text:
We'll they've put together an homage to the along with one of their songs [...]]]>
We'll they've put together an homage to the along with one of their songs which I thought was really cool. So, thanks for dropping me a line and Long live "Things"!
(NOTE: If for some reason the YouTube embedding is not working, you can watch the video directly here)]]>
Kaiju madness returns to The Monster Shack as Guest Foreign Correspondent Sean Ledden reports from Brooklyn, where the strangely sympathetic progeny of a creepy Asian dictator gets a public showing….
Thanks to Sean for taking another one for the Monster Shack team!]]>
Kaiju madness returns to The Monster Shack as Guest Foreign Correspondent Sean Ledden reports from Brooklyn, where the strangely sympathetic progeny of a creepy Asian dictator gets a public showing….
Thanks to Sean for taking another one for the Monster Shack team!]]>
Written by Kim Se Ryun
Directed by Shin Sang-ok
Produced by Kim Jong-il
Run Time: 76 minutes
I recently plucked up my courage, gathered my travel papers, and left Manhattan for Brooklyn, located on fabled Long Island, which lies just off America's [...]]]>
Written by Kim Se Ryun
Directed by Shin Sang-ok
Produced by Kim Jong-il
Run Time: 76 minutes
I recently plucked up my courage, gathered my travel papers, and left Manhattan for Brooklyn, located on fabled Long Island, which lies just off America's east coast. The occasion was a rare public showing of Pulgasari , North Korea's answer to Godzilla and King Kong. For this treat we have the scrappy and eclectic Spectacle Theater to thank. Created and staffed by a collective of shaggy and/or cute volunteers, Spectacle is an adventuresome little art house with programming that is all over the map: from old to new, domestic to foreign, high to low, mild to wild, you name it. If you're ever in or near Brooklyn, I recommend you check out their web site for screenings.
Spectacle Theater, where you never know what might be showing. Enter at your own risk!
The Movie
Pulgasari begins with an oddly sweet, rather downbeat tune played out on what sounds like a synthesizer keyboard. Imagine if an episode of Leonard Nimoy's old series, In Search Of, went looking for Depressing Asian Melodrama, and you'll get the picture. The mood continues as the credits end and we see a Korean village from about 500 years ago. Ami, a pretty peasant girl struggles to bring water up from a well. As she pauses to mop her sweaty brow, several nearby blacksmiths grunt as they laboriously hammer out farm implements. The work halts for a brief rest, but soon head blacksmith Takuse is accusing his nephew Inde of being a bandit leader. Inde admits to this in a shamefaced manner, yet it's only a desperate attempt to escape the bone-crushing poverty of the village. But if he's up in the mountains robbing travelers, that means he can't marry Ami. "What a horrible world." Laments Takuse.
Inde and Ami, our ill starred, would be lovers.
I should warn you that we are now seeing the "good old days," before everything goes to hell in a hand basket. Which it does very quickly, even before Inde and his band of reluctant thugs can leave the village. For who should arrive, but the local governor. Worried that the plague of local bandits is now targeting government supplies, he orders Takuse to forge weapons for his troops. That might seem to be a plumb government contract, but the iron for the weapons is to come from tools confiscated from farmers already hungry after a bad harvest. Takuse is aghast, but the governor, a real fat head, serenely laughs that a stable country is essential for farming. So up march the soldiers to pillage every last scrap of iron from the desperate, pleading villagers. (I imagine this is what Fox News viewers fear would happen if the Democrats managed to pass an Infrastructure Investment Package.)
Taxation without representation. (Sorry for the quality of the screen shots. I lifted them off of YouTube.)
And they don't stop with the iron, they begin seizing the young men too, because somehow they've become convinced they are bandits. They are, but how did they know? The evil government soldiers really get into their work, which includes beating old ladies and running over women with their ox carts. Inde and his crew put up a fight, but they are soon overwhelmed and dragged off to prison. Cue wailing and sobbing from the villagers. And things get worse, of course, for Takuse decides to return all the iron tools to the people. So he's arrested and tortured by Governor Fat Head.
During the torture session Takuse tries to placate the governor with a cockamamie tale about "Pulgasari" taking all the iron. But Governor Fat Head doesn't even form an investigative committee to check this claim out, he merely has Takuse beaten some more, before he too is thrown into prison. Cue wailing and sobbing. With no food or drink, either! Cue more wailing and sobbing.
Loyal daughter Ami tries to smuggle something into his cell, but she is prevented by the guards. Cue wailing and sobbing. And more beating from the guards. Hearing the wailing and sobbing from his jail cell, the valiant Takuse begs his daughter to return home. At the sound of his voice, she and her little brother throw handfuls of cooked rice in through the bars of his cell, wailing and sobbing as they do so.
But Takuse cannot bring himself to eat the rice. Rather, he starts mysteriously molding it with his hands. That night, in despair, he finishes his little rice sculpture. Holding it up to the light of the moon, he sobs out a prayer to the gods to save his village from starvation and oppression. And then he dies. Cue wailing and sobbing from Inde and the other prisoners.
Takuse's moonlit prayer.
We are then treated to Takuse's funeral. Cue wailing and sobbing from Ami and the villagers. But it is here that Ami discovers the little Pulgasari figure in Takuse's hand, and takes it back to the dingy hovel she calls home. Depressed, she listens to her brother Ana sob in his bed. But she's got spunk, and so she distracts herself by mending his dirty, threadbare shirt. Pricking herself with the needle, a drop of her blood falls on the little Pulgasari – and it comes to life!
This is good news, because we finally get a bit of light-hearted comedy as the adorable little squeaking fellow lurches around the sewing kit. Ami notices him when he starts munching down on her other needles. Startled at first, Ami and Ana soon adjust as they realize Pulgasari is a final gift from their father. Vowing to be the little fellow's caretakers, they laugh at how cute he is.
He's as cute as a button!
This brief interlude comes to an end when Inde's mother comes, wailing and sobbing, with the news that her son has been condemned to death by Governor Fat Head. We cut to the execution, complete with nasty soldiers, and yes, more wailing and sobbing. The wicked executioner, who laughs like Snidely Wipelash, is about to bring the sword down on Inde's neck when – up pops Pulgasari to take a bite out of the weapon! He's bigger now, after a full night of gorging on farm tools, about the size of a teddy bear. But he's tough too. When the wicked executioner strikes him with what's left of his sword, it breaks. In the ensuing mayhem Inde escapes.
Pulgasari next shows up at the mansion of governor Fat Head himself. Now about 4 feet tall he inspires fear in the hearts of the callous and cowardly guards, who freak out when swords and spears fail to even dent Pulgasari's hide. Back at the village consternation reigns, as Ami's neighbors fear the strange beast will eat all of their tools and cookware. But Ami and Ana are convinced Pulgasari will save the village from the government, and they go looking for him. They find him bathing in a nearby river and have a brief reunion. But Pulgasari, probably still smarting from being hit by the soldiers, just grabs some iron rakes, and marches off into the woods.
Back at the government compound it's Inde's mother's turn to be tortured, accompanied by the wailing and sobbing of her younger son. When she refuses to tell them where Inde is, Governor Fat Heat shouts, "Stubborn fool. Hit her harder!" –
They do, but to no avail. So Governor Fat Heads starts in on Number Two Son. If he doesn't betray his brother, his mother will be killed.
"I will!" sobs the boy.
"You can't!" wails his mother.
"You must!" barks Governor Fat Head.
Enhanced interrogation techniques of Old Korea
Where is Inde? Up in the mountains, training with the bandits, who have now become freedom fighters. Up rushes Ami. Sobbing, she tells Inde that his mother and brother are prisoners of governor Fat Head. Inde stages a daring raid, but too late, for both prisoners are dead. Enraged, he orders his comrades-in-arms to attack the governor's mansion. We get some Hong Kong style sword play as the attack succeeds, and Inde even gets to kill the governor himself! (When he dies, Fat Head drops a box full of money, which spills artistically, and symbolically, down over a stone stairway.)
The victory brings Inde & Co. to the attention of the king, enthroned in his Chinese-style capital city. Enraged by this breach of the peace, King Fat Head demands a general who can deal with the menace. Thus prompted, an obsequious courtier informs the king that General Fuan is competent. – Interesting that the king doesn't know who the competent military commanders are.
Informed lackeys – no fat headed king can do without them!
And so the competent General Fuan, after much flowery language at court, rides off to eradicate the menace. There is a great deal of military backing and forthing, forced marches accompanied by synthesizer music, and my favorite bit, a horrible attack by Styrofoam boulder! Finally, General Competent decides he must starve the peasants out, and he blockades their mountain stronghold. This leads to the arresting site of an actual horse carcass being butchered by hand. FYI, in case you want to skip this section. Ami, for her part, is stripping bark off a tree so she'll have something to boil into a thin soup. Yum! Later she tries to slip through the blockade, but the general's soldiers catch her. They are about to kill her when who should appear, but Pulgasari! Now the size of a man, and with large horns on his head, he has no trouble scaring off the dastardly soldiers. And being a gentleman, he escorts her back to the rebel camp.
Pulgasari's escort service.
Once there Ami convinces Inde to enlist Pulgasari, and this leads to one of the movie's most charmingly surreal scenes as the man-sized ox monster leads the rebel army to victory! Delighted, they feed him the captured weapons of the enemy and the next thing you know, he's 4 stories tall. So you can understand that General Competent now has a major headache. "How is one to dispose of it?" he grimaces. Fortunately, one of his aids has an amazingly complete knowledge of how Pulgasari was made, from old Takuse's rice sculpture to Ami's blood. "If we catch Ami, it will do what we wish. HE HE HE HE HE!" To which General Competent replies, "HA HA HA HA HA!"
Before, and after.
The rebels are also in a good mood, and celebrating with a lion dance, drummers, acrobats, and dear Lord, more butchered farm animals! (I'm afraid I have the dainty sensibilities of a Western city-dweller on this one.) But Ami wonders off about 20 feet away from the celebrating crowds, and manages to get kidnapped by sneaky government goons. Isn't that just like a girl!
So off goes the entire rebel army, and Pulgasari, to confront the nefarious General Competent. Boastful and insulting, he demands that Pulgasari enter a giant wooden cage, or else he will have Ami's head chopped off. Pulgasari is, of course, offended and indignant, but what can he do? He enters the cage, which is a fiendish trap that soon becomes a blazing inferno as the logs that surround it are set ablaze by the heartless soldiers of the nefarious general. Cue wailing and sobbing from the rebel army. Ana breaks down. Again. Poor kid.
Who's calling whom pompous!? (Grrrrrr)
And poor Pulgasari. Bellowing in pain he disappears behind a wall of flame. General Competent and his foul minions laugh heartily as the cage crashes down into the fire, and they congratulate themselves on a job well done. But too soon – for up springs Pulgasari, like a phoenix, in an explosive comeback from defeat! Only now he's hot. Red hot! And when he plunges into a nearby river, government forces trying to flee in small boats get washed overboard and boiled alive. Yeah! (Sorry.)
Discovering a cooler, but still recovering Pulgasari in a nearby ravine, Ami and Ana (the brother) thank the mighty iron ox-man monster for saving the rebel forces. They then ask him, tenderly, if he can continue to fight against the government for them. So Pulgasari pulls it together, and gets back up on his feet, ready to take the fight to King Fat Head. And you know, this scene transcends its basic goofiness to become genuinely affecting. Well played Ami, Ana, and Pulgasari!
But General Competent has not yet been defeated, and he has several dirty rotten tricks yet to play, as well as scads of surviving forces. I won't go into all the details here, but I will mention a couple of scenes where large burning balls of, something, are tossed into the hordes of extras playing the rebel army. Butchered animals and scorched actors – this movie has everything! And when Pulgasari & Co. reach the General's HQ we get our first taste of kaiju-style destruction. Two thumbs up!
Take that General Competent!
But still, alas, the general himself has yet to be taken out. And it dawns on him and his advisors that military action isn't doing the trick, so they try something interesting. Operating on the theory that Takuse's angry spirit is the engine behind Pulgasari's rampage, they hire a shamaness to perform an exorcism. She's quite a gal, and she gives it her all. So impressive, and crazed looking is her performance that I have no doubt she could clear out a large section of Times Square. (That's a compliment, btw.) She succeeds! This is a testament to her skill, and to the power of inductive reasoning. (Remember the theory!)
Without their champion, the rebel forces are defeated in battle, and Inde is captured. Once again he is on the brink of being executed. Cue wailing and sobbing from his fellow prisoners. But as the rope is slipped around his neck he tells them to buck up, and gives a rousing speech predicting the king's eventual defeat. And then – they execute him. Wow. This movie doesn't pull many punches.
Soon Ami and Ana learn of this tragic event, and Ana breaks down. Again. Poor kid. Ami is more stoic, but tears slid down her cheeks as she stares off into the middle distance. Then she rallies, and goes out to save the day!
A novel attitude for this movie!
Infiltrating the drunken victory party disguised as General Competent's favorite whore (!), she soon makes it out to the big pile of rocks under which the immobilized Pulgasari has been buried. When guards threaten to capture her she pulls out a knife and cuts her own arm so that her blood flows down beneath the rocks. Mysterious booming noises and bright flashes of light ring out into the night, and then up springs a revitalized Pulgasari!
A dismayed General Competent flees to the capital to report to King Fat Head that the rebel army, along with Pulgasari, will arrive at any minute. King Fat Head really chews the scenery as he expresses his woe at this news. "OH OH OH! This is the end! What should we dooooo?" Very entertaining. Then he falls back on his standard management technique – he asks the crowd for a lackey with the skill to save his bacon. This time it's General Competent who answers, which is kind of weird. But evidently he knows of "a worker of good repute" who is in the process of creating "the greatest weapon in all history." Wow.
I'd like to pause the review a minute to ponder a king who doesn't know that the "greatest weapon in all history" is currently under construction in his capital. – And by the way, where is that "worker of good repute" getting his funding? I'd also like to know what a free-lance armorer, seemingly unconnected to the current regime, is planning to do with this weapon once it is completed. – So many questions! None of which seem to enter the mind of King Fat Head. His tragic face of woe transforms into a winning smile. "HA HA HA! Tell them to hurry and make that weapon," he orders. Indeed.
King Fat Head gets his groove back.
So it's off to the walls of the city to watch a practice shot of the new super weapon, which is actually several pair of giant cannons. Watching them blow up a mountain meadow, King Fat Head exults, "My life is saved!" Jerk. But right on cue, here comes Pulgasari, larger than ever, and the angry hordes of the Great Unwashed. As they attempt to storm the walls of the city we get something that looks like a Korean War And Peace , with hundreds of soldiers charging through heavy artillery fire. Through all the mayhem General Competent keeps his eye on the ball, and orders the cannoneers to concentrate their fire on Pulgasari. Happily, the super weapons are no more effective than the earlier attempts to stop him. In fact, he ends up spitting back the explosive shells! Kaboing!
The end comes quickly for our bad guys once Pulgasari breaches the city walls, thus letting the angry peasant army surge in. General Competent fights bravely until he is struck down, but the rest, including King Fat Head shriek and run. But even the huge and magnificent palace cannot protect him from the wrath of Pulgasari. Wimpering and begging for mercy, he tries to hide in a curtain after Pulgasari brings down a wall (very neat!) and enters the enormous throne room. Pulgasari then steps on the curtain. Oops.
Pulgasari plays the palace. Rim shot. (Old vaudeville reference.)
You might think that's the end, and indeed, a big celebration is staged by the triumphant peasants, but Ami is looking thoughtful. For she can see trouble ahead. Indeed, the king is dead, but Pulgasari still needs to eat iron. The grateful peasants bring what they can, but Ami and Ana are the first to see that it can't go on forever. In fact, Ami worries that once Korea's iron runs out, Pulgasari's tremendous appetite will inspire invasions of the neighboring kingdoms. That could lead to the whole world being at war, and to the end of mankind! Emotionally torn, she concludes, "That would not be good."
Ami and Ana on the horns of a dilemma, to to speak.
So that night she bangs on a giant iron bell to get Pulgasari's attention. And once he arrives, she crawls inside before he devours it. Yikes! As she goes down the hatch, she prays that Pulgasari will disappear from the earth, thus leaving the farmers in peace. A shocked Pulgasari gets a big death scene. Sort of like Camille , only more affecting. And then he crumbles down into rock and dust. But as the morning sun reveals the shattered remains we see a little figure walking about – it's Pulgasari as he was at the beginning. Accompanied by the melancholy Pulgasari Theme for Synthesizer Keyboard, he turns into a blue light and travels into the dead body of Ami. Who remains dead. We fade out as the camera closes in on a teardrop on her cheek. – And now I have to go get a Kleenex.
Sean Ledden (April 2015)
Before I get to the elephant in the room, a few short words about Pulgasari's place in the Asian Kaiju Universe. It reminds me strongly of the 1966 Japanese production Daimajin, where a giant stone statue of a tribal god comes to life and avenges the oppressed farmers by taking out the local feudal lord. Both films take their time to wallow luxuriantly in the misery of the victims – much like the old Lana Turner films were built around the suffering of the central character. I for one find this hard to take, so it is a relief when the monster finally arrives to bring some excitement and general goofiness to the scene.
Speaking of goofiness, Pulgasari has it's fair share, but the unrivaled champ for zany insanity has to be Hong Kong's Mighty Peking Man. That film, which should be seen to be believed, has one of the most hilarious monkey suits of all time, as well as a cast packed with idiots and bimbos. In contrast, Pulgasari has a cool looking monster that is actually a compelling character: being both an avenging angel and a menace to the oppressed farmers. Add the touching dilemma of Ana and especially Ami, whose gratitude and affection is mixed with a fearful awareness of the danger, and you get an ending that has some emotional bite. Kudos to Hui Chang Son as Ami, Ri Jong-uk as Ana, and to none other than Toho's estimable Kenpachiro Satsuma as Pulgasari himself.
And here's a trivia note – evidently Pulgasari, or Bulgasari, was first made into a movie in 1962. For now it is a lost film, but Robert Hood, writing for his blog Undead Backbrain, dug up a poster and a synopsis. The poster shows something that looks like Mr. Potato-head, with fangs. And the synopsis has a murdered martial artist coming back as the monster in order to avenge his own death. So while Pulgasari is evidently an actual Korean folk-legend, I believe that Daimajin was probably the inspiration for the 1985 movie's plot.
The Elephant in the Room
When Shin made Pulgasari he had already been in captivity for 6 years! But as least he had company – because his movie star ex-wife had also been kidnapped! Reunited in Pyongyang, they got re-married – at the "suggestion" of Kim. The creepiness just doesn't stop with this story. Thankfully, both director and movie star managed to escape in 1986 while attending a film festival in Vienna. But Shin did not return to South Korea until 1994, because, in a bizarre twist, he was afraid South Korean security forces would not believe his kidnap story. It is amazing and disheartening to hear how a victim of a totalitarian dictatorship was further victimized by Cold War paranoia.
If you know anything about recent North Korean history, watching Pulgasari fills you with a sense of tragic irony. In the movie bad harvests have already pushed the farmers into perpetual hunger, but cruelly stupid government policies threaten to push them into famine. Happily, they are saved by Pulgasari. But less than 10 years after the movie was completed, the people of North Korea were not so lucky. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the money that had been subsidizing the Kim regime went away, but that didn't prevent the younger Kim from staging massive and expensive public celebrations for the start of his own official reign in 1994, when his father, the "founder" of North Korea died. (FYI, Stalin was the real founder of North Korea.)
Very soon after, floods marked the kick off to one of the worst famines in modern history, complete with thousands of desperate people scraping bark off of trees, tales of cannibalism, and maybe 3 million dead. But in a weird parallel to King Fat Head, Kim spent over $1 billion to import 30 up-to-date Russian MiG-29s. (As reported by Joshua Stanton in his invaluable blog, One Free Korea) It is simply astonishing how closely Kim's behavior matches that of King Fat Head, a cartoon villain created by his own movie studio to make contemporary North Koreans appreciate how enlightened their own government was!
Well, after that grim bit of history, I'll end with some comic relief by quoting Kim's The Art of Cinema:
"The ideological kernel of a production is the seed which the director and all the other creative workers should bring into flower through their collective efforts and wisdom. It is not only the basis of the interpretation by the individual creative workers, but also the foundation on which they all combine to produce one single cinematic presentation. When all interpretations are conducted on the basis of one seed, they form the components of one cinematic presentation because they are built on the same foundation."
Read more about Pulgasari at
Jupiter Ascending[...]]]>
Jupiter Ascending]]>
After a long winter hibernation, the Monster Shack staff are back to work and producing high-quality reviews! Spirits are high! Huzzah!
Octaman is a dreary tale of a half-man, half—–yeah, you guessed it. A great suit almost saves the movie, but it's still a long haul if you're not used to these kinds [...]]]>
After a long winter hibernation, the Monster Shack staff are back to work and producing high-quality reviews! Spirits are high! Huzzah!
Octaman is a dreary tale of a half-man, half—–yeah, you guessed it. A great suit almost saves the movie, but it's still a long haul if you're not used to
these kinds of films. Definitely helps with a couple of beers nearby to get you through the middle 45 minutes, either that or take a nap.
So with no further ado…Octaman!
Written and Directed by Harry Essex
Run Time: 76 minutes
25 Words or Less:
Sequences of boring talky scenes interspersed with a pissed off octopus-man flailing at people with flaccid rubber tentacles.
The CastDr. Rick Torres (Kerwin Mathews)Dr. Torres, convinced that atomic tests are the cause of [...]]]>
Written and Directed by Harry Essex
Run Time: 76 minutes
25 Words or Less:
Sequences of boring talky scenes interspersed with a pissed off octopus-man flailing at people with flaccid rubber tentacles.
The Cast
|Dr. Rick Torres (Kerwin Mathews)
Dr. Torres, convinced that atomic tests are the cause of the recent spate of red-eyed, screaming, octopi babies, does his best to find and capture Octaman before it's too late…too late for what? Who knows.
|Susan Lowry (Pier Angeli)
Susan, the requisite pretty face in the otherwise bland band of idiots, uses her feminine charms to lure Octaman to his doom. Otherwise she spends most of her time sitting around the camper waiting for monsters to grab her.
|The Indian (David Essex)
Davido, dismissively credited as "The Indian", is the local guide who supposedly grew up in the area. Played by David Essex, son of the director…go figure, Davido maximally hams up every scene with a Mexican accent that would make Speedy Gonzoles cringe.
When you need money to find a wild octopus-man, Johnny is the guy to talk to…just make sure he gets to keep the "freak" if you find him.
|Octaman (Himself)
'Nuff said.
This low-budget misfire, written and directed by Harry Essex, who also wrote the screenplay for the classic 1954 The Creature from the Black Lagoon, is a turgid rubber-suit monster movie with no redeeming value. Actually, let me take that back. Ironically, the only value is in fact the wonderfully absurd monster suit, which greatly reminds me of the "Tabanga" suit in From Hell It Came complete with its gaping, frozen mouth and immobile eyes.
It seems strange that Essex was involved with TCftBL, and then falls to these depths nearly 2 decades later. The 2 movies share the same basic plot, i.e., pissed off water creature stalks land lubbers and falls in love with a cute woman…but the similarities stop there. The former film has wit, suspense, and great effects. While Octaman is just another run-of-the-mill derivative"Monster Movie" whose only saving grace is the grandly goofy monster and not much else. OK, I admit that "Davido's" outrageous Mexican accent gave me a few grins, but unfortunately there's not too much else to enjoy in this barren landscape.
Regarding the monster suit, the Octaman costume was created by Rick Baker, who 10 years later would go on to win an Academy Award for his special effects in An American Werewolf in London. I declare that he certainly honed his craft in the decade between these two movies. A brief glance through IMDB reveals that Baker was paid a whopping $1000 for his work in Octaman, I hope it was worth it.
Actually, there is a funny little cameo in this movie: the small role of Dr. Willard is played by none other than Jeff Morrow, aka Mitch from The Giant Claw! Regarding The Claw, despite my snarky review of that awful film, I think Morrow is a capable actor but, poor guy, he just seems to keep getting screwed over by the roles he takes in these films. So it goes.
Oh, and by the way, it drives me crazy to have to type OctAman…it should be OctOman…grrr! Maybe they got confused with "aqua" or something. Or maybe they didn't care.
OK, standard opening credits in blood-red letters portends…yes, yes, let's get this over with.
Before the movie even really gets going, it's already making me crazy. You can't help but suspect that the audio track for the first few minutes must have been lost, forcing the filmmakers to dub dialog in post production. Naturally in a film of this quality, the voices in no way whatsoever synchronize with mouths, nor even the actors' genders match the voices, e.g., a woman's voice is heard as we see a man talking into a radio and so on. Maybe this was meant to be an homage to The Creeping Terror's epic audio problems. Even funnier is when you hear people talking while the actors are standing with closed mouths…Octa-Ventroliquist! It's so bad that I thought my DVD player was screwed up, but after repeated viewings of the first few minutes (no, NOT the whole damned movie), indeed, the first 4 minutes of the film has a completely out-of-sync sound track. I can't stress enough how disorienting this is! Maybe it was the cheap transfer to the DVD, but…ouch…nice job, guys.
Alright, Dr. Richard Torres, biologist and all-around good guy, takes blood samples from some local villagers and notes that radiation levels have risen due to off-shore nuclear tests. We all remember those atomic bomb tests off the coast of Mexico back in the 60's, right? Despite the aforementioned audio-sync problems, we manage to piece together that these villagers are more or less screwed because of all the contaminated fish they eat. Sorry, dudes. Our bad. As Torres plays with test tubes and does sciency stuff, a breathless fisherman runs up and shows them what he caught in the water: a squealing baby octopus with glaring red eyes. Yep, radiation will do that.
Susan, Torres's assistant, notes, "Look…the way it stares at you!" Well, yes, Susan, since it doesn't have eyelids it kinda has to stare, doesn't it? To further confuse matters, we occasionally get a POV shot from the octopus which reveals a multi-faceted insect-like view of the world which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever since it doesn't have compound eyes. But, let's not nitpick this poor movie to death just yet, there'll be plenty of time for that later. Speaking of staring, about 6 feet away in the reeds, we catch a glimpse of Octaman staring at them. I couldn't help but notice that nobody spots this man-sized, eight-armed beast a mere stone cast away. I tell ya, Torres's years as a field biologist sure seem to have sharpened his powers of observation.
Well, Torres and Susan decide to take the catch-of-the-day back to town and show it to Dr. Willard, who is an expert in something-or-other. Back at base camp, an assistant is sitting around poking and prodding another little octopus-thingee. Are these Octaman's siblings? Children? Where is Octawoman? Well, at this junction we get our first proper glimpse of Octaman in all his rubbery glory. But isn't it a bit too early for this? Where's the "tease"? Well, I guess the director knows best. Anyway, Octaman takes umbrage at having his little friends being poked, so he kills the researcher (off screen) and releases the squealing rubber toy octopus thingees back into the water. Note to future field researchers: Don't poke screaming, mutant hell-octopi while sitting with your back to the water!
Back in town, Torres tries to convince Dr. Willard that the little monster is the result of polluted water, but Willard isn't buying it. Why not? Because the script says so. So even though they have found traces of human DNA in the monster (What?! Ewwwww! ), Willard cuts Torres's funding so he can use the money on more "rewarding" projects. Yeah, radioactive half-human, half-octopus mutants…what fields of biological research could possibly benefit from those?
So Torres storms out of Willard's office and, by the magic of Jump Cutting, ends up back in Mexico meeting generic cowboy Steve, "the best wrangler, stunt man, and animal trainer around!" Steve proceeds to introduce local big shot, Johnny. Mr. Money Bags agrees to fund the mission but in return, if they find Octaman, he wants to keep and display him as a "freak" in one of his circuses. Being desperate for money, Torres acquiesces. Now there's a man of scientific conviction for you.
With everything in place, Torres, Susan and the gang bundle into their Winnabego and head out into the wilderness to look for mutant octopus things. Eventually they reach their previous research site…"Mort? Mort? I have lots of matches for you!" shouts Susan, but gets no reply. A quick look around finds Mort and Raul laying dead on the ground…I think that's one of the guys who was poking the little octopus, but I'm not sure. Oh, and boy does his corpse look fresh despite laying in the desert sun for days…even the blood on his forehead is still wet! Wow.
As word spreads of the killings, the local villagers begin wandering into camp and sharing their stories of old superstitions about a half-man half-octopus creature. Yeah, sure, of course they would. One of the locals, Davido, played by the director's son, presents some drawings he's made…which I presume are to be of some use, but we never see them again. Maybe the pictures were meant to engender a sense of nervous anticipation as to what's to come, but we've already seen the monster in its entirety…
"Zee boy, he draws well, makes things of claaaaay, and sells them in zee marketplace," a villager informs Torres in a ludicrous accent. Well, it turns out Davido's grandfather was killed by an Octaman (the Octaman?), a tale confirmed by a flashback showing a brief attack with woeful special effects. Anyway, Davido offers to take everybody out to the old "villeeeeege" where his grandmother used to live.
Now comes the film's seemingly endless second act. People talk. People walk. Did I mention that people talk? Octaman stares from the reeds (which is all he can do since his face was crafted from one solid piece of hard rubber). Yes, my friends, this is a merciless trudge with little to see. Oh, wait, Octaman is apparently captivated with Susan and watches jealously from the weeds as she chats with the other expedition members. Think "Creature of the Black Lagoon" but with 100th of the budget and a 1000th of the enthusiasm.
Hey wait a minute…something is happening! Later that night, while Torres and Davido are out on the lake fishing up those weird red-eyed octopi, Octaman pays the camp a visit, and with a little assistance from the actors lifting his tentacles for him, manages to kill Johnny the Cash Man and release a bunch of squids, er, octopi, from their cans. Then again, it might not have been Johnny since 90% of the action takes place in the freaking dark! So, sorry, Johnny is ok. Then who the hell was killed? Oh, Carlos was killed. Yeah, him. .
So…who the hell is this again? Somebody turn on a light…please?
Torres and Davido hear the commotion and hurry back from the lake…and then, with scarcely any hint of concern…head back out to look for more little mutants. But don't worry, with Susan and Johnny alone at camp, what could possibly go wrong? Whoa! Octaman pays another visit (I didn't see that coming), smacks the RV a few times then returns to the lake. Torres and Davido return again, calm Susan, and immediately return to the lake for the 3rd time! Good grief, maybe it's time to circle the wagons until daylight and then get the hell out of there…just sayin'.
Out on the water, Torres and Davido paddle around looking for the monster. Well, I can hear paddling noises but I can't see shit because the film is so damned gloomy. Now, I think this is supposed to be suspenseful because I hear that weird "bonk-bonk….bonk-bonk" heart-beat sound which indicates that Octaman is nearby, but who can tell?! I can't see anything! Oh wait, the heartbeat stopped. Now it's back again. DAMN YOU, MOVIE!
Octaman pulls Mort out of the boat and into the water. I know, I know, who the hell is Mort?…but he's pulled back into the boat again before anything, you know, exciting, could happen. Boy, that was close…I was almost interested in what was happening.
Back at camp, despite being attacked twice and having one of their party murdered by a mutant octopus-man only an hour before, Johnny and Susan sit in the dark pleasantly chatting and passing the time. This time Octaman breaks into the RV, knocks Johnny on the noggin with a limp limb, and carries out a suddenly unconscious Susan. Boy, I would have loved to get a better screen shot of that, but here's the best I could do before the actors walked out of the beam from the sole underpowered klieg light:
I swear, this was the best screen shot I could get of this…
OK, Torres and Steve (who the hell is Steve?!) show up and block Octaman from carrying Susan into the water. This is accomplished by shining their flashlights into Octaman's face while Torres shouts that "He doesn't like the light!" This conclusion seems odd since we've already seen Octaman walking around in broad daylight with no apparent difficulties. But…nevermind that. Torres grabs a magically appearing jerry can of gasoline and ignites a ring of fire around Octaman.
"The flames will burn up all the oxygen around him!" Torres bellows. Uh. Ok.
Well, I'll be…Sure enough, Octaman does run out of oxygen, or gets bored and falls asleep, and collapses to the ground.
The next day, Torres and the others gather on the beach with Octaman sedated and safely secured in a large net. Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts…annnnnnd now it's night time again.
Wow, that was, what, 30 whole seconds of light where you could actually see the actors?
Oh, and suddenly Octaman is free of the net and stomping around again. I must have blinked when that happened. Susan now steps up to the plate and uses her feminine wiles to charm and then command Octaman to back away from the others. (Why not just shine flashlights in his face again?) Now, if I'm not mistaken, Octaman's eyes are green which means…something. I guess he's hypnotized or in love. Who the hell knows. Well, Susan's trick works and Octaman slithers off into the darkness.
"He could have gone into the brush or the lake," Torres announces. Wow, Torres, since you're standing by a lake surrounded by brush….you think that's what happened? This guy is sharp!
The next day the survivors pack up the RV and Davido guides them to another possible hiding spot. You see, Davido knows all about these Octaman hiding spots because his grandfather was killed by one of them. You follow? But wait! A fallen telephone pole, sorry, "tree", blocks the road. It's kind of funny how Octaman can push over trees but struggles with aluminum camper doors.
"Doctor! Come kweeeeek!" Davido shouts from the brush after discovering a cave in the hillside. Davido insists on exploring the cave, because, yeah, Octaman would surely prefer taking refuge in a cave rather than the giant lake on the other side of the road. Idiot. Since cave exploration is a tried and true method for any cheap sci-fi movie to burn run time, a vote is taken and what do you know: Into the cave they go.
Now, let's watch people do some cave walkin'! and you thought it was dark at night! You ain't seen dark until you see Octaman cave scenes. (At this point I've seen the monster, what?, a dozen times already, so there's really not much to look forward to (besides the words "The End")…so I'm getting impatient watching people walk around in the dark. Oh, the toils and travails I put myself through for this web site!)
"He's been here!" Torres notes when he sees Octaman tracks in the sand. Boy, you can't slip anything past him.
Finally, Octaman shows up and they madly fire their weapons at him. I thought they wanted to capture him alive, but there you have it.
The gang eventually gets trapped in a dead end (zzzzzzz) and Octaman triggers a cave in behind them. How the hell did he manage that? But…Oh lord! There's still 10 minutes left of runtime and the actors are trapped in a cave?!…hooo boy <sigh>.
After a few minutes of pointless dialog, Davido discovers a huge hole in the wall slanting up to the outside. Gee, that was convenient. You'd think that the sunlight shining down the hole might have indicated to the others that this was a way out…
Now we follow everybody crawling up and out, and if you thought it was boring watching people walk through a cave, try watching people crawl!
Naturally, this hole exit connects up with the same hole they took when they came into the cave…what a surprise. When they return to their camper, Octaman jumps out the door (!) and starts waving his rubber appendages in all directions. But seriously folks, how did he get inside the camper? This is starting to get silly.
Octaman quickly knocks everybody to the ground because, hey, he's Octaman, right? This leaves Susan standing alone and staring into his eyes, but her hypnotizing trick doesn't work this time (you can tell…his eyes are still red). So Octaman sweeps her into his, er, "arms" and heads off towards the water again.
Down at the lakeshore, Torres and Davido are mysteriously awake now and quickly surround Octaman thereby giving Susan a chance to jump away. I wondered why he couldn't just flail his tentacles around again since, even with Susan in his arms, he still has 6 appendages available for ass-whoopin'.
Whatever, with Susan out of danger, everybody opens fire and fills Octaman full of lead. So much for studying the find of the century. Ugh.
The End
Dennis Grisbeck (Feb 2015)
Sure, ok, Octaman is an easy target for ridicule, but it is charming in its silliness and honest efforts to be a better movie than it could ever hope to become.
Octaman's quintessential rubber suit, complete with visible seams and zippers is glorious to behold, but the director blows it by showing us the full creature within the first 8 minutes of the movie instead of teasing us with occasionally glimpses followed by the big reveal at the end. As mentioned in the review, the limp tentacles require the actors to literally "help" the monster grab and kill them, which still makes me chuckle when I recall those scenes.
One of the film's major faults is the plodding pacing in the middle hour or so. It's far too talky and the sparse attack scenes, while funny at first, quickly become repetitious as you resign yourself to waiting for the film's limp climax…or simply press the fast forward button.
Conclusion? An OK film for a rainy Saturday afternoon. At 76 minutes it's not like you have to invest your whole day in it…but it does drag from time to time. But, oh man, is that monster suit awesome!
Read more about Octaman at
Sharknado 2 is available on NetFlix!]]>
Sharknado 2 is available on NetFlix!]]>
So I thought I'd kick it off with a wonderful movie from the 70's called "Killdozer". Yes, you read that correctly. A group of construction workers are trapped on an island with a bulldozer that "comes to life" and starts killing people after hitting a meteorite. Again, you read that correctly. It's only 76 minutes long, but the video quality is really quite nice and it IS a hilarious movie. Check it out
Killdozer (1974)]]>
Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe (1990)
Abraxas, an aging, 10,000 year old Cyborg cop from the planet Sadacious battles it out with his renegade partner, Secundus, who is out to steal the Anti-Life Equation from the Comater's brain.
Yes, you heard that right.
There was never an official trailer for the movie, but I [...]]]>
Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe (1990)
Abraxas, an aging, 10,000 year old Cyborg cop from the planet Sadacious battles it out with his renegade partner, Secundus, who is out to steal the Anti-Life Equation from the Comater's brain.
Yes, you heard that right.
There was never an official trailer for the movie, but I did manage to dig up the VHS screener (talk about a walk down memory lane!).
Be sure to watch to the end and check out those prices
Written and Directed by Damian Lee
In a nutshell: Middle-aged actors portray Cyborg cops from the planet Sardacian fighting over the Anti-Life Equation.
Run Time: 90 minutes
Classic Quote:
Father So what makes you think you can locate my 4-by-4?
Abraxas My box has VD.
Mother What?!
Abraxas VD: Vibrational Detection.[...]]]>
Written and Directed by Damian Lee
In a nutshell: Middle-aged actors portray Cyborg cops from the planet Sardacian fighting over the Anti-Life Equation.
Run Time: 90 minutes
Classic Quote:
Father So what makes you think you can locate my 4-by-4?
Abraxas My box has VD.
Mother What?!
Abraxas VD: Vibrational Detection.
|Abraxas (Jesse Ventura)
Abraxas is the aging, rather ineffective, "Finder" sent out to destroy the Comater before the Anti-Life Equation can destroy the universe…or something.
|Secundas (Sven-Ole Thorsen)
Secundas, Abraxas's ex-partner, is the Bad Cop of the pair. Thirsty for power, he lets nothing get in his way, unless it's a quick stop to a strip-club after kicking Abraxas's ass yet again.
|Sonia Murray (Marjorie Bransfield)
Poor Sonia, impregnated with a wave of Secundas's glowing hand on a cold winter evening, she's forced to raise Tommy alone and try to puzzle out his true nature before falling in love with a 10,000 year old robot named Abraxas.
|Tommy "Comator" Murray (Francis Mitchell)
The Comater and carrier of the Anti-Life Equation (just go with it for now), is Sucundas's mute son who posseses the power to destroy the universe but also likes to make school-yard bullies piss themselves with the power of his mind.
Open with a voice over from Jesse Ventura, aka Abraxas:
"Have you ever been vaulted? It involves re-enforcement of skeletal and muscle structures by short wave irradiation and ozone layering to zero point two three."
I think we can already safely say that this movie is not afraid of laying on the scientific-gobbledy-goop. In the background we see Abraxas laying on a table shuddering as he's "vaulted"…"Very painful" he adds as a side note. Yeah, I got that.
Anyway, a bit of back story reveals that Abraxas is a 10,000 year old cop from the planet Sardacian. These super-cops refer to themselves as "Finders", but what they actually spend their time finding is unclear. Bad guys? Bad movies? I'm just kind of going with the flow for now. (Over the years I've learned that "Going with the Flow" is a smart movie-watching strategy for most of the films on this web site.)
He's from another planet, see?
"Finders are the cops of the Universe," Abraxas continues as the credits roll, "but sometimes they go renegade!"
Cut to a snow covered forest where Abraxas is firing his silly looking laser pistol at…something. Ah, OK, Abraxas's ex-partner, Secundus, appears to have gone "renegade" and is running through the trees returning fire. After a desultory exchange of laser fire, Secundus trundles off into the undergrowth and….Abraxas immediately loses him even though there must be a trail of footprints about a mile long to follow. Apparently, on the planet Sardacian the word "Finder" implies something else than finding.
Sniper-scope equipped pistol? Check!
Meanwhile, not too far away from the "action", Sonia is making out with her beau in a parked car in the freezing cold. (You'd think they'd have enough sense to at least find a warm sofa somewhere in their parent's basement like I used to.) In fact, so engaged are these 2 youngsters in their amorous activities that neither notices the burly space man walking up to the car before it's too late. "I need you're body," Secundus growls to Sonia as he hurls her boyfriend into the snow and steals the car. (This dude is literally a "throw away" character as nobody ever mentions him again. I just love the way people are written into, and immediately out of, these cheap sci-fi flicks.)
Not too far behind, Abraxas gives chase as his radio crackles in his ear, "Secundus is in possession of a fertile birthing member of the species!" As Secundus gleefully rams Abraxas, Sonia deftly dives out of the passenger door and runs off into the snowy forests. Secundus gives chase and quickly corners Sonia along an icy river bank where he rubs his glowing hand on her midriff. "DNA fusion complete…reproduction will commence," a robotic voice tells us. (It would have been funny as hell if Secundus had lit up a cigarette at this point, alas, a missed opportunity…)
Secundus and his Glowing Hand of Impregnation
While Secundus bathes in a post pseudo-coitous glow, Abraxas finally shows up to arrest him. Sorry to beat a dead horse so early in the review, but what took him so long? I'm no Finder, but jeez, couldn't he have just followed the tracks in the snow?!
After slapping on the virtual cuffs, Abraxas asks him why he did it. "The key is the birth of the Comater. The Comater can compute the Anti-Life Equation," Secundus explains. Maybe a Galactic Guardian like Abraxas should have already known this, but whatever. Sooooo…Abraxas orders down a "Travel Warp" and Secundus is whisked away to "prison planet Tiraina".
Travel Warp-in' to Tiraina
After Secundus disappears, Abraxas learns from HQ that Sonia's child is carrying the Anti-Life Equation and he must kill her before the child is born or else the universe will end, or some such nonsense…but generally bad things will happen. (Man, it seems like Headquarters has to tell this guy everything.) Anyhoo, Sonia is trudging through the snow but soon collapses under a tree and goes into labor! Daaaaammmmmn, Secundus, muh man! A tense moment ensues as Abraxas walks up to her, follows his orders, and kills both her and the child.
The End.
Yeah, right.
Nope, Abraxas blatantly disobeys his lawful orders, turns around and walks away. Seriously, is this guy a great Finder or what?
Back up at dispatch, Commander Dar can't believe his eyes. "He didn't do it! The Comater is born!"
Uh oh.
Guardian of the Universe Headquarters. No, seriously.
Later that morning, Sonia finally makes it back home with her kid, with not the slightest hint of hypothermia on either of them. Naturally, her parents press her regarding the child's father's…which is completely ludicrous since she went on a date that very night, not pregnant! (Again, nobody presumes that her boyfriend could be the father, nor does Sonia even seem to be concerned with his well being.) Sonia repeats over and over that she really doesn't know who the father is, so, being a compassionate man, Sonia's father kicks her out of the house. Nice.
Face time with the Comater
Cut to a nice stream flowing through the wintry landscape, I guess we've jumped to the next day…then narration starts:
"It's been five years since Tommy was born…"
What?! Five years?!
Sure enough, we watch Sonia playing with her son, Tommy, interspersed with scenes of explosions (!)…which means who knows what.
Cut to a doctor's office where we learn that Tommy hasn't started talking yet because…oh wait, never mind, enough of that I guess…Cut to Space Headquarters where Commanders Dar and Hite discuss Secundus' recent escape from Tiraina. Sheesh, aren't prison planets supposed to be, you know, secure? And now, OK, I get it. The explosions previously shown were supposed to be shots of Secundus escaping prison, but how in the hell were we supposed to know that?!
"How did he escape?" asks Abraxas.
"We don't know," answers Hite. Ahhhh, well, I guess that's case closed then.
"The child is capable of unconsciously calculating the Anti-Life Equation and Secundus is capable is ripping it right out of his brain," Dar adds.
"Can you latch me onto Secundus' warp?" Abraxas asks, and before you know it, he's returned to Earth to kill the Comater before it's too late. But, ooops Abraxas's "travel warp stream" crosses with Secundus' stream, or something, so Abraxas is stripped of all his equipment except his "Answer Box". Yep, Travel Warp stream crossing will do that.
(You'd think that they would have perfected Travel Warping after 10,000 years, but there you go…)
We next see Secundus walking through the woods again, and I'm getting a sneaking feeling that they filmed all these shots in the same day… "In hand-to-hand, I could take him," Secundus' says…to who? Is he talking to himself? I suppose a couple self-affirmations is useful before killing Comaters, "but first I had to charge my Answer box." Just to clarify, "Answer Boxes" are small computers strapped to a Finder's wrist which presumably has all the knowledge of the universe or something. There actually pretty stupid and generally provide only lame wise-crackin' comedy relief instead of genuine useful information.
OK, let's see, after a brief scuffle, Secundus knocks Abraxas unconscious and steals a Jeep from a nearby family who's out camping. In a magical jump cut, boy those are handy editing devices, arne 't they?, Abraxas appears out of nowhere and jumps on top of the Jeep as Secundus swerves from side-to-side in an effort to shake him off.
"Damn, I should've never agreed to doing my own stunts!"
To nobody's great surprise, Abraxas is quickly thrown from the vehicle and rolls off into a ditch as Secundas speeds away. Man, Abraxas sure knows his police work. To make a long story short, he returns to the campsite and convinces the family that he'll help them get their stolen car back if they'll drive him into town. As they drive along the road, the father looks back and asks Abraxas just how he can help them.
"My Box has VD," Abraxas says in a line that was certainly meant to be funny but comes across as totally weird. "VD," he elaborates, "Vibrational Detection." Still dude, kind of weird.
Enough of the yuck-yucks. Cut to Abraxas jogging along the road in slow motion. I'm not sure why the others didn't just drive him into town like they agreed to, but, well, Jesse jogging in slo-mo for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing.
Meanwhile, Secundus is in town and locates an "appropriate power source" in a local car shop to recharge his Answer Box. God, I can't believe I just typed that. The shop's owner gets a bit hissy when he discovers a giant psychotic dude breaking into his garage, but ends up getting his head blown off by Secundus' Answer Box for his troubles.
You really don't want to fail the Anti-Life Equation Test…take it from this guy
After charging up his Answer Box, Secundus heads over to City Hall, kills a couple of clerks, and digs up Tommy's address from a random computer terminal. There's a bit of a stand-off between Secundus and some cops which results in him stealing a cop car, beating up some random people, and so on.
Cue action scene, and this is typical for the rest of the movie:
1) Abraxas jumps/smashes through a window or door just after Secundus finishes doing what's needed to advance the story
2) Secundus proceeds to beat Abraxas's to a pulp.
3) Secundus runs off to the next filming location as Abraxas dusts himself off and catches up again.
4) Goto #1
Tommy, in the meanwhile, is at school where he's experimenting with his Comater powers: in this case, making the class bully piss his pants on the playground. He then proceeds to push another kid into a toilet. Well, I guess he has to start somewhere. Later that day, or night, continuity doesn't have much value here, Sonia takes Tommy to the movies while a friend and her kid stay behind and watch TV.
This clumsy setup leads to the whole Mistaken Identity scene as Secundus bursts through the (cardboard) front door and starts giving the hapless neighbor boy an Answer Box scan, which as we all know, is not what you want to be on the receiving end of if you're not carrying the Anti-Life Equation in your dome.
A few steps behind, as usual, Abraxas comes flying through a patently fake pane-glass window and lands in a heap on the floor, giving Secundus more than enough time to walk over and start whooping his ass. Oh, by the way Abraxas, why not just use the wide-open front door? Just sayin'. During the scramble Secundus impales Abraxas with a floor lamp and runs away. (And this guy is the Guardian of the Universe?!)
The Guardian of the Universe is immobilized by an Ikea lamp. I feel safer already…
After Abraxas pulls out the lamp and automatically heals himself (he is a super-advance robot, dontcha know), Sonia returns from the movies. Abraxas quickly convinces Sonia that he's on the up-and-up, and that he's there to protect them. With little to no hesitation, Sonia agrees to drive them all to her friend Max's house where they can regroup. (Note that Max has no qualms whatsoever about letting some strange lunk into his house in the middle of the night…nor do we ever see Max again as he politely disappears from the movie. Now that is a friend indeed.)
Meanwhile, from outer space, Commander Dar watches Abraxas's latest escapades on his Magic Monitor which sends him into a tizzy fit because Abraxas still refuses to terminate Tommy even though "he's had possession of the Comater for 147 parsecs!" (Yes, I know…parsecs are a measure of distance, not time…don't tell me, I didn't write the script.)
Dar suggests to Hite (oooooh…such spacey names!) that Abraxas might be too old for the mission. But wait, too old? He was already 10,000 years old at the beginning of the film and only 5 more years have transpired since then, so what's the difference? 10,000 is not too old but 10,005 is? Well, they decide to send down another Finder as backup, but that's nixed because of a "warp malfunction in that sector." Whatever, Dar.
Back in town, Secundus has found a local strip club…What?! A strip-club scene in a cheap sci-fi movie? Say it isn't so!
I'm a bit confused as to why Secundus is wasting time here at all… since, you know, he's hunting for the ultimate power of the universe and all, but I guess he has his priorities. Furthermore, we do get to watch a hot-chick shake her booty for a bit. Oh, and give yourself 2 points if you predicted a bar fight would break out.
Why…lookee there: it's daytime again (!) and Secundus is hanging out in a restaurant asking a waitress where all the children go to school. You'd think the waitress would consider that's a kind of a creepy thing for a grown man to ask, but no, she just points him to the town's elementary school. I couldn't help but notice that he's still wearing the same clothes he had on when he murdered those 2 clerks just down the street at City Hall…not to mention grand theft auto, carjacking, assault on a police officer, etc. etc. and still nobody is out looking for him except for a couple of comedy relief Tweedle-Dee / Tweedle-Dumb cops who are "on the case".
[…Cut to kissing scene with Abraxas and Sonia…Dennis is grabbing a beer…]
Well, what do you know? Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb spot Secundus strolling around. Wow! Actual police work! When the cops pull their guns, Secundus informs them that their pistols are useless since his DNA has been "altered", so Tweedle-Dumb puts his revolver away and opens fire with an Uzi (!). For some reason, Uzi bullets prove more effective than mere pistol bullets and Secundus sparks a bit before sinking to the ground. Yeah, yeah, Secundus springs up, snatches the Uzi out of the cop's hand and sprays Main Street with around a million bullets from the Uzi's 30-round magazine. When all the pyrotechnics are over, Secundus steals the squad car from the cowering police officers and speeds off to the nearby school.
Answer Boxes and Crazy Cops'es…you gotta love this movie
Secundus storms around the school building a bit before bursting into a classroom and threatening to kill the students if the Comater is not delivered to him. (Needless to say, this was a real cringe-inducing scene given all the school shootings of late…but I'm not going to go there.)
When Abraxas shows up at the school, Tommy runs out of the car and sprints into the school before anybody can stop him. Nice police cordon, guys. Once inside, Tommy confronts Secundus, and by "confront" I mean "stare at him until the action starts". And…here we go: Abraxas smashes through a door and gets his ass kicked again. I never saw that coming. With Tommy back outside, (So why the hell did Tommy run inside in the first place?!) Secundus runs out, steals another car, and snatches Tommy from the parking lot. Again, where are all the cops? It's like I'm watching 2 different movies here. Well, Secundus takes the Comater to an abandoned warehouse (you know the kind of warehouse I'm talking about…piles of empty cardboard boxes and dark corners for Abraxas to hind in.) for what I hope is the big finale so I can do something else today besides watch this movie.
After a bit of End-of-Movie Bad Guy Gloating, Secundus gets down to business and starts an Anti-Life Equation Test on the poor kid. As we all know, this test inevitably results in the testee having their head exploded, or maybe that's only if you fail. God, who knows, this movie is too damned confusing to figure all this out. Regardless, I get the feeling that if Secundus gets his hands on the Anti-Life Equation this will definitely not be good for the rest of the Universe so, yeah, my stress levels are building.
Surprise, surprise, Abraxas shows up (late again) but luckily Just In Time to punch Secundus and stop him from killing Tommy…or stealing the Equation of whatever the hell he was trying to do. After another round of fisticuff shenanigans, Abraxas finally, finally, gets the upper hand and is just ready to kill his wayward ex-partner when Secundus reminds him that "No Finder past or present can be executed!"
Seriously, did Abraxas, like, forget about this? Damn! That's a pretty nasty "gotcha" in the Finder employee contract, eh? It also seems like a pretty stupid rule since we've already been told that Finders occasionally go renegade.
Now another slow-motion fist fight breaks out between the two Finders as weird Kenny G clarinet music plays(!). In a nutshell, the Finders whoop each other for a while until Tommy uses his mental powers to cause a big explosion (i.e., a shit-load of roman candles set off by the FX team) resulting in both Finders being blasted to the floor and rendered briefly unconscious, which is weird because they're robots, but whatever.
Anyhoo, Abraxas pulls the kid from the fiery ruins as (yawn) Secundus shows up again and they start punching each other again. Man, this is gripping story telling. So, like, I'm trying not to doze off here…let's see, now that Secundus has reminded him that he can't kill a fellow Finder (Why not? Wouldn't that be perfect for a situation like this?) Abraxas is in a bit of a pickle. But wait! Abraxas has a light-bulb moment and he presses his Answer Box to Secundus' noggin to initiate an Anti-Life Equation test.
Well, as we all know, performing the test results in the subject's head exploding, and Secundus bites the dust. By the way, if anybody can explain to me how that was not executing a fellow Finder, please drop me a line. On second thought, don't. I really don't care anymore.
With things coming to an end (read: no more money in the special effects budget), Headquarters opens a travel warp for Abraxas to return home. But, oh, Abraxas refuses to jump into the warp because he's now so deeply in love with Sonia and the Tommy after the whole 24 hours they've spent together and yadda yadda yadda. Dar sternly reminds Abraxas that "Refusal to return will result in forfeiture of your Finderhood" (…Finderhood?)
Maybe realizing that Abraxas is pretty much washed up anyway, Dar and Hite grant him permission to leave the Finder Corp and remain on Earth. I guess Abraxas is happy now, but if you think about it, he's over 10,000 years old, so that's, what,…more than twice the age of the Pyramids! Sonia and Tommy's lives will flit by him in a blink of an eye! And then what? Walk the Earth alone? Doomed to eventually power down and decay without friends or family on an alien planet? Kind of depressing, but let's not piss on Abraxas's parade.
As the movie concludes, Abraxas wraps up a few loose ends by simply stating, "Secundus was zapped off into the Universe." Well, Abraxas, a) this doesn't exactly square with the fact that you exploded his head with your Answer Box, and b) he was quote, "zapped off"…what is that even supposed to mean?…I bet the other Finders back at dispatch are gonna be laughing their asses off if that ever gets into the final report.
Give the poor kid some air, sheesh!
Anyway, after a group hug (all together now, awwwwwwwwwwww), Sonia cuddles up to Abraxas and coos, "I'm glad you stayed with us,"
"Me too," says Tommy, uttering the first words of his life. Gosh, I have to get a tissue and dry my eyes…
The End
Dennis Grisbeck (December 2014)
This goofy romp never promises more than it can deliver. People fight, guns fire, things explode, hell, everything seems to explode: snow, heads, cars, etc. Mounds of eye-rolling silly dialog (e.g., "My box has VD…vibrational detection") had its rewards and gave me a much needed smile or two as I slogged through this one.
Read more about Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe at
I found the VHS screener for this movie (talk about a walk down memory lane!), and I don't think there was any official trailer. Tons of fan-based junk out there though, so don't believe the hype! The Shack always brings you the real deal!
PS: Be sure to watch to the end and check out those prices]]>


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Peace Initiatives in Colombia's Armed Conflict
April 03, 2008 // 9:00am — 4:30pm
As part of a continuing effort to monitor Colombia's internal armed conflict and its consequences, the peace initiatives with guerrilla as well as paramilitary actors were analyzed. The conference took place in the wake of several major setbacks for the FARC guerrillas.
A Conversation with Governor of the State of Rio Grande do Sul,
Yeda Crusius
April 01, 2008 // 9:30am — 11:00am
Yeda Rorato Crusius, an economist and university professor, was elected governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul on October 2006. A leading member of the Brazilian Social Democrat Party (PSDB), Governor Crusius is the first woman elected to the governorship of the state.
Understanding Populism and Political Participation: A New Look at the "New Left" in Latin America
March 10, 2008 // 1:00pm — 5:15pm
A seminar was convened to examine new forms of political participation and state-civil society interaction in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
U.S.–Brazil Biofuels Cooperation: One Year Later
March 04, 2008 // 4:00pm — 5:30pm
Marcos S. Jank, President of UNICA; André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, Head of the Energy Department of Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Gregory Manuel, Special Advisor to the Secretary and International Energy Coordinator at the State Department; Carl Meacham, Professional Staff, Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Jason Steinbaum, Professional Staff, House of Reps. Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommitte on the Western Hemisphere; Alessandro Teixeira, President of APEX Brasil; and Paulo Sotero, Director Brazil Institute (Moderator)
The U.S. - Colombia Free Trade Agreement: A Capitol Hill Conversation
February 27, 2008 // 1:30pm — 4:30pm
This event was held to provide Members of Congress, their staffs, and the public with an informed and balanced discussion of the multiple issues surrounding the pending FTA, including the potential benefits to both the United States and Colombia and such critical issues as labor rights.
IV Symposium on International Trade
February 01, 2008 // 7:30am — 12:00pm
Three panel discussions will focus on: "Unlocking the Doha Round: Perspectives for 2008"; "Global Warming and Environmental Preservation: What Options International Trade Law Has To Offer?"; "Revisiting the Possibility of a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Between the United States and Brazil"
New Directions for the Study of Citizen Security in Latin America
January 28, 2008 // 8:00am — 4:00pm
Jeannette Aguilar, Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Caña, El Salvador; Hugo Frühling, former Wilson Center Fellow (Chile); Carlos Basobrío, former Wilson Center Fellow (Peru); Lucía Dammert, Wilson Center Fellow (Chile).
Addressing Security Challenges in Colombia
January 24, 2008 // 8:00am — 4:00am
Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez, president of the Colombian Senate; Marta Lucía Ramírez, Senator and Former Defense Minister, Colombia; María Isabel Nieto, Deputy Minister of the Interior, Colombia; María Emma Wills, Universidad de los Andes professor and member of the Historical Memory Commission, Colombia.
Breakfast Discussion with President of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies Arlindo Chinaglia
January 24, 2008 // 7:30am — 9:00am
A medical doctor and a founder of the Workers Party (PT), Arlindo Chinaglia is a congressman from the state of São Paulo serving his fourth-term. The position of President of the Chamber of Deputies is equivalent to the Speaker of the House in the U.S. system. In the midst of various setbacks to President Lula's legislative agenda, Chinaglia is deeply involved in the negotiations of solutions to the government's fiscal and budgetary proposals, among other challenges. The discussion will focus on Brazil-US relations, President Lula's legislative agenda and Brazil's October 2008 municipal elections—elections that will set the stage for the 2010 presidential race.
Infrastructure Integration and Environmental Preservation in the Amazon
January 16, 2008 // 11:00am — 4:30pm
The Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America is meant to forge links between South American countries by integrating the transportation, energy, and telecommunications sectors. The full environmental and social impacts of IIRSA investments should be weighed against the need to promote the continent's economic development and reduce poverty.

subset: commoncrawl


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Schnitzer Steel lands top recycling company honors
Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. has landed a national award for its recycling prowess.
Schnitzer (NASDAQ: SCHN) was named "Scrap Company of the Year" at the American Metal Market's industry awards ceremony this week in New York. Schnitzer was honored for the "strength and resiliency of its business model as well as its customer service, according to a release touting the event.
"Our employees work hard every day to contribute to the success, safety and sustainability of our company and we are pleased to earn this recognition, particularly during one of the most challenging years in a decade for the metals recycling industry," said Tamara Lundgren, Schnitzer's president and CEO, in a release.
This is the second AMM win for Schnitzer.
The company's stock traded around the $24.70 mark on Wednesday.
Schnitzer, which collected nearly $3 billion in revenue last year, said in late May it expected to incur a pre-tax restructuring charge of roughly $1 million in connection another restructuring program announced last year.


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Press-release Krasnodar June 13, 2013 OJSC "Magnit" Announces the Opening of the 137th Hypermarket Krasnodar, June 13, 2013: OJSC "Magnit", Russia's largest retailer (the "Company"; MICEX and LSE: MGNT), is pleased to announce the opening of the 137th hypermarket of a small format. Please be informed that on June 12, 2013 the Company has opened its 137th hypermarket of a small format located at 2 Sochinskaya street, Tuapse, Krasnodar region, Southern federal district. Assortment of the hypermarket consists of about 5,300 SKUs, out of which about 83% are food items. There are 17 cash desks installed in the sales area. The outlet is owned by the Company. The hypermarket is open 7 days a week from 10 am to 10 pm. For further information, please contact: Timothy Post Director, Investor Relations e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Tel. in Krasnodar +7 (861) 277-45-54, 210-98-10 ext. 7600 Mob.: +7 (961) 511-76-78 Direct line for investors only: +7 (861) 277-45-62 Dina Svishcheva Deputy Director, Investor Relations e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Tel. in Krasnodar +7 (861) 277-45-54, 210-98-10 ext. 5101 Mob.: +7-961-511-02-02 Direct line for investors only: +7 (861) 277-45-62 Company description: Magnit is Russia's largest retailer. Founded in 1994 by Sergey Galitskiy, the company is headquartered in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. As of March 31, 2013, Magnit operates 18 distribution centers and over 7,000 stores (6,209 convenience, 153 hypermarkets, and 713 cosmetics) in more than1,600 cities and towns throughout 7 federal regions of the Russian Federation. In accordance with its audited IFRS consolidated financial statements for year-end 2012, Magnit had revenues of $14.43 billion USD and an EBITDA of $1.52 billion USD. Magnit's local shares are traded on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MICEX: MGNT) and its GDRs on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: MGNT) and it has a credit rating from Standard & Poor's of BB. Measured by market capitalization, Magnit is now Europe's 2nd largest retailer. END -0- Jun/13/2013 06:00 GMT
OJSC MAGNIT: 137th Hypermarket Opening
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text: Prince Charles does the weather Add to ... AP Video Published Thursday, May 10, 2012 2:39PM EDT Last updated Thursday, May 10, 2012 3:45PM EDT If this king thing doesn't work out, Prince Charles may be able to fall back on a budding career as a weather man. The heir to the British throne and his wife Camilla gave it a try Thursday. Watch More Video: Military help in fighting wildfires has precedent: Kenney Toronto real estate market on fire as detached home price nears $1.1-million Merkel, Hollande say Greece must reform to secure credit Running of the Bulls leaves several injured The mechanics of a Greek exit from the euro zone The legacy of the Oka Crisis, 25 years later U.S. breast-milk banks face scrutiny as demand rises Starbucks hikes coffee prices Smoke casts surreal glow on Vancouver Island Bill Cosby obtained drugs to give to women for sex Calgary 'balloon man' charged with mischief Therapy dogs calm travelers amid heightened security Jane Fonda joins 'historic' Toronto rally for jobs and climate Clinton accuses China of hacking Britain's royal family gathers for christening of Princess Charlotte Greek polls show 'No' vote ahead by small margin Harper rallies Calgary Tories with song, attacks on opposition Kerry says Iran talks could go either way Speeding bus plunges off bridge in China Polls open in Greece euro zone referendum Comments AA More Related to this Story Video: Duchess of Cambridge turns heads with daring gown


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Story of the life of Don Carlos and his trials and tribulations.
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The Mercury 13
The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight
By Martha Ackmann; Lynn Sherr (Foreword by)
(Random House Trade, Paperback, 9780375758935, 280pp.)
Publication Date: July 13, 2004
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For readers of The Astronaut Wives Club, The Mercury 13 reveals the little-known true story of the remarkable women who trained for NASA space flight.
In 1961, just as NASA launched its first man into space, a group of women underwent secret testing in the hopes of becoming America's first female astronauts. They passed the same battery of tests at the legendary Lovelace Foundation as did the Mercury 7 astronauts, but they were summarily dismissed by the boys' club at NASA and on Capitol Hill. The USSR sent its first woman into space in 1963; the United States did not follow suit for another twenty years.
For the first time, Martha Ackmann tells the story of the dramatic events surrounding these thirteen remarkable women, all crackerjack pilots and patriots who sometimes sacrificed jobs and marriages for a chance to participate in America's space race against the Soviet Union. In addition to talking extensively to these women, Ackmann interviewed Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, and others at NASA and in the White House with firsthand knowledge of the program, and includes here never-before-seen photographs of the Mercury 13 passing their Lovelace tests.
Despite the crushing disappointment of watching their dreams being derailed, the Mercury 13 went on to extraordinary achievement in their lives: Jerrie Cobb, who began flying when she was so small she had to sit on pillows to see out of the cockpit, dedicated her life to flying solo missions to the Amazon rain forest; Wally Funk, who talked her way into the Lovelace trials, went on to become one of the first female FAA investigators; Janey Hart, mother of eight and, at age forty, the oldest astronaut candidate, had the political savvy to steer the women through congressional hearings and later helped found the National Organization for Women.
A provocative tribute to these extraordinary women, The Mercury 13 is an unforgettable story of determination, resilience, and inextinguishable hope.
Lynn Sherr, correspondent for the ABC News program 20/20, covered NASA and the space program in the 1980s, anchoring and reporting on all the early shuttle missions, through the Challenger explosion and the subsequent Rogers Commission hearings. Sherr was a semifinalist in the (now abandoned) Journalist-in-Space competition. She lives in New York.
"From the Hardcover edition.
Lynn Sherr is an award-winning broadcaster and author who spent more than thirty years at ABC News. Her numerous awards include an Emmy Award and a George Foster Peabody Award, and her books include "Swim", "Outside the Box", and "America the Beautiful".


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Utah Jazz basketball: Marvin Williams finding his groove with Jazz
SALT LAKE CITY — Marvin Williams was wearing a huge iced wrap about the size of a watermelon around his right hand as he talked to a group of reporters after Saturday night's win over the Clippers.
Williams was the top scorer for the Jazz with 18 points, and by making 3-of-4 3-pointers he improved his 3-point shooting for the preseason to 64.3 percent (9-of-14).
As for the "injury," he said he "caught the ball funny" and worried that he may have dislocated the pinkie finger on his shooting hand.
But, not to worry.
"I'll be fine," Williams said, and the fact that he hurt his pinkie in the second quarter yet played the rest of the game suggests it shouldn't be a problem going forward.
The former No. 2 overall draft pick, who came to the Jazz from Atlanta in an offseason trade, has already shown what a strong addition he'll be this season.
Williams is starting at the small forward spot and has shown an ability to score both inside and outside. He also rebounds — he had eight on the night — and came up with four steals on the defensive end.
"He makes shots, man, and when things are right he can post guys up at different times like he showed tonight," Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. "When we go from strong side to weak side, he's ready over there and he's a very willing and capable shooter — so we look to get him the ball in the right situation."
Williams came out hot from the start, making a 3-pointer from the left corner in the first minute of the game and, after faking a trey from the same spot a minute later, sank a 17-foot baseline jumper. By halftime he had 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc.
"I had an opportunity to knock down some shots today," he said. "I got some good looks and the guys did a great job of kicking it out when I was open, and I was able to finish plays. If I can continue to do that and get better, I think I can help the team."
However, he was pleased with more than just his shooting.
"I thought I played a pretty complete game," he said. "Offensively, things were going well for me and defensively I was really happy with the things I did."
Williams says he's still learning, but he feels like he's fitting in well with the Jazz.
"The thing I love about this team is that everybody competes," he said. "Each day we get better and better."
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Despite these and other unpardonable sins, banks showers tens of millions of dollars in bonus money on top executives.
late 13c., "papal indulgence," from Old French pardon, from pardoner "to grant; forgive" (11c., Modern French pardonner), "to grant, forgive," from Vulgar Latin *perdonare "to give wholeheartedly, to remit," from Latin per- "through, thoroughly" (see per) + donare "give, present" (see donation).
Meaning "passing over an offense without punishment" is from c.1300, also in the strictly ecclesiastical sense; sense of "pardon for a civil or criminal offense; release from penalty or obligation" is from late 14c. earlier in Anglo-French. Weaker sense of "excuse for a minor fault" is attested from 1540s.
mid-15c., "to forgive for offense or sin," from Old French pardoner (see pardon (n.)).
'I grant you pardon,' said Louis XV to Charolais, who, to divert himself, had just killed a man; 'but I also pardon whoever will kill you.' [Marquis de Sade, "Philosophy in the Bedroom"]Related: Pardoned; pardoning. Pardon my French as exclamation of apology for obscene language is from 1895.
the forgiveness of sins granted freely (Isa. 43:25), readily (Neh. 9:17; Ps. 86:5), abundantly (Isa. 55:7; Rom. 5:20). Pardon is an act of a sovereign, in pure sovereignty, granting simply a remission of the penalty due to sin, but securing neither honour nor reward to the pardoned. Justification (q.v.), on the other hand, is the act of a judge, and not of a sovereign, and includes pardon and, at the same time, a title to all the rewards and blessings promised in the covenant of life.


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A collection of news and information related to Marvel Entertainment, LLC published by this site and its partners.
Top Marvel Entertainment, LLC Articles
Displaying items 12-22
'Batman v. Superman': What DC's nine-movie announcement means
Superhero Overload? 8 Major Comicbook Movies Planned for 2017Story | Aug 6, 2014 | 4:30 PMWhile much has been written about 2015 as a perfect storm of tentpoles, including sequels to "Star Wars," "The Avengers," "Mission: Impossible," "The Hunger Games," "Jurassic Park," "Fast & Furious" and "Terminator," 2017 is shaping up to become a...
DC Plants Flag on Dates for Nine Superhero Movies Through 2020Story | Aug 6, 2014 | 4:30 PMNow it's DC Entertainment's turn to plant the flag on dates for untitled superhero movies through 2020. Warner Bros. on Wednesday announced dates for nine new DC movies, starting in 2016, giving the studio two DC-based properties in theaters each year,...
'Ant-Man' Back on Track as Shoot Kicks Off in AtlantaStory | Aug 6, 2014 | 12:30 PMYou're up, Peyton. Now that James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy" surprised Hollywood when it opened to more than $94 million at the domestic box office and gave Marvel Studios the start of a new franchise, it's Peyton Reed's turn to do the same with...
Disney quarterly profit surges 22% on film studio hits; revenue up 8%
Imax sees success with 'Guardians of the Galaxy'
'Guardians of the Galaxy': Chris Pratt plays interstellar tour guide [video]Story | Aug 5, 2014Want to know what it would be like to take a ride in Peter Quill's spaceship, the Milano? Well now […]...
'Guardians of the Galaxy': Vin Diesel branches out as GrootStory | Aug 4, 2014Vin Diesel is behind the wheel on the Burbank lot of Walt Disney Studios. But instead of one of the […]...
Box office: 'Guardians of the Galaxy' rockets to $94-million opening
'Iron Man' to 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' A Look Back at 10 Marvel MoviesStory | Aug 3, 2014 | 10:30 AMMarvel Studios has released a retrospective of the films that make up its first two cinematic phases on the bigscreen, starting with "Iron Man," in 2008, and ending with "Guardians of the Galaxy," out now. The clip, which kicked off Marvel's panel at...
Box office: 'Guardians of the Galaxy' grosses $37.8 million Friday


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Similar lawsuits related to Energy Star status for appliances have been dismissed, including a case involving a Maytag Centennial MVWC6ESWW1 washing machine whose energy-efficiency status was later revoked. The defendants were Home Depot U.S.A. and Whirlpool Corporation, both of which had moved to dismiss the lawsuit.
A judge in Ohio dismissed that case last August, ruling, in part, that the plaintiff's claim for damages was barred by the statute of limitations of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act.
In addition, the judge for the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, said "the plaintiff's failure to allege that any connection between his decision to purchase the washer and either the Energy Star logo or an advertisement is fatal to his claim."


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karma2015's Mom Answers Activity
How often should you give your baby a bath?
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I gave two times a dayposted by selhid
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Actually you have good reason to worry. And yes, you are a "bad mother" by even thinking of having it done! Why on earth do you...posted by a BabyCenter Member
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can i give juice for my 7 months babyposted by padmajagumma
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We're having a baby girl & we recieved a bundle of clothes from my parents in law which I thought were quite boyish apposed to ne...posted by RetroPrincess


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Social Sharing
Smart Social Targeting 'Once' and For AllAugust 26, 2013
Following its streak of 2012 Tony Award wins, Once the Musical expands its audience with an intelligent campaign that cleverly capitalizes on existing buzz.
For Smashbox, Education is the Ultimate FoundationAugust 01, 2013
A primer on the prestige makeup brand's content, search, and social strategies.
Huggies ups the ante on social mediaDecember 13, 2012
The diaper brand absorbed hundreds of thousands of happy—and identifiable—customers with a promotion that doubled the benefits for those who share.
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