If we didn't have arms, foot hygiene would be more important.
This is it! The messiah has returned! No! Not that one, the OTHER one. In the tradition of turning an ancient society's deities into modern day superheroes, this takes advantage of that vastly un-mined and weird territory of Egyptian mythology. Meet the first of many "New Gods," and our savior, HORUS!
A growing list of influential artists, writers, poets, filmmakers, and creatives.
Ray Harryhausen
This week, I've come back to the blogging game, and I couldn't think of doing a creators post about anyone other than Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013), the father of special effects and stop motion animation. The man is responsible for the state of digital effects we have today due to his own innovation and implementation of stop motion effects. Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and so many others wouldn't have been inspired to create bigger without the movies the Harryhausen added his magic to.
But enough talk, lets get to showing off why Ray will never be forgotten.
Mighty Joe Young (1949)
Now lets be clear, he didn't invent the process of stop motion animation. Willis H. O'Brien invented the process for the film The Lost World (1925) and made famous in King Kong (1933). Harryhausen was inspired by what he saw, and decided to get into animating. What Ray did with stop-motion that set him apart was his ability to integrate complex creatures and actions into equally complex live-action sequences. Mighty Joe Young was just the beginning.
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
This one has one of my favorite Harryhausen creatures. Who doesn't love a giant rampaging lizard.
It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955)
You don't really need a plot for this one. Giant octopus attacks San Francisco: GO. Here we see Harryhausen's love of tentacled monsters first come out. We'll see more of this later.
The Animal World (1956)
Now here is a gem. This sequence is full of old science and illogical anatomy, but Ray makes you believe those movements. its in the details, the moving while remaining still that trick you into thinking its alive.
This brief clip was a test for one of his dream jobs, animating effects for a War of the Worlds rendition. Sadly it never happened, but its still neat to see an animators fan art. So lets move on from giant raidioactive monsters and get fantastic.
Earth Vs the Flying Saucers (1956)
No tentacles here, just spinning saucers. Highly influential on Tim Burton, I must say.
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
This is all kinds of Harryhausen awesome. I love the movement of the cyclops the most. Take a moment to realize that he had to think of these movements one frame at a time, at 30 frames per second.
Mysterious Island (1961)
Watch for the bee, its amazing.
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Dynarama!
Now here is the most jaw dropping scene Ray ever did, in my opinion. just enjoy it.
One Million Years BC(1966)
Dinosaurs and Raquel Welch: what more could anyone ask?
The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
Gotta love Cowboys and dinosaurs. Watch that tail swish!
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)
Six armed sword fighting goddess... Take that General Grievous!
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Here we have arguably the most famous of his works. Here we see Harryhausen, going out in style, by pulling out every trick he learned in his career: undulating snakes, flapping birds, jittery insects, graceful men, and twitching tentacles. Here is the last example of his patented Dynarama, being put to good use. I think his mind always existed in myth and fantasy; in the distant past or far into the future. He lived through his imagination so we could expand our own.
A growing list of inspirational Artists, Writers, Filmmakers, and Poets.
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Like spaghetti and meatballs, bacon and eggs, or politics and corruption, the team of Siegel and Shuster is a set of words that just goes together in your head. And what follows immediately after is there irreplacable contribution to world History in their character: Superman! Not bad for a couple of poor Jewish kids from Cleveland, eh?
Actually Joe was from Toronto originally. These two guys had a rough go of it starting out in the business because everyone was telling them no. I'm sure they all felt like the red sox a few years later.
Oh yeah, and originally the idea for superman came from this terrifying comic where a man gets telepathic powers and takes over the world. Thankfully he gets taken out in the end. As you might guess, the story was a hard sell, so Jerry kept the name and retooled the concept.
So instead of a Lex Luthor wannabe with telepathy, Siegel made a Samson and Moses hybrid with a Buck Rogers background, and sharp eye looking out for the oppressed. And then Shuster gave him a circus strongman's tights and briefs with Zorro's cape, and Whammo! We have the first superhero. A modern day demi-god with amazing abilities, a secret identity, and a heart of gold. This was the first step into our modern mythology, which had heaping helpings of the old myths to get it going.
I love these guys, not only for creating Superman, but for creating a new Mythology for all of us to dream in. They took the stories they were familiar with, that many of us grew up with, gave it a new context and form, and released it in beautiful 4 color glory.
