Category: TV

Michael Batista’s First Artist Alley Kickstarter

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Michael Batista did the art above and if you like it (I do!), then you might want to consider backing Michael Batista’s First Artist Alley Kickstarter.

If you want to participate you can simply make a donation or pony up for a digital or physical copy of Michael’s sketchbook or the sketchbook and any of several original art options.  If you do join in, you’ll be helping an artist and getting some cool art at the same time!

11 Surprising Facts About Sylvester Stallone

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Jake Rossen and Mental Floss posted 11 Surprising Facts About Sylvester Stallone.  How could I not play along even if, my guess is correct, and readers here, aren’t surprised?  Here’s my top three…

1. AN ERRANT PAIR OF FORCEPS GAVE SYLVESTER STALLONE HIS DISTINCTIVE LOOK.
Many comedians have paid their bills over the decades by adopting Sylvester Stallone’s distinctive lip droop and guttural baritone voice. The facial feature was the result of some slight mishandling at birth. When Stallone was born on July 6, 1946 in Manhattan, the physician used a pair of forceps to deliver him. The malpractice left his lip, chin, and part of his tongue partially paralyzed due to a severed nerve. Stallone later said his face and awkward demeanor earned him the nickname “Sylvia” and authority figures telling him his brain was “dormant.” Burdened with low self-esteem, Stallone turned to bodybuilding and later performing as a way of breaking through what seemed to be a consensus of low expectations.

5. SYLVESTER STALLONE WROTE A NOVEL.
In addition to his acting ambitions, Stallone decided to pursue a career in writing. After numerous screenplays, he wrote Paradise Alley, a novel about siblings who get caught up in the circus world of professional wrestling in Hell’s Kitchen. Stallone finished the novel before deciding to turn it into a screenplay. Paradise Alley was eventually produced in 1978. The book, which was perceived as a novelization, was published that same year. (It appeared in hard cover and mass market paperback. – Craig)

10. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER ONCE TRICKED SYLVESTER STALLONE INTO STARRING IN A BOX OFFICE BOMB.
Stallone has often discussed his rivalry with Arnold Schwarzenegger, as the two action stars were believed to be the two biggest marquee attractions in the 1980s. Recalling his 1992 bomb Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Stallone told a journalist in 2014 that he believed Schwarzenegger was to blame. “I heard Arnold wanted to do that movie and after hearing that, I said I wanted to do it,” he said. “He tricked me. He’s always been clever.”

Michael B. Jordan and “Raising Dion”

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Michael B. Jordan produces and appears in Raising Dion a new series premiering on Netflix on October 4th.  Set for a 10 episode first season, Raising Dion is based on a comic and short film created by Dennis Liu (who will also direct the pilot).  Here’s the synopsis…

A young boy struggling to control his newfound powers. A single mom fighting the odds to keep her son safe. Secrets, conspiracies, mysteries, all dangerously swarming around one family… Raising Dion launches October 4th, only on Netflix.

Where Zombies Come From – a Video History

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These days zombies are the most popular of all monsters.

There was a time however when zombies were only in movies and zombie movies weren’t ever seen on tv, except for a late night showing on pay cable movie channels. Back then, NO ONE would have considered a tv show (let’s make that multiple tv shows) featuring zombies.

All of that changed with The Walking Dead.  But before The Walking Dead, there was George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.  Romero forever changed the concept of zombies.

Surprisingly, zombies have only been around in popular culture for less than 100 years.  Check out the video below and you’ll see how they entered popular culture, how Romero accidentally changed the concept of zombies and more.

RIP – Franco Columbu

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Franco Columbu died yesterday of an unspecified illness.  He was 78.

Columbu was a boxer, weightlifter, bodybuilding champion, actor and chiropractor.  Franco met Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1960s and they became lifelong friends, with Columbu serving as Arnold’s best man when he married Maria Shriver in 1986.  Columbu is a two-time Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding Champion.  He also appeared in Stay Hungry, Pumping Iron, The Terminator, Conan the Barbarian, The Running Man, Big Top Pee-wee, as well as other movies and television shows.  In addition, Franco trained many celebrities (including helping Sly Stallone get in shape for Rambo and other films).

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Franco Columbu’s family, friends and fans.

“Them!” Trivia

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Mark Mancini and Mental Floss present 11 Fun Facts About Them!.  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve watched Them! over the years.  I’m happy to report it still holds up.  When I was a kid, I loved that Matt Dillon, Spock and Daniel Boone all had roles, heck it still brings a smile to my face.  And now without further adieu, here are three of my favorite facts…

4. LEONARD NIMOY MAKES AN APPEARANCE.
In one brief scene, future Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy plays an Army man who receives a message about an alleged “ant-shaped UFO” sighting over Texas. He then proceeds to poke fun at the Lone Star State, because, as everybody knows, insectile space vessels are highly illogical.

10. THE MOVIE WAS A SURPRISE HIT.
Studio head Jack L. Warner predicted that Them!, with its far-fetched plot, wouldn’t fare well at the box office. So imagine his surprise when it raked in more than $2.2 million—enough to make the picture one of the studio’s highest-grossing films of 1954.

11. THEM! LANDED FESS PARKER THE ROLE OF TV’S DAVY CROCKETT.
When Walt Disney went to see Them!, he had a specific objective in mind: Scout a potential Davy Crockett. At the time, Disney was developing a new television series that would chronicle the life and times of the iconic frontiersman, and James Arness, who plays an FBI agent in Them!, was on the short list of candidates for the role. Yet as the sci-fi thriller unfolded, it was actor Fess Parker who grabbed Disney’s attention. Director Gordon Douglas had hired Parker to portray the pilot who ends up in a psych ward after an aerial encounter with a gargantuan flying ant. And while his character only appears in one scene, the performance impressed Disney so much that the struggling actor was soon cast as Crockett.