Rayng86’s Weblog
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First Time Attending Taping of Late Night with Conan o’ Brien
Hey guys and gals. I haven’t posted in a while so I thought why not write about something that’s just happened with me recently. On July 15th, 2007, I attended a Tuesday taping of Late Night with Conan o’ Brien. The guests were Heidi Klum, Joel McHale, and musical guest: Daryl Hall and K.T. Tunstall I had never experienced an actual ‘live taping’ before so it was a real treat to see how everything operated in terms of what goes on live during a taping. I saw the many staff & crew members involved, the cue cards, the big gigantual cameras, and the lighting fixes. The musical guest was fantastic and was one of my top highlights besides seeing Conan. K.T. Tunstan and Daryl Hall played two songs for the live audience in attendance from their new album out in stores now. I thought the whole interview with Heidi Klum was decent but ultimately bland and boring. She’s nice to look at and all but eh, she speaks way too softly and really doesn’t have much interesting things to say besides plugging Project Runway and talking about her hubbie, Seal. As always, Conan tries his best to make it entertaining. Joel McHale, from “E’s Soap” was pretty funny at times too. I must digress that I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I logged onto the NBC website to find out who would be appearing in this week’s episode only to find out its no one from the the new Batman film “The Dark Knight”. It was one of the reasons why I reserved by tickets a month back and chose this exact week to go see Conan as I was hoping it would be one of the cast members from the sequel. How disappointed was I to find out that actor Gary Oldman (Lt. Jim Gordon) would appear just the day before and again actor Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two Face) on Thursday (the day the sequel hits theaters). Instead we got Heidi Klum and Daryl Hall. I guess it was just bad luck or faith. Luck has never really been on my side in many occasions… It’s one of my misfortunes in life.
To anyone who plans to attend a taping of Conan o’ Brien. Your should leave before the stated arrival time or you will get really bad seats. Our taping began at 5:30 pm and we had to be there no later than 4:15 pm. Unfortunately, I had to wait for my brother to leave work first. He came home at 2:30pm and we left at 2:45pm to take the subway on the F’ train to 47-50 Rockafeller. We arrived at 3:22 pm and from there, we looked for the mezzanine floor to go pick up our tickets. They gave us a wristband and a ticket with a number. Afterward, they told us to roam around for a bit. Note: don’t just stand in the area and wait, go check out the NBC Experience store — lots of cool stuff there. Besides, you can’t just stand there and wait anyway as security will just tell you to move as it is dangerous and considered a fire hazard. Also, it would make much difference anyway as the earlier you arrive to go pick up your ticket, the better chance you have at getting good seats. The studio room is really small. I looks so big on television, its amazing. Also, the amount of seats available were about 200. Anyway, we sat in the second to last row on the band side. That’s pretty bad but at least we still got to see it live. You won’t believe how upset I was that I didn’t get to be to the action.
Overall, it was really great to see Conan live and in person. It was expected that the taping would take up at least 2 hrs and a half of our time. As my bad luck would have it, everything went smoothly so it was exactly an hour until it was finished taping. Bummer, I want more Conan! That is all.
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Until then, Ray
Remake: Johnny 5 is alive again!
He’s shiny, metal, and he demands more input. Oh, did I forget to mention that he runs on tank wheels. That’s right, Number Johnny-5 is back!
Dimension Films has acquired rights to remake the 1986 film, Short Circuit, reports Variety.
The original introduced Number 5, a robot built by the military to be a highly sophisticated weapon. It developed a conscience and a personality after being hit by lightning, and then needed the help of humans after it was targeted for destruction by its makers, once it became a peacenik.
S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, who created the characters and wrote both “Short Circuit” films, have been hired to write the remake.
David Foster and Ryan E. Heppe will produce with John Hyde.
source: comingsoon.net
Personally, I am not really that upset that studios are constantly rehashing old material from the 80s [hint: Prom Night, Halloween, Friday the 13th, etc.] but I’m always open to new interpretation. Besides, not much people remember this film anyway I don’t think. Most kids who grew up watching this are now in their early to mid-20s so I think its alright that their remaking this for a new young audience. Dimension films has hired the two original creators/writers for both films; they will will be penning a script for the remake. This is considered a good think and a bad thing though. I am really not sure what new material they’ll come up with (its logical that some of today’s popular culture will be incorporated into the film) since its being done by the same guys who did the original. On the other hand, the fact that it’s the same guys give me hope in seeing the film as a success as I enjoyed both the original and the sequel. Also, there’s the fact that I can’t help wanting to see my favorite robot get back on the big screen as it was an important aspect of my childhood growing up.
I only have two ripes (two particular things they need to do to get this film in the right direction). First, for the love of the character and its beloved fans, do not make and I repeat do not make Johnny-5 CGI. As good as technology are these days, it would just be to easy in a way and insulting to the character to make him full-fledge CGI. Second, hire the original voice actor, Tim Blaney, who voiced the original character. This is for fan support from the older generation particularly (me included) — there is already a negative reaction from those who don’t want to see film made.
By the way, I can’t help but notice the similarities between Pixar’s WALL-E, that will be arriving in theaters this summer, and the Johnny-5 robot. There is no doubt they are similar in design and I dunno if that movie had an impact in revival of this franchise or not.
Upcoming Film Reviews for Summer 2008!
This summer, like many others, I will be flocking to go see the summer blockbusters like Wanted, The Mummy 3, Indiana Jones, Iron Man, The Hulk, and The Dark Knight. Check back in the coming months for my reviews.
