Klaus Kinski-Inspired Fumetti Cover

I never knew what the heck a fumetti was until a few years ago when my buddy Curt Purcell introduced me to the term.

I suppose the simplest way to describe them is "Italian comic books" but these ain't like the "comic books" you and I probably grew up with.

Nope, instead of caped heroes rescuing damsels in distress and masked vigilantes seeking justice for the FILL IN THE BLANK killing their FILL IN THE BLANK, the fumetti I've seen reside largely in "not safe for work" territory.

Monsters. Big-breasted damsels. Revenge tales. Graphic sex. Hunchbacks who give birth out their ass. Um, yeah, this ain't exactly Mighty Marvel.

So while I was over perusing Curt's awesome Groovy Age of Horror blog the other day what did I stumble upon but the image shown at right... with a vampire definitely "inspired" by our boy Klaus Kinski!

Unfortunately, they don't carry the resemblance over to the inside panels, but damn, that's some wicked cool artwork and I'd love to find a copy of that issue or – even better – the original art used for the cover.

But until then I'll always have this Groovy Age blog post to drool over.

What Happened to the Summer of ACTION?! and Other Notes

Okay, so the Summer of ACTION! didn't turn out quite the way I'd hoped.

Though the umbrella project featuring everything from comics and action flicks to vintage TV and men's adventure novels started strong (and with the best of intentions), by August the real world had intervened and while I kept reading and watching I never quite found the time to write. Add in a week without internet (due to the hurricane) and several extended beach trips and well, you know how it goes.

So, what happens now? Does the SoA! come to an end? Get "retired" like an assassin whose conscience is getting to him? Do we put it on ice – like Dolph Lundgren in the snappy action flick UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION – only to thaw it out next June in the hopes that the intervening months haven't made it crazier than it already was?

Hell no.

Though it might be getting dark earlier and fall temperatures aren't far off, the Summer of ACTION! will continue. Like five o'clock, it's always summer somewhere.

So, what else is happening in the world of Exploitation Retrospect?

Work on our Revenge of Print edition is currently under way and thanks to a hard drive bulging with awesome contributions it's likely to be the biggest issue of ER ever produced. I still have some design decisions to shake out – particularly whether to go with a digest or full-size layout – but we're still on track to have the issue wrapped up before the end of 2011.

I've also decided to make some changes in how reviews appear both on this blog and at our site. Recent discussions with a friend who is just tackling the whole blog thing made me realize that I've been keeping one foot in "traditional" publishing for far too long.

The original ER website was put together in the mid-to-late 1990s and my approach to it shows. With the current "system" I gather reviews as they come in from contributors and update the site (when time allows) with a couple dozen reviews. In other words, the site has become a bit like the zine that led to its creation – no real deadline for publication and it only gets worked on when I have a huge block of time to handle the formatting, linking and updating of the home page.

It finally dawned on me that nobody ever said I had to wait till I had two dozen reviews to update the site, that all the new reviews had to go up at once, or that I couldn't roll reviews out here on the blog first.

Hopefully, this change in approach will lead to a couple things. First, reviews of new releases will appear here and on the site in a more timely fashion. Second, the site will get updated more frequently. And, third, I won't have to make the foolhardy attempt to carve three or four hours out of a weekend in order to do a sweeping site update.

That's about all for now. Thanks for your continued support of this blog and the site!

The Dirty Dozen – Premiere Edition

Entertainment Weekly has their Must List.

Golf Magazine has the Front 9.

But what if you don't care about golf or what the cast of Glee is up to? What if you what you really want to know is what Eurotrash DVDs are coming out or what blogs you should be reading or bands you should be listening to in order to get your recommended daily dose of trash?

Well, fear not. ER is here with The Dirty Dozen, a new feature that will provide you with a look at the junk culture and fringe media stuff we love, Love, LOVE ... at the moment. Stop back every weekend for a new installment and be sure to drop me a line if you have something you feel is worthy of being in The Dirty Dozen. Got a mag, comic, zine, disc, movie or, well, anything you want us to check out? See the sidebar for our PO Box address.

Enough yakking. On to this week's list!

1. The Planet of the Apes Saga: Original Recipe – I don't know if RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is any good or not, though I was pleasantly surprised to see its rating on Rotten Tomatoes well past 80% when I got up this morning. But I do know that the new flick seems to have sparked renewed interest in the original five films which I love so much. Best of all, I got to watch all five flicks on the big screen last weekend thanks to the guys at Exhumed Films and believe it or not, I think I actually like the series more than I did about a week ago. Rather than simply make the same flick over and over again each film has its own unique take on the storyline, and, more importantly, the saga works as a great, epic tale. Sure, some of the effects are dated and the messages simplistic, but I'll go on the record as saying the STAR WARS flicks can't hold a candle to the APES saga.
2. TENEBRAE (DVD) – Though I've been spending a lot of time these last few months immersed in The Summer of ACTION! (with more posts to come soon, I promise), an ongoing side project has been a reassessment of the work of Dario Argento. I've always thought The Italian Hitchcock was a little overrated but felt like I should go back and give fresh watches to some of his classic – and not so classic – work to see if I was being fair. I was surprised by how much I loved the nightmarish INFERNO and how much the trashy, nutzoid PHENOMENA didn't click with me. But a recent viewing of the seemingly personal TENEBRAE reminded me that when he was firing on all cylinders there weren't many who could touch Argento's deft touch when it came to giallo. It's an entertaining, funny and well-acted mystery packed with iconic death scenes and a superb cast.
3. THE BASEMENT VHS Screener – As the DVD/Blu-Ray era closes in on the end of its second decade, one can be left wondering what's left to release? Thanks to the horror market's insatiable need to see anything and everything, no matter how poorly acted or cheaply made, it looks like shot-on-video and shot-on-super-8mm (!) features will ensure that horror fans have plenty to watch in the years to come. THE BASEMENT takes a page out of the SLEDGEHAMMER book by providing screeners on both DVD and VHS. THE VHS screener is a site to behold, an old school big box with colorful artwork of a buxom blonde being attached by nasty beasts from the titular basement. I don't know if the flick will even be watchable (though I was pleasantly surprised by SLEDGEHAMMER) but the screener brought a tear to my eye and reminded me of the good old days of turning those worn out cardboard boxes over and over in my hands.
4. Klaus Kinski's Directorial Debut (And Swan Song) Comes to US DVD – Regular readers know of my love for the irascible and outrageous European film star Klaus Kinski. I've long contended that no matter how brief his role, "The German Olivier" usually makes anything he's in worth watching. (A theory that was severaly put to the test by PSYCHOPATH.) Towards the end of his long and storied career, Kinski conspired to write and direct a biography of Niccolo Paganini, an Italian violinist and composer whose wild lifestyle and violent playing style led some to suggest that he'd made a deal with the devil (take THAT Robert Johnson!). The resulting film – KINSKI PAGANINI – has only been available on German VHS and DVD but good pal and Cinema Arcana honcho Bruce Holecheck recently informed me that Mya (who released the Turkish Kinski oddity EVIL FACE) will be putting the film out on US DVD in November. I'll provide more details about the disc as they become available and be sure to check out the Cinema Arcana Upcoming Release List!
5. NEVER SLEEP AGAIN: THE ELM STREET LEGACY (DVD) – I've always thought the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET franchise should have ended after the third installment – DREAM WARRIORS directed by Chuck Russell. It made up for some of the glaring sins of ELM STREET 2, gave the series a nice sense of closure thanks to the presence of Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon, and would have been a good way to end things on a high note. Thanks to boffo box office we all know that's not how things played out and the more of an outrageous wise-cracker Freddy became the more my interest in the series waned. But I'm glad it went on as long as it did, because it gave filmmakers Daniel Farrands and Andrew Kasch the opportunity to create NEVER SLEEP AGAIN, an exhaustive, funny and informative look at the franchise, the people behind it, and how New Line really was "The House That Freddy Built". Who knew a four-hour ELM STREET doc would be my front-runner for my favorite film I've seen all year?!
6. The Stalkers: Yesterday is No Tomorrow (CD) – I caught this New York garage band a few weeks ago when they opened for The Dwarves here in Baltimore. The moment I saw them setting up on stage I had a feeling they'd be the kind of band I'd dig... the members looked like guys I hung out with in college and you could almost smell the Ramones/Thunders/Dictators vibe. Oddly enough, the dude I had pegged for their roadie – a burly biker type who looked like he might have kidnapped the rest of the band – was actually their lead singer, giving the garage-pop an interesting visual dynamic and gleefully sinister playfulness. The disc I picked up from their merch table after the show is four years old and doesn't really do them justice, but with great music in short supply these days I was happy to discover a band I'm anxious to hear more from.
7. Louis Fowler's Damaged Viewing (Podcast) – Longtime ER readers are certainly already familiar with Louis Fowler, a pop culture watchdog who has written some of my favorite reviews at the site. And when he's not telling everybody within earshot how great BATMAN & ROBIN is he's also a damn fine blogger, food writer (check out his work in our sister publication The Hungover Gourmet) and host of Damaged Hearing (available via iTunes). But I'm partial to Louis's latest venture – with frequent guest and card-carrying Man of ACTION! John Grace – a hysterical and interesting look at cinema called (what else?) Damaged Viewing. Louis and Co. jump in the studio after seeing such films as TRANSFORMERS 3, GREEN LANTERN and CAPTAIN AMERICA, only to find the conversation veering wildly off-topic before coming back around.
8. Black Dynamite: The Animated Series Premiere (TV) – I finally caught up with BLACK DYNAMITE at this year's ActionFest and busted a gut over Michael Jai White's dead-on paean to 70s blaxploitation cinema. With DYNAMITE already a full-fledged cult film hit, the character has his own comic book and is now set for his big TV debut. But first, this Monday, August 8th will see the premiere of BLACK DYNAMITE: THE ANIMATED SERIES on AdultSwim.com. The 11-minute pilot, featuring the voices of White, Tommy Davidson and others from the film, is just the start as Dynamite will be joining the Adult Swim lineup later this year.
9. First Photo of Henry Cavill as The Man of Steel – I was shocked when the first photo of Henry Cavill in the Superman costume from the upcoming THE MAN OF STEEL hit the internet and nerds began complaining. Oh no, wait, I wasn't shocked at all. In fact, I resisted the urge to look at the pic when the link first hit my mailbox because I wanted time for the ferocious idiocy to come to a rolling boil. Sure enough, comments sections on blogs, websites and social media sites were packed with complaints ranging from nitpicky (Why is the S so big? The cape looks like drapes.) to nitwitty (Bring back Brandon Routh! Where's the curled lock of hair?). Frankly, I'm not a huge Superman fan but even I was dismayed at Kal-El's last cinematic outing and had little interest in this new "reboot", even if I like some of Zack Snyder's work. But not only does the first look at Supes remind me of the George Reeves show that I grew up on but for the first time in a long time the Boy Scout looks like he's finally ready to kick some bad guy ass. (I was not similarly enthused about the first glimpse of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.)
   
10. Bruce Springsteen Auditions for PERFECT? (Viral) – There came a point in the 1980s where you had to make a music video. It didn't matter how big a star you were, music videos were a big promotional tool... even if they made you look like a tool. Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" was, I believe, The Boss's first music video and the one that aired ad nauseum on MTV is largely remembered for the scene at the end with a post-MISFITS OF SCIENCE/pre-FRIENDS Courtney Cox being pulled from the audience to "dance" with Bruce. (The moment was even referenced on Cox's underrated COUGAR TOWN last season.) As stiff and uncomfortable as that video is, it's like a Kubrick film in comparison to this early, original version that I stumbled across thanks to the great Butch Walker (whose new album hits later this month). For twelve painful minutes The Boss arthritically lurches through "dance moves", does some kinda weird lasso thing over his head and snaps his fingers to a non-existent beat that only he can hear. That'd be bad enough, but the black pants, wife-beater tee, suspenders and black headband make it look like he's trying out for a role in PERFECT. Hard to believe this is the guy who did "Candy's Room".
    
11. Kindle Bargains (eBooks) – After getting an iPad this summer I found myself blowing past the eBook apps because I couldn't imagine I'd ever curl up with the device to read a good book. I've always been a textural guy who likes the feel and smell of a used paperback or the ability to roll up a mag or zine and stuff it in my pocket. But I was won over by the Kindle app and the fact that Created, The Destroyer was available for the low, low price of 99 cents along with a ton of other Destroyer novels! (Hey, if you're going to take the plunge into a Summer of ACTION! you might as well read the first book in the most famous men's action series.) Then, while cruising around West Philly this past weekend, ER co-founder Lou Goncey informed me that the 25th anniversary edition of John Skipp & Craig Spector's groundbreaking splatterpunk horror novel Light at the End was available for less than the price of a cup of coffee. The eBook will never replace the fun of finding great, used trash at a flea market and I won't take my iPad into the can with me, but good bargains on great books will certainly keep me coming back for more.
    
12. JAWS Meets... Peanuts? – As a kid I loved anything and everything related to PLANET OF THE APES, KISS, and James Bond, just to name a few. Having older siblings meant that I also got my hands on passed-down volumes of classic Peanuts strips re-printed in paperbacks and had escorts who would take me to see JAWS, even when I wasn't supposed to. Given how much time I spent in the ocean you'd have thought the flick would have freaked me out, but I went the opposite direction and, for a brief period, embraced all things shark. My 9th birthday even had a bit of a JAWS theme, with me getting a huge towel featuring the iconic JAWS poster (wish I still had that) and a plastic Great White Shark bank. Never expected to see beloved childhood icons like Snoopy and JAWS mashed up, but, well, you just never know. (Link via Super Punch)
    

CINEMA ARCANA: The VHS Archives

Though I love the convenience of things like Redbox and Netflix (especially the latter's streaming service, which can keep me glued to the tv all night), I miss the thrill of spending hours milling about a video store. Drinking in the often-outrageous box art, wondering how some of the copy made it past a proofreader (there had to be one, right?), trying to decide if this was just another crappy retitling of a crappy horror (or action or sexploitation) flick I'd already seen.

Good times, good times.

While finding those off-the-beaten path video stores is largely a thing of the past it's good to know dedicated nuts like our pal Bruce Holecheck are keeping the spirit of trashy, low-budget VHS alive. Bruce's newest project at his excellent Cinema Arcana blog is The VHS Archives, a label-by-label attempt to catalog some of the less-heralded and more insane VHS labels from days gone by.

The first label to get examined is MOGUL (and its offshoots) and the project already includes a handful of entries, complete with box art, verbatim copy and – where possible – Holecheck's insights into the flick itself (like CONQUEROR OF THE WORLD).

Check it out!

Spring 2011 Update Posted!

Nothing like having what was intended as the January 2011 update somehow morph into the Spring 2011 update, but hey, it happens.

We just posted 25 new reviews including: not one, not two, but three from the mighty pen (keyboard?) of David Zuzelo; Doug Waltz on sexploitation double features and bad WIP parodies; a dash of Franco; a splash of Naschy (splaschy?); made-for-tv sci-fi; shot-on-video mayhem; some Tinto Brass; and more, plus initial details on our return to print and an interview with Wildside Cinema's Brian Harris.

Check it out!

Naschy Blogathon Continues!

Check out the initial list of links for today's installment of The Naschy Blogathon, including a plug for our own essay from yours truly, The Reluctant Naschyphile.

Farewell Joe Sarno

Tim Lucas is reporting at the Video Watchdog blog that sexploitation legend Joe Sarno passed away at age 89 after a short illness. I know Sarno directed Christina Lindberg in YOUNG PLAYTHINGS and helmed some of the INSIDE flicks (including INSIDE SEKA) under a pseudonym, but for me he'll always be the man that warped my fragile little mind when his LAURA'S TOYS showed up on Prism, our local premium movie channel when I was an impressionable teen. Yowza! Thanks Joe.

You can check out reviews of some of Joe's flicks at the ER web site, including...
MOONLIGHTING WIVES
DADDY, DARLING
SUBURBAN SECRETS

Vote for HAMMER & BEYOND in Total Film Blog Awards

I'm pleased to announce that our good pal Holger Haase and his terrific blog HAMMER AND BEYOND: All About the World of Hammer Movies & Talent has been selected as a finalist in the Total Film Horror Movie Blog Awards. Not only does Holger do a great job with his blog but he's been a help to me and my zines/projects over the years, contributing a great piece about Oliver Reed's final watering holes to Hungover Gourmet #7 (still available from our store) and providing moral support and translation assistance with various Kinski-related projects.

Help support a true friend of ER and vote for HAMMER & BEYOND today!

31 DAYS OF FRIGHT: The Halloween Addict TV Special

One of the best things about putting together this daily horror-related post has been finding sites that I never knew existed. Unfortunately, I often find myself hitting the same bookmarked sites and blogs over and over again, so having to come up with a post each day has made me get more diligent about trawling through the web finding new sources of information and inspiration.

One of my most recent finds is the fun Halloween Addict, a site devoted entirely to the chills and thrills, games and gags, tricks and treats associated with the scariest season of 'em all.

But I had to single out this particular post for the concept and execution. Editor AllHallowSteve has put together his own Halloween Special – something we rarely see these days – featuring everything from classic Looney Tunes cartoons and the opening of the TWILIGHT ZONE movie to fake trailers, bunnies doing THE EXORCIST and more.

So make yourself some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the fun!

Horror Movie Pub Crawl

I'll be the first to admit that I have fallen into a bit of a comfort zone when it comes to websites. I have my bookmarks, my blog feeds, my alerts and all too often I find myself falling back on old faithfuls when I need to waste some time.

So I'm always happy when a new site comes my way, especially one like Kindertrauma that has the potential to suck me in for hours at a time.

I got turned on to this one courtesy of another member of the Eurotrash Paradise who thought our merry band of horror fans and occasional boozers might get a kick out of the site's Horror Movie Bar Crawl. A great idea for an article – it chronicles the bars seen in such horror films as AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (who can forget Rik Mayall as one of the suspicious regulars?) and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2 (where our teen protagonist finds himself face-to-face with his gym teacher at a leather-filled gay club).

Unfortunately, it overlooks such establishments as The Winchester (the bar that's central to the plan in SHAUN OF THE DEAD) and the redneck bar from Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant NEAR DARK (starring a young Adrain Pasdar from HEROES).

What if THE DARK KNIGHT Was Made in 1966?

As much as I dig Christopher Nolan's BATMAN BEGINS and as much as I'm eagerly anticipating my Friday, 12:01 AM screening of THE DARK KNIGHT, I still have a very, very warm place in my heart for the 1960s TV show and movie starring Adam West as a decidedly less serious version of The Caped Crusader.

In fact, I recently secured a set of the original TV show and can't wait till my daughter is a little older and we can enjoy the adventures of Batman and Robin as they match wits with such nefarious nasties as The Riddler, The Joker, The Penguin and Catwoman, not to mention Egghead, King Tut (a personal fave!), Milton Berle as Louie the Lilac, The Bookworm (a pre-POTA Roddy McDowell) and so many more members of the greatest Rogues Galleries to ever grace the boob tube.

I'm dismayed when I hear or read people dismissing the show as a bad joke. Frankly, Batman was a failing title when the show was developed and its success was a double-edged sword... it saved the character from the dustbin of history but re-launched him in a goofier, gentler version that took a bit of the bite out of his truly sinister nature.

While we wait for TDK to open (something I'm doing with tempered expectations after the bitter disappointment of Burton's 1989 flick) enjoy this look (courtesy of DialBForBlog.com via SlashFilm.com) at what the marketing for THE DARK KNIGHT may have looked like had Lorenzo Semple, Jr. written the film!

Soundtrack Apocalisse Launches

I am definitely what you would call a soundtrack fan. My iTunes library currently houses a good 1000+ pieces of movie music, from the memorable, recurring themes of the FRIDAY THE 13TH and HALLOWEEN flicks to the bouncy jazz of the Jerry Cotton series, tons of Italian crime music, and Paul Westerberg's work on SINGLES and OPEN SEASON.

So it goes without saying that I am quite excited by the launch of Soundtrack Apocalisse, the new site from the folks at Cinema Suicide (which – by the way – recently celebrated its first birthday). And what better way to kick off the site's grand opening than with an interview with Fabio Frizzi, best known for his frequent collaborations with Italian splatter king Lucio Fulci.

ER Joins Bloody Italiana Blog

Just a quick housekeeping note... I'm pleased to announce that in addition to posting here at ER, The Kinski Files and The Hungover Gourmet, I'll also be contributing reviews of Spaghetti cinema over at the excellent Bloody Italiana Blog.

Live Blogging the NCAA Tournament at Bracket Boys

Forget the NFL Playoffs, World Series or any other sporting event. For my money, the opening weekend of the NCAA Men's Hoops Tournament is the best four sporting days of the year. Quickly followed by next weekend's regional wrap-up and the following weekend's Final Four. In other words, I like college hoops.

In fact, my brothers and I like it so much we've got a blog to celebrate the tourney and I'll be live-blogging today's afternoon session of coverage over at Bracket Boys. Hope to see you there!

That's All Vokes!

You never know who is gonna show up with a blog these days. The latest I've added to my reading list is THAT'S ALL VOKES! from good pal and comic book illustrator Neil Vokes. I've mentioned Neil's work here before, and you might know him from such graphic novels as THE BLACK FOREST and its sequel, both installments of THE WICKED WEST, and PARLIAMENT OF JUSTICE not to mention everything from stories featuring Batman, Spider-Man and Tarzan, not to mention the occasional piece of art featuring a certain iconic film star.

Now you can stay up-to-date with what's on Neil's mind as he blogs away about life and his work as a comic artist. I'm envious of the ability to draw and Neil's incredibly wide range is evident throughout some of the material he has already posted on the blog. I'm drooling over some of the stuff he's done on commission and not just because he features my two favorite superhero comic characters... ever. Neil has a wonderfully unique (to me at least) style and it really shines in pieces like this one featuring Batman battling The Scarecrow or checkout this dreaded Rogues Gallery of classic Daredevil villains!

But it's not all comic art and chatter about his current and upcoming projects (a re-teaming with BLACK FOREST/WICKED WEST co-author Bob Tinnell perhaps?). Neil infuses the blog with a healthy dose of his personality and life tales (just read the post about his life growing up with his brother and their recent reunion!) and I can tell you from personal experience that what you're getting on the blog is very much Neil.... so check it out!

Vote in 2007 Weblog Awards, Support ER Pals

The 2007 Weblog Awards are up and while it would be wrong of me to tell you who to vote for, is it wrong for me to tell you who I voted for? And to strongly encourage you to do the same? Nah.

I only voted in two categories because, as far as I know, those are the only categories where I have a rooting interest. In the category of Best Literature Blog be sure to strongly consider our good friends at Bookgasm. Editor Rod Lott is an old friend from the world of zines and his entertainment and pop culture mag Hitch is (was?) one of the best. Plus, THG and ER contributor Louis Fowler writes a regular column for the site.

Over on the food side of things, Rachel from Food Maven also does a recipe blog called Coconut & Lime. The ranks of Baltimore food bloggers seems to be growing all the time and it'd be great to see one of our own hoist the top prize.

I think voting ends this Thursday, November 8, 2007 so be sure to get over and be counted. You can vote once every 24 hours from your computer.

I'm a Baaaaad Blogger

Should I consider my Nablopomo participation a failure because I only made it three days? Unfortunately, by the time we got home from my nephew's wedding yesterday we'd logged nine hours in the car in two days, six of those hours yesterday along the stressful stretches known as The Garden State Parkway and I-95.

We got home just in time to watch the Eagles mail it in against the Cowboys, eat a Wawa hoagie, and collapse. Meaning that the last thing on my mind was jumping on-line and blogging.

Ah well, I'll keep it going for the rest of the month and consider this minor hiccup one of the pitfalls of such an experiment.

Zine Reviews: Uptight Moms, Transit Trains and Pack Rats

It's probably safe to say that anybody reading this blog can relate to the subject matter of YOUR MOMETER #7. This cute, old-school zine about – what else? – just how much of a pain the editors' moms were had me laughing out loud from its first pages. Everybody thinks their mom was the worst to grow up with and I can share some doozies about mine. But I digress. YOUR MOMETER is all about Cathy Catheter and Matty Monochrome's mothers, whom they describe as “hella uptight. Uptight. Strained. Stretched tight. Taut. UNRELAXED...”

The 32 mini-digest pages are fleshed out with illustrated stories (one about how their collection of MAD Magazine went missing hit very close to home), lists of things that make moms blow their tops, record reviews and the required collage. With its rough, hand-drawn cartoons and illustrations, typewriter set copy, and cut and paste feel, YOUR MOMETER feels fun, fresh and old school all at the same time. ($2 from YOUR MOMETER, PO Box 66835, Portland, OR 97290, no trades.)

While YOUR MOMETER partially succeeds because most of us can relate to the idea of an uptight parent who can't grasp our musical taste or romantic choices, a zine like OPUNTIA 63.1B has a tougher task in front of it. Dales Speirs' sparse, simple publication mixes it up from issue to issue, delivering a review zine, index, apa zine or perzine depending upon the numbering. This issue happens to be a review zine, but not your normal amalgamation of record, book, movie and zine reviews. Instead, Speirs tackles a decidedly niche topic: the commentaries, histories, magazines, and pastiches featuring the characters that populated the world of the popular fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. As a very casual fan (I read all the Holmes and Watson adventures as a youngster but haven't revisited them in decades) it was fun to see how writers and publishers had expanded the universe created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and conjured up new tales in which Holmes becomes a real world celebrity, Doctor Watson solves the case, or an author explains background details from Conan Doyle's work.

Though I found the zine's layout confounding at times – the 16 digest size pages are layed out in landscape fashion – the content was worth the effort. And, like any good niche zine, Speirs' look at the world of Holmes made me want to explore the topic more. ($3 cash to Dale Speirs, Box 6830, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2E7.)

WATCH THE CLOSING DOORS is another long-running zine, and one that has maintained its singular focus of celebrating, criticizing and appreciating the New York City Transit Authority for 37 issues. Editor Fred Argoff should know a thing or two about the subject, he's a conductor for the legendary transit system. Issue #37 is the comforting WTCD blend of photos, facts, observations and reviews you've come to know and love, all written in Argoff's pleasant and conversational style. Reading an issue of this zine – or the editor's equally interesting BROOKLYN! – is like sitting down and chatting with a particularly knowledgeable pal and letting them wax poetic into the early morning hours about their favorite subject.

What I love about WATCH, though, is summed up best in Argoff's letter from the editor that opens this issue. Bitching about work has become a national pastime in this world of ours but, as Fred writes, “if you cannot find things to amuse yourself during the work day, then you are in the wrong field, and you should find a new job as quickly as you can.” Of course, it wouldn't be a review of WTCD if I didn't register my one and only (minor) complaint about the publication: the photos. Though the photo reproduction in this issue is much better than in the past, a photo of a crowd exiting a train en masse is little more than an indecipherable blob of toner. Again, this is a minor quibble and one that can be easily overlooked for a zine that remains true to its roots and vision. ($2 to Fred Argoff, Penthouse L, 1170 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11230. And while you're at it send him a couple bucks for the latest BROOKLYN!, too.)

It's certainly naïve of me to think this way, but I can see zines like OPUNTIA or WATCH THE CLOSING DOORS still being published years from now. The technology required to put them out isn't going away anytime soon, and the editors seem to have an endless supply of information to share about their subjects. That isn't to say that other publishers who decide to give up the print route have run out of things to say. Quite the contrary.

In fact, I have been giving serious thought to ending the print version of THE HUNGOVER GOURMET after the next issue. Not because I feel like I've exhausted the subjects of food, drink, travel and fun. Just the opposite. The print edition simply isn't timely enough for me while the blog and website are able to share something like my recent trip to a 7-11 made over into a SIMPSONS-ized Kwik-E-Mart that day, not months later when the promotion is a distant memory in the collective, "what's now" psyche that plagues our world.

But I've been waffling on this issue since I first mentioned ending the zine in the pages of XEROGRAPHY DEBT. Yes, the death of Tower Records has been a major blow to the zin'e distribution, but the publication was never about readership or reach or core audiences. It was just another way to share my passion and the passions of others. I'm still up in the air about what to do, but I have to admit I'm leaning more towards keeping it going than pulling the plug.

I definitely fear there'll come a day when Anita j Michel hangs up her print hat and goes all-digital. And that's too bad, since Michel's SYNDICATE PRODUCT (the zine formerly known as LOW HUG) is one publication that I thoroughly enjoy reading and writing for. (Somewhat full disclosure – Anita and I have known each other for probably 20 years or so, I'm a frequent contributor to the pages of her zine, and I once gave her a very cool mushroom-shaped 70s stereo system that I couldn't move from Pittsburgh to Philly.)

Until that day comes when she decides to carry out her threat to move the publication on-line for good, we still have issues like 12.0: Year of the (Pack) Rat. Calling upon a wide array of writers and illustrators, Michel pulls together another great issue that delves into the diverse, but somewhat related, topics of collecting/acquiring/hoarding and the inability to get rid of things as well as the wonderful world of record stores, where many of us went to collect, acquire and hoard until they began disappearing one by one, from the corner shop to the corporate behemoth. It's another issue full of insight and wry observations and I'd love to see Michel turn some of these concepts into books. These tales of attachment to everyday objects really leave you wanting more. And for those of us who do want more, be sure to check out Anita's enjoyable, slightly snarky SYNDICATE PRODUCT blog at syndicateproduct.blogspot.com. ($3.00 to PO Box 877, Lansdowne, PA 19050.)

BON: The Horrors Of it All

Here's a new Blog of Note (or BON) that every horror fan should be adding to their bookmarks: THE HORRORS OF IT ALL. The main focus of the blog is on pre-code 50s horror comics but the author covers so much more, including horror films, actors, actresses, and more. Definitely check this one out!

Welcome to Nablopomo, Day One

"So, what's a Nablopomo?" you're probably asking yourself. Well, it stands for National Blog Posting Month and that's what November is. The idea behind the movement is that you commit to posting something to your blog every day of the month. That's it. They don't have to be long posts, detailed posts, or funny posts. You just have to post.

I've never taken on the Nablopomo challenge before but I plan to do it on two fronts: both here at the Exploitation Retrospect blog and over at The Hungover Gourmet blog. Aside from this initial post I'll do my best not to share content. That'd sort of be cheating, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I decided to tackle this challenge because work is getting busier, the holidays are coming up, life is getting crazier and it'd be really easy to slack off and let less important things like the blog take a backseat. Plus, I look at writing as a muscle and if you don't exercise it every now and then it starts to go a little soft.

So that's that. Welcome to Nablopomo and I hope you enjoy the ride.

By the way, you can also click the little participant graphic at the top of the right hand column to be taken to the Nablopomo homepage where you can read more about the event and explore some of the other blogs that are participating.