My favorite song from Porcupine Tree, a rock outfit led by Steve Wilson. A sad, harrowing tale of a boy who grew up with “wiring loose inside (his) head” and who matures into, probably, a full blown serial killer candidate. Pretty unpleasant as you listen to the lyrics reflecting the main character’s reasoning that his acts are merely displays of love or romance toward his intended victims. He seems to know something is terribly wrong with him but it is probably too late to do anything about it. Haunting stuff. Crunching, power chords alternate with more gently strummed guitar passages. Steve [More]
Assemblage of concert footage features Pink Floyd in concert playing “Sheep”. This song appeared on their release “Animals”. The Pink Floyd concert experience was a mixed media event with film clips and visuals projected onto a massive screen, lasers, a light show, and huge props reflecting song subject matter. Here we witness a very saturated color film of the performance and hear the rich aural textures of synthesizer (Richard Wright), processed guitar (David Gilmour), reverberating vocals (Roger Waters) and driving drumbeats (Nick Mason) intermixed. Trippy to say the least. Nice use of vocoder near the end of this clip.
Glorious, orchestrated rock tune from Van Der Graaf Generator. I placed “Generator” in parentheses in the title because at this stage of the band’s career, they had decided to abbreviate their title. Anyway, “Pioneers” is an epic composition highlighted by Peter Hamill’s vocals which alternate between mournful wail and guttural snarls. Hammill possesses a truly unique voice in rock. Rob Halford of Judas Priest learned a few tricks from Hamill’s approach it would appear. I like the powerful, effects laden bass guitar. When I first purchased this live set, “Vital” on audio cassette(!!! I date myself), I felt the bass was [More]
I mounted a Contour Action Cam to a Pinewood Derby car for laughs. The race goes by in a hurry but it’s kind of cool. The name of the car was Cyclops, of course.
Very influential, big budget science fiction film from the 1950’s. In the future, a starship from earth ventures to a remote planet to check on the well being of a colony established by earlier explorers. Only two survivors are found from the previous expedition but they flourish in their compound with the assistance of their super workhorse robot, Robby. It seems that survivor Dr. Morbius has learned a few tricks from the previous inhabitants of the planet, the uber advanced Krell. But not all knowledge is necessarily good to have. Morbius harbors some dark secrets of his own that have a [More]
Great Sixties science fiction/horror film from master fantasy director Mario Bava. Two ships in outer space end up setting down on an alien planet. After losing communications with one of the ships, the crew of the other vessel goes to investigate. Many of the occupants are found dead, having seemingly lost their minds and killed each other. Many crew members cannot be found. It appears that there is an alien presence on the planet that has taken over the bodies of one of the space crews. A struggle to survive the alien vampires and escape the evil planet and get back into [More]
This may be my favorite episode of Kolchak – The Night Stalker TV series. Kolchak ends up on an ocean cruise to do a fluff piece on the singles scene. It ends up being anything but a pleasure cruise for the intrepid reporter. A series of brutal attacks on the paying customers ensue and Kolchak theorizes that a werewolf may be responsible. It turns out one of the guests is harboring a dreadful secret that has a nasty habit of getting completely out of control when the full moon rises. This is a very suspenseful show full of dark shadows, memorable acting [More]
This was an episode from Kolchak – The Night Stalker TV series. This series was spun off after the popularity of the Kolchak TV movies, “The Night Stalker” and “The Night Strangler”. Unfortunately, the series was only to last one season. Series star Darren McGavin was involved with the production of the show and after about 5 years of association with the Carl Kolchak role, I think he had had enough and “buried” the burden of Kolchak. Check out the excellent DVD release of all the TV episodes bundled together. “They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be…” deals with [More]
I always liked this song from the band Hawkwind. It is an uplifting pop song with synthesizer sound wash and varied instrumentation thrown on top. Hawkwind has a long history. You might be interested in learning more about these “cosmic warriors” who constituted part of a music genre labeled “Space Rock”. Try checking out the book “Space Daze”. This video is a little weird, though, as is the lead singer’s getup.
Disgusting cash-in sequel which capitalized on the classic “Halloween” fright flick directed by John Carpenter. Carpenter is not directing this time but producing, taking a writing credit and providing the music. Still, Carpenter must take his share of credit for this turd. The formula stays the same: Asylum escapee Michael Myers is stalking fresh victims and Jamie Lee Curtis, more or less in that order. Dr. Loomis, portrayed by Donald Pleasance, pursues Myers. This time a face off takes place in a hospital where Curtis recovers from the assault she took from Myers in the previous flick. Curtis is nothing [More]
Rousing TV movie full of strange beasties on the loose. Cornel Wilde investigates stories and sightings involving a hidden race of ancient creatures, the gargoyles, that emerge during certain periods of history and their time has come again in the 1972 American Southwest. The gargoyles appear once again determined to exert their dominance over man. Can they be stopped? Look past the slightly gawky monster costumes and enjoy the thrill ride! Scott Glen is here in an early role.
Classic tale of an otherworldly killing spree set in modern day Las Vegas. A down on his luck reporter, Carl Kolchak, stumbles upon a series of murders that lead him to the inevitable conclusion that an actual vampire is loose in a city that never sleeps. Scary upon first and subsequent viewings. Creepy, nightmarish performance by veteran actor Barry Atwater as the vampire. Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak is superb. This is definitely one of those films that you don’t want to watch at night with the lights out. Very chilling and produced as a TV movie, to boot!
My favorite episode from “Star Trek” – The Original Series. A marauding super weapon of ancient origins plummets through space destroying astral bodies in its wake to provide fuel for its continuing existence. The Enterprise, commanded by Captain James Kirk, attempts to put a stop to the machine’s path of destruction before any more lives are lost. Very well paced, exciting episode that provides plenty of action and suspense. Going back and watching “The Original Series” today, I am struck by the rather talkative, slow paced nature of a lot of the episodes. This segment provided a welcome alternative to [More]
An attempt by motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel to jump the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Upon landing on the opposite ramp, Knievel lost control of his bike and got busted up pretty bad. He was in a coma for nearly a month.