Billy and I have been playing around with the opensource stopmotion stop-animation application. He has created this short with his Lego.

I’ve always been a fan of Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion effects, and Billy has become a fan too. We’ve started watching all of the old films again, and here’s what we think of the ones we’ve watched so far (in chronological order).

Earth vs The Flying Saucers (1956)
This is a real B-Movie. That’s not always a problem, but the story is pretty diabolical. Effects are good for their day, but there aren’t really enough of them, and the actors in rubber alien costumes are terrible. It’s a shame Ray wasn’t allowed to animate the aliens. The movie tagline was “Warning! Take Cover! Flying Saucers Invade Our Planet! Washington, London, Paris, Moscow Fight Back!”. 5/10

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
I like this film. The difference in the effects in this one compared to ‘Earth vs The Flying Saucers’ is amazing, and the story is great too. Animated monsters include: Cyclops, a sword-wielding skeleton, a two-headed Roc and a dragon. Brilliant. 7/10

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Definitely my favourite Harryhausen film. Talos is still as scary today as he was when I was 7. We’ve watched this film over and over. As a kid I remember watching open mouthed as Poseidon appeared in the sea holding open the ‘Clashing Rocks’. 9/10

It was my birthday on Sunday, and I got some brilliant gifts.

Billy bought me Spider-man 2 for the PS2. I think he had an ulterior motive on this one, but the game is fantastic fun none-the-less. As our friendly neighbourhood spider-man you get to swing and climb around the whole of NY, yes you really get the freedom of the City. One of Billy’s favourite things to do is to climb right to the top of the point of the Empire State Building then dive off into the air ensuring a webswing occurs before he becomes spidey-mush on the pavement.

I also got a brilliant book on Ray Harryhausen. If the name rings a bell, it could be because of the name of the sushi bar in Monsters Inc, or hopefully it’s because like me you loved the movies that this guy made. Ray is in my mind the master of stop animation, and was responsible for some of my favourite films when I was a kid. I have loved the movie Jason and the Argonauts for as long as I can remember, and the scene when the giant bronze statue Talos turns his rusty head around still sends shivers up my spine. Every Christmas and Bank Holiday I used to pray for a repeat of it. Seems weird now we all have videos and dvds, I guess my kids are spoilt. The book features stacks of images and sketches of all the creatures he has ever created on the small screen, and even some that never made it. It tells the story of Ray’s inspiration from the work of Willis O’Brian (who animated Kong) and how he set up his own studio at home to create some of his masterpieces.

I also finally got a copy of The War Magician to read, so I’ll post a review after I’ve read it, and Annie bought me a lovely hand-painted recorder from Peru. What she was doing there I’ll never know.