This is my new friend Tatyana Kalinicheva, a 25 year old Russian guitarist. She has a couple of videos up in Youtube, including this one. The other one is a finger tapping extravaganza. Both videos seem to be for showcasing the amp from Engl but she can really wail on the guitar, which is a PRS custom 24. She responded to my comments and befriended me and sent me a couple of messages today. So I thought I’d feature her in my blog. She says she wants to put an album out in a year or so. I hope she does.
Day: October 6, 2011
Turner & Hooch
One of my favourite movies from the 80s, Turner & Hooch came out in 1989 when I was 13 years old. I must have first seen this movie on VHS around 1991 or 92. I remembered this movie well but since I didn’t have a copy of the movie or watched in since the mid 90s (I think) I thought I should watch it again. It’s one of those movies that made Hanks from just a likeable and moderately successful actor to one of the biggest names in Hollywood at the time. And this was before he went colossal just 4 years later with some really bombastic performances.
Along with Hanks as Detective Scott Turner are Mare Winningham as the love interest, Craig T. Nelson, Reginald VelJohnson (from Die Hard) and the most ugliest dog you could ever find – Beasley the dog as Hooch. Yes ladies & gentlemen, Hooch is the ugliest mutt you could ever know but we all loved him. Beasley was a was a rare Dogue de Bordeaux, a French dog.
Turner, a detective who is getting transferred is showing his replacement the ropes in a small idyllic town. We meet Hooch’s crusty old owner who is just a bit less crustier than his ugly dog. Turner does not like Hooch at all but is forced to take him in when the owner is murdered after witnessing what seems to be a smuggling racket in a factory opposite his house and Hooch seems to be the only ‘witness” to his master’s murder. Now, Turner is a meticulous & clean freak and Hooch in a playful mood wreck the house when the detective is out shopping for supplies. Turner is mad but they soon bond.
Turner also meets Dr. Emily Carson, a vet who he takes Hooch to and they soon start a romantic relationship, with Turner even painting her walls. Hooch has fallen for Emily’s beautiful female collie. Turner finds out that his police boss, Chief Hyde (Nelson) is behind the smuggling racket and confronts him at the factory. Hooch saves Turner’s life by taking a bullet to his chest which was meant to kill Turner. And we are left to see a struggling Hooch drag himself slowly to take a bite off Hyde who is about to off Turner, enabling our hero to take the gun away from the chief. Turner rushes Hooch to the clinic but there is nothing Emily can do to save our brave dog. Turner breaks down as the dog dies.
We close the movie with a few months away. Turner & Emily are married and Emily is pregnant. Her dog was impregnated by Hooch and the bitch had a litter of 4 girls, all of which look like their mom. But there is one boy, a puppy who is a spitting image of Hooch and reassuring to us viewers has wrecked some of the home. Turner gives the same speech to the pup as he did to Hooch when he first brought Hooch to his house.
Tell me you didn’t have a lump in your throat when Hooch was dying (and no I’m not taking about that hot dog which you swallowed by mistake) and that there wasn’t a hint of tears as the pooch breathed his last. Not much in terms of a plot but pleasantly a feel good movie even if the death of our co-star was a downer. The chemistry between Hanks & the dog cannot be missed and they give of a great performance. Just for that I’ll give the movie an 8 outta 10. Nostalgia unbound, I’ll watch this movie many times over.
RIP Steve Jobs
Woke up this morning to the news that Steve Jobs has died. He has has a battle with cancer and underwent a liver transplant in 2009. The co-founder of Apple Inc, one of the world’s great entrepreneurs, was surrounded by his wife and immediate family when he died in Palo Alto, California. His ill health has always been a part of the man; he had taken a few leaves of absence to receive treatment and recover during his career.
Earlier this January too he had taken a medical leave. Jobs announced his resignation from his role as Apple’s CEO on August 24, 2011. In his resignation letter, Jobs wrote that he could “no longer meet [his] duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO”.
A college dropout, Buddhist and son of adoptive parents, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in 1976. The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer. But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry, culminating in a 1980 initial public offering that made Jobs a multimillionaire. Despite the subsequent success of the Macintosh computer, Jobs’ relationship with top management and the board soured. The company removed most of his powers and then in 1985 he was fired.
Apple’s fortunes waned after that. However, its purchase of NeXT — the computer company Jobs founded after leaving Apple — in 1997 brought him back into the fold. Later that year, he became interim CEO and in 2000, the company dropped “interim” from his title. Well you known what comes next – Macbooks, MacAir, iPod, iTunes, iPhone & iPad and many others. The guy was a genius and a visionary. He was also CEO of Pixar until Disney purchased the company in 2006.
I never liked Apple products. I was always a Windows & I love BlackBerry when it comes to smartphones. When I can afford to upgrade from my current outdated BB, I will choose a newer BB model. My laptops will always be PC & Windows models. When I can afford t buy a tablet pc it will be BlackBerry. I wasn’t too impressed with iPhones or Macbooks. I’ve used both – a friend’s laptop briefly and for 2 months an iPhone kept in my custody for work. I admire the company and their success and their beautiful line of products but they were never for me. But mostly I liked the man behind them – Steve Jobs will be sorely missed by his legion of fans.
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)