More vampires than you can "count"...!

These vampires are cool...





















But these vampires just plain suck...











Frankly, I'm getting a little sick of vampires everywhere.

In memory

Goodnight, Harvey. We never met yet I feel I knew you so well.

Harvey Pekar
October 8, 1939 - July 12, 2010

Issue #1

Sweet dreams

Yesterday I dreamt that T.S. Eliot and I were playing in the snow with Nyla. It was late at night so it was dark, but the moonlight was bright, reflecting beautifully on the snow banks. Nyla was frolicking around like a little snow leopard. <3 (Note: It's not unusual for T.S. Eliot to be in my dream -- we seem to hang out together fairly often on the subconscious plane!)


A few years ago I started a "dream journal" in which I record some of my more notable dreams. I don't write down every dream; just the ones that seem significant, either because they were particularly funny/odd/scary or the more "insightful" dreams that felt like they have some important message or psychological significance. I seem to come up with some pretty "out there" stuff whilst sleeping....although I'm sure most people feel that way about their dreams. You may remember that one of my dreams was featured in Jesse Reklaw's "Slow Wave" web comic. One of these days I'd like to do a small "anthology" publication of excerpts from my little dream journal. (It would have to be a "best of".) Every now & then I flip through & re-read some of the dreams recorded in my journal. Some things in there are really bizarre and funny. Other entries are completely terrifying and violent.

Generally, dreams are my happy place. Even the nightmares are a form of "escapism" for me. In my dreams I get to hang out with cool people and do interesting things -- it's much better than real life!

Silence of the Lambs: The Musical

This is quite old now, but "Silence of the Lambs: The Musical" still cracks me up. This is my favourite tune from it. This Lego version is a YouTube classic! :)

Famous Monsters

I caught this documentary on tv several weeks ago and thought it was very interesting. It's the story of Forrest J Ackerman, founder of "Famous Monsters" magazine and the world's original "fanboy". Although I'd heard of "Famous Monsters" magazine before, and heard the name Forrest J Ackerman before, I wasn't really aware of what an interesting character he was!

Affectionately known as "Uncle Forry" he is known as the earliest rabid fan of the sci-fi and horror genres. In fact, it was he who first coined the term "sci fi"! Over the course of his life he had personal encounters with legends of the genre (having personally met H.G. Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Bela Lugosi... the list goes on and on! It would be shorter to list who he hadn't met!) He had a vast collection of movie props and memorabilia long before the advent of ebay or the notion of "collector's items" existed, and for many years actually ran a museum out of his home (the "Ackermansion") that was open to the public! He was involved in one of the first ever fan conventions and showed up dressed in costume -- and thus he invented cosplay too! In fact, the extent of his fandom was so legendary that he was actually given a special Hugo award: "#1 Fan Personality" (never awarded to anyone else)! His list of accomplishments is long, varied, and completely remarkable. Take a quick look at Wikipedia to get an idea of all the pop culture phenomena that Forrest J Ackerman was involved in -- it's quite astounding!

Another small thing that I didn't realize that Forrest J Ackerman "invented": Those horror movie still photos with the joke quips on them (which we've all seen copied on The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, in some of the Marvel comics "magazines", Cracked magazine, etc.). Anyway, that's just a small example of the far-reaching influence this fan had.

As I was watching the documentary I was getting excited at the prospect of someday visiting the Ackermansion, but sadly Uncle Forrie passed away in 2008. Ah well.

Oh, and of interest to Lost fans: Daniel Roebuck, the actor who played "Arnzt" is in it! Turns out he is himself a huge fan/collector of Famous Monsters and all things Ackerman. Neat.

I guess one of the things I find so fascinating about stories of collectors and fans is that really, in some cases, it's a strange "alternative lifestyle". Their love of a genre is like a religion to some of these people... or a form of obsession! Personally, I've never found any one thing in my life that I could devote myself to that completely (well, apart from my family, of course!) Another aspect I find so interesting in the case of Forrest J Ackerman is how one person can attach himself to so many diverse and influential people (authors, filmmakers, etc.) and forge his own little niche in that world. (He was even Ed Wood's "illiterary agent"!) And of course, the retro-addict and pop culture junkie in me loves to just ogle at these kitschzy old collections! If you get a chance to watch this short little documentary, I recommend it.

The Swap

I've been kicking around this idea for a party for a while and one of these days I'd like to try it out. This would work best around the holidays but it could work anytime as a just for fun event.

The Rules:

Everyone must bring 1 "gift" item to the party. This item must be either:

a.) Used. (Either something you found at Value Village, etc or possibly something you had and no longer need. If buying from a thrift store we'd agree upon a spending limit of $5 or something like that.)

OR

b.) Something you made. (For example it could be a CD, a pie you baked, a drawing, etc, etc.)

The overall rule is that whatever you bring, it must be something "cool". (This is not an opportunity to get rid of old junk from your basement!)

From there I figure it could work one of two ways: either a straight-up gift exchange (people drawing names beforehand), or perhaps more interestingly as a "Yankee swap". The swap idea adds the extra fun of people fighting over items that are particularly cool. The drawing of names is fun too because it would be neat to see what you could find at Value Village with someone else in mind.

I just think it would be interesting to see what people would find/bring. Also, I hate the expense of the holidays and this would be a fun alternative to the traditional gift giving.

So, what do you think?

(Yes, I know this post isn't exactly topical. Just throwin' it out there while I think of it!)

Reader Poll -- We want to hear from YOU!

What's cool now? What are some things you've recently discovered or gotten into? We want to know!

Presumably anyone reading this is part of a fairly like-minded circle of people with similar interests. So here's the idea:

From the list below, send an email with what you would "highly recommend". Please send a minimum of 5 answers (there is no maximum). Submit your answers via email to wide2rec@gmail.com (please, not in the comments section) Later on, I will share your suggestions on a future Wide to Receive missive and hopefully we can all find something new & cool to check out!

The categories are:

• Book
• Comic book series or graphic novel
• A good bookstore
• A good restaurant
• A good record store
• Magazine
• The best place to get a good ___ (eg. burger/taco/drink etc) - specify what & where
• TV series
• Movie
• Video game
• CD
• Band or musical artist
• Website/blog/Twitter

What you choose to recommend is up to you: for example, you can name a bunch of things in the same category (eg. recommend a list of books), or you can pick & choose a bunch of categories. The only other real criteria is that your selections should be relatively current/recent things (like, something that has been released/published within the past couple of years). Try to "stay off the beaten path" a bit: the point is to help each other to discover new & different things. (So for example, yeah we already know "Lost" is a good show... try to tell us about something we might not have seen or considered.) Also, it's ok to name a store, restaurant, etc that might be in a different city but try to stick to locations that most of us might actually visit (ie, Canada or US)!

Got it? Good! Now start thinking! I look forward to seeing your answers.

In search of kindred spirits

I was flipping through an old Star Hits (aka Smash Hits) magazine this morning and came across the RSVP page, where people could place ads looking for pen pals. With a wistful look back I remembered how all youth-oriented media at the time seemed to have places for kids to hook-up and find pen pals. (Even I used to have 2 pen pals that I connected with via the "Big Blue Marble" tv show back then!) Of course the whole "pen pal" thing has gone the way of the dodo, given the advent of Internet message boards, and probably too because people are a lot more suspicious and protective of their kids and of strangers these days. It's a different world for sure.

Looking over the RSVP page, I was struck with how interesting these kids seemed. Here are a couple of examples:

"16 year-old liberal philosopher mourning the loss of London Calling, seeking value of life, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions fans and world travelers..."

"Help me!! Stuck in suffocatingly small town with no style. Love to hear from any diehard Bow Wow Wow fan..."

"Seeking Progressives who believe everyday is Halloween. Detest: red meat, phoniness, top 40. Thrives: black clothing, skulls, clubs, Cure, big hair, '60s make-up..."

"Yowch, you creeps! I'm a 17 year-old thing and I like Eurythmics, Tears for Fears, The Smiths and Sting. Also into Depeche Mode, Frankie and classical. Must be an individual and a vegetarian (no, not really). Write soon."

"Seeking all those into Bloom County, The Blue Gels, Italian drummers, gargling Windex, and the now theory of the Universe. Absolutely NO weirdos!..."

Wouldn't it be fun to write some of these people now and see if you got a response...? I mean, these addresses are likely their parents' houses and surely there's a chance your letter would reach someone & get passed along. Based on these ads, they sound like pretty interesting people that I'd like to know!

With all the connectivity we enjoy now, it's probably hard to imagine how isolated some of these kids felt back then (although I remember it myself growing up). Living in a little hick town somewhere, with no one around who shared your offbeat tastes and interests, seeking acceptance and like-minded individuals in the pages of a monthly magazine, checking the mailbox each day with eager anticipation...


(Jesus, living in SJ today isn't all that different!)

Suave!

(Please click on the title of this post to see the video of "Digging Your Scene". You won't regret it!)

I've been thinking a lot lately about this album, The Blow Monkeys' Animal Magic, and how HUGE this was to me at the time (1986). This album stayed with me for many years and I'm pretty sure that if I dragged out the ol' record player & put it on today I'd still dig it. In retrospect, I think this album had a lot of influence over my musical taste. If I had to pick one word to describe The Blow Monkeys' sound it would be "suave". Dr. Robert had the most elegant voice (and at the time, look too). Their sound was sophisticated, yet fun, and lyrically really smart. They were a new wave band but had a wonderful blend of pop, soul, glam/Bowie, and jazz-elements going on."Digging Your Scene" is certainly on the soundtrack of my life (It's still on my mp3 player today!).

Equal to Animal Magic, I had a cassette EP of "Forbidden Fruit" that was perhaps even more brilliant: there were 2 songs in particular that I thought were absolutely beautiful: "My America" and "Wild Flower". The Forbidden Fruit EP also had a wild long mix of "Sweet Murder" feat. Eek-A-Mouse. Maybe when I'm done typing this I'll go down to the basement & see if I can find it again!

Admittedly I couldn't really get "into" their subsequent stuff, although now I'd probably be willing to give it more of a chance. I'm fairly certain I'll have a new appreciation for it now.

Oh and footnote: apparently The Blow Monkeys have re-formed and are touring again.