The new Enterprise crew. Image courtesy Paramount Pictures

Prequels are one of the trickiest sorts of movies to pull off correctly. When you’re working with characters that people have known and loved for years and years, it’s very hard to get everything right. For every “Batman Begins” there are 10 that just don’t get it right: Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, X Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek: Enterprise come to mind as prequels that landed way below the hype and expectation created for them and only served to disappoint loyal fans of their respective series.

J.J. Abrams adaptation of the original Star Trek crew blasts away any low expectations viewers might have about its integrity. The cast, script, special effects, and story are all top-notch, successfully bringing the aging (and before this, deteriorating) franchise into the 21st century. If you consider yourself any kind of a fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, or sci-fi in general, see this movie. Hell, even if you just like a good summer popcorn action flick and haven’t seen a Star Trek episode in your entire life, this movie is still for you. The positive reviews are all over the place: Star Trek will disspoint no one.

Star Trek follows the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise from the very beginning through the maiden voyage of the ship. The movie opens with the dramatic space birth of James T. Kirk, a man whose captain father sacrificed his life for the good of his crew and to save the life of his wife and child. From then on we follow Kirk, who from the very beginning of his life is an action-seeking rebel. His starfleet recruiter said he could be a captain in 4 years, Kirk says he’ll do it in 3, and he almost pulls it off.

I’ll spare you more plot details to avoid any spoilers, but the fact is is that every single part of this movie comes together beautifully. The characters that we know and loved from the original series are all back, recast in a way that gives them a new life but keeps their essence intact. Chris Pine plays a cocky, hubris-ridden Kirk who will stop at nothing to be a starfleet captain, Zachary Quinto plays the role of Spock so well that you could almost mistake him for a young Leonard Nimoy (who also appears), and the other main characters are recast with fabulous actors who many will recognize from other films. John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle) plays a more badass Mr. Sulu, and Simon Pegg (Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is a hilarious Scotty, who is still in the engine room “givin’ it all she’s got!”

Throughout the movie writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman throw in just the right amount of nods to classic Trek lines and situations to keep diehard fans happy, but not so much that it alienates the person who isn’t familiar with the series. The monologue from every TNG opening (“Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship enterprise…”) even makes an appearance, and there are enough “Live long and prosper” utterances to satisfy any Trekkie.

The revamped Enterprise. Image courtesy Paramount Pictures.

While the plot is a bit silly at times (and really, what Trek plot isn’t) and generally more violent than previous outings, the entire movie serves to both make fans happy and introduce new people to this wonderfully exciting world. At its core, Trek has always been about the characters, and I can happily say that this movie is no different. While Star Wars Episode I seemed to trash most of the great characters from Star Wars and introduced no new lovable ones, the way that Abrams handled everything here was entirely true to the series.

Star Trek will boldly go where no Trek movie in years has gone before: into the hearts of the thousands of people who worship the series as their religion. As my theater watched the Enterprise warp away yet again at the end of the flick, the entire place burst into thunderous applause and I could hear people turning to their friends and saying “wow. that was amazing.” It’s good to see a major reboot like this actually get it right.

My Bloody Valentine playing in Brazil. Photo courtesy Baptiste Pons via Flickr.

The signs posted around the outside of the WaMu theater said it best: “Tonight’s show will be extremely LOUD”.

My Bloody Valentine, the Irish alt-rock “shoegaze” band who hasn’t released an album since 1991′s smash “Loveless” destroyed the earbuds of thousands of fans Monday at WaMu Theater. Earplugs were given out at the door, and MBV–known for their use of distortion, pitch bending and noise–put them to good use and pushed the limits of how loud a concert can get.

The show began with Brightblack Morning Light, an indie-folk-psychedelic duo who set the stage for the loudest band in the world by being one of the quietest. Their downtempo grooves are more apt for passing around a joint to, but they managed to fill the cavernous WaMu theater well enough and provide a nice relaxed calm before the coming assault.

As My Bloody Valentine took the stage in front of a pink projector screen reminiscent of the “Loveless” cover, I jammed the earplugs into my ears and prepared for the loudest thing I’d ever heard.

The Stranger’s blog put it best when they said that all the vocals sounded like  “AH LA LA//AH LA LA,” but that didn’t matter. MBV rocked HARD. Every song was drowned in a thick layer of high-frequency noise, which was unfortunately completely eliminated by the supplied earplugs. Tolerating the volume became a game if you wanted to hear everything that was going on, almost teasing you to take the chance of permanently ruining your hearing.

If that wasn’t enough, the stage was also outfitted with extremely bright strobe lights pointed directly at the audience, completing an audio-visual assault on the senses that can only be provided by My Bloody Valentine. There is really no other experience like their show–it’s a lesson in excess to the highest degree.

Despite said assault, myself and the other fans enjoyed every second.

The signs outside WaMu. Photo by Angelo Carosio

Moving through a setlist that included a good balance of material from their two albums and multiple EPs, the band showed that they aren’t just a one-album-band like many who are only familiar with “Loveless” think they are. Opening with “I Only Said,” they weaved through their catalog without really saying much of anything aside from “thank you for coming,” twice.

The high point of the show came during closer “You Made Me Realise,” where during the bridge the band constructed a wall of noise so unbelievably deafening that removing my earplugs for a few seconds felt like I was laying down beneath a 747 with its engines on full blast. The distortion fest grew and evolved during the course of the 20 minute jam fest as the band layered on more instruments and feedback. You could feel the noise in the air–the lower frequencies of it blasted through the theater and shook me to the bone. While it seemed like quite a few were leaving during this climax, many stayed and reveled in the amazing destruction.

The band promptly left the stage after You Made Me Realize, and did not come back for an encore. That wall of sound would make Phil Spector jealous, and nothing could have followed it up.

]]> http://ohax.com/wordpress/2009/04/195/feed/ 0 http://ohax.com/wordpress/2009/04/rancho-bravo-tacos-brings-taco-truck-mexican-to-capitol-hill/ http://ohax.com/wordpress/2009/04/rancho-bravo-tacos-brings-taco-truck-mexican-to-capitol-hill/#comments Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:51:30 +0000 Angelo Carosio http://ohax.com/wordpress/?p=204

Rancho Bravo Tacos has opened in the old KFC building. Photo by Angelo Carosio

Since the unfortunate demise of Taco Bell, it’s been hard to find a good burrito on the hill under $5. Taco Del Mar never tastes quite as good as you want it to, Tacos Guaymas is way too expensive and also not that good, and Bimbos is pretty excellent but doesn’t allow minors in, even during the day. Last week a new contender opened for business in the old KFC building across from Cal Anderson park on Pine, and Rancho Bravo Tacos seems to understand what people want in a burrito: cheap, big, and delicious.

Although it is pretty much a taco truck in the space of a restaurant and it shows, the place still provides fast service and pretty good eats. The menu is fairly small, composed of several burritos and taco choices as well as some bowls, tortas, and tamales. I had the “Rancho Burrito”, which came with meat, beans, cheese, rice, onions, and cilantro for only $4.25. You can also opt for the $4.75 “Bravo Burrito” which adds tomatoes, grilled onion, and sour cream to the mix. Tacos with your choice of meat are $2.

The menu. Photo by Angelo Carosio

It seems like with the recession going on cheap food is going to thrive since people obviously want to eat out, but want to avoid spending tons of money. Rancho Bravo is pretty much the only burrito place on Capitol Hill with most of its food under $5, so here’s to hoping it stays around for quite a while.

As for my burrito, it was pretty good. While definitely better than Tacos Guaymas or Taco Del Mar, there were a few things that could have made it better. The chicken used was breaded, which was a bit of a surprise since that’s not very common for a burrito, and they didn’t heat the burrito together so the cheese wasn’t melted at all and actually kind of cold. These are small concessions, however, given the price of the place.

Next time a nice Carne Asada taco sounds really good.