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Showing posts from August, 2020

Is George Orwell's "1984" A View Into Our Inevitable Future?

With the rise of far left-wing socialistic political platforms, media control, censorship of social media, and extremism one has to wonder if the world created by George Orwell for his novel "1984" will become reality? It would seem that Erec Smith (York College of Pennsylvania) of the Washington Examiner believes it's already here: Academics ignore the anniversary of 1984 because they know they’re living it out Seventy years ago today, George Orwell published 1984, a now-famous novel about a dystopian future in which totalitarianism is a universal political truth and free thought is eliminated in the name of peace and solidarity. Modern academics, especially scholars in the humanities, have long sung the books’ praises, but the academy has been suspiciously quiet during the buildup to this most recent anniversary. Why is the anniversary of 1984 being ignored? Perhaps because the same educators that once used the book to teach the dangers of totalitarianism and...

The Fox and the Crow / Tito and his Burrito

The Fox and the Crow starred in several funny animal comic books published by DC Comics, from the 1940s well into the 1960s. They starred with other characters in DC's Columbia-licensed funny animal anthology Real Screen Comics (first issue titled Real Screen Funnies) beginning in 1945, then did likewise when DC converted the superhero title Comic Cavalcade to a funny-animal series in 1948. The duo received its own title, The Fox and the Crow, which ran 108 issues (Jan. 1952 - March 1968). Until the 1954 demise of Comic Cavalcade, Fox and Crow were cover-featured on three DC titles. They continued on the cover of Real Screen Comics through its title change to TV Screen Cartoons from #129-138 (Aug. 1959 - Feb. 1961), the final issue. The Fox and the Crow itself was renamed Stanley and His Monster beginning with #109 (May 1968), after the back-up feature, begun in #95 (Jan. 1966), that had taken over in popularity. For the last ten years of its existence, The Fox and the Crow ...

Star Trek: Passage to Moauv

"Captain's log, stardate 5440. The USS Enterprise has been ordered to transport the pet waul of the Moauvian ambassador from Centaurus Base to his home world of Moauv. We are proceeding on course... as rapidly as possible." Star Trek Book and Record Set #25N-1ST 1975 Peter Pan/Power Records Grade NM - Shop Now 1st Edition with art cover. Complete as graded. Star Trek in "Passage to Moauv". 20-page full color comic with 45 RPM record. 7-1/8 x 10 inches with cardstock cover and white non-gloss interior paper stock. 1st printing. This comic book is in used condition. Comic is complete with cover and all pages attached. This comic has some flaws that warrant a NM grade. Comic Book will be shipped bagged and boarded! As Captain Kirk attempts to record his captain's log, he is constantly interrupted by the ambassador's waul, wailing and meowing like a cat. With the help of Yeoman Prentiss, Dr. McCoy takes the animal down to sickbay to house it w...

Retro Sci-Fi: Prince of Space (1962)(Toei Company)

Planet Prince is a 1958 Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series. Created by Masaru Igami and produced by Nippon Gendai and Senkosha, the series aired on NTV from November 4, 1958 to October 6, 1959, with a total of 49 episodes (divided into several segments). It was created to capitalize on the success of Shintoho's Super Giant (Starman) movie series. In fact, the title hero (whose alter-ego was Waku-san, played by Toshio Mimura) bore a strong resemblance to Super Giant (known as "Starman" in the U.S.). Planet Prince was filmed in black and white ToeiScope format. Toei produced two theatrical movies in 1959 that featured the Planet Prince character, but wearing a completely different, more streamlined costume (and goggled helmet). The hero in these two movies was played by Tatsuo Umemiya. The movies were released a week apart. The films were titled: Planet Prince ( Released: May 19, 1959) Planet Prince - The Terrifying Spaceship (Released: May 25, 1959) F...

Band of Skulls: A Rock N Roll Treasure

Over the past few years my love of 'Band of Skulls' has continued to grow. Their last album 'By Default' quickly became one of my all-time favorites and now some three years after it's release I still find myself playing it in heavy rotation. Since that album was so good I was pessimistic that any future release by the band could live up to it. I, of course, should have expected another amazing album simply from the band's track record. It seems as every release tops the prior as both Russell Marsden (guitar, vocals) and Emma Richardson bass, vocals) grow as musicians and refine their style of rock. This past April saw the release of their fifth album 'Love Is All You Love' which is another amazing piece of work that again has become another personal favorite. Check out the track 'We're Alive' which is my favorite from 'Love Is All You Love'. This track 'Not the Kind of Nothing I Know' has really grown on me: Th...

Rodan (1956)(Toho) A Supersonic Movie For The Jet Age!

  After the success of the first two Godzilla films, Ishiro Honda and Tomoyuki Tanaka would take on the ambitious task of creating a flying monster epic. The film, which would be later titled, “Sora no daikaiju Radon”, was initially penned by writer Ken Kuronuma who drew inspiration from a story he had translated for the Japanese version of Amazing Stories magazine about a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, who had crashed his plane while chasing a UFO. Kuronuma’s original story would be reworked by Takeshi Kimura and Takeo Murata who replaced the UFO with a pair of flying dinosaurs and added the smaller insect-like Maganuron, who were modeled after the giant ants from Warner Bros. hit 1954 film “Them!”. The flying monster, Rodan, presented several technical problems for Eiji Tsuburaya and his special effects team. Elaborate rigging had to be created to support the 150 pound Rodan suite, and the actor inside it. The use of special cameras created excessive heat and prevented the ...