This came out two days ago, and already has over 6 million hits, but I still thought Guillermo Del Toro opening couch gag for The Simpsons forthcoming “Treehouse of Horror” episode was too awesome (and too full of SF/F/H references) not to share.
Hat tip: Hank Wagner’s Facebook feed.
June Foray, voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and about a thousand other characters, awarded a lifetime achievement Emmy. And not only was she still around to receive it, at age 95, she’s still working!
To celebrate, here’s a timely instructional video:
Hollywood auction house is having another big auction of film memorabilia, including a few interesting SF-related items:
Plus Bruce Lee’s nun-chucks, Conan’s sword, the Terminator’s gun, Jason’s machete, Maximus’ axe, Legalos’ arrow, Indiana Jones’ whip, Jack Sparrow’s sword, Captain Kirk’s phaser, a Ghostbusters proton pack, The Comedian’s pistols, Freddy Kreuger’s fingernails, Rambo’s knife, James Bond’s gun, and Scarface’s “little friend.”
The auction is online in a “Flipbook” format, evidently invented because HTML was insufficiently annoying.
Our short national nightmare is finally over! (Or, alternately, continues.)
There will be a sequel to Sharknado.
Set in New York City.
Since John DeNardo at SF Signal has dubbed me “The Official Sharknado News Source,” I feel that I would be remiss in not mentioning it.
I’m going to go ahead and predict right now that it will feature one scene with an enraged Alec Baldwin pummeling a shark to death with his fists.
Oh, they also want Johnny Depp to star in it. Good luck with that…
Three posts in two days about Sharknado? Is this ultra-crappy SyFy monster movie really worth that much attention?
Yes. Yes it is.
But more importantly, this interview with the writer of Sharknado is all kinds of awesome.
Especially this:
“As anyone would expect, the tornadoes suck up thousands of sharks. This all just seems like common sense to me.”
And this:
“If you were a shark and you found yourself flying through the air, wouldn’t you keep biting? I think you’d be pretty pissed about being plucked out of your nice familiar ocean where you’re king of the predators, and you’d probably take it out on whoever got in your way. Honestly, I don’t understand why people are so perplexed by this concept. The logic is undeniable.”
Try to work “the logic is undeniable” into your next conversation.
Oh, the writer, Thunder Levin (his real name) is also responsible for Atlantic Rim. Really, the dogged dedication behind their work has to elevate the crew at The Asylum from “shameless Z-grade movie ripoff artists” to “Sublime ongoing performance art project”…
Here’s a science fiction TV show episode, “Young Couples Only,” I’ve never heard of, based on a Richard Matheson story, and starring…Peter Lorre!
One reason I haven’t heard of it was that it was part of the Studio 57 anthology series, which aired on The DuMont Television Network, the ill-fated network that folded before I was born.
Like almost everything else in the world, it’s on YouTube:
“He’s the Pope. He’s the Ex-Pope. They’re private detectives.”
Benny: “It will take a miracle to solve this case!”
Francis: “Good thing they called us in!”
“Pope and Pope, Thursdays at 8, on Fox!”
Alternately, Benedict XVI was secretly studying forensic pathology in his spare time, and resigned to follow his true calling, in which case it gets named CSI: Vatican City.
I could have gone with the “Popes by day, superheros by night!” angle, but you don’t want to strain plausibility.
See if you can figure out who is in this picture without looking at the image name.
And don’t click here to see why it’s topical.
Another bit for St. Patrick’s Day: The late, great John Belushi on “The Luck of the Irish”:
Belushi’s frothing editorials were always among the highlights of the original Saturday Night Live cast. I wish they’d put all of them on a single DVD, maybe paired with the Samurai skits, or else the Ackroyd/Curtain Point/Counterpoint bits.
(Video updated as of 6 PM, March 17, 2014)
(That video is dead as well, here’s a non-embeddable version.)
