Day Twenty-Three: Don't you hate it when you're trying to enjoy an afternoon bowl of Captain Black Copper and suddenly from out of nowhere an ALIEN Facehugger leaps on your face, rams it's proboscis down your throat, and impregnates you with an ALIEN embryo. That's exactly what happened to me as I was smoking my 221B Baker Street Pipe from Shalom Pipe Factory, pondering tonight's movie selection. And you thought tongue burn was bad! (For the record, that's not Yahoo Pipe Presenter Muttnchops Piper ... I just so happen to have the same shirt as he does)
Judging by today's photo shoot it's plain to see my selection for tonight's movie is the fourth film in the ALIEN franchise, "ALIEN: Resurrection". Unfortunately it's probably the most maligned and controversial film of the series. Much of it deserved, but I feel the film still has merit and deserves kudos for taking a few chances and expanding the mythos of the franchise.
First off we all know Ripley dies at the conclusion of "ALIEN 3" after tossing herself into a furnace of molten lead ... so how can Sigourney Weaver possible reprise her role as Ellen Ripley? Well that's where writer Josh Whedon comes in. A strange pick for screenwriter considering up to that time he was mainly known for writing "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and several episodes of the TV series "Parenthood" and "Roseanne".And anpther major contributing factor to Weaver's return was the 11 million dollar pay check she received to entice her to reprise the role. A salary that when adjusted for inflation was actually higher than the total budget of Ridley Scott's original "ALIEN".The choice of Whedon as screenwriter was no stranger than selecting French Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who could barely speak a word of English to helm the project, considering his previous two films "The City Of Lost Children" and "Delicatessen" werequirkymadcapfantasies light years beyond the sci-fi horror of "ALIEN: Resurrection". But in the end it all came together for a flawed yet enjoyable 'popcorn' movie experience.
The year is 2379, 200 years after Ellen Ripley sacrificed herself into the flaming inferno, yet we find a facsimile of her floating in a tankful of liquid. Whedon's plot device to resurrect Ripley is Immediately apparent to the audience ... cloning. Ellen Ripley has been cultivated and cloned from a blood sample recovered at the prison planet Fiorina 161. And after seven grotesque attempts Ripley #8 appears to be the first success, and is ready for testing by a group of scientist working for the wepons division of the military. Once again the company foolishly believes a controllable ALIEN species can be a viable alternative in military applications. And this predatory Ripley/ALIEN hybrid with the same acidic blood running through her veins as the xenomorphs could be the answer to their prayers.
"ALIEN: Resurrection" is a return to the sci-fi action of James Cameron's "ALIENS" with a cast of well-armed military types and cold-blooded mercenaries instead of the helpless unarmed prisoners that populated "ALIEN 3". The cast includes a crew of unscrupulous mercenaries from the ship "Betty", who deal in human cargo to be used as hosts for future experiments. The crew includes: Captain Elgyn (Michael Wincott), the female android Call (Winona Ryder), paraplegic Uriness (Dominique Pinon), and a trio of bad-assed characters always ready for a fight Christie (Gary Dourdan), Hillard (Kim Flowers) and the bad tempered Johner (played to perfection by Ron Pearlman). Also included in the cast are Dan Hedaya as General Perez, always creepy Brad Dourif as a the stereotypical mad scientist, and J.E. Freeman as Dr. Wren head of the operation. I take exception with the throng of viewers who absolutely hated the film and feel it's testosterone driven escapist entertainment and a decent entry in the ALIEN franchise. And for that give it a 4 bowls out of 5 rating. I was tempted to knock a half-point off for the macabre design of the ALIEN newborn - but thought I'd cut the movie some slack for at least trying to come up with an original design, even though in many ways missed the mark.
Please for the many typos in the last two articles, but I refuse to go back and use the EDIT function to correct errors. It's just not worth the heartache of having to re-post everything. So when you see words like 'another spelled 'anpther' on my "ALIEN: Resurrection" article, the phrase "hot on the trail" used twice in two consecutive sentences (something I consider a no-no) in the E.T. story break-down. And there may be a few others. I try double-checking everything before hitting POST but every once in a while something slips by. And from past experience I've learned to leave well enough alone. Unfortunately it makes me appear illiterate.
I've started copying everything I've written BEFORE hitting Post Comment. Thus, if my words go "poof" I can just paste 'em in again. Problem is, sometimes stuff goes "poof" repeatedly.....
@motie2 I've tried the exact same thing, but the problem then becomes if during the EDIT my initial article disappears and I then revert to trying to copy and paste the back-up I get the 'Comments Must Be Approved' message, and it doesn't seem to accept it. So I'm then forced to print out what I originally wrote directly at the site - and pray to God I don't inadvertently type a new mistake that needs correcting. This is a most unforgiving forum when trying to type a message longer than a few sentences. It's great for responding to comments - but when trying to create a new discussion - or attempting to do what I'm doing here for the 31 Days Of Halloween ... it can be a real pain.
I have an old Silverking pipe that I picked up at a flea market for 1.50. It is a 5 1/4" octagon shaped pipe and was stained black with several filled sand pits. So I decided to make it a "Halloween" pipe. Nothing near as dramatic as the rest of you have displayed, but I call it my "PUMPKIN PIPE".
After cleaning, sanding, etc. I rusticated the 2 front sections and the 2 back sections leaving the "vein" in the middle of the sections, then completed the rustication on the shank. Did a 2-tone stain, then brought the stem back to life and there you have it, my Pumpkin Pipe...
Ghost.....you ARE the man, no doubt about it.....wonderful work. But PLEASE think about doing Christmas as well. I know you collect "scary" stuff so you have all sorts of fodder for you imaginative ability. Just remember that the argument can be made that Christmas also has a scary component......later in January when the credit card statements arrive.
Day Twenty-Four: "2 1/2 Years In The Making" boasted the tagline for Universal International's most ambitious science fiction offering to date, the 1955 sci-fi spectacle "This Island Earth",directed by Joseph M Newman. But by my calculations the over-stated hype is flawed by a bit of fuzzy math. Principal photography began on January 30 and finished up on March 22th of 1954. Universal executives were dissatisfied with Newman's sequences on the planet Metaluna so they hired director Jack Arnold, who was well acquainted with the sci-fi genre, to re-shoot the effects heavy Metaluna sequences. So even when factoring in the re-shoots and additional time required for post-production optical effects the movie still managed to open in theaters on June 1, 1955. Which is a far cry from the "2 1/2 years in the making" claim in the press release and on movie posters.
But that aside, "This Island Earth" is a true sci-fi masterpiece, filmed in beautiful Technicolor, with a compelling story, imaginative special effects, flying saucers, an intergalactic battle sequence, an iconic bugged eyed alien, and a collection of stalwart 'B' movie stars perfectly cast for their role, including Jeff Morrow (Exeter) and Lance Fuller (Brack) as part of an alien task force sent to Earth from the planet Metaluna to gather an unwitting team of scientists to travel back to Metaluna and help them develop a defensive nuclear shield to protect their planet from an onslaught by the planet Zahgon. Part of the scientist enlisted for this impromptu intergalactic journey include Rex Reason (Cal Meacham), Faith Domergue (Ruth Adams), and Russell Johnson (Steve Carlson). A failed escape by Meacham and Adams in a private plane finds the couple engulfed in a mysterious tractor beam pulling the pair into the hold of a massive flying saucer. The high-jacked couple are delivered by Exeter to the leader of the planet Metaluna where it becomes all too apparent that the doomed planet is on the verge of total annihilation. Convinced that time has run out and extermination is at hand, Exeter attempts to return the Earthlings back to their home planet, but not before a confrontation with the grotesque bug-eyed Metaluna Mutant acting as sentry. Exeter is seriously wounded in the altercation yet manages to escape with the couple in his saucer just as the forces of Zahgon bombard the planet with a final nuclear assault, turning Metaluna into a blazing Super Nova. Midway home the trio are once again accosted by a wounded stow-away Mutant (just so Universal could get their money's worth out of the creature costume) before unceremoniously keeling over and dying before inflicting injury to anyone. "This Island Earth" was an ambitious project from Universal International who had invested a whopping $800,000 in the budget. The film proved to be a big hit garnering the studio a $1,700,00.00 return on their investment in box office totals upon it's initial release. The movie was re-released on a few occasions as part of a double-feature pairing with "Forbidden Planet" in one instance and "Invaders From Mars" on another to add a few more bucks to Universal's coffers. "This Island Earth" is a sci-fi classic deserving of a 5 bowls out of 5 perfect score.
Today's pipe is my Nording Eriksen Keystone. A nice smoker with a removable bowl and a chamber for Keystone absorbing clay stone filters to cool the smoke and reduce moisture. Tonight's tobacco blend will be a old codger OTC drug store blend that was probably available when "This Island Earth" was playing in theaters ... "Carter Hall".
@KA9FFJ You can't even buy a pouch of bad pipe tobacco for $1.50. Talk about a deal. And you're absolutely right, it does look like a pumpkin, making for a great Halloween pipe. Nice job restoring it. Now all you need is a little Sutliff Pumpkin Spice tobacco to complete the picture.
@pwkarch I did do a Christmas themed photo shoot for The Daily Briar Photoshoot a while back. Might do one for the 31 Days Of Halloween in your honor for the movie "Krampus". Here was a pictures from the original Daily Briar Photoshoot:
Thank you Ghost.....I am getting ready here. I start every year to play my Classical Christmas music the day after Halloween. I have SO many CD's that it can take me that long to hear them all. After Thanksgiving I add in my "standard" Christmas music.......I need to get pumped here this next week. I am just about finished a consulting gig that gets me up between 4 and 5 to take an hour drive, home late then to bed for the next day. I did this for over 40 years......and I am now back at it.......so I need something for which to look forward. Thanks for your posts.
@motie2 If you would have seen the pipe when I bought it, you would know why he was almost embarrassed to take my money. Initially, he asked 2 bucks for it, but while I was looking the pipe over, he lowered his price to 1.50. It's been laying around here since the middle of summer and thanks to this Halloween blog, I decided to do something with it. Weather permitting, I plan on passing out candy while sitting on my front porch rocking chair and enjoying the "PUMPKIN PIPE"...
@pwkarch We have quite a collection of Christmas DVDs, so my wife and I actually start watching Christmas movies right after Thanksgiving Dinner. We do more decorating on the inside of the house instead of lights on the outside. But the interior looks like a Winter Wonderland thanks to my wife. She goes all out to make the place beautiful and festive. And speaking of Ghost Stories on Christmas, there is a tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas dating back to the Victorian era. Which was one of the reasons Dicken's wrote "A Christmas Carol". It didn't begin with that story - but was part of the ghost story tradition. I have a collection of holiday ghost stories in a paperback called "Christmas Ghosts" which I pull out every year to read. The book is edited by Kathryn Cramer & David G. Hartwell and contains a variety of tales from both well known and lesser known authors. Great book for the holidays and judging by your appreciation of the season I think it's right up your alley.
@ghostsofpompeii Nice write up on This Island Earth. MST3K used the film for their one and only movie. Even though MST3K pokes fun at movies, it's all in good fun, and I usually end up appreciating the film afterwards. This Island Earth was my first MST3K film, and for that, it'll always hold a special place for me.
@thebadgerpiper It's hard to watch "This Island Earth" without recalling all the gag lines from MST3K: The Movie. Mike and the Bots did a great job lampooning the film - but it's still one of the best sci-fi flicks from that era.
Day Twenty-Five: Writer Steven Katz came up with a wonderful premise ... suppose when German director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau filmed his adaptation of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" he cast a genuine vampire to play the role. Director E. Elias Merhige brought Katz inspired idea to the screen in the 2000 film "Shadow Of The Vampire", starring John Malkovich as the dictatorial German Director Murnau, and an unrecognizable Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck (the vampire Count Orlock). The cast also includes Catherine McCormack and Eddie Izzard as the leading characters Greta Schroder and Gustav von Wangenheim - the unwilling pawns in Murnau's deception, as well as Udo Keir and Cary Elwes.
As the actual story goes the widow of Bram Stoker refused to give Murnau the rights to film "Dracula" so he simply made a few adjustments to the story by changing the title character from Dracula to Count Orlock, as well as the other leading characters in Stoker's novel. And up to now all this is fact. But "Shadow Of The Vampire" takes those facts and turns the filming of "Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror" on it ear by suggesting Murnau does more than simply plagiarize Stoker's novel, he also places his entire cast an crew in harm's way by casting a real life vampire in the title role. Murnau explains to the company that Max Schreck, the actor portraying Count Orlock is a method actor who will remain in character throughout the shoot, and his scenes will only be filmed at night. Accustom to such eccentric behavior in method actors the troupe reluctantly accept Schreck's demands. But as filming begins they become more and more apprehensive of Schreck's bizarre behavior. And it doesn't help that some of the crew are disappearing.
The interplay between Malkovich and Defoe is exceptional. Malkovich as the obsessive dictatorial Murnau whose only concern is for the completion of his film, while the blood-thirsty Dafoe stalks the screen exuding a skin crawling rat-like menace even when delivering some truly funny lines, such as when the pair are bickering about who can and can't be killed by Schreck. Murnau demands that Schreck keep his claws off the writer, instead suggesting someone like the easily replaceable script girl. Schreck who obviously has other plans replies, "I'll eat her later."
"Shadow Of The Vampire" is one of those films that slipped under the radar upon it's initial release and never found an audience. It plays more like a sophisticated art house melodrama than a traditional horror film - more character driven then the Technicolor gorefests that tend to fill the seats in theaters today. And at a budget of around 8 million dollars, the U.S. gross during it's initial run was $8,279, 017.00, making it something of a bust for the studios. But the film is a hidden gem of a movie, with a great cast, inspired acting, and creepy make-up job on Dafoe. For all that I'm giving it a 4 1/2 bowls out of 5.
The featured pipe is my high gloss Ebony Big Ben Style 140. And tonight's blend will be another old codger OTC blend "Velvet". And a nice red wine to wash it all down.
@motie2 I was going to smoke something else until I realized I used a vintage tin of Velvet in the picture and felt obligated. I have 2 20 year old tins of Velvet in my cellar - one I've been using for all my experiments, so I guess that's the tin I'll be smoking tonight. It's really not all that bad - but it definitely not what I'd call an aromatic.
<<but it definitely not what I'd call an aromatic.>> It's barely pipe tobacco, being more like cigarette tobacco (in my experience from back in the day).
Day Twenty-Six: Today's 'National Enquirer' is little more than a rumor mill and gossip column for Hollywood celebrities. Who's sleeping with whom, which starlet gained 50 pounds, unflattering mug shots of drunken actors, phony death bed confessions, and who just checked into Rehab. But in the early days of the publication the headlines were of a more salacious nature, featuring cover stories on the dark underbelly of humanity, plastered with graphic crime scene photographs depicting gruesome acts of violence. One especially gruesome headline which is indelibly etched into my brain was the August 25 - 31 1963 issue (Vol. 35 - No. 52) of "The Enquirer" which jumped out in bold-face type "I Cut Out Her Heart And Stomped On It!". This article, complete with crime scene photos detailed the brutal rape, strangulation, mutilation and decapitation of former British Olympic skier Sonja McCaskie by 18 year old high school student, Thomas Lee Bean. I was 13 at the time I saw that horrifying headline screaming out at me, and the memory of that bold face type is still fresh in my mind. Newspaper headlines catch the reader's eye - the more salacious the better - prompting them to reach in their wallet or pocketbook and relish in all their gory details. And the same tactic was often employed, to great success, by low budget filmmakers back in the 50s' and early 60s' when pondering some sensational movie title to peddle their latest project.
The titles of low budget sci-fi movies of the 50s' were oftentimes better and more imaginative than the actual movies. And in many cases the title alone told you everything you needed to know about the movie. "The Incredible Shrinking Man" and "The Amazing Colossal Man" - one movie about a guy who shrinks, another about a guy who grows. Pretty cut and dry. "The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers", "Invaders from Mars", "Attack Of The Puppett People", and "The Invasion Of The Saucer-Men" were once again titles that explained it all. No need asking anyone, "What's the movie about?" And then there were the titles sure to attract the youth market - "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein" and "I Was A Teenage Werewolf". Sensational titles tailor made for the adolescent movie-goer.
One such sensational title that sums up the story in a single sentence is the 1958 film "I Married A Monster From Outer Space". And for once, a movie with a somewhat silly title turns out to be a pretty good flick. The story tells the tale of Bill Farrell (Tom Tryon) who after leaving his bachelor party is confronted by an alien invader, engulfing him in a thick toxic smoke. His unconscious body is then whisked away and duplicated. Gloria Talbott, who plays his wife Marge is unaware of the transformation, but as time goes by she becomes more attuned to the subtle changes in the man she originally knew, and begins to believe he is somehow an imposter. Her hunch pays off when one evening during one of his late night jaunts, Marge follows him into the forest to his space ship. There she witnesses the reverse duplication process as the imposter transforms from Bill to his true alien form. She soon discovers her husband is not the only alien imposter in town, several of the men have also been duplicated in an attempt to successfully mate with human women and propagate their species. It's later revealed the females on their home planet have become sterile. I won't spoil the outcome other than say it's an excellent movie, well worth watching. With a relatively short running time the movie is more like watching one of the better episodes of the original "The Outer Limits".
The film was directed by Gene Fowler Jr. fresh off directing "I Was A Teenage Werewolf" in 1957. The cast includes: Tom Tryon, Gloria Talbott, Robert Ivers, Valerie Allen, Peter Balwin, Chuck Wassil, Ty Hardin, John Eldredge, and Ken Lynch. I'll give this a 4 1/5 bowls out of 5 rating.
The featured pipe is my Meerschaum Musketeer and the blend I'll be enjoying tonight is East India Trading Company "Cellar Reserve".
Day Twenty-Seven: Technology has unraveled so many of life's mysteries that an author's flight of fancy and the 'imagination of the impossible' have been quelled by the cold hard facts of science. Things are deemed impossible because science have proven it to be so. Satellite mapping has divided the Earth into grids, with each grid thoroughly photographed and cataloged. Making any probability of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" a scientific impossibility. Scientific evidence proves that there is no region on the planet that escaped the global calamity causing the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. And after mapping the planet with camera technology capable of zeroing in on a car's license plate, no land mass capable of hiding and sustaining 50 to 100 foot dinosaurs has yet to be discovered. So the possibility of encountering one of Doyle's dinosaurs on your next trip through the Amazon rain forest is highly unlikely. And that hard science makes it difficult for filmmakers to get today's audience to buy into the notion of an undiscovered land where dinosaurs still exist. That is until Michael Crichton presented readers with a new scientific possibility for their return in his best-novel "Jurassic Park". As unlikely a scenario as discovering Conan Doyle's "Lost World" in some remote jungle, Crichton used a technique best described as "baffle them with bullsh*t", by suggesting through scientific methods, currently in use, dinosaurs could be cloned from their blood ingested by mosquitoes which have been trapped for Millennia in amber. The modern sophisticated audience might scoff at a plot device where an explorer stumbles upon Conan Doyle's "Lost World", but toss a little science at them and suddenly the improbable seems possible. Steven Spielberg not only bought into the concept, it provided him an opportunity to live out his dream and film a dinosaur movie of his own. And in 1993 Spielberg directed the blockbuster of the year "Jurassic Park". Setting the table for a series of sequels to follow.
Since revealing all the hocus-pocus of creating these majestic beasts by combining Dino DNA with that of a frog in the original "Jurassic Park", the subsequent movies have moved away from the science to become satisfying action-packed fantasy adventures. Something much more to my liking. Until the release of today's feature film "Jurassic World" my favorite of the series was "Jurassic Park 3" because by this point scientific jargon and the magic behind cloning had been established, as well as the moral issues of "just because we can - should we", so what remained was less dialogue and more dinosaurs on the loose. And "Jurassic Park 3" went right for the jugular from the opening moments of the film and never let up. The Mom and Pop rescue mission plot was a simply enough excuse to get the audience back on the island for more Dino-carnage, which is all I cared about anyway.
The 2015 "Jurassic World" directed by Colin Trevorrow is the fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise and the most costly, with a budget of over $150 million. The success of the film and it's $652,270,625.00 gross insured a continuation of the series. And if filmmakers can continue upping the ante matching the thrills and intensity of "Jurassic World" the series should continue to make Universal Studios a sizable profit.
This time out 27 years have passed since the failure of John Hammond's original "Jurassic Park" theme park. But security is better, the attractions are bigger, and the park is more interactive. Complete with petting zoo and spherical mobile devices which allow visitors to cruise in relative safety among the creatures. And the newest attraction to the park is the genetically modified hybrid Super-Predator, the Indominus-Rex. A new Franken-Dinosaur capable of stealth and camouflage from the DNA of cuttlefish, the ability to locate prey by thermal heat signatures from the DNA of a snake, the ability to adapt to temperature changes from the DNA of a tree frog, Raptor DNA for intelligence, and the DNA from T-Rex for it's size and power. In other words - a disaster in the making. And as usual, regardless of all the safeguards in place, the beast escapes, along with a host of other predators reeking havoc throughout the park. Tossed into the plot is a military project headed by Chris Pratt training Raptors to follow commands. They prove to be invaluable in tracking down the Indominus-Rex. But once the beast is tracked down and the Raptors and Indominus-Rex make contact, all bets are off as they share the same DNA. Does their allegiance lie with Pratt, the man who trained them - or the Rex who shares their DNA. "Jurassic World" stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jake Johnson, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simkins, and Judy Greer. As a dinofanatic I'm giving this 5 bowls out of 5.
The featured pipe is another of my H.S. Studio Pipes, and for lack of a better name I refer to it as my Vesuvius Pipe as it bears a strong resemblance to a volcano.
Actually the one I thought was the coolest was "Shadow Of The Vampire". And not so much the set-up but for the second picture I placed a light in front of it so the vampire 'would' have a shadow. Don't know if anyone picked up on it, but that was my intention. This has been fun, but I'm quickly running out of props.
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Day Twenty-Three: Don't you hate it when you're trying to enjoy an afternoon bowl of Captain Black Copper and suddenly from out of nowhere an ALIEN Facehugger leaps on your face, rams it's proboscis down your throat, and impregnates you with an ALIEN embryo. That's exactly what happened to me as I was smoking my 221B Baker Street Pipe from Shalom Pipe Factory, pondering tonight's movie selection. And you thought tongue burn was bad! (For the record, that's not Yahoo Pipe Presenter Muttnchops Piper ... I just so happen to have the same shirt as he does)
Judging by today's photo shoot it's plain to see my selection for tonight's movie is the fourth film in the ALIEN franchise, "ALIEN: Resurrection". Unfortunately it's probably the most maligned and controversial film of the series. Much of it deserved, but I feel the film still has merit and deserves kudos for taking a few chances and expanding the mythos of the franchise.
First off we all know Ripley dies at the conclusion of "ALIEN 3" after tossing herself into a furnace of molten lead ... so how can Sigourney Weaver possible reprise her role as Ellen Ripley? Well that's where writer Josh Whedon comes in. A strange pick for screenwriter considering up to that time he was mainly known for writing "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and several episodes of the TV series "Parenthood" and "Roseanne". And anpther major contributing factor to Weaver's return was the 11 million dollar pay check she received to entice her to reprise the role. A salary that when adjusted for inflation was actually higher than the total budget of Ridley Scott's original "ALIEN". The choice of Whedon as screenwriter was no stranger than selecting French Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who could barely speak a word of English to helm the project, considering his previous two films "The City Of Lost Children" and "Delicatessen" were quirky madcap fantasies light years beyond the sci-fi horror of "ALIEN: Resurrection". But in the end it all came together for a flawed yet enjoyable 'popcorn' movie experience.
The year is 2379, 200 years after Ellen Ripley sacrificed herself into the flaming inferno, yet we find a facsimile of her floating in a tankful of liquid. Whedon's plot device to resurrect Ripley is Immediately apparent to the audience ... cloning. Ellen Ripley has been cultivated and cloned from a blood sample recovered at the prison planet Fiorina 161. And after seven grotesque attempts Ripley #8 appears to be the first success, and is ready for testing by a group of scientist working for the wepons division of the military. Once again the company foolishly believes a controllable ALIEN species can be a viable alternative in military applications. And this predatory Ripley/ALIEN hybrid with the same acidic blood running through her veins as the xenomorphs could be the answer to their prayers.
"ALIEN: Resurrection" is a return to the sci-fi action of James Cameron's "ALIENS" with a cast of well-armed military types and cold-blooded mercenaries instead of the helpless unarmed prisoners that populated "ALIEN 3". The cast includes a crew of unscrupulous mercenaries from the ship "Betty", who deal in human cargo to be used as hosts for future experiments. The crew includes: Captain Elgyn (Michael Wincott), the female android Call (Winona Ryder), paraplegic Uriness (Dominique Pinon), and a trio of bad-assed characters always ready for a fight Christie (Gary Dourdan), Hillard (Kim Flowers) and the bad tempered Johner (played to perfection by Ron Pearlman). Also included in the cast are Dan Hedaya as General Perez, always creepy Brad Dourif as a the stereotypical mad scientist, and J.E. Freeman as Dr. Wren head of the operation. I take exception with the throng of viewers who absolutely hated the film and feel it's testosterone driven escapist entertainment and a decent entry in the ALIEN franchise. And for that give it a 4 bowls out of 5 rating. I was tempted to knock a half-point off for the macabre design of the ALIEN newborn - but thought I'd cut the movie some slack for at least trying to come up with an original design, even though in many ways missed the mark.
We all appreciate your creative efforts. Thanks for doing the series....
After cleaning, sanding, etc. I rusticated the 2 front sections and the 2 back sections leaving the "vein" in the middle of the sections, then completed the rustication on the shank. Did a 2-tone stain, then brought the stem back to life and there you have it, my Pumpkin Pipe...
Ghost.....you ARE the man, no doubt about it.....wonderful work. But PLEASE think about doing Christmas as well. I know you collect "scary" stuff so you have all sorts of fodder for you imaginative ability. Just remember that the argument can be made that Christmas also has a scary component......later in January when the credit card statements arrive.
Day Twenty-Four: "2 1/2 Years In The Making" boasted the tagline for Universal International's most ambitious science fiction offering to date, the 1955 sci-fi spectacle "This Island Earth", directed by Joseph M Newman. But by my calculations the over-stated hype is flawed by a bit of fuzzy math. Principal photography began on January 30 and finished up on March 22th of 1954. Universal executives were dissatisfied with Newman's sequences on the planet Metaluna so they hired director Jack Arnold, who was well acquainted with the sci-fi genre, to re-shoot the effects heavy Metaluna sequences. So even when factoring in the re-shoots and additional time required for post-production optical effects the movie still managed to open in theaters on June 1, 1955. Which is a far cry from the "2 1/2 years in the making" claim in the press release and on movie posters.
But that aside, "This Island Earth" is a true sci-fi masterpiece, filmed in beautiful Technicolor, with a compelling story, imaginative special effects, flying saucers, an intergalactic battle sequence, an iconic bugged eyed alien, and a collection of stalwart 'B' movie stars perfectly cast for their role, including Jeff Morrow (Exeter) and Lance Fuller (Brack) as part of an alien task force sent to Earth from the planet Metaluna to gather an unwitting team of scientists to travel back to Metaluna and help them develop a defensive nuclear shield to protect their planet from an onslaught by the planet Zahgon. Part of the scientist enlisted for this impromptu intergalactic journey include Rex Reason (Cal Meacham), Faith Domergue (Ruth Adams), and Russell Johnson (Steve Carlson). A failed escape by Meacham and Adams in a private plane finds the couple engulfed in a mysterious tractor beam pulling the pair into the hold of a massive flying saucer. The high-jacked couple are delivered by Exeter to the leader of the planet Metaluna where it becomes all too apparent that the doomed planet is on the verge of total annihilation. Convinced that time has run out and extermination is at hand, Exeter attempts to return the Earthlings back to their home planet, but not before a confrontation with the grotesque bug-eyed Metaluna Mutant acting as sentry. Exeter is seriously wounded in the altercation yet manages to escape with the couple in his saucer just as the forces of Zahgon bombard the planet with a final nuclear assault, turning Metaluna into a blazing Super Nova. Midway home the trio are once again accosted by a wounded stow-away Mutant (just so Universal could get their money's worth out of the creature costume) before unceremoniously keeling over and dying before inflicting injury to anyone. "This Island Earth" was an ambitious project from Universal International who had invested a whopping $800,000 in the budget. The film proved to be a big hit garnering the studio a $1,700,00.00 return on their investment in box office totals upon it's initial release. The movie was re-released on a few occasions as part of a double-feature pairing with "Forbidden Planet" in one instance and "Invaders From Mars" on another to add a few more bucks to Universal's coffers. "This Island Earth" is a sci-fi classic deserving of a 5 bowls out of 5 perfect score.
Today's pipe is my Nording Eriksen Keystone. A nice smoker with a removable bowl and a chamber for Keystone absorbing clay stone filters to cool the smoke and reduce moisture. Tonight's tobacco blend will be a old codger OTC drug store blend that was probably available when "This Island Earth" was playing in theaters ... "Carter Hall".
@pwkarch I did do a Christmas themed photo shoot for The Daily Briar Photoshoot a while back. Might do one for the 31 Days Of Halloween in your honor for the movie "Krampus". Here was a pictures from the original Daily Briar Photoshoot:
Thank you Ghost.....I am getting ready here. I start every year to play my Classical Christmas music the day after Halloween. I have SO many CD's that it can take me that long to hear them all. After Thanksgiving I add in my "standard" Christmas music.......I need to get pumped here this next week. I am just about finished a consulting gig that gets me up between 4 and 5 to take an hour drive, home late then to bed for the next day. I did this for over 40 years......and I am now back at it.......so I need something for which to look forward. Thanks for your posts.
Day Twenty-Five: Writer Steven Katz came up with a wonderful premise ... suppose when German director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau filmed his adaptation of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" he cast a genuine vampire to play the role. Director E. Elias Merhige brought Katz inspired idea to the screen in the 2000 film "Shadow Of The Vampire", starring John Malkovich as the dictatorial German Director Murnau, and an unrecognizable Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck (the vampire Count Orlock). The cast also includes Catherine McCormack and Eddie Izzard as the leading characters Greta Schroder and Gustav von Wangenheim - the unwilling pawns in Murnau's deception, as well as Udo Keir and Cary Elwes.
As the actual story goes the widow of Bram Stoker refused to give Murnau the rights to film "Dracula" so he simply made a few adjustments to the story by changing the title character from Dracula to Count Orlock, as well as the other leading characters in Stoker's novel. And up to now all this is fact. But "Shadow Of The Vampire" takes those facts and turns the filming of "Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror" on it ear by suggesting Murnau does more than simply plagiarize Stoker's novel, he also places his entire cast an crew in harm's way by casting a real life vampire in the title role. Murnau explains to the company that Max Schreck, the actor portraying Count Orlock is a method actor who will remain in character throughout the shoot, and his scenes will only be filmed at night. Accustom to such eccentric behavior in method actors the troupe reluctantly accept Schreck's demands. But as filming begins they become more and more apprehensive of Schreck's bizarre behavior. And it doesn't help that some of the crew are disappearing.
The interplay between Malkovich and Defoe is exceptional. Malkovich as the obsessive dictatorial Murnau whose only concern is for the completion of his film, while the blood-thirsty Dafoe stalks the screen exuding a skin crawling rat-like menace even when delivering some truly funny lines, such as when the pair are bickering about who can and can't be killed by Schreck. Murnau demands that Schreck keep his claws off the writer, instead suggesting someone like the easily replaceable script girl. Schreck who obviously has other plans replies, "I'll eat her later."
"Shadow Of The Vampire" is one of those films that slipped under the radar upon it's initial release and never found an audience. It plays more like a sophisticated art house melodrama than a traditional horror film - more character driven then the Technicolor gorefests that tend to fill the seats in theaters today. And at a budget of around 8 million dollars, the U.S. gross during it's initial run was $8,279, 017.00, making it something of a bust for the studios. But the film is a hidden gem of a movie, with a great cast, inspired acting, and creepy make-up job on Dafoe. For all that I'm giving it a 4 1/2 bowls out of 5.
The featured pipe is my high gloss Ebony Big Ben Style 140. And tonight's blend will be another old codger OTC blend "Velvet". And a nice red wine to wash it all down.
Day Twenty-Six: Today's 'National Enquirer' is little more than a rumor mill and gossip column for Hollywood celebrities. Who's sleeping with whom, which starlet gained 50 pounds, unflattering mug shots of drunken actors, phony death bed confessions, and who just checked into Rehab. But in the early days of the publication the headlines were of a more salacious nature, featuring cover stories on the dark underbelly of humanity, plastered with graphic crime scene photographs depicting gruesome acts of violence. One especially gruesome headline which is indelibly etched into my brain was the August 25 - 31 1963 issue (Vol. 35 - No. 52) of "The Enquirer" which jumped out in bold-face type "I Cut Out Her Heart And Stomped On It!". This article, complete with crime scene photos detailed the brutal rape, strangulation, mutilation and decapitation of former British Olympic skier Sonja McCaskie by 18 year old high school student, Thomas Lee Bean. I was 13 at the time I saw that horrifying headline screaming out at me, and the memory of that bold face type is still fresh in my mind. Newspaper headlines catch the reader's eye - the more salacious the better - prompting them to reach in their wallet or pocketbook and relish in all their gory details. And the same tactic was often employed, to great success, by low budget filmmakers back in the 50s' and early 60s' when pondering some sensational movie title to peddle their latest project.
The titles of low budget sci-fi movies of the 50s' were oftentimes better and more imaginative than the actual movies. And in many cases the title alone told you everything you needed to know about the movie. "The Incredible Shrinking Man" and "The Amazing Colossal Man" - one movie about a guy who shrinks, another about a guy who grows. Pretty cut and dry. "The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers", "Invaders from Mars", "Attack Of The Puppett People", and "The Invasion Of The Saucer-Men" were once again titles that explained it all. No need asking anyone, "What's the movie about?" And then there were the titles sure to attract the youth market - "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein" and "I Was A Teenage Werewolf". Sensational titles tailor made for the adolescent movie-goer.
One such sensational title that sums up the story in a single sentence is the 1958 film "I Married A Monster From Outer Space". And for once, a movie with a somewhat silly title turns out to be a pretty good flick. The story tells the tale of Bill Farrell (Tom Tryon) who after leaving his bachelor party is confronted by an alien invader, engulfing him in a thick toxic smoke. His unconscious body is then whisked away and duplicated. Gloria Talbott, who plays his wife Marge is unaware of the transformation, but as time goes by she becomes more attuned to the subtle changes in the man she originally knew, and begins to believe he is somehow an imposter. Her hunch pays off when one evening during one of his late night jaunts, Marge follows him into the forest to his space ship. There she witnesses the reverse duplication process as the imposter transforms from Bill to his true alien form. She soon discovers her husband is not the only alien imposter in town, several of the men have also been duplicated in an attempt to successfully mate with human women and propagate their species. It's later revealed the females on their home planet have become sterile. I won't spoil the outcome other than say it's an excellent movie, well worth watching. With a relatively short running time the movie is more like watching one of the better episodes of the original "The Outer Limits".
The film was directed by Gene Fowler Jr. fresh off directing "I Was A Teenage Werewolf" in 1957. The cast includes: Tom Tryon, Gloria Talbott, Robert Ivers, Valerie Allen, Peter Balwin, Chuck Wassil, Ty Hardin, John Eldredge, and Ken Lynch. I'll give this a 4 1/5 bowls out of 5 rating.
The featured pipe is my Meerschaum Musketeer and the blend I'll be enjoying tonight is East India Trading Company "Cellar Reserve".
Day Twenty-Seven: Technology has unraveled so many of life's mysteries that an author's flight of fancy and the 'imagination of the impossible' have been quelled by the cold hard facts of science. Things are deemed impossible because science have proven it to be so. Satellite mapping has divided the Earth into grids, with each grid thoroughly photographed and cataloged. Making any probability of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" a scientific impossibility. Scientific evidence proves that there is no region on the planet that escaped the global calamity causing the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. And after mapping the planet with camera technology capable of zeroing in on a car's license plate, no land mass capable of hiding and sustaining 50 to 100 foot dinosaurs has yet to be discovered. So the possibility of encountering one of Doyle's dinosaurs on your next trip through the Amazon rain forest is highly unlikely. And that hard science makes it difficult for filmmakers to get today's audience to buy into the notion of an undiscovered land where dinosaurs still exist. That is until Michael Crichton presented readers with a new scientific possibility for their return in his best-novel "Jurassic Park". As unlikely a scenario as discovering Conan Doyle's "Lost World" in some remote jungle, Crichton used a technique best described as "baffle them with bullsh*t", by suggesting through scientific methods, currently in use, dinosaurs could be cloned from their blood ingested by mosquitoes which have been trapped for Millennia in amber. The modern sophisticated audience might scoff at a plot device where an explorer stumbles upon Conan Doyle's "Lost World", but toss a little science at them and suddenly the improbable seems possible. Steven Spielberg not only bought into the concept, it provided him an opportunity to live out his dream and film a dinosaur movie of his own. And in 1993 Spielberg directed the blockbuster of the year "Jurassic Park". Setting the table for a series of sequels to follow.
Since revealing all the hocus-pocus of creating these majestic beasts by combining Dino DNA with that of a frog in the original "Jurassic Park", the subsequent movies have moved away from the science to become satisfying action-packed fantasy adventures. Something much more to my liking. Until the release of today's feature film "Jurassic World" my favorite of the series was "Jurassic Park 3" because by this point scientific jargon and the magic behind cloning had been established, as well as the moral issues of "just because we can - should we", so what remained was less dialogue and more dinosaurs on the loose. And "Jurassic Park 3" went right for the jugular from the opening moments of the film and never let up. The Mom and Pop rescue mission plot was a simply enough excuse to get the audience back on the island for more Dino-carnage, which is all I cared about anyway.
The 2015 "Jurassic World" directed by Colin Trevorrow is the fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise and the most costly, with a budget of over $150 million. The success of the film and it's $652,270,625.00 gross insured a continuation of the series. And if filmmakers can continue upping the ante matching the thrills and intensity of "Jurassic World" the series should continue to make Universal Studios a sizable profit.
This time out 27 years have passed since the failure of John Hammond's original "Jurassic Park" theme park. But security is better, the attractions are bigger, and the park is more interactive. Complete with petting zoo and spherical mobile devices which allow visitors to cruise in relative safety among the creatures. And the newest attraction to the park is the genetically modified hybrid Super-Predator, the Indominus-Rex. A new Franken-Dinosaur capable of stealth and camouflage from the DNA of cuttlefish, the ability to locate prey by thermal heat signatures from the DNA of a snake, the ability to adapt to temperature changes from the DNA of a tree frog, Raptor DNA for intelligence, and the DNA from T-Rex for it's size and power. In other words - a disaster in the making. And as usual, regardless of all the safeguards in place, the beast escapes, along with a host of other predators reeking havoc throughout the park. Tossed into the plot is a military project headed by Chris Pratt training Raptors to follow commands. They prove to be invaluable in tracking down the Indominus-Rex. But once the beast is tracked down and the Raptors and Indominus-Rex make contact, all bets are off as they share the same DNA. Does their allegiance lie with Pratt, the man who trained them - or the Rex who shares their DNA. "Jurassic World" stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jake Johnson, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simkins, and Judy Greer. As a dinofanatic I'm giving this 5 bowls out of 5.
The featured pipe is another of my H.S. Studio Pipes, and for lack of a better name I refer to it as my Vesuvius Pipe as it bears a strong resemblance to a volcano.
Ghost, running out of props, you are running out of days as well.........