The Black Knight was fun the first time I stumbled upon him (umm, one of them I mean). Damn he looks cool.
Monday, January 28, 2019
Dark Souls - Fun Game After You Get Into It
Dark Souls has some weirdness in the beginnings, but it quickly got fun after I was able to use a variety of weapons just to see what they did. I don't exactly love the fact you don't get a second spell as a pyro for like... days into the game, but if you understand these things you will be surprised how fun the melee is. Normally I find the spell-casting classes more fun in games, but in this game the melee is just that detailed and cool. And this dragon looks pretty cool.
I also really really love the way each area feels unique and the lowly monsters are all actually very deadly if you don't give them respect. And skellies are not the lowbie monsters like in a lot of games... oh boy, no they are not.
The Black Knight was fun the first time I stumbled upon him (umm, one of them I mean). Damn he looks cool.
The Black Knight was fun the first time I stumbled upon him (umm, one of them I mean). Damn he looks cool.
Friday, January 25, 2019
Books, free books, and Robert E. Howard of Conan
So the public domain is cool. Some free stuff you can read online or on a Kindle or whatever ereader.
The Hour of the Dragon, a free book by Robert E. Howard (written in 1935):
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42243/42243-h/42243-h.htm
Beowulf:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16328
Others:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=dragon
MYTHS THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW seems extra good:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16537/16537-h/16537-h.htm
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Vintage News has some cool Stuff
That comical scream in so many movies, Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark for instance:
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/04/23/wilhelm-scream/?utm_source=penultimate
The laugh track - I think Scooby Doo and a billion sitcoms:
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/15/laugh-track/
Taxidermy and Dr. Seuss. His dad ran a zoo. And... "Young Ted delighted in the animals found there and undoubtedly this would influence his later works. Years later, when Ted was pursuing his love of the arts, his father would send bits of beaks, feathers, and bones to inspire him.
Ted tucked these animal bits into boxes under his bed and, when inspiration struck, would use them to craft Seussian animals in a whimsical blend of taxidermy and fantasy."
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/14/taxidermy-of-dr-seuss/
Weird Irish Potato Famine facts - "How could famine have caused such a dramatic and long-lasting drop in population over such a short period? Unlike other famines, Ireland’s was not caused by a drought, nor by a sudden change in the climate, nor deterioration of the soil. It was caused by a combination of political corruption, religious persecution, and poorly-timed crop disease.":
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/14/irish-population/
Sin-Eaters... not a Harry Potter invention:
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/06/sin-eaters/?utm_source=penultimate
Abracadabra: "Ancient Romans Used the Word “Abracadabra” to Cure Malaria":
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/03/abracadabra/
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/04/23/wilhelm-scream/?utm_source=penultimate
The laugh track - I think Scooby Doo and a billion sitcoms:
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/15/laugh-track/
Taxidermy and Dr. Seuss. His dad ran a zoo. And... "Young Ted delighted in the animals found there and undoubtedly this would influence his later works. Years later, when Ted was pursuing his love of the arts, his father would send bits of beaks, feathers, and bones to inspire him.
Ted tucked these animal bits into boxes under his bed and, when inspiration struck, would use them to craft Seussian animals in a whimsical blend of taxidermy and fantasy."
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/14/taxidermy-of-dr-seuss/
Weird Irish Potato Famine facts - "How could famine have caused such a dramatic and long-lasting drop in population over such a short period? Unlike other famines, Ireland’s was not caused by a drought, nor by a sudden change in the climate, nor deterioration of the soil. It was caused by a combination of political corruption, religious persecution, and poorly-timed crop disease.":
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/14/irish-population/
Sin-Eaters... not a Harry Potter invention:
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/06/sin-eaters/?utm_source=penultimate
Abracadabra: "Ancient Romans Used the Word “Abracadabra” to Cure Malaria":
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/03/abracadabra/
Alien by Giger, or Gargoyle in Paisley, Scotland?
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/15/alien-gargoyle-scotland/
On a 12th century building, but the old gargoyles were redone apparently. It was added in modern times... somebody having a laugh. Dang, I thought we were witnessing something special... too good to be true:
Above the arched doorways of Paisley’s Abbey sits the stone “Alien” which many assume to have been created as an honorable mention of the cult sci-fi film series. Mr. Briss explained to the BBC that they hired stonemasons from an Edinburgh company to make new the gargoyles.
According to tradition, no two gargoyles can be the same, so each is the unique product of the mason’s imagination and personal influences. According to Mr. Briss, the Alien-like gargoyle was the product of one of the stonemasons inventive humor. “I think it was a stonemason having a bit of fun”
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Monster Blogs
This is cool I bet:
http://themonsterblogofmonsters.tumblr.com
What a great idea, monster costume day in some cool town somewhere:
http://monsterdaygreeley.com/monster-day-greeley-2018-costume-contest/
I really hate Pinterest for not letting me go back and forth with browser buttons. I love Pinterest's saving of picts with about 2 or 3 clicks though.
https://www.pinterest.com/trilodroid/
http://themonsterblogofmonsters.tumblr.com
What a great idea, monster costume day in some cool town somewhere:
http://monsterdaygreeley.com/monster-day-greeley-2018-costume-contest/
I really hate Pinterest for not letting me go back and forth with browser buttons. I love Pinterest's saving of picts with about 2 or 3 clicks though.
https://www.pinterest.com/trilodroid/
Bird Box - I dunno about this one
Originally I was going to avoid seeing because I wanted to see "A Quiet Place" first, since this felt a little derivative. But my wife started watching so then I watched it with her. And maybe I was just in the wrong frame of mind, but I really did not enjoy it. Allow me to rant to myself.
The bad.
1. I was disappointed that the creatures weren't shown. Having seen the leaked ugly baby mask that they were going to use, I am now glad they weren't shown. The drawings were actually awesome, and my favorite part of the movie, go figure.
2. Sandra B. not naming the kids/the kids acting the way they did in that kind of environment/anything to do with the kids was completely and utterly not believable for me.
3. I felt like it was some sort of alien invasion movie for the most part, but if it was that then nothing made any sense at all. The crazy people being happy/underlings. The inability of the creatures to do anything physical like go into a house or whatever.
4. If it had been demons, then stuff would have made sense. It just didn't feel like demons ever to me.
5. Eye CGI. Does not scream demon to me.
6. Leaf CGI. Does not scream demon to me.
7. No real supernatural feel to it, just more like mind-control tech.
8. I called the blind people thing about 30 minutes into the movie, I swear, ask my wife!
9. It felt very annoying watching how helpless everyone was. I guess that was supposed to be the point of the movie, but I just got irritated by it.
10. End of the world stuff is just getting old lately... I mean the last what 10 or 15 years that's almost all we get.
The good.
1. Maybe it was demons. If they were all demons, and this whole thing a religious affair, then yeah, I'm much more on board with it. To me though, it felt anything but that during the actual viewing of the movie. Besides the novel writer guy's speech, it never felt like heaven or hell had anything to do with that universe. Which, by the way, once invisible monsters start walking the streets and destroying human life to that extent, you better believe people would suddenly find religion.
2. The acting was fine with all the big names doing their normal thing as well as they normally do.
3. The drawings. Man I love 'em! Like really. What do we have here... a squidhead, a gas mask skeleton, a skull on a multi-legged creature, ... oh, the white eyed big checkbones monster face is the best, lots of scary teethy maws. All great stuff!
The bad.
1. I was disappointed that the creatures weren't shown. Having seen the leaked ugly baby mask that they were going to use, I am now glad they weren't shown. The drawings were actually awesome, and my favorite part of the movie, go figure.
2. Sandra B. not naming the kids/the kids acting the way they did in that kind of environment/anything to do with the kids was completely and utterly not believable for me.
3. I felt like it was some sort of alien invasion movie for the most part, but if it was that then nothing made any sense at all. The crazy people being happy/underlings. The inability of the creatures to do anything physical like go into a house or whatever.
4. If it had been demons, then stuff would have made sense. It just didn't feel like demons ever to me.
5. Eye CGI. Does not scream demon to me.
6. Leaf CGI. Does not scream demon to me.
7. No real supernatural feel to it, just more like mind-control tech.
8. I called the blind people thing about 30 minutes into the movie, I swear, ask my wife!
9. It felt very annoying watching how helpless everyone was. I guess that was supposed to be the point of the movie, but I just got irritated by it.
10. End of the world stuff is just getting old lately... I mean the last what 10 or 15 years that's almost all we get.
The good.
1. Maybe it was demons. If they were all demons, and this whole thing a religious affair, then yeah, I'm much more on board with it. To me though, it felt anything but that during the actual viewing of the movie. Besides the novel writer guy's speech, it never felt like heaven or hell had anything to do with that universe. Which, by the way, once invisible monsters start walking the streets and destroying human life to that extent, you better believe people would suddenly find religion.
2. The acting was fine with all the big names doing their normal thing as well as they normally do.
3. The drawings. Man I love 'em! Like really. What do we have here... a squidhead, a gas mask skeleton, a skull on a multi-legged creature, ... oh, the white eyed big checkbones monster face is the best, lots of scary teethy maws. All great stuff!
Friday, January 18, 2019
Video Games - Cadash
http://superadventuresingaming.blogspot.com/2012/09/cadash-turbografx-16.html
That probably explains it all. Good ole Cadash!
Monday, January 14, 2019
Godzilla
Can't wait to see the new American Godzilla movie, the one Garth Edwards did was pretty solid.
The size comparison type youtube vidoes has captured the kids' attention greatly lately. Hell, I never knew his versions changed so much... and that new anime on Netflix has him like 3 times the size of the biggest up to date, holy cow! Here's a similar youtube that is a nice summary of G over time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhLxEb6xTfc
I appreciated Ready Player One having Mechagodzilla. Having read the book and loved it, I was very worried he wouldn't be in the movie... very satisfying:
Somebody made a nice text list of all the movies.
1 Gojira ( 1954)
2 Godzilla raids again (1955)
3 King Kong vs Godzilla ( 1962)
4 Mothra vs Godzilla ( 1964)
5 Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
6 Invasion of Astro Monster ( 1965)
7 Godzilla vs. the Sea monster ( 1966)
8 Son of Godzilla ( 1967)
9 Destroy All Monsters ( 1968)
10 All Monsters Attack ( 1969)
11 Godzilla vs. Hedorah ( 1971)
12 Godzilla vs. Gigan ( 1972)
13 Godzilla vs. Megalon ( 1973)
14 Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla ( 1974)
15 Terror of Mechagodzilla ( 1975)
16 The Return of Godzilla ( 1984)
17 Godzilla vs. Biollante ( 1989)
18 Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah ( 1991)
19 Godzilla vs. Mothra ( 1992)
20 Godzilla vs. Mecha Godzilla II ( 1993)
21 Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla ( 1994)
22 Godzilla vs. Destoroyah ( 1995)
23 Godzilla ( 1998) - aka Zilla
24 Godzilla 2000: Millennium ( 1999)
25 Godzilla vs. Megaguirus ( 2000)
26 Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah : Giant Monsters all out Attack (2001)
27 Godzilla against MechaGodzilla ( 2002)
28 Godzilla : TOKYO S.O.S ( 2003)
29 Godzilla: Final Wars ( 2004)
30 Godzilla ( 2014)
31 Shin Godzilla ( 2016)
32 Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters ( 2017) - Netflix
33 Ready Player One ( 2018)
34. Godzilla: City on the Edge of battle (2018) - Netflix
35. Godzilla: Planet Eater (2019) - Netflix
34 Godzilla: King of the Monsters ( 2019)
35 Godzilla vs. Kong ( 2020)
And so IMDB has some craaaaazy random different posters for some of these old G movies. Take 1964's Godzilla vs. Mothra (or The Thing). And whatever could THE THING be? Check out the last few slides... heh, cheeky basts. That's not quite what Mothra looks like, is it?
Or how about the rebranding of Godzilla Raids Again as "Gigantis, The Fire Monster"!
Some G comics from more recent times. Looks pretty good:
And I love these hand drawn details from random places... and especially these Japanese posters with super details hand drawn. We might own the Rodan Vs G. one for the kids' room. ;)
The size comparison type youtube vidoes has captured the kids' attention greatly lately. Hell, I never knew his versions changed so much... and that new anime on Netflix has him like 3 times the size of the biggest up to date, holy cow! Here's a similar youtube that is a nice summary of G over time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhLxEb6xTfc
 |
| G is catlike in grin and countenance, partially due to his original 1954 ears coming back in 1989, pict from 1992. |
 |
| Ghidorah, an earlier incarnation. |
 |
| Gigan. (Pronounced G-eye-gan or if you live at my house Geeggan). |
 |
| This Smog Monster, aka Hedorah. |
Somebody made a nice text list of all the movies.
1 Gojira ( 1954)
2 Godzilla raids again (1955)
3 King Kong vs Godzilla ( 1962)
4 Mothra vs Godzilla ( 1964)
5 Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
6 Invasion of Astro Monster ( 1965)
7 Godzilla vs. the Sea monster ( 1966)
8 Son of Godzilla ( 1967)
9 Destroy All Monsters ( 1968)
10 All Monsters Attack ( 1969)
11 Godzilla vs. Hedorah ( 1971)
12 Godzilla vs. Gigan ( 1972)
13 Godzilla vs. Megalon ( 1973)
14 Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla ( 1974)
15 Terror of Mechagodzilla ( 1975)
16 The Return of Godzilla ( 1984)
17 Godzilla vs. Biollante ( 1989)
18 Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah ( 1991)
19 Godzilla vs. Mothra ( 1992)
20 Godzilla vs. Mecha Godzilla II ( 1993)
21 Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla ( 1994)
22 Godzilla vs. Destoroyah ( 1995)
23 Godzilla ( 1998) - aka Zilla
24 Godzilla 2000: Millennium ( 1999)
25 Godzilla vs. Megaguirus ( 2000)
26 Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah : Giant Monsters all out Attack (2001)
27 Godzilla against MechaGodzilla ( 2002)
28 Godzilla : TOKYO S.O.S ( 2003)
29 Godzilla: Final Wars ( 2004)
30 Godzilla ( 2014)
31 Shin Godzilla ( 2016)
32 Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters ( 2017) - Netflix
33 Ready Player One ( 2018)
34. Godzilla: City on the Edge of battle (2018) - Netflix
35. Godzilla: Planet Eater (2019) - Netflix
34 Godzilla: King of the Monsters ( 2019)
35 Godzilla vs. Kong ( 2020)
And so IMDB has some craaaaazy random different posters for some of these old G movies. Take 1964's Godzilla vs. Mothra (or The Thing). And whatever could THE THING be? Check out the last few slides... heh, cheeky basts. That's not quite what Mothra looks like, is it?
Or how about the rebranding of Godzilla Raids Again as "Gigantis, The Fire Monster"!
And I love these hand drawn details from random places... and especially these Japanese posters with super details hand drawn. We might own the Rodan Vs G. one for the kids' room. ;)
Face Off the special effects TV show
Ran into some old stuff by by Cig Neutron, from FaceOff the series/TV show. Always liked that guy. Anyway, linked his old blog over there on the side (it's the right side for now, muhaha). If I still paid for cable TV I'd be watching that show like crazy. It really needs to come to Netflix. Can't believe my stupid cable company just went up about 30% in price from sixy something to eighty something bucks for average tier internet only. What a ripoff.
Oh hell, so they finally cancelled Face Off. BOO!!!! Loved that show.
https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2018/05/face-off-cancelled-season-13-battle-royale/
Oh yeah, this guy, Anthony Kosar. And so he did this crazy demon guy Nox for Six-Flag's FrightNight... didn't know that was a thing, but it looks special effectsishly cool to me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm8cd-LigUQ
Oh hell, so they finally cancelled Face Off. BOO!!!! Loved that show.
https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2018/05/face-off-cancelled-season-13-battle-royale/
Oh yeah, this guy, Anthony Kosar. And so he did this crazy demon guy Nox for Six-Flag's FrightNight... didn't know that was a thing, but it looks special effectsishly cool to me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm8cd-LigUQ
Thursday, January 10, 2019
The Beast, The Dragon, and did they influence J. R. R. Tolkien?
So this Apocalypse Tapestry, as Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation, in France...
... is about the seven heads and 10 horns, and 10 crowns on the horns. The dragon gave authority to the Beast from the Sea (aka The Beast)... and I tried to zoom in when looking at this on the web and see what sort of tiny little crowns would be on the horns. They must be about the size of rings in the picture. Hang on! As I started to read on wikipedia... then it struck me. Was this not how Tolkien got his idea for the rings of kings and the One Ring?
Take this quote from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(Revelation)
The seven heads represent both seven mountains and seven kings, and the ten horns are ten kings who have not yet received kingdoms. Of the seven kings, five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come. The beast itself is an eighth king who is of the seven and was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition."[4]
So that sure as hell reminds me of the human kings with rings, the dwarf kings with rings, and the elvish kings with rings. How many did Tolkien's world have? Twenty rings.
http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Rings_of_Power
"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."
So is that literally both the dragon and the beast from the sea, 10 crowns each, so twenty total?! I can't be the first to stumble upon this, but I haven't found it via the internet yet. Hang on, did the dragon have crowns, also (maybe not)? Well I'm reading on, and naturally there are different versions... sometimes the beast from the earth has only two horns like a [lamb?] or something and "talks like a dragon"... and so isn't a dragon I guess? Looks like it is depicted here....
The second beast is primarily described in Revelation chapter thirteen. This second beast comes out of the earth whose overall appearance is not described, other than having "two horns like a lamb", and speaking "like a dragon".[5]
Well anyway, I still wonder if the tapestry was an influence on Tolkien. Certainly I've seen references to Tolkien's works being Christian story influenced or something. C.S. Lewis also. Maybe it's a thing, maybe not... fun to speculate.
Take this quote from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(Revelation)
The seven heads represent both seven mountains and seven kings, and the ten horns are ten kings who have not yet received kingdoms. Of the seven kings, five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come. The beast itself is an eighth king who is of the seven and was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition."[4]
So that sure as hell reminds me of the human kings with rings, the dwarf kings with rings, and the elvish kings with rings. How many did Tolkien's world have? Twenty rings.
http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Rings_of_Power
"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."
So is that literally both the dragon and the beast from the sea, 10 crowns each, so twenty total?! I can't be the first to stumble upon this, but I haven't found it via the internet yet. Hang on, did the dragon have crowns, also (maybe not)? Well I'm reading on, and naturally there are different versions... sometimes the beast from the earth has only two horns like a [lamb?] or something and "talks like a dragon"... and so isn't a dragon I guess? Looks like it is depicted here....
The second beast is primarily described in Revelation chapter thirteen. This second beast comes out of the earth whose overall appearance is not described, other than having "two horns like a lamb", and speaking "like a dragon".[5]
 |
| I take it the earth beast here is the lion looking monster with 2 curly horns. |
Hercules and Hydra on the old Comic Cover 1978 (re-release from 1968?)
Thanks to The Crapbox of Son Of Cthulhu's blog, I got to rediscover the whole old comic and not just the cover.
http://crapboxofcthulhu.blogspot.com/2018/03/hercules-10.html
Above... so besides loving the cover, this makes me recall that as a youngster I was bothered a little by the first page with the small green monster with snake arms(?) and wings... it looked like a weaker version of the giant Hydra on the cover. What is it? Anyway, this comic surely introduced me to much of the Greek mythology that I've always enjoyed.
And then below... check out this old painting, Pollaiuolo's Hercules and the Hydra (c. 1475) version on Wikipedia. The Hydra heads are wolves!! They have the ears, the teeth, and even the dots for whiskers on the side of their snouts. Fun stuff. I always enjoyed the well-done mammalian reptile dragons and such. Smaug from the Hobbit cartoon comes to mind.
Good ole Smaug, the cat-wolf dragon:
I just found out it was a Japanese team of animators that made that detailed and impressive Smaug. Thanks dudes!
http://crapboxofcthulhu.blogspot.com/2018/03/hercules-10.html
 |
| Always reminded me of the 1970s cartoon Godzilla, but now I hear this thing was drawn in 1968. |
 |
| Who is greeny? |
Above... so besides loving the cover, this makes me recall that as a youngster I was bothered a little by the first page with the small green monster with snake arms(?) and wings... it looked like a weaker version of the giant Hydra on the cover. What is it? Anyway, this comic surely introduced me to much of the Greek mythology that I've always enjoyed.
And then below... check out this old painting, Pollaiuolo's Hercules and the Hydra (c. 1475) version on Wikipedia. The Hydra heads are wolves!! They have the ears, the teeth, and even the dots for whiskers on the side of their snouts. Fun stuff. I always enjoyed the well-done mammalian reptile dragons and such. Smaug from the Hobbit cartoon comes to mind.
Good ole Smaug, the cat-wolf dragon:
I just found out it was a Japanese team of animators that made that detailed and impressive Smaug. Thanks dudes!
- Animators – Kazuyuki Kobayashi, Tadakatsu Yoshida, Hidemi Kubo, Yukiyoshi Hane, Hidetoshi Kaneko, Kazuko Ito
- Animation Coordinator – Toru Hara
- Animation Supervisor – Tsuguyuki Kubo
- Character Designers – Lester Abrams, Tsuguyuki Kubo
- Background Designer – Minoru Nishida
- Animation Directors – Katsuhisa Yamada, Koichi Sasaki
Ah yes, the shakey animation... now I see the Japanese influence. Very cool:
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