Santa Rocked my World Again!

I'm going to plop in here quickly tonight as I have a boat load of geeky activities planned for my New Years weekend. I've rented a couple of movies as well as The Darkness for the Xbox 360.

Speaking of games for the Xbox 360, some very good friends got me Bio-Shock and I'm already into the thick of it. I have to tell you that it certainly is a wet dream (pun intended) for those that have a love of both FPS games as well as survival horror games since it merges the two. The decrepit undersea city of Rapture is not only beautiful, but also a wonderfully creepy seascape to traverse through! Especially since it's ridden with lots of crazed zombiefied nut jobs that need to be extinguished. Then with some Santa money I was given I went out a got myself Mass Effect as well as the 4 disc director's cut of Blade Runner, something I've been wishing they'd come out with since I bought the lame ass director's cut that came out years ago. The one that was just a transfer of the wide screen film version with little to no extras.

So Santa was good to me once again! That fat bastage will have a hard time toping the last two Xmas' next year! He better start planning a head of time!

I told this would be a quick plop!

Zangz.

'Twas Zangz's Blog Before Xmas.....

.......And all through his room, he sat at his computer nursing a head cold of doom. With few presents wrapped and little holiday cheer, the one thing he could count on later was a nice cold Holiday Spice Beer.

Blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda and whatever-the-hell else-you-want-to-put-in-there.

Despite another huge head cold and the immense crevasse that my credit card bill did to my bank account this month, surprisingly I'm actually in slightly more festive mood than I was last year. I'm not sure why. Christmas is designed for three different types of people, 1) People with big families, 2) People who are quite religious and 3) The Rich and Wealthy. I fit into none of them. But, still I'm not quite in the holiday funk I was last year. Actually, I think it was the Xbox 360 that my family put in for me last year that tore me from the funk.

Ah, yes. It's always good to know that material things can always bring me closer to the joy of Xmas.

There are a few Xmas parties that I am looking forward to. Good food, good friends and a good cold lager. Isn't that what Xmas is all about? Oh yes, there's always that kid in swaddling clothes story that's bandied about. (I'm going to hell.)


Anyway, I've been a little behind on reviewing some of the movies I've been renting lately. So here are a few.....

Spider-Man 3 - A lot of my friends saw this before I did and were quite disappointed. Personally I found it enjoyable, but not quite reaching the same level of the previous two. Perhaps it was the fact that there were too many characters and plots going on at the same time. Or maybe it was the out of place and just plain goofy dance and musical number right in the middle of the story. One more than welcome component was the always fun Bruce Campbell cameo. His French restaurant host was pure genius. It's a fun ride, but not quite up to par as the last ones.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - This other Marvel comic book based movie had a bit of the opposite effect on me. Where I found the first FF film just "ok", Silver Surfer was quite a bit better, both in action and story. Still, not something I'd go out and buy or rent again, but a fun romp, none the less.

BloodRayne and BloodRayne II: Deliverance - These movies were based on the character from the semi-popular video games that came out quite a few years ago. They featured a striking female Dhampire ( half human, half vampire) who would battle against Nazis. There are no Nazis in either movies though. The first movie takes place during the Renaissance of Western Europe and the second movie follows our heroine to the wild west of America. Both these movie were directed by notoriously slammed director Uwe Boll. He's not well regarded by the fanboy community when it comes to his films. Mostly becuase he directs straight to video movies based on video games. Most of them are darn near unwatchable. I do feel that the BloodRayne movies are a little more tolerable than some of his other endeavorers (ever see House of the Dead 2?). Unless you're the ultimate BloodRayne fan, you may want to steer clear. By the way, does anyone know how they actually got Ben Kinglsey to be in the first movie? Oscar winner, Sir Ben Kingsly?

Wing Commander - This movie is based on the popular computer games of the '90's. It's basically your "military in space" type movie. It's also a complete waste of time. Nothing happens in this movie. Nothing. We've seen this all before in other military movies. The movie doesn't even acknowledge the bad guys until the very end of the film. WTF? Not worth it. Go watch Battlestar Galactica instead!

Six String Samurai - I've been itching to see this film since the website Ain't-It-Cool-News was touting how incredibly wonderful this post apocalyptic, 1950's inspired, Kung-Fu-esque flick was. Well, after several years of searching for it, I found it through my on-line rental club. After viewing it for the first time, I have to say that I have mixed feelings about it. Perhaps my expectations were a bit on the heavy side. This is probably the cheapest movie I've ever seen. Shoestring budget is an understatement. The sets, effects and wardrobe were slapped together pretty quickly. Now, there are some upside qualities to this movie. Some of the dialog is pure fun! There are some really good lines here! Some of the fight scenes are decent, yet not shot well. The main character, a Buddy Holly wannabe, armed with both a guitar and samurai sword, traversing the post apocalyptic desert to reach Las Vegas grew on me. However, his annoying little brat of a sidekick who did nothing but shout and moan throughout the whole flick, DID NOT. If you're into quirky independent cult films, then this little diddy is probably more your speed.

The Time Machine - Now this one I enjoyed. It wasn't in the theaters too long and if memory serves it was due to the movie being released at the same time a few other blockbusters were. So, sadly, it kind of fell to the wayside. But, it certainly was a decent effort to bring H.G. Wells' Victorian time travel tale back to the big screen. Though, not as epic as it could have been, it was still and enjoyable escape from reality. And there's nothin' wrong with watching Samantha Mumba run around in a loincloth.

Pathfinder - Here' one I really enjoyed! A young Viking boy is brought up in ancient North America by an Indian tribe. As he grows to into manhood, both his Indian and Viking skills are put to the test when the returning Viking invaders destroy his village and hunt him down. It's First Blood meets Braveheart meets Dances with Wolves. I really got into this one and my pick it up for my own collection. A good manly geek movie! Long live Vinland!

Apocolypto - This movie had a very parallel plot to Pathfinder. But, instead of it revolving around Vikings and Indians, it features the story of an ancient South American tribe's village being invaded by the aggressive Aztec Empire. Of course, there is one young tribesman who escapes his captives and unleashes some serious pain on them. I know a lot of Mel Gibson haters will want me to trash the film, but I really enjoyed this one also, even though Mel pulls no punches when it comes to violence in this film. It's pretty darn bloody. The weapons of that period were rudimentary and brutal. The wounds and scars certainly reflect that. The cinematography was incredible and the wardrobe and settings were quite the sites also. Especially when they get to the Aztec city. I may pick this one up also.


That's it for films for now. Now on to another geek media love of mine.... Video Games!

I'm currently playing through he single player portion of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Where the first three COD games take place during WWII, this storyline is brought up to today's military times. You find yourself in places like the war torn middle east, war torn Russia and other war torn places around the globe. Pretty much everyplace you visit is war torn. The game play is pretty good, but it can be confusing at times as to what you're supposed to do in an immediate and stressfully situation. You don't get many hit points either. Two or three shots from the opposition and you're toast. So cover is incredibly important here! The graphics are the best I've seen to date on a next gen counsel! It is THE MOST photo realistic graphics I've experienced yet. It boggles the mind of what graphics will be like within the next 10 years. I don't know if it's a game I would by (like Mass Effect or Bio-Shock... for those of you who still haven't gotten me a Xmas present), but so far, I'm pretty impressed.

And speaking of Mass Effect, I did have a chance to play through some of it over at Roberto DelAmorte's place. This is one epic action role playing game! It plays great and looks awesome, but drags a little with all of the dialog you have to sift through to get to the meat and bones of the story. But, still, it's one I'd like to have in my own personal collection (hint.. hint... Santa).

Since I have a few days off this weekend, I'm getting reacquainted with Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. I haven't watched them in a couple of years and remember how they were released right around Xmas. So for me they're a big part of my Xmas celebration.

HEY! That reminds me of some really great news I heard recently! The boneheads at New Line Cinema have finally come to their senses and have worked out some legal wrinkles between Jackson and themselves that had banned Jackson's involvement in the Hobbit movies. Though he won't be directing them, he will be producing them.

So I'm off to finish The Two Towers right now. Then it's off to Mom's to help decorate her place. Then it's off to Roberto and Iris' place for a small casual Xmas get together.

So, a very merry Zangzmas to all and to all, a good night!

Zangz.

An Ozztastick Zombiefest!!!!

The weather around here has been the poops. Lots of cold and snow followed by both cold and snow with more snow and cold that will most certainly follow. If one day isn't snow filled, it's sure to be deathly cold. Old man winter is getting quite abrasive early in the season.

Then there's the fact that I just got home from Xmas shopping. Figuring what to get who and wondering if they have it already really blows!

But, despite Mother Nature's hatred toward mankind and the huge Xmas dent in my wallet there was one wonderful moment this week.

Thursday afternoon I'm checking my phone messages on my lunch break and there's one from my podcasting buddy, Double A Man. He tells me he has a couple of free tickets to go see Rob Zombie and Ozzy Osborne in concert. Now who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. It had been about 10 years since I saw Ozzy last (on his first farewell tour) and I've never seen Rob Zombie in concert before and have always heard it's quite the spectacle!

I have to say the show was awesome!!! We got there just a Zombie was about to take the stage. Once we got seated the lights went down and 6 or so video screens started playing the faux movie preview that Rob Zombie produced for the two Grindhouse movies. Then the giant devil's head that was at the center of the stage and doubles as the drum platform opened up and Rob Zombie walked out from it as the band drove into the Zombie tune "American Witch". the show featured a lot of fun schlocky, horror induced multimedia as well as lots of fireball pyro effects, dancing girls and Mr. Zombie strutting and hopping around the stage. The only disappointment was the fact that his set list was exactly the same as his new live album's. So if you have the album, you know exactly what he's going to play and in what order. You'd think he'd surprise us and change it up a bit. In any case it's great to see that showmanship and imagination haven't been totally killed off by the god awful grunge music scene of the 90's.

You'd think that it would take a while for the roadies to change the set up for Ozzy after Zombie. It literally was like 15 minutes, the quickest change over I've ever witnessed in all of my 20 plus years of concert going.

The lights went out once again as a vignette of pop-culture spoofs with Ozzy edited into them played on the giant curtain and two side video screens. Some of the little skits featured were from Pirates of the Caribbean (Ozzy is Capt. jack and bites the head off of a parrot), The Office (Ozzy relieves himself in ????? office) and The Queen (Ozzy.... Ozzy... well, Ozzy has intimate relations with the queen of England). This led to the infamous Ozzy intro music of ???????? Then the Zack Wilde's guitar starts ripping through the speakers and next thing you know the curtain drops and Ozzy and the boys are pluggin' away at his latest single, "Never going to Stop" Ozzy was in fine spirits and many times during the show he sprayed foam out of a fire hose into the first few rows. Of course the giant monitors up and around the stage caught all of the foam covered goofs banging their heads with nary care in the world.

Ozzy stuck to much of his solo repertoire while ending the final song of the last encore with Sabbath's "Paranoid". During the final bow, a plethora of fireworks blew up over the heads of the band as they did a mock fall to the floor schtick. It was the type of big huge rock show that I hadn't seen in a long long time. I enjoyed it throughly!


I've also been doing a lot of video gaming as of late. I recently blew through Medal of Honor: Airborne. This was a fine addition to the line of MOH WWII FPS games! It took me about 9 hours total to get through and much of it was pretty challenging. It could have been slightly longer, but still a good game.

Another one I rented a bit back was TimeShift. This puppy looked darn good and was real challenging! At times it was darn right frustrating. The look took from a sort of not too distant future meshed with a bit of steam punk in an alternate history. A lot of the plot we've seen before (was very reminiscent of Half-Life 2). One of the main features touted for this game was the fact that you can manipulate time by slowing it, traveling back in it and speeding it up. This sounds like it would be awesome, but it kind of falls short as you're only given a few seconds ot time travel capabilities each time you use it. This leads to some frustrating deaths as you'll need to master the time travel techniques to get through many traps and puzzles.

I've also been playing the Shivering Isles add on to Oblivion. It's great to be able to travel in a whole new realm of the massive RPG. There's some pretty creepy and odd quests, areas, creatures and NPC's to deal with. So far it's very cool!


I know what most of you are asking yourselves, "What the frack should I get Zangz this Xmas?" Well, here are a couple of ideas.

- Money towards my new computer.
- Bioshock for the Xbox 360
- Mass Effect for the Xbox 360.

Well, I have a busy week ahead of me (so if I don't get in here before the holidays, here's wishing you and yours a very geeked out Holiday Festivus!

Until next time, Stay Vertical!

Zangz.

I Smite Thee, o' Blue Screen of Depair!

There's a nasty snow/sleet/wind storm outside right now... Evil Kneivil died yesterday... and Kevin Dubrow of Quiet Riot passed away earlier this week. So what's there to celebrate, you may ask?

Well, it's taken a little bit of time and a good chunk of change, but my new "Command Center of Geekosity" (aka: new computer) is up and running. It took most of the day to pull out the old one, set up the new one and load as much as I could onto this little beauty. It's so nice to be able to run more than 3 applications without the computer freezing up!!!

There were a few programs that wouldn't load and a few things I couldn't import. I'm no computer geek, sadly. So I had to take up much of my time re-entering my entire address book for the email system. My photo manipulation program wouldn't load off of its disk, so I may have to invest in a new one. As I type this out I'm reloading as many of my CD's as I can before I pass out from hunger. It's called multitasking, folks. Look into it. I also have to find all of my old favorite websites since the list I saved to the flash drive refused to have itself recognized by my new computer. I've visited and saved as many as I could so far. I can still open them from the file, though. Perhaps tomorrow I'll get up early (bahahaah) and start saving some more.


In other goofy news. Remember a month ago I went to go see Type O Negative at a local music club. The venue posted photos of the show that can be viewed HERE. You can witness the debauchery for yourselves. Here's a fun little game you can play. Take a closer look at this picture HERE. I'm actually visible somewhere in that picture. Good luck finding me. It's kinda like a pathetic version of "Where's Waldo?", except it's Where's Zangz?


Ok, I'm getting something to eat before I hit the hay. I promise that I'll write a few better blogs in the weeks to come, once I've settled things out with the new system. Until then, Stay verticle!

Zangz.

The Dreaded Blue Screen Blues......

COMPUTERS SUCK DEAD GOATS' UNMENTIONABLE BODILY APPENDAGES.... that I can't mention here on blogger, but you can probably figgure out for yourselves.

I am blogging to you from Roberto DelAmorte's computer today, since mine is dying a slow painful death. After a very long day at work last week, I decided to come home and relax by doing some surfing on the web. As my 5 1/2 year old computer was booting up, it flashed me the dreaded, "Blue Screen of Desolate Despair". I rebooted and got the same thing. Rebooted again... same thing. Upon my third reboot I got a DOS screen that gave me the option of booting up in the Fisher Price blocky looking, "Safe Mode". I did so and it booted. I then did a restart and got the blue screen two times while it booted up, but it did boot up. I then got a memory stick and put all of my essentials on that puppy. Sadly I couldn't fit everything, but I got enough that I needed.

The next day it booted up right off the bat. But when I tried to open more than one progam, I would get a blank black screen. I'd hit the Cntrl-alt-delete combo and it would reboot the computer just fine. But, again, working with more than one program was too much for the sad little Gateway fella, and I'd get the blank black screen again and again.

I've given up and have decided to start looking on the Dell website for a new one. It's always fun to rip a huge wad of cash out of your bank account right before the holidays. There is no god. And if there is, he hates me.

So if Zangz's Blog of Geekdom is dormant for a bit, you know why. Hopefully I'll be all set up within a couple weeks and can lay my old Gateway to rest and welcome in a new, superior system (Vista-less!!!!!) that I'm sure will find new ways to not do what I need it to.

Iknow, I know. First the writer's stike puts a halt to al the great TV shows that are on (Bionic Woman, Lost, 24) and now in the hour of our genre needs, Zangz's Blog of Geekdom goes down.

Be patient. I hope to be back up and running before Christmas, if not much sooner!

Zangz.

And the full blown Zangzified BAH-HUMBUG begins!

Ya know folks, we weren't two seconds out of the Halloween season when the holiday media blitz smacked us upside our heads. THE very day after Halloween there were Xmas lights in the malls, Xmas music on the radio and holiday shopping commercials on the TV! WTF?

This crap starts earlier and earlier ever frackin' year! This year I vowed I wouldn't be as much of an Ebeneezer Scrooge as I was last year. But, how am I supposed to keep that promise when the jack-o-lanterns haven't even started to rot before the schlock fest of Xmas advertising started up. Heck, I see some people still haven't even had time to take down their yard haunts yet. Can these holiday people possibly give us a couple of weeks before the Santa lovin' starts, for Pete's frickin' sake?!?!?!


And on another negative note, here's a quickie warning for you fantasy film fans. I rented A Bridge to Terabithia and have to tell you it's nothing like what it is advertised as being. If you think you're going to get a fun filled fantasy adventure where two kids find an alternate world in some nearby woods, think again. This funeral dirge of a movie is more along the lines of Disney's Old Yeller than Harry Potter. I rented this movie thinking I was going to get a fun, children's' fantasy story as Disney advertised it as being. Sure, it starts out making you think that's what you're going to be getting. But, once they hook you in, Disney drops the blade down hard. What you end up getting is a sad tale of great loss. The adverts made it look far more fantasy driven than it actually is. The fantasy side of things deal more with the kids' imagination than being transported into a fantasy realm. Sure the end of the movie ends up on a hopeful, happy, Disney note. But, you're probably going to be still hemorrhaging from the kidney punch of a plot twist they throw at you 3/4ths into the movie.

I wouldn't have had as much of a problem with the movie if Disney would have honestly advertised the movie as what it truly is, a children's drama. Not a fantasy film! I wasted 2 hours of my life on this depressing movie when I could have been playing more Resident Evil 4!

You have been warned!


Last week me and my buddy Roberto had a "guys' night" as his lovely wife was out at a spa for the weekend. The night started where most guys' nights start, a fine dining establishment known as Hooters! The wings were tangy and my chilli dog was a fine piece of meat. The beer flowed nicely as two pitchers were slowly imbibed. Then came a quick trip to the local movie rental place where we picked up the new Xbox 360 game, Conan: the Barbarian game and the Robert Rodriguez film, Planet Terror. Once we arrived at Casa Del Amorte an outdoor fire pit was started and cigars were huffed up for a while. Then it was back inside to warm up with more beers, games and movies. Whooo Hooo. It was just what the doctor ordered after that week! A damn fine time was had by all!!!


Speaking of the '360, I just picked up an expansion pack for my game Oblivion. It's called The Shivering Isles. As if Oblivion wasn't a huge enough fantasy world, there's a whole new dimension to it with a creepy, maddening world were everybody you encounter is bat-shat crazy. I can't wait to get into that one. Jeez, I have a plethora of games to get through. And I doubt I'll have time tomorrow as I'll be doing some more Call of Cthulhu gaming to do.

My own group of CoC gamers are starting to get really cheesed at me while I have my little affair with Mad Mario's groups. But Mario will be shmooshing both groups into one big group. Then I'll have more CoC time to reboot my own group.


Well, I'm gunna get goin'. Have a great weekend and try to tolerate the feekin' holiday cheer that has infested the world about two weeks to frackin' early.

Zangz.

And the dead crawl back to their graves....

I had to try and pop in just before the last day of the Halloween season. I doubt I'll have any time to blog here tomorrow. So I'm taking advantage of this time now to wish everybody out there in the world wide web a very.....






Here's the counts for this year. Pretty much the same as last year.....

Pumpkins Carved: 2

Halloween Parties Attended: 3

Haunted Attractions Visited: 5

Name Them: Glacier Rock Farms: The Dark, Morgan Manor, Morgan's Torment, Fin & Feather Haunted Trail and Terror on Rural Street.

Seasonal Fall Beers Tasted: 7

Name Them: Samuel Adams Octoberfest, Tyranena Octoberfest, Haaker Schore Oktoberfest, Lakefront Brewery's Oktoberfest, Lakefront Brewery's Pumpkin Ale, Harvest Moon's Pumpkin Ale, Dogfish Head Punk Pumpkin Ale (the best yet!).

Call of Cthulhu games attended: 2

Type O Negative Concerts Attended: 1

Number of Yard Haunts Spotted (really decent ones!): 5

I also have to give a major shout out to Iris Von Beaverhousen and Roberto DelAmorte for their truly spooky Halloween festivus they threw this past Saturday. There was a graveyard, a floating ghost, and inflatable haunted house, hidden pirates treasure, a plethora of food and tasty brews, a mad scientist's laboratory, a ghoul who'd watch you pee and the whole nine yards. A very wonderful evening was had by all!!! Thanks again, for the great time!!!!

And that's it for Zangz's Blog of Geekdom's Halloween shenanigans. The dead have only 26 more hours to swallow the livings' souls. So they better get crackin', pronto!

Have a Happy and safe Halloween!

Zangz.

The Dead have Returned....

I have to tell ya, this week has been one heck of a nard-lick of a week. Talk about some serious ball-bustin' work I had to do. Usually the week before the last weekend before Halloween is one of anticipation and good times. This week was all about work. And it's still not over 'cause I have to drag my sorry, exhausted behind into work again tomorrow morning. Only for a few hours, but still... it's a frackin' Saturday for the love of Jebus (inside joke on that slang term).

On top of the frustrating work week I had I just found out my favorite beer emporium, Murray's Wine and Liquor, is shutting down at the end of next week. It's mostly due to greedy land lords who want to get rid of what they consider "riff raff" so they can put up high rent condos in the area. They boosted the rent to 3 times what it had been. Frackin' dren heads!!! This was not your run of the mill liquor store. This place was a beer drinkers dream with loads of imports and micro brews that were hard to find. The staff was all about customer service and were always incredibly helpful. Why do all good things disappear due to greedy people?

But, there is at least one thing to look forward to! Iris Von Beaverhousen and her man-servant, Roberto Del Amorte, will be throwing a Halloween costume soiree tomorrow night that myself, Mad Mario and his lovely wife Hope will all be attending. I'm hoping that this will cheer up my spirits a bit (pun intended, not a great pun, but still intended).


Last Saturday my favorite band, Type O Negative came back into town on their Halloween leg of their Dead Again tour. They pretty much changed most of their set and I have to say this was one of their best shows yet! It seems that when they tour during the Halloween season, they're always in top form and outdo their usual tours.

Opening for them was local boys Lockjaw, who were pretty decent but not anything entirely new. Then came Finnish theatrical - horror rockers, Lordi. These guys were a trip. They were kind of like GWAR with the whole big costume and make up stuff. The lead vocalist looked like the bastard child of Gene Simmons and Orson Wells. Each member of the band was in full prosthetic make-up. The guitarist was a mummy, the keyboardist was a vampiress, the drummer, a demon and the base player was some sort of Skelletor like warrior. They had a lot of schtick with set pieces that involved the lead vocalist chewing on human body parts, spraying the audience in fake blood with a chainsaw-like contraption and the lead vocalist's cape rising up to be bat wings. They also had a bunch of grave stones on the stage with a back drop of a haunted castle. An impressive and fun band. I just wish the audience were more into them. But, it was Type O's crowd, after all.

The traditional pre Type O fan torture before they came on wasn't nearly as grueling as it had been in the years past. The last couple of tours they would play marching band music or Bee Gee's tunes during their set up time. This year was 80's Hair Band Metal power ballads that were played over the speaker system before Type O took the stage.

Once the lights went out, Moonlight Sonata played over the speaker system with sounds of thunder mixed in. This lasted for 5 minutes straight. Jebus, just get your Brooklyn born asses on stage already! Once they got on stage they drove right into it. Here's the set list....

Moonlight Sonata (Intro that lasted a bit too long)
Pain (Not something I would have opened with, but nice to hear, all the same)
Halloween in Heaven (Now this is what I would have opened with!)
Wolf Moon (I loved this! Great to hear!!!)
World Coming Down (Another great one!)
September Sun (Played hauntingly wonderful!)
Christian Woman ( A standard and classic. If they didn't' play this one they'd be shat upon from a great height!)
Gravity (OK, but they seem to play this one to death every tour. I would have implemented Dead Again or I Don't Wanna Be Me rather than something that is slow and overplayed at their shows.)
Kill All The White People (I've heard that his is Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson's favorite tune!)
Black No. 1 (See my remark on Christian Woman... same deal)
Frozen (Something I haven't heard them play live since I first saw them opening for Queensryche 12 years ago. They even had snow machines going off.)
Encore_____________________
Unsuccessfully Cooping with the Natural Beauty of Infidelity (aka: I Know Yer Frellin' Someone Else - A fifteen minute opus that fully exposes the frustration of being cheated upon in no uncertain terms. Every time they play it live it's pure magic!)

Pete (lead vocalist / bassist / main song writer) was dressed in a priest's collar and their back drop was an ancient, dilapidated religious shine in the middle of the woods with a bright green background (the band's color).

It was truly a great show and I'm quite glad I spent the coinage to go see them!

That's it for now. I'm really hoping to pop in here sometime before Halloween to regale you with how the party went. But with work being so out of control... we'll see. If not, have a very wonderful and undead Halloween!!!!!

Zangz.

Not as Spooky Blog as Blogs Past... Sorry.

Sadly, there's not a lot of Halloween goofiness in my schedule this week. But, I did finally score a day off today. The crappy thing was that I woke up with a small head cold that my body has been fighting for the last couple of weeks. I thought I had it beat, but of course, on my day off, it decides to attack.

But as of now, I'm actually feeling quite better and spent the day lazing about playing some video games and watching a movie or two (scroll down for reviews).

While my fellow haunt fans are spending a weekend up north hunting deer and baking cookies out in the spooky woods (where there is pack upon pack of werewolf's!), I'll be enjoying my favorite band, Type O Negative, who are swinging back into town for a special Halloween extension of their Dead Again tour. Apparently, their set list has changed for this leg of the tour and they've changed their stage presence a bit. I'll let you all know how it goes.


As I've said before, I've seen a few more Halloween/Horror movies and will now spout off on what I thought of them, even if you don't give a dren.

1408 - Although I didn't find this movie all that spooky, I did really love the performances of John Cusak and Samuel Jackson in this paranormal thriller. I was also hooked into the story of a paranormal writer (Cusak) who finds himself locked in a horrific hotel room that not only won't let him leave, but also unleashes some serious psychological and physical terror upon his ass. A very good rental!

The Fog (2005 remake) - Why? Why try and tell an already successful, spooky as frack cinematic horror story? The original The Fog had nothing wrong with it in the first place and certainly stands the test of time in this decade by itself. Why try and re-imagine it? Perhaps because Hollywood is running out of ideas. In any case, I found this The Fog just a retelling of what was originally told, but with snazier effects and less creepiness. They've also seemed to take the original plot and characters and just mixed things up a bit. Same story, but events take place at different times. The ending was so friggin' cheesy I had to shake my head in disgust. I won't give it away, but they try and make the character that Jamie Lee Curtis originally played (now played by Maggie Grace) far more involved in the whole story line, so her fate comes off as being just plain goofy and silly rather than heartfelt and romantic as they probably intended. Don't fix what isn't broken!

Dark Water - Don't rent this thinking you're going to get a really creepy, spooky horror flick. Sure it involves a ghost and the paranormal, but it leans far more into depressing drama than anything else. I did find myself emotionally invested in Jennifer Connolly's character of a single mother trying to get through a very bitter divorce as she and her daughter movie into a crappy, run down apartment building. Of course the building is haunted to the gills by a ghost that has a fetish for water. Since I got so friggin' invested in this movie, I felt completely hosed at the ending. I won't give it away, but I will say that I felt my whole investment was all for absolutely nothing and I was actually a bit angered by the ending. Don't expect spookiness or a decent ending to the story!


On to less spooky things......

I found out some blurbs of the upcoming (don't hold your breath for it) Star Wars TV show as some juicy tid-bits did filter out over the Internet and airwaves. A lot of entertainment news shows told us what we Star Wars fans already new, that it will not revolve any of the popular characters from the movies. No Skywalkers, no Chewies, no R2s. Perhaps there may be some characters that are distently related to characters of smaller rolls from the films. It will take place between the films, Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope and will explore the growing Galactic Empire. If they can do this a bit grittier than the films with writing that is on par with TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Firefly and Farscape, they're sure to have a HUGE hit on their hands!

Another sci-fi franchise that is getting a well deserved re-booting is that of Star Trek. The latest movie that is in the pipeline will introduce us to a young Kirk, Spock and McCoy in their first adventure on the Enterprise together. It's being directed by none other than geek god, J.J. Abrams. So there's a lot of hope for this project! They have Zachary Quinto (Sylar form Heroes) as Spock and Karl Urban ( from LOTR) as McCoy and frellin' Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead / Hot Fuzz) as Scotty!!!. Those are three reasons right there to get excited about this project. The one thing that worries me is who is rumored to be cast as James T. Kirk. Originally, Matt Damon's name was bandied about for the role of the iconic captain of the Starship Enterprise. But, instead it looks like actor Chris Pine may be getting the role. Who the frell is Chris Pine? Good question. When I saw pictures of him, he looks more like a guy who came off of one of those MTV reality soap operas or perhaps a J. Crew ad rather than the manly captain of the Enterprise. If this is true, he'll be in, what I call, a Daniel Craig position. In other words, he'll be filling the role that is seeped in iconic mythos and better fit the part. Craig pulled off Bond beautifully. So here's hoping that Mr. Pine does the same for Kirk.


This is all I have for now. I may just go outside and have a cigar as the season is winding down very soon! So I gotta do some huffing before it gets too cold outside.

Zangz.

More Dead Stuff.....

Wowzers! We're well into the Halloween season and I'm finally getting to posting a new blog. The past couple of weeks have been jammed packed with exhausting work as well as a good dose of Halloween hi jinx! So I'm going to get right into it with a good dose of what I like to call drive-by horror movie reviews. Quick and sweet, here we go....

Dead Birds - A good Civil War era spook story involving a group of bank robbers hiding out in an old haunted plantation house. Lots of blood, lots of spooks. I liked it! It didn't make it to the big screen in wide release, so fellow horror movie fans need to spread the word.

Ginger Snaps 2 - Nowhere as good as the other two Ginger Snaps movies, probably due to the fact that one of the tow integral roles to these movies was missing throughout most of the flick. A big part of these female werewolf movies was the interaction between the two sisters. When one of them is taken out of much of the script, it loses a lot of it's charm. Still a decent enough story. It was ok.

Perfect Creatures - This flick kind of combines the feel of Equilibrium and the Underworld flicks with a small dose of Metropolis thrown in. However it's nowhere as near action packed as the former two. The story takes place in an alternate 1930's where vampires and humans coexist peacefully, until one vampire starts to give into his bestial nature. A real cool idea and premise for a story, but it drags quite a bit. Another decent movie to check out, just don't expect a whole lot.

Boogeyman - There's nothing new to see here. Boring story, boring spook, and nothing we haven't seen done a lot better in other supernatural thrillers. The cheesy CG'd villain was not worth the rental. Pass on this.

Session-9 - David Caruso heads this impressive ensemble cast that drives this horror thriller. The setting and acting are the foundation of this movie. The viewer is always wondering if this is a tale of ghosts and spooks or of the downward spiral into human madness. A decent enough movie, but don't expect to be too creeped out.

The Grudge 2 - Have you seen the first Grudge flick? Good, then you've also seen this one also. Not much difference. But if you really liked the first one, you'll probably like the second as it's pretty much the same movie. There are some pretty good creepy moments in this one.

Darkness - Another supernatural, haunted house, thriller that doesn't bring anything new to the table. Well shot and well acted, it still doesn't really differentiate itself from other haunted house movies.

On to other spook filled stuff! The last couple of weekends we haunt enthusiasts ventured out and found a few to visit. Here are the reviews...

Glacier Rock Farms, The Dark Side- This one was a haunted mine shaft meets haunted hayride meets haunted trail. We were all really happily surprised at this one. At only $10 a pop we were treated to an hour's worth of haunted delights that may have lacked a bit in pacing and amount of effects, but certainly made up for in fun filled surprises! The Good: The mine shaft (if slightly longer) could have the potential to compete with the more popular haunts! The glowing insects on the hayride were certainly a surprise to my lower extremities. The soundtrack that accompanied the hayride helped with the atmosphere nicely. The Bad: Could have used a lot more scenes. Things were quite barren during the hayride and haunted trail. There was also a major pacing problem after the mine shaft when we had to wait about 20 minutes before the hayride started. But, this little gem of a haunt has a HUGE potential and should be checked out by more haunt fans! Longer bang for your buck also.

Morgan Manor & Morgan's Torment - These are one of the more popular attractions that have a lot of publicity behind them. They're pretty much two haunts in one that you have to pay separately to get into both. Let's start with the good: Excellent actors, excellent sets and excellent effects! Now the bad: Both haunts ($10 each, $20 total) took us only 15 minutes to go through. We were rushed through both of them by the scare-actors. This was a major downfall as there's lots to look at and see throughout the haunts since there's a lot of detail in both. Now if they combined both haunts into one and dropped the price to around $10 to $13 bucks, I don't know if I would have felt quite as jipped.

Fin and Feather's Haunted Woods - Here's another haunt that only cost $10 and still delivered. Though, not much in the length department there was a lot of effort put into this show. The Good: Good actors. Cool pirate ship. Excellent graveyard! The Bad: Clowns. They don't scare, they annoy. Only 15 minutes. Most haunted trails and woods take quite a bit longer to traverse. The Hot: The bartendress who took our tickets. The Creepy: The old drunk at the bar who wanted us to come back after the trail and let him know how we liked it.

Terror on Rural Street - Traditionally we always try to hit this haunt. Last year, after being closed the previous season due to legal drama, it wasn't quite as good as it had been in the past. This year they fully made up for it. This puppy was in full scare swing this year!!! I think this was one of it's best years yet!! The Good: Damn near everything. Among the top of my list, the attic scene, the swamp scene, the actors, the sets and the fact that both of my cohorts got completely soaked in one scene where I made it out slightly moistened. The Bad: Honestly... I got nothin'. This haunt was the one at the top of my list this year. Definitely worth the $10 and 15 minutes to go through.

I think that will be it for haunts this year as next weekend we're taking a bit of a breather from Halloween activities. However, there's a huge Halloween party in the works that will be thrown by my friends Iris Von Beaverhousin and her faithful servant Roberto DelAmorte. Rumors are humming that there may be a special effect or two that is being worked on for the party. I know I've contributed some old fake gravestones I had laying around. This could get interesting.

I already have a costume picked out with a back up costume at the ready should something go ary. I'm going to be a toxic plague victim. I'm hoping no one brings their appetite to the party.

What was that you just asked? What am I listening to right now? Oh, well, It's Nightwish's Dark Passion Play. If you're into Finnish, orchestral, uber-dramatic, epic, Heavy Metal. They're worth checking out!

Hey kids, that's it for this week. I'll check in again before the season's over. Make sure you do something spooky this week.

Zangz.

Amongst the Graves.....

And now for something completely different.....

"He walked to his mother's grave to put flowers on it. It had been a few years since the sickness took her and he was here for his yearly pilgrimage to her grave.

He didn't do it out of duty, he did it out of devout love for the woman who raised him as a single mother. Some would tell him she was dangerously overbearing. But, he knew that she was the one who made him the man he was today.

Though most of the newer plots were in a big area that was in an open field with small gravestones embedded into the ground, his mother's grave was over in a slightly wooded area amongst far older graves. Some dating as far back as the early 1800's. What were once straight white and grey monuments with legible text on them were now neglected, moldy and worn pieces of stone. Many of them were cracked and crooked. The surrounding trees were twistedly shaped into tortured, anguishing angles that were starting to loose their leaves.

It was late in the afternoon and the sun was setting through the crooked trees giving off a quite beautiful atmosphere as he reached the one nice marble, outcast grave that was his mother's.

He laid the bouquet of lilies on top of the grave. They were her favorite and god forbid he not honor her October death without a yearly offering of them.

He knelt down to say a prayer. Within seconds he found himself weeping uncontrollably, laying on top of his mother's resting place. It was then he heard it....

'Stanley.... Stanley, listen to me.'

It was muffled, but it was coming from the very ground underneath him.

'Stop crying you silly mope! Stop being such a Nancy Boy!'

It was his mother! For the love of god! It was his mother!

'Why haven't you killed all of them yet? They still live and walk and talk and don't deserve to be alive! Why have you failed me?"

Who was she talking about? Co-workers? The neighbor's? Politicians? Rosie O'Donnell and those ding-bat's on The View? That guy on the bus who picks his nose like it was no body's business? Who was his mother talking about, Stanley wondered out loud in agonizing cries.

'All of them, Stanley... Every single last one of them!'

Stanley suddenly sobered up his whining.

'Thy will be done, Mother. THY WILL BE DONE!'

With that Stanley left the graveyard with purpose and, for the first time since his mother's death, direction."

See what a couple of pumpkin ale's, free writing and the Halloween season do to me, folks. I don't know where that bit of prose came from, but obviously the season of the dead has it's wonderful grip on me.

So while I'm in the mood, why don't I give you a few more Halloween movie reviews.

Resident Evil & Resident Evil: Apocalypse - These are great if you like a decent mixture of wild action and zombie infestation. There's a lot of ass-kickin' action in these with a good dose of fun filled zombie craziness. Not much on plot and story, though. Again, there's always the Milla Jovovich factor. Not too much of a difference in the first or second. Basically, Milla and groups of others fight off hordes of Zombies that were created by mistakes of corporate greed. Cool enough for a good chuckle. Die hard zombie fans may get slightly more out of these movies than the rest of us. But, I had a good time watching them.

Elvira's Haunted Hills - Not a horror movie, per se, but definitely within the Halloween theme. This "prequel to the first Elvira: Mistress of the Dark movie was kind of a goof-filled romp that is a homage to many of the Hammer Horror movies. Nowhere as good as the first Elvira movie that came out nearly a decade before, but for die hard Elvira fans as well as fans of goofy humor and Hammer Horror films, definitely worth a peek at least. Though, not much more than a peek as a lot of the humor is pretty cheesy and horrible.

Practical Magic - Again, not much of a horror film, but certainly worth of a look see. It is the one and only chick-flick that I will swear by. Why? Three reasons. 1) It involves an undead, evil spirit, 2) Witchcraft galore and 3) both Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman look smokin' hot in this one.

Ginger Snaps - A cool as heck, coming of age, goth chick, werewolf movie! Even though it wasn't a huge budget horror movie, it still has a hell of a lotta charm to it. What happens when two outcast goth chick sisters have to deal with coming of age as well as lycanthropy? Guts fly everywhere... as well as a good dose of storytelling. Though it doesn't have quite the slickness as the werewolf movie, Blood and Chocolate, you care more about the characters here. The acting is pretty good which helps the story move along faster as some of the movie does do a slight bit of dragging. Keep in mind, the movie isn't just about werewolves tearing people apart.

Ginger Snaps Back - A prequel to Ginger Snaps that goes far back into the history of the family of the two Fitzgerald sisters of the first film and explains why lycanthropy is a part of their heritage. This story takes place as in the early 1800's and finds the girls (great ancestors to the sisters of the first film played by the same two actresses) alone in the wilderness trying to find refuge. They come to find shelter in a fort that has only a few surviving soldiers left after nightly raids by packs of werewolves. This is where the fun begins. This one leaned far more toward horror movie rather than coming of age flick. Though it initially got poor reviews, I really liked this one. I found it to be a really good werewolf tale with lots of scares and gore to satiate my inner ghoul. Definitely worth checking out if you're into werewolf lore.

The Decent - Now this puppy delivered!!! It actually starts like a chick flick. A bunch of adventurous women decide to go on a spelunking trip up in the remoteness of the Appalachian Mountins and bond after one of them loses their husband and child in a car wreck. It at first reeks of touchy, feely type drivel. But, you have to be patient as the story telling takes it's vital course. Once the group gets lost in the caves of the mountains you'll feel quite satisfied as this film changes from chick bonding story to all out survival, horror adventure! Apparently there was nothing on the map that mentioned that there might be quite a few half human, half bat, all rabid inbred creatures lurking about the maze-like caves. Suddenly the women have far more to worry about than claustrophobia! A really great modern day horror film! Word to the wise though..(SPOILER: Highlight to read).... It doesn't end on a happy note.

Ok, then, on to the real world....

My friends and I are having a rough time trying to find a Haunted Attraction to go to this weekend. Apparently only 2 or three are open and a few of them are quite a road trip away and one of them, which we've been to a couple of times now, has raised it's admittance fee to about double of what it was last time ($20 bucks for one haunt that doesn't change too much from year to year? Ya gotta be kiddin'). So we're going to pass on that one this year. However, next weekend's picks look far more promising as we'll REALLY be into the Halloween season by then. Maybe we'll find something to do tonight. If not I have a boatload of video games I need to get into ( see last blog post).

I did happen to finish Call of Duty 3 and found it a really great WWII FPS game! There were points in that game where I felt a bit shell shocked after some levels. It hearkened back to a game I played a year or so ago, BLACK. Another great FPS.

That reminds me that the long delayed Halo 3 came out earlier this week to much media and gamer fan fare. Reports from a few people I know who have played the game say it is "AWESOME". I'm going to wait a while as I have numerous games to complete before I venture into the world of Master Chief.

Sunday I start my two-parter Cthulhu game as a player. I'm looking for inspiration to restart the games that I run. Here's hoping I make my first few sanity roles!

I'm going to call it a day here as I have some fall cleaning and Halloween decorating to do.

Until next time... Go spook yerselves silly!

Zangz.

The Spook Season has Cometh!!!!!

Well, I can officially attest to it being the Halloween season again! Whooopie! It might not quite be October yet but, the pumpkins are starting to pop up, the Halloween swag is out in the stores, the local Haunted Attractions will be starting up next weekend and the change in the color of the trees is quite noticeable already. I even saw a gaggle of geese flying out of town, trying to escape the coming of the living dead. Animals can sense that crazy kind of stuff, ya know.

And speaking of the living dead, they'll be plenty of it here in my Blog of Geekdom for sure as there will be Haunted House reviews and Horror movie reviews also. I've been catching up with a lot of Horror flicks I've wanted to see through that movie club I belong to. So get ready for the season of the undead!


As some may have noticed, there's been hardly any action on my podcasts since May. This is due to a few reasons. First of all, we decided that rather than having shows where I just blither on like an idiot by myself, there should definitely be more interaction with other people. My Star Wars round table shows were the most popular to date. So we'd like to do shows where I have a guest or two on. Now, getting people to find time to get together to do these shows is quite a challenge. We all have busy lives and scheduling these shows is a bit tougher than you think. Second, the guy who produces these podcasts, "Double A-Man", has been busy with a plethora of projects lately. And thirdly, I've been a lazy bastard! But, I'm hoping to do something soon, so stay tuned. Halloween is coming and me and Roberto may have a show or two coming up!


Speaking of Horror movie reviews, here's a couple quickies to kick the Season of the Dead off here in my Blog of Geekdom!

Dead Silence - In a Horror movie era where there's a definite lack of decent supernatural thrillers that are being replaced by slasher flicks, bordering on torture porn, this creepy little ditty was quite enjoyable. The sense of eeriness is abound as the ghost of an old lady ventriloquist, who can posses her old puppets, haunts a small, run down town, seeking vengeance on all. There's some really great creep out scenes in this one, though, it does get a little cliche at times. Still if you're creeped out by undead puppets and really spooky old ladies, this is one for you!

The Messengers - Another paranormal / supernatural thriller that I really enjoyed! This one is a little more laid back and subdued compared to Dead Silence. What happens when a family who are trying to start thier lives over buy a haunted farm house in the middle of Nowhereville? Madness ensues! Sure, this one was a little slower than other thrillers I've seen, but again, the creepiness was aplenty. It was especially nice to see upcoming actress, Kristen Stewart, work her acting chops in a role I was really impressed with (and not in a creepy old man kind of way). The one and only problem I had with this whole movie was the twist ending that I figured out about 1/3 into the movie (Highlight for spoiler)...
It was an obvious red flag to bring in a character, played by a recognizable actor, into the early part of the movie that at first seems to have no relevance to the plot. He just hangs out a lot. This had me thinking, "Hmmmm.... either he has something to do with the past of this house or producers wanted a name actor in the role for set dressing." I bet on the former of the two and was proven correct.
Otherwise, this was another really good creepfest. Especially for those who like more spookiness than gore.


In more spooky stuff, my participation in the RPG, Call of Cthulhu, is making a triumphant return in a couple of ways. Since it's been a while since I ran a game I'm going to be doing some reconnaissance and try out being a player rather than a game master. I'll be playing with a different group of people than I usually play this game with (which I'll probably get loads of flack about from my player, Iris Von Beaverhousen, in the coming month). It's only two games that I'll play in and then I hope to be reinvigorated to start running new games with my usual group for the winter season.

In more geekish news...

They've finally settled on a name for the next Indiana Jones movie, due this coming May 22nd. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Yep! Sounds good and pulpy! I've heard some murmurings on the story (Spoilers: Highlight to read again)...
Apparently, since it takes place in 1957, Jones will have no Nazis to tangle with. But there still has to be that cliche military antagonist for him to go at it with. So this time he'll be up against the Soviet army who'll be forcing him to help them find some sort of ancient crystal skull.
Sounds pretty feakin' cool. This will be the ONE summer movie of '08 that I will just have to see!!!

What video games have I been wasting my life away with recently, you may ask? Well I got to the end of Gears of War, but the final boss was impossible to beat. After talking to people who had beaten the game, it was revealed that you have to bee hooked up on-line and be in co-op mode for two people to beat it. My other gripe with this post apocalyptic monster shoot-em-up game was that the single player mode was WAY TOO FRACKIN' SHORT! Visually, it's an awesome game and the game play is excellent! I just wished it delivered in length and didn't have an impossible ending.

A game I just started was Call of Duty 3. Though I've played a few other WWII FPS games, I never have played a COD title. I love it so far! Great graphics and artwork, loads of non stop fire fight action and it's many levels long. So length is NOT a problem here for single players.

I've also just bought a few older games from the used game store. Mercenaries (haven't played yet), Legacy of Kain (haven't played yet) and to keep the Halloween spirit alive, Silent Hill II. What little I played has yet to get to the real creepy parts and I now realize how spoiled I am with the graphics of the Xbox 360, as the graphics for SHII are pretty bleak in comparison. But, it is what it is.

Also in the Halloween spirit, I'm still trogging along with Resident Evil 4. I finally got through that god awful giant fish in the lake scene, now I'm escorting the President's daughter through the creepy, old western European town where cultists and creatures are all over the place. Very Lovecraftian influenced!

Well it's Saturday and I've got games to play, videos to watch, beer to drink. More spookiness to come!

Zangz's out!

Soon... the darkness comes, the dead rise and the Halloween season is upon us!

If ya can't feel it comin', ya got no friggin' soul!

The trees are starting to change color, the stores are starting to put out their Halloween seasonal wares and decorations, and I've been enjoying quite a few Oktoberfests! So far I've tried Bells' Oktoberfest (VERY good! A bit pricey, though.), Capital Brewery's Oktoberfest (Pretty good.), Lakefront Brewery's Oktoberfest (another nice surprise!) and Dogfish Head "Punk"Pumpkin Ale (A wonderful treat that actually tastes like pumpkin pie!!!!). And of course there's the old tried and true Samuel Adams Octoberfest! I still have yet to have a taste of Capital Brewery's Autumnal Fire Tripplebock. That tastes great, but will knock you out! God, I love the fall season!

I have to make this one real short and sweet as I'm over at Mom's to help her move some stuff, but she hasn't arrived yet. So I'm doing a drive-by blog here before she shows up and the work begins.

Later tonight, I'll be enjoying some pizza and some games. Then hopefully a nice cigar by a warm fire.

As for things I have planned here on my blog of geekdom to help celebrate the Season of the Dead, I'll be having a few Haunted House reviews and some horror movie reviews of recent rentals as well.

And if you've been wondering about my podcasts, we took a bit of a summer sabbatical and will return very soon to celebrate Halloween as only Zangz's Pod of Geekdom can do!

That's going to be it for now as I gotta get going. Take care, enjoy the weekend and start to get ready for the coming of the dead, 'cause they sure are getting ready for you. Bwahahahahaha!

Zangz.

The Bloodshed of Last Weekend...

Another week passed, another blog ignored by most of my constituency. Oh well, I'll blog anyway.

Last weekend was a blast. The only minor scrape (more like cut) was Saturday right before a friend of the family's wedding when I was punching another hole into my new belt (that was to small) with a very sharp pen knife. The pen knife slipped and took out a small wedge of my right thumb. It was one of those classic, Zangz's "I DID NOT JUST FRACKIN' DO THAT, DID I?" moments of my life. After much bleeding, band aiding, and medical taping, I went to the wedding with a huge bandaged thumb. I still took time out from the excitement of the wedding and pain of my thumb to have a nice sweet Gurkha stogie with my brother in law. On top of that, it was an open bar. Thumb be damned! I had a good time.

Sunday's festivities brought on pain of a whole different sort when a few close friends were pummeled by light speed water balloons. Both Iris and Roberto ended up with slight bruises during Robhain's (see last blog) water balloon war. Damn good time it was also. Even I got a smack of water filled rubber up the side of my head. Good times.... good times. The evening ended with a fire pit and a nice big assed stogie. This thing was close to a 60 ring gauge. It took an hour and a half to go through... much to the chagrin of the more anal party goers. Bruises, good conversation and a stogie. Another successful Robhain.

Than Monday I traveled back in time when men wore tights, had foppy accents and were prim and proper. No! Not the local Gay Pride Parade. It was the nearby Renaissance Faire. Good food, good ale, good company and chicks in chain mail. Gotta love it! It's great to go somewhere where everyone is kinda on the same page in an imaginative state. Though, a lot of the fantasy driven folk somewhat clashed with the more Ren-historic people. One minute your talking to someone from Queen Elizabeth's court who's explaining what the Queen's royal feast was like, the next your seeing a group of leather clad, sword carrying invaders march throughout the streets with their banner held high as they yell, "Out of our way! Make way for the hordes". There were also people with elven ears on and goth chicks playing harps and other such string instruments. The best thing about Ren Faire is that 75% of the people in costumes don't even work there! I should make it an annual trip there, rather than wait a few years at a time.


Well, the Octoberfests and fall seasonal brews are suddenly hitting the shelves with reckless abandon. Within the last few weeks I've tried a few new Octoberfests and a fun pumpkin ale. On top of all that, there's an ever so slight tease in the color of the trees. Their slowly starting to change color. Not much to notice if you're not looking for it, but it's there. The season of dead comes ever closer!!!! Watch for quite a few horror movie and haunted house reviews coming your way here in the Blog of Geekdom!


I'm outta here. Short but sweet.

Zangz

Jerry will have to take a back seat this weekend....

This is going to be painlessly short as it's the Labor Day weekend and my whole weekend is positively CRAMMED with loads of fun and frolic!!!

It all starts with a huge wedding of the sister of a childhood friend. This friend and I used to run around our neighborhood at night and try and scare the bajeezers out of each other. We called it Spooky Time and would actually set up mysteries for each other to solve. We also pretended to hunt ghosts and monsters like they did on Saturday morning cartoons. That was when we were like 12 years old. Now he's all grown up, has a military career and actually taught at West Point for a spell. And I'm all grown up and I'm still trying to spook people (Just ask my friend Iris about the undead Civil War soldiers buried in her back yard.). So, tomorrow his little sister gets hitched and my family gets to attend. Here's hoping for a open bar.

Then the next day is the infamous ROBHAIN (Samhain+Roberto's B-Day=Robhain!). I've blogged about this a few times before, like here and here and here. Every year it's an absolute blast. Every year someone loses an important body part, every year someone leaves in a huff and every year Roberto gets the shat spoiled out of him! Hmmm... Leaves me to think that maybe I should whip up myself a big shindig this year. You only turn the big 4-0 once. I should put together something special for myself, shouldn't I? Let's see, who'd want to come. Hmmmm? It would probably end up being me, some of my old action figures, my various autographed pictures of actors and actresses from Star Wars and a plastic Halloween skeleton decoration that I have hanging in my bedroom (Somebody, end the pain for me now.)

Then on Labor Day I'm going to the local Ren Fair! Now that's one hell of a geeky way to celebrate Labor Day!!! I wonder if there will be any Trekkies there dressed in the Starfleet uniforms pretending that they're in a Star Trek episode where A) They've found a gateway that allows them to travel back in time. B) They've found a planet that hasn't progressed past the medieval /Renaissance period. C) They've gotten lost in one of the hollo-deck programs. No lie. This is actually a bit of a past time for the more obsessed Trekkie. But, you know what? I think that as odd as that is, I also think it's kind of cool in a counter culture kind of way. And you don't get any more counter culture than going to a Ren Fair dressed as a Klingon Starfleet officer.

So my weekend is booked! I don't even thin I'll even get a peek at the Jerry Lewis Telethon this year. But ,you can bet your sweet a$$ that the weekend will involve a good brewski and cigar or two... or three... or four... probably more like several!

Until next time, stay vertical and enjoy your 3 day weekend.

Zangz.