Running Men & Promo Discs

Just some interesting blog and blog entries while catching up on my reading tonight: Allison Morris on the overuse and misuse of book cover silhouettes and Ina Steiner on the latest eBay nonsense.

Lost In Hollywood

So, once again, a television property is taken into the hands of what passes for creativity in Hollywood these days and given the "Superstar" treatment ... this time, via the rapidly slowing down, yet still formidable Will Farrell comedy express.

The awful I-Spy ... the wretched Wild Wild West (minus the "The" in the title of the series) ... the feh-factor of The Avengers. -- craptacular and unwatchable wastes of time that shrived up to a squeaking husk when placed next to the originals, and are best left forgotten.

Next up before the box office executioner is my beloved 1970s childhood friend, Land of the Lost ... which, despite the under budgeted special effects and wince-inducing acting, was never designed as a show "for kids." With science fiction writers like David Gerrold and D.C. Fontana on board, the series was heady stuff with a detailed mythology and logic that crushed the rest of the sci-fi and fantasy live-action tripe hoisted on the Saturday-Morning set (Jason of Star Command, anyone? Ark II?).

Of course, the folks in charge of this movie remake seem to think they are making a comedy. Even the director says, "There is a sense of humor that I loved from the original show ..."

Are we talking about the same series? All our director is recalling are the surface details of a show with no budget shot under the time constrictions of kid-vid. There is no recognition of actually having watched the series. Frankly, smirking at shitty blue-screen work doesn't take a lot of wit.

Land of the Lost wasn't Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Dr. Shinker or Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, okay? The show was played earnestly and straight ... not campy and stupid. Remaking LOTL as a comedy makes about as much sense has giving us a deadly serious Get Smart (a TV remake that actually looks watchable, since the powers-that-be appear to be adhering to the spirit of the show).

Unfortunately, this is one movie remake that is actually being made ... unlike the never-produced Jim Carrey yuk-fest of The Six Million Dollar Man (shudders). And, since we don't want Will Ferrell as a daddy, we get him hamming it up with a stand-up comedian and a hot babe instead of a son and daughter.

Jesus God. Didn't Bewitched teach Ferrell anything?

Still, they got one thing right ... check out the Sleestak!

Welcome To The Grid

Has your Internet been running slow as of recent ...? Click the graphic to learn about what might speed things along in the near future.

(Somehow, I sense my future is going to be spent buying new computer equipment and paying higher prices for faster connections ...).

Night of the Lepus

My niece and nephew enjoy a recent visit with the Easter Bunny ....

Cool Books You Won't Find At Wal-Mart #1

'Life Of The Party'
A Visual History of S.S. Adams
Makers of Pranks & Magic For 100 Years

And here, I present to you a pop culture tome of essential reading fun for kids of all ages.

Here are all of the mondo-keen goodies from the back pages of the comics of our pasts ... goodies that we either sent away for and were disappointed with upon arrival ... or wish we had sent away for, never did, and were still disappointed over, because we always wondered what we had missed!

Featured in full color are the actual items themselves, as gazed upon in dime stores and truck stops by a multitude of children. Gags, jokes, tricks and novelities .., along with rarities, original store branding and ads, letters, trivia, company history and much much more.

Hardcover, 200 pages, and oversized at a generous 9" by 12" ... just from the sample pages alone, this is a sumptous treat that will bring back a calvacade of memories. Author Kirk Demarais http://www.secretfunspot.com/ has created an amazing piece of printed shared memory.

Why such an undertaking of love seems to be a well-kept secret is beyond me, but I am delighted to have discovered it all the same.

Click on the GLOP to be swept away to where you can order a copy!

Soylent Green Is Made Out Of Heston ...

I have a love/hate relationship with Big Chuck ... his politics in recent decades were appalling, but I loved watching him gnash his teeth in Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green and that eternal touchstone of my youthful CBS Late Night Movie viewing days, The Omega Man.

Don't forget, Charlton Heston is also the guy who gave Orson Welles his last chance to make a Hollywood financed movie resulting in the late noir masterpiece Touch of Evil, feuded with, and yet backed Sam Peckinpah against the studio in regards to Major Dundee and was still gracious enough in his declining health to give an interview to Michael Moore in Bowling For Columbine that was as uncomfortable to watch as you might imagine (and I like Moore).

So, like I say ... love/hate. The thing to remember, as always, is to reflect upon and relish the work and not the actor (or writer, or director).

Horrible way for such a virile actor to die however, that's for damn sure.

Whoopie Once! Whoopie Twice!

Today, I'm flashing back to 1975.

I was eight years old, and if memory serves, was exposed to the animated "Really Rosie" as a syndicated special. The half hour video adapted the poetry and artwork of Maurice Sendak, best known then and now for Where The Wild Things Are. In less than 30 minutes, a short series of books called The Nutshell Library was set to music and performed by the legendary Carole King.

For decades afterwards, songs such as "One Was Johnny" and Chicken Soup With Rice," were lodged in my head.

Flash forward to last year on a trip to Massachusetts, when I was able to pick up a copy of the special on VHS in a used book store. Said video was filed away, with my thinking I would enjoy it again when the time was right.

Today, the time was right. I had a half-hour hole in my lesson plan on poetry, so I screened the video for my eighth grade middle school classes (I teach English, by the way) to reinforce the concepts of alliteration and rhyme.

I wasn't sure the admittedly dated animation would hold some of the attention of today's kids ... but, amazingly enough, all of my blocks were well-behaved, and seemed to really enjoy the special! There was no sleeping, and talking was non-existant. A pleasant surprise, and one that helped me to remember that even today's jaded teens are still children in so many ways....