“Fool (If You Think It’s Over)” by Chris Rea
Midday Music Day 40. Fool (If You Think It’s Over) by Chris Rea.
Today we have an optomistic sad song and one of my favorite “one hit wonders.”
17 Things You Might Not Know About “Scarface”
Sean Hutchinson and Mental_Floss have posted 17 Things You Might Not Know About Scarface. Here are three of my favorites…
5. A budding screenwriting star brought De Palma back.
Producer Bregman offered relative newcomer Oliver Stone a chance to overhaul the screenplay, and Stone agreed to do the movie for two reasons. First, his 1981 film The Hand had bombed at the box office, so he needed the work. He also wanted to work with Lumet, who eventually dropped out of the project because he felt Stone’s screenplay became too over the top and too violent. De Palma, who had moved on to potentially direct Flashdance, then read Stone’s script and loved how exaggerated it was, so he dropped Flashdance and rejoined Scarface.10. Tony is only referred to as “Scarface” once, and it’s in Spanish.
Hector, the Colombian gangster who threatens Tony with the chainsaw, refers to him as “cara cicatriz,” meaning “scar face” in Spanish.14. Steven Spielberg directed a single shot.
De Palma and Spielberg had been friends since the two began making studio movies in the mid ‘70s, and they made a habit of visiting each other’s sets. Spielberg was on hand for one of the days of shooting the Colombians’ initial attack on Tony Montana’s house at the end of the movie, so De Palma let Spielberg direct the low angle shot where the attackers first enter the house.
Anthony Petrie’s “Rambo: First Blood, Part II” Poster
The very cool Rambo: First Blood, Part II poster was created by Anthony Petrie and is available from Grey Matter art…
“First Blood: Part II” By Anthony PetrieGrey Matter Art under license from StudioCanal, is pleased to announce the next poster in our officially licensed Rambo series. A limited edition screen print for the iconic 80’s film, “Rambo: First Blood Part II”, by the very talented artist, Anthony Petrie…
“How Much I Feel” by Ambrosia
Midday Music Day 39. How Much I Feel by Ambrosia.
Is there a sadder love song?
15 Things You Didn’t Know About The Stand
Erik van Rheenen and Mental_Floss have posted 15 Things You Didn’t Know About The Stand. As is our tradition, here are three of my favorites…
6. Christian Radio Made a Contribution As Well
King revealed a third inspiration for The Stand in Danse Macabre: A single line he heard in a radio broadcast of a sermon when he was living in Colorado. The line “Once in every generation the plague will fall among them” made such an impression on King that he wrote it down and pinned it over his typewriter. Later, when the author was struggling to write a fictionalized account of the Patty Hearst kidnapping (the unpublished The House on Value Street), he saw the gloomy quote and found the inspiration to start a new project that became The Stand.
8. The Extreme Length Led to Logistical Problems
The 1,200-page novel presented a serious problem – King’s publisher, Doubleday, couldn’t print a novel that long. Literally. In addition to whatever qualms the publisher might have had about trying to sell such a hefty book, its printing presses couldn’t create it. As King explained to Time in 2009, “Doubleday had a physically limiting factor in those days because they used a glue binding instead of a cloth binding, and the way it was explained to me was that they had so much of a thickness they could do before the glue just fell apart.”
10. The Cut Pages Weren’t Lost
Of course, when your fans are as rabid as King’s, it’s hard for lost pages to stay lost. In 1990 King restored the text he had hacked away to create The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition. King didn’t just slip all the cut pages back into the original manuscript, though – he retyped each one. He told Time he “had the manuscript on one side of an IBM Selectric typewriter and I had the pages of a book that I had torn out of the binding on the other side.” The restored edition had another quirk – King also updated the setting of the novel to the then-present day and included references to cultural touchstones like Freddy Krueger that had not existed in 1978.
“I Can’t Tell You Why” by The Eagles
Midday Music Day 38. I Can’t Tell You Why by The Eagles.
The Eagles have so many awesome songs and this is one of their best.
Interactive Map Showing UFO Hot Spots Across the United States
and i09 have posted an interactive Map Showing UFO Hot Spots Across the United States.
Its obvious that the west coast has more sightings than the east coast. Does that say more about aliens or those living on the west coast?
“Baby, Come Back” by Player
Midday Music Day 37. Baby, Come Back by Player.
21 Facts About the Movie “Goodfellas” You Never Knew
Corey Mahoney and Hollywood.com present 21 Facts About the Movie Goodfellas You Never Knew. Here are three of my favorites…
5. When Joe Pesci was younger, he told a mobster that he was funny. The gangster’s ensuing anger was never forgotten and ended up inspiring Pesci to ask Scorsese to include it.
The director allowed Pesci and Liotta to improvise the now iconic “funny how?” scene. The other actors weren’t aware of the plan, so their reactions are genuine.6. The now legendary Steadicam shot through the kitchen of the nightclub was unplanned.
Scorsese was denied permission to use the front entrance, and the alternative is now film history.9. And while filming Spider’s death scene, actor Michael Imperioli had to be rushed to the hospital for breaking a glass in his hand; the doctors, however, attempted to treat what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his chest.
When they learned the real reason behind his hospital visit, he was forced to wait three hours before he was treated. Scorsese told Imperioli that he would one day share the story on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and, ten years after the film’s release, in 2000, Imperioli did just that.
“Wildfire” by Michael Murphy
Midday Music Day 36. Wildfire by Michael Murphy.
Tenth grade year and girls loved this song so guys liked it too.
“Better Call Saul” Superfans Easter Egg Advice
Fans of Better Call Saul will want to check out Better Call Saul Superfans Easter Egg Advice posted at The Hollywood Reporter.
“Year of the Cat” by Al Stewart
Midday Music Day 35. Year of the Cat by Al Stewart.
I saw Al Stewart perform in concert my junior year of high school. Year of the Cat was a hit and he was part of a concert at Memorial Stadium that also featured the band Orleans [and other groups].
MegaCon 2015 Report
Yesterday was a good day. I spent it hanging out at MegaCon with my best bud, John Beatty. That’s John in the photo above trying out some Star Man shades.
MegaCon started out as a comic book convention but has morphed into a comic book / celebrity / cosplay convention that gets bigger and bigger with each new year. Reportedly 30,000 people came through the doors yesterday.
My goals for the show were to get Darwyn Cooke to sign two Parker novels, pick up Chuck Dixon’s Winter World novel, try to get sketches from a few artists, meet Lee Weeks and hang out with Big Beatty. I had Friday and Saturday budgeted to get everything done.
The drive to Orlando went smoothly. Big J and I loaded up and headed to the convention. We had a couple of hours before the show opened which gave us additional time to catch up. I walked the convention floor (which was HUGE) to get the lay of the land.
Justin Orr was there, but hadn’t brought sketchbooks — he’s doing a Kickstarter for a new huge sketchbook later this year — and he wasn’t able to take sketch requests. Jason Walker was just getting to his table. I set up a sketch with Elliott Fernandez. I got to speak with Gene Gonzales, Joe Pekar and Frank aka The Voice of MegaCon briefly. Mitch Hyman gave me a couple DVDs (one for Beatty) of his movie, Bubba the Redneck Werewolf. I got Darwyn Cooke to sign my two Stark novels and picked up Chuck Dixon’s Winter World novel. Everything I planned to do over the course of two days was done in one!
I then spent the rest of the day hanging with Big John and Lee Weeks (who is such an amazing talent and cool guy who even does magic tricks). John Higashi invited Beatty and I to join him, Jason Walker and James Howell for dinner at Logan Steak House after the show and we did. It was a great meal with friends I don’t get to see near enough.
I drove Beatty back to his motel and decided to avoid the morning traffic and head home. MegaCon 2015 goes into the books as the year I was able to get everything done in one good day.
“Please Come to Boston” by Dave Loggins
Midday Music Day 34. Please Come to Boston by Dave Loggins.
Please Come to Boston was popular the summer after my ninth grade year. I was back in Terre Haute alternating staying with my dad and my grandparents. The previous summer we [mom, my brother and sisters] had moved to Daytona Beach. It was strange visiting my old friends/home town after a year away.
I didn’t get a haircut all summer. It was funny seeing the reaction of my friends when I returned to Daytona. When I went to our first football practice, my coach took to calling me “Chief” until I got my hair cut.
A Few More Things About Abraham Lincoln
Eddie Deezen at Neatorama posts A Few More Things About Abraham Lincoln. Here are three of my favorites…
- When Lincoln was nine, a horse kicked him in the forehead while he was in the middle of a sentence. He fell unconscious for several hours and when he awoke, his first words were the completion of the sentence he had been saying when the horse kicked him.
- The tall, black stovepipe hat that Lincoln used to wear was more than just a hat. Lincoln used it as a portable filing cabinet and kept notes, money and letters in it.
- Lincoln once left the stage during a political rally because he spotted one of his supporters being beaten. He picked up the assailant by his trousers and physically hurled him twelve feet away.
