gorgeous and gory Archives

Zombie Pinups and Boneless Chicken Wings

Posted on March 28, 2015 by sexyarmpit

Monster Mania Con
Crowne Plaza: Cherry Hill, NJ
3/13/15

Still in awe of The House of Fun, we arrived at our destination.

As soon as we we entered the lobby, we ran into Chad from Horror Movie BBQ. If you don’t know Chad, he’s a towering, jovial dude, who, if I remember correctly, took a small private plane and landed in Lumberton airfield and backpacked about 13 miles to get to Monster Mania. Ok that may be a slight embellishment, but the story of how he traveled there was quite intricate, and seemed a lot more complicated than my mind was able to process at the moment he was explaining it to me. We’d run into Chad again later in the evening, but by that point, my brain was like oatmeal, and my stomach was full of mediocre fries and moderately enjoyable boneless chicken wings.

When I was a kid I would go to every surrounding video store searching for certain elusive WWF Supertapes. Now they are all on bootleg DVDs. Isn’t life grand?

We also met The Trash Man from Pop, Pop! It’s Trash Culture who told me about his MM scores in the dealer room. Speaking of dealer rooms, it was time to blow through them. As a collector of useless crap, I am driven by the ongoing search for that one golden item. I never know specifically what I’m looking for, but I’ll know when it calls out to me like how Beastmaster hears his ferrets bitch about being hungry.

Before heading into the depths of the con, we stopped outside for some fresh air. With my t-shirt radar always ON, I noticed a guy behind me with an awesome Patrick Bateman American Psycho tee. I asked him if it was ok if I snapped a pic. He was cool with it. Thanks Dale!

As suspected, nothing was jumping out at me. Then, toward the end of my tour around the con, I ran into the Gorgeous and Gory table. Jess Rajs and our friends at G&G have always been a staple at MM and Chiller as well as all the various horror and zombie events throughout the state. It’s always great to see them. Aside from their renowned zombie pinup calendar, this time around they had copies of their compilation book Gorgeous and Gory: The Zombie Pinup Collection. This book is now on my coffee table and it is every bit as incredibly beautiful as the cover dictates. To think of all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this book is mind boggling. From the location scouting and makeup to the graphic design and actual printing of the book, this is truly the most Gorgeous, undead art you will ever see.

Impress your house guests with this swank coffee table book that’ll have them asking about your zombie fetish, and then your other fetishes while they’re on the subject. With this book they’ll loosen up right away once they realize that the hot models they’re drooling over within the pages are actually brain eating zombies from beyond the grave. Pick it up at their website or at Wizard World Philly in May!

The next day, we woke up shockingly not feeling like total ass. I didn’t have that nagging guilt that I spent too much money either. We were refreshed and ready to head to the next point of interest on my list. It was surprisingly warm, gray, and pouring rain outside, just the way I like it. This moody weather set the perfect stage. Come back soon to read about our next Monster Mania detour!

BIZARRE AC Expo 2013 Recap Part 2

Posted on December 18, 2013 by sexyarmpit

Where were we? Snowstorm is looming. I’m just pulling into the Trop.

If you’re the geek/fanboy type like me and you’ve never been to the Tropicana in Atlantic City, there’s one thing that will strike you about it. Their parking garage is almost a replica of the one you see in The Dark Knight where Batman utters the greatest line in movie history “I’M NOT WEARING HOCKEY PADS.”

There’s never a time when I’m entering the Trop that I don’t pretend that I’m Batman in the Batmobile Tumbler navigating the wild mouse roller coaster-like turns and insanely steep inclines of that parking garage. It’s like a ride in itself. It’s also one of the more inviting garages in all of Atlantic City, because each and every one of them is abysmal. Bringing yourself to a near heart attack, getting rear ended, and not understanding the signage are constant possibilities in A.C’s parking garages. At least at the Trop you can pretend to have a run-in with Scarecrow and his goons.

Aside from the nasty accident I passed earlier, things were going strangely smooth. I even found a parking spot about 20 feet from the elevator to the casino. This translates to “I was meant to go to this thing.”

Once inside the casino, it did seem a bit light on people. Is online gambling in NJ taking away from attendance? It’s possible, or it was just the shitty winter weather putting a damper on people’s weekends.

The setting of the Bizarre Expo provided a refreshing change compared to the other conventions that we’re accustomed to. Holding the event at a casino adds a bit of glitz to what’s usually just a bunch of people standing around a hotel lobby or convention room when you really think about it. Chiller and Monster Mania, I love you guys, but the hotel setting is limited and does grow a bit stale. There comes a time after 20 years of a convention that it needs to graduate to the next level of facilities. Bizarre skipped a grade. If only it went to school in the Spring time.

What’s cool about having the expo at the Trop, is that you’re right on the boardwalk looking out at the freezing Atlantic Ocean. Since it was bitter cold, walking on the boardwalk is an activity reserved for those of us on shrooms, people who like running, and those who don’t mind a little hypothermia now and again. Here you have the option to gamble, or you can get really drunk and then walk through two big horror convention rooms as well as a movie screening room. I always choose the horror option.

After I got situated and registered, I made my way into the first large convention room. This room housed the aptly named Bizarre Bazaar. As soon as I walked in I noticed the “look” of the event. Something about the whole space just looked cool. It’s hard to describe, but it’s possible that it was the lighting. It definitely gave the impression that it was a step above other conventions as far as presentation goes. There weren’t as many merchant/vendor tables crammed into a tiny space in the way we are all too familiar with. This gave them a nice boost since it focused your attention to the tables and the people running them rather than missing stuff in order to navigate through a mob of people.

The Saturday installment of Bizarre had just begun. As the day went on more and more people started filing in. Luckily for me, it wasn’t crowded to the point where you couldn’t walk around comfortably. This is important because I get claustrophobic in crowds. Of course, the promoters of the event probably preferred the floor to be packed with people, but it’s way more frustrating for attendees when it’s like that. I always prefer a larger space that’s less crowded to a smaller space with the same amount of people.

Shannon from Mallrats wouldn’t be too pleased with me since I didn’t have much of an agenda. This was a brand new event and I really wanted to enjoy it and take in the scene. As I strolled around, it was cool to run into a few friends at some of the merchant tables.

Maria from the 2014 Gorgeous and Gory Zombie Pinup Calendar

My buddy Jess Rajs from Gorgeous and Gory was promoting the new 2014 Zombie Pinup Calendar. It’s filled with hot undead women and it’s a perfect gift for the person with a zombie fetish in your life. She firmly believes this one is their best work yet, and coming from a dude who has all of them, I have to agree with her! Check out some of these incredible photos and head over to http://www.gorgeousandgory.com to get your own!

One of the best shops in the whole state is True Jersey. They are proud to be from NJ and all the stuff they sell reflects that. Naturally, I couldn’t walk away without picking up a shirt that I’ve wanted for a long time! Another t-shirt? Really? But, I’ve had this one on my mental wish list for quite a while now. It’s Jersey done in the style of the SEGA logo. Since I was a Master System kid this t-shirt was made for me. Aside from tees and other clothes, True Jersey also offers collectibles, accessories, and housewares.

I am a sucker for haunted attractions so I stopped by the Fear Factory Haunted House table. This is a newer haunt that I was meaning to get to this Halloween season, but, prior to its opening, it ran into all kinds of roadblocks from the town and it hindered them from having a proper opening season. Then, after talking to the girls from the haunt, I found out that there’s only TWO MORE NIGHTS of their Christmas haunt, Tinsel Town Terror. Not happy about the idea of missing this. Well, I made it to Bizarre A.C, so perhaps there’s a trip to Mays Landing in my near future for some yuletide terror?

Freaky Deekys horror and geek pillows

Just so you know, skipping the merch tables and going straight for autographs is never a good idea. You’ll definitely miss out on cool stuff. I did manage to buy ONE Christmas gift. I was hoping to get a few more, but funds were diminishing. But, I will say that the $5 dollar margaritas were pretty cost effective.

The horror personalities were out in full force and Bizarre offered the opportunity to hobnob with them without getting shooed away due to crowds. Just a few of the actors I saw signing and chatting with fans included Heather Lagenkamp, Doug Bradley, Kane Hodder, John Kassir, Bill Mosely, Tom Savini, Alex Vincent, Micheal Berryman, former WWE Superstar Gene Snitsky, and Clerks’ Brian O’Halloran.

One of the Q&A sessions was going on as I was walking around the merch tables. This one was called “Being Jason,” and it featured Kane Hodder and Steve Dash answering questions from the audience about their experiences playing Jason in the Friday the 13th films. This was enlightening to several members of the audience who apparently have never seen or read Crystal Lake Memories.

Just before I made my way down the escalator to the 2nd convention room, I ran into our NJ friend Ryan Scott Weber, writer and director of Mary Horror and Sheriff Tom vs. The Zombies. At the moment, Ryan was screening Sheriff Tom and we were shooting the shit about the upcoming third part of the trilogy called Witches Blood. It’s coming out soon so look out for it! I also talked with the Jersey King of No Budget Horror, my pal Armageddon Ed.

After a while, weather apps and text messages kept alerting me to how bad the snow was getting up north. This meant that I had to miss out on the costume contest and some of the other truly Bizarre aspects of the expo and hightail it out of Atlantic City. In various parts of the state there was already 3 or 4 inches of snow. Oddly enough, the South Jersey area and Atlantic City was spared and only got rained on. As I made my way back up the Garden State Parkway, I was baffled because all I hit was rain. Then, sure enough, around exit 100, I abruptly entered Hoth. The rest of the trip home turned into my very own Twilight Zone episode called Nightmare at 15 Miles Per Hour.

Hosting a convention in December runs the risk of inclement weather. The snow definitely had an impact on attendance, but the expo kicked ass. If you didn’t make it, you missed out because the organizers improved upon horror fans gripes of other local conventions and it showed. Hopefully if this becomes and annual thing, the Bizarre Expo will only get bigger and more enticing next year. You’re going to look back and wish you were at the first one because you know how many jackasses (myself included) will be bragging about how “I was at the FIRST Bizarre Expo man!”

GREAT GEEK GORGE #8: Eating Katy Perry, Chiller Theatre, and 12″ Action Dolls!

Posted on May 8, 2013 by sexyarmpit

Welcome to the long winded 8th edition of Great Geek Gorge. This where I spew about some of the crap I bought or consumed recently and throw it all into one very random post. Today we’ll look at a new snack, some giant action figures, and some hot zombie mermaids.

Katy Perry’s Kettle Corn Pop Chips

The thought of eating Katy Perry’s…chips…appeals to me. Like many of you, I also easily fall prey to product tie-ins. If Katy Perry was on the carton of Eggland’s Best, or growing her own line of organic watermelons (Katy’s watermelon’s…), or even a Campbell’s soup tie-in (Katy’s Clam Chowder), I’d be on line at the store as soon as they are released. You can see how it makes food more appealing. When I was a kid and went grocery shopping with my mom, anytime I saw Batman or Superman on the label of a peanut butter container, I nearly went into convulsions. Had to have it. Not much has changed.

Normally, I enjoy Pop Chips. They are a lighter alternative to other types of chips, but I can’t say I buy them often though because they seem pricey for a bag filled with air and just a few chips at the bottom. Hands down my favorite flavor is Barbecue – I could polish off a regular sized bag in no time. So when I saw a display of Katy Perry in Quick Check advertising her new Pop Chips flavor, it was obvious I went into my usual “buy two” mode. After tasting them I was disappointed that the Kettle Corn flavor wasn’t prominent enough. I don’t know if that means they weren’t sweet enough or what, but I will tell you that I don’t think it was necessary to make chips in the flavor of kettle corn when you can just buy a bag of actual kettle corn and bypass any possible disappointment. It’s like ordering steak-flavored chicken at a steakhouse. Katy should’ve just created her own candy line instead.

Chiller Theater Expo – April 26th, 2013

Usually I find a few cool things at the Chiller Theater Expo here in N.J to share with you and the Spring 2013 installment yielded a couple of worthy items. A few weeks back, the pop culture and toy convention took over the castle themed Sheraton in Parsippany, NJ. Sure, the guest signings are great, but my favorite part is always the dealer rooms. Even though the rooms get a bit cramped, they are chock full of stuff that you can’t find anywhere else.

First I ran into my buddy Jessica Rajs from Gorgeous and Gory. Each year, Jess and her crew create a fantastic calendar featuring zombified pinup models. This year’s theme is mermaids. The photography and effects are incredible and the makeup is superb, so head over to Gorgeous and Gory to get one for yourself!

Cookie’s art. kicks. ass. Cookie’s own brand of art is inspired by punk rock and horror and is aptly named Rock and Roll Art School. I wasn’t familiar with Cookie before the last Chiller, but that’s the beauty of the event. I was walking around the dealer room and anytime I see neon colors or Lily Munster I stop right in my tracks. I’m easily distracted so this brightly colored painting of Lily was screaming for me to buy it, and I replied out loud immediately, “You don’t have to scream at me neaon Lily, you had me at “Ohhh Herman.” Check out Cookie’s collection of vibrant monster and tattoo art for sale at his Etsy shop! http://www.etsy.com/shop/RockNRollArtSchool

batman photo batmanwb12inchfigure_zpse21e74f1.jpg

WB Store 12″ DC Super Heroes Batman Figure – now with BONUS extraneous backstory!

Lately I’ve been on a kick of larger sized action figures – which are actually more like dolls. Obviously many male collectors don’t want to admit that they own dolls, and I will only admit it if it seriously reminds me of a freaking doll. If it’s 6″ inches tall or smaller and is made of plastic, it’s an action figure. Any bigger than that then the figure/doll war rages on.

Growing up, I had no use for any figure larger than my Kenner Super Powers or Star Wars figures. They were perfectly sized and very easy to collect. I came to the party a little late for the ’70s Mego phase, so the larger sized action-doll type figures (satisfying everyone, see?) with changeable clothes never appealed to me, and they really still don’t. I’m talking about these 12″-14″ monstrous sized plastic and vinyl figures. I always used to wonder why these giant collectibles were even getting made and I also wondered who was actually buying them since they seemed to sit on the shelves forever when I was a kid. For some reason though, within the past year or so, I’ve been having these urges to own several key figures of this size. If you ask me what my inspiration is, I can’t even tell you because I have absolutely no clue what brought this on. I only recently found out about the re-release of the 12″ Star Wars figures, but I am not going to let myself fall into that Sarlaac Pit of collecting. Maybe the culprit was when I picked up those 10″ Dark Knight Rises Batman and Bane figures? Now just stop it Jay. We can’t keep this going or I’m going to have to buy another place just for my toys.

Let me take you back to when I could care less about figures of this size. When the mall was the place to be, before eBay and Amazon became one of my favorite past times, I actually used to go to the mall with my friends. Yes, we physically ventured out of the house and into a place where you could put one foot in front of the other and transport yourself from store to store. Novel idea right? Many times we walked to the two nearby malls, (ahh we used to have so much ambition, right?) other times we got dropped off by our parents. Much like Shannon in Mallrats, I too used to have a shopping agenda, and much like Brody in Mallrats, I was there for comics.

The two malls in my vicinity no longer even have comic book shops, but back in the day there were a couple that I frequented like Heroes World and Comic Attitudes, among others. In addition to the comic shops, I always had to stop at music stores like Record Town and Sam Goody, and eventually I’d start browsing videos at Suncoast Motion Picture Company. There was also the Warner Brothers Studio Store which usually came through with some cool DC Super Hero swag that you couldn’t find anywhere else.

That was a long journey just to tell you that I found a badass black 12″ Batman figure at Chiller. This particular figure/doll is one I hadn’t seen since my days of actually walking around the mall. I was able to knock the price down enough and brought it home. I felt like this was a good score since this specific line is pretty scarce, even on eBay. And now I find myself on a quest for a few of his peeps so he has someone to hang out with. The funny part about this line of DC Superheroes is that when they were on the shelves it was like they didn’t exist to me. I hated every aspect of oversized figures. Now, I’m obsessed with the idea. Funny how things change in some respects, but I’m still such an easy target for slapping Katy Perry on a bag of chips as if I was a 7 year old girl.

Monster Mania 21 In Cherry Hill, NJ

Posted on March 13, 2012 by sexyarmpit

I really thought it might have been different this time. For some reason I thought Monster Mania ironed out some of its kinks. In some respects they did, but others remain the same. This report should be short and sweet considering I spent less than 3 hours there this time around.

Some friends of mine expressed the fact the MM con is so damn expensive, even for children. That sucks because if you want to take your whole family you can spend a lot money just on the entrance fee. Then factor in all the cool stuff that you see when walking around that you didn’t even bank on buying, but “needed” to have.

Take the above photo for instance. Ever since the first time I saw The Shining when I was a kid, I always said I wanted the photo from the end of the film, but never knew how to get it. Before the days of the Internet, finding rare prints like this was nearly impossible. Within the past few years I was able to get a few large jpegs of the image, but nothing suitable enough for framing or hanging. Now, I finally have it, and for a mere $15 bucks. To me, that’s affordable for a picture I’ve basically dreamed of owning for years.

I was intent on not going overboard buying crap this time. I had more festivities planned for the rest of the weekend for my birthday so I tried to be conservative. That didn’t mean there would be no impulse buys though. I talked for a while to Neil Meschino, the filmmaker behind the indy horror movie Mold! (moldthemovie.com). I had a very informative chat with him about his experience making the film. Lots of props to him and I can’t wait to watch it! Another purchase was for a good cause – I donated $20 bucks to Scares That Care and in return I got their cool T-shirt. Also, I couldn’t pass up the Friday the 13th art print shown below by Scuuum Inc. from their Slasher Babes series. That was pretty much it as far as “stuff” goes, and now onto the celebs!

Back in an earlier preview post for Monster Mania, I was pumped to read the news that Robert Englund and the cast of the original Blair Witch Project would be appearing. Ultimately though, I wasn’t super set on paying to meet all these people because I had limited funds this time around. Perhaps the cast of BW2 may have twisted my arm though! My main reason for being there was to get a pic/autograph from Anthony Michael Hall since I have been a life long fan of his films, even some of the shitty ones. Luckily, since I got there fairly early I was able to get a good spot on line, and by the time he actually arrived (a little over and hour late), he had a legion of people waiting for him.

Anthony Michael Hall was really cool even though I didn’t really have a chance to say much to him. AMH is on a higher level of fame than some of the other stars that usually appear at the con. One of the benefits of meeting one of the lower tier celebs at these cons is that you can more than likely have time to shoot the shit with them about things you always wanted to ask them, but when the person has 100 people waiting for them, it makes it more of a challenge. Either way – Anthony Michael Hall was a good guy and happy to meet his fans. It was also cool to run into my friend Jessica Rajs – creator of the Gorgeous and Gory Zombie Pinup Calendar. If you missed her at the con you can pick one up at their official website. Hot Zombie Pinup Girls, what more can you ask for?!!

Even with so many drawbacks, I still can’t stay away from these cons. The entrance fee is high and the parking still is ridiculously atrocious. I wish I could refrain from going sometimes, but I feel like it’s a place to buy cool stuff, meet and talk to like minded people, and of course get some cool autographs. It also doesn’t hurt that the spring installment of Monster Mania usually falls on my birthday weekend so it’s a good way to celebrate. Did you go to Monster Mania 21? What are your thoughts on the various horror/pop-culture conventions?