The Train Kept A'Rollin'...

...all night long!

And for those of you too uncool to instantly recognize those lyrics, they're vintage Aerosmith. Who I saw Monday night. Along with ZZ Top. From good seats, I have to add.

*we pause while all readers go green, purple and red with envy*

Sadly, they weren't the best seats. Then again, that's why I'm not in jail for trying to get up onto the stage and have my way with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. The hubs never thinks that's cute, for some reason...

But the concert was, as all Aerosmith concerts are, awesome. ZZ Top was, as is their wont, excellent. It was, as is the case here in Hell's Orientation Area in the middle of summer, hotter than Hades and the venue was our fab outdoors one.

You couldn't tell how hot it was by the bands. They rocked like they were in great air conditioning. You could tell by the water bottles -- it was the kind of hot where beer and daiquiris didn't seem refreshing enough and the majority of the crowd was on water by the middle of ZZ Top's set.

Not that I cared. No, I cared that, for some reason, Aerosmith did not play for 6 hours straight. Of course, even if they had, they still wouldn't have hit every song I wanted to hear.

On a sad note, Joe Perry did NOT take his shirt off. I know! What's up with THAT? It was certainly hot enough to have warranted it, even if he didn't have the best pecs and abs in all of rock. He did, however, have his hair all 'Rogued Out' (white skunk stripes just in the front, for those of you who somehow have missed the X-Men in the course of your sad, non-comic-book-aware lives), which looked cool. Joe and Steven both, as always, were totally hot.

Even the hubs admitted it was a great show, though on the way out, he said, "I don't think Steven Tyler's all that great. He seems over the top and I don't get why you think he's sexy."

To which I replied, "Because you're a straight male, um, DUH." I then proceeded to spend the ride home explaining just why lead singers should be over the top, why Steven is hot, why Joe is also hot, how unfair it was that I could only see part of Joe's chest all night, and so forth.

So, you know, a good time was had by all. (That'll teach the hubs to diss Screamin' Steven Tyler to ME, now, won't it?)

Love,
Gini

Movie Review: Wolverine

Warning: Major Spoiler Alerts from a Major Comics Geek Girl

(That is, spoilers that will tell you nothing about the actual narrative of the movie, but which will, for some of you, spoil the overall experience. For the rest of you, it'll make it better. Trust me.)

The hubs and I just saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I'm huge into comics but I lean towards Marvel over DC (and, yes, there are many others besides the Big Two, but this isn't a comic book blog post, so deal), ergo I know a lot about the Marvel Universe, and the X-Men Universe in particular. Ergo again, I'm an educated viewer, at least in terms of the source materials -- my people are the people the movie-makers of this sort of movie are terrified of enraging. So, let's get some things taken care of right up front.

Most Important Selling Point for Instant and Repeated Viewings: Hugh Jackman is NAKED in this movie! Oh, sure, not for too long, but we definitely see bare butt and total bare torso, and for more than one scene, too. And we get to see his naked chest a LOT. So, the movie is awesome and I will own it the moment it comes out on DVD.

Most Outrageous Trampling of Comics Fans' Precious Memories: What they've done with Deadpool is a travesty. It ruined the movie for the hubs and the chicklet, since Deadpool, aka The Merc With A Mouth, is a family favorite. He's awesome at the start of the movie, but trust this comics geek girl when I say that what they do with him at the end is NOT Deadpool. Why bother to cast the perfect guy as Deadpool -- Ryan Reynolds -- and then proceed to do what they did with him? Travesty doesn't begin to cover it. (And Ryan wasn't undressed nearly enough, either.)

Most Relieved Moment: They didn't screw up Gambit. Taylor Kitsch wasn't my idea of Remy LeBeau -- but Hugh Jackman wasn't my idea of Wolverine, either, way back when -- but he does a great job and is allowed to stay. (Taylor's clothes remained on. This is a bad trend, movie-makers.)

Best New Hottie: Daniel Henney, who plays Agent Zero, is a total and complete babe. The movie's biggest failing, right after the Deadpool stuff? Zero was never naked. In fact, they barely let him unbutton the top button of his shirt. I want to see more of Daniel Henney and by that I mean I want to see a LOT more. (It's now official -- the movie-makers need to reshoot a great variety of the supporting actors' scenes. Maybe the deleted Black Ops shower scene will make it into the DVD extras. A girl can dream.)

Best Uber Villain: Liev Schrieber was awesome as Sabretooth. I've seen him be a villain before (Phantoms -- Affleck was da BOMB in Phantoms...points to those who know where that line comes from) so I know he can do it. But he was amazing and added much needed depth and layers to the Sabretooth character. (For those keeping score, Liev's also not naked in this movie. For shame, movie-makers! Hugh's a big enough guy [heh] that I'm sure he was willing to spread the on-screen nudity around to the other guys. I expect the next movie to be X-Men Origins: Mutants Take Showers, or there'll be some s'plainin' to do.)

Special, Personal Note to the Movie-Makers: I'm enraged about the total lack of male nudity of the hottie supporting characters. We'll cross blades over what you did to Deadpool, but if I get naked pics of Ryan Reynolds and Daniel Henney in the mail, all might be forgiven.

Now, for the stuff movie critics are supposed to care about -- the narrative, the story arc, the effects, the production values, the acting, the stunts.

Movie was awesome, Travesty Moment and lack of supporting hottie nakedness aside, and I suggest you see it pronto. Hugh's naked scenes start early and come often, so no bathroom breaks. Hugh Jackman is NAKED in Wolverine. Truly, 'nuff said. (Hey, I'm an author and a comics geek girl, not a critic.)

Love,
Gini