Monthly Archives: May 2019

Terminator 2 Judgement Day (1991)

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In light of the fact they are currently finishing an official 3rd T3 movie which will be direct sequel to this excusing the other installments as if they were never made (which the fans are ok with) T3 “Dark Fate” will be released 2019 and will have the return of both Arnold and Linda in it which is something long anticipated if ever to be another. However the uncertainty if Edward Furlong poses a possible loss to making a masterpiece in my opinion. Anyway, back to why T2 was so legendary. James Cameron is genius using trick photography old school film making tricks combined with audio and visual professionals bringing everything together perfectly. T2 was and is my favorite movie of all time. In the film they give so many illusions of the way they want the city portrayed. They even wet the streets in certain shots to give better dark scenes, not to mention audio samples in scenes to create bigger suspense. Edward was cast as a part of open casting and found in a group home with the right amount of street smarts and a bad attitude to make his role super believable. Linda was coming from T1 and her story evolves into a hardened soldier preparing for WW3 against the machines seen in her flashbacks. Those flashbacks were made with real miniature robot models and real explosions not CGI. Many trick camera angles and cameras on cameras to give certain illusions the right clout to the story. If you were living under a rock somewhere the basis of the plot for every Terminator is that machines are secretly taking over and once robots are built they can turn on us. However in each movie you are only seeing a fraction of the potential power the machines have before they “become self aware” meaning they figure out they can kill humans off and take over. Arnold plays the ultimate tough guy/robot in this and protector of John Connor (Edward) but you also see a drama story of a lost/scared yet dangerous woman and a troubled kid who all start to semi have a family. All of the crashes, explosions and stunts are very real in this and lots of budgets went into staging the areas in CA to make it all believable. The story-line makes sense for what story they want to portray and much of the sound effects in the action scenes were thought out well and created to be very very realistic for it’s time of production in the earliest of the 1990’s. They put so much detail into every scene and it’s often overlooked how much the trick photography is used with other techniques like Cinema Verte which is the illusion that you are the camera man right there. I talk about cinema verte in one of my other blog posts. However that camera style is only used in scenes like where Sara Connor holds the medical doctor hostage as the camera bounces around as if it’s on your own shoulders. Also the use of “Magic Hour” right around sunset which gives the best natural lighting for any movie creator. Many scenes James Cameron waited for that exact moment before shooting. This movie is my favorite movie of all time and besides Arnold kick’n ass and Edward being the idol of young kids across the globe AND not to mention Linda being the OG badass chick of the era….it’s just a great film that broke records at the box office for years until The Matrix finally brought in box office dough to compete. Either way the next T3 or technically T6 they better come correct and try to use as less CGI as they can. Go old school for the win James and don’t be a sucka ass bitch and exclude Edward Furlong due to his rough times. Get him together and on the set like the family you all were suppose to be!

Gifted Youngstaz Live @High Dive 5/17/19

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Mannnn, very impressed by this young buck. Seen him open for lil Debbie and at first I was mid conversation not looking at the stage and heard his voice, sounds of sharp ear puncturing lyrics and I mean that in a good way. His delivery to every flow was like he was going to war. Then I look up and see him squinting his eyes and pointing at the air with each lyric like he was shooting down enemy troops. At that moment I had to walk closer to the stage to get a better view of this microphone destruction. The young kid has clean rhymes that send the message he could rap battle anyone and it’s believable. I watched him finish out his set and when he was front row paid him respect in person and he was a real nice dude, he was thankful for the support. Watch for this guy as he lives fully up to his rap name.

Lil Debbie Live @High Dive 5/17/19

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I first heard of her stumbling across a picture of her show/event page on social media. I was curious if the notorious treats had a spokesperson. However she is not even close to the small snacks you are use to, this chick is the real deal. She is a rapper coming straight out of Oakland California and her lyrics are on point, the message is clear, she has the look, the confidence and the passion for music. So think twice about who you expect to be on stage rap’n to the beat because it’s 2019 mutherfuckers and talent is talent. So now that we got that out of the way, this chick came out in her cute braided hair, skirt with tennis shoes and kept the whole crowd moving. The venue High Dive in Fremont Seattle is a very small venue which I was surprised to see her at but great place for live music. Her vocals were clear and even though I only watched one single music video prior to her show I was feeling all of her songs at the live show. She raps about being herself and living life how she wants to live it. She is about her women and not taking shit from assholes. I can dig it and if you have never been to the areas of California where people like her live concrete jungle life then you just don’t know. Check this chick out as she is a great performer as well as fun to watch. Lil Debbie has my vote.

Boyhood Movie (2014)

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This movie started filming in 2001 and finished in 2013 which means you actually see the lead character grow up on screen. Also notable is that there was never a real script for this just focal points the director wanted to include in the story. Also each lead actor was given the chance to add things to the script either in their life or something important they wanted in the movie. You see various stages of his life leading to the point of college and leaving the nest. The parents are divorced early on and you see what he goes through during that time leading to high school and his first heartbreak. However also leading to the moment of new beginnings. As the movie progresses you hear early 2000’s music playing in the background as well what trends were happening at that time leading to a more present time towards the end. This is a great film that everyone can relate to in some type of way. Do not expect suspense or theatrics like most films, instead find a more real story you can relate to in some type of way. Not every scene will be like your life but there will be more than one scene everyone can relate to.

Hieroglyphics Live @Neumos 5/16/19

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The year is 1998. I am illegally driving w/o a valid license and listening to underground hip-hop music on the way to school. Many artists and groups to speak of on burnt CD’s or ones bought from Easy Street Records in West Seattle like this album 3rd eye vision. The sound was so different at the time, coming from gangsta rap and hood shit everywhere you looked, in the streets on MTV or at every house party was about gang bang’n and lifestyles of the rich and famous. Then comes this hip hop group rhyming about artistry, rhyme skills and hangin out with their boys avoiding bullshit. One of my favorite songs to this day is “you never knew” which was yet another track sending lyrics into your ear drums about keeping their lyrics tight, investments and saving their money. This group was a huge refreshing taste for it’s time when you felt like listening to smooth lyrics with your buddies as you cruised the avenue or tossed back your red cups. However, as for the show, last but not least, I felt was a solid run and a great venue to be at. Although, the sound quality wasn’t the best as too much base and noise coming from the speakers which made the artists difficult to hear. Every time a bass hit hard an important lyric would drop during the vibrations. Huge problem for smaller venue lyricist hip-hop shows. Either way these guys are legends and it was a bucket list thing for me to see them live at least once in my life. They had a few good openers too which was a good surprise when showing up a little early. Neumos was packed as it was a sold out show which also made me happy for the artists. As said in their lyrics -Hip hop is vintage and they are still running circles around MC’s. HEIRO y’all !!

A Vigilante Movie (2018)

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You’ve seen how tough Charlize Theron can be on screen in Mad Max Fury Road, you’ve seen Demi Moore play GI-Jane fearless and never giving up. You watched Charlize also as “Monster” a woman out for justice at any cost. Every tough woman you’ve seen on film can’t even come close to Olivia Wilde’s role in this movie. This is not a movie of immense action and ninja like activities from your star…rather a movie of the mental steps it takes to move forward and stay the course with glimmers of physical fury. Realistic trauma is shown as Olivia has periodic panic attacks about what has happened to her. The story seems very real and honest. Olivia is also very believable in what little love she has left for memories that are fading away. Every so often there are women sharing stories of mental & physical abuse throughout the movie keeping you engaged at the main topic. I think this is a powerful message to any abusers or humans being evil to other humans especially women. You feel so safe with her as the lead role yet she shows you her weak mental state lashing out at times she can barley contain it. Yet you see her strength in ever scene pushing one foot forward dong whatever she can to survive her goals.

The Monastery, Seattle Blast from the last (1977-1984)

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Seattle nightlife in Seattle, WA is nothing like New York, Miami, Las Vegas or even some California spots…but, don’t let the splendors of Downtown Seattle fool you, shit goes down if you know where to go. Seattle nightlife was built off the double edge sword of one man. That man be George Freeman, a person who was known for starting clubs in the disco era over in New York city around the 1970’s. Freeman’s background can be googled so go ahead and have at it. Monastery by definition is; A building housed by Monks living among religious vows. Regardless, this place shown above was club-active from 1977-1984 with some troubled youth, homeless, drug dealers, drug addicts, LGBT before many knew what that acronym was and various party people that needed a place to dance the night away. In an era right around the time places like Skoochies (In which the owner was later busted for selling illegal weapons for the government AND never convicted) and during a time Seattle still had much of its growing pains. The Monastery was founded by Freeman as he searched the city for his next nightclub venture and landed on this old condemned church off Boren Ave in Seattle which now looks look like a parking lot to rent cars next to high rise buildings. This was a place that housed runaways and welcomed people from all walks of life sprinkled inside with MDMA which is a drug that has spanned decades changing names to appeal to the masses as a pure form with each new name it’s given. Never the less, this night club was the spot for after hours and back then the legal drinking age in places like NYC was 18yrs old and 19yrs old in places like Canada. That being said, Freeman played the grey area with a non alcoholic after hours club that shook free of law enforcement for about 8yrs. However in my opinion regardless of how we feel about the history of this church, we need to take note that Freeman was ahead of his time in the Seattle club scene. It’s reported that his grand opening he had a helicopter land across the street with a World famous DJ of all DJ’s known as Walter Gibbons. Gibbons stepped out of the chopper wearing a monk suit as he approached the club that had a line spanning around the block to get in. Freeman arrives after with large crowds cheering him in like he was a God of parties arriving to fuck shit up. The inside had light up DJ booths, disco lights and historical architecture of interior church walls. The party jumped into hours of the morning as kids high as kites burned the dance floor to classic 70’s 80’s hits whilst they had sex in various parts of the building. Later the city built cases against the venue and had little luck taking down the powerhouse known as Mr Freeman. In my opinion it could have been because some of the police raids that were achieved revealed city workers, politicians, federal agents and various officials partying inside that would have hurt the name of Seattle over the name of the venue. The city of Seattle made a semi-invented a city ordinance called “TDO” which was Teen Dance Ordinance restricting youth from attending these venues and giving power to the law to storm through places like this anytime they wanted. Eventually they took down the legendary club and shut it down for good in 1984. Because I’m a West Seattle OG I keep my eyes open in the present time of 2019 and noticed a bright purple stream of lights next to I-5 right before the 520 bridge interchange. This modern home that can be seen from I-5 to this day is none other than George Freeman’s residence that has little to no debt on it and looks likes a fucking cool place to live. So in the end, that foo ain’t broke, not in jail and has no issues so what does that say? Well, the police are corrupt, criminals run on a balance of a tight rope with the law. One foot in one foot out and the law mirrors that. Just some Seattle history for the late 40’s mid 50’s residents of Seattle to remind us to open our eyes and ears but probably shut our mouths at times. If you call yourself a Seattle head and remember clubs during this time, which to be clear, I personally was on my second year of dumping in my diapers around this time, but drop a comment. Tell me about a club you remember and why it was special to Seattle and your life. From movies like 1974 McQ detailing police corruption onto documentaries like 1984 Streetwise, there is more than meets the eye in Seattle, WA. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Streetwise Documentary (1984)

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The most powerful Seattle documentary to ever be filmed. The title and cover describe it all as seen a young girl stuffing a nickel plated colt 1911 in her jacket as her peer stands patiently without fear. This documentary was started because at the time Seattle, WA was said to be the most livable city in the whole country and land of immense opportunity. Going back in Seattle to 1889 we had the great Seattle fire that can be explained in Seattle’s underground tour to this day describing to tourists the rebirth of the city solely from the money of brothels and Madam Lou’s contributions from her sex shops to rebuild after the fire. As the years progressed so did the crime and poverty alike. Since Seattle was this great place to live some photographers and filmmakers for TIME magazine set out to Seattle to see it for themselves. What they found was far from pleasant. The late 1970’s through the 1980’s of downtown Seattle was rough and unforgiving. Filmmakers spotted a young 14yr old girl-prostitute standing out outside a church/night club known as ” The Monastery ” which was a known gay club infused with sex drugs and music till 4am ran by Charles Freeman. Charles was known for nightclubs in New York city through the 1970’s disco era and even had a hand in starting Neighbors nightclub in Seattle, capital hill WA which came later. Before we digress about Mr. Freeman, Tiny was immediately the center of their filming as she spent her days loitering in Downtown Seattle near Pike’s place market with her surrounding teenager friends as well as other young prostitute girls and pimps. One of the other street kids was Dewayne, a very skinny kid with a Dad in and out of prison for robbery. Dewayne later dies in the film and has the saddest funeral of about 4 people, his father who had special temp release to visit the funeral and some social workers. The filmmakers were very inspired and dedicated another film to him. This was later a film completely based on Dewayne’s life with a slighter softer side played by Edward Furlong called “American Heart” and Jeff Bridges as his father. The street kids were tough, some pan handled, some dumpster dived, prostitution, or even stole from others to survive on the streets. Some of the kids were forced and a handful was out of choice. One of the young girls was Lulu, a lesbian butch chick who protected all the young women in the area. She was tough as nails and though beaten up many times she never backed down for her friends. She later was killed defending a young woman and got stabbed. Even though many of these street kids died Lulu’s funeral was televised and can be found on youtube to this day. Streetwise showed just how rough Seattle streets was at the time and the old vintage Seattle shots are very nostalgic to see how much Seattle has changed even structurally. Much of the area in Seattle that use to be dumpy warehouse districts of old South Lake Union and the divide between DT Seattle and lower Capital hill are now ran by powerhouses like the late Paul Allen, Amazon and huge tech company start ups sprinkled with Starbucks money at every street corner. We still have crime and trouble but this documentary shows the viewers that rough Seattle streets ain’t nothing new out here. There is a few powerful scenes to note such a street fight filmed and one kid says “he is streetwise like a mutherfucker” letting you know what street smarts really means if you live it. The other is Dewayne visiting his Dad in jail and his dad tells him how smart and young he is but if he keeps being a criminal he will wind up in jail just like him. Tiny appears throughout the film as a young girl searching for the better life while her alcoholic mother struggles the addiction and stable living. If you are Streetwise as a mutherfucka, watch this.

Thought of the day 5/13/19

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I know the Seattle homeless situation is at an all-time high never seen before in all of my years living in Seattle, WA. We have homeless camps throughout Seattle, under interstate 5, across downtown streets, tents in greenbelts across 509 freeway and general pan handling at every intersection. So without going into what should or shouldn’t be done I spotted this Jamie Fox clone off 1st ave in Downtown Seattle the other day and got to thinking…every time I walk by one of these individuals I think the exact same thing in my mind as I ignore them and walk by…they ask for change or money and I stare blank as I walk by. However in my mind I think the same thing every time as I step over whatever debris or human piss is streamed near them. I pass by thinking “Survival of the fittest mutherfucker, no one gave me shit either and no matter the circumstance we were both born and only the strong shall survive. ” but hey.. clever sign though, brah. That indicates no mental issues if you still got a sense of humor. Aka, smart enough to get a job funny guy.

Dragged Across Concrete Movie (2019)

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This amazing movie had mid to higher reviews but still remains semi an underdog or underrated film as movies with such raw hardcore scenes only make it so far in the mainstream movie section. Mel Gibson plays a hardcore cop who has lived his whole life to the book, giving very few breaks to any criminals with no remorse. His partner Vince Vaughn shows his immense range in roles. As you normally see him in comedy Vince is actually playing his real true character in any movie making his character so believably broad you could laugh or watch in fear of his bad side. In this specific film he plays a loyal friend/partner and solid individual you can trust but also will flip you shit like an asshole you hate to love. Supporting roles in this are well thought out and make sense even down to the mysterious villains. The plot is so thick and layered that you are on edge from the build up scenes. Not to mention every character you watch their lives leading up to their ultimate destiny that you had no idea was going to end the way it did. Mel Gibson brought us such classics like Braveheart, Mad Max and ranges of love stories that his Veteran-actor-nature is plausible for his this role. The sound track is intriguing with blues and classic O’Jays songs that make you think you heard the music but can’t place the B-track-esq songs. So many different stories leading to fruition in this film with each story equally as moving making you feel for each character. Watch this and find out what it’s like to see the 2019 era movie that is comparable to the all-star cast and scenarios such as the 1995 “Heat” movie that was staring Al Pacino & Robert De Nero. Strong performances from all characters but Mel Gibson in specific plays a man so beaten by the harsh realities of human nature in the city as a cop that his friend even warns Gibson, slow down or the streets will turn him into a human steam roller lined with spikes& Barb wire destroying anything in Gibson’s path. Which this intense film.