has its own website, somewhere in there BTW there is a very detailed list of the prime contractors who allegedly worked on this entirely fictious spacecraft.
Local boosters will be proud to know M.I.T. plus several local corporations played the prominent role in evolving the "Icarus".
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
My Last Eight Movies...
All screened on VHS in a vain effort to clean out the acculmulation of casettes that has built up in my "Closet o' Movie Wonders"
"The Great Gabbo" (1929) Too static but a fun film starring Erich von Stroheim as a crazed ventriloquist. If there is a less music-hall like persona to be found than Stroheim's Prussian hauteur I'd like to see it.
Convention Girl (1935) A slight gangster drama built around the steel pier in Atlantic City, forgettable save for a rare straight turn by Shemp Howard as a mobster and some footage of the classic seaside side show acts including a diving horse routine.
Spite Marriage (1929) Buster Keaton's first and best talkie as a meek tailor who somehow marries a bombshell stage actress. After this Keaton's productions took a nose-dive at the comedy adverse MGM's studios, which is sad because of the lot Keaton should have made the transition to sound with no problem...he was that talented and confident. Alas the studio didn't give him the proper support and so Buster Maximus languished.
Seven Angry Men (1955) Raymond Massey that Axiom of the US cinema stars as John Brown with Dabs Greer, Guy Williams and Jeffrey Hunter as his sons...need I say more?
No Way Out (1950) starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier. There were plenty of social type dramas in the 1950's as this film is desperate to prove. Poitier stars as a young hospital intern whose attempts to save the life of the brother of a notorious bigot occasions a race riot. the film is glib and naive, but Poitier is thoroughly charismatic and Widmark is at his scenery chewing best through-out. I believe that this film alos marks Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis' simultaneous film debut.
The Jokers (1966) Why isn't this film on DVD? Oliver Reed and Michael Crawford play a pair of upper class British ne'er do wells who hatch a plan to steal the crown jewels purely for the hell of it. And what the hell, they succeed then having carried the day in style they start pranking on each other. Very funny film and a rare comedy that makes good use of Oliver Reed and his neanderthal glower.
Deaf Smith and Johnny Ears (1973) When it came to spaghetti westerns, Mexico turns up a lot as a historic setting for some reason, herein Anthony Quinn plays a heroic but deaf gunslinger who is trying to prevent a coup in Sam Houston's short lived Republic of Texas. He gets translation services out of his sidekick played by Franco Nero. On paper this ought to be a gathering of the Gods, in fact, Quinn telephones it in and Nero overacts shamelessly in a bid to compensate. Even Pam Tiffin as a hooker with a heart of gold excited no interest.
Corruption (1968) A dreadfully miscast Peter Cushing stars as a surgeon who is using deadly transplant techniques to treat the facial scars of his super-model fiancee'.
Sound vaguely familiar it's "Eyes Without a Face" sans poetry, drama, class or a decent scare scene.
If you are a horror film fan, skip it, if you are a Peter Cushing fan, forget "Corruption" even exists.
"The Great Gabbo" (1929) Too static but a fun film starring Erich von Stroheim as a crazed ventriloquist. If there is a less music-hall like persona to be found than Stroheim's Prussian hauteur I'd like to see it.
Convention Girl (1935) A slight gangster drama built around the steel pier in Atlantic City, forgettable save for a rare straight turn by Shemp Howard as a mobster and some footage of the classic seaside side show acts including a diving horse routine.
Spite Marriage (1929) Buster Keaton's first and best talkie as a meek tailor who somehow marries a bombshell stage actress. After this Keaton's productions took a nose-dive at the comedy adverse MGM's studios, which is sad because of the lot Keaton should have made the transition to sound with no problem...he was that talented and confident. Alas the studio didn't give him the proper support and so Buster Maximus languished.
Seven Angry Men (1955) Raymond Massey that Axiom of the US cinema stars as John Brown with Dabs Greer, Guy Williams and Jeffrey Hunter as his sons...need I say more?
No Way Out (1950) starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier. There were plenty of social type dramas in the 1950's as this film is desperate to prove. Poitier stars as a young hospital intern whose attempts to save the life of the brother of a notorious bigot occasions a race riot. the film is glib and naive, but Poitier is thoroughly charismatic and Widmark is at his scenery chewing best through-out. I believe that this film alos marks Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis' simultaneous film debut.
The Jokers (1966) Why isn't this film on DVD? Oliver Reed and Michael Crawford play a pair of upper class British ne'er do wells who hatch a plan to steal the crown jewels purely for the hell of it. And what the hell, they succeed then having carried the day in style they start pranking on each other. Very funny film and a rare comedy that makes good use of Oliver Reed and his neanderthal glower.
Deaf Smith and Johnny Ears (1973) When it came to spaghetti westerns, Mexico turns up a lot as a historic setting for some reason, herein Anthony Quinn plays a heroic but deaf gunslinger who is trying to prevent a coup in Sam Houston's short lived Republic of Texas. He gets translation services out of his sidekick played by Franco Nero. On paper this ought to be a gathering of the Gods, in fact, Quinn telephones it in and Nero overacts shamelessly in a bid to compensate. Even Pam Tiffin as a hooker with a heart of gold excited no interest.
Corruption (1968) A dreadfully miscast Peter Cushing stars as a surgeon who is using deadly transplant techniques to treat the facial scars of his super-model fiancee'.
Sound vaguely familiar it's "Eyes Without a Face" sans poetry, drama, class or a decent scare scene.
If you are a horror film fan, skip it, if you are a Peter Cushing fan, forget "Corruption" even exists.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Sighted at the Alewife T-Station Parking Garage, fourth level
A Transit police squad car idly parked at the end of a row with a transit cop idly drinking coffee and idly reading the paper behind the wheel.
Never seen one in the garage before...I can't say it made me feel any safer but then one hardly worries about safety at 8am in the morning at the Alewife MBTA Station's parking garage.
I wonder what it all means...if anything?
Never seen one in the garage before...I can't say it made me feel any safer but then one hardly worries about safety at 8am in the morning at the Alewife MBTA Station's parking garage.
I wonder what it all means...if anything?
Monday, March 17, 2008
Chowdaddy....
A phantom and infamous Boston based PSA from my days of working the 7:30am to 4:30pm shift at Polaroid has turned up on Youtube.
I can't think of a rockier rock bottom to hit than being a full time "Chow Daddy".
This a shorter PSA than the one I remember, there was a longer even cheaper version that featured Chowdaddy singing his "nutritious lunch" rap.
I can't think of a rockier rock bottom to hit than being a full time "Chow Daddy".
This a shorter PSA than the one I remember, there was a longer even cheaper version that featured Chowdaddy singing his "nutritious lunch" rap.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
I haven't been to the movies in two months sad to say...
and my one expedition to the legit theater came a cropper, but Jeezus my bibliophilia is running rampant!
Consider my book purchases for the past seven days:
"The Scarlet Empire" by David M. Parry a pre-WWI anti-socialist dystopian novel.
"How Fascism Ruled Women Italy, 1922 - 1945" by Victoria De Grazia...seemed a natural given my abiding interest in Blackshirtism.
"Hitler: The Survival Myth" by Donald M. McKale Okay this one at least is a Birthday gift for a friend but still eminently readable.
"The Tweed Ring" by Alezander B. Callow Jr. Well...what can I say, machine politics interests me.
"The Skeptic: The Life of H.L. Mencken" Terry Teachout...I could've got this one from the library, but I heard good things about it.
"The Plotters" by John Roy Carson...this is a work of non-fiction decrying the alleged possibility of a post WW II resurgence of fascism, fine but the damn thing was published in 1946 which seriously jumps the gun to say the least.
"The Impossible H.L. Mencken" edited by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers...Okay so yes Mencken was a germanophile, but he is so damn quotable and he is the only real all out stylist in the political game til the brief imperial high noon of Hunter S. Thompson.
His description of a brief encounter with William Jennings Bryan on the streets of Dayton Tennessee during the Scopes trial is a model of abbreviated hilarity.
I blame McIntyre and Moore in Davis Square , they are having a 30% off moving sale all this month, I also blame the Book Rack in Arlington Center because they ALWAYS have something I wanna buy ALWAYS!!!
How can I say no to opportunties like that??? It is their fault for TEMPTING ME!!!!
All bought second hand as well, so I can't even complain about the lack of bargains...
DAMN I have to stop this is getting out of control I have limited shelf space...
Consider my book purchases for the past seven days:
"The Scarlet Empire" by David M. Parry a pre-WWI anti-socialist dystopian novel.
"How Fascism Ruled Women Italy, 1922 - 1945" by Victoria De Grazia...seemed a natural given my abiding interest in Blackshirtism.
"Hitler: The Survival Myth" by Donald M. McKale Okay this one at least is a Birthday gift for a friend but still eminently readable.
"The Tweed Ring" by Alezander B. Callow Jr. Well...what can I say, machine politics interests me.
"The Skeptic: The Life of H.L. Mencken" Terry Teachout...I could've got this one from the library, but I heard good things about it.
"The Plotters" by John Roy Carson...this is a work of non-fiction decrying the alleged possibility of a post WW II resurgence of fascism, fine but the damn thing was published in 1946 which seriously jumps the gun to say the least.
"The Impossible H.L. Mencken" edited by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers...Okay so yes Mencken was a germanophile, but he is so damn quotable and he is the only real all out stylist in the political game til the brief imperial high noon of Hunter S. Thompson.
His description of a brief encounter with William Jennings Bryan on the streets of Dayton Tennessee during the Scopes trial is a model of abbreviated hilarity.
I blame McIntyre and Moore in Davis Square , they are having a 30% off moving sale all this month, I also blame the Book Rack in Arlington Center because they ALWAYS have something I wanna buy ALWAYS!!!
How can I say no to opportunties like that??? It is their fault for TEMPTING ME!!!!
All bought second hand as well, so I can't even complain about the lack of bargains...
DAMN I have to stop this is getting out of control I have limited shelf space...
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