PassTheAmmunition

When In Living Color was on television, Damon's characters were some of the funniest stuff around. Between Oswald Bates and the homeless guy and the Head Detective, it was hard to choose the funnier skits. Man, you are a Metamucil! Classic.

thanks Nettie!

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s114/jkr77/2286433897_92bedcd638.jpg My youngest in his baby drum kit

The lowest common denominator for how good a Blu-Ray Disc will look is your equipment, obviously. If you don't have a TV that supports 1080P (very few bought within the past two years would qualify) then your looking at 1080i anyway, which can be achieved through upscaled DVD. The big GOTCHA however is the Blu-Ray HD technology, which you won't be able to touch with upscaled (non-HD) DVDs even on a 1080p set. Hopefully, the recent Toshiba news will kick-start an influx of new releases to BD, and a price drop for the BDs themselves as well as the players. Its funny to me how the XBox crowd still talk about the PS3 like it is a failure, here's an interesting read: http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=PS2...3=All&weeks=100

Sigh. This thread pops up every two weeks (or so it seems) since Ghost Rider was published, and the incredible irony in it is that if you read what Neil writes on the subject of touring (and "hitting things with sticks") - the guy is really trying to convey that while drumming is his passion, its also his job, and on top of the pressure of having to try to perform that job to the best of his abilities, night after night, "under the microscope" so-to-speak, he cannot lose sight of the fact that is still a job, it is repetitious, and for a largely private person, its also one that comes with its fair share of challenges - one of those is being perceived as ungrateful, uncaring, pretentious, egotistical etc. to the fans that don't simply come to see him perform, but that seem to think he owes them more somehow; that he should somehow not only play flawlessly most nights but that he somehow owes them more than just a great performance. I agree with D-Rock here, check your expectations. Its no secret that the touring life is a grind. Maybe the perception is that the boys should kick back and have some Cheetohs backstage with the fans after the show and b.s. about the setlist or baseball and birdwatching. Check your expectations. Neil is in a unique position to offer some perspective on the subject - thirty-some years of performing and touring and traveling and being sought after by the fans. What does he owe us? I gotta be honest here and say that some people need to get a grip on what they think they are owed.

My review posted here http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?act=ST&f=27&t=34607

I went to see the U2 3D Imax movie last night and wanted to post a review of it for anyone who might be interested in seeing it. Since its a review, it obviously contains some spoilers, so anyone not wanting to read further, nows you're time to click out. First, I'll preface the review by mentioning that I am a moderate U2 fan. My friend is a major U2 fan and as a result over the years I've attended probably 8 or so U2 concerts. I've also dragged him to several Rush shows in return. If I had to pick a time period for what I feel is some of U2's best work, I would say earlier U2, perhaps Joshua Tree through Achtung Baby. However, I did attend both the PopMart and Vertigo tours and the shows were excellent, but the Zoo Station tour was the peak for me, personally. So when the news of this 3D concert film came out, I really wanted to check it out. Regardless of your U2 interest, even if you're just a fan of music - you need to see this show. IT WAS PHENOMENAL I've never seen an IMAX movie before. And the last 3D feature I can remeber seeing is when I was a kid and one of the 'Jaws' movies was shown on Channel 11 in '3D', lol. The local papers had the paper red and blue glasses to cut out and everyone I knew watched that silly movie. As I sat in the theater last night and got into my seat, I couldn't help but think of goofy Alex with Count Floyd from the GUP video "oooohh...scary....ooohh". The IMAX screen is gigantic, perhaps 2+ stories in height and quite wide. I would assume this explains why the 3D glasses are the size of Harry Caray's and covered half of my face and forehead like two giant satellite dishes. Not the typical 3D glasses (red/blue), these are more like really bad sunglasses. The Show The lights go down and the screen gets nice and black. From about 10 rows back from the screen, I'm literally looking up at a wall of screen stretching from the ground to the ceiling. The IMAX theater seats are the nice cushy semi-reclining type with a nice headrest. The surround sound starts to fade in...the flicker of the crowd's cell phones, cameras and lighters flicker like a city at night seen from an airplane. If you've seen the Vertigo tour, you will immediately recognize the intro to 'Vertigo'....just as the letters 'U23D' appear on the screen and start to 'float' towards the foreground. My head was pushed back into the headrest and optically your mind can't figure out how its happening, but the screen is getting closer as the music is getting louder...its as if you are flying towards the stage. The letters eventually fill the screen and fly past the audience. Ok I think, cool little 3D trick. I just hope its not the best part. Then there's a segue into a video montage of people rushing into the stadium (filmed in South America over 8 or 9 nights) - very very reminiscent to Rush In Rio, with the young fans charging the soccer stadium floor....as Bono's unmistakable intro 'Uno..dos...tres..quatorze..." And the sound erupts as for the first time the much-hyped 3D technology used to make this film are revealed. O M F G.... You need to see this to appreciate it, but to try to describe the ethereal clarity and dimension of it - its unlike anything I've seen before. Its clearly better than vision itself. The viewpoints simply unachievable for any mortal. The cameras swing above the crowd and swoop towards the stage, grazing the tops of outreached hands that are so three dimensional that you can't make the distinction between the crowd on the screen and the people in the rows in front of you in the theater. You literally are in Argentina and seeing this show in a way you never could even from the first row. The first overhead shot of Larry Mullen Jr.'s drum kit will make your jaw drop (and invoke an immediate wish that Rush would make a 3D film like this). The microphone stands, cymbal stands jut out at you and almost instinctively yourhead moves to avoid being impaled by the wireless end of Bono's mic. Stunning. Amazing clarity. When Bono joked about 'seeing his lard arse' 40 feet tall - its really remarkable how gigantic this is. For example, just the sense of stage depth this 3D technology creates enables you to see and almost feel that you can touch, the buttons on the wall of amplifiers behind The Edge. Its crazy. Just as The Edge walks to the front of the stage and the camera swoops and circles him, the detail on his guitar, his face, you see the texture as if you could grab his arm. At this point I'm going to suggest that it almost doesnt matter what songs they play, but of course it does to an extent. The show is only 14 songs long, approximately and hour and 5 minutes by my watch. And it goes quick. Why it wasn't the entire show, I don't know. I'm sure my friend will know. The songs also aren't neccessarily the fan favorites or 'greatest hits'. But there are enough staples to keep even the moderate U2 fan happy. Some standouts for me were 'Beautiful Day', 'Vertigo', 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and 'The Fly'. Fortunately, Bono's preachy tendencies were minimal and the musicianship and showmanship shined through. The film's composition was an intersting mix of dramatic viewpoints of the band and the crowd. I don't think you'll ever feel more at a concert watching a DVD or for that matter even being at the concert because you would never be able to achieve these stunning perspectives (illegal substances notwithstanding). There are times in this film where you will tap the arm of the person next to you and say 'did you see that?' or 'damn, that's wild'. But I can't adequately describe that in words. You need to see it. The dry ice (smoke, whatever it is) that the band pumps out to aid in the visual effects and lighting literally seems to float out into the space between you and the screen. For those not familiar with the Vertigo tour's stage setup, its got a fairly large catwalk that arcs out from the stage in a semi-circle, creating a 'pit' on the inside of the arc where some lucky fans get to experience Larry, Edge and Bono walking around them as they perform. With the camera swinging over the heads of these fans it affords the viewers an almost unreal viewpoint of Bono in the foreground, the crowd in the middle and Edge on the far side of the catwalk and you can't help but think that even though these people have great seats, you still have the best seat in the house. And the crowd is wild just like the RiR crowd, pulsing and jumping up and down like a sea of grain in a windstorm. To give you and idea of the clarity, a shot of the stage from the audience enables you to see not only the video being shot be the fans own digital camera and cell phones, but the make and model of these devices as well. To take a line from 'History Of The World' - its n-v-t-s nuts nuts nuts. The only room for improvement in my opinion would be to see the entire show, and to pump up the volume a bit. Some folks in the theater were pleading for them to crank the volume a bit more. The surround sound is fantastic though. When Bono wanders to stage right they cleverly have the sound of his voice fade to the left as if he's walking around to your side. Several times during the show I just wished Rush had done this. I'd probably see it several times. As it is, I'd see this U2 movie again for $15 as it was well worth it.

The verse in 'Prime Mover' where Ged says alter our preception ... lenses polarize and the sound is split into left and right channels on 'polarize' Always great cranked up on the Bose headphones.

QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jan 22 2008, 03:20 PM) QUOTE (PassTheAmmunition @ Jan 22 2008, 03:19 PM) Going to see this tomorrow night in NY. Cool! Would you mind posting a review afterwards? I definitely will. I'm interested to check out these new technology 3D glasses.

Going to see this tomorrow night in NY.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s114/jkr77/2146945338_ae4992076f.jpg the hair is all-natural.

My oldest son at the park this month http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s114/jkr77/1559898634_e8d20e219b_b.jpg

QUOTE (lerxt1990 @ Oct 30 2007, 06:13 PM) They were always a riot. What great memories. Hey - a question - I post a lot of videos, but can seem to embed as you have in first post here, can we do that??? Lerxst, If you use Photobucket, like Pags did, you can use their 'embed' code 'cut and paste' within a post, provided that you have publicly shared that video or album that contains it. Others, like YouTube etc, may not work the same way. The others may use javascript that isn't supported here. PTA

If I had all of those songs at my fingertips, I'd play YYZ first. Thats how I answered this one. YYZ just gets me going.

Man, this brings back some funny memories. You couldn't beat these two guys at making your sides split with laughter. How anyone could hold it together with Conway is beyond me. Great skit pags

NSL

why do you and all your friends have your panties around your knees?

Chuck Norris as Alex (come on 1-0-0-1-0-0, there's too much material here with all those Chuck Norris jokes)

a little more cowbell and maybe this never happens

Dressed To Kill is one of the funniest stand up routines I've seen. I have watched it on DVR at least 50 times.

Rush was in a bathtub with Dream Theater and Mike Portnoy farted. Geddy loudly exclaimed, "Wheres My Thing!?!". "It is in Alex's double neck Gibson, which is not the greatest place to find a gigantic wildebeast. Neil said fear the snow dogs or they will kill your family, then outa nowhere came Kurt Cobain shooting heroin in the face. "Ow!" Neil ran screaming, grabbed his drumsticks and his helmet, whipped out his giant spaghetti noodle, and sped out of the studio to go find Terry Brown's apartment. "Oh my gosh! I forgot my...motorcycle keys and my newest lyrics. Well no big deal, Courtney Love will remember them. At that moment, the phone rang "Hello Neil, you left your lyrics back in Toronto and your snowdog is here too. Come get them." Neil replied, "I don't have the soup or shrimp cot to get the lyrics. So mail them here along with my motorcycle keys and kitty litter bags. Meanwhile, Alex was checking his Gibson sandwiches, which tasted similar to broccoli, but still couldn't compare to the soup he had each day. Chicken has protein for Geddy's fingers, giving him the feeling of pride from knowing that he soon would rule the world. "What'a Farcry you'd take the whole pie i had". He scurried away, frantically searching for his lost squirrel, who knows how he got away. And why. He called to his pet Canadian goose, not a creature came, "Why!, Oh why can't I get my silly real goose to run with the Toronto snowdog? An answer came from above. "Because, only good little geese can run into snowdogs whilst charging black squirrels". Geddy decided to pick up the fuzzy little fella

QUOTE (MrMiltonBanana @ Sep 10 2007, 03:39 PM) QUOTE (PassTheAmmunition @ Sep 10 2007, 04:32 PM) Okay, next quote: "Katie Holmes is a nice, respectable, wholesome girl... and I'm gonna see her boobs" Harold and Kumar Right you are Milton. You're up...

Okay, next quote: "Katie Holmes is a nice, respectable, wholesome girl... and I'm gonna see her boobs"

QUOTE (Test4VitalSigns @ Sep 10 2007, 02:26 PM) QUOTE (The Owl @ Sep 10 2007, 01:18 PM) QUOTE (Test4VitalSigns @ Sep 10 2007, 11:03 AM) QUOTE (The Owl @ Sep 10 2007, 11:58 AM) Here Ya go "He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He puts one of yours in the hospital, you put one of his in the morgue. That's the Chicago way" The Untouchables correct your turn Cool. Next one... "Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in." American Beauty

QUOTE (theanalogkid @ Aug 14 2007, 12:16 PM) (whether or not Peart meant them that way or not). and this is the key to this entire thread and the post earlier by Geddy'sMullet: the beauty is in the interpretation. I find a lot of Rush song lyrics to be cryptic - or at least, to inspire me to interpret them in my own way. Some are relatively straightforward I suppose, but the validity of the lyrics for each of us will be slightly different. To Geddy'sMullet's post - in the example of Distant Early Warning, I personally also relate much more to the 'plea to a loved-one' aspect in [You sometimes drive me crazy / but I worry about you / I know it makes no difference / to what youre going through / But I see the tip of the iceberg / and I worry about you] than I do to any other conceivable lyrical theme Neil might have meant, and as you so rightly pointed out in the S&A documentary, thats what makes this whole thing so cool; it means different things to different ears...