Happy Halloween

Scares and Chills for all!

I never forgot this cover!

-Swinebread

My wife is so awesome. I've been working a lot of overtime and she felt kinda bad for me so Mrs. SB bought me a couple of books to sooth my doldrums.


The first book is Yokai Attack! It's a nice guide to traditional Japanese monsters. I've always enjoyed creature tomes but this is the best one I've come across. It has the more famous yokai like the the onibaba, the Kappa and the Tengu but also contains weirder stuff like the woman with a mouth in the back of her head, the hand washing demon and the tree with human faced peaches. My personal favorite is the slash-mouthed woman. Yokai Attack is presented as a survival guide, but what really makes this work so well is that it concisely describes the various monsters while putting them in a cultural context that's easy for a westerner to understand. The readability of the test is due to the biracial husband and wife team that wrote the book. It's worth noting that the art is wonderful too. It's a nice cross of modern manga styles and traditional wood block printing. Highly recommended to creature fans and folks interested in Japanese culture.

Here is a video about the writers of Yokai Attack! (and uh Halloween in Japan)


Yokai Attack also makes a nice companion volume for fans of Japanese horror films.



The 2nd book Mrs. Swinebread got for me was a volume of Oishinbo (the Japanese Cuisine story). Oishinbo is one of the most popular manga series of all time. I was quite surprised that portions of it are now being adapted into english because, well, Oishinbo is about food. It had a huge affect on Japanese culture so I guess, now that I think about, it was just a matter of time for Viz to publish it. Now when I tell folks that comics can really tell any kind of story I'll have an edition of Oishinbo to prove it. One of the guys I work with is a Gourmet, and he's salivating to to borrow my this book once i'm done with it. here's copy from VIZ website:

Each volume of Oishinbo follows Yamaoka and his colleagues through another adventure on their quest for the Ultimate Menu. Now, the highlights from the hundred-plus volume series have been selected and compiled into A la Carte editions: bite-sized chunks of story arranged by subject that add up to a full-course manga meal!

Japanese Cuisine introduces us to the fundamental ingredients--rice, sashimi, green tea, and dashi (cooking stock)--that constitute the soul of the Japanese kitchen. In each story we learn about the proper preparation and presentation of different dishes, as well as their history and cultural significance. The result is a moveable feast of a book, as informative as it is engaging.

Now those of you that love food but say you don't like comics no longer have any excuse.


-Swinebread

Happy Halloween

Wacky Squirrel and Mr. Monster want you to have a spook-tacular holiday!



-Swinebread

Jack-O'-Lanterns

I was planning on something more dramatic for our Halloween Jack-O’-Lanterns but with Swinebread Jr. down with a cold, I had to quickly carve out our pumpkins this year. The big one on the left was mildly influenced by the pic below of the Spiderman villain Jack-O’-Lantern. I realize now that it would have been fun to make it even more like the image. Plus, I couldn’t quite figure out how to have the flames burning on the outside. Oh well, I think my pumpkin has the right attitude though.

The next one is the traditional design, which the SO likes, and I picked up a tiny painted pumpkin for Swinebread Jr. as this is his first Halloween.




-Swinebread

Halloween Quizzes

You Are a Zombie

You're a pretty apathetic person, and you often feel like you're sleep walking through life. You don't necessarily have a case of the “blues”, but you do have a case of the “blahs.” It's hard for you to snap out of your boring every day routine. You're a bit burned out. The only thing you crave is the company of others. But you're not too nice to the people who do hang around you. Your greatest power: Your lack of a normal conscience Your greatest weakness: Your lack of most emotions You play well with: Aliens

Your Monster Profile

Behemoth Enigma You Feast On: Coffee You Lurk Around In: Public Restrooms You Especially Like to Torment: Hicks

What's Your Monster Name?

What Kind of Monster Are You?

What Your Love of Butterfinger Says About You

You are a smooth character. Your charm is legendary. You're the type of person who could get away with almost anything. People don't know much about you, except that you're complicated. You also tend to be flaky. You can't be trusted to always follow through, but people still crave your company.

What Does Your Favorite Candy Say About You?

Movie of the Week: Nosferatu

The 1979 remake... how about that for Halloween!

It's German, made in the '70s and it's about a Dracula... what more could you ask for!

Several different trailers:



-Swinebread

Germaine Gregarious was gracious enough to have me over for her Halloween party. It was a real blast and the food was excellent. Dr. Zaius managed to snap a few shots of the festivities here. In one of the pics you can see me sucking down a chip while Becca is providing a full frontal. Now that’s a party that can make you hungry! But Wait, it gets better! BAC from Yikes! created an awesome video of the whole darn thing.




Whew! Here it is Sunday and I’m still recovering.

-Swinebread

Note: The pic is from Dr. Zaius who is an accomplished Photoshop virtuoso. Just check out his site you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from two monstrous butchers!

30 Days of Night

Getting into the sprit of the Halloween season I decided to see a horror movie. The film I chose was 30 Days of Night. It’s adapted from the graphic novel of the same name (which I have not read). The premise is quite fresh and breaths some new life into the tired Vampire genre. In Barrow, the most northern town of Alaska, 30 days of each winter is spent in total darkness. A group of vampires has decided that this is the perfect opportunity to feast endlessly for whole month bringing utter destruction and terror to the town.

The short of it is basically this picture is an invasion/survival scenario with many evocative ideas but sadly, its less then the sum of it’s parts. It’s got all the correct elements and the movie can be entertaining but I think the writer and the director chose to emphasize the wrong aspects of the story. One of the problems is how the vampires are handled. We never learn anything about them or their origins. It’s mentioned that they have kept their identity secret for many centuries but why now have they decided to go completely crazy, wipe out a whole town and risk exposure? We never see where they are staying or how they organize themselves beyond the actions of their human agent in the beginning of the film. In addition, I strangely found that I both liked and disliked the depiction of the vampires. In 30 Days, the vampires tend to be inhuman monsters. Now I usually enjoy this type of vampire as I dislike the nancy boy goth versions, but this time the prototypical romantic bloodsucker might have been a nice touch, a fish out of water type of deal.

The other area that 30 Days fails somewhat is that there should have been much more of an invasion and survival feeling. We are in a remote area occupied by very hardy folks. I just don’t see them rolling over so quickly. There should have been some sort of organized resistance to the vampires early in the film despite the fact it would be doomed to failure. After a failed counterattack then the realization that hiding and evading is the only way for the characters would make more sense. The "must have" love story should have been down played in favor of more hard-nosed survival. The terror of being alone and cut off for days on end never really hits home because it doesn’t really feel like 30 Days but rather a weekend. I suspect that the comic is better in this regard.

30 Days of Night is a mixed bag. Often the production values are good and there certainly are some very gruesome scenes. But a survival story should have been the main focus after and an initial battle. So while the premise is fresh the plotting is not. If you like vampires seeing it on DVD or cable is enough.

Here is what I liked in no particular order (spoilers):

It’s a great premise

The vampires were gross

The vampire’s human agent character was scary cool.

The tension before the vampires invade is good.

I like the plan the vampires had to cover their tracks.

Most folks don’t survive

Liked much of the music

Here is what I disliked in no particular order (spoilers):

The sheriff should have done a better job warning the town.

The vampires would know how to speak English to their victims.

The vampires use the same tactics over and over again. You don’t get to have an unlife of hundreds of years by being dumb.

The all out attack by the vampires in the beginning zips by too fast. Then a lot of time is spent with the human waiting around doing nothing.

The direction and plot are weak

Could be much more scary

Missed Opportunities (spoilers):

Shouldn’t there be more native Alaskans there?

More info on and more characterization of the vampires

The characters should have been much more broken down after so many days in hiding with little food and heat.

The trailer:



-Swinebread

Jack O' Lanterns

Some friends came by and we celebrated the season by carving up pumpkins into Jack O' Lanterns. I did a traditional design, its the one on the right. I've been trying every year to get it just right and I think I nailed this time from choosing the correct the shape of the pumpkin to the carving. Next year I can finally move on to something else.

Everybody was really happy with how they all turned out. The one on the left end was actually voted the best and one a prize. My SO's is the pirate ship in the middle. All and all a good time.

More Halloween goodness.

-Swinebread

Halloween Party Slasher

I went to a great Halloween party on Saturday. I had a lot of fun. If you wanted to know what I look like that’s me in the background. As you can tell from this picture I’m searching for damsels in distress… Mu-Ha Ha Ha haaaaa!

I can just hear everybody yelling "Turn Around!"

-Swinebread

Bands I Missed - THE AQUABATS!

The Aquabats! YES, these guys dress up as superheroes, fight Supervillains, and have an infectious sound. This is my kinda band! So how come I didn’t get into them? Well, the band formed in 1994, the year after I graduated from college. By then I was outta touch with all things musical (musical to me that is) as much of my time was spent away from the west coast. Lets just say I was forced to listen to country music and Oompa bands… so I just wasn’t aware. *sniff* Anyway, I know about the Aquabats now and love their music and their shtick. To be honest, I discovered them back in February but I thought this video was a great Halloween tune. So I waited until October. It’s called Fashion Zombies. It’s my hope that this song gets included in the Halloween rotation from now on.




Incidentally, The Aquabats will be in Portland on Nov 27. At the Wonder Café See here I marking my calendar.

Here is a demo the band produced in 1999 to get the networks interested in funding a series. it’s called "The Aquabats in COLOR!" Too bad it wasn’t picked up. Even a pilot would have been great! Ah what could have been…


-Swinebread

Monster Mash Singer Gone Beyond the Grave

Bobby "Boris" Pickett co-writer of the song Monster Mash has died (see here). Of course he famously provided the Karloff-like vocals for the Halloween favorite as well. So long and thanks for the “graveyard smash.”

the Monster Mash with some of our favorite horrors


-Swinebread