KING KONG

I was obsessed with KING KONG and other movie monsters  when I was a kid--  in the days before VCRs I would stay up late when Channel 56 in Boston would show the original 1933 on their late movie-- and I'd seen it maybe a dozen times. 

So I was pretty excited when they announced a big budget remake in the late 70s, as an avid reader of Famous Monsters Magazine at the time I kept up with the progress of the movie and went with my friends to see it in theaters 44 times (yes you read that correctly).  We didn't pay for every showing-- in fact sometimes we stayed and watched it again, a couple of times we went in through the exit-- but we saw it a lot of times.

These were the days when you could give your kid a couple of bucks and tell them to be back before the street lights came on-- imagine doing that with an eight year old today!

It certainly helped that we lived only about two blocks from the movie theater.

Famous Monsters ran a lot of news about the remake when it was happening-- but one of the coolest things was a shot of a big Kong maquette that Producer DeLaurentis had made up for a few of his friends.
Flash forward THIRTY (!) years and a good friend told me that her husband had gotten one of these statues back in the day because he was one of those friends!  If I found out that one of these things was only one town over back in 1977 I would have donned ninja gear to sneak in and hold it in my hands in the middle of the night-- I wouldn't have taken it mind you-- I was raised right-- I might have snuck into a movie theater but that's about my limit of criminal intent.  As a kid the world seemed like a giant place-- New York City was so far away and when Famous Monsters also announced that they were looking for extras to appear in the final scene of the movie to be shot at the World Trade Center I only imagined how lucky those kids in New Jersey must have felt (at the time I didn't think people actually LIVED in Manhattan).

Kong was one of the first movies to be merchandised-- a practice that is so common today it seems odd to think that there weren't Kong figures from the first movie-- and I had a few of them.  The King Kong Viewmaster set and the little rubber figures were my favorites.  If I had seen the statue as a kid I would have probably sold a kidney to get one!

I really like the 1976 King Kong-- it gets a bad wrap and it certainly has a lot of reasons not to like it.  Jessica Lange wasn't displaying any of the acting talent she had in this one and there is a LOT of campy aspects to it-- not the least of which is a lack of dinosaurs on the island where they find Kong, and of course the giant 40 ft Kong Robot which was supposed to be used in the whole movie but was so NOT life like it's only in two scenes (and painfully obvious when it is used).

But I liked it-- I also liked 1962's KING KONG VS GODZILLA which features what I thought was the dopiest King Kong suit around until I saw 1967's KING KONG ESCAPES, both of which were from Godzilla home studio TOHO and both were a lot of fun.

On the down side, DeLaurentis made a sequel to his Kong called KING KONG LIVES which might be the worst movie ever made.  They find a lady Kong, give the King a heart transplant and other things of that caliber that the middle school boys who wrote this thing came up with.

Nothing stands worse for me in Kongland than Peter Jackson's god-awful remake from 2005.  I was pumped when they announced this-- Jackson was a big fan of the original, they were going to set it in 1933 and use the most up to date special effects in this-- but when they announced Jack Black in the Carl Denham role I started to get a bad feeling.

I saw this opening weekend and fell asleep about 45 minutes into it.  Unfortunately somebody woke me up so that I could experience the remaining three hours of a fat Kong and non stop CGI special effects.  The ONLY thing Jackson did well with this version was to create truly frightening natives on Kong's island.  The rest of it is a sappy mess that runs about three hours too long.

When it came out on DVD as an extended version I laughed-- apparently this version was designed to be watched by invalids and others who had seven plus hours to watch a movie at one time.   I will give Jackson's crappy remake props for getting the original Kong released on DVD, so there is some good among the bad.

There are rumors around that there is yet another remake planned, and this time by a film maker who wants to do it with traditional stop motion animation (as the original was), but for me, I'll pop in the '33 anytime I feel the need for a Kong fix.

OMAC by Jack Kirby

The point of Merchandise Monday is to get you to buy something you don't realize you need.  Well, you need this.
I've talked about my hero and mentor Jack Kirby many times before, but this one was even new to me.  Stumbling through the library the other day I spotted this on the racks and grabbed it up-- then promptly ordered my own copy on Amazon.

OMAC-- One Man Army Corp is a title I've avoided due to the incredibly dumb mohawk sported by the hero, and just how outright stupid it looked.
Well, after reading the first issue I can tell you this goes way beyond stupid to the realm of LSD experimentation-- the concepts and storys are deceptively simple but SO bizarre you'll be wondering if you actually just read this.

OMAC starts out as pacifist office worker Buddy Blank-- why he gets chosen for the experiment is beyond me, but it's also not all that important.  Buddy works in an office in the future, and the future is filled with jerks because he's treated like a geek among high school jocks  to the point that he has to go to one of the rooms the business has put aside to release rage, settle depression or just plain lose it.  He chooses a room you can go in and break stuff.  
But that's only the start of it.  Scientists use a satellite called Brother Eye to change Buddy into a super soldier via remote control-- and his first mission is to stop the marketing of build a friends., which is a company selling out shapely female robots you put together and they become your friend.   Possibly more than friends, but the downside is they then explode because that seemed like the simplest way to knock someone off in the future.  You see you let the robot get close to you and then BLAMMO.  Somebody has to put you together.

Kirby is firing on all cylinders here.  Absolute horrible dialogue-- the GPA-- Global Peace Authority are a group of individuals who spray a chemical on their faces to disguise them since they represent all nations they can't look of any one race-- we know this because they tell us in every issue.  They also wear capes, because this is the future.

OMAC's dopey mohawk isn't as distracting as you might think because the rest of the thing is so out of this world bizarre you can't focus on something as simple as a bad hair choice.

Highly recommended if you're a fan of Ed Wood movies.

Alli Our New Studio Mate!

Alli unpacked her bags last week and took up residence on the couch.  I knew she planned a long term visit when she started pinning up David Hasselhoff pics near her bed (She has it bad for the Hass).

She's sweet and a lot of fun to have around.  I'd forgotten how smart dogs are. 

While Basil  (Our sleek black cat) spends his day sleeping, knocking stuff over and chewing on paint brushes, he does occasionally come over and sit in your lap for a few minutes before his mood completely changes and he decides he wants nothing to do with you.

Alli is the opposite-- she just wants to be your friend--and she wants you to be happy with her.  When she does something that you aren't happy about (and that is pretty rare) she hangs her head and walks away.  When she see's you for the first time she runs in a quick circle and then falls on her back so you'll scratch her tummy.  If you ask her where her boyfriend is she'll run and get her favorite toy for you.  Amazing!

Alli and Basil are starting to warm up to each other, which is a good thing because when you weigh the pros and cons of both of them Basil kinda falls short (pack your bags Basil!).

But it's nice here at the zoo-- with these guys running around, doing some simple chores and hogging the TV remotes.  It'll take some adjustments for all of us.

Movie Recommendation; PHANTOM LADY (1944)

One of the best film noirs of the 40s features Ella Raines and Franchot Tone in Universal's PHANTOM LADY.  Robert Siodmak directed this and he later went on to helm such classics as THE SUSPECT, THE KILLERS and CRISS CROSS-- all considered film noir classics.

Phantom Lady has proposterous B-Movie elements in it but don't let that get in the way of enjoying this little known gem.

A man in an unhappy marriage goes out for a night on the town with a mysterious woman.  In his state of mind he doesn't remember a lot about her and that makes him look bad when he gets home to find his wife dead and the police asking a lot of questions.

His girl friday Ella Raines won't give up, and she goes looking for the truth.

Unfortunately, it's not available through any commercial release, but you can find it in the grey market, like Ioffer.com

Tomorrow; SUNDAY in February!

Illustration Friday

A great resource for all artists is ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY-- each week they give you a new theme and ask you to submit a drawing based on that theme.  It's a great challenge and helps to build your portfolio.  They might give you the word CLUMSY and then you interpret it-- it's interesting to see how the other artists approach it and compare your own choice.

Well worth checking out.

The BEST Burger Anywhere

After I posted about FIVE GUYS BURGERS here in the Big Woo, and said they had "one of the best" burgers, I've been asked repeatedly who has the best, and since there is nary a restaurant or diner that hasn't had me stop by I have to say without question GOURMET MARKET in Cambridge.

GOURMET MARKET is a strange mix of White Hen Pantry and a diner in that they are open 24 hours, have food and groceries from all over the world (pick up an Aero Bar while you're there) and the amazing fresh cooked offerings of breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I understand the place gets crazy late, and I often stop there on my way back from Emerson when I can't get a parking spot at the Falafal Palace in Central Square, so I've been there reasonably late and never had a problem.

Be Good Burger in Brookline has an outstanding rep, but unfortunately I only tried the Turkey Burger so I can't speak of it yet, but I will check it out soon and report back here.  Good pal and incredible artist Lindsay Small was the Be Good Girl last year, enjoying free hamburgers for a year before she gave up her crown.

Charlie's Kitchen in Cambridge is also well worth checking out.

TOMORROW; FREE FRIDAY

Monkey Goggles

In the hilarious movie THE MORE THE MERRIER (1943) Jean Arthur ridicules Joel McCrea for wasting his time reading Dick Tracy in the comic section of the newspaper, his reply;

"Gotta keep up with what's going on."

I can think of no place better than MONKEY GOGGLES the news section from Archie McPhee.  Where else can you learn about the availability of a Bacon Tuxedo?

TOMORROW; THURSDAY on the TOWN

Adam Bomb; Invasion of the Beauty Snatchers!

For this Tuesday art edition we're looking at a page from my comic book series ADAM BOMB, this particular story featured a race of Alien Invaders who came to earth to suck the beauty molecules from our women to make theirs look better-- and of course it turned our women into horrible knuckle dragging creatures.  The book garnered the usual hate mail from those with no sense of humor, but it did get a mention on the Howard Stern Show which I can't confirm because I'm an Imus fan.

TOMORROW; Website Wednesday

Merchandise Monday; Mister Snot Tissues

Archie McPhee is always a great stop to check out the strange and unusual-- Mister Snot tissues certainly seems like an idea that's been a long time coming-- how Kleenex didn't gobble up the name is beyond me.  I assume Mister Poop toilet paper is right around the corner. 

I was in the great store BLACK INK in Cambridge this weekend, whose motto is "Snobby Clerks Selling Overpriced Junk You Don't Need But Somehow You Want" and they had a great book in the window called ADBOY (feel free to order an extra copy for me) LOADED with great advertising characters from the golden days of advertising.  Maybe Mister Snot signals a return to those glorious days when we were more creative than having a lizard sell insurance!

Ground Hog Days of Winter

I happen to think Ground Hog's Day is one of the dumbest traditions we could ever follow and yet I look forward to it every year because it means we're about halfway through this hell on earth known as Winter.  I hate winter.  I hate you more than Reality television, more than Asparagus and more than rabies shots-- and that's saying something.

The fine folks at PETA, most of whom are rational animal loving people, want to stop the whole event in Pennsylvania with   Punxsutawney Phil because apparently it's cruel to pick the little fella up after he waddles out of his hole in the ground and somehow predicts the end of winter.  It's six weeks left if he see's his shadow, and a month and a half if he doesn't-- or something like that.

I appreciate what PETA does.  Stop the illegal puppy farms.  Make sure your local chinese restaurant isn't serving Mittens as the Chicken Chow Mein, but sometimes they go too far.  Outlawing the dog tracks here in Massachusetts put 500 people-- PEOPLE -- out of work during one of the worst economies in history.  When we put animals over people we've gone too far.  I would have supported strong legislation and regulation to ensure the dogs are treated well at the parks and by their owners, and even to go so far as to support criminal charges against anyone who abuses a dog (for the record I think Michael Vick and his dog fight crew should be serving life in prison), but please people let's be reasonable.

I'm pretty sure Phil's doesn't have all that much to do for the rest of the year.  Judging by the pic he makes it to the gym less than I do and probably spends a bit too much time channel serving, so I think asking him to step outside ONCE A YEAR and let the rest of us poor bastards know we're almost at the end of this most miserable of all seasons isn't too much to ask.  

Who knows, maybe he even likes doing it.

Goodbye Facebook...

I shoved Facebook down the stairs a few days ago and man it felt good.  I know some of you like Facebook, I know I even told some of you that it was a valid method of promoting your artwork, and even though it is (slightly) for the most part it's a waste of time.

So I pulled the plug-- no more updates, wall comments, invitations and Become Fans of notifications-- and it feels good to say goodbye.

A couple of things happened lately that were the final straw;

1. Facebook has reverted to their policy that they own everything you put up on the site and they can use it for "promotional purposes".  Okay, so no art posts.  Goodbye promotion aspect.

2. Creepy ad placement-- when Veronica and I got engaged all of a sudden we started getting ads for bridal shops, tuxedo rentals, diet plans, etc-- all targeted towards our new status.

3. VIRUS and a TROJAN which wiped out my entire hard drive on my Toshiba PC.  It took several days of log entries and detective work but it was traced back to a third party application on Facebook that implanted this evil thing on my harddrive and ended up costing me an unmeasurable amount of data files, about $400 cash and the time and bother of replacing my hard drive.  I'm someone who NEVER clicks on anything even remotely suspicious but I obviously hit something.  Certainly not worth it.

4. Constant invites to "Support the Environment", "Become a Fan of 18th Century Poets" and other never ending things I should be interested in.  For the record I do support the environment but accepting that on Facebook seems about as helpful as standing outside and wishing for better weather.

5. Time Wasting!  I don't even use it and I'm still amazed at how much time I waste logging in to check a message, reply to a thread or throw a virtual snowball at a friend.  Sorry,  but I have actual work to do.

6. Friends emailing me through facebook.  I HATE that.  If you need to talk to me, send me an email or call me.  If you don't have my cell or my email then we probably aren't friends in the first place are we? 

So it's goodbye Facebook, and my suspicions of them were intensified by the hassle it was to delete my account.  "Why do you want to delete your account?" it asks, and makes you give them an answer.  Then when you answer it explains how you really shouldn't do this.  Then, and this is the creepiest part, it lists your friends and says they will miss you if you cancel your account.

Ironic that those of you screaming about the government getting all big brother on us in an effort to protect us from terrorists will then happily allow Facebook to crawl up your small intenstine and plant whatever app it feels you need.

I've said it before, I'll say it again-- maybe, just maybe if all of us at work actually did our jobs instead of wasting time on Facebook we could pull this horrible economy out of the toilet and actually do some good.  Sure makes a lot more sense than becoming a Fan of the Economy on Facebook.

Ford Announces New "Green" Explorer Model

Ford Motor Co. begins production of a new version of the Ford Explorer SUV later this year, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Tuesday, although apparently there are delays while the professor works on the radio.  Still, this new "Green" version will get amazing gas mileage.

What a Week! Classes, Clients, Computers and Dogs -- Oh My!

December is notoriously slow for professional artists.  Clients tend to take some time off, projects go on hold, and classes wind down during the Xmas break.

When the New Year hits, if I've done my planning just right, everything falls into place pretty smoothly, othertimes I end up battling one unseen event after another all while trying to pull things together.

Guess which version January 2010 chose?  While I was busy being wrapped up in the fate of Conan O'Brien (and I heard about this FOUR MONTHS AGO from a friend at SONY) stuff came at me from all sides.

Youth classes at WAM started the week previously, slowly and innocently enough, but then the adult classes kicked in and it was every man for himself.  All of my classes ran, so that meant I was in class five nights a week plus Saturday mornings-- clients came back quicker than normal, I've got two commercial illustrations to do, two magazine covers, a comic book assignment, A HOW TO book to write, set ups for the coming season Library appearances, gallery shows, and right in the middle of it while replying to a thread on Facebook (a place I NEVER spend any time at-- I hate it) I picked up a Virus off a link I clicked on and it instantly imbedded itself in my OS and knocked out my Toshiba.  A weeks worth of fiddling with it, the expense of buying a new hard drive and the even worse loss of time to do it all I had to rebuild, re-install and reformat everything.

You can be certain my Facebook account goes away this week.

Finally, Ally the Yorkie swung by with her bags and took up residence on my couch.   She's a lot of fun and the best thing about her is she forces me to take a break from work and go for a walk outside three times a day.

The classes at WAM are particularly exciting this time around-- with some great 'regular' students as well as a host of newbies with a lot of talent.
Monday nights class is TRAVELING SKETCHBOOK which is designed to force us to work in our sketchbooks at least two hours a week.  Sketchbook work is integral to making you a better artist, and all of us could do better at working in them.

Art All State 23 at Worcester Art Museum

I'm psyched to be asked to participate as an artist/mentor at Art All State again this year.  This is my sixth year in a row working with the program and it just never fails to impress me.  You can check the website for more info, but the basic outline is 140 high school juniors are selected from a pool of about 400 students nominated from around the state to come to WAM for a weekend in May, where they are broken down into groups of about 18 and teamed with a pair of artists to create some installation art in one of eight studios over the course of that weekend.

The art is temporary; it is taken down at the end of the opening so it only lasts for about two hours.  The students stay over in the dorms at Clark University and they make some amazing art, some friendships and a whole lot of learning how to interact with other artists to come up with a group project.

Equally cool is the fact that among the other artists chosen for the event are Veronica Hebard, Tom Grady and Patty Kelly-- all of them my friends and all of them incredible artists in their own rights.  Tom was the one who first clued me in to AAS, I think this might be his ninth year doing it, and he does an outstanding job of it.  I was lucky enough to be paired with Tom twice over the years and those were absolutely the easiest and most fun weekends of work I remember.  I also had the pleasure of working with Patty on her first year at AAS, and she as always is the model of mentorship.

This year is a bit different, I think they chose all "veteran" artist/mentors-- I recognize all the names from previous years, so the normal portion of having rookies at the event won't be an issue this time around.

The opening is Memorial day weekend this year-- mark your calendars to come in and check out some amazing installations.