Horror films? Not for me

One of the overriding problems I had in my later years at FantaCo in the late 1980s was that we were putting out product that I was selling that I did not enjoy. It wasn't just the Freddy Kruger masks and the Freddy Kruger gloves (plastic, not real) and the Jason Voorhis masks that bothered me. It was all the Herschell Gordon Lewis related material that ewe published that I didn't read and yet from which I was actually beginning to make a reasonably decent wage that ultimately caused me to quit. It's not that I had a moral objection to them; it was that I just didn't enjoy a lot of gruesomeness. I've never seen a Sam Peckinpah film, for example. And after seeing A Clockwork Orange, The Godfather and Catch-22 in a short time period, I pretty much swore off movies rated R for violence for nearly a decade. So it's a miracle that I've seen ANY of the movies of the top horror movies. A number of people did this, but I first saw it at Tom the Dog's.

1.The Exorcist. William Friedkin (1973) - certainly I've seen large chunks of this movie at home on TV. Oy.
2.The Shining. Stanley Kubrick (1980) - this movie I actually saw in the movies. And I HATED it, NOT because it was gruesome but because Jack Nicholson's character seemed to be going crazy when he and Shelly Duval are having their first meeting with Barry Nelson. So I believe NONE of what follows from Nicholson, especially the cutesy "Here's Johnny!" It felt like Jack doing Jack and I disliked it on that point. Actually thought the excessive amount of blood was laughable, not scary or gory.
3.Alien. Ridley Scott (1979) - saw this in the theater and LIKED it
4.The Silence of the Lambs. Jonathan Demme (1991) - was at my parents' house and one or both of my sisters was watching it on HBO; I bailed fairly early
5.Saw. James Wan (2004) - now here's a movie I just will never see
6.Halloween. John Carpenter (1978) - did see large parts of this on TV
7.A Nightmare on Elm Street. Wes Craven (1984) - only small parts of this
8.Ring (Ringu). Hideo Nakata (1998) - neither version
9.The Wicker Man. Robin Hardy (1973) -no
10.The Omen. Richard Donner (1976) -no, still in my no R rated period

11.The Birds. Alfred Hitchcock (1963) - this I saw at some revival theater, and it STILL scares me
12.The Thing. John Carpenter (1982) - no
13.Lost Boys. Joel Schumacher (1987) - don't think I avoided it, just didn't see
14.Dawn of the Dead. George A Romero (1978) - always intended to see this, actually
15.The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Tobe Hooper (1974) - oddly enough, this as well. Someday.
16.Jaws. Steven Spielberg (1975) - no, and I feel culturally deprived.
17.The Blair Witch Project. Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez (1999) - no. might.
18.An American Werewolf in London. John Landis (1981) - no, but still might.
19.Se7en. David Fincher (1995) - probably won't.
20.Poltergeist. Tobe Hooper (1982) - may someday.
21.The Amityville Horror. Stuart Rosenberg (1979) - probably won't.
22.Candyman. Bernard Rose (1992) no
23.Scream. Wes Craven (1996) no
24.Carrie. Brian De Palma (1976) probably will someday.
25.Friday the 13th. Sean S Cunningham (1980) certainly I've seen parts of it.
26.Final Destination. James Wong (2000) - nope
27.The Evil Dead. Sam Raimi (1981) - probably not
28.Hellraiser. Clive Barker (1987) - nope
29.Hostel. Eli Roth (2005) - heck, no, any more than I'd see Saw I to infinity. This played three blocks from my house and I had zero interest.
30.Salem's Lot. Mikael Salomon (2004) - maybe some day.
31.The Descent. Neil Marshall (2005) - don't know this
32.The Hills Have Eyes. Wes Craven (1977) - maybe some day.
33.Wolf Creek. Greg McLean (2005) - don't know this. Tom got bored.
34.Misery. Rob Reiner (1991) - this movie I actually saw in the movie theater and liked, because it feels so normal on the surface. Around this time, someone told me that they were my biggest fan, not having seen the movie or read the book, and it freaked me out!
35.Rosemary's Baby. Roman Polanski (1968) - saw this in New Paltz, NY in 1971. Happy memories. Oh, it was the date I was on.
36.Child's Play. Tom Holland (1989) - don't know
37.The Orphanage. Juan Antonio Bayona (2008) -don't know, but I'm guessing not.
38.The Entity. Sidney J Furie (1981) - no, but I might
39.Nosferatu. FW Murnau (1922) - seen segments, not the whole thing
40.Night of the Living Dead. George A. Romero (1968) - feel as though I SHOULD see it
41.House on Haunted Hill. William Malone (2000) - don't know
42.The Haunting. Robert Wise (1963) - no, but not of any real avoidance.
43.It. Tommy Lee Wallace (1990) - no, and it just didn't look that good in the previews.
44.Audition. Takashi Miike (1999) - don't know.
45.The Changeling. Peter Medak (1980) -heard of, but don't really know
46.The Mist. Frank Darabont (2008) - probably won't
47.Suspiria. Dario Argento (1977) - probably won't
48.The Vanishing. George Sluizer (1993) - probably won't
49.Shutter. Masayuki Ochiai (2008) - don't know
50.Planet Terror. Robert Rodriguez (2007) - now this I did actually avoid when it was part of Grindhouse

So, I'd say I REALLY saw four, all with one word titles, excluding articles: Shining, Birds, Alien, Misery. I should probably add Exorcist. Five out of 50. Probably will double someday.

ROG

Remembering the living

Today is the anniversary of the death of John Lennon. I realize that, while I always mark his birth (October 9, 1940), I don't always note his death (December 8, 1980), not just because the death was so tragic and senseless, but because I'd been operating on the assumption that it was somehow disrespectful to focus on death. One should focus on life! Though I do remember calling my friend since kindergarten Karen at 2 a.m. that night Also working at FantaCo the Sunday after, we closed the store for ten minutes in the middle of the afternoon for a time of silence, with some of the customers still inside (at their request).

Then I pondered: am I'm being unrealistic? Public figures, especially, come into one's life generally after one is born. I remember November 22, 1963 but do I even KNOW John F. Kennedy's birthday. Well, yes, it's May 29, 1917, but only because I once blogged about it. (Aren't blogs educational?)

Likewise, I'm convinced that the push for a Martin Luther King holiday was born, in part, by people who didn't want April 4, 1968 to be his legacy but January 15, 1929, a/k/a the third Monday in January.

So, I suppose, instead of overthinking this, I should, in the words of one of Mr. Lennon's colleagues, "let it be."

THE Lennon song I think about today
The nice video
LINK
The not-so-nice video
LINK.

Odetta died last week. I have a grand double album of her music on something you kids may not recall, vinyl. This was one of my father's true musical heroes, and her passing, in some way, makes his passing eight years ago, more real.
LINK

LINK

Forry Ackerman, who died a few days ago, was a huge part of my life at FantaCo, for we sold oodles of copies of the magazine he founded, Famous Monsters of Filmland. The earlier issues were classics, but the latter ones, most of which came out after he'd left the publication, were often reprints of previously published material.

It was so significant a publication to publisher Tom Skulan that three years after I left, FantaCo published the Famous Monsters Chronicles. Though a book rather than a magazine, Tom always considered it the last of the Chronicles series that started with the X-Men Chronicles a decade earlier. It's out of print and apparently in demand based on the Mile High price listing.


I went to see the AIDS quilt last Wednesday. Not so incidentally, the program was cut from five days to four because of budget cuts. For the last three years, I had requested that the section featuring my old friend Vito Mastrogiovanni come to Albany. This year, it made it. There it was, a much more simple design than some of the others. There it was.

Seeing it, I thought I'd get emotional, but I did not. There it is. Until I started talking to one of the guides, a task I had done in previous years, talking about how we were in high school together, how we tried to end the Viet Nam war together, how we partied together. There it is. And then I did get just a little verklempt. There it is - Vito Mastrogiovanni 1951-1991. May 15, 1991, same good friend Karen, who was his best friend, noted when I called her that evening.

There it is.


ROG

Rousseau lost out

A couple months ago, I went to the Albany Public Library to listen to Dr. Ron Bassman, former psychiatric patient and current psychologist, talk about how the mental health profession tends to warehouse mental patients, giving them a "one size fits all" treatment. One of the things he mentioned was the societal pressure for conformity and an intolerance of much variation. That certainly seems true in terms of the uncivil discourse of politics in the United States. It seems even more true, as Dr. Bassman alluded, to the fact that there are more people imprisoned in this country than any other country that people would consider "civilized". Are Americans more prone to criminal behavior? If not, why do we have so many locked up,when perhaps alternative sentencing may be a more viable option?

Ron told me to go to the Rousseau post in the Wikipedia and check out the highlighted quotation under the discussion of Theory of Natural Man:
"The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody."
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, 1754

My first thought: I wonder if Woody Guthrie studied Rousseau. My second thought: I wish I knew philosophy better than whatever I studied in one freshman college course over 35 years ago.
***
There is a project aimed to collect limericks for every meaning of every word in the Oxford English Dictionary. There are over 49,000 approved limericks in the Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form and they're only up to Dd so far.

See, e.g., the 26 entries for aardvark, one of which is:
This really could be quite a lark,
Limericizing aardvark.
Though the rhyme is infernal,
The mammal's nocturnal.
(It only comes out after dark.)

There are 17 limericks for the Beatles, most of them British album specific, though not this one:
A beetle's a hardcover bug,
With an arthropod face for a mug,
While the Beatles were all
(John, George, Ringo, and Paul),
Liverpudlians I'd love to hug.


ROG

The PANHANDLE Question

One of those perennially unresolved questions in my life: what should I do when someone, not of my acquaintance, asks me for money, for food or bus fare?

I claim no insight into this except that to walk past someone as though I didn't hear the question, as though the person were not there, is not an acceptable solution. For me. I make no judgment about what others do, in part because I'm so inconsistent in my own thinking.

I used to give, then I used not to give. I've walked into a pizza joint and given money to the proprietor, telling him to get the fellow a couple slices.

One time a friend and I were in Washington Park in Albany and a guy came up to us and asked for some specific amount of money - $2.87 or something like that. He said he was a VietNam vet and that he was going to use the money to buy liquor. And we GAVE it to him. Either it was so honest that we could not resist or a most excellent con.

And that's what the real issue is, isn't it? You give money to someone who says he needs food and you're afraid that he'll use it on booze and drugs.

While I understand the logistical reason for doing so, I miss the bus tokens that the bus company, the CDTA, used to sell. I used to buy 10 of them for $9.50 and when someone hit me up for bus fare, I'd just give her a token. They put the kibosh on tokens, BTW, because other items - foreign coins, casino slugs, etc. - could replicate the tokens in the machinery.

I figured out that some folks would then sell the token I gave them to someone for cash, and then buy something else.

This has particularly come to mind, not just because it's the Advent season but because of the Gospel lesson in the liturgy a couple weeks ago, Matthew 25:31-46, which reads in part:
Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father...For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'
Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'
And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'
This article also came to mind.

So, to be crude about it, aren't we directed to help that smelly, crazy-looking guy on the street? The fact that I give to registered charities doesn't take me off the hook when face to face with a human in need. Does it?

I had this conversation with my sister who was musing on the very same issue. She noted that her own safety and security is an issue. I can understand that, which is why I give change and even a crumpled single dollar bill from my pocket, but am resistant to show my wallet. On the other hand, her pastor suggested that if you give money based on one piece of information and the user does something else, that's on them, not on you. Or are you suppose to "discern" their motivation?

In the words of the Beatles' second movie title, "HELP!"

ROG

The 1950 Philadelphia Phillies, Levon Helm and Roger Trafford

One of my racquetball buddies, possibly inspired by the success of the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies, was interested to find out who played first base for the World Series winning 1950 Phillies. That would be Eddie Waitkus who played 154 games for the team.

But then I noticed that the left side of the infield, 3B Willie Jones and SS Granny Hamner, each played 157 games. In a 154-game season, how could that be? So I asked Baseball Almanac, because, you know, a librarian just NEEDS to know.

They played three tie games: April 21 at Boston, July 2 (2nd game) at Brooklyn, and August 24 (2nd game) at Chicago.

Ties?

So when they play a tie game, they have to play another one? And the ties didn’t show in the standings, but the individual achievements did?

The ties are supposed to show and it is more complex in respect to the achievements. Prior to 2007 tie games were replayed from the start. Since 2007 they are continued where they left off. If it was a tie before it became official, the stats do not count. If it was official then the stats do count.

So this apparently happened often, but I had just never came across it. Thanks!

Someone asked: "I was looking for information on Levon Helm's song "I Want To Know". When I googled the song with the singer's name, I found your blog. How would I find the information I was looking for? I LOVE your Bush countdown!"

As is often the case for a librarian, I get asked questions I'm not entirely sure of the meaning, yet I feel compelled to answer.

This is what I know:
"I Want to Know" is available as a single, part of the album FestivaLink presents Levon Helm Band: MerleFest Ramble at MerleFest 4/26/08. But it's not the first appearance of the song on a Helm album. It also shows up on Midnight Ramble Music Sessions, Vol. 2, released February 21, 2006

I Need to Know was a 1958 hit by Ray Charles and sounds like this.
***
Next up:
I found a reference to Roger Trafford (Actor, Larry the Lamb (1947) (TV) in your Ramblin' with Roger, when I was trying to piece together some background of this man. I understood he was the voice over in the film Larry the Lamb. His name actually was Edward Arthur Johnson, born 1918, and he changed his name by deed poll to Roger Trafford. I am following up a very intriguing story, and would love to know what you have on this actor. Was he also on TV? Do you know where he lived, after leaving Nottingham? I believe he had a son. As he heads your piece about all the Rogers, I hope you can help.

Unfortunately, I found little more about Trafford or Larry the Lamb, which, BTW, is a UK program (or programme), so I'm hoping the wisdom of the Internet will come pouring down on me. Help!
ROG

Seven Random Facts, then Seven More

I have been tagged by Rose from World Outside My Window who wants to know seven random facts about me.

First, the rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself.
3) Tag 7 random people and include links to their blogs.
4) Let each person know they have been tagged and comment on their blog.

Seven random facts about Roger Green.

1. I’m never used to be a morning person, but my wife is. I adapted.
2. When I was about 10 or 11, my sisters and I all got kittens. Mine was Tiger, Leslie's was Taffy and Marcia's was Tony. Tiger got hit by a car and was killed. Marcia, who was 5 or 6, thought this was terribly funny. So not only was I sad because of the loss, but I had suppressed anger toward my baby sister; I mean, I knew she was just a kid, so what could I do? Why, rat her out to my parents, who did talk to her.
3. I never return things to a store unless the items don't work; I'm loath to shop in the first place and returning something just adds to that. The last thing I returned was a lawn mower to Sears because it costs $200 and had stopped running after two or three uses. The salesperson was very good at trying to make ME feel crummy about bringing it back.
4. I have more stuffed animals than my daughter does. Though she has appropriated some of them, I still consider them mine.
5. If I were wealthy, I would hire a masseuse.
6. I'm very good at packing our car trunk. But my spatial strength does not extend to whole rooms, where my wife asks me to visualize what a room would look like with X furniture here and Y furniture there; I have no idea.
7. I can make a kazoo noise without a kazoo, unless I'm dehydrated.

Then I was tagged with SAME meme by Wayne John. So, in both cases, all of my answers were inspired by THEIR answers, however tenuously.

But before I get to those, Neil Patrick Harris solves the problem with the economy, also featuring other people you might have heard of:

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Now, back to my regularly scheduled blog.

1. At some basic level, I'm a computerphobe. Not so much, though, that people who know even less about he things than I do don't ask me for help, and usually I can.
2. When I was single, I enjoy being buried in work and having (too many) things to do. Now, not so much.
3. I tend to be very shy in social situations, so I often am doing busywork (setting the table, watch the child, or whatnot) to avoid actually dealing with people.
4. My college major was political science. Not only does it help me be a better citizen, but it's been useful as a librarian.
5. As a bicyclist and pedestrian, I've spent a lot of time sussing out bad driving behavior. Often, while my wife is driving, I'll say, "that guy is going to pull out ahead of you, and about 95% of the time, I'm right.>
6. I hate cell phones. I don't need to be that connected, nor do I really want to be. I do own one, but NO ONE knows the number; I use it to call 911 or my wife or work if I'm going to be late, not to be called. I also forget to charge it.
7. I have no tattoos. My wife has an antipathy for them. I don't, but I've not been particularly motivated in that direction even before I was married.

I don't have seven people to tag, let alone 14, so I guess I'll pick foure I've never picked and one I often pick: Demeur, Rebecca at 40 Forever, Chris Black, Earthly Explorations and the perennial, Kelly Brown.
ROG

T is for Thank You

I've said more than once before in this blog that the writing (or whatever it is I do) on this site and elsewhere helps me keep my equilibrium.

So, thank you for coming by.

And it does have its specific unexpected benefits. Just in the last week:
One blogger sent me this and wrote, This Made Me Think of You!
Another blogger has promised me secret swag.
And most incredibly, I commented about a musical group another blogger mentioned on Friday, and yesterday, an album from said same group arrived at my door! Thanks! I liked it on first hearing, especially Mission.

So, as my post-Thanksgiving (US) gesture, I have a few things I would like to send to you all, free of charge, just for the asking. Some of these I have offered before, but since there are new people that come by, I thought I'd make them available again.

Item 1: an annotated version of the United States Constitution. Quantity remaining: about two dozen. I'm an old political science major, and I think it's important for folks to be aware of its content, instead of what they THINK it says.

Item 2: the book And don't call me a racist! Quantity available: about six dozen. this was the sourcer of part of our church's Black history month discussion last year. I'm fascinated by the story of the elderly woman who self-published this book.
I was reading an old ESPN the magazine this week. Someone commented that if people stopped talking about race, then racism would go away; I respectfully disagree.

Item 3: a button that reads Choose Peace. Quantity available: about ten dozen. It's about 2 inches in diameter and is green with white lettering.

You can request as many as you want. I'm going to wait until Friday, December 12 and send them out. I'll fulfill the ones with single requests of items (and by that, asking for one of each would be considered a "single" request) first, then parse out the multiple requests after that. So if, e.g. someone asks for all 24 Constitutions, I'll give out the ones with the single request first, and the one asking for all of them last.

Your charge for postage - zero. Is this offer available outside the United States? Yes.

Know that I may throw in something extra, probably music related.

Send requests to rogerogreen (at) gmail (dot) com

Oh, and feel free to tell others.

Thank You (the Led Zeppelin song) - Lizz Wright
or here

I Thank You - Sam and Dave
or here

Thank You - Sly and the Family Stone
or here.


ROG

Christmas meme

From Johnny B.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

I admit it; I have issues with wrapping paper. Specifically, when I was a child, I thought it would be a good idea, instead of wasting money on wrapping paper, to wrap my presents in the comic section of my local newspaper. Now I'd be seen as environmentally sensitive, but then I was mocked. I'll get over it. Eventually. Maybe.

2. Real tree or artificial?

We've actually gone without; we feared a toddler would pull it down on herself. Last year and this, a real one.

3. When do you put up the tree?

It varies widely. It's been two weeks before, Christmas Eve and everything in between.

4. When do you take the tree down?

Often on New Year's Day, or a day or two after, though, when it went up on Christmas Eve, it stayed up until Epiphany.

5. Do you like eggnog?

Especially with amaretto. Pour it correctly and it gets all swirly.

6. Favorite gifts received as a child?

My Johnny Seven OMA - one-man army. It was so cool, it's a surprise I became a pacifist. I was watching the Tonight show and Tom Hanks was talking about having one when HE was a kid.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
Johnny's answer:
My mother. She has no hobbies, has everything she needs, and if she doesn't have something, she can go out and buy it for herself. It's an ordeal every year to come up with something...but hey, it's my Ma! I try hard every year.
That's about right.

8. Easiest person to buy for?

My daughter. She's not that greedy, either.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?

A couple of them. They don't always actually get displayed, more out of time crunch than anything.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Last year, probably neither. We HOPE to mail this year.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

Some work exchange present of a redneck daily calendar.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

I resisted it for SO long, I'll have to give props to It's a Wonderful Life. Much darker than I would have imagined.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

I buy when the spirit strikes. I've bought in July and after Christmas for distant relatives who don't care as long as the present arrives by Epiphany.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

Probably, but I don't have a specific recollection.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

Candy canes.

16. Lights on the tree?

White.

17. Favorite Christmas song?

Coventry Carol, though I have a great fondness for a song by Julie Andrews called The Bells of Christmas.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

Usually visit the in-laws in Oneonta, an hour away, but this year, it's at our house.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

All nine.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

Angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?

Listening to boring debates about how "they" have taken the Christ out of Christmas. My Jehovah's Witness acquaintance notes that they don't celebrate Christmas at all because it's rooted in pagan winter solstice traditions. He wouldn't put it this way, but one could make the case, by his definition, that most people have taken the Christ, who probably wasn't a Capricorn, out of Christmas.
Oh, yeah, and the lower headline:

My friend Lynne recommends that people go to visit the Rev Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?

I like red things.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?

Traditional turkey/mashed potatoes.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?

I don't know. I mean besides the traditional Hess truck and World Almanac. Oh and the new Macca album.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this?

I'm guessing the near-twin Gordon.
***
For those of you not in the Albany-Schenectady area, you can only imagine how utterly furious I am about this story: Ex-Schenectady Police Chief Gregory T. Kaczmarek and his wife, Lisa, are expected to admit their roles in a drug ring that supplied Schenectady streets with cocaine and heroin. I lived in Schenectady only a year and a half, but the idea of the top cop undermining his own law enforcement for personal gain turned me a Christmas shade of crimson.


ROG

Vito and Stu

I wrote here three years ago about my late friend from my high school days, Vito Mastrogiovanni, who is commemorated on an AIDS quilt.

Also in Vito's class was a very intelligent guy named Stuart. Generally, I admire intelligence. In this case though, Stuart knew he was smart, and it made him arrogant, obnoxious. I did not like this person. At all.

At this 20th reunion event, one which Vito boycotted, probably in part out of the rage he was feeling about having AIDS, Stu was there. I recognized Stuart but made no attempt at talking to him. Interestingly, Stuart made overtures to talk to me. He was - shockingly - pleasant and polite. He apologized to me for being such a prig. He said he learned a lot about himself over the years. He also revealed to me that he had AIDS.

I have no precise idea why Stu told me this, why he singled me out; he was a tool to just about everyone, I thought. Or maybe he was telling lots of people, but one at a time; I suppose a mass announcement from the microphone may not have gone well.

Unlike Vito, who made some peace with his disease before he died in July 1991, I have no idea whatever happened to Stu. His name does not appear in the 2003 school alumni directory, but that's hardly definitive. His last name is so common that there was a guy when I went to college with exactly the same name; much nicer dude, BTW. But I am pleased he took the time to reach out to me, for whatever reason.

I have worked this event a few times in the past. I won't have a chance this year, but I always make an effort to attend it, if only to see if Vito's quilt has made it to Albany.

Event: NYS Department of Health AIDS Memorial Quilt Display
Description: Open to the Public

Location: Empire State Plaza Convention Hall (the Egg, Albany)
Date Time
Monday, December 01, 2008 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008 9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, December 04, 2008 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The program was cut from five days to four due to state budget cuts.

ROG

Raoul by Tom Skulan

Tom Skulan was owner of FantaCo Enterprises

When I arrived at New Paltz as a fledgling art student in 1972, Raoul Vezina was already a local legend.
His art graced several bars and dozens of flyers posted in places like the Ariel bookstore.
He was in a band and had already published his own comic book (with Gilbert).

The first time I encountered Raoul I never really met him. He was in the back of one of my art classes before the class had started. He was passing around copies of New Paltz Comix and had a large group of students around him talking to him and asking him questions. He seemed like a super hero.

The first time I actually met Raoul was in Peter Maresca’s Crystal Cave comic shop on Main Street in New Paltz. Peter’s shop, one of only 100 such comic shops in the United States at the time was a big draw for me and for other comic fans. I had landed a part time job there and Raoul was a customer. He later would become an employee when the shop moved for the third and last time. He painted the Crystal Cave window sign as well as various small signs inside the shop- just as he would at FantaCo years later.

My first impressions of Raoul pretty much remained the same as long as I knew him. He was very independent, had a great and unusual sense of humor, loved to doodle often brilliant cartoons, usually late to work, had more friends than anyone I had ever met, kept very late hours and was prone to spending the stray night in jail.

After graduating from New Paltz and being hired directly into a teaching position I still wanted to be involved in a comic store.
So in August of 1978 I rented 21 Central Avenue in Albany and started to repaint and renovate the interior for a September opening.
I usually worked late into the night and left the front door open for some fresh air from the paint fumes. Occasionally someone would wander in and ask what the store was going to be. After telling them most people told me it would never work, including several advertising reps.
One of the earliest people who stopped in was Hank Jansen. Hank would become one of the most loyal, responsible and important of all of the FantaCo employees.

It seemed natural to use friends from New Paltz to help. Kevin Cahill and Veronica Cahill were from New Paltz and had just moved to Albany so that Kevin could attend law school. They were a huge help as was Louisa Lombardo and her sister Julie.
I enlisted Raoul to paint the window and store signs and hired him on immediately since he knew the operations of Peter’s store inside and out. Later I would also enlist 2 other New Paltz acquaintances- Roger Green and Mitch Cohn.

The first day, a Saturday, was a blow out. The store was packed and we did great. Raoul’s signs were a huge hit and responsible for much of the success. All of us had stayed up all night preparing the store and there are some great pictures of all of us collapsing after the doors were closed that day.

We planned a “grand opening” for 2 weeks later. I asked Raoul to do a flyer with a “rat in a space suit”, which he did. We posted the flyers everywhere and also used the character in a full page ad in the Overstreet Price Guide. Later that character, sans space suit, would become Smilin’ Ed- as named by Raoul.

During Raoul’s years at FantaCo he did hundreds of small store signs, several full page ads for the Overstreet Price Guide, dozens of flyers as well as writing and performing well over 100 radio commercials with me. The earliest commercials also featured Kevin, Veronica and Julie. We did the commercials at the WQBK studios and recorded them to tape. As far as I know we one of the first comic shops to advertise on radio. They were a blast to do and Raoul and I would spend hours at his apartment writing scripts and practicing them.

Penciled by Raoul Vezina. Inked/scanned/cleaned up/colored by Bill Anderson in 2008.

Of course there was also Smilin’ Ed the comic version. Raoul and I would spend many hours thinking up stories and writing dialog. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th issue of that comic took far longer to create than anyone might think. The first issue was rushed, late, and had to be driven up directly to the printing plant to be printed on schedule.

That Monday morning in November I received a call at 8:30 AM from Raoul’s girlfriend Dee.
I answered the phone and all I heard was “Tom, Raoul is dead”. I thought it was a pretty sick joke. After all Raoul had just started his vacation on Saturday and I thought he would be miles away spending his time with one of his friends in another state.
"This is a bad joke, Dee", I answered. She then gave me details and assured me it was real.
Raoul had died at his apartment.

It was surreal as it was the first time I had encountered a friend dying. I informed my girlfriend Mary and headed into the store. I put up a sign indicating the store would be closed Thursday and stayed in my office answering the phone.
The days that week are still a blur to me. I partially remember attending the funeral, being a pallbearer and breaking down.
What I do remember is hundreds of people, from all over, attending the funeral.
It was the most people I had ever seen at a funeral.

So that was it. A life was over far too soon.
Raoul, through his good humor, art and music had touched the lives of thousands of people.
His great cartooning, writing and performing skills were a very important part of the early FantaCo.
I still often think about Raoul. I miss having someone to create with.
As time goes by I do not think I will ever have that again.

ROG

QUESTIONS about Shopping

It's oft quoted that consumer spending is the lifeblood of the American economy, comprising of 2/3s or 70%, depending on who you ask, of the economy. It's also well established that the Christmas season time of the year when retailers and services historically expect to make it into the black.

So:
Will you spend more, less, or just as much on Christmas as you did last year?

Has your shopping been affected by social concerns such as trying to buy locally or buying fair trade items, such as the toys at Green Living?

Do you worry about buying gift cards that will be worthless if the company folds?

Are you concerned about too much stuff?

My answers: less, yes, yes and yes.
***
If you're interested in equine-related stuff, you might want to check out Silver Horse Studios; not only is it local to me (Catskill, NY), it's the business of Eileen and Mario Bruni. Mario was the eweell-done but ultimately ill-fated Mars attacks mini comics that FantaCo put out in the late 1980s.

The niece's next gig - niece on the right.



ROG

It's the Stupid, Economy

About three months ago, my wife got a letter from one of her credit card companies LOWERING her available credit. Understand that she always pays on time. This is so contrary to what had been happening for the past decade or more, where they kept upping her available credit to absurdist levels; i.e., greater than her gross annual salary.

Now, last week, I got a letter from one of my credit card companies. They noted that I had not used the card in 24 months, which was true. In the olden days, i.e., last year, they would have sent me checks to write against the account. Instead, though, they CANCELLED the card. This is NOT a complaint, BTW, just an observation, since I too have more available credit than income.

Meanwhile, gas is going down, but not at the same rates. While the Mobil station nearest my house has that traditional dime's difference between the various levels (on Monday, $2.199, $2.299, $2.399), a couple other Mobil stations in Albany were $2.199, $2.659, $2.699. I don't begin to understand pricing for this stuff, but I am fascinated that it could be so different within the same city limits.
or here.
The State University of New York is raising tuition, largely as a result of the state budget crisis; apparently, the state government can't print money to spend its way out of its crisis as the feds can. Since two of my alma maters were SUNY schools (New Paltz and Albany), I'm interested in noting that the result of this is an INCREASE in the number of people who want to attend college. Do they figure they might as well go to school in hopes that things will be better when they get out?
ROG

What are YOU doing on Thanksgiving?

From the BLS: What activities do you have planned for this Thanksgiving? Perhaps cooking and enjoying a meal with family or friends, playing sports or watching sports on television, doing volunteer work, or shopping? Here’s a look at some BLS data behind those Thanksgiving scenes.

For me:
Cooking? Perhaps a little, but I'm at my in-laws, so it'll mostly be table setting and clean up.
Meal - yes, most definitely. I don't know why I don't have turkey at other times of the year. I LIKE turkey.
Watching sports - maybe; if my father-in-law is, then I am.
Doing volunteer work - actually I had planned on having done that already by helping move furniture around the church on Monday for the EQUINOX Thanksgiving dinner in Albany, but then my daughter got sick with pink eye, the scourge of day care centers everywhere, and that plan went out the window.
Shopping - not if I can help it. Shopping on Thanksgiving Day should be limited to buying forgotten cranberry sauce. And NO ONE loathes shopping on Black Friday more than I do. Though online shopping is not out of the question.

The American Farm Bureau Federation tells us that the Classic Thanksgiving Dinner is Still Affordable. For those of us lucky enough to still have jobs, I suppose. For which I AM thankful.
***
The presidential cookie poll.


ROG

The Lydster, Part 56: Too Shy

There are times when my daughter is bold and fearless. In her classroom, for instance, her teachers rave about how well she helps the newer students get acclimated. Other times, she just wants to retreat behind one of her parents.

Her favorite TV show - pretty much her ONLY TV show she watches on a regular basis, as we're TRYING to limit her consumption - is something called Little Bear. It is based on some 1950s books by Maurice Sendak, for which, quite coincidentally, we received a three-in-volume volume of the book. Little Bear lives in the forest with his parents and has friends with Owl, Duck, Hen and Cat. The TV series was filmed in the 1990s in Canada.

Most of these stories she enjoys, but a few of them made her quite frightened: one with Father Bear arguing with the personified North Wind, a couple featuring goblins, which look more like Santa's elves.

But the episodes cycle through and repeat after a number of weeks, and Lydia's discovered that there's nothing to fear from the wind or the goblins.

I was reminded that, last Christmastime, we were at a party. The kids went upstairs with an adult to play. As it turned out, they were watching Little Nemo. I went to check up on her, and I noticed my child, in ithe midst of a bunch of happy children, looking terrified. She ran to me, and I watched the remaining part of the movie with her, including the scary dentist scene, during which she buried her head under my arm.

It occurred to me while reading Tosy, who has two girls about Lydia's age, that before we venture on showing Lydia the movie The Wizard of Oz, perhaps I ought to READ the story to her first. Interestingly, my wife has a friend whose daughter had seen the Wizard of Oz a half dozen times, or more, by the time she was THREE, and wasn't afraid at all. I remember being still afraid of it at age seven; on the other hand, in a pre-video age, I saw it but once a year.

Ah, the power of repetition.

ROG

S is for San Francisco

Long before I ever went there, I loved San Francisco. From the Golden Gate Bridge to the cable cars, I adored the place.

It may have started in 1962, when I was nine. The San Francisco Giants, my favorite team in the National League was playing the New York Yankees, my favorite team in the American League; we're talking Major League Baseball here, BTW. While my support for the Yankees was regional (I'd been to Yankee Stadium, e.g.), my love for the Giants was more emotional. I loved Orlando Cepeda at 1B - I love the way Danny Kaye sang "Or-lan-do Ce-pe-da" in a baseball song. I loved the Alou brothers, Matty and Felipe, who would one day be joined by brother Jesus; at least once, a few years later, all three patrolled the outfield at the same time. I loved Willie "Stretch" McCovey, who would eventually become the Hall of Fame 1B. P Juan Marchical! But most of all I loved CF Willie Mays, one of the three or four best players EVER, whose statue I had purchased at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY around that time, only to have a foot chomped off by our dog.

Then there was JEOPARDY!, the daytime quiz show hosted by Art Fleming, which I used to watch with my aunt at lunchtime almost every day. One sponsor was Rice-A-Roni, "the San Francisco treat". I LIKED Rice-A-Roni when I was 11.

I listened to Bill Cosby a lot in those days, and this riff made me want to go there and see Lombard Street:
or here.

A few years later, it was Haight-Asbury. The Summer of Love may have ultimately been a failed social experiment, but to a 14-year old, it was just cool. From it came the music of the Jefferson Airplane, Rolling Stone magazine and other wondrous inventions.

So, I felt as though SF was my second hometown, even though I had never been west of the Mississippi until considerably later.

Therefore, the events of November 1978 felt terrible to me, as though it had happened in my own hometown of Binghamton, NY. First I saw the raw footage of Congressman Leo Ryan and his associates being attacked in Guyana. I remember an ashen Mayor George Moscone announce Rep. Ryan's death. A couple days later, we learned of the Jonestown Massacre with Jim Jones leading the drinking of the Kool-Aid; most of the folks were from the Bay Area. Not two weeks later, I watched acting mayor Diane Feinstein weep as she announced the murders of Moscone and city council member Harvey Milk, almost certainly the most prominent gay politician of that time. Subsequently, I followed the trial of Dan White and his infamous "Twinkie defense". Some feel the two events - Jonestown and the Moscone/Milk murders - were connected. In any case, it's all created ambivalence about whether I want to go see the upcoming movie Milk with Sean Penn.

I finally got to actually go to San Francisco in 1987. I flew to San Diego, and then my sister, who lives there, and I flew to the Bay area. We went to the fish market, rode the cable cars, saw the Bridge, and yes, we found Lombard Street, which is as beautiful and curvy as Cosby described. Unfortunately, the San Francisco Giants were out of town, but we did see the Oakland A's play.

San Francisco was everything I knew it would be.

ABC Wednesday.


ROG

What kind of blog is this?

For the several blogs in which I participate, I'm the primary contributor for all but one, that one being my work blog. Yet the Typealyzer scores for most of them differ.

The NYS Small Business development Center blog shows this.
The NYS Data Center Affiliates blog shows this.
The Friends of the Albany Public Library blog shows this.

But for this blog (and also my Times Union blog), the answer is this:

ESTP - The Doers
The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.
Analysis
This show what parts of the brain that were dominant during writing.
(Click on image to enlarge.)

What's really scary is how dead on at least the last two sentences are. Whereas the other ones, not so much. Perhaps it's a function of me writing for myself rather than for a different audience.
ROG

November Ramblin'

After careful consideration, listening to all sides of the issue ad naseum, I've decided that I support the bailout of the US automobile industry. There are just too many jobs down the line that depend on those companies. So, Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, et al: pony up. If those auto companies fail, you'll have only those more fuel efficient foreign cars to fill, and your prices will keep dropping like a stone. Oh, you didn't think I was coming out in favor of the GOVERNMENT bailout, did you? BTW, the idea's not original with me - read it somewhere - but it does seem to operate on a win-win basis. Maybe the car makers will actually come up with a PLAN for what they'll do with the money; at the rate they're losing cash now, $25 billion will be gone by April Fools' Day, appropriately.
***
The axe has fallen on three shows on ABC-TV prime time schedule, and wouldn't you know it: two of them are shows I like to watch. I loved both Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money. Daisies was whimsical with an undercurrent of melancholy. DSM was soap opera trash, and I mean that in a good way; Nick George (Peter Krause), the main protagonist, is being sucked more palpably into the dark side. I never saw Eli Stone, mostly as a matter of time, but based on the previews, I think I might have liked it. What is unwatchable is the one show that apparently survived on ABC Wednesday, the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff Private Practice.

But to be fair, all three of the shows would likely have been canceled last season if not for the writer’s strike, based on ratings.

The only thing I have to look forward to on ABC now are Life on Mars, which IS interesting, even if it’s a Brit retread, Grey's Anatomy, Brothers & Sisters, and, eventually, the last season of Scrubs.
***
Reasons to hate the interregnum. Interregnum: great word, that.
***
A scary video that a female friend sent me called Instructional Film for Women:
or here.
***
A young woman I "met" through ABC Wednesday named earthlingorgeous, who is 30 but looks 20, is having a blog anniversary giveaway at her site, Earthly Explorations. I've never gotten swag from the Philippines before, so by mentioning her contest (and having previously registered), I get "points" towards chances of winning prizes. Or something like that.
ROG

Questions about Death

This is, as most Americans of a certain age - what a quaint phrase - the 45th anniversary of the assassination of the 35th President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I remember it well, I think. Or, as I have surmised in the past, I may have shared the story with acquaintances so often that now I recall the retelling rather than the actual event. No matter.

The facts were these: I was in my fifth grade class at Daniel S. Dickinson school in Binghamton, NY when our teacher, Miss (Marie) Oberlik was called into the hall by someone. She came back into the class to announce that the President had been killed. then she left. Immediately our 10-year old minds were reeling. What happened? And what does this mean for the country. I'm fairly sure that we were not versed in the rulkes of Presidential succession and I doubt that I even knew who Lyndon Johnson was. Suddenly, Miss Oberlik returns to the class screaming, "Everyone else in the school is being quiet in respect fior the President!" Well, yeah, but I bet their teachers didn't drop a bombshell on them and then LEAVE.

BTW, I also saw Lee Harvey Oswald get shot on live TV that weekend.

My questions, which I request that you answer:
1. Who was the first tragedy (death or other traumatic event) you know that was NOT personally involving your sphere of family and friends. For me it was JFK's death; for my wife, who is younger than I am, it was Richard Nixon's resignation, probabl;y for the reason I felt about JFK - what now? (Wheras I was rather pleased by Nixon's departure.)

2. Who was the first person you knew personally to die?
For me, it was all in one short stretch of my great-grandfather (my paternal grandmother's father), my paternal grandmother, and my great aunt (my maternal grandmother's sister). They may have been a year or two apart, but they all feel now as though it were the same gloomy stretch. ROG

Abecedarian movies

I saw this at SamuraiFrog. You name one movie for every letter of the alphabet.

Here are the rules:

1. Pick one film to represent each letter of the alphabet.

2. The letter "A" and the word "The" do not count as the beginning of a film's title, unless the film is simply titled A or The, and I don't know of any films with those titles.

3. [Lengthy rules about Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, LOTR, Chronicles of Narnia series...]

4. Films that start with a number are filed under the first letter of their number's word. 12 Monkeys would be filed under "T."

5. Link back to Blog Cabins in your post.

6. If you're selected, you have to then select 5 more people.

The original Blog Cabins rules suggest that one picks their FAVORITE film under that letter, which not explicit in the various iterations I've seen such as the one by Tom the Dog, who had a lovely twist on the concept. Johnny B. also did it.

My blog, my (additional) rules. These are films I have seen and that I like. Maybe not THE favorite (A would be Annie Hall, e.g.), but one of my favorites. Some were tough to find anything (X), while some had a plethora of possibilities (T). I've tended to lean towards those I first saw in an actual movie theater rather than on video. In fact, I think I saw all my main choices that way except E, H and X

Amadeus - a rockingly good time with Mozart. He died making perhaps my favorite music ever, his Requiem.

Being There - I spent a lot of time defending this film from people who thought it was "boring", that "nothing happens".

Cabaret- picked over the obvious Casablanca only because I saw the latter on TV first.

Dumbo - I decided that I needed some animation, and while The Incredibles and Toy Story 2, to name two, would rank higher, this story of the outsider always resonated with me, despite the crows.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - my wife and I saw this on video, were too tired to finish, watch the rest in the morning. I still LOVED it. As someone said, "A very, very sweet movie masquerading as something else." But I've recently discovered that my wife likes it much less than I thought she did. TThis was one of the two Charlie Kaufman films I considered, but since I had a perfectly good B choice, Being John Malkovich, alas, was cast to the side.

Field of Dreams = STILL makes me cry.

Groundhog Day - own this on VHS to see annually.

Hairspray - somehow missed this John waters film in the theater. But saw it recently enough to review in this blog. I'm talking the original here, not the remake.

In the Name of the Father - my Daniel Day-Lewis pick. Not even my favorite of his films, but still solid.

Jules et Jim - saw this at a museum in Binghamton when I was in high school. If you insist on something in English, Jesus Christ Superstar.

Kissing Jessica Stein - had trouble picking ANY K movie.

Lonestar - my John Sayles pick. Sayles is from Schenectady, near Albany, and I've seen a LOT of his films, but this is my favorite.

Malcolm X - this covers Denzel Washington and Spike Lee. Actually, my favorite Spike joint would be Do The Right Thing, but I like this one as well.

The Night They Raided Minsky's - I do believe I'm obsessed with this film, based on the number of times that I've mentioned it in this blog. I actually was talking to someone this week who thought it'd be a fine Broadway musical.

On the Waterfront - I actually saw this in television inonly in the past five years. Quite powerful.

Planet of the Apes - a great story co-written by Rod Serling.

The Queen - a recent view; a thin group of choices.

Rear Window - saw this Hitchcock film in a theater when it was re-released in mid-1980s. Indeed, I think I've only seen two Hitch films in an actual movie theater, this and the Birds, though I've watched a number on TV.

sex, lies and videotape - just edging out The Sound of Music and the Shawshank Redemption.

The Truman Show - tough category with Toy Story 2, 12 Angry Men, To Kill a Mockingbird. But this is a GOOD Jim Carrey film.

Unforgiven - one of Tom's selection, the directing of Clint Eastwood needed a spot. So did the western, now that I think of it.

Volver - a relatively recent movie that came to mind with Penelope Cruz.

West Side Story - though Wizard of Oz is the better movie, I do so LOVE the music of WSS. AND I saw it in the movies as a kid.

X2 - this may be the ONLY X movie I've seen and remember. I saw this with my wife in a hotel in Maryland or West Virginia on New Year's Eve a few years ago, before Lydia, stopping midway in our return trip from North Carolina to NYS

Young Frankenstein - oh, yes, another Tom pick. Literally fell out of my chair laughing when I saw it in the theater; good thing I had an aisle seat.

Z - haven't seen this since it first came out, but I remember being riveted by it.

ROG

Post for Gordon

Gordon offered to answer questions on his podcast but only if the questions were NOT e-mailed to him. One of the acceptable methods was to post something on one's blog. So here it is:

Seeing how it's the Great American SmokeOut as I post this, does your long-standing (and righteous) antipathy against smoking cigarettes come from your public policy background that shows the economic devastation of families having to deal with the results of lung cancer and the like? Or is it a function of fairness, that people ought not to deal with second-hand smoke? Or do you have personal experiences (friends, family, even yourself) that has informed your crusade against the "coffin nails"? And don't you think it's rather interesting that, long before the Surgeon General's warning in the 12960s, the term "coffin nails" was in regular use?

Hmm. I remember, as a kid, going to O'Leary's corner store and buying packs of cigarettes (Winstons) for my father. Later, it was cartons. I used to steal his cigarettes, not to smoke myself, but in hopes that the cost (35 to 50 cents a pack!) would serve as a deterrent; it did not. Eventually, he developed emphysema and did quit, but when his symptoms abated, his smoking returned. I was...unsubtle in my frustration with him over that. But then a few years later, he stopped smoking for good. He said he never said he quit; he just didn't have another one, and he was smoke-free for the last 25 years of his life.
***
Fewer U.S. adults smoke, but cigarette smoking continues to impose substantial health and financial costs on society, according to new data from CDC.

ROG