Today In Pop Culture: Scrabble Hits The Shelves

By Jeffery X Martin

The best board games are the ones based on timeless concepts. Monopoly is based on greed and capitalism. Candy Land is all about sweet yummy things and matching colors, all essential parts of being a functioning pre-schooler. It should come as no surprise that one of the most popular and enduring board games is based on language.

On this date in 1955, Scrabble hit the shelves, eventually becoming one of the best-selling board games in history.

Continue reading ‘Today In Pop Culture: Scrabble Hits The Shelves’

Farewell, Tall Man: Angus Scrimm and Phantasm

By Tim Murr

It’s only been a few days since actor Angus Scrimm died at the age of 89. Though he also worked outside of the franchise, it was the Phantasm series, in which he played the Tall Man, that made Mr. Scrimm a horror household name. His final film, Phantasm: RaVager, is set to be released sometime this year.

Continue reading ‘Farewell, Tall Man: Angus Scrimm and Phantasm’

VHS Visions: Rawhead Rex (1986)

By Tim Murr

“Get upstairs, fuck face! I can’t keep God waiting!”

Recently, Arrow Video released a gorgeous Hellraiser box set. In 2014, we finally got the director’s cut of Nightbreed.  But still, on the film’s 30^th anniversary, there is no news of a DVD/Blu-Ray release of Rawhead Rex!

Continue reading ‘VHS Visions: Rawhead Rex (1986)’

Today in Pop Culture: Pink Floyd Builds The Wall

By Jeffery X Martin

Take a dreadful story about alienation, fascism, war, childhood trauma, and drug addiction. Now, set it all to music. What do you get? One of the biggest-selling albums of all time.

It’s 1980, and the happy-go-lucky Seventies are executed in grand fashion when Pink Floyd’s double album, The Wall, hits number one on the Billboard charts on this date.

Continue reading ‘Today in Pop Culture: Pink Floyd Builds The Wall’

Today In Pop Culture: The Black Dahlia Is Discovered In Leimert Park

By Jeffery X Martin

Trigger Warning: graphic descriptions of murder

Leimert Park is a funky little neighborhood in South Los Angeles. It was planned in the 1920s, and the architecture is mostly Spanish Colonial Revival. Now, it is known for its music, its food, and its embracing of African-American culture. But Leimert Park is known for something else, too: one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in American history.

Continue reading ‘Today In Pop Culture: The Black Dahlia Is Discovered In Leimert Park’

Is Shinsuke Nakamura The Greatest Wrestler In The World?

By Sachin Hingoo

Nakamura: The Child of God. The Black Saviour. The King of Strong Style.

If you don’t follow wrestling much, or if WWE is your only outlet for it, the name Shinsuke Nakamura is an unfamiliar one. It would probably, then, be surprising to know that this enigmatic Japanese star is, with little debate, the greatest active wrestler on the planet. And he’s coming to North America to the one of the only big stages left in the industry–the WWE.

Continue reading ‘Is Shinsuke Nakamura The Greatest Wrestler In The World?’

Today In Pop Culture: Elvis Gets A Promotion

By Jeffery X Martin

Back when military service was mandatory in the United States, no male was immune from getting called up. There were ways around it, if you had the stroke to pull some strings, but most men at that time ended up in the employ of the Armed Forces. Some people looked forward to it, having a real desire to serve their country. It was an honorable thing, not just a career or a last chance to make something of themselves before going to jail. They yearned to give something back, to defend the country with their lives, if necessary.

Continue reading ‘Today In Pop Culture: Elvis Gets A Promotion’

Movie Review: The Forest (2016)

By Lisa Anderson

The horror genre loves a good controversy, but not all controversies are created equal. The Forest, from director Jason Zada, has taken criticism not for violence and gore, but about whether it exoticizes its Japanese location or trivializes the problem of suicide. As it turns out, though, there’s more than that to dislike about this sub-par movie.

Continue reading ‘Movie Review: The Forest (2016)’

Today in Pop Culture: Ernie Kovacs Exits, Stage Left

By Jeffery X Martin

A rainy morning in Los Angeles. A man loses control of his Chevrolet Corvair and hits a telephone pole. He is thrown halfway out of the passenger side, dying almost instantly from the impact. The year is 1962, and the man is Ernie Kovacs.

Continue reading ‘Today in Pop Culture: Ernie Kovacs Exits, Stage Left’

Music Review: Bloodiest, Bloodiest

By Tim Murr

“Doom-laden hardcore psych-metal” is how you’d describe the sophomore album from Chicago’s Bloodiest, a six-piece experimental band with members from Russian Circles, Corrections House, and Yakuza. If you are a big fan of Black Sabbath, Neurosis, Saint Vitus, Unsane, or the Melvins then Bloodiest should fit your taste quite well. Mixing 1990s hardcore, drone, and noise, Bloodiest creates a heady brew.

Continue reading ‘Music Review: Bloodiest, Bloodiest’