SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO: THE FINAL BATTLE – So Worth The Wait!

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One of my fondest memories as a child of the 70’s was coming home every day after school to watch my favorite cartoon series, STAR BLAZERS. At the time it was being shown on a UHF station so it varied from day-to-day as far as how well I could draw the station in. Regardless, I was there every afternoon at 3 PM to enjoy the exploits of Derek Wildstar, Mark Venture, Nova, IQ-9 and so many other memorable characters. For the time, the animation was a definite step up from what we were seeing on Saturday morning and unlike most cartoons of the day, this series had a well-written, ongoing story. Plus it had a catchy theme song!

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RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES: Definitely worth going “ape” over!

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Yesterday I attended an afternoon showing of the new film RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.  Before the lights dimmed and viewers were reminded to silence their cell phones, I was immediately struck by the diverse audience this film attracted. There appeared to be equal numbers of black, white, young, old, teen couples, and even middle-aged genre fans (wink). Perhaps the finest example of the generational appeal the APES brand carries was illustrated by a man in his sixties assisting an elderly gentlemen to his seat beside me. He apologized as the older man’s cane fell on my feet and I smiled and asked if he was a big fan of the original PLANET OF THE APES. “Oh yes,” he said. “I’ll never forget the day my father took me to see it and now I’m taking him!”

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14 Genre Films Worth Watching Again and Again…

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So we all have our favorite movies and we all have our personal reasons as to why they are our favorites. We all also have movies that we can just watch over and over again, never tiring  of them. That is what this list is all about. What is interesting about this list, is that some of my all time favorite films do not even fall on it. Even though a movie may be a favorite of mine, it doesn’t mean that I can watch it repeatedly and still enjoy it as much as I did the first time I watched…this aspect is actually rare in a film for me. As much as I love DAWN OF THE DEAD (1979), THE FOG (1980), THE THING (1982) and HALLOWEEN (1978), I cannot watch these movies repeatedly and usually limit them to one viewing a year. This list comprises those movies that I watch multiple times a year, sometimes more than once a month…they are THAT good to me! I have listed them in alphabetical order since I do not necessarily prefer one over another.

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ROM Spaceknight: ’80s Comic Book with ’50s Sci-Fi Twist!

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Attending Wizard Con last week prompted me to dig through my old comic collection where I stumbled upon a little known title called “ROM Spaceknight.” When people mention Marvel Comics they will, no doubt, immediately be reminded of “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Uncanny X-Men,” or “The Mighty Avengers” – to name but a few. All of these classic titles have (or soon will see) big screen adaptations and have generated lots of merchandise. Sadly, one of their best characters never will. ROM has the distinction of starting out as a Parker Brothers toy before making his way into the Marvel universe.

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