...The Fangirl Files...

What have I been up to?

2012-02-26T17:34:00.002-08:00

I don't normally go this long between blog posts, but life gets busy. It's the time of year where every garden plan, wish for more ducklings, improvement to the property, etc gets planned.

The time of year when all I'm typing on the computer is seed inventories and planting plans and duck egg candling results and stuff for work, as well!

I have 11 duck eggs cooking in the incubator, along with 5 chicken eggs. If all goes well, the chickens should be popping out of their shells in one week. The ducklings should arrive a week later. If not, I will be one sad little farmhand.

I have seeds starting in my loft. The loft is filled with the smell of wet peat as I am working towards using up the last of the peat pellets I bought almost two years ago. Bulk buy = great deal. However, I've found methods I like better in the meantime, so hopefully this year I will finally get those foresaken peat pellets used up.

I've got peppers, kale, celery, chard, collards and spinach on the heat mats. Two weeks from now, the tomato seeds will go in. I also need to start my flowers and herbs. That might come next weekend to keep me busy so I'm not staring into the incubator waiting impatiently for my little chickies!

Now looking forward to warmer weather, an awesome garden, and new fluffy butt ducklings! Not to mention cleaning brooders, shoveling compost and all that other fun stuff.

Last year's seedlings:

Last season's quack-lings (purchased)...

Review: West Sound Small Farms Expo!

2012-02-12T18:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the West Sound Small Farms Expo. Now that I've recovered a bit, I thought I'd share some of the things I saw and did!

The opening to the morning was an introduction by Arno Bergstrom of the WSU Kitsap Extension and a short talk by Charlotte Garrido, Kitsap County Commissioner and farm advocate.

Arno Bergstrom of WSU Kitsap.

Arno and Shannon Harkness (WSU Extension) making sure people could find their seminar locations.

Charlotte Garrido, Kitsap County Commissioner.

After the morning introductions, I split off from my bosses, and ventured into a seminar titled: Growing Your Farm Business with Social Marketing. The presenter, Jenny Ingram, is a food blogger. You can find Jenny's Blog here, her Facebook here, and her Twitter here.

Jenny is a very animated, well-spoken presenter. She gave a great talk about how to link and properly market your business with an online presence. Her advice on to how promote without being spammy is well worth remembering. For every one self-promotional post, you should post 5-6 interesting things that you think your customers would like to read. Nobody wants to become obnoxious or spammy when promoting their product.

Jenny Ingram of the Jenny on the Spot blog.

Next I attended Flower Growing for Profit. While ornamental anything takes a back seat to food production in my priority list, it looked like an interesting seminar. Janet Foss, who grows cut flowers for market and wholesalers, gave a great and detailed presentation. Janet recommended many varieties of plants that grow well in our climate and helped identify where and what the demand was for such products. She even brought a few of her favorite tools to share with the group.

Janet Foss demonstrates the Pottiputki Planter.

Lunch was locally produced rolls, salads, soups and pastries for dessert. Food was courtesy of CJ's Evergreen Catering, Monica's Waterfront Bakery and Chef Chris Plemmons.

Our lunch speaker was Richard Conlin, Chair of the Puget Sound Regional Food Policy Council. He is from Seattle, and related stories of how they turned unused urban spaces into community gardens and encouraged healthier dietary choices. While it seemed to be a disconnect from the rural life many of Kitsap's small farmers live, it was a very interesting talk and I'm always happy to hear from an urban food advocate.

If you had some time between presentations, there were many vendor booths providing information and product samples. Represented were Poulsbo Farmers Market, Bremerton Farmers Market, Kitsap Community Food Co-op, Key Peninsula Food Co-op, Kitsap Community and Agricultural Alliance, WSU Kitsap Extension, Scratch and Peck Feed, Kitsap Food Chain, Washington Tractor, Pheasant Fields Farm, Liberty Bay Books and more! Thanks to all the vendors for being so welcoming!

Pheasant Fields Farm brought free pots of cat grass for all the Expo-goers! Thanks Nikki!

Part of Scratch and Peck Feed's display. Look! It's a Henbag!!!

Another of Scratch and Peck!

Key Peninsula Food Co-op's booth.

Kitsap Poultry Growers Co-op.

The KCAA booth.

Kitsap County Noxious Weeds.

Bremerton Farmers Market.

WSU Extension.

Kitsap Community Food Co-op.

After lunch, I attended a seminar entitled: Food Security Begins at the Co-op! The main presenter was the produce buyer for the Port Townsend Food Co-op. It was an interesting talk. Port Townsend's co-op has an all Certified Organic produce department, with the exception of four or five products which are clearly marked as such. They put a huge emphasis on local, having differing designations on their stickers and signage which identifies where their produce comes from. They also emphasize familiarity with your farmers, having profiles on each regular supplier which identifies where they are, what they grow and how they grow it. I wish we had a store nearby where everything was organic. It would be so much quicker to choose produce and move along if one didn't have to find the miniscule organic section and hope they had what you came for.

The final seminar I attended was entitled: New Tricks for Old Dogs and Young Pups, Internet Marketing. This presentation was a crash course in eCommerce. Presenter Jon Delmendo was full of information and was happy to stop and answer questions as they came up. It was an information-heavy presentation and most of it was more advanced than anything I would need, however, it was all good information to have for the future.

Finally, there was a raffle for door prizes. Lucky people won items including seed packets, books, t-shirts and one lucky winner went home with a drip irrigation kit.

The evening finished off with a beer and wine tasting for those 21 and up who chose to purchase drink tickets. Having only attended tastings where they give you a thimble-sized sample, I was pleased and also shocked that they filled up my glass on the first trip through the line. After specifying a smaller serving the second time around, I gave up my remaining drink tickets and headed for home. I like beer and wine, but I like escaping Bremerton in one piece much more!

I want to wrap this up by thanking the WSU Kitsap Small Farms Team (Diane Fish and Shannon Harkness), their sponsors Kitsap Sun, Washington Tractor, Mason-Kitsap Farm Bureau, Farmland Pets, Kitsap Credit Union, Pheasant Fields Farm, Kitsap Food Chain, The Kitsap Peninsula Visitor and Convention Bureau and Central Market. Also, thanks to all the speakers, presenters and vendors, the caterers and the local beer and wine producers. What an amazing day!

Spotlight On: 2012 Westsound Small Farms Expo

2012-02-05T15:25:00.000-08:00

This is a departure from my regular fare, but it's an event I'm looking forward to.

The Westsound Small Farms Expo premiered last spring to rave reviews. One of the many projects of our WSU Kitsap Extension's Small Farms Team, the Expo is meant to bring education, awareness and networking to our farming community, as well as our non-farming neighbors.

Diane Fish and Shannon Harkness spend hours upon hours planning these events and their work is much appreciated.

Here are some photos of the 2011 Small Farms Expo:

Marilyn Holt at the Kitsap Community Agricultural Alliance booth. You can read more about KCAA here.

The Kitsap Community Food Co-op booth. You can read more about KCFC here.

Arno Bergstrom, Director of WSU Kitsap Extension.

Tractors!

The 2012 West Sound Small Farms Expo will be at Olympic College in Bremerton on Saturday, February 11th. You can find more info on the WSU Kitsap Extension website.

You can also check out the WSU Kitsap Small Farms Team on Facebook here.

Offered seminar topics will include: Farm to Table 101, Energy Wise Agriculture, Water Wisdom for the Small Farmer, Conservation Tillage, and Diversifying Your Income Streams. Locally-produced lunch is included with admission and there will be a beer and wine tasting for an additional charge after the Expo! It's $55 for admission to the Expo, $12 for the Beer and Wine Exhibition.

Thanks again to WSU Kitsap Extension and Small Farms Team for putting on another exciting event!

Photography: A Major Passion...

2012-02-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

I've shared enough of my photos here that you've probably already figured I'm an eccentric and enthusiastic photographer. My first camera was a Kodak 126, with which I wasted countless rolls of film clicking away at ducks and the neighbors dogs and whatever odd thing I could find. My grandma used to give me a lot of grief when she'd develop a roll of film for me and it was all of the ducks on the lake. Again.

As a teen, I practiced my chosen craft at rock concerts and radio station promotional events. I shot rock bands into my twenties, when photography and I decided to take a mutually agreed-upon break from one another. Not that I completely stopped taking pictures, it's just that I was done driving to Portland or Olympia or Tacoma or Bellingham to go to shows. For a while, I kept the camera close, but let the photo opportunities come to me.

At one point, I was convinced to dig out a camera and shoot a wedding. Don't think weddings are my favorite thing to shoot by a long shot. I felt out of place and that my shots would be contrived and stiff. I'm much more of a candid photographer. I like those unexpected shots: things that just happen to look interesting, things that happen organically.

A few summers ago, I went on a serious beach kick. Every weekend it was a different beach either on Puget Sound, or on a few occasions I drove all the way to the ocean. Now and then, I still take outings with my camera to try and find some unique element of natural beauty or the bizarre leavings of human beings (unintentional art). I've recently considered getting back into freelancing as a candid photographer at concerts and events. We shall see if I get any interest.

I started a new page for my photography work. You can buy prints, greeting cards and other cool stuff if you're so inclined. If not, it's always free to look... though if enough people buy from me, I'd be able to go to the Zombie Prom...

That said, you can find my photography site on Redbubble here.

And while you're looking, check out my friend Bekah's portfolio here. She's awesomely talented too!

Cool Stuff from my Cool Stuff collection! (other cool stuff edition)

2012-01-28T20:54:00.000-08:00

Here's some more of the odd treasures I found while digging through my storage room. Most of it is photography-related, but not all of it.

You saw the photo passes I posted in the previous post, I hope. Well, this is the other part of the puzzle:

This was once on the wall in the photography room at my high school:

This photo was one of a set that I entered in an radio station art contest, trying to win Pearl Jam tickets. My entry was good enough to make it to final judging, but didn't win. I was under 18 anyway, so I suppose they wouldn't have given me the tickets. Unfortunately, the other photos in the set got lost at the station. The theme was: "Fight Hate, Educate."

Here is the letter the station sent me. You'll see other correspondance from them further along...

Invitation to the school district's art show which I entered twice. One of the entries also made it to the finals but didn't win.

Radio station KISW put on a concert series and various other promotional events during the year. As a photography student, I always wanted a moving target, so I attended many of their events. After a while, I had befriended many of their radio personalities and their promotions guy. I sent a collection of my work to the station and received this note back, ironically when I had just started to think that my calling was radio and not photography.

Later, when I was in broadcasting class, a friend and I got to go down to the station and watch their morning show live from the studio. These are the promotional items they gave to their guests:

This black notebook contains my concert journal from my teen years:

This is the "band" my friend and I created as teenagers. The band: Empty Stage. The hit song: "Five Minutes of Silence." The band never had to practice much...

The above-mentioned friend was quite the artistic talent. I told her I was going to keep all of her notes to me and write a book about her someday. She threatened a very slow, very painful death on me. Most of that stuff has been long left behind over many moves, but here's a little treasure:

I like baseball. Here's my little collection of baseball ticket stubs:

And finally these two trading cards, the only ones I have left from the horror movie collection:

Cool Stuff from my Cool Stuff collection! (Music Edition)

2012-01-28T20:09:00.000-08:00

I had to go up into my storage room earlier while looking for something. Didn't find what I was looking for (may have been lost in a move), but I did find these rare and interesting treasures:

Second Coming promotional poster:

FTA promotional flyer. FTA stands for "Funding The Album" and was the name the cover band version of Second Coming used at clubs. FTA was probably the best cover band I ever heard.

Second Coming's Pandemonium cover:

Queensryche Fan Club membership:

A hand-written letter from Jeff Pilson (Dokken, Underground Moon, War & Peace):

Flyer from KISW's Pain in the Grass concert series:

Book made for me by a friend in high school who was sick and tired of my fangirling. I die in the end.

Backstage pass from Super Deluxe at the Moore Theater. The bassist (or maybe it was the guitarist) of Man Ray spilled a drink on me at this event:

Dokken setlist and concert ticket from The Firwood in Fife. Dokken was my first favorite childhood band. Anyone remember the moment you stopped listening only to what your parents liked?

Photo pass for a KGRG event at Green River Community College. Thanks to Goodness!

Pass for the Sunnyside Music Festival at the Capitol Theater in Olympia, a favorite place to see shows:

Photo Pass from Pain in the Grass 1994:

Photo Pass from Pain in the Grass 1995:

Passes from Pain in the Grass 1996:

Backstage Pass from Marilyn Manson show (found after the show), along with photos I took:

Super Deluxe postcard promoting Via Satellite:

Lazy Susan setlist from Bumbershoot:

Postcard from Credo of Sweet Water replying to a letter I wrote the band in regards to a show that never existed, yet was advertised by the club:

Schedule from End Fest 1995:

Goodness set lists:

Autographed Super Deluxe set list:

The Cunninghams promo postcard:

Guitar picks. The Dokken pick is from when Reb Beach (ex-Winger) played guitar for them.

The only proof that I snuck into Brewstock as a teenager:

The ticket stub collection:

And some cool stickers:

Spotlight On: Tanks of Zen...

2012-01-26T22:19:00.000-08:00

I've been listening to this album near-constantly since I found where it had been misplaced when it came in the mail. I have a ferret (read: 4-year old) in my household, so that makes it hard to keep track of stuff sometimes.

That said, Tanks of Zen are the latest project masterminded by Nick Pollock (Alice N' Chainz, My Sister's Machine, Soulbender). Knowing Nick Pollock's background, I have been listening to the CD for days, trying desperately to come up with a way to describe his music without the gratuitous Alice in Chains comparisons that My Sister's Machine got so very often back in the 1990's.

The album, Love's Gentle Maw, is amazing. This project is partially fan-funded with folks contributing on Kickstarter to help fund the mix-down of this awesome record. Kudos to all the fans who contributed: without them, we'd still be waiting for this sonic masterpiece to be released!

Love's Gentle Maw is a solid record from beginning to end. The tracks fit together in a continuous groove, downbeat at times but always sonically intense. Be warned, you will fall victim to one earworm or another after listening. The tunes are catchy and well-performed. Pollock's vocals are outstanding. As an old-school fan of MSM, I've always liked Nick's voice, but had never thought of him as a top vocalist until now. His voice and vocal control have matured over the years and the lyrics flow from his throat in a groovy, seamless manner. I almost want to call this radio-friendly, but it seems only manufactured pop stars are considered radio-friendly these days. Owen Wright (MSM guitarist) makes a guest appearance on the album and his solos are exactly the kind of quality you would expect from him.

I really love this and it's going to take some effort to get it out of the CD player in my car. You can find sound samples and download tracks, as well as read a review from another fan here at amazon.com.

I'm not going to pick a favorite track as I seem to prefer to listen to the CD on repeat in its entirety. If you're looking for a more-rock-y track, "Alibi" is my pick for you. If you like a groove, try "Skin Deep." If you're not sure what to pick, try "Oh..."

Can anyone identify where I've heard of Steve Rehnstrom (bassist) before? I want to say he used to play in Jesus Headtrip, but I'm not positive. Help!

If you aren't familiar with My Sister's Machine, they put out two really awesome CD's in the early 1990's. While neither of them is available for download on amazon, you can purchase them here. Diva features awesome tracks "Diva," "I Hate You," and "Love at High Speed." Wallflower features awesome tracks "Cracking New Ground," "Enemy," and "Empty Room." MSM is more like stereotypical grunge rock than Tanks of Zen, hence the comparisons to Alice in Chains.

I was a big fan of MSM in my teen years and was sad when they called it quits. I know there were a few demo tracks intended for a third record, but even though I loved them (heard them on a radio show, forever and a day ago), they'll probably never see the light of day like so many other great songs: Lost to an unforgiving music industry.

MSM was one of the first bands I saw live, due to an overprotective parent. My mom's line when I asked to go see a concert was always, "But... there'll... be... drrrrrugs there!" I always rolled my eyes when ex-hippie mom played the drug card with me. I had better sense than that. But I digress.

In 1993, I saw MSM at Pain in the Grass, a now-defunct local music series featuring up and coming local bands. That's where I really got bitten by the photography bug. I had always liked to snap pictures, but had never gone gonzo for the art until that day...

This is an incredibly lucky shot for a then-inexperienced photographer. It is also one of my favorite shots of all time. So, thank you, MSM for inspiring a lifelong interest!

Do I only talk about ZOMBIES?

2012-01-26T19:58:00.000-08:00

No, but I do support a few zombie-related fan events. As I related a while back, nobody knows what will become of Seattle's ZomBcon at this point. They are still low on funding to keep planning events.

I am trying to remain hopeful for Ryan Reiter (Head Zombie) and his crew of undead event organizers. With everything they've been through (from low sponsorships to a lawsuit) this past year, it's been terribly tough to keep shufflin' along. I'm solidly behind anything they plan for 2012, even if it's just a cocktail event, a zombie concert or a pub crawl. Anything to keep moving forward... and as long as there are more events, there's a chance that it'll once again reach the level it was at these past two years.

I don't get to Seattle nearly often enough as I live about 1 1/2 hours from Seattle, even if it is just across Puget Sound. My options are fighting the ferry schedule or driving around and dealing with a toll booth and Tacoma traffic. With my finances in a bit of a bind, it's hard to justify an extra trip.

That said, if ZomBcon decides to go ahead with a fundraising event, I'm going to find a way to get there! Maybe a Zombie Walk with volunteer makeup artists on site for a fee to be donated to the con? Would a club get behind having a Zombie Night with bands and part of the proceeds going to help with future ZomBcon branded events?

These cons cost a lot of money to put on. In fact, I had a little bit of sticker shock. But at least I know my ticket fees were a total bargain!

Names keep getting thrown around for celebrity guests at ZomBcon, but they need to have sponsorships to pay these people. Celebrities are not cheap! If I said I'd be okay if ZomBcon didn't have at least one celebrity or B-celebrity guest this year, I might be lying, but just a little. It's more important to preserve the hopes of future events than it is for me to get my fangirl thrills.

Please check out ZomBcon's Facebook and "like" them to show your support! Also, they are @ZomBcon on Twitter and their official website is HERE.

Zombies of Montana announce first guests for Zombie Prom 2012!

2012-01-26T19:26:00.000-08:00

I'm getting excited for my friends at Zombies of Montana! Their Zombie Prom is set for May 18th at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Billings, with a zombie walk planned prior to the Prom. The Prom is an all-ages event with a 21+ VIP Party (a $10 per person extra charge) after the fact.

To make this all even more mind-blowing, they have announced two celebrity guests: Alex Vincent (Andy from Childs Play 1 & 2) and Timothy Patrick Quill (Army of Darkness, Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except).

Vincent is an actor, poet and sound engineer. His current volume of poetry is Below the Surface.

You can find ordering info and more at Alex Vincent's website. There is also a schedule of 2012 appearances there in case you can't make it to the Billings event.

Tim Quill is ridiculously hilarious! Having had the pleasure of meeting him previously, I can attest that you will have a blast if you attend this event or any other appearance that Tim does. He's full of funny anecdotes and is well worth spending a few minutes chatting with. You will not be bored.

I've used this one before, but here it is again. Tim Quill, myself and Danny Hicks at ZomBcon 2010. Tim's IMDB can be found here.

I'm not sure if I'm going to make it out to Montana for this event at this point. Finances haven't been looking so promising. But I wish ZOM the best for their event, it looks to be a total blast! And don't forget, a portion of the proceeds from ZOM events goes back into the community as donations to the Billings Food Bank!

How could I forget giving you the link to ZOM's website?

Writer's Anxiety...

2012-01-19T18:11:00.000-08:00

I feel it's time to confess the real reason I started this silly little blog o'things that nobody cares about but me.

I suffer from a strange affliction: Writer's Anxiety. Worse than writer's block, my anxiety is twofold: First, I cannot (or could not) stand to let anyone read anything I've written. This excludes silly Facebook posts and apparently, this blog. Second, I cannot return to any writing project that I've saved and walked away from without having a full-on panic attack. I go to click on the file name and my heart starts racing, my hands get sweaty and if I manage to open the file, I start to hyperventilate until I have to close the file and walk away again.

Imagine the musician who can't touch their instrument without losing it; an actor who cannot bear to even look at his script. That's me. A writer who cannot write. Utterly useless. A bibliophobe is one who is afraid of books, I'm not sure what you'd call me.

So, as I will turn 35 this year, I decided I was running out of time to do something creative. I've devised a therapy plan for myself in the hopes of overcoming my anxiety.

Phase one is writing this blog. This keeps me writing, even if it is topical stuff that nobody cares about. It also forces me to get used to the idea of letting people read my writing.

Phase two is to start writing actual stories again. I was going to start with short stories I could finish in one sitting, avoiding the anxiety of having to open the file again after the fact. In reality, I decided I'd get something written for a larger project I've been pondering. Now I'll have to see if I can return to it in a few days with no ill effects.

Cross your fingers. If things go awry, I take a step back and return to blogging-only until I feel brave enough to try again.

Snow Days...

2012-01-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

I have spent the better part of the past two days stuck inside as we've having what they refer to here as a "Weather Event." Yes, it's snowing. Yes, we've had freezing rain. Yes, it's cold and icky out there. Yes, we've ventured out both days. No, we didn't do donuts in parking lots.

I know people who aren't from Western Washington laugh and ridicule us for how we deal with weather. But they forget exactly how hilly our area is compared to a lot of other places. Maybe we're snow wimps. Either that or we just take after Californians. They forget how to drive in rain; We forget how to drive in snow.

As I type, I'm watching little snowflakes fall at high speed, creating a new layer of fluff on top of the frozen crust of yesterdays snow and this mornings frozen rain. It just keeps falling and falling and falling. I want to scream. I wanted to go to work yesterday and I want to go to work tomorrow. Ooh. Now it's going sideways!

When the cabin fever gets this bad, I want to find something, anything, to do. I want to write, read, fold laundry. Anything but sit here and watch the snow fall. I miss being a kid and getting so excited to have a few days off school. I just can't muster enthusiasm for this kind of weather now.

The rumor is that it's supposed to be 44 and wet tomorrow. Here's hoping I can get back to work. I don't like losing pay because of bad weather. I like my money, of which there is never enough!

Heavy Music...

2012-01-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

... also known as the blog post that will make my friends call me a Buttrocker (again).

Time to delve into my Mp3 player again and see what sonic wonderment it may contain...

Fates Warning:

I had the pleasure of seeing Fates Warning twice when they toured with Dream Theater back in 1994-ish. I had gone more for Dream Theater and came out with a preference for Fates Warning. I had seen them in Seattle and liked the performance so much that I spent my lunch money for the next two weeks, lied, cheated and stole in order to make it to their show in Portland. Okay, it was more like sweet-talked, begged and skipped school, but...

I had liked Fates Warning prior to seeing them live. Afterwards, I sought out a bunch of their back catalog, in the end settling on the first two CD's of theirs that I had purchased.

Early Fates Warning featured John Arch on vocals. I personally don't care as much for Arch's voice, but it's a relative thing. I like a few songs off this...

... but it's not one of my favorites. I would recommend "The Apparition," "Kyrie Eleison," and "Orphan Gypsy" as highlights on The Spectre Within. You can listen to song samples and download tracks here.

Parallels is probably the first Fates Warning album that received a lot of commercial attention. Tracks such as "Point of View," "Eye to Eye" and "We Only Say Goodbye" have catchier hooks than some of the earlier releases. New vocalist Ray Alder has a much more appropriate voice for the material in my opinion. The music and vocals flow together smoothly as if they were one and the same. MGX refers to them as "musically perfect." I agree. While not my favorite band (as if I could choose just one), they are one almost every playlist and Mp3 player you'll ever catch me with.

You can check out sound samples and purchase downloads from Parallels here.

My favorite of all the Fates Warning releases is Inside Out. "Monument" is an amazing track and I could easily leave my description of Inside Out at that. Every single track on this is golden. I used to take a radio boombox with CD player into my photography class at school and listen to this while processing prints every day. Inside Out is like a loyal friend to me.

You can listen to sound samples and purchase tracks from Inside Out here. I dare you... download just one. Any one. Pick a title that sounds cool. Buy the track. You'll like it. Well, if you like what I like, you'll like it.

Fates Warning - Monument (from Inside Out).

If you've listen to some sample tracks and still need a good starting point, Chasing Time is a good place to start. Chasing Time is a compilation of tracks from their back catalog up until Inside Out.

You can listen to sound samples or purchase tracks from Chasing Time here.

Savatage:

Florida speed metal band Savatage beget Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Maybe you knew that, but I doubt it. Savatage was another band I randomly found in my early teens. I think I picked up Streets: A Rock Opera because I had been so enthralled with Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime that I wanted to check out another metal concept album.

I'm going to explore the career of Savatage in a slighty different manner, by discussing their records in the order in which I purchased them.

Streets: A Rock Opera turned out to be a totally different animal when it comes to concept albums than Operation: Mindcrime. Streets tells the story of successful musician turned drug addict turned drug dealer and deals with misery and redemption. The album is great listened to straight through, but not all of the tracks are good as stand-alones. Some of the lyrics seem contrived, gimmicky and/or dated. But for an overall sonic experience, Streets is a good listen.

Tracks like "Can You Hear Me Now," "New York City Don't Mean Nothing," and "If I Go Away" are worthy listens. You can check out sound samples and purchase tracks here.

My next Savatage purchase was Edge of Thorns, which featured a change of vocalists from Jon Oliva, one of the founders of the band to Zak Stevens who is a slightly more polished vocalist. Sadly, this is the last release that guitarist and band co-founder Criss Oliva appears on. Criss Oliva was killed in an accident in 1993 when his vehicle was hit by a drunk driver.

"Conversation Piece" is my personal favorite track on the record. Lyrics: "Pieces of myself, cut off in desparation, as offerings to thee. I keep them on a shelf, they're good for conversation, over a cup of tea..." Okay, so reading them, they aren't nearly as endearing as when hearing them. Some people take the lyrics of this literally to assume that it is about a man mutilating himself over a lost love. Personally, I think it's better when not taken literally, as a descriptive about how love and relationships can tear us apart. "Follow Me," "Lights Out," and "All That I Bleed" are other highlight tracks on this one. You can hear sound samples from Edge of Thorns and purchase tracks here.

Gutter Ballet is the release that came previous to Streets: A Rock Opera. Gutter Ballet has a similar sound to Streets, though slightly less refined. I always got the impression that this album was a practice run for Streets, as it has a very loose concept album feel to it. Gutter Ballet also features Jon Oliva on vocals, as do the rest of the Savatage records I'll mention for the remainder of this post.

Highlighted tracks on Gutter Ballet are: "Gutter Ballet," "Of Rage and War," "When The Crowds Are Gone," and "Summer's Rain." You can listen to sound samples and purchase tracks here.

Hall of the Mountain King comes next. This record is a classic, so if you were old enough to rock out in 1984-ish, you may have heard this. If not, here's a chance to check it out.

All tracks on this are tops, so if you like early 80's power metal, a'la Iron Maiden, you should snag this at the first opportunity. If you are still doubting, you can find the sound samples and purchase tracks here.

For all of Savatage's early catalog, the one I recommend you save for the very last purchase is Fight for the Rock. 1986 was a weird year for metal bands and Savatage's 1986 release did not escape said weirdness. My gut feeling is that there was some record label meddling going on with a lot of bands at that point.

The album cover, the album title and song titles all scream out to me, "Record exec is crying about how we need to be more commercial!" Tracks include "Crying For Love," "Fight for the Rock," and "She's Only Rock and Roll." If you're brave enough to check them out, you can find the sound samples and purchase tracks here. Bottom line: buy any Savatage album you like, but leave Fight for the Rock for last.

Queensryche:

Speaking of bands that released a rather weird album in 1986, there's Queensryche. I figure enough people are semi-familiar with them and don't need a big review with each CD. Therefore, I'm going to save my typing fingers a bit and only rate the Queensryche albums I own.

Note: I was the uncool, non-preppy one of my friends when I got into Queensryche. The QueenScreech and QueensRetch jokes still ring in my ears. Yes, I am a Buttrocker. Next.

Queensryche's 4-song EP was originally released on 206 Records back when I was, oh, three years old. The version you find for download now has a ton of bonus tracks and I'm not sure how many of those you really need, as they are tracks you can get on other albums. Like this one, but 4 songs is just too short.
You can listen to sound samples and purchase tracks here.

The Warning: Best album cover ever! I had a birthday cake one year with this on it, thanks Grandma Martin! Now there's cool grandparents who'll go find a place to make a custom album cover cake for you!

"Roads to Madness" is the best song in the world. Too damn long for radio airplay with an explosive ending too difficult to pull off live, "Roads" rocks. "NM156" is another classic: "One-world government has outlawed war among nations; Now social control requires population termination..." Lyrically and sonically, The Warning is one of my favorite albums of all time.

Rage for Order was just another victim of 1986 weirdness. The music industry must have been having some crappy growing pains at this point. Queensryche put out a pretty awesome, original album as expected. The big-haired vampire look they sport in publicity photos for this album, on the other hand, was obviously concocted by the record company. If you're a fan, you know all about how the blue-ringed album covers have collector's value. I love this one as well. Tracks like "Walk in the Shadows," "I Will Remember," "Neue Regel," and "London" make this a sonic treat. You can hear sound samples and purchase tracks here.

Operation: Mindcrime. Brilliant. Nothing else needs to be said. If you haven't heard anything off this record, you either live under a rock, or you're laughing and calling me a Buttrocker right now! If you are living under a rock currently, you can hear sound samples and purchase tracks here.

Empire. More commercial. Not on the top of my list, but not at the bottom either. I like it, but I tend to skip tracks on this one a lot. "Silent Lucidity," I've heard you so much, you are dead to me. You've heard it, but in case you live under an even bigger rock, you can hear sound samples and purchase tracks here.

Promised Land. Sonically amazing. I got to attend a preview party for this one at the Museum of Flight in Seattle back in the day. Got to shake hands with the band and get autographs afterward. The line was so long, they shut the power off on us to try and get us all to leave. Didn't work. Geoff Tate won points from me for being really cool. As my cousin and I were some of the last in the line, I said something to Tate about it being a long night for him and he replied to me how he was having fun drinking beers and shaking hands. What a good sport. Some celebs really hate their fans. I'm glad that not all of them are like that.
Back to Promised Land. I love this album to death now, but there have been times when I was totally lukewarm to it. I guess it was because a lot of it was fairly downbeat and not as agressive as Mindcrime, nor as commerical as Empire. The more I listened, the more it grew on me. "Promised Land" is the most amazing track. If you can find a live version, you won't regret it. You can check out sound samples and purchase tracks here.

Hear in the Now Frontier. I think I actually hated this one when it came out. If Promised Land was slightly eccentric next to Empire, HITNF was the crazy cat lady of Queensryche's catalog. HITNF requires a few listens and an occasional skipped track, but it's definitely one that will grow on you. Highlights include: "You," "Some People Fly," "sp00l" and "Hit the Black." You can listen to sound samples and purchase tracks here.

Q2K. Commercial, no Chris DeGarmo. I'm actually indifferent to this release. I like it enough to own it, but it's never something that I absolutely have to listen to above everything else in my collection. Heck, I think I skip the tracks from this one pretty often on my Mp3 player. Don't want to knock it too much, if you like Empire above all else in the Queensryche catalog, you should get Q2K. Either way, you should check out the sound samples and purchase tracks here. It seems that there are a couple tracks for download here that I don't have. Guess I'll have to suck it up and get them on payday.

That's where I'm going to end my foray into the world of Queensryche. I think I bought Tribe and Operation:Mindcrime 2 and never even listened to them. At some point, Queensryche lost me and I'm unsure of how or why. I still give them props for their earlier works and will always love them. But it might take some convincing to get me to check out any of their more recent stuff. I have a couple of their live albums that I didn't mention here. Live albums are one of those things: you either love them or hate them. It takes a pretty, pretty darn well done live version to get me interested. Very few bands sound like their recorded works live.

Thanks for following me into Buttrocker Canyon. Don't hike in Chelan Gorge, you will drown when they let the dam out!

Spotlight on: Zombies of Montana!

2012-01-14T17:09:00.000-08:00

Zombies of Montana (ZOM) are a nonprofit group operating out of Billings, Montana, formed in March 2011. Their mission is a unique one: to enrich the community with zombie-themed activities while helping support their local food bank, as well as other charities. Their events are paid for by sponsors and private donations, which are tax deductible.

I came to know of ZOM though a friend who lives in Billings. Last October, they hosted an awesome Zombie Carnival to bring in donations for the food bank. They also host a zombie walk, zombie-themed bake sales and are working on a Zombie Prom and a horror convention for 2012.

The 2011 Billings Zombie Carnival was on October 22nd at Pioneer Park. Zombies could partake in Jell-O Brain-Eating Contests, carnival games, live music from END ever, DeadNecks, Wake the Forsaken, Plumblue, and Mandie Bradley. There were also performances by Zombie Belly Dancers and The Rimview Dance Studio Thriller Dancers. The Zombie Carnival was free admittance and a portion of the proceeds from game tickets was donated to the Billings Food Bank.

The first ZOM-organized Zombie Walk was a week after the Zombie Carnival.

The 2012 ZOM Zombie Prom will be Friday, May 18th, 2012 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Billings, MT. There will be musical performances, celebrity appearances, VIP after-party, prom photos, contests, and more! Tickets are $15.00 per zombie, or $25.00 per hungry couple. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to the Billings Food Bank. This will be an all-ages, non-alcoholic event. The VIP Party is 21 and older. There will be a Zombie Walk prior to the Prom held in downtown Billings. Further details will be announced on the web site and Facebook as they develop.

ZOM is also planning a horror convention for 2012. Keep checking the website and Facebook for more info as the details fall into place. If all goes as planned, this will be Montana’s first horror convention, freeing horror fans from an 18-hour drive to the nearest con venues. And while Seattle folks love our Montana Zombie friends coming to visit, it’ll be cool to have an event for us to travel to and return the favor! Being that this zombie is afraid to fly, it takes a certain amount of coercion to get me anywhere to visit friends and fiends.

You can find the ZOM Website here. You can also hook up with ZOM on Facebook here.

Photos in this post are (c) Zombies of Montana and their respective owners. Shared by permission. Don't steal! If you would like to use these photos, just ask them. They were more than willing to let me use them!

Happy Birthday to Timothy Patrick Quill!

2012-01-11T21:35:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish a Happy Birthday to one of the funniest guys I've met in the semi-recent past, mister Timothy Patrick Quill! You might remember him as the blacksmith in Army of Darkness. Other films Tim has appeared in are: Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except, Spider Man and My Name Is Bruce. His IMDB doesn't have a lot of information, but here it is.

Tim's one of those guys you really wish you had as a neighbor. If he were my neighbor, we would be bbq'ing every week. He's so hilarious and tells the most awesome stories!

Cheers, Tim, you are one awesome dude!

Tim, myself and Danny Hicks at ZomBcon 2010.

Still from Army of Darkness.

Tim and Danny in My Name Is Bruce.

Bruce Campbell (kind of)

2012-01-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

This is Bruce Campbell, the Khaki Campbell drake. I name my ducks usually using the method of pet-name first and breed type last. So Clumsy the Pekin duck's proper name is Clumsy Pekin and Bruce the Khaki Campbell is Bruce Campbell. Some of my ducks have funny names, as I named them in order to tell them apart, so formerly pigeon-toed runner duck's name is Funny Feet Runner Duck. The duckling with the yellow tummy has grown up to be named Yellow Belly Runner Duck.

How could anyone resist naming a duck after Bruce Campbell?

Diving Ducks of Puget Sound

2012-01-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

I got a new (to me) camera about a year and a half ago and had never had much of a chance to figure out how to use it. It's my only digital SLR and I suspected I'd actually have to (*gasp*) read the manual in order to use it well. After procrastinating for oh-so-long, I took it out to the park to play with it for a while today.

After figuring out what the obnoxious error message was (I had the lens settings wrong), I took these little gems. Wish the diving ducks had come closer, but they were a little afraid of me and my little clicking box.

I've still got to spend some more time with this camera before I'm totally comfortable with it, but it's a start. The birds with the long, skinny beaks and mohawk-y looking hair are cormorants, I believe.

One of my talented friends...

2012-01-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to share the work of my friend Kim Acrylic for a while now and since her latest musical collaboration is now available on amazon, I figured now would be a good time.

Kim is a talented, dark and sensitive soul. Angsty emotions and visuals abound in her work. Not only that, but she's a darn cool person as well!

Her first volume of poerty, published under her given name is a good, short read. If you can get it on sale or in digital format, it's worth it. However, you can see why she had cause to switch editors after its publication. Apparently in the self-publishing world, you can edit yourself or pay the publisher to edit it for you. And if you do so, it may not be good editing. While flawed, it is still a good read. But if you're a perfectionist, you'll want to skip it.

You can find Coffee Pot Poetry for sale here.

Kim's second volume of poetry, Poisoned Lullabies, picks up where her first work left off. Delving into the subject of addiction, anxiety, love and loss, she evokes dark emotion which is easily related to if one has ever been depressed for a period of their life. I was blessed to watch the evolution of her work as she was writing this one and I enjoyed being a friend and witness to her creative process. Being that we are friends, I can identify the real situations and experiences that shape her work and this one has some real tear-jerkers in it.

You can find Poisoned Lullabies for sale here.

After the release of Poisoned Lullabies, Kim had the opportunity to guest with The Northern Drones, of Ireland, on a music/spoken word CD. Kim's poetry mixes well with the music of The Northern Drones in a psychedelic Doors-inspired groove. This was a good friend to me when making long car trips on rainy days.

You can find this for download or listen to sound samples here.
Kim's third volume of poetry and lyrics brought a publisher change, electing to go through Lulu. Beauty and Noise can be downloaded as an e-book or purchased in paper form, in a magazine-style book. Unless you are a book snob like me who needs to have a real, tangible book in my hands, the e-book is probably the way to go. Beauty and Noise shows the continuing maturation of Kim as a writer and artist.

You can find both versions of Beauty and Noise here.

And finally, Kim's latest collaboration with Cdr, was released earlier this week and can be downloaded on iTunes and amazon. I'm not good with properly describing the techno genre, but I guess I would lean towards describing it as trance. "Record Player" is my current favorite track, but, like all music preferences, it's subject to change at the shifting of my moods.

You can listen to sound samples and download Techno Eyes by Cdr + Kim Acrylic here.
I'm not going to choose favorites amongst Kim's work. Each project has its own merits. Either way, I'm lucky to have such interesting and talented friends!

Sick Ducks...

2012-01-05T23:02:00.000-08:00

I was actually planning on posting a decent blog entry tonight, but looks like it's not to be. One of my ducks has some kind of upper respiratory thing going on, so I'll be headed out to the feed store for antibiotics on the way home from work tomorrow. Hope my boy hangs on long enough for me to try and help him.

In the meantime, Michael is spending quality time with the little Khaki Campbell who has wet feather. They are under a heat lamp (wet feather makes it hard for a duck to stay warm) and getting electrolytes in the form of Sav-a-chick powder in their water. Crossing fingers that my quackers hang on and start improving.

On another note: Clumsy has been released back into general population even though she is still favoring one foot. I'm at capacity in the duck hospital, so she had to go back with the others. Even with her clumsy manner of waddling, she managed to get up the ramp and put herself to bed, so she'll manage just fine.

Here's some photos of my ducky friends:

The drake in the center is Michael, named after Michael Westen from Burn Notice.

Clumsy Pekin chillin' out.

Michael's sister-duck, Fiona, named after Fi from Burn Notice.

Some pictures...

2012-01-04T23:16:00.000-08:00

...because I'm lacking anything too interesting to write about tonight. Maybe it's because I'm sick, or because I'm tired. Either way, I figured these might be worth the few thousand words I'm struggling to come up with this evening!

I've always enjoyed photography, so here are some shots from my archives. All photos are copyrighted. Share, but please refer to the source!

The above two were taken at the Chelan Gorge, a location in which you are NOT. SUPPOSED. TO. HIKE. They let the dam open, it's game over. The condemned bridge was a favorite party area for Chelan teens back in the day. FTR, yes, we hiked down there.

Crowd surfers. Love them... but only from a distance. These types are responsible for at least two (and possibly three) of the many broken noses I have suffered over the years. What photographer doesn't love being kicked in the face...? Oh yeah... me.

Leisurely bike ride, anyone? This event was held alongside a Sweet Water concert. Can't go wrong there.

It's not just Love, it's the Mother Love Bone Love!

This is the place my dad used to work years ago. The buildings are long gone now and I think this property is owned by the county solid waste department or something now. They put up bigger fences. No more sneaking in to take photos. The north half of the property is now office buildings.

Tribute to Kurt Cobain. No, not a real firearm.

Gasworks Park graffiti guy. Long gone since they've really cleaned up that park. But still, don't eat the dirt.

Feather from a...

Goose! Ha! Thought I was going to say duck, huh?

Huge 'shrooms!

My little friend.

Almost dizziness-inducing. See the face in the water?

That's all for now. These are all really old. I'm saving more for future posts. Revel in the eccentricity!

Winter makes me melancholy...

2012-01-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

So bring on the melancholy music massacre! I'm just going to share some youtube videos of songs I like for now and maybe come back and post something more profound after I've eaten.

Michael Penn - Try.

Fates Warning - Monument.

Dream Theater - Space-Dye Vest.

Queensryche - Promised Land.

The Tea Party - Oceans.

Second Coming - Confessional.

Heart - Dog And Butterfly.

Antigone Rising - Broken.

The Rockfords - Silver Lining. You know, I think I was at this show...

Bruce Dickinson - Tears of the Dragon.

Carrie Akre - The River/Humdrum.

Gary Numan - Absolution.

Lazy Susan - Scarlet Letter.

Lazy Susan - Radio.

Novatone - Old House.

Savatage - If I Go Away.

Odd mix, huh? Hope you find something you like.

Driving in the rain...

2012-01-03T20:39:00.000-08:00

Being from the Seattle area, I'm used to rain. 364 day a year rain. I drive in it often and usually don't think to much of it. Like people who live in the mountains get used to driving in snow, us Seattle folks are quite used to driving in the rain. We don't have the experience of forgetting how to drive in the rain like thse California people do. Instead, we freak out at the sight of a single snowflake.

I do, however, hate driving in the driving, sideways rains which come down in sheets. The rain that blinds you completely in the instant the windshield wipers move out of the way. The rain that floods the roadways and hammers your vehicle, always accompanied by the wind, which shakes and vibrates your car as you, half blind, struggle to stay in your lane. The rain that makes you fear having to change lanes because you're afraid to look any direction but straight ahead. And don't forget the huge blasts of water, kicked up by cars in the oncoming lanes, which take two or more swipes of the windshield wipers to clear leaving you hoping against all hope that you're not about to drive right off the road, because, dammit, you can't see anything.

More than anything, I'm bothered by the sound this horrible rain makes. Every time we get a good rainstorm like the one I described above, I'm forced to turn up my radio as loud as I can take, in the hopes of drowning out that horrible sound. I once drove home from Portland, Oregon in one such rainstorm. I actually got so bothered by the noise that I put in a pair of earplugs and then turned up the stereo all the way.

I don't know what it is about the sound of heavy rain from the driver's seat of a car, but it makes me fell like I'm drowning... or in a submarine... or something equally unpleasant. It's a claustrophobic anxiety-inducing feeling.

I'm beginning to miss that long stretch of cold but dry days we had going for a while. Looks like wind and rain until July...

ZomBcon meets it fate at the hands of zombie-killers?

2012-01-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

Well, the small group of fans who've donated in the hopes of keeping Seattle ZomBcon alive are likely to be disappointed. With 52 hours left, the organizers are well short of their goals and no hope in sight. I've tried to get the word out, but I suppose my personal network of friends only goes so far.

ZomBcon organizer Ryan Reiter has gone personally in debt trying to keep this thing going, yet things don't look promising for the awesome con that brought awesome celebs like Bruce Campbell, George Romero, Malcolm McDowell, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Sid Haig and Sam Trammell.

The saddest thing about this situation is that I'm sitting here thinking about all the awesome friends I've made at the past two ZomBcons. I'm going to miss the excitement of meeting new people with similar interests. I'm also going to miss having a reason for my friends to travel to Seattle. Heck, I'm going to miss having an excuse to spend a weekend in Seattle.

While I haven't completely given up hope, it just doesn't look good. If you are into zombies or horror or cons or anything of the sort, please check this out. You can help save ZomBcon by donating here. I can't offer any bribery or anything, but check out these awesome photos from ZomBcons past and just imagine how much fun Bruce Campbell doing an Evil Dead wedding must have been!

A... Book Review? Nah!

2012-01-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to review it, really. But I figured I should comment that I re-read a favorite book recently and it still has the same effect on me it did the first time. Which explains why, while it's a favorite book, I have re-read it less than three times.

William Johnstone is a largely unrefined, formulaic writer, best known for writing in two genres: horror and action. This is, from what I can tell, his only love story. Which is a good thing. I don't think I could handle a second one since What The Heart Knows leaves me so damn emotionally worn out every time I read it.

I originally discovered this little treasure in a used bookstore. Used bookstores are few and far between anymore, but there's nothing better in my opinion. I was reading at adult level at age seven and therefore, was allowed to choose my own entertainment. My mother was all about letting me discover the world in my own way, so nobody seemed to flinch when I gravitated towards the popular horror fiction of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. But once I had worked my way through their back catalogs, I was left trying to discover treasures on my own. I wasn't a library kid. Even then I liked to own my books and revisit them like old friends. When my mom went to the grocery store, liquor store, DMV or hairdresser, I would head straight for that dingy little used bookstore, where it smelled like old books, tobacco and mothballs. The books were priced as a percentage of their original price, so if the book had been $4.99, it would be $1.29, etc. I usually had a big, fat $5 to spend, so I'd come out with two or three books if I was lucky. I started out reading The Devil's Kiss, Johnstone's first horror novel and continued following his work from there. I must confess, I learned to curse from two sources: Too $hort songs and William W. Johnstone's books.

Johnstone's horror books are masterfully dark and gratuitously violent. If one of the cable networks that pushes horror took a look at his catalog, they'd have a treasure trove.

All blathering aside, if you feel like having your heart repeatedly run over by a steamroller, you might want to check out What The Heart Knows on Amazon, because I doubt you'll find it in a bookstore.

If you're interested in checking out Johnstone's other works, you can check out his website here.

My Love/Hate Relationship With Portland, Oregon...

2012-01-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

I love Oregon. If I didn't live in Washington, I'd move there. Actually, I was seriously looking at a property outside of Bend a few years back before we found our little slice of paradise here in Port Orchard. I've vacationed in Oregon countless times and taken many a day trip there. I like Oregon a lot. They simply have better beaches than we have here.

I remember on one particular "day" trip to Portland, during which I was lost somewhere in the downtown corridor, looking for a place to turn around. I was impressed with the city. It was like Seattle... only cleaner. It was rush hour and the "bus-only" streets and "No Turns" intersections had me particularly worried about whether I'd make it to my destination before the millenium was over. These were the days before cell phones and GPS. I had a paper map, but finding a place to pull over amongst the gazillion "No Parking" zones was challenging.

My number one problem with Portland is Burnside. Yes, that's right, Burnside. The street you get stuck on and have to travel miles before you can make a turn and backtrack to where you really needed to turn in the first place, only to find that you can't turn there anyway. Burnside is Portland's very own Hotel California.

So how is it that I never manage to find a way to avoid that dreaded stretch of road where it seems that everything is "No Left Turn," "No Right Turn," "No U-Turn"? There's a freeway entrance somewhere on Burnside which allows a Seattle-ite blessed escape onto I-5 North. Safe, away, back to home where the one-way streets seem to only confound visitors from... oh yes, Portland.

Every single trip I've ever made into Portland, I end up on that foresaken street. Only to realize that I'm now trapped like a hamster in a ball. Drive all the way across town, find a place to turn around and go back. Why, Burnside? Why do you flummox me so? I secretly think that Burnside is just one of the many ways city planners had to keep outsiders away from their beautiful and entertaining little city. If an out-of-towner dared get off the freeway, they would simply fall into the sticky trap that is Burnside and be stuck there for eternity. I think there's a special section in hell referred to as "Stuck on Burnside, can't turn anywhere, running low on gas."

Most of my trips into Portland were for concerts. There were shows at Crystal Ballroom, La Luna, Memorial Coliseum (was warned then not to get on Burnside, pfft) and a few other clubs whose names I cannot recall. I've been lucky enough to see Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Queensryche, Goodness and many other bands in Portland and have loved every visit. It's just the getting in and getting out that gives me trouble.

On one particular trip, after a great show and an unexpected early morning breakfast with members of Goodness, TB and I set out trying to find the freeway. We asked one of the locals and of course, they directed us to Burnside, follow it to the freeway, can't-miss-it-style. I think I then asked if there was another way to the freeway. The local insisted that their route was easiest. I was driving T's car to top it off, which made me even more displeased over having to travel Burnside in someone else's vehicle. I don't remember how many wrong turns we made, but we eventually got out. Our arrival in Puyallup was sometime around 6am. Heck, it was light out. T had to go to work. I went home and napped. That afternoon, it was off to another adventure in Seattle. Poor T showed up with no sleep at all and tells me she hallucinated all the way back to Puyallup that evening. Oh, the adventures. Imagine, T would have managed to get a few hours sleep if it hadn't been for Burnside.

Portland, you are beautiful, but I hate driving when I visit you. I hope you'll forgive me for my scathing criticism... like many, I just hate being lost in strange cities. And yes, Portland, you are strange.

Click here to read about the historic Burnside Bridge.

Happy Birthday to Tim Matheson!

2011-12-31T19:05:00.000-08:00

Just have to take a quick moment to wish a Happy Birthday to Tim Matheson, one of my favorite actors. Folks, if you haven't checked out Tim's body of work yet, do it. Here's a guy who can play the most sincere of characters, yet can be the biggest, meanest badass bad guy as well!

Tim Matheson IMDB.

More music from my MP3 player...

2011-12-31T18:02:00.000-08:00

Figured I'd pick up where I left off and give everyone a little more of what I listen to...

Seven Mary Three:
Best known for tracks "Cumbersome" and "Waters Edge" from their first album, Seven Mary Three was once referred to as "a wannabe Pearl Jam" by a friend who also told me she was ashamed of me for buying their first album. I never really understood the Pearl Jam comparison, but American Standard was a stereotypical 90's radio rock CD by all accounts.

The above video is for "Headstrong," which is probably my favorite track from American Standard. You can find sound samples from the album here.

While American Standard is stereotypical radio rock, their following albums are the reason they have a permanent home on the MP3 player.

Their second release, Rock Crown, is an incredibly melancholy, rootsy, sonic treat. I must have found this one at the used record store at just the right time, because there's about a year of my life, where this never left my car's CD player. From opening track "Lucky" to final track, "Oven," this is a paradise for the somewhat depressed to sing along to.

The above video is "Times Like These." More sound samples can be found here.

Third album Orange Ave continues where Rock Crown left off. Orange Ave is another of my favorites, with tracks like "Each Little Mystery" and "Southwestern State" as highlights. This is another one where I know I was going through something when I picked this up at the used record store. As an aside, I miss used record stores. They are a dying breed, so if you still have one in your community, please support it!

Video is an acoustic version of "Southwestern State." You can find more sound samples here.

Soon after picking up Orange Ave at the used record store, I found The Economy of Sound on the new release rack of another small music store I used to frequent. Once again, I have to mention how important it is to spend your money at small, local music and video stores unless you want them all to go out of business! Economy is a stronger rock album than the previous two, only without that overly-polished feel of American Standard. "Faster" and "Man in Control?" are my favorite tracks on the CD. The previous three albums were with me through some sad times in my early 20's and are always going to be amongst my favorites for that reason.

"Wait" from The Economy of Sound. You can find more sound samples here.

Seven Mary Three has a couple more records out there that I don't have and an EP: Welcome Race Fans. Welcome Race Fans is a limited release and features "Without You Feels" and three other tracks. You can find Welcome Race Fans here. I fully intend to pick up the rest of Seven Mary Three's back catalog once I recover from Post-Holiday Brokeness.

What's on my MP3 player?

2011-12-29T22:13:00.000-08:00

I meant to do this one a while back and got off on a tangent instead. I have multiple MP3 players. most suffer a malfunction of some sort, but I'll give you a taste of the one I use the most: an RCA player that will still play while plugged into the car charger, which is a big deal for me, because most of the ones I have won't charge and play at the same time.

The Tea Party:
A band I love from my teen years, I once was lucky enough to see The Tea Party perform with Second Coming as the opener at the Moore Theater in Seattle. I think it was in 1995. What an amazing show!

I had to recently re-discover this group and it took a bit of cash, but I picked up their entire back catalog and loaded it straight onto the MP3 player.

This is my latest favorite song, "Oceans."
You can hear some sound samples here.

I would recommend getting Tangents: The Tea Party Collection if you are interested in hearing more of them. It's a great representation of their diverse sound!

Second Coming:
If you know me, you already know I've loved Second Coming since I was a teenager. If you know me, you've probably been forced to listen to Second Coming. They are probably my favorite band from about 1994-2000-ish. There are actually three incarnations of Second Coming: the original group which had Maxi on lead vocals, Mark Davis on guitar, Yanni Bacolas on bass and James Bergstrom on drums; The second version featured Travis Bracht on vocals and Dudley Taft on guitar, which resulted in a huge change to their sound, but was still awesome; The final version featured Eric Snyder replacing Dudley Taft on guitar.

I actually have no specific preference for one version of Second Coming over another. The original group really caught my ear because they were different. The following versions seemed a little more industry friendly, though they always had a bit of a different edge.

I was just about to write how rare L.O.V. Evil is, but apparently you can download it from amazon here. Back before legal pay downloads, you would find this CD for sale on eBay for ridiculous prices. I know, I sold a few extra copies when I was broke. Give the sound samples a listen. It's different. Oh, and Layne Staley guests on the last track. It's worth it, trust me.

I would also recommend this compilation, which features Second Coming, Diamond Star Halo and a lot of other obscure Seattle bands whom I love.

You can buy this one here.
The second Second Coming album has two versions. The Timestyle Music Records version is rarer and worth picking up if you can find it, but the Capitol Records version has extra tracks, including "Unknown Rider" which is featured on The Sixth Sense soundtrack. I got lucky enough to hear demos of this album way back in the day and wish those were available somewhere as well. The version of "Vintage Eyes" was slightly different and I prefer it slightly over the CD version.

Above is my favorite song from the album. This song was written about vocalist Travis Bracht's teen years in foster care. It still brings tears to my eyes from time to time. This entire album is worth a listen and you can catch sound samples here.

The third Second Coming album has an even heavier edge. There are two versions of 13 as well, I'm not certain what the difference is, but I think one of the tracks is slightly different on the newer version. "Drop Dead Fred" is a testosterone-laced ode to kicking Fred Durst's ass. "Faces of Me" and "The Evil in Man" are probably my favorite tracks. Sound samples can be found here.

There was also an acoustic EP released on the coattails of 13. Sound samples can be found here.

There is another Second Coming album which was available for free download for a short time, but after searching for over an hour, I found that it's no longer in cyberworld. Bummer. I'm glad I found it when I did.

Some awesome Second Coming photos:

Other bands on my MP3 player:
Anthrax, Antigone Rising, Best Kissers in the World, Black Flag, Black Happy, Blue Spark, Bruce Dickinson, Carmine, Carrie Akre, Diamond Fist Werny, Dokken, Dream Theater, Duran Duran, Everclear, Fates Warning, Galactic Cowboys, Gary Numan, Genesis, Geoff Tate, God Lives Underwater, Goo Goo Dolls, Goodness, Goody Blick and the Country Kind, Green Apple Quick Step, Heart, Inflatable Soule, Jodie Watts, John Butler Trio, Josh White, Katies Dimples, Killing Joke, Kim Virant, Kings X, Lazy Susan, Luscious Jackson, Lush, Mad Season, Man Ray, Marble, Marilyn Manson, Maxi, Michael Penn, My Sister's Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Novatone, Old Lady Litterbug, Pantera, Peace and Silence, Pearl Jam, Pete Yorn, Pigeonhed, Primus, Queensryche, Sage, Savatage, Sebadoh, Seven Mary Three, Shudder to Think, Sir Mix-a-lot, Sister Psychic, Sky Cries Mary, Stone Temple Pilots, Sunny Day Real Estate, Super Deluxe, Sweet Water, The PARC Boys, The Rockfords, Tommy Henriksen, Toto, Underground Moon, ZuZu Ltd.

I'll probably explore some of those bands in future posts, but this one's getting long, so I shall set you, my readers, free for the night!

Holiday Music...

2011-12-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

My taste in holiday music is just as eccentric as my taste in everything else. So I'm going to share some holiday music you may have never heard of!

First, let's revisit Bob Rivers. Bob Rivers and his friends have put out tons of awesome holiday parody music for your enjoyment. I personally cannot resist "Wreck the Malls" ("tamper with their Muzak system; switch something for Twisted Sister") and "Grahbe Yahbalz" ("Grahbe Yahbalz like Michael Jackson...").
I Am Santa Claus video here.
There's no sound samples, but here are the amazon.com listings for:
Twisted Christmas
I Am Santa Claus

Electric Holiday:
This one was given to me as a holiday gift by my high school friend, MI. I had already made it through the gag gifts, as we were sitting in the parking lot of a used record store. MI handed this wrapped gift, obviously a CD, with a look on her face. And I knew exactly what it was, especially when she said that she had bought it for me, but she really didn't want to give it to me. I actually looked for a long time to find another one to give to her (before the days of home CD burning), but never succeeded.

I still have this and was listening to it in my car while running a couple last-minute errands today. Fun little poppy EP with a ridiculously adorable cover!
Electric Holiday on amazon.

Trim the Tree:
I bought this last one myself while trying to find another copy of the above CD for my friend. This one's a prize winner in many ways. Lyrics like: "Well it's Christmas Eve, everybody knows that it's time to leave, crust of plastic snow stapled to the eaves, Order up another shot for me..." are so appropriate for the holiday experience of any grown person. The song, "(LGH) For Christmas," is ridiculously fun... if you have a sense of humor. It's the ultimate holiday stoner song: "...then we'll drop some Frosty Windowpane and dream of Screaming Candycanes..." My ex-hippie mom loved this thing to death, though I had to agree to not play it around the grandparents, for obvious reasons.

This wins the gift-wrapping accompaniment award for me this year, even though track four, ("Yule Log") is actually the sound of a log crackling on the fireplace.

Trim the Tree on amazon.

Wishing you many musical adventures in the New Year!

The Final Day of Bruce-Mas!

2011-12-24T22:27:00.000-08:00

Hey all! This means we've made it to Christmas Eve with all our limbs intact... well... except for Ash, that is! I want to wish everyone reading a Happy Holiday and thank you for putting up with my bizarre musings!

I've got lots of fun posts on the agenda for once the holidays are over. Thinking about musing over movie kisses and movie sex, as well as review the awesome movie I watched last night, along with several others. And I'm considering re-enacting Burn Notice with ducks!

And thanks to Bruce Campbell for not sending an assasin after me. Here's a Burn Notice holiday card for all my good friends out there in cyberland!

Stocking Stuffers?

2011-12-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

I've been accused of not giving Autolycus enough love this holiday season. My bad, just never had time to 'shop something up for the 12 Days of Bruce-mas. But I figured I'd better make it up to the Hercules and Brisco fans out there by posting these lovelies...

A little Brisco, anyone?

And can't forget Jack!

Hope these warm your heart this holiday season!

On the Eleventh Day of Bruce-Mas...

2011-12-23T21:26:00.000-08:00

Here's some screenshots from the Burn Notice Christmas special...

On the Tenth Day of Bruce-Mas...

2011-12-22T22:51:00.000-08:00

We're getting close now, kids! Here's a bit of Army of Darkness fun!

On the Ninth Day of Bruce-Mas...

2011-12-21T19:17:00.000-08:00

Here's something Ash really wants!

On the Eighth Day of Bruce-Mas...

2011-12-20T20:23:00.001-08:00

I give you this beautifully wrapped package!

On the Seventh Day of Bruce-mas...

2011-12-19T21:42:00.000-08:00

A secret look into what Bruce does when he's on break from Burn Notice...

On the Sixth Day of Bruce-mas...

2011-12-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

I give you horror and drama! Evil Dead 4: An Evil Dead Christmas!

It's not Five Golden Rings...

2011-12-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

It's the Fifth Day of Bruce-mas! Another promotional photo for Evil Dead 4: An Evil Dead Christmas!

On the Fourth Day of Bruce-Mas, I give to you...

2011-12-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

More promotional photos from Evil Dead 4: An Evil Dead Christmas. Okay, just one more. I have to spread out the Brucey Goodness for several more days!

On the Third Day of Bruce-Mas...

2011-12-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

... I give to you...

Another promotional photo for Evil Dead 4: An Evil Dead Christmas!

Geek Confessional...

2011-12-15T18:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, I need to admit to something that few, if any, of you will understand.

I play Fantasy Football and Fantasy Baseball and LIKE it!

That's right. This geek isn't spending the weekend playing D&D. No, I'm watching huge men batter each other in the pursuit of an odd-shaped ball.

I've got two of four teams going to playoffs this year. Pretty good for third year at it. I like strategy games. This fits the bill.

So in case you're one of the few readers who also plays, I give you....

Fantasy Football Humor!

On the Second Day of Bruce-mas...

2011-12-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

Here's a promotional photo for Evil Dead 4: An Evil Dead Christmas...

Why I'm a Farmhand and not a Filmmaker...

2011-12-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

My fellow farmhand MGX and I had a lively text conversation this afternoon, which degenerated into a brainstorm on farm-related book and movie titles... mostly horror. You may have to be a farmhand to get the true horror of these, but then again, you might not.

Farm horror stories:
The Garden of Shame (ok, this is an actual location on the farm, though it's no longer shameful)
The Land of the Foresaken Brassicas (MGX)
I Can't Get Up After Kneeling On The Cold Ground So Long (a drama)
Corpse of a Thousand Cabbages (MGX)
Revenge of the Runty Potatoes (MGX... might be a comedy)
The Fields Have Eyes! (MGX... recommends Rob Zombie for director)
The Clutching Fingers of Angry Zombie Housewives (MGX... Vincent Price as lead... nobody will get the Angry Housewife reference)
Compost Pile of the Dead
I Think the Ducks Are Stealing My Sanity...
Man With The Screaming Sorrel (this has to have Bruce Campbell in it!)
I Know You Dusted the Beets Last Summer
Cock (Rooster) of the Damned
Satan's Chicken Flock
The Birds (MGX... remake of the Hitchcock film with the Muppet chickens)
He Who Picks the Beans (MGX... based on a Stephen King novel)
The Chickweed Has Eyes (must have tentacles per MGX)
Can't Sleep, The Cows Will Eat Me

New additions (thanks MGX!):
The Turnips That Time Forgot
The Root Maggot That Ate New York

I hope these made you laugh. They made my day totally awesome!

I leave you with the Homicidal Squash, farm mascot and friend to all...

These messages brought to you by...

12 Days of Christmas... Bruce Campbell style! Day 1...

2011-12-13T21:10:00.000-08:00

Technically, the 12 days of Christmas starts on Christmas Day and goes until January 6th. However, most people think of it as the twelve days leading up to Christmas. It's an anticipation thing. And a "make shoppers even more frantic" thing.

So, to lighten up the blog a bit, here's The First Day of Christmas... Bruce Campbell style!

Let's visit a holiday recently past...

The Things of Nightmares...

2011-12-13T20:39:00.000-08:00

Warning: Serious blog post here. If you're looking for fluff, skip to another post now.

The things of nightmares are not those which we see in cheesy horror films. Serious, soul-breaking things of nightmares come into your life when they're least expected and leave scars you might think you've forgotten until long after the fact when just a few words brings back the searing pain and rational fear from the past. Yes, friends, rational fear. That of which you should be afraid. Very afraid.

All it took for me tonight was a casual mention of an event from long ago. 14 years or so now. That's all that was necessary to get my blood chilling in my veins as my pulse raced. Fourteen years ago, in winter, right around New Year's.

I had a good friend in high school, her name was Kim. We hung around together after meeting in a television broadcasting class. Thinking of that time, my first memory is of the music videos we had to make in class, using specific camera techniques and varied shots. I remember Kim and I filming those scenes, all intentionally goofy, and getting scolded for being too loud in the school's hallway. Her video was to "The Joker" by Steve Miller, mine set to "Velvet Dog" as performed by Sister Psychic. I think I might still have a videotape copy of those somewhere in my "storage-of-the-can't-bear-to-get-rid-of-it."

Kim and I took trips together to Lake Chelan and various other places. Sometimes when one of us was feeling particularly stressed, we'd just get in the car and drive. We'd hit all the typical hangouts: Denny's and Seattle coffee houses. I remember on one occasion, Kim pulled me out of a concert at the youth center with something on her mind. She always knew where to find me in the days before cell phones.

Kim graduated the year before I did. She was taking community college and working temp jobs and at an auto parts store. She'd come get me and we'd do whatever. There was one time that I picked her up in my grandparents' car, then we returned to my place to get my notebook. I was writing then, before my writer's anxiety became the problem it is today. Well... I came back outside and the car wouldn't start. So we walked all the way across town to her house to pick up her car. We still ended up at Denny's, hours later than planned and freezing cold. That was a night!

Kim was the one who dragged me to UW to be an unpaid extra in that Marlon Wayans movie. She's also the reason I can't watch the film. Because even the mere thought of what happened to her still brings on panic attacks.

It was winter and Kim had returned from San Diego for the holidays. I had gotten her a carton of cigarettes as a gift. I know it wasn't the most healthy gift to give, but I also knew that she was short on money because her Americorps stipend covered very little. She was planning to spend the night at the condo that I shared with an on/off boyfriend in Crossroads. It had started to snow and we were hunkered down for the night; I wasn't going to be driving my beater car in the snow. Did we walk to the grocery store? I think we did. But Kim got really sick during the night. Her dad came in the snow to pick her up because she was too miserable to continue the visit and because I was too scared to try and navigate her hill in the weather.

That was the last time I saw her. We had planned to get together, but the day came and went. I had assumed she was either still not feeling well or that she had gotten sidetracked with family. But the day she was supposed to leave came and I still hadn't heard anything. I called her house multiple times, but only got the machine. It didn't seem right. Had I missed her and her family was seeing her off at the airport?

The next day I got a phone call from my grandma. Kim had been found murdered in the park near her house. When police went to her home, they found the bodies of her parents and sister, brutally beaten. I don't know what hit me after the denial which was so great that I had to rush up to the 7-11 and buy a newspaper to confirm what I had just been told. Was it the grief for missed opportunities to see a friend? The guilt that I should have been there with her (her parents had offered to rent me a room when I decided I needed to get out of my mom's house)? Or was it the soul-shaking fear that whomever murdered my friend was still out there... and might be someone I know?

The nightmares were the worst. Especially the one where I was there in the house, seeing everything through the eyes of someone else, knowing that I was powerless to stop what was about to happen. The VCR had been stolen in an attempt to make it look like a robbery. I just remember the dream; seeing things through someone else's eyes, watching as these hands disconnected the VCR from its cables. That was the dream that caused my roommate and I to flee in the middle of the night to his parents house. I didn't sleep a lot for months.

Years later, I was working in a restaurant in Issaquah when I received a phone call from the prosecutor's office. They apparently had been looking for me for a long time... in all the wrong places as a friend of a friend had been totally wrong about where I lived and worked. They were looking to establish a motive for the killings and wanted to talk with me. The next day, I spent my lunch break being questioned by two members of the prosecuting team. They thought I knew something useful. They told me they would need me to testify. The nightmare hadn't ended; it had only taken a break.

To this day, I'm petrified of courtrooms. They hadn't needed me in the trial of the first killer, but it took two trials to put away his accomplice. The first trial was not too horrible. They kept me in an office until it was my turn to testify, thankfully sparing me from more information than I wanted to have to hear. The questioning was easy and there was no cross-examination. Unfortunately, they ended up in a mistrial when the dickhead accomplice charged that his lawyer wasn't making any effort to defend him. No wonder I got off easy.

The second trial was what seemed like a millenia in hell, though I'm sure I was only in that courtroom a few minutes. The new defense lawyer tried to tear me apart in any manner he could. I suspect that my testimony must have meant a lot to the case, but all I remember was coming out of there shaking like a leaf. The next day, my name was in the paper. I was really bothered by that. Knowing that my name was out there left me with a whole new case of anxiety.

After the trials were over, I took Kim's pager, which I had bought from her before she moved to San Diego and threw in in Lake Washington at the park that she and I would go to sometimes just to shoot the shit.

Years later, it seems that I have only thought of these events as a fleeting memory. Until tonight when a casual mention of the murders on Facebook brought all of this back. Nightmares like this never end, they just go dormant.

Kim's dream was to be an actress and I envision her as being a wonderfully goofy actress, like the person she was in real life. She had an amazing spark to her and related to people of all backgrounds, even if she was a slightly doting and meddling friend.

Kim and I in a slightly prophetic photograph taken at Chelan Gorge on a condemned bridge, we argued about who got to lay in the outline:

Super Bowl party:

Nostalgia...

2011-12-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

I was encouraged to share some of my funny concert-going adventures from my teens and twenties. Now while I'm okay with that (I just need to drag out notebooks worth of concert journals), I'm concerned that my readers might not find it as entertaining as I do.

I remember a friend once commenting to me on how they never want to end up like that Mellencamp song. You know the one.... "Glory Days"?

I enjoy looking back and laughing at my own expense. I'm just afraid that people would think it was tacky... or even maudlin if I were to revisit things like trying to spit on the pigeons at Dick's or locking myself out of my car at The Capitol Theater in Olympia... or even going to Portland and not being able to find the freeway on-ramp on the way back home.

I believe we are all the sum of our life experiences, so those things matter, if to nobody else but me. Does anyone want to hear those stories?

Concert photos. They make any blog post tolerable...

James Bergstrom of Second Coming:

Danny Newcomb hates this photo:

Six degrees of what the crap is that...?

2011-12-11T20:31:00.000-08:00

I was intending to do a post on one of the bands that lives in my Mp3 player. Somehow that morphed to "What was that Syfy film with the big, evil snake?"
Which, in turn, lead to a long, winding road of fangirl connections. So I give you the first installment of...
"Six Degrees of What The Crap is That???"

One of the bands that has a permanent home in my Mp3 player is a group called Underground Moon. I doubt you've heard of them. I found them by somewhat of a lucky coincidence while looking up a band that I like from my pre-teen years. Here's some Underground Moon samples, courtesy of amazon.com: Scroll down for samples.

Underground Moon has a song on a Syfy network film. It was a trip to be watching this film and recognize a song. The song is called "Shed The Skin." You can check it out at the previous link. The film is Mega Snake.
Mega Snake IMDB.

Mega Snake features Michael Shanks of Stargate SG-1 fame. Michael Shanks also played Victor in Burn Notice.

Michael Shanks...

From the Burn Notice connection, you can go with Bruce Campbell (Sam Axe)...

Or you can go with Tim Matheson (Dead Larry)...

From there, the possibilities are endless. I think I only went five degrees with this, but hey, it was an interesting trip down fangirl lane. I could write for 20 hours easy connecting every band I've ever liked with one another, but that'll have to wait for another day.

Sometimes They Come Back...

2011-12-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

I watched Sometimes They Come Back earlier this week and have been meaning to give a short review... however, it seems that I got stuck posting about... *gasp* ... meaningful things like duck emergencies. So back to some happy fangirl fluff for a while.

Sometimes They Come Back is based on a Stephen King story, which makes it safe viewing because I know what to expect out of King. In viewing the film, it seemed to ring a bell with me which means either I've read the story (probably) or that King's stories tend to have common themes (also likely). For a while, I kept mixing up the storyline of this with the storyline of a few other of King's works, which made it interesting because I was expecting something totally different to happen.

I watched this while being the only one awake in the house. I don't normally get alone-time when watching movies, so that was a bonus. Was I scared? Not necessarily... but I was on the edge of my seat for this. Not much gets my attention that well, so I'm going to give this film a 4.5 out of 5 on the obscurefilm-o-meter.

Now for the screencaps and Tim Matheson fangirling...

A teacher and his family return to his old hometown...

In which a terrible tragedy happened...

Struggling with nightmares and bad memories, Matheson's character has to deal with obnoxious high school students...

While he probably wants to kill whoever chose his clothing for the film...

And then... the requisite weird shit starts to happen...

Are his students methodically being murdered and replaced... or has Matheson's character gone off the deep end? And who are these new students?

Can this mild-mannered schoolteacher save his family when nobody will believe him?

Sometimes They Come Back IMDB.

Clumsy Update...

2011-12-11T19:12:00.000-08:00

I had to re-splint Clumsy's leg and foot this evening. Even with the so-called waterproof tape, she managed to get it off. Before I re-wrapped her, I let her walk around the loft for a bit. She's still holding the leg the wrong way without the splints, so I wrapped her back up. I suppose that it's going to be another week minimum before we see any results. In the meantime, she's mobile, eating, sleeping and pooping as normal. She's given us no eggs lately, but it's probably a combination of being stressed from the injury and the shorter days.

Caillou Cayuga, Clumsy Pekin and Lucille Pekin in their quarantine pen when they first joined our flock...

Cats... not the musical!

2011-12-10T22:53:00.000-08:00

By request, here's a post on kitties. I'm a cat lover, but a member of my household is allergic, so I have to do without a kitty friend.

Here's some love for my kitties of the past:

Sukyi, my first cat was found as a stray by my dad. He only had half a tail. Big, drooly Russian Blue. He lived a long life, but eventually had to be put down because of tumors. I was crushed because my mom sent me to my grandma's and only told me what happened once the deed was done. I was really sore about that for a long time. I have no idea how my mom came by the spelling of his name, but the vet needed a spelling and I wasn't old enough to know how to spell, so mom came up with that. It's pronounced: Suki. Soo-key.

Sukyi and my brother Ken:

Garfield was a rescue kitty. A black longhair who never really got over whatever happened to him before he came to us. He was really skittish and hated being held. You can tell I was a kid when I named him. How did I imagine this skinny, unfriendly black kitty deserved a name like Garfield?

Me and Garfield:

Then came Lamborghini. He was a really hyperactive orange tabby. He could jump almost as high as I was tall. He met his end when he tangled with a coyote... or at least that's what the neighbors said...
Lambo as an old man:

Calvin and his brother, Hobbes were adopted from a neighbor whose cat had an unexpected litter. Calvin was my boy: a grey tabby who was ridiculously neurotic. Calvin had to have an abcessed tooth removed at one point and the vet thought he would act a little more... normal... after that, but he was always a strange cat. In his old age, he peed on one of my roommates for no apparent reason. Poor guy was just sitting on the couch and Calvin came along, rubbed against the back of his head a couple times and then peed on him!

Hobbes lived with my grandparents, where he learned to fetch cat toys and was spoiled rotten. He was a serious fat lap kitty.

Hobbes disappeared one day as my grandparents were preparing for a trip. We think he may have met a coyote as well. Calvin died of poisoning if you ask me, but I can't prove it.

Calvin:

Hobbes. Note the awesome stone cat in the background. That cat used to trip out my grandparents' house guests something fierce.

Sushi was found wandering around my high school. I attempted to find his owner, but in the end, he became my big furry buddy. He was part siamese, part tabby and he insisted on being the center of attention.

I was stupid and surrendered him to the humane society when I was dating a guy who was allergic. Should have kept the cat...

Misty was my grandpa's cat, but she lived with me for a while when my grandpa was recovering from his heart surgery. I had given Misty to my grandpa the Christmas after my grandma died because he was so lonely. Misty was a sweet kitty. She also scratched and bit the hell out of me when she got her leg caught in something during the time she lived with me. Cat bites are not awesome. After grandpa died, she went on to a new home, which she eventually disappeared from.

Misty:

Fluffy was a stray that adopted me. He was another one who was adopted out after my grandpa died because I was living in a condo. He was another big, lovey drooly thing.

Fluffy and my cousin at grandpa's house (note the signature wallpaper):

Midnight was my last kitty. She came with our house. The previous owner left a note and half a bag of cat food, asking that we keep feeding their feral cat. Midnight had a hard life, but she was okay being held as long I didn't move suddenly. About a year and a half ago, she stopped coming up to our porch and sleeping in the crate we had for her there. We think she probably met a coyote as well.

You might disagree with some of my decisions regarding my former furry friends. I know there are a lot of people who have problems with cat owners who let their animals roam the neighborhood. The reason I had indoor/outdoor cats is because for the most part, my mother thought cats should be free to roam. And so they did.

Would I get another cat? Yes, if I could. Having someone in the household who is allergic, I have to respect their need for a cat-free environment. I'm not a dog person, but that's what we have. A great big, stupid home protection system. His name is Mack and I would have had it with him a long time ago had he not alerted us to the creepy drunk woman who was tapping on our windows in the middle of the night about a year ago. I thought he was going to lick her to death when we let him outside that night!

First aid for ducks...

2011-12-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Today was an interesting day. I went out to clean the duck house and discovered that my girl, Clumsy, was barely getting around. Her foot wouldn't lay flat and she was holding her leg at a weird angle. So after giving her a warm bath in the loft bathtub, I went to work splinting her foot and leg joint.

Here's poor Clumsy's leg after the splint and wrap. Clumsy is a Pekin, which is a heavy duck, hence the likelihood of leg and foot injuries. I'm thinking the real solution is to put her on a diet. If she doesn't improve, I'm going to have to eat her. And I'd really rather not eat one of my prime layers if I have a choice.

Clumsy's mad at me...

Ducky stinkeye...

Clumsy is going to be spending at least ten days in the ducky hospital. We shall see how she progresses.

I love my Clumsy! And yes, that's what I look like when I'm working outside. *embarassed*

Pearl Harbor Day

2011-12-07T20:38:00.000-08:00

Today is the 70th anniversary of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. This is an old photo of my Grandfather, Master Chief Donald Martin, a Pearl Harbor survivor.

It's a shame that less people remember Pearl Harbor each year. My grandfather survived the attack because he was in the barracks shower when the attack hit. I can only imagine the mad panic of one minute going about a normal, mundane act as showering and the next minute all hell breaks loose.

My grandpa had a huge impact on my life. I used to follow him around everywhere. He was a great piano player and a wonderful artist. I have a Christmas book that he would paint a new holiday picture in for me every year.

I miss you, Grandpa!

Phantoms

2011-12-06T22:26:00.000-08:00

I figured now would be a good time to share one of my favorite films: Phantoms. I adore Liev Schreiber and Dean Koontz, so this film is right up my alley. Any fan of Koontz knows that no movie ever made from one of his novels has ever done the book justice. Phantoms comes pretty darn close.

This film also has Rose McGowan in it. She almost seems out of place in the film, but then again, her character is supposed to be a little out of place.

The basic premise is this...

Big sister takes little sister to live with her in a small mountain town...

They arrive and all hell breaks loose...

Is it a disease, or... ?

"It's just a bundt cake... it's just a bundt cake..."

Ben Affleck... before he was well-known:

Liev Schreiber is delightfully creepy...

With Peter O'Toole, they try to unravel the mystery of who or what has decimated the town...

Phantoms IMDB here.

Phantoms has some of the best lines in it. "Heyyyy, ya wanna see something?" And I'll never think of the song, "I Fall To Pieces" the same.

This is one of those films that I've seen so much that I curl up and go to sleep with it playing. That may seem like a negative to some, but I consider this to be a "comfort movie." Other movies that I use to lull myself to sleep if I have insomnia: Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness (ok, I see a trend), Alien Apocalypse, Safe House, Star Trek: First Contact, and Star Trek: Insurrection. There are more, but those are the ones I watch most often late at night when I should be asleep.

Holiday Wreathmaking

2011-12-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

Those of you who know me know that I work on a farm. This time of the season, we're whipping out the rustic crafts. I'm not the most crafty person, so when I was approached to make wreaths this afternoon, I was apprehensive at best. My last experience with wreath-making was about 20 years ago.

I remembered the concept, but the finesse took a little while. The wreath maker is easy to operate. However, I was totally wrong on the size of branches to use. The first attempt turned out to be a 15lb behemoth that looked like a tree that had a bad hair day. I would have taken a photo of the ugly thing, but I disassembled it so I wouldn't have to look at the ridiculous evidence of my lack of craftiness.

Lucky for me, my second, third and fourth attempts looked better. In fact, the second one sold before I left the farm for the day. Much better on the arms than two hours of weeding.

For the lack of crafty farm photos, here's another member of my Army of Duckness!

Intruder

2011-12-05T20:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday, everyone!

Today's selection from the awesome obscure movie vault is Intruder. This film features some of my favorite people: Danny Hicks, Ted Raimi and Sam Raimi, with a Bruce Campbell cameo for good measure. Don't blink, you'll miss him!

The premise behind this one is...

Creepy douchebag is harassing the employees of a local grocery store...

Starts a huge scuffle...

And may still be lurking in the store...

That's when people start dying...

This film really has it all. Not only is this one of the very few examples of Sam Raimi (above, on the meat hook) acting, but Danny Hicks is amazing! It's got plenty of suspense and an equal dose of gratuitous gore. This film will keep you watching as you try to determine who's killing who. Intruder rates a 5 out of 5 on the obscurefilm-o-meter.

More Sam Raimi:

More Sam Raimi:

Ted Raimi eating watermelon:

Danny Hicks, one of the nicest actors I've met:

I'm not going to give away where the Bruce Campbell appearance is. You'll have to look for him yourself.
Intruder IMDB here.

Weekend viewing...

2011-12-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

I promised a couple folks that I would share my obscure movie choices from the weekend, so here they are. I've been working my way through a short list of Tim Matheson's movies... I don't think I'm going to try and see everything the man has been in, because IMDB says he's been in everything (and I think it may hurt my hipster persona to actually see A Very Brady Sequel). Either way, I usually start working through an actor's catalog by viewing: 1) Films of theirs I have seen before but may have forgotten, then: 2) Horror or suspense films by said actor, then: 3) Comedies or other types of films that seem to fit my interests.

Up first: Deadly Game, which is listed as Catch Me If You Can (not to be confused by that mainstream film by that kid from the sinking ship movie which I shall not name as to not cause at least one online friend to go into severe fits) on IMDB.

Deadly Game IMDB here.

I had hoped this would be more action/suspense than comedy, but I was wrong. Forgiveable being that I think I paid $2 for the DVD online. My first reaction was that this film reminded me entirely too much of Home Alone, only with a slightly different storyline. It was fairly predictable, which I can react either way to, but it was funny. And heartwarming, though I hate to admit I like anything cutesy or heartwarming, I'd give this a 3 out of 5 star rating on the obscurefilm-o-meter.

Tim Matheson wakes up with pizza stuck to his face:

Considers the implications...

And eats it anyway:

The basic jist of the film is this: Down and out cop has to protect the world's most obnoxious kid from the mob and himself.
The kid in question is addressed simply as "kid" for most of the movie. Sometimes I wonder if "kid" is actually pure evil incarnate as he...

Handcuffs Tim Matheson to a table...

Locks him in a dumpster...

And basically runs amok.

Meanwhile "kid" is being searched for by the mob, intent on eliminating a murder witness.

I'll leave it at that. It's worth a watch if you like films like Home Alone or anything in the action comedy genre.

Next up: Bay Cove, released on television in 1987 as Bay Coven. I vaguely remembered this film from when it was shown originally. Being fairly poor, we didn't have a lot of money for video rentals, so I would tape stuff off the television. In fact, I would scour the TV Guide for listings of late-night horror movies to tape. I had an old Betamax VCR that had been handed down to me (at that time, a 13-year old kid), to keep in my room. So I taped obscure horror movies. This was one of them.

Basic premise, a young married couple move onto a small island and then all hell breaks loose. Woody Harrelson and Barbara Billingsley also have parts in this film, which I give a 4 out of 5 on the obscurefilm-o-meter.

Tim Matheson and his wife live in a city loft...

Woody Harrelson is their friend, who apparently lets himself in whenever he feels like...

They decide to move to an island...

They move in and weird shit happens...

Barbara Billingsley gets props for being perfectly creepy...

Gratuitous screencap of Tim Matheson in just a towel...

My only complaint about this film is that it is very hard to watch due to conversion issues. It's grainy and jumpy and somewhat headache-inducing. Made for tv movies from the 80's apparently don't transfer well to DVD and even on an upconverting 1080p DVD player, it kinda sucks. I wouldn't buy it for that reason... just Netflix it. The storyline is somewhat predictable as well, but I can't be a good judge of that being that I had seen this movie before, even though it didn't look familiar until about halfway through.
You can IMDB it here.

Next up: Sometimes They Come Back. Films made from Stephen King's works are not usually blockbusters, but they are usually tolerable.

Why Bruce Campbell is my favorite actor...

2011-12-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

In re-reading my older posts, I seem to have neglected pointing out what people who know me know to be the obvious. I adore Bruce Campbell. I'll watch him in anything, even if it is a pile of crap. Luckily, most Bruce Campbell films have enough redeeming qualities for me to overlook poor plots, poor writing, terrible effects, poor production, a overload of lame humor or anything else that I would point out as a flaw in a non-BC film.

I met Bruce Campbell. It was awesome. For being very brief and very rushed and considering that I was terribly tongue-tied. I went in with a plan. I was going to buy several autograph tickets so I could buy a few minutes in the hopes of attempting a real conversation with the man, whom I admire for more than his acting skills. In arriving, my friend and I were pretty annoyed to find out that it was a one autograph per person deal. There would be no bribery and no quick conversation with Bruce in my future.

Photos of Bruce from ZomBcon 2010:

How I partied down at ZomBcon 2010:

Closer...

There was also the awesome Evil Dead Wedding...

But even for all of the above awesomeness, none of those are the reason that Bruce is my favorite actor. Not as Ash...

Not as Sam Axe...

Or Chuck Finley...

Or even as Bruce Campbell...

The biggest reason I love Bruce Campbell is because he's real. I used to state that actors aren't real people; that their jobs are based in unreality and therefore, they don't even know who they really are. Therefore, actors aren't real people. Bruce proved me wrong.

1) Bruce doesn't browbeat his fans with his politcal opinions. Thank you, Bruce, for not being guilty of my number one pet peeve with celebrities. I'll probably end up ranting about this very subject at a later time, as I try so very hard to not unfollow peeps on Twitter for posting political crapfest after political crapfest.

2) Bruce treats his fans with respect. You might question that if you've seen some of his Q&A's, but it's pretty obvious that any shit-flipping he does in that setting is just in fun... even if he does seem like a douche at the time. Having had all of six seconds to speak with the man, I can say that he really appreciates his fans. And he doesn't have one of those overboard egos where all he can talk about is himself.

3) Bruce made his own success. He stuck his neck out there and did the thing that he loved. And he succeeded. The man is an inspiration for up and coming artists and business people. It's nice to look at an example of someone who stuck his neck out and didn't get it cut off.

4) He can laugh at himself. Watch My Name Is Bruce sometime. I'm pretty sure that "real" Bruce doesn't drink liquor out of a dog bowl, but he can make it pretty convincing... in a side-splitting, I-just-hurt-myself kind of way.

I love this quote he gave Starbucks for their cups...

If the print is too small to read, it says:
"If you're worried about getting a job - or keeping one - start a company of your own. By doing so, you'll reap the rewards of your hard work and you'll only get fired if you fail. This is the land of opportunity. Live in it."

My apologies...

2011-12-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

First, my apologies to my readers. I know I had planned on putting some movie reviews up here this weekend. I'm still screencapping the films, so it's on the list. I figured I needed some photos to help me review obscure movies that nobody has seen but me.

Second, I owe a very belated apology to my older cousin, LD. She was the victim of so much musical abuse from me over the years and rarely complained. I dragged her to a ridiculous amount of concerts that she would have never gone to willingly otherwise, made her part of every ridiculous scheme I ever came up with, all of which were designed to get us in trouble. For every gig involving buck ass naked men painted blue and playing indescribable noise that could be construed as music, I am truly sorry. She was also my guinea pig for watching really, really, really bad movies. To the woman who cheerfully tolerated Hard Rock Zombies, Return of the Living Dead, Black Roses and a million more terrible films alongside me: Thank you and I'm sorry.

Some concerts I dragged cousin LD to:
Duran Duran (ok, this might have been forgiveable considering her musical taste)
My Sister's Machine with The Pleasure Elite (blue-painted men)
Queensryche (three times, twice with Type O Negative)
Lollapalooza 1994. (so sorry I dragged you into the mosh pit... no water, dust flying everywhere, super hot and you had to put up with me fangirling about Alice in Chains)

Extra, extra, read all about it...

2011-12-03T23:19:00.000-08:00

...because I doubt you've seen it. And you're less likely to have seen ME in it!

Here is the sum total of my acting career, if you can call it that. Cutting room floor stuff. But hey, feigning excitement for the camera and having the opportunity to observe professionals was worth the "Five more minutes. So sorry guys, just five more minutes!" factor.

Music video. For a Christmas song parody. Mind you, they film videos for Christmas songs in the summer. This is "I am Santa Claus" by Bob Rivers.
I am Santa Claus!
This was fun, less the waiting. Crowd surfing elves simply rock. The vocalist is Rockfish, a local radio host who is best known for KISW's Metal Shop back in the day. I had a radio fangirl crush on him because he was not only the most awesome radio host who always played my oddball requests, but because he was always super nice to me.

Real movie. As in: this was shown in theaters. The film was The Sixth Man, shot in Seattle on the University of Washington campus. I got talked into doing this by a friend who had gotten a paid extra position. It was very similar to my first extra experience: jumping out of my seat, feigning excitement while watching a basketball game in which an invisible player was scoring all the baskets. I've never actually seen the film because the friend who had talked me into doing it was tragically killed before it came out. I still haven't been able to bring myself to watch it.

Here's the imdb.

I have so much more appreciation for real actors having pretended to be one on those two occasions. Don't bother trying to find me... even if I made it in, who wants to continue pausing crowd shots in order to find some blogger fangirl. I don't. I can be seen for about half a second in the opening credits of Queensryche's Live:Evolution DVD... I need to re-buy that so I can screencap myself.

Singles: The Best Movie Ever!

2011-12-03T22:06:00.000-08:00

While I sit here and wait for my screencaps to be done so I can post some other movie reviews, I came across some screencaps I did of the best movie ever.

I love Singles. Not just because it's set in Seattle, but because the characters are so real. I'm sure every person who's seen it can identify with at least one relationship faux-pas in the film.

Winning lines:
"I was just nowhere near your neighborhood."
"Are my breasts too small for you?"
"What took you so long?" ... "I was stuck in traffic."

Honorable mention for Jeremy Piven appearance as well as...

... Alice in Chains!!!

Burn Notice Villains Love/Hate

2011-12-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

I'm in full-fledged Anson-hating mode after last night's Burn Notice. I guess it's time for little Burn Notice Villain Love/Hate (besides this is a chance for me to give some fangirl love...). In no particular order:

Carla = Hate. It wasn't so much that she was scary. Or playing head games. She was simply an annoying, manipulative bitch. Glad Fi got rid of her.

Larry = Love. Personal favorite villain. Love Tim Matheson, sad to see him go. Perfect level of creepy villain factor.

Brennen = Hate. Glad Larry ended him... lesser of two evils situation. Brennen annoyed me.

Gilroy = Love. Didn't want to like him, but just when he really started to grow on me... kaboom! Chris Vance is awesome.

Simon = Hate. Simon is just plain mad. A worthy villain by all acounts, but also a real dickhead.

Management = Hate. If for no other reason than because of his connection with Anson and the underground network. Can't comment too much more, as Management wasn't seen much.

Anson = Super Hate. This character just makes my skin crawl. Wish he had been blown up instead of Larry. I keep waiting for that "turning point" moment where I grudgingly begin to like a villain, but I doubt it will happen with Anson.

Have I left out a ton of bad guys? Of course. But I think I covered most of the biggies.

Sweet Water!!!

2011-12-02T21:46:00.000-08:00

I decided I should post a slightly belated review of the Sweet Water gig I saw recently. I realize that I now have more friends who are not from Seattle than I ever did before and that a lot of them are not up on the music I spent my teen years (and beyond) with.

I discovered Sweet Water in the 90's, when their first album received a decent amount of airplay on the local rock stations. They were always one of those groups who made themselves more accessible to younger fans who weren't old enough to get into the clubs. They played places like the Seattle Center, Westlake Center, The Capitol Theater in Olympia and The Moore Theater. A Sweet Water show was always guaranteed to be a good time.

Years later, they still put out music and play occasional shows. Original drummer Paul Uhlir left the band and was replaced with Chris Friel, another awesome local drummer, best known for playing with groups such as Goodness and El Steiner. While I love Chris Friel's drumming, I am still having trouble adjusting to having him in Sweet Water. I'm not sure if it's just me or if his style is noticeably different, but it seems to work for them.

My good friend TB graciously allowed me to stay at her place, so I was able to make the trip over to see them at Neumo's. Opening act 9fifty9 (Or is it Nine50nine? Someone correct me.) was a blast, featuring Ty Willman (formerly of Green Apple Quick Step and Novatone, whom I will blog about eventually) and the awesome Jeremy Lightfoot on bass. I have to rave about Jeremy when given the chance (he shares my appreciation for Bruce Campbell) and really makes a bass guitar do things you wouldn't expect one to. 959 is a very new band and it showed a little, goofy antics and self-deprecating jokes being thrown out between songs. I think there is a huge potential there and look forward to seeing them again.

I missed the second band. Something about hard ciders... many of them. My apologies to the musicians that I may have dissed by taking an extended drinky break.

Sweet Water played an amazing set. I have always had a great time at their shows, but this one was super-sharp and beyond top notch. I have to thank the band for playing "Feel Good," which is TB's favorite Sweet Water song (and also one I had never seen live before) and also "Win," which is my favorite Sweet Water song. The low point for me is when they played "People," from the Parc Boys album. It just didn't have the kick that the recorded version does. Still love the song, just wasn't into it live.

Overall, the show was everything and more than what you'd expect to get from Sweet Water. I had an amazing time and hope to see them again soon!

If you aren't familiar with Sweet Water, you can download a song here at their official website.

I took many photographs of these guys over the years that I was a freelancer/hobbyist. Here are a few of them!

Adam Czeisler (vocals) at Westlake Center.

Cole Peterson (bass) at Westlake Center.

Credo (guitar) Seattle Center (Pain in the Grass concert).

Chris Friel (drums) with Goodness in Orting, Washington.

Original drummer Paul Uhlir at Westlake Center.

Classic Sweet Water from Pain in the Grass 1994, pre-Dudley Taft leaving the band.

You can listen to more Sweet Water sound samples here.

From the obscure DVD collection...

2011-12-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

Just watched Safe House again last night. It's been a while, but it was satisfying as always. This film was one I discovered years ago while Netflixing Patrick Stewart's body of work. I think aside from Picard on ST:TNG, this is my favorite Stewart character, therefore Safe House is up pretty high in my hierarchy of movies that nobody has seen but me.

The basic premise is that Stewart's character, Mace Sowell thinks someone is trying to kill him. But is there really a killer lurking, or is it all in his mind? The film is quirky at times and has me laughing out loud occasionally. But there's a deeper story.

I tend to keep my film descriptions minimalistic in order to not spoil the fun.

I love quoting this film, but nobody ever gets it. "I can assure you, I did not put that there." is my favorite line. It has to be done in exactly the right cadence to truly enjoy the quote value.

This film also features Kimberly Williams and Hector Elizondo. It's definitely worth Netflixing if you haven't seen it.

Something near and dear to my heart...

2011-12-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

Hey readers! I hate to be asking favors this early in our relationship, but this is something I really care about. ZomBcon Seattle is trying to raise funds to keep the con going. I have attended both of the previous ZomBcons and they were super-awesome.

Could you check out this page and pass it along?
http://www.indiegogo.com/Support-ZomBcon-International

To make it worth your while, here are some photos of ZomBcon events past...

Last post for the evening!

2011-12-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

Blogging has been just the ticket. Now I don't have to despair about only having 140 characters to mash my ever-so-deep thoughts into. Like debating whether or not Undead Larry on Burn Notice is really dead this time.

In memory of Undead Larry, I'm going to work my way through part of actor/director Tim Matheson's extremely long catalog of work. As a horror fan, I'm going for the sterotypical choice. Next up: Sometimes They Come Back. I know, an odd choice for a trip down fangirl lane... but then again, maybe it isn't. Tim Matheson does kick ass...

On a side note, watching Dead Calm with Billy Zane and Sam Neill right now. Love Billy Zane. Love Sam Neill. /geekout

On notoriously bad taste and Bruce Campbell:

2011-12-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

I have always liked odd movies. Obscure and hard to find movies. Movies with bizarre dark humor.

Some childhood favorites, a few of which you’ve heard of:

- Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness. They are so awesome, they are like one big, long movie that should be watched all together. Bruce Campbell, ironically, was not a childhood crush of mine. The Brucey fangirling came later. I accidentally came upon Bruce years later, in Alien Apocalypse. Somehow that lead to me keying in on his career, which has lead to where I am now.

- A Nightmare on Elm Street. The original and Dream Warriors are the best of the franchise. Would love to shake Robert Englund’s hand. Bonus points for good soundtracks.

- Return of the Living Dead. Not to be confused with the ground-breaking films of George Romero, this film is an immensely watchable b-movie from beginning to end. As an aside: I wonder if the appearance of Clu Gulager in a film is a good guarantee of camp-factor?

- Black Roses. The effects in this were surprisingly good for the time period and likely low budget that this film was constrained by. Evil rock band: yes, it’s been done a million times, but not too many people have seen this one. This also gets props from me because it actually had a really good soundtrack. Which I purchased. On cassette. Hello, shades of 1990.

- Hard Rock Zombies. A movie that I suspect nobody loves but me. This time, inexplicably, given the name of the film, the musicians are the good guys. I loaned this DVD to a friend, who commented daily for a couple weeks that he had started watching it and couldn’t continue because it was so bad. He kept trying, though, if for no other reason than to be able to review it to the chagrin of everyone in his Facebook horror group. Will leave you going, “Huh???” many times throughout. The super-jealous girlfriend character is worth watching closely. I think the people who made this film were practicing for a career making music videos. I wish they had released the soundtrack for this puppy, I would have been all over it. Heck, I’d buy it even today, though it is a little buttrock, a little candypop.

- The Amityville Horror (with an honorable mention for Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes). The original was one of the first horror films that scared the living daylights out of me. I’ve always been a little more frightened by the subtle horror than the gratuitous gore films. To this day, people still argue about whether or not this film was based on a true story. As an adult, I realize that “based” on a true story can still be a far cry from what really happened, but as a 7 or 8 year old kid who was allowed to watch almost anything, I took it as canon truth.

My choices in literature are equally mainstream to odd…

- Dean Koontz. I think I’ve read everything he did from the beginning of his career until about 2003. I don’t have the luxury of much reading time anymore, and it seems like when I do, it’s non-fiction. I started reading at adult level when I was about 7. For that reason, my mom stopped censoring my entertainment choices. Life was good. If someone didn’t know what to get for me for a holiday or occasion, it would be the default Dean Koontz novel. Phantoms was the only novel of his made into a film which wasn’t totally raped by the studio. I’d still like to see Dragon Tears made into a film. With Bruce Campbell. Perfection. Or Dark Rivers of the Heart. That would be Bruce-worthy as well.

- Stephen King. I don’t think Stephen King can be avoided. While I consider his writing to be slightly more crass and unrefined than Koontz, I still love some of his work. And he has spawned such a lovely number of B-movies for me to enjoy. Here’s where my taste goes a little strange. Favorite King stories: Needful Things, Dreamcatcher, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and Insomnia. Looking at a list of his work, I could continue, but I’ll restrain myself.

- William W. Johnstone. This was one of my many author discoveries from the time in my youth where I would ride my bike to the used bookstore and choose reading material based on the cover art and brief description on the back of the cover. If it wasn’t for Johnstone and Too $hort, my mastery of curse words would be lacking. Severely. Johnstone’s works ranged from tales of satanic cults to a love story (What The Heart Knows) to stories of political dissent and societal collapse. Love them all. If I was looking for ideas for the next Sci-fi channel movie, I’d go with The Uninvited. Chemically-enhanced cockroaches who eat flesh. Awesome.