The weather cleared up a little. Fall has still fallen. I wish I could identify those gray-brown ducks on our lake, but I never seem to have my spotting scope, an ID book, sufficient light, and the ducks all together at the same time.

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution as Autumn setles in. Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art features Ed Gilliland's lecture and reception TONIGHT -- it will probably be one of my last. I'm likely going to move to Fort Collins, Colorado soon, but I'm NOT going to give the Director my notice this evening and spoil a good time.

Media Watch: I'm reading a book King Kong; the history of a movie icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson by Ray Morton. about the making of King Kong -- not just the original, but ALL the misbegotten remakes and sequels. Mighty Joe Young has a special place in the Kong Kanon because it was a success, and helped launch Ray Harryhausen's career.
King Kong (1933) THE classic of dawg-assed escapist cinema. Merian C. Cooper deserves a lot of credit, but the whole genre of movie monsters running amok in modern cities comes from Willis O'Brien -- starting with The Lost World in 1925.
Son of Kong (1933) The author likes this thing more than it really deserves.
Morton rightly points out the connection between Kong and the Gojiro (Godzilla) franchise. Willis O'Brien even deserves credit for the ideas which led to the following Japanese gigglers:
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) Japanese men in rubber suits, wrestling on soundstages full of miniatures -- bust 'em up, boys!
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) Starring Godzilla, but written for Kong -- ahh, studio politics!
King Kong Escapes (1967) Yeah, but Toho Studios caught him again! The book delineates O'Brien's link to the two Gargantua movies as well -- one of G's rubber villains, Barugon, also fought Gamera, but we'll leave THAT alone for now!
RKO refused to authorize remakes while they had legal standing in the matter -- turned out to be a good policy. Look what happened:
King Kong (1976) Jessica Lange's career almost ended before it began. Morton tries to speak well of this flick, but he's full of Gorilla shit.
King Kong Lives (1986). An even WORSE sequel than the '76 remake, starring Linda Hamilton, who might have felt like following Lange's footsteps over a career-crippling cliff was a bad idea. (Thank goodness for the cult TV series Beauty and the Beast -- I don't think Hamilton would have had another crack at the Terminator without that particular break.)
King Kong (2005) by New Zealand's CGI-man, Peter Jackson. (Buy the video game, anybody can make up better stories than him!) Oh yeah, almost forgot, Naomi Watts played Fay Wray's character.
BTW -- Kong's Wikipedia Page is delightful!


Kong's Ladies' Klub -- (L to R) Naomi Watts, Linda Hamilton, and Jessica Lange. Fay Wray might have been unfairly typecast after her success in the original, but these actors have thankfully gone on to "bigger and better things."