excuse me, ghidorah?

Thither Ghidorah!

2008-05-22T13:10:00.005-05:00

Yes, it's 4 am and I'm gently shaking you awake to walk you out to the stationwagon in your pajamas and guide you into the back seat - carefully avoiding the potato chip bags, water bottles, and egg salad sandwiches in a basket in the floorboard - so that we can start our trip to excuse me, ghidorah's new blog site:

http://linthatcher.podbean.com

Podbean is simply friendlier to podcasting than Blogger -- unless there are Blogger features I have missed over the past several years. There's an mp3 player built into each post, social networking links, statistics, a gazillion links to iTunes and other podcast resources, etc. It's not free, mind you -- but $5 a month ain't so bad.

Check it out. And be sure to subscribe via the new site so that you get updates on new podcasts. There are some new and interesting things in store for ghidorah this summer!

Whither Ghidorah?

2008-05-16T17:22:00.008-05:00

A new episode has arrived! After many ups and downs, challenges and crises, I managed to pull off another scintillating hour or so of rambling, earnest, pseudo-philosophical monologue. This time it's back to the origins of the podcast -- long ago, in a time of magic, etc. You can download the episode by right-clicking (PC) or control-clicking (Mac) the title "Whither Ghidorah?" above or, of course, visiting iTunes or Podcast Alley.

Actually, my wife, Susan, was very ill for a while there and podcasting took a back seat to sheer panic and constant prayer. Things are better, although there is still adjusting to meds and, oh yeah, a brand new baby on the way. That's right, Hatcher critter number 4 is in the works. The fourth child is a strange, mystical intrusion -- throwing off the back seat sitting order in the car, for example. Where does the fourth kid go? If we let kid number 3 get away with anything, what will we do with number 4? All that's left is criminal activity -- and that is out of the question, unless, of course, it involves smuggling Bibles into atheistic totalitarian countries. Or hopping swimming pools at Disney World.

If one of this podcast's loyal listeners happens to be a publisher or agent and happens to feel one of the various trilogies is bookworthy, please get in touch with me at borderlinevoodoo@mac.com. I particularly think the Commodification trilogy and the Kitsch trilogy combined would make a great book, examining the wreckage of commodification and how graces still manage to shine through.

Finally, this here podcast blog is moving over to podbean.com. For a preview, take a look at http://linthatcher.podbean.com/.

The Books On My Side Of The Bed

2008-02-28T20:41:00.013-05:00

Well, here's an odd podcast for you. A careful accounting of the books on my side of the bed. Just sit back, relax, and listen to the titles... the authors... the various bookstores... ah, yes, it's all coming back to me...

Just click on the headline above to download the audio file. Or head over to iTunes or PodcastAlley.com.

ALSO: In an effort to promote ChristianHalloweenFan.com, I have set up a service called Horror On TV which provides a weekly listing of upcoming horror movies for those of us who burn the midnight hours on the DVR. I gather the info for myself anyhow and figured other horror geeks might enjoy a look. While visiting, they may even decide to purchase a copy of my book The Magic Eightball Test.

I hope you will find this episode amusing. It's not the usual thing and is rather goofy. But I am worn to a frazzle and have to take a break from the usual Sturm und Drang.

The Magic Eightball Test: A Christian Defense of Halloween and All Things Spooky

2008-02-24T13:43:00.005-05:00

Just a reminder that my Halloween book is still out there -- an easy target for any leftover Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket. The topic: "What happens when a pumpkin carving, trick or treating, late night monster movie watching monster fan becomes a Christian? Is Halloween now off-limits? Is the whole thing pagan, occult, satanic? Is a love for spooky things and Gothic detail just plain sick?" Head over to http://www.lulu.com/content/313854 and load up.

read more | digg story

Horror on TV: Listings for 1-14 thru 1-19

2008-01-14T12:27:00.000-05:00

Hooked on DVR and horror films? Well, you've come to the right place. Almost. You still have to go to this here link to find Horror on TV listings (plus Mystery and Suspense in which horror films will sometimes crop up) which I have pieced together for 1-14 to 1-19.

Of course, tonight (1-14) is the big Val Lewton festival on Turner Classic Movies starting at 8pm, I believe. Followed by practically every Val Lewton shocker except The Ghost Ship.

Tivo links are provided this time. This is a weekly thing I'm doing at the blog page for ChristianHalloweenFan.com. Take a look.

TCM Highlights

2007-12-31T14:30:00.000-05:00

Here are some January highlights on Turner Classic Movies. Blue = noteworthy director (including three William Castle films I was not familiar with and a slew of Val Lewton films along with a new documentary), Red = I like it a lot; Green = a rarity (at least rare for TV). Also, if you are a Cagney fan, there's LOTS of Cagney in January.

-- Lint

All Times Eastern

1 Tuesday

8:00 PM

Things To Come (1936)

Two generations of philosophers try to bring an end to war. Cast: Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, Cedric Hardwick. Dir: William Cameron Menzies. BW-97 mins,

9:47 PM

Short Film: King Of The Duplicators (1968)

C-12 mins,

10:00 PM

Time Machine, The (1960)

A turn-of-the-century inventor sends himself into the future to save humanity. Cast: Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Alan Young. Dir: George Pal. C-103 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format, DVS

12:00 AM

Rollerball (1975)

The star of a bloodthirsty future sport tries to clean up the game before it kills him. Cast: James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams. Dir: Norman Jewison. C-125 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

2:15 AM

Terminator, The (1984)

A deadly robot from the future travels back in time to kill a woman whose son will one day defeat its masters. Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton. Dir: James Cameron. BW-107 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

4:15 AM

Warriors, The (1979)

A gang is framed for the murder of rival gang's leader. Cast: Michael Beck, James Remar, Dorsey Wright. Dir: Walter Hill. C-93 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

2 Wednesday

6:15 AM

Devil Doll, The (1936)

A Devil's Island escapee shrinks murderous slaves and sells them to his victims as dolls. Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton. Dir: Tod Browning. BW-78 mins, TV-PG, CC

7:45 AM

Freaks (1932)

A lady trapeze artist violates the code of the side show when she plots to murder her midget husband. Cast: Wallace Ford, Olga Baclanova, Harry Earles. Dir: Tod Browning. BW-62 mins, TV-PG, CC

9:30 AM

Mad Love (1935)

A mad doctor grafts the hands of a murderer on to a concert pianist's wrists. Cast: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive. Dir: Karl Freund. BW-68 mins, TV-PG, CC

10:45 AM

Beast With Five Fingers, The (1946)

After a famous pianist's murder, his hand returns to wreak vengeance. Cast: Peter Lorre, Robert Alda, J. Carrol Naish. Dir: Robert Florey. BW-89 mins, TV-PG, CC

12:15 PM

Living Ghost, The (1942)

A former detective investigates a wealthy kidnap victim who returns with brain damage. Cast: James Dunn, Joan Woodbury, Paul McVey. Dir: William Beaudine. BW-61 mins,

1:30 PM

Ghost Ship, The (1943)

A young innocent signs on with a ship whose captain is going mad. Cast: Richard Dix, Russell Wade, Edith Barrett. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-69 mins, TV-PG, CC

2:45 PM

Woman In White, The (1948)

Classic mystery about the adventures of a young tutor sent to a ghostly country estate. Cast: Gig Young, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet. Dir: Peter Godfrey. BW-109 mins, TV-G, CC

4:45 PM

Scared To Death (1947)

A beautiful murder victim recalls how she met her untimely end. Cast: Bela Lugosi, Douglas Fowley, Joyce Compton. Dir: Christy Cabanne. C-68 mins, TV-PG

6:00 PM

Picture of Dorian Gray, The (1945)

A man remains young and handsome while his portrait shows the ravages of age and sin. Cast: Hurd Hatfield, Angela Lansbury, Donna Reed. Dir: Albert Lewin. BW-110 mins, TV-G, CC

8:00 PM

Sinner's Holiday (1930)

A jealous young man frames his sister's boyfriend. Cast: Grant Withers, James Cagney, Joan Blondell. Dir: John G. Adolfi. BW-60 mins, TV-PG, CC

9:15 PM

Public Enemy, The (1931)

An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime. Cast: James Cagney, Edward Woods, Jean Harlow. Dir: William A. Wellman. BW-84 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

10:45 PM

White Heat (1949)

A government agent infiltrates a gang run by a mother-fixated psychotic. Cast: James Cagney, Edmond O'Brien, Virginia Mayo. Dir: Raoul Walsh. BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

4 Friday

4:30 PM

Crime By Night (1944)

Married detectives investigating a small-town murder uncover a spy ring. Cast: Jerome Cowan, Jane Wyman, Faye Emerson. Dir: William Clemens. BW-73 mins, TV-PG, CC

6:00 PM

Larceny, Inc. (1942)

An ex-convict and his gang try to use a luggage store to front a bank robbery, but business keeps getting in the way. Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-95 mins, TV-PG, CC

10:15 PM

Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)

After killing his girlfriend's father in self defense, a rebellious Native American races to elude a bloodthirsty posse. Cast: Robert Redford, Robert Blake, Katharine Ross. Dir: Abraham Polonsky. C-98 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

2:00 AM

Skidoo (1968)

A retired gangster has to pull off a hit when his daughter is kidnapped. Cast: Gleason, Carol Channing, Frankie Avalon. Dir: Otto Preminger. C-98 mins, TV-14, CC

3:45 AM

Love-Ins, The (1967)

A former college professor becomes a cult's Messiah and sexually preys on its young women. Cast: Richard Todd, James MacArthur, Susan Oliver. Dir: Arthur Dreifuss. BW-91 mins, TV-14

5 Saturday

9:42 AM

Short Film: Coffins On Wheels (1941)

BW-17 mins,

10:00 AM

Whistler, The (1944)

A grieving widower hires an assassin to kill him only to have his late wife turn up alive. Cast: Richard Dix, J. Carroll Naish, Gloria Stuart. Dir: William Castle. BW-60 mins, TV-PG

11:15 AM

Power of the Whistler, The (1945)

A young woman seeks an amnesiac's true identity in the clues in his pockets. Cast: Richard Dix, Janis Carter, Jeff Donnell. Dir: Lew Landers. BW-66 mins,

8:00 PM

Topper (1937)

A fun-loving couple returns from the dead to help a henpecked husband. Cast: Cary Grant, Constance Bennett, Roland Young. Dir: Norman Z. McLeod. BW-98 mins, TV-G, CC

9:45 PM

Topper Takes a Trip (1939)

A glamorous ghost helps a henpecked husband save his wife from gold-digging friends. Cast: Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke. Dir: Norman Z. McLeod. BW-80 mins, TV-G, CC

11:15 PM

I Married A Witch (1942)

A 300-year-old witch wreaks havoc when she falls in love with a young politician. Cast: Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Susan Hayward. Dir: Rene Clair. BW-77 mins, TV-G

12:45 AM

Turnabout (1940)

Battling spouses accidentally switch bodies. Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis, John Hubbard. Dir: Hal Roach. BW-83 mins, TV-G

2:15 AM

All Of Me (1984)

A lawyer's body is invaded by the soul of a recently deceased female client. Cast: Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Victoria Tennant. Dir: Carl Reiner. C-92 mins, TV-14

4:00 AM

Pennies From Heaven (1981)

A traveling salesman's music-inspired dreams lead to tragedy. Cast: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Jessica Harper. Dir: Herbert Ross. C-108 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

6 Sunday

8:15 AM

Spiral Staircase, The (1945)

A serial killer stalks a mute servant girl in a remote mansion. Cast: Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore. Dir: Robert Siodmak. BW-84 mins, TV-14, CC

10:00 AM

Union Station (1950)

A secretary gets caught up in the hunt for kidnappers. Cast: William Holden, Nancy Olson, Barry Fitzgerald. Dir: Rudolph Mate. BW-81 mins,

11:30 AM

Duel In The Sun (1946)

A fiery half-breed comes between a rancher's good and evil sons. Cast: Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten. Dir: King Vidor. C-144 mins, TV-14, CC

2:00 PM

Paradine Case, The (1947)

A married lawyer falls for the woman he's defending on murder charges. Cast: Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Charles Laughton. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC

4:00 PM

Caine Mutiny, The (1954)

Naval officers begin to suspect their captain of insanity. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson. Dir: Edward Dmytryk. C-125 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

2:00 AM

Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinematheque (2005)

Documentary that chronicles the life of film archivist and Cinematheque Frangaise founder Henri Langlois. Dir: Jacques Richard. BW-129 mins, TV-14

4:15 AM

Jetee, La (1962)

A man's return to the past to stop a war could cost him his existence. Cast: Jean Negroni, Helen Chatelain, Davos Hanich. Dir: Chris Marker. BW-28 mins, TV-PG

4:45 AM

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

A space probe unleashes microbes that turn the dead into flesh-eating zombies. Cast: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman. Dir: George A. Romero. BW-96 mins, TV-MA, CC

7 Monday

8 Tuesday

6:00 AM

Elvis: That's The Way It Is 2001 (2001)

Restored version of the King's classic Vegas concert film. Cast: Elvis Presley. Dir: Denis Sanders. C-96 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

7:45 AM

It Happened At The World's Fair (1963)

A pilot's efforts to help a lost girl at the Seattle World's Fair lead to love. Cast: Elvis Presley, Joan O'Brien, Gary Lockwood. Dir: Norman Taurog. C-105 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

9:45 AM

Kissin' Cousins (1964)

A singing military officer gets mixed up with his look-alike hillbilly cousin. Cast: Elvis Presley, Arthur O'Connell, Yvonne Craig. Dir: Gene Nelson. C-96 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

11:30 AM

Viva Las Vegas (1964)

A race-car driver falls for a pretty swimming instructor who wants him to slow down his career. Cast: Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova. Dir: George Sidney. C-85 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format, DVS

1:00 PM

Harum Scarum (1965)

An American film star is kidnapped in the Middle East. Cast: Elvis Presley, Mary Ann Mobley, Fran Jeffries. Dir: Gene Nelson. C-85 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

2:45 PM

Spinout (1966)

A singing race-car driver has to choose among three amorous females. Cast: Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Diane McBain. Dir: Norman Taurog. C-93 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

4:30 PM

Live A Little, Love A Little (1968)

A photographer tries to keep his conservative boss from learning that he's moonlighting for a girlie magazine. Cast: Elvis Presley, Michele Carey, Rudy Vallee. Dir: Norman Taurog. C-89 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

6:00 PM

Stay Away Joe (1968)

A young Indian tries to save his failing reservation by selling grazing rights to a corrupt tycoon. Cast: Elvis Presley, Burgess Meredith, Joan Blondell. Dir: Peter Tewksbury. BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

8:00 PM

Pink Panther, The (1964)

In the first Inspector Clouseau film, the bumbling French police detective tries to stop a notorious jewel thief from nabbing a princess' diamond. Cast: Peter Sellers, David Niven, Robert Wagner. Dir: Blake Edwards. C-115 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

10:00 PM

Pink Panther Strikes Again, The (1976)

After driving his boss to insanity, Inspector Clouseau has to stop him from destroying the world. Cast: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Lesley-Anne Down. Dir: Blake Edwards. C-103 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

12:00 AM

Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)

Inspector Clouseau fakes his own death so he can track the mystery man who's been trying to kill him. Cast: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Dyan Cannon. Dir: Blake Edwards. C-99 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

2:00 AM

Trail of the Pink Panther, The (1982)

A television reporter tries to get to the real story behind Inspector Clouseau. Cast: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Joanna Lumley. Dir: Blake Edwards. C-95 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

4:00 AM

WarGames (1983)

In search of the ultimate game, a young man accidentally hacks into the government's top military computer. Cast: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, Dabney Coleman. Dir: John Badham. C-113 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

9 Wednesday

6:00 AM

Arsene Lupin Returns (1938)

A reformed jewel thief helps detectives track down a criminal. Cast: Melvyn Douglas, Warren William, Virginia Bruce. Dir: George Fitzmaurice. BW-81 mins, TV-G

1:15 AM

G-Men (1935)

A mob protege joins the FBI when a friend is gunned down. Cast: James Cagney, Ann Dvorak, Margaret Lindsay. Dir: William Keighley. BW-86 mins, TV-PG, CC

2:45 AM

Blonde Crazy (1931)

A con-man bellhop and his chambermaid girlfriend set out to fleece hotel guests. Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ray Milland. Dir: Roy Del Ruth. BW-79 mins, TV-G, C

10 Thursday

6:00 AM

Thief of Damascus (1952)

A young man assembles a band of adventurers to take on an evil sultan. Cast: Paul Henreid, John Sutton, Jeff Donnell. Dir: Will Jason. C-79 mins, TV-G

7:30 AM

Last of the Buccaneers (1950)

When one of his lieutenant's attacks an American ship, Jean Lafitte has to elude the U.S. Navy. Cast: Paul Henreid, Jack Oakie, Karin Booth. Dir: Lew Landers. C-79 mins, TV-G

9:00 AM

Pirates of Tripoli (1955)

A pirate tries to help a deposed Arabian princess reclaim her throne. Cast: Paul Henreid, Patricia Medina, Paul Newlan. Dir: Felix Feist. C-71 mins, , Letterbox Format

10:30 AM

Siren of Bagdad (1953)

An Arabian magician takes on a corrupt sultan to help a beautiful princess. Cast: Paul Henreid, Patricia Medina, Hans Conried. Dir: Richard Quine. C-72 mins, TV-G

11:15 PM

Wuthering Heights (1939)

A married noblewoman fights her lifelong attraction to a charismatic gypsy. Cast: Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon, Geraldine Fitzgerald. Dir: William Wyler. BW-104 mins, TV-PG, CC

1:15 AM

Romeo And Juliet (1936)

Shakespeare's classic tale of young lovers from feuding families. Cast: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore. Dir: George Cukor. BW-125 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS

11 Friday

9:00 AM

Strange Cargo (1940)

Devil's Island escapees are changed forever by a prisoner who thinks he's Jesus. Cast: Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Ian Hunter. Dir: Frank Borzage. BW-113 mins, TV-PG, CC

1:00 PM

This Could Be The Night (1957)

A schoolteacher gets a secretarial job at a gangster-run nightclub. Cast: Jean Simmons, Paul Douglas, Anthony Franciosa. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-104 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

6:30 PM

Out Of The Fog (1941)

A racketeer terrorizes a small fishing community until he falls in love with a fisherman's daughter. Cast: Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Thomas Mitchell. Dir: Anatole Litvak. BW-85 mins, TV-PG, CC

8:00 PM

Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)

Space invaders attack the nation's capital. Cast: Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Morris Ankrum. Dir: Fred F. Sears. BW-83 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

9:30 PM

Rock Around the Clock (1956)

A music promoter decides to get into the new world of rock music. Cast: Johnny Johnston, Bill Haley, Lisa Gaye. Dir: Fred F. Sears. BW-77 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

12:30 AM

Werewolf, The (1956)

A scientific experiment turns an innocent man into a bloodthirsty monster. Cast: Steven Ritch, Don Megowan, Joyce Holden. Dir: Fred F. Sears. BW-80 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

2:00 AM

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Racers compete in a brutal cross-country race, with points scored for killing pedestrians. Cast: David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone, Mary Woronov. Dir: Paul Bartel. C-80 mins, TV-MA

3:30 AM

Rollerball (1975)

The star of a bloodthirsty future sport tries to clean up the game before it kills him. Cast: James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams. Dir: Norman Jewison. C-125 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

12 Saturday

10:00 AM

Voice of the Whistler (1945)

A dying millionaire marries his nurse for companionship, only to experience a miracle cure. Cast: Richard Dix, Lynn Merrick, Rhys Williams. Dir: William Castle. BW-60 mins,

11:15 AM

Mysterious Intruder, The (1946)

A detective discovers the woman he's been hired to track down is the key to an unusual inheritance. Cast: Richard Dix, Barton MacLane, Nina Vale. Dir: William Castle. BW-62 mins,

4:30 PM

Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger (1977)

When a witch turns a young prince into a baboon, Sinbad fights to save him. Cast: Patrick Wayne, Taryn Power, Jane Seymour. Dir: Sam Wanamaker. C-113 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

6:30 PM

20 Million Miles To Earth (1957)

A crashed spaceship unleashes a rapidly growing monster from Venus. Cast: William Hopper, Joan Taylor, Frank Puglia. Dir: Nathan Juran. BW-83 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

8:00 PM

Bridge On The River Kwai, The (1957)

The Japanese Army forces World War II POWs to build a strategic bridge in Burma. Cast: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa. Dir: David Lean. BW-162 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

11:00 PM

Hill, The (1965)

Prisoners fight to survive the grueling conditions in a North African military stockade. Cast: Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Michael Redgrave. Dir: Sidney Lumet. BW-123 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

1:15 AM

Great Escape, The (1963)

Thrown together by the Germans, a group of captive Allied troublemakers plot a daring escape. Cast: James Garner, Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough. Dir: John Sturges. C-172 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

4:15 AM

Stalag 17 (1953)

A cynical serviceman in a World War II POW camp has to prove he's not an informer. Cast: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger. Dir: Billy Wilder. BW-120 mins, TV-PG, CC

13 Sunday

2:00 PM

Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The (1944)

During World War II, a 4F tries to help the woman he loves cover up a surprise pregnancy. Cast: Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, William Demarest. Dir: Preston Sturges. BW-98 mins, TV-PG, CC

10:00 PM

Summer And Smoke (1961)

A small-town spinster's repressed love for the local rebel spells danger. Cast: Geraldine Page, Laurence Harvey, Una Merkel. Dir: Peter Glenville. C-118 mins, TV-PG

12:15 AM

Mating Call, The (1928)

In this silent film, a World War I veteran takes on the Ku Klux Klan when he loses his wife to a womanizing Klansman. Cast: Thomas Meighan, Evelyn Brent, Renee Adoree. Dir: James Cruze. BW-72 mins, TV-PG

1:30 AM

Day's Pleasure, A (1919)

In this silent short film, a man's attempts to give his family a day out are complicated by their dilapidated car. Cast: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jackie Coogan. Dir: Charles Chaplin. BW-17 mins, TV-G

2:00 AM

Tokyo Drifter (1966)

A gangster turned straight goes on the lam to escape a rival gang. Cast: Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Hideaki Nitani. Dir: Seijun Suzuki. C-83 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

3:30 AM

Day Of The Jackal, The (1973)

British and French agents join forces to save President De Gaulle from a deadly assassin. Cast: Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale, Alan Badel. Dir: Fred Zinnemann. C-142 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

14 Monday

6:00 AM

Two in the Dark (1936)

A man with amnesia fights to prove himself innocent of murder. Cast: Walter Abel, Margot Grahame, Wallace Ford. Dir: Ben Stoloff. BW-74 mins, TV-PG

7:15 AM

After Office Hours (1935)

A society newspaperwoman tries to prove to her editor that she can crack a murder case. Cast: Clark Gable, Constance Bennett, Stuart Erwin. Dir: Robert Z. Leonard. BW-72 mins, TV-G

8:30 AM

Special Agent (1935)

A government agent poses as a newspaperman to get the goods on a mobster. Cast: Bette Davis, George Brent, Ricardo Cortez. Dir: William Keighley. BW-76 mins, TV-G

10:00 AM

Mystery House (1938)

A detective tries to solve a murder in a house full of suspects. Cast: Ann Sheridan, Dick Purcell, Anne Nagel. Dir: Noel Smith. BW-57 mins, TV-G

12:30 PM

Evelyn Prentice (1934)

A criminal lawyer's wife faces blackmail when she has an affair. Cast: Myrna Loy, William Powell, Una Merkel. Dir: William K. Howard. BW-79 mins, TV-G, CC

2:00 PM

Manhattan Melodrama (1934)

Boyhood friends grow up on opposite sides of the law. Cast: Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy. Dir: W.S. Van Dyke II. BW-90 mins, TV-G, CC

6:30 PM

Whistling In The Dark (1933)

A mystery writer's plan for the perfect murder greatly interests a mobster. Cast: Ernest Truex, Una Merkel, Edward Arnold. Dir: Elliot Nugent. BW-79 mins, TV-G

8:00 PM

Martin Scorsese Presents: Val Lewton - The Man In The Shadows (2008)

Cast: Dir: C-0 mins,

9:30 PM

Cat People (1942)

A newlywed fears that an ancient curse will turn her into a bloodthirsty beast. Cast: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-73 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

10:45 PM

I Walked With A Zombie (1943)

A nurse in the Caribbean resorts to voodoo to cure her patient, even though she's in love with the woman's husband. Cast: Frances Dee, Tom Conway, James Ellison. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-69 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

12:00 AM

Martin Scorsese Presents: Val Lewton - The Man In The Shadows (2008)

Cast: Dir: C-0 mins,

1:30 AM

Leopard Man, The (1943)

When a leopard escapes during a publicity stunt, it triggers a series of murders. Cast: Dennis O'Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-66 mins, TV-PG, CC

2:45 AM

Seventh Victim, The (1943)

A girl's search for her missing sister puts her in conflict with a band of satanists. Cast: Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, Jean Brooks. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-71 mins, TV-G, CC

4:00 AM

Curse of the Cat People, The (1944)

A lonely child creates an imaginary playmate with surprisingly dangerous results. Cast: Kent Smith, Simone Simon, Julia Dean. Dir: Robert Wise, Gunther von Fritsch. BW-70 mins, TV-PG, CC

5:15 AM

Body Snatcher, The (1945)

To continue his medical experiments, a doctor must buy corpses from a grave robber. Cast: Boris Karloff, Henry Daniell, Bela Lugosi. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-78 mins, TV-PG, CC

15 Tuesday

6:30 AM

Isle Of The Dead (1945)

The inhabitants of a Balkans island under quarantine fear that one of their number is a vampire. Cast: Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Helene Thimig. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-72 mins, TV-PG, CC

7:45 AM

Bedlam (1946)

When an actress tries to reform an asylum, its corrupt keeper has her committed. Cast: Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-79 mins, TV-PG, CC

9:15 AM

Martin Scorsese Presents: Val Lewton - The Man In The Shadows (2008)

Cast: Dir: C-0 mins,

10:45 AM

Youth Runs Wild (1944)

During World War II, neglected teens on the home front turn to delinquency. Cast: Bonita Granville, Kent Smith, Jean Brooks. Dir: Mark Robson. BW-67 mins, TV-PG, CC

10:00 PM

Bad Company (1972)

Civil War draft dodgers head West to build new lives as outlaws. Cast: Jeff Bridges, Barry Brown, Jim Davis. Dir: Robert Benton. C-93 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

11:45 PM

Targets (1968)

An aging horror star and a psychotic veteran come face to face at the premiere of the star's most recent film. Cast: Tim O'Kelly, Boris Karloff, Peter Bogdanovich. Dir: Peter Bogdanovich. C-90 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

1:30 AM

What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)

Woody Allen dubbed in comic dialogue for this outrageous spoof of secret-agent thrillers. Cast: Voices of Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Mickey Rose. Dir: Woody Allen. C-80 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

3:00 AM

Woody Allen (1971)

Woody Allen appears on The Dick Cavett Show in an interview that originally aired October 20, 1971. C-67 mins, TV-PG, CC

4:15 AM

Play it Again, Sam (1972)

A recent divorce gets romantic advice from the ghost of Humphrey Bogart. Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Jerry Lacy. Dir: Herbert Ross. C-86 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

16 Wednesday

6:00 AM

Suddenly (1954)

Gunmen take over a suburban home to plot a presidential assassination. Cast: Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason. Dir: Lewis Allen. BW-76 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

7:30 AM

Song Of The Thin Man (1947)

Society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles investigate a murder in a jazz club. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Keenan Wynn. Dir: Edward Buzzell. BW-87 mins, TV-G, CC

9:00 AM

Edge of the World, The (1937)

A fisherman fights to prevent changing times from destroying his family. Cast: John Laurie, Belle Chrystall, Eric Berry. Dir: Michael Powell. BW-72 mins, TV-PG

17 Thursday

9:45 AM

Something Always Happens (1934)

When a gasoline company president rejects his marketing proposal, an unemployed man joins the competition. Cast: Ian Hunter, Nancy O'Neil, John Singer. Dir: Michael Powell. BW-69 mins, TV-G

11:00 AM

Crime Unlimited (1935)

A young police academy recruit tries to break up a gang of thieves. Cast: Esmond Knight, Lilli Palmer, Cecil Parker. Dir: Ralph Ince. BW-71 mins, TV-G

4:30 PM

Dark Tower, The (1943)

A romantic triangle involving a hypnotist and two trapeze artists threatens to destroy a circus. Cast: Ben Lyon, Anne Crawford, David Farrar. Dir: John Harlow. BW-93 mins, TV-G

6:15 PM

Hotel Reserve (1946)

An Austrian refugee tries to figure out which guest at a French resort is a spy. Cast: James Mason, Lucie Mannheim, Raymond Lovell. Dir: Victor Hanbury, Lance Comfort, Mutz Greenbaum. BW-79 mins, TV-G

8:00 PM

Casablanca (1942)

An American saloon owner in North Africa is drawn into World War II when his lost love turns up. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-103 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

10:00 PM

From Here To Eternity (1953)

Enlisted men in Hawaii fight for love and honor on the eve of World War II. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra. Dir: Fred Zinnemann. BW-118 mins, TV-PG, CC

12:15 AM

Notorious (1946)

A U.S. agent recruits a German expatriate to infiltrate a Nazi spy ring in Brazil. Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC

2:00 AM

To Catch a Thief (1955)

A retired cat burglar fights to clear himself of a series of Riviera robberies committed in his style. Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. C-106 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

4:00 AM

Mogambo (1953)

In this remake of Red Dust, an African hunter is torn between a lusty showgirl and a married woman. Cast: Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly. Dir: John Ford. C-116 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

18 Friday

10:00 AM

His Girl Friday (1940)

An unscrupulous editor plots to keep his star reporter-and ex-wife-from re-marrying. Cast: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy. Dir: Howard Hawks. BW-92 mins, TV-G, CC

8:00 PM

File On Thelma Jordon, The (1950)

A woman seduces a District Attorney and pulls him into a web of theft and murder. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly. Dir: Robert Siodmak. BW-100 mins,

2:00 AM

Barbarella (1968)

An over-sexed space agent takes on a dictator and an amoral queen. Cast: Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg. Dir: Roger Vadim. C-98 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

3:45 AM

Wild, Wild Planet, The (1965)

Space amazons control the Earth by shrinking its leaders. Cast: Tony Russell, Lisa Gastoni, Franco Nero. Dir: Anthony Dawson. C-94 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

19 Saturday

6:00 AM

Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The (1939)

Elizabeth I's love for the Earl of Essex threatens to destroy her kingdom. Cast: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-106 mins, TV-G, CC

8:00 AM

Court Jester, The (1956)

A traveling actor is mistaken for a medieval rebel. Cast: Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone. Dir: Norman Panama, Melvin Frank. C-101 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

10:00 AM

Secret of the Whistler, The (1946)

An artist plots murder when his rich wife when she catches him in an affair with one of his models. Cast: Richard Dix, Leslie Brooks, Michael Duane. Dir: George Sherman. BW-64 mins,

11:15 AM

Return of the Whistler, The (1948)

When a woman goes missing on the eve of her wedding, her fiancee hires a detective to track her down. Cast: Michael Duane, Lenore Aubert, Richard Lane. Dir: D. Ross Lederman. BW-63 mins,

12:30 PM

World's Greatest Athlete, The (1973)

A washed-up coach saves his career when he discovers a jungle boy who's a natural athlete. Cast: Tim Conway, Jan-Michael Vincent, John Amos. Dir: Robert Scheerer. C-92 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

2:30 PM

High Noon (1952)

A retired Marshal must defend his town from a revengeful villain. Cast: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell. Dir: Fred Zinnemann. BW-85 mins, TV-PG, CC

4:00 PM

Tin Star, The (1957)

An experienced bounty hunter helps a young sheriff learn the meaning of his badge. Cast: Henry Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Betsy Palmer. Dir: Anthony Mann. BW-93 mins, TV-PG

6:00 PM

Rio Grande (1950)

A cavalry unit located on the Mexican border must control Indian uprisings. Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Ben Johnson. Dir: John Ford. BW-105 mins, TV-PG, CC

20 Sunday

6:30 AM

Smashing The Money Ring (1939)

The Secret Service investigates a fleet of gambling ships. Cast: Ronald Reagan, Eddie Foy, Jr., Margot Stevenson. Dir: Terry Morse. BW-57 mins, TV-G

7:30 AM

Man Who Knew Too Much, The (1934)

A British family gets mixed up with spies and an assassination plot while vacationing in Switzerland. Cast: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Loore. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-75 mins,

2:15 PM

Indiscreet (1958)

A tycoon pretends to be married while courting a beautiful actress. Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Cecil Parker. Dir: Stanley Donen. C-100 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

12:15 AM

Sea Hawk, The (1924)

In this silent film, an English noble sold into slavery escapes and turns himself into a pirate king. Cast: Milton Sills, Enid Bennett, Wallace Beery. Dir: Frank Lloyd. BW-124 mins, TV-G

2:30 AM

Mississippi Mermaid (1969)

A plantation owner's mail-order bride turns out to be a beautiful woman with murder on her mind. Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, Michel Bouquet. Dir: Francois Truffaut. C-123 mins, TV-14, CC

4:45 AM

Emperor Jones, The (1933)

When his subjects revolt, a Caribbean dictator looks back on the path that led to his downfall. Cast: Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Fredi Washington. Dir: Dudley Murphy. BW-76 mins, TV-14

21 Monday

7:30 AM

Intruder In The Dust (1949)

Only a young boy and an old woman stand between an innocent black man and a lynch mob. Cast: Juano Hernandez, Elizabeth Patterson, David Brian. Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-87 mins, TV-G

9:00 AM

World, The Flesh, And The Devil, The (1959)

A black man, a white woman and a racist are the only people left alive after a nuclear disaster. Cast: Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens, Mel Ferrer. Dir: Ranald MacDougall. BW-95 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

22 Tuesday

7:30 AM

39 Steps, The (1935)

A man falsely suspected of killing a spy races across Scotland handcuffed to the beautiful blonde who turned him in. Cast: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Godfrey Tearle. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-86 mins, TV-G, CC

11:00 AM

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Two musicians on the run from gangsters masquerade as members of an all-girl band. Cast: Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis. Dir: Billy Wilder. BW-121 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

1:15 PM

Major Dundee (1965)

Cavalry misfits cross the Mexican border to destroy an Indian outpost. Cast: Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, James Coburn. Dir: Sam Peckinpah. C-134 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

9:30 PM

Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)

Three prospectors fight off bandits and each other after striking-it-rich in the Mexican mountains. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt. Dir: John Huston. BW-126 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

11:45 PM

Two Women (1960)

A widow tries to get her daughter to safety in World War II Italy. Cast: Sophia Loren, Eleanora Brown, Jean-Paul Belmondo. Dir: Vittorio De Sica. BW-93 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

1:30 AM

Paisan (1946)

Short vignettes reveal the personal effects of the Allied invasion of Italy. Cast: Dots Johnson, Maria Michi, Harriet Medin. Dir: Roberto Rossellini. BW-112 mins, TV-PG

3:30 AM

Red Shoes, The (1948)

A young ballerina is torn between her art and her romance with a young composer. Cast: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer. Dir: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. C-134 mins, TV-G, CC

23 Wednesday

6:00 AM

Gaslight (1944)

A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion. Cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Angela Lansbury. Dir: George Cukor. BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

8:00 AM

Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Detective Philip Marlowe's search for a two-timing woman leads him to blackmail and murder. Cast: Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley. Dir: Edward Dmytryk. BW-95 mins, TV-PG, CC

9:45 AM

Big House, The (1930)

An attempted prison break leads to a riot. Cast: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Robert Montgomery. Dir: George Hill. BW-87 mins, TV-PG, CC

11:15 AM

Nightfall (1956)

A man on a hunting trip gets mixed up with murderous bank robbers. Cast: Aldo Ray, Brian Keith, Anne Bancroft. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-79 mins, TV-PG, CC

4:30 PM

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

A troupe of squabbling actors joins the Polish underground to dupe the Nazis. Cast: Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, Robert Stack. Dir: Ernst Lubitsch. BW-99 mins, TV-PG

6:15 PM

Harvey (1950)

A wealthy eccentric prefers the company of an invisible six-foot rabbit to his family. Cast: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Cecil Kellaway. Dir: Henry Koster. BW-104 mins, TV-G, CC

8:00 PM

Fighting 69th, The (1940)

A braggart soldier learns the true meaning of heroism when he joins World War I's all-Irish unit. Cast: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, George Brent. Dir: William Keighley. BW-90 mins, TV-PG

5:00 AM

Oklahoma Kid, The (1939)

A cowboy sets out to avenge his father's lynching. Cast: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Rosemary Lane. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-81 mins, TV-PG, CC

25 Friday

10:45 AM

Ben-Hur (1959)

While seeking revenge, a rebellious Israelite prince crosses paths with Jesus Christ. Cast: Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins. Dir: William Wyler. C-222 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format, DVS

2:30 PM

Hercules, Samson & Ulysses (1963)

When two legendary Greek heroes are marooned, they're pushed into conflict with the famed Biblical strongman. Cast: Kirk Morris, Richard Lloyd, Enzo Cerusico. Dir: Pietro Francisci. C-86 mins, TV-PG

4:00 PM

Jason And The Argonauts (1963)

The legendary hero enlists the help of the gods to steal the golden fleece. Cast: Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack, Honor Blackman. Dir: Don Chaffey. C-104 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

6:00 PM

3 Worlds of Gulliver, The (1960)

A physician lost at sea discovers lands populated by tiny warriors and giant kings. Cast: Kerwin Mathews, Basil Sydney, Jo Morrow. Dir: Jack Sher. C-99 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

9:45 PM

Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)

A con-man signs on as sheriff for crooked purposes then goes straight. Cast: James Garner, Joan Hackett, Walter Brennan. Dir: Burt Kennedy. C-93 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

11:30 PM

Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

A con artist poses as a notorious hired gun. Cast: James Garner, Suzanne Pleshette, Jack Elam. Dir: Burt Kennedy. C-92 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

2:30 AM

Kids Are Alright, The (1979)

Documentary footage traces The Who's rise to rock stardom. Cast: Roger Daltrey, John Entwhistle, Keith Moon. Dir: Jeff Stein. BW-109 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

4:15 AM

Last Waltz, The (1978)

Legendary back-up group The Band teams with rock greats for a farewell concert. Cast: Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Joni Mitchell. Dir: Martin Scorsese. C-117 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

26 Saturday

10:00 PM

Thunder Rock (1942)

A disillusioned writer moves into a lighthouse where some ghostly visitors restore his faith. Cast: Michael Redgrave, Barbara Mullen, James Mason. Dir: Roy Boulting. BW-112 mins,

2:00 AM

Lady Vanishes, The (1938)

A young woman on vacation triggers an international incident when she tries to track an elderly friend who has disappeared. Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Dame May Whitty. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-95 mins, TV-G

27 Sunday

6:00 AM

Shadow Of The Thin Man (1941)

High society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles run into a variety of shady characters while investigating a race-track murder. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Donna Reed. Dir: W.S. Van Dyke II. BW-97 mins, TV-G, CC

1:00 PM

Stardust Memories (1980)

A film comedian attending a festival in his honor dreams of doing more serious work. Cast: Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper. Dir: Woody Allen. BW-89 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

2:30 PM

Pajama Party (1964)

A Martian teenager sent to prepare for an invasion falls in love with an Earth girl. Cast: Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Elsa Lanchester. Dir: Don Weis. C-82 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

2:00 AM

Gigi (1948 - French) (1948)

In this original French version, a young girl who has been trained to be a kept woman, sets out to reform the young man who wants to keep her. Cast: Daniele Delorme, Gaby Morlay, Yvonne de Bray. Dir: Jacqueline Audry. BW-83 mins, TV-PG

28 Monday

7:15 AM

Unsuspected, The (1947)

The producer of a radio crime series commits the perfect crime, then has to put the case on the air. Cast: Claude Rains, Joan Caulfield, Constance Bennett. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-103 mins, TV-PG, CC

9:00 AM

Arnelo Affair, The (1947)

A neglected wife gets mixed up with an hypnotic charmer and murder. Cast: George Murphy, Frances Gifford, John Hodiak. Dir: Arch Oboler. BW-87 mins, TV-PG

12:00 PM

Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951)

The British sleuth comes out of retirement to help catch a band of thieves armed with military weapons. Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Margaret Leighton, David Tomlinson. Dir: Victor Saville. BW-80 mins, TV-PG

8:00 PM

I See A Dark Stranger (1945)

An Irish woman who hates the English turns Nazi spy. Cast: Deborah Kerr, Trevor Howard, Raymond Huntley. Dir: Frank Launder. BW-112 mins, TV-G

29 Tuesday

8:00 PM

Beau Brummel (1924)

In this silent film, the legendary dandy takes on British society to court a lady above his station. Cast: John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Willard Louis. Dir: Harry Beaumont. BW-75 mins,

10:15 PM

Mad Genius, The (1931)

A deranged ballet teacher will stop at nothing to keep control of his protegee. Cast: John Barrymore, Marian Marsh, Donald Cook. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-81 mins, TV-14

30 Wednesday

45 AM

Terror, The (1963)

A lost soldier discovers a mysterious beauty haunting a half-deserted castle. Cast: Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight. Dir: Roger Corman. C-79 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

8:15 AM

Horror Castle (1963)

A Holocaust survivor tortures women in the dungeons of an ancient castle. Cast: Rosanna Podesta, Georges Riviere, Christopher Lee. Dir: Antonio Margheriti. C-84 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

9:45 AM

Castle of the Living Dead, The (1964)

A traveling circus entertains a medieval count who uses them in his bizarre experiments. Cast: Christopher Lee, Gaia Germani, Donald Sutherland. Dir: Luciano Rici, Lorenzo Sabatini. BW-90 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

11:30 AM

Haunting, The (1963)

A team of psychic investigators moves into a haunted house that destroys all who live there. Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Russ Tamblyn. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-112 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

1:30 PM

Children Of The Damned (1964)

Space invaders impregnate six women with super-powered offspring. Cast: Ian Hendry, Alan Badel, Barbara Ferris. Dir: Anton Leader. BW-90 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

3:00 PM

Spider Baby (1968)

Greedy relatives try to repossess the decaying mansion of an inbred Southern family. Cast: Lon Chaney, Jr., Quinn K. Redeker, Sid Haig. Dir: Jack Hill. BW-81 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

4:30 PM

Die! Die! My Darling! (1965)

A religious fanatic imprisons her late son's sinful fiancee. Cast: Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Donald Sutherland. Dir: Silvio Narizzano. C-96 mins, TV-14, CC

6:15 PM

Eye Of The Devil (1967)

A French nobleman deserts his wife because of an ancient family secret. Cast: David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Donald Pleasence. Dir: J. Lee Thompson. BW-96 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

1:15 AM

Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1935)

Shakespeare's classic about two pairs of lovers and an amateur actor who get mixed up with fairies. Cast: James Cagney, Dick Powell, Mickey Rooney. Dir: Max Reinhardt, William Dieterle. BW-143 mins, TV-PG, CC

New Episode! Skip MP3 Note Below! Go to Preceding Entry! (Gee, why am I yelling?)

2007-12-04T16:52:00.000-05:00

mp3 version of Kitsch 2 podcast available

2007-12-04T16:29:00.001-05:00

If anyone had trouble opening Kitsch 2: The Three-legged Dog, it was likely because the file is in .m4a format rather than the usual .mp3. This has been rectified. You can download the .mp3 version by clicking on the headline above or by going to the iTunes store, then to the excuse me, ghidorah? page, then hitting the "Get Episode" button. (I don't think it will work if you simply go to your podcasts in iTunes and hit "update".) The .m4a format is what GarageBand spits out when you use iLife to create your podcast. I'll dig around to see what that's all about. All right then -- carry on.

Whimsy Be Thy Name!

2007-12-04T13:21:00.001-05:00

Well, after a long hiatus, part the third of our three part look at Kitsch has arrived. You can download it via iTunes or directly via clicking on "Whimsy Be Thy Name!" above.

This time you will find yourself amazed at how drastic a change can occur in a person's speaking voice if he begins recording a podcast in prime condition while travelling at 60 miles per hour in a car full of people, finds the computer has gone wacky thanks to a large bump in the road, ceases production so that Thanksgiving may be enjoyed at yon Momma's house, contracts a sort of uber-flu during Thanksgiving, undergoes, therefore, a sort of binge and purge experience, and then attempts to pick up production where he left off.

Actually, I like the gravelly voice this produced. It lends a sonorous gravitas to the proceedings as I describe a visit to Dinosaur Land in Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley. In this dinosaur dotted roadside attraction, expert attention to scientific detail has not precluded the inclusion of the Frankenstein Monster or King Kong or a gigantic landlocked purple Octopus -- which means I felt right at home. I hope you will, too, and that you will segue without too much discomfort into my impassioned speechifying about the hidden power of Whimsy. Pope John Paul II said, "Beauty will save the world." I think Whimsy will save the world -- or Whimsy at least will serve as Beauty's wisecracking sidekick.

Some news: I am gradually dragging everything under the umbrella of my new website -- http://www.ChristianHalloweenFan.com . That may sound unlikely at first. But consider how much is covered by that singular holiday. Spookiness (movies, books, comics, etc.). Popular Culture (whether an enthusiastic thumbs-up for kitsch or a grim thumbs-down for commodified content -- quite a tightrope walk, I know). Festivals (I don't think we have covered that topic yet). Costumery and Make-Believe (El Santo and other luchadores, superheroes, trick or treating, etc.). Religion (Christian and otherwise). Magic. Sacramental Theology. Liminal spaces. Uh... Monsters. Did I mention Monsters?

This podcast will remain virtually the same except that I may switch blogging to WordPress rather than Blogger. If that is the case, I will post an RSS link here for the new blog there.

Thank you to all the folks who wrote in after my brief tirade about "Does anybody listen to this or what?" Boy, do I wish iTunes provided some kind of listener data! Or that I could figure out how to use iLife / iWeb to do what I have been able to do over at GoDaddy!

Merry Christmas!

Blogged with Flock

A Geek Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T14:33:00.001-05:00

Let us now give thanks within the cultural context of Geekdom -- in other words, the persistant pop-culture referencing system and pseudo-mythology that occupies my attention for most of the day and night. Of course, I am grateful for family and friends. But let's push the envelope a little further.

We only live for a few decades at best and so the tiny section of human history of which we are part (and of which we partake) is quite providential and significant. Especially in terms of popular culture. I am thankful to have shared this particular period of human history with:

Flannery O'Connor
Walker Percy
The Three Investigators
Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Lupin, Tonks, Serius, Albus, Colin, Neville, Luna, Minerva, Fred and George, and Severus
J. K. Rowling
Star Wars
The Boxcar Children (at least those first 14 or so books in the series)
Joseph Ratzinger
Karol Wojtyla
Batman and Robin
Alan Moore
Mike Mignola
H. P. Lovecraft (I am living, at least, while his legacy is perculating)
The Groovy Ghoulies
G. K. Chesterton (legacy again)
C. S. Lewis & Narnia
J. R. R. Tolkien
William Browning Spencer
Reed Crandall
designer toys
"Incident at Loch Ness"
zombie culture (it kind of fascinates me)
"Planet of the Apes"
"Orpheus" (the movie)
The Simpsons
that funky song they play during the Wii commercials
The Metal Men
The Atomic Knights
Metamorpho
Kurt Schaffenberger
Superman (well, duh)
The Late Sixties / Early Seventies Classic Universal Studios Monsters Boom
"Famous Monsters" magazine and Forry Ackerman
Basil Gogos
Ray Bradbury
Harlan Ellison
Jorge Borges
"The Prisoner" TV series and Patrick McGoohan
Don Post monster masks down at the Coin Collector/Tobacco Shop at the Macon Mall (I have no idea why they were there)
the 2000 Presidential Election (it just fascinates me)
Monster Squad
Fright Night
Pan's Labyrinth
The first new worldwide Catholic Catechism in 500 years
Father Richard Neuhaus
Lee Brown Coye
Virgil Finlay (legacy again)
Adam Hughes (that recent Supergirl painting blows me away)
Michael Polanyi
Vincent Miller
Jack Kirby
Curt Swan
Neal Adams
Val Lewton (legacy)
Bava's gothic films
Hammer's Quatermass films
Peter Cushing
Christopher Lee
Cornerstone Festival
UFOs
The B-52s
The Talking Heads
Roger Miller
Johnny Cash
some surviving googie here and there
theme parks and mini golf
what may have been the golden age of Halloween trick-or-treating

Of course, more will occur to me later -- probably more respectable entries. But that's enough for now.

Blogged with Flock

I Reckon You Zombies Think You Been Redeemed

2007-11-20T22:29:00.001-05:00

Well, I thought it couldn't be done. To my mind, the whole zombie apocalypse genre is nihilism incarnate: we're all just meat. No soul. No ultimate purpose. Just meat. So how could someone produce a zombie film or novel that explored a different perspective: one of hope, for example, or even of faith?

As I say, I thought it couldn't be done, but I have been proven wrong. Kim Paffenroth's novel, Dying to Live, draws upon influences as diverse as Augustine, Dante and George Romero. Paffenroth contrasts the living and the dead and finds insistent proof that the spirit exists. The flesh-eating dead are simply you and me and our neighbors minus the supernatural benefits of a rational soul. They are all appetite. Without reason or restraint, they "wander the earth to and fro seeking whom they may devour."

But it isn't as pat as all that. The strength of Paffenroth's novel is that he is plainly eager to push the zombie apocalypse gauntlet. His imagination does not shrink from the question "How bad can it get?" The dead are willing and the living are weak. As with Romero's several films, the living are often their own worst enemies, failing to unite against a common threat, fighting over the charred remains of civilization. But a few may actually rise to the challenge to survive.

Paffenroth's method is similar to that of Flannery O'Connor. Much is made of O'Connor's use of grotesque characters and violent scenarios in her short stories and two novels. Her explanation was that it is not easy to shock the existentially numb reader into sudden clarity. To the deaf, you must shout and for the blind you must draw large and startling pictures -- to paraphrase Flannery.

O'Connor also uses the grotesque to explore the question "How bad can it get?" In her deadpan, blackly humorous way, she is unflinching in her reply: "Very, very bad indeed." However, she does this only in order to see how the grace of God will intervene. Since she is operating from a Catholic Christian perspective, O'Connor knows the central redemptive act of God in human history sent a man to be beaten within an inch of his life, nailed to a cross and left to die. If the essential act of grace looks like that---well, how might God "use" the perverse clarity of a killer called The Misfit who happens across a stranded family on a forlorn country road (see O'Connor's story A Good Man Is Hard to Find)?

Paffenroth is attracted to the zombie apocalypse scenario for reasons that echo O'Connor. The protagonist of the novel, Jonah Caine, often wrestles with the question of whether one could still believe in God now that a kind of anti-resurrection has spread living death over the planet. Cities burn. Governments collapse. People scavenge for Twinkies at abandoned 7-Elevens. This "survival horror" appeals to some, including myself, as an exploration of what is left when
everything is shaken until only what is unshakable remains.

It is also an opportunity to tap obtusely via the imagination what our upfront intellect cannot bear to contemplate. Millions of innocent lives perish mindlessly, needlessly, in horrible pain as they are torn limb from limb. It could be a zombie apocalypse. Or it could be abortion. Upwards of ten million abortions have taken place since Roe v. Wade kicked into gear and despite all the reassurances of those first few years the reach of this killing machine has extended into the second trimester, the third trimester, even to the very moment of birth itself. Skulls are punctured and brains are sucked out through a tube. A collapsed skull makes for easier removal of the big ones. Bodies are sliced apart with scalpels or burned alive in a saline solution. Imagine breathing in saline. Who says the zombie apocalypse -- in all its savage horror -- is not possible? It's here. Every child born since 1973 is a survivor.

New Episode Dissemble! (And The Black Scorpion dvd)

2007-11-19T15:29:00.001-05:00

The third and last installment of our podcast survey of kitsch is nearly ready. I started to record it this Sunday, but began making revisions. They're worthwhile revisions, not spurious, so you, the patient listener, will benefit in the end. (Howz that for use of commas. Impressive, no?) This is perhaps the most important of the three. It delves into my half-formed convictions regarding whimsy and its role in saving the world from the devil and his wise-cracking minions. Pope John Paul II once said "Beauty will save the world." I think it's more likely that whimsy will do the honors -- or at least that whimsy will serve as beauty's faithful sidekick.

The odd little image is taken from the extras to be found on The Black Scorpion dvd. Pete Peterson, who assisted Willis O'Brien in the animating of The Black Scorpion, did a little experimenting on his own and these "beetle people" are among the results. Another is a giant mutated orangutan. The homespun reels of animation were found in a trunk out in a barn or somesuch after Peterson's death and salvaged for future generations by, for one thing, putting them on The Black Scorpion dvd's extras. The dvd has been out for a while and may be a little difficult to track down on foot. Not so difficult online, of course. The Black Scorpion is an overlooked gem, in my opinion, and definitely a film which friends of ChristianHalloweenFan.com and the excuse me, ghidorah? podcast would enjoy. There is an uncanny quality to the animated proceedings. I won't ruin it for you, but the scorpion(s) in question are mean and hungry and you see a lot more of their feeding frenzy than you every expect in a Harryhausen-style feature. Also, when attempts are made to find their underground lair... well, words fail me. I'm always tossing around the word Lovecraftian, but the feeling I get is rather cosmic -- awe and terror mixed together. Also, I really do enjoy the sort of lighting O'Brien and Peterson used in this film (and in The Giant Behemoth). Lots of moody shadows. One doesn't expect a noir sort of feeling in an animated film, but that's what you get in The Black Scorpion.

Blogged with Flock

Lint is glad it's Friday

2007-11-16T09:09:00.001-05:00

I am very "psyched" as you people in America say. "Psyched" about Facebook, which I'm sure you already know about, and Flock, a web browser I recently stumbled across. Flock puts a more personal spin on your web browsing by adding social networking, photo sharing, and blogging to the up-front controls of your browser. (Normally, these tasks are divided between separate programs.) In my case, this has made blogging much easier. I thought iLife would accomplish that, but, while the iLife suite does provide blogging tools in iWeb, the search engine visibility of your iWeb-produced/dotMac hosted site leaves a lot to be desired. A LOT. I am still trying to get http://www.christianhalloweenfan.com to show up on Google. And that after providing a sitemap, etc. Once I created an official Christian Halloween Fan weblog, however, (http://christianhalloweenfan.wordpress.com ) several references/links to the blog immediately began popping up here and there (brought to my attention by Google Alerts).

So I suppose I shall have to promote the blog as a doorway into the site -- until I get the Google question figured out. (In fairness to iWeb/dotMac, the CHF domain name does "redirect" to content on the dotMac server, so that may be part of the problem.)

Anyhow, the means to this end turns out to be Flock. Because Flock has built-in blogging tools, I can post both to the Christian Halloween Fan blog and its sister blog/podcast, excuse me, ghidorah?, with a minimum of fuss. (I searched in vain for any Mac OSX free/shareware that allowed multiple blog postings.) It's these little advancements that push me toward actually posting at least once a week.

I challenge myself to post several times a week -- probably Monday and Thursday. So there, I toss down the gauntlet at my very own feet! I frog myself upon the arm! I strike a martial arts pose with hand extended forward and do that little "come on, then" thing with my fingers -- at myself no less!

A brief pop-cultural recommendation: Give John Morehead's excellent blog, TheoFantastique, a try. He provides a more cohesive, academic approach to the relationship between imagination and faith than I will ever accomplish, plus lots of interviews with interesting folks -- most of whom will never show up as an interviewee in Fangoria or Rue Morgue. It's the sort of blog you might expect from the sci-fi/fantasy/horror corner of McFarland publishing. Very highly recommended.

Blogged with Flock

Make Mine Mexican

2007-11-15T16:28:00.001-05:00

I am a man of many obsessions. Fortunately, they typically occur one at a time. Currently, I have become fascinated with Mexican horror films and the timing could not be better. Such films are usually to be found in a video cheapbin and with print quality leaving much to be desired. In other words, crappy. Now, however, a DVD company by the name of CasaNegra Entertainment is providing quality editions of such films as El Vampiro, El Ataud Del Vampiro (that is, The Vampire and The Vampire's Coffin), El Baron Del Terror (aka Brainiac), and Misterios De Ultratumba (The Black Pit of Dr. M) with generous dvd extras and wonderful attention to detail. One of my favorite features is a strange sheet of mini cards that comes with each dvd. They have the look of Tarot cards, but they're not. Rather, they are various characters from the films in the CasaNegra vault and all of them illustrated in a lush, Latin painterly style. Very monsteriffic, if you know what I mean. I have found CasaNegra dvds in used condition at very reasonable prices on Amazon. Otherwise, you can visit the CasaNegra website.

Blogged with Flock

Wal-Mart Dracula Alert

2007-11-15T08:14:00.000-05:00

Currently (as of 11-14), Wal-Mart has a selection of Warner Brothers films (that they made or that they distributed) gathered into 4 film collections. What I mean is, you get 4 movies on 2 discs. The horror fan will be pleased to know that one of these sets contains 4 Hammer Dracula films all of which star Christopher Lee and two of which feature Peter Cushing. The set is only around $10! So get out there and grab one before they are all gone!

The films include Horror of Dracula, Dracula Has Risen From The Grave, Taste The Blood Of Dracula (yuck!), and Dracula A.D. 1972. The first is a must-see classic -- one of the best horror films ever made and a real tribute to Terence Fisher's skill and imagination as a director. Also, to his Christian faith which is very plain throughout -- especially in the Christian heroics of Dr. Van Helsing. See Paul Leggett's excellent book, Terence Fisher: Horror, Myth and Religion, for more. - Lint

Yeah, I'm Still Here!

2007-11-13T08:09:00.000-05:00

Well, Fall weather is finally creeping in around the edges down here in middle Georgia -- now that it is November.

We all had a pretty good Halloween. The Hatchers live on a big freakin' five lane highway (two lanes either side, turn lane in the middle) which swarms with logging trucks and UPS vans at all hours (you get used to it), so we get zero trick-or-treaters and, of course, do not walk up and down the lane visiting the neighbors. So we scrambled across those five lanes and down the street of a neighborhood across the way, but no luck. Things were totally dead. And not in a good way.

So we went over to a sort of upper middle class neighborhood in Macon proper -- where Sarah was trick-or-treating with a friend from school -- and the place was just getting the spill-over from an adjoining street which, for some reason, has become the most popular street for folks indulging the "hop in the car and hit as many neighborhoods as possible" approach to trick-or-treating. Hundreds of cars make their way down Ridge Ave. with their lights on, intermittently parking along the edge of the street while kids run here and there in packs. Sort of a good thing. Sort of a bad thing. The headlights are blinding. And the benefits of revisiting your own neighborhood transformed by Halloween aren't much there. But at least trick-or-treating hasn't disappeared altogether -- a distinct possibility around here as the number of local churches putting on H-alternative Fall Festivals has tripled since last year. (That may explain the dead neighborhood across the street.) A lot of folks go to the church festivals because of some faint residual suspicion that it is dangerous to trick-or-treat; at least they know their fellow church members at the festival, etc. Kind of an odd trade off. The church Fall Festivals aren't very spooky in my experience. A tad contrived. Kind of like when public television decides to "celebrate Imagination".

"Drive-by trick or treating" is probably worthy of some sociological inquiry. For one thing, Ridge Ave. is predominantly white (by far) and on Halloween all the kids from the poor neighborhoods – predominantly black – get their Moms to drive them over to Ridge. It's an odd sort of candy-driven desegregation. Lots of older black kids galluping around with no costume and a pillowcase full of candy, lots of white folks afraid to say, "Where's your costume?" Etc. Fortunately, the little kids are always decked out in some sort of costume and get most of the attention -- which keeps things on a positive note. I wonder if this is a Southern thing or if similar situations occur across the country. Kind of like that "day of inversion" thing which used to be part of some Christian festivals -- the fool becomes king, the poor receive a bounty of Butterfinger bars, etc.

What happened this Halloween with you guys?

About ye olde podcast: frankly, I get depressed since there are so few comments. I have two wonderful friends, Kathleen Lundquist and John Morehead, who regularly drop a note when I announce a new episode. And then there were those guys from TheJADEDVisalian who popped their heads in from time to time (much appreciated, guys). But that's about it. I feel like Linus in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. "Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see." But where's the Great Pumpkin?

Did anyone with OCD benefit from that 2 part podcast that I wrung out of my fervid little brain? Surely, it helped somebody. And what about all those Christians out there who lie awake at night wondering if their love for Tor Johnson movies has any part in their Christian faith? Well, maybe there aren't that many of those us out there. But still...

I will mount a large metal icebreaker to my forehead and forge ahead. Part three of the Kitsch overview is slated to appear this weekend -- probably Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, check out http://www.christianhalloweenfan.com .

Lint

P.S. Why the photo? I thought it provides a good example of why "Ju-on, the Grudge: American Style" just wouldn't work.

Let's Try That Again, Shall We?

2007-09-24T13:25:00.000-05:00

Sorry, folks. My bad. Here's the post again, with the correct links.

Movies that are "so bad they're good" make their appearance on excuse me, ghidorah via part 2 of our kitsch survey. Fans of Grade Z horror, various exploitation films, plain old psychotronic, and whatever category Hillbillies in a Haunted House falls into will be pleased, I think, especially if they are Christians who have wondered why they love such unlovable films and why they harbor such a warm regard for film giants like Tor Johnson (a gen-yoo-wine film giant, if there ever was one).

There is, after all, a certain feeling which may be expressed as "What happens to me if the Lord returns and finds me sitting here watching Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory ?" There would appear to be no good reason to grant two hours of precious life to such a film. But then, why the delight? Why the sheer joy of discovery? Why the tender hearted fannish devotion to cult film stars? Hmmmm... Maybe I should run my mouth about this for about an hour and then upload it to iTunes so that others may listen to my ravings! And, in fact, I did just that.

I am hard at work on a new website which will act as an umbrella for various of my little projects including excuse me, ghidorah. It has been difficult to find whatever niche market exists for my book, The Magic Eightball Test: A Christian Defense of Halloween and All Things Spooky, and this new website will, I hope, do the trick. I can't help believing there are thousands of people out there in the fundamentalist and/or evangelical subculture who are inundated with anti-Halloween theologizing, who feel that somehow dumping Halloween and Autumn is tantamount to dumping part of their soul, and who, therefore, go either one way or the other. Either they stick with their particular fortress mentality form of Christianity -- because they love the Lord -- and trash all their pop-cultural pursuits as "the devil's bidness" or they stick with the symbols that speak to them -- because they want to cling to what rings true whether they understand it or not -- and turn their back on churchianity.

Now, how many books do you know which would help somebody out in such a situation? Brother, there ain't any! Except for my own little ink and paper attempt to point out the fallacies of the fundamentalist/evangelical cultural mindset while, at the same time, totally affirming orthodox, historic, supernatural Christianity. It doesn't have to be "God or Godzilla". Brother, it can be "God and Godzilla"! In fact, our pop-cultural symbols speak to us because they bring the moral imagination to life -- and the moral imagination enriches our sense of what is at stake as powers and principalities duke it out in our lives. "God and Godzilla" is simply better, because faith enriched by imagination is better.

If you see what I mean.

So, anyhow, the new website is ChristianHalloweenFan.com. It will be up sometime around the first of October.

Of course, my book is always available at Amazon and other fine internet booksellers. Though I recommend purchasing it directly from lulu.com -- it gets printed by a different printing company in that case and I think the quality is better.

Lastly, I do apologize for a faint hissing which pops in and out during the podcast. I am experimenting with my microphone. I will endeavor to correct that problem and upload a revamped version of the same podcast. But don't let that keep you from listening to it ASAP. It's not that noticeable. Right click or control click the title to this post (above) to download the podcast or head over to iTunes which should be updated to include this addition pretty soon.

NEW EPISODE - Kitsch Part Deux

2007-09-24T11:03:00.000-05:00

Movies that are "so bad they're good" make their appearance on excuse me, ghidorah via part 2 of our kitsch survey. Fans of Grade Z horror, various exploitation films, plain old psychotronic, and whatever category Hillbillies in a Haunted House falls into will be pleased, I think, especially if they are Christians who have wondered why they love such unlovable films and why they harbor such a warm regard for film giants like Tor Johnson (a gen-yoo-wine film giant, if there ever was one).

There is, after all, a certain feeling which may be expressed as "What happens to me if the Lord returns and finds me sitting here watching Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory ?" There would appear to be no good reason to grant two hours of precious life to such a film. But then, why the delight? Why the sheer joy of discovery? Why the tender hearted fannish devotion to cult film stars? Hmmmm... Maybe I should run my mouth about this for about an hour and then upload it to iTunes so that others may listen to my ravings! And, in fact, I did just that.

I am hard at work on a new website which will act as an umbrella for various of my little projects including excuse me, ghidorah. It has been difficult to find whatever niche market exists for my book, The Magic Eightball Test: A Christian Defense of Halloween and All Things Spooky, and this new website will, I hope, do the trick. I can't help believing there are thousands of people out there in the fundamentalist and/or evangelical subculture who are inundated with anti-Halloween theologizing, who feel that somehow dumping Halloween and Autumn is tantamount to dumping part of their soul, and who, therefore, go either one way or the other. Either they stick with their particular fortress mentality form of Christianity -- because they love the Lord -- and trash all their pop-cultural pursuits as "the devil's bidness" or they stick with the symbols that speak to them -- because they want to cling to what rings true whether they understand it or not -- and turn their back on churchianity.

Now, how many books do you know which would help somebody out in such a situation? Brother, there ain't any! Except for my own little ink and paper attempt to point out the fallacies of the fundamentalist/evangelical cultural mindset while, at the same time, totally affirming orthodox, historic, supernatural Christianity. It doesn't have to be "God or Godzilla". Brother, it can be "God and Godzilla"! In fact, our pop-cultural symbols speak to us because they bring the moral imagination to life -- and the moral imagination enriches our sense of what is at stake as powers and principalities duke it out in our lives. "God and Godzilla" is simply better, because faith enriched by imagination is better.

If you see what I mean.

So, anyhow, the new website is ChristianHalloweenFan.com. It will be up sometime around the first of October.

Of course, my book is always available at Amazon and other fine internet booksellers. Though I recommend purchasing it directly from lulu.com -- it gets printed by a different printing company in that case and I think the quality is better.

Lastly, I do apologize for a faint hissing which pops in and out during the podcast. I am experimenting with my microphone. I will endeavor to correct that problem and upload a revamped version of the same podcast. But don't let that keep you from listening to it ASAP. It's not that noticeable. Right click or control click the title to this post (above) to download the podcast or head over to iTunes which should be updated to include this addition pretty soon.

Defending Harry

2007-09-01T05:39:00.000-05:00

Some friends of mine and I were commenting on a Harry Potter related article by Fr. Alfonso Aguilar (over at the National Catholic Register), so I thought I would post those same comments here -- by way of adding my two cents. If you want to read Fr. Aguilar's take on Rowling's series, take a whack at this link. If you are fascinated by Ben Caldwell's cartoon of Ginny, Colin Creevy, Oliver Wood and Lupin visit Caldwell's awesome site. As for my two cents, here you go:

I appreciate the levelheaded approach Fr. Aguilar has attempted. I especially appreciate his actually having read each and every book in the series! However, his logic falls apart when he insists the series is essentially pantheistic and that Harry's progress as a wizarding student depends on his grasp on some inner illumination -- so that one finds a sort of gnosticism behind the magic.

For example, Fr. Aguilar writes:

"Consider now the concept of man implicit in J.K. Rowling’s narrative. Humans, called 'muggles,' are divided into three categories: ordinary 'muggles' with no magical power who disdain the magic world (the despicable Dursley family); 'muggles' who fancy the magic world but cannot reach it (Hermione Granger’s parents); and the witches and wizards.

"The ideal is, no doubt, to become a good witch or wizard. What’s the way? Train yourself to look into yourself to find the magical powers within you.

"Good training requires masters who help make you aware of the magical ('divine') forces in your spirit. These are the professors at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Albus Dumbledore, the school headmaster, is the main spiritual guide."

That's just silly. The magical forces in question are not presented as in some sense "divine" and Albus Dumbledore is hardly a spiritual guide. He helps Harry to deal with moral challenges, true. But so far as knowledge of magic is concerned, his assistance is actually rather minimal. As for the other instructors at Hogwarts, they seem to provide the same matter-of-fact prosaic recitation of facts that one might find in a muggle classroom during Social Studies. My point is: magic is interesting, exciting, and fun in the Potter books. It is also hilariously mundane. Hermione is not a superior student because she has a greater intuitive grasp of some mystical inner light. She's a better student because she actually reads the textbooks! She pursues subjects beyond the bare minimum reading requirements. She would rather read "Hogwarts: A History" than watch Quidditch.

As in the real world, Hermoine's intelligence is shown in her ability to integrate this knowledge, to make connections between the various subjects. The pattern here is that of a liberal education, not an initiation into some mystical path thru the self. In fact, that's one of the jokes built into the series -- that something like magic, which one might assume would be crammed to the gills with mysticism, is no different from Geography or Social Studies. That's why it's funny when Ron and Harry cram for a test or when Professor Trelawny tries to force matters into a floridly mystical mold.

I can imagine the sort of look you might get if you told Professor McGonnigle she was a "spiritual guide"!

Of course, there are such things as intuition, passion and emotion. Hermione is surpassed by Harry at times when these factors come into play. Hermione, for example, has trouble casting a compelling patronus spell. Harry possesses a better integration of head and heart. But that is hardly Gnosticism.

I think that while Fr. Aguilar veers off-course a comment made by my wife, Susan, begins to look all the more on target: one is either born a wizard or not and this very basic ingredient in the series removes the element of esotericism one might normally associate with magic. Fr. Aguilar makes it sound as though anyone can be a wizard if they are shown how to tap into their inner light. This simply is not true. Lily's sister, Petunia, simply cannot be a wizard no matter how much she might wish it. That's part of her bitterness toward Harry. Likewise, Crabbe and Goyle ARE wizards - and it ain't due to their sensitivity to inner illumination or to hidden knowledge attained thru arcane, mysterious rites. We're talking Crabbe and Goyle here, people.

The wizarding world is hidden, but for practical reasons: witch hunts and heresy trials and the sort of tragedy that befell Dumbledore's sister.

Also, Fr. Aguilar says this:

"In Potter’s world, the divine is, in my opinion, pantheistic. The only transcendent reality that exists is (white) magic. A fictional story, of course, does not have to present the Christian truths nor the Christian God. The question is whether or not there is room for a Christian God in the story. In Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, God does not show up, yet he may fit in the background as the one who gave Gandalf certain powers and a new life. Gandalf did not get them by himself.

"Not so with Harry Potter.

"Once the magic reigns as the ultimate level of reality, a personal God cannot fit in. Magical powers form the highest aspiration."

That is simply ridiculous. The existence of an afterlife is very plain in the Potter books. That is (quite literally) a trancendent reality and it pertains to muggles and wizards alike. Magic is not "the ultimate level of reality". Voldemort's ultimate condition makes it very clear that magic is subordinate to something far greater.

In fact, magic is in no way presented as a kind of transcendent reality or even as a "summum bonum". For wizards, magic is simply a part of mundane reality on a par with muggles and technology. Magical powers do not "form the highest aspiration" -- people don't "aspire" toward magical powers in the Potter books. You've either got it or you don't. And even if it were possible for a character to "aspire" in such a way -- does this mean one cannot desire magic powers and simultaneously desire the beatific vision? Both hopes could exist in a story without cancelling each other out. At any rate, the existence of magic in the Potter series does not supercede or rule out the existence of a personal God. That doesn't even make sense. This guy teaches philosophy?

Granted, character details which might provide a glimpse into, say, Hermione's faith would be nice -- Hermione saying her prayers, Hermione lugging a "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance" around along with that copy of "Hogwarts: A History", Hermione giving Ron and Harry a stern reprimand with quotes from her Extreme Teen Challenge Bible, Hermione leaving Keith Green tracts in the Gryffindor common room. But I don't find myself disappointed with the Three Investigators mysteries because we never see Jupiter Jones take on the role of C.S. Lewis style apologist or impatient with Nancy Drew because she doesn't seem to have a Quiet Time.

Luv Offerin'

2007-08-16T09:42:00.000-05:00

Ah, well. We all find ourselves in financial difficulty from time to time, scrambling for possible resources. I am involved right now in such a scramble (listen closely and you can actually hear the scrambling...) and it occurred to me that some people might have enjoyed these podcasts enough to donate something to the cause. This is especially possible since research has revealed a strange coincidence: fully 80% of Ghidorah listeners are self-made billionaires for whom a $10,000 donation is a mere dollop, smidgen, tad or scintilla. The other 20% will just have to limit themselves to tens and twenties.

Seriously, though, if Ghidorah has proved helpful, has saved your life and the lives of others, has put you on the road to recovery, has delivered you from the power of darkness, has offered a glimmer of hope in an otherwise downbeat day, has been slightly more interesting than the average episode of "Green Acres", has set your toes to tappin', has been the wind beneath your wings, has sent you screaming into the night (or the mid afternoon - I'm not picky), then would you consider tossing a coin in yonder fountain? There's a brand new donation button to the right of this post. Or you can use our handy built in button below. Unless they don't work. In which case, would somebody please let me know?

Thanks,

Lint

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=borderlinevoodoo%40yahoo%2ecom&item_name=Gifts%20for%20Ghidorah%20%28sniff%29&no_shipping=1&cn=Thanks%21%20Any%20Comments%20to%20Share%3f&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8

New Episode Assemble!

2007-08-02T20:36:00.000-05:00

Well, it downloads when I behave as though I am a first time subscriber to the podcast via iTunes. It hasn't officially shown up in the iTunes store listing for excuse me, ghidorah. So... um... the new episode is... um... up?

Try right clicking or control clicking on the title above and you should get it regardless. I'll keep tinkering. I feel like Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back, trying to get the hyperdrive to kick in, but it keeps whirring and sputtering like the Beverly Hillbillies' truck. "It's not my fault! It's not my fault!"

Don't forget -- Halloween is just around the corner. Time to place your orders for that fascinating book, The Magic Eightball Test: A Christian Defense of Halloween and All Things Spooky. This year, give the gift of oddness! Available on amazon.com and other fine bookstores on the worldwide web.

The art above is by Samuel Hiti, author and illustrator of Tiempos Finales, also known as End Times. He is an absolutely fantastic comic book artist. Check out his website at samhiti.com and be sure to click on some of the assorted drawings for a closer look.

Lint

Hang In There, Beanie Boy!

2007-07-31T22:54:00.000-05:00

I kept part of my promise. I recorded the new episode of excuse me, ghidorah. However, I am using the iLife 06 suite for the first time and cannot for the life of me understand how you are supposed to submit your cast to iTunes. There are a couple of spots to enter info, but thin pickings compared to what I am used to in Feeder. Still, the whole darned thing is supposed to be integrated... I guess I'll swing over to Feeder again, which is a great program anyhow.

Anybody got any pointers about iLife 06 -- specifically publishing your podcast out of Garage Band and straight to iTunes?

Make This And Every Day A "Monster Squad" Day!

2007-07-28T08:02:00.000-05:00

Ah! A fresh new morning -- and a slight cheerful afterglow in my brain from watching "Monster Squad" with Nick last night. The 2 disk, 20th anniversary dvd set came out this past week. I feel like I've been waiting for it for decades. The extras are very cool, including extended talks with Fred Dekker (director), who has had a hard time getting his career back in gear after "Monster Squad"'s initial poor showings at the box office, followed (unfortunately) by "Robocop 3", which also didn't do so well. But he seems genuinely encouraged by the "Monster Squad" fans who are pouring in from all corners of the planet.

The film has an edge to it that I never noticed until watching it with kids. Wasn't appropriate for Holly (age 3) -- too intense overall, except she was really getting into the monsters and pretending to hide under her blankie. Too scary for Sarah (age 6). Pretty much just right for Nicholas (age 10) -- except for the peculiar cussing in some spots. It's not that the curse words don't work -- they're pretty funny in a "Goonies" sort of way and fairly realistic in a "Christmas Story" sort of way -- but they really push the envelope a couple of times and you wonder who the movie is for. Kids? Teens? Adults? All three? As I say, I didn't notice this until I had to get in the habit of sectioning off films into "Ok for the kids" and "not OK". Ultimately, I guess the movie is for Fred Dekker. But they had trouble marketing the film, because parents were scared to take their kids to see it and teenagers thought it was too kiddie-oriented.

Anyhow, it's a hoot. Stan Winston's team did a magnificent job of recreating the Universal Studios monsters without actually recreating the Universal Studios monsters (avoiding trademark infringement, etc.). The script was shopped over to Universal first, but, true to form, they turned it down. As Universal Studios theme park attests, these guys have no idea of the untapped treasures in their film vault. Once, while visiting the Universal Studios theme park, I hurried across the park to catch a stage show featuring the classic monsters. No idea what to expect. A series of creepy vignettes featuring sizzling mad scientist lab equipment, shadowy castle interiors, the Black Forest? A tribute to Karloff, Lugosi, Chaney, Pierce, Browning, Whale, Strickfadden and other luminaries? Who knew? Then, over the loudspeaker, a radio-style voice shouted, "Ladies and gentlemen! Universal Studios theme park has TRANSFUNKIFIED the Universal Studios monsters!" The Bride of Frankenstein proceeded to belt out "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman" while the Wolfman breakdanced (!) and Frankenstein eventually did an electric guitar solo. I was scandalized. The folks at Universal might just as well have hiked up their collective leg and pissed on a statue of Maria Ouspenskaya. Same difference. (Years later, the memory of TRANSFUNKIFICATION having abated slightly, I gave Universal Studios theme park another chance. This visit was, after all, during their Halloween celebration. How could they screw that up? Then, during their Halloween parade, a "Labyrinth" style Satan came rolling past on his throne. Dozens of parade watchers began to bow at the waist with their hands outstretched, while nubile satan-nymphs tossed Mardi Gras crap into the crowd. I yelled at the float, "Go to hell!" Just another day at Universal Studios theme park.)

Anyhow, back to "Monster Squad". Not that crazy about the actor who plays Dracula, but he's OK. The rest are marvelous. The fellow who plays the werewolf out-Chaneys Chaney in his regretful human state. The Creature from the Black Lagoon is marvelous. And the guy who plays the Mummy must weigh about fifty pounds soaking wet. Frankie is the highlight of the film. As I said back in Wonder magazine, it's as though a kid fell asleep while staring at his collection of Aurora monster models and had a "monster adventure" dream. The monsters often posture model-kit style; they seem aware of their icon status in a goofy sort of way.

The kids are uniformly great. And little Phoebe is a cool grown-up now, judging by the extras.

Well worth the outlay of about $16.

I'm afraid Kim Paffenroth has gotten me interested in zombie epics. Have any of you guys dared to venture forth into the world of direct-to-dvd zombie films? Nicholas, Holly, my brother, Chris, (he's doing better) and I went to MovieStop last night and there were several such films in the horror section. One somehow managed to claim it was a prequel to "Day of the Dead" (!) -- the title was "Day of the Dead: Contagion". Anybody seen it? Another was simply called "The Mad" and had Billy Zane fighting zombies. Then there was "Dead and Deader" which purported to be a "zomedy". Anyone able to offer a thumbs-up or -down?

"Dead Meat" I've seen and can actually recommend -- it hails from Ireland and is overall a fine entry in the zombie apocalypse genre (although it seems a tad pointless in the end). "The Stink of Flesh" is simply perverse -- though remarkably well made for a film budgeted at around $4,000. (I know, I know -- why was I watching a film called "The Stink of Flesh" in the first place?) And "Undead" is also pretty darned good. Hailing from Australia, "Undead" is one of those indie horror films that shoots for the moon despite its low budget. Like "Equinox", it just doesn't seem to shrink from any crazy notion that popped into the filmmakers' heads, regardless of technical difficulty. "Dead and Breakfast" (instead of Bed and Breakfast - get it?) was something of a letdown. But, hey, it wasn't as perverse as "The Stink of Flesh"!

Ah, Monster Squad... Thank goodness for Monster Squad.

Lint

P.S. I promise to get a new podcast up this very weekend. Let's see now... It's Saturday, 9:04 AM... That gives me... Um... At least a couple of hours...

Cornerstone Recovery Period (revised)

2007-07-03T18:52:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back from the razzle dazzle, contemplative meandering and goofy conversations that are, collectively, the Cornerstone Festival. As usual, I didn't listen to any of the bands.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Coming up with zombie jokes on a very tight deadline. Dave Canfield shows up at the Speakers Hospitality Trailer about thirty minutes before he has to perform as The Undead Comic and says, "Zombie jokes! I need zombie jokes!" My contribution: Why did the zombie dog cross the road? Answer: Brains! (You then proceed to ask other very familiar jokes with zombies clumsily inserted. The punchline is always "Brains!")

Hearing that a very smart little girl has read The Magic Eightball Test: A Christian Defense of Halloween and All Things Spooky about thirty times and uses it to defend her love of Harry Potter books.

Paul Leggett explaining how horror lit was censored during the Fifties to such a degree that The Hound of the Baskervilles went out of print. Sherlock Holmes? Out of print? Back then, Paul was a kid who spent several years asking "Do you by chance have The Hound of the Baskervilles?" in every bookstore he could find. Now he has a collection of Hound of the Baskervilles editions from various countries. In your face, Fifties!

Mike Hertenstein's wistful observations regarding the conflict between "no place like home" and "over the rainbow" / "the real world" and "Shangri-La" / "Pottersville" and "Bedford Falls". I missed the second session. From what I hear Mike was working in his theories about Apollo and Dionysus, but wasn't finished theorizing yet. I am hoping he will keep at it. History has taught me to steer clear of the Dionysian, but Mike may bring me around.

Having the annual conversation about how we need to collect these Imaginarium seminars in a book so they don't go to waste. Let's do this thang!

John Morehead's "damn the torpedoes" approach to his seminar on contextualization, syncretism and missiology. John has moved from a Kingdom of the Cults approach -- "You're a cult member! Now hold still while I tell you all about it." -- to a Neighboring Faiths approach -- "You like french fries. I like french fries. Come, let us reason together you and I." Contextualization is simply working out the most effective context for communication, given that you are bringing the Gospel to a different culture. This involves learning indigenous customs, manners, symbols, etc. not merely to "spin" the Gospel in the guise of that culture, but to draw upon truths in that culture which correspond to truths in Christian theology. A genuine conversation with the culture, not camouflage. St. Paul's Mars Hill encounter with Greek philosophers is, of course, a perfect example.

Asking around to see if mass was held on-site and finding that, though everyone was sure there was one, nobody had any idea where or when. So I ended up rushing from my session at 4pm Saturday to get to the Transportation Tent, hopping a van, convincing the driver to take me into Macomb, going to 5:15 pm mass, then walking back to the hotel. Worn out, I missed saying goodbye to everyone, as well as the Imaginarium showing of Robot Monster. Boo freakin' hoo! If they ask me back again next year, I really have to get the logistics worked out ahead of time. Saw a family of raccoons though.

Eating vegetarian food. Very yummy. I never would have believed it.

Kim Paffenroth's seminars on All Things Zombie. Kim is coming at this as a recent convert to horror movie fandom. He was an academic before he became a fan. And so far his exploration of monstermovieness has focused on zombie fliks. Which makes for a lot of very interesting insights, such as comparing Romero's films to different "bolgias" of Dante's inferno. I am in the process of reading his book on the subject, Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth. And Mr. Paffenroth's zombie apocalypse novel--ambitious fellow, ain't he?--is coming up next. Or maybe I'll switch and read the novel first. Anyhow, the novel is titled Dying to Live. Also, apparently the popularity of zombies has not abated. Kim's sessions were packed wall to wall, shambling room only.

Dealing with piddly turn-out for Imaginarium sessions not related to zombies. I think we need to advertise around the festival grounds with little postcards or posters or something. Or somehow connect every seminar with zombies. "Six degrees of separation from zombie Kevin Bacon." That sort of thing.

Telling people what my seminar was about. People ask "What are you speaking on?" And I answer "Kitsch." And they stare at me. More staring. I can read their minds. They are thinking "Has he got a fur ball stuck in his throat?" I repeat "Kitsch!" They think "He definitely has a fur ball caught in his throat."

Seeing a little of what goes on in the Flickerings zone of the festival. Got to watch most of a movie called Train_man: Densha Otoko. A comedy about geek love in Japan. Highly recommended.

The Atlanta airport wanting 8 bucks to let you on their wi-fi! 8 bucks!

Feeling sad that my family wasn't there! The kids really enjoy Dave's S.T.A.K.E. meetings (Society for the Termination of All Kinds of Evil -- I think). I really enjoy the kids. Plus, it's fun when Susan hangs out in the Speaker Hospitality Trailer.

Scratching my head in amazement during the Imaginarium Talent Show. We had yo-y0 tricks, a real live opera singer dude, Dave as The Undead Comic ("Brains!"), more yo-yo tricks, a guy doing an At the Dentist's Office routine from a Bill Cosby album, a girl reciting funny lines from real live people at her real live job at Fazoli's ("Like, you know that movie where that woman gets possessed when she wakes up at exactly 3 o'clock at night? You guys! I woke up at 3 o'clock last night! Do you think I'm possessed? I mean, like, maybe the demons are taking their time!"), more yo-yo tricks, and a fellow who sang the entirety of "Bohemian Rhapsody" with mucho audience participation. And some yo-yo tricks.

Reciting I Corinthians 1:27 in my Bela Lugosi voice during my seminar. (Starts slow -- "God-duh chowse de foooolish tings ov dee verld"-- then builds to a spittle producing teeth gnashing rendition of "and de DESPISED tings!")

I'll be recording the sessions as ghidorah podcasts. So stay tuned!

Kitsch!

Ahh! The podcast! She is here!

2007-06-25T20:50:00.000-05:00

I am sitting here having just watched The Five Obstructions and now preparing to watch Dolls. So from Lars Von Trier to Charles Band. I do strange things when the family has gone down to Florida to see the in-laws.

The new podcast, OCD Tips & Tricks part 2, is up and running, so all of you OCD sufferers out there can breathe a collective sigh of relief. I want a massive wave of healing graces to spread across the land and a sudden rapid drop in OCD misery. You got that people?! Now get on it! Stat!

Oop! Stranded travellers are approaching an ominous mansion and Brian Yuzna's tongue is planted firmly in cheek. Gotta go.

Prayers please for the upcoming Cornerstone Festival. Thanks, guys. As usual, the podcast is available on iTunes or you can download it with this link.

Stay Tuned...

2007-06-18T17:01:00.000-05:00

The second part of the OCD podcast is nearing completion! Actually, it would be complete already except that I lost a chunk of it while sliding sections of dialogue around in GarageBand 1.0. The result? I got the new GarageBand.

Much mental sweat has been expended on the upcoming seminar for Imaginarium 07 at the ever exciting Cornerstone Festival. I work my proverbial butt off on these things, I tell ya! As Flannery O'Connor said, if you have only rewritten it three times it probably isn't any good yet.

My topic is "Kitsch" and I have divided the three part seminar as follows: 1) Kitsch-The Absurdity of Belief, 2) Kitsch-The Three-legged Dog, and 3) Kitsch-The Friendly Prehistoric Carnivore. Seminar numero uno gets into the relationship between Enlightenment thinking, the avant-garde, and kitsch, since I discovered, much to my surprise, that the term "kitsch" came into broad academic usage back in the early 20th century when art critics like Clement Greenberg and Hermann Broch set up a sort of Zeitgeist War between the fine arts and kitsch. For these guys, fine arts was synonymous with the avant-garde. Kitsch, in their view, consisted of 1) the growing presence of mass produced, mass marketed popular culture (which they despised) and 2) any (and I mean ANY) art which gave off a whiff of the Age of Faith. Inspired by the beauty of nature? Forget it. Desirous to pursue figure painting as fine art? Nope. Religous themes? Nah. Passion, emotion, suffering, anything drawn from common experience? Are you kidding? Simply put, it was considered no longer possible to produce fine art from this sort of subject matter. In fact, "subject matter" itself was tossed out the window in favor of utter, impenetrable abstraction.

All of which is interesting, but not what I think of when I think of kitsch. So I had to figure out how to cover this material while also discussing movies that are "so bad they're good" (Plan Nine, Robot Monster), Cheez Whiz, lawn flamingos, beehive hairdos, black velvet paintings, and devotional accessories like Leonardo's "Last Supper" glued to a slice of cypress knee and sealed within three inches of shellac.

I hope to get the 2nd part of the OCD thing in the bag and still have time to record one of these seminars as an excuse me, ghidorah episode before Cornerstone week (last week of June). Also, with the new GarageBand, I should be able to include stills from bad movies, etc. for those of you with photo or video ipods. And chapters!

Say some prayers for me and for Cstone, will you? Le bad cinema is a subcategory of psychotronic films and other subcategories include sexploitation, mondo films, etc. So, much as I love bad movies, B movies, blaxploitation, sword-and-sandal, K. Gordon Murray imports, and so on, I wouldn't want to introduce someone to the lofty pleasures of watching Plan Nine from Outer Space only for that someone to embrace the unsavory stuff, too. For most folks, it's all "of a piece", as they say. A Christian, however, has to exercise spiritual discernment and restraint or else he'll find himself watching Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS when the Lord returns. (Kind of an embarassing situation.) Although, where do you draw the line? Gotta be responsible adults, right? But what about the "weaker brother", right? Hmmm... Prayers, people! Prayers!

Technical Difficulties Solved

2007-05-16T05:16:00.000-05:00

A big apology to you iTunes users out there who attempted to download the new episode and kept getting the previous Halloween show instead. Problem solved. It works now!

FYI: if you use Feeder to publish your podcast, don't make a copy of the previous episode and use it as a "template" for the new one. (Thought I was being clever, I did.) The unique ID of that previous episode will tag along. Though your new episode will appear in the iTunes store, it will not update for those who already subscribe to your podcast. The previous episode will keep showing up, saying, "You rang?" Mea culpa, friends.

Back In The Saddle Again

2007-05-10T13:41:00.000-05:00

Those of you who wait with barely restrained glee for the next excuse me, ghidorah podcast (all four of you) will be pleased to know a new episode is now available for download. Just go to iTunes, podcastalley, or click this here link.

Or in TV parlance: "Tonight... on a very special episode of... excuse me, ghidorah."

It's a highly personal episode about my own wrestling match with OCD (that's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and I think I manage to pull it off with smart-alecky aplomb. OCD can be, as they say in medical talk, "a crippling disease" which can have a devastating effect on one's "overall quality of life". I have found that while OCD is caused by faulty wiring (I'm convinced of that), there are ways to outsmart it. In fact, much of the distress it causes can be traced to a single mental trick -- a trick which OCD folks fall for time after time. So please, if you or anyone you love or anyone you hate suffers from OCD, download the show and get them to listen. I really think it will be helpful. Heck, for all I know, people who suffer from various sorts of mental illness may find it helpful -- since the overall effect I am shooting for is "coping...with style".

Those of you familiar with the TV series Monk will probably by now have envisioned me triple and quadruple checking that my car keys aren't locked in the car, refusing to share lip balm simply because there's a hair on it (and a mole -- I think I see a mole), and arranging all my pencils and pens at clean right angles, all while solving a murder or two. Well, it doesn't actually work like that. I would probably be fine with the lip balm. I only check once or twice for car keys. And I limit my crime fighting to misdemeanors. ("Pick that litter up, mister! That's right. Nice and slow...")

My variety of OCD isn't as visible and quirky and colorful as all that. It all happens between my two ears and it's truly horrible when it's running at full steam. On the other hand, I discovered you can teach your disorder to do Stupid OCD Tricks. So there is a bright side.

"But, Lint," you ask, "what has this to do with the usual contents of excuse me, ghidorah?" Well, the goal of this podcast is to come up with creative ways to sneak past the dragon. As St. Cyril said, "We go to the Father of Souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon." Suffering and illness are among the things that may potentially trip us up. It's all about your perspective, your expectations. If you have a theology of the cross in your head, you're not made bitter against God (and pals with the dragon) when trouble comes. But even knowing about the cross doesn't actually help you to carry it. That's where coping skills come into play. We all need creative coping skills or when trouble comes we will snap like a twig.

IN OTHER NEWS: An interview with yours truly will appear some time soon on Taylor Kent's podcast, Snark Infested Waters. Taylor is also known as The Snarky Avenger. Given the intrepid nature of his podcast, I thought capitalizing the "T" in "The" as in "The Batman" is only appropriate. Here's the RSS feed address: http://www.snarkyavenger.com/rsspodcast

CAWNAHSTONE: The revamped website for the 2007 Imaginarium is up and it is a doozy. You must check it out. No, I insist. You must. Here is the link: http://www.cornerstonefestival.com/imaginarium

I will be presenting a three part seminar called "The Aisle of Misfit Toys: Kitsch, Irony and Innocence". Of course, that material will eventually find its way to excuse me, ghidorah, but wouldn't you rather hear it in person somewhere in the middle of Illinois in a tent filled with Christian geeks?

Also featured in the Imaginarium: Mike Hertenstein on "Hollywood & The Fifties: A Love-Hate Relationship", Kim Paffenroth on the redeemable aspects of Romero's zombie fllm franchise (that oughta be interesting), Jeff Gundy on Magical Realism, Paul Nethercott on otaku / J-Pop / hikikomori, plus a whole lot more. And what Imaginarium would be complete without Paul Leggett providing Criterion-quality commentary on a slew of cool movies? Plus, we'll be showing the Korean horror film, The Host! Plus, the not nearly as Korean film, Robot Monster! Plus, Don Glut's autobiographical docudrama, "I Was A Teenage Monster Movie Maker!"

All aboard! Next stop - the Cornerstone festival by way of Hackinsack, Salem's Lot and Kookamunga!