Happy birthday, Carla Laemmle!

Brett meets Carla Laemmle at Monsterpalooza in May 2009.

October 20, 2009, marks the 100th birthday of film icon Carla Laemmle, who appeared in The Phantom of the Opera (1925!) as the prima ballerina and in the original Dracula as the passenger in the coach who utters the film's first line of dialogue.

We here at Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker (okay, it's just me, but still) would like to wish Ms. Laemmle a very happy 100th birthday ... with many more to come!

Meeting Luciana Paluzzi

Brett meets Luciana Paluzzi in her backyard.

One of the benefits of living in Rancho Mirage is its close proximity to the Los Angeles area. I'm only about two and a half hours away from most locations in the city. It affords me the chance to travel there fairly routinely and do fun things that I wouldn't be able to do in my old stomping grounds, Grand Forks.

One of these fun things was the chance to meet Luciana Paluzzi, the star of the James Bond film Thunderball, the Japanese cult movie The Green Slime, and numerous other titles. When I knew I was going to L.A. to meet a friend (more on that in another blog post), I asked Luciana if I could stop by and have a quick chat. She agreed, and the date was set.

When we met, we sat in her (extremely impressive) backyard. She talked about her career, told some very funny and interesting stories, and was all-around very pleasant to talk to. I really would like to thank Luciana for giving me the opportunity to stop by her home and meet her. It certainly made the trip back to Rancho Mirage much more enjoyable!

ValleyCon 2006

The Doublewood Inn in lovely Fargo, ND. Home of ValleyCon 2006.

During my stay in Grand Forks, I attended a local sci-fi convention called ValleyCon. The con itself was rather small, but it offered a variety of fun activities and featured several special guests. In 2006, G-FAN editor J.D. Lees and I drove down to Fargo (70 miles south of where I lived) to attend our first ValleyCon.

It was a fun event, and I returned the following year. Below are some photos from the con. Since it happened so long ago, I don't have much to say about it, but I thought I'd share these pictures.

J.D. Lees uses my laptop to write something unimportant.

An honest-to-goodness Mothra toy in the dealers room!

Watching a fan film or something. I can't remember, but is it even that important?

J.D. Lees examines a bug that landed on his hand inside the hotel.

There I am, goofing off after hours.

G-FAN #89 review

First of all, I've been neglecting this blog like crazy, and I apologize for that. I've got some good material for blog posts in the near future, but like all good things, it will have to wait.

In the meantime, check out Monsterland Ohio's review of G-FAN #89. As one of the issue's contributors, I certainly appreciate Mark's take.

The review can be found here.

Stan Winston's Godzilla Maquette

I was browsing some old files and remembered that I made this screen grab some time ago. Stan Winston used to host SFX films on AMC circa 2000, and this image was taken during his intro of Gammera the Invincible, as I recall.

Standing right next to Mr. Winston is the maquette his studio created for Jan De Bont's version of Godzilla, which was ultimately abandoned. It's an impressive design, but it will forever remain in the what-if category.

G-FAN #89

The newest issue of G-FAN is back from the printers, and it's just beginning its trek to your mailbox. As you'll see below, it's jam-packed with features, enough to put the reader in a "Neci-Coma"!

Daisuke Ishizuka reports on a giant Gundam display in Odaiba.

Daisuke Ishizuka strikes again with a report on Koichi Kawakita's latest movie that'll have you shouting, "Zoids!"

Kenju Shimomura takes a break from teaching at Oxford University to offer G-FAN readers an in-depth look at the influence Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind had on Japanese cinema.

Doug Finkelstein reports on the Bermuda Depths DVD offered through the Warner Bros. Archive Collection.

Brett Homenick interviews Kazuaki Kiriya, director of Casshern (2004).

Mike Bogue takes a look back at The Cosmic Monsters.

Brett Homenick and totorom interview Toho star Hiroshi Koizumi.

Allen Debus offers a unique take on TriStar's Godzilla (1998).

Lyle Huckins reviews Big Man Japan.

Brett Homenick and totorom interview Goro Mutsumi.

Brett Homenick interviews Godzilla vs. Megalon's Ulf (a.k.a. "Wolf") Otsuki.

Mike Bogue covers The Black Scorpion. (Who let this critter out of its bottle? And where are the other eight?)

Evan Brehany interviews Dana Foreman about his history in Godzilla fandom.

Brett Homenick interviews Peggy Lee Brennan (who played Meia in Message from Space).

Lyle Huckins, Mike Bogue, Mark Matzke, and Stephen Mark Rainey offer their respective reviews of Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit.

Johnny Astchak puts forward a comprehensive report of Godzilla's appearances in magazines and fanzines throughout the decades.

Mark Matzke reviews two recent Ultraman movies.

Mark Matzke follows his Ultraman reviews with a Cloverfield-esque (and fictional) Twitter report of a monster attack.

Jeff Rebner presents his renderings of Gamera's Showa-era foes.

J.D. Lees offers a short report on Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, with information courtesy of director John Fasano. The report includes a photo Fasano took of the Stan Winston Godzilla maquette as it appeared at the auction house.

No G-FEST report this time, but there are several pages with lots of photos from the event.

Mike Bogue reviews The Magic Serpent.

Steve Agin turns in his quarterly toy report.

As an aside, the G-Mail section is probably the longest it's been in a while. In fact, the great Greg Shoemaker is one of the featured letter-writers.

There are even a few odds and ends I left out, so there's even more than I mentioned here. Don't miss out; pick up your copy today!

William O. Douglas on What's My Line?

Here's an interesting video. U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (a Franklin Roosevelt appointee who served on the court from 1939 to 1975) appeared on the game show What's My Line? in 1956. You don't see stuff like this very often, so give it a look.

Justice Douglas was one of the so-called "nine scorpions in a bottle," a phrase commonly attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Justice Holmes would likely be pleased that this phrase has seen renewed popularity in recent years.