A Sad Tale, and Perhaps a Lesson: Ray Harryhausen’s Retirement @DenofGeekUS #DenOfGeek #MythologyMonday #MythologyMonandæg

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This is a link to a sad story for me, care of Den of Geek. It celebrates the birthday of the special effects pioneer, Ray Harryhausen. As I’ve written, I love Clash of the Titans. It was a huge part of my childhood. It’s a shame that it represents the end of an era. TL;DR: A brutal review of Clash of the Titans by a dense, visionless critic (not my favorite group of people) writing for Variety drowned out the positive reviews and disheartened Harryhausen. This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, causing him to retire from filmmaking. While his techniques had largely (not completely!) become antiquated at that point, my guess is that he would have adapted if he had stayed. We’ll never know. Even if that’s not the case, the article points out that he was more than just a special effects guy.

For the average person, social media isn’t as focused as a movie review. That is, as a non-celebrity, I don’t wake up every morning expecting an attack on my character, but the volume of commentary is so large that you’d be a fool not to think it’ll come your way eventually. Don’t let it bum you out, especially when it comes from people that don’t know you that are saying things that aren’t true.

Ray left for Olympus in 2013. Rest in peace, good sir.

Wouldn’t it be cool if he were buried on Mt. Olympus?

Follow me on Twitter @gsllc
Follow Den of Geek @DenofGeekUS


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