So good news:
Update: Chicago Music Venues Safe for Now
I'm not saying this definitely happened because of my angry email or phone call today -- thanks to iPhone I can do both all from the comfort of a stoop outside -- but Chicago can feel free to thank me for saving art, music, good cabaret, and bad improv troupes. You're welcome.
It's all about the power of positive thinking. (Or maybe just getting off my ass and doing the minimal possible effort for the maximum possible return.) Like I proclaimed last week, I demanded that it be a good week, and it was. I think this is called The Secret or some crap in Hollywood. Maybe Scientology works this way, I don't know. Perhaps this is the draw of Kabalah. But it worked.
Like Friday night, I decided that we should go see Iron Man -- which was just as wonderful as everybody's saying it is -- especially how it ends. (No, not the secret-surprise-not-a-surprise cameo ending after the credits that everybody in the theater was waiting around for -- I just mean the end where he says what he says at the press conference and BAM! credits... that's how you set-up a sequel.)
Anyway, we headed over to the AMC East 21, and though we were starving, we decided to get our tickets first. And lo and behold, National City is there giving away free tickets for whatever movie you want to see. Huzzah.
So comic book adaptation on the big screen = awesome, FREE comic book adaptation on the big screen = MEGA-awesome. It also equals spending the money you saved on extra appetizers, extra cocktails or taking a cab home. Or if you're me, doing all three. Because I'm trying to get us out of this recession twenty wasted dollars at a time. You're welcome.
But you know who'd be happy to have you see their movie -- but I think they might like you to pay for it -- are the Wachowski Brothers whose $100+ million dollar budgeted Speed Racer opened with a measley $18.6 million, putting it behind not only Iron Man but also What Happens in Vegas -- or as it will be known in Japan Wacky American Couple Gets Married, Rich, Herpes.
Though I responded positively to the original trailers for Speed Racer in a "this looks much better than the shitpile I was expecting" way, who could have guessed that the brothers Wachowski would be able to take a franchise beloved by nerds and some non-nerds alike and make it into an overproduced, over-long, overly-dramatic box office nightmare? Oh yeah ANYBODY. They did the same thing to The Matrix via the sequels and that was their fucking movie. So though I'm glad they are setting up shop in my neighborhood, I've got to recommend any studio executives reading this blog -- and I know there are probably hundreds -- that they should waste their money else where. You're welcome.