Andy (The Martian) Weir Extended Video Interview
If you’re a fan of Andy Weir’s novel, The Martian, or the Matt Damon movie adaptation [or like many of us, both] you’ll probably enjoy the extended interview with Mr. Weir conducted by Adam Savage.
Dario Rossi’s Got the Beat
Dario Rossi is a street performer from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Rossi uses items he finds thrown out to make his drum sets and he’s really good.
15 Behind-the-Scenes Facts About “Taxi”
Kara Kovalchik and Mental_Floss present 15 Behind-the-Scenes Facts About Taxi. Here are three of my favorites…
2. TONY DANZA WAS “DISCOVERED” IN THE BOXING RING.
In the mid-1970s “Tough” Tony Danza was a professional boxer who trained at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn. Gleason’s was home to many famous fighters, and the go-to place for filmmakers and authors who were researching the sport. That was how producers Larry Gordon and Joel Silver happened to be ringside one night when Danza knocked out Billy Perez and they invited him to audition for Walter Hill’s The Warriors, which they were producing. He was just about ready to ink a deal with them, too, when James L. Brooks called and asked him to read for the part of a boxer on his upcoming sitcom, Taxi.9. KAUFMAN’S CONTRACT STIPULATED THAT HIS ALTER EGO, TONY CLIFTON, WAS GIVEN A SEPARATE CONTRACT.
Tony Clifton was another of Kaufman’s characters, a sleazy, obnoxious Vegas lounge-lizard. Kaufman insisted not only that Tony Clifton be written into several Taxi episodes, he also insisted that Clifton be treated as a separate and unique entity, with his own contract, dressing room, and parking spot. Kaufman also required that all the staff and actors address him as “Tony,” never “Andy.”Clifton was cast as Louie’s brother in the episode “A Full House for Christmas,” and he didn’t endear himself to the cast when he arrived late and then retreated to his dressing room for over an hour to have very loud sex with two prostitutes he had brought with him. When rehearsals finally got underway, Tony kept changing the dialogue and announced that he’d written parts for his hooker friends as well. Jeff Conaway stormed off the set and Judd Hirsch got into a shouting match with Tony that ended up with punches thrown. Ed. Weinberger summoned security guards to escort Tony Clifton off the Paramount lot, which Andy Kaufman later stated had been his entire purpose behind that bit of “theater.”
10. REVEREND JIM’S LOOPY CHARACTER WAS ORIGINALLY ASSIGNED TO TONY.
The evolution of the show’s characters got a little confusing: In the beginning, Phil Ryan (the boxer) was supposed to be somewhat punch drunk and dim-witted. When Tony Danza was hired, the producers decided that he was more convincing playing a young, somewhat naive and innocent type, rather than a confused bumbler. Problem was, Randall Carver had already been cast as John Burns, a wide-eyed country bumpkin new to New York City. As season one progressed, the producers realized that the two characters were too similar and their lines were almost interchangeable. So John Burns was written out after the first season and Christopher Lloyd, who played 1960s drug casualty Reverend Jim Ignatowski, was added to the cast to provide the eccentric goofiness originally intended for Tony Banta.
The Dark Knight vs The Joker by Kelley Jones!
The Dark Knight vs The Joker by Kelley Jones!
10 Dangerous Toys from Decades Past (and the Commercials that Sold Them)
Kara Kovalchik and Mental_Floss present 10 Dangerous Toys from Decades Past (and the Commercials that Sold Them).
Of the ten shown I had (or at least played with) Sixfinger, Slip ‘N Slide, Water Wiggle, Johnny Seven One Man Army, Creepy Crawlers, Wham-O Air Blaster, Wham-O Wheeler Bar and Super Elastic Bubble Plastic. My favorite was the Johnny Seven One Man Army. The most dangerous was probably the Creepy Crawlers (that metal got hot!).
I loved seeing these commercials again. Click over and check them out for a laugh. Ah, the golden days of youth.
A New Photo of Jesse James has Surfaced!
A new photo of Jesse James has surfaced. Not only that, but James is seated next to Robert Ford, the “coward” who shot James in the back.
Lois Gibson, a forensic analyst who has compared the “new” photo to other verified images of James has given it her seal of approval. If this photo turns out to be legit, then the owner, Sandy Mills, will make out like a, uh… bandit, when she decides to sell it.
Source: Mental_Floss.
Vintage 1970’s Lunch Boxes: When Pop Culture Ruled the Playground
Although I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, I never carried a lunchbox. I either ate at home or bought a school lunch.
However, it was the golden age for cool lunchboxes as you’ll see if you check out Maribeth Keane and Lisa Hix’s look at Vintage 1970’s Lunch Boxes: When Pop Culture Ruled the Playground.
Source: Mental_Floss.
Neal Adams and the Tarzan Connection
Last month I posted a link to two dozen painted covers by Neal Adams or Boris done for the Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan paperback series posted by The Golden Age.
Today we have a link to an interview with Neal Adams explaining how he came to get the Tarzan covers assignment and why he didn’t do all 24.
11 Dizzying Facts About “Vertigo”
Tara Aquino and Mental_Floss present 11 Dizzying Facts About Vertigo. Here are three of my favorites…
1. ALFRED HITCHCOCK BLAMED JIMMY STEWART FOR VERTIGO’S FAILURE.
Marred by mixed reviews, the $2.5 million Vertigo did comparatively less than Hitchcock’s previous movies, and was widely recognized as a failure. Frustrated with its reception, Hitchcock partly blamed star Jimmy Stewart’s aging appearance. At the time of filming, Stewart—who had starred in Hitchcock’s three previous films—was 50 years old which, according to the director, was too old to convincingly play then-25-year-old Kim Novak’s love interest.5. AN UNCREDITED CAMERAMAN CAME UP WITH THE FAMOUS “VERTIGO EFFECT.”
According to associate producer Herbert Coleman, it wasn’t Hitchcock who came up with the film’s famous camera technique (which essentially involves zooming forward while pulling the camera backward); rather, it was an uncredited second unit cameraman, Irwin Roberts. “He didn’t get screen credit on Vertigo because they gave the screen credit to another close friend of ours [Wallace Kelley] who did all the process work on the stage,” Coleman said.9. ALFRED HITCHCOCK CHANGED THE SETTING FROM PARIS TO SAN FRANCISO.
The French source novel, D’entre les Morts, was set in Paris, but Hitchcock believed that San Francisco was more interesting. As noted by Auiler, with the city’s vertiginous streets and hilly landscape, the location perfectly matched the film’s themes. In a city where there were such extreme physical highs and lows, awful for anyone with acrophobia, Scottie’s vertigo became a character in and of itself.
Here’s Looking at 10 Facts About “Casablanca”
Rebecca Pahle and Mental_Floss present Here’s Looking at 10 Facts About Casablanca. Here are three of my favorites…
3. THE SHOOT GOT OFF TO A ROUGH START.
The first scene that director Michael Curtiz and company shot was one of the flashback scenes in Paris, which caused some problems for stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Bogart because, in his own words, “I’m not up on this love stuff and don’t know just what to do,” and Bergman because, as the script had not yet been finished, she didn’t know whether her character was supposed to be in love with Rick or Victor Laszlo. Curtiz, who did not know himself, covered marvelously and told her to “play it in between.”5. PART OF THE POSTER IS FROM ANOTHER BOGIE MOVIE.
In many of Casablanca’s better-known posters, the shot of a trench coat- and fedora-wearing Bogart wielding a gun was pulled almost exactly from a publicity shot from earlier Bogie film,Across the Pacific, by poster artist Bill Gold, who repainted it in a photorealistic style.7. THE FIRST SCENE WAS SHOT BY ANOTHER FAMOUS DIRECTOR.
Casablanca’s opening scene, the map sequence with a voiceover explaining how refugees from World War II came to be in Casablanca, was created by Don Siegel, who in later years would direct some classics of his own, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Dirty Harry (1971).
“Death Mask” by Moench, Gulacy and Adkins
Diversions of a Groovy Kind recently posted Death Mask from Giant Size Master of Kung Fu #1 [June 1974] written by Doug Moench with pencils by Paul Gulacy, inks Dan Adkins and published by Marvel Comics.
21 Things You Didn’t Know About the “Fast and Furious” Franchise
Hollywood.com presents 21 Things You Didn’t Know About the Fast and Furious Franchise. Here are three of my favorites…
13. Vin Diesel got the right to another movie franchise…just for showing up.
In lieu of a paycheck for his cameo at the end of the film, Vin Diesel traded with Universal – his cameo, for the rights to the Riddick franchise.
18. The Rock’s part was written for…Tommy Lee Jones?
The role of Luke Hobbs was written with Tommy Lee Jones or Josh Brolin in mind for the part, but when Dwayne Johnson (née The Rock) approached the studio about joining the franchise, Universal had the filmmakers rework the part for him instead.
21. The films’ timeline makes no sense.
On the surface, the Furious franchise seems pretty simple: Cars go fast, stuff gets smashed, beginning-middle-end. But the films are actually this weird non-linear series, told out of sequence. When you look at the whole story, it constantly jumps back and forth through time, and major plot points are told through flashbacks. Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Furious 6 are an internal trilogy of prequels, that actually circle back to the third film,Tokyo Drift.
9 Things You May Not Know About the Warren Commission
Evan Andrews and History.com present 9 Things You May Not Know About the Warren Commission. Here are three of my favorites…
Earl Warren suppressed key evidence from the Commission.
Chief Justice Earl Warren was a close friend of the Kennedy family, and his personal attachment may have interfered with his duties to the Commission. In one of the most infamous episodes of the investigation, Warren denied his fellow Commission members access to Kennedy’s autopsy photos because he deemed them too disturbing. He later refused to allow the Commission to interview certain witnesses whom Lee Harvey Oswald may have known in Mexico, and even tried to block an interview with first lady Jackie Kennedy because he didn’t want to invade her privacy.
The Commission secretly interviewed Fidel Castro.
Many believed that Fidel Castro might have conspired in Kennedy’s murder, and it turns out that the Cuban dictator personally proclaimed his innocence in an off-the-record interview with the Warren Commission. According to journalist Philip Shenon, at one point in the investigation, Commission lawyer William Coleman met face to face with Castro on a fishing boat off the coast of Cuba. During a three-hour exchange, Castro repeatedly denied having any involvement in the assassination. No notes were taken during the secret rendezvous, and only Earl Warren and one other investigator were ever made aware of it.
The FBI and the CIA intentionally misled the Commission.
The FBI and the CIA had monitored Lee Harvey Oswald in the months before the assassination, but both agencies later tried to downplay their knowledge of him to the Warren Commission. Oswald had once even left a threatening note for an FBI agent at the Bureau’s office in Dallas. Fearful of catching blame for not preventing the assassination, the FBI later destroyed the note and even removed the agent’s name from a typewritten transcript of Oswald’s address book provided to the Warren Commission. Congressman Hale Boggs would later say that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover “lied his eyes out” to the Commission’s investigators.
Evidence also suggests that the CIA had Oswald under surveillance when he made a trip to Mexico in September 1963 and visited the Cuban and Soviet embassies, but the agency repeatedly denied any connection to the alleged shooter. The CIA also neglected to inform the Commission about its many covert operations in Cuba—including several schemes to assassinate Fidel Castro—even though those revelations might have helped shape the investigation.
The “Bone Tomahawk” Trailer is Here!
The Bone Tomahawk trailer is here!
13 Fascinating Facts About “Natural Born Killers”
Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 13 Fascinating Facts About Natural Born Killers. Here are three of my favorites…
1. QUENTIN TARANTINO WROTE THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT.
It was titled Mickey and Mallory and focused more on the media than on Mickey Knox and Mallory Wilson. He sold the rights to the movie for $10,000 because he was unable to get it made himself (this was before Pulp Fiction). Tarantino ended up getting a story credit forNatural Born Killers, while Richard Rutowski, Oliver Stone, and David Veloz each got a screenwriting credit.3. MICHAEL MADSEN ALMOST TOOK THE LEAD.
Michael Madsen was considered for the lead role of Mickey: “Oliver Stone wanted me, but the studios offered him an extra $20 million to cast Woody Harrelson,” Madsen told The Guardian.11. MICKEY AND MALLORY DIE IN THE ALTERNATE ENDING.
The killers survive in the final version because Oliver Stone believed that the 1990s were a time when the bad guys got away with it.
