One of my favorite Christmas cards

Classic horror stars play Santa in this interior image from a card I got in 2007 from artist and dear friend Richard Olson, whose art graces several posts in this blog.

There's Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr., John Carradine and Vincent Price. All as spine-tingling Kringles!

Merry Christmas to all my friends--past, present, and future, real and virtual!

Frosty fakes 'em out

Below is a panel I scanned from the front of a Christmas card that I received a few years ago. (Art from an American Greetings card; artist not credited.)

My stuff Saturday

This bloggin' habit is a bit tricky. It doesn't pay anything, so you don't want it to become too much of a chore. On the other hand, if you only post when the spirit moves, you sometimes don't post often enough to get people to visit regularly, and your audience dwindles. (And God knows I need an audience.) Well, ya can always post movie reviews, but, hell, everyone does that. SO, I'm gonna share fantastic factoids on Thursdays, and posts about about weird stuff I own on Saturdays. And post on everything else at other, unscheduled, times. (Like the recent, first-time Dracula Con in Winber, PA, more on Wonderfest in Kentucky, and a trip to a costume shop.)

One thing in all "my stuff" is a full set of 1979 Alien bubblegum cards. I love having them. I was very young in 1979, and Alien scared the crap outta me. It's still one of the most atmospheric, claustrophobic, and suspenseful films I've ever seen. I rushed to buy the cards when they came out. I wanted to preserve those amazing images, in those days before most people had access to a vcr, to remind me how I felt watching the movie.


The photos above are ones I borrowed from someplace on the web years ago. My cards are all now in an album, although the stickers, gum, and wrappers are long gone. (Wish I still had the stickers and one wrapper.)

You can imagine how excited I was to meet the movie's title monster at the recent Wonderfest con! He was shopping in the dealer's room, but when he realized I'd recognized him (his sunglasses didn't fool me!), he left. I caught up with him in the display room and asked for his autograph, and THIS is how he responded:


In case you can't tell what he's doing, he's flipping me the bird:

Guess some celebrities still cop an attitude, even when they aren't a box-office draw anymore. Jerk. I bet none of the other stars from that film act like that toward fans, even though none of THEM have worked much in recent years EITHER!

I hear the alien from Mac and Me gladly signs autographs.

31 Days of Halloween: Feels like Halloween! (Pt. 2)

When I was a kid, I always wanted Halloween to have the cache of Christmas, and as many traditions as Christmas. So I was thrilled one year in the ' 70s to get a book of carols to sing at Halloween-- The PEANUTS Book of Pumpkin Carols.


It featured some appealing Halloween themed art emphasizing gift-giving--


And sending cards to friends to celebrate the season!

Just like Christmas.

In my post 31 Days of Halloween: Feels like Halloween! (Pt. 1) from a couple of weeks ago, I'd groused that I hadn't really truly been in a Halloween mood.

Then, in the same week, I got Halloween cards from friends AND "Monster Mash" by Bobby Pickett was played on a local station! ("Monster Mash", though I've heard at least 40 different covers of it and heard the original a hundred times or more-- hell, I even sang it in a stage musical back in the Nineties-- is the "Jingle Bells" of the spooky season. I need it to kick off Halloween.) It felt like Halloween!

I send out cards when I can for the holiday to those friends I think might like them. I try to send out as many as I can afford-- but my house-hunting (Jane and I have bought our first home) has put a crimp in my Halloween plans, time- AND money-wise. Still, Jane and I sent out a good number, and we got many cards as well. Here they are (below), ranging from cute, to creepy, to crass, and I celebrate them all.

Of course, we got a card that was the same as one I sent (I won't say which one). That happens every year at Halloween and Christmas, and amuses me every time. The fact that this year I got only one means I found some less common ones for my friends, I'm happy to say.















Of course, the Voodoo Queen and I exchanged Halloween cards and gifts. I bought Jane a cat-themed card because, well, she likes cards with cats on them.


And she bought me a cat-themed card, because, well, she likes cards with cats on them.

Our thanks to all of our friends who sent Halloween greetings-- Dixon, Jeff P., Jeff C., Sara, Jill, Rob, Raymond, Eyrdie, John C. (whose wonderful card was too big to scan), John R., Polly, Craig, Jim, Dale, Nancy, Karen, Lee, Brian, Mirek, Gary, Gord, Dave, and my family.

Now it's time to go be with my wife and enjoy the holiday AND our anniversary. YOU have a happy Halloween, whatever you are!