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