Die Hard, Blade Runner And The Movie Tie-In.

Since the dawn of time, the film industry has looked to novels for inspiration, frequently mining books, comics and graphic novels for movie fodder. Conversely, movies that were scripted without any pre-existing source material were routinely adapted into comic or novel form (the novelisation). To close the loop, novels that were adapted into movies would later be re-released, featuring artwork from the film (and occasionally a title change), to create what is known as the movie tie-in. These rebranded novels were sometimes completely different to the film. Some might even suggest that slapping a celebrity's face onto a novel is a cynical attempt to cash in on the adaptation's success. Case in point:

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey Trading Cards.

Much has been written about Stanley Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. I have no intention of adding to the noise. Instead, I've created a set of 2001: A Space Odyssey trading cards, plugging a gaping hole in the pop culture stream while simultaneously avoiding doing anything real or worthwhile or meaningful with my weekend. Enjoy!

Click on the TRADING CARDS tab to see more of the set.

View-Master Mock-up: Taxi Driver.

Between 1970 and 1981, GAF produced the Talking View-Master. This monstrosity used similar reels to the more common model, with the addition of a plastic record attached. Each time you pressed the lever to change the slide, an audio clip lasting 10 to 20 seconds would play. Unsurprisingly, the sound quality was terrible. An extensive breakdown of this and other View-Master models can be found here.

Inspired by the outlandishness of the Talking View-Master, I've created my next unlikely reel package - this time featuring Martin Scorsese's 1976 ode to urban decay, Taxi Driver.