The cleanup from Hurricane Sandy has barely begun here in New Jersey. In fact, I’m writing this from somewhere other than my home due to a lack of power. I think it’s safe to say that large parts of the state — the Jersey Shore especially — will never be the same. So for this edition of Vintage Photo Wednesday, let’s remember one place in particular: Atlantic City.

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I’ve gone through my logo rankings for the NFL and MLB, so now it’s time for the NBA! If you want to see which logos I picked as the best for those leagues, I’ve provided this handy reference page. Otherwise, let’s do some roundball logo reviews. I’m going to take this at an easier pace than I did with football and baseball, so this will be running into the NBA 2012-13 regular season.

Up first are the five teams of the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division — the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Toronto Raptors.  As always, most of these are sourced from Chris Creamer’s outstanding logo website.

Boston Celtics

Best

What better way to start this logo series than with one of the NBA’s all-time great ones? The original Celtics leprechaun logo was designed by Zang Auerbach, brother of legendary coach Red Auerbach. This update is clean and timeless, and perfectly incorporates Boston’s proud Irish heritage.

Worst

I had to dig around for a clear example of the C’s older logo, and this is the best I could find. It’s from the team’s 1960-61 yearbook cover.

It’s not horrible, just kinda goofy. The leprechaun looks more like a wood sprite or something. Boston used variations on this logo — some with color and some with different body positions — throughout the 1950s and most of the ’60s.

Brooklyn Nets

Best

Here’s the thing — even though I was never a Nets fan, I am a New Jersey native and lifelong resident. So this logo, which so proudly displays my home state, will always be a favorite of mine. I just could never say that about the team.

I snagged this from a scan of an old Fleer sticker, thus black dashed line.

Worst

This logo replaced the first one for the 1990-91 season, and the only thing it has in common that I like is the red, white and blue color scheme. Otherwise, this is an abomination. I may not love the new Brooklyn Nets logo, but that thing is a masterpiece compared to this cheesy gradient turd.

New York Knicks

Best

Now this is great. Possibly the best fruit-related logo I’ve ever seen.

Seriously though, the Knicks need to bring this back, even if just as an alternate. Because their current primary logo is seriously played out.

Worst

I fully understand the historic significance of Father Knickerbocker, New York’s Dutch heritage, and the Knicks. Doesn’t mean it’s not a goofy logo.

Philadelphia 76ers

Best

I know a lot of fans prefer the prior logo for the 76ers, but that’s not really a logo — it’s a wordmark. And as unoriginal as incorporating a basketball into a logo is, it finishes this off quite nicely.

Worst

It’s not bad, really, but the color scheme was a big mistake. Philly should only ever be red, white and blue.

Toronto Raptors

Best

Clever, bold, and unique. Nice work on this one, Toronto.

Worst

Sorry Raptors fans, I think this is just silly. It looks like the mascot from a Disney movie with a name like Air Raptor. At least the team ditched the purple several years ago, so the current primary is a slight improvement.

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Has it really been almost two years since I last wrote about a new episode of The Venture Bros.? Yup, seems so. And now here we are, with 2012 winding down, and we finally have a new episode from Jackson and Doc — “A Very Venture Halloween.” It’s the first holiday-themed installment of the show since “A Very Venture Christmas” all the way back at the end of season one in 2004.

Alright, enough history — let’s get into it. This episode was damn good, and sets the table quite nicely for the upcoming fifth season of the show. For awhile I thought this was going to be a typically light-hearted standalone episode, but Doc Hammer (who wrote this one) took things in a very dramatic direction toward the end.

Let’s get the frivolity out of the way first — Dr. Venture and Sgt. Hatred hang out with Pete White and Billy Quizboy at the compound on Halloween night to see who can win the most money. You see, they’re betting on which “lucky” trick or treaters can make it past the compound’s deadly security systems. Fun stuff, but nothing too heavy. It was rather nice seeing Hatred and getting zero pedophile jokes, so I hope that continues.

The A plot (or maybe B) concerns the boys and Dermott, who head out to spend the night in a real haunted house — the so-called Potter House. Dean, looking rather goth, is the only one brave or stupid enough to actually go in, and he ends up learning the secret of his cloned past. This was a rather bold move on the show’s part, but I think it’s a great idea. They got all the mileage they could out of Dr. Venture hiding this secret, and it’ll be fascinating to watch the fallout now that it’s out.

The second main plot sees the always welcome return of Dr. Orpheus and the Order of the Triad. They host the gathering of the Brimstone Assembly in Orpheus’s place, and it’s quite the group of mystical figures that shows up. The two best parts of this story were the return of The Master (aka H. Jon Benjamin as Santa Claus) and the Hellraiser spoof with the Outrider and Orpheus’s ex-wife conjuring a Pinhead-esque figure that has a toaster for a face and ejects “pleasure toast.” Awesome.

There’s an Important Lesson for Orpheus and the others here, too, but really the whole thrust of the episode is Dean learning the truth from a newly introduced character named Ben (J.K. Simmons). I imagine we’ll be seeing more of him later, but you never know. I don’t know if he’s going to stick with the sullen goth thing, but I’m damn glad we get goofy Hank back.

If “A Very Venture Halloween” proves anything, it’s that this show seems to still be on its game as it prepares for the fifth season early next year. Damn, I can’t wait!

Final grade: A

Notes:

• For not the first time, Brock makes an appearance in an episode but says nothing.
• One of the few things I caught through the jargon in that little medical exam rundown of Dean was early baldness.
• Ben reminds me of Jeff Bridges as the Dude.
• Wilhelm Scream appearance.
• Excellent direction, placing the end of Orpheus’s speech over the image of Dean returning home to deal with the truth about the clones.

Best lines/moments:

• The entire cold open, with Dean and Hank failing to scare Rusty and Brock on Halloweens past, was outstanding.
• “Thank you boys, that was… chilling.”
• “Jefferson, this is not The Craft.”
• “I have yet to meet a woman that doesn’t dress sexy on Halloween. Witch? No sir, sexy witch. Freddy Krueger? Nope, sexy Freddy Krueger. Hmm. Sexy damn Freddy Krueger.”
• “That’s what she said.” “Oh, she said nothing of the sort!”
• As I said before, the whole Hellraiser/Rubik’s Cube bit was gold.
• “Submit to my toast. My pleasure toast!”
• “Super fucking run away!”

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I have no real reason for this pick other than the fact that Hurricane Sandy — aka Frankenstorm — is barreling up the East Coast as I write this. But as it turns out it’s a pretty cool piece of cover art in its own right. Here’s Johnny & The Hurricanes with their 1960 Warwick Records release, Stormsville.

This is a fairly standard rock cover from the late ’50s/early ’60s period, featuring the band posing in the middle of rocking out. I dig the all upper-case band typeface, complete with hurricane wind lines.

Now for a little bit of history — the band was formed in Toledo, Ohio in 1957 and was led by saxophonist Johnny Paris, who you see front and center on this cover. Their big taste of success was with “Red River Rock,” which topped the U.S. charts at #5 in 1959. That track is not on Stormsville, by the way, but it does have “Reveille Rock,” which hit #25.

To my ears, the music of Johnny & The Hurricanes is fun and spirited, although not terribly distinctive. But for fans of vintage, pre-Beatles rock and roll, this should be right up your alley.

One of the downsides to so much good music coming out this year is that I don’t get nearly enough time to enjoy or write about everything I want. And so I’ve been remiss in mentioning one of the many great new albums from this year — On the Way by Negroni’s Trio.

I very recently discovered the trio — Puerto Rican-born pianist José Negroni and his son Nomar on drums, as well as a rotating bassist — through the magic of the internet and they are my favorite current jazz act. In many ways they’ve supplanted The Bad Plus as my go-to group for adventurous, muscular jazz. If you really want to get technical, you can consider their music Latin jazz, but that’s just a label. What it is is stirring, melodic, daring music that any music fan can appreciate.

On the Way — the group’s seventh album — was recorded live at the Miami-Dade Kendall Campus Theater in Miami, Florida. That means you get the spark and intimacy of a top-notch live jazz show, but it’s so flawlessly executed you’d swear it was recorded in the studio.

Joining the father-and-son Negroni team is Josh Allen on bass, as well as saxophonist Ed Calle (four tracks) and violinist Federico Britos (one track). For your listening enjoyment I’ve updated my Sunday Jazz on GFS Spotify playlist with two of the record’s most potent tracks — “On the Way” and “Blue Forest.” But really, all 10 songs are worth your time.

On the Way is out now on AA Records & Entertainment. You can visit Negroni’s Trio on their website or follow them on Twitter at @NegronisTrio.

To understand just how large a failure Halloween III: Season of the Witch was, first consider the premise. An evil scientist/company owner seeks to use a vaguely mystical and ancient pagan technology to kill millions of children wearing Halloween masks. Now say that out loud. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? And yet this was the story that John Carpenter and Debra Hill ostensibly signed off on for the third installment in Carpenter’s legendary Halloween horror series.

Look, bonus points to Carpenter and Hill for boldly moving away from what was already becoming a tired genre — the slasher film. It’s hard to imagine now, but their 1978 original was just that — original. And the sequel, while not nearly as groundbreaking, was almost as good. But by 1982 it was already clear that Hollywood studios smelled blood in the water and so a glut of Halloween copycats were released — some good, most of the atrocious. The heyday of the modern horror/slasher was underway.

But while I give Carpenter and Hill all the credit in the world for not bring Michael Myers back from the dead, that’s all I can give credit for. Because while the idea had a little potential, the entire thing was an exercise in bad judgment. Halloween III is nothing more than prime Mystery Science Theater 3000/Rifftrax material, and no amount of revisionist cult love can change that.

On just about every front the movie fails. The direction and acting is stale, bordering on amateur. Tom Atkins, a Carpenter mainstay in the early ’80s, is stiff and almost laughable as the protagonist, Dr. Dan Challis. Stacey Nelkin, who plays his awkwardly placed love interest/partner in investigation Ellie Grimbridge, is little more than a pretty face and body. It’s like the worst buddy cop comedy ever, shoehorned into a mediocre science fiction/horror movie.

To be fair, there are elements of Halloween III that work. Some of the film’s early death sequences are workmanlike but effective, and those masks are actually quite cool. But those elements are simply buried under piles of bad direction, clumsy screenwriting, and about a thousand lame horror clichés. And don’t give me any jazz about how the movies is really a subtle dig at American consumerism and herd mentality. That’s revisionist apologism, nothing more.

And let’s not even get into the giant plot holes. Such as — how was Conal Cochran’s (Dan O’Herlihy) evil plan to inflict bug-infested death through Silver Shamrock commercials supposed to work, when the climax was supposed to take place at 9pm on Halloween night? Had he not heard of time zones? What East Coast kid would be up on midnight for a silly TV giveaway? Did he not expect any reprisals to take place once everyone put 2 and 2 together regarding millions of dead kids wearing masks from the same company? How exactly was he able to keep the entire town of Santa Mira under his thumb?

And don’t even get me started on what was almost a really neat horror scene, when the fat salesman’s kid bites it with his jack o’lantern mask. A poisonous snake just happens to come out of his head and kill the father? Ugh. Oh, and I also can’t forget the completely inappropriate and unrealistic “romance” between Dr. Challis and Ellie. Oh, my father just died and I suspect he was murdered in a very mysterious and nefarious way. Let’s make love even though we just met, we’re in a creepy town, and, oh yeah, you’re at least twice my age.

Gross.

After not having seen Halloween III for many years, I really wanted to like it. I wanted it to be better than its reputation. But it’s simply not. I can’t help but wonder how much better Season of the Witch could have been had Carpenter directed it. Maybe he could have saved it from becoming B-movie schlock. Maybe not. But man, just about anything else would’ve been better than this stinker. Where’s my Silver Shamrock mask? I’d rather put one on and become bug food than go through this again.

Oh, and just because I’m cruel, watch this and try to get it out of your head before Christmas. Mwahahaha!

There was a time when Ben Affleck was an afterthought for me. He was affable enough and had some acting chops, but mainly I viewed him as an attachment to Matt Damon, and not much more. But here I am, several years after Good Will Hunting, Dazed and Confused, and — Lord help us all — Gigli, Daredevil, and Jersey Girl, and I might now be a legitimate fan of Ben Affleck. What sealed the deal was watching his latest film, Argo.

I’ve glanced at a lot of articles and reviews of Argo that take issue with the movie’s treatment of the real story — the so-called Canadian Caper — surrounding the rescue of six American embassy workers from Revolutionary Iran in 1980. They miss the point completely. It should go without saying that this is a movie, not a documentary, but I suppose people can’t resist the urge to show off how smart they are. The point for me is whether or not Affleck’s film is entertaining, not 100% historically accurate. And on that count, it absolutely is.

I’ve always said that the true measure of worth for any historical drama is whether or not you, as an audience member, can fully invest yourself in its characters and world even when you know the final outcome. I already knew that none of the American hostages died in Iran — although a failed rescue attempt in April 1980 did result in the deaths of Eight American servicemen and one Iranian civilian — and yet the emotional part of my brain was having none of it. So complete was my immersion into the world of Argo that I behaved as if I knew nothing of the real hostage crisis.

The credit for that must go to screenwriter Chris Terrio, of course, but also director Affleck and the fine cast of the film. In particular, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, and Cora Lijek turned in outstanding performances. Really, though, just about every actor on this project was excellent.

I’ve also read reviewers saying Argo is a throwback to the ’70s, and that’s absolutely true. Not just because it’s a period piece taking place in 1979/80 — and the attention to detail on this front is worthy of note — but because it has the feel and story of a movie released then. The drama and tension are never sacrificed for any cheap resolutions or unnecessary diversions. The entire plot unfolds in an organic way that places the plot above all else. It’s a rock-solid drama that not only doesn’t feel overwrought and cluttered, but is damn entertaining.

I must make mention of one thing — of all the meticulously recreated props, costumes and sets in Argo, the thing I loved the most was the use of the old ’70s rolling Warner Bros. logo at the beginning. As soon as I saw that I knew Affleck and the film’s producers were not messing around.

And it’s back to the Sears catalog I go, this time to bring you a host of vintage NFL merchandise from the past. Let’s take a look!

I don’t know if I had this bedding set (from 1973) exactly, but I had one very much like it. I had matching curtains too. Man do I miss them. Dig that funky New York Jets wordmark!

Both of these images are from the Fall 1975 catalog. My eye is immediately drawn to the old Los Angeles Rams and Houston Oilers logos.

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The mammoth facility now known as John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) was once known as Idlewild Airport. Idlewild, officially designated as New York International Airport, Anderson Field, received its first commercial flight on July 1, 1948. It was renamed after the late President Kennedy on December 24, 1963, just one month after he was assassinated in Dallas.

Life magazine photographer Dmitri Kessel traveled to Idlewild in 1961 to capture some outstanding photographs of the facility for their September 22 issue. What he found — especially with the interiors — was a marvel of mid-century decor and airlines gone by. To look at this photo gallery is to walk right into an episode of Mad Men. So grab your fedora and your suitcase, and let’s go to Idlewild!

(And for more time capsules, click here.)

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