"It's OK"

No it's Not OK. It just isn't.

At the dawn of the 2012 presidential election, we have a choice. Not much of a choice, but a choice none-the-less. We've arrived at the choice through apathy, lethargy, and misinformation. Many people simply want to ignore the issues and hope they go away. Everything will work out for itself in the end. It's not MY problem . . . right?

I was just out shopping today. Among other things, I needed some spray paint. A teenager was in the paint aisle, shaking a can. Not an uncommon sight. I've shaken plenty of paint can's in the store myself. You need to make sure the little ball is free, it can't mix if the ball is stuck. You're probably planning to use the can right away, that's why your buying it after all. So, not an uncommon sight at all.

While I'm there, he pops off the cap, and sprays the shelf.

I lost it. There was nothing OK about that. There wasn't even any shame in the act, no attempt to hide it, he did it right there in front of me.

He thought, "this is OK. I'm not doing anything wrong. There are other spots of spray paint all over the shelves. I'm not the only one doing it. I just want to make sure the color is the color it's suppose to be. I don't want to take responsibility for bringing home the wrong color paint, so I'll just deface this shelf." Doesn't matter what went through his head, the fact is, he thought it was OK.

I reacted without even a thought. I was speaking without preamble. The words came out completely un-composed . . . "DUDE! Do you really need the check the color? It's RIGHT there on the cap. That's NOT what the shelf is for." He was clearly shocked. No one had ever said anything like that to him in public before, certainly not a stranger, and probably not even his parents. He gave me a weak giggle, and said quietly ". . . what is it to you?" I was already walking past him, pissed off, and said "Because I used to work at places like this, and I had to put up with that shit all the time," and just kept walking.

I don't know what kind of effect I had on him, or even if I had any at all, but he had an effect on me. He pushed me just that little bit, at just the right moment. I didn't want any confrontation. I wasn't out to get the kid in trouble, but it WAS NOT OK.

If this happened in 1950, the kid would have spent an hour in the managers office, his parents would have been called in, and he probably would have been made to clean up the mess. Instead none of that happened, nor would it. Tomorrow he will tell his friends "Some old guy yelled at me for spraying paint in the store. Lame," and for him, that will be the end of it. But maybe, just maybe, next time he does it, there won't be a next time? Maybe he will think back to that moment realize it does effect other people . . . Maybe?
This is the problem with our country now. Our values, have gone soft. So few are willing to stand up, and say, "THIS IS WRONG." Even when they do, the message is lost, or ignored.

This tiny little act so clearly galvanized my frustrations. Everyone seem's to think "it's OK." Everyone seem's to think that it's someone else's problem. Take that little spot of spray paint on 1 little shelf in a store aisle? What's wrong with that? There were already plenty of other spots there, that kid was just 1 more step in the process, he wasn't the beginning or the end. Just 1 little bit of erosion. Just 1 more chip in the veneer. That first spray made so many months ago, or possibly even just days ago, made it OK for the second spray. And the next 1 was just that much easier, and the next and the next, and so on. At some point, and I do speak from experience here, there's going to be more than just some unsightly spots on a few selves in the paint aisle. At some point someone is going to be very unlucky, and they will have the nozzle pop off, and the can will spray paint everywhere. I KNOW, I've had to be the guy dealing with it, more than once did I find such a can. But even if that never happens, eventually the store will have to replace or at the very least repaint those shelves. That means that some manager had to decide, this has gone far enough, this needs to be replaced. Some employee has to take the time to deal with it. And the shelves will have to be dealt with. Again, from experience, more often than not, they are just thrown away.

Bottom line, ALL of THAT costs money, time and materials, and that makes prices go up.

But it's OK, because it's not YOUR problem is it?

The Creation of the Captain Cosmos Cruiser

 

 

The blue bike in the rough



 

 

In recent years, the Captain Cosmos Cruiser has been one of my favorite projects. Something with a lot of meat to it that I could really dig into, and showcase all my skill's.

 

It started with an idea to promoted, and support an event in downtown Winchester, Kentucky. The event was a days long bicycle race through out central Kentucky called "the Tour of the Red River Gorge." It was promoted as being similar to the "Tour De France." As I recall this would have been July of 2009.



 

 

 

 

The Captain Cosmos Cruiser in the window
of Captain Cosmos Collectibles
 



The group putting on the event went to great lengths

to involve each community along the race route: Closing down street's, getting Police escorts, finding volunteers. A fair number of Cyclists were involved, seem's to me the number was something 800 participants. As part of the Downtown Business Association, I attended the meeting between the promoters and representatives of the City of Winchester, and the downtown businesses. To simply say that this was planned to be a major event would be a disservice. Each of the 800 contestants was expected to have at least 4 people with them as family, or support crew's. So we were already talking about 2500 to 4000 people coming into the city before we even mentioned spectators. Everyone seemed to agree that doubling that number seemed reasonable enough. The projected influx of downtown business was well worth accommodating. To say the least, expectations were high.

 

One of the Lexington Horses



More Lexington Horses on display



Beyond that,

the downtown businesses wanted to show their support of the event in the hopes of grabbing that all important Tourist Dollar. Near by Lexington, Kentucky had recently done their life sized, fiberglass painted horses to draw attention to their downtown with great success. As a public art project the idea has worked quite well in cities across the country. That seemed like a good place to start. But this was tiny little Winchester, they couldn't possibly afford a quantity of fiberglass anything. Luckily the subject was bicycles, and those were easy enough to obtain for anyone. Decision made, each downtown business would find a bicycle and decorated it to welcome "the Tour of the Red River Gorge."

 

The blue bike in the begining

I was pretty excited about the project. I had all kinds of ideas cycling through my head. I really wanted to start with a child's tri-cycle, but it was surprisingly hard to find one in the time we had. If I couldn't go tri-cycle, then I wanted to go as vintage as possible to fit the theme of Captain Cosmos Collectibles. After all there was no reason to pass up a perfectly good advertising opportunity. I happened to have some rather beat up bikes on hand, but none had the sexy vintage curves I was hoping to find. The standard 10 speed design was just too stiff to fit the theme I wanted to go with. As luck would have it, I found the almost perfect blue bike at a garage sale just before I really had to start on the project.

I'm actually rather glad it was "almost" perfect, because the limitations really made me think outside the box, and come up with a much stronger design. The beat up blue bike was a well made 1950's, girls bike. Solid frame, whitewalled balloon tires, smooth curves, just the kind of elements I wanted to play with.

First things first, I completely disassembled the bike. Took it down to the carwash, and got it as clean as I possibly could. The sanded every square inch of it, and took it back to the carwash for another round of cleaning. Next came a nice smooth layer of primer. It was now blank pallet for what ever I could come up with.



Some of the Ray Gun's that inspired me



 

I poured though books and web sites looking for any vintage Science Fiction images I could. I was looking for colors, designs and styles that would lend themselves well to the project. The main issue I had to solve was where exactly could I paint. I wanted some kind of surface beyond the piping of the bike. Some thing to covey an image, and not simply a graphic. Something that would really reflect that 1950's era I was looking for. Sketches followed. Some perhaps a bit too ambitious.

 

 

 

 

 



Close up of the center panel



 Once the basic idea was drawn out, it was time to customize the bike. I had to start with measurements, LOT'S of measurements. I needed to ad the main panel which would change this from a girl's bike to a boy's, and in the process give me that critical surface area to paint on. I considered metal, and plastic, but wood was the best option here. Getting that curve perfect was a must, any gap and the illusion would have been lost. But disguising how the panel was attached, that was the hard part. I think I'll keep that secret for now.

 

The front fender was next. Plastic proved to be the material of choice here. Thin, sturdy, and easily cut. The wings of the ship were made of high density pressboard. The plastic was bolted to the fender.



Since I couldn't disguise the bolts, I made them part of the design which added a nice riveted retro look in the process.



Detail of the front fender rocket ship





The panel mimic's the view from
the ships windows



At this point I still wasn't sure what to put on that center panel. But I had cut windows out of the space ship fender, and bolted panting's of the cockpit inside them. The similar shapes of the window's and the panel gave me an idea. I added fake bolts to the corners of the panels to mimic the real bolt's on the windows then painted the view of each window.

 

Left side of the Captain Cosmos Cruiser

The remainder of the bike was spray painted bright yellow in several light coats. The lightening lots where masked off with tape, and the rest was finished off in red. Everything was assembled and given a final coat of high gloss clear coat. The results speak for themselves.

 

However, the expected fanfare was somewhat of a disappointment. The event this bike was so carefully crafted for was a total bust. The dozens of bikes intended to be on display ended up as a total of 4. One was an un-altered bike that simply hung in a window. Another had a quick spray of silver, and a bouquet of flowers and ribbons in the basket. The final one, put out by the local art guild no less, was just an unpainted kids bike with a selection of art supplies in the basket.

 

. . . and the right side

If support was disappointing, participation was even worse. The bicyclists were due downtown around noon. I waited in my shop expectant of the doves of race fans. The streets were empty of even regular traffic since they where blocked off. Almost no one had shown up to the even. I watched from my counter for the first contestant to pass by my shop. When that happened I went to the door to watch the race. By the time I got to the door the entire race had passed by. I couldn't have seen more than 20 bikes total. In under a minute the racers had traveled the entire length of downtown Winchester, and disappeared into the countryside. Minutes later the streets were open again, and the even planned for months, with high expectations was over in under 20 minutes with out so much as a flag waving fan.

 

 

The bike in the window
 

But at least I got one sweet bike out of it.

 

 

Detail of the logo

A Portfolio of my 2004 BFA show

I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis on Sculpture from

Eastern Kentucky University.

Red Ant
Found Object Assemblage

 





From the beginning this blog was intended to bring all of my interests, and influences together: Pop Culture, History, Science Fiction, Toy's, Collectibles, and perhaps most importantly Art. Specifically my own art. Not only to bring them together, but to show the common threads that bind them together. Essentially to let other people see

what I see.





Extinction Event
Steel, Stone, Plaster



With that being said, today I'd like to walk you through my 2004 BFA Show. The show was exhibited at the Fred P. Giles Gallery on the Eastern Kentucky University campus in May of 2004. The show included 14 of my pieces including 6 sculptures, and 3 paintings. 5 drawings represented the balance of the number. In retrospect, the drawings were perhaps unnecessary. Not that they were of lesser quality, they simply didn't represent a cohesive whole as is the intention of a BFA show. For now I'll be setting the drawings aside, perhaps I'll address them in a later blog entry.

 

 

Bronze Destro

 

 

Much of my work reflects elements of Science Fiction or Pop Culture. I often draw inspiration from the toys, movies, and comic book's I grew up with. Sometimes quite literally, other times obliquely. In my mind there is always a narrative that goes with the piece. I'd like to think that narrative comes across, but the truth of the matter is that art is subjective. Everyone, by necessity, brings their own experiences, and therefore their own interpretations to each piece. If there is a story to be told, it is to be told as much by the audience as it is by the creator. 

 

 

 



Pallet Knife Fight
Painting



 

 

I'll start of with a painting titled "Pallet Knife Fight." It's approximately 30 inches by 36 inches. The specific assignment was to paint an image with shallow depth. Initially the 2 figures stood alone, but illusion of a lack of depth just wasn't there. So I layered in concept drawings and the pencil to create a very specific sense of shallow space.



Rather than framing my paintings, I prefer to paint the edges as part of the image. To me this brings them into the environment, and one step closer to sculpture, rather than separating them as a simple 2 dimensional image.

 



Random Thought
End View

Random Thought
Painting



 

 

 

Next I took the idea of painting as sculpture a step farther with
"Random Thought." This is a stretched canvas painting on a wooden frame, but I completely abandoned the traditional rectangular format. The painting is a hexagonal tube about 3 feet long with a 16 inch diameter. In this case I was less concerned with the subject matter than I was with the experiment in form and placement. The painting is mounted so that the viewer can stand beneath it. It projects straight out of the wall at a height of about 7 feet. The intention was that when one person stood under it, the painting itself would suggest the thought bubble's used in comic books to other members of the audience.

 

 

Floating Shapes
Painting - 4' x 9'

 

Floating Shapes
as it appeared in the Giles Gallery

Floating Shapes
Detail of mounting

My third experiment in this idea of painting as sculpture resulted in my largest painting;
 "Floating Shapes." This is actually 4 paintings mounted together measuring approximately 4 feet by 9 feet. The painting is mounted high, and away from the wall at an angle so that the audience has to look up at it. For the audience the act of having to look up at the piece should be slightly disorienting. The image itself is layer upon layer of random shapes, some solid, some translucent to show shapes behind them. Further more, the separate paintings with space between them, and the wall at a distance behind them creates a different relationship to the environment. It is my hope that the sum total of these elements should suggest a sense of floating for the viewer.

 

Jet Stream
Found Object Assemblage and Stone
 

"Jet Stream" in my mind is a very simple sculpture, but an effective one. In the same way that I was experimenting with making paintings into sculpture, this was an attempt to make sculpture into painting. In this case it's simply the idea that the wavy piece of scrap metal suggests a paint stroke.

This sculpture only uses 3 elements. The "Jet" is a found farm implement, the "Stream" was a long, badly distorted piece of scrap metal, and the "cloud" simply a rock used as a counter balance. The piece has a lot of physical movement. If one simply taps the Jet, the Stream acts as a spring and bobs up and down.

 

 

Rebirth in Stone
Stone and Resin

"Rebirth in Stone" is aptly named because this sculpture started out as a completely different sculpture. I started out with a very large rock that I carved into a fist. Never happy with the fist, I carved it back into a stone. I then sculpted the figure of a man laying in the cavity and cast that in clear resin.

Rebirth in Stone
Detail
 

"Rebirth in Stone" also appeared in a Juried show in April 2003, at the Giles Gallery.

 
 

 



Bronze Destro
33 pounds of hand cast bronze

"Bronze Destro" perhaps represents my most ambitious project.

Bronze Destro
2/3rd's life sized bust

 

 Being an existing character automatically held the details to a higher standard. I didn't just have to get them to look esthetically pleasing, but to look accurate to the character. I took this sculpture through the entire process of bronze casting: clay sculpting, wax casting, pouring the actual bronze, and final clean up and polishing. The final sculpture is approximately 2/3rd's life sized, and
weighs 33 pounds.



Hippo
Found Object Assemblage

"Hippo" is a small but effective piece, about 15 inches long, and 10 inches tall. Hippo is entirely a found object assemblage. The head and body are an old grinder, with hammers as legs, shower head feet, and some gears to complete the neck.

Hippo
Detail

Extinction Event
Right Side Detail

"Extinction Event" was one of my largest sculptures, standing nearly 7 feet tall. The rock base I believe weighed 80 pounds. This was really the only piece I've ever done with a specific political message, and it was born from a mistake. The original intent was to sculpt the bust of an evolved dinosaur. The sculpt was beautiful, and heavily textured. But I made the mistake of experimenting with the mold. I ended up with a 4 piece mold that was twisted and distorted beyond any reasonable use. I decided to take plaster casings off the molds just to see what I'd get.




Extinction Event
7 feet tall, 120 pounds
 



Extinction Event
Detail

              
The result was a dinosaur
 head that appeared to be exploding. That gave me the final idea. I welded a massive 5 foot nail, and mounted the 4 quarters of the bust to that as though it was destroying the unity of the bust. I think the result was visually impressive, and open to many interpretations.







 



Red Ant
3' x 3' x 1 1/2'

Red Ant
Left Side

My professors considered
"Red Ant" to be my most successful piece. It was in the Giles Gallery April 2002 Juried show were it was awarded best in show in the category of sculpture. It measures roughly 3 feet by 3 feet by 11/2 feet, and tips the scales at just over 60 pounds. Nothing here is fabricated, it's all welded, found object assemblage.

Red Ant
Face Detail

Red Ant
Right Side
 

The image itself is that of a giant robotic ant head. I can't say that it's the image I set out to make. Part of the process of assemblage is to gather all the parts you can find and simply see what images are in them. This sculpture probably took me the better part of 2 weeks just laying out all the parts in various combinations to what looked right. Ultimately it came down to the angle of those eyes, and getting the mandibles right. Once I found those elements, the rest was just a matter of filling in the right parts.
 

 

 

Nothing exists in a vacuum.

All that comes before informs all that comes after.

The connections are not always obvious, and rarely direct, but they are there from a certain point of view. By exploring those connections I hope to not only help others discover their own connections, but in turn to better understand my own.

JoeCon . . . IT's PEOPLE!!!!

I admit it, I've kind of dropped the ball on the blog. Moving, and a very full schedule will do that. It's not dead though, it's just not truly started yet. Since I last posted, I've moved to Florida, gone to the G.I. Joe Convention in New Orleans, and I'm now spending time with family. After that, more travel is planned for a while.


In the mean time I've also relocated Captain Cosmos Collectibles. You can now shop with me in Ocala, Florida, at the newly opened Wildwood Antique Mall. Just to clarify, it's NOT the Antique Mall in Wildwood. It's the same company, but they have opened a new location in Ocala. The new mall is located at the shopping center at State Road 200, and 27th street, very easy to find if your in Ocala.


Of course I have to talk about the G.I. Joe Convention. To swipe Dickens, it was the best of con's it was the worst of con's. If you have followed the plight of Master Collector at all this year, you know the company has had a rough time of it: credit card security issues, product delays, a rescheduled convention to coincide with the G.I. Joe movie, then the devastating blow of the movie being pushed back 9 months for 3D conversion. I'm sure I'll talk about that in another blog at some point. But for now we can concentrate on the results of all that: NO money for advertising. In terms of attendance, and dealers, 2012 was on of the smallest International G.I. Joe Conventions in more than a decade. That was fantastic for those did show up, but not so good for the dealers. On the upside, the people that were there tended to be the high rollers, so the dealers were not hurt as bad as they could have been. Sure it would have been nice to supplement those big sales with a lot of little sales, but at least they had the big sales.


The best part of the show was that the lack of walk in traffic really allowed the regulars to mingle. Old friends talked for hours, new friends met, Hasbro had plenty of time to interact with fans. The overall atmosphere was much more laid back and relaxed than the usual hustle and bustle of Joe Con. If there was any doubt before, this show more than any previous one, really nailed down the true reason for a convention . . . People. Sure the toys are nice, the exclusives are great, but it's the people that truly make a convention something special.

Is it really 3D? Avengers and Men In Black 3D

I don't see movies in the theater all that often. Just no time for it. So I'm a little behind on this new wave of 3D. This week I was able to see not 1, but 2 movies on the big screen: Men in Black 3D, and Avengers 3D. Previously I had only seen Tron: Legacy in 3D, and I thought that 3D was subtle, and very well integrated.

Avengers had pretty decent 3D. For the most part it drew you into the story. Though some of the "tricks" were a little annoying. Like looking down at a Helicopter on a airfield with a really close up lamp post floating off in the corner. Just seemed a little cheap to force the issue of 3D. In a lot of scenes I felt like I was watching something closer to a pop-up book. Sort of 2 1/2D. So many moments seemed to be a flat image floating in front of a flat image. For the most part that wasn't too bad, but occasionally, it was something really obvious like the Hulks fists. They sometimes looked like 2 flat pictures of fists floating in front of a flat Hulk, who in turn was in front of a flat city. Really takes you out of the moment.

The final battle had the most jarring moments though. Overall, a phenomenal battle in a phenomenal movie. Those armored space whales were quite impressive. But the aliens on those little air skiff's, those looked like cartoons. They just didn't look the least bit integrated to me at all. Just a CG alien pasted onto a post card of New York City.

Beyond a few missteps with the 3D technology, I have nothing but good things to say about the movie. The plot was solid, the dialog great. Certainly what we have come to expect from someone like Joss Whedon. 3D aside, the special effects were amazing. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier was . . . perfect. So much better than that horrible made for TV Nick Fury movie with Hasselhoff a few years back. Someone really put some thought into this Helicarrier. Side note; now that they have pulled this off, what could possibly stop them from making a live action Robotech movie? Hulk was finally done right. Very realistic. Well as realistic as a completely fabricated, 10 foot tall, green skinned character can be I guess.

Men in Black 3D on the other hand, not so good. The story was good, the acting really well done. Josh Brolin was so good at mimicking Tommy Lee Jones that I serious thought they were dubbing the voice several times. He just had it nailed, even right down to the mannerisms. Will Smith, just as funny as ever. While watching the movie, I never once doubted that Boris the Animal was anyone other than Tim Curry, turns out it was actually Jemaine Clement from "the Flight of the Conchords." Never would have guessed. A fine performance never-the-less.

The 3D was the only real issue I had with the movie. It felt really gimmicky. OK jumping off the Empire State Building is 1 thing, that's fine, I can live with that. But so much of the rest just seemed forced, and more distracting than immersive. The scene in the electronics store, with all the lasers, that bordered on ceasure inducing. It was just insane. There was a moment with a horse . . . was there a horse or am I remembering that wrong? Could it have been a motorcycle? No I'm pretty sure it was a horse. That just goes to show you how much it too me out of the moment. Anyway it's a chase scene, and the they have to turn the horse around. But it doesn't look like a three dimensional living horse turning around. Instead it looks like a paper cut out of a horse turning around. Really odd looking. The rest of the 3D was just really over done. Scenes that didn't need much to enhance them were forced into a disorienting 3D blur. And I do mean blur. The backgrounds at times were almost incomprehensible. I know they were trying to make it seem like a real, tactile, visual experience, but we just don't see the world that way. Yes we tend to focus on the person talking, and the background just sort of blurs out of existence for that moment . . . but not THAT much. It was like the characters were suddenly thrust into an impressionist painting, all color and motion, no substance.

One last thing. I felt like there was a major plot hole in MIB3. Others might not feel the same, but it was just a glaring omission to me. What happened to Agent K the first time he met up with Boris the Animal to make him so cold? And what exactly changed the second time to loosen him up a bit? It's implied that meting the young Agent J as a boy was what softened him up. But it seem's to me that he might have met the boy either way, and it certainly doesn't deplane what happened the first time through.

These Are the Disney Droids your looking for

Not quite ready to go blast on the blog just yet. Still trying to figure things out, and waiting for my schedule to settle down a bit. A major move to another state can really cut into your time. But I did want to start putting a few things on the map, and give a taste of what this blog will be about. Disney theme parks recently unveiled their new Star Wars Build A Droid Astromechs, and I've got to say I'm very excited about them.

At the moment they are only available at Disney MGM's Star Tours store. In the future they might be found at other Disney locations such as Once Upon a Toy Store in Down Town Disney. The plan is that there will eventually be 71 unique Droid parts available so that you can create your own unique Astromech. For those that don't know, R2-D2 is an Astromech Droid. So far only about 2/3rds of the parts have been released, the rest should be out soon. The parts include Disney themed hat's like Mouse ears, the Indiana Jones fedora, and a Yoda hat, all scaled to fit your personalized Droid.

The 71 parts break down to:

25 heads, some of which are brand new designs that have never been released before.
13 bodies
10 of each of the 2 legs
5 of the middle foot
8 different hats


Crunch the numbers on that and you actually get over 1,000,000 possible Droid combinations. That's a whole lot of Droid's to be looking for.

This Blog is under construction.


The 3 posts below are from a blog I started, but abandoned. The site I was using simply didn't fit the format I wanted. I have high hopes for this one one, and a much clearer plan for the future.

If you've just stumbled upon this page, check back soon. At the moment it's mid April, 2012, and I'm about to move. I plan on starting the actual blog around mid July 2012, once I'm settled into the new home.

I'll cover a wide variety of subjects mostly stemming from Science Fiction, toys, and my own art.

And it took 60 years to become a comedy. I recently watched a 1997 DVD of the 1953 science-fiction movie "Project Moonbase" based on a Robert Heinlein story. Yes the same Robert Heinlein that brought us such classics as "Tunnel in the Sky," "The Door into Summer," and "Stranger in a Strange Land." As far as I can tell "Project Moonbase" was written to be a movie, and was never published, at least not in any form I can find record of. I suppose it could be based on one of his early works under a different name?

I have no doubt that this movie was very serious fare at the time. After all we didn't know a whole lot about the dangers of space travel in 1953. They certainly fell short in a few areas . . . most notably in shorts. They actually wore shorts, T-shirts, and a beanie as their flight suit. I think the idea was lower weight meant lower cost. Still, shorts seem a little to casual for space travel don't you think? I always thought of it more as black tie affair myself.

Another strange addition to their wardrobe was the side arm. In the story America was the only country in space at this point. So with no enemies to fight, why did they need to carry a .45? Let's not even bother to address the results of explosive decompression. To make it seem even more out of place, you know the old idea in writing, "never introduce a gun if you don't intend to use it?" Well . . . they never used them. I guess the wardrobe department just assumed every branch of the military would carry a side arm no matter what the setting.

But enough about their fashion choices, let's get into the plot. The movie seemed to start with 1 plot, completely abandon it, and finish up with something totally unrelated. That's pretty hard to do in only 63 minutes. We start out with the machinations of an unnamed evil force in business suits. Though unidentified, this was the 1950's, so like every other movie of the era, they were Commies. The idea was that America had the upper hand by not only being the first in space, but also being the first to establish a space station. Apparently we skipped all the small steps with satellites, and just jumped straight into the deep end with a full blown manned space station. This space station gave the US a jumping off point to further establish the first moonbase. Hmmm . . . You know I bet that's where they get the title from?

Anyway, the bad guys are under orders to take out that station by any means necessary, thereby preventing the establishment of a base on the moon. Problem is that they have no space program of their own to work with. So naturally that means they have to get an agent aboard that station, and they can only do that with a double. The how isn't important, but they succeed in getting a double aboard the next rocket to the station. Though never mentioned, it is a suicide mission. You can't exactly blow up a space station and expect a rescue.

So we now have our crew. It's very progressive for 1953. A woman is in command. Her name is Colonel Briteis, Pronounced "Bright Eyes" . . . are you there with me? As if the name wasn't enough, they further undermine her position by making it clear that as a woman, she's lighter than an average man, and therefore cheaper to send into space. Next we have Major Moore. He was passed over for promotion by Briteis, again, because of her weight. Glad the Military doesn't actually use that as a criteria for promotion. Needless to say, there is some resentment on Moore's part, the 2 butt heads quite a bit. Last but not least . . . no forget that, he is least, we have "Doctor Werner" our evil impostor. Their mission is to orbit the moon, and photograph the dark side to seek out a probable location for a moonbase. They are under strict orders not to land, because they don't have the fuel necessary to take off again. The doubles mission is to take over the ship, and crash it into the space station when they return.

Major Moore quickly figures out that Werner is a fake, and a very brief fight ensues. As a result the rockets are fired wasting precious fuel. Now they can't possibly make the return trip to the station. Briteis makes the snap decision to land on the moon. Now they have a problem, they are on the dark side of the Moon with no hope of rescue or even communication. They are only 10 miles from the light side of the Moon. Their space suits have just enough oxygen for a round trip of that distance. But it takes 2 to set up the communications equipment. They can't leave the saboteur alone on the ship, so Moore asks Werner to help him with the communications equipment. After all, he's literally in the same boat, and it's his only chance of rescue as well. Totally forgetting that he's on a suicide mission as it is, he agree's to help because "if he wasn't forced into it, he wouldn't have done it in the first place." Doesn't work out for him though, because he dies by falling off a rock while setting up the communications equipment.

At this point the whole terrorist plot to stop America's progress into space is done. Never mentioned again.

Now we can focus one real issues; the intersection between the practicalities of space travel, and 1950's sensibilities. The two are not exactly compatible.

Though not exactly pleased with the results, their superiors decide that their ship's landing site is as good a place as any to start a moonbase. So the ship is re-designated as Moonbase 1. Their rescue is next on the list of priorities, but there's no real plan in place for such an operation. The crew is told that they will have to ration their food and oxygen to 10 days . . . Wait? Wasn't this only going to be a 1 or 2 day mission at most? And weight was a big deal. Shouldn't they each have a sack lunch and a cookie for later? Even at just 1 meal a day, why would they have had enough on board for 10 days? Moot point I guess. Soon enough they are able to get a regular supply of cargo pod's, but it's still going to be at least a couple of weeks before they can properly be rescued.

That's where the real problem comes up, and we finally get to the point of the movie. Their commanding officer back on earth has a private conversation with Major Moore. Or at least as private a conversation as they can have on a 2 room space ship. This is where things take a real 1950's turn. Remember what the bedroom looked like in every 1950's TV show? Even as a happily married couple Ricky and Lucy NEVER shared a bed. They always had their own single beds with a nightstand between them . . . Always! So how would the American public react to a young man and woman being cooped up all alone on a space ship for several weeks. Oh that just won't do. That won't do at all. Those two have to be married. They simply HAVE to be.

So it's decided, Major Moore [who of course really likes the Colonel anyway, despite all his posturing] should ask Briteis to marry him. She over hears the conversation of course. When the Major can't work up the nerve to do it himself, she takes matters into her own hands, and has her own private conversation with the general. We don't get to find out exactly what was said, or even who asked who, but the 2 are married by way of video screen shortly thereafter.

As something of a honeymoon gift, they are given new official orders, and addressed directly by the President of the United States, who, shockingly is a woman. Again, very progressive for 1953. Though I should mention, not that it makes much difference, the movie is set in the far flung future of 1970. They are congratulated, and officially separated from the command of the space station. Major Moore is placed in command of the new and future moonbase with a promotion to, get this . . . Brigadier General. Nothing like an accidental Moon landing, and a sham marriage to skip over a few rungs of that corporate ladder.

As I said above, this was probably a very serious subject in 1953. I'm sure the very idea of an unmarried man and woman in a space ship together for anything more than a few days was pure scandal. But 60 years later, it's down right comical. I had a seriously good laugh at this film.

A comparison of the book "I Am Legend," and it's first adaptation "The Last Man on Earth."

"I Am Legend has been presented in several forms over the years. The novel by Richard Matheson was published in 1954. Since then it's had 3 official movie adaptations: "The Last Man on Earth" staring Vincent Price, 1964; "The Omega Man" staring Charlton Heston in 1971; and finally Will Smith's 2007 "I Am Legend." When I first heard about the 2007 movie, I remembered that it was one of my father's favorite books. So I decided I'd have to read the book before I saw the movie. Then I decided, I'd have to see the other movies.

I have nothing against the 2007 movie on it's own merits. It's a decent enough movie in it's own right. Certainly better movies have been made, so have much worse movies. It is what it set out to be, a popcorn action movie, and there is nothing wrong with that. For the most part it sticks pretty close to the original source material. obviously something's had to change. You simply can't adapt a 1954 book, and set it in 2012 without addressing things like cell phones, and the Internet. So that sort of thing can be forgiven.

However, the 2007 version does fall short as an adaptation, because it completely-misses-the-point-of-the-book. The book, on the simplest level was about role reversal. Our "hero," Robert Neville is actually the monster in the end. He dies the same way Frankenstein would, at the end of pitchforks, and fire. Just as one man's rebel is another's revolutionary so to can the hero become the monster with a simple change of perspective. There is no happy ending for Neville. For better or worse society has changed around him. When being a zombie becomes the norm, those hanging on to their humanity become the outcast.

This is where "The Last Man on Earth" succeeds where the 2007 "I Am Legend" fails. It doesn't forget the point of the book. In fact despite being greatly abbreviated in some areas, it sticks fairly close to the novel. 86 minutes just can't cover everything in a 160 page book.
The 1964 adaptation only really deviated on 1 point as far as I can recall. In the book there were the living infected, and the resurrected dead infected. They were all more or less zombies / vampires, but the living were able to function better than the dead for obvious reasons. They were able to work cooperatively and form rudimentary communities. This slightly more organized living group send's one of their least infected girls to spy on Robert Neville [or Robert Morgan in the movie], gain his trust, then unlock his door from the inside so they can get him. They hate and fear him because he spends his days finding and killing their people.

That's basically how it played out in the movie. But instead of there being living and dead infected . . . well I guess I should qualify that. There were different levels of infection, they just didn't really qualify what made them different in the movie Though in a flashback Robert's wife had died and came back, but the origin of other zombies was never made as clear. It's mentioned, but never really clarified, it simply appears that there are more, and less infected zombies. The "less" infected were able to develop a pseudo-cure. They were still infected, but they were able to get by much easier. Sort of like chemotherapy. Your not being killed by the cancer anymore, but your not much better off either. The main point being that there was now a wider gap between the more infected, and the less infected.

As a result of the pseudo-cure, our hero was able to develop a real cure. So he cures the girl, but it's too late. The zombies are able to get in, and kill him before they find out he has a real cure. They still consider him a monster, but the fact that he had a cure provides a mirror for them, making them monsters again.
Other than that, it was very close to the book. It even had the sad part with the dog, another point the 2007 movie took great liberties with. But it wasn't nearly as sad as it was in the book. Honestly the chapter with the dog is one of the saddest things I've ever read. If you can't make it through Bambi, don't even consider reading the book. The whole chapter only took about 4 minutes in the movie. He see's the dog, it run's. He searches, and can't find it. The next day the dog comes back. He cleans it up, bandages it's wounds, and talks with it for a while. Then realizes it is infected. Cut to the next day and he's burying a blanket covered dog with a spike through it. In the book it was not clear if the dog was infected or not, but died as a result of it's injuries regardless. In other words, he didn't kill the dog himself. Yes it's sad that he's forced to kill the dog in the movie, but it's downright heart wrenching in the book when the dog dies despite his best efforts.

All things considered, especially the amount of time they had to tell the story, "Last Man on Earth" is a very good adaptation of the book "I Am Legend. Now I just need to track down a copy of "The Omega Man."

It Begins

Thu, 14th October, 2010

 

. . And so I shall blog. This might be deleted before our "grand opening" but I have to start somewhere, so I'll start here. At this stage our site is just barely under construction. I know what I need it to do in the end, but really have no clue how to get it there. Web sites just are not in my skill set. Once it is there we still have the problem of driving traffic to the site. How exactly do we get the word out about "Captain Cosmos Collectibles." There seems to be this myth that merely having a web-site will bring you success. Well I can certainly attest to the falsehood of that idea. No a web-site alone will not bring success. Nor will advertising, or the right product, or the ever so helpful location, location, location. All those things help, but don't do much good without the others.

The Internet almost negates the need for location. Now our store is right there in your home, or on the train, in your office, or even in your car. Though I beg you, please don't shop with us while your driving, that's not a good idea. We have what at one time would have been a fantastic location. We're downtown. Before the urban landscape changed with mall's, and Big Box stores, and bypasses, downtown was were the action was. There are photo's of regular days for downtown Winchester spanning decades, everyone of them shows a crowd of thousands. Every parking spot full, every shop teaming with customers, the sidewalks overflowing with life. Those days are gone. At least they are gone in small town America. Larger cities might not feel the same impact, Lexington, Kentucky, our closest, and largest neighbor has a thriving downtown. Perhaps not as thriving as it was in the 1950's, but business is good there. Here in downtown Winchester, Kentucky, just a half hours drive from downtown Lexington, things are more of a struggle. Businesses here worry about being open next month. Businesses here have to choose between the phone bill, or new stock.

Why?

Why has the traditional downtown been so thoroughly forgotten? Downtown's offer things that the Big Box stores just can't. First on that list is the personal touch. Most downtown businesses are family owned, and operated. They will get to know you over time. They will get to know what you need. Can the same be said at the Big Box where the check out girl rings up 2000 faces in a shift? Just yesterday I was talking with the owner of another business just down the street. Downtown Winchester recently did a promotion involving international flags, so a lot of businesses were suddenly in need of a flag pole. Well she got her's right across the street at the downtown hardware store, Bridges and Lane. Did it cost a little more than the Big Box stores? Yes, but the Big Box store's would never have installed it for free, or taken the time to make sure it worked for her. That's the sort of thing you get downtown.