Horror Movie Classics Part I

OK - dear friends, I'm back as promised.

By the way - the game download didn't work...arrrggg!

Still, that is not what I have on the agenda for today as my discussion topic.

Instead let me tell you a little bit about this purchase I made a couple of years ago. In the bargain bin at Best Buy was the 'Collectors Edition' of Horror Movie Classics.



Now I got this little gem for only $14.99 plus tax - and it came with count them with me...ten - that's right TEN classic horror films. That's roughly a dollar fifty per film.

And now you ask - was it worth it?

Well...

Here's what I'm gonna do.

And I want you to realize I'm doing this for the both of us - not just myself.

I'm gonna watch all these films this summer and review them for you. And if you're really fired up about watching one - and you can't find it on Netflix - I may be willing to loan you a copy.

So...

First Up!

The Terror!



So here is the 'plot' of this film in a nutshell.

You have a very, young Jack Nicholson (this is pre "Easy Rider" days). Who plays a French soldier lost on the beach. As I watched the film I could just imagine him starting his role with a very bad French accent and the director just finally saying, "Jack just play the role with your regular voice!"

Young Jack sees a beautiful woman who disappears as he passes out. When he comes to, some old witch woman is nursing him back to health. Her toady, some dude that dies in a really cool way (a bird pecks his eyes out half way through the film and he falls to his death from a cliff) - tells Young Jack the ghost woman can be found in some castle on top of a cliff.

Young Jack goes to investigate and this is where he finds Boris Karloff puttering around all alone with his lackey butler. There are a lot of scenes of people walking down big staircases, women in white walking through the mist of a graveyard and lots and lots and lots of organ music.

So was it good? Not really. Twenty minutes into the thing I was already tired of the slow pace. I mean I love Gothic stuff, but you don't need five minutes of a girl walking around a crypt when two minutes would do.

I felt bad for the actors. Jack Nicholson is full of life and seems to know he's on the verge of a great career. While Boris Karloff is clearly at the end of his. It's sad to see him relegated to such a role and such a film. He's clearly the best actor in the film and while he gets top billing Young Jack burns probably twice the amount of screen time.

Still, maybe ole Boris didn't mind sitting in his trailer most of the time, letting Young Jack run around and do all the work while he got paid half as much as the master.

Would I watch it again...hell - I barely made it through the first time.

Let's hope the next nine days are an improvement.

Two skulls out of Five - (mostly for atmosphere which was cool and kinda creepy - and for the ghost girl who was pretty hot)

Can You Ever Forgive Me

Now I realize that when we got into this realtionship there were a couple of expectations.

1. You promised that you would read what I wrote and in turn...

2. While I promised to write on a regular basis and not sleep around.

Well, I have not been sleeping around, but I have really let you down.

So for that I'm really, really sorry. For what it's worth I'm back.

Right now, I've just downloaded a game, which I'm gonna try out (I'll get back to you on what it's like)

So more tomorrow...I promise.

Love ya all - and...oh yeah

I'M BACK!

So Here I Am

I was walking through the woods today...something I've been doing lately and which I find very relaxing. And I was reviewing my goals for this year, and I think I'm doing pretty good.

I lost 70 pounds.

I've got about thirty pages left of Zombacolypse!

and I'm alot more laid back when it comes to the spiritual enlightenment.

So where do I still need to go?

Well...

This summer I'd like to start working out. I think if I can loose another fifteen pounds and firm everything up I'd be pretty happy.

I know where Zombacolypse! is going, but I'm stuck on the climax. I've got all the characters in place, I've got the setting - I think I know what's in the magic box and I know who has to die and who has to live. Problem is making it all work and come together. It's like a jigsaw puzzle for your creative mind. Ughh...

I think more time for meditation and talking with the big guy upstairs would help. Other than that, I'm growing flowers, I'm walking, I'm eating better. Life could be worse...

Winding Down

Well, my week long vacation is coming to an end. Tomorrow I'm going to hopefully record half the podcast my friend Will and I are doing of a novel I wrote a couple of years ago called "Blackwater". By next Saturday we will hopefully have recorded the whole thing and then we'll go through the process of editing and adding the music. My old friend Devil Blair is going to supply the music and hopefully we can have the podcast up and going on Itunes by the end of May.

I feel kind of bad that I'm starting a new project when I haven't even finished Zombacolypse! However, I think maybe standing back and giving it some room right now might not be a bad idea.

I let you know how the recording goes.

Pig out...

Must Find Time To Breathe

Had today off. Planned on sleeping until noon, however there was too much for this pig to do. I am kinda happy with the end results. So let's take stock shall we?


I let the wifeunit sleep in while I...

Uploaded my Ipod - Podcasts
Cleaned the house
Did the laundry

Then as she got up around 10:30 I...

Went to the grocery store
Made lunch
Continue to do laundry

I then went in the office to...

Fix spelling and grammar errors on Blackwater
Continue to do laundry

Wifeunit fell asleep, so I...

Went and bought some new tabacco for my pipe
Went on an hour long hike through the woods (very peaceful)

Come home and...

Made dinner
Continued to do laundry
Did dishes

After dinner I...

Wrote the first three pages for Blackwater
Fixed page numbering problems on Blackwater and The Sorcerers Orphan
Finished laundry

Now I'm...

Catching up on Facebook
Catching up on Blogging

Next I'm gonna...

Take a hot bath
Go to bed by ten

A productive yet relaxing day...

not bad Crimson Pig...not bad at all!

What A Strange And Wonderful World In Which We Live

So I've subscribed to a podcast called "Tapestry of The Times". If you haven't heard of it, I suggest you give it a try. The Smithsonian Institute releases some of their vast collection once a week and you hear anything from 1930's blues, to songs sung during the Civil War, to Chilean folk songs about lamas, to Indonesian pop song's from 1977.

Last week the topic was songs about Joe Hill.

Now for those of you like myself who didn't know who Joe Hill was, I learned a little info from my podcast as well. Joe Hill was a labor activist, who lived around the turn of the twentieth century. He was executed for a crime he didn't commit in Utah. The man tried to keep him down, but instead they made a martyr of him. When he died he was quoted as saying, "Don't Mourn - Organize!"



Now I had always known Joe Hill as the novelist of the horror novel - "Heart Shaped Box"



And if he looks familiar, that's because his father is a little know horror author himself. You may have heard of the guy, I think his name is something like Stephen King.

Anyway, I get to listening to these songs about Joe Hill they're playing on the "Tapestry of the Times" and I love them. So I start downloading a couple for the Ipod.

Strange.

I never knew I liked songs about Unionizing. I wonder what other wonderful stuff there is out there that I'll discover at some point in my life?

Can't wait to find out.

Re-Cap of March

Well,

Zombacolypse is up and running. I've posted and people say they are reading it. My friend Scoot is the most vocal with his comments which really fire me up and make we want to keep writing. It's amazing how far a little support goes. Even when he's just Facebooking me with spelling corrections I love it. Plus he's very good at telling me when I'm running late on the next installment. He's like my own little cheerleading group...fire and love to you my man Scoot (love ya)!

The whole situation at work panned out as things such as that usually do. Funny how in the future we can look back and see how silly it all is, but when you're in the thick of it all it seems so important. There is that taoist philosophy coming in again. You see, when we're all done and gone, how we treat one another is all that matters. Actually, I'm getting two assistants next year and check this (they are twins)!!! How freaking cool is that. They are both hard workers, funny and very, very cool. I can't wait to work, talk horror movies with them and laugh, laugh, laugh. I'm a very happy little pig.

I think success does lie ahead, but not in ways I once expected (I find the universe tends to work like this) - I'm stoked about the podcast. I'm talking with my friend Lauren about getting the equiptment/software together. I re-printed/re-bound the book for my actor friend Will to start reading, and I talked to my friend Devin about recording some music for the podcast. The cool part is, everyone else seems just as excited as me! That makes the whole thing so much cooler. I have to admit that I've kinda lost steam on the zombie novel, however I only have the climax and resolution to finish. I already know what the resolution is gonna look like, it's just the climax I can't quite figure out. I walked away from it for awhile, but I can't do that forever. If the blog on Livejournal catches up with where I left off, Scoot ain't gonna like waiting a month for the last seven or eight chapters.

I don't know if you can tell by the tone of my recent entries, but I am much more optimistic about everything right now. The diet is on stabilization, which is great because I can have the occasional burrito. I feel great, I look better. The zombie novel is no longer hanging around my neck like some dead sea bird (how's that for a literary reference)!? Anyway, things are looking pretty good for this little piglet.

I say...bring on April (Yes, yes I know it's already April...why must you be so literal)?