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Archive for the ‘Indiana Jones’ Category

Galactic Empire (Artie’s Bar & Grill, Frenchtown, NJ, May 18, 2024)

Posted in Bit Brigade, Frenchtown NJ, Galactic Empire, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, The Avengers on May 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED : May 18, 2024] Galactic Empire

I was intrigued by Galactic Empire even though I was there more for Bit Brigade.  I love the idea that the band played Star Wars music and dressed in costume (I understand that they may have been sued and have had to modify their costumes so as not to completely break copyright?).

I’m not the huge Star Wars dork that many people are, but I do like the music.  And I thought a heavy metal version of some of the songs would be great.  I had watched one video online and I liked it a lot.  And the backstory is pretty fun

Comprised of some of the most infamous and feared villains in the galaxy — lead guitarist Dark Vader, drummer Boba Sett, guitarists Red Guard and Shadow Ranger, and bassist Bass Commander — GALACTIC EMPIRE’s commitment to their mission is unparalleled.

When they came on, all the tall dudes who were hanging in the back came rushing forward so I couldn’t see them all that well (and that was the whole point, right, seeing them).  So that kinda sucked.

But when they came out and played the 20th Century Fox Fanfare, that was pretty cool. (more…)

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Bit Brigade (Artie’s Bar & Grill, Frenchtown, NJ, May 18, 2024) [GALACTIC EMPIRE]

Posted in Bit Brigade, Castlevania, Contra, Duck Tales, Frenchtown NJ, Galactic Empire, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, The Avengers on May 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 18, 2024] Bit Brigade

I had seen Bit Brigade six years ago (can’t believe it has been that long) and assumed my son would love to see them too: a heavy metal band playing the music from video games while a guy in the band plays the game?  Sounds perfect.

They tend to play bars so my (underage) son was shut out.  But when they announced this show at a place in Frenchtown, and it was all ages, we were there!

I actually thought it was going to be outside, but it wasn’t (possible showers, but I don’t know if it was always meant to be inside or not).

When I got the tickets (for him and his friend) I assumed Bit Brigade was headlining as I had not heard of Galactic Empire.  Yup, a Star Wars cover band–two gimmicks in one night, but that’s cool.  And then the night of, my wife decided that she’d like to see the spectacle as well, so she joined us and it was even more fun having her there as the boys immediately left me to hang by themselves.

I was a little surprised that BB went on first, but in retrospect it makes sense.  BB is really fun, but they are kind of static–we all watch the guy play the game(s) and the band totally rocks.  Whereas Galactic Empire is more dynamic–band members running around and a bigger stage presence.  Plus, as it turned out, everyone was there for them and not Bit Brigade.  Except for us. (more…)

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Tony Abbott–Danger Guys series (1994-1996)

Posted in Adventure, Boredom, C., Children's Books, Chris Rock, Fantasy, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Mad Scientists, Madagascar, Star Wars, Technology, Tony Abbott, Waffles on August 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: “Neverending Afro Circus” (2012).

If you’ve seen the movie Madagascar 3, you’ll recognize this song as the earworm that you will be singing all the way home.  And that your kids will no doubt be singing for days.

I actually want to jump in and say that I saw Madagascar 3 without seeing Madagascar 2 and I was quite lost (and missed a lot of in-jokes, apparently) for the first 20 or so minutes.  Who would have guessed that a kids movie could do that to you?

Anyhow, back to this song.  C. and T. love it.  And it turns out that YouTube loves it too.  There are dozens of different videos of varying lengths (from 10 seconds to 59 minutes!!) repeating this wonderful nonsense.  But for real neverending Afro Circus, please visit AfroCircus.com and see how much you can stand.

For a measly ten minute loop, please enjoy this:

[youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aELcXyjpts%5D

[READ: July 2012] Danger Guys series

We loved Droon so much we had to see what else Tony Abbott had written.

Turns out that he has written a lot of books and a bunch of series.  In addition to Droon he has written four books that are not part of any series, a series called The Haunting of Derek Stone and a brand new series called UnderWorlds.  UnderWorlds looks like a great series for C., although Haunting and the stand alone books seem like they might be a little too old for him.  He also has some older series like Don’t Touch That Remote!, Goofballs, Time Surfers and The Weird Zone.  (I think that’s all of them).

He also has this Danger Guys series, which I believe comprised his first novels.

My major complaint about the series is…why is it out of print?  Why was it so hard for me to find?  I had to do an Inter Library Loan and the copies I received were so beat up that we may wind up being the last people to read them!  This is a real shame because these books were fantastic!  The series is about two boys Noodle (the smart one) and Zeke (the athletic one).  They are best friends and do everything together.  I’m not exactly sure how old they are…I’m guessing middle school?  In each book they get into an escalating series of adventures which can be resolved by logic, brains, strength and sometimes a little luck.  The books are mildly scary (the Halloween one is the most scary but even that…not really), they’re not violent or gross, but they are full of adventure and they’re very funny (an Abbott specialty).  There were several moments that C. was laughing very hard at these.

There are six books in total in the series.  And because the books aren’t radically different from each other, I’m only going to say a few lines about each. (more…)

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