Remix

There's something appropriately ridiculous about a Japanese woman in a schoolgirl uniform violently blowing away bad guys with her left arm -- which is now a machine gun. This is the whole premise of The Machine Girl -- Remix, a hyper-violent and stylized action movie.

Ami Hyuga (Minase Yashiro) is a happy college student. She lives alone with her brother Yu (Ryosuke Kawamura) after their parents were framed for murder and committed suicide. Yu gets mixed up with Sho Kimura (Nobuhiro Nishihara), sadistic son of former ninja and current yakuza leader Ryuji Kimura (Kentaro Shimazo) and his evil wife Violet (Honoka). Before you know it Yu and a friend are killed, and when Ami goes for revenge she's captured and her left arm is cut off.

But wait -- there's more! Ami escapes and winds up at the home of Miki (Asami) and Suguru (Yuya Ishikawa), parents of Yu's friend that was murdered. They also want revenge; and as mechanics, they naturally build a gatling gun-type machine gun to replace Ami's left arm. And Miki is a kick-ass martial artist as well.

The Machine Girl -- Remix proves that a movie can be completely violent and silly at the same time. There are innumerable scenes involving sadism, severed limbs, blood spurting, and very bizarre exotic weaponry. But it's all handled so goofily that this movie, much like Ichi the Killer, transcends violence and goes into the realm of comedy. It's hard to take a killer bra, or parents of killed children acting like ninjas in football costumes, all that seriously. (A dvd extra has a "spin off" in which several characters who were killed off are miraculously back -- and the machine gun is now in an... awkward place. It's even sillier than the main feature.)

Is The Machine Girl -- Remix entertaining? To a point. This movie may both revel in and parody the excesses of Japanese martial arts and violence, but after a while it feels as gratituous as what they're parodying. (And the "spin off" is pure comedy -- I hope.) If you have a strong stomach and a sense of humor, and want to see just how far Japanese "shock cinema" can go, then The Machine Girl -- Remix is worth checking out.

Overall grade: C+
Reviewed by James Lynch

Oumou Sangare, Seya (Nonesuch, 2009)

Oumou Sangare is a singer from Bamako in Mali. She built up a considerable following in Africa in the early nineties both for her voice and for her songs about female empowerment. While she has performed sparingly over the past decade, tending to many different business ventures in the meantime, her esteem in the African musical community has not diminished. This past year she released her sixth album, called Seya.

Sangare differs from her male compatriots like Habib Koité, Vieux Farka Touré, and Amadou Bagayoko (of Amadou and Mariam) in that she doesn't place such a heavy emphasis on the guitar. Instead, she prefers to build her songs around the lyrics and some subtle, graceful rhythms. Her style is also a bit more eclectic, incorporating some jazzy touches and some extended jams with a bit of an Afrobeat influence. But while the meaning in her songs will probably require translations to understand, it is her outspokenness that commands the attention of music listeners on her home continent. The primary lyrical themes on Seya are the right of women to marry or not marry as they see fit, and support and sympathy for Africans who emigrate abroad in the hope of bettering their lives.

She may not be as prolific now as she was in the past, but when Oumou Sangare talks (or sings), people listen. I would definitely recommend listening to Seya with the translated lyrics in front of you (they're in the CD booklet); it will make it a lot easier to appreciate what she's about. Musically, the song that worked the best for me were a couple of the longer, groove-oriented songs, "Wele Wele Winto" and "Iyo Djeli." But anybody with an interest in African music will find something to like here.

Ovverall grade: B

reviewed by Scott

The title song of Seya