Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Boy, did the tv commercial below bring back some great memories. When I was a kid growing up in the 60’s, I loved my action figures. My favorites were General Custer, Johnny West and Chief Cherokee all from Marx’s Best of the West Series. Hard to believe how many hours I spent playing with them… and my guess is kids today would enjoy them if we could pry them away from their video games.
Maila Nurmi, better known as Vampira, passed away yesterday at the age of 86. Although few would recognize Ms. Nurmi’s name, almost everyone knows her “Vampira” character. Maila did make appearances in a few movies after her tv show was cancelled; most notably Ed Wood’s infamous “Plan 9 From Outer Space.” Maila left show business in the early 60’s, but her spirit lived on through the antics of dozens of other horror hosts such as Zacherley, Sammy Terry, and even Elvira [who was later unsuccessfully sued by Maila]. With the growth of the goth movement, the “popularity” of “Plan 9” and Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood” film, Maila enjoyed renewed popularity in her later years.
It appears that Maila died leaving behind no family members. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and many fans.
George Romero, The King of Zombies, is back with a look at his new movie, Diary of the Dead.
Merv Griffin died nearly five months ago… yet he made me laugh today. That’s more than I can say for a lot of comedians still alive.
One of the benefits of cleaning is finding things you haven’t seen in a while. That’s the case with the drawing above. It was penciled and inked by the great Neal Adams. I had a stat made of it and my best bud, John Beatty colored the stat. This was done in the early 80’s. Over twenty years later and I’m still diggin’ it.
I first discovered these guys doing a David Blaine Street Magician skit about a year ago. I didn’t link to the first one or the second one because of some profanity. The third one was just released and I decided to post all of them with this warning: If you click on the links in this post you will hear some profanity during some really funny skits. You have been warned! Click at your own risk…
We may have seen the last of Matt Hughes as far as MMA fighting goes. Still there are other options that would keep him active in the sport. Hughes would make an excellent commentator. He has already written one well-received book.
But if Matt Hughes decides to retire totally from the limelight, how will he be remembered? I think Dave Doyle sums it up perfectly HERE.
5] (Tie) The Terror by Dan Simmons is a novelization of the true doomed 1840s Franklin expedition to find a Northwest passage. History tells us there were no survivors and the men died from exposure, starvation and worse. Simmons’ story combines all of the interesting historical details and adds a new menace, a creature which feeds on men. The Terror was a national best seller. Stephen King listed it as one of his favorite books of the year. Who am I to argue with Stephen King?
5] (tie) No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. You know how much I loved the book and movie. If you haven’t read it [or seen it], you should.
4] Duane Swiercznski jumped to my “must read” list with his very hip, very cool novel The Wheelman. Since then I’ve also read his Secret Dead Men and The Blonde. All of which get a thumbs up and The Blonde comes in at #4 on this year’s best of list.
3] No Dominion by Charlie Huston. C’mon, it’s Joe Pitt — and Charlie Huston. Enough said.
1] L.A. Rex by Will Beall. Beall is a real LA cop and LA Rex is his first novel. I hope that there are more to come because this tale of cops, gangbangers, drug dealers and the gritty life of those in South Central pulled me in and wouldn’t let go. LA Rex is currently a bargain book purchase if you click HERE. You can get the hard cover for less than the price of a paperback… but supplies are limited.
UFC 79 Results:
Rich Clementi vs Melvin Guillard. I took Clementi because I felt that Guillard would crack under the pressure of a Clementi attack. Sure enough, with just seconds left in the first round, Guillard tapped.
Lyoto Machida vs Rameau Sokoudjou. I didn’t know much about either but jumped on the Machida bandwagon upon seeing his record. Machida dominated and won via arm triangle in round two.
Eddie Sanchez vs Soa Palelei. Again, I didn’t know much about the fighters, but since I was up 2-0 and my brother wanted Palelei, I went with Sanchez who won in less than spectacular fashion via a 3rd round stoppage.
Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva was a tough call. I figured one of these warriors would knock out the other — the question was who would come out on top? One of the pre-fight segments showed the two facing off after the weigh-in. Silva suddenly jumped forward at Liddell… and… Liddell… did… not… flinch. That was enough for me — I went with Liddell. Both fighters were in great shape and during the fight each rocked the other. Liddell won rounds one and three for sure and possibly even the second — at least on my scorecard. [Yeah, I was surprised it went the distance]. The judges felt the same with two giving it to Liddell 30-27 and one giving it to Liddell 29-28. A good showing by both fighters insures more to come from each.
Georges St. Pierre vs Matt Hughes pitted two of my favorite fighters against each other. Another tough decision but in the end I went with St. Pierre. I made the right choice as he dominated Hughes, winning via verbal tapout in the second round.
A great night of fights was made even better by me going 5 – 0 in my selections. Now on to 2008!
Presented without comment… Can’t Tase This.
