Ricky Sprague's Blog, page 12

The Hands of Orlac, "Orlacs Hände", and "Mad Love"

Back when I was in 7th or 8th grade, I discovered the film "Mad Love," with the great Peter Lorre as the insane and pathetic Dr. Gogol, a surgeon so obsessed with the wife of a great pianist that he attempted to convince said pianist that the killer's hands he'd surgically grafted onto his arms had a mind of their own, and were responsible for some grisly murders in Paris.



It's a hilarious,

Passive aggression in the comics: Spectre Vs. Batman

Here, from the recently published Showcase Presents: The Spectre collection, is a wonderful panel (originally published in The Brave and the Bold #75, cover dated January 1968) in which the ghostly superhero The Spectre really lets Batman have it for mucking up his wonderful astralplan:



It's disconcerting to see Spectre talking like my mother.

"Burning Love": I miss VH1's Celebreality

Yahoo is apparently doing "original" comedy videos now, or something. This morning on their main page they linked to a new series -- with new episodes Mondays and Thursdays! -- called "Burning Love." Here is the screenshot:



Even yahoo's description ("the hot one, the psycho, the cougar...") feels like the resigned mumblings of someone who's seen it all before, many times. And we have. "

Comic: The Time Machine 2012

This bit of hilarity originally appeared over at the very nice website Fickle Pants.

Mealtime Memories of Mother

Mealtime was always an important time in our family. It was when we ate our food. And food is necessary for survival. No one understood this better than my mother, and on this Mother's Day I thought it would be nice to recall some of my favorite mealtime memories.

Taco Bell: When I was a kid, Taco Bell was always our favorite place to eat. My menu items of choice were always a Tostada and a Bowl

Fickle Pants post: Your guide to the super characters in the upcoming Avengers film

Apparently I'm pretty excited about that new Avengers movie thing, since I've had two different Avengers related posts on two different websites in two days. This one over at the lovely Fickle Pants site is a special guide to the different characters you'll encounter when you go to see the Avengers film -- it's written for the non-fanboy; the layperson who doesn't know anything about anything,

RTB: RottenTomatoBot takes on the critics who were not sufficiently enthusiastic about the new Avengers movie.

Over at When Falls the Coliseum, I posted a piece in which the RottenTomatoBot defends the Avengers against critics who did not show sufficient enthusiasm about what is the greatest film of all time, probably.

A bit:

This Friday, the dreams of every single diehard comic book fan who has ever lived will finally come to fruition, when a little movie called THE AVENGERS opens in the United

Fifty Shades of Grey parody ebook: Filthy Shames of Lame

I actually greatly admire the author E L James, whose Fifty Shades of Grey has become a runaway bestseller. It was apparently originally conceived and posted online as Twilight fan fiction, but got such  following that she pulled it, rewrote it, and started selling it through a small web publisher. She's sold the rights to a major movie studio, so, yeah, she's doing all right.

She skipped

Hollywood does not reward creativity: The Romantic Reformer

I don't know if you've noticed or not, but there isn't much unique on television right now. Everything is either a re-hash or a re-boot or a re-imagining, or an "Americanized" version of a show from some foreign country. And if shows aren't remakes or reboots or imports, they're about affluent people who work in television and are completely mystified by their own babies, or they're about

Alan Moore is right about "Before Watchmen" -- New When Falls the Coliseum post

Over at When Falls the Coliseum, I have posted a long essay about the new "Before Watchmen" miniseries that DC is publishing this summer. Here is a sample:

I. Look on the Watchmen, Ye Mighty

Back in February 2012, DC Comics officially announced that they would begin publishing seven miniseries based on characters and situations from what many people consider to be the greatest superhero graphic