Marcus Levine Nails Stallone as Rambo!
Sly Stallone poses with artist, Marcus Levine who created the Rambo art behind them. Not only is Marcus Levine an amazing artist but he creates his pieces using nails!
10 Of History’s Most Cartoonish Deaths
We all know that at some point, we’ll pass on. Our best hope is that the end will come peacefully, after a long, happy life. Sadly, that is not always the case.
Micah Hirsch and Listverse present 10 Of History’s Most Cartoonish Deaths. Here are the three that struck me as being the most avoidable had the deceased used a bit more sense before becoming deceased.
10 Demonstrating A Suicide
On June 17, 1871, Representative Clement Vallandigham of Ohio died in the name of justice—accidentally. Retiring to his law practice after a life of treason, Vallandigham was attempting to prove a client innocent of murder by arguing that the victim shot himself.Prior to the trial, Vallandigham headed to open land to determine the level of residue left by a point-blank shot and then left the field with three live rounds in his pistol. Arriving back at his hotel, he was handed a parcel with the unloaded gun used by the victim. He laid that gun beside his own pistol. Leaving his suite, he pocketed the deadlier of the two choices of weaponry.Confident in his case, he entertained a hotel visitor with a live demonstration of his argument. It’s fair to say that it was very convincing. While Vallandigham wasn’t present for the occasion, his client was ultimately cleared. And though the novelty had worn off, another man met his death in the same fashion while trying to demonstrate how Vallandigham killed himself.Craig says: If you’re going to demonstrate (not just tell, but demonstrate) how a person committed suicide using a pistol, why not double or triple check that your pistol is not loaded?
And furthermore, if you’re going to demonstrate (not just tell, but demonstrate) how a man who was demonstrating how a person accidentally killed himself with a loaded pistol and then went on to accidentally kill himself, why not just not?
4 Exactly As Advertised
Working at Toronto’s TD Centre, Garry Hoy had a habit of bodychecking windows to demonstrate their tensile strength in front of impressionable youths. Hoy, a partner at Holden Day Wilson LLP, worked on the 24th floor of the building. He was clearly impressed by the skyscraper’s workmanship. However, his habit of slamming into windows as a testament to the structure was never approved by any known building code in the world. On July 9, 1993, he was entertaining a group of articling students with his old tricks on the 24th floor. While the window in question held through one run of Hoy battering against it, the glass popped out of the frame on the second run, sending Hoy into free fall. He died of his injuries soon after.Craig says: “Let me prove to you how safe our windows are. I’m going to run into it at full force 24 stories above the ground.” BAM! “Impressive, huh? Let me show you agaaaaaaaaaaa”
7 Tripped By A Beard
Hans Steininger, a 16th-century town mayor, is best known in Braunau am Inn for his 1.4-meter-long (4.5 ft) beard. In his life, he was very popular with the townsfolk and served multiple terms, but his untimely end serves as the most memorable aspect of his legacy.In 1567, a large fire sent the town into panic. Steininger, who usually rolled up his beard in a pouch that he carried with him, unfortunately had his beard hanging free amid the chaos. At some point during the ruckus, his foot caught on his beard and he tumbled down a flight of stairs, ultimately breaking his neck. Today, the town features a full-body illustration of the man carved in rock that is displayed on the side of St. Stephan’s Church. His beard is engraved in its entire length as it is a celebrity in the town’s cultural memory.Craig says: “My long beard will make me famous throughout history,” claimed Steininger. “Indeed it will” responded Craig.
William the Last by Brian Shearer
Last week Brian Shearer sent out a Tweet that he’d send a copy of the first issue of William the Last to any comic shop or person willing to share it with their local comic shop.
While William the Last probably wasn’t my cup o’ joe, I’m always down to help an independent artist. So I volunteered to take a copy to my local shop (World of Comics, if you’re ever in the Daytona Beach area).
Brian sent out the issue and I’m taking it to the shop today, but decided to give William the Last a look before dropping it off. Wow! I was pleasantly surprised at just how good William the Last is. Here’s how Shearer summarizes it…
A young boy grows up on an island alone with his grandfather. When his grandfather dies he climbs to the top of a steep mountain to find himself in a land where the people are in hiding, a tyrant rules, and his own name is forbidden from being spoken.
He is William the Last.
I love the premise and the art will pull you in. Shearer has just the right mix of danger, humor and mystery. This is a comic that kids and adults will love… even adults who think it might not be their normal beverage of choice. If you’re looking for a new comic for yourself or some youngsters, why not give a chance to William the Last?
Jonathan Maberry Interview!
Gaby Triana conducted a very fun and informative interview with Jonathan Maberry that is more than worth a read.
10 Slap-Happy Facts About The Three Stooges
Jake Rossen and Mental Floss present 10 Slap-Happy Facts About The Three Stooges. Here are three of my favorites…
3. HITLER WANTED THEM DEAD.
Having established their comic personas on film, the Stooges proceeded to make some accidental history. Their 1940 short, You Nazty Spy!, was the first American production to openly make a mockery of Adolf Hitler’s regime. (Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator opened nine months later.) The short was perceived as a great insult by the Führer, who listed the Stooges as favored casualties on his own personal death list. (It’s not known whether he named each one individually.)
7. A REPLACEMENT STOOGE HAD A NO-VIOLENCE CONTRACT CLAUSE.
Sorting out the musical chairs of Stooges enrollment can be difficult: While Moe and Larry were largely engrained, the trio was originally rounded out with Shemp before he departed for a solo career: Curly was his replacement. Following Curly’s departure due to illness, Shemp stepped back in, but he died in 1955. After briefly considering a run as the Two Stooges, Moe and Larry recruited Joe Besser, a comic actor who already had a deal with Columbia, in 1956. But Besser wasn’t quite as game for the physical comedy as his predecessors. He insisted his contract contain language prohibiting him from being abused to excess, including anything pastry-related. “I never was the type of comic to be hit by a pie,” he said, a mentality that calls into question the decision to become part of The Three Stooges. Following Besser’s departure in 1959, the group roped in Joe DeRita for live shows and several feature films, including 1961’s Snow White and the Three Stooges.
10. THERE’S A STOOGES MUSEUM IN PENNSYLVANIA.
The Stooges’ vital contributions to pop culture have always deserved some archival recognition. They got it in 2004, when The Stoogeumopened its doors in Ambler, Pennsylvania, about 25 miles outside of Philadelphia. The museum’s founder is Gary Lassin, who married Larry Fine’s great niece in 1981. A Stooges fan, Lassin acquired over 100,000 items related to their careers and displays roughly 3500 pieces at a time. There’s a Hall of Shemp, a game area (with Whack-a-Moe), as well as countless artifacts.
Last Stop by Trey Walker and Hoyt Silva.
Because I liked Lavender Jack, the free weekly comic by Dan Schkade so much I decided to see if there were any other Web Toon comics I might enjoy.
And what do you know? I found Last Stop by Trey Walker and Hoyt Silva. Here’s the premise…
Time is ticking for the World’s last superhero. Disillusioned, Lincoln Adams (AKA Unstoppable) must make peace with the changing world around him—can there truly be a place for him in a world without Supers? After learning of his terminal disease, Lincoln sees an easy way out; however, the re-emergence of an old Arch-Nemesis, and a new shadowy masked figure, turn Lincoln’s plans of an easy passing on their head. Can Lincoln stop this new threat before the disease stops him?
I like the premise. I’m a huge fan of Silva’s art, so checking this out was a no-brainer for me. If you like what you’ve seen and heard so far, then click over, but be aware that there is violence and adult language.
The Unlikely Story of the “Enter The Dragon” Novelization
Enter the Dragon is one of my all-time favorite films. The photo above is from the novelization written by Mike Roote. I read this adaptation in 10th grade. I got the book from Mrs. Adams’ student library. Although not as good as the film (how could it be?), I enjoyed reliving the Enter the Dragon experience.
It is important to remember…
…that in the early ’70s – unless a film was shown on TV or did a second round in cinemas – there wasn’t much scope for a re-watch. This was before VHS existed, so buying a book was your best way of reliving the magic.
The Enter the Dragon novelization was a best-seller! Mike Roote must have been a pretty cool guy to get the gig.
Except Mike Roote wasn’t a guy at all!
Mike Roote was actually a woman named Leonore Fleischer! Mike Roote was just one of her many pen-names.
If you’ve read this far, you’d probably enjoy The Unlikely Story of the Enter The Dragon Novelization by Craig Lines for Den of Geek. You’ll learn a lot about the adaptation and may just discover that you’ve read one or more of Fleischer’s novels even if it wasn’t under written her name.
11 Astonishing Facts About “Freaks”
Matthew Jackson at Mental Floss posted 11 Astonishing Facts About Freaks. Here are three of the most interesting…
2. MGM WANTED IT TO RIVAL DRACULA AS A HORROR FILM.
Though there were certainly monstrous characters populating various silent films (particularly those portrayed by Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera and London After Midnight), the horror film as a genre didn’t really take off until the era of talkies began. Shortly after Chaney’s death due to complications from lung cancer, Browning was off at Universal Pictures, helping to lead the horror wave with his now-classic adaptation of Dracula. When Browning returned to MGM in the wake of Dracula’s success, head of production Irving Thalberg wanted to capitalize on the horror boom. The hope was that, with the director of Dracula back at the studio, MGM could best Universal with something even more horrifying, and so Browning was finally given the go-ahead to make Freaks, which had remained a pet project of his for years.
According to Skal, it became a classic lesson for Thalberg in being careful what you wish for: The story goes that after he was presented with the screenplay for the film, Thalberg reportedly hung his head and said, “Well, I asked for something horrible, and I guess I got it.”
10. IT DERAILED BROWNING’S CAREER.
Before Freaks, Browning was one of the most successful directors in Hollywood, and his success had earned him enough clout to get the ambitious and gutsy film made after Dracula hit big at Universal. After Freaks, he never quite recovered. According to Skal, this was not just due to that film’s failure, but due to Browning’s continued discomfort with the change in the filmmaking process that came from the rise of talkies. That discomfort, coupled with an increasing inability to get more personal projects approved by the studios in the wake of Freaks, led to his decline in the 1930s.
Browning directed just four more films (two of them uncredited), with his final directing credit coming on the MGM mystery Miracles for Sale in 1939. He retired with enough savings from his directorial successes to live comfortably in a pair of homes in Beverly Hills and Malibu, and died in 1962.
11. IT FOUND A NEW AUDIENCE IN THE 1960S.
After its critical and commercial failure in the United States, Freaks faded into the background as a kind of Hollywood curiosity, and was banned in several countries (including the United Kingdom) for decades. The film was licensed by distributor Dwain Esper in the late 1940s, and played on the grindhouse circuit at various independent theaters, but it wasn’t until the 1962 Cannes Film Festival that the film’s revival really began. After screening there, it was heralded as a kind of forgotten classic. Noted film collector and archivist Raymond Rohauer picked up the baton from there, landing the rights to Freaks and showing it as a cult film. It gained prominence on the midnight movie circuit, and found particular success with members of the 1960s counterculture movement, who saw kindred spirits in its cast.
15 Facts About John Carpenter’s “Christine”
Sean Hutchinson at Mental Floss posted 15 Facts About John Carpenter’s Christine. Here are three of my favorites…
2. JOHN CARPENTER SIGNED ON SIMPLY BECAUSE HE WANTED A JOB.
Kobritz approached John Carpenter after the critical and financial failure of his 1982 adaptation of The Thing, which is now widely regarded as one of the filmmaker’s best.The pair previously worked together on Carpenter’s 1978 TV movie Someone’s Watching Me! and Carpenter agreed to take on the project because he wanted to jump immediately into another movie after his first high-profile box office flop.
8. KEVIN BACON WAS ORIGINALLY CAST AS ARNIE.
Carpenter held auditions in California and New York, looking for the right fresh faces for the teen characters in the film, and he found the perfect newcomer for Arnie: Kevin Bacon.
The now-famous actor’s only other significant work at the time was bit parts in Animal House and Friday the 13th, and Kobritz and Carpenter thought Arnie’s transformation from dweeby hero to suave villain was a perfect fit for Bacon. But after being cast, Bacon dropped out when he was offered a starring role in Footloose.
Carpenter went back the the drawing board to cast Arnie, and eventually found actor Keith Gordon in a play in New York City. Carpenter initially took to Gordon as Arnie because of the actor’s previous appearance in Brian De Palma’s thriller Dressed to Kill.
7. CARPENTER DIDN’T WANT TO CAST MOVIE STARS.
Columbia execs wanted a star-studded cast to round out their King adaptation, and suggested that Brooke Shields—coming off the hit film The Blue Lagoon—be cast as Leigh, and Scott Baio be cast as Arnie. But Carpenter didn’t want recognizable faces in the movie as a way to stress that the titular car was the real star of the movie.
Dan Schkade Talks Lavender Jack
Earlier this week I posted about Lavender Jack a new free weekly comic by Dan Schkade. If you liked Lavender Jack, then you’ll probably want to listen to this podcast interview with Schkade about you know who.
The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time, According to Critics
Josh Lynch at Business Insider posted The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time, According to Critics. Lynch’s list is a good one worth checking out.
Here are three of my favorites and some comments…
Ryan Connolly Goes “BALLiSTIC”!
Ryan Connolly is a writer/director to keep an eye on. Check out his short film BALLiSTIC and I think you’ll agree. If you enjoy BALLiSTIC, then you might want to check out the behind-the-scenes video about how it was made.
Arnold Schwarzenegger “Hamlet” Poster!
One of our consistently popular posts here is Schwarzenegger in “King Lear” & Robin Williams in “Jack and the Beanstalk”. In honor of that, today I present this cool Arnold Schwarzenegger as Hamlet poster by Daniel Ehrling. You can see a much larger, downloadable version here.
Well done, Daniel!
Sly Behind-The-Scenes on “Rocky II”
Here are four rare, behind-the-scenes shots of Sly prepping for Rocky II posted by ThisIsNotPorn.
