Deadline Looming!

Hey readers!

Sorry for the relative non-posting since Tuesday. I'm on a tight deadline here, but shall return to blogging in short order. I've got a cult-movie review of David Lynch's Dune (1984), a review of the intriguing vampire film Daybreakers (2009), and a cult-TV flashback for Farscape (1999) in the pipeline here, so please stay tuned.

Thanks for understanding!
JKM

Five Years Ago...

...on April 23, 2005, I began writing my "reflections" about film and television in this space.

Some 1,600+ posts later, I'm still having a great time. In fact, my biggest disappointment in 2010 is that my writing deadlines and responsibilities off-line are keeping me from posting more stuff online.

My introductory post, from 2005, began like this:

"Hello everybody, welcome to my blog. And to start us off, I quote the illustrious Admiral James Stockdale: "Who am I? Why am I here?"

Good questions...

My name is John Muir. and I'm a published author who writes under the name John Kenneth Muir, not because I'm pretentious or anything (though I am...) but because - for some reason - there are a lot of writers out there named John Muir.

Specifically, there's the great American naturalist from the last century, and also a fellow who writes about fixing Volkswagens. Others too, I think. In the age of the Internet, I realized I had to distinguish myself a little for Google, Yahoo, Lycos, Ask Jeeves and other search engines, so for the record, I'm the John Muir (the John Kenneth Muir...) who writes about film and television for a living.

And I know nothing about Volkswagens, so don't ask...

To let you know a little bit about my work, I'm the author of fifteen published books and several articles and short stories. I live in Monroe, North Carolina and work out of my home office penning books on film and television.

You may (or may not...) know some of my titles. From Applause Theatre and Cinema Books I've written: An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), and Best in Show: the Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004).

McFarland, a publisher here in North Carolina, has published eleven of my books, including award winners Terror Television (A Booklist Editor's Choice, 2001), Horror Films of the 1970s (A Booklist Editor's Choice, 2002 and ALA "Best of the Best" Reference Book '03), and 2004's The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television.

I've written about prominent horror directors (Wes Craven: The Art of Horror [1998], The Films of John Carpenter [2000], Eaten Alive at a Chainsaw Massacre: The Films of Tobe Hooper [2003]) and several TV series studies, including Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), A Critical History of Doctor Who on Television (1999), A History an Analysis of Blake's 7 (2000), and An Analytical Guide to TV's One Step Beyond (2001)...

That answers the first question, who am I? The second question, why am I here? involves pop culture, film and TV. I hope I can utilize this space to discuss, debate and ponder trends in movies and TV programs...Basically, I just hope to create an ongoing journal about contemporary and classic entertainment."

In the five years since I offered that opening gambit, I've written six additional books (Horror Films of the 1980s, The Rock'n'Roll Film Encyclopedia, Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair, TV Year, Music on Film: This is Spinal Tap), and updated one (Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film/TV; 2nd Edition).

I've also written essays for published anthologies (Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy, Ken Russell: Re-Viewing England's Last Mannerist), penned short stories (Space:1999 Shepherd Moon), and even created an award-nominated web-series, The House Between, that lasted three seasons and twenty-one episodes. And heck, I'm raising a three year old kid, which feels like a full-time (but wonderful and very rewarding) job.

But through all that, this blog has been a part of my daily creative process. So to celebrate my fifth anniversary, I'm including links to some of my most popular reviews. Again, these are, in a sense, your selections; the links most visited by readers of this site. Interestingly, these most-"read" reviews don't always seem to be the ones that generate the most comments. Not sure why that is.

Movies:

1. Jaws (1975)
2. The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)
3. Body Double (1984)
4. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
5. The Black Hole (1979)

TV programs:

1. Otherworld (1985)
2. Battlestar Galactica (2005)
3. Space:1999: "Dragon's Domain" (1975)
4. The Vampire Diaries (2009)
5. Harsh Realm (2000)

Toys:

1. Milton Bradley's Star Bird Avenger
2. Pulsar: The Ultimate Man of Adventure

3. Ideal's Universal Task Force

4. A Strange Change Toy

5. Space:1999 Eagle 1 Spaceship

Essays/Interviews:

1. An Interview with Chris Carter
2. Don't Tell Them What You Saw: Les Diaboliques vs. Diabolique
3. The Tao of Michael Myers

My most-requested (by-readers) movie reviews, which I'll be presenting soon are: Blade Runner (1982), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (I've been promising this one for a while...) and Session 9.

The TV series I am most often asked to review is SGU, followed by Caprica. I've got SGU in my queue, and when a full season of Caprica is available, I'll get to that too. Promise.

So -- five years in -- a humble thank you for staying with me and this blog. The best is yet to come.

Best,
JKM

Sci-Fi Pulse Reminder: Interview with JKM at 5:00 pm (EST)

Hey Sunday Readers:

Don't forget, I'm interviewed on Sci-Fi Pulse with host Ian Cullen and Marx Pyle today, at 5:00 pm (EST). We discuss my writing career, the state of sci-fi TV, web series and much more.

Don't miss the show, and thanks for tuning in.

- JKM

Millennium Group Sessions 21: John Kenneth Muir Part 2

The second part of the audio interview I did with Back to Frank Black, and wonderful podcast hosts Troy and James, is now available for a listen.

I had a great time chatting with these gentlemen, and I hope to work with them both again in the future. They are dedicated, informed and gracious: great hosts!

Our topics this time include more on classic MIllennium (including a discussion of some of my favorite episodes), and also my web series, The House Between.

Check out Part 2 of the interview here.

And don't forget, I'm on Sci-Fi Pulse with Ian Cullen at 5:00 pm today...

JKM Visits Sci-Fi Pulse!

Hey everybody, I'm the guest this week on Sunday's Sci-Fi Pulse Radio Talk Show, episode 55.

The popular genre talk show is hosted by Ian Cullen with writer Marx Pyle, and together we all discuss everything from sci-fi television and film to my dramatic web series, The House Between (now nearing the fourth anniversary of its debut on Veoh), to my upcoming stint as film festival judge in NYC.

Sci-Fi Pulse airs tomorrow, Sunday, February 7th at 5:00 pm, EST. So check it out. Here's the link and the advert:

"For episode 55 we feature a discussion with journalist and writer of many science fiction reference books. John Kenneth Muir. Over the years John has written a number of books, his first of which was Exploring Space 1999. During our chat with the Writer Marx Pyle and Ian Cullen asked the writer not only about his view point on the current state of genre television, but also about his web series The House Between. Want to learn more? Tune in this Sunday."

ACEFEST 2010: Judge Muir!

The New York Press made the announcement recently, so now I can share the news here too: I've accepted the invitation to serve as a judge at the upcoming ACEFEST 2010 Film Festival in NYC.

This is the film festival's fifth year, and the event will be held from August 20th through 28th, 2010. Tickets go on sale, Monday July 12th at 11:00 am.

Here's a snippet from the New York Press article involving the festival and, in particular, the selection of the judges:

The judging panel consists of 14 film experts including Emmy-award winning visual effects guru Ben Grossmann and Splinterheads director Brant Sersen. The panel’s talent pool is deep and diversified and they have all been called upon for their specific expertise because this year ACEFEST is trying something new with their judging process.

“For the past few years, we’ve pretty much taken anyone who’s interested in the judging within reason,” O’Malley said. “If they had any sort of notable resume, they were in. This year we tried something different. We very specifically made categories which we wanted to fill with judges. Categories such as performance, directing, special effects, cinematography and writing. Then we set out to fill those particular categories with judges. They’re all looking with an open eye at everything they see of course, but they’re all accomplished experts in their fields. They’ve seen it all. They’ve done it all. It’s going to be very interesting what they bring to the table this year because - I guess for lack of a better term -we got more organized. It was less of a free-for-all with our judging panel.”

And O’Malley expects the judges to have their work cut out for them if the caliber of submissions, which start being accepted Jan. 11, are on par with prior years.

I must say, I'm really looking forward to this gig with tremendous excitement. I can't wait to see all the films; and I hope that all you independent filmmakers out there get signed up for the competition. To learn more about ACEFEST (and the film submission process), click here.

Recapping 2009: Year Four of Reflections on Film and TV

We're rapidly approaching the end of 2009 and -- at least by one way of counting -- the end of the first decade of the 21st century (2000 - 2009) too.

Accordingly, I'll be assembling my "best of" lists regarding television and film for 2009, and for the decade too. However, I still have to see Avatar, Moon and Paranormal Activity, so I'm not rushing to judgment here....

But in the meantime I wanted to look back one last time at the year that was, especially here on Reflections on Film and Television. 2009 was the blog's biggest year ever, with a whopping 41,000+ more visitors than in 2008. The last quarter of 2009 was, in fact, the biggest quarter ever on the blog. The year saw approximately 316 posts here, and covered a variety of film and TV-related topics.

Early in the year I looked back at some genre "classics" from my mis-spent youth, including Jaws (1975), Logan's Run (1976), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), The Black Hole (1979), John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), Tron (1982), Alien Nation (1988), and Enemy Mine (1985).

This year also saw my retrospective of John Carpenter's later career span, including the director's more controversial films: Prince of Darkness (1987), Village of the Damned (1995) and Ghosts of Mars (2001).

A good portion of 2009 was also taken up with my detailed study of the career of another favorite director, the amazing Brian De Palma. I reviewed many of his films including Sisters (1973), Carrie (1976), Dressed to Kill (1980), Blow Out (1981), Scarface (1983), Body Double (1984), The Untouchables (1987), Raising Cain (1992), Mission: Impossible (1996), Snake Eyes (1998), Mission to Mars (2000) and Redacted (2007).

Early in the year, I also undertook a survey of Jules Verne's Captain Nemo in the cinema, beginning with book and film reviews of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and leading into productions such as Mysterious Island, Captain Nemo and the Underwater City and even the 1978 TV mini-series The Return of Captain Nemo.

In the world of TV, I continued my investigation of the intriguing, thematically-valuable (and consistent) universe of Chris Carter and Ten Thirteen Productions, with two essays on Millennium (Enemies Within, and Snakes in the Grass and Snakes in the Open), as well as a retrospective of the late, lamented Harsh Realm (1999-2000) and "Via Negativa," a late-era X-Files installment starring Robert Patrick. The year ended with a personal and professional high point for me: an in-depth interview with Chris Carter himself.

In other TV-related posts, I dissected the first four episodes of the new V, was underwhelmed by The Vampire Diaries, The Prisoner, as well as the pilot for FlashForward. I also remembered nostalgic cult favorites including Mission: Impossible (1967), The All-New Super Friends (1977), Twin Peaks (1991), Dracula: The Series (1990), Werewolf (1987-1988), At The Movies (1982-1986), One Step Beyond (1959-1961), She-Wolf of London (1991), Automan (1983), The Man From Atlantis (1976), Monster Squad (1976), V: The Series (1986), Firefly (2002) and more.

This was also the year of new cinematic favorites including Knowing, Star Trek, District 9 and Drag Me to Hell. Additionally, 2009 was also the final year of production on my independent, dramatic web series, The House Between (to be released on soundtrack CD and DVD in 2010...). My no-budget but big-hearted show (in the third and final season) was nominated for "Best Web Production" at Airlock Alpha (formerly Sy Fy Portal).

Finally, some of my personal favorite posts this year involved in-depth, lengthy essays. I particularly enjoyed writing The Tao of Michael Myers regarding Halloween (1978), Of Men, Morality and Microwaves (concerning The Virgin Spring and the different versions of Last House on the Left), and Don't Tell Them What You Saw, which concerned the two film versions of Diabolique.

Ahead in 2010, I have two new film books in the pipeline, as well as some other exciting appearances and events coming up. More announcements on all that will follow soon. Here on the blog, I intend to launch another directorial retrospective, and will continue looking back to over 50 years of genre TV programming.

I hope that you'll stick around, and also that 2010 will be as exciting, as fun (and busy...) as 2009 turned out to be in these parts. As always, thank you for reading, thank you for commenting, and thanks for coming back to see what's new. To quote Dirk Diggler, "I'm gonna keep trying if you keep trying..."

Happy New Year!
JKM

Post #1,500!

Whoo-hoo! This is my 1500th post since the blog commenced in April of 2005!

I look back at 05 when I started these reflections, and I was writing about (then current...) stuff like Revenge of the Sith and the TV series Surface.

Wow. Seems like a million years since then...

Happy Thanksgiving

To All My Readers,

I hope you enjoy a safe, happy, and healthy Thanksgiving holiday with your loved ones today.

Thank you for making 2009 the biggest, most successful year ever on the blog. I'm nearing my 1500th published post, and the site has already had 26,000 more visitors this year than in the entire year of 2008. And we still have over a month to go before 2010.

And thank you, too, for continuing to support my writing about genre film and television. (And don't forget, high-tech Christmas shoppers, this blog is now available on Kindle...)

Regards and best wishes,
JKM

Joel's Christmas Tree Beams Down

Blah

Hey everyone --

Sorry for the non-posting this week. I don't know what it is: the weather, or the fact that I'm turning 40 in a few months, but I've been in a seven-day long, non-blogging funk. I've tried blogging like a dozen times and it just isn't happening. I was supposed to write a review of Scarface (1983) today...and didn't!

I trust I'll work my way out of it soon, so please be patient with me.

Anyone have any personal or proverbial wisdom to share on mid-life crises, the blues, or plain old writer's block? Or...anyone know any good jokes?

The Shock of the New?

So...I received a pleasant reader e-mail this morning from a fellow who had read my bio at "Meet the Horror Bloggers" and insisted that in terms of my movie reviews, I tend to like old movies and dislike anything and everything new. His point was that nostalgia was the quality that seemed to most impact my perception of a movie. He then asked me my opinion on this.

Not to be defensive or anything, but I politely disagreed with the reader's assertation. Still, the question has nagged at me, and it got me thinking over the last few hours. Could the reader be right? Do I hate everything new?

Well, a little research, a little counting and -- Voila! -- I've arrived at an interesting tally. For these purposes, I'm defining everything circa the years 2000 - 2009 as "New." I also counted movies that I was sort of on the fence about (such as Midnight Meat Train or Spider-Man 3) as "negative reviews," just to be sure I didn't game the system to arrive at the answer I sought.

Here are the results, based on my blog reviews: It's just about even money. So, you may agree with my conclusions, or you may disagree with them, but it's not accurate to state that, overall, I dislike "new" movies.

Whew!

Positive Reviews (2000 - 2009)

1. Drag Me To Hell (2009)
2. Star Trek (2009)
3. Knowing (2009)
4. Religulous (2009)
5. The Ruins (2008)
6. The Strangers (2008)
7. Quantum of Solace (2008)
8. Splinter (2008)
9. Cloverfield (2008)
10. Speed Racer (2008)
11. Wall-E (2008)
12. Iron Man (2008)
13. Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008)
14. Let the Right One In (2008)
15. Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
16. X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)
17. The Orphanage (2007)
18. 28 Weeks Later (2007)
19. 300 (2007)
20. Sunshine (2007)
21. Rogue (2007)
22. Vacancy (2007)
23. Primeval (2007)
24. [REC] (2007)
25. Superman Returns (2006)
26. Casino Royale (2006)
27. The Host (2007)
28. Snakes on a Plane (2006)
29. Hostel (2005)
30. King Kong (2005)
31. Dark Water (2005)
32. Silent Hill (2006)
33. Slither (2006)
34. The Descent (2006)
35. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
36. The Aristocrats (2005)
37. United 93 (2006)
38. Serenity (2005)
39. District B13 (2004)
40. Last Exit (2003)
41. Femme Fatale (2002)
42. Kill Bill, Volume 1 (2002)

43. John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (2001)
44. Mission to Mars (2000)

Negative Reviews:

1. A Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
2. My Bloody Valentine 3-D (2009)
3. Friday the 13th (2009)
4. Fanboys (2008)
5. Midnight Meat Train (2008)
6. Twilight (2008)
7. Righteous Kill (2008)
8. Mirrors (2008)
9. Death Race (2008)
10. Wanted (2008)
11. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
12. Diary of the Dead (2008)
13. 10,000 BC (2008)
14. Mirrors (2008)
15. The Eye (2008)
16. One Missed Call (2008)
17. Skinwalkers (2007)
18. Hatchet (2007)
19. P2 (2007)
20. AVP - Requiem (2007)
21. Hostel Part II (2007)
22. Transformers (2007)
23. 30 Days of Night (2007)
24. The Hitcher (2007)
25. Halloween (2007)
26. The Messengers (2007)
27. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
28. The Omen 666 (2006)
29. The Wicker Man (2006)
30. An American Haunting (2006)
31. Texas Chainsaw: The Beginning (2006)
32. Doom (2006)
33. Stay Alive (2006)
34. The Da Vinci Code (2006)
35. X3 (2006)
36 Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
37. When a Stranger Calls (2006)
38. The Cave (2006)
39. Feast (2005)
40. The Fog (2005)
41. Blade: Trinity (2004)

Meet the Horror Bloggers meets...Me!

One of the best professional experiences I've had in the last year or so is my membership in The League of Tana Tea Drinkers, a cadre of highly-dedicated, highly-talented horror bloggers. I've discovered many amazing blogs through this association, and encountered some great writing, and some remarkable thinking about the genre too.

Iloz Zoc, the founder of the League, and an outstanding blogger himself, has been running a series called "Meet the Horror Bloggers" for the last few weeks, posting biographies of some of these intrepid bloggers. I've read them all with avid interest since, as a critic, I believe context is vitally important to understanding literature, film, television...everything, really. Reading this blog series, you get that invaluable context behind many blogger perspectives, and it's made for fascinating reading.

Anyway, today Iloz Zoc posted the last entry of the series, I believe, and it happens to be my bio. Here's a snippet:

It was a Saturday in 1975, and close to Halloween. As dusk approached, my parents sat me down in front of the TV and, in particular, an episode of a new series called Space: 1999. The episode airing that night was titled “Dragon’s Domain” and it concerned a malevolent, tentacled Cyclops entrapping and devouring hapless astronauts in a Sargasso Sea of derelict spaceships. In an image I’ve never forgotten, this howling, spitting monster regurgitated the astronauts’ steaming, desiccated bones onto the spaceship deck. The episode was one part 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, and one part precursor to Alien (1979). But the direction of this five year old boy’s life was set in stone during those 50 minutes.

By the time I was in sixth grade, a viewing of Tobe Hooper’s intense The Funhouse (1981) at a girlfriend’s Friday night movie rental party – a big thing in those days -- deepened my obsession with the horror genre. The film terrified me on a level I had never before experienced (or even imagined, frankly…), but I survived it. And afterwards, I couldn’t stop thinking about the nerve-tingling experience of being really frightened by a film, or about the specific details of Hooper’s grisly narrative. I wanted to know more, to understand more, and most importantly, to talk endlessly about the experience and what it had meant to me. Many of my friends thought I was nuts."

You can read the rest of the piece here, and I hope it provides some context for regular readers of this blog too. I want to thank Iloz Zoc for including me in the series, and for running the series in the first place. It's been indispensable.

Best Year Ever!

Well, it's happened. According to my stats page, in 2009 Reflections on Film and Television has already surpassed the total number of readers for the year 2008! And with three-and-a-half-months still to go.

Every year since I began it in April of 2005, this site has shown solid growth, but not quite on this scale...and I owe it all to you folks, the readers.

And the icing on the cake: an educational blog "hub" (concerning online degrees...) today also tagged Reflections on Film and Television as one of the "Top 100 Film Studies Blogs," alongside such greats as Reverse Shot, and Senses of Cinema.

You like me! You really like me!

One More Time: Biggest Month Ever!

Dear Readers:

Here at Reflections on Film and Television, August was our biggest month ever. In fact, we topped the previous "best" month by over two-thousand additional visitors. The upshot is this: the blog is now on the path to topping 2008's yearly readership well before the end of September. In 2009, we've already surpassed the yearly readership for 2007. Wow.

So, my humble and sincere thanks for continuing to stop by and checking out my thoughts on film and television. Currently, I'm in the midst of a re-organization/move and setting up a new office, but I will return to blogging on Wednesday (when my Internet connection is hooked up). I hope to get back up to five or six posts a week once this huge re-organization is behind me. I appreciate your patience.

And look forward to this Friday, when our De Palma study will pick up with a review of Mission: Impossible (1996).

Thanks again, and see you tomorrow,

JKM

The Honest Scrap Award!

B-Sol at the great blog Vault of Horror yesterday tagged me for an Honest Scrap Award, a blogger-to-blogger honor now circulating on the World Wide Web.

The Honest Scrap Award is given to "a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant. This award is about bloggers who post from their heart, who oftentimes put their heart on display as they write from the depths of their soul."

Coming from B-Sol, who pens brilliant posts each and every day, this is indeed a high honor, and I'm deeply appreciative of the recognition. Thanks, man! Right back at ya! And now, in keeping with the spirit of the award, I am to select 10 bloggers whom I also deeply admire, and then provide a list of ten "honest things" about myself.

So the links first. I pass along the Honest Scrap Award to:

1. Radiator Heaven

2. And Now The Screaming Starts

3. Made for TV Mayhem

4. The Lightning Bug's Lair

5. Zombos' Closet of Horror

6. Theofantastique

7. Classic Horror

8. Fantasmo Cult Cinema Explosion

9. Day of the Woman


And -- back at you B-Sol --

10. The Vault of Horror


Ten Honest Things About Myself:

1. I didn't enjoy The Dark Knight (2008). I found it loud, angry and ugly...though undeniably well-made.

2. As a kid, I was terribly afraid of horror movies. Then Tobe Hooper's Funhouse, broke my cherry, and I fell in love with the genre.

3. I once lost a really hot girlfriend in high school because I was more interested in watching a new horror movie than making out with her in the theater. Oopsy.

4. On the days I am a stay-at-home dad with Joel, my two-year old, we often have light saber battles. Yesterday, we crawled under our dining room table and pretended it was a "wormhole."

5. I was an extra in the movie Body Count (1997)...and played a convict wearing a red jump suit. Because I looked "like an intellectual" according to the assistant director, I was not allowed to play basketball with the other convicts. Rather, I was asked to sit at a nearby table and read Herman Hesse's book Siddhartha during my scenes. I finished the book in eight hours, while the scenes were shot.

6. I think my wife looks like Stacy Haiduk (but that's not why I married her.) Or at least not the only reason.

7. I once played Schroeder in a Peanuts play. I also once played Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in high school. I was a better Schroeder than a Caesar.

8. I wore my Superman shirt to my son's birth...so he would become a geek early.

9. I once had an intensely unpleasant personal experience with a genre icon that everybody absolutely adores and thinks is da bomb. I still live in fear that I will share a stage with him at a convention.

10. And -- finally -- I'm addicted to blogging.

You Are A Great Read...

J.D. at the blog RADIATOR HEAVEN (one of my daily must-reads...) has today tagged me for a blogger-to-blogger award called "You Are A Great Read."

Coming from J.D. -- already a 2009 Lammy nominee (for outstanding movie reviews), a Premio Dardos winner, and an all-around terrific movie scholar and writer -- this honor means a great deal to me. Thanks, J.D.: you made my day (and quite possibly my weekend...and perhaps my month...)

Now, as the award-giving business goes, I should also recognize five of my favorite blogs. This isn't easy, because I follow a number of outstanding blogs and I'd like to name more than five.

But here goes anyway. My Five Great Reads (not including RADIATOR HEAVEN) are:

And Now The Screaming Starts

Made for TV Mayhem

The House Next Door

Theofantastique

The Vault of Horror

Biggest Month EVER

Just a quick note to say a humble and sincere thank you to all of you for making May 2009 the biggest month EVER here on Reflections on Film and Television. The number of visitors this May was nearly double what it was for May of 2008, and this month even edged out July 2008 -- the month my X-Files: I Want to Believe -- sort of went viral.

So, my deepest deepest appreciation -- and don't stop coming...the best is yet to come.

best,
JKM

Four Years on the Blogosphere (So Far...)!

Holy cow! Today marks my fourth anniversary blogging here at reflections on film and television. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. Hard to believe I began this endeavor back in 2005, on the eve of the release of Revenge of the Sith. In some ways, it seems like a lifetime ago. In other ways, it seems like the party's just begun.

Looking over my stats, I see that this is my 1,340th post on the blog. Broken down, that number includes 70 cult tv flashbacks, 85 retro toy flashbacks, 13 comic book flashbacks, over 200 movie reviews, plus another dozen or so TV movie reviews. Plus lots of essays, commentaries and plenty of theme songs of the week.

Blogging during this last year has proven an especially memorable experience for me. Between The House Between's nomination as a Sy Fy Genre "Best Web Production," my induction into the ranks of the The League of Tana Tea Drinkers, and the deluge of X-Files fans who arrived here to read my review of I Want to Believe and ended up sticking around...things have really been hopping 'round these parts!

But as I often like to say: stick around...the best is yet to come. And more importantly, I humbly and happily thank you, the readers, for making me part of your regular read. And -- in case you're worried -- I still have plenty to say. 1,340 posts isn't even scratching the surface...

Premio Dardo Winner!

Happy Monday, everybody! The fantastic (and award-winning) blogger Amanda By Night at Made for TV Mayhem has bestowed upon me and this blog the prestigious Premio Dardo Award. Wow!

This blogger-to-blogger accolade "acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his or her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values every day."

It's a great privilege to be acknowledged for this honor, especially from a blogger I admire so deeply. Made for TV Mayhem is one of the handful of blogs I follow religiously, and which I enjoy tremendously. Anyone who understands an obsession with Tiffany Bolling is a friend for life in my book. Thank you, Amanda!

I must confess, I don't really understand how precisely all this works (I'm a bit of a dunce when it comes to the community of blogging...), so permit me to go by the rules:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.


2) Pass the award to 5 other blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Okay, so now it is incumbent on me to pass along this Premio Dardo decoration to five bloggers whom I feel ably transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day. Let's do it!

1.) Theofantastique: This meeting place for myth, imagination and mystery in pop culture is a tireless and meticulous effort. The approach is commendably cerebral, and the author, John Morehead is not only curious and thoughtful, but a highly-skilled communicator. John focuses on books, films, television and the history of the horror genre with enthusiasm and a keen intellectual eye.

2.) Zombos Closet of Horror: This dedicated blogger, Iloz Zoc, is the founder and organizer of the League of Tana Tea Drinkers, not to mention a bonafide wit. First, my hat is off to him for wrangling a wide cross-section of authors, and bloggers (herding cats?) with such aplomb, spirit and frankly...love. More to the point, Zombos Closet of Horror is a blog I follow on a daily basis, because I.Z. offers unbridled passion for the horror genre. He also knows how to turn a memorable phrase in an amusing, sharp and appropriately macabre fashion. His writing is perpetually funny and absorbing. Horror conventions and toys, movies old and new -- they're all covered here with a fresh perspective.

3.) Vault of Horror: this is where I go to get my horror news, and pretty much on a daily basis at that. B-Sol is the genius behind all those controversial and inspiring Cyber-Elite lists that have been burning up the Internets lately, but that's only the tip of the machete, so-to-speak. You'll find news stories, reviews, lists, obits, trenchant commentary and much more at Vault of Horror. A must-read horror blog...and if it's been more than a few hours since I checked it out, I feel empty inside.

4.) Maddrey Misc.: This is the blog of Joseph Maddrey, the author of Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film. He's also produced a documentary of that book, and serves as my series producer on The House Between. I know Joe well -- I consider him one of my best friends, in fact. But I don't check out his blog because we're buddies and colleagues. This isn't about nepotism. I check out Maddrey Misc because Joe is an amazing photographer, and he regularly posts beautiful location photographs from horror movies and Westerns of yesteryear. He also charts horror movie premieres and revivals in the L.A. area, which is an aspect of the genre that interests me. Joe's no slouch in the writing category either, penning book reviews, music reviews and great "nostalgia" posts too. Just check out his current post, "Superstition," putting the Friday the 13th films into the context of his childhood.

5. Plaid Stallions: This is where I head when I need a toy nostalgia fix. Plaid Stallions is an impressive and beautifully-designed daily blog dedicated to a remembrance of all things from the pop-culture of the 1970s, but especially the toys I grew up with. There are great post categories here, from crazy catalog photos of the disco decade, to retro-playgrounds (!), to images of old toy stores and their displays. I don't want to grow up...I'm a Plaid Stallions kid.

Thank you again, Amanda, for thinking of me for this award. It means a lot to me.