the gigantism of chester a. arthur
I had a week off for my son's summer break, following the July 4th 4-day weekend. One afternoon, we went to Toussault's Wax Museum and Ripley's Believe It or Not!, which are housed in the same pseudo-palatial oasis off of I-30, in the same swamp as the Lone Star Park horse track. It's one of those old attractions that has been there for ages, but I had never gone before. I described it to My Lovely Wife as 75% cheesy, 20% interesting and 5% impressive.
Of the wax figures therein, I must say that too many wigs were askew, and the overall effect is sort of a cross between the creepy sensation of having seen similar figures in movies before, excepting that they always came to life and horribly mutilated you, and that kind of you've-got-to-be-kidding feeling that comes from going to the circus or a church bake sale and realizing these things actually do exist.
I will just say that the Anthony Hopkins of Meet Joe Black seemed to have been left in the Texas sun a bit too long, as he was sort of melting into himself. In the Hall of Presidents, everyone seemed to smile too purely, like Mr. Rogers, which seemed out of place knowing what we do about half of them. And I was previously unaware of Chester A. Arthur's case of gigantism, as his head, from brow to gullet, seemed as ripe as an overgrown casaba melon.
I have plunked down all my worldly goods (okay, $49.99) to get a copy of Half Life 2 for the Xbox when it releases in October. This brings to mind another time, when I owned a Dreamcast, and had plunked down a similar amount of cash for a copy of the port of the original Half Life...and the Dreamcast died an untimely death before it could be released. That and the sequel to Shenmue, which was supposed to be a series of about 7 games, if I recall. We never got to the second one on Dreamcast. Now I wait for the day when The Game Emporium calls me and explains half-heartedly that Half Life 2 will not be coming out on Xbox, but the new Xbox 360, and by the way, have I pre-purchased my 360 yet? I see this coming. I am girded.
Fantastic Four is good fun. If you're a comic book geek, you can probably get past how they butchered Dr. Doom's backstory, because Julian McMahon is kind of fun in an oily, melodramatic way. Very Snidely Whiplash. Michael Chiklis gets The Thing/Ben Grimm down pat, but I seriously doubt he would sign on for a sequel, given the painful, maddening process of living under so much prosthetic makeup. Chris Evans really makes the most of the film as cocky Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. And the effects, while pretty simplistic, are solid. Speaking of effects, Jessica Alba isn't so bad either, and she has about as much to do in the film as Sue Storm had to do in the comic, which means the cover art looks just fine. If the film isn't Spiderman 2 or X-Men 1 or 2, then just suffice it to say fun can be had by all. We'll wait to see if Nicholas Cage can suitably fill Ghost Rider's boots, or if Iron Man can be honorably transformed into more than just a guy flying around in a metal suit. And hopefully, one day, Iron Fist, Deathlok and Watchmen will be filmed by someone who tenderly loves their mylar-wrapped tales of adventure.
everything I know I learned from classics illustrated
Of the wax figures therein, I must say that too many wigs were askew, and the overall effect is sort of a cross between the creepy sensation of having seen similar figures in movies before, excepting that they always came to life and horribly mutilated you, and that kind of you've-got-to-be-kidding feeling that comes from going to the circus or a church bake sale and realizing these things actually do exist.
I will just say that the Anthony Hopkins of Meet Joe Black seemed to have been left in the Texas sun a bit too long, as he was sort of melting into himself. In the Hall of Presidents, everyone seemed to smile too purely, like Mr. Rogers, which seemed out of place knowing what we do about half of them. And I was previously unaware of Chester A. Arthur's case of gigantism, as his head, from brow to gullet, seemed as ripe as an overgrown casaba melon.
I have plunked down all my worldly goods (okay, $49.99) to get a copy of Half Life 2 for the Xbox when it releases in October. This brings to mind another time, when I owned a Dreamcast, and had plunked down a similar amount of cash for a copy of the port of the original Half Life...and the Dreamcast died an untimely death before it could be released. That and the sequel to Shenmue, which was supposed to be a series of about 7 games, if I recall. We never got to the second one on Dreamcast. Now I wait for the day when The Game Emporium calls me and explains half-heartedly that Half Life 2 will not be coming out on Xbox, but the new Xbox 360, and by the way, have I pre-purchased my 360 yet? I see this coming. I am girded.
Fantastic Four is good fun. If you're a comic book geek, you can probably get past how they butchered Dr. Doom's backstory, because Julian McMahon is kind of fun in an oily, melodramatic way. Very Snidely Whiplash. Michael Chiklis gets The Thing/Ben Grimm down pat, but I seriously doubt he would sign on for a sequel, given the painful, maddening process of living under so much prosthetic makeup. Chris Evans really makes the most of the film as cocky Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. And the effects, while pretty simplistic, are solid. Speaking of effects, Jessica Alba isn't so bad either, and she has about as much to do in the film as Sue Storm had to do in the comic, which means the cover art looks just fine. If the film isn't Spiderman 2 or X-Men 1 or 2, then just suffice it to say fun can be had by all. We'll wait to see if Nicholas Cage can suitably fill Ghost Rider's boots, or if Iron Man can be honorably transformed into more than just a guy flying around in a metal suit. And hopefully, one day, Iron Fist, Deathlok and Watchmen will be filmed by someone who tenderly loves their mylar-wrapped tales of adventure.
everything I know I learned from classics illustrated
posted by scn at 8:16 AM
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