Tin Tin and Jack in Penrith

Doing the rounds of Facebook last week was this parody cover mock-up of a "Tin Tin" comic:



While the scene is almost-instantly recognised as The 'Riff for all manner of iconic reasons, there still seemed to be something missing. It occurred to me today: the image needed a few inappropriate palm trees!









As you can see, the Red Rooster takeaway food store, depicted in the joke cover, is a more generic Red Rooster, but most of the elements were visible today. Minus the colourful human riff raff.

Star Blecch from MAD TV

Cool! Continuing MAD's tradition of satirising all the Trek films, only animated! This is the MAD parody of JJ Abrams' 2009 version of "Star Trek". Thanks Youtube, and Robert Bruns for the heads-up.


Star Blecch

Chameleon roses!

But this plant didn't always look like this!

Sunny side up!

Egghead is in da house!

Eggs-actly! Eggs-ellent! My favourite "Batman" villain has always been Egghead. He was original to the 1960s television series, played by the irrepressible Vincent Price.

When I started reading the "Batman" comics, though, I was disappointed to realise that neither Egghead nor King Tut (Victor Buono) - both "arch villains" (alongside the Riddler, the Joker, Catwoman and the Penguin) in the TV series - had never appeared in the comics. There was a teasing mention of both, once, in "When is a Door: The Secret Origin of the Riddler...?", in a "Secret Origins Special" (#1, DC Comics, 1989), but nothing else:


Secret Origins Special #1

Recently, while trawling eBay for interesting stuff I didn't yet own, I happened upon a reference to comic appearances by Egghead and King Tut. I think I'd heard about the Tut trilogy of issues before (in "Batman Confidential" #16-18), but it was essentially a reinterpretation of the character. It had recently been collected in graphic novel omnibus form, "King Tut's Tomb" (2010). But...


Egghead features in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #16

... how come I'd managed to overlook a story called "Egg Hunt!, or, The Evil of Egg-Head!" in "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" #16 (2010), in which Batman and Wonder Woman team up to face off against the punning Egghead (above) and the bizarre, Humpty Dumpty-like, Y'ggphu Soggoth, Last Spawn of the Elder Gods.

I shall now Eggs-it, stage right, to read my new mail order purchase from Mile High Comics. It just arrived this morning!

Get set for "The Set"

Found this book in Dymocks' city store yesterday, recognised it as 70s Aussie culture gold, started reading the introduction - and immediately thought Andrew Mercado needs to see this! And suddenly realised I was reading Andrew's own introduction! Well done to Roger Ward, Hazel Phillips and Andrew! This is an exciting publication!

This only-recently published novel (2011) was the basis of the highly controversial Australian movie, "The Set" (released 1970). The movie turned out to be a a bit of a career-killer for 60s TV chat show hostess Hazel Phillips, who shocked her "ladies" (ie. avid fans of "Girl Talk") by appearing nude. It was also Australia's first "queer film", portraying homosexuality on the silver screen at a time when homosexuality was outlawed Down Under.

The book's author, actor Roger Ward, is well known for his roles in feature films such as "Mad Max" and "Turkey Shoot", but he also did a memorable stint in the TV soap opera, "Number 96", as Weppo the Shakespeare-spouting garbo.

Incidentally, Hazel Phillips was an early contender to play Vera Collins in "Number 96". Ms Phillips did eventually do some episodes, portraying bisexual Marie Crowther, a friend of Vera's estranged husband, Harry. Marie moves into Flat 7 briefly, on the pretext of giving them some Alcoholics Anonymous moral support. Marie was more interested, though, in peeping on Vera while she showerered.

96 in Ozploitation (volume 4)

Been looking for "Number 96: The Movie" on DVD but unable to find the double disc collector's edition? Umbrella Entertainment has now re-released Disc 1 (ie. not the docos) as part of "Ozploitation Volume 4". Included in the six-disc set are "Alvin Purple", "Alvin Rides Again", "Stork", "BMX Bandits", "Dark Age" and the short film, "Three Old Friends". $39, great value, from JB Hi-Fi. (Note that the box notes incorrectly state that Abigail stars in "Number 96: The Movie"; she does, however, feature in the "Alvin" movies.)

Umbrella's series of Ozploitation movies are derived from the feature documentary, "Not Quite Hollywood" (below left), in order to satisfy demand for the original movies after the documentary's theatrical release.



"Ozploitation Volume 1" (above right) includes "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie", "Turkey Shoot", "Harlequin", "The Naked Bunyip", "Road Games", "Night of Fear" and "Inn of the Damned".



"Ozploitation Volume 2" (above left) includes "Long Weekend", "Razorback", "Fantasm", "Fantasm Comes Again", "The Chain Reaction", "Stone", "The True Story of Eskimo Nell" and the short, "The Sparks Obituary". "Ozploitation Volume 3" (above right) includes "Barry McKenzie Holds His Own", "Les Patterson Saves the World", "Mad Dog Morgan", "Felicity", "Patrick", "Australia After Dark" and "The ABC of Love and Sex".

Moving out meerkats

The Christmas tree comes down for Epiphany tomorrow, so the meerkats have packed away their Santa hats and moved outside.

This Christmas season's two ornaments were:



Christmas ornaments for 2011: a Hallmark "Where the wild things are" depiction of Max and the great sea monster (a cameo character disappointingly omitted from the recent motion picture) - an eBay "Buy it now" purchase, because I can't bear to lose an eBay auction; and a bird-handled souvenir miniature umbrella from "Mary Poppins: the Musical", which played in Sydney earlier this year.

Previous entries include:

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2007

Epiphany 2007

On the twelfth day of Christmas

On the eleventh day of Christmas

On the tenth day of Christmas

On the ninth day of Christmas

On the eighth day of Christmas

On the seventh day of Christmas

On the sixth day of Christmas

On the fifth day of Christmas

On the fourth day of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas.

Spud Trek

The best Star Trek Christmas gifts are the ones you buy for yourself: Mrs Potato Head as Uhura; Mr Potato Head as Mr Spock, Captain Kirk AND Kor the Klingon.

Today is a good day to get mashed?

Happy New Year!