Sunday, July 24, 2011

Life Ain't Nothing but a Big Ol' Con

Oh, babies, July has been non-stop, lemme tell ya. Probably the biggest, most time-consuming aspect of it was San Diego Comic-Con International 2011 (or Con, as I call it, having known it long enough to be on a first-name basis). You'll be able to read all about my adventures there this year forthcoming at Gestalt Mash, but suffice it to say, it was a doozy. Aside from all the great comics I bought and wonderful creators to whom I spoke, I managed to snap off a couple shitty camera phone pictures. Firstly, Adam West of TV's Danger Theatre was on hand at the Fox Broadcasting Network's booth to sign glossies from his hit film, Zombie Nightmare. I know it's hard to tell from these shots, but he's the one in the middle background, in the yellow sweater with the seemingly unironic sense of grandeur.

But even better, my loves, was getting to see in the flesh the greatest professional wrestler known to man and Winnipeg's favorite son, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. He seemed really friendly and approachable, but I was still too big of a puss to go up and shake hands with him. Ah, well.

What else is going on in Callaway-land? Well, we've had three exploitation bloggies go up this month, which is the first time that's happened in a while. Over at Let's Kill Everybody!, Eric "Beets" Beetner gives us the scoop on 1982's Basket Case. Brian S. Roe (the "S" is for "sexy") pours us three fingers of 1945's The Lost Weekend over at Let's Drink Everybody! And Kevin "Bunny" Dillon subjected himself to the soft-core tortures of 1979's Malibu High just for you at Let's Fuck Everybody!, so I think you owe it to him to go read the hilarious (for us, anyways) results.

My fiction output has been spotty at best lately, and it may stay that way for a little while, I'm afraid (as regards the secret thing I mentioned last month that I still can't talk about). But fret not, my small wonders, for I have a couple new bits for you to chew on all the same. First up is this little paean/piss-take to Brian K. Vaughan called "Why the Last Broad" over at The Flash Fiction Offensive, in whose fine pages I have not appeared for a little while. And then we've got one out of the vault called "Food Is Other People." You know I wouldn't lie to you kids, so I'll tell you straight up that I am pretty damn sick of zombie stories. But when A Twist of Noir's own Christopher Grant started up this new site, Eaten Alive, dedicated to that sub-genre and invited me to contribute, well, my ego and I just couldn't resist. Had I been required to write a new story, being as fed up as I am with the zombie glut, I may have had to refuse. But as it happened, I'd been sitting on this particular story since around about 2004, quite literally unable to give it away. And despite everything, I think it's not a bad little story. So I am as always eternally grateful to our Mr. Grant for giving this bad boy a home. Take a look for yourself and see if you agree.

And finally, I've got another little cinematic adventure for you. After the release of Black Heart magazine's NOIR issue (co-edited by me and still available for download here), Laura asked if maybe the boys and I wouldn't wanna knock together a little book trailer. Of course, we acquiesced, but time was of the essence. So I quickly wrote it at my day-job (don't tell my boss), Chuck knocked together a shot list, and we filmed it in my living room with our buddy and sometime-bowling team member, "Dangerous" Dave Swain, who can often be found touring with punk-rock legends The Queers. It came out pretty well, which only matches the reception of the issue itself, especially if Chris Rhatigan has anything to say about it. So dig the trailer, dig the issue, and then dig your way back here next month for another few shovels. Sweet dreams, jellybeans.