Bissette Blather
Invite Me Into Your Home Today, and I Will Talk Your Head Off

No time to post my followup to the Video Watchblog 'Favorite DVDs of 2007' list this morning, but my Massachusetts amigo David Kraus just posted a looooong podcast interview with yours truly, so you can listen to me yammer about the current state of horror movies, the nature of the genre, and the emergence of the current DVD horror renaissance from the 1980s-90s video black and 'gray' markets and more.

Here's the link to Dave's Nine Panel Nerds, where my podcast conversation with Dave awaits you --

-- and please, post comments to Dave's podcast site! While you're there, check out the other podcasts; I particularly enjoyed the Godzilla Thanksgiving chat, and the Halloween horror comics free for all.

Dave and I will be doing this again soon -- we've planned a show on my drive-in, nabe and grindhouse memories, which some of you should find entertaining.

Gojira sez: Pass the duck sauce -- or else!

*Speaking of Thanksgiving with Godzilla, this Thursday is the night for the fund-raising Christmas Godzilla dinner with Brattleboro, VT's Asian Cultural Center of Vermont. A reminder:

Please come to the
LOCAL & ASIAN DINNER WITH GODZILLA & FRIENDS
All ages welcome.

THIS THURSDAY December 20th 5:30-7 pm.

* Celebrate local businesses and agriculture of Southern Vermont
* A fundraiser for the Asian Cultural Center of Vermont
* Brought to you by local farms, restaurants, and other friends of the Brattleboro area
* A buffet with time to network and socialize.
* Food includes: Delicious soup and dishes made with local winter vegetables and prepared by local cooks; chicken; ribs; fish stew; rice pilau; curry; spring rolls; sushi; hummus & tabouleh; desserts; coffee; cider; and
more!
* Then view a presentation by Harvey Nystrom on 'Godzilla and Friends.'
* Suggested donation: $40 per person for this dinner event. (More welcome! Less is OK, too)
* Location: America's Best Inn, 959 Putney Road. (Wheelchair accessible)
* Directions: 2 miles north of Main & High in Brattleboro, 1/4 mile south of the I-91 Exit 3 roundabout, near the junction with Black Mountain Road.

* Asian Cultural Center of Vermont's fundraising has two goals:
1. Match funds from the State Tourism/Marketing Department for out-of-state marketing and promotion of southern Vermont, especially around the upcoming Vermont Samurai Kaiju Film Festival in September. Also, related to this goal: Help raise funds to underwrite the cost of screening the Samurai and Kaiju films to lower the cost to the movie goer. Kaiju (Japanese for 'mysterious beast') is the genre that has brought Gozilla-type movies. Samurai are traditional warriors.
2. The Cultural Center is taking its Bhutan Textiles exhibition overseas to Thailand and will be co-sponsoring an April exhibition in Chiang Mai! Help us bring Brattleboro and Vermont to Thailand!

* Any help spreading the word will be appreciated: Looking for more people to consider supporting these efforts. Partial ($25 to $200) or full underwriting of any of the following would help a lot: $250 will... cover the cost of one screening of a samurai or Godzilla-type film; cover the cost of space rental and staffing for an festival evening; provide access to promote the Festival at an out-of-state conference or convention; amounts needed for the Thailand exhibition are more.

* Tell more people about the Local & Asian Dinner. Everyone welcome.
* If you cannot come to the Dinner, we still need your help.

For further information, contact Adam Silver, (802) 257-7898 ext. 1 or 2, (802) 579-9088 (cell) or e-mail to: acc.vt@verizon.net,

or visit the Asian Culture Center's website.

* The good folks at Trailers from Hell, one of my favorite online sites about movies, have been posting some marvelous stuff of late.

Makeup maestro Rick Baker's commentary on the trailer for I Was a Teenage Werewolf is a real gem (as is the trailer!),

though he fails to mention that teen werewolf Michael Landon indeed later reprised his role in an affectionate, satiric episode of Landon's TV series Highway to Heaven.

Recently, they've also posted Baker talking about the 1960 George Pal classic The Time Machine, Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) on the 1972 cannibal classic Deathline aka Raw Meat, and a delicious slew of counterculture 1960s gems like Privilege, Wild in the Streets and Psych-Out. John Landis's commentary and presentation of the preview of International House (1933) prompted Marge and I to watch the DVD (available in Universal's W.C. Fields Comedy Collection Vol. 1, which I happen to have on my shelf), and we had a grand time with this truly bizarre Pre-Code curio.

Here's the whole lineup of Trailers from Hell, spend some down time enjoying these this week.

Speaking of this week, though,

they are "posting, sans commentary, the original British trailer for what we at TFH regard as the greatest Christmas movie of all (as well as one of the finest Dickens adaptations): Brian Desmond-Hurst's 1951 Scrooge, released in America as A Christmas Carol and a baby boomer staple on local tv stations for decades."

Enjoy! Marge wholeheartedly agrees; we'll be watching her copy of this beloved Alastair Sim classic on DVD on Christmas Eve, which is Marge's tradition. And now, our tradition.

And with that, have a Terrific Tuesday!

PaneltoPanel Relaunch;
Amanda Ann's 'Stone'work;
Dinner with Gojira!

One of my buttons for the new PaneltoPanel.net -- now servicing libraries and librarians, too!

* First off, an announcement:

The brand-new PaneltoPanel.net site is now up and running -- check it out, and take advantage of the exclusives for your last-minute Christmas shopping!

PaneltoPanel mogul John Rovnak has been hard at work on the new site for months now, with considerable help from many (including amigo Mark Martin), and you can instantly see the graphic input of a circle of cartoonists -- Mark, Eric Talbot, Rick Veitch, James Kochalka, Cayetano 'Cat' Garza and yours truly -- on the homepage alone. Go on, have a look and press them shiny new art-buttons!

As I say, pay special attention to the exclusives catalog, as there's some unique gifts there... or self-gifts, if you're so inclined.

Here's the link to exclusives, for your comfort and ease -- lots of goodies here!

Congrats, John, on the new venue, and we all look forward to shopping with you in 2008 and beyond!

* The CCS creative community involves a lot more than just comics and cartooning (just?? What am I saying?), and it has since day one. We've enjoyed a stellar synthesis of musicians, photographers, performers and -- as of last summer -- potters among our number.

The amazing Amanda Ann Stone lives hereabouts her hubby (and Center for Cartoon Studies senior) Bryan Stone, and folks, Amanda makes pottery. Amazing pottery.

While her work is appearing in more and more regional venues hereabouts, Amanda has at last launched her own blog to post info, photos and insights about her work, process, and -- er -- their dog.

If you're interested in special ordering Amanda's beautiful, functional pottery, email her at amandaannceramics@yahoo.com, but take a look at her new blog first.

Amanda Ann's blog awaits you here -- check it out! It's just started this past week, so keep an eye out for future work, photos and posts.

* Alas, I no longer live in the Brattleboro area, but I'm pleased to bring to your attention a special seasonal event for daikaiju eiga fans in the area and New England Godzilla lovers.

Really, how often do you get a special dinner invite, with monsters? And dig the cultural context of this event, Tohophiles:

___

LOCAL & ASIAN DINNER WITH GODZILLA & FRIENDS

Celebrate local businesses and agriculture of Southern Vermont

A fundraiser for the Asian Cultural Center of Vermont

A buffet with time to network and socialize.

Then view a presentation by Harvey Nystrom on 'Godzilla and Friends.'

Thursday, December 20th, 5:30 pm - 7 pm

*Suggested* donation: $40 per person for this dinner event. (More welcome!)

Location: America's Best Inn, 959 Putney Road. (Wheelchair accessible)

Directions: 2 miles north of Main & High in Brattleboro, 1/4 mile south of the I-91 Exit 3 roundabout, near the junction with Black Mountain Road.

Food includes: Delicious soup and dishes made with local winter vegetables and locally prepared cooks; chicken; ribs; fish stew; rice pilau; curry; spring rolls; sushi; desserts; coffee; cider; and more!

Asian Cultural Center of Vermont's fundraising has two goals:

1. Match funds from the State Tourism/Marketing Department for out-of-state marketing and promotion of southern Vermont, especially around the upcoming Vermont Samurai Kaiju Film Festival in September. Also, related to this goal: Help raise funds to underwrite the cost of screening the Samurai and Kaiju films to lower the cost to the movie goer. Kaiju (Japanese for 'mysterious beast') is the genre that has brought Gozilla-type movies. Samurai are traditional warriors.

2. The Cultural Center is taking its Bhutan Textiles exhibition overseas to Thailand and will be co-sponsoring an April exhibition in Chiang Mai! Help us bring Brattleboro and Vermont to Thailand!

Tell others to consider supporting these efforts. Partial or full underwriting of any of the following would help a lot: $250 will... cover the cost of one screening of a samurai or Godzilla-type film; ... cover the cost of space rental and staffing for an festival evening; ...provide access to promote the Festival at an out-of-state conference or convention; amounts needed for the Thailand exhibition are more.

Other upcoming events ---

Tuesday Dec. 18 & Saturday Dec. 22 at 6 pm: Kazakh film, The Land of the Fathers, at the C.X. Silver Gallery, 814 Western Avenue in West Brattleboro, 2 miles straight up High St. from MAin St. in Brattleboro, one mile west of I-91 Exit 2, on the right.

through December: don´t miss the marvelous show of Tibetan painted scrolls - more than 50 of these thangkas on display at the Gallery.

Tuesday afternoon, January 1, 1-4 pm: Shogatsu, Japanese New Year Festival. at the River Garden, 157 Main St in downtown Brattleboro.

For further information, contact Adam Silver, (802) 257-7898 ext. 1 or 2, (802) 579-9088 (cell) or e-mail to: acc.vt@ verizon.net --- or --- cxsilvergallery@verizon.net.

Brought to you by local farms, restaurants, and others:

Tina Vaidya of America's Best Inn; Amy of Amy's Bakery; Anon of Anon's Thai Cuisine; Sheetal of Austrian Haus Lodge; Brattleboro Food Co-op; Cai of C.X.Silver Gallery; Todd Darrah of Chelsea Royal Diner, Amy Frost of Circle Mountain Farm; Wendy of Dutton's Farm Stand; Jay & Janet Bailey of Fairwinds Farm; Lori Schreier of Fertile Fields Farm; Mary Ellen of the Franklin Farm; Jean Garrecht; Debbie Posson of Gillies Seafood Restaurant; Wendy Brewer of Grafton Cheese Company; Green Mountain Coffee; Andrea Darrow of Green Mountain Orchards; Hannaford Supermarket, Dee of Harlow Farm; Dan & Shiela of Harlow's Sugar House; Chander Kanta of India House Restaurant; Amanda & Ross Thurber of Lilac Ridge Farm; Jill Johnson and Dierdre of The Marina; Gini Milkey, our legislator; Dwight Miller Orchards; Mountain Mowings Farm; Pete Kerber of New England House; Harvey Nystrom; Heather Chou of Panasian Chinese & Japanese Cuisine; Joan Peters of Flying Color Studio; Jenny & Bruce Wooster of Piccadilly Farm, Price Chopper; Rebecca Rueter of Reiki Healing Arts; Tristan Toleno of Riverview Cafe; Helen of the Robb Family Farm; Bob of Sunny's Deli & Bakery; Hiroko Varela; Bill, Judy and Tracy of Vermont Country Deli, Norma Willingham.

Thank you for contributing locally grown materials, cooking, and baking!

Also, don´t miss this rare and special event:
Sunday, Dec. 16, 8 pm at The Stone Church on Main Street:

The Friends of Mevlana will hold a Sema, the ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes, at the Stone Church on Main St. in Brattleboro . The Sema is held this time each year to commemorate the passing of Jallaludin Rumi. 2007 was named the year of Rumi by UNESCO, celebrating the world renowned poet’s 800th anniversary. Although Rumi is one of the most read poets in America , few people know that he was also the founder of the Mevlevis, the order of the Whirling Dervishes. In the dance of the Sema, the dervishes participate in the simultaneous whirling for all of creation, from the movement of sub atomic particles to the revolution of planets and galaxies. As Rumi’s words reveal: “A secret turning in us makes the universe turn.”

Here's the link to the Asian Cultural Center site, hosts of these stellar events -- check it (and the events) out!

____________

* OK, more tomorrow, and have a thumpin' Thursday.

Major snow hitting our area today, they say -- we'll see!