Jon's Random Acts of Geekery: 3/1/09

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Movie of the Week: 13 Ghosts!

So I'm starting something different with the Movie of the Week feature here at the Random Acts of Geekery... since many of the movies I've featured before as streaming video tend to start automatically, I'm dropping the full-length features.

The new format? Well, it's partly going to be based on stuff that you'll see much, much later in the "Coming Attractions of the Past" blog, which will feature posters, stills, lobby cards, pressbooks and the like, with the addition of YouTube videos of trailers or scenes here and there... although if, say, Google Video has the full movie, I may post that, too!

The first movie featured in the new Movie of the Week is William Castle's "13 Ghosts". Here's the opening of the movie:

And here's a gallery of stuff used to promote it!

Lobby Card

Lobby Card

Here's the official trailer:

If any of this has made you interested in owning this movie in your DVD collection, here's a handy-dandy link to order it from Amazon. Yes, I'd make a few pennies from each sale!

Cool Stuff: Spider-Man Stuff!

Well, as you'll see below, I fell a bit short on Space:1999 stuff to share, so here's some Spider-Man stuff to make up for it!

This rare 1985 poster shows how Cannon Films kind of jumped the gun a bit on announcing a big-screen Spider-Man movie!

Here's some Spidey puzzles!

One wonders if Marvel's artist did a drawing with Spider-Man fighting the Rhino, and then Whitman came back to them and said they wanted Spidey fighting A rhino, not THE Rhino!

That's some strong webbing, eh?

Looks like Jim Mooney art on this 1982 puzzle! The two above it were from 1980, by the way.

From 1988... good thing Spidey was at that lighthouse, eh?

In 1976, obviously Whitman wasn't so uptight about what they featured on their puzzles!

Here's a loose AHI Paratrooper!

The rather unfortunately-named Ball Blaster!

A pretty cool-looking Spider-Man bookmark!

More Spidey stuff next time around!

Cool Stuff: Space 1999 Stuff!

OK, before we get into the stuff, a confession: I'm not a fan of Space: 1999 (unlike other Gerry Anderson shows). Hated it, to be honest. But I loved the designs! So, here's a little cool stuff based on cool designs from a show that I don't personally consider cool (feel free to disagree)!

My brother Jeff used to have this flashlight based on the Space: 1999 ray gun (I had the Star Trek Phaser one).

Here's the cover for an issue of Charlton's Space: 1999 comic book, art by John Byrne!

And... huh... I seem to have run out of Space: 1999 stuff for this time around. I guess there'll be more the next time I get around to the S's in the Cool Stuff!

Friday, March 06, 2009

By the 10's: Star Spangled War Stories, Part 1!

Well, I'm guessing this will be at least two parts... I'm not all that familiar with DC's war titles (to be honest, I get more of a kick out of reading Sgt. Fury, but I have read a smattering of the DC stuff, mostly the Sgt. Rock stories)... so let's see if I have any valid observations here!

Issue 10 is kind of a surprise to me, because I'd expected this title to cover-feature more modern warfare than this!

Issue 20 is more to my expectations... nice coloring work there!

Here's issue 30...not often on a DC title that the cover-featured soldier (or soldiers) know there's trouble sneaking up on 'em!

That's a pretty action-packed cover there on issue 40!

For a cover featuring a potato masher (a nickname for those kind of grenades) bouncing towards a soldier, issue 50's cover is kind of meh, isn't it?

Issue 60 features a great angle on the cover, if you ask me!

Issue 70's cover brings frogmen back on the cover spot again!

Something about issue 80's cover just doesn't quite grab me, but I can't put my finger on it...

No complaints about issue 90's cover... obviously it's The War That Time Forgot!

And we'll leave off with issue 100's cover... just because it's convenient!

Children's Book Theatre: Bullwinkle Coloring Book, Part 2!

So, when we last left Rocky and Bullwinkle, Boris and Natasha were concerned that our heroic moose was too popular!

Now, we finally learn that Bullwinkle's some kind of TV star!

And here we learn that Bullwinkle's voice has something to do with his stardom! We still don't know why Boris is worried about Bullwinkle's popularity though!

Fix his voice? Obviously, whatever Boris put in Bullwinkle's gargle was some kind of knockout drops, and Bullwinkle's show is on live!

Good thing Bullwinkle's telling us everyone's mad at him, because thanks to cut pages, we can't actually see this for ourselves! But what are Boris and Natasha up to next?

Yep, it seems that Boris and Natasha intend to replace Bullwinkle as a dance act! Makes perfect sense to me.

But what will Bullwinkle do in response to this? Will Boris and Natasha's act go over well? And what will Mr. Peabody and Sherman do to help? Tune in next time for some of the answers!