Rock Me! Shock Me! Paracineme!

Yo, Wuhstah! You know what goes down this weekend? 

Clearly all sorts of amazing things, if a still from A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is involved. So dig out your Revolutionary War memorabilia and Red Sox gear for Massachusetts' annual horror convention, Rock 'N Shock!*

*Yes, I've been told that Worchester is actually not near Boston, but what else does Massachusetts have going on that I'm supposed to know about?


The point is, if you're anywhere near the DCU Center & Palladium this weekend, come on over to meet the likes of Robert Englund, Lance Henrikson, Roddy Piper, Gary Busey AND his son, and the aforepictured Mark Patton or really, ME!

Don't worry. I'm no longer blond. Or sporting a Jareth bulge.

I'll be heading up with my GleeKast cohostess Erica, The Podcast Podcast's Fozziebare, and Buried In a Book Crypt's Ashlee to roam the floors on Saturday and Sunday.  Outside the Cinema will be streaming all weekend with an open chat room, so if you can't make the trip, pop on there to see the festivities. It's sort of like watching Joan and Melissa Rivers on the red carpet, but with clown makeup and rubber masks.

Which is sort of like watching Joan and Melissa Rivers on the red carpet anyway.


If you're heading to Rock 'n Shock, be sure to say hullo or else once I find out you were THERE and didn't, I'll fear that I fell into a Silent Hill-esque alternate dimension that will forever keep me away from Sean Bean. No one wants that. 

Stop by the Outside the Cinema table or shoot me an email (deadlydollshouse at gmail.com). Now that I have an iPhone, I can know about the Interverse when not connected to my computer. Although I also just upgraded my settings and will probably not actually be able to work it so if nothing else, look out for the short brunette with the loud voice and Merrell Sneakers.

Greatest shoe design of all time.

But juggalo sighting and bootleg DVD shopping isn't all you have to look forward to this weekend. Over yonder at Paracinema, the makers of the greatest genre magazine of our time are feeling awfully generous. If you purchase any issue between today and Sunday (October 16th) you'll be entered to win a free (and awesome) t-shirt! THIS ONE!

I own one myself, and it's comfy AND kickin'. Plus I also own A LOT of Paracinema magazines and they're smart, funny, informative and fascinating. Head to their website and skim through back issues for one that catches your eye, or pick up the new one complete with writeups on Inside, Bela Lugosi, censorship, Turkish ripoffs and much much more. Travel back in time to The Women's Issue (#11), composed entirely of writing by females (including my own take on George Romero's misplaced feminism). Issue 8 is a Tommy Wiseau fan's own bouquet of roses, while Issue 10 has perhaps the writing I'm personally most proud of, my article on Victor Salva's Clownhouse. Browse your choices and pick your raffle ticket, or get an actual subscription to keep you clothed and smart for years to come!

Excitement! 

HallowStuff

During this Best Month Of the Year, many fine and ambitious bloggers load up on the energy-high-ifying candy corn pumpkins and produce a post a day, which is impressive and near impossible when your fingers are growing as chubby as candy corn pumpkins by eating, well, so many candy corn pumpkins.

Once again, I'm nowhere near organized enough to truly put together a huge October plan, but I'll do my best to attempt to produce Halloween-themed content, be it a review of Satan's Little Helper or an announcement of my costume plans (tick tock, tick tock, tick shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit).

But in between stressful candy corn gorging in the hopes of formulating a Halloween plan, I've been busy elsewhere, namely Rogue Cinema. This month, you can find two new reviews of intriguing short films, including Joel Reid's Death By Death, Tyler Cathey's 5ive,  plus an interview with The Absent's writer/director, Sage Bannick

Head there for a batch of other interesting musings on film criticism, indie flicks, and Grindhouse goodness (and badassness).


Also this week, GleeKast! A new episode featuring Stamos drool, ultimatums, and inappropriate sexual activities in the library. You know you want to dance along, so download and enjoy...bitch.

Oh oh! And remember dear Eastern Americans (or as I like to call, Eastericans), should you be in or anywhere NEAR the Wuh-ster area of Massachusetts next weekend (October 15th-17th) you BEST be stopping by the annual Rock 'N Shock horror convention. Guests include some dude with a ponytail named George, Bill Esprestin Esquire, Ruggero "The Barbarian" Deodato, and more. More importantly, I'll be hanging out all through Saturday and Sunday with GleeKast cohostess Erica, plus a bunch of other supercool Internet people. So really, unless you're a Yankees fan or have some other allergy to New England, we'll see each other soon, yes?

Rock That Shock

Ahhhhh, conventions. If ever there was a playground for the kids that usually hid under bleachers during recess to play in, these would be it. This past Sunday, my dear friend Erica and I crashed Massachusetts’ Rock & Shock for some celebrity spotting, obscure DVD shopping, and confidence boosting due to the generous population of people less attractive and socially skilled than myself. Highlights included:

-Sharing NY bagels with Bill, Chris, and Mel of Outside the Cinema 


-Coming off like a giddy fangirl, then reining it in to have a genuine conversation with Jack Ketchum. The man who, in the past year, has pretty much become my favorite author was quite gracious and amiable about discussing his work and I’m supremely excited to read his latest collection of short stories, Closing Time. This anthology contains a few stories that appeared in a book I often rave about, Peaceable Kingdom, which is currently out of print. I'm thrilled to have these stories back and even more excited to read some new ones.

-Pitching new film projects for the awesomely good-humored Corbin Bernsen to tackle. Since The Dentist sequels are tied up in rights issues, Erica and I suggested the former Roger Dorn take on other professions in the medical field, such as The Orthodontist, The Chiropractor, The Podiatrist and The Proctologist

-Discovering that Malcolm McDowell sports a mean ascot

-Picking up a trio of DVDs: one I truly love (Tourist Trap), one I’ve been waiting for with great expectations (UK’s Dead Set) and one that will probably be awful, but having read the short story, could not be resisted by me (Rawhead Rex)

-Observing the fact that Tom Savini’s son is quite possibly the antichrist. This may be a cruel statement to make about a 6 year old, but the boy was literally sitting inside a garbage can and pointing to another which read “Photos: $3.” This was apparently following the sugar rush the day before, wherein I’ve been told the kid spent most of the afternoon stealing candy from the OTC table

-Chatting with the Crypt Keeper himself, Mr. John Kassir, who seemed genuinely (and deservedly) proud of his work on one of my favorite television shows of all time and shared some interesting tidbits about how the writers adjusted the character over time to suit his clever interpretation

-Being told that Jesus loved me by Jason Mewes, who was very sweet when he had to leave the show a tad early to smoke a cigarette

-”Interviewing” the one and only Kane Hodder for OTC, a 5 minute or so clip wherein I asked Jason VI-X what he learned from taking Manhattan and if he’d ever lost a fight to a short man. The recording should be available through OTC’s feed soon, so Terry Gross has a little time to up her game before I zoom in to seize her headphones. Note this will be done by brute physical force and not interviewing skills because on that front, I’m about as talented as Arsenio Hall. Still, enjoy the sound bites and the sound of me trying to figure out how to hold a microphone.

Overall, we had a blast and I send a giant round of thanks to Erica for driving and being such a hot date, Bill, Chris, and Mel for being such awesome company, and the Rock and Shock show for doing it right. Also, I’ll thank the tanks of tarantulas ($20 each, if you’re interested) simply to not make them angry at me should they ever escape. We’ll be hitting Jersey’s Chiller Theater up for Halloween weekend (in between a costume themed wedding and profuse candy corn consumption) so hopefully there’ll be another round of random conventionness in another two weeks. 

The world is truly a beautiful place.