movies

Film Review: Escape Plan…

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Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Vincent D’Onofrio, Sam Neill, 50 Cent, Amy Ryan

Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom

Well, now that my area finally opened a new movie theater called, “Criterion Cinemas” (or Bowtie whichever), the Grand Opening was today. I decided to go to the movies to check out, “Escape Plan”. The new film starring Sly and Arnie! Here is my review:

Plot/synopsis: A structural-security authority named Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) is an expert on escaping from the highest security prisons. He can easily escape from any prison in the world. So to stop other prisoners from having the potential to escape, Ray must build and design an escape-proof prison himself. However, things go wrong — Ray is framed and incarcerated in his own prison that he designed himself. The prison he designed is a futuristic prison with glass walls and the guards are all dressed in black and masked. Ray needs to escape his own prison that he built and find who ever put him in there. 

Sly is no stranger to starring in prison films. As a matter of fact, he starred in a prison film called, “Lock Up” (released in 1989). This is a whole different prison film. This new film, “Escape Plan”, has gotten mixed reviews but that’s typical with Sly Stallone movies. Pretty much all of his movies over the years have gotten mixed reviews from critics and movie fans.

What a lot of people are saying is that they are saying that the action in this movie is not as fun. I don’t know if they saw the same movie I saw but I thought the action was fine. There were some pretty entertaining fights, gun shooting and explosions; however, this movie concentrated on the story the most. It was way more than an action movie. When Arnold and Sly stars in a movie together, everybody would immediately think that the movie will be violent w/graphic scenes. The violence in this movie wasn’t graphic and disturbing but I think it wasn’t meant to be. I think the reason people are disappointed with this film is that they expected this film to be an epic action movie knowing that Sly and Arnold are in it together ’cause that’s what they were known for over the years. After I saw the film… I immediately thought that this movie is a mystery/suspense kind of film. It was more of a “whodunit” kind of thing. What this movie is basically about is “who” put Ray Breslin in his own prison that he built himself.

What I liked about this film also is that it had a bit of an 80’s throwback. It had an old school feeling to it. The visuals of the new prison Ray built were pretty impressive and interesting. Something different.

I was also surprised by the casting. I was surprised to see Vincent D’Onofrio as you all would know him from “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”… and Vincent did a real good job in this film. I thought Jim Caviezel made an awesome badguy as he played the prison’s warden. Jim played an excellent badguy that you really wanted to hate. Sam Neill killed it as well even though he had a smaller role, he played the prison’s doctor.

Most importantly, this movie was all about Sly and Arnold. Finally, YES, FINALLY, after all these years teaming up in a big movie together. I like these two being the main co-stars on the big screen. They have so much chemistry together and they work-well together so I really hope they do a lot more films playing the leading role like this. As usual, this film makes them look like tough guys. Arnold with his usual machine guns and funny one-liners… Arnie had a funny one-liner in this film that had me crackin’ up, I don’t want to spoil it. You’ll hear him say it toward the end of the film. Like usual while Arnie likes violence and action… he wants his characters to be funny and comedic like they always are. Sly and Arnold never starred in movies together in the past ’cause I guess they didn’t get along at first… Sly confirmed it himself on Letterman the other night. It’s about time, and this was long overdue!

I thought “Escape Plan” was a very fun and exciting movie. It was pretty good. I liked it!

I’ll give it a two thumbs up.

Kev

music

I’ve always believed that Kurt Cobain was murdered and he didn’t actually kill himself…

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For many years in my blogs, I’ve always believed that Kurt Cobain was murdered, and he didn’t actually commit suicide. I still stand by it too! For hints on how you can tell, first of all… take a look at Kurt’s so called suicide note pictured above. Notice the last part of this writing where it begins with “Please Keep Going  Courtney”, and the rest — notice how the handwriting is a little different? I believe that this write-up was just a letter to somebody that Kurt was ranting about that he wasn’t feeling the passion and love for music and he was thinking about quitting music. Who ever killed him finished this write-up for him and made it look like a suicide note instead. Secondly, at the time of Kurt’s death, he was loaded on heroin in his system so I would think he would be incapable of pulling the trigger himself. Makes sense right? On top of that, on the final days of Kurt’s life, Dave said that Kurt was a pretty happy guy and he was all smiles before his death. Really, read Dave’s interviews online about Kurt’s final days.

One more thing, what is, “To Boddha” in the introduction of this write-up? Is that a misspelling of Courtney Love of “Buddha”? She has always been a horrible writer — “To Boddha” and the closing of this note kind of matches Courtney’s writing style. If you look closely, you can see that Kurt was a better writer than who ever finished the note for him. “Buddha” is just another word for god as it is widely known that Kurt Cobain was a Buddhist. I don’t think he was writing this to god. Maybe he was just writing this note as a letter to a friend or to himself. Don’t know. Just making observations.

There have been a couple of theories on how Kurt was murdered.

One big theory is that Courtney Love hired a hitman named El Duce who was also a musician — Courtney offered him 50 grand to kill Cobain as the man claimed himself on the documentary “Kurt and Courtney”. Another theory is that another musician named Allen Wrench may have killed both Cobain and El Duce.

Why would Courtney or other musicians want to kill Cobain? Jealousy and ego maybe a huge part of it. Plus, they wanted to take Kurt’s fame and it seems like Courtney wanted to own Nirvana’s entire song catalog which she has been fighting for a long time now. That’s what Cobain got for marrying another drugged up whack job like Courtney. She probably hung out with bad people which will eventually end up Kurt being dead.

Kurt may have been messed up on drugs but from the sounds of things he really wasn’t ready to go yet ’cause I’m sure he wanted to be alive for his daughter, Frances.

Many believe that Kurt committed suicide ’cause that’s what they wanted it to look like and many believed it. There’s no doubt in my mind that Kurt was murdered and they got away with it successfully. Before Kurt’s death, he was getting ready to breakup Nirvana anyways so that’s another hint that he wasn’t ready to die yet.

In the videos below, watch the creepy interview with El Duce himself and listen to the song he wrote about Kurt’s so called suicide. There’s no way to prove that El Duce was the actual killer ’cause he’s dead now.

Kev

movies

That punk rock dude in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” what he does look like now???

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Leonard Nimoy reunites with a special someone from, “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”. Who is it? Well, it’s that punk rock dude on the bus who Spock gives the nerve pinch to for playing the loud music (see the video below of the scene from the movie itself). Remember, Leonard directed the film himself and the man who played the punk rock kid is Kirk Thatcher. Kirk Thatcher even wrote the song himself that was playing on the boombox.

See what the punk rock dude looks like now 27 years later after “Star Trek IV” was released, here. Leonard sent that photo out on his twitter account.

Pretty cool stuff! “Star Trek IV” is my favorite Trek film too!

Kev

Local music

Look like I’m not alone about this area’s music scene…

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A post stolen from the craigslist musicians section:

All right! So when I got back and read a couple of the rants on here labeling Albany as Smallbany, I kind of giggled and laughed. It wasn’t until I met with a few of the musicians from the area and attended a couple of Open Mics did I really begin to notice what was going on. I have lived all over the country. I have brushed elbows regularly with superstars whom ironically where some of the most humble and kind people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Since my arrival in the Capital district I have come across more inconsiderate, pompous ego maniacs than every before in my life. From the locals who monopolize open mic(with obvious minimal investment of time in the music craft) , to studios who who charge exorbitant amounts for piss poor quality recordings ,it’s all very laughable. I used to think it was important to support open mic night ,well after it is of no use to a musician personally. I felt it gave those developing the craft something to strive for, but now I am convinced it’s a waste of time. For someone who has worked tirelessly to perfect their art it’s a waste of time, because no one ultimately cares about the music. It’s it’s a big f%$^^ing popularity contest here and that’s all that it will ever be! Musicians suffer from the big fish little pond effect!The thought that a person could show up over hour early for an open mic and not even get a chance to sign the list is pathetic and reflects directly on local musicians! There is no time to, because the list goes from the hands of the local running it into the hands of his buddy. He in turn signs up all his buddies whom haven’t even arrived yet. It’s really quite a vicious little circle, but again laughable. Unless the place had a decent draft beer and cheeseburger the newcomer is SOL. This has brought me to the conclusion that most people who play music aren’t musicians but people with very damaged psyches who spent a lot of time alone. They have nothing else to do,so they learn to hack up a few songs on guitar! Welcome to the capital district! Does anyone know a travel agent?

This rant was posted on craigslist in the musicians forum and who ever this anonymous poster is right on target on the music scene here! He’s basically ranting about how open mics are around here which I absolutely agree with but he pretty much summed it up on how this music scene is as well.

This area is nothing but a popularity contest with music, and this area is full of pompous egomaniacs for sure!

What he explained above is why I don’t frequent open mics anymore. I used to frequent open mics all of the time when I was younger but I stopped going to them. Open mics are just for regulars who jerk themselves off and pretending to be professional musicians.

Open mics should be welcome for everybody no matter the level of talent. A lot of open mic hosts run them pretty horribly too.

Kev

music

Nirvana nominated for possible “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” induction!!!

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In order to be eligible for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, an artist or band must have their first album out for 25 years. Well, Nirvana’s first album, “Bleach”, was released 24 years ago. The next Hall of Fame won’t be until 2014 so this is what helps get Nirvana the nomination. There’s obviously going to be a lot of controversy over this ’cause as you all know, Nirvana isn’t for everyone. Nirvana certainly deserves this honor and if Kurt was still alive, I’m sure he would be all for it too. Nirvana means so much to me. They’ve pretty much helped change my life. Their songwriting and musicianship may have been pretty questionable — Kurt may not have been the greatest singer and guitarist but you don’t need to be to write killer and amazing songs! Most importantly, Nirvana were the greatest live performers. It was their live shows that really mattered. Kurt may have dressed up in drag onstage quite a lot and he smashed a lot of instruments but that’s what made him amazing. He wasn’t afraid to be different on stage.

If Nirvana wins the induction and they probably will, it’ll be interesting to see who is going to induct them. Hopefully, it won’t end up being Courtney Love. I don’t think she’ll be any part of the induction ’cause she never got along with Dave and Krist over the years. Courtney and Nirvana always had a big feud over legal rights, and all that bullshit. I think Frances Bean Cobain (Kurt’s daughter) should induct them or maybe the Nirvana producer, Butch Vig. Maybe the guys from the Meat Puppets — Cris and Curt Kirkwood should induct them too. Any of those could be a possibility.

To see the full nomination list for 2014 Hall of Fame, check it out, here.

Kiss got nominated again this year but don’t get your hopes up if they’ll actually make it… they could get snubbed again for the 20th time, I lost count.

I can see Peter Gabriel winning his nomination. Hall and Oates for sure. The Zombies I would like to see make it in. Deep Purple and Yes both deserve their time. Linda Ronstadt deserves her time as well!

I have a feeling they’ll probably end up inducting another rap artist and if they do, they should give it to the N.W.A. They are more deserving than LL Cool J.

That’s all. Just thought I’d give you my quick thoughts on the Hall of Fame.

Kev

movies

That new Arnold and Sly movie coming out this weekend…

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Yes, I do have plans in seeing “Escape Plan” this weekend when that new movie theater open in downtown Saratoga Springs. I’m planning on seeing it this coming Friday. This is Arnold and Sly’s first big movie together. Well, Arnie was in the first two Expendables movies with Sly but they were just cameo roles for Arnie, though. Arnold is pretty much in the leading role in this one along with Sly. This movie tells a story about a man who builds his own prison which Sly plays and he gets trapped into his own prison that he built — he must escape it himself. The plot actually sounds kind of interesting!

As some of you know, I’m a huge fan of both Arnold and Sly… can’t wait to see them both together.

It’s been long overdue for them to star in movies together. Arnold and Sly may have been friends for years — their friendship go way back in the 80’s but the reason they haven’t starred in movies together in the past is because they were both worried about their egos getting in the way. Now, they feel it’s a good time to star in movies together and I agree. These guys are getting old and you can only live once so might as well go for it!

Can’t wait to see this flick!

I saw Sly’s last movie, “Bullet To The Head” for DVD rental and it wasn’t all that special so hopefully this film will be a lot better. Best of all, this film has Jim Caviezel in it and that guy is a great actor!

The two new movie theaters will open soon and it will be great to start going to the movies again as I miss it. Yes, going to the movies is one of my favorite things to do. I haven’t been to the movies since I’ve seen “Man of Steel”.

There are other good movies out that I want to see. I want to see: “Gravity”, “Captain Phillips”, “Machete Kills”, and the new “Carrie” film. I plan to see them all but one at a time. “Gravity” will be the next movie I’ll see after “Escape Plan”. I got some catching up to do!

Kev

Politics/war

Congratulations to Cpt. William Swenson but…

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… it is pretty questionable on why President Obama would give him the medal of honor during a government shutdown. Swenson SHOULD HAVE been given this honor long ago. The paperwork for this was lost which is how it caused the delay and reasons were unknown.

I saw the Sept. 8 2009 Cpt. Swenson video in youtube and it’s interesting stuff indeed. Swenson deserved this honor but why now?

Oh, I get why. It’s the government shutdown… something negative going on in politics but sure enough, Obama’s gonna pull something positive so America can get their minds off the negative. Obama does this shit all the time. Whenever negative stuff goes on in government… Obama will do something positive to get our minds off of things. Obama is that controlling of America. He has this power over the media. What Obama wants is what he gets and I absolutely blame him for the delay of this Medal of Honor.

You see, Obama has this huge ego problem; he would do just about anything to make him look good and this is his opportunity. He’s trying his best to redeem himself — sorry Barack O’ while this is a good thing you did this is a huge stab in the back of all the other people who died who served this country.

How come Navy Seal Chris Kyle wasn’t awarded medal of honor? How come Ambassador Stevens wasn’t honored? What about Brian Terry? Don’t know who those names are… look them up.

No matter what he does positively… I’ll never respect this asshole. Ever.

Kev

Random/off topic posts

Check out “How2GetAGirlfriend.org”…

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You should check out, Jad T. Jones’s website: http://www.how2getagirlfriend.org.

For those single guys out there struggling to get women…

This guy is the only dating coach on the internet you should be taking advice from. He’s really good and seems to know what he’s talking about. I bet this dude gets a lot of ladies! HA!

I’ll publicly confess that I didn’t have much dating experience. I dated a few women throughout my life but nothing good came out of them. I’ve also had plenty of occasions where women seemed to be interested in talking to me but admittedly, I never went for her — out of fear of women. I’ve also had plenty of crushes on women over the years who had no love for me in return… partly because it was my fault ’cause I never knew much about the dating scene in my life. I think the reason is that I never really had anyone in my life teach me how to pick up women. I am learning about women now and trying to understand them.

I am learning that getting a girlfriend won’t fall in your lap. You have to do the work and it’s your responsibility to get her yourself.

You know how when I talk about how I dance with women and talk to them at wedding parties and at band shows? Well, that’s just me trying to work on my confidence with them. Just practicing my social skills with women and trying to understand them.

I just read Jad’s 35 page free Ebook on how to get a girlfriend on his website, and it certainly woke me up on a lot of things. I’ll definitely try his method on dating. His free Ebook is recommended reading too.

I like how he says it’s okay to talk to any woman you want. I like how he says it’s okay to tell her she’s hot, gorgeous or beautiful right away and I like how he says it’s okay to ask her out right away. That’s another problem I had with the dating scene. I’ve been friends with women before but never had the guts to ask any of them out. He said the secret to getting the woman you want is that you talk to as many women as possible and he said about 7 of them won’t be interested and maybe like 1 or 2 women will be interested. That’s the deal here… meet as many women as you possibly can until you find the one who will actually like you.

I gotta knock it off and grow up! I can go out there in town right now if I wanted and try to talk to as many women as possible. It shouldn’t be that hard to get a girl at all and this guy is making it seem real easy! Some say I can’t get a hot and beautiful woman? Watch me prove you wrong. 😉

Kev

Random/off topic posts

How to make your online web presence recognizable…

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Some of you may ask… how does the Brock do it? How does he make his web presence online so recognizable and well-known? I get these questions sometimes. I’m about to explain how. Some would accuse me of craving for attention but that is pretty much not true. I think the secret to making your online web-presence recognizable and popular is… there is no secret. Just being yourself is all that matters. With your online web presence — whether it will be your blog, twitter, facebook, etc. — if you simply be yourself, people will be interested in you and will follow everything you do. Why do people follow me online?

Well for a number of reasons… my online web presence has always had a mixed reaction. You either love me or hate me. I’ve always had both supportive fans and haters.

People probably follow me for these simple reasons:

  • They find my rants entertaining as hell
  • They appreciate my honesty
  • Some like to make fun of me and laugh at the things I say (that’s what the haters do)

Some like to mistakenly think that I like to be negative and offensive intentionally just to get more attention for myself and boost my ego. Not true either. You see, I’m the type of guy who likes to speak my mind. If there’s something on my mind… I’m gonna say it. I can never tell if I am being negative and offensive or not… I usually let the people tell me that stuff. People usually let me know if I’m going way out of line. Make no mistake about it, though… I don’t think I’m right on everything I say or do. I will admit that I’m wrong on things and I regret some of the stuff I said in the past but for the most part, I usually never back down on my honesty. If I have an honest opinion on something… I usually stick it with it no matter how many people get pissed off. Once in a while, I will apologize for being offensive on certain things but it rarely happens.

I just can’t help it. What I am online. I’m just trying to be me, ya know? A lot of people online are afraid to be themselves. I’m not.

The things I do online… I’m just trying to keep people entertained as best as possible. I try to inspire people and entertain them with my thoughts on different topics like movies, music, fitness, politics, etc. The things I say online were never meant to be offensive, they were meant to entertain others so if you don’t take my writing seriously, you would enjoy it more. I don’t do this for myself at all. My goal has always been that I wanted people to look at the reality side of things and I think my goal is working quite well. That’s why I continue to do what I do.

Of course, when people disagree with me and have different opinions on stuff… that’s when I sometimes get a public backlash on things like with my rants on controversial subjects like the President Obama stuff, gay marriage, and such as those. I really never back down on my opinions on things. Why should you? You shouldn’t have to change your opinion just because so many people get all over you, right? Does everything that comes out of your mouth have to please every single person? In this day and age with the way people communicate online, it seems so.

Anyway, I never saw how my online writing was negative or offensive. I try to write as polite and kind as possible. I try my best to keep things civilized. Like I said before if I get too offensive and out of line… I let the people let me know. So I’m definitely not innocent in everything.

As for my rants on the local music scene, same thing. When I rant about local music, those posts were never meant to put down the scene in a negative direction as some say. I’m only trying to help the music scene. Try to make it better. I’m trying to inspire other musicians around here to change and try to get better. Looking at their attitudes, their professionalism, their musicianship, etc. Musicians want to believe I’m trying to upset them but not really. I like to look after my fellow musicians around this area. I’m a big music fan and supporter of local musicians… I just want to see them get better ’cause I feel that a lot of them have no clue with music.

So to those looking to make your online web presence more recognizable and well-known. If you want more people reading your blogs, facebook, twitter. Just be yourself. That’s pretty much the only way. Make your online web presence more human. You don’t have to use the internet just to promote your musical projects and other things. If you be more human and let people know that you are alive and real, being yourself is the way to go. Reply to everyone who writes to you, be more personal to people, and see what happens from there.

Why do you think so many famous celebrities have well-known web presences like say Amanda Palmer, perfect example? Her web presence is big because she likes to be herself. The same with professional wrestler, The Ultimate Warrior. The same with that Star Trek guy, George Takei. Many other celebrities have recognizable web-presences.

I’m not as big as those people yet but I don’t care… I like what I do now. So thanks for reading both supporters and haters. It means a lot!

Kev

 

Random/off topic posts

Cool Video: This guy is probably the best dating coach in youtube!!!

Jad T. Jones is good stuff. The dude seems to know what he’s talking about! This guy talks about how you should not be all creepy and just be normal when picking up women. If you be normal — all the time — then you will be more attractive to women and they will be all over you before you know it. I agree that trying to be the “pick up artist” and trying too hard seem to turn women off. I admittedly made those mistakes before. I’ll be sure to never do it again and follow this dude’s advice. Just treat her like a person and not a sex object.

Check out this dude’s channel, it’s entertaining stuff.

I respect this guy ’cause he seems to be one of the few dating coaches who gives out free advice on the internet.

Anybody can be great at picking up women… it doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like. You just gotta know what to do and do it right!

Kev

The Official Music Website of Kevin Brock – Brocking N' Rolling