Neil Gaiman: Horror Host?

I've been scouring my Netflix Instant Queue for undiscovered horror movie gems, in order to get in the Halloween spirit, and I noticed a documentary called American Scary, about the phenomenon of the late-night cable horror movie host.

I've always been fascinated by these hosts, as they combine elements of two of my favorite things- carnival barkers and public access television. Unfortunately, I did not grow up watching any of these costumed characters introducing B-movies with bad puns and rubber masks. I don't think there were any such programs available to me in small-town Minnesota.

However, there was such a show in Minneapolis- "Horror Incorporated", which someone has done an incredibly thorough job blogging about right here. It debuted in 1969 with a showing of Tod Browning's Dracula. Here's the opening sequence:

The show also had a modern incarnation which I, through my secret connections to the Twin Cities horror host industry, got to witness being filmed. I appreciated their life-size Tor Johnson sculpture, and I even got to run the smoke machine! Here's a sample of the show, which, if you need even more motivation to check it out, also includes someone in a gorilla suit:

American Scary turned out to be a fun look at horror hosts from all over the country, with interviews from many horror hosts with great names like 'Svengoolie', 'Dr. Sarcofiguy', and 'Crematia Mortem'. There were also a number of other film experts such as Leonard Maltin, Bob Burns, and Joel Hodgson. There was one guest that surprised me: Neil Gaiman, and the reason for his inclusion was even more surprising: He had been a horror host himself!

It totally makes sense- his stories often have a creepy, macabre edge, he always dresses in black, and he's got that nasal, British accent that's perfect for making you want to settle in on a cold autumn night for some classic scary movies.

He hosted for the Fox Movie Channel when they did a series called "The Thirteen Nights of Fright". Now, thanks to internet magic, you can see him emerge from a coffin and do his horror host thing right here:

Hey, Look! I'm In A Book!

All right, I've been excited about this for a while now, but now I have the proof in my hands, and it seems like a good time to write about it.

I'm a published author!

In an actual book!

This one, to be precise:

If you can see from the image, it also has contributions from China Mieville, Alan Moore, Mike Mignola, and a whole bunch of other really great authors.

Now, you may wonder how I ended up in this book. I will tell you. The editor, Jeff Vandermeer, has a blog that I read with some regularity. One day, he mentioned that he was putting this book together, and that he was looking for some entries to put in the back of the book, kind of an index of unusual objects.

The whole book is like this- the premise is that Thackery T. Lambshead has a vast collection of items in this cabinet (these sorts of cabinets actually exist. Lawrence Weschler actually wrote a very interesting history of them in his book 'Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder' ), and each item is kind of a jumping-off point for a story or anecdote or picture or drawing. It's an idea that lends itself to all sorts of creative takes on what might be found in a cabinet like this.

Anyway, I read about this book, and thought it sounded like a great idea, and then saw that I could submit my own idea for an unusual object, which would then possibly be included in the book. I came up with something (I guess you'll just have to read it to found out what!), sent it in, and then found out that I actually was going to be in the book! With an author bio and everything!

So, yeah, it's kind of exciting to be a part of this really cool project.

I suppose this is a good time to mention that the book comes out next week! So pre-order it now, why dontcha?

This is a peek at all the different author contributions (I'm there at the bottom, if you squint).

And here's a sampling of some of the varied artwork from inside the book.

Aaaaand now I will cease my blatant self-promotion. Carry on.

My Most Anticipated Summer Movie

There's a lot of interesting movies coming out this summer. None that have the guarantee of greatness like last summer's Inception or Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, although those were really the only good movies from all of last summer (Oh, ok, and Toy Story 3). But this summer's a big one for interesting superhero movies and science fiction, and hey, I already like the way things are starting off with Fast Five (no, seriously!).

However, the movie I'm most excited for is The Future, Miranda July's follow-up to Me and You and Everyone We Know. It's finally got a trailer, and the premise couldn't be more simple- two people want to buy a cat.

The Proper Way To End Your Film

I don't really have anything to add to this.

(For the curious, it's apparently from a movie called Blood Lines, Ninja Hunter, or Eliminator, depending on what country you're in. This is the only review I could find of it, although the page layout and ads make it nigh-unreadable.)

So...This Exists

So, today, I learned that there was once a boxing kangaroo movie starring Elliot Gould, and it is probably the reason he isn't the huge star he deserves to be (seriously, he's one of my favorite actors). But something like this would be hard for anyone to come back from:

In Praise of 'Wholphin'

One of the things I'm grateful for about living in this era of media proliferation is that it's a lot easier to watch short films. I'm kind of a completist when it comes to films- if there's a director or actor I love, I want to hunt down all of their work. Not just their major works, bu the TV episodes they've directed or commercials they've done. One of the hardest parts of this quest was tracking down their early films. Lurking there in the depths of of their IMDb filmographies, these were often student films, or projects that were never actually released, and thus pretty much impossible to find.

Until now. Now, if I want to see, say, Quentin Tarantino's first film, or an early bit of animation by Henry Selick, or even the movies Steven Spielberg made when he was running around the Arizona desert with his friends (this last one is definitely an inspiration behind the upcoming Super 8), then it's all just one YouTube search away.

Unfortunately, with all these short films now available, after I've seen all of these long-sought-after gems, it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to finding interesting short films to watch. This is why I'm glad for 'Wholphin'.

Published by McSweeney's, 'Wholphin' is a quarterly DVD magazine that collects short films, documentaries, animation, and other ephemera. They've got a great variety of material; some shorts feature A-list stars, while some are super-low-budget films from unknown directors and actors. They even include stuff like foreign sitcoms, such as the Japanese version of "Bewitched".

Here's an ad for 'Wholphin No. 9' that shows the eclectic mix of content:

And hey, look, they have a YouTube channel, which includes some of my favorite clips, such as...

A great little short featuring a few of my favorite people- John C. Reilly, Miranda July, and Mike White!

Also, during the DVD menu, 'Wholphin' has other videos playing such as these (which are even more surreal when watched separate from the menu):

This post has basically turned into an advertisement, but hey, I feel like 'Wholphin' is one of those things that just lines up perfectly with my own eccentric sensibilities, and it's a great way to discover new work by artists I might not have discovered otherwise.

See! Michael Kupperman's New Comic Strip!

I first discovered the cartoons of Michael Kupperman while working at a video rental store (remember those?). We also sold magazines, but no one ever bought them, so we always ended up throwing them out. Anyway, someone at work had clipped a little cartoon out of some Nickelodeon kid's magazine. I'm not able to find this particular strip online, so I will attempt to recreate it here through medium of only text:

It was entitled "The Adventures of Citobor, the Invisible, Silent Robot". The picture was a single panel, consisting of a young girl and an old man, who was asking "Do you think Citobor is in this room right now?". The caption read "Because no one could see or hear him, Citobor's adventures consisted mainly of people wondering where he was." It was surreal, unexpected, and kind of weird for a kid's magazine. I had to find more!

A Google search for "Citobor" told me that it was drawn by Michael Kupperman, who at the time had only one collected volume of work:

I immediately ordered a copy. The cartoons contained within were just the right combination of Dada and daffy. As an example, here's the titular crime-fighting duo:

They're featured prominently, as well as stuff like this:

He continues to publish comics all over the place, from The New Yorker to McSweeney's, as well as the Tales Designed to Thrizzle series, which I collect every time it comes out (sadly, only about once a year). He also has a frequently hilarious Twitter account. Oh, and Snake 'n' Bacon even got their own TV pilot, which features Kristen Schaal, and an appearance by Citobor!

Sadly, it proved too cutting edge even for Adult Swim and was not picked up.

However, to finally get around to what I promised in the blog title, Michael Kupperman has a new cartoon strip over on the Fantagraphics web site. Here's the first one:

I can only hope that this is a long and fruitful enterprise.