Alien Covenant Had Same Problem as Star Wars Rogue One

Went to see Alien Covenant yesterday and came away feeling very middling about it. It wasn't bad, and it certainly had a few memorable moments in it. I didn't come close to having the instant love that I felt when I watched Aliens in the theater when it came out. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that there are striking parallels to the Star Wars movies in what they initially did right and what they now did wrong, and it all comes down to character development.

When I watched Alien, Aliens, and Star Wars (the original), in all cases they spent a good amount of time letting us really get to know the characters in depth. I came out of Star Wars knowing almost all major names from Luke to Ben to Leia to C-3PO and more. With Alien I didn't feel invested in only Ripley--I also loved the captain and the two constantly complaining engineers.

When I watched Rogue One, I came out of the movie having enjoyed it to a certain degree...but I couldn't name a single character. I wasn't really invested in them. The same thing happened with Alien Covenant. I can't tell you any names besides 'Tennessee' and 'David'. They did spend quite a lot of movie time prior to arriving at the alien planet, but they didn't use that time wisely enough in developing the depths of character necessary. I recall seeing some characters get killed by the alien and I had no real idea who they were. With no investment in the characters, action is just action and death is sort of distant.

There was a similar experience with the first Lord of the Rings movie. When I saw the Fellowship of the Ring theatrical version, I wasn't thrilled by it. Later, though, I saw the extended edition and totally loved it. They had put back in all the character development that had been cut from the theatrical version. I wish studios and directors would learn the lessons about how necessary character development is.

A Blow to our Generation

I am crushed this morning. Chris Cornell died at age 52. He was one of the two greatest singer-songwriters of my generation, and he was so deeply a part of my everyday musical life. For any who don't know, he was the front man for Soundgarden, along with Audioslave and Temple of the Dog.

When my first son was born, the very first piece of music that I started playing for him was my favorite Soundgarden song, Searching With My Good Eye Closed. So my kids are brainwashed with Chris's music, and they also will be very upset at this news.

I had never heard of Soundgarden back in 1992 when I went with my brother Peter to see Guns N Roses in concert at a huge outdoor venue between Phoenix and Tucson. We were blown away by the opening band, Soundgarden. So much so that I went out the next day and bought their latest album and never looked back. 

Just two weeks ago my family flew to Jacksonville, Florida to see Soundgarden live in concert at the Rockville Festival. Chris seemed angry that night, three times during different songs he ranted at the crowd about their albums being available free. I assumed he was upset at how artists no longer make much money off of albums due to everyone stealing their stuff via file sharing. But now I wonder if he wasn't feeling healthy--if that somehow contributed to the anger that seemed to pervade that show.

I don't recall tearing up at any of the other major deaths over the past few years, no matter how much I liked the artist, but this one devastates me. Chris was working on a new Soundgarden album, which we will now not get to hear, and they were talking about doing another Temple of the Dog album as well. At 52, he should have had so much more to create.

Swam With a Shark Today

We had a lovely day today. Some friends took us out on their boat to a spot near a reef where lots of colorful fish abound. We swam with huge schools of fish of all types, feeding them bits of orange. Once I was floating face down in the water to observe all the fish, when further down, perhaps twenty feet below me, a large shark swam lazily by.

I can't be sure which type of shark it was. I looked up sharks that frequent the Bahamas and tried to find top down views. The only ones I found that looked close to my vague memory are either a tiger shark or a nurse shark. It had no interest in us anyway. It's much more interesting when you are in the water near a shark rather than just seeing them in an aquarium!

feeding bits of orange to colorful fish

Live in Concert

This post may be more for myself than for anyone else. I was trying to remember every concert I had seen, and I realized how difficult it is to recall them all, so I decided why not put up a post so I can more easily keep track! I'm told that I saw Fleetwood Mac when I was very young, but I don't have any recollection of that, so I don't count it. So the first real concert I went to was U2 in Tucson for the Joshua Tree tour in 1987. They were simply incredible. Still one of the best concerts I ever saw in my life.

Next I saw U2 again for the final concert of that tour, one which they filmed for the movie Rattle & Hum. This was on 12/20/1987 in Tempe, Arizona. BB King opened and also played with U2 on Love Comes to Town.

The next concert I saw was an odd one--Dread Zeppelin at the University of Arizona on January 20, 1991. They were very good, though the music was odd, being Led Zeppelin music played reggae style with an Elvis impersonator lead singer.

Then I saw the Black Crowes in Tucson, 6/13/1991. First time I went to a concert as a date. We got very close to the stage, so it got a bit iffy at times with some members of the crowd, but the music was quite good.

Next was ZZ Top on August 12, 1991 in Tucson. Good, but I didn't like how many recorded sounds they used, since it took away a bit of the live feel.

A buddy talked me into going to see Van Halen on May 17, 1992. We didn't have tickets, so we went to the parking lot at McHale Center in Tucson as the opening band (Extreme) was already playing. A desperate scalper gave us tickets at face value that were about row ten right in front of Eddie Van Halen. It was amazing just to watch the ease with which Eddie played!

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden

Then came an awesome experience, because it was so unexpected. I went with one of my brothers to see Guns n Roses on February 1, 1992. I thought that would be okay, and it was, but what really rocked was the opening band, Soundgarden. I hadn't heard of them before, but they were electric. Definitely much better than Guns n Roses. I went out and bought their latest album right away and they've been a favorite ever since.

I saw U2 for a third time in Tempe on October 24, 1992. I didn't like how commercial they looked this time, though of course they still sounded great.

Somewhere around this time, though I can't find dates, I saw Foghat at a country dance hall in Tucson, and Quiet Riot at the Wildcat House where I was working.

The last concert I saw before heading into my overseas life was Alice in Chains on April 15, 1993. They really rocked, though sadly on one of my favorite songs 'Would?' their bass player's instrument stopped working, and bass is the driving force of that song. I wish they had started it over.

Pink Floyd in London

Now things got really cool! From Moscow I flew with a friend to London to see Pink Floyd for their Division Bell tour in October 1994. It was filmed for their DVD 'Pulse', and it was probably the most amazing sounding concert I ever saw, as well as being the last official concert of Pink Floyd.

My friend and I got lucky and also caught a make-up date by Stone Temple Pilots on 10/26/1994 during that London trip. Wow, were they awesome! Two great concerts within a week of each other really made that first trip to London a memorable one.

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page

After returning to the US, my wife and I saw a Page & Plant concert on 9/24/1998. I just love Led Zeppelin, and that's all they played that night.

It was a long time before I went to any concerts again. My family flew to London from Baku to see two great bands. First we saw Pearl Jam at Hyde Park. What an experience that was. The next day I took the kids back to Hyde Park and we listened to Paul McCartney play, though we didn't have tickets to go inside. It was outdoors, so we could hear decently. Then to top it off we went to Wembley Stadium on 6/19/2010 to see Green Day. As we walked into the stadium we saw Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, whom we had no idea was the opening act. That was a treat, seeing 'I Love Rock and Roll' played live before 100,000 fans. Green Day was great, but I was disappointed that they played so few songs from 21st Century Breakdown, an album that I really liked.

Green Day at Wembley Stadium

My family took a train from Budapest to Prague on July 2, 2012 to again see Pearl Jam. You really can't go wrong with Pearl Jam, though the opening act 'X' wasn't so good.

We had a surprise treat at the end of our stay in Budapest. As a 20 year anniversary of the fall of communism in Hungary, they brought in the Scorpions to play a free concert on 6/16/2014. They were so great!

Rush saying goodbye

The next concert was one we went to because my oldest son is a huge fan of Rush. We had no idea that the concert on 8/1/2015 would be the last Rush concert. What pros these three musicians are. I'm not a huge Rush fan, but they were amazing.

Now just this past weekend we went to see three favorite bands, Soundgarden and A Perfect Circle on 4/29/2017, and Alter Bridge on 4/30/2017. For those who don't know, Alter Bridge is the band Creed but with a new singer. All three were very good, though I felt the song selection for Soundgarden wasn't the best, and their sound was a bit off. A Perfect Circle was simply amazing. Wish I could see them some more.

A Perfect Circle

I really wanted to get to the June concert in San Bernadino for Primus and Tool, as those are about the only bands left I love and haven't seen who are still active, but we couldn't make it work.

Update to say that on November 1, 2017 I saw A Perfect Circle again in Virginia. The opening act was The Beta Machine, which has the same drummer and bass player as APC. APC played more songs than the first time I saw them, since it was a full concert instead of a festival. They played all three of their new songs.

On November 7, 2022 I saw Porcupine Tree at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. A truly excellent show.

On November 1, 2023 I saw Tool in Milwaukee with my son Anton and his fiancé Sage. Awesome as always.

Rockville Festival

My family and I had a wonderful time this past weekend. We not only got to visit my beloved Aunt Jan (after 16 years!) and meet her fiance, but we attended a rock festival with three of our favorite bands.

A Perfect Circle

On day one we first saw A Perfect Circle, which is led by Maynard James Keenan, one of the greatest singer/songwriters alive. Their set was terrific, everything that I could have hoped for. They played most of my favorite songs, and the sound was amazing. My sons took a few photos and short video clips with their mobile phones, so naturally anything I put here won't be even close to how good it looked and sounded live, but I'll put some up just for flavoring.

Soundgarden was a tad off their game, in my opinion. I last saw them 26 years ago (!!) and they were incredible back then. The energy and sound quality hooked me right away when I had never heard of them before. I don't know if it was the venue, but this time the sound wasn't quite as perfect. Worse was their song selection--I felt they were trying to do their more commercial stuff rather than their best songs, and they hardly played any of the songs I love most.

Alter Bridge

Alter Bridge was on the second day, and they were as good as I expected. They have one of the best guitarists in the world in Mark Tremonti. They are basically the band Creed but with a different singer.