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Farewell, Ray Harryhausen
May. 7th, 2013 04:43 pmGreat sadness -- one of the legends has fallen. Filmmaker Ray Harryhausen has passed away at the age of 92.
I'm not even going to bother listing his technical accomplishments, or all the filmmakers he inspired; you can read 'em at the Wikipedia link above. What Ray really did was make our dreams visible, right up there on the movie screen. We saw moving skeleton warriors and a raging Cyclops and the horrific Medusa and a woman transformed into a snake and men transformed into birds and dinosaurs being herded by cowboys and flying horses and RELEASE THE KRAKEN and and and and and.
No one had really done that before. Certainly not on the scale that Harryhausen did. It was literally his life's work, and the result is... well, in one way or another, many of the films of the fantastic we've enjoyed for the past seventy years.
Rest well, sir, and thank you for making our dreams live.
So what's your favorite Harryhausen film, or animation sequence? Even though the skeleton fight in Jason and the Argonauts is considered better, I have an undying love for The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.
I'm not even going to bother listing his technical accomplishments, or all the filmmakers he inspired; you can read 'em at the Wikipedia link above. What Ray really did was make our dreams visible, right up there on the movie screen. We saw moving skeleton warriors and a raging Cyclops and the horrific Medusa and a woman transformed into a snake and men transformed into birds and dinosaurs being herded by cowboys and flying horses and RELEASE THE KRAKEN and and and and and.
No one had really done that before. Certainly not on the scale that Harryhausen did. It was literally his life's work, and the result is... well, in one way or another, many of the films of the fantastic we've enjoyed for the past seventy years.
Rest well, sir, and thank you for making our dreams live.
So what's your favorite Harryhausen film, or animation sequence? Even though the skeleton fight in Jason and the Argonauts is considered better, I have an undying love for The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.
Kickstarter: Tales of Alethrion
Apr. 2nd, 2013 06:47 pmYou may remember a couple of months ago when I linked to this superb animated short:
Well, the guys behind it are doing a Kickstarter, to turn it into an animated adventure series called Tales of Alethrion. They've got three days left, and they're within $20K. If you like The Reward, and if you can, won't you help?
Well, the guys behind it are doing a Kickstarter, to turn it into an animated adventure series called Tales of Alethrion. They've got three days left, and they're within $20K. If you like The Reward, and if you can, won't you help?
Farewell, William Biggers
Feb. 15th, 2013 12:30 pmAnd who is William Biggers, you ask? Why he's the co-creator of this:
William Biggers has passed away at the age of 85. He also co-created Tennessee Tuxedo and King Leonardo, but it was with Underdog that he really got a foothold in American popular culture.
Rest well, sir, and thanks.
William Biggers has passed away at the age of 85. He also co-created Tennessee Tuxedo and King Leonardo, but it was with Underdog that he really got a foothold in American popular culture.
Rest well, sir, and thanks.
AMETHYST Animation on DC Nation
Feb. 9th, 2013 06:24 pmSee, this is what happens when I don't pay attention: DC Nation (on the Cartoon Network) starts cranking out quick episodes of Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld.
Let me repeat that: AMETHYST: PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD.
If, somehow, you never read this comic, let me say it again: AMETHYST: PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD.
Sometimes, the universe is very kind.
So. What's your favorite YA series of late?
Let me repeat that: AMETHYST: PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD.
If, somehow, you never read this comic, let me say it again: AMETHYST: PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD.
Sometimes, the universe is very kind.
So. What's your favorite YA series of late?
Farewell, Robin Sachs
Feb. 6th, 2013 02:19 pmSadness. Actor Robin Sachs has passed away at the age of 61.
Mr. Sachs had a long and distinguished career (Hammer films and Dynasty: The Reunion notwithstanding), but we know him from a whole bunch of genre work -- the evil General Sarris in Galaxy Quest, Na'Tok and a few other roles in Babylon 5, Giles' nemesis Ethan Rayne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, voices in everything from Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 & 3 to Spongebob Squarepants....
Rest well, sir, and thanks.
Mr. Sachs had a long and distinguished career (Hammer films and Dynasty: The Reunion notwithstanding), but we know him from a whole bunch of genre work -- the evil General Sarris in Galaxy Quest, Na'Tok and a few other roles in Babylon 5, Giles' nemesis Ethan Rayne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, voices in everything from Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 & 3 to Spongebob Squarepants....
Rest well, sir, and thanks.
Edward ServoLips
Feb. 4th, 2013 05:32 pmWe haven't spoken about a number of movies and TV shows I've seen, because I saw most of them several weeks after their respective debuts, and I had other stuff to mention.
All hail Spectral Motion, the effects team that brought Edward to animatronic life.
So what TV and movies have you seen lately, and what did you think of 'em?
- Argo was excellent, very exciting, and Ben Affleck was cheated out of a Best Director nomination... although my favorite performance in the whole thing is that of John Goodman, who is amazing as usual.
- Les Miserables was simply beautiful. And anyone who complains that Russell Crowe (as Javert) is not as good a singer as Philip Quast... well, you have a point. But Crowe does everything he needs to, and does so with style, and who knew Amanda Seyfried had such a lovely voice, and oh my god Jackman and Hathaway and Sacha Baron Cohen.
- Anne and I finished watching the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes series -- really, REALLY well done -- and have moved on to Ultimate Spider-Man, which is so frickin' cool I recommend it completely. There is great heart in it, and a lot of laughs, with a Scott Pilgrim sensibility around the whole thing (or maybe Ouran High School Host Club). And Doctor Octopus, who has not yet had a full visual reveal, is just creepy.
- Must catch up on the past three weeks of Top Chef.
- Still haven't caught up on last year's Doctor Who.
- Have started downloading Arrow.
- Am having a blast, finally watching Face Off. Not as good as Top Chef in a number of ways, but the visuals are spectacular, and there isn't the sense of cutthroat aggression so prevalent in TC.
- Sometime next week, I hope to watch Django Unchained.
- Last but not least, Anne and I went to see Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. This is not a good movie. But it is an amazingly fun movie, if you're in the right mood, which we were. The medieval milk bottles with the parchment drawings of missing children set the tone exactly. The performances are not the problem -- everybody does at least what they need to, and Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as Gretel are both very good (and there's not even a creepy incest vibe!). What doesn't work with this movie is the fault of the writer-director, Tommy Wirkola, who has a good story and a good handle on action sequences but not the best script or non-action set pieces. Still, it was way fun, utterly silly (if you like First Knight you'll like this), and a very riffable way to kill two hours.
All hail Spectral Motion, the effects team that brought Edward to animatronic life.
So what TV and movies have you seen lately, and what did you think of 'em?
No, seriously, this is a thing. A very wrong, very bad thing, continuing Mr. Murphy's collection of -- how shall I put this? -- utter cinematic shit. And the Marvin....
In a number of ways, mostly related to televised media, I had a perfectly good childhood. Leave it the hell alone.
