Now Paul Gulacy has of course done many other books but this is the one where he first transformed into the artist we all know and love. Also I didn´t want to do another post that takes so damned long to make. I might do another one down the road about all the other comics but for the moment being we´re staying with SHANG CHI, MASTER OF KUNG FU.
Since I have started this series on the blog MASTER OF KUNG FU has gained more followers which was greatly helped by the fact that Disney has decided to make the entire series available in omnibus form. So far I haven´t gotten the first one because the cheapest you can get it at the moment is 88 Euro which is a bit above my usual omnibus price limit. I have bought only one omnibus at the regular price so far but that was a special case with SECRET WARS II. With MASTERS OF KUNG FU I´m much more of a Mike Zeck guy than a Paul Gulacy guy so IF I decide to buy one of the omnibus books at full price it has to be all Mike Zeck which will be the third book with issues 71 to 101. This should come out in March next year so the prices on the first two volumes might drop until that date.
Back to Paul Gulacy, while I like Mike Zeck´s art better he is no slouch either and in fact it was his signature habit of basing characters on well known actors and his brilliant storytelling and page layout that first shot the series to fame. In Spain there was a special edition of his issues of MASTER OF KUNG FU which is part of the reason why I haven´t run out to buy his omnibus because I still have those issues. Anyway, here is but a small selection of pages to illustrate his awe - inspiring craftsmanship.
Since all the Shang Chi links have been used up in previous posts we go directly to the entertainment block where our first candidate is Jennifer Lawrence celebrating her 26th birthday. She has successfully managed the difficult balancing act between receiving critical acclaim and gaining the regular movie goers approval with roles in Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, The Hunger Games and the latest X - Men movies.
I already posted her tittilating appearance on The Graham Norton Show and since the other videos were just excerpts from that show here is a review / critique of X - Men : Apocalypse. It is in german so not all of my readers will be able to understand it but I wanted to post it because it is not often that you find a good critique which explains why a certain movie fails. And I have to concur : after Days of Future Past which gave us a new status quo everybody expected that the movies would finally go on with the stories but we get another reboot and another new status quo.
Enough already with the constant rebooting. The idea behind having a movie franchise is that you can concentrate on stories because you spent the first one introducing the team. But the X - Men keep assembling so many new mutant teams that you could mistake them for the Avengers.
Speaking of celluloid cuties, Natasha Henstridge turns 42 who is best known as a spokesperson for the international safety belt association.
Only kidding. Of course her claim to fame is getting naked in Species or like I like to call it Spätzles as one of the sexiest aliens besides Jolene Blalock and Jeri Ryan. Since this movie and the following sequel are pretty well known I thought it would be pretty easy to find a GIF from the second movie but most were from her topless scenes in the first movie. Seems like most people won´t make an effort if there is no nudity involved. In any case, since I try to avoid nudity unless it is necessary I made my own GIF which is the reason why it took me an extra day to finish this post.
Ben Affleck celebrates his 44th birthday and I think it´s a bit surreal how he went from being the guy who ruined the Daredevil movie to being the guy who was sure going to ruin Batman and ultimately the best on screen Batman of all times and the only guy who can possibly save the cinematic DC universe. From what you hear the reason why SUPERMAN V BATMAN wasn´t a bigger trainwreck is that Ben Affleck did massive re - writes of the script. Of course now Zack Snyder gets all the credit and will probably do his best to f - word up the next DC movie. It seems some people are just untouchable no matter how much they f - word up all their movies.
Since I still haven´t seen the movie - I have a hard time paying money for a movie I will not enjoy - I don´t want to post any of his interviews so here is an episode of The Graham Norton Show where he makes an appearance together with his co - stars Henry Cavill and Amy Adams. Since I haven´t seen it yet myself I hope there are not too many spoilers.
Debra Messing turns 48 and her career has a lot of ups and downs. Currently she is on tv with one of the worst tv show remakes The Mysteries of Laura which has absolutely nothing in common with the spanish original version except the name but she was also on one of the best sitcoms ever. No, I´m not talking about Will & Grace, I´m talking about Ned and Stacy. And since I already posted a video from that show as well as an episode of Los Misterios de Laura we can go directly to our next anniversary which also is about hit tv shows. Rob Thomas celebrates his 51st birthday and he is the writer on Veronica Mars and iZombie. Usually I would use this opportunity to post something about cult siren Charisma Carpenter but I did that in quite a few posts last month so I think I should give my readers a break. So let´s talk about iZombie.
It is currently on hiatus and while I want to know how they continue I´m also wondering if they will ever get around to introduce the broader aspects of the comic book. If I was 20 years younger I would probably pity the people who only watch the show and don´t read the comic because they miss out on a lot of cool stuff - not to mention Mike Allred´s great art - but now I would say it´s their own damn fault. There also is a new tv show about Vertigo´s Lucifer comic series but they already changed just about everything from the comic and I don´t need to watch another show where the main character is using his special abilities to help the police solve murder cases. I´m watching enough cop shows as it is. Also they are probably going to use the old trope where the prota is caught in a war between heaven and hell. Could we please have a bit of originality here ?
Speaking about cop shows, David Zayas turns 54 who is best known for playing Lt Angel Batista on Dexter, one of the best shows that uses the old trope of the guy who is more than he seems and uses his special abilities to help the police solve crimes. He also plays Sal Maroni on Gotham but the less said about that show the better. Instead let´s make the jump from tv shows based on comic book heroes who were inspired by pulp novels to fantasy writers who began their career writing pulp novels.
Wolfgang Hohlbein celebrates his 63rd birthday and he had his first big break writing Der Hexer for Bastei first published in Gespenster Krimi.
As you can see this cover has been used on quite a few books.
World famous Russ Meyer actress Uschi Digard turns 68 and the question is, how does one discuss Uschi ? The extremely busty, tan, always smiling, and endearing on - screen personality appeared in so many films of the 60s and 70s that the litany of her screen credits is only rivaled by the number of aliases she worked under like Ushie Plushie or Linda Lolli.
I don´t want to say that Busenwunder Uschi was predestined to work in skin flicks ( you can ask any german guy which word rhymes with Uschi ) but she began to develop extremely big breasts at a very young age. In an interview Uschi recalls : " When I started to develop at 11 I had to strap myself in, because it wasn't seemly to have breasts, and we all wore uniforms. By age 15 I was already a 40DD. " After such a beginning Uschi could only end up in movies but she began, oddly enough, in mainstream, with a cameo in I Love You Alice B. Toklas ! with Peter Sellers. She would do other bits in Hollywood flicks like The Killer Elite, Fuzz and Kentucky Fried Movie in the fake Catholic High School Girls in Trouble trailer.
After supporting parts in Cresse's The Scavengers and a handful of other productions and taking the men’s magazine scene by storm, Uschi Digard made her Meyer debut as the best thing about Cherry, Harry & Raquel !
From 1969, Uschi didn't stop working and encountered just about every major producer and director of the sexploitation scene. She even worked in hardcore productions but she only appeared in soft scenes. Everyone who worked with Uschi loved her, a rarity in the sexploitation industry, and it's no surprise that she kept many of her co - workers as close friends for many years. Uschi worked with Russ behind - the - scenes more frequently than she did on - camera, acting as associate producer on Meyer's last two films, Up ! and Beneath The Valley of The Ultra - Vixens, before he worked her last nerve and she stormed out of his life for a spell ( as he forced many of his friends to do around this time ).
Before that, she had maybe her all - time best role as SuperSoul, Stuart Lancaster's Austrian mail - order bride who bangs him all over Lancaster's farm ( with loud exaggerated panting and in ludicrous positions ! ), then sets her eyes on Charles Pitts. You get to hear Uschi speak in german here ( one of the multitude of languages she speaks fluently along with italian and spanish ) and her knack for comedy is undeniable; she also plays a nude telephone operator who speaks in Dutch ! Another no - show in Jimmy McDonough's Meyer tome, Uschi has apparently disappeared. Though she was a public figure on the Internet back in the late 90s, selling autographed photos from her own website, the page promptly disappeared a few years later and none of her co - stars, directors or close friends have been able to find her! Wherever Uschi is, I hope she's living well and is happy and content, because she doubtlessly deserves it.
No other blog makes jumps between so different topics and so we come from german speaking sexplotation stars to german author, essayist and tv presenter Roger Willemsen who sadly passed away in February only 60 years old. At the end of his career he became a victim of his own ego very much like Alan Moore but I liked his early interview and he was a witty and charismatic guy with one of those voices you just can´t stop listening to. I´m always trying to kill two birds with one stone so instead of all the various interviews of him you find on YouTube here is his appearance on Pelzig hält sich, one of the best german kabarett shows.
It´s been a while since I had the opportunity to post a Dami Im video so here´s her flawless rendition of Best Of You by the Foo Fighters.
It has already become a tradition to include a Yaya Han video in all the MASTER OF KUNG FU MONDAY posts so you know it has nothing to do with the fact that I got to mention Russ Meyer in this post although Yaya Han could have easily starred in one of his movies with her incredible 40Ds.
Which makes finishing my big Yaya Han post extremely difficult because every time I continue I get all worked up and have to stop to prevent the post from becoming NSFW. So to help you over the dry spell until my Yaya Han post is finished here is one of two new videos I found just in time.
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