Halloween bargain time! I recently purchased several $1 Horror Double-Feature DVDs from my local Dollar Tree store, hoping to find a few gems among the public domain goodness, and figuring that for 50¢ a movie I couldn't go wrong. How right I was. Today I review the first gem unearthed from the pile, and a better half-buck I have seldom spent. Read on...

Everyone is looking for that one thing that will make him happy, that will provide him with the inner peace he needs to finally stop all his striving and struggling and just enjoy the mystery of being. For some, that thing seems to be money. For others, it's love. Still others seek achievement in a chosen field, such as voodoo or Eastern mysticism. And for others, the only thing that will let them truly enjoy life is the freedom from the worry of death. In the low-budget Spanish horror masterpiece Vengeance of the Zombies, we get a view into all these disparate but interconnected struggles, and in the end are left to question what we, the viewers, truly need in order to be happy.

It's easy to get caught up in the rush to exploit tragedy for personal or political gain--and because of that fact harder for many people (myself included) to retain their faith in the basic goodness of humanity at times. Though I try. I was disheartened more than angry about the ABC miniseries The Path to 9/11 that sought to use the tragedy to further attack Bill Clinton's legacy (even star Harvey Kietel had problems with it, not to mention former FBI agents hired to vett it who later resigned), much as I'm more discouraged than pissed off at the political need of just about everybody in office near a microphone to begin their partisan support of whatever pet project they're pushing with the knee-jerk phrase, "Since 9/11..." It just makes me sad that we had an opportunity to come together as a country, and for reasons that will continue to be the province of debate, spin, and subjective reasoning, we blew it in a big way.

That said, I think this article, which posits an alternative history to the post-9/11 events had different decisions been made, is rather interesting and worth a read. Some might see it as a blatant slam against Bush, and maybe it is, a little--but it's become clearer and clearer to all but about 36% of us give or take that some of the decisions made were not the best. So anyway, give it a look.

Also, on this somber occasion, a poem for my grandmother.

That's all.

In which I give a fair and balanced review of the aging rockers, make incendiary comments about their openers, detail the wonderful people-watching parade at the concert, and come face-to-face, practically, with a real Little Rock n' Roll Legend.

So last week, quite by accident, I found myself at the 20 year anniversiary show of two bands who started when I was in high school--Cinderella and Poison.

Now I was never a big glam-rock fan in high school. I went straight from listening to 50s and 60s classics with my dad (The Drifters are still one of my favorite groups ever) to Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, and the horror-metal stylings of King Diamond. There's a connection there, somewhere, I just haven't cemented it yet. However, at the same time I was discovering Bruce Dickinson, Ozzy Osbourne, and Ronnie James "Fucking" Dio (Respect the Rainbow Warrior!), my buddy and bandmate Jon Parham was having nothing but a good time with the likes of Warrant, Bon Jovi, and of course Poison and Cinderella. And to his credit as a loyal fan, he never abandoned these favorites of his youth, a fact which put him in line for merciless teasing in Mad Hatter practice sessions. ("What was the first metal show you ever went to?" "It was a Poison show." "No, it wasn't...")

Sturgeon Cross Body-Blocks Jet Skiier!

I hope the dude's okay, but I'm wondering if the fish had had enough of the noisy neighbors upstairs and just SNAPPED.

"Officials at the time said similar accidents occur once or twice a year on the river and that [sturgeons] can jump as high as 8 feet in the air and can weigh up to 200 pounds."

Warning to watercraft users: the fish are after your ass.

by Stephen Cassar.

Congratulations, Stephen. I hope you sell a bunch of them.

I also hope you'll contact me--here. I'd really like to catch up.

Don't that make your Halloween?

With apologies to Trout Fishing in America.

Mon(k)ey quote from the article:
"We hope to take advantage of a hungry monkey."

I don't know why this makes me so happy.

And reveal to you all my deep dark secret...

The third and final part of my World Horror Convention trip journal, posted for your edification and small amusement.
Wherein I get to be a tourist, get mistaken for a beggar, chat with a dominatrix, get chatted up by a horror fan, eat squid, finally get my interview, and have so much to tell you that I literally run out of ink at the end and have to stop.

5/14/2006
11:05am

Such a busy day yesterday I didn't even get to write it up. But now I'm on the plane from SF to Dallas & have nothing to do but look out the window & write.

I haven't been reading as much as I'd like, but I have been keeping tabs on those few books I do read, and reviewing some (but not all of them) on my Books I Have Read 2006 forum. Anyway, I just put a long review there for a book I got for free at the World Horror Convention, EarthCore by Scott Sigler. A good read for Crichton lovers. Check out the full review for detail.

Part two of my World Horror Convention trip journal, posted for your edification and small amusement.
Wherein I visit a landmark, meet a movie star, watch a 1960s nudie film with him, and grumble over my cups about grievances that later turned out to be completely without merit.

5/12/2006
6:56 pm

Well, it's been a very busy first day at the WHC, following a very long day yesterday. To summarize quickly:

Finally rolled into SF last night at 10:30pm local (12:30am biological). Getting off the plane gave me my second wind, so I met Dave [Lindschmidt, editor-in-chief of City Slab whom I'd only known via email and phone calls prior to this] finally and we had a meet & eat/planning session. Dave seems a good guy--we don't see entirely eye-to-eye on politics, but we're both open-minded, so that's cool. My hotel is a lot nicer than I thought it'd be, esp. given the special convention rate of