FILMS: My Top Five Most Memorable Movie Experiences Going to the Theater

 

# 5 – I saw CASABLANCA, which is now my favorite film, while I was a college student at Illinois State University around 1990. I saw it at the college run movie theater at the time by myself. The movie mesmerized me and I became a lifelong Bogart fan in that moment.

 

# 4 – I saw THE SEVEN SAMURAI by Akira Kurosawa starring Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura in a classroom theater setting during my freshman year of college at Illinois State University where I was taking a non-Western film class also in 1990. I became an instant Kurosawa fan and it is one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen.

 

# 3 – Seeing THE BLUES BROTHERS starring John Belushi and Dan Aykryod in 1980. I was in Memphis with my dad and my Uncle Mike. It also changed my life and turned me on to soul and blues music.

 

# 2 – The most memorable was seeing PULP FICTION in Atlanta, Georgia in 1994 with my first wife after we were recently wed and graduated college. The film was unlike anything I had seen before. It was the first time that I was in a movie theater and at the end of the movie, the audience stood up, clapped, and cheered. For several minutes. You would swear we were at a Cannes Film Festival.

 

 

# 1 – The greatest moment of my life going to the movies was seeing STAR WARS on opening day with my Dad and brother in May 1977 in Fresno, California. It literally changed my life forever. My imagination was unlocked. Countless touchpoints related to Star Wars to this day have impacted my life that I couldn't list them all.

Top Ten Brands that I am Loyal To Using in Daily Life

I thought this might be fun...

I think about things that I purchase, use, consume, etc. in everyday life. Name brands and products that I am loyal to and will only... or at least try to only use... over other brands. Here are the top ten brands that I am loyal to on an everyday basis in my life...

(Please note that these are not paid endorsements, but me giving my opinions of what I love best.)

1. COCA-COLA

For my entire life, my soda of choice has first and foremost always been Coca-Cola. I've consumed all the various varieties from Cherry Coke, Coke Zero, Caffeine-Free Coke, Lime Coke, Diet Coke, etc. Does that mean that I don't drink other flavored sodas? No. I drink Diet Dr. Pepper from time-to-time or perhaps a root beer, Sprite, or generic flavored soda like grape, orange, or black cherry. But the classic good ole' Coca-Cola is and will always be my favorite soda. I got that habit from my Granny.

2. RAY-BANS

 

 
The only shades or eye-glasses that I will wear are these classics. Thanks to my love of The Blues Brothers all those years ago when I was a kid, my first pair of "knock off" Wayfarers were given to me by my Uncle Mike. Finally as an adult, I could afford real RAY-BANS and I let them be my signature glasses. I have a pair of shades and a pair of regular prescription eye glasses that are Wayfarer style. I prefer tortoise shell and black colored rims.

 

3. KOBALT TOOLS (from LOWES)

This is more recent in my life, but I prefer to stay loyal and only purchase Kobalt Tools from Lowes. If I need a certain tool, I grab a Kobalt tool first and foremost if at all possible. Kobalt doesn't make every tool or instrument that I need, but love that blue! I love the quality of the tools, the uniform look, the price range, and the lifetime guarantee. Now that I am 50, I love my old man trips to Lowes wondering what new Kobalt tool I'm going to pick up each time I go into the store. My younger self would have never imagined that in my old age that I would love going to the hardware store.

4. ADOBE SOFTWARE (with PHOTOSHOP, ILLUSTRATOR, INDESIGN, ACROBAT, etc.)

My livelihood as a graphic designer owes so much to Adobe with the software they provide through their Creative Suite. I daily use Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Audacity, Acrobat, etc. in my work and also in my other hobbies and pursuits in the digital creativity and art that I do. They really have a monopoly on things because no other software brands can compare now, but for the past 30+ years, I have been a loyal consumer. Decades ago, I fought hard in some of my previous jobs not to have to use the competitor's complicated Quark XPress (yuck!) software back in the old days. I am an artist and graphic designer that uses Adobe Creative Suite software in his repertoire and couldn't imagine life now without it.

5. APPLE COMPUTERS (with iPHONE and iPAD)

 

Decades ago when I was younger, I was an Apple Computer "Mac Addict". But sometime in the late 1990's, I switched over to the "dark side" and began using PC Computers with Windows by necessity with work and cost. Many of the applications were only available on PCs and Mac software cost three times as much. Basic economics had me leave Apple. Then, Steve Jobs and Apple introduced the iPod and then debuted the iPhone and iPad. While I still don't use a Mac computer, I do use these other pieces of hardware and the iPhone is the only smart phone that I will use.

6. E. GERBER  (with"MYLITES 2" and "HALF-BACK")

 

As a comic book collector, I want to make sure that I am archiving and preserving my comic book collection in an appropriate way. E.Gerber offers various sized Mylar comic book outer sleeve bags and acid-free backing boards. I choose to use the Mylites 2 and Half-Back backing boards together. For the past year, I have been changing out my old comic book bags (which you are supposed to do every seven years) with these Mylites2. They say that you'll never have to change out the bags ever again in my lifetime with these. I now won't use any other brand of comic book bags to protect my comics. They are a bit expensive, so I cut out the middle man and go directly to the manufacturer and buy in bulk. On a side-note, I use Ready-Steady-Collect.com "Stick It" round clear resealable adhesive tabs on the back so that I can open up a book to read and then put it back into the sleeve for storage.

 

7. STAEDTLER

As an artist, I prefer to draw with Staedtler's variety of pencils and use their fine white Mars plastic art erasers. Yes, I have hundreds of other pencils manufactured by other companies and I have a variety of charcoals, ink pens, markers, brushes, and art supplies that I use. I do depend on and love my vintage Boston KS pencil sharpener, but Staedtler is still my "go to" first choice.

8. IRISH SPRING

Well, this gets almost as personal as it is gonna get! For my entire life longer that I can remember going back to when I was a wee lad, I have always used Original Scent Irish Spring soap. Thanks to my father being a user of this soap also and thus growing up in our home with it, I have retained that use. I still do love that fresh Irish Spring scent and it has been the only brand of bathing soap and wash that I will use. Sure, I'll use whatever hand soap I have to at a sink to wash my hands, but when I get in that shower and bath tub to scrub up, I'm an Irish Spring man.

9. SLEEVE CITY (with ULTIMATE OUTER 5.0 RECORD SLEEVES)

 

You might not have heard of this company, but as a record collector and music lover, I am very picky about the type of outer sleeves that I use to protect my record collection. I will only use Sleeve City made Ultimate Outer 5.0 super-thick virgin polypropylene outer sleeves to protect my covers for my 12" records and the smaller size ones made for 45 singles. The outer sleeves look crystal clear and make the artwork pop and sleeves resist scratches, punctures, tears, splits, water, and abrasions. I also will pick up other cleaning supplies for my records, inner sleeves, CD jewel cases, etc. from the Sleeve City website. This company is based out of my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. 

10. PILLSBURY

 

For over 30 years, my father worked for Pillsbury. They provided him a career and means to make a living and raise us when my brother and I were children. Of course, we grew up with the Poppin' Fresh Dough Boy and "Pillsbury's Best" in our home where I especially loved their Buttermilk Flaky biscuits. Whenever I shop at the grocery store and need to pick up biscuits, flour, or other pastry breaded needs, we choose Pillsbury first in our household as both a way of saying thank you for providing for our family all these years as well as we just love their products.

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So, there are ten brands that I am loyal to using. What are yours?

VINYL RECORD COLLECTING: Record Review of Junior Wells - Cut That Out: 1953-1963 Sides

This will be a first in a series of record reviews that I'll offer here on my blog site that I'll do from time-to-time. As many of my family and friends know, I have a deep love for music -- especially classic rock and blues. 

I also have had a long appreciation and love for collecting my music on vinyl going back to my teenage years and when I used to work in a record store back in high school. I collected both vinyl and CDs. Many times, I'd buy certain albums on both formats. I tend to enjoy listening to vinyl at home on my turntable and listening to CDs in the car. With that said, in recent years with the resurgence of vinyl, I tend to just buy vinyl LP records now only. The exception might be buying both formats for certain artists like The Beatles and their solo work, David Bowie, and Sting.

There is something very spiritual feeling for me to listen to music on vinyl. Perhaps the warmth of the needle falling in that groove. The zen-like way I remove carefully an album from the cover and place it on the turntable, listen to the whole album, and then turn it over to the second side. All the while, reading the liner notes and admiring the art and photography of an album cover. Appreciating the packaging, admiring the record label, etc.

Over the past few years, I've picked up quite a bit of reissues from the Spanish record label called WaxTime. I've mainly picked up about B.B. King reissue albums from WaxTime and this is my first Junior Wells album. These are pressed on 180 gram vinyl and have excellent covers in English. I've read some reviews of some albums reissued on the WaxTime Record Label and some reviewers hate the sound quality, believing the albums were cut from audio CDs and not the master tapes or whatever. Well after the whole Universal Music Group fire fiasco where they admitted this past year that hundreds of thousands of songs were destroyed in blaze in 2004, I think we'll be fortunate to get any reissues and they will probably come from alternative means. What I ultimately want to say, is that I love the reissues on WaxTime Record Label and think they're doing an excellent job at reissuing hard-to-find blues albums.

I first heard of Junior Wells back in the late 1970's when I was a little kid listening over and over to my father's Blues Brothers album entitled A Briefcase Full of Blues when John Belushi, a.k.a. Joliet Jake Blues on stage, introduced the song "Messin' With the Kid" as a Junior Wells blues tune. Years later in college in 1991 when I went through my own personal blues music discovery phase, I first heard Junior Wells in his collaborations with Buddy Guy on the album Alone and Acoustic. I was blown away by that album and dug further to discover an earlier 1972 album Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues that had they aforementioned "Messin' With the Kid" and the song "Man of Many Words" which was what the Black Crowes at the time took their hit song "Hard to Handle" from. Then there were a few other live albums the two did together until I discovered that Buddy Guy was a session man with Chess Records in the Sixties and was a sideman in Junior Wells Chicago Blues Band.

This album, Junior Wells - Cut That Out: 1953-1963 Sides, I picked up last week off an eBay "Buy it Now" purchase that cost around $13 sealed. Many of the WaxTime records can also be found for sale on eBay as a tip -- especially with these being imports. This album includes his first hit with "Messin' With the Kid" and other singles that Junior Wells recorded between the years 1953 - 1963. In one of the bold hype pieces on the back of the album, it has a quote from Rolling Stone lead singer Mick Jagger that exclaims, "Junior Wells was a great harp player. He was one of my influences."

This album collects singles from some of the independent labels that include Chief and Profile and the albums states these tracks are remastered. Junior Wells did indeed have a laid back approach to playing his harmonica and singing. While listening, what struck me was the youth-like sound of his voice with these recording compared to some later recordings he did with Buddy Guy in their collaborative albums that sounded much richer and deeper. I truly enjoyed this album, especially with tracks like "Cut That Out" and a song that I have heard Eric Clapton cover called "It Hurts Me Too".

On the same day that I acquired this Junior Wells album, I also picked up a Little Walter album also. I'll see about perhaps reviewing that album also in the future. Little Walter was another Bluesman harp player that Junior Wells was inspired by, and like Little Walter, Junior Wells adapted the style of playing a modern amplified harmonica like him. Junior Wells even replaced Little Walter in Muddy Waters's band and played on one of Muddy's sessions for Chess Records in 1952.

So, for me, I did listen to the two albums back-to-back, and it made an interesting listen.

Junior Wells - Cut That Out: 1953-1963 Sides

Rating: 3.5 out of 5. Easy listening to put on in the background and chill to. Very nice blues album