The thermal features of Yellowstone, in addition to all their science coolness, have a beauty that always surprises me. Check out the little gallery after the jump. Continue reading »

Amazing photo (not mine photo, of course). It's a photo of a volcano erupting from the top.

View the original: Sarychev Peak Eruption, Kuril Islands Continue reading »

Now who would represent that freshman English word dichotomy more than Dr Jeckle and Mr Hyde (ex-wives excepted)? A good Victorian subtitle might be "Wherein the Doctor Made Himself the Monster, Thus Reducing the Cast By One."

And for all the monster richness expressed by Mr Hyde (no advanced degree for him, nosiree), this story is often boiled down to psychology. But I will point out the fact that Continue reading »

Oh scientists, why must you be an essential part of almost every classic monster tale. The crypto-zoologists of King Kong and Creature from the Black lagoon, the crypto-biologist in The Werewolf of London, the the nuclear engineers in Godzilla, the Egyptologists in The Mummy, and the home-brewing physician in Dr Jeckle and Mr Hyde. Continue reading »

I wasn't a very sharp kid. I didn't get the sexual overtones in the Dracula story until much later. Like all the other monsters, Dracula had to get the girl. But for Dracula the girl was not just a snappy accessory to carry around while being chased by angry villagers, by angry city folks, by concerned scientists, or by a well-equipped military. For him it was about getting the girl to follow him. And did I suspect anything else was up Continue reading »

Godzilla is the one of the only traditional film monsters who does not go after the girl. He directs his anger, rightly so, at the society in general. He's helped in this, of course, by being super-sized for a monster. If the Wolfman went at society, he would need at least a crowbar. Godzilla dispatches a train or a building just by now looking where he's going. So as far as any relationship with a woman, he might have serious difficulty in just picking one out of the fleeing crowd.

In a deeper reading of Godzilla, Continue reading »

Poor Hunchback. Of all my monster models, he was the one I cared about least. Much like The Phantom of the Opera, neither my friends nor I had ever actually seen the movie.

And the similarities with Phantom keep going:

• More melodrama than horror
• set in Paris (not universally known to be creepy)
• featuring a disfigured human with a very narrow skill set
• who is persecuted for his abnormality
• whose revenge includes stealing the girl

But unlike Phantom, the hunchback Continue reading »

Not much of a movie tie-in here -- just your garden-variety witch. Actually more of a zoological-variety one, due to the profligate use of the wee beasties in the scene. This is my favorite model. The detail on this just doesn't seem to stop. You got your toads, snakes, bats, rats, various invertibrae in the cauldron. There's the butcher knife, moonshine jug (hey, a gal has to party a bit, even when she's in league with the demonic), broom (transport or housecleaning device?), couple of bottles, and the keys to the cage there in the back. Continue reading »