In April it was a year since we adopted our dog Buddy.
He's what we call a delinquent doggie, but makes us laugh constantly.
The shelter we got Buddy from sent a letter a few weeks ago asking for donations. It seems as the economy gets worse, people abandon their pets. Like most other people, we're a little low on funds, but we sent them 10 copies of Hollywood's Top Dogs to sell. If you can't afford a donation of cash to your favorite charity, they can always use other donations for auctions or for the homeless.
6/2/09
Boy, I'm really bad at this blog thing. We've been swamped with orders from the sale flyer. Of course when you're selling some books for $5 and mags for $1, you're pretty much losing money, but we are clearing out some space, and I'm so sick of looking at those boxes of Midmars in the warehouse. The FANEX Fest. we did at the Senator Theater was fun, but stressful since the owner (who is filing bankruptcy and the city is taking over) only gave us 8 days to pull it together. He promised he would reimburse us for the newpaper ad and postcards, which were over $800, but we figured he'd rip us off, and we were right. But it was something to see my movie, Terror in the Pharaoh's Tomb on that 40' screen, and it didn't suck, I'm kind of proud of that movie. With books sales from the weekend, after losing the $800, we about broke even, which for us is pretty much standard for the course. I think we're better artists than business people.
The FANEX documentaries are moving along, Jeff
Herberger, our editor is working on the final 3. The Hammer DVD
will be out in July. This is the tentative cover:
Back to pulling books, we're hoping to finish our cheer
up book in the next few weeks. I have a great title:
POPCORN PROZAC: MOVIES TO CHEER UP THE RECESSION DEPRESSION
2/5/09
Sorry, I don't think I'm a blog person, too busy with other stuff, and I find it hard to believe anyone is particularly interested in anything I have to say. Too bad some other people don't feel that way.
But I do have one thing that's really annoying me, Gary likes watching American Idol, he thinks the drama queens are amusing. I just find them annoying. But last night the judges called back 8 of the contestants who were not chosen for the finals. Most of the singers were good, of course most I didn't remember, they didn't pick the country girl, who I thought was really good, but she may be better off getting her own deal. But they did pick the most annoying woman I have ever seen on TV. This girl is a basket case and there is no way on Earth she can hold her own with the other singers. Either the judges were forced to pick her to amp up the dramatics, or the did it on their own, but shame on them. First, the didn't give a better singer a chance, and secondly, how much will it take for her to go over the edge? I'm betting not much.
How great has Lost been this season? I can't wait for each episode. Gary is that way about 24, but that's way too violent for me.
I was so distressed to learn this is the final season of Monk this summer. We'll miss the defective detective and Natalie his trusty sidekick.
Gary and I are going to have a meeting with the Towson Sheraton to see if they are in such bad shape they will give us good rates for another FANEX. We can't promise anything, we can't afford to lose money like we did the last few shows, but if the deal is good enough, we might give it a go. We'll keep you posted.
Jeff Herberger is working on the next DVD in the FANEX Files series. We have the Hammer one ready to go, we're just waiting for the distributor to get it out. We're going to try to sell the package to TV, so if any of our readers has any connections, we'd appreciate the help.
I'm still working on getting all of our books back into print and we are working on about 10 new titles, so that's it for now. Maybe I'll get this updated before another 5 months has passed
9/11/08
What in God's name is wrong with this picture? Twenty-two million dollars was spent to build the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial and 610 MILLION dollars is being spent to build the NY Memorial and Museum. Do you know how many people without health insurance that would cover, or hungry children it would feed or higher pay for fireman and police and teachers, or finance the search for an alternative energy source? You know they could have spent a couple of hundred dollars at a garden center and planted a beautiful garden with a Memorial bench. That would have been much nicer and would have even helped the environment Oh I know--we can't forget. Don't worry, the Republicans and media will never let us forgot 9/11, or let our fear quotient slip, it's how they stay in power.
And what is the deal with all these women loving that Palin creature? "She's like me," is the typical reply. Excuse me, is your thirst for attention so great you entered a beauty pageant or ran for political office with 5 kids, one who is challenged and the other 17 and pregnant? Could you stand on stage in front of thousands of people and spout what you know are insults and half-truths written by someone else promoting their agenda. Until the Republicans finally let her answer some questions, you don't know anything about her except the fact she can read speeches and obviously procreate. I shudder for this country's loss of intelligence and individual thought.
9/9/08
Well my movie Terror in the Pharaoh's Tomb has been rejected by another
film festival.
You know, I ran FANEX here in Baltimore
for 19 years and have met almost everyone who has helped make horror
films great. We've published
Gore Creatures/Midnight Marquee for over 45 years, and we made a
film that has footage of some of the greatest horror film legends
ever seen. Ok, I'm used to being turned down by snotty pretentious
film festivals who thing the only worthwhile films are those that
either depress you or are so artistic nobody can understand them
or like them. But I seriously thought a fantastic film festival called
the International Horror and Sci- Fi Film Festival would see the
fun and merit of an old fashioned tribute to poverty row classics.
I suppose if it would have been torture porn or Troma-inspired garbage,
or of course a vampire film, which is not the hottest thing around,
we would have been accepted. But then again, maybe not. I have
to say that much like Dracula, this sucks.
I'd like to thank Donna Lucas and Video Watchdog for picking up the Midnight Marquee print subscriptions. Donna is just the sweetest person. I think this year it's time the Rondo Awards honor the real people doing all the work for fandom's mags and books and films--the wives and girlfriends and partners who do all the grunt work, tiptoe around bad moods, try not to mind being ignored when something more important needs attention --this includes a new DVD, magazine, music, website, poster, toy etc. etc., and are happy to stay in the background. We did a panel at FANEX called living with the obsessed film fan. Donna Lucas, me and Barbara Mank among a few others were on it. It was one of the funniest ones we have ever done. I'd like to put it out on DVD when I get a chance. The ladies will love it!
We just watched True Blood last night. I liked it but, I think because I read the novels when they first came out, the series is running slow for me. I suppose because I know what's going to happen.
Our friend Marty was diagnosed with MS several years ago and had gotten to the point it was difficult for him to walk. He discovered the many people thought that the artificial sweetener aspartame was the cause . He stopped using anything with aspartame in it and has gotten much better. He's trying to get the word out to people about the dangers of these chemicals. I think we all should stop and think twice about any food that is composed of chemicals. Who knows what stuff they are putting into the food we eat. Unfortunately, organic food is much too expensive for the average family . I try to make a lot of things myself, but it takes a lot of time to bake bread or make granola or all the others things that we should be doing. I did grow some vegetables this year and they turned out pretty well. Right now we're overflowing with tomatoes even though the slugs seem to have been partying hardy in them. But my neighbor is complaining that I'm getting his yard wet when I water my vegetables, so I don't know what I'll do next year. If I weren't such a scardy cat and Gary didn't have this obsession about living close to a convenience store in case of emergency, we'd move to the top of a mountain. I've been trying to talk our friends into buying land on a mountain and building a compound for when we all retire and growing our own vegetables and keeping chickens, but they don't seem to have very much enthusiasm for the idea!
9/7/08 Today we just put the first issue of Midnight Marquee up on our website for download. Gary has me listed as copy editor, but be kind if you find errors, especially in the DVD Reviews. I find those torture porn films revolting, disgusting, putrid...well you know what I mean, and I have to admit I just skimmed them quickly. What really disturbs me, besides people thinking that crap is art, is the fact that so many men I know like them. Or as Gary puts it, he doesn't like them but he sees the artistry behind them. Do men know how creepy women find that and how uneasy it makes them, or is that the point? Anyway, while I firmly support the right of anyone to make garbage and for anyone to watch it, I'm also smart enough to know that I don't have to and by simply turning the page or the channel, it goes away. To bad the morality police aren't smart enough to figure that out!
My very favorite TV program (at this time anyway) is ABC Family's The Middleman, a demented cross between 1930's serials, Flash Gordon, Get Smart and The Avengers. How can you resist a show that mentions Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Hammer Films, tosses phrases from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy around and has featured zombies, snarky aliens and a vampire puppet trying to reanimate himself and his true love? I don't know who the writers are, but I bet they'd fit in perfectly with our movie geek friends.
How can Madison Ave. think a commercial that doesn't mention the product or has nothing to do with the product they are selling are effective? And is it just me, or do a lot of commercials (and comic strips for that matter) make no sense whatsoever? I think no one really gets them, but everyone thinks that they are so out there that they must be hip, so people pretend to get them. Somewhere, the creators of this crap are laughing their butts off all the way to the bank.
And who ever thought those damn Geico cavemen are funny? I turn the channel every time one of those commercials come on, even if I'm watching the program. That's how much they annoy me.
And speaking of media without a clue, do people really want to see Angelina and Brad Pitts' children that much that the photos are worth millions of dollars? Good for the charity they are donating the money to, but come on. I don't know what's more frightening, that the media thinks the public is that shallow and stupid, or the fear that they might be. But I can say with certainty that, of all of the people I know, and I know a lot, no one has shown an overpowering urge to look at baby pictures of their own families let alone celebrities. And the same goes for anything on those generic blonde bimbos populating the media today.
I was reading an article about how Diane English could not find any studio to produce a remake of The Women. She had to film it as an independent production. When is Hollywood (really all media) going to wake up and realize that those precious demographics they are chasing don't exist and that women control the family pocketbook, not teenage males?
God, when will the comic book movies with angst-ridden whiny heroes end?
I don't know what offends and upsets me more. The fact the Republicans think nominating any woman will get them votes from women who only care a woman is in office and not look at her qualifications or politics or the fact that it might work.
And did you see the news report on the lobbyists (aka: evil blood-sucking bastards) partying during the convention while New Orleans was being evacuated because of the hurricane. Talk about 'Let them eat cake." But they should look out; we all know what happened to Marie Antoinette.
It's difficult to believe than anyone other than the media enjoys seeing Elizabeth Edwards' public suffering and John Edwards' humiliation. I have no interest in what happens in their private life. Why would anyone want to be a celebrity or politician and be under that unrelenting microscope? Perhaps that's why the quality of our voting choice is so lacking. Anyone with a good heart could never survive.
I would truly like to know why some many people hate Hillary Clinton. Seriously, what has that woman done to earn such extreme dislike? Is it because she forgave Bill? Isn't that what the Bible preaches? Or is it because she doesn't exude that fake bonhomie other politicians do?
Well, that's all that's annoying at this time (well, except for family, but who wants to talk about that!
Sue
