15 Things You Might Not Know About “Conan the Destroyer”

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I enjoyed Chris Hutchinson’s 15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Conan the Destroyer more than the movie Conan the Destroyer.  Here are my three favorite things…

1. THE DIRECTOR INSPIRED HIS WAY.

Director John Milius drew major inspiration for the first Conan movie, Conan the Barbarian, from 1958’s The Vikings. When Milius was unavailable to direct the Conan sequel, Conan the Destroyer, producer Dino De Laurentiis went to the original source by hiring The Vikingsdirector Richard Fleischer. [They should have waited for Milius. – Craig]

11. ANDRE THE GIANT MAKES A VERY SUBTLE CAMEO.

Who was the actor underneath the rubber suit created for the monstrous deity Dagoth? None other than André René Roussimoff, better known as the wrestler André the Giant.

 

15. AND THEN POLITICS SCRAPPED ANOTHER SEQUEL.

Original director John Milius came close to making a third Conan movie with Schwarzenegger in 2002. His script, entitled “King Conan: Crown of Iron,” was to be directed by The Matrix’s Andy and Lana Wachowski, but was scrapped after Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California. [Can you imagine what that Conan film would have looked like.  Crom!  – Craig]

Source: Mental Floss.

6 Ways Movies Get Space Wrong

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Continuing with our space theme, Mark Hill  at Cracked presents 6 Ways Movies Get Space Wrong (by Astronaut Chris Hadfield.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the piece which I highly recommend reading…

SPACE WILL KILL YOU IN SURPRISINGLY MUNDANE WAYS!  Luca Parmitano came close to drowning in space when his water supply leaked into his helmet. The crew of the Russian space station Mir had to put out a fire while dealing with malfunctioning gas masks. And we all know the story of Apollo 13, although the true-life incident involved much less Tom Hanks.

 

GOING INTO SPACE MAKES YOU PUKE, COMING BACK MAKES YOU SHAMBLE LIKE A DRUNK.  …On average, it takes about one to three days to adjust to weightlessness… Once you’re physically comfortable, you’re still a long way off from moving around gracefully…

Returning to Earth is a bigger adjustment, because your bones and muscles atrophy when they aren’t in use. I lost 8 percent of the bone across my hips, and that’s after two hours of exercise every single day in space. I wouldn’t have been able to pass a sobriety test for a week after I returned, and it was four months before I could run properly. In that first week, you’re lumbering around like a guy in a Godzilla costume.

 

 

10 Little Known Facts About the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

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Eric Newill at Do You Remember posted 10 Little Known Facts About the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.

You’ll probably know some of the facts, but there may be a surprise or two along the way.  These were my three favorites…

The crew originally wanted to call their vessels Charlie Brown and Snoopy, but the bureaucrats in charge thought that would undermine the gravity of the mission. Snowcone andHaystack became the working names, before the more august Columbia and Eagle were decided upon as the final choices.

Armstrong carried on board a piece of wood from the 1903 airplane crafted by the Wright brothers, as well as a diamond-studded pin in honor of the deceased astronauts of the doomed 1967 Apollo 1 mission.

In covering the landing live, CBS anchor Walter Cronkite was not only overjoyed to deliver such good news in a troubled time, but was also famously at a loss for words, rubbing his hands gleefully and saying only, “Whew…boy.” In recognition of his continued enthusiastic coverage of America’s space program, NASA presented him with an Ambassador of Exploration Award in 2006; he was the only non-astronaut or non–NASA employee to receive one.

I hope that someday space flight becomes important again. I would love to live to see a manned expedition to Mars.

32 Movies With Unbelievably Bleak Endings

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Louis Peitzman at Buzzfeed recently took a look at…32 Movies With Unbelievably Bleak Endings.

These endings aren’t just unhappy — they’ll leave you feeling completely hopeless.

Of the 32 movies with bleak endings, I’ve seen 22.

Of the 22, while more upbeat endings could be imagined, the bleak finales seem right.  I am still surprised that The Mist  ended the way it did.  Talk about bleak endings. That is the bleakest ending of all the movies listed.  I commend the folks behind it to have the stones to go with it.

The Fury 500 Cap Machine Gun

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The Fury 500 cap machine gun is a toy I would have loved to have had as a kid!  Sadly, I never had one, or had even seen even a photo of one until recently.

I wanted to find out more about the Fury 500.  The Nichols Cap Gun site had the info! The Fury 500 was produced in 1960 [I was two years old and way too young for that bad boy].  Can you imagine a gun like that today for kids?  Parents and consumer groups would go crazy.

Z-Nation: “This is an Extinction-Scale Event…”

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“This is an extinction-scale event.  The president is dead.”

Those are the first two sentences you hear in the trailer to Z Nation  which premieres in September on the SyFy Channel.

While it’s true that I’m skeptical of anything brought to us from the folks behind Sharknado, the trailer does look promising.  Let me warn you before you watch the Z Nation  trailer below, there is typical zombie movie gore.  So give the trailer a view and let me know your thoughts.

Playing The Beatles Backwards Devil Worship Quiz

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So, do ya want to take The Playing Beatles Backwards Devil Worship Quiz?

If you do, you’ll probably beat me.  I scored 70% and the average internet player scores 71.54%.  I thought I’d do better, but second-guessed myself on numbers 5 and 9.

I remember being introduced to the whole hidden messages thing about Paul being dead when I was in junior high.  A new conspiracy theory.  I was intrigued.  Hidden messages in Beatles songs and album covers.  Was Paul really dead and the remaining Beatles trying to send messages to fans?

The crazy thing is Paul may end up being the last Beatle standing.

“Longmire” Poster, TV Series & Novels

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I really like this poster for Longmire created by Thinkinb4Talkin.

Longmire is one of my favorite shows currently running.  I also think it is the most under-rated and the only one to continue to get better and better with each season.  If you have been watching then you know what I mean.  If you somehow missed this gem, then please give it a go.

If you’re interested, here’s a link to the first four Longmire novels by Craig Johnson.  I haven’t read all of them, but the ones I have read are excellent and they are what got me interested in the tv series.

The Franchize, Stallone & The Lords of Flatbush

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Jerry Gaylord aka The Franchize returns with his take on Sly from Lords of Flatbush.  This may be his best Stallone sketch yet, and they’ve all been winners!

I highly recommend Jerry to all sketch collectors. He quickly responds to e-mails, his turnaround time is fast and he packages the art to ensure it arrives safely.

To check out more of Jerry’s art, head here. – Craig

Hey! You’re Getting Old!

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If you dig trivia you’ll get a kick out of the You’re Getting Old site.  Plug in your birth date and you’ll discover things like…

  • How many days you’ve lived so far [20,379]
  • The total number of candles on your birthday cakes so far [1,540]
  • The approximate number of people on Earth when you were born [2,972,647,249] and now.
  • How many miles you’ve traveled through space [689,300,000+] since you were born.
  • The famous milestones you’ve been alive to witness.
  • Out of 100,000 people born as the same day as you, the percentage still alive [89%].
  • And more…

“Curse of the Werewolf” is the Best…

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As a kid the wolf man was always my favorite monster.  This is interesting because werewolf movies weren’t [and aren’t] my favorite monster movies.  Perhaps it was because the wolf man was a victim and easier to relate to than an undead vampire, a monster made of corpses or a fishman.

Ah, but I digress…

So the wolf man was always my favorite monster.  The Curse of the Werewolf  was [and remains] my favorite werewolf movie.  I agree with everything John Landis has to say about The Curse of the Werewolf  and would only add that the design of the wolf man for Curse of the Werewolf  has never been topped.