Pee-Wee's Playhouse coming to DVD?

Zatoichi opens June 4th in limited release. As that means it should open in San Diego not long afterwards, maybe it's not worth extending my vacation over.

The CineVegas Film Festival schedule is announced. As my faithful readers no doubt recall with great fascination, I will be arriving in Vegas, coincidentally, on the final day of the festival, and had hoped that the Portrait of Billy Joe would coincide with my visit. And it does. But its at 3:30, which means I'll have to get an early start to make it. The dilemma, however, is that the day before, Zatoichi is playing at 3:00 PM. Do I take another day off, find more accomodations in Vegas, and try to leave early enough to make a 3:00 movie in Vegas? Might as well, since I usually start at a reasonable time and arrive pretty close to 3, and I should be able to get a free room downtown no problem, so that I touch on downtown, the strip, and henderson on my trip. I'll have to see if it works with work, but still, I'd only be taking three days off. And Zatoichi should be opening here in San Diego around the same time, so I'm not sure I'd even get much of a jump on things. Something to mull over.

I saw the most disturbingly amusing Vaudeville show last weekend. Never got around to writing about it, because I feel bad saying how awful the performers were, since they seemed to be trying hard. And also, I'm lazy. But when I get a chance, I'll report the truth about that evening, as I am sworn to do.

Listen to samples of Dr. John's new album. Willie Nelson and Randy Newman both make appearances on the album.

Interview with Stephin Merritt. Talks about his new album, and briefly mentions Randy Newman (and Stephen Sondheim, who I didn't realize was associated with Nonesuch) in a positive light.

Journalist with Vanunu connections arrested in Israel. Reuters reports he will soon be released, but still.

The Trio Network will be airing Cop Rock from June 1 to June 5. I don't get the network, but it's pretty exciting for those of you who do. Randy Newman wrote songs for the pilot, including "Sandman's Coming," which resurfaced in Randy Newman's Faust. I know people with digital cable, I'll have to see if they get Trio.

So I got a speeding ticket on my way to school today. On my way home, I discovered I also got a parking ticket. My fault, I parked in a two-hour spot, and forgot I had an afternoon appointment. But still, made today an expensive day of school.

Got a speeding ticket on the way to school today. Annoying for a lot of reasons, particularly because I usually turn onto a side street a few blocks before where the cops were waiting. But for whatever reason, I didn't today. Probably because I was distracted, still fuming about a truck that tried to run me off the road. But what's done is done. I can take traffic school, so it won't affect my insurance. Just $200 or so down the drain, and now I can't drive like a maniac on the way to Vegas, since I don't have the traffic school option for another 18 months.

I have made my reservations for my next Vegas vacation. A weekend at my old favorite, Green Valley Ranch, where I have been invited to participate in a blackjack tournament. Then, lest I drive home in the Sunday traffic, I am staying two nights at Imperial Palace. Never stayed there before, but I was having trouble finding a room available Sunday at a casino I would be willing to gamble in. And this is an opportunity to get on another casino's mailing list, albeit a non-union casino whose now-deceased owner once was fined by the gaming commission for throwing a birthday party for Hitler (it was all a big misunderstanding, he asserted at the time...he doesn't assert much these days). And Cheapo Vegas describes the place as creepy. I love Cheapo Vegas. If you need something to do, poke around there. Maybe read their take on the good ol' Western. Only been their once, and it was the only time I recall fearing for my life in Las Vegas. Nice to have experienced it, though.

So I'm looking forward to that. Already tentatively agreed to go in the end of July as well, if I don't get my ass handed to me this trip. I have a really good offer from Bally's, where I stayed last trip, and enjoyed. Fills the void left by MGM ruining Treasure Island...excuse me, TI. A nice, clean, well-managed hotel, not too ostentatious, decent gambling, and generous comps. And a better location that TI. And I got another offer from GVR, standing offer for free rooms all Summer. The hotel is the nicest I've stayed in anywhere, pretty good food, and okay gambling. Every time I've stayed there, I've met some interesting people. A few real annoying people, like the old woman who claimed she never signaled for a hit, when we all saw her, and got the pit boss to let her discard the card she drew, and then tried the same trick again after the dealer changed. But mostly good, interesting people. One of the plusses of playing at a local's joint. Last trip, I played for a little bit with a blind woman, whose husband would read the cards to her. A month or so later, I would watch her win the first round of the World Series of Blackjack on T.V.

But hell, I could be staying at the Western, and I'd just be happy to be there.

I have made my reservations for my next Vegas vacation. A weekend at my old favorite, Green Valley Ranch, where I have been invited to participate in a blackjack tournament. Then, lest I drive home in the Sunday traffic, I am staying two nights at Imperial Palace. Never stayed there before, but I was having trouble finding a room available Sunday at a casino I would be willing to gamble in. And this is an opportunity to get on another casino's mailing list, albeit a non-union casino whose now-deceased owner once was fined by the gaming commission for throwing a birthday party for Hitler (it was all a big misunderstanding, he asserted at the time...he doesn't assert much these days). And Cheapo Vegas describes the place as creepy. I love Cheapo Vegas. If you need something to do, poke around there. Maybe read their take on the good ol' Western. Only been their once, and it was the only time I recall fearing for my life in Las Vegas. Nice to have experienced it, though.

So I'm looking forward to that. Already tentatively agreed to go in the end of July as well, if I don't get my ass handed to me this trip. I have a really good offer from Bally's, where I stayed last trip, and enjoyed. Fills the void left by MGM ruining Treasure Island...excuse me, TI. A nice, clean, well-managed hotel, not too ostentatious, decent gambling, and generous comps. And a better location that TI. And I got another offer from GVR, standing offer for free rooms all Summer. The hotel is the nicest I've stayed in anywhere, pretty good food, and okay gambling. Every time I've stayed there, I've met some interesting people. A few real annoying people, like the old woman who claimed she never signaled for a hit, when we all saw her, and got the pit boss to let her discard the card she drew, and then tried the same trick again after the dealer changed. But mostly good, interesting people. One of the plusses of playing at a local's joint. Last trip, I played for a little bit with a blind woman, whose husband would read the cards to her. A month or so later, I would watch her win the first round of the World Series of Blackjack on T.V.

But hell, I could be staying at the Western, and I'd just be happy to be there.

Lost in Translation: How DDR almost didn't make it to America.

Dance Dance Revolution and weight loss. RedOctane also has a website on the phenomenon. My DDR pad has been gathering dust for some time. Mainly because it's just not the same with the plastic pads. Not as responsive. I was at Fry's Electronics yesterday, and admiring their metal DDR platforms, but for $200, I think I'll pass.

I went to Fry's because they had the new special edition of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly on sale, but they were out of stock. I did get The Great Escape on sale, though. And then, in the clearance rack, I found a series of DVDs of Once Upon a Hamster, which I used to watch on Animal Planet at 3 AM, while Cecily's cat would go crazy watching her woodland friends frolick on the T.V. I used to wonder what sort of person watched this show at 3 in the morning, but I guess the answer is people like me. At $5 a pop, I was tempted to buy them all, but eventually just bought two. I regret not getting them all, but I am not going back to buy the rest, because that would be pathetic.

A Takeshi Kitano interview.

Apparently, Takeshi Kitano remade Zatoichi at the request of a septuagenarian stripper named Mama.

I finally saw Shaolin Soccer, now that it finally got a theatrical release. Edited extensively, from what I understand, but subtitled (I believe it is being released dubbed in most markets). Not as much fun as God of Cookery, but worth seeing. I'll have to get ahold of the DVD (my sister has the import), though I understand the good people at Disney/Miramax are being a bunch of doushebags about keeping the DVDs unavailable. I had a nice article on the struggles Shaolin Soccer faced in getting released, but now I can't find it (didn't save the e-mail, this is the sort of situation when gmail would come in handy).

More exciting then the film itself, though, was one of the trailers beforehand (I guess when you show 15 minutes of trailers, you're bound to hit the mark at least once). Coming soon, Takeshi Kitano's Zaitochi, the Blind Swordsman. A change of pace for him, a bit, at least as a director (it doesn't look from the trailer that he's become particularly verbose, though, since it is a subtitled movie, they don't depict any dialogue in the trailer). A shame Dolls isn't being released as well (at least as far as I know). Though hopefully I'll be able to pick up a regionless DVD at Comic-Con this year.

Got Loretta Lynn's new CD. Not bad, but a bit of a disappointment. Tries a little too hard, has Jack White's fingerprints on it a bit thick at times. But some great songs. "Miss Being Mrs." is probably my favorite.

So it wasn't my imagination, this guy is in a ton of commercials.

Good commentary on the fallout of the Iraqi prisoner scandal.

Gabriel Yared recounts his firing by Wolfgang Petersen on his web site (click on "news", then "the score for Troy"). Of course, this puts him in the same category as Randy Newman (fired by Petersen from Air Force One.

Salon has an interview with Billy Joe Shaver, and discussion of a new documentary on his life. A perusal of the film's web site shows it will be part of the CineVegas Film Festival, and I see I will be arriving in Las Vegas on the last day of the festival. They don't have the schedule up yet, but if it plays the final night, I will definately see it, or perhaps if it plays a day or two earlier, I can arrange to arrive earlier than I had planned.