Exotica king Martin Denny dies

Mayor of the "Quiet Village," Denny brought exotic, hi-fi sounds to hip bachelor pads in the 50s and captured new fame in recent years as his music was rediscovered via the lounge revival. He was 94.

From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

Christina Denny, his daughter and primary care-giver, said that her father “passed peacefully at 9 p.m.” and that he had been “ready to go.”

“With the passing of Martin Denny, the world has lost one of its great popular musicians,” said Michael J. Largarticha, Musicians Association of Hawaii president.

“He created a sound that remains unique to this day; an entire genre of music which Martin described as a fusion of Asian, South Pacific, American Jazz, Latin American and Classical.”
Shari Lynn, singer, actress and dancer, as well as music teacher at Hawaii School for Girls at La Pietra, said she was fortunate to have known Denny for more than 20 years.

“He was consistently a gentleman, of course a star but accessible, generous, creative, inspiring — Hawaii’s music monarch,” Lynn said.

Denny and his late wife, June, attended her performances at various hotels over the years and gave her a lot of support, she said. “When someone of that stature gives you thumbs up, you really feel validated.”She said Denny played at La Pietra Feb. 13 at a tsunami fundraiser and at the school’s annual Sunset Jazz fundraiser Nov. 21.

He had been in declining health for the last two years, and had appeared to be near death several times in recent months, but he always dealt stoically with his increasingly limited diet and mobility, and all the related inconveniences.

Denny drew crowds of admirers whenever he appeared and thrilled audiences wherever he performed. One of his final public performances was at Ward Warehouse, where he played a three-song mini-set with bassist Byron Yasui on Jan 21, and as a special guest at the La Pietra fund-raiser Feb. 13. Jimmy Buffett welcomed him as a special guest at a Waikiki Shell concert last year.

Finally! Marvel Legends series 10 and 11 pics

Toybiz has finally coughed up decent-sized images of the upcoming series 10 and 11 Marvel Legends figures, along with a images of its "Legendary Riders" series--figures perched on various modes of transportation.

Series 9 figures all come with a chunk of a big Galactus, which you build yourself.

Ditto series 10, but the chunks this time are a Sentinel.

Series 9

(Not shown: First appearance green Hulk)

Bullseye


Deathlok


Doctor Strange


Grey Hulk


Nightcrawler


Professor X


War Machine


Galactus


Series 10

Angel


Black Panther


Cyclops


First Appearance Spider-Man


Mr. Sinister


Mystique


Omega Red


Sentinel


Legendary Riders

Hulk Buster Iron Man


Logan (Wolverine)


Scarlet Witch


Taskmaster


Ultron


Vengeance


Wonderman (with tiny Yellowjacket)

Pop Artifact! Doctor Who and the Daleks movie poster

Can anyone spare $100,000?

I wanna buy this original page from "Marvel Comics" #1 by Bill Everett.

Pop Artifact! Walking monster toy

There have been many Batman logos over the years...

1940


1941


1942


1965


1969


1970


1971


1986


1987


also 1987


1988


1989


1991


1994


1996


2001


2003


But this one's the best...

1972

"Lost" season one coming to DVD Sept. 6

According to Home Media Retailing, the set will:

feature five hours of bonus material, including the original pilot, behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the show; audio commentaries, a blooper reel, roundtable discussions with cast and crew, and a Matthew Fox photography featurette.

Pop Artifact! Tin Space Patrol toy

Ain't nothin' like the real Thing

Much to every comic book lover's concern, there's a Fantastic Four movie coming out soon.

Concern because we've been down this road many times. We know in some way, big or small, they're gonna screw something up.

Sometimes we luck out and besides a minor tweak or two or some unnecessary Hollywood messing about with the myth, the end result is still a great movie.

Witness the two Spider-Man films. There's some goofy changes--webs shoot right out of Spidey's arms instead of artificial web shooters, girlfriend Mary Jane Watson is placed in hazardous situations faced by a gal named Gwen Stacy in the original comics--but, all-in-all, the film is faithful at least to the spirit of the original.

And Spider-Man (and Superman and, for the main part, Batman) looked right.

Distressingly, that's not the case with the big screen "Fantastic Four." Jessica Alba looks too young and not blonde enough to be the Invisible Girl (it's Invisible Woman in the comic book). The guy playing Reed Richards (a.k.a. Mister Fantastic)? Way, way, way too young. The guy playing Johnny Storm the "Human Torch"? Probably a tad too old and not nearly blonde enough.

And then there's the Thing, real identity Ben Grimm, played by Michael Chiklis. Oh man.

Perhaps Chiklis, who's a fine actor, will be able to embody the spirit of the Thing--a lovable curmudgeon whose literally rough exterior conceals a sensitive, often sad, softie. But the look is all wrong and it's really gonna mess up the movie for those of us who love the character.

This is not the Thing.


The movie Thing looks more like the Jack Kirby Thing from Marvel Comics' "What If?" #11, which imagined what might happen if the team's real-life creative team had super powers.


If the film wanted to be completely accurate, the Thing would be lumpy, cuz that's how Ben Grimm looked immediately after he was transformed from his human appearance.


Later on, the Thing took on his classic look.


When he's done right, he always looks like this. The rocky uni-brow thing? He's gotta have it.


Hell, this Thing looks better than the movie Thing, and it's just some guy at a comic book convention (pictured with Jack Kirby and FF inker Joe Sinnott)


So, one more time: Real Thing