– – It’s Halloween, Foxsylvanians, that most special day of the year to me, and I would be much amiss if I didn’t wish each and every one of my valued readers a frightful and delightful day! Enjoy the day, and Get your roar on!
Archive for October 2011
Howloween at Last!
October 31, 2011Not the Usual Suspects…
October 29, 2011
– – “Grimm…what a lovely name!,“ once remarked Morticia Addams. In this new NBC series, a Grimm is a hunter of mythological creatures which only the hunters and their kind can perceive under the guise of normality as such beings walk among us. Echoing such past shows as The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel, Grimm has been described as “one part police procedural drama and one part supernatural slug fest,” drawing story lines and characters from the sizable corpus of Grimm’s fairy tales, many of which are dark delights.
In the season premier, we meet a reformed Big Bad Wolf, who is not big, no longer bad, does Pilates, and attends church. There are others of his werewolf kind, but they don’t hang out much; bad things happen, ‘ya see, when they get into packs. Some werewolves continue to exist who still do bad things like kill and abduct, but even the one perp the story concerns is a mixed bag who wears nice sweaters, lives in a beautiful mountain house, makes pies, works for the government postal service(–what else?), and keeps a young girl captive in his basement. –But hey, as Clint Eastwood’s character emoted in Tightrope, “There’s a darkness inside us all.”
This isn’t The X-Files, but I enjoyed the opener, and hope for some Grimm times ahead. Of furry interest is the reformed werewolf, who apparently in going to be a continuing character in the series, as is the toothy female pictured…
Invasion Imminent?
October 27, 2011
– – I wish to inform you of this in order that you might make proper preparations; a giant LEGO man has washed up on a beach in southern Florida! This is not just some kid’s toy lost in the surf; no, this sucker is eight feet tall! I regard this to be the advance vanguard of a possible invasion force, and accordingly it is something to be taken at least as seriously as a zombie apocalypse. And just look at the expression on his face; LEGO man knows something, but he ain’t talkin’…and I doubt that you’ll be able to get the truth out of him!
Even more alarming is the fact that several years back, another giant LEGO man washed up in the Dutch resort of Zandvoort…the same figure also appeared at a Brighton beach in the United Kingdom. The Assistant Brand Relations Manager at LEGO has declined to comment, but did say that the “stunt” was “in no way endorsed or sponsored by the LEGO group or its affiliates.”
Of course not! The League of Nefarious Intent may be involved…
Cyclops Shark!
October 25, 2011
– – It looks like it’s made of rubber, but it’s real…an albino fetal Cyclops shark cut from the belly of a pregnant dusky shark in the Gulf of Mexico this past summer. Shark researchers have examined the preserved creature and found that its single eye is made of functional optical tissue…it’s unlikely, however, that the malformed shark would have survived outside of the womb.
Less than 50 examples of an abnormality like this have been recorded in sharks. Cyclopia is a rare developmental abnormality in which only one eye develops, and it has been seen in a variety of species…
Aftermath of an Animal Tragedy…
October 22, 2011
– – Just days after a private owner of exotic pets in Ohio set dozens free this week and then committed suicide, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed an executive order pushing for a moratorium on exotic animal auctions and a crackdown on unlicensed auctions in the state.
Animal activists have complained that Ohio has some of the nation’s laxest regulations on exotic pets. A Dayton, Ohio based group that wants to end private ownership of wild animals says that it knows of at least 20 farms that are comparable to the one in Zanesville from which 56 exotic animals were released with authorities subsequently slaying 49 of them, including 18 rare Bengal tigers…one percent of the world’s Bengal tiger population.
Lions, Tigers, and Bears…
October 20, 2011
– – Neither in their native habitat nor near Oz, dozens of wild and exotic animals kept in private ownership escaped from a farm near Zanesville, Ohio Tuesday night when an animal farm owner described as a “collector” released 56 animals from their cages and then killed himself. Of the released animals which included lions, tigers, bears, mountain lions, wolves, and a baboon, 49 were killed by local authorities who deemed such necessary to ensure the public safety. Six animals were captured alive while at least a baboon remained unaccounted for.
Counted among the slain animals were 18 tigers, nine male and eight female lions, six black bears, three mountain lions, two grizzly bears, two wolves, and a baboon. The owner/operator of the wildlife farm had been previously convicted of multiple firearms and animal regulations violations, including cruelty to animals.
This horrendous and unnecessary tragedy underscores the need for strict and nationally standardized regulations governing the sale and ownership of exotic animals; Ohio is one of the states that currently has no such laws…
Some “Thing” Familiar…
October 17, 2011 
– – I saw some Thing this weekend that was both some Thing old and some Thing new…namely, the prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter classic film of the same name. The film was basically true to the mood and feeling of Carpenter’s previous epic, and has been criticized for not striking its own identity. Heavy on atmospherics and paranoia, the new Thing is a dark movie…as well it should be. The grandfather of the series, The Thing From Another World (1951), was a classic film way ahead of its time, drawing in turn from the 1938 John W. Campbell novella, Who Goes There?
While the alien monster in John Carpenter’s film went out of its way to hide its identity and avoid detection, this prequel alien is much more visible, looking like a Lovecraft-inspired horror of claws, jaws, and flailing tentacles. When we see the full-bodied creature scrabbling about, it appears part cephalopod and part crustacean, morphing as it assimilates and mimics the cellular structure of its victims and then hiding within them until the time for its next power play.
We are taken inside the massive starcraft of the alien when the few survivors of the decimated Antarctic Norwegian research station decide to limit the contagion by tracking the creature home, and in the closing scenes of the movie the filmmakers provide seamless transition scenes to where the Carpenter film begins. While some of the prequel’s characters are monster kibble, Mary Elizabeth Winstead turns in a strong performance as paleontologist Kate Lloyd, a woman who like Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley knows her way around a flamethrower…
“Beetlejuice” Resurrection?
October 15, 2011
– – One of my fave movies of all time and one which contributed to my love of over-the-top weirdness was the 1988 Tim Burton production of Beetlejuice, with Michael Keaton as the title character. A new sequel is coming at an undetermined date, the movie will not be a re-make, and it may be called, Beetlejuice 2 or Beetlejuice Begins…it’s far too early to tell, or even what form the movie will take. The original producer David Katzenberg and writer Seth Grahame-Smith will be making the sequel.
It’s also unknown at this stage whether all or part of the original cast will return, but one hopes that at least Michael Keaton will. He shines in dark movies, whether comedy or drama, and his inspired, gleefully demented portrayal of Beetlejuice is what made the classic original a great gothic comedy…
…if we chant “Beetlejuice” three times, maybe we will again hear the great bio-exorcist say, “It’s showtime!“
Robodeer…
October 12, 2011
– -For several decades now, state wildlife officials across the country have been rolling out roadside robotic decoys to nab unscrupulous hunters who seek to poach deer out of season or beyond established hunting hours.
Often placed near a road where they can be seen by passing cars, the robotic deer can be outfitted with remote controls that make it possible to move the decoy’s head and tail to make it look as realistic as possible. When a poacher takes the bait and pegs a shot at the mechanical deer, authorities are not far away and the would-be deerslayer gets nailed with something like a misdemeanor citation, punishable in Utah by up to six months in jail, up to a $1,000 fine, and seizure of the offender’s weapons. Robot decoy programs are in place not only in Utah but also in Georgia, Florida, and elsewhere.
In some cases, offenders have repeatedly fired shots and even arrows at the mechanical deer, apparently amazed that they don’t go down! A robotic deer decoy used in Georgia had to be replaced in 2006 after being shot more than 1,000 times. Perhaps videos could be made of such occurrences and sold with proceeds going to add to state wildlife conservation funds…
Farmers Insurance “Critters” Commercial…
October 10, 2011
– – Farmers Insurance as part of its “University of Farmers” advertising campaign reveals their finest agents receiving road-kill expertise training under the watchful eye of Professor Nathaniel Burke (actor J.K. Simmons) at a university setting in which a real deer, caribou, turtle, porcupine, and other creatures appear in the classroom setting alongside the agents-in-training. For the filming, living animals rather than CGI or animatronic creations were actually in the room together with the cast at the same time.
The commercial playfully highlights the in-depth training that its agents receive at the actual University of Farmers in Agoura Hills, California which enables them to dispense expert advice...
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