Castle Dracula Was My Jam

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eQG_J2yQ5s]

Growing up, a lot of my friends would brag about exotic vacations lasting several weeks that they went on every summer. I was never jealous of them because my family went to the Jersey Shore every summer, more specifically, Wildwood. If you remember the Santa Cruz scenes in The Lost Boys, the type of vibe happening on the Wildwood Boardwalk wasn’t too much different, and of course…all the damn vampires!

Although I enjoyed going to Wildwood immensely, I think I took many aspects of it for granted since the majority of my attention span was spent on daydreaming about Castle Dracula. Then, once I was actually on the boardwalk and in close proximity of the sinister fortress, I’d spend the next few minutes walking slowly toward the ornate Castle, spending every moment in awe of the dread it beamed up and down the boardwalk. For me, Castle Dracula was a mecca.

Aside from some funny stories at the local restaurant The Captain’s Table with my sister and my cousins, my main memories are of anticipating, and finally getting to go into Castle Dracula. When my sister was younger and more brave, she would come with me as we both had a blast getting the bejesus scared out of us. Of course there was boardwalk games, prizes, ice cream, and boogie boarding, but none of it was ever high on my priority list.

Once inside that Castle, my mind was in utter disbelief that I was actually about to experience my favorite haunted attraction again, and it was all located right in Jersey. Although I loved Disneyland and Disney World, I didn’t need to, nor did I get the opportunity to go to Disney every year like some of my friends. A lot of them seemed like they didn’t truly appreciate how grandiose their trips seemed to other kids who weren’t as lucky. Now, I’m so not implying that I was “less fortunate,” because that would be ri-f*cking-diculous. I was overjoyed to walk the boardwalk, fantasizing about one of the greatest dark rides the Jersey Shore has ever offered. It felt like it was there for me, and it was…for a long time.

Castle Dracula burned down in 2002.

Check out Matt’s amazing tribute from the X-E days:
And Dark in the Park’s got cool stuff about it as well:

Mother F’N Monster Mania Recap August 2013

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The 3 Ts of Monster Mania. sTop buying more shiT you money wasTer.
I don’t need anymore fucking t-shirts. Seriously. I have about 450 damn t-shirts. I’ve written about t-shirts over a hundred times at this blog. I wear one every single day. But did I really need to buy 3 more of them? Read on my friends as I answer that burning question as well as give you a quick recap of the Monster Mania convention that went on in Cherry Hill, NJ this weekend.

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Friday the 13th Blood-splattered Lunchbox

Many people who go to conventions like Monster Mania go with an objective. Within the last couple of years they’ve become very routine to me and I’ve been heading there just to browse and meet up with friends to shoot the shit for a while. Usually there’s at least one thing that I’d like to pick up. Sometimes it’s a DVD and rarely there’s a lower tier celebrity appearing who I have a very specific question for. This past weekend became a ridiculous impromptu party with Dino Drac, Freddy in Space, and myself, but I’ll let Dinosaur Dracula do what he does best as he explains that one right here at this link.

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Random sculpture of Hollywood Hulk Hogan’s skeleton still putting himself over in the afterlife

Anyway, what do I always wind up buying? T-shirts. Always t-shirts. My life is consumed by them. It’s a love/hate relationship. This time around I came home with 3. What’s even more insane is that I was flirting with the idea of buying 2 others! That would’ve been 5 shirts in one Monster Mania con.

The first shirt was devised by Shit Movie Fest and Curious Goods, with art by London 1888 and I picked it up for a reason. “Where’s the Fucking Bourbon” is a line from Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3 and it never fails to amuse me. I read last year that the aforementioned crew was making this tee and I thought it was an awesome idea, but par for the course, I forgot all about it. Luckily, they had some left when I stopped by their setup this weekend.

Next up is the incredible tee from Electric Zombie. Lots of old school WWF inspiration over there. Check out their awesome horror related art. This tee called “Camper” has a hottie backpacking through the woods near Camp Crystal Lake. Notice the Jason mask hanging off the backpack. This is just a sampling of the kick ass creations they were offering. I really wanted to buy more, but I had to stop myself.

And finally, I supported our monstrous friends, The Ghouligans with their logo shirt. They have new episodes on the way so stop by their official site.

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Killer Workout from VHSPS

In the DVD department, I stopped by the VHSPS store and picked up the ridiculous cheese-fest known as Killer Workout a.k.a Aerobicide which was recommended to me by @thedarkhours from KillerReviews.com. This tweet of mine made him aware that this sort of thing IS my bag baby. By the way…this movie is so fucking AWFUL.

This installment of Monster Mania exceeded my expectations for reasons other than the crap that I brought home with me. Like I said – check out Dinosaur Dracula’s run down of all the insanity that went on there.

What I Got For Christmas – 2010 Edition

Xmas 2010!


I’m not going to sit here and pout about how old I feel or how Christmas doesn’t effect me anymore. OK, so, I admit I can’t watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas if it’s past 8 PM or I will fall asleep on the couch. Naturally, Christmas time has become more hectic as I’ve gotten older, but it’s still one of the most fun times of the year. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like getting presents (of course there’s always some jackass who says they hate getting gifts), but giving gifts is even more fun. Some of the gifts I gave this year included a custom sculpted Dean Martin statue, an iPod, and a Kitchen Aid mixer. Those items may not intrigue you, but they delighted their receipients. Now it’s time to show you some of the stuff that I got for Christmas. It was impossible to fit every gift into the picture so some of the items are not shown, but I’ll tell you all about them.

My girlfriend knows how I feel about snuggies. But she went out on a limb anyway and bought me the Superman snuggie as a goof thinking that I would get a kick out of it. I think it’s actually really cool. See how the super hero/fanboy aspect changes the perspective of everything? For example, my reaction if you gave me a package of napkins for Christmas: “Oh great…napkins,” but if they had the Bat symbol on them look at how quickly the reaction changes: “OH THESE ARE SOME F*CKING COOL NAPKINS! THANK YOU!!!” Something tells me that those napkins are never coming out of the cellophane! In the end, the Superman snuggie was a fun gift, but not because it’s a snuggie, there’s more to it than that. Donning this snuggie actually transforms you into a comfy, cozy Superman because it has Superman’s costume on the front of it! The only problem is, when I put it on, I don’t feel like saving the good citizens of Metropolis from a disaster, I really feel like zonking out on my couch. It’s a little couterproductive, but at least I’ll be Superman in my dreams.

It’s nearly impossible to buy me a DVD or Blu-ray disc that I don’t already have. There are so many movies that I enjoy but I don’t see myself ever watching again. For me to own a movie it has to have a high rewatchability factor. Such is the case of Scott Pilgrim on Blu-ray because it kicks ass and it’s visually exciting. This was one of the only things I really had on my imaginary wish list. The vintage record album drink coaster set was a really cool gift too. I do have several coasters at home, but these are unique and look exactly like their original vinyl counterpart. (If you have really keen eyesight, you noticed that the one visible in the picture is a RUN DMC album.) There was also STAR WARS Mad Libs! which are even more fun if you fill them in with fellow Star Wars fans. *Here’s an example of what my friends and I came up with: “The Force is an energy field created by all living FECES” (plural noun), and “A Jedi can also use the Force to move objects with his or her TONGUE” (part of the body).

A couple of weeks before reading about it on X-E, I saw the Christmas Smurf plush at Macy’s with my girlfriend and I wanted one to add to my Christmas condo decorations. I was always a big Smurfs fan as a kid, but I have yet to buy any of the new Smurf collectibles. Once the movie comes out there will be Smurfs everywhere, so this is just the Smurf of the iceberg. What makes this Christmas Smurf different from the other ones in the store was that he had a ticket for Lady Gaga at the Prudential Center in Newark attached to his scarf! I don’t care if you want to disown me now that you know that I am a Gaga fan. After seeing Lady Gaga live in concert at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City this past July, I rank her show just below a KISS concert. It’s a huge production that has a storyline, elaborate choreography, and music that she pours her heart and soul into.

As you can see, I was very fortunate and Santa Claus treated me well this year. I also received plenty of nice shirts, ties, a scarf, tea tree shampoo, money, and gift cards. Thank you to everyone for the AWESOME gifts! What were some of the gifts you received this year?

Scarlet Carson Quoted The Sexy Armpit!

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Yesterday I spotlighted New York City’s The Dirty Pearls, and today it’s New Jersey’s own Scarlet Carson.  The Dirty Jersey Rock and Rollers were ready to open for KISS, as were The Dirty Pearls, but since Eventful’s contest is clearly predetermined it doesn’t look like that will be happening, even though both bands deserve the shot. The bands at the top of the contest rankings literally came out of nowhere and have double the votes than the other top bands. Most of my friends and concert freaks that I know have never heard of the bands that have taken over the lead for the opening slot at the KISS show on 8/20/10 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ.

Scarlet Carson have an ad out in the local music newspaper The Aquarian to help rally some new votes, and in the top left I was stoked to discover that they quoted from The Sexy Armpit’s review of their latest album! To a guy who has been writing since he knew how to hold a pencil, that is quite a high honor and I greatly appreciate them doing that. I remember when Matt from X-E wrote about how his quote was used on The Ghoulies DVD, and I just thought that had to be the coolest thing in the world and indeed it is!

For one of the best rock shows you will see, you MUST check out Scarlet Carson if you are in the area. The Stone Pony will be welcoming Scarlet Carson opening for Skid Row on Saturday August 28th, 2010. Once again, a big thanks to Scarlet Carson for quoting The Sexy Armpit!

Here they are performing “Not So Innocent” 
at 2009’s Bamboozle Festival at The Meadowlands