JAWS: The Definitive Expose'

Day 88 of the Lower Puna Eruption, and this 8 minute 40 second clip is the best summary I've seen of what has happened.  Background music, explanatory text, providing everything you need to know about this current phase of the Kilauea Eruption.  There is even a portion made for 3D glasses. That's the Volcano Golf Course where I saw the origin of this activity on 3January1983.  Photo from UK newspaper.

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I have my personal theater at 15 Craigside.  When I go to the movies I like to sit relatively close to the screen so that I can feel like being part of the action.  So I bought this foldable seat, which I placed on my bed.  I have a stand for popcorn and other stuff to my right.  I could have used my living room system, but the videorecorder where I've accumulated old films are in the bedroom.  The productions today had commercials, so I needed to zip pass them with my remote.

Well, after five years of having them on my HDVR, I finally, back-to-back, saw all four Jaws films yesterday.  I should get a medal for this.  Incredibly enough, after deleting all of them, my recorder load only dropped from 81% to 78%.

The first of the series was released in 1975, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Murray Hamilton, with music by John Williams.  The film was based on the 1974 book by Peter Benchley, who was inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916.  The movie won an Oscar for Williams (his alternating pattern of the E and F notes on a piano became the standard theme of an approaching shark) and was nominated as a best picture.

Rotten Tomatoes gave Jaws  97%/90% ratings.  The film became the father of summer blockbusters, for it became the first to open across most of the country.  Until then, these potential biggies were leaked out to draw word-of-mouth acclaim.

Dreyfuss in 1973 had success with American Graffiti, but Jaws was Spielberg's first huge hit.  They went on to make Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977.  Surprising that Robert Shaw was not nominated for something, for his ramble about his Indianapolis experience shut-up Dreyfuss.

The movie was a tough production and costs skyrocketed from $4 million to $9 million for #1.  The three mechanical sharks were a serious pain, and were named Bruce, for Spielberg's lawyer.  Ocean conditions are difficult.  However, the four films have earned $800 million, and there are theme park rides, video games and even a 2004 musical

Sad that Scheider, Shaw, Hamilton and Benchley have passed away.  Benchley regretted he wrote the book, which encouraged public fear of sharks, and created the Benchley Ocean Awards for ocean conservation.  The graphic at the end of this posting explains this all.

The series seriously worsened.  Rotten Tomatoes ratings:

                                            Reviewers  Audience

Jaws 2 (1978)                            57             38      Yes, getting tired

Jaws 3D (1983)                         11             17       Preposterous

Jaws:  The Revenge (1987)      0              14       I watched the whole thing

Next?  Perhaps both American Graffitis.

Here are two Blood Moon Eclipse photos:

Germany (AP/Jens Meyer):

Malaysia (AP/Jam G-Jun):

We kill 100 million sharks per year.  Sharks, perhaps 10 humans/year.  17,000 of us die from falls/year.

You might be able to read the details if you click on that graphic.  Actually, you still can't, so CLICK on this original source.  Keep in mind that the human tally is per year, while the above infograph shows shark kills/HOUR!

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