RIP: The Fabulous Moolah

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I was never much of a fan of women’s wrestling. Even when I was a kid and lived and breathed pro wrestling, I didn’t care about the women mixing it up in the ring. Of course back then we didn’t have the divas or the bathing suit matches, etc. Still, the one woman wrestler that I did know was the Fabulous Moolah. It amazed me that despite the country being broken up into territories, with each having their own champion, Moolah was recognized as the Women’s Champion everywhere.

Mary Lillian Ellison aka The Fabulous Moolah was born in 1923 — the youngest and only girl of 13 children. Her mother died of cancer when she was just 8. Mary attended weekly pro wrestling cards with her dad and perhaps that’s where he love of the sport began.

Moolah was the Women’s World Champion from from 1956 to 1984. Then from 1985 – 1987. In 1999, at age 76, she won the title for a final time.

To be honest, I really didn’t like most of the angles that the WWE used with Moolah when she came back in the late 90’s. Still I admired the fact that at her age she was still able to get out there and take bumps and that her name still got a rise from the fans.

So despite the fact that I wasn’t a fan of women wrestlers, I felt it right to pay my respects to a performer held in such high regard in the “sport” that I loved as a kid. Rest in peace, Moolah. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends and fans.

Get Scalped with No Risk

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I’ve been a fan of Scalped by Jason Aaron [writer] and R.M. Guera [artist] since issue one. In fact I like the series so much I’ve purchased both the individual comics and the trade paperbacks [Indian Country and Casino Boogie] as they become available.

 

Scalped is a crime comic set in the “world of gambling, gunfights, G-men, Dawg Soldiers, massacres, meth labs, trashy sex, fry bread, Indian pride…” And everyone is diggin’ it. Brian K. Vaughan [Y: The Last Man, tv’s “Lost”] calls it, “the best crime book you’re not reading.” Garth Ennis [Preacher, The Punisher] calls it the “best new series in years.” Playboy, Wizard, Entertainment Weekly and many others have all praised the series.

So what are you waiting for? A money back guarantee? Click HERE and you’ve got one!

 

When Magicians Collide

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Are any ZONErs watching the magic reality show Phenomenon? If so, and you were watching last night, you saw Criss Angel throw down a million dollar challenge to one of the contestants as well as his co-host Uri Geller. More on that in a second… I watched the first episode of Phenomenon and found it to be boring. I like good magic. Unfortunately the show didn’t deliver. Further I didn’t care for the co-hosts Uri Geller and Criss Angel. I guess it’s because they’re too hokey… not hokey like a guy who does magic as a hobby, but hokey in that they take themselves so seriously. Give me magicians like Penn and Teller or even David Blaine. I felt that the show was headed for early cancellation and I stopped watching.

If I had have tuned in last night I would have seen Criss Angel and Jim Callahan almost come to blows. After spiritualist Jim Callahan performed his act, both Geller and Angel were supposed to critique it. Angel called the performance “comical.” Angel then pulled out two small sealed envelopes and offered Geller and Callahan each one million dollars of his own money if either of them could say what was in the envelopes.Callahan became visibly upset and began to repeatedly call Angel an “ideological bigot” as he walked toward him. Angel got out of his seat and walked toward Callahan taunting him to tell what was in the envelope. The two were separated and the show went to commercial.

Sure, Callahan doesn’t really communicate with the dead to find out that the item in the box is a toy car and the only way he can present the message is through a painful psychic experience where the answer comes to him written so it must be read in a mirror. Then again, Angel doesn’t really walk on water, split women in half, or levitate.

For Angel to call out Callahan on national tv to prove he’s a fake is stupid. Pot meet kettle.

Then again, maybe it was a set-up between Callahan and Angel to help hype the show. If that’s the case the show is in worse shape than I thought and I know neither Angel or Callahan have enough magical powers to save it.

 

Top 20 Horror Films

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Since tomorrow is Halloween, I thought that I’d find a list of the Top Horror Movies and see how I’d rate ’em. So I went to the Internet Movie Data Base and checked out their list of the Top 50 Horror Movies of All Time [as voted on by users of IMDB].

I have to say that I was surprised by some of the movies that made the grade. I was expecting more classic horror films to appear on the list [Dracula, Wolfman, The Creature from the Black Lagoon] as well as some lesser known, but still very good horror movies like Them! or Frailty.

Ok… we have what we have. Taking their list of the top 50, I whittled it down to my top 20 and here they are in alphabetical order with some comments:

Alien (1979): Saw it on its original theatrical run and enjoyed it. A haunted house in outer space!
Aliens (1986): Even better than Alien… as much a war movie as a horror movie. Love it!
Birds, The (1963): One of the scariest movies I ever saw as a kid. Still a favorite.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935): Even better than Frankenstein. A true classic.
Dawn of the Dead (1978): Saw it in a theater the 2nd time [my date couldn’t take it the 1st time]
Exorcist, The (1973): the scariest movie I ever saw as an adult.
Frankenstein (1931): A classic!
Freaks (1932): It makes the list, but wouldn’t be near the top.
Halloween (1978): Saw it in a drive-in and it was scary without sound! LOL!
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): Another classic from [before] my childhood.
Invisible Man, The (1933): I didn’t appreciate it until I was an adult!
Jaws (1975): Horror? Okay… it is a fun and scary movie.
King Kong (1933): Another classic.
Night of the Hunter, The (1955): A great film… maybe Mitchum’s best performance ever.
Night of the Living Dead (1968): One of my favorites!
Psycho (1960): Some pretty scary scenes the first time around.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968): I saw it in a drive-in as a kid…. creepy stuff.
Shining, The (1980): redrum…redrum… redrum…
Thing, The (1982): Not as good as the original, but still good. LOL!
Unknown, The (1927): Never cut off your arms for a lover.

Comments?

 

2 Comic Conventions

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There are two comic cons within driving distance of most folks living in the central Florida area. The first, on November 11th is the ever-popular Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention put on by Tim Gordon. You’ve heard me rave about it over the years and there’s no doubt that this one will be another good ‘un.Another buddy of mine, Steve Meyers, owner of World of Comics [where I’ve gotten my comics for the last 20+ years] is putting on a small show which will feature two big guests! Legendary comic artist Dick Giordano will be on hand along with Big John Beatty! 

Two Less Than One?

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Usually when I like two things, I like ’em just as much or more when they’re combined. Vampires/Detectives [Joe Pitt novels by Charlie Huston]… M&Ms with peanuts [candy by Mars]… well, you get the idea.

I’m not sure I’m diggin’ the Predien… Aliator?? Whatever they want to call it.

And I was really looking forward to AVP: Requiem.

24 Trailer [Beware Spoilers Below]

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24 always manages to entertain. After watching this trailer for season seven [which doesn’t start until January 2008], I have mixed feelings. On one hand, the show has always been one of my favorites [even with the cougar trap incident and last season Jack killing Curtis]… still, I hope that bringing Tony Almeda back as the main bad guy doesn’t signal the jumping of the shark!

I Don’t Feel 49

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Today I turned 49. Whew! It’s hard to believe that I’m in my last year before the half century mark. Seems like it came so fast… and each year goes by a bit faster.

The photo above was brought to me out of the blue early this morning. A student at the high school where I’m an assistant principal brought it in to show me. I attended a party for his mother when we were both in high school and this picture was taken there. I’d never seen it before today. [That’s me, 2nd person in the front row.] It was strange seeing a picture of me for the first time over 30 years after it was taken. And this is the second time in less than a month that it’s happened.

Maybe on my 79th birthday someone will bring in a photo of me taken this decade that I’ve never before seen. My guess is that it would be a similarly strange experience and that I would end my blog post by saying, I don’t feel 79.

I don’t feel 49.

Good, Baby, Good

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Based on Dennis Lehane’s novel of the same name; Gone, Baby, Gone is a powerful drama wrapped around the mystery of a kidnapped girl and the secrets of everyone involved. When three days have passed without any progress the missing little girl’s aunt hires two young private detectives from the neighborhood to get information unavailable to the police. As the mystery unravels and secrets are revealed the detectives [and audience] are left with tough moral questions and no easy answers.

The Good: The relationship between Cassie Affleck and Michelle Monaaghan. The bar scene. The mean streets of Boston. The real people from these streets given cameos and speaking parts. Ed Harris. The screenplay by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard. The direction by Ben Affleck. The ending.

The Bad: The house with the ex-con child molesters [well done, but bad stuff].

The Ugly: The handsome woman… the choices that have to be made.

Gone, Baby, Gone is a Good, Baby, Good.

Catching Up with the UFC

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As we got ready to watch last night’s UFC pay-per-view my nephew asked me why I hadn’t posted my fight predictions. To be honest, I wasn’t all that excited about the card. Sure, Silva vs Franklin was THE main event, but most folks [me included] felt that Silva would win. The under-card consisted of a few other fights that less than twelve hours later I’m hard pressed to remember. I know that Stephan Bonner beat somebody… and Tim Sylvia scored a unanimous decision over Brandon Vera. Bah!

Actually I was interested in the main two fights. I’m not a big fan or either Tim Sylvia or Brandon Vera so I didn’t care who won, but I was interested in seeing how each man would combat the other. Sylvia used his size to full advantage and wasn’t afraid to trade punches. He deserved the win.

The main event brought Anderson Silva to Franklin’s home town but the crowd made no difference. Anderson Silva looks to be unstoppable at this point. Who can beat him? And what will Rich Franklin do now that he knows the first fight wasn’t a fluke?

It was interesting to note that former pro-wrestler Brock Lesner has been signed by the UFC. He’s a bruiser no doubt, but how will he fair against a true MMA fighter? Whatever the outcome, you can bet that his first fight will have a lot of people watching.

The next pay-per-view will be UFC 78 Validation on November 17th. The card will consist of Frank Edgar Vs. Spencer Fisher, Ryo Chonan vs Karo Parisyan, David Terrell vs Ed Herman, Thiago Silva vs Huston Alexander, and Michael Bisping vs Rashad Evans. You can be sure that I’ll post my predictions before the fights and I’ll make the same offer that I made to my nephew — send in YOUR predictions and we’ll discuss them before the card.

Dark Shadows Memories

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been 40 years since the addition of Barnabas Collins made “Dark Shadows” THE show for horror fans. I was only 8 years old, but I remember the thrill of tuning in each weekday to see vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and more.The popularity of “Dark Shadows” carried over to comics, novelizations and even a couple of movies. Johnny Depp is gearing up to play Barnabas Collins in a new version of “Dark Shadows” and I’m looking forward to that.