So I was just reading a magazine just now and thought about how this certain magazine (Transworld Surf) has been sending me renewal cards on an almost daily basis.  My subscription is not over for another 5 issues, yet they are hounding me like a psychotic ex-girlfriend… trying to remind me that I may lose touch with them in half a year from now if I don’t send these cards in.

Are magazines going the way of the 8 track?  That’s a question many people ponder.  The medium is dead is a rallying cry from many tech-heads.  But sometimes, the newer media which replaces it is not as good… An 8-Track had better fidelity than the smaller Audio Cassette.  Vinyl Records hold more resonance to them than any cold, hard zeroes and ones Compact Disc or compressed to hell MP3.

The cost of making a magazine is going up while the salaries they pay for writers, photographers and other content providers (along with yearly subscription rates) seem to be shrinking.   What happened here?  A magazine that used to cost $25 a year is now offered to me for a special Senior Citizen rate of $12 when I’m only in my late 30’s… And I still don’t want to “take advantage” and renew early because the next renewal offer will be even lower.

Though not proud to admit this publically, I have taken my Nook into the bathroom more than once for an extended stay… and it didn’t have the same feel as a good old magazine in between my paws.  The magazine I lighter and much more versatile.  This is giving me pause before I decide to move my subscriptions to the digital age… that is if I’m renewing at all.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that maybe if the magazines stopped hounding me to still be their friend, maybe I’d be more apt to continue our friendship.  But when they are in constant desperation for my attention daily in my mail, it sort of makes me want to fill out a restraining order against Publishers Clearinghouse. 

Will I continue to read a surf magazine while living on the beautiful, wave filled shores of Long Island Sound?  Probably.  It makes me feel like I can do something that I know I would epically fail at.  Do they need to constantly ask me to be their “bro?”  Not really.  Only Kelly Slater fans would do that, not an Andy Irons admirer.

Does Hollywood have a creative shred left in its veins?  I often hear this over and over as the news of yet another remake hits the papers.  Usually followed with “Why are they going to remake that?”

But these comments come from those of us who are old enough to have lived the original movie.  Don’t get me wrong, many of these movies have our own thoughts and feelings built into them.  Experiences that we can remember as we saw the first go around on the story.

For instance, the remake of Footloose is coming out.  There’s a movie I can remember not only being one of the first I saw in a theater, but also one of the first that made me think that “Pretty girls dig dudes who can dance.”  I mean, even the “dorkier” best friend of the “beautiful” lead was Sarah Jessica Parker and she was not bad! 

@MyBrewTube (Director Craig Brewer) has been following the back and forth of taking the challenge of re-telling this story.  It’s not like the guy can’t do original stuff, he did do “Hustle & Flow” and “Black Snake Moan,” which both were original stories and did very well.  But once upon treading on sacred ground of Kevin Bacon’s breakout film, He has trampled upon the territory that has been held as sacred as the memories of the VHS players that people played the movie on over and over.

I know when I started to show the original Footloose to my daughter, I was hit with words like “lame”, “boring” and “old.”  Maybe using a reboot is another way to share an old story with a new audience.  We live in an era of CGI and quality internet programming done in people’s basements.  Does the average viewer of today expect something more?  Is it like trying to get an X BOX gamer to play the original NES?  Cute, but not the “norm.”

Lately I have heard more remakes in the works… Dirty Dancing… Back to the Future starring Justin Beiber… Star Wars (because George Lucas can’t leave them alone)… Movies that have times, eras and experiences all tied into them together are now getting unneeded makeovers.  Has it worked flawlessly? Willy Wonka? The Deep? True Grit? Can you just reboot any proven storyline?

So, with this in mind, I set off to reboot one of my most favorite films of all time… “Jaws.”  This was Steven Spielberg’s cinematic masterpiece that was THE summer blockbuster of all summer blockbusters.  But now as I watch it, the shark looks ridiculously fake and the actors… well my kids sure as heck don’t know them (except for that guy who looks much older in “What About Bob” )  Let us put this argument to the test and remake Jaws for a new generation.

As I thought about this, I imagined who would the new cast consist of?  What would hit a cinematic Grand Slam for this new generation of movie viewers?

Well, to start, the shark would have to be recast.  “Bruce” would go from being a mechanical nightmare of a robot in a shark suit to becoming a CGI masterpiece of shark.  The sure view of the gargantuan shark decending upon its pray would shake up any viewer.  Of course, it would change the dynamic of what made the first one so scary.  Instead of an enigma of underwater terror we just glance at eating the Kitner boy… we would see it in it’s cinematic gore.  The shock would be over and would not be saved for later when we see that “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”  At least this role would give Andy Serkis some more work.

Next comes the role of Hooper… the rich, pretty boy who chose a life studying creatures of the sea with all the toys mom and dad’s money could buy him.  If you have read the book, you would know that this character seduces Mrs. Brody while the Chief is too busy playing cop, but that storyline was left out of the original movie.  I thought about Matt Damon playing this role.  I felt his looks carry out the fact that he could come from money and seduce a “cougar” as well… not even needing the nose to play.

Next comes the role of Chief Brody.  I first thought about George Clooney for this role.  I think he could bring the brooding air that Roy Schneider gave to the character… but I nixed him just for the fact that he doesn’t seem like the marrying kind (even just playing it in a character) plus the Oceans references would be too plentiful. 

So, I took a cinematic curve and thought about Vin Diesel.  Seriously.  I thought, again, a silent brooder but then also added in the fact that all the muscles in the world don’t mean anything out on the water… plus he looks like he would sink if he ever landed in the water, which would play into the fact that he is afraid of water to begin with.  Also, he does have a great sarcasm to himself and could deliver some of the more comedic lines very well while out at see… and the final line “Smile You Son of a Bitch!” would just kick ass coming from him.

My challenge came when think about who could ever replace Robert Shaw’s Embedded Pop Culture reference of a performance playing the legendary Quint.  This performance made him an icon in film history.  Curmudgeonly rough, he’s a guy that many of us would like to sail with but not want to be the target of his sarcastic remarks.  It would take a lot to fill those shoes and it also took a lot of time for me to finally find my pick.  After finally seeing this man add new salt to one of “The Dukes” finest roles, I knew I had my new Quint in Jeff Bridges.

So there it is.  In my book I just committed cinematic terrorism… all without having to cast Shia LeBouff as Chief Brody’s grandson.  Would I watch this remake? Yeah I would.  Would I loath hearing about it and watching the trailers for it? Of Course.  But most of all, one of the greatest summer movies, carrying all those memories for all of us wrapped up in experiences, would be made over for a new generations experiences… without any knowledge of the old.  The original would be cast off into its lot among the TCM film junkyard, with grandparents talking about it to kids who say “Yea I saw it with the guy from those Spy movies right?”

Right or wrong? It’s a debate, but one that I will always choose the original side on.

Influences are an interesting thing.  A musician, maybe a piece of art… I find it hard to work without being influenced by something.  A lot of my influences start with something from the 1930’s or 1980’s.  Weird isn’t it? Both eras had some amazing deco work and there’s something about it that really makes me want to create.

What influences you?  WHat makes your brain become unfrozen and work?