015 #blogjune 2020 - EQ PHONE HOME - part TWO

015 #blogjune 2020

 " I'll be right here."
- ET

Song of the Blog:
"Boy, you're an alien, your touch so foreign
It's supernatural, extraterrestrial"
 - Katy Perry

In 1982, the year I turned 15, the world was obsessed with this little alien called ET - and so was I... The movie made a huge impression on me. I have seen it numerous times, own the DVD have the soundtrack and whenever I was at a Madame Tussaud I would have to get a picture taken with that 'creature'. Ok - real fans of my blogs might remember last year's one with a similar theme (here) - but this is the special edition... with more bits!

I got the toy (of course) and collected any clippings I could find to paste into an exercise book that I have kept all those years. Bits from magazines, snippets from newspapers, photos, you name it. I even bought an extra copy of the EPPO magazine in week 49, just so I could cut it up and stick it in the book. At that time I thought it would be SO cool to have an actual ET mask like in the picture. Now, I think it looks rather creepy!!

The other day I was reading some old Batman comics, when one of the bad guys was actually wearing a mask that reminded me a lot of that ET one! - There have been some fun ET cameos in other comics as well.In Uncanny X-Men #245 (1989) we not only see ET - but Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Jawas, Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, Yoda, the Xenomorph Alien and Alf! I love those little Easter Eggs in comics.

Toy-wise, I still have the original larger ET from 1982 - but I have since acquired an Elliot on the famous bike (that sits in front of a moon lamp!) and another version of the friendly alien. Plus for one of my birthdays I got the awesome spaceship that takes the little guy back to his home planet.

011 #blogjune - The "Q" that stands for eRiQ!

"Out of the night - When the full moon is bright - Comes the horseman known as Zorro!- This bold renegade - Carves a "Z" with his blade - The "Z" that stands for "Zorro!"- Zorro! - The fox so cunning and free! - Zorro! - Who makes the sign of the "Z!"- Zorro! Zorro! Zorro! Zorro!"

- Theme song

Remembering the old days of Zorro. Amazing, when you realise this masked man made his debut in the 1919 novel "The Curse of Capistrano". That's 100 years ago! The character has since appeared in many films and several TV series, like the well-known Disney-produced Zorro series of 1957–59, starring Guy Williams. No - not the NZ comedian... It would have probably been THIS series that was shown on Dutch television when I was a little boy. Plus there was a comic strip version in the PEP magazine.

Of course, as a little boy back then, I wanted to BE Zorro and I clearly remembered my dad creating a black Zorro hat out of carton, making it possible for me to cosplay back in the early 70s. I didn't think there were any photos of me from that time, but out of the blue one of my cousins send me a screen grab from a very old film of myself donning the infamous mask and cape. This was many months ago and I was promised a copy of the video. Sadly family members don't always deliver on their promises and I am STILL waiting for the file to arrive in the Q-inbox.

Back in 2003, at a council Christmas party, I once again donned the black cape. This time influenced by the Antonio Banderas version. At the end of the Hollywood themed party, that had a lot of posters from my personal movie-poster collection on the wall, we all signed a large mexican sombrero (~Zorro eRiQ ~ ) - My son managed to get some photos taken in the outfit back at home, before it was returned the costume hire place.  Coincidentally, the son of Zorro is known as Don Q! Which actually is the name of my favourite brand of Vodka!
This year, as I was chatting to my friend in Florida, I mentioned how Zorro was Spanish for FOX (his surname). He had never known that for all of his life, even though he took some Spanish at high school.
Now that Disney has acquired Fox - it might remind them to bring back this "fox so cunning and free", who after all was the major inspiration for one other masked crusader. Yup.. BATMAN!