movies

Are we about to see the death of the cinema going experience? I believe we are about to say RIP To Cinemas real soon…

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Welp, I’m sure you’re all noticing that Hollywood finding new and different ways of releasing new movies nowadays… thanks to covid and this stupid pandemic.

We have all these streaming services now from Netflix, Hulu, HBO MAX, APPLE TV Plus, CBS All Access, Amazon Prime Video and lord knows, I’m sure I’m missing some others but those are the ones I can think of at the top of my head. There is also VOD and online movie streaming where you can either buy or rent movies through Itunes movies, Google Play and things like that. VOD is a big thing right now too.

So many new movies getting released through either streaming service or VOD ’cause why? Pandemic shut down movie theaters for starters and yes, theaters are coming back but like I said in another post, it’s hard for theaters to release new movies nowadays. That is why Hollywood is releasing a lot of new upcoming movies for both streaming service and in theater at the same time. Like all those new releases coming for HBO Max, that got me thinking that Cinema is about dead.

Which is a shame, ya know? This is how we’re all supposed to be watching movies. We’re supposed to watch movies on the big screen and not the small screen but it’s amazing to me how quickly things change. I think we’re about to see the death of cinemas real fast. Sure, movie theaters are gonna come back but it’s gonna take a while for people to go to movie theaters again. No one’s gonna go back to the theaters when they come back and Hollywood knows it, that’s why they’re gonna release new movies to streaming services from now on.

This is why Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max getting a lot of new movies lately. Just last night, I watched the movie “Ava” with Jessica Chastain and it was pretty good. I’m sure that film would have gotten a huge theatrical release but because of Covid, it got a streaming release instead. I thought “Ava” was a great film, though… a good action movie you should check it out.

I also watched the live action version of “Mulan” on Disney Plus and I loved that one too. I’m sure that film would have gotten a major theatrical release as well but it ended up getting premiered on Disney Plus instead.

I am calling it now that movie theaters will disappear and the Cinema experience is about to come to an end. Streaming services and VOD Is gonna be the new future of movies sadly.

It’s a shame ’cause a lot of action movies, science fiction and horror films were meant to be watched on the big screen with all the special effects, cinematography, the loud music and loud sounds effects. All about the cinema experience. That’s what’s fun about watching movies on the big screen. We’re about to say goodbye to that.

Sad to say it but it is what it is. I used to love going to the movies too and haven’t been in a theater in a long time. Crazy.

Kev

music

Today Dec. 8th, is a day to remember 4 important musicians… John Lennon, Dimebag, Jim Morrison and Gregg Allman…

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John Lennon who died 40 years ago today.
Dimebag Darrell who died 16 years ago today.

Jim Morrison, known as the lead singer of the Doors was born on Dec. 8th, 1943 but died on July 3rd, 1971.

Gregg Allman, known as the singer, guitarist and organist of the Allman Brothers band was born on Dec. 8th, 1947 but died on May 27th, 2017.

Truthfully the music died when these 4 musicians died. All 4 were important to all of us. I’m a big fan of the Beatles and a big fan of John’s solo stuff too. I’ve also always been a Pantera fan before Dimebag was killed and was a long time Doors and Allman Bros. fan. Love all 4 of them.

These guys changed music and their music will always live on. Every year, I’ll always pay tribute to these guys on Dec. 8th and I always make sure I remember them. They should never be forgotten ever.

RIP to all 4 and thanks for all the great music they gave us.

Kev

music

Just got Ac/Dc “Power Up” album yesterday and a few other albums from Itunes…

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So yesterday, I finally bought the new Ac/Dc album, “Power Up” from Itunes for my Ipod Touch. It’s a great album and definitely their best new record in a long time so glad I got it now. I also purchased 3 other albums…

The Smashing Pumpkins: “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” (double album)…. I used to have this on CD but lost it so I got it again. I used to listen to this album a lot when I was young and yes I’ve been a huge Pumpkins fan since high school and I still love the band today.

The Smashing Pumpkins “Shiny and Oh So Bright”… one of their newer albums that they released two years ago in 2018, the 8 track comeback album. I got it pretty late but that’s because it grew on me. It’s a great album surprisingly. I haven’t gotten their newest one they just put out, “Cyr” but I’ll get it real soon.

Van Halen “1984”: The hit Van Halen album with songs like “Jump”, “Panama” and “Hot For Teacher”. Some of you may say you’re a Van Halen fan now ’cause Eddie just died. No, not really. I’ve always been a big Van Halen fan since high school, just didn’t buy their records much over the years and now I’m starting to get into them more. I did hear most everything the band has done, though.

Didn’t get much albums this time ’cause it’s the Holiday season, ya know?

Kev

movies

Actor Nicolas Cage has interesting insight on today’s movie DistribUtion, watch what he says…

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I was just watching some Nicolas Cage interviews through youtube out of pure boredom and this one kind of caught my attention. I love Nic Cage’s insight on today’s movie distribution.

In the old days, the only way you could watch the new movies is in a movie theater but now there’s all kinds of options like streaming services and VOD things like that. Cage here explains that he was once against the VOD format but it grew on him over the years. Why did Cage have a change of heart over VOD format of movie watching? Well, Cage here says that the format does have an audience and he’s right. VOD is very popular right now… people’s been renting and buying movies via VOD which is why so many movies being made straight-to-VOD lately… and also Nic Cage here says that VOD gives screenwriters a chance for their films to get made into films since the major movie studios won’t buy ’em, ya know?

Nic also explains that the reason he’s been doing a lot of straight-to-VOD independent low budget movies lately well, he’s just going back to his roots where he just started. Remember, Nic started out doing low budget indie films before moving on to becoming a blockbuster star… Nic later moved on to starring in some pretty huge movies over the years: “Leaving Las Vegas”, “Con Air”, “The Rock”, “Face/Off”, “National Treasure”, “8MM”, “Snake Eyes”, “City of Angels”, “Gone in 60 Seconds”, “Lord of War”, “Matchstick Men”, etc. The list goes on…

Later in the years, though, Nic went back down to doing low budget movies again.

I don’t know why people make fun of this guy. He’s one of my favorite actors really… the guy can act and love him or hate him, he’s one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood than anybody really. He’s always working and this man never stops. He’s very talented, in my opinion.

Honestly, though, I think some of his best work are the VOD low budget films he’s been doing lately like “Mandy”, “Color out of Space”, “Joe” and “Mom and Dad” were some of his best indie films. You should check ’em out.

When will Nic Cage start doing big screen blockbusters again? Not for a long while but never say never, I hear Disney is still working on “National Treasure 3” and Nic is committed to playing Ben Gates again so ya never know.

I’ve been watching a lot of Nic Cage movies lately and not sure why. I guess I respect him a whole lot. He’s a talented guy… can play anything that throws at him.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Getting stronger and stronger in powerlifting training week after week but I think it’s time to call it a deload finally…

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While my powerlifting training getting better and better, feeling stronger and stronger week after week… I’m thinking it’s time to call it a deload for two weeks or three. Reason being is my body is starting to get beatup and worn out ’cause I’ve been doing so much heavy lifting on the big three since I returned to the gym.

I don’t think I’m injured or anything, I’m perfectly okay but do feel beatup a little so I think it’s time to settle down for a few weeks and go light.

I know I’m getting stronger and stronger on the big three lifts in powerlifting: squat, bench and deadlift.

For squats, I’m now able to do 115 lbs. for 4 reps.

For bench, I’m now able to bench 140 lbs. for like 4 or 5 reps.

For deadlift, I’m now able to deadlift 265 lbs. for 5 reps for one set which I was never able to do before until now.

I know I’m able to move on up in numbers on the big three lately. I’m careful on never missing a lift on bench but I seem to keep missing 130 lbs. on squat and miss 300 lbs. a few times on deadlift… that’s because I was doing heavy sets and not leaving enough in the tank in the previous sets. I know I’m getting stronger and getting close to getting a 300 lb. single on deadlift and I’m not quite there yet but getting there.

I got to calm down for a weeks, though. Sometimes I do that once in a blue moon in the gym. Go light on everything ’cause you gotta have those light weeks, ya know? Can’t lift heavy all the time. Heal up and recharge, that’s why you gotta do that. Lifting heavy all the time could lead to injuries and frying up your CNS (Central Nervous System) and all that stuff. Gotta calm down once in a while.

Feels great to get back into lifting finally though.

Kev

music

Why Ac/Dc never changing their sound and style is actually a good thing!!!

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As a lot of music lovers know, Ac/Dc has had that same sound and style of music ever since the mid 70’s when they first started. Their sound and style stayed the same every album, even to this day. This bothered some music fans and they complained and whined to Ac/Dc about it so much that they finally explained why they don’t change their style.

Angus Young responded back with a simple answer:

“With us, it’s to be expected,” he told The Project TV. “As my brother [late AC/DC rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young] used to say, when somebody said, ‘Every album you’ve ever made sounds the same,’ he said, ‘Yeah. It’s the same band!’ ”

Angus continued, “When we started, we weren’t reinventing the wheel. This is what we do best. We make rock and roll.”

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/angus-young-responds-to-the-charge-that-every-acdc-album-sounds-the-same-this-is-what-we-do-best?fbclid=IwAR36N5Q6gZmzhwwxLpHHTMwg-ZYR-Ko2qbbIBnExpJLGxc_bdHEUnvQXYY4

Makes a whole lot of sense, in my opinion.

I think it’s actually cool that Ac/Dc doesn’t change their sound. Ya know, that simplistic rock n’ roll feeling. They sound like Ac/Dc and a band should sound like themselves. When a band is always reinventing the wheel, sounding different every album, that’s not sounding like themselves.

If Ac/Dc changed their sound then they probably won’t sound good anymore. It would turn fans off and would alienate a lot of fans. I mean, just ask Metallica when they ditched thrash metal and changed their sound for “Load/Reload”. They got a lot of backlash for that, remember that. Also, when Bob Dylan went electric for the first time with his 1965 album, “Bring it all Back Home”, Dylan got a lot of backlash for that too. David Bowie got a lot of backlash when he ditched rock n’ roll to dance music for his album, “Let’s Dance”. The band U2 got a lot of backlash when they ditched rock n’ roll and went pop for their two albums, “Zooropa” and “POP”. The Smashing Pumpkins alienated their fanbase when they went full on electronica for their album, “Adore”. I can go on and on with this.

Bands changing their sound and style every album is so dumb and honestly, that’s why I lost interest in Pearl Jam and Neil Young ’cause they are always changing.

There are very few bands out there that never change their sound and yes, Ac/Dc is one and there is more…. Slayer comes at the top of my head. The Ramones, Motorhead, The Clash, Oasis and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are just some more to keep in mind. Queensryche is another one even though they have a different singer now, they still sound like Queensryche. I love that band as well. Iron Maiden is another metal band that never changed their style from what I’ve heard over the years.

Even if Ac/Dc finally decided to change their sound, I’m not saying they will but what if they did… people will continue to bitch at them.

Bands just do what they want to do and I love Ac/Dc when they have that attitude. They just play what makes them happy.

Kev

Celebrity/musician deaths

RIP: Hal Ketchum 1953 – 2020

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In the early 90’s, Hal Ketchum a Greenwich native in my hometown was a country star who was commercially successful in the mainstream of country music. Thanks to his hit song “Small Town Saturday Night” which is one of the biggest country songs of all time and made Hal a superstar. The album “Past the Point of Rescue” became one of the biggest selling albums of all time because of that song.

When I was a kid in high school, I was a huge fan of Hal’s music. Owned three of his records on CD which I still have sitting on my CD shelf: “Past the Point of Rescue”, “Sure Love” and “Every Little Word”. He was a mainstream star then with those three albums. After those three albums, though, people started losing interest in his music and people totally forgot who he was over the years. Despite all that, he kept releasing records and touring so it wasn’t about the fame and money for him at all. It was about the music for him.

Admittedly, I stopped buying Hal’s albums after “Every Little Word” but I’ve always respected him and admired him. I try to follow his career to see what he’s up to and even though he no longer had the superstar status like he had in the 90’s, he continued to play live up until dementia hit him. He never gave it up. Kept playing and touring until he couldn’t do it anymore. He no longer play those huge arena shows anymore and went back down to playing smaller venues but that didn’t matter. It was about the music for him. He loved performing live. When he perform live before dementia hit him, he was still playing all the hits that was all over country radio. He continued to play live with his longtime guitar player and collaborator, Kenny Grimes.

If you want to listen to real country music, listen to Hal Ketchum. This is what real country is supposed to sound like. Too bad country music doesn’t sound like this anymore.

I got to meet the man briefly myself at a show backstage at the Washington County Fairgrounds back in the 90’s, I think. It was just a “Hello” and a handshake and he signed my CD too which I still have. I’ll never forget that show, though.

We lost another good one. A hometown hero in my hometown of Greenwich, N.Y. Hal had a helluva a voice and his songs were awesome. Definitely an inspiration with my own music as well.

RIP Hal and thanks for the great music.

Kev

movies

ADmittedly, I miss going to the movies… will they ever come back???

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Yeah, in some states in the US, some governors are opening back up movie theaters but with only small capacity audience and whatever other crazy restrictions these animals come up with.

Anyhow, even though some movie theaters are allowed to open, I’m noticing a lot of ’em stay closed. Some of them try to open but they go back to closing. Why? Well, many movie theaters are struggling to release new films which is difficult to pull in people… especially with a low crowd capacity.

Yeah, some theaters in the United States are allowed to fully open but even they are struggling to release new movies so instead, a lot of movie theaters screen older films like a lot of classics and Anniversary screenings and things like that, ya know?

Why are movie theaters struggling to make a full return??? Well… it is hard to release new movies when most of Hollywood are still out of work. Just a reminder, y’all that Hollywood are the ones that makes these movies. They write ’em, direct ’em, have actors/actresses that star in them, film them, etc. It takes a long time to make a movie, it’s a long process.

If you want new movies, Hollywood needs to get back to work ’cause like I said before, many of these Hollywood people are stuck at home still like the rest of us. Yeah, Hollywood is slowly returning back to work, I’m noticing. Yup, directors, producers, screenwriters, actors/actresses, etc. Many of them are at home still waiting to get back to work.

You want to get back to the movies, you need movies and these Hollywood people are the ones that brings them to you. They make the entertainment for us and America seems to have forgotten that.

A lot of big movies that were supposed to be released this year were pushed back further ’cause Covid stopped them from finishing them. For example “Top Gun 2” and the new “James Bond” movie. I was really looking forward to seeing those two movies this year but they got pushed back ’cause they couldn’t finish ’em. Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake was supposed to get released this year as well but I guess, that film got pushed back too ’cause Steve couldn’t finish that film.

I’m hoping this covid shit disappears in 2021 and then the country comes back to normal so the movies can return. Not only that live music needs to come back, the movies need to return too.

I haven’t been in a movie theater in many months which feels weird. They’ll make a full return at some point, though. I like going to the movies, though. Always did ever since I was a kid. I’ve always been a movie buff.

Kev

Health and Fitness

A lot of powerlifters are gonna be arrogant and ego-driven people, just so you’re aware… lifting is about you, though, not about them…

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Yeah, so you want to get yourself into the sport of powerlifting ’cause it simply looked cool and a lot of fun. That’s why I got myself into it ’cause it looks like a blast lifting heavy things. You’re just getting yourself into the powerlifting game and one thing you gotta be aware of, like the title says, you’re gonna see a lot of other powerlifters that are very ego-driven and arrogant people. I hope I’m not the only one that feels this way.

You’ll see a lot of powerlifters lifting with terrible form and technique all over social media and like the other post said about it, for some reason it’s accepted and cheered upon. You criticize other people’s lifting technique even when you’re nice, friendly and gentle about it, people will start criticizing you in return. Knowing from my own experience dealing with other powerlifters online.

I mean, isn’t the whole point of powerlifting is critiquing people’s form and being realistic? Yes. That’s the name of the game in powerlifting. The funny thing is, people think it’s okay to critique my form but when I do it to others, people don’t like it? Sure, I’m kind of a novice powerlifter still and my numbers could be better but that doesn’t mean they have the right to attack me in return. That’s the thing about powerlifting, they treat the newbies and up and comings like crap.

I try not to criticize someone’s form but I only do it when it looks dangerous like deadlifting with rounded backs and benching with butt off bench. I’m just looking out for their well being so they don’t get injured in the future but these people get defensive.

Today I got a bunch of hateful comments on my instagram by trolls, criticizing my lifting form even though it’s good. I haven’t seen one comment by any of them explaining why my form isn’t good and they haven’t corrected my form once. Why? It’s because they know my form is good and they dare not say it. They just say stuff like “Your form is shit” without explaining what I’m doing is wrong. They just wanted something to bash at. I deleted all the nasty comments asap, though.

I think they get defensive on bad form ’cause they can’t take the truth that it could lead to injury. The truth hurts, ya know? If they want to keep deadlifting with rounding backs, go for it. You could take out your back and you could be out of lifting for months. Even worse, your powerlifting career could be over for good. Too many deadlift with rounded backs and too many bench with butt off of bench, it’s scary really.

Let these assholes kill themselves in the gym for all I care. Yeah, there are gonna be egos and arrogant jerks in powerlifting for sure, you just gotta ignore ’em and just keep doing your thing. Not care what others say about you and your lifting.

There will be veterans and longtime powerlifters who will try to make you look bad. I was trying to be helpful and look out for their well-being but some of them are not gonna like it.

I can take criticism of my lifting just fine and can take it like an adult. If you’re doing it just to troll, that I can’t take.

Not everyone in powerlifting are arrogant jerks, some are actually very cool people and humble. Powerlifting is not always a cool community to get into. You just need to focus on you and not worry about what others are doing.

I get why some trash my powerlifting skills ’cause of my numbers but just so you wait… someday I will be able to bench over 300 lbs. and be able to deadlift/squat over 500 and maybe the critics will be silenced then? We’ll see.

Kev

Random/off topic posts

Studying drum programming for recording…

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For the past couple of years or a little more, I’ve been studying drum programming. I’ve been studying drum programming for DAW’s and other software ’cause I want to be able to create my own drum tracks and drum sequences behind my songs. Although, I’m not a drummer by any means, I just learn drums anyways just by buying a few drumming lessons books so it can help ’cause if you want to be a drum programmer, you got to think like a drummer. That’s why I bought a few drumming lessons books so I can see how they do it.

I got tons of rock n’ roll songs spinning in my head and I really want to get them out of me. Nobody wants to hear rock songs with just a voice and a distorted guitar. That’s why I want to start making full band tracks somehow. So I thought it would be easier if I learned how to program drums and I’ve been doing just that.

I’ve learned how drummers hit the kick drum which usually falls on the 1 and 3 beats… and the snare falls on the 2 and 4 beats. The hi-hat cymbals counts throughout the song pretty much to make it more lively… the crash cymbals usually starts or ends a section of a song and the ride cymbals usually ends a fill. The high toms usually used for fills in songs and the floor tom can be used in place of a hi hat if you wish. That’s all you really need to create a simple rock beat really but you don’t always have to make the drum patterns the same, gotta switch ’em up to make ’em sound interesting.

I used to believe that learning drums would be hard to learn but not really. I wish I have a drum set of my own but they’re too loud around here which is why I’m definitely planning on getting EZ drummer real soon ’cause there’s virtual drum set on that and you can play the drums manually on that software which would be cool.

Pretty soon, I could start recording electric guitar rock songs with drum beats behind them. I could record them as demos and ideas and then later in the future I could figure out how to get bass lines on the songs so I can have full band backup. I’m probably gonna get ToonTrack EZ bass for that, sometime in 2021.

I’ve gotten way better with timing in music and the metronome lately. Feels good to do that. Playing in time in music and playing in the pocket is important. Your music can be taken more seriously by people if you play in time. I’ve learned that a long time ago. You can write songs better too.

Kev

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