Ray Harryhausen’s Top Ten Movie Monsters

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On May 7, 2013, Ray Harryhausen passed away.  As a tribute of sorts, TopTenz posted their choices for the Top Ten Movie Monster Designed by Ray Harryhausen. 

Here are their choices and my thoughts:

10. The Phorusrhacos (Mysterious Island): I’m a huge fan of Mysterious Island.  It starts off as a escape movie set during the civil war (and using a hot air balloon) and turns into a sci-fi/monster movie.  I remember watching it late at night (presented by horror host Sammy Terry) when I was a kid staying over at my grandparents house.  My uncle came in from a date and watched the rest of it with me.  Good times.

9. The Giant Octopus (It Came From Beneath the Sea): The giant octopus is cool, but unless you live near the ocean how scary can it be?  Not a big fan of this film.

8. Joe Young (Mighty Joe Young):  I love this film and would put it at #1 on the list.  I think Joe Young is Harryhausen’s best work.

7. The Tyrannosaurus Rex (The Valley of Gwangi): I saw The Valley of Gwangi at a drive-in when I was a kid. Cowboys and Dinosaurs!!  I thought it was awesome.  When I saw it years later, I thought it was still fun.

6. The Ymir (20 Million Miles to Earth) and 5. The Beast (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms): Are both fun films but I often find that most fans of this genre like them better than me.

4. The Cyclops (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad): Harryhausen put his twist on the Cyclops making it a creature scarier than a one-eyed giant.

3. The Statue of Kali (The Golden Voyage of Sinbad): This is one of my least favorite of Harryhausen’s creations.  I just am not thrilled with a monster that’s a statue.

2. Medusa (Clash of the Titans): For me, this was the best part of a bad movie.

1. The Skeleton Army (Jason and the Argonauts): Although I prefer Mighty Joe Young, this is the scene that most folks go to when showing Harryhausen’s magic.  Who am I to argue?  It is awesome.

UFC 160 Results

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UFC 160 was last night.  Here are the results and some thoughts…

  • Donald Cerrone vs. K.J. Noons
    Prediction: Decision victory to Cerrone.
    Result: Cerrone won with a unanimous decision making me 1-0 for the night.
  • T.J. Grant vs. Gray Maynard
    Prediction: Decision victory to Maynard.
    Result: TJ Grant won by TKO in the first making me 1-1 for the night.
  • James Te Huna vs Glover Teixeira
    Prediction: It will be Teixeira that ends it early with a TKO.
    Result: Teixeira won by first round submission making me 2-1 for the night.
  • Junior dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt
    Prediction: Decision win to JDS.
    Result: JDS won with a 3rd round KO making me 3-1 for the night.
  •  Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva
    Prediction: Cain by TKO victory.
    Result: Cain won by TKO (ref stoppage) in the first round making me 4-1 for the night.

Final Thoughts:

  • Cain’s win sets up the rubber match between him and Junior dos Santos.  That should be a very good fight.
  • Hunt is tough and a fight between him and Roy “Big Country” Nelson would be a crowd-pleaser.
  • Next up is Dan Henderson vs Rashad Evans on June 15th!

UFC 160 Tonight – Predictions!

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UFC 160 is tonight on pay-per-view.  That means it is time for predictions…

  • Donald Cerrone vs. K.J. Noons
       Thoughts: I think that Cerrone is the tougher/better fighter.  Simple as that.
    Prediction: Decision victory to Cerrone.
  • T.J. Grant vs. Gray Maynard
       Thoughts: Maynard hasn’t fought in a year and is 34 years old. Is there such a thing as
    cage-rust?
    Prediction: Decision victory to Maynard.
  • James Te Huna vs Glover Teixeira
       Thoughts: This fight has a good chance of not going the distance.
    Prediction: It will be Teixeira that ends it early with a TKO.
  • Junior dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt
    Thoughts: Mark Hunt has a 9-7 record but the KO power to take out anyone. JDS is 15-2 with
    similar KO power but is a better grappler, better conditioned fighter, etc.  So why are fans split
    pretty much down the middle on this one?  Because Hunt has the comeback story on his side.
    Unfortunately, comebacks don’t end well.
    Prediction: Decision win to JDS.
  •  Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva
    Thoughts: They fought before and Cain won.  Some things never change.
    Prediction: Cain by TKO victory.

Brother Lono – Don’t Call It a Sequel

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The fact that Brian Azzarello [wrriter] and Eduardo Risso [artist] have reteamed for a new eight-issue miniseries  that spins-off Lono from 100 Bullets into his own series delights me to no end.  (It makes me so happy that I write sentences that I would never say in public — “…delights me to no end” indeed.)  That Dave Johnson is back to provide covers for Brother Lono makes the deal even sweeter.

I can’t wait for the book to drop next month.  Thankfully there’s a short interview with Brian Azzarello at CBR.com that features more of Reverand Dave’s art to hold me over.

Thom Zahler’s Commentary: Star Trek the Coloring Book

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Thom Zahler is the creative powerhouse behind Love and Capes.

Zahler is just one of those guys who is multi-talented and fun to be around.  Zahler’s humor and quick wit — not to mention his dead on impersonation of William Shatner can keep people entertained for hours.  Someone should put this guy on tv.

Don’t believe me?

Judge for yourself.  Recently Zahler did a running two-part commentary on a 1977 Star Trek coloring book.  Here’s part one and part two.

Funny stuff, right?  And you didn’t even hear it in Zahler’s Captain Kirk voice.

Houdini’s Personal Effects Scrapbook

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That’s a photo of some pages from a Houdini scrapbook that belonged to Quincy Kilby, who was a friend to Harry Houdini.  

The scrapbook has personal items that belonged to Houdini such as his show requirements (nothing like bowls of just green M&Ms, but still very interesting), an escape challenge letter (which Houdini accepted and was successful in) plus a lot more.

The Houdini Scrapbook is now owned by The Boston Public Library, but you can see more pages and read about it over at Buzzfeed.

Thanks and a tip o’ the magician’s top hat to Bill Crider.

Kyle Holtz Gets Carter, Too!

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When I learned that Kyle Holtz was taking on some mail order commissions, I just knew I had to try to get on his list. I was able to and Kyle agreed to give me his take on Sly as Jack Carter.

The first piece that Kyle created can be seen here. I think Kyle did an amazing job on it. Unfortunately, it was lost in the mail. I have hope that it will eventually turn up. Thankfully, Kyle sent a scan before mailing the art. When Kyle learned that the piece never arrived, he agreed to redo it.

Knowing how much artists hate to redraw something, and because I thought Kyle totally nailed it, I asked if I could upgrade to a larger piece. Kyle agreed. So Kyle created the Jack Carter drawing posted today. I absolutely love it.

If you’d like to see more of Kyle’s art, click on over to his Facebook page. I give Kyle the highest recommendation to folks that collect commissions.

Who is Going “Under the Dome”?

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I’m looking forward to Under the Dome.  Based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel of the same name, Under the Dome is the story of a small town that is suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by a massive transparent dome.

Under the Dome’s official site is now live.  If you go there, you can see the dome drop over your house.  Yeah, you’re house.  Or any home or business that you know the address for.  Oh, and you can learn more about the show there too.

Steven Grant’s Two Guns Leads to Three Guns

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Just the other day we were talking about Steven Grant and Mike Zeck’s collaborations on Circle of Blood,   Return to Big Nothing and  Damned.  Those are the most popular Grant/Zeck graphic stories.

Another very popular crime graphic novel written by Steven Grant (but this time with art by Mat Santolouco) is Two Guns.   

  • From the Boom! Studios book description:  A pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between. Trench has targeted a local bank to rob, and asked Steadman in on the job. Trench figures it’s a great way to score — considering it’s a cover for mob money. They’ll be thieves ripping off thieves. But what Steadman doesn’t know is that Trench is a DEA agent. And what Trench doesn’t know is that Steadman’s a Naval Intelligence officer. They’re both cops! And neither one knows that they’re not robbing the mob, they’ve been set up to steal $50 million from the CIA!

If Two Guns sounds familiar, it could be because you’ve seen the trailer for the movie adaptation starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg.   The movie premieres on August 2nd.

The first issue of a six issue comics sequel, titled appropriately enough, Three Guns (again by Grant, but this time with art by Emilio Laiso) is set to drop around the same time. You can learn more about Three Guns from this piece over at the Hollywood Reporter.


Christopher Moloney’s FILMography is Awesome

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Christopher Moloney is the talent behind FILMography — “…an ongoing art project… that matches scenes from movies with their real-life, present-day locations” in photographs taken by Moloney.

Here are three examples…

First up we have John Travolta (above) in Staying Alive.

Next we have Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis from Die Hard with a Vengeance.

Finally, we have Sylvester Stallone and Jack Lemon from The Prisoner of Second Avenue.

Thanks to Mark Evanier for his post pointing me in the right direction.