When Universal’s Classic Monsters Hit the Big Screen for the First Time

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The Hollywood Reporter recently went into their vaults to bring together excerpts from their original reviews for the Universal Monsters…

  • Frankenstein
  • The Invisible Man
  • The Wolf Man
    and
  • The Creature from the Black Lagoon

It’s interesting to see how these films were originally reviewed,  some over 80 years ago.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter – When Universal’s Classic Monsters Hit the Big Screen for the First Time. 

13 (Shhhh!) Memorable Unbilled Movie Performances

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Don’t you love it when you’re watching a movie and suddenly there’s a cameo by an uncredited actor/actress?  It’s like an unexpected treat.

Entertainment Weekly took a look at 13 (Shhhh!) Memorable Unbilled Movie Performances.  Be advised if you click over you’ll find spoilers and uncredited performances by…

  • Kevin Spacey
  • Matt Damon
  • Will Ferrell
  • Keith Richards
  • Jack Nicholson
  • Bill Murray
  • Tom Cruise
  • Ned Beatty
  • Harrison Ford
  • Gene Hackman
  • Gary Oldman
  • Robin Williams
    and
  • Marlene Dietrich

Atlas’ The Scorpion & Planet of the Vampires!

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In the early 70’s, Atlas, a small comic company attempted to make it’s mark.  Although it folded after a few years Atlas did have a couple of comics that many fans [or at least this fan] fondly remember.

The Scorpion  was Howard Chaykin‘s swashbuckling, never-aging hero.  After Chaykin left Atlas he reinvented The Scorpion as Dominic Fortune for Marvel Comics.  I’d like to see Chaykin return to Scorpion.  Who wouldn’t?

The second Atlas title that I loved as a kid was Planet of the Vampires.  Think of Beneath the Planet of the Apes  and substitute vampires for monkeys.  Pat Broderick was the interior artist and Neal Adams inked Broderick‘s covers.

Man, those were the days.

 

15 Fun Facts About The Twilight Zone

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Neatorama recently posted 15 Fun Facts About The Twilight Zone that You Might Not Know.  Here are my three favorites from their list…

  • Serling narrated for the show, first through just his voice and then on camera during the second season. Serling’s first choice for that role was not himself, but Orson Welles.
  • The episode “To Serve Man” shows aliens visiting Earth and offering to take them to their home planet. They say that they have nothing but benevolent purposes and possess a book titled To Serve Man. After linguists translate the text, they discover that it’s a cook book.That episode starred Lloyd Bochner as one of the translators. Bochner reprised his role and the episode’s most famous line in the movie The Naked Gun 2 1/2.
  • Sterling wrote TV scripts throughout the late 40s and early 50s. His breakthrough script was for “Patterns,” a 1955 episode of Kraft Television Theater. This episode featured a very young Elizabeth Montgomery (later famous for Bewitched) in a tale of conflict and intrigue within the leadership of a corporation. It was enormously popular and earned Serling an Emmy.

Binge Reading The Savage Sword of Conan

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Diversions of the Grooviest Kind recently ran a Savage Sword of Conan cover gallery.  Man, it brought back some great memories of me binge reading the Savage Sword of Conan.

I started reading comic books when I was in elementary school.  Each year as I got older my comics buying dwindled.  As a senior in high school I was down to just regularly buying Master of Kung Fu, Marvel Team-Up, and an occasional odd issue of whatever popped out at me.

As a senior, John Beatty and I started hanging out again [I first met him in junior high but when I moved on to high school we drifted apart].   John turned me on to the world of comics fandom and other mainstream comics that were worth checking out.  John loaded me down with a bunch of Savage Sword of Conan magazines which I took home and devoured.  It was great having several months worth of stories to dive into.

Thanks to Diversions of the Grooviest Kind for their post that sparked the memory and thanks again to Big John for the loan of the magazines nearly 40 years ago!

Happy Thanksgiving and “You’re Welcome”

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Today is Thanksgiving and many of us will come together with family and friends to pause and give thanks for what we have and perhaps what we’ve been spared.  Charles Dickens may have said it best…

  • “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many–not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

Of course not everyone gives thanks.  The Sexy Pilgrim doesn’t. Instead he says, “You’re welcome.”

I hope that you and yours have one of the best Thanksgiving Days ever. Count your blessings, eat too much turkey, ignore that family member who irritates you, make big plans, eat too much pie, doze in front of the tube, have a bit more turkey, and remember to watch a bit of the parade and some football!

Billy the Butcher’s Frank Miller Dark Knight Returns Homage

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If you’re a fan of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns you should quickly recognize Billy the Butcher’s homage featuring Captain American blasting Iron Man with a knuckle-sandwich.

Iron Man fans will want to click over to io9 to see Iron Man returning the favor by kicking things up a notch in another Miller Dark Knight homage.

Well played, Billy the Butcher.  Well played.

The Unbelievable Skepticism of the Amazing Randi

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I’ve been a fan of The Amazing Randi since I first heard of him decades ago.

Despite The Amazing Randi’s stage name, and ability to perform what appear to be supernatural feats, The Amazing Randi is quite the opposite of what you might expect.

While it is true that Randi can perform mind-reading stunts, bend spoons just as those who claim to do so via mental powers, escape from padlocked chains and the like, The Amazing Randi claims no supernatural powers.

In fact since 1964, Randi has been offering up an ever-increasing amount of his own money to anyone who can show scientific evidence of supernatural powers.  The amount is now up to one million dollars and no one has ever collected.  The challenge has become so popular it is now an annual weekend event attended by over 1,000 believers and skeptics alike.

The NY Times.com recently posted The Unbelievable Skepticism of the Amazing Randi by Adam Higginbotham and it is well worth a read!