Doubled the distance!

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Steve

Last year, I ran about 250 miles on the treadmill, putting me past Jose and Nancy’s house in the Dallas suburbs.

Over the weekend, I have completed over 500 miles on various treadmills this year! This would put me within 80 miles of my next landmark…my friend Christina’s house around Nashville.

I could’ve been there sooner but I with the rain, congestion I’ve had since my birthday and other good-habit killers, I took eight days off. I’m back on track. Hell, I’m amazed I managed to run three miles (in three legs) the first time I tried to regain my groove. Today went more smoothly, I only had to stop at 1.7 miles and finished strongly for another 1.4 at a slightly higher speed.

Onward to Nashville, then Grandma’s house, Brian’s house and our timeshare. Maybe I should put my favorite dorm room in Milwaukee between Brian’s and Vegas.

Now to break through the latest weight plateau I’m stuck on, the mid to low 210s.

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New October-November gains and Con hits

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Steve

My next installment from Austin’s 2012 Comic Convention is shirts. Here, Nerd/Geek Culture has this nailed. Hey, I like pro sports to a point and in many circles, namely Texas, hockey doesn’t often count…until Dallas wins the Stanley Cup again (don’t hold your breath). What do I mean by nailed? Nerd/Geek Culture loves shirts be they serious, humorous (often inside jokes), practically ads or any combination. All those sites dedicated to such apparel cater toward my ilk.

Should I go in 2013, I will make a more conscious effort to get pictures but the shirts must take a back seat to the scores and scores of costumes. The first two were worn by others, the remainder are our recent acquisitions.

The Han-shot-first debate will never end.

The above is derived from a similar gag involving The Princess Bride, maybe the other way around?

When it comes to Brock, you better hope you're on his side or else change.

Maybe the Hope/Change meme thing is on a comeback with the election, probably not. Despite it being rather tired, it’s amusing to catch The Venture Brothers making use of it like my General Zod shirt.

An awesome mash-up of the recent hit movie The Avengers combined with Anchorman which has its sequel on the horizon. The poses are based upon this famous Jack Kirby cover from issue number four. I succeeded in being the only person to be wearing it, a very big accomplishment in Austin.

The X-Wings can swoop up from behind like the Galaga yellowjackets from wave four on.

Somara’s favorite videogame from the Eighties is Galaga. The above design reminds us of it even though 1942 (or is it 1943) gives you side escorts; the predecessor game Galaxian had you flying a Y-Wing ripoff. Throwing in Darth Vader’s key line before Han saves Luke’s bacon makes it more amusing.

The small-press maker of this gem must have a cat like our Nemo. With Molly gone, the all-the-cat-can-eat buffet has returned but Nemo’s annoying morning behavior hasn’t stopped. Somara had to buy it. I didn’t have any objection, it’s painfully true.

Thanks to facial hair, namely beards, making a comeback in the Nineties I found myself like millions of others…unable to differentiate my Spock. Bearded Cartman being polite, kind and generous muddied the water further. Now there’s a shirt to help clarify the convention Star Trek is frequently credited for popularizing. As for me, I have had a beard (again) since 2007. Based upon my focal reviews at work, the kind words I receive and an unexplainable appeal I have with small children and cats, my evil counterpart must shave as per the rules.

What more needs to be said with this? Billy Dee Williams/Lando Calrissian is the smooth operator of the Star Wars universe no matter what his skin color is. Those prequels sucked big time and I just can’t hold back my skepticism for what Disney plans with Episode VII but I can still enjoy some yucks over the franchise I fell in love with 35 years ago at the Virginia Theater.

Next up, finding several shirts to retire because my armoire’s middle drawer can’t hold much more. Any takers on a past design I scored three or more years ago?

Posted in Cool, Funny Ones, Shirts | Leave a comment

Nerd do Well by Simon Pegg

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Steve

Finally! Another book completed on my iPad, something I totally failed to do during our recent vacation to Las Vegas. Plus I’ve been slogging through Nerd for about a year. This doesn’t mean it’s a hard read, far from it. I’m just a terrible reader who is easily diverted toward other matters: comic books, writing, trivia, eating, watching serial TV shows and during my lunch hour, eating. Since Somara and I have very disparate schedules, we will barely have lunch together, damn.

Oh, this is also book number five, not four, to be completed on my iPad. I’m in the process of re-reading number four because it was hilarious and I’m more than half done with The Time Machine Did It.

Nerd do Well is more than an autobiography, each chapter is prefaced with an ongoing, fictional action movie starring Simon’s alter ego. He’s a combination of James Bond and Batman fighting alongside his robot butler Cadbury against a Dr. Doom-like villain.

As for Simon’s life story. It’s pretty straightforward. He was born in the UK, grew up in the suburbs, his parents split while he was a little kid, Star Wars changed his life, he caught the acting bug, etc, etc. There’s plenty of insight about how the English experienced the same iconic stuff I took for granted in the States during the Seventies and Eighties (Simon is my brother’s age). Then comes how his career got started, how he met Nick Frost (his frequent co-star in movies) and matters taking off with Shaun of the Dead; Simon’s American breakout hit which probably helped him land the Mr. Scott gig in Abrams’ abysmal Star Trek reboot. The bio stops mostly around the mid Aughts with some anecdotes around Hot Fuzz, Paul, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek.

Is it a good read? For nerds/geeks such as myself, sure. My drawn-out reading wasn’t caused by Pegg’s style or subject matter. I blame me and poor time-management for reading. Few authors pin my interest into obsessing over a book as well as Jame Ellroy plus I’m more compelled to write on Picayune, when I probably should read twice as much as I write. Simon Pegg fans, another affirmative vote. Everybody else? I think they’ll be bored or conclude the book was a waste of time. I’m on the fence for biography fans. I would put them in the negative-vote crowd due to this lacking any dirt about the people Pegg has met or worked with.

I’m glad I read it. I have an autographed copy but moved to the Kindle version to preserve the physical version from my clumsiness.

For everyone else, I would pay heed to the reservations I posted before dropping any money on it, even the copies I’ve spotted in the discount bin at Book People.

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Happy Belated 20th Birthday Cartoon Network

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Steve

I can’t wish the same for the slightly older SyFy (former SciFi) network but I did have the great fortune of living in a market which subscribed to both at their launches. Dennis Miller, when he used to be funny, said (paraphrasing), “We have a SciFi network and now a cartoon network. I’m waiting for the end-of-civilization network to appear!”

Both channels are brilliant case studies in contrasting results. One has just been a painful monument to mediocrity (guess) and the other helped maintain the new golden age of animation we have today. I can’t completely blame SyFy for its problems. After a couple months on the air, my friends and me realized the channel had little to work with because we remembered how terrible most SciFi TV has historically been. For every Star Trek there’s a dozen Manimals with a couple Space:1999s sprinkled in. Personally, I wouldn’t shed a tear if Comcast finally pulled the plug on SyFy. Battlestar Galactica (2003) wasn’t a big enough apology for airing that John Edwards psychic bullshit. Now there’s wrestling, or as Rednecks say, wrasslin’ shown. The point? It’s important to keep the lights on but not when the content isn’t even remotely related to network’s genre. I doubt the core audience for wrasslin’ tunes in to SyFy.

So SyFy, please enter a suicide pact with G4 (formerly TechTV) and do the world a favor, make room for something worth a damn watching.

Back to the Cartoon Network!

CN initially appeared to be another cynical Ted Turner move. In the Eighties, he acquired a big chunk of MGM/UA’s library which included numerous cartoons, mostly Tom & Jerry shorts. Then he bought Hanna Barbera from the company those founders sold to in 1969. Voila! Crazy Ted now had a ton of content thanks to HB filling up Saturday mornings for 20 years. Looking back, it was a rather wise countermove to Nickelodeon’s 1991 initial foray with their original series: Doug, Rugrats and Ren & Stimpy. CN’s advantage? It was on 24 hours…instant babysitter!

Where (more like when) CN’s behavior departs from SyFy’s was after three years of being on the air. First was the weird Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast show. I caught it accidentally like thousands of others one Friday evening. My initial reaction was is this a prank a la Captain Midnight’s attacks on HBO? It was amusing, I just didn’t expect it from CN, the home of old HB crap. Second was the contests allowing viewers to vote what would be the network’s first original show. I forgot to watch and vote but I had no objection to the winner being Dexter’s Laboratory.

Additional hits followed in Dexter’s footsteps and I’m not going to list them, many of you reading know what I’m talking about. It seems CN also started a cartoon arms race against Nickelodeon plus Disney got involved. Today there’s CN with Boomerang (commercial free!), NickToons and Toon Disney with Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nick Jr., Disney Channel and Fox Sundays dominated by animation. I almost forgot Comedy Central’s several productions.

What puts CN head and shoulders above its competitors was the creation of [Adult Swim], now a separate network for ratings-gathering purposes. AS had a similar origin, heavy on repurposed/failed shows with a tad of originals. Today the new stuff easily outnumbers the reruns from Fox.

It hasn’t been completely perfect. CN/AS have become dependent upon live-action schlock to fill time. Nickelodeon and Disney I expect this from, they’re kid-based channels. CN has cartoon in its name. Level Up, Dude! What Would Happen? and Destroy! Build! Destroy! are terrible. AS gets more lee-way, their “live” stuff tends to have a cartoon-esque execution through the shows’ absurdity. I figure the live fare is cheaper to produce yet they have years of animated material to fill the hours. Reruns being played ad nauseum doesn’t seem to hurt Nick’s bottom line.

Congratulations Cartoon Network! May you continue for at least another 20 years and bring the world more excellent originals in the vein of The Powerpuff Girls; Ed, Edd & Eddy; Kids Next Door; Adventure Time; Justice League; and much to my wife’s ire Regular Show.

Posted in Diversions, History | Leave a comment

Happy 55th Birthday Adam Ant

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Steve

Prince Charming has much to celebrate this year. I think his US tour went well. OK, Vegas was packed, I have no idea about Austin. I haven’t found one person who went yet Adam is due in light of all these other revivals.

Born Leslie Stuart Goddard, Adam got caught up in the Punk Rock movement sweeping the UK in the late Seventies and became a fixture for many years later. He may be a footnote in the US but he has numerous Eighties hits back home.

When I was a teenager, I remember Adam used to date Jamie Lee Curtis before she married Christopher Guest. I didn’t know he dated Heather Graham in the early Nineties, lucky dude, must’ve been his accent that woo’d her.

So looking forward to reading his autobiography past page 50.

To honor his birthday this weekend, I request you either play a game of sorts involving pirates (the Black Rose pinball machine counts) or listen to a few hits which exclude “Goody Two Shoes,” “Room at the Top” and “Wonderful.” Dive deeper! I highly recommend anything from his second (band) album Kings of the Wild Frontier, it’s a fave of Simon Pegg’s.

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Regular Green Show

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Steve

I had this piece commissioned by Austin Rogers of Redbeard Comics. He did an excellent job, well he really exceeded my expectations because I was just planning on him drawing Mordecai and Rigby saying one of their catchphrases. Making them Green Arrow and Green Lantern was him going beyond the call of duty. A loving tribute to Neal Adams being at the convention! For non-comic book types, Neal was the main penciller on an influential run with writer Dennis O’Neill in the Seventies when DC tried to bring modern social issues (racism, poverty, overpopulation, etc.) into comics.

My friend Steve does this work too so I knew how to politely ask. We agreed on the characters, a full-body drawing and I think color. The rest I said, “You’re the artist, I leave the rest up to you. You’re the talented one.” I’ve overheard numerous people micromanage the artists which is uncool.

This fun mash-up has an awesome anecdote to it.

While Somara and I were killing time, probably waiting for my Star Trek:NG photo op, we walked through the artists section. She was showing off this bitchin’ Adventure Time print by another person I was receiving for Christmas (it’s rather large, trying to get it photographed) but she knew I’d love it since it involved the Business Men. As we went by the Redbeard booth, I overheard Austin and his friend imitating the Regular Show duo’s “Whooooooooaaaaaaa!” I couldn’t resist, I went back and said, “Yeauh!” We all laughed since we knew we were fans of Regular Show…Somara hates it. Hey, I try to congregate with anyone else who likes it whenever I can, I’m often the odd-man out when hanging with my regular clique.

Meanwhile, from the corner of my eye, I noticed a huge man leaving Austin’s booth and surprising my memory was working at peak efficiency for it was comedian/voice actor Brian Posehn! I was hoping he’d come by the con due to him performing at the comedy club over the same weekend. I grabbed Somara, said, that’s Brian Posehn dear, the Business Man! She quickly intercepted Brian, said, “Mr. Posehn can you sign this for my husband so I don’t have to stalk you for the next couple hours?” He obliged, probably found the statement funny. I said hello as well, mentioned we met a few years ago…I was the guy in the Metallica shirt…d’oh! Smooth.

Afterwards I thanked Austin and discussed this commission as a thank-you gift to him. Again he did an incredible job. I plan to hunt down more of his comics and I lobby Rogues Gallery to bring him to their Summer Awesome Fest.

I’m going to get a nice frame to hang this at work and I think Austin should pitch this to Teefury or Woot as a design.

Posted in Comic Books, Diversions | Leave a comment

Recuperation mostly done! Catching up news

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Steve

It was a nice but mixed couple nights off. Any plans for Halloween got squashed by Molly’s death (the after effects of this are fading away) and Somara’s sudden surgery which is underway today. Don’t panic, it’s nothing serious. I won’t say what exactly she’s having done other than it will improve her quality of life.

I took those evenings off to catch up on my sleep. I know scientists say you can never regain the sleep you’ve lost but the recent cold snap, the congestion I’ve been battling since my birthday (it’s stopped my running again) and the overwhelming/exciting week I had…well, I needed to just pass out watching TV, relax. I think it paid off plus having another Friday off helped. I’m caught up on the second season of The Walking Dead, now to sit a year before I catch three.

Whoop! Surgery is done, the doctor wants to give me the scoop.

OK, this will be relatively easy and he thinks Somara will be back to normal in two weeks. Hooray. She kept putting it at four. Christmas may not be such a struggle.

What is new? I’ll go with bullet points on the general stuff, other matters will get their appropriate categories and be ready for the remaining onslaught regarding Austin’s recent Comic Con!

  • Our friend Jeremy is marrying his girlfriend Kristin, their engagement was announced last weekend. The wedding will be in Hawaii during a family gathering but they’re doing something in Austin for friends.
  • The stray cat Princess Buttercup has been hanging out in the backyard again and she recently surprised me with her new batch of anchor babies. Originally there were three so I was going to name them after the characters from Three’s Company, if my gender analysis was right. Nope there’s four. An adult male who might be the father has shown up for the grub too, or he’s her son from the last litter the neighbors stole back. PB keeps this clutch on the move. Some evenings they sleep on the porch, other nights they’re nowhere to be found.
  • I have an interview for a six-month backfill with Executive Relations. This department at AppleCare takes on super special cases, usually those which come across the desk of CEO Tim Cook. They’re a combination of technical and customer service matters. Ergo I must be the lead detective and ambassador. Should I do well, I could either stay with ER or return to my current gig. I wanted to make sure my job would be there when I come back. However, my boss thinks it’s a great move. Certain individuals were able to leverage the spot into prestigious, high-profile positions later on. I’ll see. Most days I prefer to be invisible to the executives. My firing from GDW 20 years ago left scars that have never fully healed. All thanks to office politics.

Onward to crank out some great posts, stories and reviews all this weekend! Right after I pick up Somara, her new meds and get her settled in for the day.

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Look! It’s Calculon from All My Circuits!

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Steve

One of my non-autograph, non-picture and non-apparel acquisitions from the recent convention. After Bender, Calculon is my next favorite robot on the show because he is such a gullible ham. Due to his age and being the original werecar from the 20th Century, Calculon’s design doesn’t have to follow Futurama‘s rules on robots. Note he has feet not cups, he has clamps not fingers, he has joints like we humans do at the knees and elbows (Bender and his ilk have one-piece limbs/hoses), and lastly he has two antennae which is usually found on fembots.

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Norman Reedus

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Steve

Here’s a quick snippet of many, many cool things to appear on Picayune from our attendance at Austin’s comic-book convention, aka the Wizardworld circuit.

As you see, this gentleman is currently famous for his role as Daryl on AMC’s hit show The Walking Dead (do they have any flops lately? I don’t have cable so I wouldn’t know). Norman also has a huge following from a movie he starred in 13 years ago called The Boondock Saints, another success through word-of-mouth via VHS/DVD (maybe the latter since it was released in 2000).

I’ve become a minor fan through Dead because his portrayal of Daryl, who is…let’s face it, a Redneck, is impressive. Not impressive by cranking up the cartoonish stereotype, impressive in how he makes Daryl a loyal, compassionate and sometimes selfless person with people who aren’t his kin. He’s pretty skilled at making headshots with his crossbow or a screwdriver. Should the zombie apocalypse hits, I plan to find someone like him to be in my group.

SPOILER ALERT!

Now I’m in the middle of the second season, don’t even think about spoiling anything for me while the third is happening every Sunday. Nelson ruined Battlestar Galactica one night not knowing I had only completed its first season and I continue to harass him. Don’t get on my bad side.

SPOILER ALERT OVER!

I didn’t talk to him much, the photo op is run in a factory-like manner which is fine. I quickly told Norman, thanks for making Rednecks more likeable and helpful. C’mon, Daryl Dixon has probably turned the tide for their image since it’s been on the decline after the Andy Griffith Show ended. However, while combing through his background on imdb.com and Wikipedia, he must be a great actor, he has little in common with most Red Staters and NASCAR dads. You could say he’s a modern day Minnie Pearl!

It was great to meet him and have this cool souvenir. Now I’ll be mighty pissed if the writers kill Daryl off in the new season.

Posted in Brushes with Greatness | Leave a comment

Maggi Picayune is recuperating for a bit

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Steve

I’m hoping that taking the rest of Sunday night off from everything, similarly to what I ended up doing for most of Friday…on my first paid shutdown day, argh!…will result help my recover from what was an incredibly awesome weekend. Austin’s Wizardworld Comic Con 2012 was like Las Vegas, GenCon, SXSW, the Moontower Fest and Christmas rolled into one. It certainly will be when we receive the final bill but we regret nothing! Memories and anecdotes cannot be repo’d, sold or hijacked yet I’m sure the licensing creeps will find a way eventually. For now, these are mine and I will be sharing them here ASAP while juggling other matters I want to get posted.

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My nephews’ Halloween costume

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Steve

The oldest nephew Hunter found a way to re-use his walker (which he doesn’t need anymore) from his recent knee operation. I can’t get Cannon to go…squirrel!

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Seems there was a little more left in the tank

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Steve

Last I lamented about how the annual comic book from Bongo had seemed to run its course. There really wasn’t much else to parody and this was started to redo premises/stories the TV show had covered a decade ago. This year the Bongo people proved me wrong, or maybe they heard my complaint…HA!

Things kick off with a huge injection of new talent from the Houghton Brothers who I met this Summer at Rogues Gallery. Shane writes new stories for Peanuts, Chris draws for Adventure Time and together they do their own comic called Reed Gunther. They get the opening story which is an awesome take on the Simpsons being the lead characters in Evil Dead Meets the Cabin in the Woods. Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto keep up the momentum with a tribute to Rosemary’s Baby. Jim Valentino oversees an argument over how The Bride of Frankenstein goes at Moe’s Tavern. The one story out of place is a Bartman/Batman bit, just a non-horror related superhero dream twist.

It was nice to see this seasonal treat entertain again while showcasing the up and coming Houghtons.

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Thomas Dolby 2012!

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Steve

Thankfully Thomas Dolby returned to Austin after performing at SXSW this Spring, it says I live in a very awesome city. Well I feel it does because I know Milwaukee wouldn’t be worth another attempt.

Last time I saw Thomas was six years ago and it was just him doing stuff from his back catalog. The show was a really cool demonstration of a one-man band. Now he has a new album out, his first in about 20 years, called Tales from the Floating City which is a personal favorite. I feel he picked up where he left off with Astronauts & Heretics, a record which helps define 1993 for me.

Originally the concert was going to be in the upstairs of a posh BBQ restaurant. Tickets must’ve sold out quickly since the venue was changed to the larger Parish in a week. I took it as a good sign.

Joining Thomas on stage was a three-piece band which came to the rescue when his Logic setup went out after playing “I Live in a Suitcase.” After spending a couple minutes troubleshooting why the connection between his MacBook Pro and instruments were offline, he ordered the musicians to improvise. They pulled off a very entertaining instrumental number until the Thomas’ equipment came back online.

The evening was a mix of his past hits most know: “She Blinded Me With Science,” “Hyperactive,” “Airhead,” and “I Love You Goodbye” (a big hit in Louisiana). There were the others fans such as myself recognize and love to hear: “I Live in a Suitcase” (he ended this with the closing piano music from Derek & the Dominoes’ “Layla,” it brought laughter), “The Flat Earth,” “My Brain is Like a Sieve,” “Commercial Breakup,” “Europa and the Pirate Twins” and “Screen Kiss.” New tunes were present as well: “Evil Twin Brother,” “The Toad Lickers,” “17 Hills,” and “Road to Reno.” He save “Spice Train” for the first song of the encore. He did the song which always brings back good memories of Houston in the Spring of 1983…”One of Our Submarines is Missing,” on odd track KLOL played frequently and weeks before Thomas broke out nationwide with “Science.” The closing song to the encore was another personal fave, “Silk Pyjamas.” My concert buddy Mark had told me last year how he found Tales disappointing. As we were leaving, I asked, do you like the new record a little more now that Thomas played those tracks with more conviction, namely his disco dancing gestures during the chorus of “Evil Twin Brother.” He said somewhat. We were in agreement about how this was a better show.

Should Thomas Dolby be coming to your neck of the woods, get a sitter, schedule the time, take the following day off from work and see him. He is very entertaining and talented. More importantly, there is much more to his music than “She Blinded Me With Science.” Even when describing his material I have convinced a young lady at the comic book store to check him out. I think she wasn’t even born while Thomas was a staple of the Eighties.

There’s an incomplete setlist here. I chipped in the two from the encore. Hopefully somebody got a copy off the stage and will share it.

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Robot & Frank: Worth Seeing

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Steve

Low-key SciFi seems to be the “in” thing lately but unlike Looper, Robot & Frank is a more light-hearted story set in the near future. It’s always great to see a movie made for adults too.

What I reveal here is covered in the trailers and probably in other reviews so you can’t say I’m spoiling anything.

Frank is a retired ex-cat burglar living alone in upstate New York. Every week his son Hunter drives five hours each way to check in, have dinner and make sure Frank is alright. Lately Frank’s Alzheimer’s disease is worsening plus it’s taking its toll on Hunter. Since they live in the near future, problem solved! Hunter presents his father with a robot assistant. The robot is a nurse, a maid, a cook and a full-time nag; it puts Frank on a regimen which is actually important to do with Alzheimer’s sufferers.

Meanwhile, the town’s library that Frank likes to patronize is being “re-imagined.” All the physical books will be removed and digitized. The building will remain to recreate a virtual experience while providing the content by other means. The librarian Jennifer, who Frank has a crush on, gets to keep her job in this rather jarring transformation.What Frank cannot stand is the primary and incredibly smug director of the project, a consultant named Jake. The animosity starts right away with Jake’s haughty tone; calls Frank an old timer and a connection to the analog past. Jake reminded me of all these snide puds pushing for digital everything, never mind how it puts our civilization at risk with one big fat EMP burst destroying all the information we’ve accumulated. Still, Jennifer likes Frank and asks him to be her date for the snooty fundraiser. During this soiree Frank notices all the jewelry the women wear. The gears in his mind start turning and with his robot’s assistance, he may pull off his best and final score.

I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. It’s definitely in my top five for 2012. Frank Langella’s performance as a cranky guy was priceless, especially when he curses at the robot or teaches it hilarious tricks. Liv Tyler appears as his daughter and thankfully she doesn’t ruin things with her mediocre acting. I think she can naturally act as a daughter with an embarrassing, aging father. Those couple Aerosmith records? Ugh! The little touches in the background were great: Jennifer’s aging Prius, cell phones being just sheets of plastic, video-screen phones, etc. They’re subtle changes to how we live today and plausible.

Stick around after the ending. The film makers show a string of demonstrations of what today’s robots can do while rolling the credits. There’s one capable of riding a bike! Another could fling and catch a cell phone like a human.

We caught this at Austin’s northern art-house theater, the Regal Great Hills 8. It’s no Alamo yet the experience was pleasant. There were just four people, including ourselves, attending. The commercials were a little jarring after being spoiled all Summer.

Posted in In Theaters, Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Italian #19: Albert “Cubby” Broccoli

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Steve

I’m glad I didn’t cover this world famous movie producer last year because 2012 is the 50th anniversary of Dr. No, the first Bond film he co-helmed and what would be the template for the franchise. There had been attempts done before 1962, they just weren’t very good nor memorable. Casino Royale was adapted for TV in 1954, check it here, PU.

Broccoli is the person who usually gets the credit for transforming Fleming’s rather threadbare novels into the sexy, exciting and over-the-top movies James Bond is associated with. He is definitely responsible for the female silhouettes during the opening credits.

But first I want to cover a little territory about the man before he became involved with one of the longest running franchises in film history.

He is a descendent of the family in Italy that had the vegetable named after them, not the other way around, I’ll save the outcome of this research for next year. Carrots have a similar backstory on why they’re orange.

Cubby started out in New York when the city wasn’t as large and it still had farms; his family raised vegetables. He then went into other lines of work around the metropolis until he took a trip to LA to visit a cousin. There Cubby was bit by the show-business bug and decided to stay. He mostly tried to be an actor.

In the Thirties, he was a suspect in Ted Healy’s death. Fans of the Three Stooges may recognize Healy’s name. Moe and Shemp were originally his sidekicks for his Vaudeville act. Long story short, Healy fired the Stooges after their first movie together and tried to be a solo star. His alcoholism, bad temper and womanizing kept his career from taking off. One evening he picked a fight at the Trocadero with three people, Broccoli being one them, who beat up the tar out of Healy. It must’ve been pretty serious, Healy died of the injuries he received. The studios wanted to downplay the incident since another suspect was movie star Wallace Beery so a cover story was devised about Healy being assaulted by college students. To make things stick, Beery was shipped to Europe for a few months. I have many doubts in the validity of this account, I’ll just go with this being a rumor Broccoli had to deal with like those stories you hear about Rod Stewart and Richard Gere, we all know those.

Acting didn’t pan out.  Cubby moved on to directing in the Forties. He mostly worked as an assistant director at 20th Century Fox. When America got involved in WWII, he joined the Navy where he made new connections and helped coordinate entertainment for US forces. After the war, he formed a production company with Irving Allen. Things were a little rough, their first movie didn’t do well forcing Cubby to work other gigs to pay the bills: from selling Christmas trees  to being an agent; at least he represented some cool people like Robert Wagner and Lana Turner.

By the early Fifties, Allen and Broccoli moved their company to London. There the duo cranked out a few hits. It unraveled in 1960 with a film about Oscar Wilde that bankrupted them, seems the story was too frank about the author’s homosexuality which in 1960 would be just mentioning it. Allen and Broccoli dissolved their partnership, went their own separate ways.

Cubby wasn’t ready to give up but one evening, his wife asked him what would he really like to do. His answer, “I always wanted to film the Ian Fleming James Bond books.” This led to him to meet Harry Saltzman, a Canadian who owned the film rights. They teamed up and you know the rest.

Cubby continued to be the main producer all the way up to Goldeneye despite (the awful) A View to a Kill being the last chapter he actually contributed to. His daughter Barbara and stepson Michael Wilson gradually took over. They were completely in charge when he passed away in 1996.

Besides Bond, he also produced another Ian Fleming idea Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

To reiterate, James Bond is an English hero and paragon…never mind his Scottish name and background, much like his creator but it took an Italian to make the superspy viable, sexy, interesting and a worldwide name!

Posted in History, Italians, Movies | Leave a comment