Classic toys of yesteryear: Morticia

A nearly 5' tall Morticia Addams doll, made by Aboriginals Ltd. and sold at F. A. O. Schwartz. Produced in 1962, prior to the ABC television show.

A future equal parts Frankenstein and George Romero

One of the U. S. military's technology contractors is developing a robot that has one of the most horrifying applications of any ever used on a battlefield: the ability TO EAT THE DEAD!

Good lord. Read more about it here.

My childhood innocence has died...

...because I found this photo in a magazine from several years ago:



OOOOOHHHHH, ROOOOOB!

Looks like Mary's got spunk!

THE DRUNKEN SEVERED HEAD SHOW gets its first review!!

Respected film blog HONG KONG AND CULT FILM NEWS has posted the first review of my short film, THE DRUNKEN SEVERED HEAD SHOW. (So much for it staying respected.) I got a glowing notice by singularly-named film critic Porfle. Here's a sample line: "...Even after repeated viewings, I seem to notice something completely different every time. Last time I watched it, I noticed that my toenails needed trimming!"

This is just the kind of nuanced praise I was hoping for (or expecting, anyway.) As New York stage and radio actor Craig Wichman has said of the film, "For people who like this kind of movie, this is the kind of movie they will like."

The full review can be read here. It's even illustrated with a funny picture (made with real pixels) created by Hollywood documentary maker Ted Newsom!

Send off for the film, complete with commentaries, deleted scenes, and stills, by writing to me here!

Goodbye, Michael

The death of the "King of Pop" has had a strong impact on many people; news coverage of memorials to Jackson have been ubiquitous. After avoiding mentioning it here during the all the hoopla, I finally am ready to post on the subject.

I have mixed feelings about the man himself and the amazing amount of grief expressed at his death. He changed pop music. And was an important figure in pop culture for decades. For years now, however, it was for the wrong reason; it was for his ability to generate news for the tabloids.

But, like millions of others, I still have warm memories of seeing the video for the song "Thriller" for the first time. The song replaced "Monster Mash" for the post-Boomer generations as THE anthem of Halloween, my favorite holiday.

I taught Arts and Crafts at an inner-city Boys Club (pre-head-severing, of course) at the time of the album's amazing success, and I remember how in love the kids were with it and videos spawned from it. Kids at the club liked showing me (and everyone else) the dance moves they copied from the videos.




As a child in the monster craze of the 1960s, I was glad to know that many post-Boomer kids were introduced to the talents of director John Landis, makeup artist Rick Baker, and actor Vincent Price for the first time through the "Thriller" video.

Much of Michael Jackson's life was tragic and unpleasant, both for himself and the public. Sadly, he reached a point in his obsession with plastic surgery that he looked less real than wax versions of himself.


A replica of Michael Jackson at Madame Tussaud's:

It's undeniable that Jackson's music was more meaningful to many people than the sordid news that swirled about him, and that the grief fans around the world have expressed was real, and deep.


A very moving tribute to Jackson's impact can be found at Cameron McCasland's blog The Red Headed Revolution. Another post I recommend on the subject can be found at Daydreaming in Darkness. My favorite line: "It was the fact that he was so abnormal, so outside of the norm, that he became unique, even if he looked like some kind of musical Bizarro Superman. And how refreshing that was in a media landscape progressively possessed by the vacuous reality-show sameness of everybody in it."

Still, comedy and satire can tell the truth about a subject in ways straight reporting and personal testimony can't, and has its place even in times of mourning. The Onion has certainly told a form of truth about Jackson in this faux news obit.

More pointedly, Jackson's deterioration was satirized in a recent caricature mask (that you can buy here):

I won't be buying it. But if YOU do, be careful who you wear it around. You might get hurt.

The grief of his fans has restored some measure of dignity to the subject of the talented-but-strange "King of Pop," although the news of his passing sparked some weirdness, such as the headline "CELEBS TWEET FINAL RESPECTS TO MICHAEL JACKSON", and his public memorial, attended by thousands, had some elements of the bizarre, according to this report at Salon.com:

Inside the biggest, weirdest funeral ever

An unconventional, passionately angry reaction to Jackson's memorials can be read at this novelist's blog.

I remember the death of Elvis Presley. I think the death of "the King of Pop", has caused an even bigger reaction than the death of "the King", although it will be many years before we know whose life had a bigger impact on music history.

Rest in peace in the true Neverland, Michael.

Rest in Peace, Oscar Mayer

Oscar G. Mayer Jr., former chairman of the Oscar Mayer meat company, has gone to the great hot dog stand in the sky.

His company made products I associate with happy summer days and carnival concessions.

I wonder if he ever drove this car--and if he did it with relish...

July 18th: Help Dr. Creep!

A benefit concert to help long-time Ohio horror host Dr. CREEP (Barry Hobart) will be held July 18th, from noon to 10 p.m. at the Snyder Park Band Shell in Springfield Ohio. The free event--donations gratefully accepted--promises to be a blast; there will TEN bands on the bill, as well as "games, food and fun!"

Dr. Creep was the host of the show Shock Theater, broadcast from Dayton's WKEF from 1972 to 1985. It was revived as a public access program from 1999 to 2005. Dr. Creep is featured in the recently released documentary on horror hosts, American Scary.

Well, the Dr. is having hospital trouble--as mad scientists often do--but this time he's incurred heavy bills due to serious health issues, and his friends are organizing a fun fundraiser for him.

Here's one of his friends, G. Howie Bledsoe, Embalmer (a/k/a Art Bausman, who in real is noted for his charitable work, and as the organizer of annual party called "Frank-en-Fest", where many different kinds of food, frankfurters and Frankenstein films are served up outdoors.).

Bledsoe and Creep at Horror-Fest:

Hobart, like Bausman, is also known for his charity work, having co-founded Project Smiles, an organization "which collects toys for needy children in the Dayton area around the holidays."



The Benefit Concert to Help Dr. Creep is organized by A. Ghastlee Ghoul (Bob Hinton) a public access horror host whose program The Ghastlee Movie Show has been airing since 1989!