Al Jourgensen of the industrial band Ministry has recorded a new Christmas song called "It's Always Christmas Time." Yes, you read that right. Al Jourgensen--Buck Satan--of Ministry. The funny thing is, the song's not bad. It's even kind of cheery. You can check it out here and even see a (possibly unintentionally) hilarious video for it--though it's probably not work safe with all the f-bombs he drops in the intro.

Everyday is Halloween? No, apparently now everyday is Christmas!

It's that season again -- when one of my favorite cemeteries sends me a holiday card featuring images of their lovely collection of art. This year features a stained glass ceiling in their columbarium. Cypress Lawn has acres of exquisite glass in their mausoleum complex. It's a wonderful place to spend a rainy day.

I discovered the second video on Editorial Ass, one of my favourite blogs.

In case you’re not familiar with Jason Mrag’s performance of “I’m Yours”:

And then check out this little fellow’s impression:

Not only is this kid cute and hilarious, but WOW, can he play.

Mirrored from Debbie's Blatherings.

Ninth place. Argh. Only two members of Team Totally Tits showed up (make your own joke), so we were at a disadvantage from the start. I don't even want to talk about it, except to say that in the audio round, where a full 100 points was at stake, my knowledge of 1970s pop songs (title, artist and year of release required) failed me. Teammate Mike was born in the 1980s (I know!), so I was kind of on my own. In the end, I decided every artist I couldn't recognize was Peter Frampton, even the female vocalists, and every song I didn't know was called "The Peter Frampton Song" or "I Love Peter Frampton."

Here's hoping we do better when we return on January 11th.


P.S. According to one of the questions I got wrong in a different round, there is apparently a breakfast cereal called Quisp. Sometimes I wonder if I'm getting too old to play trivia, because I've never even heard of Quisp!

Still haven't heard from the magazine about that internship.
In the meantime, I had the interview with Toronto Dot Com today. That internship would entail writing event blurbs and short "Five coolest restaurants in the city!" type articles.

Hypothetically considering if I get accepted for both and have a choice, I think the Sharp internship is more along what I really want to do in terms of journalism and editorial work. However, the Toronto.com one would have at least one distinct advantage: They give you a $200 honorarium per month to cover your transit costs. That would mean free TTC for three straight months and a little cash left over.

Even if I end up in the Sharp one, I think I'll have to get a metropass for those three months anyway. It's nearly an hour walk from my building to the office, and even if I had two hours to spare for walking every weekday, I wouldn't want to do it in freezing temperatures. Figures the bastards would choose next month as the time to yank up the fares and prices.

... it's raining out, but not really enough to use my umbrella /le sigh...

weekend was so not busy i think i lost muscle mass from all the video game playing... 'cept for my class, didn't really get out.. the gf is studying for exams and i'm in hibernation mode

... finished Shopclass as soulcraft... on to Ultimate field Guide to Photography... for my class, exam etc is this coming weekend...

it's a busy week and it just started

My friend Morgan Doninger has been running a fun word puzzle website since May called Puzzling New York City. I'm not so great at word puzzles unless they're crosswords, and even then I'm really only at TV Guide level, not New York Times level. But Morgan gives his puzzles an extra bit of coolness by focusing them on New York City and current events (with the occasional sports and comic book references thrown in, because that's how Morgan rolls). If you like word puzzles, you might want to give his site a gander.

Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues has been nominated for a Black Quill Award over at Dark Scribe magazine. Here's the link: http://www.darkscribemagazine.com/3rd-annual-bqa-nominees/

And here's the listing:

BEST DARK GENRE BOOK OF NON-FICTION:

(Any dark genre non-fiction subject, any publisher; awarded to the author[s] or editor[s])

* Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues edited by Loren Rhodes (Scribner)
* Stephen King: The Non-Fiction by Rocky Wood and Justin Brooks (Cemetery Dance Publications)
* The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)
* Writer's Workshop of Horror edited by Michael Knost (Woodland Press)

Leaving aside the fact that my name is misspelled again, I'm very honored to be named alongside those editors. In the world of nonfiction horror, those are the big boys.

If you're inspired to vote, you must register as a reader of Dark Scribe.

Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues was also recommended for the Bram Stoker Award in Nonfiction, but it's not actually eligible, since the book is all reprinted material, except for my introduction. Still, it's immensely flattering to be recognized.

Last week I was interviewed by an academic who's writing about the cultural aspects of morbid curiosity. He asked me a question that no one has ever asked: WHY did seeing the pictures in RE/Search's Modern Primitives affect me so much? Why did they lead to the magazine? I got completely incoherent. Seeing the genital modifications affected me on a level too deep for words. I've never had any desire to put metal in my own body, other than in my ears. But seeing those photos made me hunger to understand why anyone would do such a thing. I needed to make my magazine in order to understand human behavior.

The funny thing? I never received a story about getting body piercings. By the time the magazine was well underway, most of the people I knew who had gotten piercings had taken them out. The upkeep was more trouble than the pleasure they gave. Probably there's a Morbid Curiosity story in that, as well.

So I'm wondering: what's the most morbid thing that's ever happened to you? I started a discussion over on Amazon, but no one's spoken up yet. Got something to confess? http://www.amazon.com/gp/forum/cd/discussion.html/ref=ntt_mus_ep_cd_tft_tp?ie=UTF8&cdForum=Fx3VOIFLQRQ1JTS&cdThread=Tx79B4LJ5VSAVO

What a fantasic day!

I drove around to scope out my first running outside route, and luckily it was shovelled. On my way around town I got my legs waxed for the first time. I can see why some people say it hurts a lot, but if you've had a tattoo I'd put it at about that level. I didn't flinch and chit-chatted with the girl the whole time.

Had lunch with the family before G took them to Nanny and Papa's. I took a nap first. LOL! THEN I put on my shoes and stretched out. Grabbed the MP3 player and sunglasses (and my camera to mark the occasion) and headed out the door.

Oh my fucking god it's SO MUCH harder to run outside! My lungs were going to explode and I could feel my thighs burn more. The sun was out and it wsa kina cold but not freezing. I started my run going up a hill, thinking it would be a bonus to end coming down. So, while dodging some ice and snow (which is like running on soft sand, ugh) I made my way through week 3 of the C25k program, just stopping short of the three minutes both times because it was becoming the longest 3 mins of my life. I coughed for almost three hours when I got home. It felt like the old smoker in me was taking that last dying breath. LOL! But I did well, I enjoyed the fuck out of being out there again, and I'm proud of myself.

Oh and while I'm on this part of the day, I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0XhQlvNx-c HAHAHA!

I had a hot bath which was cut shorter than I would have liked becasue I had to get to my hair appointment, I got my nails done, and we wanted to get a lobster dinner at Lucy's but the damn restaurant isn't there anymore! So we went to Morty's for wings. We saw someone we used to teach with and got caught up with her. I also had a table full of bikers beside us compliment me on my tattoos. That was fucking cool.

Paula came up, YAY! We headed out to Caesar Martini's where G's co-worker Dave is a bartender. A bunch of our friends showed up and I drank Blue Raspberry Martinis which got better and better as the night went on. LOL! One of our friends knows the owner who came to the table with a tray full of shots, and we got a few comps from Dave... who could ask for more? Friends, drinks, and funky high heel shoes that I ended up dancing in by the end of the night.

So I'm hurting in about six different ways today. LMAO! Man it was worth it! G and I slept in and he left to get the kids and take them to Grandma's so I have until about 7 by myself. I've taken a long hot bath, a nap, and I'm going to get some work done around here as well.

Later today I'd like to post more about how I've been feeling lately. Right now the words aren't coming to me.

I took a few pics including one when I got back from my run and was trying not to look like I was gasping for air: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcy_italiano/

Being 36 rocks.

Lee Smith is the Program Director of Theatre at a university in Kentucky. He served as a writer on the ultra-low-budget movie Creature from the Hillbilly Lagoon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSHpdp9gnm0), which features enough interspecies sex to satisfy even the most unsavory viewer. Lee was primary researcher for three seasons of The X-Files. He wrote about that job and raining down an insecticidal Armageddon for issues 3 and 4 of Morbid Curiosity. “You Lock it Behind You,” which appeared in Morbid Curiosity #6, is the story most often mentioned in reviews of the magazine. In the course of these interviews, five contributors mentioned it as a favorite.

Q: What does morbid curiosity mean to you, Lee?

A: My dad used to bring home pieces of machinery from work. He’d sit me in the kitchen floor (all of five years old), along with his toolbox and say, “You think you can take that apart?” And I would. I was fascinated to know what was inside, how it worked: I wanted to see the guts. I guess I carried that into life and that’s what morbid curiosity is to me — pull back the skin, tear away the muscle, slosh the guts aside, and see — see what’s really there, no matter what.

Q: How did you discover Morbid Curiosity magazine?
A: I met Loren in what was once Darryl F. Zanuck’s bomb shelter deep under the 20^th Century Fox studio lot in Los Angeles. Like most things, I stumbled upon her (and MC) while I thought I was doing something else.

Q: Did you have more than one piece in the magazine? Which was your favorite?
A: Loren published three of my pieces. “You Lock it Behind You” is, I think, the most successful of the three. To call it my ‘favorite,’ though, would be odd.

Q: What was your favorite story in the zine, one that wasn’t your own?
A: Wow. That’s impossible. But open any issue of MC to a piece by M. Parfitt or Claudius Reich and you’re looking at my favorites.

Q: How did the piece you have in the book come to be written?
A: In the middle of the night — feverish, sweating, terrified.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to add to that story now?
A: My oldest sister died of brain cancer six months ago. In the midst of the worst of it, I told my middle sister that I couldn’t understand why I was devastated beyond any grief I’d ever known. She said, “Because she saved you.” I nodded, but didn’t really quite understand. When I got the copy of the book Loren sent, I re-read the story and realized what a huge role my oldest sister played in it. She saved me.

Q: Have you ever been involved in one of the live events? How did that go?
A: I did a reading at Borderlands. There was a pause before I started to read that had nothing to do with nerves. I realized, in that moment, how hilariously morbid it was to be in earthquake home central (San Francisco), in a basement that could (with only minimal help) become a tomb to make Poe proud, standing at a podium made of 473 jagged metal daggers. You gotta laugh at a moment like that, ’cause without even trying you’re thumbing your nose at Mr. Death.

Q: Have you had another morbid experience that would make a good story?
A: So many that at this point, with a little work, I’ve got a book.

Q: What are you up to these days?
A: These days I’m twisting the minds of the youth of America as a professor in a large (but undisclosed) city in Virginia. If they’ve learned nothing else from taking my classes, then at least they can all spell ‘eccentric’ now.

Below: The Morbid Curiosity #3 reading at Borderlands Books on Laguna Street. From the left: Lee Smith, M. Parfitt, Claudius Reich, Brian Thomas, Dana Fredsti, Loren Rhoads, Gene Santagada.

team sushi

Hanukkah is all about celebrating. Look how happy they are in the picture, they can't stop hugging!

A friend is currently reading this  book which made me think about it again.  I thought I had written my thoughts down about the book when I first read it when it came out.  If I did I can’t find where I did so I have to start from scratch.

I’ve stated several times that this book is easily one of the best books in horror that has been released in the past 10 years. Hands down. Golden and Mignola have put to paper a story that reminds me of MR James and storytelling around a fireplace on a cold winter’s night before modernity creeped into our lives.

And the best part of this book is that Golden and Mignola are able to tell the story of Lord Baltimore without Lord Baltimore.

Let me explain:

Much like The Third Man where Harry Lime is a huge part of the movie but he doesn’t make his screen appearance until late in the final act, Golden and Mignola use this same technique in telling the story of Baltimore through others and we don’t meet the protagonist until late in the final act.  It is a brilliant way to tell this story.

We learn about Baltimore from his companions in his quest to destroy the Vampire that killed his family.  We learn of his obsession with his hunt but we also learn different sides of the man.  Each storyteller has his own take on Baltimore and since everyone sees different facets of our life, we get often conflicting stories about the man Baltimore is. This, however, does not hinder our outlook on who Baltimore is.  We know, since all the underlying stories told by our dinner companions all include the obsessiveness of Baltimore and his single minded quest to hunt down and kill the Vampire.

Mignola and Golden weave a story that so enthralled me and I even emailed Chris to see if he plans on doing more with this character and story. I hope they plan to do more with this wealth of material, even if it isn’t a novel. And they have plenty of material to mine with future projects if they choose to. Baltimore, Or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire is probably one of the best books in horror in the past five, if not ten, years and is well worth seeking out and buying.

Originally published at Dr. Johnson's Compendium of Books. You can comment here or there.

My December horror column for the Internet Review of Science Fiction, "Nothing New Under the Sun," is now live at the site. This month I take a look at Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the publishing feeding frenzy in the wake of its success.

Just as they did with the Da Vinci Code knockoffs [earlier this decade], publishers everywhere are now scrambling to hop on the monster mashup bandwagon. In August, Sourcebooks published Amanda Grange's Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, a supernatural sequel to Pride and Prejudice. Quirk Books itself published Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters in September. October saw Ulysses Press publish Vampire Darcy's Desire by Regina Jeffers, which apparently differentiates itself from Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by being a prequel/retelling of Pride and Prejudice rather than a sequel. In June of next year, Del Rey will publish Little Women and Werewolves by Louisa May Alcott and Porter Grand. And in August, Kensington will publish Wuthering Bites by Sarah Gray, in which Heathcliff is, you guessed it, a vampire. If you're currently shaking your head and muttering, "Enough already," you're not alone. But you're also likely to go unheard by the industry.

Also in this issue, Rachel Manija Brown has what I think is an excellent analysis of Miyazaki's latest animated film, Ponyo.

sad red balloon, floating over rooftops
somewhere a child is watching and crying
reason #2345698 why i do not have children

pic of my fave singer wearing the t-shirt of the band of my other fave singer:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/69/l_30ed66664495786235a2bfda728c326f.jpg

this give me glee on a molecular level.

For the last month and a half, I’ve been interviewing the contributors to Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues here. I’ve asked each of them to name their favorite story (that wasn’t one of their own) from Morbid Curiosity magazine.

The first thing I noticed was that the contributors’ favorites came from every issue, which made me very proud of the range of the magazine. Then I was glad to see how many of my favorites from the book made the list. I noted that so many essays I’d wanted to put in the book -- but had to cut for lack of space -- had been mentioned. If I get the chance to do a second volume, I’ll know where to start.

Now I’m wondering: what’s YOUR favorite Morbid Curiosity story? Don’t worry about giving me the issue number. I’ll look it up. You can ever fudge the author and title; just tell me what you remember about the story and I’ll find it.

Favorites nominated by the contributors to Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues:

( Read more... )

Sat., Dec. 12, 2009, 8:30 pm

Adult-themed show featuring music, comedy, spoken word, storytelling, magic, a new holiday video, a holiday beard and mustache contest, and an erotic candy-cane suck off, with performances by the Svelte Ms. Spelt, Raise Your Kids Well, the Frame, the Minimalist Jug Band, Bill McNamara, Travis the Magician, Sonya Littlejohn, Scruffmouth, Rachel DesLauriers, the Mighty Mike McGee, and yours truly, Jill.

Sliding scale $5-10

Café Deux Soleils ( 2096 Commercial )


I'm going to do Silent Night -- Electric Ukified!, and Rudolph, the Zombie Reindeer.

Publishers Weekly, The New York Times and bunch of other news outlets are reporting that the venerable old trade magazine Kirkus Reviews is dead.

Founded in 1933, Kirkus Reviews became one of the big four trade magazines that publishers absolutely had to send advance review copies of their books if they wanted those books to get any kind of market attention, along with Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal (or School Library Journal for kids' books).

Kirkus Reviews was notorious for two things. One, it was purportedly read by every Hollywood exec--or more likely their underlings--looking for literary properties to option for film (at its height, I'm told Kirkus was used for this purpose even more than PW was). And two, their reviewers were impossible to please. I mean, impossible. If your book got a good review from Kirkus, that really meant something because they pretty much hated everything.

I railed against Kirkus years ago when they launched their Kirkus Discoveries program, which charged "independently published" authors money in exchange for "unbiased" reviews in a completely separate book review service from their esteemed magazine (i.e., online). That program remained active until now, and if there's anything good to come out of this sad news, it's that Kirkus Discoveries will die along with the magazine.

I can't help feeling a pang of nostalgic regret at this news, though. The publishing world keeps changing, and not always for the better, but that's the way of the world. It may only be a matter of time before the other big trades follow suit, and then...well, let's just say it'll be a brave new world.