May 7: Death of a Giant

I'm going to take a little departure from the normal subject matter of Saint Marty to write about the death of a giant who created giants.

When I was a kid, my oldest brother took me to see the movie Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.  Aside from displaying nearly naked women, the movie also had special effects created by Ray Harryhausen.  It had a walking, killing, bronze Minaton; an immense sabre-toothed tiger; and a goofy, giant troglodyte.  I was immediately hooked.

On the weekends, I watched Creature Features on TV, including other Harryhausen flicks like Mysterious Island and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.  By today's special effects standards, the stop-motion creatures in all of these movies are laughably unrealistic.  But that's what made them so great.  They didn't pretend to be real.  There was something magical about them.  Ray Harryhausen didn't aspire for realism with his work.  He aspired from something less tangible.  Call it what you want--imagination, fairy tale, myth.  Harryhausen didn't want to create horrifying life.  Rather, he wanted to create three-dimensional wonder.

Ray Harryhausen died today at the age of 92.  He did immense things in his lifetime.  He got to work with his idol, King Kong creator Willis O'Brien.  Harryhausen's work was the gold-standard of special effects for decades.  Even George Lucas paid homage to Harryhausen with a little chess game aboard the Millennium Falcon in the original Star Wars (before it was Episode IV:  A New Hope).

Not too many people know (or will remember) the name Ray Harryhausen.

But ten-year-old Saint Marty will never forget him, not to mention his troglodyte frolicking with a very nude princess on the shores of the lake in Hyperborea.

Ray and a few friends

February 10: "Clash of the Titans," Poetry, Desperate

Harryhausen and friends

Currently, I'm watching the film Clash of the Titans.  Not the new version.  I'm talking about the real Clash of the Titans, with Harry Hamlin in his toga and plenty of bare breasts flapping in the wind.  And, of course, the special effects of the great Ray Harryhausen.  I'm showing the film to my mythology classes next week.  I thought I'd better preview it, to make sure the DVD didn't skip or freeze.  I'd forgotten how good this movie really is.

It's been a fairly long day.  I taught the second graders this afternoon.  I'm not sure how well my lesson worked.  I was only there for about an hour, and the atmosphere of the classroom was just this side of controlled chaos.  I liked the kids, and they seemed to respond to what I was doing.  Whether they learned anything or not, well, that's another matter.  However, it's over and done.  I don't feel as good about it as I thought I would.  Maybe I will in a couple of days.

I'm still struggling to find the money to pay the taxes next week.  I had to go grocery shopping this afternoon.  We were completely out of diapers.  The shopping list wasn't long, but I still ended up spending over $100.  It sucked.  And now, I'm even shorter on funds than I thought I was going to be.  I'm trying to trust that God will help me, but God better send His check in the mail pretty soon.

Okay, Harry Hamlin in his toga is about to battle a titan.  I'm going to have to sign off.  Plus, there's another nude scene coming up.

Saint Marty is ready.  Bring on the breasts and  the Kraken.