Rock Band rocks; Bottle Shock shocks

My default icon has changed, and yes, there's a story behind it.

I finally grew tired of playing the same favorite songs over and over on "Guitar Hero" (while never advancing to the Hard level, because that orange key still gives me mad headaches). Tery, who never really got on the GH bandwagon, had an employee who raved constantly about "Rock Band" (GH's concept stolen and improved upon by MTV, adding a karaoke mic and drums). When I realized I didn't need an entire band (which would necessitate, you know, having friends) and could actually just play guitar, making it in essence new GH, not much time at all was wasted in pounding the virtual pavement.

Oh wow. If GH was marijuana, Rock Band is heroin. This game lets you mainline fun. After a day I had almost mastered drums (on Easy; that bass pedal still gives me mad headaches), and vocals have been on Expert from the start (the game is not terribly discerning about singing talent). I also started the guitar on Medium because 3 editions of GH was pretty adequate training ground there.

That was day one. Day two I ran out to a retail store (yes, they do still exist) to pick up the expansion pack of songs. This was also when I drafted Tery into the band, thinking it would be fun to play together. She was game to try and decided to videotape it. She insisted on playing drums since guitar was a little too difficult. We settled on what seemed like a simple song, "Buddy Holly" by Weezer.

What I didn't realize was that I had to re-calibrate my guitar to the new edition. I realized it after crapping out of the song about four times. Tery bravely tried to maintain the illusion of enjoying herself while I became increasingly frustrated and hostile, because this ability of hers is a major contributor to our 16-year longevity (it helped that she had a tiny buzz going). Thus we come to the icon: off-screen I'm engrossed in haranguing her about her inferior drumming skills while messing with the guitar, and never saw her giving this look to the camera (and then me) until we watched the footage later in the evening. Something about her expression, the childish defiance that at the time I was completely oblivious to, makes me laugh until I cry. Even sitting there alone, if I think about it I start giggling to myself like a madwoman. I knew it had to become an icon.

~*~

Next, because kavieshana is waiting on pins and needles, I have a short review of Bottle Shock, or as Tery likes to call it just to irritate me, "The Bottle that Shook the World."

I had to see this for precisely the same reason Tery refused to: because Rickman is in it. Never mind that she loves wine enough to own a wine cooler separate from the fridge. She can be almost as unreasonable as me sometimes.

This was nothing compared to the stroke I almost suffered when kavieshana admitted she wasn't "enough in love with Alan to drop everything for a wine movie." Contrast to my fangirlness that means I'd not only watch a documentary on dryer lint if he appeared in it, I'd most likely buy the 2-disc special edition.

Alan plays Steven Spurrier, a real-life wine snob who decided to invite vintners from California's then-unknown Napa Valley to compete in a blind test against the French, who until then had the world market cornered on wine -- kind of like America calling it "the World Series" without letting any other countries participate. According to the movie, he extends the invitation to Napa not so much in the spirit of adventure as to answer a dare by his solitary customer, an annoying American. Bill Pullman is Jim Barrett, owner of Chateau Montelena, a struggling winery. Chris Pine is his hippie son Bo, whose hippie wig becomes increasingly and distractingly unkempt as the film wears on. Freddy Rodriguez is Gustavo Brambila, a second-generation Mexican immigrant without a trace of an accent.

This is one of Alan's rare comic roles, and he's delicious in it. I wanted to lick his porn 'stache something fierce. Oh yeah, and there's a bunch of other stuff about wine that's just padding in between his scenes. Fortunately MyFriendDeb DOES love him enough to drop everything for a wine movie (well, to be fair she doesn't have a whole lot to drop). We thought it spoke volumes that the only "inside" reference she recognized was a line about Thunderbird, evidently a cheap street wine, kind of the Ripple of viniculture -- which is still one more reference than I got. (EDIT: Evidently Ripple IS wine. I KNOW NOTHING.) The things we do in the name of Rickman.

It was worth the trip even beyond Alan's contribution because we got to see this trailer, which looks FREAKIN' AWESOME (my advice: crank that sound):

(kavieshana, if you disagree, I might have to reconsider your band membership)