Billy Joel's 52nd Street (Big Shot, My Life, etc.), in 1978, I think, at about age 13. I got into music-buying fairly late.

My teen years, most of my musical taste was copying my brother's (he's 4 years older). He had bought "The Stranger," although his favorite artists/groups at the time were probably Boston, Styx and The Eagles.

I didn't even have a stereo. I had this goofy, off-white, "boxed clamshell" type turntable with a single mono speaker. My best friend Joey and I would go to the mall and visit stores like Korvette's, Harmony Hut, etc. and other record stores whose names are lost to time. Ultimately I just went with 52nd Street, because buying some album my brother already had seemed like a moot point, and because Big Shot and My Life were saturating FM radio at the time and helping block disco from the airwaves.

I found 52nd Street "aged" pretty well over the years. By that, I mean some songs that did nothing for me at age 13, I suddenly started to like when I was in college, or in my 30s and listened to the songs (albeit, by then it was either of a tape of that record, or a greatest hits CD).

"Until the Night" is this melodramatic attempt at Billy Joey as The Righteous Brothers, and at age 13 I thought it was terrible. I never listened to the song all the way through. At some point around age 20 in college when I was having a hard time, I listened to the song again and it meant more to me. And now as old fart, it's one of my favorite Billy Joel songs. But I think you almost have to have aged and lived through some heartache before you appreciate the song. At least, that's how it worked for me.  

Cool thread idea btw. Enjoyed reading everybody's firsts.  

I'd keep in mind the HTC One is brand new, and you probably won't find many informed opinions on it yet.

Ars Technica did a pretty in depth hands-on with it:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/05/htc-one-review-its-now-or-never-again/

I'm inclined to say that the Galaxy S 4 is still the Android phone to beat, if only because HTC's Sense 5 is too grating for my normal TouchWiz ways. Although Samsung's TouchWiz UI has its own follies, it feels like it's still an Android experience, though it's not Google's. The One's UI doesn't feel so much like Android, although I instinctively know how to swipe around to get to what I need within Sense 5.

The HTC One also attracted more attention than the Galaxy S 4 did when I used it in the real world. It was the aluminum chassis that caught onlookers' eyes at first, and the general consensus was that the HTC One felt better in the hand. This is really a matter of personal preference, and while I don't like that HTC has made some changes to Android that I'm not too keen on—the lack of a Menu button and the BlinkFeed takeover, for instance—it's no different from what any other OEM is doing with its Android handsets that aren't a part of the Nexus program.

There's also a bit to be said about the construction of the HTC One. As Brian Klug at Anandtech pointed out in his review of the device, HTC has created a design story for the One that gives it some Apple appeal. Rather than try its hand at branding through a flagship name—like Samsung has done with its Galaxy line of phones—HTC will instead attempt to gun for the design savvy with its “zero-gap” construction. It must be working, because even at-a-glancers seem to like what they see in the One's aluminum construction and design.

Now, not that I know crap about this (I'm a happy iPhone user since last year), but I think it's more do you want a fancy pants aluminum case with front firing amplified speakers, or not.

Bah, as much as I like the borg, please, no more! They've been overused and any appearance in the new movies would mean they're creatively bankrupt. Create on your own damned ideas, J.J!

Agreed.

And I'd like at some point a little more exploration/discovery in the movies. I don't expect them to be TV episodes per se, but really, we've had our reboot Origin story, and I loved it; and now it's the dark "space terrorist" who at least on the surface seems a riff on Javier Bardem's character in the recent Skyfall bond film. Now...

OMG. Now it's gonna be a riff on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (which I liked, but don't feel JJ and co. need to reboot). What have I done? Forget my suggestion.

Seriously though, we haven't yet had our "Kirk trapped on a planet where he has to team up with some combative alien to survive/escape" storyline. Maybe that's the third movie right there. God knows, so much of our planet is so busy trying to kill each other over everything. How about giving us a sci-fi movie with a little bit of teaming up/hope? They can rip off Wolfgang Petersen's "Enemy Mine," perhaps minus the hermaphrodite angle...

[STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Sells out May 15th IMAX 3D Screenings; 2D and 3D Release Moved up to May 16th]

The Wed., May 15 IMAX shows have all sold out, so Paramount has decided to just push the general release date to Thursday, May 16:

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Sells out May 15th IMAX 3D Screenings; 2D and 3D Release Moved up to May 16th
http://collider.com/star-trek-into-darkness-release-date-moved-up/#more-253449

Like they did with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Paramount chose to stagger the release of Star Trek Into Darkness by releasing the film in IMAX before releasing it into theaters.  The IMAX 3D screenings were set for May 15th starting at 8pm, and 2D and 3D screenings were set for the 17th.  Now that all IMAX 3D screenings for May 15th have been sold out, Paramount has decided to say “screw it” to the extra day, and will now release the film on all screens on May 16th.

As a film critic, I will tell you why this is a tad disconcerting.  While press in New York and L.A. have seen the film and released their reviews, critics in other cities such as Atlanta, Boston, and Oklahoma City (these are the ones I can confirm), will not get to see the movie until 9pm Wednesday night.  I’ve been doing this for seven years, and this is the first time the press screening was after the film’s release.  This also means print critics won’t be able to meet their deadlines (I’ll be up until 2am writing my review, and posting it immediately).  This doesn’t mean the film is bad, but Paramount seems seriously worried about critics chiming in.

I guess the optimist would say, fans are clamoring for more tickets so much, that they moved up the release date a day to make fans happy.

Pessimists will say Paramount wants to get the movie into theaters faster before critics get their knives out. Since many reviews are already out, esp. overseas, it seems a little late for the pessimists' conspiracy theory imho.

Anywho, I'll probably see if I can get a ticket for next Thursday. I'm not keen on IMAX moving to reserved seating (even if STID has 30 minutes of IMAX-camera-filmed stuff), and really prefer the ETX screen at AMC now, so I might aim for that.

Tucker and Dale was a hoot, caught it last night. I think my favorite line was...
"They cut off his... BOWLING FINGERS!"

It's always fun to play with stereotypes. I don't think movies do that often enough.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Serenity and currently on screen as a bigot baseball team manager in "42") and Tyler Labine (who has been in a couple of my favorite, short-lived shows the last several years - Reaper, and Mad Love). I just recognize their faces, more than their names -- I probably would've seen it much sooner if I'd realized who they were.

My brother and I caught Cabin in the Woods in April a year ago. I just wish the theater had been packed. It felt like the best movie that nobody (apparently) wanted to see -- the theater was nearly empty and some people even walked out in the middle of it.

It's just, the movie is so reliant on its twists/shocks that I don't know if I'd want to see it again. I really had managed to avoid spoilers before it so I really did get to feel surprised even if I had an idea in the back of my mind how things would go.

I've noticed Tucker and Dale, but the little Netflix summary makes it sound like the worst thing or the best thing ever. And often when I roll the dice, I end up with stuff like ATM and The Frankenstein Theory. If you guys swear by Tucker and Dale, perhaps I'll give it a try.

[Spoiler]

fwiw, I found the kid alright. I mean, was he as annoying as Edward Furlong in T2? No. But I did find that part of the movie meandering at times. I think in essence the kid is there to try to humanize Stark a bit without turning Tony into a sentimental tub of goo.

I took my mom to see it Saturday at an AMC ETX screen. Now that IMAX is assigned/reserved seating (which I'm not usually crazy about), that's about the largest "non-reserved" seating screen at AMC multiplexes. The sound was over the top. Even the trailers were about to make us deaf.

She enjoyed it. I thought maybe she'd find it all too hard to follow, but she didn't seem to have any complaints. I actually enjoyed it more the second time. I guess scenes that struck me as meandering or "what's the point" on first view, somehow seemed to fit better on second viewing. I better understood where the plot pieces fit.

I still feel like the Maya Hansen character (Rebecca Hall, appealing in The Town) got such short thrift I could barely understand what she was up to. The movie's 2 hrs 20 mins though. I suspect maybe some scenes with her ended up on the cutting room floor.

Lastly, as far as the suits themselves, I found it

Spoiler for Hiden:

... more exciting when he actually has to be IN the suit to use it because there's more at stake.

While it certainly makes sense in this day of drone warfare/recon for him to be piloting stuff remotely, for me the charm of the movies/comics was always Stark being in the suit (or biologically combining with the suit as in the recent comics era), I felt a bit of disappointment when we see in some situations he's not actually IN the suit.  

And I ultimately still don't understand Killian's motivation for some of the things he does.

But hey, it's up to $680 million+ worldwide now (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=ironman3.htm), so I suspect Kevin Feige and Disney are not worried about my nitpicks.

It will be interesting to see how Joss Whedon picks up from the conclusions of this, Thor 2 and Cap 2.

I finally caught up on the indy, Blair Witch Project-y, "The Frankenstein Theory" on Netflix after mixing it during its extremely abbreviated/limited theatrical run.

While I think the idea is pretty cool (an ancestor of Dr. Frankenstein thinks Frankenstein's monster is real and running amuck in the upper Canada/North Pole regions committing murders here and there, and thus gathers a team to search for him), the execution does, imho, eventually boil down to too close of a Blair Witch Project knockoff without a fresh angle, and too much of a requirement of ostensibly smart characters making incredibly stupid decisions, as if the screenwriter/director watched Prometheus too many times.

So no, I don't recommend The Frankenstein Theory. However, if someone else got to use the idea to make a better movie, I still think the initial jumping off point is a cool concept.

Just got back from my Iron Man 3 show. It was strangely not crowded - perhaps due to the $16.50 price or perhaps due to people assuming there'd only be midnight shows tonight. There were crowds forming for midnight shows as we left.

Overall I enjoyed it. Unlike Iron Man 2, which I felt in retrospect had one terrific action set piece (the Monaco race track stuff) and then a bloated climactic battle, IM3 has a few action set pieces I really found entertaining and at times innovative in terms of how the armor's used/not used. The cast is still fun to watch, and the screenplay has a fair amount of laughs.

On the other hand, I found the pacing -- maybe by design -- to be all over the place. You might enjoy an amazing 10 minute action sequence and then spend 17 minutes feeling the story is meandering. And the villains just didn't really register with me. I like Guy Pearce, I just couldn't summon up much hate for him, or feel mesmerized by him (a la Ledger in TDK). I felt that way with the IM2 villains too, but I guess it bothered me less in this.

I badly misunderstood Extremis. I think I'm confusing it with some Matt Fraction-written comics in the 2009 or so era where Stark basically fuses armor into his DNA so that's part of him. I thought maybe this movie delves into that but it doesn't, and so I guess all this time I had the wrong idea about what Extremis is. My bad.  

I still feel like there has to be a way to have more interesting villains that aren't terrorists, space aliens, nasty weapons merchants/defense contractors or the Drug Cartel.

This was in fact their one RPX screen. It's not spectacularly large, but the picture/sound were terrific. It was fun to see the trailers for Star Trek into Darkness and Man of Steel on that screen.  

Anyway, I liked it enough to probably see it maybe one more time. It's no IM, Avengers or (for me) Captain America, but for me it was in the OK-good category. 

Soooo.. about 40 minutes in to iron man 2 and.... Fnnn fire alarm goes off! Now get to stand outside while the mall figures out what's up...

That happened to me three times in the 1990s. When it happened to a friend and me watching The Pelican Brief in, I think, 1993, they gave us free movie passes but never did let us see the rest of the film.

Lot of reviews I skimmed today were of the "meh" variety, but I don't think any bashed it as they did Iron Man 2. Maybe that's progress? I think in the end critics (not necessarily fans) are tired of IM battling terrorists, and demented defense/arms contractors and their metallic creations. I would've probably argued in favor of jazzing up a B-Villain like The Living Laser (from the early 1980s comics), if only to get a little bit different kind of baddy in there.

While I still expect to enjoy it, I generally have a weakness for origin films. I think usually by the third run in any film series, screenwriters/directors have difficulty keeping things fresh.

I'm eagerly awaiting Ubisoft's upcoming "Ghosts of Duty" and "Recon Duty" games...

OK I just bought my ticket for Thursday, 9 p.m., at a Regal 3-D theater for 16 FREAKING DOLLARS and 50 FREAKING CENTS.

just found out the local theater is doing a 9pm 3D showing on Thursday for..... $6.

Yeah but they charge you $10 for 3D glasses. And $15 for a small popcorn...

It's like an F2P MMORPG. Pay us now, or pay us later...

So, be careful of seemingly innocuous summer movie previews. Was reading one at Daily Beast yesterday, and suddenly it has a gigantic spoiler from this movie, no warning whatsoever. Pissed me off. 

I'll grant that if you listen really carefully to the trailer, you might figure it out. But I hadn't, and just couldn't believe a lousy preview roundup would have something like that...

OK I just bought my ticket for Thursday, 9 p.m., at a Regal 3-D theater for 16 FREAKING DOLLARS and 50 FREAKING CENTS. Cripes. I could do a LOT of funner things for $8.25 a FREAKING hour.   I don't think this is even their fancy pants overhyped RPX screen (sold out already I think). That's probably $20 or something.

But hey, my brother's family is probably looking at $80,000+ to send my niece to college for four years starting in August. So what's a $16.50 movie ticket, in the grand f&cked up scheme of the US of A?   Save us, Tony Stark...

Cool. I don't know if it's good or bad that it's reaching the point where North American box office numbers almost become an afterthought on judging B.O. success.

I hope to buy an early ticket tonight for a 9 p.m. show Thursday. I'm so glad they didn't go with midnight shows only.

Although I'd love to see it at a nearby AMC IMAX, I'm not real crazy about reserved seating (like a concert), which at least my local AMC has started to do. Their next best (the large ETX auditorium) isn't doing a 9 p.m. show Thursday, alas.

I think I'm generally happier getting there early and just grabbing a seat wherever I won't suffocate. Although hey, opening night, maybe there's no such thing. Probably gonna go with Regal instead.

I'm still bummed I can't do the marathon, even if I've already seen the other two films and Avengers what feels like a zillion times. Maybe I'll just disappear at lunch without giving a reason Thursday.

Oh the chest light thingie is called...
AMC guests at Marvel's Iron Man Marathon will receive commemorative lanyards shaped like Iron Man's *arc reactor* and special edition RealD 3D Iron Man glasses while supplies last.

More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/news/story/20433/experience_the_iron_man_marathon_may_2_at_amc_theatres#ixzz2RsIs6YWU

Kentucky Taco Hut

I love the "EW BACON CHEDDER GORDITA CRUNC" part of the sign  

I'm envious!

Hepcat, yeah at my newspaper job we had a popular Taco Bell/Pizza Hut in town. But really all the PH part was popping "prepared off site" personal pan pizzas into some sort of nuclear-speed-oven; they didn't offer "full size" pizzas. So to me that particular location was more like Taco Bell/Pizza Hut. Like someone stuck a Pizza Hut zit on an existing Taco Bell face.

A little disappointment for one seeking equal indigestion opportunities.  

There was a lot of "Oh Come On!!!" in the film,but that goes with seeing an Iron Man film i suppose  

Yeah, the guys at Collider said there were some moments where they thought an explanatory sentence of dialogue would've made what happened on screen more, well, fathomable.  

I can understand it feeling different. Favreau's not directing, but I never felt like Iron Man 2 and the original felt remotely the same. All the films had different screenwriters. Although most love Iron Man, my understanding was the initial script was really thin and it required a lot of work on set and Downey improving to make it special.

It will be interesting to see how Avengers 2 and Cap 2 turn out since they will enjoy the (presumed) benefit of retaining the screenwriters from the preceding films (Whedon for Avengers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely for Cap -- their "Pain and Gain" opens today).
===========

If you guys are into Marathons, AMC (which just settled its disagreement with Disney over Disney's % take of ticket sales) will have one next Thursday, May 2, starting with Iron Man at 1, followed by Iron Man 2, Marvel's The Avengers, and Iron Man 3 at 9 p.m.

I just can't take that day off (if it opened one week later, I could then) , but I'd like to try to catch a 9 p.m. IM3 show that day at least.

Marathon details (tickets are $30):
http://www.amctheatres.com/movies/iron-man-marathon

AMC is excited to present the IRON MAN MARATHON on Thursday, May 2. Be sure to join AMC and watch all of the adventures of Tony Stark, beginning with IRON MAN at 1:00 PM, IRON MAN 2 at 3:30 PM, MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS in 3D at 6:00 PM and the premiere of IRON MAN 3 in 3D at 9:00 PM.

Marathon perks/participating theaters: (this one doesn't have the picture of the "chest light" lanyard)
http://www.amctheatres.com/events/iron-man-marathon

    $5 AMC Stubs Bonus Bucks for members**
    One of four limited edition IRON MAN RealD® 3D glasses ($10 retail value)
    Commemorative IRON MAN lanyard

I believe the lanyard is sort of a smaller replica of the Iron Man suit's... gah, what's it called, guys? Chest Light.  

*I'm sure they recommend you not cut a cavity in your chest and try to mount the light there. It won't really power your heart...

It kills me I can't go. I attended the Dark Knight Trilogy, and the Indiana Jones marathon last year, and both were so much fun. Just in a bind at work that week.

Original Recipe is where it's at.

this.

No.  

Lets face it though, not every location makes the fried chicken the same. I think this KFC-Taco Bell I go to is better at the Taco Bell stuff than the KFC stuff. Perhaps a "KFC-only" would make it a little better.

[14-Year-Old Burger Doesn't Rot: Food is 'Fairly Dry' When Made, Says McDonald's]

Exciting news - if you put a McDLT in your pocket in the 1980s, it might still look good now.  So you don't have to miss fast food items. Just save them! OK, I guess it says you shouldn't eat a 14 year old burger. Sigh. 

14-Year-Old Burger Doesn't Rot: Food is 'Fairly Dry' When Made, Says McDonald's
http://www.christianpost.com/news/14-year-old-burger-doesnt-rot-food-is-fairly-dry-when-made-says-mcdonalds-video-94594/

What may be the world's oldest hamburger caught the attention of TV show "The Doctors," who dedicated an entire segment to the curiously preserved sandwich. The 14-year-old burger's bun and meat patty were intact, without any mold, fungus, or breakdown of most ingredients.

The burger caught the attention of McDonald's, who said that the burger's preservation is because it is "fairly dry" in the first place. The abundance of moisture- Whipple is from Logan, Utah, which has a somewhat humid climate- has little effect when the patty is small and the bun is pre-toasted.


"In the example of cooking a McDonald's hamburger, the patty loses water in the form of steam during the cooking process," the company said in a statement. "The bun, of course, is made out of bread. Toasting it reduces the amount of moisture. This means that after preparation, the hamburger is fairly dry."

"When left out open in the room, there is further water loss as the humidity within most buildings is around 40%. So in the absence of moisture or high humidity, the hamburger simply dries out, rather than rot," McDonald's concluded.

Although fast food burgers, chicken sandwiches, American cheese and other products may not rot, they still should not be consumed too long after they are made.

This reminds me of a warning on a frozen pizza I prepared Monday: "Do not eat uncooked pizza." 

[Regal and AMC Battling Disney Over Iron Man 3 Revenue]

I knew Disney would find some way to mess up Marvel...  

Regal and AMC Battling Disney Over Iron Man 3 Revenue
Dispute leads to advance ticket sales halt.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/24/regal-and-amc-battling-disney-over-iron-man-3-revenue?abthid=51786ce31d5e81ed1f00003b

Disney and theater chains Regal Entertainment and AMC Entertainment are currently battling over how to split ticket sales for Iron Man 3, resulting in Regal and AMC halting advance ticket sales for the film.

The LA Times reports that Regal has also pulled its marketing materials for the film, including standees, movie posters and so on. Cinemark, the third-largest chain in the U.S, isn’t selling tickets for the new Marvel film either at this time.

Regal and AMC claim that Disney is "seeking an excessively large take of the box office revenue -- up to 65%." The studio reportedly wants to renegotiate its terms not just for Iron Man 3 but other upcoming films as well. The Times says studios usually get around 50% to 55% of the cut.

How this will affect Iron Man 3's box office numbers remains to be seen, particularly those all-important opening weekend sales.

of course it's hard to feel sympathy for chains that charge $15 for some tickets and $6 for small sodas, but if the studios push for a bigger take, that's probably just gonna get worse.  

Indiewire sums up some positive early reviews:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/iron-man-3-early-reviews

From the one detailed review I've read (it's on Indiewire's mobile site, I can't seem to find it on the main web site), there's still a certain amount of "too many villains" (Spider-Man 3, Iron Man 2), and too many new characters introduced and underdeveloped (see most summer movie sequels). As a fan of the Brian Bendis and Matt Fraction Iron Man Comics (roughly around the era of the first IM film), it feels to me like they're trying to cram in ideas, concepts and characters from about a few dozen comic books into a blender one movie. Which could be great, or an utter mess.

It's too bad they can't use Norman Osborn Sr. as a weapons contractor villain like the Matt Fraction comics did (presumably, the character's movie rights are attached to Spider-Man for Sony).

Still, the early critical buzz overall is very, very, very warm.  

As far as the contracts go, I can't keep track anymore. I know Chris Evans declined a 9-picture deal (which probably would've meant inserting Captain America into every Marvel movie) in favor of 6 - 3 Cap, 3 Avengers.

I had thought Downey's was similar -- the difference being that he loves playing IM/Stark so much he has continually said in interviews that he'd like to keep playing him as long as Marvel would like him to. The thing about Stark/IM is you really don't need a 25 year old boy toy to play him; Downey was already in his 40s in 2008, so he could probably age gracefully and still bring the box office as long as there were still fresh Iron Man stories to tell.

But hey, in a world where studios reboot Superman after 7 years, and Spider-Man after 5 years, who knows?

I finally caught this on Netflix, was pleasantly surprised to see it show up there.

I enjoyed it overall. I've heard of the books but not read any.

I've liked Jennifer Lawrence in everything I've seen her so far (did not see that apparently lame little horror flick she was in a few months back).

>>>Popeyes has KFC beat by a wide margin

Agreed. This was probably just a one-time experiment.   However, I think KFC's sides are pretty good. I'm not crazy about green beans but KFC's are strangely tasty. No, don't tell me why they're tasty, I don't want to know.   Probably, they marinate it in Taco Bell ground beef...  

>>>You guys really shouldn't eat fast food.

True, but I do try to limit myself to maybe once or twice a week of "hard core" fast food (Big Mac et al). Thing is, I think I was healthier when I was eating McDonald's and Wendy's all week long at my newspaper job. Go figure. The body is a strange thing...

>>>Oh and you have nice nails, Blackjack. Pete would be impressed.

LOL. I think I had just trimmed them the day before.

Southland had some great episodes late this season, imho, at times veering into Breaking Bad levels of intensity. Tonight's finale definitely felt like a series finale, though it's not clear yet whether TNT will cancel or renew.

I enjoyed seeing Tom Everett Scott's season 1-2 character return (Regina King's 1st partner), though it's uncertain if he's romance material or basically a nanny for her baby.

Ben McKenzie is in a CBS pilot for a show by The Mentalist's creator. So if that got picked up, he'd presumably be unavailable for Southland.

If Southland gets another season, I'd love to see the Ben and Cooper characters reunited as partners. This season basically broke both characters in emotional, tragic (and in Ben's case, corrupt) ways. I think it'd be compelling to see them help each other, rather than keep giving Cooper a new guest partner each season.

Nice recap with comments from cast at:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/04/17/southland-season-five-finale-preview/

Belatedly, here's a glimpse of some boneless chicken "in the flesh" at a combo KFC/Taco Bell in Virginia on Sunday.

Verdict? Well, it's weird. First of all, you pay 25 cents extra per piece for the privilege of jellyfish chicken.  Basically, you can substitute boneless for boned chicken on any menu offering (if it isn't already boneless to begin with, i.e., nuggets, sandwich patties etc.).

While they taste fine, they looked to me more like some sort of bizarre crustaceans. It just looks wrong. They don't look like tenders because tenders generally are carefully shaped. These look more like they yanked the bones out of some sort of crab-lobster-chicken hybrid and stuck 'em in a deep fryer. 

I dig the new theme but for sure, even this morning for some reason I was humming John Williams' original Superman theme to psyche myself up for work today.  

Let me see if I can "dah dah dah" Williams' theme...

Dah, dahdahdaaaah, daah, daah, daah, dahdahdaaaah, DA da DAAAAAHH!
*repeat*  

Zimmer and Nolan have a long history together, and Zimmer has previous experience trying to pick up from a franchise's previous distinct themes (Danny Elfman's Batman scores for Tim Burton's earlier Batman films).

I've definitely seen films where either critics or fans have bashed Zimmer's work as too "bash you over the head," but this is mid-June, and Superman. Bombastic seems just the right type of composer for this.   I don't know though if too many Zimmer scores have necessarily had me humming the theme as I left the theater. I enjoyed the new trailer and the music.

Williams is just so good at that type of theme.  I thought Alan Silvestri's Captain America movie theme (2011) was also good at that. My mom was humming the theme as we left the theater.  

Ratings-wise, on Man of Steel, I would expect a PG-13 rating if only because studios seem scared "PG" now is strictly a "kiddie film" rating. Forgetting that in the 1970s, Jaws was a PG film.   I don't expect Man of Steel to have cussing, sex or be Watchmen in content, but assuming there's a lot of comic book violence, I'd still bet on PG-13.

That was some "anonymous department source," so who knows if it's accurate. If any more blasts go off, it seems like something they'd try to do though I'm not even sure you can easily implement a city-wide cell tower shutdown with so many providers and presumably some towers outside city limits providing service too.

Latest news bits suggest hospitals report an injury total closer to 50. Though Boston Globe's now apparently reporting closer to 100.

NHL agreed to postpone the Boston/Ottawa hockey game tonight.

[Official: Cellphone service shut down in Boston to prevent remote detonations of explosives]

This could put my friend, who only has his Android smartphone, in a bind...

Official: Cellphone service shut down in Boston to prevent remote detonations of explosives
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/official-cellphone-service-shut-down-in-boston-to-prevent-remote-detonations-of-explosivew/2013/04/15/21824c30-a60f-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html?hpid=z3

Latest update from Boston Police (This is a Sports Illustrated link but is AP stuff I think) is 2 dead, 23 wounded:
http://tracking.si.com/2013/04/15/explosion-goes-off-near-boston-marathon-finish-line/

[I would label some of the blog's photos as NSFW -- it was an extremely bloody scene.]

My best friend lives in downtown Boston, not near Broylston St., thankfully. He is frantically Facebooking a lot of local coverage links.

Like most horrible incidents like this, tends to be a lot of contradictory and/or sloppy reporting initially, so expect a lot of different numbers, details etc. at news sites.

Boston Globe and other local news sites there seem really slammed with traffic right now and sometimes the pages time out.

NY Times has a live blog regularly updated...
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/live-updates-explosion-at-boston-marathon/?ref=us
WARNING: I would label some of the blog's photos as NSFW -- it was an extremely bloody scene.  

If you're curious about the precise location, plug "Copley Square, Boston, MA" into Google Earth. I used the iPhone app.

[Behind the Scenes of the Paragon Studios Shutdown]

Penny Arcade's The Cut pointed this out, calling it the first "on the record" look at the demise of City of Heroes' dev, and its ultimately failed attempt to buy back the studio and keep COH alive.

Behind the Scenes of the Paragon Studios Shutdown
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/189896/behind_the_scenes_of_the_paragon_.php

To outsiders, the Aug. 31 closure seemingly came out of nowhere, affecting 80 employees -- many of whom were just as surprised as the rest of the gaming world. But had history zigged instead of zagged, Paragon could still be around today. In fact, say Paragon veterans, up until the last minute, it looked like the company was facing a much different fate.

Paragon management -- including general manager/co-founder Brian Clayton, director of product development Destin Bales, and director of business and marketing Ross Borden -- actively negotiated with NCsoft to buy back the studio, which would have resulted in both the employees retaining their jobs and keeping City of Heroes alive for its core, but dedicated, fan base.

The deal looked like it would go through -- but at the last minute, roadblocks arose that scuttled the negotiations, sealing the studio's fate.

"It was very much a surprise," says Matt Miller, former lead designer at Paragon, who had been brought in on the buyout plan. "We all were really working as if things were going to work out. ... It was business as usual right up until the last day."

And a final update that NCSoft wouldn't allow in... (too buggy, but when did that stop a publisher before?  )

The anniversary plans Paragon had for City of Heroes were elaborate, Miller says. A new enemy was about to make its debut, which would culminate in the opening of a moon base for players. Preliminary work was underway, including concept art and level layout.

"We really wanted to give the players a brand new environment -- something they've kind of been asking for, something to take the game to that galactic stage," says Miller. "We've had superheroes in the game. You start off [and] you're just fighting street crime. Then you move up and you're fighting citywide threats and then global threats and then these sort of extra-dimensional threats all threatening the world. And we really wanted to take the stage and make it more of a galactic stage.

"So we had an alien invasion race called The Battalion that was going to be arriving in the very next issue. That would play out over several issues culminating with the moon base, where you would use the resources of the moon base to actually fight back and basically kick Battalion out of our solar system."

Impressions from skirmish beta:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/399346/previews/company-of-heroes-2-preview-beta-disappoints-but-hopes-remain-high/

But most improvements seem inconsequential. In the seven years since Company of Heroes, what should be innovation is instead artifice - things blow up a bit more, and there's snow now.

Later, in a fierce two-on-two winter battle against human opponents (the maximum amount of players you can have in a match is six), we uncovered more problems. You can't scroll out far enough, so your zoomed in view increases the chance of losing track of troops; you can't rotate the map - still; and the rusted brown menu feels outdated and unintuitive, like something out of '90s PC strategy Commandos rather than a product of 2013.

I have been getting the impression the game is more of an ambitious expansion pack than something really meriting a "2" in its title. imho that speaks more to how advanced COH already was in its release year (2006).

As I understand it, the big difference now -- and perhaps it's Chris Nolan's influence -- is that Supes is at least initially perceived as a walking bomb, or a "weapon of mass destruction" that needs to be arrested and controlled by government. Which does seem more realistic in today's era.

That's certainly nothing like the Donner 1978 take, or Superman II where he's seen as an ally to U.S., and Earth in general, right away.

My only concern from the trailers is it seems as ponderous and devoid of subtle humor as Superman Returns was, in critics' and many fans' eyes. I liked it at the time, even bought the DVD, but when I've seen it on TV it really has seemed as inert as many people remember it. Heck, Brandon Routh was more interesting on NBC's Chuck imho.

I'm not asking they put Chris Rock and a bunch of fart jokes in. It's just, if you watch Superman/Superman II, there was quite a bit of character-based humor in it. I think most of the comic book films I've loved (including Avengers, Captain America, most recently) thread enough humor in there in a way that gets the audience to embrace the characters before they go blow stuff up. Of course if this is really a reboot, perhaps they don't want the audience to laugh.

So I hope Snyder hasn't thrown that appealing side away, and that it's not 2 hours of Supes/Clark Kent moping about what a doggone sad thing it is to be Superman and dosh garn it why doesn't everyone just like me?

[Star Trek Into Darkness (10 new photos)]

New pics, yet still no explanation why the bridge doesn't have airbags and seat belt harnesses. "It's just more fun to have crew members falling out of their seats, flying all around the bridge, and crashing into bulkheads!"  

Star Trek Into Darkness (10 new photos)
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20647938_20689497,00.html

[Anthony Mackie (“The Hurt Locker,” “Million Dollar Baby”) as Sam Wilson/Falcon]

Per the press release (per CeeKay's earlier link):

Based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series, first published in 1941, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” features an outstanding supporting cast that includes Sebastian Stan (“Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Black Swan”) as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie (“The Hurt Locker,” “Million Dollar Baby”) as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Cobie Smulders (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “How I Met Your Mother”) as Agent Maria Hill, Frank Grillo (“Zero Dark Thirty”) as Brock Rumlow and Georges St-Pierre (“Death Warrior”) as Georges Batroc. Rounding out the talented cast are Hayley Atwell (“Captain America: The First Avenger”) as Peggy Carter, Toby Jones (“Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Hunger Games”) as Arnim Zola, Emily VanCamp (“The Ring 2,” “Revenge”) as Agent 13 and Maximiliano Hernández (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Thor”) as Agent Jasper Sitwell.

More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/news/story/20435/captain_america_the_winter_soldier_begins_filming#ixzz2PvzcGdGx

Bolded is I guess not news per se, but I wasn't aware of Sam Wilson/Falcon being in it. I'm still sick Hayley Atwell's not in it as a full role; my understanding is some sort of flashback sequence rather than her in aged makeup.

Emily VanCamp you might recognize from "Brothers and Sisters" and "Revenge" on TV in recent years. Ostensibly she's the designated new Love Interest for Steve/Cap.

I haven't been paying attention enough to know if Zola's return is a big role or a cameo.

My sister-in-law finally caught this something like 1 1/2 years after release on TV at my nephew's urging, and she quite liked it. Remember -- she stomped out of Iron Man during the brief torture sequence in Afghanistan in the opening scenes. She's not too forgiving of comic book films.  

I still question the April 4 release date. Yes, it "protects" the film from other summer blockbusters, but I still doubt you can get true summer box office in early April. Yes, the Evil Dead remake did well but $26M is not quite summer mega blockbuster material (i.e., the HS and college kids are still in school etc.).

In the trailer, I did notice that what I predicted (and I am wrong about 98% of the time  ) about the film drawing in online bullying, use of cellphones in bullying/harassment etc., to update the story a bit from the original film's mid 1970s setting does seem present in the remake.

I think my main issue -- at the risk of sounding like a dirty old man   -- remains that Mortez is just too attractive and lets say physically intimidating for her age to be playing an uncultured waif who can't defend herself against the girl-bullies and her religious zealot mother. Visually, in the trailer, imho, it just looks like she could physically beat all those baddies up.

You can put Moretz in "plain" clothing and muss her hair, but honestly she seems more appealing than the cast members that are supposed to be the "evil hotties." Ironically, Moretz is closer in real age to Carrie in the book than Spacek in 1976 (she was 28 at the time of filming), but to me Sissy Spacek was far more believable as a frail, put upon teen.

I agree with the Internet at large there have been too many horror remakes or pseudo-remakes/prequels (this, Evil Dead, Carpenter's version of The Thing, The Omen etc) in recent years that just do not bring enough fresh to the party to justify themselves. Hollywood seems creatively bankrupt in horror in terms of coming up with any fresh ideas.

And while I'm a fan of most of the horror flicks getting remade many of them (at 30-40 years old) simply don't register with younger audiences today. Likewise, it's hard to understand some of the lousy films made based off 30-40-50 year old TV shows. It's like trying to trade off some name that just doesn't mean anything to most of today's audiences.

I just don't understand the idea of offering a "mixed" bucket (boneless and boned). It just seems to be inviting a lawsuit from someone choking after thinking the bucket's strictly boneless and stuffing a bone-y chicken in one's mouth. 

From what I saw in the TV commercial, some of it is about the same size as a fried chicken breast, just minus the bones. From the videos, there still appears to be a skin of sorts, but seems more like a light flour breading meant to emulate chicken skin. Mmmmmm. Chicken muscle with fake skin. Mmmmmm. 

[No bones about it: KFC goes boneless]

No bones about it: KFC goes boneless
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/04/05/kfc-kentucky-fried-chicken-boneless-fast-food-chicken/2011419/

The new offering isn't formed chicken patties but made from whole muscle. Folks can order light or dark meat -- both are served without bones or skin.

During the roll-out, a two-piece meal with a side, biscuit and drink will sell for $4.99. To get on-the-bone chicken lovers accustomed to off-the-bone chicken, it also will sell a 10 piece bucket -- six pieces on the bone and four pieces off the bone -- for $14.99

To get the word out, KFC is about to unleash one of its biggest-ever marketing campaigns with this stop-you-in-your-tracks tag line: "I ate the bones." In TV spots created by KFC's ad agency, DraftFCB Chicago, customers who buy and eat the new boneless line will be depicted, in sudden panic, as if they'd just swallowed whole chicken bones.

You're probably saying, "it's so wrong!," but it's really just a chicken McRib, so...  

So who's gonna be the guinea pig? Maybe me, I'll holler if I get to try it.

odd. I had just heard that he'd announced that his cancer had resurfaced.  

good bye Mr Ebert.  you will be missed.

Yeah, he had announced he was getting radiation treatment, but I suspect his condition was far worse than he gave away in his final blog post.  

Although I certainly had different views of many movies than he did, I always enjoyed reading his reviews, even if had a different take. I bought many of his books over the years, or asked for them as gifts including his memoir book.

I found it very brave how hard he continued to work no matter what cancer threw at him. Even after the condition and related surgery took his voice, he still for a time conducted interviews, apparently by e-mail, with actors, directors etc.

I hope we all live long enough to see more cures for cancer. It just seems to impact everybody I know at some point -- it has killed coworker/friends, friends' parents, siblings, children (I attended a memorial service a couple years back when a friend's 21 year old son died of brain cancer). Chances are, someone you know at some point will die of cancer, and it sucks.  So insidious is the big C, and it's just so damn unmerciful and unrelenting and unfair.  

Reporter/editor for a weekly trade media e-mail newsletter covering, well, lets say parts of the chemicals business/energy industry. Which sounds exciting but trust me, it pays about 95% better than my newspaper biz editor job in 2006 and they treat me much, much, much better.   More importantly, I'm not getting laid off/bought out like most of my former newspaper reporter/editor brethren.  

Thank God my small company is old-fashioned and hasn't asked me to breathlessly Tweet a news item every 27 seconds of the day. Although I realize I'm known to do that here when I'm really excited about a game.