A Movie A Day: Scream is a ...well uh a scream

Wes Craven 1996's horror film Scream is a wonderful homage to all the slasher flicks before it. Written by Kevin Williamson of Dawson's Creek fame with an ironic twist and respect for older horror films, most notably Halloween, Psycho, and Friday the 13th. Set in a small sleepy town in California, Scream begins with a hell of a 10 minute opening sequence which has a young girl home alone (wonderfully played by Drew Barrymore) who is being harassed by a twisted phone caller. Things get really scary when said caller shows up at her house. From that beginning, Scream continues with a steady pace of thrills and scares and humor. Our heroine of the film is Sidney (a fresh faced Neve Campbell) who is dealing with the 1 year anniversary of her mom's murder. She manages to survive a first encounter with the killer, who manages to hack up everyone else in sight. What makes Scream works for me is the self aware attitude most of the characters have especially Sidney and one her friends, video geek Randy (played with relish by Jamie Kennedy). There is plenty of gore and blood to be found in this film but it is balanced with well timed humor and much respect for previous horror movies. The supporting cast is top notch especially Courtney Cox (playing news reporter Gail Weathers) She looks fantastic and her character will no way remind you of Monica from Friends. Gail is a different kind of animal. Her future husband David Arquette is inept deputy Dewey, and Arquette nails his performance perfectly. Rose McGowan is a hoot as Sidney's hot-to-trot friend Tatum. Henry Winkler is actually pretty good as the principal. Skeet Ulrich is kinda creepy as Sidney's boyfriend. But it's Neve Campbell who rocks the most as Sidney. She goes from bereaving daughter to stand up woman who holds her own against the killer. Scream was a surprise smash when it hit theaters in December 1996. I remembering the audience being totally jacked up for it too. A worthy sequel followed one year later that was nearly as good as this one. Less said about the third chapter the better, even though it did have its moments. But Scream is a perfect way to wind down the Halloween season. If you have never seen it I suggest checking out the whole trilogy just to be complete.
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Phone Voice: Do you like scary movies?
Sidney Prescott: What's the point they're all the same, some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door, it's insulting.

Top 25 Scream Queens

I just saw where Fangoria had compiled a top 50 Influential Scream Queens list which I thought was very cool. So I came up with my own list of the 25 women who were the best in the field of horror films. I do agree with the original person for Fangoria's list, that a woman brings more to a horror film than a man. She has to survive on her own, usually has no weapon or military training, and must go through sheer hell to come out a survivor. In most horror movies, the woman is chased, beaten, stabbed, shot, pretty much put through a decathlon of events in order to make it to see another day. So these 25 women I chose are the ones I thought fit that bill and then some. Of course I probably could have gone on and named 25 or even 50 more women but I decided to cap it at 25. I would love to hear from others on their choices. But I hope you enjoy my list. Here goes:

25. Elsa Lanchester - Unforgettable role as the Monster's Bride in 1935's Bride Of Frankenstein. Hers is an iconic image that no film lover can ever forget. She would take part in other horror films including The Spiral Staircase and Willard.

24. Ingrid Pitt - Best known for playing seductive female vampires in Hammer Films during the early 70's. The films included Countess Dracula and The Vampire Lovers. She also starred in other horror classics such as The Wicker Man and The House That Dripped Blood.

23. Sarah Michelle Gellar - You knew I had to have my girl on the list. Of course her most important role as been the slayer on TV's Buffy, but she has made several horror flicks including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, The Grudge, and The Return.

22. Marilyn Burns - Didn't do too many horror films but she made one bonafide horror classic-the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

21. Mary Elizabeth Winstead - young new actress who has made an impact with several horror films including Final Destination 3, The Ring 2, Black Christmas, and Death-Proof.

20. Kate Beckinsale - started out in very British dramas but has detoured into horror and sci-fi of late with The Underworld series, Van Helsing, Vacancy, and her new thriller Whiteout.

19. Barbara Crampton - the go to gal during the 80's with Re-Animator, Chopping Mall, Puppet Master and From Beyond.

18. Veronica Cartwright - started young with Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and then grew into adult roles such as the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Alien, and The Witches of Eastwicke.

17. Cassandra Peterson - Better know as her alter ego Elvira, Mistress of the dark. Funny, sexy, and can be deadly if need be.

16. Drew Barrymore - may have been cute in E.T., but cut her teeth early on with Cat's Eye, Firestarter, and Poison Ivy. Also notable in Scream.

15. Amy Steele - With so many Friday the 13th movies being made, it was hard to choose one actress from the series. But Ms. Steele did a hell of a job in Part 2 as she survived her encounter with Jason..barely. She also did the semi spoof April Fool's Day which did have her running and screaming from a new killer.

14. Sissy Spacek - most identified with Carrie, the telekinetic teen who went off at her high school prom. Did she ever....

13. Jennifer Jason Leigh - Several standout roles include Single White Female, The Hitcher, and Buried Alive. Let's not forget her pairing with the other scream queen Kathy Bates for Dolores Claiborne.

12. Linda Blair - went through hell for The Exorcist. That alone is enough to put her on this list.

11. Jessica Biel - Started off nice and sweet for the TV show Seventh Heaven but earned her horror stripes for the gory Texas Chainsaw Massacre update and Blade 3.

10. Heather Langenkamp - Forever remembered as Nancy, the teen who faced down Freddy Krueger in the original Nightmare on Elm Street.

9. Kathy Bates - One of two scream queens on the list with an Oscar on her mantle thanks to her psycho turn as Annie Wilkes in Misery. Also starred in Dolores Claiborne with fellow scream vet Jennifer Jason Leigh.

8. Dee Wallace - usually portrayed the mom who battle against all kinds of demons and monsters in such films like The Howling, Cujo, The Hills Have Eyes, Critters, and The Frighteners.

7. Jodie Foster - here is the other scream queen with not one but two Oscars sitting on her shelf. Starring roles in Silence of the Lambs, The Accused, Panic Room, and Flight Plan put Jodie on this list without a doubt.

6. Naomi Watts - Acted for a while but never really hit her stride until she tried horror films which included The Ring 1 & 2, the updated King Kong, Funny Games, and Mulholland Drive.

5. Janet Leigh - history making role of Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The shower scene became legendary.

4. Neve Campbell - survived the Scream movie series. Also was in the witch tale called The Craft. She was once noted as the heir apparent to Jamie Lee Curtis. Big shoes to follow.

3. Sigourney Weaver - as Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley, she battle space monsters in the Alien film series 4 times. Also entered The Village and played in Death and The Maiden. And let's not forget she turned into a dog in Ghostbusters.

2. Adrienne Barbeau - came this close to being my number 1 pick but runner-up is good too for this horror veteran of such films as The Fog, Swamp Thing, Creepshow, and Escape From New York. She did horror very well...being once married to John Carpenter probably didn't hurt either.

1. Jamie Lee Curtis - without a doubt the number 1 queen of horror. First and foremost she battled Michael Meyers in the original Halloween. Then she had a streak of horror flicks from the late 70's through the early 80's including the sequel to Halloween, Prom Night, Terror Train, Road Games, The Fog and Mother's Boys. Came back to the Halloween franchise for H20 and picked up right where she left off. Of course Jamie had success in other types of film like Trading Places and A Fish Called Wanda, but to most fans she will be remembered for her classic turns in horror flicks.

Honorable mentions are legendary Fay Wray (who I've only seen in the original King Kong), Kathleen Quinlan, Milla Jovovich, Adrienne King, Winona Ryder, and lots more.

My Top 10 Horror Movies Of All Time

In honor of Halloween, here is my Top 10 all time favorite horror/thriller movies.

10. The Ring (2002) The American remake with Naomi Watts. Creepy as all get out.

9. Alien (1979) Perfect melding of horror and sci-fi. The film that introduced us to Sigourney Weaver.

8. Scream (1996) Cool homage to all the slasher flicks before it.

7. Halloween (1978) Yep, the original that made Jamie Lee a star and showed us how trick and treating could be dangerous.

6. Psycho (1960) One of Hitchcock's later and best efforts.

5. The Thing (1982) The second John Carpenter film on the list, the other being Halloween. The Thing is a super gory monster mash of an alien loose at a science base in Antarctica. Cool.

4. The Exorcist (1973) Maybe hard to take at times, but still an effective thriller.

3. The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) Jodie Foster as FBI Agent Clarice Starling and Anthony Hopkins as serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Nuff said.


2. Seven (1995) Just as good as Lambs, kinda hard for me to place one head of the other but for now, it's no 2.

and my no 1 all time favorite horror movie...it's more of a thriller but it's awesome either way you look at....

1. JAWS (1975)

Runner-ups include The Descent(2006), The Innocents(1961), Rear Window(1955), Horror of Dracula(1958), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) and more....

I could probably do another list with pre 1960 movies but for now this is it.

A Movie A Day: Come and meet The Others - a great ghost story

The Others is an effective ghost story that harkens back to classic yarns like 1961's The Innocents with Deborah Kerr and 1943's The Uninvited with Ray Milland. In The Others, Nicole Kidman plays Grace Stewart, a woman living in a big darkened house in 1945 Jersey, England...The Channel Islands, with her two kids Ann and Nicholas who are photosensitive to light. She keeps all the curtains in the house closed during the daytime and locks every door behind her just in case someone forgets a curtain here and there. Everything is fine until three strangers come in response to the ad Grace put in the newspaper, seeking servants. An older woman named Ms. Mills, a young deaf woman named Lydia, and an older man named Mr. Tuttle. Soon the kids are hearing voices and noises and Grace thinks nothing of it, until she starts noticing strange things herself. Grace is holding out for her husband to return from the war but it has been years. Meanwhile things start to get more and more creepy. The Others is a welcome relief to the glut of bloody horror movies. It delivers suspense and chills without a single drop of blood. And the ending is a good twist of an ending. I for one did not see it coming. Ms. Kidman is solid throughout, giving one of her best performances ever. Her role of the stern but loving mother is not easy to like at times, but you still understand her and come to like her by the end. The Others is a suitably effective thriller perfect for Halloween.

Happy Birthday Winona

Didn't realize until a few moments ago that it was Winona Ryder's birthday today. The actress turns 38. She is a very good actress in my opinion, but I think her off screen antics i.e. the shoplifting overshadowed her abilities. I mean her roles in Heathers, Beetlejuice, Reality Bites, Edward Scissorhands to name a few were great. And she just played Spock's mom in the new Star Trek. Anyway here's to Winona...Happy Birthday!

A Movie A Day: Rear Window is one of Hitchcock's very best

I rank Rear Window as my number 2 all time Alfred Hitchcock film, just behind The Lady Vanishes and just ahead of Psycho. Window is a treat for the viewer with gorgeous cinematography and excellent camera work from Hitch. The story is simple enough: maverick photographer Jeff (played by the great Jimmy Stewart) is laid up in his New York apartment with a broken leg. He is being cared for by his very upscale girlfriend Lisa (the luminous Grace Kelly) and his nurse Stella (the always reliable Thelma Ritter). With little to do Jeff begins spying on his neighbors across the courtyard and what neighbors does he have. You have a highly limber blonde dancer; a troubled songwriter; a lonely woman who can't find a date; a busybody old lady; a couple with an energetic little dog; and last but not least the couple directly across from him with a very large man named Lars Thorwald (played by Raymond Burr-before Perry Mason) and his sickly wife. Well amidst all the goings on between Jeff and Lisa-she is ready to marry, he not so much and Stella's constant needling, Jeff notices strange things between Lars and his wife. Before you know it, the wife has gone and Jeff suspects foul play. It takes a little convincing to bring Lisa and Stella to his way of thinking but eventually they agree. The police, on the other hand are a different story. So the trio decide they need proof and with Jeff hobbled with a cast on his broken leg, Lisa and Stella decide to do the leg work (no pun intended). What follows is a game of suspense taken up to the highest level. Rear Window is a near perfect film with fabulous performances. Stewart is solid as always as is Ritter, who gets to say most of the film's best lines including "Nobody ever invented a polite word for a killin' yet". And Burr makes an effectively creepy bad man. But it's Grace Kelly who makes the movie for me. She just lights up the room whenever she comes in and the banter she trades with Stewart is pure bliss. I believe this to be Ms. Kelly's best film performance ever. Yes even better than her Academy Award winning role in The Country Girl. She never hits a wrong note as Lisa, and is a true joy to watch. Rear Window is one of the best films ever made and one of the best from ol Hitch.
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Halfway through my Hitchcock marathon....

Well I say halfway but I still have several more to watch. I own several of his films on DVD but it's been awhile since I have watched them. Today was an exceptional day. I started with North By Northwest..couldn't ask for a better lead off film. Cary Grant was at his best and North had so many iconic images, the best being Cary chased by the crop duster. Throw in the gorgeous Eva Marie Saint who just oozed sexual energy through the camera lens, and this is one of Hitch's best films. I followed that up with Cary Grant again in To Catch A Thief. This time his co-star was the equally beautiful Grace Kelly and plus you had the gorgeous French Riviera scenery to look at. It was very cool seeing Cary race across rooftops in the middle of the night, eluding the police, and romancing Grace. He was very convincing as John Robie, The Cat...jewel thief extraordinaire. Grace Kelly was good too but she doesn't show up until half an hour into the film. But she leads me to the third Hitch movie I saw today..Rear Window, which is one of my personal favorites. James Stewart gives a terrific performance as Jeff, the photographer, who is laid up with a broken leg, who is convinced his neighbor (the burly Raymond Burr..pre-Perry Mason) is a killer. Grace plays Jeff's long suffering girlfriend Lisa and she positively lights up the screen with her performance. Personally I believe this to be her best work ever on film. Add Thelma Ritter as Jeff's nurse to round out the cast. I may go into more detail later on for each of these films, especially Rear Window. But since I have several more Hitchcock movies to go I may just wait. I still have Dial 'M' For Murder, The Lady Vanishes, Vertigo, The Birds, and Psycho to watch. An excellent few days of movie watching bar none.

FOX puts Dollhouse on hold...Are they crazy or what?

Just a few weeks ago Dollhouse fans breathed a sigh of relief when FOX committed to 13 episodes of Dollhouse, Joss Whedon's enjoyable little action show with a twist of sci-fi starring fan favorite Eliza Dushku. Then it was announced Joss was bringing his girl Summer Glau, who starred in his classic but short lived series Firefly, for a guest starring arc. All was right in the universe. For once FOX was allowing a series despite low ratings to grow and give it a chance to catch on. Well, now they have put Dollhouse on hiatus and will come back on Dec 4th. They said because they didn't want to interrupt their coverage of baseball playoffs. Whatever. I just hope they don't drop this series and let it at least finish out the season. I have enjoyed Dollhouse ever since it premiered last season as a mid-season replacement show. Eliza Dushku is rocking as Echo, the lead character in this series. Now you bring in Summer Glau and I'm in heaven. So I'm begging to FOX, please don't make another mistake like you did when you canceled Firefly prematurely.

A Movie A Day: Alien/Aliens - Science fiction and horror collide to make two masterpieces

A classic was born in 1979 with the sci-fi/horror pic Alien, helmed by the great Ridley Scott. It was a different kind of movie, totally different from Star Wars and Star Trek. And by god it was great. A seven man crew aboard this mining ship, Nostromo, on it's way back to Earth, receives what they think is a distress call from this uncharted planet. The crew proceeds to the planet despite some opposing views about to investigate. Once there one of the crew members is infected and brought back to the ship with some type of parasite attached to its face. Then the horror begins. The crew tries to survive against the fully grown alien organism and the suspense is unbelievable. The entire cast rocks including Tom Skerritt as Captain Dallas, Yaphet Kotto as mechanic Parker, and newcomer Sigourney Weaver as Ripley. Director Scott brings forth a beautifully shot film that is one of the best in his career. Alien was a hit when it came out, not as big as Star Wars, but a hit nonetheless. A sequel was warranted.

So 7 years later the sequel Aliens was crafted by James Cameron, who was coming off the exciting Terminator movie. Cameron was able to take what Ridley Scott has started in the first Alien movie and actually expand on it and make an even better movie in my opinion. Set 57 years later, lone survivor Ripley is picked up from her hibernation in her escape shuttle and taken back to Gateway station, orbiting Earth. She is promptly targeted by company executives who think her story is crazy. Later when communication is lost with the colonists who have been working on the same planet where Ripley and her crew found the deadly alien, she is asked to go back with a team of Colonial Marines to check it out. Ripley is hesitant at first but goes back to face her demons. Once arriving on the planet the only survivor left is a little girl named Newt. And then all hell breaks loose as the aliens see fresh hosts in the marines. The battle scenes in this movie are freaking awesome. Cameron does and excellent job with those but he also does a good job with the quieter moments too. Plus Cameron created so many things for this movie like the personal loader, the pulse rifles (best weapon ever!) and the APC vehicle. Genius. The entire cast is great from returning Weaver as the determined Ripley; Michael Biehn as Hicks; Bill Paxton as Hudson; Lance Henriksen as the android Bishop; Jenette Goldstein as Vasquez; and Paul Reiser as slimy company man Burke. Aliens is one hell of a movie. And Cameron has a special edition that even adds more detail like Ripley having a daughter and Newt's ordeal before the Marines arrive. Both Alien and Aliens reside in IMDB top 75 films of all time. And I couldn't agree more.

Actress of the month: Sigourney Weaver

I have so many favorite actresses that I figure I could write a monthly blog on each one of them. And I'm going with actresses over actors because I feel women had to be twice as good as their counterparts to get respect. I may chime in with an actor from time to time but mostly my blogs will be directed at the women. And I will start with Sigourney Weaver, because I'm in the midst of watching Alien and Aliens, which most people know her as strong willed Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley. And believe it or not, Sigourney just turned 60 on October 8th. Still looking stunning and impressive as ever. As with most fans, the first I saw Sigourney was in the 1979 classic Alien. She was not the top billed star but as the last survivor standing, she made an impact on the world. She had a bit part in Annie Hall previously and some TV work, most notably the soap opera Somerset. Sigourney had done several plays in high school and college including A Midsummer Night's Dream and You Can't Take It With You. After Alien put her on the map, she followed that film up with Eyewitness with William Hurt and The Year of Living Dangerously with Mel Gibson. Her best work would soon following with film roles in Ghostbusters, Half Moon Street, and Aliens (in which she became the first actress in Academy Award history to be nominated for Best Actress in a science fiction role...she was that good in Aliens). She followed that up with the 1-2 punch of Gorillas in the Mist and Working Girl, achieving Oscar nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively. She lost both but did manage to win Golden Globes. Various roles followed including two more sequels for her return as Ripley; the sci-fi spoof Galaxy Quest, and Ang Lee's powerful drama The Ice Storm. Sigourney is steadily working today, just recently an Emmy nominated performance in Prayers For Bobby and co-starring with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler for the comedy Baby Mama. She is currently starring in James Cameron's new epic Avatar for release Christmas 2009. Sigourney is one of my favorite all time Actresses and it's a crime she has not yet won an Oscar. But she doesn't need that shiny gold statue to validate her career. Not in my eyes anyway.

Jaws - 35 years later the seminal summer blockbuster still has bite

Just watched Jaws for the first time in about 2 years and it is still a great movie, one of my favorites. Steven Spielberg did a superb job in directing this thriller of a movie. And you would be hard pressed to find a film   that featured three better performances: Roy Scheider as beleaguered Chief Martin Brody; Richard Dreyfuss as marine scientist Hooper; and Robert Shaw as boat captain Quint, who gives an amazing performance. He deserved an Oscar for his performance; hell his Indianapolis speech alone should have given him the award. All the thrills, suspense, and humor that you remember from Jaws is still there and it feels fresh today amid all the summertime CCG wannabe blockbusters. The music score by John Williams still sends a shiver down my spine. And Jaws is a lot more bloodier than I remember. Especially the shark attack on Quint..it is truly graphic. It is very cool how Spielberg built up the tension through out this movie thanks to the music score and sound and brief glimpses of the shark. So when the 25 footer killing machine finally makes his full appearance it is quite the scene. As I said before the three leads carry this movie and Roy Scheider anchors it as Brody, a man conflicted on trying to do the right thing to save lives, even if it means closing down the beach for the summer. Which doesn't sit right with the mayor and the town council who count on the tourists every summer to bring in some money to their beloved town. Jaws is one of the true greats in cinema history with so many iconic images including the shot where Brody is dumping chum in the water when the shark rises up at him and Brody says the immortal classic line "You're gonna need a bigger boat". Jaws is one of my personal favorite films of all time and it was great re-watching it again.

A Movie A Day: High Tension cranks it up

You know the expression An apple a day keeps the doctor away, well for me, a movie a day keeps me feeling great. Usually I try to watch at least one movie per day if I have the time. Some days I can watch two. But this will be my first official entry today and I will use the last movie I watched, which was on Friday. It's called High Tension, a French horror movie from 2003, that was effectively creepy and gory as hell. The story has two college friends Alexia and Marie going to visit Alexia's family in the quiet countryside for the weekend. Alexia and Marie are best friends and have a bond that's quite strong. Once they arrive at the house and introductions are made, things settle down. But when a mysterious stranger shows up in the middle of the night, all hell breaks loose. Marie is waken by the ruckus and quickly tries to avoid detection by the killer. Marie is played by Cecile De France is she is positively riveting in this role. Starting off panicky she realizes she has to stand up and save Alexia, who the stranger has kidnapped. This soon becomes a cat and mouse movie, with Marie trying her best to save her friend. High Tension is not your typical horror movie. You will have to actually think about it as you watch it. And I won't spoil the ending..let's just say it's different. Of course the gore and blood factor are quite high. I believe the makers of the Saw films checked out Tension and took some crib notes. Things get kinda nasty in Tension that will please all horror fans. And as I said before De France makes this movie. Her central performance is key to the whole film. If she couldn't have pulled it off, I don't think Tension would have worked as well as it did. A good scare of a movie for Halloween.

It's Halloween Week with some Hitchcock and other treats...

I happen to have the good fortune of being off this week from my job so after I take care of my responsibilities, such as finally cleaning out our shed and doing yard work, I plan to have a mini festival of scary movies this week. The timing couldn't have been better since Halloween is Saturday. I have been watching horror movies this month anyway but now I can really let loose. I plan to start with the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, because I own several of his films on DVD. They are Psycho, Vertigo, The Lady Vanishes, To Catch A Thief, The Birds, and Rear Window. All classics. I also plan to watch 1982's The Thing, the original Halloween, Alien, Jaws, The Exorcist, and maybe a few others. This is a great time of the year to be a movie lover.

I've Seen That Person Before In Something Else...

Do you ever get that feeling while watching a movie or show and one of the performers look really familiar? But you can't place them and it's bugging the crap out of you. It's easier now thanks to the internet but sometimes you will recall it on your own. Well I was watching this horror flick yesterday on SyFy channel called Timber Falls and the young woman playing the wife had this face I knew I had seen in something else. She's not a major star but has one of those faces that seem very familiar. Well I'm watching the movie and it's not coming to me and it's irking me. But I get to the end of the movie and she is holding her baby, then it hits me, that's the girl from Spider-Man 2 on the train. And guess what, she's holding a baby in that scene, looking terrified. That triggered my memory once I saw her in this movie yesterday. Just a random thought that was kinda strange. Here is a pic of her by the way and her name is Brianna Brown.


She has been in a few other things including Knocked Up, Hollywood Homicide and several TV shows like Without A Trace, CSI: Miami, Shark, and Smallville.

Dragon Con 2009

Me and my buddy Pat attended Dragon Con in Atlanta back in September over Labor Day weekend. Even though I live only a little over 2 hours away from Atlanta, I had never been to Dragon Con before. And it's been going on for over 25 years now. So with Pat leaving for Chicago by the end of the year, this was a golden opportunity to go and we were going to jump on it. Pat is a fellow comic book and movie enthusiast like me. And Dragon Con is the type of event you wanna go with someone who shares the same tastes in things. Well we had a blast. Dragon Con was awesome. This event is so huge it is spread out across four hotels: The Hyatt, The Hilton, Marriott, and Sheraton. We got there about 8:30 on Saturday and it was a little rainy, but that cleared up within the hour. We saw tons of people, I think they said the total number for the entire convention was over 25,000 people. There were lots of people dressed in costume. I swear we saw over 100 Ghost busters. Let me put it this way, if Atlanta became over run with ghosts that day, we would have been good. Saw several people dressed as super heroes ranging from Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman,and Supergirl. We saw Imperial Stormtroopers, Klingons, Predators, Dark Sith Lords, Colonial Marines, World of Warcraft, Federation officers, and so on. There was this lady with a great costume of Ms. Marvel, and another one of Uhura. Sadly, I wasn't able to get pictures of them, but I did get several other shots. At the Hall of Fame, where the celebrities were signing autographs and taking pictures, we met a lot of actors and actresses. The big guns of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy held a Q&A on Friday night so we missed them. And Patrick Stewart held a discussion session the day we were there but it was completely filled. Anyway we met and chatted with Alan Ruck (Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off)and he was cool as shit. I shook his hand and he said "Jesus man, that's some grip you got there. I thought you were gonna break it". We also talked with Felicia Day of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and The Guild. She was nice. Pat ended up getting a pic with her. I got pics with Karen Allen (Marion from Indiana Jones) and she was really nice. I also got a pic with the original Supergirl, Helen Slater. We ran into Lou Ferrigno, and it was funny because we also had the scene from I Love you Man, where Paul Rudd and Jason Segel run into Lou and Jason flips out on him. Well we didn't flip out but we were kinda vocal about how much he wanted to charge to have his pic taken. Most of the celebrities there were charging like $10 bucks, but Lou wanted $30. We were like damn Lou. But anyway, we also saw John Schneider and Catherine Back from Dukes of Hazzard; the original Buffy - Kristy Swanson; James Marsters (Spike from the Buffy TV show); Malcolm McDowell; Traci Lords; Anthony Daniels (C-3PO); Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and lots more. We stayed until about 6 and enjoyed every minute of it. I know everyone raves about Comic Con in San Diego because of the Hollywood presence, but I believe Dragon Con is right up there with it. If you get a chance, check it out. It happens every year in Atlanta, usually the first week of September.

Great Places To Blog

Ever since I clicked on the Classic Film and TV Cafe, I've been clicking on links to other blogs by different people. I have been amazed by all the blogging and information that is being generated. Especially those on classic movies...I think I am in heaven. The first one I added to follow their blogs was Classic Maiden, which is awesome. I've been adding more blogs to follow ever since. It's always great to converse and comment with fellow movie lovers. The site Flixster used to cool in that regard but of late it has become more of a dating site. I will probably be hanging out a lot here just reading and commenting on all the cool blogs and great stuff.