My Grinch Heart Grows Three Sizes This Day

Most of life is filled with such unpleasant surprises, Chlamydia, Paternity suits, interventions. Its sometimes tough to remember that there are pleasant surprises as well. I certainly got one when Em over at the Deadly Doll’s House Of Horror Nonsense bestowed me with this, as Angel’s wept and the multitudes sang, this kind queen of the things that go bump in the night gave me this sacred charge.


Pretty isn’t it. Well if getting a nice citetation from a great blogger whose work I enjoy and respect wasn’t enough, it also saved me from having to come up with anything to write about today. This reward like the Mason rituals of old has to be preformed to a t otherwise one might find themselves being hung from an uncompleted bridge whilst Robert Downey Jr. taunts you.

So in order to avoid such a ghastly fate here goes the ritual.

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award. (Done)
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog. (Sob Done Sob)
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award. (Ayuh )
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting. (We’ll Get To That Later)
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers. (That To.)
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate. (That as well.)
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated. (Ayuh)

Alright so seven interesting things. Um ooohhh…. Ehhhhh…. Well…. Lets give her a shot.

1. I moonlight as one of the few remaining print critics left in the wild. I write for a weekly called The New Times which runs up and down the Central Coast. The circulation is good and I have a blast doing it. I have my own column which consists of me writing about whatever movie happens to have taken my interest this week, its a lot of fun.

2. When I’m not writing on the blog, I’m writing on my books. I have two I’m actively working on right now, a novel which I have almost dragged kicking and screaming into a completed first draft. And a book on Paul Schrader which is a bit further back, but which I will soon pounce on as when I finish my first draft on my novel and give it a three month break before starting the second.

3. I’m also one of the few Cleveland Frowns fans in existence. My family hails from the mistake by the lake, and I’ve been lucky enough to spend enough time in Ohio that I can’t help but consider it my second home as well. The only bad part about all of this is that no matter where I go, when I’m asked what my favorite football team is, people think I’m fucking with them when I give them the answer. And Mangini must die. Come on Holgrem take up the mantle.

4. I graduated from Film School. I’m working retail. That should tell you how much good it does you to graduate from film school.

5. I’ve been very lucky with Movie theaters. San Luis Obispo where I grew up and am temporarily residing has three great ones, an old fashioned Movie Palace, an awesome Drive In that’s right next to a cemetery (I’m not fucking with you how awesome is that?) and a really cool independent theater called The Palm that I’ve been lucky enough to work for on occasion cutting Trailer Reels for their revival nights. In the meantime when I was living in LA you basically could have set cots up for me at the New Bev and The Aero, which remain two of the greatest movie theaters in the world. And this December I finally got to go to the Alamo Drafthouse Film Nerd Mecca. Now all I have left are some of the famous French ones and I can go ahead and cross them off my list.

6. I’ve actually gotten really lucky as far as meeting people I admire. Sam Raimi, Rian Johnson, Werner Herzog, Joe Dante, John Carpenter. The Mother Fucking Mack Max Julian. I’ve been able to meet all these people and keep my faith in humanity, which is awfully nice.

7. Bride Of Frankenstein owns your mother.

Alright onto the next round of Seven. Like Haley Joel Osment before me I must pay it forward.

1. Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies Is one of the best film blogs out there. Even if they’re wrong about Brothers Bloom. WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! Egregious error in judgement aside, from the time I came to the site for its Italian Horror blogothon its proven itself to be a site of impeccable taste (aside from the incident that was just under discussion) and considered opinions.

2. I half think that Chris over at the Exploding Kinetoscope is crazy. Here is a man who puts Final Destination movies in his end of decade picks. Here’s a man who seems to love The Matrix Sequels as much as I do. But here’s the thing, Chris backs his shit up. It’s one thing to say that Bratz the movie is an unheralded take down of consumer culture, its entirely another to prove it. And Stangl does with his perpendicular views and clean lucid prose. Guarenteed to make you go “Huh.”

3. Dr. K is a professor who has a blog. On this blog he’s given to posting pictures of himself dressed as Solomn Grundy, write several thousand word essays on The Black Hawks, and document Heart Of Darkness style trips to a racist tourist trap called South of Dee Border. Dr. K, is kind of awesome.

4. Over at The Dark Of The Matinee, The Mad Hatter writes well about a wide range of films. Giving each due consideration, and generously pointing the way to other works around the web. Though I often disagree, I can’t help but always want to hear the man out. And that’s a gift for a critic. And a reader.

5. Robert Leninger is one of the purist film fans I know. Few just flat out love it as much as he does. I’ve been lucky enough to be Robby’s friend for the past couple of years, and there are few people I enjoy talking about film with more, even if our conversations occasionally leave me mystified, (Really Robby? Rocky Balboa’s cool but Horror Of Dracula isn’t?) Robby’s has two blogs, one where he writes movie reviews, which is pretty good. And another where he posts stuff from his massive collection of cool shit from classic horror films. It ought to give you a taste of how fun Robbie is to know.

6. Jay Clark runs one of my favorite horror blogs over at The Horror Section, which started as a place for Jay to post all the cool VHS Horror art he had lying around and quickly became a place for his incisive criticism too. Jay’s a good writer who clearly loves his subject and remembers the unseemly pleasure of VHS era horror when it seemed as if the box itself might give you herpes never mind the film itself(As a former counter jockey myself I remember those days with some fondness as well).

7. You know whose awesome? Vern is fucking awesome. I don’t care if he cares about what he will probably term my fruity little award. Something from EDJ probably doesn’t mean much when you’ve got a quote from Fucking Guilmero Del Toro on your board, and David Gordon Greene writes intros to your books. But I don’t care. If I expose one new person to the glories of Vern, I’ve done my bit of good in the world today. Strive for Excellence. And Don’t be Ellis.

In all sincerity though I want to thank Em again. This award really made my day. I’m sincerely touched (“That’s what sh-“ BANG) I’ve had a lot of fun writing this blog and hope you’ve enjoyed reading it (If you haven’t why are you still here? Are you masochists or something?)

Be well. Do good work. And Keep In Touch.

PS This is awesome too.

EDIT: When It rains it pours. I got a second nom today by the superlative Neil Fulwood over at Agitation Of The Mind. Neil is a writer I admire very highly, and I'm touched by the nomination.

In a bit of O' Henry style kismet Neil was going to be one of the seven authors I nominated for The award until I saw that Quiet Cool had beat me to the punch. What goes around comes around. And if you haven't been on Agitation Of The Mind yet, remedy that shit right now.