The Meme-Mandated, Semi-Regularly-Updated, Occasionally Coherent Thoughts of G.M. Skarka
Well, crap. Dave Cockrum, famous artist of the X-Men, Legion of Superheroes and more, died today, from complications of diabetes. He was only 63.
As something of a tribute, here’s one of my favorite of his creations — Nightcrawler, from his swashbuckling mini-series from the 80s:
The internet is total catnip for those of us with obscure or niche interests.
For anything we might be into, there’s a site out there for it, and other people who share our obsessions. No site, however, is more of a Geek Nirvana than eBay. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure…and the shortest search will locate those treasures, ready for you to OWN. A dangerous thing, to be sure.
I haven’t gotten anything from ebay in about 2 years. I had just fallen out of the habit of checking regularly. Over the past couple of weeks, though, I’ve re-discovered the joy of finding obscure nifty stuff.
For example, I am now the proud owner of 6 original UK paperbacks in the Modesty Blaise series.
Yay, geek stuff.
An American Haunting was a disappointment, for the most part. It had some good moments, but was overall ruined by two things: one, coming up with an explanation (which I won’t go into here), and two, an absolutely unneccessary and tacked-on frame story set in the modern day which ties into the explanation. Boo. I had high hopes for this one , too — I’m very familiar with the accounts which it was based on — but, as is the case with most of these things, the true story of the Bell Witch of Tennessee is far more interesting than the film ended up being. Too bad.
Silent Hill, on the other hand, is the first film based on a video game that I’ve seen that did not suck like an economy-priced hooker during Fleet Week. I expected it to be a minor diversion at best — a CGI schlock-fest, based on a video game I’ve never played, but good for an evening with nothing else to watch. Talk about exceeding expectations! Not only was this NOT a suck film, but it was actually genuinely disturbing and very, very cool. My estimation of the film grew even more when I took a look at the extra features and discovered that the creatures and special effects that I had thought were CG were actually physical effects and dancers in prosthetic costumes. Damn. If you haven’t had a chance, rent this. It’s worth it. I’ll probably have to check out the games now. If they’re anywhere near as creepy, I’ll end up a fan.
