REST IN PEACE - RUN RUN SHAW

While I was on vacation I was saddened to hear that Chinese film mogul Run Run Shaw had passed away. Now to be honest I didn't even know that he was still alive so it was a surprise to hear this news. At only 106 years old (what?), Run Run Shaw lived a long and prosperous life. The founder of Shaw Brother studios which turned out hundreds of movies and many Kung Fu classics like The One Armed Swordsman, Five Fingers of Death and countless more Mr. Shaw was a true legend. Now I have to admit that I probably have at least 100 (or more) of Shaw Brothers movies in my library. I'll have to pull out some of these classics and give them another watch. Rest in peace! Not hip to the Shaw Brothers movies? Check out the trailer for the classic Five Fingers of Death (aka King Boxer).

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SAXOMAN?

OK, now I have to admit it's been a while since my last post. Well the reason is that SAXOMAN has been away on vacation for the past three weeks. What? Another vacation? Yep, SAXO has been visiting Vietnam as well as a brief stop over in Cambodia. Enjoying the local sites and food as well as getting several massages I am finally back home. A good time with many blog posts and photos to follow so stay tunes!

REST IN PEACE - YUSEF LATEEF

I heard the news yesterday that jazz legend Yusef Lateef had passed away. Now I have always been a big fan of Yusef and have a whole lot of his recording in my library. One of the unique things about Yusef is that he not only played tenor sax and flute but also played the very difficult oboe. A triple threat musician who in my opinion never got the true recognition he deserved as a musician.   Yusef even had a brief stint with Cannonball Adderly and luckily several of these recording are available. Farewell brother Yusef, you will be missed. Not hip to Yusef Lateef. Here is one of his many great recording from the Eastern sounds cd titled Love Theme from Spartacus with Yusef on oboe. Enjoy!

PHOTO OF THE WEEK - MORNING SUNRISE

Now while most of you are tucked in bed sleeping like little babies SAXOMAN is on the road driving to work. Getting out of my car this morning I couldn't help but notice the sunrise and the beautiful color of the sky. I then pulled out my iPhone and snapped a photo to share with you all. Enjoy!

SAXOMAN VISITS KRUSTYLAND

OK, now technically not Krustyland but The Simpsons Ride at Universal City. SAXOMAN decided to call in sick to work for a day (Owww, my tummy hurts HAHA!) to spend the day with the wife and some visitors from out of the country. Now it has been many years since I went to Universal Studios and recall only the shark from Jaws as one of the few attractions way back then. So as we went in the park the first stop of course was the Simpson's Ride. HAHA!  Being a huge Simpson's fan it was my duty to check it out right? Now I  figured it might be a tame ride made for kids but noooo……this was one wild ride where you were assaulted with the sights and sounds as you tried to escape from Sideshow Bob. We even got sucked into a giant radioactive Maggie who thought we were a pacifier and spit us out! Yuck! Water (spit?) flew on us from the giant Maggie. Now when we were done with the ride and we decided to go again! What? What a blast as all my favorite Simpson characters were represented. Outside was Moe's tavern and the Kwik-E-Mart as well.  Too cool……Now while we were there we also rode the Transformers 3D ride (twice), the Mummy ride, a haunted house (noooo…..let me out of here!) and many other great rides. A fun filled day as I miraculously made a recovery from my "illness" to go back to work the next day. HAHA!

DVD PICK OF THE WEEK - BRUCE LEE

This weeks DVD Pick of the Week is the recent Bruce Lee release of Enter the Dragon. Now this is the 40th Anniversary Edition of this classic martial arts film and is also the Blu Ray version. Now it's hard to believe that it's been 40 years since this film first came out as I recall seeing this in the theaters way, way back in the day. Now this wasn't the first Kung Fu movie I saw but it was definitely one of the earliest that I went to check out. This dvd is packed with a slew of goodies (see photo) and this is the best version of this movie to date and you will not be disappointed! Check it out and add it to your library. SAXOMAN recommended!

SAXOMAN RUNS A MARATHON……IN SPAIN - WHAT?

Yes, you read right. SAXOMAN ran a marathon! Now when SAXOMAN was on his recent vacation in Spain he also ran a marathon in the city of San Sebastian. Yep, I kid you not. SAXO is becoming quite the athlete lately. Now technically they don't do a full marathon in this race so it was a half marathon which is 13.1 miles (only). Now it was a cold, windy day with a chance of showers. With about 28,000 runners this was one big race. As SAXOMAN took off the showers started coming down. Instead of the people groaning and complaining they raised their arms and cheered. Now luckily the rain didn't last too long and it was a little sporadic after that. This race also had many hills as well so that made it a little harder but SAXO persevered. Now at one point I asked the person next to us if the ambulance behind me wanted to pass, no they always do that for the runners in last he said. What? I'm in last? I decide to start picking up the pace and slowly passed the many runners that started out too fast. HAHA! Eat my dust chumps! Now one thing about this race was that the whole town comes out to cheer you on, bad weather and all. With your name on your bib with your number the crowd cheered your name as you ran by. "Come on SAXOMAN, you can do it! Keep going, you're doing great!" were some of the many cheers I heard as I ran by and tipped my lucky Dodger hat to the appreciative crowd. Their enthusiasm really help to keep me going. Several people set up vans along the route and blasted music. Hmmm….there's a guy dressed like a pirate and waving a big pirate flag. Ok…. Now as I neared the finish (or so I thought at the time) the theme of Rocky was blasting. Now being a huge fan of all the Rocky movies this really pumped me up and drove me harder as I neared the finish line. I crossed the finish line to a cheering crowd with a respectable time for a first time marathon runner. What's up next for SAXOMAN? Many more adventures to come so stay tuned!

SAXOMAN - THE TRAVELING MAN (PART 2)

Yes my many readers, as promised SAXOMAN once again took off for another well deserved vacation (What? Again?) Yep this time SAXOMAN and the wife took off for a brief 10 day trip to Spain. Now I must say that I sampled as many as the different foods and wines as I could and had a great time doing it. Soaking in all of the local sites SAXOMAN was thoroughly impressed with the overall experience of Spain. Now this impressive photo that I took is of the well known Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Designed by Frank Gehry you can see the distinct style as well as the similarities to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles which was also designed by Mr. Gehry. A great trip with many adventures and photos to come. Now just so you know this is only Part 2 of the Traveling Man because SAXOMAN is off on another adventure in late December! What? Is SAXOMAN rich or something? Does he have a full time job? What's going on? No, SAXO is not rich and holds down a full time job like the majority of the world. Stay tuned for more exotic adventures in the life of SAXOMAN…..

GLASSES - IS IT TIME?

Now maybe I have been putting this off for a while. Who knows? All i know is that small type is no longer as easy to read as it once was in my younger days. I find liner notes on cd's to be really tough on the eyes unless it is bathed in light. Now maybe I'm just vain or what but I think for the most part my eyes are still in pretty decent shape. Maybe I can hold out a little longer? Maybe…. Now what if I get glasses? Will people call me Einstein or Braniac or even worse four eyes? Will people assume I know the square root of an isosceles triangle because I'm wearing glasses? Hmmm…..will my boss think I'm now more intelligent? HAHA! Who knows. All i can say is stay tuned to see what happens in the life of SAXOMAN.

DONE BEING THE DJ

Yes you heard right SAXOMAN is done being the DJ. That's it, no more! I am done! Now there's nothing that happened recently that made me come to this decision but is just something I've been thinking about for a while. Now I must admit that I used to take great joy in creating the music mix for one of my many parties. I would painstakingly pick out music for my "pre-party mix", meaning something lively as people are coming in and saying hello to everyone. This would go on for a few hours and then I would kick it into high gear with my "party mix" which would last for several hours and get people up and dancing. You had to balance it out - for example you couldn't put two merengue songs side by side as people would be exhausted so you had to mix it up a bit. I would then slow it down as people are leaving and have my post-party mix when people could unwind from the party and just relax and talk. So what's the problem? Well no matter what I would play someone would always come up and ask me to play something else. Can you play something a little faster? a little more danceable? A little slower? a little louder? etc…etc…. Huh? Now I would never think of asking someone to change the music at one of their parties but I guess some people have no problem doing this. So these requests completely disrupt the flow of what I had put together music wise and is really irritating. So no more……I'm done. If you're over my house I'll just play whatever I want and no requests (sorry) and don't ask me to provide music for your party because I will politely decline (sorry). You are on your own so good luck with your limited music collections. OUT...