Ternaugh

"The Eve of War" had shuffled into my Plexamp player on the way home, and I decided to spend the evening listening to the entire album. I've bought it on CD and on hybrid SACD (with both stereo and 5.1 mixes on the SACD layer), and my late wife's LP should be somewhere in the house.
 
 
 

7 Eleven sold insulated cups for their Big Gulps a few years ago with "Hello, My Name Is" name tags as the artwork. I have one in blue at work, with "Inigo Montoya" written in.

I'm not fond of "The Empath", even though it premiered on the same night that I did.

I'm not fond of "The Empath", even though it premiered on the same night that I did.

"Brain and brain! What is brain?"

Frozen: A tale about Hans, Kristoff, Anna, Sven, and Elsa, the Snow Queen. A good watch. (4K UHD Blu-ray)
 
Wish: A king gathers the greatest wish from each of his subjects when they turn 18, and protects them in a tower, until a girl learns the secret. The movie had potential, but it's brought down by some lackluster songs. (Disney+)

7 Eleven sold insulated cups for their Big Gulps a few years ago with "Hello, My Name Is" name tags as the artwork. I have one in blue at work, with "Inigo Montoya" written in.

Turkey’s Erdogan dealt major election blow as opposition party wins big cities

Two bits, four bits, six bits, a peso. All for Zorro, stand up and say so!

Two bits, four bits, six bits, a peso. All for Zorro, stand up and say so!

Two bits, four bits, six bits, a peso. All for Zorro, stand up and say so!

Thing is, the trial Trump is mouthing off about now is a criminal trial, not civil. Penalties for violating those orders, and/or contempt of court, is not fines. It's jail time.

And our media.  I'm frustrated with the "both sides are just as bad~!" bullpuckey reporting.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: Animated film in the Batman: TAS setting. A mysterious figure is targeting gangsters, and the world's greatest detective investigates. It's a good watch. (Blu-ray)
 
The Warriors: Until recently, the only version of this movie that was commonly available on DVD/Blu-ray was the Director's cut, which added comic book-style bumpers between scenes, and a lengthy introduction connecting it to the ancient Greek story, Anabasis. This release restores the original Theatrical cut, which flows much better. My copy is on Blu-ray; I couldn't justify $50 for the 4K version. Overall, the transfer is very good, and the sound mix has the choice of mono, stereo, or Atmos. It's a good watch. (Blu-ray)
 
A Haunting in Venice: A retired Poirot is lured out to attend a seance at a crumbling, haunted palazzo, and must investigate several deaths while everyone is trapped by a storm. I enjoyed it. (Blu-ray)

Not all clowns have to be the Joker, either. 😉

Okay, about that concert:
 
Journey put on a spectacular show. They had great energy and engagement. Arnel Pineda (who's my age(!)) was running all over the stage, climbing onto speaker stacks,holding the mic out to the audience ... oh, and singing the vocals like they were written for him. Fantastic range and tone. Neal Schon (the only founding member remaining) was impressive on guitar, slinging out the solos front and center. Longtime guitarist / keyboardist Jonathan Cain took over hosting duties for about the second half of the set, telling some of the stories behind the songs. They played about 20 songs, with two extended guitar solos and one piano solo (during which times the rest of the band changed outfits and presumably took care of basic biological needs). Cain came out for the second half wearing a Utah Grizzlies hockey jersey, which was pretty cool. They played all their big hits and a couple of lesser-known songs. If you've heard the 2-CD The Essential Journey, that was basically their playlist. The mixing was a little off; it was too loud for the venue overall, too heavy in the bass and too light in the midrange. But the band had solid musicianship, enthusiastic performances, and memorable songs. Like I said, they put on a great show.
 
But Toto was better.
 
I mean no disrespect to Journey here, but Toto was amazing.
 
Toto opened the show. They did only nine songs, which kind of bummed me out. Obviously they did "Rosanna", "Hold the Line", and "Africa". They did a couple of other lesser hits, "99" and "I'll Be Over You". They did a cover or Bob Seger's version of "With A Little Help From My Friends". But they also did three non-singles: they opened with "Girl Goodbye" from their first album, played "Home of the Brave" for The Seventh One, and also played "Dying On My Feet" from 2006's Falling In Between. Fewer songs, but they played them flawlessly. The mixing was perfect; highs, lows, and midrange were all clear and the vocals were easy to understand. Guitarist Steve Lukather (Luke) acted as host, introducing and telling stories about all the songs. He also took a few minutes to introduce the band members. Like Schon, he's the only founding member left, though the band does include longtime members Joseph Williams (son of composer John Williams) and Greg Phillinganes. In introducing the band, Luke talked about how his mom and the bass player's mom were both pregnant with them at the same time living on the same street, how the drummer played on all of Taylor Swift's hits the first time around, and how the second keyboardist was actually on loan from his son's band, which also includes Nick Collins (Phil's son). He mentioned how he had met Greg while they were both doing studio work on Thriller—at which point he casually dropped the opening guitar riff from "Beat It". He also had Joseph sing the "Hakuna Matata" bit from The Lion King—Williams was the singing voice of the adult Simba in the film. Luke also mentioned how Toto and Journey were now family, since his son had married Jonathan Cain's daughter. (Cain mentioned it later as well.) Toto came across as a lot more laid back in their part of the show, but their playing was clean and tight. They were like a bunch of old friends who just happened to have got together to play music for 15,000 people one night.
 
All in all, a fantastic and memorable evening.
 
 

So long as the mushrooms don't start singing, "A Whiter Shade of Pale".

True Lies: A spy thinks that his wife is having an affair, and the couple accidentally get captured by terrorists. This is the recent 4K release, and it looked fine. It's a good watch. (4K UHD Blu-ray)