I Can’t Believe My Eyes
Want to see some amazing optical illusions? [Via Bits and Pieces]
Category: Trivia
This Quiz Must Break You!
Since you read my blog there’s a good chance that you are a Sylvester Stallone or Rocky Balboa fan. If that’s the case then you may want to try your luck at this Rocky IV quiz. It’s pretty easy. As you can see above I scored a perfect 9 out of 9. Would you have expected any less? [Via Mental Floss]
Star Trek Beams Down to Mayberry
Is Captain Kirk about to get a shave from Floyd the barber in Mayberry?
As unlikely as it sounds, that is actually the building used for Floyd’s Barber Shop in the hit series The Andy Griffith Show! And, no, William Shatner didn’t make a guest appearance as Captain Kirk on The Andy Griffith Show.
But the buildings of Mayberry did!
You see, they were used in two episodes [“Miri” and “The City on the Edge of Forever”] of the original Star Trek series.
People Are Awesome
Although some of the scenes in this video are made using special effects [like in the photo above], the majority are real people doing really cool, really crazy and sometimes scary-stupid things. [Via Neatorama.com]
Who / What is That?
If you’re like 99% of the population, when you look at the untouched photo taken in the early 20th century, you see a man and a woman… but wait! What is that huge face of the bearded man doing between them? Could it be a ghost? The head of a giant? Jesus? Nope.
Click here to see what the image really is. [Via Neatorama]
PS – When my wife looked at the photo for the first time, she saw what the image really was. I was floored.
Lost in Space Trivia
I was a fan of Lost in Space. It was a wonderful concept – a family sent on a space mission and thanks to a cowardly stowaway traitor, they get thrown off course and, well, lost in space. The robot was the coolest and I have to admit that I thought Penny was pretty cute too. Plus the dad was the guy who played Zorro!
If you are/were a Lost in Space fan, then you might be interested in some little known facts:
- Carroll O’Connor, who played Archie Bunker on All in the Family, was initially considered to play the role of Dr. Smith.
- The pilot episode cost $600,000. At the time, it was the most expensive TV pilot to date, with the exception of Star Trek’s $630,000 first pilot episode “The Cage.”
- The strongly campy nature of the second and third seasons was, by the way, entirely intentional. A year after Lost in Space debuted, the TV series Batman became a spectacular ratings success. Irwin Allen noticed and attributed its ratings to the show’s playful tone. He altered Lost in Space accordingly.
You can learn even more little known Lost in Space facts if you check out this post at Neatorama.
Big Monster News
Harry Knowles at AICN recently announced that AICN is going to present and run the Famous Monsters of Filmland.com website. This is especially exciting news because Harry has a passion for horror films. He also has a huge fan base that he can attract to the site.
I love horror/monster movies and when I was a kid Famous Monsters of Filmland was always a fun read. But up until Harry’s announcement, I wasn’t even aware that there was a Famous Monsters website.
In other monster news, /Film posted a report that Tim Burton is developing a 3D film called Monsterpocalypse. Tim Burton and the title alone make it worth a look.
Breakfast with Jim Ivey
That’s me and my old (as in 85 years young) buddy, Jim Ivey last week after having one of our extended breakfast meetings. About every six months or so we get together over a hearty breakfast where we catch up on the latest goings on, share old war stories (and some of Jim’s are literally war stories) and generally have a fun couple of hours. It’s always time well spent and I can’t wait to do it again!
“LOST” Answers Found
I’m happy to say that I started watching LOST with season one, episode one and never missed a single show. When the series first started I was intrigued by the mysteries of the characters and the island. Somewhere along the way I began to think that we’d never get all the answers we’d want, but I was still enjoying the ride, so I went along.
Unlike many, who felt the final episode was a let down because we were left with questions unanswered, I felt that the finale was a fitting ending to a series that was always more about characters and questions than storyline and answers. If you want to read a really cool account of what the LOST finale means [supposedly written by someone who actually worked on the show] then click on this link to io9.com’s repost of a piece that originally ran at Dark UFO.
Preview of Stark/Cooke’s The Outfit
Newsarama recently ran a six page preview of Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of Richard Stark’s The Outfit. It’s the sequel to Hunter [also an adaptation of a Stark novel] and it…
…won the 2009 Diamond Gem Award for Original Graphic Novel of the Year, is nominated for a 2010 Eisner and was a New York Times bestseller.
If that doesn’t make you want to check it out, nothing will.
The Frazetta/Stallone Connection
A couple of days ago when I was looking for art to accompany my post about Frank Frazetta’s passing, I considered a ton of pieces. The decision was a tough one because Mr. Frazetta had created so many iconic images throughout his career and because so many had made such an impression on me. One that I had considered was the Judge Dredd cover that Frazetta had painted for Mad magazine. I thought that the cover might be an interesting choice since it had a Sly Stallone connection. Ultimately, I decided against it.
Today, as I was reading Mark Evanier’s blog, I came across a piece about Frank Frazetta that included a story about how that Mad cover came to be and why the painting’s background had to be yellow. It’s an interesting post even if you’re not a Stallone or Judge Dredd fan, but even more so if you are. Plus it gave me the opportunity to post the Frazetta/Stallone connection art.
Everyone Needs A Bullet to the Head
That’s the partial cover to Bullet in the Head #2 published by Dynamite. I’d actually meant to post about the series sooner, but it’s still not to late to get on board — the first issue won’t be out until June. Bullet in the Head was first published in France back in 2004. It went on to win “Best Story” at the Prix Saint-Michel comics awards. In 2009 the film rights were optioned by Warner Bros.
So, what’s Bullet in the Head about you ask? [And I’m glad you did.] Bullet in the Head is a crime noir about a pair of buddy cops, a pair of buddy hitmen, some femme fatales and a ever-increasing body count. Written by Matz, with art by Colin Wilson, the series is geared toward mature audiences.
You can read more about the series and see the first two covers here.
Pinocchio Paradox
I like paradoxes. You know, a statement or group of statements that leads to a contradiction. Perhaps the simplest paradox is…
This statement is false.
If the statement is false, then it is in fact a true statement thus making it false. Huh? Exactly.
Another paradox…
God is all powerful and can do anything. God could even create a rock so heavy that he couldn’t lift it.
If God couldn’t lift the rock, he isn’t all powerful… and if he couldn’t create the rock, then he isn’t all powerful. But suppose God could create a rock so heavy he couldn’t lift it… then the fact that God couldn’t lift it would mean he wasn’t all powerful. And if he could lift such a rock would mean that he wasn’t powerful enough to create a rock he couldn’t lift.
There are also a lot of movies [The Terminator, Back to the Future, 12 Monkeys, etc.] that involve time travel paradoxes. So, I’m pretty familiar with a lot of different types of paradoxes. I’d never heard of the Pinocchio paradox until I stumbled across it at Neatorama. I got a kick out of it. I hope you did as well.
American Vampire #1
The Pitch: Cowboys and Vampires, oh and did I mention Stephen King wrote one of the stories?
The Overview: Two stories [one written by Scott Snyder and the other by Stephen King, both with amazingly good art by Rafael Albuqerque] combine to tell the tale of Skinner Sweet. In 1880, Sweet was an outlaw in the wild west. That was also the year that he became a vampire. Jump forward 45 years. A young woman named Pearl comes to Hollywood to make her fortune in the movies. Things are rough, but she has no idea how bad things can get until vampires are thrown in the mix, and I’m not just talking about Summer Sweet.
The Good: Both stories are excellent. The concept works. Rafael Albuquerque’s art is a joy. Love the characters, especially Pearl. Summer Sweet’s appearances in Pearl’s story is well done. I am looking forward to more about the vampires in Hollywood. Alburquerque draws a great western! Love the foreshadowing with the big, bald guy.
The Bad: Going to a Hollywood party hosted by vampires. Shooting a vampire and it only ticks him off.
The Ugly: What happens to guests at parties hosted by vampires. What happens when you tick off a vampire.
The Summary: I loved the first issue. Everyone involved did a bang-up job and I look forward to the second issue. American Vampire #1 is available now.
