The Mummy That Opens & Closes Her Eyes

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Have you heard about the mummy on display in Sicily who appears to open and close her eyes?

Rosalia Lombardo was a two-year-old girl who died of pneumonia in 1920.  Her grieving father had her embalmed and placed in the catacombs beneath the Capuchin convent in Palermo, Sicily.

So how/why do her eyes open?

They don’t.  According to Dario Piombino-Mascali, curator of the Capuchin Catacombs  “It’s an optical illusion produced by the light that filters through the side windows, which during the day is subject to change,”

io9 posted Why Does This Mummy Appear to Open and Close Her Eyes?  and there you can see a video of the optical illusion and more.

10 Sets of Co-Stars You Didn’t Realize Hated Each Other

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It’s not that unusual to learn that co-stars of movies and tv sometimes don’t get along.  It is surprising though when the co-stars seem to like each other and have on-screen chemistry.

TopTenz posted 10 Sets of Co-Stars You Didn’t Realize Hated Each Other.

The list has a few surprises [Richard Dreyfuess & Robert Shaw, Steve McQueen & Yul Brenner] and several that everyone probably knows about [Bea Arthur & Betty White, David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson, Dustin Hoffman & Meryl Streep, William Shatner & George Takei, Bill Murray & Lucy Liu].

I was surprised that Bruce Willis & Cybill Sheppard and Vivian Vance & William Frawley didn’t make the list!

 

R.I.P. – James Garner

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James Garner, star of movies and tv, was found dead in his Los Angeles home yesterday.  Mr. Garner was 86.

If you are a child of the 50’s then James Garner is probably best known to you for the role of Brett Maverick [the role that launched him to stardom] in the series Maverick.  Garner played a new kind of hero, one that preferred to use his wits rather than his guns or fists to get him out of trouble.

If you grew up in the 60’s then you probably know James Garner the movie star.  Movies like The Great Escape, The Americanization of Emily, Duel at Diablo, Support Your Local Sheriff, and Marlowe all come to mind.

The 70’s saw a combination of movies and tv.  The early 70’s included the movies Support Your Local Gunfighter, and Skin Game as well as the short-lived tv series Nichols.  Then in 1974, James Garner’s other cornerstone character, Jim Rockford began appearing when the Rockford Files premiered  (which ran until 1980).

James Garner went on to star in many more movies [Victor/Victoria, Murphy’s Romance, Space Cowboys,  and The Notebook are just a few], but time and time again he would return to Brett Maverick [tv series and movies] and Jim Rockford [tv movies].

My favorite James Garner roles include the two Support Your Local… movies, Marlowe [Bruce Lee appears and Garner plays Phillip Marlowe!], Nichols [watched and enjoyed the series as a kid and would love to see how it holds up] and of course Jim Rockford.

Many actors are called legendary.  James Garner embodied what it takes to get that designation.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans.

58 Facts That Will Blow Your Mind in Only 1 Sentence!

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Buzzfeed posted 58 Facts That Will Blow Your Mind in Only 1 Sentence!

There are some really amazing (and mind-blowing) facts listed.  Seven of my favorites are…

  1. Russia has a larger surface area than Pluto.

  2. Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire.

  3. Mammoths went extinct 1,000 years after the Egyptians finished building the Great Pyramid.

  4. Alaska is simultaneously the most northern, the most western, and the most eastern state in the U.S.

  5. Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the iPhone than she did to the building of the Great Pyramid.

  6. Will Smith is now older than Uncle Phil was at the beginning of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

  7. The oldest person on Earth was born closer to the signing of the United States Constitution than to now.

Mike Torrance and Robert Rath

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Mike Torrance aka The Krayola Kidd is back and he’s brought Sly as Robert Rath from Assassins with him!  Over the coming weeks/months I’ll be posting more of Mike’s sketch card commissions.  My goal is to eventually get a card for every character Sly has played.  We’re well on our way!

You can see more of Mike’s art at his Deviant Art site. Mike is available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable.

 

Salem’s Lot: The Ultimate In Terror

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When I saw this poster for Salem’s Lot  it brought back a lot of memories.  Released as a 3 hour television mini-series in 1979, Salem’s Lot  was one of the last tv events that you had to be in front of the set when it aired if you wanted to see it.  Remember, this was in the pre-VCR (anyone remember those) days.

I was excited about the mini-series since I’d read and enjoyed Stephen King’s novel Salem’s Lot.  The mini-series was well done and lived up to expectations.  I still can see that kid vampire floating outside a second story window asking to be let in… CREEPY!

Source: Dr. Horror Geek.