the Roads of Autumn Dusk

SATURDAY's COVER(ed) # 34

2012-01-07T16:43:00.000-08:00

I'm a big JUDAS PRIEST fan. Although to be honest, I don't like them quite as much as I do IRON MAIDEN. I also think MAIDEN is just a better band, on all accounts (kinda like saying KANSAS is Better than Styx, but liking them both; which I do too)

The cover art for Priest's 2005 album, ANGEL OF RETRIBUTION (see below) is my choice for Saturday's Covered! I love the concept of a futuristic-looking mechanized and armored angel. Yeah, it's not a new idea but I think the execution by the artist really works. Then again, I always like Warren Worthington III (Marvel's Angel from the X-Men) in ALL of his incarnations and uniforms.

On this CD, Priest gives a good musical "bang for your buck." The three standout tracks are the first (track 1) "Judas Rising" which is just a fast, jamming, double-attack on the twin-axes, power metal burner; typical Priest equals great song. The second great song on the album is the beautiful ballad "Angel." Rob Halford can still sing. This would have been a great song for the still-lamented Joss Weedon television series ANGEL (starring David Boreanaz). But for me, the coup de grace of the disc is the last epic track LOCHNESS which clocks in at a whopping 13 minutes & 24 seconds. This last song is heavy, sludgy (ala early Black Sabbath) grimy, and full of cold, dark, peaty, monter-filled water..... Nessie would love it; I do!

Ciao Monster-Music lovers.

r/e

WHAT SANTA BROUGHT ME FOR CHRISTMAS

2011-12-31T09:10:00.000-08:00

OKAY... so I didn't get the Doctor Who collection of mini-mates (all 10 of the Doctors in Lego-like coolness)... I did get this awesome tee-shirt (below)
My son, MothT bought me this shirt because he knows that DOCTOR WHO is my all-time (I mean #1 period!) favorite television show (the CLASSIC WHO, Pertwee, BAKER, Davison). Now rogue evolent is ready to meet Rassilon himself for tete-a-tete in the High Council of Gallifrey!

The boy also got me SEASON ONE of my current favorite TV show, FRINGE. I think HOUSE is a better show, but I like FRINGE more!

Happy New Years one and all

r/e

MO' MONSTUH' MERRY CHRISTMAS ! ! !

2011-12-25T10:25:00.001-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2011-12-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL

BE SAFE! BE LIKE THE BUMBLE!

BEST WISHES FROM ROGUE EVOLENT & tROAD!

Gee, Mr. Moto

2011-12-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

"You think a little Japanese dick is goin' to scare me?"

Well he should, this diminutive detective has nerves as cold as steel. Who else can toss an opponent over the side of a ship and casually walk away as cool as a cucumber?
The one and only MR MOTO!
CLASS DISMISSED!

NO ROOM IN THE INN redux (Gill Man Evicted!!!)

2011-12-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

So, the other night Mrs. Rogue Evolent and I finally put up the Christmas tree (artificial) and all the other castle decorations...
including her "Nativity Set" over the fireplace-- on the mantle.

It doesn't actually look quite like this (above) but close enough for this blog ;) As I do every year (you'd think she would finally relent and let me have my way...sheeese! w'min!) I insert several non-Biblical characters into the background just to add some "figgy pudding" fun! Last year it was a small plastic Eugene the Jeep, another year it was Snoopy & Woodstock... you get the idea. The Missus always finds them and removes them with a "traditionalist" retort "they don't belong in the Bethlehem stable!"

This year I stuck in the background, fairly well obscured by donkey and angel- - the CREECH!!!!!! The Gill Man was there to worship Immanuel, the New Born King too! why? cause he's a "Creature" (of the Black Lagoon). I figured the famous poem by Cecil Frances Alexander "Maker of Heaven and Earth" would win the day in my argument with my "better half"

But HON!!!!! the words do say:
"All things bright and beautiful (ALL things, amphibians included!)

All creatures great and small (the Gill Man is not "a" creature but "the" Creature)

All things wise and wonderful (it is the most wonderful UNI monster flick)

The Lord God made them all (c'mon.... be green!)

This (above) is the Creech minimate that was in the creche scene.

My wife kicked him out as fast as ever before. She said: "Nope, no monsters in the stable"

I grumbled, but did not protest too much. I'm still hoping for that Doctor Who collection of minimates for my present under the tree... no need to upset "she who must be obeyed" :)

rogue

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS

2011-12-19T19:23:00.001-08:00

MiniMates are cool (maybe not as neat as legos but still very fun and ingenious)

The "DOCTOR" is my all-time favorite televison series. I love the Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee incarnations the best, but I also really appreciate the Peter Davison brief run, as well as the reboot with David Tennant (though I could make the argument that the re-launch is a whole different character, hmmm?) I have yet to see any of the Matt Smith episodes.

The above boxed-set of the whole slew of Doctors is something that I'd love to have. I've dropped the hint to my son (MothT), and hope he'll pick me up the set for my Christmas present this coming Sunday the 25th.

He recently down-loaded me the Doctor Who theme song for my ring-tone on my trusty cell-phone. I love it.
Though, truth be told, I'd rather have the "sound" of the TARDIS de-materializing.

ciao
rogue (hey! a toy sonic-screwdriver would be pretty awesome too!)

HO(rror)! HO(rror)! HO(orror)!

2011-12-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Got both of these over at CHFB...
Yeah, I'm swiping them, but I like them that much :)
"DECK THE HOWLS"
-r/e

CREECH COMMENTARY (mini-essay)

2011-12-16T14:39:00.000-08:00

The Gill Man is my absolutely favorite Universal Monster. Except as I think about it, he is N-O-T a monster. Not really.

I think I will explore this in three movie reviews as I take my TRIO of Creech films off the shelf (and out of their DVD cases) and re-watch them...and then review them for the blog. Stay Tuned!

But for now, let's look at the facts.

Dracula is a cursed creature of the night with definite evil, almost devilish overtones. He kills to live, yes, but he sure enjoys the "perks" of being the head honcho of the living dead. And notice that (in Stoker's novel) that Van Helsing is most effective against the Count when he uses the physical manifestations of good & the Church.

The Monster of Frankenstein started off as body parts from killers, and other rogues (HEY!!! I resemble that remark - - rogue evolent). Sure he's got the emotional maturity of a child in the movie... but, at least in the novel, he evolves into one mean, nasty, vindictive, son of a gun.

The Mummy is also a cursed spirit of vengeance and retribution...bad mojo and all that. Plus there's the Egyptian religious pantheon and all that amulet stuff... very monstrous!

But the Gill Man is like a grizzly bear, or a moose. Well, maybe a very smart grizzly bear...

There he is in his ancient antedeluvian home away from homes - - the Black Lagoon. He's content, he's minding his own business, and then the white man explorer/scientist comes into his "crib" and starts messing around with him. Like a Bear or Tiger, he's territorial and animal by instinct; so he lashes out with the claws and teeth nature has provided him with. He's not evil or monstrous just wild. He is not meant to be domesticated. But he also does not have an "evil" bone in his amphibian body!

Yeah, I know he's got a "thing" for Julia Adams (later Julie) that bespeaks his "higher mental faculties" (or lower, depending on how you view it :) ) but this doesn't make him less animal, just a higher evolved form of animal. His interactions (fascination, obsession, sexual attraction) are much like those of an intelligent great ape (Gorilla or Chimp) for Jane Goodall.

Come to think of it (this is not original, I stole it from somebody over at Classic Horror Film Board) the Gill Man is very similar to King Kong.

He would have been just find and dandy...and normal... had the Americans just left him alone. But no!!!! Go into his home... poke him...dope him up with chemicals, shoot him, burn him alive (almost), and then cart him off to the "States" in ropes and chains to be an exhibit for kiddies and tourists. Carl Denham, anyone?

What the Creech needed at the end of movie three, was not just his "gills" back in his neck, but a darn good Lawyer... or maybe even the United Nations.

just sayin'

- rogue evolent.

p.s. Yeah, I know, the Wolf Man (Larry Talbot/Lon Chaney Jr.) might also fit into this category of Non-monster, but rather, sad and tragic victim. hmmm.

The "GAG" Is Afoot! - - - NOT

2011-12-14T19:45:00.001-08:00

I did not begin my love affair with Doyle's "Consulting Detective" with the short stories and novellas. I first became aquainted with Holmes (& Watson) by watching the old black and white Universal films on late night weekend "mystery theaters" on a b&w Zenith portable TV. I watched these with my Dad. I don't think I've any better television memories (except maybe watching Charlie Chan with my Dad)

Later on, much later really, in my college days, my best friend "the Spoiler" gave me a set (two hardbound volumes) of the Complete Sherlock Holmes to safeguard for him as he embarked on a cross country journey of self-discovery (kind of like when Green Lantern/Hal Jordan took off to "find America" as penned by Denny O'Neil)

It was in that fiction that my mind's eye drew Holmes as he really is!!! That is, TO MY MIND's EYE!!! This is my blog, so I make up the rules as to my own likes and preferences :) (smiley emoticon means I'm not mad)

The annotated Holmes' volumes usually contained the famous artwork of Sidney Paget who drew some 350 black and white illustrations of Holmes & company for THE STRAND MAGAZINE. As these were drawn during the life-time of author/creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and as they met with his full approval... this IS WHAT HOLMES looks like. Sorry, Santa Claus is an old fat, red-cheeked white guy, not an Indonesian... some things "just are!" Shaft is a black guy not an Icelandic girl!

Above is a great example of Paget's rendition of Sherlock Holmes.

Above we see the American stage actor William Gillette in his famous ground-breaking portrayal of Holmes for the theater! He appropriately looks like a real-live version of Paget's creations. I like his visual aesthetic very much.

Above is the one-and-only Basil Rathbone who starred in all of those famous HOLMES movies from the 1940's that I "cut my teeth on." The movies were a mixed bag to be sure (I love 'em all nonetheless) but Rathbone simply was a spectacular HOLMES! His look was perfect. And, Rathbone was a good actor, only limited by the screenplays and the production team's (really probably the studio) unwillingness to do all the stories as "period" pieces. For almost twenty years, this rogue evolent thought RATHBONE would always be the definitive HOLMES.

Above is one of my favorite genre/horror actors, Peter Cushing. He also made a fine Sherlock. His acting was impeccable and his look authentic and very reassuring to the canon, and to Doyle's creation. Kudos!

And then "lightning struck!" On a Thursday night in 1984, American television debuted a 13 episode series of Sherlock Holmes stories produced by the UK's Granda Television starring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes.

My word.... it was magic; it was alchemy; it was so HOLMESIAN as to forever end all discussion as to WHO WAS HOLMES. Rathbone "played" a brilliant Holmes, but BRETT WAS HOLMES! It was as if a camera had been placed back in London at 221b Baker Street; it was as if we were inside Doyle's brain. Brett was so much Holmes it was almost unsettling spooky... but fun... exhilarating...and iconic in every sense of the word.

I'm not saying more Holmes movies and television series can't be done or shouldn't be done. Good writing and good acting will always invite new endeavors to bring new life to a character "for the ages" (Sherlock Holmes is such a character who belongs to the collective zeitgeist of 19th and 20th century America and to all English speaking countries).

But ladies and gentlemen.... the "game is not afoot" any longer. It's rather a gag reflex that is "afoot," as in "gag me with a dead maggot stick." Downey is a good actor. I've liked him in many roles. Ritchie is a competent director. Action films with explosions and gun-fire, and fist-fights, and double entendres, and sexual humor, and adult themes, and humor, are all appropriate in their place. Why not create a new character in a new setting and have some fun with a fresh and innovative idea?? Huh? But why take the precious memories of an established tradition and jerk it all around like some waxen nose to mishapen it and make it something it's not, nor was it meant to be. Yeah, I know, $$$. After all, it is show business.

Robert Downey Jr. comes off as a smirking chimp; a smarmy "look how clever I am" smart-ass. Stan Lee did not write Holmes into our hearts and minds and souls.... Arthur Conan Doyle did. Tony Stark transplanted to 1898 is pathetic and just plain wrong.

Robert Downey Jr. IS NOT SHERLOCK HOLMES....

and never will be... and I don't give a fig how much money these abominations make. They may be good movies. They are not Sherlock Holmes movies.

Case Closed!

rogue evolent

MY FIRST TV HORROR HOST since '75

2011-12-13T11:11:00.000-08:00

Minding my own business (maybe a bit too much) I've slipped into ennui and mental lassitude (don't know what they mean but wanted to use them)... until a few weeks ago when "Mrs. rogue evolent" let me bring the television upstairs from the dungeon to the "la-boor-a-tree."

I am ashamed to admit to any fellow cinephiles and genre-junkies that I don't have cable (or dishTV, or, even electricity most of the time). But now that the TV is upstairs where the ol' "rabbit ears" can get some reception, I have found a couple of stations that were not playing in my "neck of the woods" last time I was a regular TV watcher (which was around January of 2009, or whenever the networks and local stations went from analog to ALL digital).

Anywho... I have discovered both ANTENNA TV and MeTV. Oh glorious day for an old guy like me that grooves on watching old 1950's, 1960's and 1970's television fare.

AND THEN.... I discovered that on MeTV, every Saturday night (central time zone) from 9 pm to 11 pm there's a show called SEVENGOOLIE ! ! !

I can't believe how fun it/he is!!! I never had a "horror host" growing up in the Twin Cities (Mpls. and St. Paul, MN). During my latter high school years and first couple of college years ( the massive quantity of beer dulls my memory) I did have Jeff Gibson who played horror-host "Asmodeus" on our ABC Ft. Wayne, IN affiliate. But that was back in 1975.

I never really had the opportunity to watch much Elvira or the other cable show hosts in the 80's (or since).

So, SVENGOOLIE, for me, is just a riot!!! I love the guy. I love the dumb jokes, the "corn," the puns, the sight-gags, and the whole "amateur-vibe" schtick. It's just a great throw-back to the good-old days.

I'm sure you all know him, but if not:

http://svengoolie.com/

Also:

I've already seen the great old 1932/33 classic (the public domain version, not the new restored Criterion print/DVD) with Charles Laughton: "ISLAND OF LOST SOULS."

I'm thinking SVENGOOLIE is just what the "Mad Doctor" ordered to "jolt" me out of fermentation and ossification ( yeah, ? ? ?)

-rogue evolent

FAMOUS HORRIBLE MONSTERS: Then & Now

2011-11-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

Here (below) I present you with two candid "snap-shots" of two of nature's most fiercest and spookiest Man-Monsters (right up there with Frankenstein's Monster and The Wolf Man).... the dreaded SPOILER (aka bookman187) and the spine-tingling MOTH-T.
The legendary SPOILER (on left) holding the nascent MOTH-T (at about 1-year, post larvae stage). These two ferocious beast-men look to be forming a life-long pact of nefarious do-bads!!!

And here they are again some twenty-years later (and better)... the scary SPOILER a bit more Jerry Garcia-ish, and the young MOTH-T a bit lankier and "hipper," but still two of the most crazed horrible anthropocentric terror duos you'll ever encounter.

- - - rogue evolent (proud friend to one; proud dad to the other)

BUT WHAT DID I "DO" ON HALLOWEEN?

2011-11-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

Hi friends. I am back after some r&r.

I started my vacation, actually, on the night of Halloween proper!

Continuing a "new" tradition at castle rogue evolent (started only on Halloween night 2010; last year) the "Mrs." and I retired down into the dungeon basement to watch a properly "themed" movie for such an auspicious evening. In 2010 we watched "ABBOT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN." This year we watched "THE BURBS"

What's a point of both interest to me (only me :) ) and a charitable fact, is that both of these movies were given to me free (as a gift) on commerical "store-bought" DVD's by my best friend, the Californian named Bookman187. I call him the "Spoiler" Thanks big-guy. If you keep buying them, I'll keep watching them :)

THE BURBS is a winner on all acounts. It gets a 5 out of 5 on my .... ah.... 5 point scale. It's not deep, important, trend-setting, or classic, but it is pure entertainment. It's a fun popcorn movie that works on all levels.

It was directed by Joe Dante, and he turns in a fine performance. The movie is well paced and never drags. A very smart script with clever and believable dialog was penned by Dana Olsen. And the acting is top-notch. Tom Hanks plays the lead and while this is not the very beginning of his meteoric rise to stardom, it's at the beginning of the end of his purely 80's output of comedy. Carrie Fisher plays his wife and turn in an admirably grounded and solid role. Bruce Dern steals every scene he's in as the slightly eccentric ex-Vietnam vet. Wendy Schall is some nice "eye candy" but actually turns out to be a sympathetic and decent character. Heck, even the usually obnoxious and sleazy C0rey Feldman does a good job with his smaller role of the bemused "slacker" observer to the mayhem on one little cul-de-sac in the "Burbs."

The two actors (even more so than Hanks and Dern) that make this a winner are Rick Ducommun and Henry Gibson. Ducommun plays the best friend of Hanks with an energy and manic zeal that DOES steal every scene. How this guy did not have a break-0ut career is beyond me. His comedy timing is as good as any of the "heavy-hitters" that have starred on SNL over the years. And the veteran & legendary Henry Gibson plays the perfectly sinister, yet restrained antogonist. Gibson's character is beautifully surrounded by two other brilliant character actors: Brother Theodore and Courtney Gains.

It was the second time in the last few months that I've watched THE BURBS and I think it was even better this time. It's the perfect "spooky mystery" but updated to the modern (well, 1989) suburban setting. The plot doesn't give much away too early and lets the audience experience what Hanks and his team of "mystery solvers" encounter step by step. Kudos to Tom Hanks for letting this film work so well as a true "ensemble cast" and not as a vehicle for his own comedy career.

I had a ball and laughed and chuckled at all the great scenes.

Now the wife.............................
I think she "didn't dislike it," but she said as the credits were rolling: "well, that was interesting.... long.... pause " :) A true "meh" experience I'm thinking.

But still I can't wait till next Halloween.... I think I'm going and try and trick her (or treat her :) ) into watching FRAILTY (2001) with Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again Spoiler. Plus, it kept me from having to give my cool Shane Jones monster stickers away to the little beggars up at the castle door.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN: See You in the FUNNY PAPERS

2011-10-31T13:52:00.000-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I do love my daily newspaper comic strips!

SHANE's SPOOKY SWELLNESS (Final Appearance)

2011-10-30T17:44:00.001-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011:
continues with - -
Our Last Batch of SHANE JONES
MONSTERRIFIC COOLNESS

Shane is my Welsh friend and one of my favorite genre cartoonists/artists evah!!!! He draws everything that this blog is "about" and that I've loved my entire life (gorillas, monsters, squids, wolf men, super heroes, mummies.... the list is endless; Shane, how did you get inside rogue evolent's head? )

His art has rightly earned him my blog's HONOR as our OFFICIAL HALLOWEEN ARTIST FOR 2011.

I urge you (again) to go to his blog site and become a follower: http://thisishorrorbusiness.blogspot.com/ You are also invited (Christmas is coming!) to buy his art booklets from blurb.com

I love the "blocky" geo-metric shapes of his monsters! Simplicity is sometimes simply the "spot-on" success story! I also like the first "sticker" (immediately above) of a "Misfits" type character.

His "frog creature" (above) is cute and is almost a "cross" between an anime styled "Pokemon character" and Abe Sapien from the Hellboy series. I love it.

You see above the front-cover of Shane's booklet THE BLACK ARTS BOOK 1 which he kindly sent me a copy of as a gift. The bigger and better they are.... sometimes the more generous and friendly they are. SHANE is just a "PRINCE" of a gentleman!

I also appreciate Shane's love for good music and genre-related bands like ZOMBINA and the Skeletones and the GHASTLY ONES. Above, you see the back cover of his book featuring a nice caricature of one of the G.O's!

And not content with just sending me a bunch of really wonderful art stuff from the U.K. , Shane went to the extra trouble of drawing me a special picture of one of my favorite characters of his (Maxwell the Gill Man, version Mk. 1 ) and autographing it for me.

Shane has since modified Maxwell in order to hopefully make him more appealing to young children (for a book project)... but I like this earlier, rougher, version.

Go to his blog, tonight or tomorrow.... you can surf for hours.... the guys is as prolific as he is FUN/GOOD.... a perfect

HALLOWEEN TREAT!

SATURDAY's COVER(ed) # 33

2011-10-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011
continues with this very appropriate piece of Halloween-ish art work:

I was just going to say "nuff said" and end the post... cept it's OZZY, and Geezer, and Bill, and Tony... how can anyone who likes ROCK music not appreciate the contributions that the mighty BLACK SABBATH have made?

Besides, are they not one of only two or three (I mean relatively famous, mainstream label released and marketed) acts which featured a debut ALBUM with the exact same NAME as the band, featuring a song on said album by the exact same NAME as the BAND and the ALBUM ?

The cover above features (all following is pulled from wikipedia) a depiction of Mapeldurham Watermill, situated on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England. Standing in the front of the watermill is a figure dressed in black. The silhouette of a raven is visible among the trees on the back cover. On the original release, the inner gate-fold sleeve featured an inverted cross with a poem written inside of it. VERTIGO, the band's UK record label, were allegedly responsible for adding the cross. Allegedly the band were upset when they discovered this, as it fueled allegations that they were satanists or occultists..."

All I will add is that the album (which I own and play often) is heavy, sludge-y, and awesome. The cover art does just "creep me out" too. Put it on, crank up your receiver/amp to "11" (man) and ... get ready for HALLOWEEN.

FOR HALLOWEEN...YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG BURRYING SOMETHING

2011-10-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEE 2011

So, there I was with my best friend "the Spoiler" (aka Bookman187) in mid October of 1975. We were "chilling," though back then we called it "vegging" or fermenting. Spoiler wanted to come up with something cool to do for HALLOWEEN. He wanted Effect! He wanted AFFECT! He wanted to S-C-A-R-E somebody. Me too.

If you take a look at Spoiler (below) you can see that he might have done the trick himself had he dressed up like a Grave Robber (or, oh, I dunno...a drug dealer???) This is how he looked though.

We wanted to make people who came by the Spoiler's house for Trick or Treat to:

SCREAM..... (see above) and although we knew the ones who would come by in the neighborhood would be grade-school kids, I like the screaming "babe" (above) better; so you get to see her picture.

The ingredients started (as it always did for Spoiler and Rogue) with some creative libations... just to get the cranial neurons firing and the imaginative juices flowing. We drank a bunch of beer (see above results)

Spoiler went and got himself a speaker (like the one above only more grungy and dirty and beat-up looking). He said: "rogue, let us bury said speaker in my front yard - - just a few inches below the surface and right next to the side-walk. Than, when the little cute tykes dressed up like Mickey and Princess Snow-white come tra-la-la-ing down the sidewalk...we'll yell hideous scary things through a microphone, via the wire, from my bedroom and scare the bat-hey-sus out of 'em. And we'll also play loud and spooky Halloween sound effects too." Yeah, I think that is exactly what he said. (don't let the beer we drank or the intervening 36 years cause you to doubt my laser-like memory)

So, Spoiler carefully wrapped the speaker in some clear plastic so as to insure that the moisture and dirt would not harm its pristine audio fidelity :)

We went out in his front yard with a shovel (or maybe he did it by himself... I'm not sure on this one) Yeah, a shovel, or maybe a spade... well, something like the thing above.

Right down near the side-walk. Yeah, I know, the phony photo (above) doesn't have a side-walk... well anyway... in the yard, below the grass, the speaker was carefully laid...

Spoiler had connected some good speaker wire (not as good as the kind in the photo above) to the speaker, and also buried it a scant half an inch below the grass surface, and ran it all the way back to his bedroom window. The wire was fed through the window and connected to his powerful "component" sound-system in his bedroom. We were all set.

But we neglected to take into consideration that in Indiana, people are still known to "mow" their lawns even into the middle and end of October.

We also didn't reckon with this guy (above). Well, not Robert Duvall per se (I wanted to say "per se" again) but Spoiler's dad - - who reminded me of the Great Santini. Well not then (1975) since that movie had yet to be made, but later in retrospect, Duvall and Mr. Spoiler's dad shared the similarity that they both intimidated the hades out of me.

Spoiler's dad took his trusty lawn-mower and went a cutting... and as you guessed it....

... he inadvertantly severed the speaker wire that ran from Spoiler's room/window out to the side-walk grass area. He never knew he even foiled our great Malt-Barley Influenced Terror Plot.

We wanted kiddies screaming... and instead we found ourselves.... oh, I don't know.... I think we drank some more beer and went UFO hunting.

Cheers Spoiler. If I mangled this anecdote too badly, you can re-tell it over at your blog (if you haven't already done so... I've been remiss in not checking up)

SATURDAY's COVER(ed) # 32

2011-10-22T18:43:00.001-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011
with:
MONSTER MELODIES - -

I don't own this record album (boy that kind of lingo shows my age)... I mean, I don't have this Mp3 download... so I can't vouch for the music. Then again, this weekly post isn't about sonic alchemy but rather visual wizardry.

I love the art work on this jacket cover. What says Halloween like the beautiful mugs of Kharis the Mummy, the Gill Man, and a killer Gorilla?

COSTUMES ARE IMPORTANT for HALLOWEEN!

2011-10-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

I've made no secret over the last two years how much I've loved the simple, gentle, and family-oriented Funnies' Page strip TIGER by the late lamented BUD BLAKE (R.I.P.).
Mr. Blake's distinctive style of rendering each of his strip's players was just pure magical whismy as far as I'm concerned.

[click mouse on the strips to enlarge them for better appreciation]

SOME more SUPER SCARY SHANE STICKERS

2011-10-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

COUNTOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011 continues with:

tROAD's "Official Halloween Artist"
SHANE JONES!

Here's another batch of Shane's ghoulishly great SPOOK STICKERS
(AND YES SPOILER, I WILL GIVE THEM ALL AWAY to the little mendicant street urchins that come a beggin' :) )

I love Wolfie (above) the best; love his stylish orange vest. Mr. Cyclopian-Bulbous-Head is pretty niffty too!

What I've always loved about Mr. Jones' fun art work is his basic, primal use of geometric shapes, and his angularity. I love the blocky rectangularness of the Frankie-Monstuh!!! And don't you just "dig it" the way the Grim Reaper has those two stick-legs coming from the far extremiteis of his trunk.

Check out Shanes blog at: http://thisishorrorbusiness.blogspot.com/

HAPPY BELADAY !

2011-10-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Today (Ocober 20) is the birthday of the late GREAT
BELA LUGOSI.

Although my favorite horror actor is Vincent Price, and although I have a real fondness for Peter Lorre, Warner Oland, and Lon Chaney Sr., (and Karloff of course).... I would have to say that after Price, LUGOSI is my favorite. Go watch yourself a slew of his movies in these last remaining days leading up to Halloween.

Halloween...It's ALL about the CANDY

2011-10-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

[click on comic strip to enlarge for easier reading...unless like most people other than me, you find Drabble terribly un-funny]

Speaking of "THE COUNT"

2011-10-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

"AHHHH....AHHHH....AHHHH ! ! ! "
"I hit you ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES.....!!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

2011-10-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011 continues with a:

2nd Year BIRTHDAY for

THE ROADS OF AUTUMN DUSK ! ! !

That's my son (MothT) in the digital photo (right above :) ) inviting all my best friends into Castle rogue evolent for the big TWO-YEAR birthday bash for this little misfit-blog.

I don't want to get maudlin or mushy (hey, remember Mushy on RAWHIDE?) so I'll "cut to the chase." I like doing this blog and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I am sorry that it hasn't quite been the blog I though it would be when I started it. There is much in popular culture I like, and much that I love. My tastes in music, film, television , art & architecture are omnivorous but not very well formed. I am a dilettante and only a "surface-scratcher." But I've been having fun and I have really enjoyed all the "comments" from you followers (I'd rather call you cyber-friends and pals) over the past 730 days.

I will try and review (or comment upon) more monster movies, both classic and contemporary. I will have fun. Thanks for dropping by from time to time.

- rogue evolent.

One of my favorite Vampires, "The Count" points to the number "3" as tROAD begins it's new year. Hopefully the "sophomore" jinx/curse is over :)
DROP BY THE CASTLE YOUSE GUYS/GALS THERE'S PLENTY OF ICE-CREAM CAKE FOR EVERYBODY ! ! !

"Skeletons...nipping at your Nose..."

2011-10-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

Laugh and the Halloween World Laughs With You

2011-10-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

My favorite daily comic strip, bar none.

HORRIBLE HALLOWEEN for an ugly Teen

2011-10-17T17:52:00.001-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011

Every year (I think) during the late 60's, the famed GRAND Theater in downtown Wausau, Wisconsin showed a batch of about 4 or 5 cheesy horror movies on Halloween. This event was primarily for teens and others who were now (then) too old to go door-to-door trick or' treating, and wanted a place to hang-out. This was pretty neat when one's parents let you go out on a school-night and not get back home till close to mid-night. I went on both Halloween 1968 and Halloween 1969. I went both years with one of my best Junior High pals, Dave S.

Above is a picture of the famed GRAND THEATER in Wausau. I don't know its full history, but at the time I lived in Wausau (1967 through 1971 ) it was only one of two motion picture houses in the community (or in all of Marathon County probably). The other theater was the "WAUSAU THEATER" and although it did show first run movies, it was also noted for showing the most R rated and more sleezier exploitation pics. The WAUSAU Theater did have a neat blue-neon glow-in-the-dark clock... unfortunately, the clock was right up front, off to the left of the movie screen; kind of disconcerting.

But the GRAND (again, above, inside shot) was, well, grand. It had tons of leg-room, a rich, heavy, beautiful, velour looking red curtains, box seats on the wings (non-functioning in the late 6o's however), and a balcony. The WAUSAU Theater did not have a balcony, and just felt cheaper.

On Halloween 1968, Dave S. and I saw some good scary (or, sort of scary) flicks. I remember that it was then that I saw for the first time FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD (aka Frankenstein versus Baragon). I also saw the weird and off-beat Peter Cushing movie ISLAND OF TERROR (1966 - - the one with the silicate bloboid monsters with the fluke-like heads). The 68' outing was a blast.

Not so the following year. Halloween 1969 would be a horribly embarrassing time for a young clutzy, Napoleon Dynamite-ish, pimply, awkward kid.

Dave and I sat down on the floor level, off to the left of center, and settled in for a great night of monstuh mayhem.

But there were these girls. One of them was sort of cute

No, not Marcia Brady cute, but still very pretty.
But mean and cruel as a gorgon on her period.

The other girl was more normal (not ugly, just normal) but even meaner than the first girl.
Yeah, kind of like this girl (above).
They knew what they were doing. They were going to embarrass a couple of insecure guys.

They were sitting behind us... for a brief while. They were probably not much older than Dave and myself, maybe a year? But they seemed as sophisticated and worldly as Kansas City whores (in retrospect). They separated and each came at us from the aisles. The cute one sat right next to Dave and put her arm around his back. The other one came and sat down to me and leaned up on my right shoulder.

They didn't steal our money or call us names, but they "played" with us and were clearly having a good time with a couple of nerds (well, me, anyway, Dave was always pretty cool). This wasn't flirting, this was sexual harrassment back before the PC thing even existed. Slut-zilla cooed into my ear that she liked me. No she didn't... she liked seeing me turn red and sweat from the arm-pits. She put her hand on my right knee. If the girls had been nice and genuinely friendly, had the acquaintance grown a tad slower and more organically, heck, I might have enjoyed it. But though we were inexperienced, we KNEW they were mocking us. These two teen harpies simply came on to have some cheap laughs at our expense.

I finally asked her point blank (and with some exasperation in my voice) "Why are you doing this?" She balked at answering me, but it wasn't long after that that the two of them left us alone. I don't remember watching the movies after that. I felt like a chump and a loser; which is what the chicks wanted to accomplish, I guess.

So, why do I like Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers????

Just kidding. I don't like slasher movies :)

I still lilke Peter Cushing though. And I like girls... I married a nice one :)

ALICE COOPER IS KING: Welcome 2 My Nightmare

2011-10-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011: WELCOME 2 MY NIGHTMARE

ALICE COOPER may have the album of the year!

If you don't like rock music, or, if you've always had an animus against Alice Cooper (or if you have no muscial taste, are dead, or are Dana Carvey's CHURCH LADY) you may not like this album.

Otherwise, you will join me (rogue evolent) and hail this new release by ALICE as one of the most fun come-back albums in many a wolf-man moon. What helps is that it is superbly produced with great fidelity/stereo sound and crisp, clean mixing. The produce is legendary Bob Ezrin who teamed successfully with ALICE back on 1976's WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE. ALICE's vocals are a bit deeper and tighter (just a bit) and he can no longer quite hit all the same high notes, but he sings with command and great humor. The band is smoking hot. This has become my official HALLOWEEN ALBUM for 2011.

TRACK by TRACK REVIEW:

Track 1) I AM MADE OF YOU - -
This is the song that has received the most (and really not all that much) criticism. For a few bars it sounds like ALICE is using autotune to sing with that warbly (used in cRAP) and anoying nascent echo-y Cher sound. I have been told by reliable musicologists, that he is not-- It's all Alice Cooper. But the song itself is simply a great soaring, anthemic rock ballad. Think of Styx only waaay better. It's melodic with a very catchy chorus. The blistering guitar riffs are set off against Alice's ROB HALFORD like singing (reminds me of Rob's vocals on Judas Priest's Retribution). The song is just so darn "epic" and would have made a great movie credits tune. 6.5 out of 10.

Track 2) CAFFEINE --

This could have been a monster (had to work that word in for Halloween :) ) hit had it been released back in the 70's. It's considered hackneyed and corny now I guess with all the sophisticated "hipsters." It's got a real "Rocky Horror-esque" vibe going for it. It's fast and very singable... plus, I too am addicted to caffeine (love my "joe") There are horror-themed lyrics and a back-up vocal that sings a do-wop like "whoo hoo hoo." The fan-made video for this song over at YouTube featuring Freddy from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise is a fine interpretation of this songs clever lyrics. There's also a neat keyboard slow-down interlude that comes out of nowhere. 7 out of 10.

Track 3) THE NIGHTMARE RETURNS - -
The first 34 seconds (or so) of this brief 1:13 track is a building and soaring orchestral crescendo. There's a real Danny Elfman (for a Tim Burton stop-mo film) vibe going on in this piece - - not that that's a bad thing.
6 out of 10.

Track 4) A RUNAWAY TRAIN - -
This is one of the album's better "story-songs" wherein the protagonist of this nightmarish opera finds himself waking up on a train filled with living dead men all chained together heading for hell. This song also demonstrates the top-notch musicianship of Alice's recording musicians. This is just A+ studio work. Alice sings about "sleeping in the grave-yard on the wrong side of the dirt" and makes it fun for us Halloweenie rockers. 8 out of 10.

Track 5) LAST MAN ON EARTH - -

This is one of the best tracks on the Cd... maybe the best. On this tune Alice sings like a more melodic version of Tom Waits backed by a Balkan-Gypsy-Ragtime-Honkey Tonk-Circus Carnival vibe. Again, the musicianship is tight with some nice fiddle-like accompaniment (shades of Stephane Grappelli) 10 out of 10.

Track 6) THE CONGREGATION

A brief and slower acoustic section of guitar strumming EXPLODES into a driving syncopated concert sing-a-long (think of the fun of Gary Glitter's chorus on Rock n' Roll Pt. 2) This song has some great lyrics (homage to Dante) about Alice's character being shown various rooms in the underworld on his trip through Hell. I love the fact that the worst "room" in Hades seems to be the one filled with "Lawyers, Pimps and Mimes!" :)

In the end, you know you're going to fry. 9 out of 10.

Track 7) I'LL BITE YOUR FACE OFF - -

How can you not like a song with a title like that? The song is okay too. The theme is naturally about a deadly "femme fatale." There is a nice keyboard slow-down interlude at about 2:40 that works well. It's a fun song worth 6.5 out of 10.

Track 8) DISCO BLOODBATH/BOOGIE FEVER - -

A cornucopia of COOPER genius penetrates this mess of blended-bourbon. The song has some nice "Industrial" instro that morphs into a "synth-80's" vibe before errupting into a faux MTV kind of Rap Vanilla Ice? :) White men can't rap. While I was almost ready to dismiss it with a "meh!" Alice won me completely over with a Russian-sounding military chorus (or Orthodox church :) ) that reminded me of the Wicked Witch of the West's Castle Guards singing as they marched into her castle. There's also a volcanic axe solo and segue back into the conclusion. 6.5 out of 10 was going to be my original rating until the whole thing delivered itself as a masterpiece...so 8 out of 10.

Track 9) GHOULS GONE WILD - -

If the Monkees, Beach Boys and Bay City Rollers had mated with the Misfits and Phil Spector's produced Ramones, this is the song they might have made... if they were writing a song for an episode of the BRADY BUNCH on ACID. Just a very catchy, "bubblegum-Goth" song. 7 out of 10.

Track 10) SOMETHING TO REMEMBER ME BY - -

A beautiful ballad that should be a huge hit. If terrestrial radio still gave a crap THIS song would be everywhere. This is proof that Alice's voice is still better than most rockers and balladers forty years his junior. Remember the great Eric Carmen (Carmen not Cartman, i.e. the Raspberries) when he was "on?" ..... yeah.... Alice does him one better. 9 out of 10.

Track 11) WHEN HELL COMES HOME - -

This is the only song on the album that I did not really like. My problems with the tune stem from it's theme of spousal and child abuse rather than anything lacking in the song itself. It's just tooo dark for my taste. It's music fits its theme by being heavy, sludge-like and gritty. Nonetheless the execution (yeah, pardon the pun) of this story-song of revenge is fully realized, so .... 6 out of 10.

Track 12) WHAT BABY WANTS - -

This is the big (well, 'middlin') duet of ALICE and girly-hip hop-R&B songstress Kesha. She sings with a Shania Twain evil twin attitude of bemused humor and the song actually works. It's part catchy dance-song and part stadium sing-a-long fun, with a pure 80's feel chorus. It fits well within the Alice Cooper canon. 6.5 out of 10.

Track 13) I GOT TA GET OUTTA HERE - -

THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONG on the Cd. It starts and ends with a mourning, tolling church bell. Powerful guitar work (think Buckethead or the Edge) great story-song lyrics, and a brilliant Tom Petty-esque turn of vocals by Alice (he out-Tom Petty's Tom himself :) ) makes this story of waking up in Hell ironic, clever, and a ton o' HALLOWEEN FUN! If George Harrison and Roy Orbison had ever made a sarcastic horror song about death this would have been it.
WHAT PART OF DEAD DON'T YOU GET the choir asks Alice. LOL
This song easily rates an 11 out of 10.

Track 14) THE UNDERTURE - -

This is 4:32 of recapitulating the album's major musical themes and melodies. This shows the genius of Bob Ezrin and his recording team. The faux orchestral synths bespeak "power metal meeting the Trans Siberian Orchestra," or maybe.... Jim Steinman (Meat Loaf era) meeting Styx's Dennis DeYoung. 10 out of 10.

Track 15) UNDER THE BEAD - -
What monstuh/horror fan does not resonate to a song about things under the bed that talk, plot, scheme, and kill - - - they kill Alice's cat: "all that was left was a tail, a paw, and an ear." :)
A great horror song. 7.5 out of 10.

Track 16) POISON - -

This song (along with tracks 17 and 18) are live recordings and make an otherwise superb Cd into my own ALBUM OF THE YEAR!!!!!
The fans singing along (knowing all the words) bespeak an iconic performer who is loved and appreciated by a fan base that may be old and non-important, but still one that cares about the legacy of a true Rock n' Roll titan. POISON is one of Alice's greatest songs, and as popular as it was, it could/should have been even bigger. If only he had recorded it originally in the mid 70's. It's as good as anything KISS ever did.
10 out of 10 for this raucous live version.

Track 17) NO MORE MISTER NICE GUY - -
Well, I'm an old guy who fell in love with ALICE the first time I heard
"SCHOOL's OUT." I remember driving around Fort Wayne in my Dad's Buick Skylark (and then later my orange Ford Pinto) with my best pal Spoiler (aka Bookman187) listening to NO MORE MISTER NICE GUY. It was a mega cool song back then... and it's still a perfect rock song. I was going to give it 11 out of 10... but.... as I was roaring down Highway K-10 from Kansas City to my house, Cd player blasting my eardrums to my own NIGHTMARE of NOISE.... the crowd (and me) singing to the top of my lungs all the words with Alice.... I'm just grateful no Highway Patrol pulled me over. As the song hit it's stride, my car, may have gone over the speed limit (a tad :) )
Friends.... it was 1973 all over again. Alice Cooper is King!
20 out of 10.

And lastly
Track 18) THE BLACK WIDOW - -
While never one of my favorite Cooper songs, it's theme, lyrics, and chorus all "boot burro." And the opening sound-track speech by the one-and-only King of Celluloid Terror Mr. VINCENT PRICE, makes the song a true theme song for all of us monster-kids. 10 out 0f 10.

If you purchase just one Cd this year for HALLOWEEN.... rogue evolent recommends ALICE COOPER'S WELCOME 2 MY NIGHTMARE (2011).
10 out of 10.

thanks Spoiler :)

SATURDAY'S COVER(ed) # 31

2011-10-15T16:48:00.001-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011

While this (below) is not necessarily the typical kind of art-work (i.e. a painting or drawing by a traditional artist) that I usually select for Saturday's Cover(ed)... I just love the idea of mixing/morphing a Skeleton Skull with Punk Rock sensibilities (the orange hair, buttons, and safety pin through the nose... er, nose cavity).

I also happen to own this album on CD and heartily recommend it, if you enjoy a lot of the more pop-like strain of punk (yeah, I know, a total contradiction...) Some of the great artists featured on this collection:
Roky Erikson, the Ramones, Siouxsie & the Banshees, the Misfits, Dave Edmunds, the Dead Kennedys, and the Ministry.

FISH STICKS

2011-10-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011 continues with this very clever Gill Man one-panel cartoon. Creach has always been my favorite "UNI" monster

I, er, ahem, "appropriated" the above cartoon from the Facebook page of my cyber-pal MAX THE DRUNKEN SEVERED HEAD... check out his blogs...he's DA MAN (RONDO WINNER TOO)

HAVE I GOT SOME MUSIC FOR YOU

2011-10-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011 continues as I "pimp" my favorite radio show (I listen live because I live in Kansas and can pick up KANU FM 91.5 on the radio) Radio Host Darrell Brogdon usually spins a great selection of Crime Jazz, tiki-tinged, Exotica, Bongo music, and space-age pop... but on this special yearly HALLOWEEN SHOW he opens up the musical vaults to all sorts of novelty tunes and spooky stuff; plus there are old radio spots and movie trailer-audios. It's two hours of the best Halloween music on planet Earth (planet MONGO too) Below is some "copy" from the Retro Cocktail Hour web-site:

One of the most eagerly-anticipated shows of the year is the annual Retro Cocktail Hour Halloween Bash! Tune in Saturday, October 29 at 7:00pm for a night of monster melodies and spooky songs from the Golden Age of Hi-Fi.
Tune in live on the 29th or listen later on their archive site.
The show is accessed via: http://www.kpr.ku.edu/retro/

Retro Cocktail Hour • Kansas Public Radio © 2008 KPR, 1120 West 11th Street The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66044 Phone: (785) 864-4530 • Toll free: (888) 577-5268 • Fax: (785) 864-5278

More SPOOKY SHANE artwork :)

2011-10-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011 continues with some more monsterror-iffic art by my Welsh buddy SHANE JONES (http://thisishorrorbusiness.blogspot.com/ )

Yours truly has been out of town (and away from castle rogue evolent) for the past three days so I will "ease back" into the posting regimen with a couple of simple (or rather, simply wonderful) SHANE postcards.

The pic above is of course everyone's beloved "MONSTER." What I love about this "take" on Mary Shelly's/James Whale's vision is that "Frankie" is not colored his usual green. The grey/gray hue is much preferred by me. I remember when Marvel Comics launched their (first) Monster of Frankenstein book (circa 1973) which I think was drawn by Mike Ploog. The Monster was colored gray. I liked that. I also like it where Shane gives our animated cadaver the pointy half-orange-slice ears. :)

Here Mr. Jones gives us a fun werewolf howling at the..... well, at that big yellow orb in the background. I love his lips coming together in an "ahh-woooo" trumpet mouthpiece configuration (good eye for cartoonish icons). I also like the simple x hash-marks for wolfie's two eyes. Simple and smile-inducing.

SATURDAY's COVER(ed) # 30

2011-10-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2011 continues today with our "regularly scheduled" visit to cool monster/horror/sci-fi 'themed' album art-work.

I actually own the CD shown (below). The imagery of a white-skinned & caped Vampyre (the "affected" and snobish spelling of Vampire ;) ) standing in the dusky (Autumn Dusk??) twilight (AAHHHHHGGG!!! No, not that horror!!!!) of a graveyard crypt - - - couldn't be more Halloween-ish!

The music is a solid slab of instrumental mood music. It's of course not as good as Herrmann, Rozsa, Salter, or the other prominent movie-scoring artists of today, but it makes for wonderfully spooky background music when reading, or blogging! This would also make a great soundtrack on the 31st of this month (played loud) when the little gremlins come to your door begging for sugar.

The two-man musical conglomerate that makes up the "recording enterprise" known as Midnight Syndicate have a nice web-page at: http://www.midnightsyndicate.com/

FM # 259 It Ain't Halloween Without Monster Mags!

2011-10-07T15:21:00.001-07:00

Below is the latest cover for Famous Monsters # 259 by Oscar Award Winning Special Make-Up/FX Guru (multiple OSCAR wins) RICK BAKER!
Does Mr. Baker know werewolves or what????

Below is the alternate cover (one that I think is actually BETTER) for the same issue with cover art by Bob Lizarraga. This one features a beautiful caricature of Rod Serling and some of the most memorable and iconic Twilight Zone characters ever.

BUY MONSTER MAGAZINES - -

KEEP AMERICA STRONG!

RAAARRGH!

2011-10-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

Countdown to Halloween continues here at tROAD with the catch-phrase "RAAARRGH!" being named official cheer/chant/rant/cry of victory for all of us loyal Halloweenatics!

These two fun pin-back "buttons" (below) are courtesy of artist supreme SHANE JONES. I will now wear them plainly on my straitjacket as I am allowed to wander the streets here of my fetid hamlet on the plains. RAAARRGH!

The Monster couldn't have said it better.
Above we have a gorilla-skull-mystery phantom type beastie! He's got attitude!

This septo-pod (???) is my kind of sea-creature. A one-eyed cyclopian, green-skinned, mutant cephalopod.... it don't get any better than that.
(Harryhausen would have been proud * )

* cf. "It Came From Beneath the Sea" (1955)

if you get my drift :)

Mmmmmmm....Orange Color Creme

2011-10-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

Mrs. rogue evolent and I just returned from the grocery store. Look what she bought for the family!!!!! Check out the little ghost "stamped" onto the chocolate top - - pretty neat eh?

Now, I won't eat 'em of course (Atkins; no-carbs; paleo Cave-man diet and all for your rogue) but I sure will share the neat packaging with youse mugs!

FAMILY PHOTOS: Ahhhh! The Horror!

2011-10-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

OKAY, nobody, and I mean NOBODY likes watching some other schmo's home-videos, slide shows of their Grand Canyon vacation, or their danged "KIDS!" I SURE DON'T. So, feel free to move along... nothing to see here. But, if you care to see that your ol' rogue evolent was at least a good enough Dad to let his kid go "trick or treating" (a few times....when the wife nagged me) here he is in some of his costumes. COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN continues with rogue evolent going for the sentimental cheese....
awwwwwwwwww!
That's my son MothT on the left and his first girl-friend "Golly-Ga" on ther right. They're getting ready for their pre-school Halloween party. Later that night we took them to the Fort Wayne Zoo for a special spooky spectacular train ride and candy give-away. The boy is dressed up as a Tiger Cub. The costume was made by Mrs. rogue evolent.

Here's the militant little mug dressed up as Peter (or maybe Edmund) from C.S. Lewis' THE WIND, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. I made him the Aslan shield (it was the first, the proto-type; I later made him a better one). For his battle helm, MothT wears a plastic MILWAUKEE BREWERS batting helmet. The sword is a plastic "bubble producing" wand device. Moth was like every boy ever born in the Earth's history... from the time he could walk and pick up stuff... if he grabbed a branch, stick, twig, or pointy thing.... IT WAS A SWORD. Then later it became a gun/rifle.... or even a "sword-rifle." :)

Some well-meaning neighbor or relative bought the lad a cheapo-plastic Knight-set. Moth STILL was King Peter of Cair Paravel.

We were living in South Dakota for this Halloween. Everybody who didn't love the Broncos was a Minnesota Vikings fan. Our friends across the street gave MothT this costume which he wore while begging door to door for candy.

This is a photo of ME... rogue evolent (who says I don't let my photos get out onto the net/blogosphere??) teaching the off-spring everything he needs to know about using a butcher knife. Halloween Cutlery Lessons #101

Next year his Mom made him this Robin Hood getup. I provided the goatee-type beard courtesy of a burn't cork. NO RACIAL STEROTYPING was thought of or implied.... so please, no supercilious "pc" comments.

In this last photo, MothT wears my old Navy Uniform and went as an Officer of our Mighty Fleet. I said he was Captain Wrong-Way Peachfuzz.

My boy, growing up in the rogue evolent household actually KNEW WHO Capt. Peachfuzz was (and Gidney and Cloyd too)

SHANE stickers #1: Countdown to Halloween

2011-10-03T15:07:00.001-07:00

Remember how cool it was in the olden days (for me that would be the 1960's, but for a lot of you... the 70's, 80's and maybe the 90's can suffice)... when you could go down to the local "convenience" store: 7-11, Kwik Shop, Starvin' Marvin, Quik-Trip, Casey's, Towne & Country, or whatever chain was fixed in your town or city, and buy funny/horror themed stickers, cards, pin-back buttons, and other bubble-gum type Halloween toys and ephemera? In fact, I'm heading out in the next day or so to make a "run" through all my area convenience stores (as well as Walgreen's) to check and see what they might have this year that "sorta" fits what I'm talking about.

But in the meantime, check out (below) some really nifty HORROR stickers that my friend ( and OFFICIAL tROAD Countdown to Halloween 2011 ARTIST - - Shane Jones, sent me! thanks again Mr. J)

I love Shane's "take" on skulls and skeletons! I think the guy in the bottom right is maybe Glenn Danzig, or at least a Misfits "kind" of rocker.

Above we've got Mr. Hyde, a gorilla, and skeletons!!!! so-groovy..... I'll growl and grrr for that too!

SHANE JONES: tROAD's 2011 HALLOWEEN ARTIST!

2011-10-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog (way back in the Fall of 2009) I essentially did it for two people: my best and oldest friend Bookman187 (I call him Spoiler) and Kansas City based Cartoonist/Toy Creator/Animator/Artist/Creative Genius Mike Adair. I love these two guys. Check out their respective web sites/blogs at:

http://www.mikeadair.blogspot.com/ and

http://bookman187.blogspot.com/

But the other, unplanned-for and unintended benefit I received from this foray into the blogosphere, was all the guys and gals I've met via cyber-space. You have all been a true joy and delight. Interacting with all of you talented contributors, bloggers, artists, writers, followers, creators, and just genre-influenced "gems" has been a huge reward for me.

One of the best of the best!!!!! is my Welsh friend (from Wales, UK) SHANE JONES!!!!! Shane is "hands down" the best light/horror artist/cartoonist IN DA' WORLD!!!! (or at least in the non-USA world; Keith Seifert/KW is also at the top of My Olympus (Mt. Vasaria?)

I really wish you'd become Shane's "follower" as his blog is chocked full of his daily (or sometimes weekly) sketches, ideas, and finished projects. His blog (as I've mentioned before, and will continue to mention :) ) is called: this is HORROR BUSINESS and can be accessed at: http://thisishorrorbusiness.blogspot.com/

Shane is not only mega-talented, but also mucho-generous. He recently sent me in the post a CHRISTMAS in September gift by sending a package of some of his artistic "goodies." See the above art (from off one of his Post Cards) of a "wolfie" type monstuh! I love his style.

Shane has given me permission to copy and post some of his cool stuff.

He is just a great guy... and, he has now been chosen by me as the

OFFICIAL 2011 COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN tROAD ARTIST:

Shane Jones

SUNDAY's MYSTERY MATINEE: The RETURN OF CHARLIE CHAN!!!

2011-10-02T04:27:00.000-07:00

After a hiatus of almost a year, I thought I would revisit my passion for Mystery/Detective movies in general, and Sherlock Holmes & CHARLIE CHAN in particular. We continue with Honorable Detetive!

CHARLIE CHAN AT MONTE CARLO: 1937, Fox, b&w, USA, English, 71 minutes. Starring: WARNER OLAND, KEYE LUKE, Virginia Field, Sidney Blackmer, Harold Huber, Kay Linaker, Robert Kent, George Lynn, Edward Raquello. Directed by Eugene Forde.

This is not the best of the Oland Chan pics... but certainly IS one of the most fun and eye-appealing. The opening scene in the gaming room of a Casino located in Monte Carlo is oh so stylish and suave. There may be no James Bond or Cary Grant characters, but let me say that Sidney Blackmer and Edward Raquello in their white tie tuxedos, accompanied by the beautiful Virginia Field in her sparkly evening gown is one of the most evocative and cool CASINO scenes I've seen in a long time. Everybody smoking cigarettes, roulettes wheel spinning, cards being dealt out, bets being made, insults being traded, the whole set-up of our competing co-stars is marvelously stylish and urbane. The movie starts out with so much pregnant atmosphere you can "cut it with a knife."

The acting is typically good, in that stock-company, contract-actor, 1930's kind of way. Virginia Field gives a a believable performance as the femme fatale/gold-digger and bit-actor George Lynn is fun as the tough-talking barkeep Al Rogers. But I particularly liked Edward Raquello's turn at the debonair, vaguely Southern European (Hungarian-tinged?) man of mystery/wealthy gamer. I would have loved to have seen Raquello playing Count Dracula, as he has the magnetic charm (and even looks a bit like) of a young Bela Lugosi. His foil is Sidney Blackmer playing a hard-nosed financier millionaire.

And as good as Oland (as Chan) and Keye Luke (as #1 Son, Lee Chan) are, and they ARE, the movie is completely stolen and dominated by the over-the-top scene chewing (but totally delightful and engaging) HAROLD HUBER. Huber plays the local law-man Chief of Police Jules Etienne Joubert! That's Huber in the picture (above) wearing his full dress police uniform and talking on the phone.

The movie has that delightful 1930's convoluted plot with too many characters and way too much information ALL PUT FORWARD and introduced too quickly in the movie's first 10 minutes or so.

Since there really isn't anything about this movie that I didn't thoroughly enjoy (except that Oland didn't have quite as many lines and activities) let me simply give you some "bullets" that make this a keeper in the mystery movie genre pantheon.

* While there are a couple of murders, it's actually an interesting crime that centers around blackmail, and the theft of a million dollars worth of metalurgic bonds. The various crimes are all neatly (and logically) tied back to their source (the killer and his nemesis) at the movie's conclusion. I like a film that has no red herrings and no deus ex machina. This was a solid detective script that hangs together with internal logic and cosistency.

* While the wonderful Keye Luke (above - about to be lynched by an angry mob who thinks he's a window-peeper) who also doesn't have as much to do in this cast-heavy movie, is bit more restrained, he does have several funny bits that show what a marvelous comedic actor and physical stuntman he really was. His mangling of the French language is very funny, and his spying scene outside of Edward Raquello's hotel room is classic Luke physicality.

* Every scene with the motor vehicles, and especially the taxi cabs of "Monte Carlo" are delightful. I never realized how much those open fronted (no roof over the driver & the front seat) automobile cabs resembled the carriage-horse drawn-cabs that Holmes and Watson rode around London in. And there is one really funny bit with Oland and Luke getting stranded when their cab breaks down. The sequence is made all the more funny by the great interplay between Huber, and taxi-hack Louis Mercier.

* Oland does his patented "grab the finger tips of his left hand with his right hand finger tips" schtick. Well, that makes me happy and reassures me all is well in Chandom!

* Virginia Field is really "easy on the eyes" (see her below with her apparent love-interest played by Robert Kent. I really think she should have been an even bigger star; though she does receive second billing.

And of course there are the usual CHAN-isms that we all love, to-wit:

"humble presence (Chan's)... of no more importance than one drop of rain in cloud-burst."

"Illustrious ancestor once say- 'destination never reached by turning back on same."

"Fortunately, assassination of French language not serious crime."

"Tongue often hang man quicker than rope."

"Question are key to door of truth."

"Car with new spark plug like flea on puppy-dog: make both most active."

See this movie: you've got OLAND and Luke doing a good reprise of their great Father-Son chemistry. Though it is sad to note that this is the FINAL Chan movie that Oland appeared in. His health was not all that good when this movie was being made. There is a fascinating (and actually very sad & poignant) EXTRA feature on Warner Oland's life which appears on the DVD.

And you've got one of the best scene-stealing, histrionic, fake-accented performances in the 1930's by HAROLD HUBER. Huber truly looks like he is having the "time of his life" in this role.

MONDO FUN.... a good pre-Halloween Autumn flick.

Halloween Memory # 1 (for 2011)

2011-10-01T17:45:00.001-07:00

During my wonderful Junior High School years I had a group of really near and dear pals! It was fairly traumatic for me when I had to move from Brooklyn Park, MN to Wausau, WI, after my 6th grade year. But in Wausau, I met a great group of guys. One of my best friends was Dave S. He, along with Glen W., Bruce S., Jim C., and my Confirmation-Class Pal Dave R., were the core of my gang. We weren't all what could be referred to as classic MONSTER-KIDS, but heck, it was close enough.

It had to be Halloween of 1968 (when the Triceratops still roamed the earth) when Dave S. and I got the idea to have a remote-speaking (with a speaker in his chest) dummy hanging from one of the big trees in his front yard. Actually, I think it was all Dave's idea, he was the creative one! We were going to terrify the young kiddies who would be walking down the side-walk unsuspecting.

The above artwork (above :) ) though not an actual representation of Dave's house is close enough to give you the idea. We couldn't use my house since it was in a brand-new edition and there were no adult sized trees. Dave's house was in an older more established part of Wausau, and he had, in fact, a hug oak tree (like the one above over in the far right corner) that was located in his front yard, with a leaf-thick series of heavy branches that hung ominously over the side-walk.

We contructed a fairly good looking dummy with old clothes, stuffing from straw, cloths, and foam. Dave, though one of the most inventive and clever kids I ever knew, did not come up with a feasible plan to place a speaker in the dummy's chest cavity as we had originally planned. Ah well. Our thought was, that if we could have the dummy drop quickly out of the vegetation (kind of swooping like) so that he fell like a brick only to "come up short" on/in his noose - - - to dangle and swing mere inches away from the faces of the little beggars.... it would scare the heebie-jeebies out of them. In theory... brilliant. In execution... not bad. The dummy looked good. Dave tied a really great hangman's noose. We had a fairly decent pulley-device attached to the dummy from the tree branch, with the rope running back to his upstairs bedroom window. The window was kinda like in the picture (maybe more dormer like). We practiced the release & drop several times in the days (well at night) before HALLOWEEN. It worked well. It had the real capacity to scare the kids.

Our dummy looked something like the guy (above)... only maybe even better, as our ersatz man had wider and more commanding shoulders.

And then, it happened... as it happens almost EVERY single Autumn season in the mid-west, (or in the northern Great-Lake states like Wisconsin)... there was a huge rain storm and wind storm the day before Halloween.
Every single leaf (and there were still hundreds and hundreds of them on the target tree where we had our dummy stashed in eager expectations of terror).... every last piece of camouflage hiding material was stripped away only to leave our ragman totally exposed and "out-in-the-open." And though it gets dark early in Northern Wisconsin at the end of October... the street-lights on the block totally illuminated our surprise... so that it was no surprise... at all. Zero, zilch, nada, nil. Every kid from 19 down to 2 saw the thing up in the tree a full block away... and was expecting something.

We tried the dead-drop a couple of times but with no success. Some of the little vermin actually tried to play Pinata with it. We had to protect our agent, so we ceased the attempts.

The moral of the story is: If you're going to have dummies dropping out of trees in Wisconsin... do it in July (just to be safe).

SATURDAY's COVER(ed) # 29

2011-10-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

The following (below) album art is this weeks entry in the Saturday's Covered Hall-of-Fame! It's got a party atmosphere befitting our HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN, it's got costumes, food, and it's got SKELETONS!!! Good enough for rogue.

I own this album and play it frequently. I love Danny Elfman's sound-track and scoring work and have followed him ever since the days of PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE and BATMAN (the Burton opus). I wish I can say that I was a fan of Oingo Boingo from the get-go... but I wasn't. For some reason, in my MTV-dazed & crazed days, I somehow got this group confused with Bow Wow Wow. Yeah, I don't know how a sentient being could make a mistake like that either - - but I did. I didn't like BWW , and thus, by mistake (I was drinking a whole lot of beer in those days) I avoided Oingo Boingo.

My loss. In the last several years I've heard most of their (well, Danny Elfman's) canon and think they were one heck of fun, crazed, zany, and creative HALLOWEEN befitting new-wave band.

Let's get this HALLOWEEN PARTY rawking... you fellow DEAD MEN!

LET'S GET 'ER GOING!!! The 700th Post and COUNTDOWN to HALLOWEEN BEGINS!

2011-10-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

700th POST !!!

I am so pleased that this, my 700th post on The Roads of Autumn Dusk, is being able to be made on DAY 30 (and counting-down) in the GREAT COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN!!!

While I don't expect to post every day over the next month on our way to ALL HALLOW's EVE..... (bwa-ha-ha-haaaaa) I do plan on being a lot more active than I have over the sorry, sorry, dog days of... well... heck, the whole summer of 2011. Mea Culpa!

A salute of my most heart-felt appreciation to the 83 (I think it's up to 83?) of you that "signed on" as official "followers" of this blog... those who I have termed the "Evolentsia" :)

I know it's usually a big mistake to individually single out people for thanks, but what the hey...

I want to thank Bookman187 (Spoiler) and Mike Adair for being the original inspiration for starting tROAD.

And a special tip of my pointy warlock's mitre to the more than faithful "commenters" who have stuck with me through thick n' thin:
Keith Seifert (KW), Andrew, DeeDee, Jinx, Shane Jones, Alex Cavanaugh, Shonen King (Roy Ware), Brett Homenick, DAD (Darrin), Gabriel Corbera, pblfsda, Max Chaney, Elyn & DTR,
If you've commented more than a couple of times and I've inadvertanly left you out of your rightly-deserved kudos...let me know.
I do appreciate all of you.

Well, enough of this sentimental cake-mewing... let's get on with our celebration of the HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN!

getting ready (HUNGRY) for HALLOWEEN

2011-09-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

HEY YOU GUYS!!!!!! (said in my best FAT ALBERT voice)....
I'm Getting HUNGRY for HALLOWEEN!

When I went Trick-or-Treating as a wee lad in the 1960s it wasn't really for the "whole bag of tricks...er, candy." As a child, teen, young adult, and now Jurasic dinosaur... I have never been much of a "sweets eater." I've always liked ice-cream and root beer, and as an adult learned to appreciate apple pie and cheese cake... candy as candy never was my thing. To be sure, I always had a box of Lemon Drops when I went to the movies. Heck, ya had to have Lemon Drops (or maybe Milk Duds) to balance out the Godzilla sized popcorn tub!

Other kids ate from their Halloween sacks randomly (fist-full in the dark night unobserved) and ad hoc. Rogue Evolent had to wait until he was in the light of a porch to pick through his loot looking for about the only three things he truly enjoyed. Not counting peanuts (they're not candy) my favorite three Halloween treats were:

# 3) Plain M&Ms - - I have loved M&Ms ever since my Mom first gave them to me (only one of each color at a time) to eat, and to keep me occupied while the family was fishing out of boat in the middle of Northern Minnesota lake. I was easily distracted I guess, and not greedy. I never developed a craving for the Peanut M&Ms until I was in the Navy and had no other choices presented to be by the vending machine.

#2) Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar -- Unlike my pals, I never did like the chewey, caramel-y, soft centered candy bars which were so popular: Three Muskateers, Milky Way, and Snickers. But I loved the hard, crunchier, milk chocolate bars... especially Hershey's. I later developed a taste for their CRUNCH BAR!

Plus, it was fun to break the "scored" pieces apart and eat the thing in sections. I hardly ever just took a bite out of it like you see below :)

#1 BUTTERFINGER - - Like Homer Simpson and son Bart, "nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!!!!! These were my favorite candy bars back in 1964 and thereabouts... and they're still my favorite candy bars in 2011.

Postscript: And as much as I am for feeding the poor and impoverished children of the world (even as a kid) I hated those "do gooders" who would stick the UNICEF donation cards into my sack with pennies inserted in some of the slots INSTEAD of giving me my stash!!!! Also, and even worse, what the deuce was wrong with the jamokes giving us kids APPLES!!!! Hey Mr. School-marm... we're not celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday here...

IT'S HALLOWEEN....

and I'm HUNGRY again!

Halloween's A Coming: Rogue Evolent is Getting Dressed!

2011-09-27T16:40:00.001-07:00

Below you see a picture of me, rogue evolent taken a couple of days ago by my boy MothT. I was just sprucing up my complexion getting ready for the big 30-day COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN that tROAD will be participating in. More blog posts, more stuff, more mediocrity! YEAH!!!!!!!
There was a tinge of bitter-sweet to the situation surrounding the above photo. It was taken at a seasonal Halloween costume and novelty retail distributor that comes into town every year to sell Halloween stuff in the weeks before the big day. They usually just rent retail space at some strip-mall. But this year they had a HUMONGOUS store to ply their wares..... the old abandoned BORDERS BOOKS & MUSIC store in downtown. The store that I had spent hundreds of dollars in; drank hundreds of coffees in; listened to thousands of CD selections in (and actually bought hundreds and hundreds of CDs); and the store where I actually bought this thing (you may not be aware of) called a "book." I bought a lot of books from BORDERS. Now the space is only good for a temporary sale of wigs, novelty crap and cheap costumes.
NOW THAT'S A BONAFIDE SCARY FRIGHT! And sad.

SEE THIS MOVIE

2011-09-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

THE BEAVER is a heck of a good movie. Mel Gibson turns in a bravura, over-the-top, fevered/cathartic/personal sweat-lodge of a performance that I consider to be worthy of an Oscar nomination (if not necessarily an Academy Award).

Many of you may not read the following review because you simply loathe Gibson with every ounce of your being. GET OVER IT. Be a man and judge the movie, as a movie, and then spill your bile.

I find Gibson's private life, which has become his public life, which has become Hollywood's biggest orgy of "shooting fish in a barrel" since the days of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Gibson may be a racist and an anti-semite. Those who know him well say that he is not. Gibson has struggled with many demons (alcoholism, a dysfunctional home life as a teen, a strange & authoritarian Father, runaway fame, too much money, and misogynist predispositions) and may never ever again be popular. But it won't be because of his work on THE BEAVER. This film is a keeper.
THE BEAVER: 2011, USA, English, color, 91 minutes, Directed by Jodie Foster, written by Kyle Killen, staring: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Cherry Jones, Anton Yelchin, Riley Thomas Stewart

The movie is about a sick, sick man who has arrived at a point in his life where everything is in complete ruin. Is this an autobiographical self-defense by Gibson to garner him sympathy from his legion of critics. NO, I don't really think so. His character in the movie is unappealing at the beginning, the middle and even at the end of the movie. He is a tragic and sad man. One ends up not feeling anything for him but regret, and maybe understanding. His character is a man who is clinically depressed and whose sickness is in fact (art imitating life?) partly genetic. Gibson's own father in the movie had the same serious problems (and in an aside, we are lead to believe that Gibson's father had in fact committed suicide).

Gibson's depression is so severe that he has spent weeks and months in bed letting his business, his marriage, and his family (his own two sons) slip away to the point that he has nothing left. The Gibson character is more than just depressed, he is psychotic and delusional (or is he?). He is so sick that after a botched suicide attempt, a discarded Beaver puppet (which he has fished out of a dumpster in an alcohol-clouded daze) begins to talk to him... and begins to take over his life. This is the one element of the movie where, I suppose, a case could be made that the puppet is in fact "alive" and sentient and that we're dealing with fantasy and horror. Naaah.

The movie is not a comedy, it a very serious and somber look at mental illness, family loyalty, politically correct "assumptions" on depression and how to treat it, and the therapies of self help. It is a superbly acted movie with the six main characters all turning in strong performances. Jodie Foster is as good as she always is and the two sons, the older son's girl friend, and Gibson's chief-of-staff, all turn in empathetic and engaging roles. Foster especially shines in her directorial duties as she presents a fast moving, well shot, and clean story line. The dialogue of writer Kyle Killen is intelligent and crisp, and sounds like real people talking.

In the movie's parallel sub-plot, Mel's oldest son Porter (above right, played by Anton Yelchin) seeks to develop a meaningful relationship with his fellow Senior High Schooler (and Valedictorian) Nora (above left, played by Jennifer Lawrence). Yelchin's character is self aware that in his own young life he is ALREADY displaying some of the same dysfunctional and depression-prone symptoms of his father Gibson. The Lawrence character is a young girl consumed by grief over the suicide of her own brother. These are two young actors to watch out for. Let us hope that the maggot moguls of Hollywood do not boycott these talented actors for their association with someone persona non grata.

The way the two plots intertwine and track simultaneously is a credit to Foster and the editing team.

The movie is not a comedy, despite the puppet and the various clips, promos, and theatrical trailers that may have been seen. And what's more, the movie is NOT PREDICTABLE!!! At no point does the viewer really know where the story is going. I was constantly saying: "I did not see that/this coming!" The premise is very strange, yes unbelievable. Is this movie a metaphor of Mel's attempt to plead for forgiveness while at the same time making an excuse: "Hey, I'm depressed...and maybe a bit crazy...but I'm not a monster, and I'm not an anti-semite!" Maybe. Maybe not. Gibson's performance is riveting and truly heart-breaking. Is this superb type-casting, the greatest feat of "method acting" since Brando, or just an out-on-his-luck actor delivering the performance of his career? I don't know. Gibson is better than good... he is great.

The movie is about redemption. The movie is about the will to live and to get better. The movie is about love and not giving up on those who have cared for you and stood by you. The movie brought tears to my eyes several times with its honesty and courage.

And the biggest shout-out of all should go to the lady by the name of Jodie. When others "cut and ran" from Gibson and his abominable behaviors and episodes... she remained his friend. The two of them had become dear and close friends on the set of MAVERICK (1994). Foster (just look at that genuine look of happiness and love on her face above, standing next to someone... who for her, isn't the crazed and evil Mad Max-alcoholic and woman beater... but who is just Mel, her old friend... whom she won't abandon to the carrion vultures of tinsel town and parasites and auto-accident-gawkers of modern America. Jodie Foster does deserve an Oscar for being LOYAL FRIEND.

The kind of friend we should all have at least one of.

But it is a good movie. It may be the best I've seen in 2011

SATURDAY'S COVER(ed) # 28

2011-09-24T10:14:00.001-07:00

Halloween's coming - - so we need more spooky skeletal pals to gaze upon eh? :)
The above art if from GRAVE DIGGER'S 9th album ( The Grave Digger, released in 2001). GD is a German Power Metal band. They're pretty good if you like speed metal with rousing, anthemic choruses and fantasy-tinged lyrics. I like 'em, though they're not in the same league (IMHO) as RHAPSODY OF FIRE, HELLOWEEN, SONATA ARCTICA, HAMMERFALL, and a few other bands that I enjoy a bit more.

I don't own this CD but have heard the third track "RAVEN" and can attest it's a very 'meaty' metal-esque (and good) take on Poe's poem by the same name. I have not heard track 6 (yet) titled "THE HOUSE" but have read that it too was inpsired by Poe (Fall of the House of Usher). Indeed, the whole album is Edgar Allan inspired according to the reviews I've read. Check them out on YouTube or Grooveshark to see if they're to your liking.... might make a nice Halloween musical discovery.

I don't know who the artist is, but I like his work here: the fog on the tomb-stones, the raven on Mr. Death's right shoulder, and the moon-lit night sky.

HALLOWEEN IS CREEPING CLOSER!

2011-09-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

How could I have almost forgotten? I've even got that "daily counter" thingie (a...widget???) up there showing that we are all only 40 days away from ALL HALLOW'S EVE.....bwaa...ha...ha...haaaaaa!

But go ahead and click on this blog post entry title (Halloween is Creeping Closer) or click here: http://www.countdowntohalloween.com/
to be taken to John Rozum's wonderful web-page COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN. tROAD was a 2010 participant in this ghouly axe-travaganza, and, I plan to particpate this season as well. I will start the Halloween-heavy posting when our countdown reaches 30 days prior. I will endeavor to have a month of spooktacular (it's the Forry in me takin' over, sorry) posts.

I urge you other bloggers to join in, become one of John's official CRYPT KEEPERS, download the nifty logo-buttons on your blog, and post away.

TOM WILSON R.I.P.

2011-09-20T06:36:00.001-07:00

I hate doing "obits" and have not been doing them as frequently as before, BUT... as a younger kid I did like ZIGGY. Yeah, it certainly wasn't deep or important. And, as a one-panel daily comic it was many times repetitive, simplistic, and just NOT FUNNY.

But there were still times when creator/writer/artist CARTOONIST TOM WILSON nailed it. He could be charming, poignant, and sincere. Ziggy did have a lot of love. I think that as our Nation got (or thought it was getting) cooler, hipper, edgier,and more mean spirited (all the while pretending that it was just sarcasm, wit, and "realness") we jettisoned the simple and gentle smile. I bet the only connection the 'young-uns' have with Ziggy was in the episode of Seinfeld where Elaine comes up with her cartoon idea for the New Yorker and mentions the little bald guy - - Z. Oh well.

Ziggy was a nice cartoon character; somebody you would have wanted for a friend. I always loved his little dog FUZZ as well. And though Mr. Wilson's son has been doing the panel for some years now, it is still sad to see TOM WILSON's passing.

For his wikipedia entry click: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wilson_(cartoonist)

TOM WILSON- - Born: August 1, 1931 Died: September 16, 2011

Your creation lives on Mr. W... we will indeed "See you in the Funny Papers"

Worst Movies Ever Blogfest -or- ROGUE'S LIST-O-CRAP

2011-09-19T07:13:00.001-07:00

The idea for this wonderful "blogfest" comes from my cyber-friend, the noted Sci-Fi author Alex J. Cavanaugh (http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/ ) Be sure to surf over to his blog for his list and more info! Thanks Alex.

Before I give you my list of the 10 WORST MOVIES I've ever seen (below), let me first of all tell you that it's not your standard IMDb list or Wikipedia's Worst 100. I've thought about this question. Many of the "gimmes" that almost everybody would naturally come up with are not on my list. First of all, I didn't see them. Secondly, for me, to just pick the "usual" crap would be too easy-- like "shooting fish in a barrel."

Obviously this is all subjective, which is what makes it fun! So the following movies are NOT on my list, but make no mistake, they are all no-doubt more than deserving: Fearless Frank, Ishtar, Heaven's Gate, Battlefield Earth, Gigli, Glitter, Howard the Duck, Cat Woman, Freddy Got Fingered, Showgirls, and anything starring Rob Schneider. All crap.

I also am not including some beloved films that simply had no budget and never had any aspirations to be anything but crap (a lot of the Grade Z sci-fi flicks from the 50s). So, I love 'em like a "crazy uncle up in the attic" : Anything by Ed Wood, Beast of Yucca Flats, The Giant Gilla Monster, and Santa Claus vs. the Martians. and etc. and etc.

This list is in ascending order (I think that's right?) from my 10th worst flick all the way to the champion piece of crap: The # 1 worst movie that Rogue Evolent has ever seen. My comments may be cursory. Remembering these moments of wasted life are indeed painful. Also, some of these movies have (obviously) never been seen again since I first was subjected to their feculent cinema stench.

NUMBER 10) NASTY HABBITS (1977)
What's amazing is that piece-o-crap had a strong and competent cast. Glenda Jackson is a wonderful actress and Mercouri, Page and Dennis are also accomplished actors. There's even roles for the usually always fun Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. The movie moves as slow as a "view-master" disk of Death Valley high-lights. The acting (again, astonishing--considering) is wooden and very pained. It's supposed to be a comedy, and a satirical "take-off" of the Watergat Break In (only at a Convent??? what the Deuce???). Nobody in the theater laughed even once. So painful it ruined my whole evening.

NUMBER 9) TARZAN THE APE Man (1981)

Well, it did have Richard Harris (who can be very good at time; I guess he was simply not drunk enough in most of his scenes) and John Phillip Law whom I also like. So, had they gone in the "high camp" of say, Barbarella, i t may have worked. Two words why this movie is crap: BO and DEREK. The guy behind the counter at your local Kwiki Mart could have acted better. There's also this plastic mannequin named Miles O'keeffe playing Lord Greystoke...like a retarded male model.

NUMBER 8) THE MASTER GUNFIGHTER (1975)

Movies with the word "Master" in their titles always tend to suck! Yeah, Ron O'neal is cool...(the only real redeeming factor in Superfly) but no movie can overcome the "brick" which is Tom Laughlin. Trying to be Billy Jack, only with a Samurai Sword and a brace of 6-guns, this Western was laughably bad. I saw it with my best friend (and loyal follower of this blog) Bookman167, and I think it was so bad he didn't speak to me for a week (just kidding "book")

NUMBER 7) BEYOND THE DOOR (1974)

This is an EXORCIST "rip-off." It has the decent actress Juliet Mills (I loved her in the TV series NANNY & THE PROFESSOR) as the star, the woman who is going to have the Devil's (Paul Anka no doubt) baby. There is nothing wrong with trying and "ape" a great classic like the EXCORCIST if one does it well. This movie's opening 20 to 30 minutes were so stilted, and inane that Bookman167 (yeah, I no doubt was responsible for dragging him to another Piece-O-Crap) actually got up and walked out. So, I don't know how bad it actually got... or how good it may have turned out. This film does seem to be held in a higher regard by Horror Fans than I would have thought. It was the VERY FIRST movie I ever walked out on. That's how bad it was to me at the time.

NUMBER 6) THE SWORD AND THE SORCEROR (1982)

And, this move is the SECOND film I ever go up out of my "paid-for" seat in the theater, AND WALKED OUT ON. Maybe I should have stayed longer for it too has achieved cult status and fond memories by the geek movie loving community. It starred Matt Houston (i.e. Lee Horsley) as the "conan-guy" and a bunch of other people as other people. I had seen Conan, and even with Arnold's mediocre performance, had rather liked it. This turkey couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to be a "straight" action adventure flick, a more light-hearted romantic adventure comedy, or a "piece-o-crap." After about 25 minutes, me and my pal Wes were angry that our intelligences were being assaulted and insulted with sewage and we left to go to a bar where we could kill brain cells our own way!

NUMBER 5) CLERKS (1994)

Here's one where I think you're all going to "turn on the ol' rogue." Now don't misunderstand me... I know that Kevin Smith is universally regarded as the GREATEST THING SINCE QUANTUM PHYSICS...that he is GENIUS! Okay fine. I know CLERKS got a heckuva "buzz" among critics and it is regarded as a masterpiece. I thought it was contrived, over-written, not as clever as it tried to be, and incredibly foul and nasty for no particular purpose other than Smith likes to have characters spouting f-bombs and regaling the audiences with oral-sex crudities. And by way of disclaimer...I have watched and sorta enjoyed: Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back as well as Dogma. But this is just potty-mouth wankery (wankery as the British describe it, if you get my meaning ;) )

NUMBER 4) INSPECTOR GADGET (1999)

I would have walked out on this turd, but for the fact I was with my wife and son on a family movie outing. Even my son was bored and unimpressed. Sure, the BULLWINKLE & ROCKY movie (with the horribly miscast Jason Alexander) sucked... but at least the animated Rocky and Bullwinkle were pretty cool, and fairly faithful to the old cartoons.... but this movie puked all over the animated Inspector Gadget legacy. What killed it? MATTHEW BRODERICK.... this guy just cannot act. He makes Nicholas Cage look like Sir Laurence Olivier. In no scene did it appear that Broderick even wanted to be in this movie. Believe me, this came across on the screen, and very few people wanted to be the theater either. Ferris Bueller... go back to class.

NUMBER 3) MASTER OF DISGUISE (2002)

This was the worst movie I had ever seen, until I remembered (it was a buried and regressed memory that I had laying dormant) #2 below, and until I had seen the #1 choice. I would have ALSO left the movie house 20 minutes into this film had I not taken my son to see it as a Saturday treat.

Dana Carvey owes me 20 dollars (the approximate price of my two tickets) for 80 minutes of lost life and some of the most painful memories any movie has ever subjected me to. How can somebody who was so funny on TV be so unfunny when given a larger canvas? This may be the proverbial "second bannana" supporting star (re: Wayne's World) simply not being good enough to carry the show as a star. It could also be that the script (no laughs at all) was written by stoned existentialists channeling Buddhist aphorisms. Simply horrid.

NUMBER 2) THE NORSEMAN (1978)

Wow... I had totally forgotten the nightmarish experience of having seen this movie in the theater. I (you know what I'm going to say by now) would have gotten up and left but I was on a date. It would have been a self-admission that my choice for the night's entertainment was lame. I had to suck-it-up and watch this movie through the blood and mucous that was pouring out of my eye-balls. Lee Majors is the only actor who can make Tom Laughlin seem charismatic and manic. The movie did not have one actor who appeared to be a real professional actor. There were just some Viking dudes running around in Vineland getting shot up by Native Americans. There was no plot. Just a bunch of untalented fake-actors who were lame Vikings getting shot up by Indians. I'm praying I can now forget this movie again for another 30-plus years.

-- DRUM ROLL PLEASE --

NUMBER 1) STAN HELSING (2009)

Guys and gals... I'm just to tapped out right now and emotionally scarred to tell you much about the horror (and not in good Horror Movie kinda way) that is STAN HELSING. You can always click on my past post wherein I sort of review it (http://theroadsofautumndusk.blogspot.com/search?q=Stan+Helsing )

At least I didn't pay to see this offal. My son had the DVD and we both watched it together. I think had either of us tried a solo-viewing the rogue evolent household would have had a suicide. We tried multiple times to turn off the TV but it was so indescribably bad, that like gawking at a car wreck scene, or staring at a Tod Browing-like FREAK, we couldn't avert our eyes. We had to know just how metaphysically and ontically bad a movie could go...into the infinity of inneptitude. Has anything so bad ever been filmed? No.

Keep watching genre movies my friend... but avoid this

LIST-O-CRAP.

SATURDAY's COVER(ed) # 27

2011-09-17T13:01:00.001-07:00

Be-Bop Deluxe is probably my third or fourth favorite rock/pop band of all time. It's creator, writer, and lead guitar player BILL NELSON is not only in my top three favorite guitar players list, but also in my favorite "experimental" genius composers' list!

The above album art (now THAT'S a skull!!!) is from Be-Bop's very first album: Axe Victim.

The art-work is a painting by one JOHN HOLMES (the artist not the other guy :) ) but was designed and photographed by Mick Rock. Rock had worked closely with Bowie on the Space Oddity and the Pin Ups covers.

It's just a mondo cool cover.

Check out a link for Be-B0p Deluxe at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be-Bop_Deluxe

I also urge you to check out the many videos they have on YouTube.

BUT...Does It Stretch Your Patience?

2011-09-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

RUBBER: 2010, color, France (soundtrack in English), 82 minutes, directed & written by Quentin Dupieux, starring: Roxane Mequida, Stephen Spinella, Jack Plotnick and Wings Hauser. Rated R for brief nudity and grossly stupid violence.

I'm still not sure what I think about this movie. RUBBER is a strange film. Not strange as in bad, though, it's not a good movie. Not strange as in clever either. RUBBER is part art-house send-up and part cheap exploitation. RUBBER is also part horror black-comedy. The problem with this movie is that in all of these individual "pieces" there just isn't much of anything interesting going on. The movie is boring and feels a lot longer than the 82 minute run time. There are NO characters that are worth caring about. The movie from the very beginning is presented as some kind of surreal and pretend wilderness fable. We are all "in" on the joke, but the joke just isn't funny.

The movie poster (above) is bold, colorful and striking; almost a Frazetta feel. It's just too bad that the movie is a washed out and limp affair.

The movie opens out in the dry (and yes, colorless) desert of some un-known place (Arizona, New Mexico, California???) when a partially buried old discarded tire (see picture above) comes to life, digs itself (via spinning and gyrating) out of the sand, and starts to roll around on the desert tundra. This was at first intriguing--I mean, who doesn't love an anthropomorphic tire character. I love BIB the Michelin Man!!

But after the Tire (called "Robert" in movie ads and reviews but never actually named in the movie to my recollection) murders several, ah... SPOILER...... fellow desert denizens... it's apparent that the Tire is malevolent (but NOT rogue evolent :) ) and psychotic. Okay I thought, maybe we will get a bunch of over-the-top Peter Jackson/DEAD ALIVE gore and mayhem.

No.
This is an "art-house" pseudo-intellectual "French" movie that is making some "point" no doubt.

The writer/director employs a "gag" that was probably novel and clever the first few times it was used in cinema: i.e. the "movie within a movie" gag.

Here he has his own group of fat, frumpy, and "ugly-Americans" as tourists, to serve as his "Greek Chorus." This group of about a dozen people are viewing the movie's actions, the movie as movie? or the movie as "message?" I dunno. I don't care. They're using binoculars to view the Tire's rolling down the road miles and miles and miles away. Clearly they could not actually see any of this action and therefore it's some kind of metaphorical "stage-play" omniscient observation. The writer/director Dupieux is probably lampooning movie audiences... or American movie audiences.... I dunno. I don't care.

There is some pretty eye-candy in the film (above) by way of actress Roxane Mesquida. She can't really act, but that's okay. The script doesn't call for acting. She looks good, moves well, and isn't your typical scream-queen or ditzy blonde. She's okay.

The Tire (I'm NOT going to call him Robert!) starts to stalk young Roxane and continues to roll down the highway. It also kills some more people. The tire, you see, has telepathic psycho-kinetic powers that allow it to blow things up. Death by having ones head explode is probably preferable to death by Uni-Royal tiger-paw and metal studding :)

Actor Stephen Spinella (above with Roxane) plays the local sheriff who tries to solve the, at-first, unexplainable murders until he is informed that the killer is a Tire. He's okay with this premise, since like other characters in the plot, HE KNOWS he's in a movie and says so to other characters who don't seem to understand the joke. He in fact has an important opening scene where he breaks the 4th wall and talks directly to us the real viewing audience. This all is kind of neat for the first few seconds, but quickly bogs down in a slowly paced (did I say boring) dirge that plays like some pretentious Film-School Masters project. Spinella is nonetheless a decent actor and I liked his hamminess.

In the scene (above) Sheriff Spinella and Roxane (safely ensconced in the Police van) try and lure the Tire out on to the porch to listen to a "Roxane doll" (yup, that's a mannequin in the photo above) talk "dirty." The fake plastic Roxane has a bunch of dynamite taped to it, and the plan is to detonate it, and the killer black-wall, when it moves a bit closer to the object of its insane desire.

Here (above) we have the opening sequence where Stephen Spinella talks to the audience (us! the real audience, as well as the group of a dozen other actors playing the Greek Chorus observational audience). Clever... I guess... I dunno. I don't care.

The one saving grace of this group of "fake movie" fake watchers, is Wings Hauser (above). It's always great to see Hauser in any movie. Here he plays a stolid, solid, crusty, and tough (though wheel-chaired bound) survivor. He's cool. He must have needed the "scale" pay-check; or owed a favor to Quentin Dupieux.

Above is a picture of said writer/director Dupieux (on left) with actor Jack Plotnick. Plotnick is a very annoying actor who plays a nerdy, bumbling and inefficient "accountant/gopher" for some un-named antagonist. This is probably some kind of "riff" on Dupieux himself and his movie making. I dunno. I don't care.

Should you watch the movie? If you've got Netflix go ahead and check out the first 20 minutes (though it may seem like you've invested an hour or more). You may like it. It is off-beat. It is NOT run-of-the-mill chick-flick, waynan brothers take-offs, or Jack Black/Seth Rogen/Simon Pegg standard young-adult humor. It is twisted and bizarre. But it tries waaaaay to hard to be... I dunno, I don't care.

HAPPY LABOR DAY

2011-09-05T08:07:00.001-07:00

"Work! Work! Work! Work!....."
- Gov. William J. Lepetomane

SATURDAY'S COVER(ed) # 26

2011-08-20T15:23:00.001-07:00

On October 4th in the US (Sept. 26th in the UK) the MISFITS release their newest album: THE DEVIL'S RAIN!
[click on image for even bigger, bolder, and bad-burro beauty!]

The above cover is a "no-brainer" for this week's installment of SATURDAY'S COVER(ed), wherein I feature the best monster/horror/sci-fi art to grace the Cd covers of rock/pop/et al music!

This artwork is some of the best I've seen in quite a while of the ol' Grim Reaper (aka Mr. Death). The artwork is stunning and needs no more blather from me.

For more info on the music and band, I recommend the band's own website at: http://www.misfits.com/

Happy Birthday to: THE MASTER

2011-08-20T14:57:00.001-07:00

TELEKI-LI, TELEKI-LI, TELEKI-LI

Today, August 20th, is the nativity of America's greatest author of the weird: Howard Phillips Lovecraft, the "Rhode Island Recluse."

Pour yourself an ichor filled goblet full of foul, foetid, brackish, and feculent libations and toast the creator of Cthulhu, Miskatonic University, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Randolph Carter, the lost city of R'lyeh, Innsmouth (and it's fish people), Herbert West: Re-Animator, and the mad Arab: Abdul Alhazred.

Lovecraft had many, many faults, but lack of creativity and work ethic were not two of them. He was, and will remain, one of the most gifted and unique "man of letters" this North American continent will ever produce.

He still whispers in the darkness to all of us who are willing to read and suspend dis-belief.

I LOVE (I really do) ROBOTS # 7

2011-08-19T15:51:00.000-07:00

[click on this really cool poster/chart to enlarge it so that you can:
a) find Wall-E
and b) to see all the other famous robots]

Musings

2011-08-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme R.I.P. Additional musings.

Rogue Evolent's very first Barclay James Harvest (Woolly played keyboards, mellotron, etc) album GONE TO EARTH. While perusing a fairly decent record store in Wichita Kansas circa 1977 or 78, I saw this album jacket hanging on the wall display. It was a die-cut (or whatever they're called) and the soft, British pastoral vibe (even kind of Maxfield Parish like; also see their TIME HONORED GHOSTS album) of the art caused me to pick it up for a second look. While handling said Lp, I saw the title for one of the songs (printed on the back) was "Poor Man's Moody Blues" (my favorite group then, but maybe not now) I bought the album sight-unseen; or is that sound-unheard :)

While this is NOT a music blog (in fact, I'm no longer sure what the deuce kind of blog this is) it nonetheless is MY BLOG...and thus rules are made to be broken. :) But, that's neither here-nor-there.

Last year on 14 December 2010 I posted a very short obituary for one of my all-time favorite musicians: Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme. You can still see it here: http://theroadsofautumndusk.blogspot.com/2010/12/music-dies-again-stuart-woolly.html

This morning I received a very nice "comment" on this old post by the mysterioulsy named (hey! rogue evolent is NOT mysterious!) "That Hideous Man" His moniker reminds me of one of my favorite novels of all time: C.S. Lewis' THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH. Anyway, based on his erudtition and gentlemanly decency, THM is anything but hideous. I am glad he saw my brief rumination on Woolly and Barclay James Harvest. BJH is either my second or third favorite band of all time (depending on the day of the week you ask me).

Anyhow, even though the great Frank Zappa (I think it was Frank) once said: "rock journalism is about musicians who can't talk, written by people who can't write, for fans who can't read" with Mr. "That Hideous Man" we have the exception to the rule. I urge you (especially if you're a music fan) to surf over to his wonderful blog and read his own very touching and beautifully written tribute/obituary/celebration of the late Stuart Wolstenholme. You can find his post here: http://goo.gl/9CYid

Check out BJH on YouTube. If they're to your liking, order some of their material (old, in-between, new; John Lees' current version 0r Les Holroyd's current band... matters not.) And remember Woolly.

Lastly, if you know of anyone who suffers from depression or mental illness, get them some help. Or get yourself some help.

pax,

r/e

Vincent Seems to be EVERYWHERE!

2011-08-15T20:24:00.001-07:00

It seems as if Master PRICE is popping up everywhere these days as horror magazines proliferate - - which is a GOOD THING! Ya can't ever get too much VINCENT!!!

So, in addition to being an interior "story" in the upcoming debut of Mark Redfield and Michael Heisler's MONSTERPALOOZA #1 (due out later this fall) and the cover "boy" on UNDYING MONSTERS #2 (now available) the "Gentleman of Ghoulishness" and the "Renaissance Raconteur" of Horror: VINCENT PRICE graces the cover of MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT issue # 30 (exact release date still unknow). If you truly love the 'Classic' approach to monster movies and monster magazines.... then you owe it to yourself to be a regular reader/supporter of Jim and Marion Clatterbaugh's labor of love. Artist supremo DANIEL HORNE has rendered a stunningly beautiful cover of PRICE as DR. PHIBES. I am so "on to this" ish.
[click on cover to enlarge to monster-proportions]

"The" Magazine Event of 2011: MONSTERPALOOZA

2011-08-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how "stoked" I am for the above magazine: MONSTERPALOOZA ! (well, actually I CAN, cause I AM right now eh? :) )
Anyway, you must go to their new web-site and check them out: http://www.monsterpaloozamag.com/ (or click on this post's title above)

The magazine is named for (and licensed from) the great Southern California yearly convention put on by Eliot Brodsky. What's going to make this the PREMIER (and BESTEST!!!!) monster mag in the universe is the crack editing team of Michael Heisler and Mark Redfield. These gents were with the re-launced FM (Famous Monsters of Filmland) for a short while until they parted company. FM's loss is our gain.

Is that not a "kick-butt" cover of the MONSTER by Jeff Preston? And it's an "infinity cover" to boot. Please go to their web page and see the stuff (content and authors/artists) they've got lined up for issue #1 of this projected quarterly. This is already my favorite mag and I've yet to even lay hands on it. Also, go to the right-hand margin and click on Mark Redfield's logo to be taken to his own creative endeavor REDFIELD ARTS (www.redfieldarts.com )

- and -

And don't forget, the newest G-FAN is soon to be out. If you're thinking at all of becoming a bit more Kaiju acclimated this is a must buy. I love this cover of the "Big G" and King Ghidorah.

Happy reading and looking - r/e

SATURDAY'S COVER(ed) #25

2011-08-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

In the sophomore release by the American goth/industrial/avant prog/instro-metal (whew! that's a lot of musical genres :) )
band HOBGOBLIN, we are treated to a score/soundtrack to the famous 1920 silent classic: THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. This music can and does work as an actual score (depending on your musical tastes to be sure) but also is simply good music for stand-alone listening. Surf over to CD Baby (click on this post's title above for quick link) and give the tracks a listen. Yeah, Amazon sells this disc too, but at a higher price.

The album makes this weeks coveted SATURDAY'S COVERED not because of the music per se but because of the cool ART WORK (above). The movie (black and white; though some scenes are tinted depended on the DVD version your watching) is a fever-dream of German impression and nightmare horror. I think the art above, with the greens and blues, works on that unsettling theme and vibe.

AND SOME MORE MONSTUH MAGS!

2011-08-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

It takes a lazy man to only blog a picture now and then (naaah, not really, I, in fact follow a couple of really good blogs where that's the sole focus - - to showcase art, or posters, one-sheets, graphic designs, et al).... but I have been fairly lazy with my own posting. Nonetheless, I do truly love these two covers and wanted you to see them.

The first is from a magazine devotedly and lovingly put out by Richard Klemensen. His sui generis mag is named LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS and is devoted primarily to the films and personalites of HAMMER during its heyday! The articles are top-notch with crisp, informative and well-researched information, insights and opinions. The artwork may very well be the best in the business of monster mags. The cover below is spectacular! It is the artwork of Mark Maddox and depicts the characters from Roman Polanski's FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS movie from 1967. Find out more from Richard Klemensen (and ORDER his mags) at:
http://www.littleshoppeofhorrors.com/

Next (below) we have the projected cover for FREAKY MONSTERS #4. This artwork depicts the iconic horror/genre actor Ernest Thesiger as Doctor Pretorius from James Whale's THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. This cover credited to the somewhat mysterious/anoymous "Arliss" is thought to be the work of publisher/editor Ray Ferry himself.
EDIT: I'm not going to change what I just wrote above, but I just surfed over to the Freaky web site (Filmland Classics) and according to their own write-up, the cover below depicts the "floating head" of TV Horror Host Zacherly... which "bears a striking resemblance to Ernest Thesiger." Well, okay, but I'm sticking with my own uninformed opinion that it IS Thesiger :)

Put aside all pre-conceived notions on the past battles and toxic fall-out of the great Kim vs. Ferry battles over the FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND trademark etc. Give FREAKY MONSTERS a try and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the professionalism and all-around retro fun! It's just a good mag! http://filmlandclassics.com/zcart/

Another GREAT Cover: VINCENT PRICE

2011-08-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

Just to keep the "posting" a bit more regular, let me cheat a bit again and simply reprint a recent bit of stunning artwork. Below I present to you the draft cover of UNDYING MONSTERS #2 by noted horror/sci-fi artist MARK MADDOX. It is a stunningly beautiful picture of VINCENT PRICE. Price has lately become one of my favorite actors PERIOD-- and not just genre/horror! I bought the first issue of UNDYING MONSTERS (check out: http://undyingmonsters.com/ ) at my local comic book store in late June (with my pal Bookman187 in tow) and was not disappointed. This may become a must buy every ish!

Is this Cover Art a "BEAUT" or What?

2011-08-03T14:12:00.001-07:00

Below is a sneak peak that editor (and all around great guy and monster-kid magnifique) Jim Clatterbaugh posted awhile back on CHFB of the upcoming issue (#29) of MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT. I thought I'd share it with you. It's done by one of the best artists out there: Daniel Horne. Surf over to Jim's MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT web page and subscribe: www.monstersfromthevault.com Or, click on this post's title above to be taken via quick link to Jim's blog for more info.

Bela simply was, is, and always will be: COUNT DRACULA!

SATURDAY'S COVER(ed) # 24

2011-07-23T14:29:00.001-07:00

I just plain "like" this rather silly/goofy cover for the Suf-Band the COFFIN DAGGERS. It's from their lp MONSTERS FROM THE ID.
Makes me think of Kang and Kodos from the SIMPSONS :)

The cartoony art rolls both Horror and Sci-Fi into one grand mish-mash!

NAMOR he ain't

2011-07-23T08:40:00.001-07:00

As San Diego's Comic-Con winds down... cartoonist supremo Patrick McDonnell gives us the mighty Mooch as Marvel's SUB (er, I mean) SHNUB-MARINER !

What I find interesting is that during this weeks homage to Super Heroes (after all, Comic-Con was ORIGINALLY all about- - well, COMIC BOOKS, duh) McDonnell did not once use a D.C. character. I'm sure there could be many reasons... maybe he's just like I was, circa 1966, to-wit:

MAKE MINE MARVEL Excelsior! "Nuff Said!

SHPIDER-CAT, SHPIDER CAT ....

2011-07-22T06:24:00.000-07:00

"Listen bud...he's got radioactive Catnip" (that doesn't rhyme though)

McDonnell rawks on with his "tip o the brush" to Comic-Con 2011!

Comic-Con Comic Strip (reprise)

2011-07-21T06:52:00.001-07:00

MOOCH: Master of Mystical Merriment!

McDonnell's Magnificent!

Comic-Con Comic Strips Courtesy of MUTTS

2011-07-20T18:49:00.001-07:00

I love the syndicated comic strip MUTTS and think its artist/writer/creator Patrick McDonnell is a veritable genius - - channeling parts of E.C.Seegar, Geo. Herriman, and Bud Blake. MUTTS is simply my favorite comic strip currently being published (though I do sorely miss Calvin & Hobbes).

Two years ago today (give or take a day) I was in San Diego, CA with my best pal Bookman187 (aka "The Spoiler") for Comic-Con 2009. I had a blast. I'm not sure I'd ever go back simply due to the too large (way too large) crowds, but, for the one-time experience-- it was memorable.

In honor of the start of Comic-Con 2011, Patrick McDonnell has run super-hero themed strips the last three days (Monday, Tuesday, and today: Wednesday). I reprint them below.
Click your mouse on each strip to slightly enlarge it for better viewing.

This last one (above) for today (Wednesday) is my favorite since the regular character GUARD DOG does in fack look a lot like Marvel's THE WATCHER... high forehead and all.

More to come Thursday thr0ugh Saturday :)

The Whisperer in the Darkness: Trailer

2011-07-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

Long-time and faithful "follower" of this blog (KW) posted a comment on the preceeding post (the one with just the "posters" of this movie). I thought I'd post this trailer as well.

Now I CAN'T WAIT Till the Fall of 2011 :)

2011-07-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

If "one picture is worth a thousand words" . . ..

NUFF SAID !