Month: September 2017

Scary Killer Rabbit Movie just doesn’t work because the Rabbits are just too cute

Markosun Animals, Offbeat

The bunnies have faces that are totally disarming. They do not look like terror creatures. Too cuddly.

Night of the Lepus, also known as Rabbits, is a 1972 American science fiction horror film based on the 1964 science fiction novel The Year of the Angry Rabbit.

Released theatrically on October 4, 1972, it focuses on members of a small Arizona town who battle thousands of mutated, carnivorous killer rabbits. The film was the first science fiction work for producer A. C. Lyles and for director William F. Claxton, both of whom came from Western film backgrounds. Character actors from Westerns the pair had worked on were brought in to star in the Night of the Lepus, including Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun, and DeForest Kelley.

Shot in Arizona, Night of the Lepus used domestic rabbits filmed against miniature models and actors dressed in rabbit costumes for the attack scenes.

 

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Before its release, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) renamed the film from its original name of Rabbits and avoided including rabbits in most promotional materials to try to keep the featured mutant creatures a secret. However, the studio itself broke the secret by issuing rabbit’s foot-themed promotional materials before the release. Widely panned by critics for its premise, bad directing, stilted acting and laughable special effects, the film’s biggest failure was considered to be the inability to make the rabbits seem scary. Night of the Lepus has gained cult status for its poor quality and was released to home video for the first time in October 2005 when it was released to Region 1 DVD. It has been featured in Rifftrax, the comedy troupe of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, former members of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 ensemble.

 

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The Intriguing World

Markosun Images

Ford’s clever advertising after women in Saudi Arabia became allowed to drive.

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The first episode of Star Trek: TNG aired 30 years ago today. A lot of Sci-Fi design doesn’t age well, but the Enterprise-D remains one of the most gorgeous Starships ever designed.

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Stored locomotives in the Arizona desert. With a BEAST at the front.

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Taking the knee in defiance of Trump

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If Arnie wasn’t a liberal all his life, he sure is now.

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U.S. Marines and Sailors taking a dip in the ocean.

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Border Collie convention

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Major rebar action in NYC

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Afghans watching the U.S. bombing blitz of Tora Bora in 2001. They bombed Bin Laden’s cave complex non-stop for 4 straight days. When it started Bin Laden had a black beard, when it ended half his beard was grey.

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F/A-18B Hornet jets take off in 30 – 40 knot crosswind

Markosun Aviation

Two Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 Hornet jets take off in 30 – 40 knot crosswind from Illawarra Regional Airport in Australia

Filmed at Wing Over Illawarra airshow 2014, at Illawarra Regional Airport, in New South Wales, on May 4, the following footage shows two RAAF F/A-18B Hornets taking off in strong crosswinds from the airfield located about 50 kilometers to the southeast of Sydney, Australia.

Strong crosswinds prevented the majority of aerobatic displays at WOI airshow. Nevertheless, the two Hornets were able to launch, even if sensibly shaken by the 30 – 40 knot crosswind!

Note the skid marks (or tracks left in the dust) left on the runway by two Hornets!

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Canadian CF-18 Hornets use fake cockpits painted on the bottom of the jets to confuse the enemy. Photo shows bottom of aircraft.

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You Can Never Be Too Careful

Markosun Transportation

I saw this older gentlemen during the winter with his cane, and more interestingly, wearing his helmet. Winnipeg streets can be treacherous in the winter as they are covered with ice and snow. So a slip could lead to a head smack on the sidewalk. A helmet would help in that scenario.

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Today I saw the old guy walking by again. And lo and behold, he had his helmet on.  The sidewalks are dry and clean. Very good traction. But this fella isn’t taking any chances.  He is really protecting that noggin.

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Hare-Force One: Boarding the Playboy plane

Markosun Offbeat

The MarkoZen Blog

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From ferrying a prized ape to a widowed mate, to rescuing refugees from Vietnam in Operation Babylift, Big Bunny – or Hare-Force One as it was otherwise known – served Hugh Hefner and the Playboy family for five years. No doubt it had its fair share of ‘mile-high’ flying exploits…

At its peak, over a quarter of all male American college-goers picked up Playboy magazine every single month. And what does the patriarch of this booming empire, idolised and hated in equal measures by both men and women the world over, do to cement his status as the kingpin of the media world? He buys a private plane; and we’re not talking about a Cessna 172. Nope – in the birth of the hugely exciting jet age, Hugh Hefner bought an airliner for use at his (and several significant others’) convenience.

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In February 1970, Hugh Hefner took his maiden flight…

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The very splashy lunch boxes from decades past

Markosun Offbeat

They don’t make lunch boxes, also known as lunch kits, like they did back in the sixties and seventies. The tin boxes which had a thermos inside were adorned with pop culture icons, TV shows, movies, sports heroes, historical events and many other topical subject matter.

The vintage lunch box as we think of it today was born in 1935. That’s when a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, company called Geuder, Paeschke, and Frey licensed the likeness of a new cartoon character named Mickey Mouse for the top of its oblong-shaped “Lunch Kit.” The metal container was sealed at the top with a loop of stiff wire that doubled as a handle.

From that moment on, placing a character of any sort on the side of a lunch box (or lunchbox, as it is often spelled) became the standard for the lunch boxes children toted to school. Before long, the signal a lunch box sent to your peers could mark you as a cool kid or a dork, depending on if your PB&J was packed inside a Mercury’s Space capsule Container (Universal, 1962) or a Evel Knievel lunch box (Aladdin, 1973).

Modern lunch boxes just don’t have the same eye-catching appeal of the old boxes. The lunch boxes today are more practical and cater to contemporary technology.

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A three decker.

The majestic old lunch boxes:

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The interior of a vintage box.

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When buying a Roy Rogers and Dale Evans box on the right, included was a toy horse. It goes by the name Trigger.

 

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Not sure where this one came from.

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150-Ft Spiraling Treetop Walkway In Denmark

Markosun World

Architecture studio EFFEKT has designed a walkway to take hikers and Instagrammers to new heights above a forest in Denmark. The idea is to offer bird’s-eye views of the area without disrupting the environment.

The centerpiece of the construction is set to be a winding observation tower, topping out at about 150 feet (45 metres). The hourglass-like construction should rise in a luscious preserved forest an hour south of Copenhagen, in Glisselfeld Kloster, Haslev. It consists of a 2000 ft. (600m) internal ramp, which will take visitors from the forest floor, through the treetops culminating with a 360° view of the hilly landscape, characteristic for the region.

The structures that make up the route towards the tower have been split into two sections: the high walkway will extend past some of the forest’s oldest trees, while the lower path will swirl its way through the younger areas.

The one-of-a-kind project is expected to be finished in 2018.