Sunday, September 16, 2007

Weekend Musings

Sorry for my brief blogging hiatus. Been busy with real life and all. Anyhoo, here are some of the things that have been running through my head today.

Rumors have been floating around that Hollywood is gearing up to make a Magnum, p.i. movie, and that actor Nicolas Cage has been offered the role of Thomas Magnum. I have serious issues with this for a number of reasons. First, do we actually need or want this movie? I grew up watching Magnum...in fact, it was one of my favourite shows. Interesting characters, a great car, and the kind of idyllic tropical life that we could only dream of. So why ruin all of that with a cheeseball remake? Unfortunately, transforming good '80's TV shows into bad modern-day movies seems to be a mistake that Hollywood is intent on repeating. As if Dukes of Hazzard wasn't bad enough. Second, Nicolas Cage??? Nicolas Cage??? Are you kidding me? This guy has made a career of playing morose, monotonal cynics. And the last time we saw him, he was sporting a flaming skull in the insufferably painful Ghost Rider. Maybe he needs the work. Third, Nicolas Cage??? I know, I hate to keep ragging on the guy. But aside from the fact that he bears no resemblance to Magnum, either in looks or in character, he's also, well, old. I mean, if you're going to cast an older actor in the role made famous by Tom Selleck, why not just cast Tom Selleck? The issues abound...

In other news, O.J. Simpson may have run afoul of the law once again. Las Vegas police have arrested a man for armed robbery of sports memorabilia. Simpson is being questioned for his involvement in the robbery and may face arrest. The former NFL star claims he is innocent, and has vowed to spend the rest of his life searching for "the real robber".

Update: The Juice is in jail.

If you thought that being a child with leukemia was bad enough, think again. China has ordered the recall of tainted leukemia drugs produced by the Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Company. Honestly, what is it with these guys? According to the report in the G&M, the drugs methotrexate and cytarabine were contaminated with a third chemotherapeutic agent, vincristine. Some children receiving the drugs experienced adverse side effects from the contaminants, leading to the crackdown.

And finally, this gem (courtesy of the Hill Times)

8 comments:

Bowler said...

These remakes of old television shows are always painful and pointless. Well, I guess there is some money to be made, but they are usually unwatchable. I think it all started with the live action re-make of the Flintstones with John Goodman and has gone downhill from there.

Anonymous said...

Don't they have any decent writers anymore that can make up stories?

Remakes, to me, are always a disaster.

Red Canuck said...

Yes, remakes are almost universally bad. In the case of Magnum, I'm not even certain what demographic the studio is targeting. People who watched the original won't be enamoured of Cage in the lead role. And younger audiences (who may not have even seen a rerun of the show) will likely just shrug and instead spend their allowance on Tranformers 2.

Red Canuck said...

Re: OJ

I heard a joke on the radio this morning about how OJ was planning to escape police custody with the help of John Elway - another slow white Bronco.

Bowler said...

Ha! They'll have to update that joke to Jay Cutler.

I can't muster too much enthusiasm for this OJ story. It would be ironic, though, were he to receive any jail time for this crime of essentially re-stealing sports memorabilia, but not for the murders.

As for Magnum P.I., I would still rather watch that re-hash of an 80's TV show than Lyin' Bryan Muldoon's re-write of '80's history.

P.S. Do you remember that SCTV skit with John Candy, Magum P.E.I. :)

Red Canuck said...

Do you remember that SCTV skit with John Candy, Magum P.E.I. :)

Yes! Another classic! Too bad Muldoon wasn't around during SCTV's heyday...they would have skewered him for sure. As it was, Martin Short did a pretty hilarious Pierre Trudeau.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog.

Anonymous said...

Magnific!