Thursday, January 31, 2013

I'm told by Wikipedia today

that there's a cave on the Rock of Gibraltar that's named after a guy who discovered it after he "fell off the Rock." Fell off the Rock of Gibraltar.

Imagine...


Friday, January 18, 2013

I do, from time to time, get on genre kicks on my Netflix queue

     Recently I've watched "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" (the original with Kevin McCarthy - terrific flick, really, if you can put yourself back into your 1950s self; that's true of all of these titles and no doubt explains tons). The other night I watched "It Came From Outer Space." Last night "It Came From Beneath The Sea" and tonight "Beast From 20,000 Fathoms."

     "Beast" and "Outer Space" share a Ray Bradbury connection, and I'm looking forward to savoring Ray Harryhausen's work in "Beast." I'm contemplating  the 1953 "Invaders From Mars" which scared the bejeezus out of me at about 7 years old (when it was new) and might even revisit "Them" just to see all the later-famous/now-dead TV stars (Fess Parker, Jim Arness, James Whitmore, and Leonard Nimoy is even rumored to have an uncredited role, but of course he's not dead yet, is he?)

     I saw these movies when they were new, and of course I've seen them on TV a zillion times since, and corny an crude and primitive as many of them are (I've only mentioned the cream of the crop, but I include all the really low-level stuff like "The Mole People" and maybe even "Plan 9 ... ") they never cease to entertain, probably because they never cease to return me to Saturday afternoon at the Bing Theater, anytime between 1952 or so, and 1955, my earliest memories that don't directly involve my parents, my earliest memories being "out & about" with pals (always with one or two older pals, my brother being five years older which is why we were allowed to walk up to Sumner Ave to the Bing, or to the Phillips at The X).