It’s been a while since this site was updated. There is a great, but long story behind that, and you will get to hear it very soon. For now, some random word vomit.
Music is important. Music is so much more than just notes and tones. Music is nostalgia. Music is memory. There isn’t anything, except maybe scents, that bring back lost or forgotten moments in time the way a good song does.
I think that may be why I like certain soundtracks so much. The Doctor Who or Torchwood scores by Murray Gold, or any of the numerous Danny Elfman works, in particular, really speak to me. When I hear them I swear I can close my eyes and re-run the show or movie in my mind in its entirety. They bring back not only the scenes, but the emotional weight they contain.
There are certain songs that take me back to my childhood, for good or ill. If I hear early Madonna or Michael Jackson I’m suddenly seven years old again, back in my parent’s backyard, playing G.I. Joes in the sandbox. Weird Al Yankovich’s “In 3-D” takes me to the park in my childhood neighborhood, where I would pick four-leaf clovers for my friends, because I had an uncanny gift for finding them. “Wish”, by The Cure, brings back the tears of my first break-up when I was fifteen years old and it seemed like the end of the world. It’s still the best break-up album of all times, in my humble opinion. When I was in eighth grade my best friend and I dreamed of becoming real life super heroes, literally building costumes and creating personas, and every time I hear the song “Waiting for the Night” by Depeche Mode I’m right back there, cruising the streets as fourteen year old vigilante “Nightfall”. Music is childhood. Music is love, and loss, and giggles.
And even still, every day, music is tying itself to new memories. Even though I had listened to it for years and loved it, Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and its meaning changed one day. Now, every time it starts playing I’m instantly reliving a bad ecstasy trip in an ex-girlfriend’s bedroom, late for work and unable to move, and wishing it would stop all over again. Or when Mother Mother’s “Oh My Heart” starts playing it’s Monday night, and I’m at work after hours, putting out new product and giggling stupidly with two of my favorite people on the planet. “Polarity” by Haujobb transports me to the back alleys of Low-Town, the fictitious city in a comic I created a few years ago that this particular album inspired. Sometimes music creates its own memories, I suppose.
And I hold every one of these songs close to my heart to this day. They will never lose their importance in my life. Right now, I’m listening to Billy Bragg’s “A New England”, and thinking that maybe one day “that” song will take me back to “this” moment. Then again, maybe not. But it’s still a great song.
So, I had crappy internet at the Hyatt and didn’t update on the Con goings on and on. I would update now, but the moment has passed. Sorry. Suffice to say that it was surreal and fun, but I never got my Paul McGann figure. The pictures are by Melinda Roth and Molly McIsaac.
I would just like to thank Melinda, Christine, Willie and M (for being awesome friends and Con buddies), Mike (for being an insanely patient writer and friend), Mr. Templesmith (the best dressed man in comics. Sorry Tony Lee, it was a close race.), Molly (my love), Chunk Kelly (every bit as awesome as I had heard), Jackson Publick (I swear I didn’t call you a dick.), Kevin Richardson (the voice of the Joker and Cleveland Jr, and my BFF at the W beach party), James Sime (comics most charismatic retailer), Simon Pegg, a bunch of awesome people that I was too drunk to remember, and James Robinson (for being an unexpected yet awesome 3 hour conversation and drinks partner on Sunday. I WILL be at Wondercon. Count on it.). See you all next year?
Now, with the douche-y namedropping out of the way, let’s get to the meat of this here post. It was revealed today that 5 day passes for next year have already sold out, leading to a lot of people being upset and angry. A lot of talk, rumors, and speculation are going around as to whether Comic-Con will be moving after 2012 or not, especially after the sell out was announced. The cities that have been in the running are Anaheim, Los Angeles, and Vegas (to a lesser degree). I have my reasons why I want it to stay in San Diego, but I’d like to hear your thoughts. Do you want it to stay, or does Anaheim get your vote? Does Vegas seem like more fun? Leave your thoughts in the comments section. Please be as detailed as possible as to why you’ve made your choice. Your ideas might just make their way to the people in control of these decisions. Have at thee!
So, I’m off to the wondrous geek mecca that is Comic-Con International, in beautiful downtown San Diego, in just a few short hours. It appears that I am the only popculturite going this year, so I have to represent. Watch this space for news, pictures, rumours, and crazy con stories over the next few days. I’m sure, if the last few years are any indication, that there will be much to write about.
If you will be there, look for me. I will be wandering the convention floor (somewhat) and hanging out at The Hyatt bar (a lot). I will positively be hitting up the Underground Toys booth to see what amazing new Doctor Who toys they have waiting for me. Paul McGann 8th Doctor figure, you will be mine by week’s end. Also, I will be making an appearance at the iFanboy party tonight, and the Vice Magazine pool party on Saturday night.
We see them all the time, in magazines, on telly, and all over the internet. They are like train wrecks. They are horrible, yet we have to look. It’s in our nature. They leave us with feelings of disgust, shouts of “what!? Are you crazy? What were you thinking?”, and a hatred for our fellow man. Yes, I am speaking of top 10 lists, top 25 lists, top 50 lists, and the far rarer but equally as dreaded top 100 list.
Okay, they aren’t that bad, but you get my point. These puffed up opinion pieces are one of the worst wastes of time I can think of, yet I read every one I see. I can’t stop myself, no matter how much I disagree with them every time. And I know you feel the same way. Oh, say you do. For me? So today, for you, my dear, lovely Pop Your Culturite, I have created a list of my own. The following rant contains faulty opinions, base generalities, and quite a bit of unwarranted snark. You have been warned.
The top 10 top 5 top3 reasons I hate top 10 lists.
Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one, and they usually stink. – The writers of these lists like to act as if they are speaking some sort of universal truth, when in fact they are just pulling opinions out of the air, masquerading them as fact. Sure, I may even agree with some of these lists, but those are my opinions and I try not to come off as a cocky prick when sharing them, unlike most “list writers” out there. If they were written more like opinion pieces this wouldn’t bug me so much, but 9 times out of 10 they have such an elitist attitude that I want to stop reading them altogether, which brings me to…
Once you pop, you just can’t stop. – I don’t know what it is, but I know I don’t like it. I rarely agree with lists, yet I cannot stop reading them no matter how annoyed or angry I get. Every single time there is at least one choice that is so glaringly stupid, so painfully out of left field, or simply so wrong, that I start questioning the writer’s sanity. For an example: the other day I was reading a top 50 worst bands of all time list, which I knew going in was a bad decision, and they listed Oingo Boing/Danny Elfman. Danny Elfman!?!? They listed talentless as one of the main reasons. TALENTLESS!?!? I understand people who don’t like Boingo/Elfman, even though I am a huge fan of both, but none of them would list “talentless” as a defining reason for why. Danny Elfman left Boingo to pursue his career writing orchestral scores for movies. Last time I checked, writing a piece of music for a full orchestra takes a fair amount of talent. The sad part is, even after that, I kept reading. I knew there would be more WTF? moments, but I didn’t care, I just had to see if there would be any choices I agreed with. They had me, hook, line, and stinker.
It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance? – Top 10 lists are lazy “journalism” to say the least. You don’t have anything intelligent or new to say? No worries, just make a top 10 list and no one will be the wiser. There is no real need for research, or fact checking, or thinking really. And hey, you still get paid for “writing” at the end of the day. Hurrah! Just pick a subject you know little to nothing about, pull shit out of your ass, and done!
I would have gone further, but I think that about sums it up. Plus, I figured that just this once, I’d stop before I got to the end of a list. Feel free to leave some snark behind in our comments.
There’s an argument that all comedy/satire must have some sort of social element to it. A commentary, if you will, on the state of our society and how fucking ridiculous our world in the 21st Century is. And it certainly seems that’s what Julian Barrett and Noel Fielding believe, or partially believe maybe, in their very surrealist and absurdist approach to it all in The Mighty Boosh. From Tundras, to Electro bands, to creepy androgynous swamp creatures, to crack foxes and more… the Boosh have consistently reigned in mainstream social satire, cultural and character archetypes, turned them on their respective heads and all after giving them a couple lines of pure cut absurdism to snort while it contemplated seemingly banal existential questions, even though the consistent cycle for Howard Moon and Vince Noir (Julian Barrett and Noel Fielding’s Boosh alter-egos) were nothing but cyclical and monotonous… or was it?!?! So maybe they realized it, maybe they didn’t. But they were never afraid to go on the journey… through time and space as the show aptly puts it. They were children trapped in men’s bodies, or Childmen. Hence the title of the new documentary Journey of the Childmen: The Mighty Boosh on Tour made by filmmaker and friend to the Boosh, Oliver Ralfe. The film is a chronicle of when The Mighty Boosh went on their Future Sailors tour in the UK a couple years ago, bringing what they had done on stage initially, then radio, then TV… all back to the stage once more with more grandeur, flash and dazzle and oodles of surprises. But the movie isn’t about the show, the performance, the characters we know, love or are maybe just unnerved by… this movie is about the journey. It’s about the experience on tour with everyone, from cast mates to fans. From city to city. This isn’t an 80-minute recording of their live show… no no… Journey of the Childmen is a surprisingly personal look at The Boosh at work, play, with family and friends. With plenty of funny moments along with some touching sentimental ones, we the audience not only get to come with them on the journey to the land of The Mighty Boosh, but we get to peek in their doorway.
The first thing you’ll notice right off the bat is the chemistry that Julian Barrett and Noel Fielding have with each other and bring to the show itself. From brainstorming sessions to finishing each other’s sentences to realizing that the most important thing is the quality of the show and what they want to do. It truly is inspiring for any artist to see this innate passion at work, without any sign of arrogance. And while we literally start out a couple hours before the first show on the tour, both Julian and Noel seem quite nervous. This is a big thing for them. I mean, Boosh started on the stage, but that was years ago. And they certainly had never done anything this big before. But they feel they need to do it. They owe it to the fans. And of course they want to have fun as well. I mean they were writing crib notes on their hands and stuff, but once they stepped on stage everything changed. It was on. This was home for them, and they knew it.
Rich Fulcher, Mike Fielding (brother of Noel), and Dave Brown who round out the main cast of The Mighty Boosh as Bob Fossil, Naboo, Bollo and a host of others, all accompanied Julian and Noel on the tour. On the bus! Yes it was a bus tour. One thing that has to be said regarding the rest of the cast is while the focus was concentrated on the dynamic duo, of course, Rich Fulcher, the only American in the cast, probably had the 3rd most amount of screen time, and that was in large part to the fact that he was always trying to be the life of the party. The biggest character. Cracking jokes. Trying to make everyone laugh. And sometimes it got to the annoyance level, like… Ok Rich we know you’re trying to be wacky, especially since there’s a camera there, but maybe you should turn it down a couple notches? A thought?
With everyone we follow them from show to show as they tour, in the bus, all across the UK. They even stop and make special appearances in shops and lobbies for fans to meet them and get autographs, before they performed that night. And everyone was there not just Julian and Noel. Rich, Mike, and Dave. Another sign that it’s the group which makes the show great. Julian and Noel are easily the stars, but they have great support that much is obvious. Two great moments while they were meeting fans were when someone actually gave Julian Barrett a Charlie Parker record to sign… I blurted out laughing sitting in the front row when I saw that. But the real touching moment came when a young girl, maybe 15, starts crying when she meets Noel Fielding for the first time. Noel gives her a hug. Very touching.
But this goes into the interesting element of the movie, and something I, and the rest of the crowd who were there at The Silent Theatre on Friday seemed to have no idea about: how young the fan base of The Boosh in the UK was. We’re talking teenagers, high school kids. Mostly girls. Maybe it’s because we here in America get British shows a little later, and then only a certain group has a taste for British comedy (especially absurdist), but everyone that I personally know that watches and likes The Mighty Boosh are in their mid-20s at the youngest, but most, honestly are in their early 30s. And I can tell you that at the screening on Friday night, the majority of that audience was late 20’s/ early 30’s. Maybe their comedy palate is primed at a young age in Britain I don’t know. Maybe it’s that we here in America are so over saturated with mind-numbing horseshit like “Two and a half Men” which takes pride in skull fucking the American populace into a vegetative state of bland mid-80s Family Ties-esque sitcom humor, that we just… don’t get it. And then we wake up and see that “According To Jim” is still fucking on! God help our souls. Anyway… I digress.
Aesthetically, Childmen, felt very guerilla, very indie. And it kinda was. I don’t know what the budget of it was, but it couldn’t have been astronomical. Probably the most expensive thing they paid for in the production was the animated opening credit sequence, everything else was literally shot, directed and edited by the same person. Oliver Ralfe. So what you get is a movie that is shot mostly handheld, but in a way it feels more intimate. It feels more raw. I like it. You follow him as he’s following characters literally and physically. One can imagine if they had a bigger budget, if they would have had more people working on it, could it have had the same effect, or bigger? I don’t think so. As the director pointed out in the Q&A afterwards, Julian and Noel… especially Julian, are very reserved people and wouldn’t just let anyone shoot them. And certainly it’s unarguable that bigger isn’t always better.
Journey of the Childmen is a great tour documentary, but its target is undeniably for the fans. If you don’t know the show, or anything related to it, you just won’t get it or really connect to it, I guess. But isn’t that what most tour documentaries are anyway?
Journey of The Childmen is currently making its rounds on the special, sneak preview circuit. No current knowledge on when the next show is, but if it’s in your town, and you’re a fan of The Boosh… watch it!
One thing I have realized, over the past few years, is that the 2000′s are the era of the remake. It seems as if there is no creativity left in the world, which I know isn’t true, but it sure seems that way. Let me show you what I mean.
Movie remakes – Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Clash of the Titans, 3:10 To Yuma, Karate Kid, etc.
Car remakes – The Mini Cooper, Dodge Charger, Pontiac GTO, VW Beetle, etc.
And of course television remakes. So far, we have seen remakes of V, Battlestar Galactica, 90210, Melrose Place, Bionic Woman, and quite a few more. Some were better than others, to be sure, and some never made it past the pilot.
Well, here’s the latest. These are the opening credits for CBS’s new Hawaii Five-O series that debuts this Fall. They kept the basics of what made the original so great, sort of. The theme could use a re-do, definitely. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
David Mazzucchelli is back after a decade long absence from the world of comics. Mazzucchelli, best known for his work with Frank Miller on Batman: Year One and Daredevil, has been away for far too many years, but what a comeback he has made here! I had heard much about the multiple Eisner nominated modernist work that is Asterios Polyp. I had heard that it was arguably the best new comic work in decades, and I had heard that it was an incomprehensible mess. I had been looking forward to reading it for myself, but for whatever reason it took me months to finally get around to it. The truth is, everywhere I went it proved to be sold out. Well, I finally found a copy, and read it twice last night. Was it worth the hype? Or for that matter, the wait? I say, yes. Yes. YES.
Let me begin by stating that Asterios Polyp is not for everybody. Asterios Polyp is an ambitious and dense read, filled with ideas and concepts that few comics, American comics at least, would dare to tackle. On the surface it is about a self-absorbed “paper architect” with a dead twin brother who goes on a voyage of self discovery after his flat is burned down, but it’s the deeper themes that make this work a brilliant piece of sequential storytelling. If you want to read a comic that creates a sense of awe in it’s reader, and forces you to think differently about the world around you, this book does that and a whole lot more. This book simply begs to be read multiple times, and makes more and more sense with every read. It is a true “graphic novel” in every sense of the word.
The art was the first thing that really grabbed my attention. At first glance it has a very cartoony, nineteen-sixties advertising aesthetic. Simple lines with sparse yet bold colors. Very much like a French comic album, in many ways. There is an economy of line that while at once intentional, also seems effortless. Once you get past the first page though, you realize there is a whole lot more going on here. Mazzucchelli deliberately uses many different art styles to convey different themes and emotions. There is Pop Art, Cubism, Expressionism, Impressionism, Pointilism, Realism, and Surrealism. He also, unapologetically, uses the main three printer’s colors, as if to say, “Yes, this is a comic book.” It is however, so much more than that. Each character has their own color scheme and design aesthetic, which works on so many different levels for different intents and purposes. Asterios himself is cyan, while his wife Hana is magenta, and when the two merge, the page is made up entirely of shades of purple. It’s a very subtle, yet ideal way to show how lives become intertwined. What really impressed me was David’s use of blank space. If a scene was meant to be paused upon, he has it sitting there, all by itself, with no other distractions surrounding it. Every page and panel in this work is calculated without seeming so, and David put in a lot of work and research to make it that way. Mazzucchelli uses this work to push the boundaries of the medium like few before him. There are definitely hints of Will Eisner and Scott McCloud, but only hints.
The story itself seems likewise very simple, yet with more and more layers as you get farther in. David uses Asterios as a vehicle for discussions of art, religion, sex, politics, isolation, mortality, duality, and style versus substance, without drowning out the story of a man on a search for self. Each character has his or her very distinct voice, and he uses them wisely to propel the story, as well as drive home the idea that beliefs and principles can change with experience. The scenes with Geronimo Pinque, a young Native-American activist, and country-punk musician are particularly interesting to me. Asterios being the constant overthinker, Gerry being the impulsive idealist. The two get along quite well, even while Asterios subtly challenges Gerry’s belief system in every conversation. The story is told in an interesting way. It is very linear in the way the main story is told, but the flashback sequences really make it interesting. They tell of Asterios’ failed marriage to the aforementioned Hana, a string of one-night stands with his students, and faculty parties where Asterios seized the spotlight and clung to it as if it were a life preserver. We need these flashbacks because we need to know where Asterios has been to help understand where he needs to go.
And then there are the hallucinogenic sequences narrated by Asterios’ dead twin brother, Ignacio. The theme of twins, and duality in general, permeate this work. The Yin-Yang symbol pops up frequently. It is mentioned that even though Asterios is a Cancer, he is very close to being a Gemini. There are many scenes where Ignacio is a dotted outline, following Asterios. In many of these scenes Ignacio does the opposite of what Asterios does, again creating a Yin/Yang image. Yet, it is mentioned that identical twins often have similar lives, even when they do not know of each others existence. In this, Ignacio is a successful architect, where Asterios has never had any of his designs built.
With a title like Asterios Polyp you would expect some discussion of Greek themes as well, and they are definitely there although very understated at times. Asterios’ family come to America from Greece, and have their last name cut in half. Asterios teaches at a college in Ithaca, New York, named after the Greek island. He mentions a belief in the Greek Pantheon. Asterios, like Orpheus, descends into Hades at one point. He arrives at a town called Apogee. Apollo and Dionysus, Euclidean geometry, the Five Platonic Solids, and the Parthenon are referenced as well. A re-read reveals many more subtleties in the backgrounds, and make it that much more interesting. The whole story, plays out like a classic Greek Tragedy.
This is not to mention the other literary and art world names and concepts that are sprinkled throughout the story. Narcissus and Goldmund, The Cloven Viscount, the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, Francis of Assisi, Mao Tse-tung, Plato’s Republic, Gilgamesh, Mark Rothko, and many others are brought up to illustrate or drive home certain points of the story, but many have double or even triple meanings.
The story never gets bogged down with name drops or high concepts though. This book is an example of style AS substance, but it is so much more. The fact that David Mazzucchelli can have such a literate work be so fun and engaging at the same time is a testament to his artistry. This is a creator at the top of his game, and if he never produced another work, this piece would be a great legacy to leave behind.
Imagine you’re a member of an endangered sea otter community on the coastal cliffs of Northern California where freedom is being consistently encroached upon, food is more and more scare, and everywhere you turn someone mistakes you for a god damn sea lion! (Big effing difference people!) You turn and see for just a split second – A SPLIT SECOND — a wormhole into another dimension. Well the first question is: How the HELL does a fraking sea otter know: A. What and How to define a wormhole, and B. Where this brief ripple in space/time goes.
In my hazy contemplation I surmise that It’s instinctual… because here’s why. See on the other side of this wormhole lies a sea otter community that has the intelligence of astrophysicists—kind of Planet of the Apes-esqe but NOT on a post-apocalyptic future earth with seemingly Iron Age ape communities… no no… these are uber intelligent sea otters from another dimension who have cracked the code on wormhole technology. See they were able to construct a transdimensional device that not only penetrates into other dimensions, but whose sole purpose is to find and document the patterns of transdimensional speciation. Help advance their evolutionary lagging genetic cousins to ascend to the highest plane of their existence quickly. Sound like transdimensional socialism??? It’s equal opportunity for all sentient beings in any world. In any universe. In any dimension. Praise Otter Jesus!
So the whole entire goal of this fantastical scenario is to figure out if every species on any given world (this example being earth) advanced so rapidly evolutionarily speaking– so that all life–ALL LIFE– were, at least from an intelligence point of view, on an equal plane, how drastically over night would our core morality change–and if anything is leftover from our previous status quo would that be the cornerstone of all morality anywhere?
Of course, you, the sea otter, will realize soon enough that the Otterian prophecies are coming to pass and one only has a limited window until the “the shadow of the midnight moon and the starlit sun comes to pass over the rocky majestic crags of serendipitous beauty.” … or as the sea otter him/herself would put it “ARF ARF ARF ARF ARF ARF AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRF!!!” (Is that a sea otter or lion, I forget.)
Advocates of Chaos say no. Unpredictability is the only thing that makes sense in our reality. However those, like that alternate dimension sea otter community see it differently. They see it as– if we can advance to a point where we essentially create the systems we live in– if we’re advanced and intelligent enough to do that– we can live outside the bubble yet control what goes on inside– then aren’t we really becoming Gods? Is this the REAL circle of life??
The ultimate takeaway of morality from life and chaos is that the only thing we do know is that those who attempt to be or play God always, eventually fail. And why is that? Because deep down ingrained in our being–our DNA–we know that chaos rules everything. And everything is everything. It cannot be created or destroyed. And it is eternal. And the concept of eternity lives outside our plebian preconceived notions of linear time. And we or you the evolutionarily lagging sea otter community hundreds of thousands of years from now … let’s say you build a device that is able to penetrate into the realm outside of time…. Let’s say with the blast of several MILLION thermonuclear bombs…. And let’s ALSO say that you sea otters are in some specifically and specially designed suit to stabilize your matter from disintegrating while in transit. Will that mean anything other than… oh look our sun is about to explode… quick let’s go BACK and warn everyone to colonize another solar system. BUT WAIT we need to go back further in time so they have the adequate technology to teraform and colonize distant planets revolving around far off suns – but WAIT that will cause a paradox that will fuck EVERYTHING UP. WHAT DO WE DO?!?!?!
Answer: Send a message across to your genetically identical cousins before anything happens. It will effect you like a dream. (If sea otters dream of course.) But WAIT isn’t that what already happened? Isn’t that how everything got fucked up to begin with? Does anything matter? Is there any point or purpose to life?!?
Alright, so here’s the crux of the thought experiment. If you, the sea otter see this wormhole and are somehow sent a message from your cousin on the other side saying “you can ascend” or something…And AGAIN– this all takes place in a split second– and let’s say for sake of argument that you, the sea otter, doesn’t know how to change really because your species doesn’t rule the world– what would be the first step to global sea otter dominance?
Ask the burn out at Coachella or the hippie and Burning Man and you may get an answer that involves Maya Deren, a bucket of lard, rusty nipple clamps… and the Original Oscar the Grouch.
Clash of the Titans was the first film I had the pleasure of seeing in the theater. To my seven year old eyes it was simply amazing. The creature work of Ray Harryhausen was groundbreaking, and all too real to me. I was sucked into his world for one hundred and eighteen minutes, and never wanted to leave. This movie is what put me on the path to where I am today, and started my love affair with all things fantasy. But enough about me, let us talk about the master himself.
Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong for the first time in 1933, and was so inspired by the cutting edge stop-motion work of pioneer Willis O’Brien, that he instantly knew what his life’s path would be. Ray, at a very early age, began making short films using these same techniques. His parents not only supported his endeavors by building him a workshop in their garage, but occasionally starred in these films opposite whatever creatures would spring from Ray’s mind. Ray’s mother would create the costumes, while his father would help him build sets for his creations to interact with. He began work on a film called Evolution which would never be finished, but would lead Ray his first professional job with Paramount on George Pal’s Puppetoons.
Ray then worked for the Army Motion Picture Unit during World War II, creating educational and training films. This led Ray to finding a large amount of unused film that the Army was throwing in the trash, which he began using to make short films for children based on fairy tales, the last of which would be The Story of King Midas in 1953. These films, among a variety of other shorts, became his demo reel. After showing this reel to his idol, O’Brien, Ray became an assistant animator on his first feature film in the year 1949. This film was the Academy Award winning Mighty Joe Young, and involved Willis O’Brien and a model animated gorilla. Things were coming full circle for Ray.
1953 saw Ray branching out on his won for his first solo feature, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, based on a short story by his childhood friend Ray Bradbury. He did every bit of animation himself, to save money and retain control of the effects. He built the armatures, lit the sets, and stayed up for days filming to make sure everything was seemless. From this point onwards Ray would be producer and animator on every film until his last, Clash of the Titans in 1981. The 1950’s would be a very prolific period for him, featuring such box-office hits as It Came From Beneath The Sea, his first with frequent collaborator and partner Charles Schneer; Earth vs. The Flying Saucers; 20 Million Miles To Earth featuring the Venusian, Ymir; and his first color work, The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad.
The 1960’s did not see Ray slowing down any. Six more films would follow, including the groundbreaking Jason and the Argonauts. This film is most well known for the fight sequence featuring seven skeleton warriors that took Ray four months to film. At the Academy Awards in 1992, Tom Hanks said, “Lots of people say Citizen Kane or Casablanca, but I say Jason and the Argonauts is the best film ever made”.
After working with the infamous Hammer Films on One Million Years B.C. in 1967, his next film would be The Valley of Gwangi in 1969. This western/dinosaur film was a true labor of love for Ray, many decades in the making, and inspired by storyboards of his mentor, Willis O’Brien.
While his films of the 1960’s were not the box-office hits they were expected to be, Jason and the Argonauts, First Men in the Moon, The Three Worlds of Gulliver, and Mysterious Island were all revolutionary and pioneering films that have been inspirational to many other filmmakers including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton, Henry Selick, and Nick Park.
Ray was relatively inactive in the 1970’s, except for his sequels to The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. These were both box-office successes, and led to Ray’s partnering with MGM for his last film.
Clash of the Titans would be his swan song, but what a song it would be! MGM pumped money into this film, bringing in such Hollywood names as Sir Laurence Olivier, Harry Hamlin, and Burgess Meredith. Even with the success of Clash of the Titans, Ray’s style of animation was beginning to show it’s age. Movies like Star Wars were changing the game. Again, Ray’s life had come full circle.
Ray Harryhausen may not actively be producing films today, but that doesn’t mean his ideas are going away. Bluewater Productions has made several comic book sequels to his films, as well as tributes such as Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! and even the Clash of the Titans remake.
Special effects would not exist as we know them if it weren’t for the work of Ray Harryhausen. Some of his films may seem dated to an audience brought up on Star Wars, The Matrix, and Avatar, but those films would never have been made without him.
I had the chance to meet Mr. Harryhausen at San Diego Comic-Con a few years ago. He was standing just a few feet way, talking with his long time friend Ray Bradbury. I have never been star struck in my entire life, until this moment. I mean, what would I have to say to Ray Harryhausen? I would start to walk towards him, and then quickly walk back to my group of friends as they chided me for being so scared. I wasn’t scared though. I was in awe. After about ten minutes my friends realized I would never go up to him, and they started to walk off. As we passed by him and Mr. Bradbury I quietly whispered, “Thank you”.
Thank you, Ray Harryhausen. Hollywood never deserved you, but they need you now more than ever.
Drink & Draw Social Club OC Chapter Drink & Draw Social Club OC Chapter Every Tuesday night at 9:00 meet us at Azteca Mexican Restaurant in Historic Downtown Garden Grove, CA for drinking, drawing, and debauchery! Even if you don't drink OR draw, come hang out and join in the fun! For directions click the pic!
