70's Drac, Sorting Comics, Crime Flicks, Pics of Dead People

70's Dracula!

So this evening I watched the John (Saturday Night Fever) Badham directed "Dracula" featuring a surprisingly young Frank Langella as The Count.

It's an oddly English centric version of the story. There's no Texans lurking about, Harker never travels to Romania, Harker himself is played by someone who looks like Howard Moon, and Donald Pleasance gets a lot of screen time. And they don't actually return to Transylvania to wrap things up.

Its not a bad movie, but for reasons I can't piece together, they swapped names for the Lucy and Mina characters from the book, I believe. It seems this isn't the only place I've seen that, and I don't really get why this would be the case.

Also, Frank Langella's hair is quite awesome. And they do this odd bit where they leave it open for a sequel...



As the last vampire movie I saw was "Twilight", it was nice to see a movie that actually acknowledged the horror/ blood drinking/ soul stealing aspect of the whole enterprise. And I really did like the red-eyed, bare-fanged look of the undead in this movie.

Love's Labor

I also spent a lot of time sorting and indexing comics. This is one of those projects that if you don't do it regularly, you're going to regret it later. Well, i waited until later. It's been between a year and 14 months since I did this up proper.

Jamie is, I think, the only person who really gets what a ridiculously big task this really is. It's not something you knock out in an hour or two. And after 14 months... its quite a backlog of work.

Keep in mind, the first time I did a proper indexing of my comics, it literally took several days and was how I spent my Holiday break from work.

Sometimes its time for guys in hats

I also watched the crime-noir movie "Born to Kill". Which, sure enough, delivered some killing. It was part of a set Jason gave me for Christmas. He knows I like a good men-in-hats/ femme fatale flick, and this one delivered the goods.

People smoking cigarettes, sociopaths in love, good looking dames, you name it...



It's another example of the fact that no matter what Robert Wise directs, I pretty much like it. And there are a lot of movies on his filmography that I need to make sure raise to the top of my queue.

The plot is tight, the cast fairly small. But Wise handles his cast well, and the story manages to remain suspenseful right up to the last frame or so.

What the @#$% was wrong with the Victorians?

And if you want something really disturbing, Calvin posted about something called "Memento Mori". Apparently some Victorians thought it would be a neat idea to prop up their recently deceased relatives for one last snapshot.

It sounds as if they hadn't really sorted out appropriate use of a new technology. Like people who think its okay to talk on their cell phone in a movie or people who think its smart to let their digital party pictures show up on Flickr.

But I gotta say, I was kind of thinking of heading for bed, and looking at a bunch of well-dressed-albeit-dead Victorians sort of set me back a little on my journey to Sleepytime Junction.

Partially because the child mortality rate was still pretty high back then, and apparently it was an opportunity to get a picture of junior when he was willing to sit for a photo. (yes, lots of pics of dead kids).

Anyway, please don't take a picture of me after I'm dead.

Unless you can think of a way to make it really funny, of course.

The Horror, The Horror (Movies)

I know, I know... it's two months until Halloween. But as League HQ will be throwing a Halloween party this year (we are! Be here after 8:00 on 10/31) I am trying to handle the cost by purchasing a few decorations early online, and last night I received a box with some stuff that should help set the appropriately cheesy/terrifying tone.*

And then Caffeinated Joe posted this gem, which I know more than a few Leaguers should be able to enjoy.



I sort of suspect Caffeinated Joe is in the Halloween Spirit all-year round.

I'm thinking ahead a bit, as last year I was a bit distracted by ending a job and starting a new job, etc... and just didn't really bother too much with the whole Halloween business. In fact, had Team Roth/ Harms not shown up spontaneously, I would have probably been in bed by 10:00.

When Jamie and I first moved in together, starting in October, I'd start watching horror movies as often as possible. Eventually we dwindled off the practice. Jamie's tolerance for horror is pretty low, and my own tastes for horror are fairly narrow.

Give me a good black and white movie with Karloff, but do not expect me to sit for "Hostel". I've seen James Whale's 1931 version of "Frankenstein" a dozen times, but I don't remember the last time I went to the theater to see a "horror" movie.

Its probably part of why I keep schilling for this Wolfman movie that's never actually going to arrive. I understand why people like a good slasher flick, but I also like the 3 types of monsters embodied by the classic trinity of Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstein's monster.

1) Dracula - The Monster who walks as a man. These days, vampires are seen largely as dangerous, sexy women or men. Or, if you're any number of the women in my family, as sparkly eternal-teen-agers with super powers.

But Dracula represents the hidden danger of a monster who wears the face of the gentleman but who, frankly, wants to drink your blood and maybe taint your eternal soul. That's some creepy stuff.


Let's shoot this @#$%er...!

2) Wolfman - The man who is helplessly becoming a monster. The horror is just as much for the Wolfman as it is for the folks he winds up turning into dinner.


Wolfman spots the Alpo wagon...

3) Frankenstein's Monster - The unwanted side effect... OF SCIENCE (and man's hubris). Probably the most replicated of the horror and science-fiction concepts, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was dubbed "The Modern Prometheus" for a reason. We tend to think only of the lumbering, inarticulate Karloff creation of the first film, but both the film series and book know the horror belonged in equal parts to a monster brought unwanted into creation and the guy whose hubris led to his own ruination.


Frankie says: Relax

Anyway, good stuff.

It doesn't mean I don't want to see Jamie Lee Curtis do battle with a dude in a bleached out Shatner mask. Or Bruce Campbell take on the Evil Dead. And I've gone on record that I still believe that the original version of "The Haunting" is the most genuinely scary movie I've seen (because that @#$% can happen, man). The occasional zombie movie, of course. Or Julie Adams in "Creature from the Black Lagoon". Hubba Hubba.**

And I would like for someone to finally create a "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" movie half as scary as I found the cartoon when I was 7.

While I understand the visceral appeal of something like "Funny Games", it feels a bit more like a trick. If my movie has a scene where a villain is shooting puppies, of course its going to be fairly horrible, but so what? Its just horrible. That's not a good story so much as telling the audience that you can dream up ways to make them uncomfortable. I think I get enough of that sort of thing from the paper.

So as autumn falls, I'm going to be putting together a movie-watching schedule. If you have suggestions, or want to have a "Film Club", let me know.

(ed. note: It IS a Halloween kind of day. Leaving Subway with my Black Forest Ham sandwich, KMFA was playing "Night on Bald Mountain".)

*As I was writing this, Jamie came down the stairs with my old lab coat I wore a Halloween or two. It's just a very Halloween sort of day...

**or my girl Elsa Lanchester from the Bride movie. She knew how to work a fright wig and medical gauze.

Offered Without Comment

The "Ideal" Bowie Song?

I think you may have seen this at io9, but...

This honest-to-god scientist analyzed Bowie's popular work and cooked up a song based on what he felt were the common elements of the tunes. There's a lot of explanation at the beginning, but its sort of an interesting notion.

The guy is not, however, Bowie. So we will never know. Except that, seriously, you gotta think Bowie's going to give this a shot...

Roller Derby stuff

In the run up to the release of "Whip It!", I expect to see a bit of buzz around Roller Derby.

Pop Candy is a pop culture blog where The League has actually received at least two mentions in the past. Blogger Whitney Matheson is on vacation, and so called upon her pals to fill in for her while she's getting tanned, rested and ready for Fall '09.

One guest blogger was an Austin-area Roller Derby Queen of the Flat Track.

She gives you a primer on what to check out before you check out "Whip It!".

Here.

Batman, Possible Power Shift, GL Promotion

Subject: Batman and Robin #3

Dear Rest of the Batman Books,

On the topic of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's "Batman and Robin #3".


decidedly not for kids

That is how you make a Batman comic.

Try harder.

That is all.

Hugs,

The League


Shifting Tides at DC Comics

Word on the street is that DC Comics, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., is shifting offices within the mega-corp that is Time-Warner. While remaining within the moive side of the business, rather than the print and publishing side of the business, it sounds as if DC will now be under Diane Nelson instead of Alan Horn.

I've not worked in Hollywood, but its my assumption that Ms. Nelson has got to be toughest of the sharks to have become head of a division at a company like Warner Bros.. This is all good news.

1) I don't know anything about Alan Horn, but I do know what DC Comics has been like as an entity under his watch, and the movie production schedule has been shoddy at best. As Marvel spits out 2 - 3 movies a year, DC is getting one every two years or so to the silver screen.

Not to mention WB's inability to exploit anyone but Batman for kids' entertainment. That is completely ridiculous.

2) Horn has said, under oath, that he doesn't think the character of Superman is worth anything. Ie: he doesn't know how to bring it to the big screen, so it must not be possible.

Hogwash, says I and a whole lot of other Super-fans.

3) DC is probably unaware of how contentious their relationship is with their female readership. What may pass unnoticed on comic covers, in the overt sexualizing of DC's female charatcers, etc... may get a very different read from Paul Levitz's new boss.

Anyway, I would not want to be the Publisher having to explain the Guillem March Power Girl covers to the new boss.

4) New bosses mean new blood. While I do like Paul Levitz, in so far as I can tell, it would be nice to know that complacency is not the go word at DC. At minimum, even with no risk of turn over, it seems likely that everyone will be trying a little harder, and maybe actually worry a bit about the new executive looking over their shoulder.

I do hope this news is true. DC could use someone from up top looking down on what they're up to. I don't want anyone in particular to lose their job, but it'd be nice to see DC try a little harder to make less of their line so easy to dismiss.


Blackest Night Ring Promotion

Okay, this tidbit of marketing news puts a smile on my face.

I'm enjoying the heck out of Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi's epic over in the Green Lantern books "Blackest Night". In fact, as I type this, I'm wearing my official Blue Lantern shirt. Why, because these dudes are my new favorite dudes in comics.

Thus far, two key things have happened:

1) A whole spectrum of new colored Corps have begun to appear. Red = Rage, Blue = Hope, Yellow = Fear, etc...
2) The Black Lanterns have appeared. From an unknown source (so far) black rings have crossed the DCU, finding dead superheroes and those significant to our living superheroes, and raising the dead. Only, you know, EVIL.

It's some messed up stuff.

At any rate, DC will soon have a give-away promotion in which you can collect what will be cheap, plastic versions of the rings.


insert amazed/ delighted gasp here

In high school, I still remember DC putting out a Green Lantern ring, and I'm STILL mad I lost that thing (I bought one at a comic shop for $3 years later). So, yes, this sounds like a great idea to me.

Rings, please.

I shall require, of course, a Blue Lantern ring for my everyday wear as well as one for display purposes.

Maybe when the new Flash ongoing materializes, we can see something similar for Barry's ring?

Patrick Henry Preddy Enters Existence

Congratulations to fellow KO alum Marshall, and his lovely wife, Jordan.

Today they welcomed their first child, Patrick Henry Preddy. He arrived a bit after 2:00 PM.

Welcome to the world, kid. You got a heck of a set of parents there.

Pics and more here.