I Don't Know About This

I have done very little to see what the plan is for the 'Green Lantern' movie. I've not really dug around the rumor mill or anything like that. I know who the lead is and now I've seen the picture of the costume and I'm concerned.

I like Ryan Reynolds. I think he's funny. He's good at the style he does. That's the whole thing; Ryan has the image of being the smart-aleck. Most of roles he's best known for have him playing that guy. Now, I'm guessing that his Green Lantern will be Hal Jordan. This causes my concern. I'm not terribly familiar with the details of the DC characters but when I think of Hal Jordan I think of someone that's very serious, not without a sense of humor, but more of a quiet wit than the sarcastic characters Ryan is known to play. It's not that Ryan can't play that style, but will the Ryan Reynolds fans accept that? If he plays Hal Jordan like a standard Ryan character, will Green Lantern fans turn on it? If he's not playing Hal Jordan, then why not? Isn't Hal the primary Green Lantern of the DCU now?

The Green Lantern costume is a triumph of simple design. It is classic, green and black. It is the uniform of an Intergalactic Police Officer. As I understand it, the mask is Hal's addition, to protect his identity while on Earth. So what is with the weird lighting effects on display in the movie costume? It looks like it has ground effects? It looks more like a Tron costume that Green Lantern. If it only glows on occasion, why let that be the first picture of the costume to be released? If it's lit like that constantly, it's gonna look ridiculous.

This all makes me worry that Warner Brothers is trying to make this their Iron Man movie, to the point of altering the main character to make him more sharp and funny.

For DC fans, this movie HAS to work. If this movie doesn't do well, doesn't make money, then you will get nothing apart from Batman movies for the next decade. If Green Lantern doesn't succeed, what other DC hero will succeed? What other character will get the nod?

Then again, even if it fails, maybe Warner Brothers will make another DC movie. I mean, they made Catwoman.

Music Monday - Peter Sellers

Between the Pink Panther movies that I watched with my Dad as I was a kid and the Muppet Show appearance burned into my memory thanks to the record, I was very familiar with Peter Sellers as a child, enough to be a bit sad when he died. I was only six. That sort of thing doesn't mean that much when you're six. Seven maybe.

Peter Sellers was a comedy genius. A comedian with an ear for voices and the ability to mimic them, he first hit big in the 1950s with fellow geniuses Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan as a member of the ever mobile Goon Show! Witty, fast, cartoons on the radio, there was also songs in the mix on occasion, including this bit of nonsense.





By the 1960s, Peter Sellers had become a movie star, racing Alec Guinness for who could play the most different characters in one film. Peter wasn't the only British export to make in big in that era and when these two things clashed, there was beautiful silliness to be had.





In the late 60s and early 70s, Peter's star waned a bit but reviving the Pink Panther movies also revived Peter's career. Clouseau got him a shot on that furry, free wheeling, fast, and frantic Muppet Show where he was able to be, well, whomever he wanted to be.





There may well have been two Peter Sellers. In 1964, Peter suffered a series of devastating heart attacks. He was not expected to recover but did. His heart was never strong after that and it would finally give out on him in 1980, at the young age of 54.

Did Peter Sellers, as he was known before the heart attacks, die in 1964, survived by a 'weaker' version. He was certainly funny after that but people that knew him indicate that there may be some truth in the joke he tells Kermit backstage on the Muppet Show...





Ah, let's end on a laugh.

Old Wrestling Magazine Weirdness

At the New Year's Sale this past January, I picked up some wrestling magazines that are about as old as I am. One is even cover dated March 1974 which is kinda neat. I've only just started reading through them in the past few days and they're still a lot of fun. Many of the wrestlers are written very well, translating their vocal style well to paper, Bobby Heenan especially.

The design of these magazines did not change much for over a decade. Most articles start with a couple pages in the front half of the magazine and then to get to the rest of the article you have to flip to the back half. Since it's not complicated reading and there are a lot of pictures, it feels like there's a constant back and forth. The bulk of the advertisements are in the back half of the magazines and the ads confuse me.

Who were the audience of this magazines?

For periods of time, wrestling captures the interest of the general public. I'm not completely sure but I don't think the seventies were one of those times. Admittedly tastes change but the seventies were an often hardcore and bloody period of wrestling. The color photos on the covers were often gorier than the average Fangoria cover. There's the occasional mild swear, nothing too fancy, possibly still teenage friendly I guess. Some of the magazines have 'pen pals' or 'fan club' pages that are mostly kid orientated. Mixed amongst the X-Ray spec or junk jewelry ads are ads for muscle building, learning deadly arts like karate, correspondence courses, franchises. Nothing too weird there, something for the young adult perhaps. Then there are the 'personal viewing' movie projectors, ads that ask you if you're 'half a man', and some rather adult 'companion' dolls. The ads for these are pretty way-hey-hey, especially next to those X-Ray specs ads. In a few years, ladies wrestling would devolve into 'apartment wrestling' and the less said about that the better.

Wonder how many kids got busted reading these and protested 'ma, it's just a wrestling magazine' and meant it? Until they turned twelve at least.

Sheesh!