31 Days of Halloween #19

There are a lot of great actors in the classic horror genre.  Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney (both Jr. and Sr.), John Carradine, Claude Rains, Lionel Atwill, George Zucco....and perhaps my favorite: Dwight Frye.

Day 19: Dwight Frye

Without a doubt, Dwight Frye is one of my all-time favorite actors.  You might know him best as Renfield from the original Bela Lugosi Dracula, or perhaps even as Fritz, the hunchback from the original Boris Karloff Frankenstein.  There is something about Dwight that always sends shivers down my spine.  And yet, at the same time, he creates a very sympathetic character (especially in Renfield; not so much in Fritz).  He's truly a wonderful actor.  If you want to read a bit about his life, I highly recommend this wonderful book.

And now for some free stuff!  I'm going to start things off with perhaps the most famous Dwight Frye song out there: "The Ballad of Dwight Fry" by Alice Cooper.  Yes, I know I left the "e" off in "Frye", but that's how its spelled in the song.

While you're listening to that, why not check out a few of these interesting biographies of Dwight?  They can be found here and here.

Also, here is a wonderful remix song about Renfield from Dracula, called "Now, Now, Renfield".  The link will take you to a page where you can download the song.  And if you wanted a video of the song instead, I'm including that below.

Want more?  Check out some of Dwight's films.  In addition to Frankenstein and Dracula, you can find him in The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, The Vampire Bat, and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man--just to name a few!

 

31 Days of Halloween #3

I loved dressing up for Halloween when I was a kid.  It was only as I got older that I started to get uncomfortable and stopped wanting to go Trick-or-Treating with the Brother and my friends.  As a 20-something college graduate, I almost wish I could go back to doing that again.  I might this year.  Who knows.  I would love to pass out candy dressed as Alice Cooper.

My list of childhood costumes ranges from cats to a ladybug to a cheerleader to a clown.  And it's this last one that I feel commands special attention.  I had to be like 5 or 6, dressed up with big floppy shoes and a rainbow wig; I never thought that I was scary.  And I never thought that the costume was meant to be scary.  After all, clowns, as far as I knew, were funny characters with big red noses and painted on smiles.  But, do a quick internet search, and you can find some pretty creepy stuff.  Personally, I'm not afraid of clowns, but I can certainly understand why some people are!

So, this I suppose is your warning, everyone.  This post is all about clowns.  And if you're one of the above-mentioned folks who suffer from Coulrophobia, then I apologize in advance; I don't mean to freak anyone out.  This is all meant in good fun.

Yes, that is a clown shark.

Day #: Clowns and Clown Shark

Yes, yes, I know.  I thought I would kick off this creepy clown post with a little video called Clown Shark.  This is by the wonderful team of Rhett & Link, personal favorites of mine.  Granted, this is not their best work, but I've been finding a ton of clown related videos, costumes, etc., and I thought it would be funny to include it, too.  The basic plot is a peaceful hippie (Rhett--looking a lot like John Lennon) reveals his fear of clowns and sharks...and is then attacked by a fearsome combination of the two.  Campy, silly, a bit stupid, and actually a bit freaky.  But, I enjoyed it.

Makeup by MadeYewLook

Now, if you made it through that nightmarish combination, perhaps we could move on to a makeup tutorial?  Have you thought of a costume yet?  If not, perhaps you might want to go as a clown.  This is more for the ladies, but feel free to watch as well, gentlemen.  I think the artist hams it up a bit too much at the start of the video, but her makeup job is so awesome that I think she can get away with it.  You can find her tutorial here.

Finally, I'll wrap this up with a song by my man Alice Cooper: "Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me". 

Please let me know what you thought in the comments.  And if you have any ideas for other posts, please feel free to share those as well.  It could be as specific as "Rhett and Link did this video called Clown Shark!" or as general as "Please show some stuff about Halloween costumes!"  Or, maybe something in the middle "I would love to see a post about Boris Karloff."

What's That You're Reading?

Hello, readers!  Sorry it's been so long since I've last posted.  I've been reading and working and hanging out with people and reading and reading and reading....Yeah, so I've been reading a lot.  And so, I thought I would just give you a quick run down of things, since I haven't been posting on the blog at all (of course, those of you who follow me on Goodreads are totally up to date on my shit).

So, what have I been reading?  Well, I've been paging through tomes of everything from whaling expeditions, to two-dimensional worlds, to how science uses dead bodies.  Currently, I'm reading about the processes of eating, and all those fun little ads in the back of vintage comic books, such as "Dr. Hypno's x-ray glasses".

The best part of working in a library (and also the worst) is that I check in so many books all the time, and I always find something cool.  Which means I have to ask my co-workers to check them out to me (I'm not allowed to access the subtle nuances of my account from behind the scenes for fear of being accused of "funny business").  And it also means I have a pile of books in my room ranging from Stephen King's The Shining to a cookbook about muffins and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Of course, I'm still open to book suggestions, but I'm really looking forward to trekking through my current reading lists.  The one on Goodreads is over 600 books long!

And the music!  I love being able to have access to all my favorite bands right at work, and check out all kinds of CDs for groups I might not be familiar with.  Currently listening to Alice Cooper, but I also have Men without Hats, Tegan and Sara, and They Might Be Giants.  Jumping back to Alice for just one brief moment, I have to say that I am FREAKISHLY impressed with Welcome 2 My Nightmare.  SUCH a good album!  I'm including one of my favorite songs here...just in case you wanted to hear the awesome.

Alice Cooper Describes My Mood

Alice Cooper: Is Santa Real?

Is Santa real? The science behind Santa according to rock sensation Alice Cooper: