monsters and zombies

okay...

so, we'll see how that whole monatauk monster thing develops.
did an old guy with a shopping cart just come along and wheel that thing away?

here's the thing; though both my parents grew up in my hometown of rhinebeck ny, i spent the first 8 or 9 years as a kid in the town of hicksville, long island, while my dad was a cop in the city and my mom was an elementary school teacher--well, until my brother and i came along. hicksville was one of the levittown communities ("rows of houses that are all the same...") and we had a great time there in the 60's, going to salisbury/eisenhower park, wantaugh park, jones beach, and, in the summers, when my dad would get a weeks vacation, we would go camping out on the very tip of long island in montauk. this worked out real well 'cause my dad and his buddies could sleep all day and go surf fishing all night and all us kids and the moms could spend the entire day at the beach! as a kid of 6, 7, 8, it was great! plus, we got to see a lot of hippies!

my brother and i were just talking about taking a drive down there to see if there was anything left of what we remember. probably the lighthouse and maybe a few other permanent landmarks...maybe...but we just thought it would be a fun trip.

we were gonna go down on the 12th, but some prior commitments made us have to put it off.

missed the monster by that much.

damn.



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one of the reasons i really wish i lived closer to matt and christian is because of the zombies.

as a kid--i'll admit it now--i went through a period where i was a bit of a wuss when it came to horror movies. i remember our babysitter, debbie reismueller, getting me all freaked out when "attack of the 50 foot woman" was gonna be on--and then she paid for it when i called from my bed all night long that she had to turn the sound down, i could still hear it. i had an incredibly over-active imagination and i saw scary stuff everywhere! to this day, i get the chills thinking about the "old lady with her eye hanging out" that i supposedly saw in our neighbor's attic window!

anyway, i got braver--and more fascinated--and then obsessed with horror movies in the 80's when all the slasher flicks started becoming so popular. i loved the suspense, i loved the gore, and i loved learning how they did that stuff (enter fangoria magazine!) but mostly, i remember taking my girlfriend to see the first "friday the 13th" and thinking, "man, is she gonna shriek like this and dig her nails into my arm and bury her face in my chest at every horror movie...? then we're gonna see them all!!"

and we did.

besides karen--that screaming, nail-digging, face-burying girlfriend--i had another friend, my best friend, dennis, who loved the hack-'em-ups as much as i did. we went to anything and everything we could and would travel quite a distance just to see a horror movie that didn't make it to our local cinemas. good times.

but dennis and karen are long gone and most horror films are straight to dvd these days. and i don't really have anybody nearby that appreciates the thrill and the excitement that comes with going to--or popping in--some low budget masterpiece that's definitely gonna make me squirm and reel and, later, wonder how they did it. (without actually decapitating someone, i mean...)

matt and christian are those guys. they get together every now and then to go catch the latest bloodfest on the big screen of check out a new release dvd. they discuss it at great length and have fun just reveling in the gore and the horror. they are horror buddies and, man, i wish i lived closer.


christian sent me this awesome playground picture about a month ago. i love it!



and here is a cool/funny/creepy website that matt sent me the other day...




http://www.zombieharmony.com/?speed=0&speed=0&limbs=0&speed=0&groaning=on#

thanks, you guys!
all i can say is
braaaaaains....

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here are your
"five for friday"

1. who wrote and directed the classic "night of the living dead"?

2. who wrote and starred in the zom-com shawn of the dead?

3. what character did stephen king play in the mini-series adaptation of his best-selling novel, the stand?

4. what award-winning make-up effects legend provided the splatterrific gore for dawn of the dead and day of the dead?

5. pets

a. what was the name of ross' pet monkey on friends?
b. what was the nickname the crew gave the giant mechanical shark on the set of jaws?
c. what was meredith and derek's dog's name on grey's anatomy?
d. what was the name of the cat that alf was always eager to eat on alf?
e. what was the name of the partridge family's dog?

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd