Farley Wacken’s Gonna Get Ya! The Chester Haunted School

With Cindy Chinn of the Center of Creativity
Intro by Less Lee Moore

The Chester Haunted School in Chester, NE is not your run-of-the-mill haunted house. Like radio shows from the 1950s, it utilizes narration to scare its listeners, but also adds a modern touch: an ingenious light show which depicts the action. Instead of monsters jumping out at you, however, your imagination is allowed to run wild with what you think you see: Farley Wacken, the evil headmaster, roaming the halls with his deadly yardstick.
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Megadeth, So Far, So Good. . . So What!

By Christian Lipski

I never actually owned this album until this year, but I’ve listened to it quite a few times. In the summer of 1988 my brother and I had jobs at the same company, so he would come pick me up at my apartment in Lake Merritt (Oakland) and we’d carpool. Since it was his car, it was his music, which was fine, as I liked hearing what he was listening to. That summer it was usually So Far, So Good. . . So What! at peak volume as we smoked and drove to work.
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Now Let Us Praise Famous Monsters

Count Dracula, 1977

In reviewing a series of horror and ghost story anthologies, literary critic Edmund Wilson wrote that the “sudden revival of the appetite” for such tales arose in part from:

“. . . the instinct to inoculate ourselves against panic at the real horrors loose on the earth. . . by injections of imaginary horrors, which soothe us with the momentary illusion that the forces of madness and murder may be tamed and compelled to provide us with mere dramatic entertainment.”
—From Classics and Commercials, 1950

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Ten Instruments Of Evil: Popshifter‘s Horror Movie Picks (And Five To Avoid)

With Less Lee Moore and Megashaun

Here are our ten horror movie picks for this issue of Popshifter. We’ve tried to keep the Popcast as spoiler-free as possible so as not to ruin your enjoyment of any of these great movies. And in order to avoid playing favorites, we’ve listed them in alphabetical order.

We’ve also got the scoop on five movies that we wish we hadn’t watched, even in part.

And don’t forget to check out “Five More Instruments Of Evil,” too.
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The Junk Food Junkie’s Guide to The Best and Worst Halloween Candy

By Maureen

“Trick or Treat,” my ass.

Everyone knows Halloween is all about the “treat” part, the free candy. It’s the one day a year where people of all ages can stuff their faces full of all kinds of junk food goodness under the single condition of dressing up and repeating this iconic phrase. Every neighborhood has their hot spots and their spots to avoid. There’s always a dentist somewhere giving out mini-toothbrushes, which makes kids groan. Every person has his or her own personal candy preferences, but like all holidays that involve overindulging in food, Halloween has some staples that are irrefutable.

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Cherchez La Femme: My Affair with The Black Dahlia

By Less Lee Moore

The Black Dahlia was the first James Ellroy novel I read and I loved it. I had become a fan of the hardboiled detective fiction genre after being introduced to the pulp novels of Jim Thompson in a Film Noir class. Then, seeking more books in that vein, I soon devoured all the books of Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain. Since Thompson, Chandler, and Cain were all deceased, I was thrilled that Ellroy was still alive and kicking.

But it was more than that.

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Souls Don’t Die: 54-40’s Northern Soul

By Megashaun

With the music industry so fond of constantly pushing the next big band you’ll have forgotten about months after their publicity onslaught, it could be easy for the easily-swayed to forget that good music is not always the kind that’s being crammed down their throats at every commercial break, every soundtrack, and on every magazine cover. Yes, believe it or not, there are bands that are actually in it not for fame, but because making music is all they can and want to do.
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Out Of My Shell: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Me

By Megashaun

I was in the sixth grade, eleven years old, and I didn’t understand why I wasn’t cool. I only knew I wasn’t. I liked Ninja Turtles and Batman in a time when everyone else in my class was into MC Hammer, Technotronic, and Public Enemy. I didn’t own any albums. I didn’t try chasing the girls. One of my classmates—a boy—asked me which girl I liked and I said I didn’t like any (which was a lie; I didn’t want that secret getting out and risk being made fun of for it) and he asked me if I was gay.
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Please Don’t Spoil The Movie By Adding Your Own Soundtrack: An Interview With Mike Nelson

Interviewed by Megashaun

Mike Nelson was a writer/host for the cult classic TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000. In it, Mike (and in earlier years, Joel Hodgson) and their robot pals onboard the Satellite of Love were subjected to watching b-movies while their fictitious employers at the Gizmonics Institute observed the crew’s reactions. These reactions ranged from goofy commentary during the films to sketches between the film and they were, for the most part, very funny.
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Sparks Spectacular: Exotic Creatures of the Deep (2008)

By Noisy Boy

What can I say that you don’t already know? Nothing really. The album performance was excellent, and for a first attempt, just about flawless. Less multimedia than the previous two, but what was there was really stood out, especially Ron’s reprise of the Notre Dame organ gag in “Photoshop.” Same goes for the use of backing dancers and models as angels during the “Intro,” and as pregnant “men” in “(She Got Me) Pregnant.” All we needed was to quiff them up for “Lighten Up, Morrissey!”

It was obvious that Sparks were rightly revelling in the action and lapping up the feverish worship from all corners of the Empire. (Shepherd’s Bush and beyond!) In fact, they seemed sad to end their spectacular run, Ron symbolically burning all 21 album covers on-screen during the end of “Likeable.”

The second half was equally fabulous: every song that I’d seen them perform before was ten times better than previous performances. I should give special mention to “Looks Looks Looks,” which I thought was pretty poor at the Indiscreet gig, but absolutely on the money tonight: all lean, no wastage, no losing their way. Maybe they learned from last time. On top of that, apart from “The Decline And Fall Of Me,” I got to hear all the songs from my wish list that I missed from the gigs I didn’t see. “Dick Around” was fabulous. “Big Boy” was monstrously heavy, and “Goofing Off,” well, it should’ve been a single. Superb!

By the time it got round to “Get In The Swing,” I was looking at my watch, willing time to slow down, to get in ten, perhaps fifteen more songs. And then, after “Change,” I left, and waited for friends outside, only to realize I’d missed the final encore. Ah well, I’ve seen them do “This Town” thrice before, so I wasn’t too bothered, but it would’ve been nice to share the love that I could hear directed towards the band.

The only question now is, what am I going to do with myself every evening? Bravo to the Mael brothers and their fabulous band for doing the full thing, and allowing us to see all those songs (bringing my total up to 126 songs in this run). Let’s look forward to the same thing happening again with album 22. . . oh well, we can dream, eh?