The Lost Art of Cadavra’s creator

I have high hopes for ‘The Lost Skeleton Returns Again’, the sequel to ‘The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra’, an exquisitely funny and intelligent homage to cheapie 60’s sci-fi movies. If ‘Returns Again’ is even half as good as its predecessor, I will enjoy it immensely. Click here to watch ten samples from the new movie, which should be out on DVD to see the light of my projector’s bulb sometime this summer.

Larry Blamire, the creator of ‘Lost Skeleton’, has Boston fan roots going back to the 70’s. I happen to have a 1979 issue of ‘Galileo, the Magazine of Science Fiction’, with a story illustration by Blamire. I wonder if he still feels a connection to this, or if it seems far from where his interests are now?

Apple says, “Don’t Think Different”

Back in February, I pointed out a controversy caused by a political cartoon from December, by Mark Fiore, who has won the Pulitzer Prize. And he’s the first to do it with animated cartoons.

But before this good news, it turns out that December was a doubly troublesome month for Fiore, because that was when his iPhone app was rejected by Apple Computer. Why? Because it “ridicules public figures.”

Follow-up: Fiore submitted his app again, and this time it was accepted, but the decision had to come from Steve Jobs.

Lincoln by Ford

A fictionalized event in the life of Abe Lincoln is the subject of a restored 1913 movie, starring Francis Ford, the brother of legendary director John Ford, as a rather short version of the 16th President. The Boston Globe has this item about the discovery of the film, and you can hear more about it on New Hampshire public radio.

Was Francis Ford Coppola named after the actor? I’ll let you look that up for yourself. For a lot more on Francis Ford, see this well-researched article in senses of cinema.

Iron Man 2’s in the can

The Iron Man 2 blitz is on, and Dr. Pepper has a fun commercial tie-in. Hey, there’s shameless Stan Lee, making one of his cameos. Note: the first appearance of Iron Man (Tales of Suspense #39, 1963) was scripted by Stan’s brother, Larry Lieber.

P.S. Disney has this ultra-cute 4 GB Iron Man USB flash drive (I discourage use of the terms “jump” or “thumb” drive).

Hasta la Vista RTM

Today was it for (all three or four of) you Windows Vista lovers who can’t bear to update your original RTM (release to manufacturer) installation with the broken Control Panel. After today support ends you’ll get no more security updates unless you update to Service Pack 1 or 2. And you XP SP2 diehards (you know who you are — or maybe you don’t!) have until July 13 to embrace SP3.