Pariah

The excellent run of independent film pioneer Roger Corman, producer and director of countless movies that were seemingly produced to be "cheap schlock" but often turned out to be so much more, has come to an end after 98 years. Very few "hacks" have had so much impact on the history of film, not only by their own work but by the innumerable people he employed, mentored, and inspired.
 
Jack Nicholson? Corman put him in movies because his father had a stake in his company, then found the light switch and helped him become a real actor, finally giving him his breakthrough role in the counterculture road trip Easy Rider.
 
Vincent Price? Corman took the aging Price and made him a global icon as the lead in numerous films inspired by the stories and poems of Edgar Allen Poe, from the heights of madness (The fall of the House of Usher) to one of the truly sublime fantasy comedies (The Raven) to a tragedy of hubris and hedonism that resonates today more than ever (The Masque of the Red Death).
 
As a producer, he mentored many directors who would go on to do great things. Coppola, Howard, Cameron, Scorsese -- all worked for Corman early in their careers. He was a great judge of talent and found it in the most unlikely of places. He had a genius for bringing things to the theater on time and under budget, and often making them entertaining and even thought-provoking. (Can you imagine a huge controversy brewing over a Direct-to-DVD release with a fading TV star in the lead? Well, a film like that went straight to the drive-ins in 1976, and Corman produced it -- the dark comedy masterpiece Death Race 2000).
 
As he ended his masterpiece comedy -- "Quoth the raven nevermore".

“Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna.”

I just flip the script on people who claim Catholics aren't Christian. I say Catholics are the original Christians, and the all the others are just heretics.
 
Note I don't actually believe that. I'm just trying to get a rise out of them.

“Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna.”

Last night I ate so much fish, I felt ill for a bit. Ironically, I was watching "Airplane!" when it happened.

Looks like you got eaten by a giant space snow cone, bro....
 

Jim Henson may not have invented all of the Muppets, but he sure had a hand in all of them.

I just got back from an hour of watching the aurora. Great view from the bridge to the island where I live, even with the streetlight and house lights. It was right overhead. Still gpoing on when I left.
 
Worth the 59-year wait.
 
Dean Shomshak
 
 

Jim Henson may not have invented all of the Muppets, but he sure had a hand in all of them.

That is STONE cold sir!!!!  

More proof that Rick Bayless is the more talented brother...