Forest from the trees: "Bigfoot" compilation video

For as much as I continue to wonder if mysterious, ape like creatures nicknamed "bigfoot" and "sasquatch" actually exist, another question related to this phenomena often comes to mind: do these creatures, assuming for a moment that they actually exist, refer to humans as "little feet"?

New woes for HealthCare.gov: Wrong tax info sent out to 800,000 Americans

Once again a federal government run operation gets mucked up and 800,000 Americans are affected. Link: Gov't run Healthcare website sends out wrong tax info

The Russians are coming - RED SCORPION(1988)

For all the popularity among action movie fans for Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Scwrzenegger back in the decade of the 1980's I don't see much mention of Dolph Lundgren, an actor(and former martial arts champion in Europe) who gained lasting fame in the 1985 film Rocky IV for beating "Apollo Creed" to death and then basically beating boxing champ "Rocky Balboa" into retirement. Rocky of course won the fight against Lundgren's hulking Russian boxer character "Drago" but took the beating of a lifetime to do it.

Actor Dolph Lundgren again plays a stoic, hulking Russian bad ass in 1988's RED SCORPION - in this action movie Lundgren plays Spetznaz commando "Nikolai", a Lieutenant in the Soviet Union's special forces who is skilled in weapons, hand to hand combat and who also takes a minimalist approach to speaking and overall conversation with those around him.

In Red Scorpion(1988) "Nikolai" is given the task of infiltrating a "rebel" group in Africa and assassinating its leader, all in the name of the Russian "motherland". Nikolai's boss, a Russian general who is clearly in love with himself, misleads "Nikolai" into believing the rebels are a dangerous and formidable force. Nikolai later sees that the rebels are in fact only defending themselves and trying to prevent their own extermination at the hands of the USSR. Nikolai fails to kill the rebel leader, is knocked out and deposited on the side of a road where he's picked up by Cuban and Russian soldiers, berated by his boss and then briefly tortured before escaping into the hot, arid African countryside.

Nikolai befriends a "bushman", is later given a "scorpion" shaped tattoo by the bushman and his people, then returns to the rebels where he switches sides and helps them open up a huge can of whoop ass on the Cuban-Russian military base.

I own the Blu Ray of this film which is directed by Joseph Zito. For those action movie fans who haven't seen this movie I'd definitely recommend it as a Netflix or Redbox rental. Die hard action film fans should buy the Blu Ray which is nicely packaged and includes extras and a DVD of the film as well.


A trailer:


The Synapse Blu Ray/DVD release can be purchased at Amazon: RED SCORPION BLU RAY/DVD release

U.K. scientists believe alien "seed" may have created human life on Earth

An article has been making the rounds on the internet that U.K. scientists have discovered a mysterious, filamentous and spherical object the width of a human hair which may(or may not to be sure) indicate that it's a "seed" of some kind from intelligent alien life designed to propagate across the Earth and eventually result in the creation of human life on our planet.

This alien "seeding" theory of the Earth has been touched on in numerous science fiction films including PROMETHEUS(2012) and MISSION TO MARS(2000). In fact, an older Hammer movie called Quatermass And The Pit(1967 - aka "Five Million Years To Earth") touches on alien tampering with the Earth: in this particular movie insectoid Martian aliens resembling oversized grasshoppers have purportedly performed genetic experiments on Earth primates resulting in, of course humans!

As an agnostic I've not only struggled with the notion of religion and the existence of God but also the question "where do I come from?" Did I evolve from primates through a natural process of evolution? Or something else entirely? 

NBC: all Americans will be implanted with microchips for Obamacare

NBC Claims All Americans Will Be Implanted With Microchips For Obamacare

The Democrats and Democratic political party in the United States is synonymous with big government. In fact the federal government can NEVER be too big, too powerful or too all controlling for Democrats. To Democrat Senators and Congressmen(and Congresswomen) American citizens are not people capable of thinking and providing for themselves: Americans are simply lost sheep who need their control in order to live and make their way through life. In return for this control, Democrats want something back from their growing "flock": VOTES at election time.

For anyone who believes this microchip is for "tracking purposes" only, I have a suggestion for you: pull your head out of the sand!

Evan Brehany's short film "Pay Me Your Attention, Not your Flesh"

Let us prey: The Deadly Mantis (1957)

Recently I've been revisiting the numerous 1950's sci-fi "creature feature" movies. They all generally have at least one thing in common: a giant, irradiated insect, mutation or alien mutation. The Deadly Mantis, directed by Nathan Juran and theatrically released by Universal in 1957, is one of my all time favorites. A long frozen giant mantis is inadvertently thawed out by atomic bomb testing, escapes its icy hibernation and flies away, subsequently beginning an immediate campaign of terror on mankind. A dedicate scientist(played by William Hopper) and an equally dedicated U.S. Air Force officer(played by Craig Stevens) become the movie's heroes and requisite military-scientific "brain trust", tasked with tracking and ultimately stopping the "deadly" giant mantis. The film's conclusion features a downed, gravely injured giant mantis against a group of miltary personnel inside the Washington(DC) tunnel. (no other spoilers)

As much as I hate to admit it, one of my favorite aspects of this movie is the mantis' ability to roar like a dinosaur. The idea of a "roaring" insect is obviously preposterous...but it absolutely works in this fun, entertaining '50s monster flick.



This movie has long been available on VHS. Universal released The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection Vols 1 and 2(sold separately or packaged together) in 2008 to official R1 DVD and this release includes The Deadly Mantis(1957). I own both of these DVD sets which also feature some of Universal's most recognizable and successful sci-fi monster movies from the decade of the 1950's.

 A trailer for this film:



To see the packaged DVD release for sale at Amazon click the link: The Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection on DVD

Checkmate atheists – scientists discover God!

VIDEO: Checkmate Atheists – Scientists Discover God!

I'm still waiting on "God" to tell me whether the NFL's Atlanta Falcons will win a Super Bowl in my lifetime or not. 

 

Fangs a lot: The Spider(1958)

I was watching a documentary the other night about tarantulas and other large arachnids. I've always been fascinated by spiders and also creeped out by them all at once. I'm also a sucker for just about any horror/sci-fi film featuring a giant spider run amok. My favorite giant spider creature feature will always be the 1955, Jack Arnold directed Tarantula. I also like the "other" giant spider schlocker from the 1950's as well despite it's even more scattershot and uneven special effects. I'm referring to THE SPIDER , aka "Earth Vs The Spider" which was written, produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon.

This film is available for viewing on YouTube, Vimeo and even DailyMotion and comes in at 73 minutes for viewing. There's a lot of things that annoy me about this movie: the inconsistent renderings of the giant spiders' size during its forays into the neighboring town and countryside outside its cave abode. I also dislike the almost banshee like wail that the monster spider emits. That said there are some huge positives for me with The Spider, none more so than the performance of Ed Kemmer, the local schoolteacher who is the film's primary protagonist, married family man(and father) and also who lends a helping hand to the town sheriff and his deputies in figuring out how to stop and ultimately destroy the mysterious, menacing giant spider. I also like the spider's main raid on the town and the sequence where it escapes the high school gym after its temporary capture. Some level of suspense is maintained because the initial attempt to kill the enormous spider, while it's still inside its cave lair, fails. The spider is instead captured but escapes a high school gym and crawls around again, understandably scaring the hell out of everyone who is unfortunate enough to see it. (no spoilers on the movie's ending)

The score is actually decent for this movie and there are ample enough scenes of chaos, mayhem and grisly images of the spiders' victims to make this movie a "keeper" for die hard sci-fi and horror movie fans. I remember when I first watched The Spider on television as a kid. It was this movie and others like it that helped kick start my long time interest in horror movies, especially those from the 1950's and 1960's.

A trailer:


THE SPIDER(1958) is available on official DVD. This movie was released as a double feature DVD along with 1958's War Of The Colossal Beast by Lions Gate in 2006. To see this DVD for sale at Amazon click the link: EARTH VS THE SPIDER/WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST double feature DVD

Joint operations: CopperFit products

I rarely endorse any commercial products of any kind but I'm making an exception in this case for CopperFit products, specifically their elbow and knee sleeves. These cloth support sleeves are designed to be worn by athletes and other ordinary folks like me who are active either from their work and/or their exercise routines. CopperFit support sleeves(and their other wearable products), and as the name implies, are made with copper filaments blended into the fabric. These products are machine washable, non-bacterial and are also very affordable.

I'm nearly fifty three years of age and while I'm not ready for the retirement home just yet I am obviously not a young man anymore and with middle age, coupled with my line of work, comes expected joint aches and pains.

I've been a gardener and landscaper for over nineteen years and I've been fortunate to avoid major injuries. That said I suffered a strained right knee and strained patella tendon(a workplace injury) back in 2004. My recovery time was two weeks. Ever since that injury, and usually at least twice per year, my right knee gets stiff, swells and becomes quite painful. I invested in several magnetized, velcro style cloth knee wraps last year and while they seemed to work the real success I believe came when I started wearing a CopperFit knee sleeve on my right knee. I have had no significant pain in my right knee for nine(9) months since I started wearing the CopperFit knee sleeve.

I also have suffered from gout(since 1997) and in recent years have experienced flare ups of gout and bursitis in my right elbow. I bought a CopperFit elbow sleeve in early 2014 and began wearing the sleeve on my right elbow whenever it began to ache. Within two days the pain was gone. These sleeves promote joint "warmth" and the compression afforded by the sleeve to the joint helps with joint stability.

I am not in any way suggesting that these CopperFit sleeves are a cure all. They're not and I would(and do) encourage anyone with lingering and chronic joint pain to consult a physician. My doctor has always encouraged me to try different products for joint ache relief and I've taken his advice.

I do think anyone who suffers from joint aches and pains as a result of bursitis, tendonitis, arthritis and/or gout should consider giving a CopperFit sleeve a try.

Here's a link to CopperFit's main website for access to specifics about their products and product ordering: GetCopperFit.com