Horrorthon

"My name is Talky Tina, and I'm going to kill you"

2012-01-27T17:28:00.001-08:00

Totally wicked! (As the kid at the end of The Incredibles exclaims hilariously.) You can actually buy the "Talky Tina" doll from that genuinely terrifying Twilight Zone episode with Telly Savalas. It really does all the creepy stuff from the episode: the eyes open by themselves, and it says all the lines from the show (by means of the original soundtrack), including:

"My name is Talky Tina, and I love you very much."
"My name is Talky Tina, and I don't think I like you."
"My name is Talky Tina, and you'll be sorry."
"My name is Talky Tina, and I'm going to kill you."
"My name is Talky Tina, and you'd better be nice to me."

Remember that last line, when Tavalas is dead and the wife drops the doll in slow motion? Gives me chills. Anyway it's just $139 bucks. Look!

Awesome: Two Teens Send LEGO Minifig To 80,000 Feet

2012-01-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

From geekology, 17-year old Canadian twelfth graders Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad recently sent a LEGO minifig to 80,000-feet (~15 miles/24km/not really outerspace but still really damn high) with a weather balloon, and this is the video to prove it. The young men spent $400 and four months of Saturdays planning the minifig's journey, but somehow managed to send him up without a helmet. You killed him! Besides that though, good lookin. Me? I've never sent anything anywhere. "But I thought you used to have that pen-pal in prison?" I don't want to talk about him.

‘MONUMENTAL’: KIRK CAMERON DREAMS OF A MORE REAGAN-Y ‘MURICA

2012-01-27T14:32:00.000-08:00

From filmdrunk, Kirk Cameron is worried about where this country’s headed. Not only is our president a part-negroid socialist who burns bibles to keep pagan babies warm, hardly anyone came to Kirk’s birthday party (except Belinda- GO OUTSIDE BELINDA! Sandwiches aren’t for sinners! I heard you humming that Dixie Chicks song!). That’s why Kirk is on a journey through history to find out what made America great once. Specifically, he tours the alternate history version of the 80s as envisioned by Ronald Reagan fan-fiction, and the part of the Founding Father story that doesn’t mention that almost none of them were Christians. This journey is chronicled in Kirk’s new documentary, Monumental, the trailer for which you can watch below.

But who am I kidding? The real draw is Kirk Cameron and his incredible reaction shots. No one wordlessly conveys humility before Christ like Kirk Cameron. He should become the Andy Serkis of Christian movies, where WETA uses Kirk Cameron covered in performance-capture censors to imbue each performer with the spirit of Jesus. It’s just too bad those black tights are a sin. Not to mention pre-marital mo-cap.

“I went on a journey to retrace the journey of our forefathers, to see if they left us some kind of a map that would guide us back to the foundation of America’s success.”

Try 1945 Europe, when it was all bombed and burnt to shit and America was the lone remaining manufacturing power. Or to Teddy Roosevelt. He rode a moose once and it was totally badass.

“What I discovered is that our history has not just been forgotten, it’s been re-written.”

For instance, did you know that Ronald Reagan was an actor? Really, it’s true! He used to be in monkey movies, like Joey from Friends. There was this one, Bedtime for Bonzo. Apparently it was about a chimp who wouldn’t go to sleep. They couldn’t get him to go to sleep, so they called Ronald Reagan. And Ronald Reagan came and told the chimp, “Look, chimp, we both know that you are not my grandfather. But if we put aside our differences, together we can defeat communism. Those goddamned atheists will have to pry this banana from my cold, dead, intelligently-designed hand.”

The theme to Welcome Back, Kotter is my favorite TV theme, what's yours?

2012-01-27T06:49:00.001-08:00

I’m not talking about the quality of a TV show, just the theme. What is your favorite TV theme song?

If You Close Your Eyes and Squint, There's Kind of a New Monty Python Movie Coming (Not Really)

2012-01-27T06:29:00.000-08:00

From variety, Members of Monty Python's Flying Circus are reteaming for "Absolutely Anything," a sci-fi farce combining CGI and live action, with Terry Jones to direct and Mike Medavoy to produce.

Plans are for filming to begin in the U.K. this spring, with the Pythons voicing key roles as a a group of aliens who endow an earthling with the power to do "absolutely anything" to see what a mess he'll make of things -- which is precisely what happens. There's also a talking dog named Dennis who seems to understand more about the mayhem that ensues than anyone else does. Robin Williams will voice the character.

From toplessrobot, Besides Terry Jones as director, Variety goes on to report that John Cleese, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin have already agreed to do voices for the film, and that producers are "attempting" to sign Eric Idle (call me crazy, but I'm willing to bet he does it). Which makes it as full a reunion as we're going to get... and also Robin Williams will be there. ...nnngyeengh? (rueful shrug) Look, this may be our last chance for any sort of Python reunion, so let's just take what we can get here. We can complain about it how it sucks after they're all dead.

Danger, Will Robinson, Danger, I died! RIP Dick Tufeld

2012-01-27T06:07:00.000-08:00

I’ve never seen a Lost in Space fan (I’ve probably watched it twice in my life) but I always thought that the robot was kind of cool. Actually, now that I think about it, I think I’m mixing it up with the Forbidden Planet robot. I don’t even know what my point is here; oh yeah, the voice of the robot from Lost in Space died.

'Welcome Back Kotter' star Robert Hegyes dies

2012-01-26T18:22:00.000-08:00

From ew, The actor best known for playing Jewish Puerto Rican student Juan Epstein on the 1970s TV show Welcome Back Kotter has died.
The Flynn & Son Funeral Home in Fords, N.J., says it was informed of Robert Hegyes’ death Thursday by the actor’s family. He was 60.

A spokesman at JFK Medical Center in Edison, N.J., told the Star-Ledger newspaper that Hegyes, of Metuchen, arrived at the hospital in the morning in full cardiac arrest and died.

Hegyes was appearing on Broadway in 1975 when he auditioned for Kotter, a TV series about a teacher who returns to the inner-city school of his youth to teach a group of remedial students. They included the character Vinnie Barbarino, played by John Travolta.

Skull And Bones

2012-01-26T16:11:00.001-08:00

ABBA to release first new song in 18 years

2012-01-26T10:15:00.000-08:00

(Rolling Stone) -- ABBA have announced plans to reissue their final album, "The Visitors," with a previously unreleased song on April 23.

"From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel," a demo recorded around the time "The Visitors" was released in 1981, will be the first new ABBA recording released since the box set "Thank You for the Music" was issued in 1994.

The new version of "The Visitors" will also include six previously released bonus tracks and a DVD featuring rare and unreleased footage from the Swedish pop band's archives, including their last-ever live performance on the BBC's "Late Late Breakfast Show" in December of 1982.

ABBA disbanded in 1982 and have since refused to reunite. The band even declined to get back together for their induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

Man Creates $150,000 "Star Trek" Apartment, Wife Destroys It in Divorce

2012-01-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

From worstpreviews, Tony Alleyne has spent over ten years transforming his 500 square-foot UK apartment into the interior of the USS Voyager from "Star Trek." It has cost him around $150,000 to do so, and now because of a divorce, he is forced to rip everything down.

Some of the features of the apartment include hand-crafted furnishings, a high-tech bathroom, voice-activated blue lighting, air conditioning, a command console and his own transporter room.

Before we start blaming the wife, it's important to point out that Alleyne and his wife have lived in the apartment since 1994 and she has been paying the entire mortgage for it. Meanwhile, Alleyne has been skipping on the mortgage in order to spend all his money to turn their apartment into a "Star Trek" starship.

Now that they are getting divorced, the wife wants to sell the apartment and wants it back to how it was. And he doesn't have any money to buy the apartment from her. "To say I'm gutted is an understatement," said Alleyne. "It is my life's work - and it looks like it's going into a skip. I admit there were tears."

See pictures of the apartment here

Glass Floor Supported By 180,000 Little Plastic People

2012-01-25T05:18:00.000-08:00

From geekology, This is a glass floor supported entirely by the combined effort of 180,000 little plastic people. It was constructed by South Korean artist Do Ho Suh and at first I thought all the figurines were women and the floor represented the glass ceiling, but then I realized I got high with the bartender on my lunch break and I'm reading way too far into things. Oh shit, oh shit -- this popup says I just won an iPad!

See more pics here

Sequels that thankfully never happened

2012-01-25T04:21:00.000-08:00

From imakenews.com, Some of the worst films ever made are, in fact, sequels to some of the best films ever made. While some have gotten it right (Godfather II, anyone?), many more have left people longing for the originals. Luckily, some studio executives had the wherewithal to put the kibosh on these prospective sequels.

Just a few short weeks after the release of the smash hit E.T., director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Melissa Mathison reunited to write a treatment for a proposed sequel. It sounded like a good idea, until you read the treatment. Seems the duo planned to turn the heartwarming family classic into a total fear fest. The proposed story called for a new breed of evil aliens to come crashing down to earth and abduct the film’s main child protagonists, and charged poor little E.T. with their rescue. Yikes.

Read more here

You can't see the actor

2012-01-24T11:17:00.000-08:00

Minor cinematic observation: some of the best directors have used this really great counterintuitve technique at extremely dramatic moments in their movies. The protagonist is at an absolutely critical juncture in his/her story, and (usually) is having a conversation; maybe it's on the phone, or maybe it's with somebody else in the room. (Or maybe it's not a conversation; maybe it's a monologue.) And as the man speaks, you can't see him. You can see him all right, but his face is in shadow or obscured, or (most often) he's turned away from the camera (maybe on the phone) and all you see is the back of his head. For example (no spoilers):

HARRISON FORD (in Witness) takes advantage of a rare trip out of the Amish community to find a pay phone and connect with his partner. He discovers some disquieting developments, makes another call, abruptly hangs up the phone...and just stands there, getting not just mad but Harrison-Ford-mad. But we can't see his face since Peter Weir photographs the entire scene from behind his head.

JOSH BROLIN has his (only?) phone conversation with Javier Bardem (in No Country For Old Men). Same remarks. Extremely intense confrontation, but we never cut away to Bardem and we never see Brolin's face; just the back of his head.

ROBERT DE NIRO sits and weeps in a Florida jail cell (in Raging Bull). He's facing the camera, but his entire body is in deep shadow except for his right shoulder and arm (which shake as he cries). We can hear him whimpering but we can't see him at all.

ORSON WELLES, as Citizen Kane, signs his "Declaration of Principles" in the New York Enquirer editorial offices. He's leaning over the desk with a pen, talking to Bernstein and Leland. His entire upper body is silhouetted; you can't see his face (above). (Roger Ebert pointed this one out, in his excellent feature-length commentary.)

ALAN ARKIN has a crucial conversation with an elderly resident of the coastal Italian town his unit's based near (in Mike Nichols' stunning Catch-22 adaptation). We're cutting back and forth between Yossarian (Arkin) and his interlocutor, an old Italian local. In Arkin's tight shots, he's entirely silhouetted by the ambience from the Italian village streetlights. His head bobs (in tight focus) as he speaks, but it's a featureless black outline.

Any others?

Top 15 movies I didn't see in 2011 because they looked terrible

2012-01-24T11:16:00.000-08:00

From geektyrant, So I thought what the hell, why not make a Top 15 list of movies that I didn't see over the last year because of how bad they looked. My decision not to see any of these movies was based on how bad they looked due to the trailers that the studio released for them, as well as some of the actors that were involved with the projects.

I can't really give any kind of commentary on the films because I haven't seen any of them, and I seriously doubt I will ever watch them. This list is based purely off the fact that they looked absolutely terrible.

So here's the list, each one accompanied by the movie trailer that turned me off on the film. And yes, there are two Nicolas Cage movies on the list. This list is in no particular order"

See full list here

'Real' Beavis and Butthead

2012-01-24T11:08:00.000-08:00

[via slashfilm]

Oscars 2012: And the nominees are...

2012-01-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

From ew, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards. This year’s most nominated film? Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, with 11 nominations, followed by Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist, with 10.

Below are the rest of the nominees.

The Oscars will be televised on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 26.

Best Picture

The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Full list here

Welcome to Megan Fox Island

2012-01-23T09:52:00.001-08:00

Halloween

2012-01-23T08:33:00.000-08:00

I entered this in this week's Cracked photoplasty competition. The theme was "movies remade as light-hearted romantic comedies".

Birthday love!

2012-01-23T00:37:00.000-08:00

Please join me in wishing Crystal Math a kickass, glorious happy birthday! For those of you who have not yet met her - she's a warm, genuine and all around lovely human being and I look forward to introducing her to all of the east coast Horrorthonners when we visit New York and Rhode Island next month (2/18-2/26, details to follow!)

Mary Shelly's Frankenhole Season 2 Starts Tonight!

2012-01-22T12:50:00.002-08:00

Set your DVRs! Or stay up late! It starts at quarter past midnight.

A lot of people worked really hard on this, but if you want to look for things I made personally, there's the stage set, the backstage set, and the stake-firing vampire hunter's musket. Enjoy!

Totally worth 2 hours of your time

2012-01-22T01:10:00.001-08:00

In 2009, Casey Pugh asked thousands of Internet users to remake "Star Wars: A New Hope" into a fan film, 15 seconds at a time. Contributors were allowed to recreate scenes from Star Wars however they wanted. Within just a few months SWU grew into a wild success. The creativity that poured into the project was unimaginable.

SWU has been featured in documentaries, news features and conferences around the world for its unique appeal. In 2010 we won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media.

Finally, the crowd-sourced project has been stitched together and put online for your streaming pleasure. The "Director's Cut" is a feature-length film that contains hand-picked scenes from the entire StarWarsUncut.com collection.

Because I'm Catfreeek That's Why

2012-01-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

Thanks Abduscias for finding this one.

Slow news day: What was the first concert you ever saw?

2012-01-20T05:13:00.000-08:00

The first concert I ever saw live was Duran Duran in 1983 at the Worcester Centrum in Worcester, MA. My ticket cost $15 (yes I’ve kept all my concert stubs) and I believe I attended the show with Octo and a kid named Roger. We left before the encores because we didn’t know there was such a thing as encores. The next day in school I learned that Duran Duran played for an additional 30 minutes after we left. The last show I saw was Soundgarden at Mohegan Sun last summer. My ticket cost $200. My next show is the recently reunited Van Halen (March) and I'm checking out the action with Deroaches. I’m bored folks, tell me your tales!

woohoo!

2012-01-19T17:29:00.002-08:00

So I googled "Horrorthon" today, and discovered that for that moment at least our little blog was the first item that came up! Pats on the back all 'round! We're number 1!

There Is No Meth Like Munster Meth

2012-01-19T10:04:00.000-08:00

My Two Word Opinion Of DC Comic's New Corporate Logo

2012-01-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

Hate it.

Skull And Bones

2012-01-19T09:32:00.001-08:00

space heater

2012-01-18T22:52:00.000-08:00

Moonrise Kingdom was shot entirely in Rhode Island?

2012-01-18T15:13:00.000-08:00

I don't have an opinion about Wes Anderson's new film but I just learned (from our local, crappy news) that his latest film was shot in R.I. Rhode Island is so tiny, how is it that we were unaware that this was being filmed here?

What was the first movie you ever watched in the theater?

2012-01-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

I have mistakenly always believed that Pete’s Dragon was the first movie I ever watched in the theater, that is, until I just looked it up saw that it came out in 1977, which means I had seen other films in the theater before it. After wracking my brain I concluded that the first film I ever watched in a movie theater was Herbie Rides Again (1974). As I wait for my next patient to arrive please tell me about the first films you ever watched, Horrorthonners!

Chuck Norris is a wuss

2012-01-18T04:25:00.000-08:00

From geekology, After speaking to some of the cast of "The Expendables," it became clear that everyone wanted Chuck Norris to join the cast. Sylvester Stallone eventually made that happen, but now comes word that casting meant turning an R-rated franchise to a PG-13 one.

"In 'Expendables 2,' there was a lot of vulgar dialogue in the screenplay. For this reason, many young people wouldn't be able to watch this," Norris said to Polish newspaper Gazeta. "I don't star in movies like this. Because of that I said I won't be a part of that if the vulgar language is not removed. Producers accepted my conditions and the movie will be rated PG-13."

The film has yet to get rating by the MPAA, so we'll see if the producers kept their word to Norris. But if they did, expect the language and the violence to be toned down.

I won stuff!

2012-01-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

My entry in the Lego Speeder Bike contest got the last possible prize available! I'm the fourth entry in the Special Honor category, but one of the higher-up entries already won in another category. You can see the winners here.

The Special Honor category emerged when a Lego-compatible gun making company called Brickarms donated the prizes below, so the items in one of those columns are coming my way (I hope it's column A or C, because of phasers).

2012 predictions

2012-01-17T02:34:00.000-08:00

I'm just curious what everyone thinks. Here's my take:

Sherlock (Season 2)
Already seen it (all three episodes): it's fantastic!
Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D
I'm more partial to the prequel trilogy than probably anyone else here on Horrorthon. I'd even go so far as to say that The Phantom Menace is kind of comparable to the first few chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring: very little happens, the storytelling isn't up to par yet, the setting is idyllic, and you've got absolutely no idea of the violent, dark wonders to come. (And if Book I of Lord of the Rings had been written/published years after The Return of the King, everybody would be going, "Tom Bombadil? A shortcut to mushrooms? What the hell is this?") Anyway, as I've remarked elsewhere the 3D looks unbelievable, so I'm in.
Mad Men (Season 5)
I think this will be awesome. Season 4 was the best yet, and it left us at a wondrous stopping point. (SPOILER WARNING for Octo, Julie and others who aren't caught up. NOBODY SAY ANYTHING!)
Titanic 3D
I'm not the biggest fan of this movie to begin with (although I was at the time), but, again, the 3D looks unbelievable (at least in the preview I saw).
The Avengers
I think this will be pretty good but not great. Like, you have a blast and pump your fist during the first hour, but by the next day you kind of forget you saw it, you know? It probably won't have the surprising emotional depth of Thor.
Prometheus
I have no idea. It could be brilliant and it could be embarassing crap. Ridley Scott is like that.
The Amazing Spider-Man
I think this looks (no pun intended) totally amazing, but I realize that nobody here is going to agree with me, since it's got two Horrorthon strikes against it: nobody likes reboots (except me) and nobody likes origin stories (except me). But I just saw The Social Network and I think Andrew Garfield is great, and, come on: Emma Stone! Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Uncle Ben and Aunt May!
The Dark Knight Rises
I actually think this is going to be bad. I mean, enough already. I thought Inception was way overrated. I'm tired of Christopher Nolan and what a big deal everything is. Why so serious?
Skyfall
This will kick ass.
The Hobbit
I think this will be the one movie to rule them all, this year.

Comments?

Help me out with my YouTube channel...?

2012-01-16T07:55:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone, I've (finally) begun putting my YouTube channel together, using HD versions of my portfolio clips. It's not done yet, but maybe I could get some "views" from you guys? YouTube turns out to be a vastly better solution than continuing to host clips on my own measly server (and who knows, maybe I'll get some views beyond my narrow circle of acquaintanceship). Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/user/JordanOrlando

(I realize the captions aren't there yet so it can be difficult to ascertain what the hell you're looking at. Sorry about that.)

P.S.: Cal, if you're reading, I refer you to my 2001 trailer and my 2d cartoons.

Sea Monster Still at Large

2012-01-16T00:56:00.000-08:00

A few days ago Landshark brought us up to speed on the shocking Monster Attack on RI Beach. For some reason the story didn't receive mainstream media attention (conspiracy perhaps?) so I decided to take matters into my own hands and create this rendition of the creature based on the description from the credible witnesses who survived the ordeal. Hopefully this will assist scientists in identifying and capturing the monster before it terrorizes more innocent Rhode Islanders.

Wes Anderson's new movie trailer!

2012-01-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

Moonrise Kingdom

Hee!

Oscar Goldman's desk?

2012-01-13T07:55:00.001-08:00

After years of fruitless searching I think I've found images of Oscar Goldman's desk (from The Six Million Dollar Man). When I was a kid, I considered this to be the El Dorado of desks. The only better desk was maybe Commander John Koenig's desk from Space: 1999, but that was impossible to reproduce since it incorporated an advanced computer terminal, and only NASA personnel would have an actual computer (with a screen and a keyboard!) at their desks, and anyway Koenig's desk took up way too much room and would have dominated my bedroom in an awkward way. But Oscar Goldman's desk was perfect and I lusted after it. (Goldman's office -- at the headquarters of the OSI -- also had a recessed phone screen hidden behind a map of the world over the couch, and, out the window, a panoramic view of the Capitol dome from an impossible vantage point near the middle of the Mall, because, damn it, this is Washington -- it's all very serious).

Unfortunately images of Oscar Goldman's office are impossible to come by, largely because the series is tied up in litigation and unavailable on home video. But I think I've found the desk! The above images are from the 1978 Columbo episode "Make Me a Perfect Murder." In the story, this is supposed to be the new office of a television executive (George C. Scott's wife Trish Van Devere, visible in the pictures). The desk even prompts dialogue: Columbo says, "That's a very impressive desk, Ma'am. You could run the world from a desk like that."

Why am I sure this is Oscar Goldman's desk? Because Columbo and The Six Million Dollar Man were contemporaneous Universal Television productions, which means that the prop could have easily been brought from one set at Universal City Studios to another.

Just look at all that crucial equipment you've got lined up in front of you! There's (as far as I can tell) a cassette tape recorder, an intercom, something else, a phone (with six lines), a calculator (not just "four functions" either; it looks like it's got memory keys and maybe one or two stat functions), a Dictaphone, and a multiband AM/FM radio. (I can't identify the leftmost device; the chrome square in the bottom left corner might be a two-axis stick controller like you'd see on a radio-controlled plane's remote control, but beyond that I'm stumped. Any guesses on this or the mysterious central machine are welcome.) It's a great setup, and, if she wants to watch television, it's right there in front of her (Oscar Goldman probably didn't have time for such trivialities). I can't tell you how much I wanted this desk when I was a kid. I acknowledged that I would have to put my typewriter somewhere else, but it would have been totally worth it.

ADDENDUM: Kenner Toys did release a playset of "OSI Headquarters" (intended to be used with their "Oscar Goldman" action figure), but, as you can see, it's not the same:

ADDENDUM II: You'll note, however, that even the playset version has a slightly less impossible view of the Capitol Building as the TV show, since it's showing the East façade, which puts the "OSI" in either the Supreme Court building (no) or in the Senate Office Building (no). But at least he's not sitting at his desk on an enclosed pedestal in the middle of the grassy mall.

The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

2012-01-13T07:18:00.000-08:00

Okay, you've seen it...but it never gets old. I read once that George Lucas started a corporate screening of Star Wars (in some plush L.A. 20th Century Fox screening room with couches and ashtrays) by screening Chuck Jones' "Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century" (a Daffy/Porky sci-fi cartoon) as the teaser, "just to break the ice." How great would it be if Peter Jackson put this at the beginning of the 3D/IMAX The Hobbit?

Monster Attack on RI Beach

2012-01-12T19:14:00.000-08:00

This is some serious old school silliness.

Abobo Is Here

2012-01-12T04:56:00.000-08:00

From toplessrobot, As prophesied, Abobo's Big Adventure has arrived and is free to play right here. I should point out that the loading screen, in which Abobo inserts, takes out, and repeatedly blows on his own game cartridge, is better than most full videogames, NES, modern or otherwise. That is all.

Star Wars'd Out 1979 Dodge Ram Van

2012-01-12T04:09:00.000-08:00

From geekology, "Psst, GW -- want some free candy?" I wish, I'm trying to watch my weight. "Oh come on." Really, I can't, I'm already borderline diabetic. "Wanna take a ride in my Star Wars van?" ...Just give me two minutes to ditch my mom in Target.

THe 4 foot wide X wing has just set off the chain reaction that destroys the Death Star and is flying RIGHT AT YOU, casting its own shadow.... Vader is pissed...

This van started out as a lovingly cared for custom van. When I got it, the headers, flares, front spoiler, and dash tach were still there. I am only the third owner. It had a custom interior at one time but much of it had been removed and the van sat for a while. It came with lots of spares and ran great. It was the perfect blank slate........ We got busy. The force was with us.

This van collects a crowd wherever I go. I seriously underestimated the public reaction this vehicle would get. Kids point, mouths gape, even had a cop turn around and pull over to have his picture made with it.

The van is being sold on eBay for $9,000, which, if you do the math, is $8,600 more than I've got. Want to go in on it with me? You pony up the rest, then we'll alternate ownership on weekends. I'll even let you have the first one! "You're gonna hide your little brother in the back and call the cops on me, aren't you?" Then buy it back at police auction? Yes.

Want to purchse it on Ebay? Go here

What's going on with that live-action 'Star Wars' TV series?

2012-01-12T03:54:00.000-08:00

From ew, Star Wars fans all want to know the answer to one question: When can we expect to see Lucasfilm’s long-in-development live-action TV series? Well, sadly, the series, to paraphrase the iconic opening epigraph of the Star Wars movies, is “far, far away.”

Still, fans were given some hope Monday when IGN posted a video with Lucasfilm executive producer Rick McCallum at a press junket for the movie Red Tails (opening Jan. 20). In the clip, McCallum indicated that the series was, for now, being called Star Wars: Underworld — one of the bigger pieces of news pertaining to the hush-hush series since it was first announced in the wake of the last Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith, almost seven years ago.

EW followed up with McCallum at the Red Tails premiere after-party last night at New York City’s Gotham Hall. “No, it’s not the final title,” McCallum said of Star Wars: Underworld. “It’s just a working title.” A working title that may actually be quite revealing. The series has long been thought to focus on either peripheral characters from the movies or new characters outright — with nary a Jedi in sight — during the 19-year span between Episode III and Episode IV, the period during which the Empire was still consolidating its grip on that Galaxy Far, Far Away. “Underworld” suggests that the series will focus on the galaxy’s sordid demimonde. “Absolutely,” McCallum confirms. “Expect a lot of smugglers, gangsters, bounty hunters, and a few Wall Street-type power brokers. Nothing about Luke or the Skywalker saga.”

Full article here

2012 selective geek calendar

2012-01-10T22:30:00.000-08:00

Sherlock (Season 2) January 1st
Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D February 10th
Mad Men (Season 5) March 25th
Titanic 3D April 6th
The Avengers May 4th
Prometheus June 8th
The Amazing Spider-Man July 3rd
The Dark Knight Rises July 20th
Skyfall November 9th
The Hobbit December 14th

Not bad, huh? A lot of long bets pay off this year. (Yes, Sherlock has already started. I couldn't believe it either.) The last six movies on the list are pretty breathtaking. Am I missing anything?

New Doors song

2012-01-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

From ultimateclassicrock, Since Jim Morrison died some 40 years ago, you’d think the Doors would’ve run out of new material to release by now — but you’d be wrong. In fact, they’re dropping a new single today.

Producer Bruce Botnick found the track, titled ‘She Smells So Nice,’ while sifting through the band’s ‘L.A. Woman’ sessions, and it’s been released via the band’s Facebook page. The song finds the band in loose, countrified blues mode, with Morrison running through his version of the genre’s traditional lyrical playbook — always making sure to repeat the good lines twice right in a row — over an upbeat rolling bassline and Robbie Krieger’s excellent chicken-scratch guitar work.

And if the new single isn’t enough to satisfy your Doors jones, never fear — you can also look forward to a double-disc ‘L.A. Woman’ reissue, which will have eight previously-unreleased alternate versions of album tracks, rehearsal reels and a behind-the-scenes DVD. In addition, look for a new documentary about the album, ‘Mr. Mojo Risin’: The Story of L.A. Woman,’ on DVD/Blu-ray. Both are slated for release Jan. 24.

3D

2012-01-10T05:19:00.000-08:00

Continuing my trend of going in the opposite direction from the prevailing Horrorthon opinion, I have totally got the 3D bug.

What happened? Yesterday I saw The Adventures of Tintin (which, unfortunately, I could not see on an IMAX screen without going to Rochester; I missed my shot at the four Manhattan IMAX theaters) in Digital 3D. The movie was beyond glorious in my opinion (and I'm as die-hard a Tintin fan as you're likely to meet amongst Americans), but, more important, it was the first time I'd had a thoroughly enjoyable (and mind-blowing!) 3D viewing experience.

Actually I haven't seen that many 3D movies; the only recent ones I can think of are Avatar (ugh) and Beowulf, both of which I saw in IMAX and both of which had me less-than-ideally positioned in the theater. Avatar had jarringly intrusive 3D compositions, with Cameron constantly putting objects in the extreme foreground that get clipped by the margins of the screen, which is a disconcerting effect because the screen edges are coming at you like helicopter blades; it's like the dimensional warp in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 novelization where David Bowman is "looking into" the monolith at the end. (Also, Cameron likes to "stretch" the 3D along the Z-axis by boosting the ocular distance, so that the parallax convergence point is still at the screen surface but everything else appears at an exaggerated depth behind or in front.) Beowulf, on the other hand, used a much more gentle 3D technique, with misty Nordic landscapes moving back into the infinite horizon, but that movie had much cruder modeling and animation than Tintin, and, although Zemeckis did an admirable job of composing with the virtual 3D camera (and inventing both static and moving shots that took advantage of the 3D effects), Zemeckis is no Spielberg.

Before the movie, we were shown the usual string of six or seven trailers, and, to my surprise, they were all in 3D. This is the interesting part: I'd seen the The Hobbit trailer dozens of times, and, when it started in 3D, I was actually kind of underwhelmed. I watched the documentary vlog (which I recommend) in which Peter Jackson explained his Epic-RED-based stereoscopic filming technique, and it's Peter Jackson, so I was expecting the 3D footage to be spectacular, but there seemed to be something wrong with it; the shots had a sort of "View-Master" aspect, as if a bunch of flat card-like figures had been arranged in a really good New Zealand diorama. (It's quite possible that my eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the whole setup.) Then there was a bunch of mediocre-looking DreamWorks animation (that stuff's just always going to look like crap to me) and Pixar's Brave, which (after the brilliance of Up and Wall•E) seemed stylistically retrograde.

But what was most interesting were the trailers for the upcoming conversions of Star Wars Episode I and Titanic, both of which looked absolutely incredible -- my jaw hit the floor. I didn't even know that kind of result was even theoretically possible. Everyone sneers so dismissively at post-3D conversion, which corresponds with my primitive understanding of the challenges involved and the basic fakeness of trying to make flat images into 3D compositions (bad "View-Master" again). But the footage from Phantom Menace (the pod race!) and Titanic (the famous shot of Rose lifting her head at the beginning, revealing Kate Winslet's face beneath her purple hat brim) didn't look fake at all -- they looked better than the Hobbit footage. The Titanic stuff was especially impressive because the source material is so much more conventionally cinematic than anything Lucas was doing two years later (Phantom Menace is mostly bluescreen digital compositions to begin with). If they can make a regular movie look like that (after spending $19 million) then what could they do with The Godfather or Citizen Kane or 2001: A Space Odyssey? I realize at this point you're all throwing up but I really think if you'd seen the Titanic trailer in 3D you'd change your mind. As with so many other things, they get halfway there and you can either get excited about where they're going or bitch about how far they still have to go -- and (as I believe must have happened with "talkies" or color film) it's just better to be excited rather than bitchy, because once they learn how to do it well, the entire game changes.

TINTIN ADDENDUM: It's driving me nuts that so many reviews are saying that Tintin is "voiced by" Jamie Bell or Haddock is "voiced by" Andy Serkis. It's not just the voice, it's the entire physical and facial performance (even more than Gollum, whose face was animated "by hand"). They just don't get it!

Universal Unveils New Logo, Plans To Restore 13 Films For 100th Anniversary

2012-01-10T04:52:00.000-08:00

From Paramount Pictures isn't the only studio that can celebrate is 100th anniversary with a fancy new logo and a bunch of other over-the-top celebrations. Universal Pictures is also celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and even though their output in the last few years hasn't been all that spectacular, they've got a lot of past classics to look back on and celebrate this year. The studio announced today that they'll be restoring 13 of their classic titles, including Out of Africa, Jaws, The Sting, Schindler's List and To Kill a Mockingbird, which is also debuting on Blu-Ray for the first time this month.

On the theatrical side, the studio will be debuting an updated animated logo in front of The Lorax, which opens on March 2. It won't just be a one-time deal like the Paramount 100th anniversary logo, but it will be used on all the studio releases going forward-- you can see a still version of the new logo at the top of this post. There's a lot of nostalgic weight tied to the Universal logo, as there is for pretty much any studio logo, so inevitably people are going to cringe when they see the face of the studio change again. But hey, it's another thing to get nostalgic about and tell kids they missed out on, and maybe 20 years from now a filmmaker will revive the current logo as a video game and make everyone nostalgic all over again.

Though we might not see the evidence of the film restorations for awhile-- though Blu-Ray releases of Jaws and E.T. are planned for later this year-- they might be the most important part of the celebration, since older films like this can deteriorate and vanish if they're not taken care of. So if you start rolling your eyes at all the pomp and circumstance as Universal congratulates itself for a century in business, just remember there's some pure good coming out of this as well.

Real Life Smurf Creepier Than Anticipated

2012-01-09T05:50:00.000-08:00

[via geekology]

Box Office

2012-01-09T04:21:00.000-08:00

From ew, The 2012 box office got off to a fine start this weekend, as Paramount’s “found footage” (riiiight…) horror movie The Devil Inside, which the studio acquired for just under $1 million, earned a tremendous $34.5 million in its first three days, becoming the first breakout box office star since The Lion King 3D. In fact, the strong debut marks the third-best January opening of all time behind Cloverfield ($40.1 million) and a re-release of Star Wars ($35.9 million). Is this a sign of things to come in 2012?

Perhaps. But it’s more likely a sign of the recent popularity of possession movies. Demonic tales have made a mini-comeback in the last few years — starting with the success of 2005′s The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which earned $75.1 million domestically. Since then, similar titles like 2009′s A Haunting in Connectictut ($55.4 million), 2010′s The Last Exorcism ($41 million), and 2011′s Insidious ($54 million) have all proven lucrative thanks to their tiny budgets. Insidious, for example, cost just $1.5 million to make. Of course, the Paranormal Activity movies (the fourth of which was just announced this week) are the biggest success stories of this whole trend. A total of $8 million has been spent making the three “found footage” movies, yet they have earned $296.7 million domestically.

Paramount marketed The Devil Inside in much the same way the studio markets the Paranormal films. Commercials included ample shots of audiences screaming at the screen, and viewers were encouraged to use social media to chat up the film with the ”Tweet Your Scream” campaign. Indeed, all the promotional costs — certainly a much higher number than the budget — helped The Devil Inside achieve a stellar debut, but where does it go from here? Well, it falls. Fast.

Due to their overwhelmingly young audiences, who love to rush out to the theater on opening weekend, horror movies almost always open big and fall precipitously at the box office, but The Devil Inside, with its utterly terrible “F” CinemaScore grade (some issue has been raised as to whether the grade is actually an “F” or closer to the “C” range), will likely plummet even more quickly. Not that it really matters, though – the horror pic is already in the black, and it may finish with as much as $70 million.

More coverage here

Watch ‘The Thing’ Remade in Claymation, With Penguins

2012-01-05T04:24:00.000-08:00

From slashfilm, Maybe you’re familiar with Pingu. It’s a Swiss claymation animated series about penguins living at the South Pole, with the title also being the name of one of the young penguins.

Now Lee Hardcastle, the same guy who made the ‘T is for Toilet’ short film that won the competition to be the 26th entry in the horror anthology The ABCs of Death, has made a new claymation Pingu short. But this one is a remake of John Carpenter‘s The Thing. Even if you’re not familiar with the original character, this is a must-see.

Burger Leads to Satisfaction. Satisfaction Leads to Hate. Hate Leads to Fear.

2012-01-04T23:15:00.000-08:00

The French have created the world's first hamburger of interstellar evil. I think some time should be taken to applaud this and to wish we were all in France right now.

Read more here.

PS - How many of you out there have posted enough hyperlinks that you can write the HTML code for it from memory?

Jordan's anti- anti-CGI rant

2012-01-04T16:18:00.001-08:00

This isn't specifically directed at anyone on Horrorthon, but the topic does come up here, so I figured it's an appropriate place for this rant. I just finished watching the Coen brothers' True Grit (which had me bawling like a baby) and thought it was maybe the most perfect Western I've ever seen. While watching the end titles I saw a credit for the digital effects house Luma Pictures (whom I'd actually heard of because of their work on a couple of the Marvel superhero movies). I thought back over the movie and tried to guess what they'd done, and my guesses were correct (all the falling snow, and the extension of the Arkansas town in the top image above).

I'm so tired of reading and hearing people complain about CGI in movies, when (in my opinion) CGI is the best thing to happen to cinema since Technicolor, or maybe even sound. The complaints are universally based on a willfully ignorant point of view and a nonsensical argument.

Pre-digital special effects, almost without exception, look like special effects. They're nearly impossible to miss. The matte paintings of depression-era Chicago in The Sting; the model London rooftops in Murder by Decree; the tilted "out-the-window" backdrops in countless movies: they all look fake. You accept the fakeness; it's part of the "magic of movies."

But CGI changes all that. The four images above are the afforementioned True Grit (in which the long main street of the town is not a static image at all; it's glimpsed in the background of a dozen sweeping shots with people and horses moving in the foreground); Saving Private Ryan (where the Allied fleet off the coast of Normandy, including battleships and dirigibles, is made to match exactly to actual D-Day photographs); Quantum of Solace (which is filled with undetectable CGI like this bell-tower shootout in Siena) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (in which Cate Blanchett's head is attached to a real ballet dancer's body). All flawless, all undetectable, all expedient, showing you things you could never see without twenty times the budget (which is why something like Heaven's Gate was so expensive; Michael Cimino had to build the town of Casper, Wyoming circa 1890).

The only time people realize they're seeing CGI is when the image depicts something clearly impossible (like Asgard, or the starship Enterprise, or Iron Man flying around). Suddenly the audience realizes that it's got to be a trick, and they say, "Oh -- CGI." And then they complain about what they're seeing as if the CGI itself is to blame (rather than the creative decisions that went into determining what the shots would look like). Everyone starts bitching about how CGI intrinsically "looks fake," so why can't they do it the old way (where, as I've said, you can't possibly miss the effects shots; they stand out like a sore thumb even before anything happens in them because the film's been fed through an optical printer and has lost its first-generation crispness). It's bad logic and lazy thinking. If a little light came on next to the screen every time a digital effect was in use, people would realize how unbelievably great CGI is and would stop bitching. But this doesn't happen, so people stare at dozens and dozens of wonderful, difficult, artistic (and cost-saving!) CGI effects, not even realizing it, and then say they "hate" CGI. I wish people would wise up, that's all I'm saying. (I just had to vent.)

Stephen Hawking Seeks New Graduate Assistant

2012-01-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

From geekology, Seen here believing he can fly, famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking is seeking a new graduate assistant and, obviously, I'm the man-child for the job. "ZIP ZAP, NOT THE STAIRS GW!" Oh relaaaaaaax Steve, I'll just tilt your chair back and we'll bounce right down.

The original purpose of this position was 'to aid Professor Hawking in those areas which he has difficulty due to his disability'. The job has since expanded and now includes:

Managing Professor Hawking's national and international travel.
Preparation of lecture graphics and public speaking
Dealing with the media and press
Development of Professor Hawking's computer systems
Maintenance of computer and medical equipment
Answering inquiries from the public and maintaining the website
Departmental and administrative roles

Not gonna lie, that sounds like a lot more responsibility and a lot less fun that I had anticipated. How much to just carry him around on my back like Yoda?

The Map Of America Visualized By McDonald’s Locations

2012-01-04T04:18:00.000-08:00

[via all-that-is-interesting]

[JPX] Man, I could go for some cheeseburgers right about now.

‘Raiders of the Lost Archives’ Compares Raiders With Old Adventure Films

2012-01-03T04:32:00.000-08:00

From slashfilm, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas famously created the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, as a loving homage to the adventure films and serials that they loved in their youth. Elements of those movies are everywhere in Raiders, even as the Spielberg film is defined by a specific post-Jaws blockbuster sensibility.

Now there is a great video called Raiders of the Lost Archives, which culls footage from 30 films made between 1919 and 1973 (indlucing several big Charlton Heston films) and presents that footage side-by-side with the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

What really happened

2012-01-02T22:22:00.001-08:00

Last Horrorthon Get Together of 2011

2011-12-31T07:05:00.000-08:00

Desroc, DCD, Whirlygirl, Julie, Landshark, Octopunk, JPX, Catfreeek, AC, Mr. AC & Abduscias

Much thanks to DCD and Desroc for hosting what has got to be the biggest gathering of Horrorthonners ever! A whopping 11 bloggers were present, food and fun were had by all.

A stunning demonstration by DCD

Open wide JPX, here comes the land speeder.

Fun with Legos

Happy New Year Everyone!

Two fantastic websites

2011-12-29T06:36:00.001-08:00

The above images (a chart of Michael Meyers kills, a Muppet version of the Sistine Chapel's "Creation of Adam" ceiling fresco, and "Aliens vs. Predator Babies") are from an excellent website I just discovered called Popped Culture, which specializes in clever crossover-fusion imagery collected from various sources. I warn you that it's possible to spend hours browsing this site (as is the case with all the best stuff on the web). While I'm ruining your productivity I'd also like to recommend Retronaut ("The past is a foreign country. This is your passport.") which is a wonderful, poignant repository of obscure images from previous decades and centuries (like these 1940s technical cutaway drawings).

Bonus geek cheesecake (from Popped Culture):

New 'Hobbit' Production Diary Shows Off Locations, That Peter Jackson Got Fat Again

2011-12-28T05:40:00.001-08:00

[via iwatchstuff]

Sinead O’Connor is getting divorced after less than a month: predictable?

2011-12-28T05:25:00.000-08:00

From celebitchy, Poor Sinead O’Connor. She went off her bipolar meds (really she did and she admitted it, I’m not just saying that) and then went trolling on the Internet for a good lay. Once she found one that stuck around for more than a couple of weeks, she married the dude in Vegas and invited the paps. Sinead got married on her 45th birthday to a 38 year-old “addiction counselor” she’d known less than two months. The happy couple made it official at the Little White Wedding Chapel, arriving in a convertible pink Cadillac. The bride wore a strapless pink dress, and the groom a suit with a pink dress shirt. Their happiness is a distant memory now, as Barry and Sinead split up, probably around the holidays. She made the announcement on her website in a long letter that I found pretty interesting. Like she anticipated what people would say and she explained herself without going into too many details. Sinead and Barry didn’t even live together for a week.

Read Sinead's crazy ramblings here

Mystery of incident that inspired 'The Birds' solved?

2011-12-28T05:09:00.000-08:00

From usatoday, Whodunit? A final mystery surrounding the work of film legend Alfred Hitchcock— what triggered the crazed bird flocks that helped inspire his 1963 thriller The Birds— appears solved by scientists.

Dying and disoriented seabirds rammed themselves into homes across California's Monterey Bay in the summer of 1961, sparking a long-standing mystery about the cause among marine biologists. The avian incidents sparked local visitor Hitchcock's interest, along with a story about spooky bird behavior by British writer Daphne du Maurier.

"I am pretty convinced that the birds were poisoned," says ocean environmentalist Sibel Bargu of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She led a team finding that naturally occurring toxins appear to have been the culprit.

Read the rest here

Cheeta, chimpanzee and Tarzan movie star, dies at 'roughly 80'

2011-12-28T04:46:00.000-08:00

From ew, Cheeta the chimpanzee, who starred in Tarzan movies alongside Olympic swimmer-turned-actor Johnny Weissmuller in the 1930s and ranked #1 on EW.com’s list of the 10 Best Monkeys at the Movies, died of kidney failure Saturday. According to the Suncoast Primary Sanctuary’s outrach director, Cheeta was “roughly 80 years old, loved fingerpainting and football and was soothed by nondenominational Christian music.”

Roughly 80?! Way to live, chimp! That’s amazing! (Cheeta was an anomaly; the average zoo chimp dies around age 35-45.) I sure hope my favorite chimp lives that long.

The similarities between Cheeta the chimp and your average human don’t stop there: Cheeta loved to see people laugh, abandoned art projects as soon as he got bored with them, enjoyed standing up nice and tall, and “when he didn’t like somebody or something that was going on, he would pick up some poop and throw it at them.”

A Very Merry Horrorthony Christmas!

2011-12-25T13:29:00.000-08:00

Since 1997 my mom and I have enjoyed the tradition of making our own Christmas stockings. She does killer embroidery work and I know enough basic stitches that I can add my own personal touches. One year I demanded mittens instead of the usual stocking foot; and the year after we made stockings in the shapes of vegetables (I was a tomato, my sister was a carrot, my dad was a bell pepper and my mom was a mushroom).

This year I was searching for something different. I knew without a doubt that JSP's felt stocking would feature Ace Frehley:

2011 KISSmas

But -- I had no idea what would go on mine. How can I encapsulate all of this year's happenings into one comprehensive "snapshot"? Once I thought about my involvement in Horrorthon this year and the pride I take in my writing *pats self on back* I knew what I had to do:

Zombies attacking the North Pole!

... that poor, out-of-place penguin. Every time I see the blood trickling out of its helpless mouth I can't help but giggle. Notice how the decapitated teddy bear adds a layer of terror to this priceless image.

Banking hard over magma

2011-12-24T03:51:00.000-08:00

Since there's so much lazy free time leading up to Xmas, I've been putting together this little diorama for a Lego Speeder Bike contest over on Flickr. It's a response to an excellent ealier entry by a builder I really like (he did water, I did lava).

You can check my photo stream for more views.

Merry Christmas Eve!

The 16 Worst Christmas Specials of All Time

2011-12-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

#15 A Very Brady Christmas

From toplessrobot, Throughout the years, there have been an array of Yuletide-themed programs that have tried to make your December merry and bright. The sad truth is that for every smile that watching the Peanuts gang dance around in A Charlie Brown Christmas brings comes countless tears caused by inferior holiday programming. This time of year is difficult enough to slog through without having to also endure lame specials injecting a bit of extra bah into your humbug. But which of these shows are the televisual equivalents of misfit toys? Let's find out in this Scrooge of a list that reveals the 16 worst Christmas specials ever made. A word of advance warning though, just because some of these entries may feature characters you love doesn't make them any less fa-la-la-la-lame.

Full list here

The Next Star Trek Might Have Pike, But No Old Crew

2011-12-23T04:54:00.001-08:00

From toplessrobot, What do we know about the sequel to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot? Well, it has a place for Captain Pike, or Admiral Pike, as he was known by the end of the first film. According to Robert Orci, one of several writers working on the sequel's script, Pike has a role, in-jokey wheelchair and all, if Bruce Greenwood wants to return.

Who doesn't have a place in the new film? No actors from the original Star Trek series cast (right) will show up, according to a new report from one of those "close to the production" sources. The first film wasn't particularly heavy on guest spots, as it only had Leonard Nimoy popping in as the original Spock to introduce a jarring plot twist about alternate realities. No, that's not a spoiler. The movie's two years old.

As someone who would've preferred Abrams rebooting Star Trek entirely from scratch, I'm fine with none of the original characters showing up the second time around. On the other hand, it'd be nice to see the actors in unrelated cameos like...I don't know, William Shatner voicing a Mugatu. I doubt that'll happen, but I expect plenty of nods to the older series in the next Abrams-backed Star Trek, even if the original cast isn't part of it.

Prometheus theatrical trailer looks incredible

2011-12-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

Wedding bells to ring for Archie Comics' gay character

2011-12-22T05:03:00.000-08:00

(CNN) - One of Archie Comics' archetypal all-American teens is getting married – and it isn't to girl-next-door Betty Cooper or scheming sophisticate Veronica Lodge.

A year after introducing Riverdale’s first gay character, Kevin Keller, Archie Comics is showing his marriage to an African-American physical therapist named Clay Walker. The issue with their wedding, "Life with Archie #16," debuts at comic book stores January 4 and newsstands January 10.

It's part of a series that imagines the gang five or six years after graduation, with two alternate timelines - one in which Archie married Betty, another in which he married Veronica. Kevin's wedding appears as part of a story showing Archie and Betty's married life.

Kevin Keller is shown to have followed in his Army father's footsteps - in images released to CNN, readers learn that he served in the military and was injured while serving in Iraq. He meets Dr. Clay Walker while in a hospital’s rehabilitation unit.

Full article here

[JPX] I never thought I would live to see Archie Comics become so progressive, especially when the publisher used to put out frightening crap like this,

Wrath of the Titans trailer

2011-12-20T20:04:00.000-08:00

The Hobbit trailer!

2011-12-20T19:41:00.001-08:00

2011: The Cinescape

2011-12-20T17:47:00.000-08:00

The 6 Most Secretly Racist Classic Children's Books

2011-12-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

#4 Tintin [excerpt]

The Racism:

On Tintin's journey to the Congo, all of the black people he meets are drawn to look like they're about to take the stage in the most offensive minstrel show ever put on. The Congo in Georges Remi's mind is populated infantile and naive imbeciles who are seemingly designed only to prove that condescension has an equivalent to blind hatred. Tintin and his traveling partner don't mistreat the natives. They find their attempts to build a country adorable, like a chimp that's learned to eat with a knife and fork. It's worth noting here that Tintin isn't nearly as condescending as his traveling partner, a talking dog.

Read the full post here

[Short Film] 'Beating Hearts' a Twisted New Take on the Killer Child Subgenre

2011-12-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

Beating Hearts from Matthew Garrett on Vimeo.

From bloodydisgusting, After making the festival rounds this past year (Fantasia, Chicago International, Dead By Dawn, NYC Horror, Celluloid Screams, Daggers, Rio Fan, Philadelphia Cinefest), Matthew Garret's extremely NSFW "Beating Hearts" short film is now online for your viewing pleasure! Catch it below now because it vanishes online January 1, 2012...

A harrowing take on family ties, true love and murder, the film described as "a sickening twist on the killer child subgenre" is a winner of the Director's Choice Award (Best Short) at the 2011 Boston Underground Film Festival and the 2011 Philadelphia Geek Award for Best Local Short Film.

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer In Detail: 5 Things We Learned

2011-12-20T07:09:00.000-08:00

[via cinemablend]

#5 Somebody else is driving the Batmobile.

This is a simple one-- if Batman is driving the hovering Batwing, who is driving the camouflaged Batmobile? Batman canon says it could be anyone from Catwoman to Robin to Alfred, but the possibilities truly seem endless-- Nolan has always been far less interested in what Batman canon allows than it what makes narrative sense. A lot of people want to assume this means Catwoman will team up with the Bat, or that Robin will somehow be introduced, but doesn't logic suggest that Commissioner Gordon could easily be the guy behind the wheel?

Full post here

I Am Legend with Alternate Ending is AMAZING

2011-12-20T00:09:00.000-08:00

I've been a big fan of this movie since my first viewing (on the IMAX screen eight blocks from my house -- yes, it's good to live in NYC) and I've defended it endlessly against the strangely lukewarm reaction it got from geeks (despite its overwhelming box-office success). People say things like, "Well, it was a lame movie but the empty city was cool," and I'm like, "But the empty city WAS the movie!" Then people complain about the ending (and refer to the novel and the other versions) and I say, "Who cares," because I liked the movie so much and I didn't read the book, and I'm not about to see a Charlton Heston movie if I can possibly avoid it. Anyway my point is that I wasn't really aware of the story's original ethos, so I wasn't really equipped to understand everybody's judgments.

But it turns out there was supposed to be a different ending, and it's on the Blu-ray that I got last week. (And you don't have to fuck around with your remote or anything; you can just watch the whole movie either way, seamlessly.) I didn't get around to watching it until last night (because there's one sequence I just didn't have the emotional stamina for, and I'll bet you can figure out which one I mean). Now I've finally seen it and the difference it makes is overwhelming. It's a completely different movie this other way, and my admiration for it is vastly increased. I won't give anything away but I strongly recommend what I consider to be a true horror/sci-fi masterpiece; maybe my favorite in the apocalyptic genre. (This all may be old news to everybody here, but I'd never seen this before and it's just terrific.) It's just so great when sci-fi and horror gets the royal big-budget A-list treatment like this...it happens all too rarely as we know.

Trailer for the trailer for ‘Prometheus’

2011-12-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

There are only a few glimpses of footage here but it looks like Ridley Scott has captured the look and feel of Alien. I can't wait for this one.

The Dark Knight Rises theatrical trailer

2011-12-19T10:51:00.000-08:00

Whoopi Goldberg farts loudly on 'The View' (slow news day)

2011-12-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

Since when do the adults speak in 'Peanuts'?

2011-12-19T05:06:00.000-08:00

I have a Peanuts day calendar on my desk and I was surprised that today's strip included dialogue from Lucy’s mother. I’ve been reading Peanuts for decades and I don’t ever recall an adult “speaking” in any of the strips. I always thought that this was intentional on Schulz’s part?

Sorry for the blurry photo, here's the dialogue,

Panel 1: Lucy: "Hey Mom!!! I lost a tooth! It just fell out!"

Panel 2: Lucy's mom: "That's fine..Put it under your pillow and maybe a good fairy will take it and leave you a dime."

Panel 3: [silence]

Panel 4: Lucy: "It fell in the wastebasket and I can't find it!"

Box office report: 'Sherlock Holmes' tops ho-hum weekend with $40 mil

2011-12-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

From ew, Hollywood’s autumn blues continued as the box office trailed 2010 for the fourth week in a row. Thanks to the surprisingly soft debuts of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, this weekend’s top dozen movies earned about 13 percent less than last year’s. Luckily, next week brings us The Adventures of Tintin, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, We Bought a Zoo, and the wide expansion of Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. If those movies can’t lift the business out of the gutter, then Hollywood better start revising its New Year’s resolutions.

Warner Bros.’ Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, won the weekend with an estimated $40 million. That’s a steep drop from the 2009 original, which debuted to $62.3 million. It’s worth pointing out that the first movie opened on Christmas Day weekend, which helped to inflate its numbers. A Game of Shadows, on the other hand, opted for the weekend before Christmas — a much tougher frame due to the fact that many moviegoers are currently occupied with holiday preparations.

Still, most box-office prognosticators thought the $125 million sequel would at least generate $50 million this weekend. The PG-13 movie, which received middling reviews, will now have to hope it has sturdy legs throughout the holiday. One good sign is that A Game of Shadows received an “A-” grade from CinemaScore audiences, so word of mouth should be positive. As expected, the film skewed male, with men making up 59 percent of the audience. Also, as has been the case with many big movies this year, A Game of Shadows had trouble attracting younger moviegoers. Only 32 percent of its audience was under the age of 25.

Full report here

Bowl Breath

2011-12-16T21:23:00.000-08:00

JPX and I have been discussing this so very disturbing television commercial for many years but had been unable to locate it. The ad came up again over dinner tonight and I gave it one more shot. Lo and behold I found it! It's not a twisted made up memory after all. Bowl breath - EWWWW!!! It must smell awful! You're welcome JPX.

Hell, yeah! Part 2

2011-12-16T16:51:00.000-08:00

Finally, we get to know what Bane was saying in that 6 minute prologue!

2011-12-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

From WWTDD, When the 7 minute prologue trailer for ‘the Dark Knight Rises’ leaked yesterday, most people immediately said two things: “damn that was bad ass!” and “I have no idea what the fuck was going on!”

Luckily someone from the studio was nice enough to email me the script pages for that scene. So now we can find out what the hell Bane is saying, learn the status of the fire, and discover why his henchmen brought along a dead guy in a body bag. Good luck getting that through customs when you land, henchmen.

Read the dialogue here

Christopher Hitchens - dead at 62

2011-12-16T05:38:00.000-08:00

(From AP)

Christopher Hitchens, the author, essayist and polemicist who waged verbal and occasional physical battle on behalf of causes on the left and right and wrote the provocative best-seller "God is Not Great," died Thursday night after a long battle with cancer. He was 62.

Hitchens' death was announced in a statement from Conde Nast, publisher of Vanity Fair magazine. The statement says he died Thursday night at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston of pneumonia, a complication of his esophageal cancer.

"There will never be another like Christopher. A man of ferocious intellect, who was as vibrant on the page as he was atthe bar," said Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter. "Those who read him felt they knew him, and those who knew him were profoundly fortunate souls."

A most-engaged, prolific and public intellectual who enjoyed his drink (enough to "to kill or stun the average mule") and cigarettes, he announced in June 2010 that he was being treated for cancer of the esophagus and canceled a tour for his memoir "Hitch-22."

Hitchens, a frequent television commentator and a contributor to Vanity Fair, Slate and other publications, had become a popular author in 2007 thanks to "God is Not Great," a manifesto for atheists that defied a recent trend of religious works. Cancer humbled, but did not mellow him. Even after his diagnosis, his columns appeared weekly, savaging the royal family or reveling in the death of Osama bin Laden.

"I love the imagery of struggle," he wrote about his illness in an August 2010 essay in Vanity Fair. "I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient."

Read the rest here.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence trailer

2011-12-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

WOW!!! Watch the first 6 minutes of The Dark Knight Rises

2011-12-15T04:29:00.000-08:00

This is the 6 minute Dark Knight Rises prologue that will play before Mission Impossible 4 in certain IMAX theaters this weekend. Why wait when you can check it out now? Sure it's a bootleg but it's AWESOME.

Watch it here before it's gone!

First Poster For Ridley Scott's Prometheus

2011-12-15T04:26:00.000-08:00

[via cinemablend]

Iconic Paramount Logo Gets Centennial Anniversary Revamp

2011-12-15T04:21:00.000-08:00

From slashfilm, Other than the Hollywood sign, the Paramount logo is arguably the most iconic image in the film business. Though the company was founded in 1912, a snow covered peak from the Wasatch mountain range (seen above) has been its logo since 1916, appearing in front of some of the best movies of all time such as The Godfather and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Starting this weekend with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, The Dark Knight Rises won’t be the only thing in front of the movie. A brand new 100 anniversary logo will be there too.

Here’s the 100 year Paramount logo which will run through 2012. In 2013, this new logo – designed by Devastudios Inc. – will part ways with the 100 and become the new symbol of Paramount.

Hell, yeah! The Expendables II teaser

2011-12-14T17:37:00.000-08:00

Ghost Rider reboot apparently awful

2011-12-14T04:22:00.000-08:00

From cinemablend, Here are the basics. Nic Cage returns as spirit of vengeance Johnny Blaze, who sold his soul to The Devil (Ciaran Hinds) and now goes after the darkened souls of hardened criminals. The sequel has a solid cast, adding Idris Elba and Christopher Lambert for a thriller that shifts the action to Eastern Europe. Hopes are high.

Now, the bad news. Spirit of Vengeance was one of the films screened at Harry Knowles’ annual birthday party Butt-Numb-A-Thon. Reaction wasn’t good. At all.

“GHOST RIDER 2 manages to make me look fondly back on GHOST RIDER. Unbearable,” tweeted Devin Faraci of Badass Digest.

“The script is nonsense to the point where Neveldine, who was present for a short Q&A, even as admitted so much by saying they inserted several ADR sequences to try and explain things,” Pete Hall of Movies.com wrote.

Other negative posts went after the film’s 3D. That’s not great. There’s time to tighten a few things before the film’s Feb. 17 release … but not much time. At the very least, Spirit of Vengeance will have a cool poster. Beyond that, we make no promises.

TWIN PEAKS Music Galore!

2011-12-14T04:16:00.001-08:00

From aintitcoolnews, That's right! That gum you like is going to come back in style. Since March of this year Lynch has been slowly releasing unreleased tracks from TWIN PEAKS labeled as an "open album" steadily growing ever since. THE TWIN PEAKS ARCHIVE is now holding strong at 106 tracks totaling more than five hours of music! Each single track or small bundle is $0.99 while multiple track bundles are priced at $2.99 or $3.99. You can choose between high-quality 320kbps MP3s or Apple Lossless format.

I purchased about half the archive tonight and am currently downloading what I bought. I'll probably do the rest later tonight or tomorrow.

There's been no single show in the history of television that has stirred my passions quite like TWIN PEAKS. I still consider it the single most amazing program in the history of TV. Having all this music is a real treat. I wonder how long he can keep this going? How much more music is there?

I'd love hang red velvet curtains in a room floored with black and white herringbone tiles and play this entire archive on a continual loop 24/7.

...the birds sing a pretty song and there's always music in the air.

Horrorthon Faves Results!

2011-12-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

Thankyou for your patience, and it's good to see the blog chugging along as usual. Using some precise and impressive technology (I have a mechanical pencil!), I will now sit down and tally the first ever Horrorthon Favorites.

Fuck! There are several ties. Hmmm...

The clear winner of the Best Theme category is Johnny Sweatpants's coverage of Evil Clown Movies, getting four whole votes, which is more than any other thing that got voted on. There were also multiple mentions of JPX's Found Footage roundup.

Funniest Review goes to JSP for Blood Harvest (thanks Tiny Tim!)

Best Discovery goes to JPX for finding Rare Exports, which is a testament to his bloggery because I seem to recall he tried to tell us all about it months ago.

Best Screenshot(s) goes to my series for Fiend Without a Face. (Aw, thanks!)

While nobody voted twice for the same comment, 50PageMcGee received multiple mentions, so he gets the Right Funny Bastard award.

At this point All-Around Favorite Review, Best So Bad It's Good Review and Most Obscure Discovery all feature several entries but not one that's voted for more than once.

Also of note, I added Best Caption and Most Asses to my own batch of votes, just to be difficult.

This has been a blast, but another format occurred to me: For next year, what do you think of everyone doing a combination Best Of/Faves post after the deadline is past, first running down their own favorite movie experiences and then showcasing their favorite stuff by the other 'thonners? We'll tweak the categories to cut down on overlap, but I think it might work.

(I don't know about you, but this "review everything and vote" business is insane. I'm going to keep an ongoing list from now on. I couldn't even remember my Funniest Comment, and I had one, too.)

I'll update these results if more votes come in, but good job, folks! It was very gratifying to call for votes and suddenly see 10 comments. The fact that we have all these ties only speaks to the vast array of talent we've got here.

See you on the blog!

John Carter Trailer

2011-12-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

'Watchmen' writer Alan Moore joins Occupy Comics group, slams Frank Miller for criticizing protesters

2011-12-13T07:57:00.001-08:00

From ew, Watchmen writer Alan Moore has joined Occupy Comics, an organization of comics-industry notables who are lending their support to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Moore’s fellow Occupy Comics signatories include Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), and David Lloyd.

The support of Moore and Lloyd is notable both because of the weight they carry in the comics community, and because it was their comic, V for Vendetta, which first introduced the Guy Fawkes masks regularly worn by Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Moore recently reflected on the protesters’ use of the V masks to the U.K. Guardian. “When you’ve got a sea of V masks, I suppose it makes the protesters appear to be almost a single organism — this ’99 percent’ we hear so much about,” he said. “That in itself is formidable. I can see why the protesters have taken to it.”

Moore has also slammed fellow comics writer Frank Miller. Last month, the author of The Dark Knight Returns wrote on his blog that the protesters are “nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists.” In a new interview with the website Honest Publishing, Moore describes Miller’s “Sin City stuff” as “unreconstructed misogyny” and claims there has “probably been a rather unpleasant sensibility” apparent in his work for a long time. “[The Occupy movement] is a completely justified howl of moral outrage and it seems to be handled in a very intelligent, nonviolent way, which is probably another reason why Frank Miller would be less than pleased with it,” Moore continues. “I’m sure if it had been a bunch of young, sociopathic vigilantes with Batman makeup on their faces, he’d be more in favor of it.”

Early Spoiler-Free Reaction: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Prologue

2011-12-13T04:37:00.000-08:00

From slashfilm, Tonight I was invited to the IMAX Theatre at Universal Citywalk to get an early look at Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Rises prologue, which will be attached to huge screen IMAX prints of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol on December 16th 2011 (participating theaters list). I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, so my report will be pretty spoiler free — purely a reaction.

Like The Dark Knight prologue which screened before I Am Legend, this is the opening sequence from the movie — six minutes with an added minute-or-so teaser-style flash of imagery from the film. And just as The Dark Knight’s prologue was not what you expected — a bank heist thriller, this also takes you to a place you never expected the story to begin. And this opening gives Tom Hardy’s Bane a grand entrance — yes, just like the Joker got in the last film.

The tension-filled sequence is a spectacle on a grand scale, the grandest — in full screen 70mm IMAX. You will see a hiest like you’ve never seen it before — but what else do you expect from the director of Inception? There is a moments in this piece which feature Hardy in an unbelievable and breathtaking situation, which might be on par with Tom Cruise’s 1-mile high spotlight moment in Dubai. But the star of the sequence is not Hardy, or Nolan, but the IMAX format. It is clear after seeing this sequence that The Dark Knight Rises is a must see in 70mm IMAX. I can’t even imagine watching the film in digital or 35mm, missing out on much of the epic scope.

Read the full article here

George Takei, Prince of (Star) Peace

2011-12-13T04:14:00.000-08:00

From toplessrobot, The wise, wonderful George Takei has stepped into the bitter war of words between William Shatner and Carrie Fisher, trying to broker peace between the two sci-fi franchise titans. I'm not 100% sure it will work, but god bless him for trying, and there's something incredibly awesome about hearing Takei say "May the Force be with you," if nothing else.

Men in Black III trailer

2011-12-12T13:10:00.001-08:00

And Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

2011-12-12T04:40:00.000-08:00

Star Trek Themed Local Mattress Store Commercial

2011-12-12T04:35:00.000-08:00

From geekology, So I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today (which, incidentally, is just a mattress on the floor because why pay for a bed frame or boxspring when you're already afraid of heights?) and it got me thinking: does my back hurt because my mattress is too stiff or because I drank my face off last night and my kidneys are shot? Life's little mysteries. This is a local Star Trek themed mattress store commercial. Would I go there to buy a mattress? No. Would I go there to intentionally pee on a Tempur-Pedic and try to get it at a discount? For you, yes.

Cool posters!

2011-12-12T04:20:00.000-08:00

Mysterious Paper Sculptures

2011-12-11T06:42:00.000-08:00

(From Central Stn)
One day in March, staff at the Scottish Poetry Library came across a wonderful creation, left anonymously on a table in the library. Carved from paper, mounted on a book and with a tag addressed to @byleaveswelive – the library’s Twitter account – reading:

It started with your name @byleaveswelive and became a tree.… … We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books… a book is so much more than pages full of words.… This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas….. a gesture (poetic maybe?)

Read the entire story here. It's really, really cool.