Traveling the Dark Spooky Paths.

Today is the first day of Autumn.  The leaves are just starting to change color.  The pumpkin beers are on the shelves again.  And the chill is in the air.  You know what I'm talking about, don't you?  I'm not just talking about the slight snap in the temperature.

Autumn is the season that ushers in our link with the nether-realms.  It is were the dark things lurk and wait for this season to break out and linger amongst us mere mortals.  For the next month and a half there is truly magic in the air that can be felt through the smokey spices that fill our nostrils on a nice evening's jaunt.

Every year I get excited and poetic over the Halloween season.  Heck, it's really the only time I post on this blog consecutively.  It's the season that sparks my imagination the most and takes us to spooky dark places.

On the note of Spooky Dark Places, I'm going to play a little game.  I'm going to pretend I own a TARDIS and can travel anywhere in the world and could visit some of the more creepy locations of the world.  I'll keep the settings at modern day in case I would accidentally pop in some puritanical time frame where I'd be burned at the stake for being a witch,  I'll do this as a modern day tourist.

Here I go!  First stop.......

1. The Bloody Tower of London - This imposing castle-like structure is currently the home of England's crown jewels as well as some government offices that still operate there.  It is also one of the main tourist attractions of the UK.  One thing the tour guides (or Beefeater's as they are affectionately called) love to speak about are the numerous amount of ghosts that lurk about the place.  For hundreds of years prior to it being full of tourists, it was full of prisoners as the tower was the main prison of England.  And many a soul fell to the blade there.  It is said the place is haunted by the ghosts of Anne Boleyn, Roman soldiers, two young princes and many more.  Definitely a ghoulish place to visit.

Historic Royal Places

2. Winchester Mystery House - Wealthy Victorian whack-job and widow of the Winchester gun founder, Sarah Winchester, took the advice of a medium who instructed her to build a house that never ends its construction to house all of the spirits of people killed by the Winchester rifle.  Suffice it to say, the place is one big, odd mess of a building.  Hallways and staircases leading nowhere, secret rooms and paranormal activity are the main architectural flavor of the place.

YCTV Destination Videos

3. Island of Dolls (Isla de las Munecas) - What's more disturbing than one of those little, lifeless, plastic baby dolls staring at you from across a room with its cold, dead eyes?  How about hundreds of them staring at you?  Now forget about the room and place yourself on a small island in a canal system just south of mexico.  Now pretend it's not daytime, it's night.  There's also a tragic story behind the place that involves a dead girl.  There you go.

Paranormal Videos / Latest Ghost Videos

4. Highgate Cemetery - This old, London, cemetery is crawling with overgrown foliage and decaying tombstones.  There are many stories of ghosts lurking about and even a tale of a vampire who calls the hallowed ground home.  On a more nerdy than spooky note: Author Douglas Adams is buried here too.

Dorsetghost

5. The Church of Bones - Zoinks and Zoinks again!  An entire church in Bohemia that has a main decor of human bones that have been vigil for hundreds of years.  It doesn't get much creepier than that!  In more geekier news, this location was used as the main villain's lair in the movie adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons.

Journeyman Pictures

There are many other places that we could journey to as well that are notoriously macabre.  Gettysburg National Park, The catacombs of Paris as well as many of the isolated and long forgotten prisons and insane asylums that dot the world could all qualify as well.  But, I only have so much time to dream and have to start getting my autumn and Halloween plans laid out.  So I'm parking the TARDIS back in the garage and will enjoy a smokey, spice laden pumpkin ale and lick my wounds of the current Packer loss.

Until next time, stay vertical and don't wake the dead....yet.

Zangz.

Sexism within Geek Culture.... What's the frackin' deal, guys?

Maybe I was raised right, or maybe I'm an old fart who respects women.  But, I am just not getting this whole trend to demean female geeks in geek and gaming culture.  There's been a wave of negativity aimed toward females who share interests and enjoyment of the realms of the fantastical that's been plaguing the internet as well as the cons and it has to stop!

Maybe I'm missing something, but shouldn't the acceptance of females within the geek culture be something for us to celebrate rather than shun?  I remember being a young geek lad who went to a local convention of yore and have distinct memories of the mass majority of attendees being sweaty, smelly guys.  The very few females that would show up were either A.) Were dragged there by their boyfriends or B.) Sales / booth girls who usually had no interest whatsoever in anything geek related and were only there for the paycheck.

The thought that there may be an awesome percentage of girls who shared in my passions was simply a pipe dream.  That was a good twenty years ago.  Fast forward to today and we have a whole plethora of females enjoying Star Wars, RPG's and video games, etc, etc.  They get it!  They get us!  They are us!  So what's the problem?  Why is there such a need to attack them when they are on-line gaming with us or attending conventions?  Do we really need to argue their "geek cred"?  Do we even need to waste time and energy on their "geek cred"?

With a big push from the counter culture and more acceptance for differences in people, our geek culture has, dare I say it, become popular and it's own "In Crowd".  Maybe more like "In the Know Crowd", but you get my drift.  So, I can see where there can be some leeriness to some cases involving cons and geek girls with model good looks and why some people might be under the impression that their interests may be in question.  I guess I just don't waste the energy to question in the first place.

As I said before, I used to live in a world where there was a small percentage of girls, let alone, very attractive girls, who would never lower themselves to even glance at a page in a comic book.  And if there were such girls, they kept to the shadows for fear of ridicule.  I lived in the times when all of the cute cheerleaders would avoid any interest of geek culture.  Now we are inundated with beautiful girls attending cons in all manor of cosplay.  And yes, some of those outfits are arguably risque.  And yes, some of those girls make a career out of those costumes.  But, do we really have to treat this as being so suspect?  The whole "You're a cute girl and you're just trying to glom off of the popularity of the genres" mentality has to take a back seat to "The more the merrier!" mentality.  Who's not getting this?

What's even far more disturbing is the downright sociopathic sexual assault tactics that are taking place at the cons.  Just because a girl is dressed like Poison Ivy is not in anyway an open invitation to grab and grope their privets.  It's the same mentality as "Well, she was asking for it by being dressed that way." which has proven time and time again to be Neanderthalic (That's not a word?  I don't care!).

And of course this whole trolling females while they are gaming on line with other players has gone from general sexist insults to threats of violence and sexual assault.  WHAT THE FRELL IS GOING ON?!?!?  Has today's yuppie generation allowed reality television to baby sit and bring up a generation of sociopaths?

I've heard of two cases where female gamers have stood up to these twits and posted smart rebuttals on YouTube only to have their on-line accounts hacked and their families' lives threatened by the trolls.  One of the girls doesn't even stay at her own home due to fear of harm.

We as male geeks need to step up to the plate and show females that they are not only welcome within the geek culture, they are as much a part of it as we are.  We have an opportunity to show that we are better people than the bullies of old.  But as I see it, we're blowing it big time.

'Nuff said.

And, yes, the season of spooks cometh.  Stay tuned for coverage!

Stay vertical!

Zangz.

This just in.......

Looks like the cast of Star Wars Ep VII just added two new actresses.

Gwendoline Christie from Game of Thrones and Oscar award winner, Lupita Nyong have been added on!

It was rumored that at least one more female character had yet to be cast and it looks like we've gotten a double whammy!

Sadly, I'm not familiar with Lupita Nyong's work, but I'm looking forward to seeing what she may play (Jedi?) and what she can bring to the role.

Gwendoline Christie's work on the dark, medivel fantasy series, Game of Thrones is incredible!  Her Brianne of Tarth is a fan favorite.  We'lll see if her sword wielding prowess from that show will be utilized with a light saber.  Jedi or Sith?  Hmmmm?

A quickie post for the good news.  I'm not linking anything since I'm doing this with a phone app and don't have time.  When in doubt, Google it yourselves!

Stay vertical.

Zangz.

The Orgasmatron of Ep. VII News That Has Blessed Us This Month

Well, it looks as though I've broken my promise about more than one post per every three months.  Finding quality computer time is a challenge for me even though we are all living in the digital age.  Let's just say some of us are not as digitally gifted as others.

But, I find it quite hard to not post something in what could be considered the second coming of the golden age of Star Wars.  You may remember quite a while back I posted on what we knew and didn't know about Disney's upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII, yet to be titled geek-fest due out December of 2015.

Outside of Disney finally revealing that Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew will be reprising their rolls from the original trilogy, none of the other casting rumors I wrote about were true at all.  In fact Disney FINALLY spilled the beans on the other main cast members.  Many of them are young and unknown.

Adam Driver, John Boyega, Domnhall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac and Daisy Ridley are the noobs who will find themselves thrust into the immortality that is Star Wars fandom.

What their rolls are is another mystery that Disney is holding close to their chests and we'll probably have to wait another six months before that information is revealed.

There are two more mystery roles that will be portrayed by well known actors to the geek genres.  Max von Sydow and Andy Serkis will be bringing some geek loving familiarity to the new trilogy.  Sydow is well known as Ming the Merciless from the 1980's Flash Gordon film (Flash! AhhhhhAhhhhh...Savior of the universe!!!.... Earworm...You're welcome.).  He also did voice work on the epic video game that I can't stop playing long enough to post a blog once in a blue moon, Skyrim.  Serkis is best known for doing the voice and body movements for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films as well as Peter Jackson's King Kong and the newest Planet of the Apes movies.

Of course, immediately after the casting announcements there was a rumor floating about that there is one more big role that has to be cast for the film that is a female lead role.

That all went down a month ago.  More recently Disney announced their views on where the Expanded Universe would fall within its relationship with all of the new upcoming story content that will be released with the sequels coming.  Or perhaps I should say how much of it will no longer make it into the traditional Star Wars cannon.... and that's to say, none of it.  Yep, the EU of Star Wars is being pushed to the nether-relams to make way for original content.

I know what you're all wondering with baited breath that has kept you up all night in a cold sweat of anxiety..... "Zangz, good fellow, what is you're take on all of this?"

Well I'll tell you.....

First off, I'm ECSTATIC that Disney finally nailed down the original cast for the sequels.  I was a bit worried that Ford was going to pull a no-show on the whole ordeal since he can be a bit of a curmudgeon on things involving Star Wars.  But, somehow they pulled him into the wonderful madness and the old gang is all back.

As for the noobs, Iv'e only seen two of them in action.  John Boyega was great in Attack the Block and  Domnhall Gleeson is recognizable from the Harry Potter series as one of the Weasleys.  The rumor is that Boyega may be playing a young Jedi and that Gleeson could be a relative of the Skywalker clan.  He does have some Skywalker looks to him.

Adam Driver's most notable work to date has been the HBO series Girls.  I've never had the inclination to watch the show, but I've heard from reliable sources that the character he plays is quite odd and quirky.  Disney has confirmed he will be playing one of the main baddies in the film.  By his looks he could certainly pass for a dark force user...with an odd quirkiness to him.

Oscar Issac has had supporting roles in a few films I have seen (Sucker Punch, The Bourne Legacy, Robin Hood) and as memory serves he has pretty decent acting chops.  There is the belief that he may be playing a villain as well, perhaps due to his particularly douchey Prince John in Robin Hood.

Daisy Ridley is pretty brand spankin' new.  She's mostly done English TV series, so it will be a pleasure to see this fresh face being introduced to the world in a movie of this magnitude.  People are banging around the idea that she is to play the daughter of Leia and Han.  She certainly has the looks to pass as their daughter.

The other big female mystery role rumor is growing less and less viable since they are full bore into shooting the film now and no one has heard a squeak about the role since.  Another wait and see situation.

Ultimately, I'm glad that they chose to cast respectable and not quite as well recognizable actors for the new roles and not well known, name actors.  It harkens back to when Lucas cast virtual unknowns of the time, Hamill, Ford and Fisher.  and I'm so glad that the rumor of Zac Efron playing a big role was proven to be false.  Keep your High School Musical out of my Star Wars, Disney!

Let's move on to the whole Expanded Universe controversy.  It was recently announced that the EU would not be recognized or continued on in the current cannon of Star Wars mythos.  The current cannon is the Star Wars movies, The Clone Wars animated TV show and the upcoming animated Rebels TV show.

I have to be brutally honest and a bit abrasive here when I say, I never really delved into much of the EU due to the fact that it became an epic soap opera where you had to read twenty or so novels about Luke, Leia and Han's children, cousins and second cousins removed becoming Jedi and Sith and whatnot.  Out of the gate it seemed all too daunting for my simple mind.  Hell, I can't even keep the characters form Game of Thrones together, and I'm only watching the TV show.

The very little of the EU I read took place during the storyline of the original trilogy.  "Tales from the Mos Isley Cantina" and "Shadows of the Empire" are pretty much where I left off.

To an extent I feel the pain of Star Wars fans who invested a metric butt-load of time getting into the EU.  I sort of feel you pain.  I know how I felt as a James Bond fan when the rebooted the series and stared fresh as though Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and The Spy Who Loved Me never took place.  But, at the same time, the James Bond films became fresh again.

In the coming year and a half we'll be blessed with many leaks, rumors and news of Episode VII that will have us guessing, theorizing and dreaming of things to come.  Perhaps I never learned my lesson from the prequels, but I'm already holding back from bursting with an orgazmatron of geek happiness about the sequels and subsequent side project movies (A Boba Fett movie done in the style of a spaghetti western, Man with No Name, type of vibe?  YES, PLEASE!) that are coming our way sooner than later.  No matter what, these are exciting times for us Star Wars geeks!

That is all.

Zangz.

Mainlining Skyrim

I'm not done with this blogging business yet.  In fact, I have many ideas for future posts that have been rattling around in my noggin for quite some time.

The problem with posting this year has been two fold.  The first issue I have brought up in the past.  Although I live in a part of the United States that is very susceptible to horrifically cold and nasty winters, I'm pretty sure most of the country wasn't expecting quite the blast we've been getting.

And as I had warned, the winter months usually suck all of my creative juices clear out of me and leave me in a small state of seasonal effective disorder.  This year in particular, I've felt like doing hardly anything except one activity for hours on end.

The second issue is the aforementioned activity.  I've rediscovered the wonders of the Bethesda Software epic, Skyrim on my Xbox360, which I've been replaying during these winter months every last waking second I've had free time.  Hunkering down, huddled on my couch, keeping warm by playing an open world fantasy video game that takes place in a snow covered wonderland replete with its blinding snowstorms and bone chilling wind sound effects may seem redundant and a very misdirected way to escape from myself these winter months of 2014.  But, boy howdy! It is still fun as FRAK!

Having recently acquired the "Legendary" version of the game that includes all of the additional content (Hearthfire, Dragonborn, Dawnguard) as well as a bunch of bug fixes, I decided to put aside the game and character I've played since the game was released in 2011 and start somewhat anew.

My original character, daftly named Zangz (what else?) has been quasi-retired and replaced with a Dark Elf assasin, fighter named Amaroth.  I'm putting all of the sneak, archery and lock picking skills into this guy instead of the heavy armor fighting skills I wasted on Zangz.

Although I played through much of game the last go around, I'm finding that this run through still feels new and exciting.  Not only has the Hearthfire add on content giving me a huge home to design for my character's new lair, it also drives me to collect new items that I wasn't before.  Items that allow me to build on to the home and decorate rooms with all the swords and weaponry that are infused with magic.

I've only started a few of the quests in the Dawnguard add on that involves joining a group of vampire hunters.  But, so far it's pretty compelling.  I've hardly scraped the surface in the Dragonborn quest manifesting itself with a bunch of creepy, cultist assassins coming after me for no apparent reason.  It wasn't until after I pried a mysterious note off of their corpses (see, never try to assassinate an assassin who's more skilled than you) that I realized that someone had ordered them to come after my character. This note will eventually lead me to a whole other island with tons of quests to conquer and sites to explore.

So it looks like I'll be busy for a while.

In the meantime, I'd likeyou to take a look at just how massive the game Skyrim is and how much thought the developers put into it with this group of fun references and easter eggs that has been put into the game.

YouTube - EGIundivided

And that will be it for now.  Please check back again.  Hopefully it will not be over three months before I post again.

Zangz.

Doctor, take me away in your TARDIS from the Dalek that is known as the bleak holiday season.

Usually my first post after the Halloween season is a direct bash against the Xmas season..... and this post shall be no exception.

Yep.  It's that time of year when the darkness, snow and cold are attempted to be swept under the rug that is zealotry and commercialism.   When the daytime sky is usually a sad, sickly yellow as the sun is trying to shine, otherwise it is a bleak grey.  A time when those that have everything get even more and those that are just struggling to get by are reminded of what little they have.... mainly because of those that have more.  It's no surprise there's mass depression across the lands this time of year.

If you're one of the very few readers of this poorly written blog, this will all sound very familiar due to the fact that it is indicative of what I post every time around this year.  I usually point out all of the the things that suck about winter and the Xmas season and then go into a shallow little list of some of the geeky things that are coming up that we all have to look forward to.  So let me see what I can drum up.

We've already seen the release of the of the next generation of gaming systems that are morphing into full blown entertainment centers.  And this time around we haven't heard about many horrible glitches that usually plague the release of next gen gaming rigs.  At least we haven't heard of any yet.  Of course I'm waiting quite a while before I even think about buying the newest, shiny toys to make sure that all is up to snuff.... and I can win the lottery.

We also have the second Peter Jackson Hobbit opus, The Desolation of Smaug.  I thoroughly enjoyed the first one and absolutely loved his Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Early reviews for Smaug are saying it's even better than its predecessor.  So we have that going for us also.

Now let me get back to the main subject of the post.  Since Xmas is so crappy, I think it's time that we gave the fat man in red his walking papers and replaced him with a character that resembles true hope and happiness for the intergalactic masses.  For I bring forth the idea that we replace Santa Claus with Dr. Who.

For those that read this blog and have no idea what Dr. Who is all about, you may rather have more interest in visiting sites like THIS or THIS or THIS.  But, I'll still give a quick synopsis of what you need to know.

Dr. Who is a science fiction TV show out of England that just celebrated it's 50th anniversary.  It revolves around the exploits and adventures of a humanoid alien known simply as The Doctor.  The Doctor has been portrayed by twelve different actors. As one actor retires from the roll, the character "regenerates" into his new form with the new actor.   He travels both time and space in a vessel that looks like a English police phone box called a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension In Space).  The Doctor usually pick up a unwitting companion or two that end up traveling the galaxies and their histories and futures.  Doctor Who has always been a Sci-Fi institution, but it's popularity has grown to fanatical amounts lately, especially because of the 50th anniversary and the fact that current Dr. Who (Matt Smith) will leave the roll and regenerate into the next Doctor (Peter Capaldi) in a episode that will air Christmas day.  If you're still scratching your head, try and follow THIS LINK to help you out.

Now here is why I believe that we need to embrace The Doctor as the new harbinger of Xmas fantasy and joy.

1. The TARDIS can outrun, out maneuver and blow away Santa's sleigh and reindeer any day.  The spacecraft not only travels through space, but also through time.  This would alleviate any stress that is put on the reindeer as well as dealing with helping out with any time management logistics.
2. Although Santa does embody the spirit of Xmas as a sweet, cherubic octogenarian in a red suit that somewhat teaches the sprit of giving, The Doctor is equally docile and friendly in his message and incarnations.  He runs the adult age range gamut from early twenties to late sixties, depending on which regenerated form you like, which appeals to more age groups.
3. Dr. Who is the savior of many galaxies and histories while at the same time evil doers fear him. Even though he is not a violent being he is able to harness great power through his intellect and smarts.  Santa has the whole "I'm going to give the bad people coal" schtick.  But, when was the last time you heard that some vile CEO of a huge, monopolistic company got coal for Xmas.  Obviously Santa is missing the mark on the greedy folk out there.
4. Bow ties are cool.
5. Fez's are cool.
6. Celery lapel pins are cool.
7. Multicolor scarves are cool.
8. Santa hats, decidedly uncool.

Ok.  I think that that is a good enough argument on the subject.  Now we have to decide how we are going to handle letting go of Santa.  We could do it the way companies did it way back in the day when someone would retire and the company truly appreciated the person's work and gave them a party, a gold watch and a decent enough retirement package.  Or we could do it the way corporations do it today with two security guards escorting him out to the cold ground of the street, with no retirement package to speak of, to live the rest of his life under the care of social services.  That will be something we'll have to mull over for a while.

Before I leave you and venture off into the cold dark snowy winter night I'll leave you with some fun little Xmas gifts.  The first is something for true Dr. Who fans.  Not many of you who don't follow the Doctor will appreciate this, but those that do will enjoy the 32 minute inside joke that is the Five(ish) Doctors.  Follow the link HERE to enjoy.

For those of you just not getting it.  Here's some Rock 'N' Frackin' Roll!!!!

That will be all for now.  I hope you all are able to tear yourselves out of the Xmas slump and enjoy the true reason for the season of being with family and friends and those we all care about while raisin up a frothy cold one to those who are no longer with us.

Cheers and happy Doctor Regeneration Day!

 Zangz.

Happy All Hallows Eve!

A dark and gloomy light fog laid over my hometown all day today.  The sun didn't peek out once leaving the gray skies a foreboding sight.  There was a feeling in the air that made me a bit paranoid.  As if many sets of eyes were keeping tabs on me.  It chilled me to the bone.

Though I was creeped out, I understood the reason for the oddities that seemed to follow me throughout the day.  Today is October 30th.  All Hallows Eve, also known as Devil's Night to a few.  It is the night before Halloween.  The time when the worlds of reality and the unknown are the closest.

When Halloween and All Hallows Eve end up in the middle of the week, it is always kind of a bummer.  Most of the Halloween hi-jinx have been celebrated the weekend before.  There's not a lot to do to celebrate Halloween in the middle of the week.

One of the most disappointing things about Halloween occurring during the week is that many of the Haunted Attractions have already shut down for the year.  Sure there may be a few who are smart enough to be open this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  But, they are far and few between.

It takes a heck of a lot to put together a big show like that.  It would be only beneficial to open for a few more nights and make some more money.  With all of the planning, building and logistics it takes to pull off a Haunted Attraction year after year, you'd think that they'd want to pull in as much coin as they possibly could in a season.

How much work does it take to make a Haunt come to unlife?  Take a look at this behind the scenes video of a really great haunt.

It features the planning and building of a Haunt in an old brewery form a few years back.  The Haunted Lemp Brewery  in St. Louis, MO has become one of the best Haunted Attractions in the U.S.

That shall be all for another season of macabre and strange.  So, tomorrow when you get that uneasy feeling of unseen eyes watching you every move, waiting for the right time to pounce, just tell yourself, "It's only just one more day".

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Stay vertical.

Zangz.

Another Ghoulish Gem I had Almost Forgot About. How Could I?

At the end of 2012's Halloween season, my family got together for our annual Halloween diner.  After we finished the meal and put my niece to bed, we gathered in the living room, lit candles, turned the lights off and watched this movie, The Woman In Black.  It scared the crap out of all of us!  I was going to post about it on my blog, but Halloween was coming to an end and I never gave myself a chance.  Skyfall was right around the corner and I was putting all of my movie viewing excitement into the next James Bond opus.

I watched The Woman In Black again yesterday and realized I never reviewed it here and what a crime and mistake that had been.  Especially since I'm the kind of Horror fan that is verry drawn to a real good and creepy ghost story.  And boy, does The Woman In Black deliver in that department.

I love movies like, The Sixth Sense, The Others, and Ghost Story.  Heck, I even love the more cheesy ones like House on Haunted Hill and The Haunting.  There's something about the stories of spirits haunting the living that I appreciate slightly more than the tried and true, axe wielding homicidal maniac chasing a bunch of horny teens around in the wilderness.  I'm always looking for the next chilling fright rather than the next blood, guts and severed head fiesta.  Chilling freights are the focal point of this Edwardian ghost story has to offer.

Based off of the book and play by Susan Hill, the story follows a young widower as he is assigned by his law firm to go a creepy old mansion in an old town on the coast of England to take care of the paperwork of the recently passed owner.  What the young lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Played by Daniel Radcliffe) eventually finds out is that the town is cursed and the mansion is haunted by the ghost of an angry spirit of a woman who lost her child in the muck of the nearby bog.

I wont give away the whole story, but I will tell you that this was one of the creepiest movies I have seen and absolutely love it for that sole reason.

Here are four reasons why this movie has a high level of creep-factor going for it.

1.  It takes place in Edwardian England.  Both the Edwardian and Victorian times are just creepy in general. You had people dressed in back all the time.  Spiritualism and the first signs of paranormal investigations were hugely popular in those days.  You look back at photos from those eras and everybody in them looks unnervingly stoic like their eyes are piercing the viewers soul.

2.  The setting is quite unsettling.  First you have this small, crusty township of frightened and seemingly superstitious folks.  Then you have the huge, Victorian mansion itself, sitting in the middle of a seaside bog where the tide comes in at night and blocks off the only small road leading in and out of the property.  The mansion also sports its own family burial ground upon its property.  And don't all old Victorian English manors have their own cemetery?  I'm pretty sure it's a law in the UK.

3.  Ghostly children and their creepy old time toys.  Again, I won't go too far into the story but, yes, there are a few ghost children in the film and ghost children are always creepy.  Whether it be two twins staring at you in a hallway or some girl crawling her way out of a well, they scare the livin' bajeesus out of everybody.  And I don't think I have to even start on the creepy old, wind up dolls that go off for no reason whatsoever.  Monkey with the symbols, anyone?

4.  The Lady In Black herself.  The Grand Dame of this ghost tale is pretty simplistic in looks, but can still give viewers night terrors.  When a pale woman shrouded in a mourning dress is viewed out of the corner of one's eye and then disappears, don't tell me that it's not enough to crap your pants a little bit.  Of course the writers and director make sure she has some great pop-out moments that had the hairs on the back of my neck shoot straight up.  And I don't use that term as a euphemism, that physically happened.  It's science!

So if you're looking for a real good horror film this spooky season that truly scares you and you don't want to be grossed out, The Woman In Black is definitely Halloween viewing material.  Especially with candles and pumpkins being lit as you only light source.  You'll have nightmares for weeks.

In other Halloween happenings, some friends and I went on a moonlight ghost tour of downtown Milwaukee last night.  We went last year, but we were hit with a downpour of rain that blew sideways and destroyed the umbrella I had brought.  So we decided to give it another try this year with far better results.  We didn't see any ghosts, but did hear of the old ghostly folklore of the Haunted Pfister Hotel where Joey Laurence as well as a few professional sports players got spooked. Another particular eerie story involved an woman shrouded in black (familiar?) who haunts the outside of an old church in downtown Milwaukee.  A fun, if not chill filled evening was had by all.  If you're in the Milwaukee area during the Halloween season and want to go on the tour.  click here for more information.

And in tradition before I end this post here is another walkthrough of a haunted attractions called Reign of Terror located in Thousand Oaks, CA.  This is last years show.  Pretty impressive!

Them Park Adventure on YouTube

That's it for now.  I'll try and find more Halloween high-jinx I can drum up or get myself into in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned and stay vertical.

Zangz.

More Haunts Have Been Visited.... more pants have been moistened.

We're smack dab in the middle of Halloween season.  It always goes by too fracking fast for me.  I'd like to savor this season, but, that is quite difficult with work being so busy.  I find myself both mentally and physically exhausted when I get home from work.  The weekends seem to be my only time for solace.  Well, if you consider seeking out the living dead and infiltrator their domains a form of solace.

That's just what I did as I dragged my buddies Bones and Roberto to a couple more haunted attractions this weekend.

After trying to get out of work as early as I could on Friday I stormed down the freeway and picked up Bones.  Then the two of us headed west, toward Roberto's headquarters, during Friday afternoon rush hour.  This gave us a good hour's worth of heavy traffic travel time.  So I decided to pass the time by playing Bones one of my all time favorite, true ghost stories that I heard off of one of the Nerdist Podcast.

If you want to give yourself the chills go to HERE.  It's the second part of the show.  The first part features the famed astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson.  Feel free to listen to his portion of the show, but, if you want to get straight to the creepiness, forward to about 53 minutes in.  It is there where film director, Liam Lynch, spins a true tale of pure ghostly goodness involving his time living in a very old apartment building in England.  Be sure that you are alone and the lights are down low and you have at least one Jack-O-Lantern lit in the room.

Back to the haunts!  After some laborious traffic, Bones and I found ourselves at Roberto's where the three of us gathered and readied our ghoul fighting gear (warm jackets and sweaters and enough cash for two haunts and some dinner afterward.).  The three of us jumped into the Roberto mobile and headed over to the next county where we first visited......


Terror @ 212 - Formally called "Haunted High presents Terror @ 212" this reboot of the old Oconomowoc Haunted High attraction (that has since been torn down) was a very pleasant surprise.  I did a review of the old Haunted High last year.  Having lost the old high school building to development projects, the organizers secured a business building right in the downtown area of Oconomowoc.  The outside of it doesn't look that big, but the amount of freights they put inside is quite impressive.  In fact, it feels far more intimate than when they ran it in the old high school building.  The high school had a lot of large open spaces, but the new haunt is a lot of narrow hallways that wind around wonderful scenes, effects and tableau's.  The scare-actors, though young, put on a darn good show.  One of the best things is that it's pretty much a whole new show and experience which tore itself away from the repetitiveness that the Haunted High was starting to get into.  Definitely worth checking out if you're in southeastern Wisconsin.

Fin and Feather Haunted Woods - After 212, we darted down a very long and very dark road.  At one point we thought we took a wrong turn and were lost in the dark countryside.  But, we pressed on down the road were we barley noticed the sign to the entrance of the Fin and Feather outdoor club.  For the last several years these folks have been putting on a great haunted trail attraction that tends to be a bit of a sleeper hit and word of mouth haunt.  This year was one of it's best and most interactive as I found out the hard way.  It starts with a very dark trail dimly lit by strands of lights on each side and creepy eyes peering at you from the wooded darkness.  This leads you up to a huge castle that you go through while trying to avoid the creatures within.  After you escape the castle you're back in the dark woods winding you way through the darkness and trying hard not to wet yourself as chainsaw wielding mad men sneak up on you.  I don't want to give too much away, but I will tell you of my personal journey into dark madness.

Toward the end of the haunt we were ushered into a building that housed one of the darkest mazes we had to go through.  At first the three of us were venturing through it pretty well until we reached what appeared to be a dead end.  I was at the front of the group at that point and told the other two, that we needed to head back the way we came.  At that point we heard a ghastly, female voice from out of the darkness mock us.  We started to head back the way we came with Roberto in the front.  We reached another dead end.  This time two female voices started to chastise us.  They were very close by, but we couldn't see anything.  Between the three of us calling to each other back and forth, the seemingly disembodied voices caught on to our names and started calling out to us.  I felt my way along the walls and managed to pass by Bones and Roberto.  Roberto was right behind me.  I called out to him to grab on to me as I led the way.  I was expecting him to gab on to the back of my sweater.  Instead I felt a hand grab my own as I moved forward to find us a way out.  I called out to Roberto again and was surprised to hear his voice was far behind me.  Too far for his hand to still be in mine.  I should have realized, Roberto would have never emasculated himself by holding my hand.  I also should have realized that Roberto's hands were mysteriously Palmolive soft.  It was then one of the voices revealed itself to be right next to me and was the hand that was holding mine.  It was a scene right out of an episode of Scooby-Doo.  Then another voice was right in front of me.  Then a third voice appeared right next to me.  I heard Rob and Bone's voices well ahead of me now and it sounded like they had found their way out of the maze.  I was alone in the dark, trapped by three specters who held me there for a spell.  After tolerating a bit more of their chastising, they led me out of the maze to the end of the attraction. 

The three ghouls were actual three lovely scare-actresses whole were nice enough to pose for a picture with me after my escape from their clutches.  Excellent job, ladies!!!

Well, I think that will be it for this post.  I still have a few spooktastic treats up my sleeves for this season.

In the meantime, please, stay vertical!

Zangz.

It was a dark and stormy night........

And it truly was a dark and stormy night the evening me and my buddy, Bones, took to the road and headed north, out of town and toward the small burg called Hartford.  While I was at the wheel, Bones acted as my navigator, helping me read off of the maps app on my phone.

As we flew up the freeway the skies grew darker and at one point Bones remarked, "Look over that way!" He pointed just northwest of the freeway.  "The clouds are super dark over there."

Sure enough, amongst the murky gray clouds that had already spread across the entire sky that day, there was a big blotch of pure black sky just looming and waiting to burst into a nasty rain storm.

"Great. That's just where we are headed." I replied with a tinge of displeasure in my voice.

After dealing with a particular tricky round-a-bout (I frackin' hate those things) we found ourselves driving right into the thick of the black clouded mass, toward downtown Hartford, Wisconsin.

The torrential downpour started just as we were entering the small township.  Visibility was slim to nil and we still had to find the cross street to our first destination.  I didn't have the map app zoomed in enough, but I wasn't concerned since there usually was a big, blinking, light-up sign helping direct us to our destination so no one would miss it, but this year it wasn't where it usually was and we ended up turning on the street before the one we were supposed to use.

This was less than beneficial, since the forefathers of the small town decided to design the roads in a manner making it quite difficult to make a right hand turn to where we needed to go.  The rain was falling harder and harder, pelting against the car windows so that it was still hard to see even though I had the wipers on the "super-friggin'-fast" mode.

After a u-turn, we found a small alleyway that miraculously led us right up to our first place of interest we wanted to visit tonight.  I parked, but we found ourselves trapped in the car for the time being as gallons upon gallons of rainwater throttled down against the ground from the dark skies above.

Now what possible places in this town known as Hartford were we so anxious to visit that we would traverse a nasty weather system while driving, you may ask?

For myself, being a fine connoisseur of Haunted Attractions, the answer is simple.  The town of Hartford is easily one of the big hot spots when it comes to a couple of the finest Haunts that haunt enthusiasts can visit during the October season.

Both Terror on Rural Street, as well as The Hartford JC's Haunted House, were always among my favorite visits during Halloween.  It had been a couple years since I last visited them and this time I brought my old chum, Bones, along since he has shown an interest in visiting haunts with me in recent years.

Our patience paid off as the rain slowed and then completely stopped in a short amount of time, allowing us to get out and visit the first haunt of the evening......


Terror On Rural Street - Upon entering the realm of Terror on Rural Street we were greeted with a fenced off graveyard with a sign overhead reading, "No Safehaven".  Once we got our tickets and our numbers were called we made our way past the graveyard to a facade of a dilapidated building.  We went through the doors and inside to find... another facade of another dilapidated building.  Double creep-tastic!  Since we had gotten there earlier in the evening, we were the only ones in the line and we went in shortly after the patented safety spiel had been read to us.

The door to the main haunt opened by itself ushering us into the world of dark madness.  The theme of this year's show seemed to fall into the category of old sanitarium where mad doctors made unnecessary experiments on the already dangerously troubled inmates.  During our journey we passed a couple of old souls trapped behind bars, pleading for their freedom as well as long forgotten corpses of patients past who would suddenly become reanimated and shake in their chains.

There were a couple of stand out rooms for me.  There was one room where a mad doctor had a poor patient strapped to a slab where a giant scythe-like pendulum sliced too and fro, slicing him in two through his stomach.  Of course the victim is very much alive and pleading for help that will never come.  The best thing is you may leave a little more moist from when you entered the room.  And it won't be your bodily functions you have to worry about.  Bruahahaha.

Then there is the the hallway where a spooky young girl lurks.  Not only do you have to avoid her you also have to keep your senses in check as the hallway appears to alter and bend.  This is a really cool effect!  There's also the room of many doors that you will easily get lost in.

As in years past, Terror on Rural Street keeps its top notch quality while delivering the scares!  Bones was pretty impressed also.

The Hartford JC's Haunted House  - Down the road from our last haunt is Fireman's Park.  To get there we had to drive up a dark, winding, heavily wooded road.  Once out of the wooded area we were in a parking lot of a nice and seemingly safe little park.

All feelings of that safety left us as the spooky farm house, looming in the park caught our attention.  We bought our tickets and waited in a musty old barn until they called out ticked numbers.  We then waited a little more in a tent just outside of the old farmhouse.  After a few visitors left their seats to travel into the unknown, it was finally our turn.  Bones had me take the lead, as he usually does.  If the creatures within the creepy wooded trail leading up the the entrance of the house was any indication of the creatures waiting for us on the inside, we were in for a treat.

The main highlight of this haunt was the combination of dramatics and interactivity that visitors will experience.  Many of the ghouls that dwell within have a bit of a story-line and dialog that we were entertained by.  In one my buddy, Bones, had to go on a ghoulish game show where he had to pick the right door for us to go through.  In another room a female spook was not so happy that I was intruding within her eerie little wooded area and then did not want me to leave.  She found a interesting way to block me from moving on into the next area, but I will not go into detail.  Suffice it to say her undead friend that was trying to shamble its way out of the wall wasn't much amused with me either.

If you are a lover of pirates and pirate lore, you'll love a good portion of this haunt as the conclusion of the haunt is dedicated to them.

I'd be remiss to also mention that the attention to detail of the scenery and sets was so intricate that I found myself trying to take in as much of it as I could while the scare-actors were up in my face putting on the scare.  It was pretty challenging.

This haunt has come such a long, long way from its inception that it competes with a lot of the bigger, more popular haunts around the Southeastern Wisconsin area.

After Bones and I had an evening of challenging the forces of the unknown, we treated ourselves to some BBQ ribs and a couple of tasty IPA's as a reward.  As always, a good time was had by all!

I'm hoping I may have a couple more haunt reviews here next week as well.  We'll see what we can do.  I do know that I'll be going on a local ghost tour that I had gone on before, but was sullied by a rain storm.  So I want to give it another shot.  So next weekend is looking to be another spooktacular one.  Knock on old coffin wood.


Now for another walk through a virtual haunted attraction from YouTube.  Many theme parks have gotten in the habit of taking advantage of the Halloween and Haunt season by redesigning their parks with a haunted motif.  Knottsberry Farms is no exception as they invoke all sorts of dastardly creatures to infiltrate their park.  Take a peek here.....

Video is from Theme Park Adventure

I'd like to leave you with these comforting thoughts.  That cackle you heard outside your home late at night was surely some sort of rare bird.  The scratching sound from under your bed that awakens you from your slumber?  I'm sure that's just some sort of cricket.  That cold spot in you home?  I wouldn't be surprised if you had some ventilation problems.  

Or perhaps I'm completely ass-backward wrong on all accounts and you better get an exorcist or ghost hunting crew over to your abode ASAP 'cause you're screwed!!!!

Until next time, stay vertical.

Zangz.