Doctor Who Children In Need Special 2007

man I love the stories where the Doctor meets his past selves. I wish Tom Baker would do one of these while he's still with us. there just haven't been enough of the "original" Doctors meeting the newer ones. just for fun's sake.

Forbidden Planet C57-D

it's not secret I love The Forbidden Planet.  the actors are great, the effects are awesome and the soundtrack is unusually weird.  all positive points.  and that it's such a major influence on Star Trek doesn't hurt.

Batman: "Drives Us Bats"

have I mentioned how much I loved the Brave and the Bold cartoon? it seemed custom designed for a fan like me, one who remembers when superheroes used to smile on occasion (even Batman). not that it only did light stories- check out "Chill of the Night" for one example of a well done serious story. great voice acting there, too.

Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969)

a bloody and worthy successor to 1967's One-Armed Swordsman.  it could be argued this is a better film, though it really builds on the first one. it's definitely just as good, which is saying something.  there aren't a lot of true sequels in HK movies from this time period (that would make for an interesting list some day) so that makes this even more unique.  look at that back lot from the Shaws' studio.

KISS - Dynasty (Original TV Ad #1)

I saw this ad a few times in 79, and it was also reworked into their concert appearance as well. I so wanted to see this show, but after learning of all the stuff going on backstage, well, I don't mind not seeing it that much now.

Avengers #31

"Never Bug a Giant!"

Cap, Hawk and the Wasp head to South America to find Goliath.  while they are doing that, Hank is finding out that neither side of the civil war he's become involved in is really "right".  all they care about is having the power of the Cobalt Flames to rule over their people with. 

there's a brief interlude with Wanda and Pietro, as they discuss how much the love the thrill and adventure of being Avengers and what if their powers don't come back?  it's fun to think that back then, in that Marvel Universe, no one knew if they actually would return to the Avengers.  back when things mattered!  of course, most fans probably guessed they would, as why would Stan and Don keep writing about them?

Bacon

This was a booth at the Del Mar Fair. I've never tried it. Any of it.

"Ink Master" Heather Sinn

I didn't watch all of this show. I much prefer the whys, hows and wherefores of people getting tattooed, rather than a competition. Heather is the artist who has done the most work on me. I'd still be getting ink from her but she's moved into her own shop a bit further north. I'm sure I'll have her work on me again sometime.

Avengers #30

as my pal Tim left off with the Avengers here (and check out the rest of his blog, it's pretty darn great) with #29, I decided to proceed with the rest of the series from that point.

"Frenzy in a Far off Land"

our story begins with Wanda and Pietro deciding to leave the Avengers.  their powers had been fading for some time and they think traveling back to their homeland could help restore them.  how this would affect a mutants powers is beyond me, and Pietro even wonders if they are not true mutants.  I think this might have been addressed later on in the series, but for now, we'll leave it at that.  Cap overhears their conversation and grants them a well earned vacation.

The Monster from the Id

it's no secret I love the movie "The Forbidden Planet". even before I ever saw it I knew what it was about, due to the nice article in "Movie Monsters" magazine (the one Atlas did, all four issues). I bought the zine for the Godzilla pictures, who knew it would have such an influence on me?

Three Stooges part the second

gosh these pictures are big!  anyway, the first third of the movie establishes our heroes characters (really, was this necessary? who doesn't know who and what the Stooges are?) and shows them as kids.  the kids do a decent job acting, but I think they should have given Larry a Fine head of hair, and have him be proud of it.  that would have made the grown up Larry's hair funnier.

Hanna-Barbera's World of Super Adventure

imagine being able to see all these great characters and series in one show. I remember seeing this promo in WV on Channel 20, but sadly, the package was never picked up in Colorado. and even by 1978 I was starting to think the programming for kids was quite lacking in my neck of the woods. we left WV before it started airing, and I had been so looking forward to seeing action cartoons, after the rather anemic Super Friends.

tattoos

I'm working on a piece about why I have tattoos.  this showed up on my feed earlier today, and it says almost everything I want to say in two sentences.

of course, I wouldn't be much of a blogger if I could let things go that quickly, so I'll still be writing my piece. 

Godzilla vs Gigan FINAL WARS

Gigan is a cool monster, but his first movie is probably the poorest Godzilla movie ever made. it's a wannabe Ishiro Honda movie instead of a a regular Jun Fukuda movie, like Godzilla vs Megalon is. I've come to like it more these days. when Gigan was finally revisited in FINAL WARS he got an updated look, though not really an improvement.

and gets slaughtered twice in the movie. I almost feel sorry for the beast. he's a little less cowardly in FINAL WARS, but it makes no difference.

Batman and the Doctor

my most popular posts since I've started this blog have either been about Batman or the Doctor.  that's the Doctor as in Doctor Who.  I don't cater to any specific sub-genre, I tend to write about all sorts of things, even sports on occasion (which reminds me, I need to post something about roller derby again soon).  I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the popularity of these two topics, especially with Batman due to the inexplicably popular Nolan movies that are on display these days.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

watched this movie the other day, and it's a decent enough Godzilla movie.  I'm no big fan of any of the second series movies, but this one, being the last one is one of the better ones.  there are some really nice parts, including both endings, that I really like.  and some things I would have changed to make the movie a bit more dramatic.

Five Deadly Venoms - Trailer

one of my favorite kung fu movies- favorite Shaw Brothers' movies- you name it. none of the styles are actually a real form (the snake style is invented in for this movie). it's got an unusual set up and story, which is what sets it apart from most other martial arts movies. I saw this in West Virginia on the great Channel 20, some weekend afternoon.

Bruce Lee Against Supermen (1976)

boy I want to like this movie a lot more than I can.  it's just not very good.  even the action scenes, as frantic, frenetic and plentiful as they are just seem to be lacking.  it's just not a very good or well put together movie.  and as one knows, I am not that difficult to please with even vaguely superhero movies or martial arts movies.  well, I'm harder to please with them, actually.

Abbott & Costello Meet the Creature

here's a clip from the Colgate Comedy Hour. when I was a kid I always wondered why the boys never met the Creature or some of the other sci-fi monsters. they did meet most of Universal's classic monsters. it seemed a natural for me to have them meet up the most famous "new" monster.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

watching these movies again with the text commentary on this time is so much fun. you learn so much more about the movies.  and it's not nearly as obtrusive as most audio commentaries.  I haven't seen this one in quite some time, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it this time.  I'd say the first four movies are easily the best in the series now.

Brainy the Pooh & Pinklet

yes, been on a Pinky and the Brain watching bit for a while now. this is one of the funniest episodes, as they manage to parody everything just right, including the title characters. the guest cameos are even funnier and note perfect, as one can see in this short clip.

Abbott and Costello go to Mars (1953)

this is one of the movies I did see as a kid, and it's more fun to me than some of the other non-genre films the boys did.  I haven't seen it in probably 30 years though.  it holds up pretty well.

The Last Dragon Ending

the power of the glow. sure, it's not the best martial arts movie ever made, nor even in the top 20. but it's one I saw in the theater with my pal Charles and we had a great time with the movie. it's fun.

Spider-man vs Medusa

this was my first Medusa.  I never knew she had been a member of the Frightful Four when introduced originally, and couldn't figure that out for a while.  she's probably my favorite Inhuman as well.

John Romita (Sr, we didn't have to use that back then) sure can draw sexy women.  it's probably fortunate that when Mary Jane Watson was finally revealed to us readers that it was he and not Sturdy Steve Ditko that drew her.  you all know how much I love Ditko's work, but I don't know that I would call him a "good girl" artist.  but Mr Romita, Sr?  his women are always amazing.