Rob’s Finds

It’s time for “Rob’s Finds,” more of the different and unusual courtesy of Rob Fuller and his dumpster diving on the Web. First scifiwire.com offers an homage of sorts to the controversial movie Kick Ass: Jar Jar Binks and 15 more “Kick-Ass” sci-fi movie controversies:

Kick-Ass has already been condemned in some quarters due to its violence and the character of Hit Girl, a 10-year-old girl who curses like a sailor and leaves a trail of dead bodies.

But it’s far from the only sci-fi or fantasy film to have created controversy. Check out 15 more examples of sci-fi flak below.

From Nosferatu:

F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) came close to disappearing forever; the unauthorized version of the Dracula story aroused the ire of Bram Stoker’s widow, who won her lawsuit against the makers and demanded the destruction of all available copies. The film not only survived but ironically had as lasting an influence on vampire lore as Stoker’s novel, for it’s here, and not in Stoker’s pages, that we get the stuff about fanged ones being destroyed by the rays of the sun.

To District 9:

Ironically enough for a film intended as a blistering metaphor for the cruelties of apartheid, the South African alien-visitation film District 9 (2009) was widely blasted for its portrayal of ethnic Nigerians as gangsters, thugs and cannibals. Apparently, alien prawn creatures deserve better treatment, but you can attack another real-life nationality to make that point.

I’d have to go with this guy as the most controversial.

I mean what other character in movie history has caused so many people want to kill him?

http://www.youtube.com/v/ObcYgDZ9aqo&hl=en_US&fs=1&

Speaking of ridiculous Star Wars items, Rob has discovered that things just got a little goofier in the ways of The Force: New Star Wars MIMOBOT Thumb Drive Designs:

There are a couple must-haves in R2-D2 and Obi-Wan — pivotal players in the Star Wars saga. Then we’ve got a Jawa which… I don’t know, it’s a Jawa. Exciting if you like Jawas, pretty straightforward if you don’t.

But the piece de resistance is the inclusion of a Stormtrooper. But wait! When unmasked, it’s Han or Luke in Stormtrooper disguise! Well played.

Pricing comes in at $30 for 2GB, $40 for 4GB, $60 for 8GB, and $90 for 16GB. You’re paying for the design, here, not so much the storage.

At this point, couldn’t we wipe out the U.S. federal debt with George Lucas’ pocket change?

Next Rob found this little gem: The only music video directed by some dude named James Cameron. It’s called “Martini Ranch”:

In 1988, Actor Bill Paxton and vocalist/guitarist Andrew Todd Rosenthal formed a short-lived rock duo Martini Ranch. They recorded and released just one album entitled Holy Cow, which included inputs from Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Casale and Alan Myers (all of whom contributed to the album’s hit “How Can the Labouring Man Find Time For Self-Culture?”), along with Cindy Wilson of the B-52’s as a back-up vocalist and actor Judge Reinhold is credited as a whistler on “Reach”. The video was directed by James Cameron, director of Terminator & Aliens. It is remarkably, the only music video he ever shot.

The video includes cameos from director Kathryn Bigelow, as well as Aliens and Terminator alumni Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser, Mark Rolston and Jenette Goldstein (from Aliens), Brian Thompson (can you spot him ? He got gutted at the beginning of T1 and was the great bad guy in Cobra), Judge Reinhold, and Adrian Pasdar who had appeared in Bigelow’s Near Dark) with Paxton, Goldstein and Henriksen.

According to many of the gorgeous girls appearing in this video who mailed us, we might be one of the last few owning a playable VHS of this video. Ours was duplicated by Bill Paxton himself back in the late 80’s, and given us for promotion.

And yes, this is Mike Cameron with several Tarantulas on his face ! Here it is for all those who starred in it and have junked their tape Bill made for them, and all those who never got to see it. Enjoy… or die !

http://www.youtube.com/v/KusApBvbxuM&hl=en_US&fs=1&

There’s only one thing in the world that could possibly top a James Cameron music video and Rob has found it: “Gone With The Wind With Vampires”:

Thanks, Rob, for another week’s worth of weird stuff into which we can sink our collective teeth.