Vampires of the Wild Kingdom

The Vampire Squid: "Like many deep-sea cephalopods, Vampire Squid lack ink sacs. If threatened, instead of ink, a sticky cloud of bioluminescent mucus containing innumerable orbs of blue light is ejected from the arm tips. This luminous barrage, which may last nearly 10 minutes, is presumably meant to daze would-be predators and allow the Vampire Squid to disappear into the blackness without the need to swim far." -- wikipedia entry on Vampire Squid from Hell The Vampire Bat: "...The furry, bean-shaped bat with its rodent-like face resembles a rat with wings, but bats are actually more closely related in evolution…

Metal Distortions: New Photo Set Posted to Flickr

Check out "Metal Distortions" -- my latest photo set over on my flickr gallery.  I've just uploaded about ten distorted versions of rock concerts I've been to this year. I especially like the way the shots from the Judas Priest Epitaph tour turned out. The above shot is actually one I did NOT post to the flickr gallery, because it uses the same photo as another one I altered that is a bit cooler ("Metal on Metal").  But I like it...even if, for some reason, it reminds me of The Walking Dead comic series. Comments always welcome, anywhere on the…

You call it ‘disturbing,’ I call it…

This recent comic from Dan Piraro's bizarrocomics.com made me laugh. And as a "horror writer" and also a writing teacher, I can also identify with both the analyst and the analysand in many ways. But there's a lesson for the writer in this. My analysis here is that it is neither the axe, nor the obsessive gaze of the man on the couch, but the bow tie that makes this comic work so well. All good stories have conflicts that generate tension and here the tension is apparent, between the man with a weapon -- held in a way that…

"I rejoice in the presence of death because I think it's what makes life brilliant and beautiful. And without it, the world would be ridiculous. I’m interested in it from every point of view. My interest in it has not dimmed with its approach." -- Orson Welles (died 1985)

Deadizen Kane

Awesome Bill Murray Art Exhibit – ‘Please Post Bills’ at Gallery1988

My long-standing adoration of comedic actor Bill Murray is probably no secret [see my earlier entry/photo:  "Peter Venkman, Ph.D. -- Busted" ].  So you can imagine how enthralled I am by the new exhibit of Bill Murray-inspired artwork at Gallery1988 in California, called "Please Post Bills -- An Art Tribute to a Comic Legend."  Nearly all of Murray's major film characters are represented and I was pleased to see that some were not overlooked amidst all the Ghostbusters and Steve Zissou images (especially "Big Ern McKracken" from Kingpin).  I was impressed by the numerous horror interpretations, especially the zombie versions…