|
Posted on 05.08.13 by Widge @ 5:14 am
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own.  Kids, this is a scenario where I'm not going to tell you to ask your parents. I'm just going to flat out tell you myself. There once was a time when you couldn't make any damn thing you wanted show up in a movie using a computer. You used to have to use practical FX...exclusively. And so when you wanted something that shouldn't ordinarily move around on its own--say, a skeleton with a sword or a Gorgon--you would need to take a model of said thing, take a picture, move it, then take another picture and so on with excruciatingly slowness. Eventually, you could piece together all the pictures with their very, very slight changes and play them at speed...and you get the illusion of movement. Stop motion. The granddaddy of visual effects and the King of Stop Motion was Ray Harryhausen. From 1949 to 1981, if you dug a genre film that used stop motion...there was a pretty good chance Harryhausen was the man behind it. Exhibit A comes after the jump. Categorized as: Stuff You Need to Know
|
|
Posted on 04.14.13 by Widge @ 6:50 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  One of the craziest men on the planet has left the planet. Jonathan Winters died of natural causes this past Thursday at age 87. He had an amazing, ridiculous run of comedy. And influenced pretty much anyone worth knowing about. I was trying desperately to find my favorite Winters appearance ever: when he showed up with Robin Williams on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson back in 1991. The Carson folks have actually posted the first part of it here. But it was the very end that slayed me. Carson had lost control of the show and was desperately trying to end the show as there was no more time. Robin leans over to Jonathan, who is dressed like a Civil War Union Army general and is now pretending to be the oldest Civil War veteran still alive--and Robin says, "General?" (This is all from my terrible memory, so it's heavily paraphrased.) Categorized as: Stuff You Need to Know
|
|
Posted on 04.08.13 by Widge @ 4:11 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Annette Funicello--Mousketeer Prime and notorious beach partier--has died at age 70. According to the Disney mothership, Annette (because if there was ever a lady who it was okay to call by her first name, it was her) "died peacefully from complications due to multiple sclerosis, a disease she battled for over 25 years." You can have any tribute you like. But for us, we would like to think that she has simply jamaica ska'd into the sunset to the great Beach Party in the Sky, like in the video after the jump. Categorized as: Stuff You Need to Know
|
|
Posted on 01.07.13 by Widge @ 2:12 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Shane Smith (center), founder of Vice, and friends
Categorized as: Stuff You Need to Know
|
|
Posted on 12.06.12 by Widge @ 11:00 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Your friend and mine, Jonathan Maberry, mentioned that it's been a rough week for the good guys. And we have now lost one of the best. As I've mentioned elsewhere, my first memory is of music: Bob Dylan's "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again." The musical artist that I heard next was either Miles Davis or Dave Brubeck. So when he came to my hometown for a concert and I got to meet Dave Brubeck and shake his hand, I was gobsmacked. Apart from my immediate family, Brubeck was one of the people I had known for as long as I could remember. I have never been without a copy of the album Time Out. When one mysteriously dematerializes from my possession, I replace it. It's Just How Things Operate. Categorized as: Stuff You Need to Know
|
|
Posted on 11.26.12 by Widge @ 4:58 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  First up, it's Cyber Monday and the holiday shopping season is upon us. As always, we ask you this year more than ever: do us a huge favor. If you're going to buy stuff from Amazon, then use this link: http://www.needcoffee.com/amazon. It takes you to the Amazon front page and you proceed like nothing is different, except that we get kickbacks. You Across the Pond Types can help out as well: http://www.needcoffee.com/amazonuk. It's an easy, quick way to help support the site for those of you who can't make an ongoing donation. A lot of you use the links, for which we are grateful. But if every constant reader we have visit us went to Amazon via those links...well, I would still have two kidneys. Thanks in advance. P.S. Their Cyber Monday Deals Week is underway, with tons of DVDs and Blu-Rays discounted for this week. Check it out here. Categorized as: Stuff You Need to Know
|
|
Posted on 11.15.12 by Widge @ 12:37 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own. 
Categorized as: Stuff You Need to Know
|
|
Posted on 11.14.12 by Widge @ 1:01 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  'Who did you say is directing? Whoa.' Yes, sorry, we've been away...but we've been trapped down in this hellhole with rats, a huge hole in the floor and a pendulum. Long story. Anyway, here's the gist: a lot of sites try to turn a bunch of press releases into blog posts and articles. You wind up reading 500 words to find out some start from The CW is now the tertiary lead in Saw XIV. Not here. We distill all of that stuff into an info smoothie that you can suck down in one sitting and get on with your life. Enjoy. (If you do enjoy, stuff that we cite here as up and coming or of interest--if you're going to buy it from Amazon
Categorized as: Stuff You Need to Know
|
|
Posted on 07.26.12 by Widge @ 3:54 pm
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own. The highlights of scads of pop culture news, put through a strainer and placed in a single post to save wear and tear on your mind and productivity. Enjoy. 
Categorized as: Stuff You Need to Know
|
|
Posted on 07.14.12 by Widge @ 3:12 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own. A primer for these posts: they're to keep you up to date on what's happening in the world of pop culture. Just the highlights and such, because the market on paraphrasing press releases is more than taken. Enjoy. 
Categorized as: Stuff You Need to Know
|
|
|
