Blogging Bits (and Pieces)

OK. First order of business, what’s a self-respecting gay guy like me doing with a gratuitous T&A photo (well, "T" anyway) on my blog? Well, gotta throw one out to my breeder readers (all two or three of them) once in awhile, no? So, for all those among the Slasher Speak straightest, this one’s for you. (Just don't get used to it, fellas.)

Now, on to more appropriate and important business…

It’s been a bit since I’ve rounded up the brightest and best (or is that darkest and worst?) from around the horror blogosphere. Lots of good stuff out there, so here are some of the highlights:

• There’s a very cool roundtable interview with several horror bloggers from the esteemed League of Tana Tea Drinkers over at Dark Scribe Magazine.

• Billy Loves Stu celebrated a birthday and joined me in celebrating Jamie Lee Curtis’ big 5-0.

• There was much ado about the Top 50 Horror Films of All-Time list compiled by Brian Solomon over at Vault of Horror. Culled from polling 32 cyber-horror notables (somehow including moi), the list was in response to what B-Sol and others deemed the highly flawed survey results of HMV’s own poll. His posting of the list received over 70 comments and got picked up by such newsy notables as Fangoria and Bloody Disgusting.

• Speaking of Brian Solomon, he also offered up a terrific ½ hour interview via podcast with original Friday the 13th scripter Victor Miller.

• Those clever boys over at Kindertrauma compiled their own list of snow-scare horror films and then inexplicably left Terror Train off the list(!). Much camp and mock indignation ensued. Ultimately, the kindly Unkle Lancifer and Aunt John were forgiven since they did remember to include my favorite unsung slasher, Curtains.

• Joining the Kindertrauma tots with her own list of winter-themed horror movies over at AMC was Final Girl’s Stacie Ponder. Although she also omits Terror Train from her list, she does include the overlooked slasher-on-the-slopes Shredder.

• Lots of deserved tributes to the legendary Forrest J Ackerman following his passing at the age of 92 last week. Read what Frankensteinia, Blogue Macabre, Vault of Horror, Dinner with Max Jenke, The Good, The Bad, and Godzilla, and Zombos Closet of Horror had to say about this great man and consummate sci-fi/B-movie champion and collector.

• Jeff Allard’s enthusiasm over the imminent arrival of the legendary lost footage from the original My Bloody Valentine rivals only mine. Read his insightful thoughts about the generation gap as it relates to lost film footage over at Dinner with Max Jenke.

• The legend of Bloody Mary (no, not the drink, you alcoholic queens!) was rehashed and remembered over at Paul Bibeau’s Goblin Books blog. The topic seemed to grab his interest a bit in subsequent posts here and here...and here and here. Oh, here, too.

• Groovy Age of Horror continued its series on supernatural horror with its sixth installment, Imagination, Feeling, & Belief. If you like what you read, check out the rest of the series here.

• Cinema Fromage felt little love for Return to Sleepaway Camp, while Ryne over at The Moon Is Dead managed to use the uber-cool word “festooned” in his review of the Prom Night remake. John Morehead of TheoFantastique offered up a critical analysis of the literary phenomenon-turned-cinematic success known as Twilight.

• CRWM over at And Now the Screaming Starts offered something for us bibliophiles and literary types (We need more blogging about books, folks! Not everything revolves around film!) with his review of the forthcoming Doubleday tome Glister, by John Burnside. While an excellent review in and of itself, it’s CRWM’s interesting theory on blurbs – which he somehow rather successfully links back to Russian gangsters(!) – that really grabs, informs, and entertains.

• Max over at The Drunken Severed Head offered up a travelogue of sorts, taking his readers to Zombie Fest 2008 at Pittsburgh’s Monroeville Mall, the infamous site where much of George R. Romero’s classic Dawn of the Dead was shot. While there, Max ran into fellow LOTTD’er Kim (Gospel of the Living Dead) Paffenroth and KISS’ Gene Simmons. (Hey, I only report what I read!)

• Unspeakable Horror’s Chad Helder enjoyed an excellent review of his Vincent Price Presents… comic book series from Zombos Closet of Horror and offered the first of his recommendations for Xmas horror comics for all those bad little boys and girls – overgrown and otherwise – on your holiday gift-buying lists.

• Imagine my surprise when Ross Horsley of the fab-tacular Anchorwoman in Peril selected The Literary Six to mark Day 20 in his Sham Shocktober countdown! I was surprised, flattered, and humbled all at the same time. Ross, if you read this, you’ve got a signed copy of the book with your name on it. (I can’t seem to find a link to contact you on your blog, my friend.)

• Lastly, for all you writers out there, don’t forget that I’m editing an anthology of non-fiction essays on slasher films called Butcher Knives & Body Counts: Essays on the Formula, Frights, and Fun of the Slasher Film for Dark Scribe Press. A call for submissions went out in early October, but the holiday season has slowed incoming submissions to a trickle. No submissions, no book. So put down the holiday tinsel and get writing!