That was one big ol' ape!

The holiday season is almost at an end, thank the gods. Why is it that when the holidays hit, people become pure nastiness personified. I know a few people who are in customer service positions who have told me horrific stories of how patrons are 20 times more nasty to not only the CS personnel, but to each other. Whether it's shopping, buying groceries or just putting gas in the car, people tend to do these things with a ton of venom and hate in their souls around the holidays. This is why I'm so much more of a Halloween fan than Xmas. Xmas always tends to bring in darkness (and unemployment, evidently), while Halloween is all about FUN! No presents to burn a hole in your wallet, no big meals to cook and no nasty attitudes to deal with.

A few nice things did happen, though.....

• I got to see Peter Jackson's, "King Kong". It rocked! Though I wasn't as impressed with it as I was with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, it still was a visual cornucopia of action and special effects. At one point I was cheering Kong on as he put a serious can of whoopass onto a few dinos on Skull Island. Later Kong was pulling at my heartstrings as he and his "love interest" had a nice little holiday ice skating redevoues. Especially when I knew that within the next few hours, Kong was going to sacrifice his life for his love for her. I don't know if I like my heartstrings pulled that much. It kind of summons up a whole "Old Yeller" type vibe. Both my Mom and sister were in tears by the end. Of course I was more interested in Jackson's flair for the macabre as he brought us visions of a real creepy tribe of Kong worshipers and their decaying temples. There was also a wonderful scene that included giant insects and slugs. Groovy. Not sure if I'm going to pick this one up when it's out on DVD. But I will say that Jackson and his gang did a wonderful job of not only paying homage to the original movie, but also adding a lot more to the King Kong mythos.
• I finally finished the old James Bond novel, License Renewed. The book came out back in 1981, and reintroduces Bond to the literary world (the previous Bond novel, Colonel Sun, came out in the late 60's). Bond is put back into service after the cold war has fizzled and MI6 has gone through a restructuring. Now Bond only answers to his boss "M" who puts him on the tail of a rogue nuclear physicist who also happens to be a Scottish Laird named Anton Murich. Murich has a little side position as megalomaniac bent on worldwide domination. What is it with Bond and evil Scottish lairds? (any of you read SilverFin yet?). Of course Bond comes through in the end and the evil Murich is blown to bits. Hope I didn't ruin the ending for you. The book wasn't a knock out of the park, but it was a fun, quick little read. Right now I'm in total pulp heaven while I page through Indiana Jones and the sorcerer's Stone. Pure goofiness, but fun.
• I did end up getting a nice amount of Best Buy gift certificates for Xmas. Since my B-day is coming soon, I may wait and pool a bunch of them together to get something nice, but what? I could go and get the "Serenity" / "Firefly" DVD's ooorrrrrr I could get a new Xbox since mine is dead oooooorrrrrr I could get a new phone. My current one works, but is a bit archaic as I bought it 12 years ago. What do you all think?
• I got the news from a fan message board that my favorite band, Type O Negative are finally coming out with some form of creative project this coming March. No CD yet, but a live DVD of an old concert from a German music festival called Sympathy for the Devil will be released. It will have band commentary which, for me, was a the highlight of their last DVD, After Dark. Now if we could only get them to come out with a new CD sometime before the coming of Christ!

Whelp, I'm going to be getting some food in me and get a good night's sleep as I have two New Years Eve parities to go to this weekend. One tomorrow night and one on the actual night. I have wonderfully weird friends.

We'll talk later.

Zangz.

Long Cold Winter....

According to the astrological calendar, winter hasn't even really started yet. Yet here in my home town we've had weeks of both snow and bitter cold, and it doesn't look like it's going to let up for quite a long, long time.

I know it's been a while since I last blogged here, but recently life gave me quite the sucker punch. After 14 years of employment, my company closed the local branch. So I get to start my holiday season by searching for a new job. Merry frellin' Xmas.

So you can understand that it's kind of hard to blog about the genres of the fantastical when you're concerned that by this time next year you'll be living in a cardboard box under a freeway on-ramp.

But, seriously, I'm going to give this the ol' "stiff upper lip" treatment and get back to the blog from time to time.

So here we go......

• I'm really looking forward to Peter Jackson's "King Kong". I've been hearing that's it's quite moving and a stunning site to see. Jackson certainly has that great eye for the fantastic. I've heard that with the boat load of cash he made from the "Lord of the Rings" he built a small haunted attraction in his own home. He also has a part of his house designed to look exactly like Bilbo Baggin's home in the Shire. At least someone is living my dreams.
• In related news, it looks as thought Peter Jackson is going to exectutive produce a movie based on the Xbox video game, Halo. It is rumored to be directed by "Hellboy" director,
  Guillermo del Toro ! That would rock! "Hellboy" rocked and Halo rocks! It all rocks! Except of course when I'm playing my buddy, Roberto in a game of Halo and he's kicking my keister all over the place. Then it doesn't rock as much.
• Even though I can't stand the holiday, I'm hoping that family will shower me with either pity money or Best Buy gift cards for Xmas this year. That way I can spend it on finally getting the DVD of the entire series of Firefly and the movie that followed, "Serentiy". Or maybe some DVD's I've been meaning to catch up on like, "Batman Begins" or the extended version of "Sin City", my tow favorite movies that came out this year.

That's it for now. I've gotta go and frost Xmas cookies at my sisters. Blah. I hope your holiday season starts off a heck of a lot better than mine has. Bah humbug!

Zangz.

Muggled.

I hope you all had a great, festive, fattening Thanksgiving. I've taken a few extra days off to add to my Thanksgiving weekend just to veg out.

I got to do some excellent Star Wars gaming with my RPG group this past Saturday. Our gamemaster, Mad Mario, came up with quite the scenario with loads of political intrigue as well as ass-kickery to please us geeks. So much so that the time just shot by. I got there at noon, we started playing at 1pm and the next time I looked at a clock it was already 6pm. We play again in mid December to finish out the scenario. Should be something to look forward to! Good job, Mar!

With my Xbox still down for the count, I've found myself hearkening back to one of my old computer games... Diablo II. It's quite a fun and easy action, hack 'n' slash RPG. Very addicting.

I went out and saw "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" yesterday. Here are my thoughts. I've never been overly impressed with the whole Harry Potter phenomenon. I've read the first book and have seen all the movies. Though I do see it as a great escape and something to light an imagination fire under the rumps of the MTV / videogame generation, it's never grabbed me the way the Star Wars, James Bond and Lord of the Rings franchise have. But, I do have to admit that it is aimed at a much younger generation than my crusty, old geek sensibilities can tolerate. I've always found the movies and stories... cute. Not horrible or awful or bad or wonderful or excellent, just... cute.

Prior to seeing the film, I heard that this was the best Potter film yet and that things start to go dark in this one. So I was hoping that maybe this would be the one that would win me over completely. That this would be the one I'd want to see again and maybe even start buying them on DVD. That this would raise the bar out of the "cute" territory on plunk it solidly into the "must see the midnight showing" realm.

Well, after the viewing I can admit that this Potter film does raise the bar from being "cute" and slightly moves it to "starting to get interesting" mode for me. Like the previous films, the thing I was most impressed with was the art direction. They continue to bring Hogwarts and the whole Harry Potter world to life while wallowing in the wonderfully absurd and (with each new movie) creepy. It's like a little trip to Disneyland for me. One the movie starts you can really throw your cares away and fall into J.K. Rowling's world of magic.

I'm also getting a vested interest in what happens to Harry in the future of the films. The fact that the story follows the same formula the previous ones did (There's some sort of mystery going on at Hogwarts and the evil mage, Voldermort, has somehow infiltrated the magic school to try and kill Harry) is getting a little stale for me. Oddly enough, I was able to put that aside this time and focus on the character of Harry. Daniel Radcliff's acting maturity starts to really shine in this one, thus I really want to know what's going to happen to Harry in the upcoming films.

I wouldn't say that "...Goblet of Fire" is hororifically dark when put in comparison with "Revenge of the Sith" or "Empire Strikes Back" or "The Crow" (ok, I was going a bit overboard with that last one), but you do get the feeling that things do start to go downhill at the end of this one.

So, I felt that the Potter series still isn't going to sit along side the great fantastical franchises that I hold so near and dear to me, but I think I'm going to look forward to the opening of a Potter flick with a little more anticipation.

We'll I'm off for some more Diablo II. See ya.

Zangz.

Coming Soon: Triptametephine Buzz

Nope. I do not know how to spell Triptametephine (apparently, neither does the "spell check" feature on the blog editor), but I do know it's the chemical that will flow through my blood and put me into a sleepy comfort after gorging out on the turkey meat it will come from.

It'll be like every year. After we've stuffed our faces, ate, drank and made merry and exhausted every frellin' conversation we could possibly have, some of us will be ready to hit the hay, while others of us will want to stay and chat for another 6 hours while our guests will be wanting to clean up so they can get to bed sooner. But, there will be that one relative (who shall go nameless..... mom) who will have come in my car, and that I have to take back home before I can ajourn back to Zangz Headquarters and put my butt into bed and then dream of Liz Vassey in her Captain Liberty outfit, who will want to stay as long as she possibly can no matter how many times both myself and the guests have hinted it's time to call it a night. This relative (who shall go nameless... mom) will not take the hint when EVERYBODY is starting to leave and I'm trying to give her that "I believe we should think about leaving before I go comatose" look and she just shakes her head or rolls her eyes.

Thanksgiving dinner at the relatives is always a good time with tons, upon tons of food and conversation. But, when that Triptametaphine hits you like a rock, it's time to say ,"Thanks for the grub, but my bed is a callin' me now." Don't be like my relative, who shall remain nameless (mom). Know when to call Thanksgiving an end.


Since some of you may feel ripped off for my slipping on updates in the past week here's something I haven't done for a while, another edition of..........

ZANGZ'S BLOG OF GEEKDOM'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT

The Lord of the Rings.net
I'm surprised this site is still up. I thought it would come down after the extended DVD's hit the shelves. But I guess fan appreciation has kept it alive. A few years back I got really amped up right around holiday season 'cause I knew that one of Peter Jackson's fantasy epics based on J.R. Tolkein's beloved books was going to hit movie screens very soon. Now that they've all been released in both the theaters and on DVD I kind of miss having that to look forward to. This site is filled with tons of information, downloadable goodies and interactive effects for fans of the movies to salivate over. So check it out. I think I'm going to sit back and watch them this Thanksgiving vacation.

Ok, gotta put some food into my belly and give it a good pre-layering before tomorrow night. See ya later.

Zangz.

The 360 Debacle.....

I know that I've been slacking for the last week. But it's not like there's millions of readers banging down the doors to Zangz Headquarters demanding a more consistent and timely blog. There's more like 2.5 readers who pop in from time to time and feel much better about themselves knowing that their lives aren't quite as dripping in geek-osity as mine.

But, enough about me. On to today's big, geek event. Today was the day that Microsoft shelled out their next generation video game/entertainment counsel, the Xbox 360, onto the buying public. Well... let me rephrase that.... onto a smidgen of the buying public, as the powers that be purposefully orchestrated massive shortages of the gaming system so the hype could be built up throughout the Xmas season.

Yup. I talked to someone "in the know" and involved in the distribution and sales of media merchandise (Big ElectronicsStoreSalesGuy... cough, cough... cough), and he surmises that the powers that be have well over enough of the units on hand to supply everyone who wants one over the Xmas season. But apparently, B.G. and his brood decided that they'll very slowly release a few to retailers here and there, taking their very sweet time. They want this to be the "must have" for the Xmas season. Unfortunately, according to my source (cough, cough), there won't be anywhere near enough to meet supply and demand until February or March. So both retailers and gaming fans are getting another rendition of a good ol' "B.G. Buggerin'"!

Another sleazy thing that some retailers pulled on gamers buying the Xbox 360 was that they forced them to buy it as part of a bundle of Xbox accessories, raising the price up from the usual $300 / $400 to near One Grand. They refused to sell the counsel as a lone item. So it looks like there's far more ugliness and greed upon the 360's release date rather than good things to say. It's sad to see such a nice, quality piece of equipment being marred by such shadiness. The greed machine plows on through.

Though I'm waiting until late winter/early spring to pick me up one, I did get to play a little of a store demo of a game called "Call of Duty" and it visually blew me away. Looks really good. I can't wait to see what the next Elder Scrolls game will look on it!!!

Turkey day is coming up and I'm ready for the triptometaphine (sp?) buzz that comes with it. Got a few days off afterward and will try and go see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and see how I like that one. So far, I've found them all... cute. Though, the last one was getting a bit darker and supposedly this one ups the ante a bit. So there's more incentive for me to try and get more out of this phenomenon called Harry Potter.

Ya know, that's all I got for now. Talk to you soon.
Zangz.

More mindless stuff...

I'm still mourning my Xbox. But I figgure that it is just one more reason to get myself an Xbox360 which is due out next week. I may wait until later this winter to get mine since I just put $400 into my car this month. Plus, I want to see if there are any major flaws Xbox360 consumers are going to hit with upon release. For example, will they have FAULTY POWER SUPPLIES, MR GATES? Eherm... I digress. I'll tell you this, it's kind of ironic that this $400 piece of hardware will have 20 gigs of hard drive space whereas my lowly $1700 home PC has only 128 MB. The times, they are a changin'. Of course as soon as I get a 360, I'll most definitely pick up "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion". The most expansive, open-ended, visually stunning action RPG known to man and woman-kind!

Speaking of changing. the weather has done a 180 this week. We went from having a really nice and mild November at the month's start and are well into the wet, cold and windy November that we're all so familiar with. All the beautiful leaves have been torn from the trees and there is no longer any reminanat of the Halloween and fall season left. Crap and blech. We also have our local newscasters completely freaking out over the fact that there may be some snow on the way. At this time it looks like it will be just flurries, but leave it to the local news media to make a big deal out of it. It's like we've never seen snow before. Like this is all new and unheard of. I wish snow was unheard of, but then we'd have nothing to usher in the upcoming ba-humbug holidays. I can't believe that next week is already Thanksgiving. Then of course comes the wallet sucker known as Xmas. Ba-humbug and blech.

Well, the three big holiday, geek movies that I'd like to check out sometime are King Kong, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I'll let you all know what I think. (Who am I kiddin'? Nobody reads this crap.)

I found out that the guy who produced the Halloween movies, Moustafa Akkad was killed with his daughter in one of the bombings in Jordan. Bummer.

The next Bond opus, Casino Royale is still being put together as the script is still being polished and they're still casting. Rumors abound that Anjolina Jolie has a semi-interest in playing Vesper Lynd, the female lead. But, she wants the character to be far more than the eye candy that it currently is. If they did get Jolie, it would improve their odds one hundred fold to have a hit Bond movie after the mistake of firing Brosnan.

I also have to start picking up some DVDs I've been wanting. Batman Begins is at the top of the list and I'd like to get my paws on Firefly the TV series. I'm hoping they make a special edition of Sin City. The current version doesn't have squat for extras. That's a movie that deserves a boat-load of extras, for Jimminy's sake!

Well, I'm outta here.

Zangz.

My Xbox... R.I.P.

File this one under, "Just one more way that god can hate me".

After putting $400 into my car (new tires and a battery), I decided to rent the Xbox game "Gun" (GTA meets Wild West). I get the game home and hope to pop it into my Xbox to start playing. I press the eject button and.... nothing. I then hit the main power button and.... nothing. I then check the cord and make sure it's plugged in correctly.... nothing. I then unplugged it from the outlet and tried a few others.... nothing, nothing, nothing and nothing. No power going to my Xbox at all for no frellin' reason.

After doing a little on-line research I found that it looks like it could be a power supply problem and that would have to be replaced. Here are what seem to be my very few options...

• Go through the trouble of finding out how the frack to send it back to Microsoft, get it repaired for some form of cost and then have them send it back in what will probably take a good month or two.
• Hope to dear god (the one that hates me) that there is some company or store in my home town that can do it for cheap and won't frell me out of a ton of money to do it.
  
• Find a power supply for the Xbox on-line at Ebay (which I hoped to never have to use) and after I get it in the mail, find someone who has some form of IT knowledge to do the fix up on it since I'm a complete dullard.
• Buy a new Xbox and subtract another $150 out of my account this month, right before Xmas. This will also make all the games I've saved on my current counsel null and void. Eight months of playing Morrowind.... gone.
  
• Hold out for the $400 Xbox360 that comes out later this month and hope that: A. They have enough at release time (Microsoft is rumored to have dropped the ball on that one), or B. That it is far more backward compatibly friendly than it is rumored to be.

It's sad that after less than two years of owning this Xbox that it should fall apart that quickly. Leave it to Bill Gates to create something that will fall apart easily and force us consumers to pump money into it to make it right again. I did nothing to prompt this to happen! In fact the last time I used it, it worked fine and shut off fine. No problems at all. I go to turn it on today... nothin'. Everything else in my entertainment center works fine. So there are no hints of a power surge.

Guess I'm stuck with the old PS2 and GTA until this problem is rectified. If I'm not being reemed one way, then the powers that be will certainly find another!

[end exlamation censored by Tipper Gore on 11/15/05]

-Zangz.

Frack, I'm bored!!!

I'm just in one of those moods to do some bloggin', but haven't the foggiest idea of what I'm going to drone on about. I have been just foating around the web seeing nothing that really catches my mind (goatluv.com was clossed down. Har, har, har. Just kiddin'. Honest, I was!)

Actually I was trying to find out when the next Type-O-Negative and Lacuna Coil albums are to come out. No luck. Dratz. I saw these two bands perform together (Coil opened) a few years ago and both were phenominal. Hopefully we'll see some new stuff soon.

Mother of frell!! Is there anything to blog about?!?!?!?!

Last night's episode of Lost was another highlight of this season. A lot of fanboys of that show are pretty dissapointed today. Can't belive the writers decided to off one of the cuties last night. And, WOW, the way it went down was pretty demented writing. It should play out nicely in episodes to come.

Hrrmmmmm..... what else?

Oh... I decided that the next book I wanted to read should be most definitley light weight and fun. So I went back into my James Bond collection and pulled out John Gardner's "License Renewed". It's fun to read since it was written back in 1981. There's a scene in the book where Gardner descibes a "high-tech" guest room in a castle that is equiped with all the modern day acruitraments a entertainment center should have including a video tape cassete and quadrophonic sound. DVD's and Dolby 5.1 souround sound, anybody? I'm reading this one pretty quickly, so I may give it a quicky review on here soon.

Ok, I've waysted enough of all of our time. I gotta run over to Jimmy-John's and pick up a sub for dinner before The Donald fires off another, stuck up, elitist, greedy yuppie. It's supposed to have a Star Wars compitition tonight. Maybe General Greivious will get medievil on the ass-kissin' stooges. Cool beans!

Gotta run.
Zangz.

Cough, cough, wheez...some snot covered book reviews.

We're finally getting a taste of true November weather as it rained all day and all night yesterday. With the foul weather came the cold I was trying to subdue. I was starting to get it a week ago and thought I was in the clear, but it seemed to make a "u" turn and knee me in the groin Friday. So I spent yesterday on the couch watching a few of my favorite movies with a huge box of Kleenex at the ready for the constant Mt. Vesuvius that my nose turned out to be.

I watched the new Episode III DVD. I watched some of the extras including a few deleted scenes that should have been kept in the movie (slaughter of a Jedi and Yoda being exiled to Dagoba). One of the web documentaries had a hysterical scene of Anthony Daniels in his full 3PO garb, walking straight into a small cardboard blockade on the set. Apparently, both Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman got a few laughs out of it also.

Then I watched one of my favorite Bond movies, "GoldenEye" which helped remind me of what a cluster-frell of a move it was to get rid of Brosnan. I think that's enough of that before I get into yet another one of my anti Eon Productions diatribes.

Well folks, my wonderful ADD-esque reading talents finally got through the two books I've been reading for quite some time now. Here's what I thought about them.

First, "SilverFin" from Charlie Higgson. SilverFin is the first of the newest James Bond series aimed straight at the "Harry Potter" crowd. The powers that be have decided to put the ol' keebosh on the adult oriented Bond series that author Raymond Benson was writing so well and opted instead to make a quick buck by exploring the childhood of a young James Bond. The parallels between the SilverFin and the Harry Potter novels are a bit too close. Instead of a young magician being sent to a private magic school, it has a young future secret agent attending the famous, private all boys school, Eaton. Much like Harry has to deal with a bully counterpart at Hogwarts, Bond must also deal with a bully at Eaton named George Hellebore. Of course his father ends up being an evil millionaire megalomaniac who's hell bent on worldwide domination. Higgson also throws a lot Bond giblets into the dressing, such as a cute girl with a sassy name, a secret lair for the villain as well as the strange henchman at the villain's side. All in all, I guess I have to give Higgson props for trying to take the Bond series from the adult audience and taylor it to the younger reader. As the former Bond novels were seeped in sex, violence and complex plot twists, Higgson replaces those with a youthful inexperience and mischievousness within the character. Though I enjoyed the book in a carefree, fun sort of way, it didn't make me think to myself, "I can't wait for the next book in the series!". Nothing really captivated me in the book that much. Much of it was quite predictable. I feel that this is now a children's series and no longer will be able to capture and hold the minds of us adult fans. That's not as much Higgson's fault as he simply was doing as he was paid to do. So the fact that SilverFin wasn't anything special shouldn't be blamed on the author, but more so on whoever owns the rights to the literary Bond who just out to make a buck and trash tradition to do so. Though Higgson writes a decent children's Bond novel, I don't know if I, as an adult, can agree with the direction the rest of these books are going. Hopefully the Bond people will come to their senses and give us adults some new ADULT Bond novels in the near future.

The next book that took up six months of my reading life was Neil Gaimen's, "American Gods". For those not familiar to Gaimen's works, he's most noted for writhing one of best contemporary adult's graphic novellas (comic books) known as The Sandman. The books explored many ancient and modern day mythologies and centered around a family of beings known as The Endless and how they interacted with human life. In American Gods, Gaimen once again explores mythologies intertwinded with human life with many of the ancient beliefs that a lot of our ancestors brought to this county that have become humanized after they're seemingly forgotten by their followers. Gaimen's writing style has always been quite delicate while at the same time there's underrlying wickedness that pops to the surface from time to time. It's no different in American Gods It's a dark, modern day fantasy that revolves around the life of a young man, named Shadow, as he gets out of a prison stint to find out that his wife has died days earlier. He then comes in contact with the mysterious Mr. Wednesday who hires him as his driver. The two then embark in a cross country trip that has them visiting many of the forgotten old world gods who are living among us modern day folks. People who are well educated in a lot of old mythologies will probably get a heck of a lot more out of this book than dullards such as myself. Though, it's not much of a quick read, it does feature a lot of settings that I'm familiar with (House on the Rock). So that was kind of fun. This is indeed not a quickly read. This is a big, dense epic story where I found myself at times wondering, "Where is this leading". It does end up leading somewhere once you hit the end of the book. If you're into big, thought provoking, intellectual dark fantasy, then this is right up your alley. If you're not, then may I suggest Neil Gaimen's "Neverwhere" novel. For me it was far more enjoyable and a faster read than this.

Well, I gotta go grab a fistload of Kleenex right now, so I'll talk to you all soon.

Zangz.

The Undead Have Left the Building....

Yep, kids, the dead have indeed returned to their cold graves and the festive holiday of Halloween has come and gone. Although I didn't get to do as much as I would have liked, I certainly had a darn, foolhardy, good time!

Ya know, usually the day or so after Halloween is ridden with cold, gloomy, wet, crusty weather. It seems to be like that every year. It's like a sign that the good times of the year are done and that the times of long, cold darkness are about to be ushered in and shall stay for a good six to eight months. But this fall it is a bit different. It's almost as though the season doesn't want to give up on the Halloween holiday. As I drove into work every morning this week, I was blessed with wonderful fall colors accentuated with a golden, warm sun. People still had their Halloween decorations up, as if to say, "To FRELL with the upcoming "festive holidays". We want more of the season of the dead!" Sorry, not for another eleven months. But it is nice to enjoy a few more days of seasonal beauty. Very soon we'll be cursed with the usual "winter wonderland" that this region experiences every year. So enjoy the nice weather now, before the winter hell arrives and puts us all into a perpetual depression. Bah-frellin'-humbug!

Since things are back to "normal" around here after the dead took the blog over and the Halloween theme is done with for the year, what shall I geek it up about now......

• Here's a very quick review of the Xbox video game, "Darkwatch". I rented this puppy a few weeks ago and did enjoy it! However, there were a few things that could have been improved. The game is basically Halo in a very creepy, visually stunning, old wild west. The settings and art direction were incredible! Yet, the single player mode goes by quite quickly. I think I finished it in about 8 hours. And there's not much replayability to it after that. Since I'm not much of a multiplaying fanatic that a lot of the Xbox Live crowd are, I didn't go too deeply into the multiplayer modes, but it looks as if they have quite a boatload of levels and options. If you like playing Halo on Xbox Live, then you gotta check this game out as its control scheme is very much in the same vein as Halo. In the end, though the visuals are wonderfully disturbing and creepy, this game is aimed more toward multiplay rather than the single player mode that most FPS (First Person Shooters) of the past seemed to be aimed toward.
• Guess what I went out and bought Tuesday night? If you can't answer in under three guesses, what the frack are you doing in this Blog of Geekdom? STAR WARS, EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH DVD, FERCRYINOUTLOUD!! What do you think? "Steel FRACKIN' Magnolias"? Haven't watched it yet, but come Saturday afternoon, I'll be in Darth Sideous haven!
• Here's another friggin' death notice for us geeks... Michael Pillar, creator of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is dead. Not much of a Trekkie myself, but my heart, once again, goes out to them.
• Speaking of "out" and Star Trek.. Howzabout that little announcement from Lt. Sulu last week? You go girl! Not that there's anything wrong with that!
• Oliver Stone is making a movie about 9/11. I'm sure that the cocaine addled director's movie won't be biased at all. No more than a Rush Limbaugh radio show. Sensors say: PROPAGANDA ALERT! PROPAGANDA ALERT!
• So there's a new King Kong flick coming out on December 14th. Usually, I'd roll my eyes and ignore it with all the other monster/horror movie remakes that seem to be plaguing our movie screens lately (The Fog anyone? I didn't think so.) But this puppy is in the hands of none other than "Lord of the Rings" god-man, Petter Jackson. Plus it stars Jack Black. So I doubt highly that this thing is going to suck at all. In fact, I'll predict that this may even be better than the original!
• Nothing's really come of that whole Podcast idea for this blog yet. I'd love to do it, but I lack the computer power and technical skill to do it. But, there's still a drive and still some talk. We'll see where this leads.
• Still not done with friggin' "American Gods" yet. But I'm darn close, by cracky! Hope to finish it off tonight or tomorrow. Then you'll see a review for the book as well as one for "Silverfin" which I finished a while ago. Be patient.

Whelp, that's about it for tonight. Commons up: A review of those two books that I slugged through for the last 6 months (yes, I am a dullard!), plus I'm sure I'll find more stuff for me to grump and complain about that you can all ignore. See ya later.

Zangz.

Well Gang....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Once the final bell tolls at midnight tonight, it shall becken all the shadows to dissapear, all the undead to return to their graves and all the ghosts and goblins to slink back to whatever netherworld they originate from. The passageway between the worlds of the living and the dead shall close for yet another year. We get another eleven month reprieve until the end of September comes once again to usher in the season of the dead and another wonderful, magical and creepy Halloween season. I can't friggin wait!!!

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"Be Spiderwebbed and glazed in frost,
She wears death beautifully.
More stunning now than in her life,
On a bed of autumn leaves.
Into her eyes and quite surprised,
I whisper, 'Don't you leave.'
Sing macabre songs and we'll dance 'till dawn,
On All Hallow's Eve."
From Type-O-Negative's, "All Hallow's Eve" from the "World Coming Down" CD.

Nursing a cold.... OF THE DEAD!

I have to drop a line here and mention that I had one of the best Halloween times that I've had all season yesterday! Went over to my sister's and brother-in-law's yesterday and helped set up a little graveyard haunt for their neighborhood's Trick-or-Treat.

What they do is the neighborhood association chooses about three to four streets that are in a row and then close them off to traffic so that neighborhood kids can Trick-or-Treat safely and at night, like the good old days.

The weather was pefect, not too cold, yet not unseasonably warm. And the tree colors were at their peak with more than enough on the ground to help cover up our light up cadaver coming up from the grave.

It turned out to be a real festive atmosphere as a huge amount of families and kids tore around the streets scaring eachother, getting candy and enjoying the many Halloween decorations that a lot of the homes put up. Our graveyard wasn't huge, but it had a heck of a lot of detail put into it.

On top of that my bro-in-law dressed as the grim reaper and would scare a lot of the kids and parents alike. He pulled the ol', patented "stand in the yard pretending to be a maniquin until people come close enough and then spook 'em" trick. It worked quite well. I think there was only one lady who was being a bit of a party pooper about it and gave him a dirty look and mumbled something under her breath. Yo, beeeeeeeeeoooootch! It's Halloween! Lighten the frell up or stay at home and sulk! If you don't have the Halloween spirit, you have no spirit at all! That's my motto!

After the Trick-or-Treat escapades, we ajourned inside to eat drink and be merry and now I'm paying for it today with a touch of a cold and a slight spec of indigestion (you don't wanna use my bathroom for a while, trust me.)

Well, I'm off to watch some TV and have a little breakfast. Enjoy the rest of your Halloween season!!!

P.S. Don't forget about what comes out on DVD this Tuesday!

P.P.S. This just in! Sad news for die hard Star Wars fans as news of character actor, William Hootkin's passing hits the net. Porkins will live forever!!

Zangz.

The End is Nigh...

Here we are in what is sadly the last week of the season of the dead (aka: Halloween season). We only have a few more days to see the oddities and mysterious happenings that suround us in the month of October.

That pumpkin carving party I attended Sunday night went fine even though there was a constant, cold and chilly rain that evening. We still managed to carve up quite a small colection of orange colored characters. Someone even gave one of their pumpkins a carved mullet, official hair style of all NASCAR fans worldwide.

I'm also almost done with both the books I've been reading for the last six months, so expect a review on both of them soon!

I know this has been a quicky blog. So as not to leave you utterly disapointed, here's another edition of.....

ZANGZ'S BLOG OF GEEKDOM'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT:

Milwaukee TV History Hosts of Horror

This website is not only spooky fun, it's also informational. Here you can find out anything you'd want to know about the local horror flick movie hosts from both the past and present. The one I remember watching as a kid was Shock Theater's TooLoose NoNeck who came on every Saturday afternoon (when there was no sports on) right after Saturday morning cartoons. He would show old black and white horror movies that were mostly Japanese Godzilla flicks and other movies that had giant monsters in them. At least those are the ones I remember him showing. Now we have Dr. Destruction's Crimson Theater on access cable. The Doctor knows his stuff and it's obvious he's a big fan of classic horror movies.

That's all for today. If you haven't yet, make sure you do something to celebrate the holiday. Even if it's just carving a Jack-O-Lantern and putting it in your window.

Talk to you all before the holiday is over.

Zangz.

Enter The Darkness....

The light rain finally stops pattering against the car's windshield. The dark skies start to open up revealing a golden, orange sunset symbolizing a chance for hope. Yet, there is one portion of the skies that not only stay clouded, they also seem to be getting even darker as we drive closer to them. They seem to mark our destination. A place simply known as The Darkness.

The night blacks out any remaining reminant of sunset or hope as the drive seems to drag. The curve filled, hilly back country road seems to be endless. Through quaint small towns, passing abandoned gas stations we grow ever so closer to The Darkness.

There is an old legend tied to this ungodly place that revolves around a being known as The Angel of Death, a once loving woman who lost everything and vowed revenge. We did not know if this was true or not, but we were evidently going to find out.

We finally reach the location of The Darkness. We park our car and follow the path of torches that light the way to what appears to be a large crypt-like structure. The door is open and we slowly enter. An old hag ushers us in and welcomes us into this plane of existence where the would of the living meets the land of the dead. She points us on our way down the dark, musty stone passageway. Sounds of screams and wails come from the passageway in the direction we are forced to head. There is no other way out.

Upon our travels within The Darkness we saw things and beings that man was not meant to see. The dead roamed freely and thousands of corpses reached out for us to join them in eternal damnation. We finally found our way out of the realms of the dead and we were finally able to breath in the fresh night air. We survived the night in The Darkness, but we are sure that many that have ventured in are still trapped there, perhaps for an eternity.

So we then went out for a beer...

But seriously folks, last night I was able to muster up three of my friends and drag them down to a local haunted attraction known as The Angel of Death's Darkness. A few of us went to this one last year and both years it's been pretty good. It has a very gothic / crypt-like theme. This year they changed some things around to not be too repetitive from last year. It took about 15 minutes to go through. Could have a been a bit longer. The actors and actresses were really into their roles and kept in character throughout our whole visit. The tableaus and sets were pretty much the same as last year, but when you run a pre-made haunt (The Darkness was built and created by hauntrepener, Leonard Pickle, founder and creator of Haunted Attraction magazine. It was then sold to the people who run The Darkness.) it can be very hard to differentiate the look and feel from year to year. There were some darn good scares though! I know I jumped more than once.

The only thing that really bothered me was the whole "pre-show". After you got your ticket, you went into this in-the-round auditorium (the haunt was located on a small fair grounds). In the center was a stage with huge manequin of these very cool demonic creatures. But, they didn't do anything, they just stood there. There was a guy in a doctor's outfit announcing what groups of patrons could move on into the haunt. I don't know why he was in a doctor's outfit and what role he played in the whole Darkness motif, but he more than once told the same lame joke within a 15 minute period. Outside of being very organized in leading people into the wait area and out to the Haunt, I didn't see the point in this character. Now if you had a spooky looking ghoul telling patrons the legend of The Angel of Death and The Darkness, that would make sense!!! Aiding the doctor in "rousing" the crowd was... a vampire? No. A creepy ghoul? No. Something really spooky that would have really made patrons nervous and building up their fear prior to going into the Haunt? No. It was a friggin' clown. And not a creepy one at that. It was one of those annoying "Yuk, Yuk" clowns. She spooked some people, but annoyed most of us. So the whole preshow antics weren't at all creepy or scary (with the exception of the two demonic figures that just stood on the stage doing nothing), but were kind of uncomfortable. It was the kind of discomfort you feel when you watch a stand up comedian bomb live on stage.

All in all, The Darkness was definitely a quality Haunt with a few big scares, but at the same time, may not be able to grow or change that much from year to year. And the preshow / wait was really not in the same vein as the haunt. Even though I made it to only one haunt this year, I'm still glad some friends caved in and came with me.

Looks like the Packers are currently frelling up the field over in Minnesota. The Pack had the lead for most of the game and are now handing it over to the Vikings. Way to go Pack, way to go!

I did get to go hike at that nature preserve I like going to every fall. The colors were beautiful!

Well, I'm done for today. This upcoming week I'll be looking forward to helping my brother-in-law put together a little graveyard tableau for the Trick-or-Treaters. Tonight I'm going to a pumpkin carving party. See ya.

Zangz.

What makes a good, Haunt, Zangz?

I'm glad you asked! I'm a big Haunted Attraction fan and enthusiest and I've been to quite a few of these macabre events the last decade or two of past Halloweens in my time. I've seen both "INCREDIBLE!" and "Jeez, is that all there is?"

I'm not going to make this a big critique on various local haunts, but, I will tell you what I've been most impressed with and what was a big let down (not naming any names, just examples).

Here are some things that I look for in a Haunt.....

• The duration of the attraction being more than 10 to 15 minutes to go through. At least 20, for crissakes! And I mean at VERY LEAST!!!!!
  
• Some really good sets, motifs and themes that give me the willies. I want to get the feeling that I'm somewhat transported from nomal, mundane life and smack-dab in the middle of some place quite foreboding.
• Great actors portraying the creeps and ghouls inhabiting the Haunt.
• Some excellent effects, whether pneumatic or hydrolic. I love to be caught off guard and jump out of my skin as a mechanical corpse pops out from behind a gravestone.
• A "kick-A" facade to the front of the attraction certainly doesn't hurt. It gives off that scence of dread that rippens us patrons and gets us mentally right where the haunters want us, in a state of worry.
• A Haunt with a cool back story can be really cool, yet not really required. But it does help with that whole sence of forboding us patrons need before we go in.

Those are some of the things I like about my favorite haunts of past and present, and I've rarely been let down. However, here are some of the reasons I have been let down....

• The quickie "Let's make a quick buck." haunts that take less than 10 minutes to go through. If I'm paying under $5 to get in, it's not that big of an issue. If I'm paying around $10 or over, then I'm chessed!
• Moderate to lame actors working in the haunt (usually uninspired teeny-boppers that have all the fear factor of a ingrown toe nail).
• The Haunt that hardly has any sets or tableaus and relies heavily on pitch black mazes for patrons to waddle thier way through. I'm not paying to be blinded! If they want to have a few dark mazes throughout the Haunt, fine. Just give me an equal amount of scares that I can see and gawk at and enjoy!

Now you may want to ask, "Zangz, what are some of the most incredible Haunts you've gone to and/or heard of?"

Well, the one I talked about in a recent past blog, Terror on Rural Street (that's sadly clossed this season) is my personal favorite. It's been very rare that I've been more impressed with another Haunt. TORS has always been the one Iv'e rated others against. Every year I was more than impressed! They knew how to make old effects new again and always had a cool facade and tableaus in it! Hope it's back next year!

I visited the Bear Den Haunted Woods and Trail for the first time last year and was blown away. The fact that it's a mixture of wooded trail and spooky, musty shacks that you have to traverse through while freaky zombies and inbread mad men pop out at every turn make it quite frightning. The hearse ride to the actual trail is a nice touch too. Hopefuly it'll be dry enough for us to go tomorrow night. But it looks like rain and we may have to change our plans to an indoor Haunt.

A group used to revamp the historical Pabst Mansion every Halloween and recreate it as a haunted attraction. Not a lot of special effects, but loads of props and victorian embiance really helped this Haunt out. The place has a built in creepiness to it since it is a old, Victorian mansion to begin with. They put this together for quite a few years back in the late 80's/early 90's, but they stopped with the haunted attraction years ago and in its place have a special Victorian funeral exhibit there durring Halloween season. It's pretty creepy.

Of course I gotta put a shout out to Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion! If it weren't for the success of this Haunt, I'm not sure if many others would exist. Thoug,t it's a ride and not a walkthrough and there are no live actors in it, just a meriad of animatronics, it's still has a wonderful charm to it. I do have to tuck away one of my rules of a "good Haunt" as it only takes 7 to 8 minutes to ride through. There's boat-loads to see in that 8 minutes, though.

Now, here are a few that I've only heard of or visited on the web that sound absolutley phenominal! Frack, I'd love to visit these!!!!!!!

Years and years ago I saw a news snippet on TV about one out of state Haunt that had a theme of a chemical spill at a millitary base that turned everybody into zombies. The whole Haunt was set up in these man made tunnels and bunkers. It also had a crashed helicopter at the entrance that spewed up smoke and fire. I guess the local fire department was getting called every 5 minutes from passengers driving by on the freeway. Now that's over the top!! Wish I knew where it was and what it was called. I doubt that it's still open.

There's one in Texas called Thrillvainia which is not one but a few Haunts at a haunted theme park. This park has a whole story behind it involving the vampyric owner of the land Baron Verdun and his Verdun Manor. There's the haunted house, haunted maze, haunted trail and haunted magic shows all ready to spook the frell out of visitors. Sadly, the creator of the Haunt passed away a few years ago, but it looks as though the Haunt still goes on!

Every October Universal Studios Theme Parks in both Florida and California revamp their entire parks at night and put on Halloween Horror Nights. Every year is a new theme and as you walk through the parks many undead and evil creatures come after you live and in person. There's usually at least 7 to 10 increadibly impressive Haunted Attractions to go through also. Let's hope hurricane Wilma doesn't defunct the whole Orlando shindig! Beeooootch!

As for others, my mind is drawing a blank right now. Perhaps I'll regale you with more of Haunts I like to, or want to visit before the Halloween season is over. Let's hope I can get to a Haunt tomorrow night so I can have my local Haunt fix for the year. Fer cryin' out loud, I went to 8 of them last year! I'm friggin' due!!!

Zangz.

Still in that Halloween Mood

The last couple of days have proven to be quite busy! But, I'm still into that whole Halloween season vibe. The whole atmosphere of this past weekend was quite magical. The temperature was very comfortable, the wind was strong enough to blow the leaves out of the trees so they would slowly fall to the ground and the moon blazed over the night's sky illuminating odd shadows that would seemingly creep about the neighborhood. Wonderfully eerie.

I also got a visit from my good buddy, Goof. I bought him some lunch and we enjoyed the colors of the trees and some darn fine conversation. More on him later.

I'm still working on getting a group of fellow haunt enthusiasts to join me in a trip to a local haunted attraction. We may visit the best one we went to last year, The Bear Den Haunted Woods. The title is kinda lame, but the show they put on last year was phenomenal! Whether it was iintended or not, it had a real Texas Chainsaw Massaqacre feel to it. It was a mixture of hiking through a wooded area illuminated by bon fires and wandering our way through rustic dark shacks with plenty of undead surprises popping up from time to time. We'll see what the weather brings this weekend. We may have to make an alternative trip if it rains. Stay tuned.

Back to Goof. You all have him to thank for this install ment of...

ZANGZ'S BLOG OF GEEKDOM'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT

EXTREME PUMPKINS
I don't usually have my Website of the Moment feature in back-to-back blogs due to possible sensory overload for some of you (admit it, this is way too much excitement to handle). But, my buddy, Goof, sent this link to me and I found it not only seasonal, but amusing as well. So if you've run out of ideas for your Jack-O-Lantern, look no further. I'm sure you'll be inspired by those on display on this website!

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Now on to the geek stuff.....

My friend, Goof, found offense at the fact that I didn't mention the fact that the late Star Trek actor, James "Scotty" Doohan, will be having his ashes sent into space per his last requests. A story I admittedly missed due to my obsession with Halloween. So. I apologize to those outraged readers who got all prickly about the horrific omission.

It was finalized this weekend, actor Daniel Craig will be the next James Bond in the clusterfrack of a movie project that the people at Eon Productions have been messing about with for some time now. Actually, I'm waiting to see how this Craig guy is going to do before I pass judgment. So from here on in I'll give the whole project the benefit of the doubt until it's released... whenever it's supposed to be released. Until then, I shall try and make no more comments about what a unimaginably bad idea it was to get rid of Brosnan, who was the best Bond since Sean Connery. I shall not utter a word on how ridiculously unjust and all out dumb that decision was until I see how "Casino Royale" is with my own two eyes. (yes, my fingers are crossed. Why do you ask?)

That's it for today. I gotta get some food in me before I hit the pillows. More spooky stuff coming to you very soon.

Zangz.

Season of the Dead Progressing Nicely...

Can you believe that we're nearly at the half-way mark of October / Halloween season? I can't. Goes too frellin' fast! Once the month is over we go directly into the season of snow, cold, muck and holidays that are too friggin' expensive to deal with and remind you of how lonely life can be. Blech, Blech and double Blech. But I'll get more into my Grinch mode as that lame holiday rears it's butt-ugly head. But for right now we're full tilt into the greatest holiday known to mankind. So let's revere it here in my blog of geekdom!!!!

Halloween started as a celebration of the bountiful harvest that the early peoples of the world were so thankful for. It was also a window of time that was believed to be when the planes of the living and the dead were at their closest. Very cool indeed. Of course more fanatical religions continue to try and outlaw and censor it due to the fact that it is based on ancient religions that were conceived long before more popular religions came into power. But let's not get into any of the social implications of religious fanaticism. Lets see what cool as frell Halloween websites are out there to visit in another edition of.....

ZANGZ'S BLOG OF GEEKDOM'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT:

Hauntfreaks.com
This website is created from fans of Haunted Attractions located on the East Coast. It is put together quite well and has the distinction of being the most visually stunning website put together by haunted attraction fans that I have seen to date. They really go out of their way to visit and report on many haunts that are not only located on the East Coast, but also cover some of the big theme parks that dress up their parks for Halloween (Knotts Scary Farms, Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights). The only downer about this site is that they seemed to go into hibernation in the middle of last year's haunt season. No updates past October 15th of 2004. But, what coverage they do have there is pretty cool. So check it out. Maybe the hits will bring them back to life!

On that note, I'm still trying to put something together for next weekend and visiting a local haunt or two. I'll let you all know what goes down. I'm going through haunt withdrawal and am foaming at the mouth for a smell of that fog machine and plywood smell that I crave this time of year!!! Gotta get me some scares going here. I'll let you all know what haunt(s) I visit and what I think of them.

In other stuff....

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My best buddy, Goof is coming into town this weekend. He's the only one of you who will actually reply to my posts. He must feel sorry for me. He's coming into town to do a little "I.T." work for his parents. Hopefully it will be a quick job and we'll be able to do some form of hanging out. Sadly his beautiful wife won't be joining us. She's a hoot. But since she won't be there, I guess we'll have to do the traditional "Let's pick up some whores" night. Cest le vie. (just kiddin'!)

Can anyone tell me who the frell Daniel Craig is. 'Cause he's supposedly the new James Bond. Every news outlet is proclaiming him to be the successor to unceremoniously 86'd Pierce Brosnan (who, anybody with a soul and a brain, would tell you should have been kept on to do at least one more Bond film). I've seen a picture of Craig and he looks about as much as the character of James Bond as Billy Dee Williams would. This guy has made a few independent / foreign films and seems to have a decent set of acting chops. But, he'll have to fill the shoes of a very beloved and popular actor who had a name before he took on the role of Bond. Nothing is official yet. But, I wish this Craig guy the best. He'll need it to win over us already cheesed off, die hard Bond fans who are still sour about how Wilson and Broccoli have frelled up the movie series by ousting Brosnan. I don't think that this poor sod has any clue as to what he's stumbled into. I cross my fingers for him. Poor sod.

Shoot! Gotta go. The Apprentice is on and as I've said before, I love watching greedy yuppies tear each other apart.

Zangz.

100th Post.......of the DEAD!

Yep. We're at #100. One hundred posts written by yours truly. One hundred posts completely ignored by friends and family. Can you feel the love? If you do, can you send some my way.

Let's briefly talk about good Halloween mood music, shall we? A lot of you may be asking yourselves, "Gee, I wonder what kind of Halloween mood music Zangz likes to listen to during this time of season of the undead?"

Well, there are two bands that I feel really bring out the Autumnal / Halloween feel in their music. One would be a two man group called Midnight Syndicate. These guys specialize is synthesized, orchestra, instrumental melodies of the netherworld. Their music is custom made for haunted houses, Halloween parties, horror role playing games and yard haunts. They've got quite a few under their belt with each having a different theme. One has a ghost type theme, one has a spooky old castle feel to it, one is dedicated to vampires, another has a musical story of an old insane asylum and their latest is a haunted house theme.

The other band is a group I've lauded time and time again on both my blog and website. The band would be Brooklyn born Type-O-Negative. Granted, they're not the most PC band on the planet, but that's the way they like it. If you took the Beatles and mixed them with a good dose of Black Sabbath with a dash of Goth and a sprinkle of bitterness, you'd have their vibe. When it comes to the real themes and feelings of Autumn and Halloween, I think that two of their CD's really hit the spot, October Rust and World Coming Down. Not all of the songs are lyrically dedicated to fall, but outside of the title of the album, October Rust's music seems to remind of the trees changing color and the leaves slowly falling tot he ground. World Coming Down is a whole other story. Two songs on this CD are aimed smack dab at us Halloween fans, Creepy Green Light and All Hallows Eve. They're great songs and I can't get through a Halloween season without hearing them an unhealthy number of times.

In other spooky stuff....

We have the first week of Halloween season under our belt now. The Z.V.O.G. Headquarters have more than a few jack-o-lanterns peering out its windows in the evenings as well as an odd creature or two lurking about the apartment. Later today I'll be joining my sister and brother-in-law to in a search to seek out more haunting props to give us some ideas as to what we're going to do for their house during trick-or-treat this year. It's leaning more and more towards a graveyard type setting. I have a few old, Styrofoam headstones I made years ago, back when I lived at home and would do up my family's front yard for trick-or-treat. Sadly, most of the props are long gone due to the downsizing in general crap I had when I moved from home to a smaller apartment. So we may have to stock up or create our own. I'll let you all know how things progress. One last thing, since we're talking about Halloween yard displays. It's time for another segment of.....

ZANGZ'S VAULT OF GEEKDOM'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT

The Hallowed Haunting Grounds

You think that putting a few Styrofoam gravestones in your front yard constitutes as a yard haunt (well.... I do)? After viewing this site, you'll think differently. For several years a group of Halloween fans in Studio City, California have put together the ultimate in Halloween displays! Focusing on a real creepy atmosphere rather than blood and gore, their extravaganza has been a huge success where fans have traveled far and wide to get a glimpse at the macabre presentation. Sadly, all good things... yadda, yadda, yadda. This will be the last year that it's on display. So if you can't get out there this year, check out this website. It gives you a very good idea of what they do. Probably the most extravagant an eerie display known to man.

That's all for today, enjoy your Sunday.

Zangz.

More Tales from Beyond!

First of all, I was forced to do some tweaking on yesterday's blog due to Blogger tossing me out so they could do some impromptu work on their server. Just a few snips there and a few twists here and I got it where I want it.

But, I totally forgot to tell you two more tales of ghostly happenings.

These were told to me by my friend, Carlo. And they're the frellin' creepiest of the bunch! Carlo doesn't remember this happening, but his mother told him this story years after it took place. When Carlo was a very young child, he would join his cousin in playing up in the attic of his family's newly bought house. One time, his mother called them down to the kitchen for supper. When they arrived his mother asked him what they were doing up there. "We were playing with George, the nice guy who lives in the attic." replied Carlo. His mother thought this to be an imaginary friend of theirs and thought nothing of it. There were a few more times young Carlo talked about his friend, George, to his parents. Then one day when his parents were cleaning up the attic, they came upon an old, rusty hammer laying in a crevice of a corner of the attic. Written on the handle of the very old hammer was the name "George". Keep in mind, Carlo was far too young to read at the time. Could it have been a departed owner of the house who was looking for his hammer in the attic who would play with Carlo and his cousin? Only the dead know for sure. Bwahahahahahahahaha....

Several years later some of Carlo's friends went on a trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to see the famous Civil War battlefield. They took some walking tours of the vast battlefield and lost track of time. Once dusk hit they decided to head back to their car. Along the wooded path they came across a young man dressed in full Union soldier garb coming toward them. Thinking him to be a Civil War reenactor, they nodded to him as they passed. He nodded back and continued off in the opposite direction behind them. Not two seconds after the encounter, one of the friends turned around to call to the "costumed" man and ask him if there was a Battle of Gettysburg reenactment going on nearby. But the soldier had disappeared completely. There was nowhere this person could have run off and hid to within the time that they turned around. Was he a very stealthy reenactor, or was he a tortured spirit from beyond who lost his life in the great battle that turned the tides of the Civil War some 140+ years ago? Only the dead know for sure. Bwahahahahahahaha...... That's all the spookiness I have for now. On to geekiness......

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Last night's episode of "Lost" (no, I'm not gunna link it this time) was a pretty intense one. I like the way we keep gettin more questions upon questions. I just hope this is one of those shows that actually answers them sometime before the very final episode of the series and won't end up like The X-Files where we were all left with more questions.

I'm trying a lot of Octoberfests this season and not sticking to just Sammy A. But, so far Sammy A. has been my favorite. You know, Mother Nature's teet and all! Well, on that note, I'm gunna get me some grub. More Halloween fun real soon!

Zangz.

True Ghost Stories....

One thing that I love about the Halloween season is the true ghost stories that tend to pop up in the media at this time of year. Whether it's a haunt special on one of the cable channels (A&E, Discovery, TLC, Travel) or it's a local news story about a local resuraunt or building that has had some paranormal events take place, or just a group of friends telling stories around a bon fire to keep the fall chill away, a good spook story is always a important part to getting in the mood for a decent Halloween season!

Now you may be asking yourself, "Zangz, do you have any stories of the unknown and mysterious that have happened to you personally?"

I wish I did. But as interested in the paranormal as I am, I have never had anything worth noting happen to me personally. But I do have a coupleof stories that have been told to me by close freinds and family members....

I used to go to high school with this kid who always ended up in my gym classes throughout my high school years. His name was Chris, and according to him, his uncle owned an old lighthouse somewhere on the East Coast. There was a upstairs bedroom that was used as a guest room where there is a rocking chair just oposit the bed. People who have used that room have had one of either tow experiences. Some go to sleep and wake to hear the creaking of the rocking chair. When they look at it, it is rocking by itself as though someone is in the chair. The other experience is far more terrorfying. Some people have woken to actuall see the aparition of a spooky old hag rocking in the chair, staring at them intently. Suposedly this haunted light house story ended up on an old episode of the "Real People" tv show.

A friend of my mom's who lived in a large house in a nice suburb would get mysterious phone calls when she was home alone. The phone would ring, she'd answer it, and most of the time nobody would respond. At times she'd thought she'd hear someone mumble something on the other end and then dead silence. She'd hang up the phone, annoyed. The really creepy thing was that everytime this happened she'd find that one of the other phones in the house was always off the hook even though she was the only one at home at the time. After quite a few phone calls from the netherworld, she decided to get her house blessed by a preist. He came over, said some prayers, sprinkled holy water on the phones and ever since there were no more disturbences. Her family moved out long ago. Who knows who's there recieving calls from beyond now?

About 16 years ago a freind of mine suddenly and unexpectedly lost her mom to a stroke. She had a hard time dealing with it and had difficult time getting to sleep at night. One night, after tossing and turning, she got out of bed and decided to go down to the kitchen a have a glass of milk. When she got down there she found her mom sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her. Her mother told her that she was in a far better place and that everyting was going to be alright. The mother then faded away. Was this a dream, a psychological way to deal with the loss of a loved one or a spectral visit from beyond? Your guess is a good as mine. But I know what is far more fun to believe!

Well, that's the spook show for today. On to other stuff....

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"Lost" is on tonight and though last weeks episode was a bit of a breather from the usual high end craziness that it presents, this week we get to take a look at these, "the others" and see what their story is. Can't wait.

Since I have Friday off, I think I may take in a showing of Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride". Wasn't a huge fan of "Nightmare Before Christmas" since they mixed Halloween and Xmas together. But, "Bride" looks to be all spooksville.

Oh, hey! I almost forgot! The band Fear Factory came out with a new CD recently. It's called "Transgression". It's a damn fine peice of work, espicially if you like speed metal with actual melody and a good dose of techno mixed in.

Ok, My "Ghost Hunters" show starts in 10 minutes, so I gotta motor. More Halloween fun coming your way.

Zangz.

Lamentation of a Haunted Attraction

Being such a big fan of haunted attractions that pop up around this time of year, I've tried to hit as many as I realistically can each Halloween season. No matter how many I visited, I always made it a point to visit one north of my town called Terror on Rural Street. Why? Because this mother always delivered in every way, shape and form a haunted attraction could!

This was the one that I would usually judge others up against. It really had everything! Wonderfully creepy tableaus, pop-out scares timed just right, a cool as frell facade and a myriad of wonderful effects and actors and actresses were always the order of the day, served with a side order of blood, screams and howls every year. Each year they'd have a different theme and always do it up big time! When I first started going, it had a medieval theme with a huge, working draw bridge as part of the entrance. Then one year it was a creepy mortuary / coffin company. The less extravagant facade revealed a VERY creepy atmosphere. Last year they had a sci-fi theme reminiscent of video games such as Resident Evil and Doom. It was one of the haunt's best years yet!

If the pictures on their website were any indication, it looked like this year (2005) was going to hearken back to a more creepy and spooky theme with a haunted house type of facade. It looked it was going to be another banner year for Terror on Rural Street.

That is why most of us local haunt enthusiasts were shocked and saddened when it was announced by organizers that Terror on Rural Street would be shut down for the 2005 season and possibly for some time there after. With what little info I could muster from the Haunted Wisconsin.com message board on its closing, I could only surmise that it was due to a severe breakdown of communication and a few egos that got a bit out of hand within the Terror on Rural Street camp. Now the whole thing is frelled up for everyone, both those who work on it and those who attend it every year. This haunt has been open 7 years and it's quite saddening to see it go out this way.

Though organizers are being quite cryptic about its future, I'm really hoping that it will open for the 2006 season! It'd be such a shame to allow a few dunder-heads to ruin something so creatively magnificent a staple of the Halloween season!


In other otherworldly exploits, I'm trying to put a group together to go to at least one haunt this year. I know it's a bit of a downgrade from the 8 haunted attractions I visited last year, but beggars can't be choosers. So I'll let you all know what goes on and give whatever haunt I visit a review here on my Blog of Geekdom.

Though we're having a bit of a warm spell here right now (80's), it is expected to get a bit more fall-like latter in the week. I'm actually looking forward to it (I won't have to worry about the out of control humidity in my little humidor where my cigars lay snug). I'm also seeing a lot of yards and homes with Halloween decorations up already. I have my Jack-O-Lanterns in the windows of Zangz's Geekdom National Headquarters for passers by to get a small kick out of. So whoopee for that.

I'm done for now. I'm sure I'll have a lot more spookiness and creepiosity to dig up real soon. So stay tuned. Zangz.

The Season of the Dead has ARRIVED!!!!

"Into the flames and without shame, Consumed with howls and screams, Pumpkins Grin in their despair, On All Hallows Eve."

From Type-O-Negative's "All Hallows Eve"

It is the 1st of October. Some people are under the impression that Halloween is to be celebrated on only the 31st. But, as you can see by the dead things that have started to occupy my Blog of Geekdom, Halloween shall be celebrated throughout the entire month of October here.

The Halloween season is the most magical time of the year. It is also the most mysterious. As the tree's lose their leaves, the wind starts to chill and the darkness ends the days sooner, our minds tend to play slight tricks on us... or are they just tricks?

The shadows grow darker and seem to take on form. There is a smoky cent that permeates the air at nightfall. We seem more susceptible to see movements out of the corner of our eyes when nobody else is in the room. We think we hear faint cries in the night as we take an evening stroll. The graveyards and abandoned buildings seem to give off a strange energy of those who were once here and are now in the beyond.... or do they return during this season?

For the entire month of October and the Halloween season I'll be waxing poetic on all things creepy, spooky and undead here in my Blog of Geekdom.

So lets welcome these strange beings from beyond with something I haven't done in a while. And that would be another....

ZANGZ'S BLOG OF GEEKDOM'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT:

Haunted Wisconsin

This website is my absolute favorite this time of year! I know, I already have it as one of my permanent links here on the Blog of Geekdom, but I think it needs special accolades. This site is in it's fifth year and is a wonderful resource for everything that's going on in the Wisconsin area that's Halloween or Haunted Attraction related. Want to go to a local haunt but, don't know how the get there? Are you trying to figure out if a particular haunt is appropriate for your kids? Do you want to find a haunt that's nearby? Do you want to know if a specific haunt is up to your standards of scare? Do you have to many frelling questions about haunted attractions in Wisconsin? Then this is most definitely the place for you! This site has message boards, reviews, information and links to many of the local haunts that pop up this time of year. It's a well rounded resource for those of us who like to get are spook going!

Well, I gotta get started sprucing up my den of geekdom with Halloween decor. So I'll talk to you again real soon! Have a Happy beginning to the Halloween season.

Zangz.

I'm no Roger Ebert....

...But I know what I like when I see it. And after sitting through the new Sci-Fi action thriller, Serenity (based on the short lived Fox TV show, Firefly) I can certainly say that I liked what I saw.

Keep in mind that I was a fan of the show which ran a few short years ago. Apparently, so did a whole bunch of fans who cried afoul when Fox unceremoniously gave it the ol' heave-ho due to ridiculous number crunching tactics of Fox's rating police. Fans bonded together to make sure that Firelfy would live on in some way, shape or form by starting more than a few fan sites all over the net. This brought on the attention of not only the series creator, Joss Whedon (of Buffy and Angel fame) but, also some movie execs who decided to put a film out that would continue the adventures of the crew of the freighter space ship Serenity.

So the movie came out today and I took the day off and went over to the theater to see this puppy. It's definitely a movie that Firefly fans will absolutely adore! It has all the action, humor and mystery of the show. It also has that slightly ampped up quality that movies get when the come from TV shows. It also has a very Han Solo feel to it. A bunch of rougue's gettin in over thier heads.

The not too distant future story follows the crew of a freighter space vessel (Serenity) who are carrying a doctor and his mysterious, telepathic sister. Of course the main totaliteristic intergalactic government are looking for her. Thus, interstellar madness ensues.

All the characters from the TV series are all present and accounted for, though some have far more screen time than others. (Highlight to read major spoiler)...

Some don't make it out alive which will make hard core fans drop their jaws!

There are also some major questions from the series that get answered in the movie. You find out River's little secret and you also learn more about those pesky freaks, the Ravers. Quite revealing and darn fine writing from Joss!!!

I only had two slight qualms with the movie (and they were ever so slight).

One: the main antagonist never really gets his come-uppence. There's no falling into a reactor shaft or being blown up on a ship or being impaled on sharp piece of scrap metal. The only thing he gets thrown at him at the end is... a threat. Yep. He's threatened that if he's ever seen by the captain of Serenity, Mal, ever again, he'll be killed. To which his reply is the equivalent to "Ok, I'm outta here and won't bug you again." WHAT?!?!?! C'mon Joss, give us a little carnage when it comes to the bad guy!

Two: I'm not sure how people not familiar with the TV series will accept Serenity. Though they do a good job acquainting the audience with all the characters and where they've come from and who they are, there could still be a feeling of "Now who is this person?" Especially in Anora's case (Ohhh Anora... my belicima....... sorry, lost myself again.) Though she was a main character in the series, she doesn't pop up until half way through the picture and then plays a major role.

I'm also afraid that this movie won't do great at the box office, because people who aren't familiar with the series will see it as just another fanboy, Sci-Fi film. It probably won't be given the chance it deserves from the public. Jerk-knockers!

Now where does this all leave the future of the Serenity / Firefly franchise? Well. there certainly are some finalities in the movie! However, it does end with some openings for more movies or shows. But, it could also put a "Fin" for the whole story also. Only time will tell. Hopefully, we'll see the crew of the Serenity in some new format sooner or later. It's just too good of story telling to lock up forever!

Well, that's my little review. In a nutshell, if you're a fan, you'll love it as I did. If you're not, you'll certainly enjoy it, but see it as a cute little Sci-Fi film.

P.S. All the women in this movie are certainly quite smooth on the ol' fan-boy peepers

Tomorrow is the official beginning of the Halloween season, October 1st! Watch for some changes here in the Blog of Geekdom.

Zangz.

P.P.S. No. I didn't do all that linking I usually do. Just go to past Blogs on Serenity and Firefly and click on those links there. I'm too darn lazy today!