Basic Instinct 2, Sequels

I don't follow movies as closely as I used to, but I was surprised to hear that this weekend, Basic Instinct 2 will be opening. Upon further research, I confirmed that the first movie was made in 1992, nearly 15 years ago! I don't like when sequels come out so far after the original. That got me thinking about other films. Long gaps like this aren't as uncommon as I had thought. Unfortunately it looks like the movies that come after the long gaps are rarely as good as the previous installments.

There were 8 years between installments of Bad Boys. The Terminator franchise had two big gaps - 7 years between 1 & 2, then 12 years between 2 & 3! Checking further, Godfather 3 came out sixteen years after Godfather 2. Likewise sixteen years passed between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace. Ten years separated Get Shorty and Be Cool. Fourteen years passed between Predator 2 and Alien vs. Predator, (7 years between AVP and Alien Resurrection) although now it's more of a stretch to find the relationship.

Eight years passed between Fletch and Fletch Lives, the same amount of time as two other Chevy Chase movies, Christmas and Vegas Vacations. Eddie Murphy waited 7 years to make Beverly Hills Cop 3, and 8 years to make Another 48 Hours. Eleven years passed from The Mask to Son of the Mask. 1980's Blues Brothers had a sequel in 1998, aptly named, Blues Brothers 2000.

Kevin Smith's Clerks 2 will be due out 12 years after the original. If a fourth Indiana Jones feature were to happen, it would be eighteen years since the last one. It will be about 16 years if Rocky (as rumored) hits the screen again. Die Hard 4, also rumored, would be 11 years after the last installment.

By the way, Bambi got a direct-to-video sequel 64 years after the original. I guess the Basic Instinct gap shouldn't have surprised me.

I'm sure I've forgotten critical

Side note: While we're talking about Sharon Stone films, the movie "Slither" that opens this week keeps making me want to say "Sliver," the movie about the voyeur that Sharon Stone was in following the original Basic Instinct.

Tags: Basic Instinct, movies, sequels

Music Releases

It seems to me that all the bands I listen to tend to release their albums all at the same time. Last year, Dave Matthews Band and Audioslave released albums within a few weeks of each other. This year, it looks like a banner year for Pearl Jam, Audioslave and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The hype machine seems to be in full force. I know that no artist would suggest that their upcoming album is not something fans and the public would enjoy, but it is interesting to hear bands say that the next album is always the "best one yet."

That stretch in May-June will be a pretty exciting musical month for me. I'll be seeing Pearl Jam at Continental Airlines Arena on June 1. Pearl Jam's upcoming album can be preordered at their website with the bonus of receiving MP3's to the album at 12:01am on the release date, as well as an additional live recording from a New Year's Eve concert in 1992. I'm leaning strongly towards picking that up, since those Ten-era concerts were probably pretty wild.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers just released a good portion of their recent catalong on iTunes with some pretty intriguing bonus songs from their albums Blood Sugar Sex Magik, One Hot Minute, Californication and By the Way. Unfortunately the bonus stuff is only available if you purchase the album digitally. Since I already own those albums, it's too bad. I wish I could purchase those tracks (2-3 per album) individually.



Pearl Jam - self-titled album, release date: 5/2/06
"It's easily the best stuff we've done but also some of the hardest stuff." -Eddie Vedder


Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium, release date 5/9/06
"...the best thing we've ever done." - Flea

Audioslave, Revelations, release date June 2006 (album art not available)
"My vocal cadence is different, my approach to the vocal is different. And with this band, we have the ability to go into more of a soul/R&B direction and have it be authentic. It's exciting." - Chris Cornell

Tags: Audioslave, Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder, Flea, music, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, rock music

Yao Ming Playing Well

Yao Ming is playing well, but the Houston Rockets are not. It's too bad for Yao, who is putting up the best numbers of his career, that Tracy McGrady is out. While the games might be relatively meaningless for the Rockets at this point, Yao is playing great, with double-doubles in 12 of his last 14 games, scoring 20 points or more in every game during that stretch. I might have to try and catch a few Rockets games on TV while their season's still going.

Tags: basketball, NBARockets, Yao Ming

Knicks Beat the Pistons

What's that? The basement-dwelling Knicks beat the Eastern Conference Champion Pistons? I would have never believed it. They won the game in green uniforms? Wait a second, isn't there another team (in the same division) that wears Green, Irish-influenced uniforms?

Is this a new Knicks tradition? Those are ugly uniforms. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if they played the Celtics on St. Patrick's Day and broke those green duds out?

Tags: basketball, Detroit Pistons, NBA, New York Knicks, St. Patrick's Day, uniforms

Doughnut Plant

Doughnut Plant
379 Grand Street (between Essex & Norfolk Streets)
New York, NY 10002
Phone/Fax: (212)505-3700

I went to this place on Saturday morning. It was well worth it. Much better than Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts, this store usually sells out of doughnuts by 2pm. We bought a ton of doughnuts including chocolate cake, cinnamon cake, coconut creme, jelly and orange glaze. The cake doughnuts were the worst, and the coconut creme was the best. The doughnuts were huge and I had a sugar high for a while afterwards. Check it out if you're on the Lower East Side. I was going to try and post a photo but for some reason the Blogger photo uploading is having problems.


Tags: doughnut, donut, Lower East Side, New York City, restaurant

Pearl Jam's New Album

Pearl Jam has a new self-titled album coming out in May, their first in three or so years. It's their first with their new label, J records, and it looks like the band is making a pretty big push, with a website makeover, release of their new single, World Wide Suicide, on myspace (it's no longer available) and now the single available on iTunes, complete with a second track from the album, Unemployable. They've also announced a tour. Maybe my favorite band will actually become current again.

This is my first post in March!


Tags: music, Unemployable, World Wide Suicide