The Blob (1958)

Every so often I wonder about the creative process that goes into a movie. Monster movies in particular can raise some interesting questions. In the case of the 1958 film The Blob (which would later gain a sequel — 1972′s Beware! The Blob — and a remake in 1988), I can speculate, though of course my speculation is only wild guessing. I wonder, though, if maybe it was an attempt to have a monster movie where the monster really and truly was inhuman. After all, many of the classic monsters are really human in one way or another. Vampires? Humans with pointy teeth and bad complexions. The Wolf Man? It’s right there in his name. Wolf Man. (And “were” is just an old word for man, so “werewolf” doesn’t change this.) All sorts of creatures, whether from the black lagoon or from beyond the stars, are just humanoid figures. Godzilla came out a few years prior to The Blob, but even the big lizard is just a man in a rubber suit. What does a monster movie look like if the monster is as inhuman as possible?

I don’t know if The Blob was created as an answer to such a question. But I do know it serves very well as an answer.

Rock Liebster

So there’s this meme going around called the “Liebster Award”; it’s basically a way to pass around questions and draw attention to other blogs. I’ve been tagged by three people (that I know of; if I’ve missed one, sorry!), so I figured I’d knock out a post to answer the questions. There are a few rules associated with it, but a: I’m not always good about following rules, and b: most of the rules relate to passing the award on. While there are many bloggers who I think are worthy of a spotlight — if I’m following you, and/or if I’ve featured you in my Weekly Weblinks, you’re almost certainly one of them — I suspect that anybody I could tag either doesn’t want to do it or has been tagged three or four times already. So like a few others I’ve seen, I won’t be passing it along — but if by chance you haven’t been tagged and want to have been, consider yourself tagged and steal 11 questions from the people who asked me questions. I’m sure they won’t mind.

The other rules are that I have to post eleven things about myself, and answer 11 questions from the people who tagged me. Since three people tagged me, that’s 33 questions. Plus 5 more from a fellow rule-breaker. So here we go.

Weekly Weblinks: Bats and Bullets

Late last night, The Dark Knight Rises was finally released to theatres. Now, maybe you’re just waking up after spending a night watching Batman battling Bane, or perhaps you’re still waiting for your chance to get down there (like me). Either way, I’ve got your dose of the Weekly Weblinks to tide you over today.

On the blogging side of things, you might expect there to be a fair amount of Batman posts — and you’d be right. But there are also some classic movie reviews and an homage to great movie openings. In the news, there’s yet more rumor-mongering about superhero cinema, as well as a perhaps-unexpected Pixar sequel. So read on to see what’s happening!