DVD PICK OF THE WEEK - A CHINESE GHOST STORY

It's been a pretty slow period for Asian cinema lately. I've seen some pretty dopey Chinese romantic comedies but not too many good action movies. I recently saw this film and really wasn't expecting too much. I mean it is a remake of a classic so I really didn't know what to expect of the new version of "A Chinese Ghost Story". Well to my surprise this was actually better than expected and featured Louis "The Man with the Tan" Koo. Anyway, SAXOMAN recomended and deserving of my DVD Pick of the Week. Check out the trailer for this fine piece of cinema!

REGGAE / RAP CD PICK OF THE WEEK - HUH?

OK, my many readers (2? 3?) now don't think that I've created a new category for my weekly picks. It's just that I didn't see this cd fitting into my regular Reggae Pick of the Week. This is really a collaboration of two musical styles (Reggae and Rap). Anyway, with that being said, here is my Reggae/Rap CD Pick of the Week by Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and rapper Nas with their cd titled "Distant Relatives". Another strong release from Damian that clearly shows he has quickly became the most talented of the Marley siblings and has surpassed the pop stylings of his brother Ziggy. Now I had picked this up on a recent trip to Amoeba and have been playing it repeatedly in my car. The track getting the most play and being bumped (played) rather loudly is the track 'As We Enter". Anyway, here's the video for this track. Check it out and hip up!

NO MORE WORLD PEACE - HUH?

That's right! No more World Peace! OK, now don't get upset as if I'm saying disastrous things about the world. What I am actually referring to is NBA star Ron Artest on Dancing With The Stars. What? Yes, for those of you that don't know, Ron Artest is (was) one of the celebrity dancers on this show. Now recently Ron officially changed his legal name to "Metta World Peace". Now although the show had just started on Monday, World Peace is no more! What? Yep, he has been voted off already as being the worst dancer. Sorry World Peace. Hey, at least I don't have a reason to watch this show anymore! HAHA!

TESTICLES - HUH?

Recently I was driving and there was a large truck in front of me. I noticed something swinging from down by the trailer hitch of the truck and what did I see? Yep, you guessed it. Testicles! What? Now I don't know what these were made out of (wood? plastic) but whatever they were it was a pretty big pair of a brown colored testicles. It seemed pretty odd to me. I mean why would you want a set of testicles swinging from your trailer hitch huh? I mean I just don't get it. I looked around and several other cars were noticing too and cracking up at this. Oh well, call me old fashioned but I just don't get it.

SONG OF THE DAY - JAMES BROWN

I was listening to the radio today and the James Brown song Cold Sweat came on. I hadn't heard this song in a while and for some reasons it is rarely played on the radio. I mean why do radio stations seem to constantly play Papa's Got A Brand New Bag over and over again? I mean James had a ton of hits right? Anyway, because I hadn't heard this song for a while I'm going to give it my coveted "Song of the Day". Now the version here is actually a live version from Zaire, Africa as part of the "Rumble in the Jungle" boxing match between Ali and Foreman. Anyway, check it out! Oh yeah, what's that GFOS on James' clothes? Why that stands for Godfather of Soul knuckleheads!

SPITTING - I DON'T GET IT

Now I have to say that I've never really gotten the whole spitting thing. I mean I see people spitting all the time. Now SAXOMAN has never had this disgusting habit but there seems to be many people that do. I mean have you ever been next to a car and a guy rolls down his window and you think he wants to ask you for directions? Instead the guys ends up spitting out the window! Gross! Or how about when there's a car in front of you and the guy opens his door like he's going to check the air in his tires? Instead he ends up spitting on the ground. Gross! Have you ever watched a baseball game? Spitting all the time! Where does anyone get so much saliva? Now back in High School spitting was known as "hocking a loogey" which in itself sounds pretty disgusting. Anyway, SAXOMAN and spitting? Count me out!

GETTING FUNKY AT THE L.A. COUNTY FAIR

Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to get funky at the L.A. County Fair! Now actually the fair has been going on for about 2 weeks already so SAXOMAN decided to head over and check it out. Now as always there was the assortment of fried foods and other oddities that you see nowhere else. I mean when have you seen chocolate covered bacon! What? or deep fried Klondike bars! Huh? As always SAXOMAN gorged on an assortment of delectable treats and then it was off to the concert. What? Yes, the classic group War was playing so SAXO braved the crowd of shaved heads, Raider jerseys and tattoos to check out some classic 70's funk. The concert was a great show as always although I must say there was some strange odor and smoke wafting through the crowd. What is this I thought? HAHA! I also kept looking up at the trams passing overhead fearing someone would spit on me. My wife says I shouldn't have told her this now she's afraid to be under them too! Hey, better than being spit on right? HAHA! Anyway, hipsters, go check out the fair before it's too late!

ELVIS IS ALIVE AND WELL AND WORKING AT COSTCO - WHAT?

I swear it was Elvis. I mean it looked just like him (well sort of). Anyway, the wife and I were at the local Costco and as we are leaving the guy checking the receipt as you leave Costco is a dead ringer for Elvis (well kind of) . I mean he had the hair and of course the big sideburns. He even had an Elvis pin on his shirt. Now this guy was a little chubby so I figured he had to be the "Las Vegas Elvis". Anyway, I guess Elvis would be a little older now and this guy also looked a little Spanish but other than that, it was Elvis! HAHA!

P.S. On a side note, my wife for some odd reason still calls Costco, The Price Club. I mean they haven't been called that for years. Jeez......

DVD'S AT CVS? - WHAT?

Now CVS isn't the typical place you would expect to find dvd's but you just never know right? Anyway, I was at CVS earlier today and saw they had a rack of dvd's. Being a movie fan I wandered over to see what gems they might have. Now recently I had gone through their dvd's and found Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues (with Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes) for only $1.99. What? Yep, I kid you not! Anyway, most of the movies they had were pretty bad but I did see a few "gems" in the pack. I saw this Sonny Chiba (Japanese Action Star) three dvd set for only $3.99! WHAT? Now I figured it could be a pretty crappy three movies but a quick Amazon search showed this to be a four and a half star gem. Anyway, I picked it up and will watch it soon. Some other odd places where I have stumbled across bargain priced dvd's include, Walgreens, Marshall's and Ross. Who would have thought huh?

ZIPPERHEADS - HUH?

I was laying on the sofa last night flipping thru the channels when I came across the Clint Eastwood film, Gran Torino. Now I have to say that I hadn't seen this film for quite a while and probably since it first came out. Now this movie is famous for the quote "Get off my lawn" but what I didn't remember was Clint referring to all the Asians in this film as "zipperheads". Now I have to say that I've never heard this derogatory slang word before so had to look it up. Now Clint eventually becomes friends with the local family and seeks justice and revenge. In the end he leaves his beloved Gran Torino to his friend Tao but tells him in his will not to put flames or a tail on it like the other zipperheads. HAHA! Too funny Clint.

SAXOMAN AND DANCING - WHAT?

Now I have to admit that dancing really is not SAXOMAN's thing. It's really something that I'm not very good at but something that I am forced into doing occasionally at certain social events. Now for some cultures dancing is a very normal thing and is something you do all the time at parties and at a very young age. Now I have to admit that this was not the case for me as there sure wasn't dancing in my household when I was growing up. Now when I'm forced into a dancing situation I try to at least wait until the dance floor is fairly crowded, work my way to the middle of the crowd and then jerk around in the most uncoordinated fashion imaginable which is my way of dancing! Hey, at least in the middle of the pack you are somewhat hidden from bystanders who will say "Hey, look at SAXOMAN on the dance floor". People are also trying to take your photo or worse yet record a video of you for total public humiliation. HAHA! Dancing? Sorry, but not for SAXOMAN!