LAST MONTH OF 2010

Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!

And now for December of 2010....

IRVIN KERSHNER DIES AT 87

More sad news. Film director Irvin Kershner has died. He is perhaps best known for directing the second (in production order) of the Star Wars movies -- the terrific, by any standard, The Empire Strikes Back.

If you want to know more about Irvin Kershner... watch or re-watch The Empire Strikes Back.


The news...
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/898332--empire-strikes-back-director-irvin-kershner-dies-at-87

LESLIE NIELSON DIES AT 84

The news of Canadian-born actor Leslie Nielson's passing is sad for me. I remember him from forty years ago as he seemed to guest star in a lot of television programs that I watched... including a memorable role as a rancher in an episode of Hawaii Five-O.

Probably my favourite role of his is that of J.J. Adams, the no-nonsense commander of C-57D. (Nielson was brilliant in the 1980 movie Airplane; and in TV's Police Squad.)


The news...
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/898202--leslie-nielsen-of-naked-gun-fame-dies-at-age-84?bn=1

WIKI-LEAKS ROCKS

I love it when WikiLeaks releases special documents. There is cosmic justice in this world, sometimes...
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/897995--wikileaks-documents-reveal-sensitive-u-s-cables?bn=1

Apparently the WikiLeaks site is down today; "under attack". Sounds like there is panic in some quarters.

IRWIN ALLEN COMPUTER

In my spare time I read up on the history of technology. It figures I would eventually come across this terrific video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dz2t5EV_NA

The short clip (1:18) is of an old U.S. Air Force computer -- ANSF-Q7 of Air Force SAGE Radar Systems, built by IBM -- that was bought as surplus by 20th Century Fox and used in producer Irwin Allen's television programs, such as Lost in Space, and The Time Tunnel (comprising part of the main set), and his later feature film The Towering Inferno.

Great little document. This video was done recently, just to show you that the contraption still exists. And it sure does; back in the summer I watched a few Lost episodes and there was the "Irwin Allen Computer".

Photo above: John Zaremba, Whit Bissell, and Lee Meriwether in The Time Tunnel (1966-1967, ABC)

BACK ON MY LAPTOP

... If you'll pardon the expression.

I gave my laptop the clean bill of health. It is so nice to have 'er back; and hopefully I can squeeze in more postings before November ends.

* Just learned that this winter -- here in Toronto -- is supposed to be snowy and cold... different than last winter.

* Last week I finally saw director Ruba Nadda's flick, Cairo Time. Very good. A movie that actually stayed with me a little, afterwards.

* Had a coffee today, at a mom-and-pop shop, that tasted fabulous. Must have been the whiskey.

* I'm learning Adobe Premiere. I can see why the entire BBC switched over to that software.

* First Spaceship on Venus is a cool movie; even when the print is not only non-'scope', but non-'colour'! (Several members of the audience laughed when an opening title card proclaimed "in Technicolor".)

* A good friend of mine has two beautiful black cats; the kind with a shot of white chest hair. I asked him how the two beasties got along. "Wonderfully", or something to that effect, was the answer. Well, a few days later that all changed with a good old fashioned feline fistfight... complete with crashing chandelier. Is that what people mean when they say cats are unpredictable?

ANNEXED

Hello everyone. So sorry, but I've been trapped in the "Tholian Annex", as of late. Pardon the lack of postings; for those of you who check on a regular(ish) basis.

In all seriousness, my laptop has been down for the count since late October. Fixed it up last night. My 'old' desktop performs very well, but since I reconnected it to keep me still connected, I'm finding that posting on this blog is low priority. So much is happening in my life right now, and the world, so it is not for a lack of material that I have been deficient on these pages.

(This past week I have been giving myself a nightly [late nightly] Space: 1999 festival. I bought the entire solar system, I mean, series on DVD two years ago, but outside of screening one or two eps, the box has for the most part been sitting on my shelf. When I get back into regular planetary orbit, I will post my feelings on Space. Also: This week I knocked off the 2004 BBC, Jonathan Miller-hosted documentary mini-series, Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief. Very excellent; to be expected of Dr. Miller.)

Soon....

DINO DE LAURENTIIS DIES

I've been having some computer problems the last couple of weeks. Would let the blog slide for the time being.

However, reading the news a few minutes ago of Italian motion picture mogul Dino De Laurentiis' passing was more than enough of an excuse to "sign in"...
http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a287288/dino-de-laurentiis-dies-aged-91.html

What is odd is that I've been thinking of his infamous 1976 version of King Kong. Minutes before I read the news of De Laurentiis' passing I heard that Paramount's new Dune remake is in possible trouble (after French director Pierre Morel walked off the show). Of course, the producer backed the mega-budget 1984 big screen version... directed by an obviously insecure David Lynch.

A few weeks ago I watched Nights of Cabiria (which De Laurentiis produced in his native Italy). What a superb and moving film.