Edwards Design Solutions

Well, who here has ever heard of the Argo (Yamato)? If you were a child who watched cartoons in the 70’s and 80’s, then you know what I am talking about. Anime had its television beginning in America with Speed Racer in the 60’s. It was soon followed by the likes of Star Blazers, Battle of the Planets (G-Force), Mobile Suit Gundam, and Voltron (GoLion and Dairugger XV). There were three seasons of the cartoon that were fueled by the release and success of four theatrical movies and one television movie.

Now (in 2002) after many years of wrestling in the Japanese court system, rights to the franchise have finally been given to Yoshinobu Nishizaki, the show’s original producer. He has not been idle these past few years either. There is a new movie, Yamato:Rebirth, to be released in Japan on December 12! The US release is set for straight to DVD in spring, 2010. There is even a live-action release (already in production) planned for the holiday season of 2010! Now it is speculated that this live movie will only be released in Japan, but I doubt it will take very long to be brought to the states.

One might cringe at the thought of a live-action movie to be a great way to destroy the franchise, but I was pleasantly surprised at the recent G.I. Joe movie. So who knows, this may be the “rebirth” of something great? Well for now, enjoy the extended trailer. It is in Japanese, but the CG-anime is awesome!

I like DirecTV. I don’t like being lied to. I also don’t like when a business is so large that it forgets how to communicate between departments and seniority levels. A lack of communication can cause the business to falter in its customer service and ultimately look either like employees are lying or that they don’t know something that should either be known or at least to know where to find the answer. Well what would you think if you had a problem with a service, called the appropriate support department and the person answering the phone doesn’t have the answer? What if that person’s boss doesn’t either. What if multiple attempts, speaking with a different region’s personnel, gets even more confusing when different and erroneous information is given? You might get a bit flustered, right? That is exactly what had happened to me last month. Let me explain what really happened, how the solution was found and what exactly went wrong along the way. [Read more >>]

Life sucks. That truth, along with death and taxes, are inevitable and the mainstay of any pessimist. Any real optimist will tell you that bad things happen to everyone and things will get better. I don’t believe things get better for good. I believe that we all go through times of good and bad. Unfortunately, I feel my life has seen more bad than good. I’d like to believe that I will finally be going through some good times here soon.

If any of us were to list all the bad times, or bummers in life, one could easily become depressed to the point of considering suicide. But the good times don’t always happen to us specifically, they tend to happen to those around us. These occurrences can also have residual side effects to those of us who happen to be around those that the good things happen to. It’s kind of like having “good luck” rub off on you! But we can make our own luck, to enjoy some good times.

I am prepared to make my own luck, and good times, by living my dreams through my children. I have worked to try to provide the best for them and give them the things and stability I haven’t always enjoyed. One of the things I have always wanted, was to take Martial Arts. Well this last month, my oldest daughter started taking Mixed Martial Arts (mainly Japanese Karate). The really scary thing is, she’s already pretty good. She may only be a white belt, but all of her instructors are already complimenting her on her form and expertise. I can even see her ability and potential. She’s picking it up so fast.

But now my youngest is to begin gymnastics in September and she is ecstatic. [Read more >>]

I never thought I would see the day, that there would be a really good remake or reboot of a classic movie (or series) that was good or just plain makes sense enough to spend the money on. The Friday the 13th series has made an attempt, along with Holloween and the Chainsaw Massacre. All duds to be honest. Star Wars 1,2 & 3 have had mediocre reception at best. Star Trek however has broken the mold with a truly fantastic reboot! But will this trend of excellence continue? Let’s hope so. To get to the point however, I remember (as recently as this past Christmas) watching Tron on the idiot box. I looked then for rumors of a sequel, or reboot of the cult classic. No such luck.

I even remember reading blog posts about fans who had recreated the light suits and guys who had built custom low-riders to look like the light-cycles. No news of another movie though….until today. Has this been the web’s best-kept secret? The most sought after cyber-trek remake has been filmed and set for a release date of next year! There is rumored to be the dreaded plot hole the size of a galactic fissure in time-space, but will it make an impact on the original’s baseline to this movie?

All I can say, is that the story seems quite plausible (for fiction of course) and the effects are tremendous! The cinematography is definite eye-candy that even the most critical viewer should find an enhancement and not a distraction, like unto the CG upon CG effects of King Kong. This continuation of the original story is a recipe for a solid release with generally good acceptance. Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Kevin Flynn, but with what seems to be a bit of a twist. Let’s just hope the process is on the money and doesn’t bury a digital shard into the spine of another one of the great sci-fi adventures of all time!

While we wait for the release, watch the trailer and try to contain your excitement!

TRON: Legacy

There are a few times in this world, that someone makes a difference.
What is hard to determine, especially during the lifetime of the influential person, is just what kind of impact will that person really have on the world around them.
One could mention the likes of Jesus Christ, Vincent Van Gogh, Elvis Presley or even Bob Hope.

But I tend to gravitate to musicians, being that I am one. I really get a kick out of exceptional showmen(and women). I enjoy hearing well-crafted prog-rock from the likes of Rush, VanHalen and Dream Theater. But I also LOVE the Dave Matthews Band. You get prog-rock/prog-folk/really awesome music. Dave is also one of those special showmen that makes me smile, just seeing him enjoy his music. He loves music as much as I love music! It’s that he puts everything into it. I can only imagine that he is absolutely wrecked by the end of one of his shows. That is what really
makes him special.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am sure all artists enjoy their own music to one degree or another. But he loves it so much, because his music is so much him. Watch and see what I mean. This is one of my absolute favorites of his.

Corn Bread

This effort, along with his quality of music, are part of what make me the musician I am today. If I can take some smidgen of the talent his drummer (Carter Anthony Beauford for you who don’t know) puts into the playing and writing of the songs, then I have grown that much more. I can’t get enough help from my musical influences. When it comes to my abilities, it’s all that I have to help me get better. That’s what happens when you are a musician with no formal training and very little music reading ability. It’s all hands-on and unfortunately is the hardest way to learn progressive-styled music. At least that’s my opinion anyway.

Rated PG for some mild rude humor and peril, 1hr. 34min.

The family and I just got back from seeing this movie in 3-D. Blue Sky just keeps getting it right with the Ice Age franchise! When other filming houses are pumping out toilet humor and swearing-lite flicks, it is a joy to see a movie that may have a wee bit of subtle innuendo (for the adults) and nothing more. If it weren’t for the subtleties and the copious amounts of peril, this film would easily be granted a G rating.

This movie revisits our friendly herd of misfits, Diego, Manny, Ellie, Sid and the ‘possum brothers. All original actor voices have been retained and it is nice to see (or is that hear). Without giving too much away of the movie, I can tell you that it has a strong theme of relationships. Primarily family, with a focus on parenting. The peril I mentioned before, is that Sid and the gang are “hunted” by a meat eating dinosaur that is larger than (and feared by) a Tyrannosaurus Rex! The herd has a few new members added, even if only temporarily, and Scrat even gains a love interest that becomes a full-scale love triangle with an acorn! Just be prepared to laugh……a lot!

Our first venture into the digital 3-D world, was with Bolt. Now Ice Age has really solidified (in my mind) that this is a new version of an old idea, that is here to stay. What a very beautiful and cool way to watch the movie. The bummer is, that the theater charges $3 more for the 3-D; but it is well worth it.

PG13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material. 1hr. 30min.

Don’t waste your money. Any fan of the cartoon series should be angry and ashamed of this horrible piece of celluloid garbage. If you thought the first movie was bad, then you’re gonna hate this one.

The movie starts out innocently enough, with Sam (the lead character) being assisted off to college by his loving parents. He still has a good relationship with his girlfriend and they all really just want to put the whole alien robots incident (the first movie) behind them and move on with their lives. Of course, they can’t.

Sam is pulled back into helping save the world from the Decepticons and their ultimate leader, the Fallen. If you don’t know who he is, I will simply say that he is Megatron’s boss and a once-upon-a-time Prime robot.

So far so good, right? Well that’s were the good plot ends and the blanks are filled in with the other junk. You will find that I had a lot to say on the IMDB boards here about this movie. It just seems to me that the world has become too accustomed to low-brow, stupid toilet humor. There is too much swearing, too many fart jokes and too much doggie humping for my taste.

Well they don’t really, but they have gone up in vapor. I am referring to the advent of electronic cigarettes as the retaliation to America’s smoking ban. I am a tech geek and I personally think this is a pretty cool idea, I mean come on…..rechargeable smokes!? Once again, science-fiction becomes science-fact because of movies. Wasn’t this idea shown in Total Recall, because of the lack of oxygen on Mars?

Now get me straight here, I spent time, pain and suffering to quit smoking. It is the addictive nature of cigarette smoking, mostly as a habit, that is the hard thing to break. It’s the holding a smoke in your fingers, taking a break at work or the after dinner puff. But what about people who hate the gums and patches, because you can’t really meter your “dosage”? [Read more >>]

Most people know that I love football. That comes mostly from my father’s influence while growing up. Once I learned about what hockey was, being about 18 or 19 years old, I was pretty much hooked. That was a time, around 1990, when I was one of America’s troubled youth. I was messed up into smoking dope, I was in a bad relationship with a girl, I was in a punk-rock band and I was trying desperately to make something of myself by attending the local trade school.

Well, during this period of my life, I had spent some time living with one of the band members (Ron). He was a huge hockey fan who had even played in high school and a city league. He was also a huge Rush fan (I swear he must be part Canadian), hence my love for both of these things today! I have always been a Steelers fan and thought about watching some Penguins hockey. What a sweet time in the franchise to start watching the Penguins, I mean it was the year of their first Stanley Cup!

Unfortunately, I did enough bad crap in that time of my life to pretty much lose everything. So I decided to join the US Navy, there was nothing left to lose. I even returned to my roots, by going back to church, for the few weeks before leaving for boot camp. I met my wife at that church. [Read more >>]

Rated: PG-13 for Martial Arts Action/Violence and brief Sexuality. 1hr. 25min.

I had the pleasure of watching Iron Monkey for the first time last night. I have once again been reminded why I love everything the amazing Yeun Woo-ping touches (i.e. Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Forbidden Kingdom, etc). The thing I respect most of the genre, is the un-abated display of the many actors’ and actresses’ Kung-fu. A great Kung-fu movie reminds me that I want to learn at least one style before I die. That style may most probably be Krav-Maga, for its readily accessible training facility where I live and for its relevance to today’s society and usefulness.

Of the Chinese culture, besides the highly respected discipline of Martial Arts and the complexity of its heritage, one of the most amazing things is its history. One of the greatest cultures and societies in the world, China also has some of the greatest folk-lore in both imaginary legends and real heroes of the times. Iron Monkey is a Hong Kong cinematic adaption of Wong Fei-Hung, one of the most recent and greatly loved folk heroes. There have been quite a few movies on the different aspects (and ages) of Fei-Hung’s life. Some of the most notable are the Once Upon a Time in China series, the Drunken Master series, the Eight Bandits (earliest) and many others; including Iron Monkey as the early years of his life. The total count of films that include Fei-Hung number into the hundreds!

Iron Monkey is included in the particular sub-genre of Kung-fu films being designated as “wire-fu” or “CG-fu”, but the momentum of the film and storyline kept me enthralled so that it was not as noticeable to me as some movies can be. I feel that the story is very well written, the acting is perfect and the fight scenes are impeccable. The following is a brief mash-up of the movie’s story and the history of Wong Fei-Hung: [Read more >>]