Saturday, May 27, 2006

Pause for the Cause

Wassup, Y'all!


A Memorial Day PSA for you to ponder while you're trying to get your weekend NBA Playoff b-ball, down home BBQ'ing, three day holiday groove on. Remember just why there is a Memorial Day holiday. If you're kinda hazy on this, check here and more importantly, here and recognize...

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

X-Men 3: Ty and 'Tini's Day Off

Wassup, Y'all!

Decided to dip into the theater yesterday afternoon with my boy 'Tini Mack to take in the latest X-Men offering, X-Men: The Last Stand.

We entered the 120,000 screen polygaplex with high hopes and copious snacks and left agreeing on a couple points, the main one being how sexy Halle Berry's walk was so you can pretty much see where this review is heading...

Before I get to X-Men Trey, I have to take a second to prop one of the previews they showed before the main event. I have to say if the movie lives up to the trailer, The Decent looks like an off-the-hook horror flick. Apparently this is one of those flip-the-script movies that was made in the UK and has been out in the UK long enough for it to already be on DVD well before its debut in the US. It's due to bow here in August and I'm thinking I need to be front row and center for that bad boy. Check out the review and trailer (unfortunately not the one they showed in the theater when I saw it) to see what a brother is talking about...

Now back to X-Men 3 - we also both agreed that the story didn't hold up to either the first or second installments but the F/X and action were predictably off the hook. Our feelings about it matched up pretty well with the jibber-jabber going on over at Rottentomatoes.com for X-Men 3 - tasty yet not completely satisfying - Halle's head swiviling walk notwithstanding, y'all. Man the fellas could sit on the stairs in the X-Mansion and just watch her walk by all day long...but I digress.

One thing I liked about the comic book vs. the movie is the way the comic could portray the human/mutant racial (species) tension and make it seem possible. In the movie, you're left just thinking that with all the different powers the mutants have they could just alleviate all that tension by just wiping out the humans. No muss, no fuss. I guess that's where 'good' mutants come in but how good can you be if you're always getting viewed and treated like a second class citizen? That's something to ponder as all these immigration debates rage on...

Anyway, me and 'Tini agreed that we couldn't bestow more than 2 Spinners on this bad boy and a 4 on the Homeboy Movie Viewing Scale. Nothing special (outside of the off-the-hook F/X). Wonder if the digital F/X boys had anything to do with Halle's walk??

Also a couple tidbits before I go - be sure to stay until after the credits roll to catch a final scene that will presumably set up X-Men 4 and for you 24 fans out there, note that the female doctor who is seen describing the mutant 'cure' and trying to inject Angel with it is none other than our girl Shohreh Aghdashloo (Dina Araz) from last season. Remember she played the mom in the terrorist family? I had her accent pegged from jump street but couldn't place it until after we had rolled up out of that joint. It's a minor role and not much screen time - I guess the curse of Academy Award Best Supporting Actor/Actress nominees continues. Shoot - for that matter it continues for the winners as well. What the heck has Cuba Gooding Jr. done lately? Joe Pesci? Mira Sorvino? Hmmm, guess all that glitters isn't gold when it comes to *those* Oscars...

Come back, Cuba. We miss you, brother...

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Wayans Bros Little Man Larceny...

Wassup, Y'all!


If you're watching the NBA Playoffs on TNT, you've no doubt seen the trailer to the upcoming Wayans brothers flick - Little Man. I have to admit that joint looks pretty funny and the F/X they used to make Marlon Wayans look little like that is off the hook, but come on now! They stole that concept straight from Bugs Bunny, y'all! How low can you go. Now I've been a BB fan from way back so I spotted the similarity right away. I was all like - Yo they got that ruckus from that Baby Face Finster episode!...

Tell me I'm lying - check out this glossy. Man, they duplicated this exact scene in the trailer they're showing. Man, it's a dark day when you have to jack Looney Tunes for your material!

On a little lighter note, I noticed that Cinematical posted the trailer for Dreamgirls that the production company used at the Cannes Film Festival. It's a mix of trailer clips and background interviews. It's pretty good - I'm looking forward to seeing that flick. I wonder if Jigga's gonna be on the soundtrack?? :-)

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Cold Cash....

Wassup, Y'all!

Dang - you know you're up to some dirty when the congressional Republicans are up in arms about the treatment of a Democratic congressman at the hands of the FBI! Such is the strange state of affairs of southside congressman William J. Jefferson (D-LA) whom the FBI proports to have the goods on. It seems those rascally Republicans aren't so much up in arms that the FBI raided old boy's cribs in D.C. and The Big Easy, but the fact that they raided his *congressional* office without warning. Oh snap! Think the Repubs are hiding anything incriminating in their own congressional offices? I'm speculation that's really where Jimmy Hoffa is stashed since their belief seems to be that congressional offices are soverign territory similar to the foreign embassies in D.C....

At any rate, Bill Jeff seems to be playing his own game of Clue with the FBI - "It was Bill Jeff, in the kitchen, with $100 G's in the freezer!" At least that's how it's being reported. To wit - old boy was recorded taking a briefcase which alledgedly contained $100 G's. Later back at the ranch, the FBI alledges that they found $90 G's broken up into $10 G packets stashed in tin foil and Tupperware in Bill Jeff's Frigidaire.

Dang - I know there's at least one happy, blonde escort in D.C. trying to figure out how much of the $10,000 she'll have left over if she spends $1,000 on a new pocket dog... But I digress. A friend of mine once gave old Tyrone some sage advice that went a little something like this: "If you get caught in a lie, just deny" (no, it wasn't Jesse, y'all) meaning that until you actually admit you did it, no one will know for sure. Clearly Bill Jeff overheard this conversation and is trying that advice out for a spin. I know, I know - innocent until *proven* guilty but it seems kind of silly for a powerful congressman to need to keep that kind of cash wrapped in a freezer like yesterday's leftovers. That's what banks are for (unless old boy's old skool like my grandmama who was proud to point to her Public Enemy 'Can't Truss It' T-shirt when asked about any institution run by anyone but her - Grandma! You think those tomatos at the Safeway are any good? No - you can't truss no tomatos you don't pull out your own garden, baby...).

I'm thinking things look a little dark for Bill Jeff at the moment, but you never know. In the meantime, I wonder if the Reynold's Wrap folks added this to their list of novel uses for aluminum foil? Man, what doesn't that stuff do?

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Monday, May 22, 2006

LeBron: Ghost of Christmas Past?

Wassup, Y'all!

When do you cross the line between competitor and school yard chump? Okay, chump may be a little strong for 'King James' but after two petty 'school yard' moves LeBron James dropped in the Cavs' last two series, I have to wonder just how mature this 21 year old is...

School Yard Play #1 - talking Smack to Gilbert Arenas before both game ending free throws (which Arenas missed opening the door for the Cavs to close out the game and the series). Man, we used to do that ruckus on the elementary school playgrounds, but the NBA? What happened to good sportsmanship and letting a brother play without some mind games?

And speaking of sportsmanship, that leads me to School Yard Play #2 - at the end of Game 7 against the Pistons, LeBron just walks off the court without shaking hands a la Isiah Thomas when the Bulls finally broke through and went to the finals following Game 5 of the '90-'91 Eastern Conference Finals choosing to just walk off the floor like a little girl. What's up with that? I guess LeBron was watching a little 'classic NBA' on the NBA channel and decided to wear the dress he inherited from Isiah. Dude - shake some hands and show some respect. It's one thing not to want to see another team celebrate their win on your floor but Game 7 at the Palace and you can't give out some propers? That's whack, homey.

Can I get a Witness, LeBron?

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Kobe Dick

Wassup, Y'all!

Okay, okay don't get your panties all bunched up about this blog title. Y'all know as well as I do that Kobe Bryant (post Eagle, Colorado and Laker championship squad blow up) is a very polarizing homeboy these days. There are only two camps - you love him or you hate him. Ol Tyrone finds himself in the 'Hate 'em' (or is that hater??) camp and no more so than after his mean mugging, fist pumping, jersey popping, and stagger swaggering during the Lakers' first round series with the Phoenix Suns. Now don't get it twisted, I've got no love for those streaky Suns either but I have to admit that series did make me a big fan of Raja Bell (the fact that he used to play for my boyz the Sixers is besides the point...) - that and the fact that he keeps showing up big in the playoffs to date...

That Lakers/Suns Game 5 clothes line yoke that he put on Kobe after getting elbowed in the face for the 22nd time was an all-time classic. Course, there was Kobe picking himself up off the floor with that crackhead smirk, making an obvious gesture that he was just brushing off that Hall of Fame yolk but what pissed me off more were his post game comments about Bell:

"Does he know me? Do I know this guy? I don't know this guy," Bryant said. "I might have said one word to this guy. I don't know this kid. I think he overreacts to stuff.

"We go out there, we play, and when we play during the season, we play each other. That's it. I don't know this kid. I don't need to know this kid. I don't want to. We go out there, we play the game and leave it at that. Maybe he wasn't hugged enough as a kid. I look at him a little bit, he gets a little insecure or something. I don't know."

Baltimore Sun sports columnist David Steele wrote a tight commentary about the incident and the fact that if Kobe 'doesn't know' Bell, he might need to get checked out for early onset Alzheimers. The two have a history and if I were Bell (especially after hitting that insane three in Game 5 of the Suns/Clippers series to put the game into double OT), I'd be wearing a shirt with a glossy of Kobe going down at the end of that yolk and the words: "Know me now? How's the vacation going?" or since it seems we have the makings of a must see match up next season everytime the Lakers and the Suns lace 'em up, he could just paraphrase that line from The Game's "Hate It or Love It" cut - "...I ain't going nowhere so you can get to know me."

Still don't know Raja Bell, Kob? It's pretty easy - all you have to do is turn on the TV, homey.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Monday, May 15, 2006

If You Don't Know, Now You Know...

Wassup, Y'all!

Sorry for the brief timeout but even ol Tyrone has to catch a little R&R *sometime*. The adjacent glossy is an actual location shot but it's up to you geographically inclined readers to match the glossy to the Caribbean locale. Anyway, after a quick jump down to the Carib, your boy is back in effect with something new to ponder. Before I hopped my cramped, kid screaming, commercial, economy class flight G4 down to the sun and sand, I had a chance to catch the flicks United 93 and Mission Impossible III and in both cases I left the theater trippin'...

United 93 (a docu-drama of the before, during and after of the only 9/11 hijacked airliner that didn't hit its target) had me reliving a 'Glory Moment' shortly after the beginning credits rolled. After all this time, it took this flick to get me to realize that there was a southside homeboy at the controls of the plane. I admit I'm a little slow on the uptake from time to time, but I do consider myself fairly newsworthy so I was wondering how it was that I completely missed that fact. That feeling was similar to how I felt when I checked out the back-in-the-day civil war movie 'Glory' about the Massachusetts 54th - the first southside regular Union Army regiment that garnered high praise for their sacrifice in what amounted to a suicide mission when it stormed Fort Wagner in South Carolina. In that case, I was pretty sure I was never taught that history lesson (versus catching 40 winks during the discussion in high school U.S. History class) so I was pretty shocked that 1) it ever happened and 2) it wasn't mainstream enough to mention.

Fast forward to May 2006 and I'm in the theater wondering who the southside homeboy dressed as a pilot is as he heads toward United flight 93. Turns out he was 1st Officer LeRoy Homer who happen to be flying right seat the day United 93 got hijacked and eventually crashed in rural Pennsylvania. His personal story is pretty impressive and I was wondering how it eluded the spotlight that shined so brightly on Todd 'Let's Roll' Beamer and his wife Lisa? since no one actually knows exactly what transpired on the flight. (Spoiler Alert On!) As portrayed in the movie, both he and the Captain of the flight went out very hard before the crash but whether it went down like that or not (some views say 'not') I still figure the brother deserved similar ink time as the other passengers. (Spoiler Alert Off!) A look back through the 'Net yields a few nuggets like the tight article by Sun Times columnist Mary Mitchell but little else - and I certainly didn't see his wife and little daughter in the balcony (like Lisa Beamer) when President Bush broke off his invitations to his follow up speech to Congress after the attacks. Hmmmm... Anyway, I gave the movie 2.5 Spinners and a 6 on the Homeboy Movie Viewing scale. It's deep - even more so when you realize it really happened.

As for MI: III - that joint was action eye candy galore. The action sequences were off the hook, the gadgets and 'cons' were tight, but it all felt like I'd seen it before. I'm a fan of director J. J. Abrams' TV stuff like Alias and Lost and MI: III felt pretty much like a big screen extension of those joints right down to the black screen, white character cut shots that inform the viewers where the action is about to take place - that's straight out of Alias (and that show got so tired going back to the same well that it's about to bow out for good). But any flick that props *both* Ving Rhames and Laurence Fishburne can't be all bad and MI: III isn't. I dropped the same 2.5 Spinners on that joint with a 8 on the HMV scale. Dang. They could have gotten 3 Spinners if they had figured out a way to get Halle Berry or Angelina Jolie in that joint... 'Course Tom Cruise seems to have his mind on other things these days y'all.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Monday, May 01, 2006

The World In Black And White

Wassup, Y'all!

USA Today is reporting that Jason Taylor and his wife, Katina Taylor were the victims of a hate crime. Hmmm...we still can't all get along despite Rodney King's heartfelt plea three days after verdict day in LA way back in 1992. How whack is that? If that's the case, what heinousness might be brewing in the face of this recent Mexican immigration dust-up?...

In light of activities undertaken by George Clooney, Bono, Angelina Jolie, & Bill Gates, I'm still wondering why there isn't a well known southside celebrity consistently attached to publicizing issues on the African continent? I know there must be at least one but he/she must be practicing some mighty quiet diplomacy, though I thought the point was to *publicize* the issues. Could it be that southside stars aren't big enough to attract media attention like the big four above? I think not since Will and Jada were able to attract some ink for their recent educational vacation in Israel. Hmmm...wonder how their fact finding mission to Darfur went? Maybe they just need to have a few more Jazzfests over there...

Straight from the Malone Zone Player Hater file: A quick total of the Top 25 NBA player salaries (minus the two northsiders on the list Keith Van Horne at #11 (that's just straight stealing, Keith!) and Dirk 'Earning Every Penny' Nowitzki at #20) comes to just a shade over $358 million. Damn. No, let me rephrase that, Daaaaaaamn! That's *tall* chedder. Now let me add in a dash of Oprah Winfrey's $225 million earnings last year and a pinch of Tiger Wood's $87 million and we clock in at just over $670 million. Hmmm, yeah, y'all are right, you probably can't do much with just 10% of that over in Africa (or here in the inner cities for that matter). I know, I know, you hear of Tiger and Oprah giving back all the time and you can't watch an NBA playoff game now without hearing about how the NBA Cares, but you have to wonder why no one's thought about combining that type of economic clout before? Just thinking out loud...

Peace@Least,

Tyrone