3D Finale

OK people it's time to wrap up this month long trip in the third dimension with a final 3D glasses blow out.

These very patriotic looking 3D glasses are probably my oldest pair, and they're from a local TV broadcast of Gorilla at Large in the early 80's...


And just because I love to post YouTube videos here is the trailer for Gorilla at Large.



Here are the 3D glasses for the Super Bowl XXIII halftime show "Be Bop Bamboozled" featuring Elvis Presto. I do remember being pretty excited to watch this show, and yes, I do remember being pretty disappointed after it was all over.


Next are the 3D glasses for Yo Yogi which is probably the last Saturday morning cartoon to run on NBC. The show featured a young and "hipper" version of Yogi Bear, and 3D segments you could watch with glasses you got from specially marked packages of Kellogg's Rice Krispies.

This is the very important card that was packaged with the Yo Yogi glasses:

Damn grown-ups have to take the fun out of everything.



I noticed I have a lot of ChromaDepth glasses.

Here are a pair for the VH1 show I Love the 80's 3D...


And here are a pair for the N64 game system...


Heck, they could even be found in some magazines...


But you must heed the warning (damn grown-ups):

Now surely you must own a pair of ChromaDepth glasses too. So please enjoy this following music video in the magical experience that is ChromaDepth 3D.



Special thanks to Todd over at Neato Coolville for keeping me motivated all this month.

More 3D Glasses

Here's the 3D glasses for Spy Kids 3D: Game Over. It was odd to use the red & blue 3D style of glasses for a 2003 movie, but I guess the RealD 3D system wasn't ready yet. The upside was they didn't charge you $2 for the glasses.

Speaking of charging for a pair of 3D glasses, here's a free pair generic cardboard polarized 3D glasses from the 1980's. I wonder if they would work as well as the newfangled plastic glasses they ask $2 for?


And finally, I found another pair of Hondo 3D glasses, but this time with awesome American Indian graphics.

Comin' At Ya! 3D glasses

Continuing my series on 3D glasses here are the glasses for Comin' At Ya! which was a cheap spaghetti western from 1981 that kicked off a brief 3D movie fad...

Yeah I know, those glasses are not very impressive.

A pair of 3D glasses for a television broadcast of Hondo have much better graphics...


Now that's how you design a proper pair of 3D glasses for a western movie. Simulated wood grain, shotguns on the side, the star's image smack dab in the middle, and all in full-color.

Now here's something fun. If you happen to have a pair of red & blue 3D glasses (like the Hondo glasses above) you can watch the opening credits to Comin' At Ya! in 3D through the magic of YouTube. The effect is acually not too bad. Don't get me wrong, it's not great, but it's not too bad.

See in the Thrid Demention

In at the last minute, and continuing my current excruciatingly exhausting schedule of one post per month I present to you Friday the 13 Part III 3D glasses...



More and more movies today are being presented in that newfangled digital 3D, but I don't need to tell you that 3D movies are nothing new. Over the years and without really trying too hard, I've managed to amass a fairly large collection of 3D glasses. Hopefully, if I don't start slacking (I make no promises) , I'll post more of my collection throughout the summer - maybe even once a week!

The 3D glasses above were not the glasses used for the 1982 film. These are the glasses for the souvenir 3D poster. The graphics on theses glasses are gory fun, and show Jason doing his thing.

Is Movie Up Down?

For my first post of New Year (finally) I'd like to tell you about a show I enjoy, but one you've probably never heard of.

Also I don't believe is on the air anymore either. Sorry about that.

Movie Up on the Reelz Channel was a fun weekly show that covered films debuting on cable and DVD for that week (and if you check out the clips below you'll find that some of these "films" are only films in the very loosest of terms) . Here's how the Reelz Channel site describes the show:

Don't want to leave your couch? We don't want you to either. Sit back and watch Movie Up. It's the only guide show that covers what's new and hot in home entertainment. From DVD's to video-on-demand to movie downloads – we'll show you the best of the big screen coming to a living room near you. Hosted by Tory Shulman.

Tory Shulman is one funny chick too. She's sorta like a female Joel McHale on The Soup.

Enjoy these fun Movie Up clips of some crazy obscure low-budget films while they last...

Movie Up | Movie Trailers

Movie Up | Movie Trailers

Movie Up | Movie Trailers

Movie Up | Movie Trailers

An Open Letter to Christian Bale

Dear Christian,

I hope I wasn't too presumptuous to call you Christian, but Mr. Bale just seems so cold and formal and I want this to be a relaxed and friendly.

Christian Bale

Anyways, congratulations on the whole movie career so far. I've just heard that you're going to star in the new Terminator 4, and of course everyone is excited to see The Dark Knight coming out later this summer. You can certainly consider yourself a full-fledged Hollywood movie star. This is no small feat. As you know, not every successful child actor makes the cross over to successful adult actor (see Macaulay Culkin).

A very young Christian Bale with Steven Spielberg on the set of Empire of the Sun (1987)

Yessiree, you've established yourself as a talented and bankable leading man which guarantees we'll be seeing you on the big screen for many years to come. With that said, I feel it's my duty to talk to you about a small issue that's been troubling me. I believe many others are troubled by it too, and some may have even brought this issue to your attention. I mean this issue is as plain as the nose on your face...

At premier for 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Close up of mole

...or more exactly the mole on the side of you nose near your right eye. I'm not the only one who's noticed either (check out skinema.com ).

This isn't something trivial. If you're serious about your "craft" (and I know you are) you don't want anything that will distract from your performance, and that is exactly what this mole has become - a distraction. Seriously, when I'm watching you act I can't help to be drawn to the little lumpy thing sitting by your right brow.

But it hasn't always been this way, because from examining your body of work that irritating mole wasn't always there. Back almost 18 years ago, back in the 1992 film Newsies, the mole was in hiding, just waiting for its big day in the lime light.

No visible mole yet in Newsies (1992)

And then four years later the mole burst onto the silver screen, and can be seen in the 1996 film The Secret Agent.

The mole makes it first (?) appearance in The Secret Agent (1996)

I'm no doctor, but it seems to me that this mole of yours is growing. I'm sure you've had it checked, and I'm sure it's not cancer or anything, but I think it's time you should really have it removed. I mean it would only be like a simple office visit to have it done. Hell, I don't even work as a film actor where folks gawk at my mug on screens 30 feet tall, but I would have had it removed a long time ago.

Maybe you've grown accustom to it, and resist changing your face with cosmetic surgery. Although I'd find that hard to believe since you've never been afraid to change how your body looks before.

The many bods of Bale

You got all ripped and buff for American Psycho (2000). You then got even more buffer for Reign of Fire (2002). Hey, I don't blame you since you were co-staring with Matthew McConaughey, whose favorite hobby is shirtlessness. Then you got super scary thin for The Machinist (2004), and amazingly within a year bulked up huge for Batman Begins (2004). My hat is off to you man. As someone who is trying really, really hard to gain muscle, and drop my body fat a couple of percentage points for the summer - I'm totally impressed and envious how you seemingly can take off and on muscle weight with such ease. I would love to hear your workout routine sometime, but I digress...

My point is you're not afraid to change body in extreme ways - dropping weight and adding weight for what ever role you're playing. So to remove this distracting mole should be no big thing compared to what you did to your body for The Machinist.

Enrique Iglesias

If you're still unsure about losing your mole, why don't you talk to Enrique Iglesias (I'm sure you can get his number). Enrique had a mole much bigger than yours on his right cheek and had it removed years ago. If you ask me I think he looks much better without it, and I don't think it's hurt his career one bit to have it removed. He's still making music, and selling his own personal cologne or something. Isn't he? (Maybe I should have Wikied "Enrique Iglesias" before I wrote this)

I'm sure Enrique is certainly having a better career than this guy:

Richard Thomas as John Boy Walton in "The Waltons" (1972) (FYI: I didn't add the white text to the picture, but it's obviously by someone who is as distracted by moles as I am)

When was the last time anyone has seen Richard Thomas? I rest my case... Ok, I just checked IMDb and Richard Thomas has worked fairly consistently up till 2006. But he ain't staring in any summer block busters now is he?

Hmmm, maybe I didn't make any points for my case with the Richard Thomas example, but please consider the other stuff I've written.

Don't make me have to write a best-selling, Pulitzer Prize winning story about an emotionally complex man with a ugly mole under his right brow, and whose life is dramatically changed in many unique ways when he has his mole removed. Which is then optioned by a big shot Hollywood production company, and so I then personally adapt my story into a dynamite script which is quickly geenlit. Because of my new found clout I demand that you play the protagonist because after all - nobody else could play this role but you, and that would eventually force you to have that bloody mole removed.

Well thanks for your time, and I wish you the very best of luck with your career,

David

The Scent of Mystery Still Stinks

After intense public demand, and for the first time on the interweb, I proudly present the "Official Clue Card" for the classic 1960 film Scent of Mystery.

Actually there was no public demand, and this card is from the 1985 showing on MTV which you could purchase for a buck at 7-11 stores. It's sort of amazing that MTV ran a rather dull and obscure 25 year old (at the time) mystery movie - even with the scratch and sniff card gimmick. They'd never run such a film today, but maybe they could try a scratch and sniff version of Laguna Beach.

When the film was originally released there was a machine that pumped the scents into the theater, but from all reports it didn't work very well. I've read the machine held 50 scents, but the card only gives you 30. Looking back now I feel short changed on smells.

Side 1

I'm happy to report the scratch and sniff card still works. Talic being the strongest of the scents, which you don't even have to scratch to smell. The strawberry and rose scents are pleasant enough, but the popcorn is just bizarre and indescribable. I guess a fake popcorn smell was beyond the grasp of science.

Side 2

I debated if I should even post this. I doubt anyone cares about a 1985 MTV scratch and sniff card for a forgotten movie. But then I thought if I don't post this who will? And it's my duty as a blogger to fill the internet up with crap nobody cares about. That's what we bloggers do dammit!

There's Something About Mary Hair Gel

In 1998 at advance screenings for There's Something About Mary the audience were given little packets of hair gel. The packets were covered with risque double entendre jokes. If you liked the film you should get a kick out of the jokes. As always click the pics to enlarge.

Front

Back

Personally I don't know how well the hair gel works. I've kept mine safely sealed in its little foil packet. I'm sure it's a fine untainted product, but why take chances.

Revenge of the "Slith"

I'm sucker for a gimmick. Even if I'm not interested the product, I'm always intrigued by merchandise that's "new and improved," has a unique mail-in promotion, or comes with some little toy surprise.

I'm especially intrigued by the PR stunts and gimmicks used to promote horror movies. The king of these stunts was William Castle. He was responsible for gimmicks like fake skeletons flying over move goers heads, and buzzing the theater seats during the film.

One of the coolest sounding gimmicks ever was for the film The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies. It was shown in glorious "Hallucinogenic Hypnovision." Now prove me wrong, but it sounds so much more fun to see a movie in Hallucinogenic Hypnovision than George Lucas's THX cinema audio system.

Unfortunately I wasn't born in time to experience these wonders.

The last original horror movie gimmick I can think of came from the obscure low-budget 1978 monster movie Slithis (alternate title: Spawn of the Slithis).

As part of a PR tour the Slithis monster made personal appearances at local theaters.

Here's a UPI photo dated 5/5/78 that shows Slithis at the University of Nebraska. The students in this pic don't seem very impressed.


Besides the personal appearances, Slithis's big gimmick was an advertised "Survival Kit" handed out ticket buyers.

This was a "kit" in the very, very loosest of terms. In actuality it was a 4 inch folded card (on rather dainty pink card stock no less). When opened, on the left was an important Slithis survival warning, and then on the right was Slithis fan club info.
To complete my little Slithis Survival Kit presentation, here's a scan of both front and back.
Now if you're very clever you can print out your own survival kits. Just be sure to use pink card stock. I'm not responsible for your Slithis survival safety if you choose a different color.

If I've whetted your appetite for all things Slithis, check this guys site for an extremely long review of the film. Also here's the Slithis TV spot... Slithis... Slithis ... Slithis...