Sunday, October 28, 2007

 

KILLER MONKEYS!



I've sort of become the "Monkey Man" of horror these days, thanks to a little story I wrote a few years back called "Head Games" and the fact that my character/alter ego Cornelius Badmonk has become sort of a staple at some horror conventions. So I'm always on the lookout for news stories about killer monkeys. You'd be amazed to hear that these stories pop up fairly frequently, especially in Asia and Africa. For example, I found this one last week :

India Official Dies After Monkey Attack



Sun Oct 21, 10:28 AM EDT
Wild monkeys attacked a senior government official who then fell from a balcony at his home and died Sunday, media reported.

New Delhi Deputy Mayor S.S. Bajwa was rushed to a hospital after the attack by a gang of Rhesus macaques, but succumbed to head injuries sustained in his fall, the Press Trust of India news agency and The Times of India reported.

Many government buildings, temples and residential neighborhoods in New Delhi are overrun by Rhesus macaques, which scare passers-by and occasionally bite or snatch food from unsuspecting visitors.

Last year, the Delhi High Court reprimanded city authorities for failing to stop the animals from terrifying residents and asked them to find a permanent solution to the monkey menace.

Part of the problem is that devout Hindus believe monkeys are manifestations of the monkey god Hanuman and feed them bananas and peanuts - encouraging them to frequent public places.

Over the years, city authorities have employed monkey catchers who use langurs - a larger and fiercer kind of monkey - to scare or catch the macaques, but the problem persists.
 

THE NEW TV SHOWS



I've got a new article up on FearZone.com about the new fall television shows. You can read that here:

http://www.fearzone.com/blog/tv-zone

Originally I reviewed a few more shows than the ones that made it into the final article, but they were pared down a bit for the sake of sticking to the theme of the site - Fear Zone is a horror website after all.

So, since I did bother to watch the shows and write reviews for them, I thought I'd post the "lost reviews" here. Here ya go:

CHUCK – This show barely fits into a genre category, but it involves Chuck (Zachary Levi), a geek who works at a Best Buy-type store (called "Buy More" here, and Chuck is part of the "Nerd Herd" who help customers with their computers), who one day has all of the government's secrets downloaded into his brain. Instead of killing him, various government agencies want the information back, but they're not really sure how to retrieve it. In the meantime, he gets two "babysitters" to keep an eye on him - one is an agent from the NSA (Adam Baldwin, who was so great as Jayne on FIREFLY) and the other is from the CIA (Yvonne Strahovski, who is reason enough to check this show out). The two agents are constantly sparring and Chuck is caught in the middle. It's kind of a dumb plot, but the acting on this show is actually very good. Baldwin, Levi, and Strahovski all have chemistry together and the performances/personalities are what make this show so watchable. The "downloading information into Chuck's brain" aspect is pure science fiction, but the show itself is more of a 007-wannabe spy show. It's enjoyable enough, even if it is just dumb fun. But please get rid of Chuck's annoying sidekick/buddy Morgan (Joshua Gomez),who looks like a weasel and who is just as irritating. (CHUCK airs Mondays at 8pm Eastern Time on NBC).

JOURNEYMAN – This one stars Kevin McKidd, who played Lucius Vorenus on the HBO drama ROME. He was great on that. I mention this because he is the only reason to watch JOURNEYMAN. The plot is annoying, the storylines cloying, and the entire thing rather pointless. McKidd plays a guy who can go back in time at any time. When he's driving his car, when he's a passenger on a plane, when he's making breakfast. There is no warning. So he disappears a lot without explanation. This endangers his job, and his marriage. He figures out a way to convince his wife he's not crazy (involving a newspaper he buries decades before and then digs up in the present to show her), but everyone else thinks he's having some kind of mental breakdown. But there's a purpose to his time traveling. Each episode, every time he goes back in time, he's visiting one specific person at different points in their lives. Usually, it's to save them from danger. Then he finds out later that they were important people who made a difference in the world. How heart-warming! And there's the issue of his ex-wife, who died years ago but now shows up as mysteriously as he time travels – and it appears she's in on what's going on. I guess I could keep watching and find out the secret of his abilities, and his ex-wife's involvement in all this, but frankly, I just find the show too annoying and formulaic. I don't really care why he time travels. But I do think Kevin McKidd deserves a better show to star in. (JOURNEYMAN airs Mondays at 10pm Eastern Time on NBC.)

CAVEMEN – The less said about this show, the better. Everyone knows it was spun off from those popular GEICO commercials. It features cavemen living alongside us Homo Sapiens (who they call "saps") in everyday life. Instead of having them act like real cavemen, though, they act like normal people (one guy is even a brainiac type), except the lead actors have extra facial hair. Supposedly the way the cavemen are treated is a metaphor for prejudice, but it's a pretty weak attempt at making a statement (if that is, in fact, what they're trying to do), and because there is nothing else remarkable about the characters, any generic sitcom script could be used on this show without missing a beat. The show's biggest sin is that it simply isn't funny. At all. Not one laugh. (CAVEMEN airs Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern Time on ABC).

My favorite new show of the fall season isn't a genre show at all. It's called LIFE, and it's the story of Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis), a cop who was recently freed from prison after serving 15 years for a crime he did not commit. He's a detective now (part of his settlement with the state, which also included lots of cash). Prison changed Charlie, and he's an odd duck who spouts Zen platitudes while using very unorthodox methods to interrogate suspects and solve crimes. But his methods work. With Sarah Shahi (the girl in the famous SOPRANOS episode where Tony takes mushrooms in Vegas) as Charlie's partner Dani Reese, and Robin Weigert (who we last saw as Calamity Jane in DEADWOOD) as the Internal Affairs officer who wants evidence to kick Charlie off the force. The show may not sound like much, but the acting is terrific and it's easily the best written network show so far this season. And the more I've been watching it, the more I really dig this show. (LIFE airs Wednesdays at 10pm Eastern Time on NBC.)

**
Well, those are the ones that didn't make the cut. As for reviews about REAPER, PUSHING DAISIES, BIONIC WOMAN, MOONLIGHT and TORCHWOOD, as well as some returning genre shows, check out the article on Fear Zone.

Someone asked me how many of the new genre shows I reviewed for this season I will still be watching. The answer is, probably none of them. But I really dig LIFE, and I'll be sticking with it. I just hope it doesn't get canceled.

Oh yeah, and don't tell anyone, but I've kinda got hooked on GHOST WHISPERER this season. I know it's a totally idiotic show, but for some weird reason I'm mesmorized by Jennifer Love Hewitt (and yes, I know she was in the horrible I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER movies, too, but hey, I forgive her).

Well, that's it for television shows for now. I hope you all have a very Happy Halloween.

Infernally Yours,
~LLS

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

 

STEPHEN KING LIVE



I saw Stephen King last night. He was doing a reading at Harvard University. He was the guest editor for the new edition of THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES and was there with series editor Heidi Pitlor, and three writers from the anthology, Jim Shepard, Karen Russell and Richard Russo, who each read a few pages from their stories. King really tried to make it not "about him," but there were 1,000 people there and it was obvious most of them were there for him. The Harvard Bookstore, who sponsored the event, kept it very strict - he would only sign one book, and it was the BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES book, and that's it. When he signed books, he didn't personalize them and didn't even look up. It was like an assembly line. But I'm glad I went. How often to you get to see Stephen King in person?

****

I've got a new story out called "EXTREME HAUNTED MAKEOVERS." It appears in the quarterly HORROR FICTION REVIEW. The new issue is out now and it's only $2 for thirty book reviews, a couple of interviews, and new fiction by me. How can you go wrong. If you wanna get it, here's the link:

http://www.novellopublishers.com/fanzine.html

Also, that new QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE video I mentioned in my last post, for their song "3's and 7's," (it's a homage to Tarantino's DEATHPROOF from GRINDHOUSE) is up on YouTube and you can see it here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VqUiPtG_Rdw

It's pretty damn cool. But for some reason this is the "clean version." If anyone finds the "unclean version" let me know where to find it.

INFERNALLY YOURS,

~LLS

Sunday, October 14, 2007

 

QUEENS AND ROCK N SHOCK



Had a pretty eventful weekend. On Friday night I went to see QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE in concert. They might just be my favorite band at the moment, and they were amazing in concert. If you're into them and they come to your town, definitely go see em live. I also think their new album ERA VULGARIS is maybe their best album, and they played a lot of tracks from it. Oh, and you should go to YouTube and check out QOTSA's new video for the song "3's and 7's" - it's a homage to GRINDHOUSE that totally kicks ass.

I also went to Worcester, Mass. all day Saturday for the annual ROCK N SHOCK convention there. I always look forward to this one, and it was a fun time. I was part of the "Horror Writers of New England" table - so I was actually a guest! Didn't sell too many books, though (although my friend Morven Westfield sold a ton of her vampire novels, THE DARKSOME THIRST and THE OLD POWER RETURNS).

The convention is more geared to horror movies and "horror rock." They also had celebrities from horror movies. Since it cost $20 a pop to get their autograph (and get a picture taken with them), I had to be really choosey who I got an autograph from. So I got pictures taken with William Forsythe (who was amazing are Sheriff Wydell in DEVIL'S REJECTS and was the funniest thing in the new HALLOWEEN as the abusive stepdad). Forsythe's a really nice guy in person. I also got my picture taken with Marilyn Burns (Sally from the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE). She's a friggin icon and it was cool to meet her.

They also have the "rock" aspect where bands play in the adjacent Palladium venue. Most of them I never heard of, but last year the big one was GWAR (I saw them in the dealer's room in full costume, but didn't see them in concert). This year, they actually had a band I like a lot - TYPE O NEGATIVE - but I didn't get to see them. I had to take the 2 hour train ride home. I also missed the screening of JACK KETCHUM'S GIRL NEXT DOOR which was today (Sunday) at noon. I just went for the day on Saturday. I'm a big fan of Ketchum's novel (one of the best horror novels ever written) and I've been wanting to see the movie adaptation since I first heard about it. But I guess I'll have to wait for the DVD (which comes out in December).

It's always fun, though. And I bought way too many t-shirts and movies.
I also got to hang out with Greg Lamberson for awhile, which was cool. Since he lives in Buffalo, NY, I don't get to see him very often. He was selling Johnny Gruesome masks and soundtracks, and copies of his first novel, PERSONAL DEMONS, as well as his cult-classic DVD SLIME CITY.

This week is 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, which I'm really looking forward to. I hope it's not a let-down.
 

TOO MUCH TV!


I'm watching tons of new genre shows for an article I'm working on. And I've got to tell you, it's giving me a headache! Most shows on TV are just plain lame, and even when something starts out good, there's a good chance it will fall apart. For example, I loved the first episode of REAPER, but by episode 2 I'm already seeing how this could get boring really fast.

It's kind of ironic. TV is a major distraction for writers who wanna get work done. And here I am watching lots of shows, and I want to watch at least three episodes of each one in order to judge them fairly.

I can't wait til the article's done and I can cut a bunch of these shows from my schedule. Enough is enough!

****

I got THE CULT's new album this week, "Born Into This." I was a big fan of their music in the 1980's, especially their album "Sonic Temple" and their song "Love Removal Machine."

The band broke up in the '90s and recently singer Ian Astbury toured with the original members of The Doors, taking up the singing duties for long-dead original singer Jim Morrison. I never saw them live or bought their album (was it called The New Doors?), but I saw them once performing on a talk show. All I could think of was how Ian Astbury was too good to be in what was pretty much a glorified tribute band, and I wished he'd reform The Cult. Well, he finally did just that.

The weird thing is, Astbury's voice doesn't seem as powerful as it once was. I've listened to the album a few times, and while I like it, no song really stands out yet. I miss the full-throttle of Astbury's voice from the '80s. But I guess we're all getting older.

****

I also want to plug a new book by my buddy Mike Oliveri. It's called RESTORE FROM BACKUP and Mike co-wrote it with the talented J.F. Gonzales (who wrote one of my favorite horror novels of the last ten years, SURVIVOR!).

Mike won the Stoker Award for his first novel DEADLIEST OF THE SPECIES, and with these two guys involved, this new book is bound to be a great read. If you're interested, you can order it from Bad Moon Books (www.badmoonbooks.com).

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