4 DX THEATERS: YOUR SEATS SHAKE WITH THE FILM...

 




Are 3D films a thing of the past?

To continue to keep attendance at the theaters, 4DX is sweeping the globe. In the US it's only in Los Angeles  at it's REGAL THEATER; however, around the world the 4DX experience is becoming more popular.

You are forbidden to eat during shaking and are NEVER allowed to bring a hot beverage.

With only the best technologies, 4DX motion chairs are equipped with three base movements of heave (move up and down), pitch (move left and right), and roll (tilt backward and forward) which can create an endless expanse of possible combinations to mimic such actions as flying and driving. The skilled team of 4DX editors, "i-Studio", are experts in maximizing the feeling of immersion within every movie without overstepping comfort bounds.

Effects simulated in a 4D film may include rain, wind, strobe lights, and vibration.

Common chair effects include air jets, water sprays, and leg and back ticklers.

Additionally, effects may include smoke, rain, lightning, air bubbles, and special smells (for example, fireworks smells at the London Eye's Experience, and gassy smells when a stinkbug sprays it in It's Tough to Be a Bug).

This reminds me of a time where television threatened movie sales & all sorts of gimmicks were created as well: cinamescope, cinerama and even the feeling of you being electro shocked. 

In Vincent Price's "The Tingler" , director William Castle made some movie theaters offer electric shocks (yes, Castle had actually wired some of the seats!).

Being a disciple of Castle,  John Waters in 1981 hyped his film "POLYESTER" with Odorama", whereby viewers could smell what they saw on screen through scratch and sniff cards.

Is 4DX hype or here to stay?

I think there's a place for it. Thank god most movies to my liking only make me shake inside where my heart lives.

JERSEY CITY'S THEATER OVERHAUL

After arduous renovations some years ago, THE WELLMONT THEATER in Montclair, NJ does amazing business (though they're on their second owners--they had a snafu & it closed for a while). The renovations were stellar--done by a NY architect.

(Brief history: opened in 1922 for live entertainment then switched to movies in 1929.In 2008 it completed a $3 million renovation and became a music venue booked by The Bowery Presents. The building was retrofitted with new electrical and plumbing systems. New bars in the orchestra and mezzanine were installed.In 2013, venue booking changed to Live Nation, after the theater again underwent another careful refurbishment.)

On the heels of this success Jersey City is installing the same idea in one of their great movie palaces of yesteryear. Even in the 1970's those theaters were bustling with movie activity (along with the more modern & now defunct STATE THEATER).
Though a lot of the clientele was of the unsavory kind, they were still making money. It was sad when they closed or were bought by religious organizations.

Last time I visited the LOEWS- about 2 yrs. ago-was to see one of their meets & greets with a living celebrity associated with the classic film shown on that day. I got to meet the incomparable Piper Laurie in "The Hustler". They had shown "All About Eve" and others as well.

NOW HOPE !

"One of the country's biggest entertainment companies is set to manage the Loew's Jersey Theatre in Jersey City, an important step in the effort to turn the aging venue into a gem of the state's second-biggest city.

On Thursday, city officials said that AEG Live, a company that books talent and manages venues nationwide, will manage the Loew's Jersey Theatre and that the city will spend about $30 million to $40 million to overhaul the theater.

The renovation plan calls for closing the theater sometime this year and reopening it by late 2015 or early 2016.

The theater, once among the state's most opulent, opened in 1929 when the city had several movie houses. The palatial space was long a venue for watching films; in recent years, the theater has become a home for film and photography shoots.

Updating the venue would give Jersey City a chance to compete for big performers with halls such the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan and the Wellmont Theater in Montclair. 

"This will be our first signature trophy entity for the cultural arts," said Mayor Steven Fulop. "It's something Jersey City has never had, a cultural arts hub that anchors the community."

The Jersey City Redevelopment Agency is expected to approve the arrangement on Tuesday night..."

ATLANTIC CITY the new ASBURY PARK?

 

(From "PHILLY.COM & "THE INQUIRER" --Amy S. Rosenberg June 16, 2014 )

ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY...

"In a quest to get its historically gay vibe back, Atlantic City's first openly gay mayor on Monday designated an official gay beach.

It's a familiar spot: Park Place, the site of the original gay beach in Atlantic City, the iconic second most valuable spot on the Monopoly board and, now, a beach with a rainbow flag flying at its entrance off the Boardwalk.

"It represents Atlantic City coming of age," Mayor Don Guardian, 61, said after placing the rainbow flag on the wooden archway. "Atlantic City's been gay-friendly for a long time. We just had to welcome them back."

With the gaming industry struggling, Atlantic City seemed more than ready to make a case for its gay moment in the sun.

Three major LGBT events - Sandblast, an Asbury Park festival export; Miss'd America, a drag pageant, and StandOut, a gay business expo - are coming to town this year.
 
"You know, back in the 1960s, long before Stonewall in New York, long before Provincetown, Rehoboth and Fort Lauderdale, Atlantic City was a mecca for the LGBT community," said Rich Helfant, president of the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance.

Back before casinos, gays crowded New York Avenue bars, created rituals around the Miss America pageant, and lived and summered in and around Snake Alley, a winding series of side streets that connect New York Avenue and Kentucky Avenue in the city's north section.

Atlantic City and its casinos and hotels have stepped up targeted marketing to gay and lesbian tourists in recent years and especially since gay marriage was legalized last fall in New Jersey.

On Monday, casino executives, LGBT organizers and marketing officials joined to promote the city to a tourism segment that has had dramatic economic and revitalization impact elsewhere.
The beach in front of the Claridge was long known as the gay beach in Atlantic City - for "obvious reasons," Guardian said Monday (not least of which, the phallic architecture of the Claridge as a symbolic designation).

But over the years, the vibrant gay community all but vanished (although Guardian, a longtime resident, stayed). Just one gay bar remains in town. Some blamed the advent of casinos, others the general decline of Atlantic City, and some pointed to AIDS as the reasons.

Jeff Guaracino, a marketing specialist with the Atlantic City Alliance, a casino-funded marketing agency, said the hope is the LGBT community will "not only visit Atlantic City but also open businesses here and also buy primary and secondary homes in Atlantic City."

A survey commissioned by the alliance found that the city, despite its storied gay history, was not viewed as especially LGBT-friendly, he said.

"People just want to know where are the gay people," Guaracino said. "It's like a gay diaspora. We're all around; we just want to know where everyone is. Plus, people think gays go to the next great place. What happened in Asbury Park could happen here."

This year, several of the city's casinos and hotels are marketing under Pride 2014 themes, including Borgata and its Water Club, and Caesars, which sponsored a Win a Wedding promotion after gay marriage was legalized. The newly repositioned Claridge Hotel also has been directing marketing toward the gay and lesbian tourism market and is the official host of Sandblast Weekend.
Sandblast, July 18 to 20, previously had been held in Asbury Park, where the LGBT population bought up properties and revived the resort..."

"PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED" (1986)

 







WOW- I just watched "PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED" (directed by Francis Ford Coppola) this is only the second time I watch it -it's awesome (one of my favs now).

Nic Cage basically steals it; but what a great cast !
Kathleen Turner was amazing too. She was at the peak of her popularity.

The other luminaries were Helen Hunt/ Joan Allen/Maureen O'Sullivan/Jim Carrey/Leon Ames/Barbara Harris/Don Murray/Sofia Coppola/--what???

I didn't fully appreciate it when it came out & took it at face value; almost as fluff (what a fool I was, or maybe just immature).

I can't believe I was 29 yrs old when it was released & didn't see the layers I saw in it today.

I cried so much now at 56 with all my life's experience/it was a welcomed, emotional experience.
 Now I want the poster & to watch with other people who've never seen it.

It is so much more than a time travel piece. It brings up issues of family, decisions, love, maturity and many more...

If you never watched it, treat yourself.

If you have, revisit it and see what you may have missed.

Watch & enjoy...let me know what you think....

P.S. Nic Cage's butt looks great in the last shot--just sayin'

A TRIBUTE TO MY OLD "UNION CITY, NJ"

 




Walking around my old town of Union City, NJ  (where I "grew" up) every inch is a memory; although the population is different. 
Most of the Cubans made their $$$ quickly and shot to the suburbs. 
My  parents & I live about 12 miles west but my sisters both really put a distance between them & the "embroidery capital". 
 Many of the buildings are other things now (usually downgraded in style & substance). For example, the legendary, art deco Sears building is a bunch of unsightly stores-even the spectacular facade  is covered in cheap advertising. 
However, many  buildings still look the same and as my brother-in-law said, when I mentioned how different everything was, it's still so familiar...

If you want to get a taste of the Union City my family called home for decades; check out youtube "UNION CITY" by Dez Manku.

ENJOY !!! 

I will always have a piece of my heart in Union City--esp. my old high school & Bergenline Avenue-since I shared so many amazing memories in one of the most New Yorkcentric places one could have lived. 
 I will always treasure these memories with friends and family; we had a blast there!




May 30, 2014

"UNION CITY" is Dez Manku's special salute to Union City, NJ. It was impossible to put every land mark in Union City in the song, but we did our best to get as many in there as we could.

It's part 1 of our "HUDSON COUNTY TRILOGY."

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 - "TRANSFER STATION" and "BLVD. EAST."
We hope you enjoy it, and it brings back some great memories. Thanks for listening, Mike Boldt and Phil Gallo (DEZ MANKU)

COMICS IN NJ CAR ACCIDENT--ONE DIES

 

 

 

Friends to Tracy Morgan: 'Stay strong'

Fellow comedians killed, injured in wreck

June 07, 2014

 

 "Actor and comedian Tracy Morgan, best known for his roles on "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock," was badly injured early Saturday when the limo bus he was riding in overturned in a multi-vehicle crash in New Jersey that killed another comic.
Morgan, 45, was in critical condition in an intensive care unit at a hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, police and his spokesman said.

The comedian James McNair, also known as Jimmy Mack, was killed in the crash on the New Jersey Turnpike, police said. McNair, who was 63 and lived in Peekskill, New York, was riding in the limo bus with Morgan.
At least three other people were hospitalized following the crash, in which a tractor-trailer struck the back of the limo bus at around 1 a.m. local time near Cranbury Township, New Jersey State Police spokesman Gregory Williams said, citing a preliminary investigation.
After the collision, involving another tractor-trailer, a sport utility vehicle and two other cars, the limo bus was on its side, Williams said.
Morgan was part of a stand-up comedy "Turn it Funny" tour and had performed at a Dover, Delaware, casino on Friday night.
He was taken by helicopter to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Center in New Brunswick, Williams said. Morgan's spokesman said the comic would remain there on Saturday..."

Our condolences & prayers go out to them & their families...tragic...