Saturday morning cartoons, the new era

This morning I had to get up with Reeve because mom was sick and didn't sleep so I pulled watch guard duty.

After going through some Handy Manny episodes, that I've seen about 5 times in the last week Reeve said to turn it off. He went over to the dvd rack and picked up his copy of Dawn of the Dead (yes for his 2nd birthday I got him his own copy). He said, "I want to watch Ken now!" He knows the movie only by Ken Foree's name, but none the less he knows all the imagery to ID it on the shelf.

So we turned off Handy Manny and popped in some good Romero zombie action. This reminded me back to my youth in the 80s. I would get up early on Saturday mornings and go into the living room and fire up the VCR and pop in the VHS tape that had Dawn of the Dead and Superman III and IV on it. I would lay on the floor and watch as much of the tape as I could before my parents got up. Usually at that point the raiders were tearing apart the mall and my dad was getting his coffee and paper and mom was making me breakfast. This was the normal Saturday routine for me until I was about the age of 10/11 when I started to sleep in more and the tape started to accumulate dust.

Growing up I had no clue who George Romero was or looked like. Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, Gaylen Ross, David Emge and Tom Savini were strangers to me and to me there were just characters on the screen. Watching Reeve watch this film now on a weekly basis, he is able to show me George and the other cast of characters as they appear on screen, this include the Hare Krishna zombie, the kid knows his zombies.

Convention Season!

I'm sitting here in my den looking at all of the George Romero collectibles that I have come to acquire over the last ten years and I've come to remember that in 2 weeks, convention season for me begins anew.

This will be my 12th year attending horror conventions and it still never gets old. At this point there is hardly anyone left on my list to meet. I've met and have had the great fortunes of becoming friends with a lot of the people I grew up watching on the old VHS tapes. I can't even put into words how awesome my life has become because of the horror industry. I know how weird that must sound, but if you're reading this then you know what type of person I am.

Everyone has their escapes. The beach, the mountains, a museum etc, mine is a convention or hotel filled with 2000 horror fans and horror icons. Nothing pumps me up more then spending 72 hours surround by horror goodness. Most of that time is spent hanging out with friends, browsing the dealers rooms, Q&A sessions, movie screenings oh and drinking. I didn't even mention food because I can't tell you how many times I've forgotten to eat and come to realize that at 8pm I've been up since 7 and haven't eaten.

In 2 weeks I'll be in Cherry Hill NJ at Monster Mania. I'm going to hang out with friends and see Dario Argento and Corbin Bernsen. Corbin and I need to continue the film discussion we had at Horrorfind. Corbin has this idea for a futurist zombie baseball film. WHAT?!?! Trust me, it'd be worth the price of admission. Dario Argento will be there too, damn! I drove 8 hours to see him in Toronto a few years ago and loved the 45 seconds I got to see him and I want to get some more swag signed by him.

The following week is the inagural Saturday Nightmares in Jersey City. This is a pure Romero festival. Everyone from Romero himself to every pivotal figure in his films will be there. Roy Frumkes is debuting his "Definative Document of the Dead." He's been working on this for a while, since 2005 I believe. If all goes well you should see my mug pop up in that doc in a place or too (thanks Roy!). I'm taking Reeve who will be meeting George for the first time. Reeve loves him some Ken Foree & zombies so this'll be extra special for me.

Anyone wishing to attend these shows or any conventions please let me know I have 12 years of tips, tricks to make sure you have an awesome time. I love this shit!