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Friday 30 October 2020

Monsters Mummies & Mayhem

Monsters Mummies & Mayhem AT Hollywood Museum


Location:
Hollywood, California, USA
Address: 1660 N Highland Ave.
Date: June 2019
Website:  thehollywoodmuseum.com/

    The Hollywood Museum in Los Angeles has so many movie props and memorabilia that they fill every nook and cranny.  Since it is the Halloween season we thought we would revisit their basement and a few classic horror movie icons.

Frankenstein At Hollywood Museum

  First off is an old classic, Frankenstein. While the novel was written in 1818, we are talking movies here. This Frankenstein was played by Boris Karloff in the 1931 film and is seen above with his bride from the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein.

Bela Legosi's Face At Hollywwod MuseumBoris Karloff Face At Hollywood Museum

  There were life masks of Boris Karloff and Bela Legosi. Bela Legosi had played Dracula and along with Boris was part of Universal Studio's classic monster movies.

King Kong Hollywood Museum

   Another early creature that scared audiences was the great ape, King Kong.  The original King Kong was a stop motion model.  The museum had various King Kongs on display.

The Birds At Hollywood Museum

  Flying ahead a few decades there were some birds from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.  We are not sure if these were just props or former movie stars preserved for future generations.

Elvira At The Hollywood Museum

  While not a movie monster herself, Elvira became very popular in the 1980s as a host presenting B grade horror movies.  Horror movies had never really gone away, but the 80s saw a group of classic horror villains rise to stardom and appear in numerous sequels.

Michael Meyers At Hollywood Museum

  Michael Meyers changed Haloween night forever and gained his place as one of the greatest characters in slasher film history.  Michael escapes from a sanitarium and visits his hometown for a night of fright and murder.  Jamie Lee Curtis stars as a babysitter that Michael is stalking while wearing a plain white mask.  So far there have been eleven Halloween films.

Friday The 13th Jason At The Hollywood Museum

   The next mask wearer to terrorize teenagers is Jason Voorhees from the Friday The 13th movies.  He drowned as a boy and is best known for wearing his hockey mask while slashing his way through twelve (or is it only eleven?) movies.  This franchise just has to make Friday The 13th: The 13th.

A Nightmare On Elm Street At The Hollywood Museum

  The next horror franchise to arrive in the 1980s started with A Nightmare On Elm Street.  This movie starred Freddy Krueger who terrorized teenagers in their dreams.  Johnny Depp's Hollywood dreams came true after being one of Freddy's victims.  There have only been nine movies in this series but there was a Freddy vs Jason cross-over movie made.

Chucky At The Hollywood Museum

  In the late 80s came Chucky.  He was a psychotic, knife wielding doll from the Child's Play movies.  Only 8 movies made so far.  He did find love in Bride of Chucky just like Frankenstein did over 60 years before himIf you have ever seen videos of dogs wearing costumes, and we know you have, the Chucky costume is one of the best.

Blair Witch Project At Hollywood Museum

  The museum is crammed with movie props and costumes from many other films.  There was this stick figure from The Blair Witch Project. The Blair Witch Project grossed almost 250 million dollars on a budget of less than 500 thousand.  It's shaky hand held camera work caused as much tension and fear as it did nausea.

Sweeny Todd Costume At The Hollywood Museum

   After having a role in A Nightmare On Elm Street, Johnny Depp spent a lot of time making movies with a Halloween feel to them thanks to director Tim Burton.  Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is both a Halloween and a Christmas classic.  Johnny's Sweeney Todd costume was on display. 

Monsters Inc. At Hollywood Museum

   We headed upstairs again to escape from the horrors we had seen in the basement.  We did spot a couple more monsters up in a corner.  Mike Wazowski and Sulley from Monsters Inc. are a little less creepy than the hundereds of items you can find in The Hollywood Museum's dungeon.


Map of Our World
The Hollywood Museum

Post # 292

Wednesday 30 September 2020

Schitt's Creek

CBC Studios Toronto

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 250 Front St W.
Date: February 2020
Website:  www.cbc.ca

  Canadian television show Shitt's Creek won a total of nine Emmys at the 2020 Emmy Awards Show.   This set a record for any comedy series and the wins were especially shocking for a Canadian show.  The show stars Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy of SCTV fame and various movie and television roles. The main cast also includes Eugene's son Daniel and actress Annie Murphy. They all went home with awards hand delivered to them during the socially distanced broadcast.  

Congratulations to you all! 

  Schitt's Creek is the story of a wealthy family that loses everything and is forced to live in a small town motel.  We were able to visit a part of that motel at CBC studios in Toronto.

Camera Equipment on Display At CBC Studios Toronto

   We were at the studios to watch the taping of a show that will never win an Emmy.  We were there to see Family Feud Canada.  In this version of Family Feud, Steve Harvey has been replaced by Canadian host Gerry Dee.  In order to qualify for an Emmy your show must be on an American network.  Schitt's Creek qualified since it was on Pop TV and Netflix.

Mr. Dressup Treehouse CBC StudiosMr. Dressup Treehouse CBC Studios Interior

   We waited in a huge lineup in order to enter the studio for our Family Feud Canada taping.  At the front of the line they were storing cellphones and other items before taking people up to the studio by elevator.  They take away your electronics in order to keep anyone from leaking any behind the scenes footage of the show.  While waiting in line we took turns exploring and we were able to take some behind the scenes footage of Casey's treehouse from Mr. Dressup.  Canadians of a certain age may fondly recall this show and enjoy a glimpse from behind the little blue door (above).

CBC Sports ChairCBC Sports Chair

  CBC is also known for their Canadian sports coverage.  We particulary enjoyed their Olympic coverage with sportscaster Brian Williams.  In the foyer there were a couple of chairs made out of a wide variety of sporting equipment.

Rosebud Motel Sign At CBC Studios

  On the other side of the foyer was the Rosebud Motel from Schitt's Creek.  The final season had finished filming and the prop motel sign had been brought to the studio for fans to view.  The real motel used for filming is about one hour's drive north of the CBC Studios in Orangeville, Ontario.

Schitt's Creek Motel

    With the added exposure brought to the show by it's Emmy Award sweep, we are sure a new wave of Schitt's Creek  fans will want to connect with the down on their luck Rose family.  If the prop is still at the studio they can do just that.  Family Feud Canada is airing its second season in October 2020 if you want to connect with other Canadian families hoping to increase their fortune by $10,000 dollars.


Map of Our World
CBC Studios

Post # 291

Tuesday 25 August 2020

Immersive Van Gogh

Immersive Van Gogh Toronto

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  1 Yonge Street
Date:  August 2020
Website:  vangoghexhibit.ca

  Vincent van Gogh is one of the world's most famous painters.  His work is world renowned.  Now his paintings are part of an interesting exhibit where his work is dissected, animated and projected onto walls.  The artwork is accompanied by music which brings it all together.  We visited Immersive Van Gogh when it arrived in Toronto.  There is both a drive through and a walk through experience.  We took part in both experiences.

Immersive Van Gogh Toronto Drive Through

   For the drive through experience we waited on the street outside.  When it was our turn we were directed up to a receiving ramp.  We drove into a white walled room and followed the staff diections to park our car.  It wasn't long until the lights dimmed and the show began.

Immersive Van Gogh Toronto Drive Through

The music began and the works of Van Gogh started to come to life.  A bright yellow sun moved across the sky.

Immersive Van Gogh Toronto Drive Through

The sky changed colour in front of us as the day passed by. 

Immersive Van Gogh Toronto Drive Through

  Van Gogh painted many windmills that he saw in Monmartre, Paris.  During our immersive experience we could see the blades of the windmills turning in the wind.  This is very different from a regular art gallery where you interpret one frozen moment captured in the art.

Immersive Van Gogh Toronto Drive Through

  During the drive through experience our car was surrounded by the art.  There was Van Gogh on the passenger side.

Immersive Van Gogh Toronto Drive Through

    There was Van Gogh to be viewed through the front windshield.

Immersive Van Gogh Toronto Drive Through

    There was Van Gogh out the driver side window too.  We could see it between the parked cars.

Immersive Van Gogh Toronto Drive Through

    The exhibit features some of Van Gogh's most famous paintings.  Vincent Van Gogh only painted for a period of about 10 years before committing suicide at the age of 37.  In that time he painted over 850 oil paintings.  Some of the best known are The Bedroom (above) and The Sunflowers (top of blog).

Immersive Van Gogh Toronto Drive Through

    Van Gogh's most famous painting of all is The Starry Night.

 The Starry Night Vincent Van Gogh At MOMA New York

    We were lucky to see the priceless original hanging in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

 Immersive Van Gogh Toronto Drive Through

    Eventually the music and animation stopped and credits rolled up the walls.  The lights turned on and we were guided out into the streets.  We really enjoyed seeing the works of Van Gogh come to life around us.  We would be back again soon as our tickets also included a walk through experience. 


Map of Our World
Immersive Van Gogh
Museum of Modern Art

Post # 290