From the CNN front page:
Let’s ignore the fact that this sounds like a b-reel gag from a late-’70s/early-’80s car & cop movie – I’m looking at you, Cannonball Run – why is CNN presenting this as a question? The “?” actually detracts from the lurid tease.
Right now this is a blog post about media, but in 20 years I may edit it to make puppies the focus.
Remember that movie, Goldeneye?
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond doing the shooty-jumpy-explodey-spy-thing. They turned it into a video game at the time of its release, a classic for the GameCube that I wasted many hours on in my youth.
Like many media properties in these apparently creatively-devoid days, someone thought it was time for a remake. This time around, however, Brosnan isn’t the man facing off against rogue Russians, they’ve opted to update the game by inserting current-Bond, Daniel Craig, into the role.
This, to me, falls directly in line with the buggering up of Star Wars, and the removal of weapons from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.
At some level these are pop-cultural artifacts that are being monkeyed with – what happens when DVD becomes entirely digital and then that becomes some crazy cloud based share-system, and the “early versions” are progressively culled?
“So what?” I can hear that guy at the back of the room saying, “I don’t care if Han shot first.”
Fine – but what happens when a precedent of historical editing is put in place and Akira Kurosawa’s great-great-great-granddaughter decides Seven Samurai would be better if it featured an animated cyber-rabbit as well as digitally inserted Olsen-Twin septuplets as the leads?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3-LxmrFm40]
I’m crazy busy today, so I haven’t had much time to make with the content. Might I instead point you towards the The Film Crew‘s take on Killers From Space, available for free via youtube? Shout! Factory actually has quite a number of shows freely available, including the entire brief run of the precursor to Rifftrax.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z92lkFY8JY]
(I realize that embedding is disabled, I really recommend clicking through – it’s definitely worth it. They also have some Elvira hosted horror movies available, if that’s more to your mood.)
Another grab from the CNN front page:
I realize that this is supposed to be an enticing lead in, but it struck me more as CNN just asking me a question: “Seriously, why am I so tired? I can barely even write this useless human interest story. Not covering actual news is exhausting, imagine if I was Richard Engel? OMG.”
I’m pretty pleased with the intro song for our newest serialization, The Glorious, so I thought I’d post a link to it, as well as some info.
Victor Herbert’s (1859-1924) “March of the Toys”. Victor Light Opera Company under the direction of Nathaniel Shilkret. Recorded in 1927. – from Archive.org
I just discovered there’s a show on the National Geographic Channel called Predator CSI.
It isn’t half as fantastic as my imagination had hoped.
This is the only image I could locate of seaweed-covered, zombie Ted Danson. I’m sure further pictures must be somewhere on the web, but I can’t find them.
There seem to have been a few locations they were formerly available, but they’ve all been removed.
As Ted ages, are they somehow trying to maintain the honour of the Danson estate? Does he buy up copies of “Creepshow” like Jane Fonda supposedly bought up Barbarella?
Is someone on patrol for the sanctity of Sam Malone?
I guess its more likely he’s just a hack actor and no one has bothered to take any screenshots; I have no problem locating dozens of images of him in black-face.
Frankly, I prefer him undead.
Update: Dang, someone ruined the magic by showing me the exact keywords I needed to unlock the Danson zombie horde – ah well, it was a beautiful conspiracy while it lasted.
There are few things in this world that I’m as excited about as the new Walking Dead AMC series.
Easily one of the best written comics in the last twenty years, and one of the best arguments for funny books bringing something to storytelling that isn’t necessarily capturable in straight prose.
I can’t wait to see a real life Rick Grimes in action.
From the CNN front page:
Listen, I understand that I may not fully grasp all the subtleties of a good game of footy, but these new naval rules are just confusing.
