There was an amusing Fark thread on people giving vague but accurate (or correct but misleading) movie summaries, and people guessing the movie. I enjoyed it enough that I thought I would offer it up here with my own vague summaries. A good number of these are science fiction, fantasy, or horror.
Post your answers below.
From Dwight comes the sad news that Tank McNamara creator and Houston Chronicle movie reviewer and columnist Jeff Millar has died at age 70. To have some idea of his stature in Houston in the 1970s and 1980s, imagine that Mike Royko and Roger Ebert were the same guy.
His regular humor column was really funny. I remember one about an IRS agents showing up on the doorstep of a nuclear war survivor’s doorstep to conduct an audit. “That whole ‘end of civilization as we know it’ excuse may pass muster with other government agencies, but not the IRS.”
Tank McNamara was one of my favorite comic strips as well. He had a hilarious sport trial series presided over by an English-barrister sounding Dennis Rodman. (“Mr. Sprewell, please be so kind as to remove your fingers from the panelist’s throat.”) And I loved the strips with the mad sports scientist Dr. Tszap, with his frizzed-out hair, coke-bottle glasses and hula girl tie.
I met him once, at CollegeCon at U of H, the first science fiction convention I went to in 1980. I have his signature on the back of the program book along with those of Harlan Ellison, Robert Sheckley and George Takei.
He also had a story in Damon Knight’s Orbit 17: “Toto, I Have a Feeling We’re Not in Kansas Anymore.” I haven’t read that, or his mystery novel Private Sector.
RIP.
John Picacio ‘s Kickstarter for his 2013 art calendar only runs through noon on November 28, so if you want in, you better hurry up.
He’s already at $25,000, and his next stretch goal is at $30,000.
So I stumbled across this short, very professional looking CGI animated science fiction film on YouTube:
What a rich, zesty collection of illogical stupidity!
To quote the South Park episode with Michael Bay: “Those aren’t ideas, those are special effects!” “I can’t tell the difference.” “We know.”
Hey Wes Ball: Your animation rocks, but you suck as a screenwriter. Maybe in addition to all those animation and sound guys you credit, you might want to hire an actual writer.
They’re supposedly making this into a feature film. Hopefully they’ll remove some of the stupidity.
Poking around some old posts, I noticed that some pictures from more than a year ago weren’t showing up. Turns out it’s because Facebook likes to completely change the name for pictures every now and then.
My process for putting up con pictures is:
This method is quick, easy, and hosts pics on Facebook’s dime. The downside is the Facebook rejiggering, and having to go back every now and then and redo the links.
Anyway, I’ve gone in and changed all the URLs for my Armadillocon 2011 pictures:
I’m sure there are some other blog posts with pics that need updating, and I’ll get to those in My Copious Free Time.
Newly Hugo-minted artist and all-around good guy John Picacio has launched a Kickstarter for his 2013 art calendar. Actually, he launched it October 29, and it’s already met the initial goal, I’ve just been too backlogged with Other Stuff to put up a note until now.
Anyway, I’m sure it will be a swell calendar, and you still have until November 28 to get in before the Kickstarter closes.
Nineteen times out of twenty, when you put in a lowball “what the hell” bid at an auction, you don’t win. You keep doing it because of that twentieth time.
This was one of those twentieth times.
Robert W. Chambers. The King In Yellow. F. Tennyson Neely (as part of their Neely’s Prismatic Library series), 1895. First edition, first printing of green cloth with brown lettering, with lizard design on cover and review of In the Quarter at rear. Rubbing and soiling to cloth with front hinge cracked, top front corner and bottom rear binding soft, and lacking front free endpaper. The auction description said fair, but save the front free endpaper, the book looks intact, so I would grade this Good only. Jones & Newman, Horror: 100 Best Books, item 19 (appreciation by H. P. Lovecraft). Beliler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, item 364. Bleiler, The Checklist of Science Fiction and Supernatural Fiction (1978), page 41. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 49. Barron, Horror Literature, item 2-12.
Short story collection, roughly half of which are weird tales, most of which reference the play The King in Yellow, which drives people mad. (If memory serves, those stories also count as science fiction, being set in a future dictatorship.) One of the most important supernatural works of the late 19th century, and a huge influence on H.P. Lovecraft, who incorporated elements from it into the Cthulhu Mythos.
Bought for just over $60 (including buyer’s premium and shipping) at auction. Earlier than the period I usual collect for, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to pick up a keystone work (even a considerably less than perfect copy) at a bargain price.
“Disney is paying $4.05 billion to buy Lucasfilm Ltd., the production company behind Star Wars, from its chairman and founder, George Lucas. It’s also making a seventh movie in the Star Wars series.”
Well, at least it will keep Lucas from tinkering with the original one for the rest of his life. Or, worse still, going back and “rebooting” it.
How good will a seventh film be? Depends on whether Brad Bird or Michael Bay directs, doesn’t it?
I do hope this means they’ll finally put out pristine Blu-rays of the unfarked with first three films….
Today I heard that some people are participating in “Monster Monday,” where they talk about some of the their favorite monsters.
So here’s a quick glimpse of one of my favorite monsters in one of my favorite movies, the attack of the Monster from the Id in Forbidden Planet.
The sound of the monster attacking is one of tracks I play out my windows on Halloween…
The only reason this isn’t perfect is that no one has the pure upper tenor Art Garfunkel has. But right now it’s only a 360 hits. By the end of the month I bet it’s over a million.