******SPOOKY SPOILERS!****** In the span of a month, my wife and I have gone to see comedian Paula Poundstone, comedian/world class art-collector Cheech Marin, and, as of this weekend, director/writer/comedy legend Mel Brooks’ 2007 musical adaptation of his own 1974 horror-comedy film “Young Frankenstein”; all at the modern, comfortable Lewis Family Playhouse. The Inland Empire-based…
Month: October 2026
Retro-Musings for Halloween: “The House that Dripped Blood” (1971) doesn’t waste a single drop…
******BLOODY GOOD SPOILERS!****** As a little kid, my favorite magazine (made of paper, for younger readers) was editor-publisher Forry Ackerman’s legendary “Famous Monsters of Filmland,” the behind-the-scenes horror magazine that launched more than a few careers, and inspired many of its young readers (my then eight-year old self among them). One image from that magazine…
Beaming up for “The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World”…
Made by Star Trek fans for Star Trek fans I’ve been a fan of writer Mark Altman since his days at Cinefantastique magazine, which was a must-read for me in my twenties and thirties. I’d later buy Altman’s books, including “The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek,” which he cowrote…
“Backrooms” (2026) explores other dimensions of horror …
******SPATIAL SPOILERS!****** Every so often, I like to do random image searches on my computer for liminal spaces. Images of deserted spaces between destinations; empty corridors, a bus depot late at night, abandoned offices, warehouses, etc. For some reason, I find the solitude eerie, yet oddly tranquil. Having worked retail for (too) many years in…
An evening with Cheech Marin: Culture, Comedy & Chicano Art…
Somewhere East of “East L.A”… Having recently seen comedian Paula Poundstone at the Lewis Family Playhouse, as well as the amazing one-man play “I’m Not a Comedian… I’m Lenny Bruce,” written and performed by Ronnie Marmo (“General Hospital”) the Inland Empire-based theater is quickly becoming a favorite venue of mine. Its auditorium is much smaller…
Retro-Musings for Halloween: “Tales from the Crypt” (1972) digs up up a few good scares…
******SPOOKY SPOILERS!****** Back in 1981, in eighth grade, I made the “Perfect Attendance Club” at my middle school (the only year I’d do so). The reward for our tireless academic dedication (hehe) was an exclusive auditorium screening of a horror anthology movie from Amicus Productions called “Tales from the Crypt” (1972), in full 16mm glory….