YEEEESSSS!!!!!! Jack Urbont's "Iron Man" Theme in the new movie!!!

I was keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that Jack Urbont's "Iron Man" Theme from the 1966 animated series "The Marvel Superheroes" would play in the new movie. Just read the track listing (very carefully to avoid spoilers) for the just released soundtrack and there it was!!! Played the sample at the iTunes Music Store and heard it in all it's digitally restored splendor. I grew up with this cartoon series of seven minute long shorts, which also included Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, and Sub-Mariner, and it really took me back to see these openers again on YouTube.

Not sure where they'll play it in the movie. Most likely during the end credits like they did with the theme to the animated "Spider-Man" series from the 60's for the first film. Can this movie get any fucking better!!! Just not going to download the "Iron Man" soundtrack until after I've gone to the premiere Thursday night. Don't wanna over saturate because I know that's all I'd play for the next two days!

Here is Jack Urbont's "Iron Man" Theme as it appeared in the opener for the original animated series...

Jon Favreau on "Iron Man"

Here's a very cool article in Variety about Jon Favreau's approach to "Iron Man". A lot of really interesting details on Downey, the suit, and the rock n' roll feel of the film.

Week without work

Finishing up that brief project at Precision Post, I found myself off for the last four days. There's some rumblings of projects upcoming but nothing secure yet. Hopefully I'll know something the beginning of this next week but I could conceivably be off through that as well.

May is only a few days away, traditionally when work shifts into high gear for most of the rest of the year. While that's still on the horizon I'm making calls to the post houses I work for now as well as ones I've been trying to get into. This is a key time to attract their attention.

Great reviews for "Iron Man" in the trades!

Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have posted reviews of "Iron Man" and the are really positive! YES!

I'm sure Jon Favereau is getting a call from Marvel and Paramount right about now to talk about making the next one. Kick ass!

Watch out for spoilers! Some story points are given away in each:
Variety review
Hollywood Reporter review

"Indiana Jones" Tickets: ON SALE (EARLY) AND PURCHASED!

WHOA!!! That was a close one!

I pulled up the Arclight site first thing this morning to discover that tickets for "Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull" had gone on sale a little earlier than expected.

The rule at The Arclight is tickets go on sale the Tuesday before a Friday release date. For a big event movie (like "Iron Man") they put them out about two weeks in advance. So I really didn't think Indy seats would be online for another week. However, just to be sure, I'd been checking the site at least twice daily since those "Iron Man" tickets went on sale. I even did it last night before I went to bed.

So first thing this morning there were the magical words: 'Tickets Now On Sale!'. Even though several had already sold, I was still able to purchase tickets for the midnight show in those coveted seats I crave. Plus, like "Iron Man", I also bought tickets for Saturday night because I know I'll want to see this again right away. YAY!!! Yay, yay, yay!

Two down, one to go....."The Dark Knight".

I definitely want to see "The Incredible Hulk" at the midnight show as well. But because of some mixed feelings between Edward Norton and Marvel, plus the good but not great first teaser trailer, I could conceivably wait for the first evening show on opening day or even Saturday night. We'll see how I feel when that gets closer.

YES!!!: "Indiana Jones" at The Arclight!

They just announced today that "Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull" will indeed be premiering at The Arclight and I couldn't be happier! For those of you outside the area, this means reserved seating and no waiting in horrific lines that, at a regular theater, could have started a month or more in advance. It's all part of my love / hate relationship with today's fans. I LOVE their passion, commitment, and endurance waiting to see their favorite blockbuster films on opening day. But I HATE when I have to fight them to get MY favorite seat or row. Yes, sometimes it's all about me.

Now all of that is moot.

I knew when tickets for "Iron Man" were going to go on sale at The Arclight and bought them moments after they went up online...DONE. Now I can do the same for Indy. Two down, one to go. If "The Dark Knight" opens at The Arclight, my summer will be complete.

On the flip side I just saw one of the TV ads for "Speed Racer" tonight and almost felt like I wanted to throw up! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT!!! Crazy, goofy, action and backgrounds, Spritle and Chim-Chim spinning around in some little car in front of a really bad green screen, race cars doing things they shouldn't even think about doing (even for the original anime show)....STOP IT!!! I am NOT going to see this opening night and will take a lot of word of mouth and critical reviews into account before I think about going to see it in the theater. This just feels like an overly tricked out rape of the original...I'm sorry.

30 days out from "Indiana Jones"

The final thirty days are now counting down to the release of "Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull". The summer movie season is under two weeks away and I am SO ready. Industry trades predict Indy will far and away be at the top of the box office charts for the year and I agree.

"Iron Man" Tickets: ON SALE AND PURCHASED!

Yes, True Believers, I now have tickets to the midnight showing of "Iron Man" at Arclight's The Dome in Hollywood! Woohoo!!!

Timing was everything today, being that we're now two weeks out from the premiere. As stated in my last post, I knew The Arclight was probably gearing up to put tickets on sale sometime very soon. So I decided to call the theater where I discovered that tickets would indeed be available beginning sometime in the afternoon. Being at work today I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to refresh their website as often as I'd like to make sure I was one of the first ticket buyers. HAD to get my prize seat before the hordes descended.

With just one more thing to do, I broke away from the internet for about 15 minutes. When I came back I refreshed the Arclight's website, still seeing that tickets had not gone on sale yet. One minute later I decided to refresh again and there it was: "Iron Man" tickets now on sale! CLICK BUY!!!!!

Picked up tickets for the Thursday night midnight screening as well as the 8:30pm show on Saturday evening. I know I'm going to want to see this again pretty much right away. God bless reserved seating! YAY!

"Gossip Girl" complete

The featurette I was cutting for the "Gossip Girl" Season One DVD is now complete. At least my involvement in the first cut. There was only so much in the budget for me to come in and work on this, and I basically went right to the edge of my block of time to get it done.

A few essential elements showed up late last week, causing a bit of a delay in my workflow. Monday and Tuesday were very late nights. A couple of shots were added yesterday by another editor to finish the piece. Now it's off to the studio for approval.

Yesterday, today, and Monday I'm over at Precision Post working on two promotional projects for Celine Dion taking her Vegas show on tour and Yo Yo Ma collaborating with James Taylor. Each will be about 3 minutes long. After that I'm still not sure what I'll be doing. This would be a good time for New Wave to call.

2 weeks to "Iron Man"

Just waiting for tickets to the midnight show to go on sale. This is going to be close and I'll have to be on top of checking in with The Arclight website regularly. They don't know when tickets will be available and I'm concerned it'll just pop up on their site, allowing thousands of fanboys (who are sitting in front of their computers every day watching and waiting) to gobble all the good seats up.

The "Iron Man" ticket watch is on.

Finishing up on "Gossip Girl"

Since more "Gossip Girl" content has been arriving a little at a time over this past week (more episodes specifically), I'll now be extending my cutting time through next Tuesday here at Cannery Agency. By then I'll have a finished twnety minute rough cut to show the client. That will have to be the end of it for me because I now have another gig at Precision Post for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. But that's also as far as they can carry me budget wise on this project.

After that I'm not sure what'll be happening. But hey, this is April. We're right at the start of the year's big work flow so I'm confident something will fill the void pretty quickly.

New "Iron Man" video!

HOLY SHIT!!! This is just the coolest clip!!! Downey, the suit, the music...PERFECT! Little over three weeks to go...!

Charlton Heston's funniest performance

Upon hearing of his passing over the weekend, this was one of the first clips that came to mind. Dramatically flawless, emotionally resonate, and still one of the funniest cameos in any movie. God bless him...

Charlton Heston dies at age 84

The man who iconically played Moses, Ben-Hur, and an astronaut named Taylor, has passed away. One of the last of the larger than life actors who seemed forty feet tall, just like the characters he portrayed on screen.

Charlton Heston was many things in life. In the movies he was a king, a cardinal, a painter, a naval officer, a cowboy, a circus boss, an airline pilot, a futuristic hero, and three presidents. In real life he was a staunch civil rights activist and president of the NRA. As famous for the line "take you stinking hands off me, you damned dirty ape!!" as well as proclaiming "from my cold, dead hand!". And this was only the tip of the iceberg for an actor whose career spanned five decades. It was said once that if Hollywood had a Mount Rushmore, he would be one of the four faces chiseled in stone.

It would be difficult (and lengthy) for me to encompass everything about Mr. Heston's achievements here. Read on in The Los Angeles Times.

Also, click on his photo above to read some lengthy, fascinating trivia about the actor's life.

iTunes is now the #1 music store

iTunes has just surpassed Wal-Mart as the #1 music retailer in the U.S.! Just a few months ago Wal-Mart and Target were ahead with the iTunes Store in thrid place, then Amazon.com. Check out this LA Times article for the full story.

Being the Mac and Apple whore that I am and a total advocate for music downloading, as well as future HD movie downloads (yes, I am skipping the whole Blu-Ray thing and waiting for that), I had to pass this along.

Paramount steps in...

O.K. scratch the new "Iron Man" photos over at superherohype.com. The pics are gone, replaced by a line that says: "Paramount has asked us to take the photos down for now. More cool photos coming soon!". I'm glad at least that I had a chance to catch them early on and hopefully you, True Believer, did as well.

"Gossip Girl" extended

The "Gossip Girl" project I've been working on at Cannery Agency since last Friday just got extended by a week. The studio realized what was entailed to get this thing done and gave us a bit more time. Delivery of my first rough cut is now not until April 14. This means I'll have work for an extra week, which will hopefully dovetail into more work with New Wave. This is assuming that talk of major work happening over there throughout April and May is in fact the case.

"Iron Man" in one month

We are now exactly one month out from "Iron Man" opening in theaters on May 2. Bring on Buckethead and bring on the summer movie explosion! Check out THIS INSANE AMOUNT OF NEW STILLS 'supposedly' released by Paramount today.

BASEBALL!!!

Wow! This past weekend was a major blast because I had tickets to two Red Sox games here in LA.

The first was an exhibition game at The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday between The Sox and The Los Angeles Dodgers, commemorated by the 50th anniversary of The Dodgers leaving Brooklyn to head West. I'd never been to The Coliseum before and was pretty excited to see it! It's funny because the two things I thought of when I entered the stadium was the 1984 Olympics and the Charlton Heston movie "Two Minute Warning". Yes, we knew there was a movie reference in there somehow, right?

The game was great, with a record 115,300 in attendance. The largest ever for a single baseball game. Sox won 7-4. However the trip back to the car was way beyond anything I could have ever imagined. A lot of people heeded the advice of The LA Times which suggested parking at Dodger Stadium and taking a shuttle the few extra miles to The Coliseum, thus saving $25 in parking fees. By end of night I started to think everyone had taken that to heart, as the end of the line (I finally found!) to get back to the shuttle buses was six blocks in length!!! It took over two hours to reach the bus that would take me back to Dodger Stadium and my waiting car. Luckily I had this really entertaining drunken 20 year old who had us all laughing our asses off while he tried everything he could to find a ride back to his car. Hoping to bypass what ultimately became known to us as the "Dodger Stadium Death March", he approached everyone from street cleaners to police officers in their squad cars and bicycles with a promise of $20 to $50 for a lift!

Then on Sunday The Red Sox played The Dodgers once again at Dodger Stadium in the last of the exhibition games before Dodgers opening day on Monday. This time I had a box seat along the 3rd base baseline which included several amenities like an all you could eat buffet of hot dogs, hamburgers, barbeque sandwiches, and other goodies. I ate 3 hot dogs, two orders of onion rings, and ice cream. Yum!

Had a chance to see the players warming up at close hand as well as try to intercept a couple of fly balls that landed near my seat. I was almost able to grab one ball except the guy in the row in front of me got to it first. No matter, I still had an amazing time and want to go back again real soon! Even if The Sox lost 8-0.

Check out photos from the weekend. Batters warm up with our seats in the foreground. Matt Kemp & Andre Ethier signed autographs as security made a final check of the oh-so-close-to-us grass on the field. As one of the first pitches leaves the hand of the pitcher, Manny Ramirez stands at the ready in the outfield.