Cool Ass Kalls Me Kreativ! I Kid You Knot!

One of the very nicest things ever said about my me or my blog was said last month by Brian Chiba at his blog, Cool Ass Cinema. He said of TDSH, "If the wonderful Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine had an adult oriented sense of humor, the result would look something like this blog...It's a very creative site that monster fans who like to laugh should check out."

I don't know Brian, so I was unprepared for the compliment, but I was very touched. As someone whose life was partly shaped by Forry Ackerman and FMOF (props to Jim Warren too, of course), I couldn't have been happier to be compared to famous "Uncle Forry." Thanks, Cool Ass!

But I do know Brian's blog. Cool Ass is "A site dedicated to the propagation of strange and exciting cinema (and television) from all over the world as well as America's own grand tradition of exploitation cinema classics." In other words, it showcases the best of the worst, the weird, and the trashy. In more other words, it's fun! Cool Ass Cinema is dedicated to helping readers remember "those classic (and sometimes classless) films of old, and even discover some new ones," as it says on its banner. A great mission.

So now I have a new badge-o-honor to wear here! Although, having seen variations of the award at other blogs, I'm not sure it's a badge, or--



--a tablecloth, wallpaper sample, or napkin?

Or even possibly a graphic from a futuristic aspirin commercial:

My first reaction to seeing the badge was one of laughter..."KREATIV? So maybe one of the creative aspects celebrated by this meme was spelling? "KREATIV"? (I was guessing it was started by a marketing person at the "SyFy" channel.) So I did a little poking around to figure out how that spelling started.

Oog! Was I wrong! The award apparently started with a German-speaking blogger; "kreativ" is the German equivalent to the English "creative." Ist gut, ja! (That'll teach me to shoot my mouth off! But I can't help it--I'm a son-of-a-gun!*)

Which graphic do YOU like best? Or maybe it should be this one I knocked out--

Who knew Bismarck looked so much like Bram Stoker's description of Count Dracula?**

Next post, I'll share my list of honorees I've picked. (Have a blog? I can be bribed with large denominations sent in plain brown wrappers. )



*My daddy was Lewis Grizzard. Or not.

**Hey, before I get hate mail, many of my ancestors were German!