On the night of July 21st 2010, Weird Al Yankovic came to Orlando and performed a concert at the “Hard Rock Cafe” at Universal Studios City Walk. It’s been awhile since I last went to one of his concerts, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got a T-shirt and some trading cards there. Good thing my sister and I arrived early.

These are only a few from a set of 50.

Weird Al opened with a polka medley with songs from Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, and others. Then came some classic songs like “You Make Me” and “Good Old Days”, both of which come from the album Even Worse. They weren’t among his bigger hits, but I remember them well.

Of course Weird Al also performed other big hits like “Smells Like Nirvana”, “Fat”, “Eat it”, “Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies”, “Amish Paradise”, “Dare to Be Stupid”, and “White and Nerdy”. He even included some new songs like “Skipper Dan” and “Craigslist”.

Weird Al was a really smooth dancer when he performed “Wanna B Ur Lover”. He came down from the stage and sang to the ladies in the front row. It was so funny. Then while performing “Ode to a Superhero”, a guy had to hold a harmonica for Weird Al while he was playing the accordion.

In between songs there were many channel flips on the screen. Among them are “interviews” with celebrities like Celine Dion, Avril Lavigne, Snoop Dog, Eminem, and Jessica Simpson. (Or is it Sampson?) I figured that Weird Al needs that time for all those costume changes.

There were also plenty of short segments, where Weird Al was animated on other shows like Johnny Bravo, The SimpsonsFuturama, and Celebrity Death Match. That even includes other shows that so much as even mentioned Weird Al as a reference. I never realized there were so many. It was set up very well, much like Robot Chicken.

Weird Al also mentioned that July 21st was an anniversary of when UHF premiered. Everyone was cheering, including myself, because we know that movie is a real classic.

After the concert, there was an encore with a Star Wars theme. I thought it was appropriate with Star Wars Celebration V coming up in August 2010. But first, Weird Al sang about cell phones. There wasn’t much to it, but if you had a cell phone, you could hold it up while hand waving to the song.

Then came Weird Al’s two Star Wars songs, “The Saga Begins” and “Yoda”. Just before finishing “Yoda”, Al and the band did some other kind of singing that sounded like random chanting. I admit, that choreography was tight, as it had appeared unexpected.

I’ll tell ya, Weird Al Yankovic is better than ever. I wonder if he has a new album coming out soon.

  • Share/Bookmark

After the original Scooby-Doo series ended, the franchise still continues with animated films in the late 80s. One of my most favorites is Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers. Shaggy inherits a fortune at the Beauregard mansion and he, Scooby, and Scrappy head down south. Then they find out that it’s haunted, big surprise.

Unfortunately, Fred, Daphne, and Velma don’t come along on this trip. So Shaggy calls in the Boo Brothers, Freako, Shrieko, and Meeko. They’re silly, but friendly ghosts, who hunt other ghosts that roam around the mansion. Those Boo Brothers may be a group of stooges, but they sure know how to party.

Meanwhile, Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy stumble onto a mystery to find the Beauregard family jewels. Each clue has a jewel and a riddle as part of a chain of clues. That’s when the movie becomes even more interesting as the mystery unfolds. While searching for the clues, the three of them keep running into all sorts of crazy characters. They include an escaped circus ape, crazy hillbilly neighbors, and various fake ghosts. It’s like you’d never know whom you’ll find in each area.

There are also suspects for who the fake ghosts are. The main one is Farquard the butler, who is also after the family jewels. He’s like an Igor, but wears shades to cover his googly eyes. Surprisingly, he can see very well in the dark.

This movie is hilarious. It’s definitely Scooby-Doo at his best. This film has even lead to other Scooby-Doo films like Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School and Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf. They were okay, but in my opinion they weren’t as good as this one.

One last item: There was a time at “Universal Studios Florida” during Christmas in 2006 when I had my photo taken with a couple of guys dressed as Shaggy and Scooby. Shaggy had said, “Say cheeseburgers. You know that sounds pretty good right now.” Not exactly Cosplay, but I was thrilled.

  • Share/Bookmark

      

Just last Saturday evening at Mardi Gras in “Universal Studios” in Orlando, Blondie performed live in concert. Deborah Harry sang many of her biggest hits, including ones I’ve never heard before. She also sang a couple of cover songs like Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” and Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”.     

Like many stars of the 70s and early 80s, I first heard about Blondie lead singer Deborah Harry from her appearance on The Muppet Show, where she performed two of her hit songs, “One Way or Another” and “Call Me”. She also sang “The Rainbow Connection” with Kermit.      

Then the album The Best of Blondie not only had those two hit songs, but other good ones like “Heart of Glass” and “Hanging on the Telephone”.      

In addition to being a rock star, Deborah Harry has also been in several films. The one I remember best was Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, where she played a witch preparing to cook a paperboy for dinner. It was clever how the boy was trying to stall the witch by telling her some tales of horror.      

According to the Internet Movie Database, Deborah Harry has more soundtrack credits than anything else. Some of which are uncredited. And I thought Smash Mouth had a lot with that song “All Star”. It also mentioned that Blondie broke up in 1982, then reunited in 1998. That’s a long time. During that duration, Deborah Harry had five solo albums and acted in several movies and TV shows.      

    

Since Blondie’s last gig was in Las Vegas, Deborah Harry mentioned that last time they performed in front of a bunch of gamblers. This time it’s for riders and whiplash victims. She was really nice. Here’s something interesting; Though many performers have water bottles during their acts, she uses coffee mugs.      

Is that a straight jacket she's wearing?

  

 Deborah Harry also mentioned that Blondie has new songs in the works. They were recording a new album, but none of those songs were performed at the concert. I wasn’t disappointed though because I still enjoy the classics.      

      

I had a terrific time at that concert and Deborah Harry still looks great after all these years. I’m not sure when Blondie’s next album will be released, but it would be interesting to find out what kind of new material they’ve come up with.

  • Share/Bookmark

Fairytales have always been a popular part of fantasy adventure. Then when Shrek (Full Screen Single Disc Edition) came along, it was the start of a new trend of CGI animated movies. Fairytale Fantasies.

In this movie, an ogre named Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) lived alone in a swamp because he was feared by all of the villagers just for being an ogre. Shrek isn’t intimidated though. In fact, he prefers his privacy.

Soon Shrek meets Donkey (voice of Eddie Murphy) who wants to be his friend. Oddly, Shrek doesn’t want him for a friend. Sure Donkey can be annoying sometimes, but that’s no reason for Shrek to keep pushing him away. That just makes Shrek less likable to me.

Later that evening, various fairytale creatures invade Shrek’s house. “Dead broad off the table.” It turns out that a dictator named Lord Farquaad (voice of John Lithgow) forced them all there. So, Shrek and Donkey head to Farquaad’s place in Duloc to straighten this whole thing out. Though it’s not to help them. It’s for Shrek to help himself. They soon arrive in Duloc, which spoofs Disneyland a little bit. Farquaad immediately orders his men to attack. Shrek shows some cool fighting skills that please the crowd. I wonder where he learned how to fight.

After that, Farquaad sends Shrek and Donkey to rescue Princess Fiona in a tower from a dragon. The run down castle has neat scenery inside. As Shrek finds Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz), Donkey deals with Dragon, who ends up falling for him. Now that’s an unusual twist, but it sure helped bring Dragon to the side of good.

The scene where Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona escape from Dragon is real exciting. Dragon gets tangled up in that chandelier chain as the others barely make it out alive after Dragon takes out the bridge. It’s incredible. However, the trip back to Duloc is a struggle as Fiona acts difficult toward Shrek and Donkey. But soon they all warm up to each other and Shrek falls for Fiona. What an unlikely pair. Next to Donkey and Dragon.

Fiona has some amazing skills. Her singing voice causes birds to explode and she has martial art skills that were inspired by Charlie’s Angels, which is very appropriate for Cameron Diaz. Was she fixing her hair during while battling with Robin Hood and his merry men chorus line?

This was a good funny movie, but I preferred the sequels better. One thing I don’t understand is why Donkey and Dragon never had real names.

Following the success of Shrek, Universal Studios Theme Park had a 3-D movie attraction called Shrek 4-D. The story takes off right after Shrek and Fiona’s wedding. It starts with Farquaad returning as a ghost. With the help of Thelonious, he seeks revenge. It’s real exciting as Shrek and Donkey go after Thelonious to rescue Fiona through all kinds of dangerous terrain. The short story is also featured on the DVD Shrek 3-D, all except for the animatronic parts. After a heartwarming ending, it totally sets up for Shrek 2. On to the next movie… in another three years.

  • Share/Bookmark
© 2010 What Vinnie Thinks Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha

Bad Behavior has blocked 46 access attempts in the last 7 days.