Ghosthead launches comic
Posted on July 31, 2007
Troy “Netsolo” Benjamin, head honcho at Ghostbusters HQ, has been working in his basement laboratory to produce a comic - and now that comic’s time has come. Illustrated by fellow HQ barfly, Chris “Spade” Enterline, Still Playing With Comics #1 is currently being solicited in the August Previews Catalog. Run to your local comic shop and bug them about it - if your shop is anything like mine, you’ve probably got until mid-month to get your order in.
Grats Troy - October can’t get here soon enough!
Filed Under MISC, FANS, COMICS | 3 Comments
Mystery prop for sale.
Posted on July 29, 2007
This hardhat, sporting a Ghostbusters decal, has turned up on eBay. The seller says the item was given to them by an ex-Columbia employee, but even they aren’t sure what it was used for. The initial conclusion is that the item is set equipment, only, the item is apparently artificially distressed - this would suggest then that the item might have been a prop… only, no hard hats appear anyplace obvious in the first film (the second film has hard hats, but they don’t have any logos.)
There’s nothing obvious to suggest the seller’s story is false, but it’s hard to gauge the authenticity of the item (and it’s worth.) If you’re reading this before 11AM East coast time, you might still have time to jump into the final bidding.
Filed Under GB, Props | 12 Comments
Smith directs supernatural pilot, Reaper.
Posted on July 28, 2007
Every time a favorite show rides off into the sunset, I think, “Now what the hell am I going to watch?” But then someone decides to make a show I’ve been dying to see for, like, ever - I just didn’t know it. The new kid on that particular block is Reaper, stepping up on September 25th on The CW (which we can actually get in Canada!) Check out the extended trailer for the show pilot (directed by Kevin Smith), and tell me it doesn’t say, “Ghostheads stop here.”
Filed Under MISC, VIDEO, NON-GB | 7 Comments
ExorSystems ™ preview… I don’t have one.
Posted on July 27, 2007
BUT! That’s not to say I’m not enjoying the copy the designers sent me. I’m still in the read-it-over stage, and while I haven’t had a chance to pull a group together to try it out (not a lot of free time these days), the full core rulebook confirms everything I suspected and dug in the free sample guide.
Also, I stumbled upon the DA gallery for the Game’s illustrations. Very cool, particularly the equipment profiles.
Anyone familiar with d20 gaming will have no problem jumping into this, and it looks like a good gateway game for anyone not familiar with the world’s single most prevalent RPG system. Check it out!
Big thanks to Octavirate for letting me get a hands-on look at the full game!
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Ghostbuster song roots found?
Posted on July 26, 2007
Typically when asked to put Ray Parker Jr’s Ghostbusters theme into a genre, people put it in “80s”, “novelty”, or simply Rock. Which are all correct, but in a very general (and slightly derogatory way.) The similarity of the baselines in Ghostbusters and Huey Lewis’ I Want A New Drug was enough to take the matter to court, and inevitably that helped cement Ghostbusters as an 80s rock track.
But what if Ghostbusters had much older, better established roots? What if Huey Lewis had his day in court when in actuality Parker’s inspiration was, at least in part, much older?
Amateur musicologist Dane dropped me a line and a link to a 1969 recording of Save Me, by Ghana musical group, E T Mensah and his Tempos. The similarities in the overall structure of the song, not simply the base (which alternates between eerily Ghostbusters like, and more African) are very striking. Even the lyrical shape is familiar. And as Dane puts it, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to imagine a young Parker (who would formally start his career in music five years after the Save Me recording) having heard the track. And even more likely that he was familiar with the American/African fusion called Highlife (a musical form started in the 20s.)
This isn’t to say Parker Jr. ripped off another track - music is filled with reinterpreting styles that have come before, and it’s easy to hear all the ways Ghostbusters is different. But it puts a little bit of shine back into the world’s most famous movie theme, to think that it was the 80s child of a 60 year-old excuse to get up and boogie.
Have a listen for yourself and tell us what YOU think.
Cheers Dane - good ears!
Filed Under GB, MUSIC | 10 Comments
Relax. You only have 75 more to go.
Posted on July 26, 2007
Seventy-five days until Ghostbusters: The Video Game drops into stores. If you haven’t made note of that yet, you probably should now.
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László Kovács 1933-2007
Posted on July 23, 2007
László Kovács, cinematographer for Ghostbusters (amoung many many other films) died Saturday in Los Angeles at the age of 74.
Kovács lead a very full life, having escaped from Hungary a political refugee (he and a friend had filmed the anti-Communist uprising, which put them in danger) and ultimately becoming one of Hollywood’s most accomplished directors of photography.
Filed Under GB | 3 Comments
Old Entertainment Weekly article on Murray
Posted on July 23, 2007
Someone scanned this 1993 interview with Bill Murray from Entertainment Weekly - this would have been shortly after his success with Groundhog Day. A lot of excellent observations on the actor by his friends, many of whom have had to act as his director. An excellent read, particularly this perfect insight by Harold Ramis.
“Success has, oddly, darkened his life a little bit,” says Ramis of Murray. “Some of the things he was less committed to, have gotten undue praise. So it confuses him in a way. It might make him wonder: If you knew you were going to be successful but unhappy at your work, would you do it?”
Murray also briefly touches on Ghostbusters (he does enjoy the first half of the film the most) and Ghostbusters 2, explaining why he took on the sequel, as someone that doesn’t like sequels, and why ultimately he was unhappy with the results.
Thank to Fome for finding the link.
UK rally Busters raise cash in Crumball 2007
Posted on July 19, 2007
Brothers Richard, Mike and Paul Walsh and their friend Dave Heaton recently participated in the Crumball 2007 rally race, using a used Volvo Estate they decorated up as the Ectomobile. You can read the first part of the story here - the end of the story is that the Ecto-Crum died in Nice, France, on the last day - the car was then sold to a scrapper. The team (#95 - The Ghost Busters) had a great time, raised a lot of money for their chosen charity, and are looking forward to the next rally.
Filed Under FANS, ECTOMOBILE | Leave a Comment
C*H*U*D on Murray in Ghostbusters
Posted on July 18, 2007
Everyone’s favorite Cinematic Happenings Under Development has recently posted a filmtastic ed-op piece on Bill Murray in Ghostbusters.
I don’t think that Ghostbusters would have worked at all without him. I watched the film twice over this past weekend, and both times it was Murray’s presence on the screen that anchored the experience. It really is his vehicle; everyone else plays the straight man, albeit humorously clueless now and then.
