In October even the pastel flower gardeners want to walk on the scary side. So spook your neighbors — speak the language of black plants. Not a wholesale garden redo (unless you want to let your inner Morticia Addams out), a few planters and window boxes oozing black foliage and flowers should do the trick-or-treat. Get ghoulish in a warm...
Zachary Quinto and the Art of Subtlety
The media’s all over this handsome Spock-nouveau’s recent un-closeting, but not because he, oh, I don’t know, announced it on an awards show red carpet. In a refreshing change of pace, Quinto nonchalantly dropped a few references to his sexuality in a recent interview about his upcoming movie Margin Call and his part in the acclaimed Angels in America. When...
Zombies: The “Real Life” Walking Dead
Zombies have a lot of life left in them, it seems. The continuing popularity of the genre is great news for those of us who like our entertainment on the gruesome side, especially as it brings back The Walking Dead for a very welcome second season. Not everyone has the luxury of enjoying zombies in the guise of fiction, though....
Comics: Director Patrick Meaney on Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts
It was inevitable, really. Even as the comics medium has continued to mature, it has experienced a growth in acceptance as a legitimate medium by academics. Simultaneously, the general populace rediscovered the particular joys that comics have to offer, and that same increased public interest has led to a burgeoning curiosity on the part of those entering the hobby about...
Countdown To Halloween With Doug Hutchison (The X-Files)
There is no denying that the first few seasons of The X-Files were among the show’s scariest, especially the standalone “Monster of the Week” episodes. One of the most frightening of these weekly baddies was Eugene Victor Tooms, a genetic mutant with the ability to squeeze himself through the narrowest of openings. Introduced in the first season episode “Squeeze,” Tooms...
Royal Phantom Due For Annual Appearance
On 12 October 1537 the screams of a new-born boy rang through the chambers of Hampton Court Palace, beside England’s River Thames. King Henry VIII finally had the son he’d so desperately wanted, but it would cost him the life of his beloved queen. Less than a fortnight later, Queen Jane Seymour, Henry’s third — and favourite — wife, died...
First Look at the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee China
The Diamond Jubilee of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II is officially launched with English china that firmly turns its back on any hint of modernity. It resembles something The Queen’s diamond-encrusted grandmother, Queen Mary, would have enjoyed. Calling upon elaborate designs from the era of William IV, the Stoke-on-Trent china celebrates The Queen’s family history along with the floral...
“Da Doo Ron Ron”! An Interview with La La Brooks, Original Lead Singer of The Crystals
In the early 1960s, Phil Spector produced a remarkable treasure trove of music on his own Philles label, much of which has been unavailable for years. On October 18, Spector Records/Legacy will be releasing these original albums, remastered and issued as a seven-CD box set entitled Phil Spector Presents: The Philles Album Collection. The first album released on the Philles...
Man, Woman, Wild’s Mykel Hawke and Ruth England
Survival shows are fascinating, if only from the knowledge and skills demonstrated that satisfy fundamental human needs like food, potable water, fire, and shelter against the elements and predators. When the Zombie Apocalypse erupts, Quetzalcoatl lays waste to the Americas in 2012, or when the world economy collapses, those who can fend for themselves in the face of uncaring and...
Dirty, Rotten, Cheating Husbands, Part One: The Women Who Blame Themselves
Cheating is par for the course in Hollywood, right? We’ve come to expect that very few celebrity marriages will last, and that when relationships ultimately go south, infidelity is often the culprit. As a society, we love a good cheating scandal. It allows us to condemn the cheater and praise the victim. Brad Pitt, Tiger Woods and Jesse James play...