There's Just One More Thing . . .

Spooky Movie Night

Island of Terror

Presentation for Friday 02.13.15
Alex missed a good one tonight. The Amazon UK blu-ray looks great – even revealing some monster-operating wires that no one would notice in old VHS copies. Peter Cushing, as always, brings charm and charisma to the proceedings as he and another scientist travel to a small island off Ireland to investigate a dead body found with (wait for it) . . . no bones! Seems some reclusive scientists on the other side of the island have accidentally bred "silicates" – slimy, crawling slug-like creatures that divide & multiply like cells – who inject a substance that melts down the bones of their victims. One gruesome scene caught us all off guard. Summer was not happy. Still, an overall enjoyable SMN!
Forbidden Planet

Presentation for Friday 02.06.15
Revisiting a classic of the sic-fi film world this week. Great film with grand ideas, space dudes brimming with testosterone, cute Anne Francis strolling around in her space age mini skirts, an invisible id monster and, of course, Robby the Robot. Only the annoying drone of some of the "futuristic" sound effects detract from an otherwise stellar evening of classic cinema!
The Living Coffin

Presentation for Friday 01.30.15
13 years into SMN, and I'm always looking for something new that's been off my radar. Enter, the Mexican horror film. Hey, it's a Mexican-western-mystery-horror film – what's not to love! It's a reworking of the classic Mexican legend of the crying woman. Fun and entertaining. Some good creepiness, all while not taking itself too seriously.
The Magnetic Monster

Presentation for Friday 01.23.15
Curt Siodmak. Really, that's all you need to know. One thing I've learned in 13+ years of Spooky Movie Night, is that Mr Siodmak was kinda The Man. He wrote screenplays for classics like The Wolfman, House of Frankenstein and I Walked with a Zombie. Here he tells a gripping tale of two A-Men (Atomic Men) who are investigating the presence of a strange magnetic field that appears suddenly in a small town. The source is eventually traced to a new atomic element that uses the magnetic field to convert energy to matter. As it grows out of control, it threatens to throw the earth off it's orbit. Classic 50's post-war end of the world potboiler!
Dead of Night

Presentation for Friday 01.16.15
Now THIS is why I bought that region-free blu-ray player!! Without it, we would have never seen this absolute gem that's unavailable in the US – which would have been a crime! An architect shows up at a country manor for contracted work only to find that the house – and everyone in it – have been appearing in his recurring nightmares. He knows some bad mojo is afoot as he keeps predicting people who enter the story and events that eventually unfold. Several eerie tales unfold in anthology style, shifting in tone without taking you out of the film's grip. The kids and I were blown away. Simply fantastic!
Unearthly Stranger

Presentation for Friday 01.09.15
Another win for the region-free player as we load in the UK blu-ray of an amazingly intellectual treatment of the same sort of concept explored in the fun, but ultimately less satisfying, "I Married a Monster from Outer Space". Had never seen this one and I was surprised by it's depth of emotion for what is essentially a B movie. I chalk it up to the Brits, who prove again that they can do creepy sci-fi in a though-provoking way that transcends the genre. Certainly earned our applause as the credits rolled.
The Quatermass Xperiment

Presentation for Friday 01.02.15
The American title of this British classic was "The Creeping Unknown"– and a fitting title that is! This is a creeping, slow-burn of a chiller. A rocket returns from space with one survivor and only empty clothes left of his two crew mates. To make matters worse, there seems to be something very wrong with the survivor...and he's getting worse by the day. Crotchety Professor Quatermass throws his scientific weight around while trying to get to the bottom of what became of the missing astronauts. Tension builds steadily in this cerebral alien invasion film – Fun stuff!
The Phantom Carriage

Presentation for Friday 12.26.14
Summer was asleep early, so Corbin, Alex and I opted for a rare silent film. The plot sounded compelling: Every year, the last soul to die before the clock chimes in the new year is forced to drive death's carriage for the next year, picking up all the lost souls who have died. The special effects from this 1920 Swedish film were impressive for the period. Sadly, at 107 minutes, the film goes on too long (some editing was needed). What was unexpected was that this ended up a pretty potent tale of redemption. Obvious Christian undertones gave us a good post-film discussion. Would been about perfect if it'd just been about 20-or-so minutes shorter.
Planet of the Vampires

Presentation for Friday 12.19.14
Beautiful blu-ray transfer of a classic Italian sic-fi that's a bit on the deceptive side where it's title is concerned. Let me say this up-front: This is NOT a vampire film. What it is, however, is some pretty engaging space opera fun. A race of bodiless aliens mess with the minds of space explorers, causing them to violently turn on one another. The dead come back to life, and things start to feel more like a zombie film than anything having to do with vampires. Fun stuff though...lack of actual vampires notwithstanding!
The Reptile

Presentation for Friday 12.12.14
Last year's Christmas gift of a region-free blu-ray player has led to GREAT fun as I'm able to find stellar Amazon UK discs to replace my washed-out, scratched up, taped-from-TCM copies. Case in point, this week's pristine blu-ray of Hammer's 1966 classic, The Reptile! The film is just some great, creepy fun, and it looked & sounded better than I've ever seen! The story is sort of a werewolf-vampire-creature from the black lagoon mashup. While the kids may not appreciate its technical aspects – they really dug this classic gem from the Hammer House of Horror!

So long my friends, farewell goodbye

I'd love to stay and play and sing for awhile

But it's time to hit the road and say goodbye

So long farewell goodbye

I never cared much for Columbo growing up – but I love how he'd be walking out of a room, seemingly done with an interrogation that has once again led nowhere, turn and deliver his classic line: "There's just one more thing . . ." He'd then lay one more thing on them that not only nailed the suspect but also proved that he wasn't as dim-witted as they'd assumed he was.

Well here I am a day and a half away from hopping on the big silver bird to carry me away to Photoshop for the Soul. I wanted to throw together a few random things that are on my mind as I go – and, unlike Columbo, I imagine at the end you'll find me just as dim-witted as you do now.

.:: This may seem like a minor thing, but I am already packed. I can't begin to tell you how remarkable that is. I'm never packed anytime prior to very late the night before departure. Gonna try to have both a productive last day in the office and unstressed family time Thursday night.

.:: I looked at the forecast for Molokai next week and every single day except two have a predicted high of 80º (the other days are 79º). Those that know me well can confirm that I always say that my ideal temp has an "8" in front of it. Wonder how you say "suh-freakin'-weet" in Hawaiian?

.:: Don't think I posted one of the coolest features of this event. Jack Davis (again, one of my Photoshop heroes) invited me to let him know any specific things I wanted to learn at the event and he'd gather material for it. How stinkin' cool is that! Here's a condensed recap of what I requested:

New features for version CS4
Special effects that are a little "out of the box"
Creative uses for seemingly common functions
Anything that would push me in my photo-collage work
Increasing the impact and wow-factor of stock imagery
And like a kid at Christmas: SURPRISES!

.:: In an email I received a few days ago there were links to three training videos from Jack that attendees were to download and review to prime the pump for what we'll learn while there. YES! Love that I'm being challenged and taught before I even get there. Makes me feel like there will be some intense learning going on.

.:: In that same email I learned that the week's menu is 90% organic and mainly vegetarian. Upon reading this I broke out into a cold sweat. I am about the furthest thing from a vegetarian that you'll find. The "occasional" inclusion of fish, chicken and eggs was seeming insufficient. I emailed my concerns and they're reserving some space in the fridge for any food I bring or buy at the market. Very cool of them! Everyone has raved about how great the food is, and I want to give new things a shot – but I know "me". Suffice it to say that I'll be stashing some Pop-Tarts in the suitcase.

.:: I hope to update the blog several times while I'm there. Knowing my self-frustrating inability to be concise, I may have to just limit myself to posting some images, and force myself to not do a lot of typing.

.:: I'm already missing my family.

.:: I'm going to have about 15 hours of flight time each way. Still haven't settled on how I want to spend that time. Going to try to force myself to read a book. May try to hammer out out a handful of blog posts to hold back and have in my hip-pocket upon return. I also have a good number of fonts conceived (and in some cases drawn) for future FontMart.com releases and this would be a good opportunity to do the very un-fun work of programming them into Fontographer and generating working fonts.

.:: Wanted to close with one of the beautiful photos Jack took with his iPhone on Molokai a few months ago, as well as a link to see his online album from which this image was plucked. (view album here)

I guess that about covers what's rattling around in my head tonight. Looking forward to rejuvenating my creative spirit (and my "spirit" spirit), taking some great pictures, learning new magically-delicious Photoshop goodness from a true master and coming back a little less dim-witted than I am today.

Until next time – Aloha nui loa!

Sharing My Crayons

About

Spooky Movie Night

There's Just One More Thing . . .

Comments

Categories

Follow Along