One thing I am very nostalgic about is my youth. One thing that I have very fond memories of was discovering the store The Flaming Cauldron, later called The Troll Shop, in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. I was in awe the first time I went into this store; it was packed with all kinds of weird things; things that I loved!
As I child I was not like most kids. Instead of playing, or even having any interest in, sports I could be found out in nature collecting insects, drawing, listening to my favorite music and watching monster movies. Though many UHF stations at the time would show these movies once in awhile, I got my weekly fix every Saturday afternoon on the CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE on channel WLVI 56 out of Boston. It was a show that I would watch every week, providing I could draw the station in.
The 1957 movie INVASION OF THE SAUCER-MEN is not only one of my favorite movies of the fifties but it is also one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s imaginative and a lot of fun and the aliens, created by special effects artist Paul Blaisdell, are one of my favorite designs ever put on film.
I started watching wrestling in the late 70s. Every Saturday morning after cartoons I would go back and forth between matches on the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) program and World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), out of Texas. Though I enjoyed the WWF programming at this time, rarely would you see a main event match. These shows would set up feuds and matches that would come to an arena near you. On the other hand, WCCW often showed main event matches and were often more realistic and at times, featured blood.
I started watching Godzilla movies at such an early age that to be honest, I do not remember a time when Toho monsters were not in my life. One monster that always stood out to me was Ghidorah, the three-headed space dragon. It’s design is wonderful and in my opinion, it is the greatest looking of all of Godzilla’s foes. According to WIKIZILLA, Ghidorah has appeared in eight films, though for me, his design in his original appearance, in the 1965 film GHIDORAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER, is his best. For this KAIJU KONNECTION I am watching the Japanese version with English subtitles on the Classic Media DVD.
I have been listening to podcasts for a few years now. I subscribe to a select few because let’s face it, not all of them are good. 2020 has been a nightmare of a year and to be honest, listening to podcasts has helped a lot to keep my mind off of all of the negativity in the world. Each edition of this series will feature a podcast that I not only highly recommend, but it is also one that helped me stay sane this past year.
I started collecting masks in 1985, with the first called Shrunken Head by a company called Be Something Studios, later to be called Zagone Studios. To this day, 35 years later, they are still one of my favorite mask companies of all time. They offer a wide variety of masks, all of great quality, known for their ease of wearing. Most latex masks provide either poor viewing holes or poor breathing holes; this is not the case with Zagone masks. They are all comfortable to wear with great vision and breathing.
Welcome to my latest ROADSIDE RHODE ISLAND entry. For this one I will be covering the Ramtail Factory, Rhode Island’s only officially designated haunted landmark. This is a place I have wanted to visit for years, but for some reason never made it. On a recent hike with friends, they told me that Ramtail was nearby so we went to check it out. On the way there I told them the background of the place, the deaths that had happened and the hauntings as well. I also spoke of Thomas D’Agostino many times, as my source of information was from his books.
Well another Halloween has come and gone and it certainly was a strange one! Like a lot of things these days, everything had to be reinvented. From trick or treating to parties and to yard displays, everyone had to think outside of the box to meet regulations and restrictions. Because of restrictions here in Rhode Island my girlfriend and I were not able to have our annual Halloween party so decided to decorate for the trick or treaters. Since we have a roundabout driveway, we thought it was be a good idea to make it a drive-thru.
Though the road we live on is very busy, last year we did not get any trick or treaters so were taking a risk, especially with the state of the world. We put a sign out advertising what we were doing and it actually worked. We had some very appreciative guests! I figured I would share what we came up with. ENJOY!
Continue reading “HALLOWEEN 2020”
2020 has been a year to forget and for most, cannot end quick enough. It’s one of those years where everything is going wrong. Republicans and Democrats are fighting constantly, sometimes even violently. A pandemic that was supposedly under control is on the rise again. Many people are out of work, wondering how they are going to make ends meet. Businesses are closing down at an alarming rate. There is no way that anyone can stand back and say that this year was a good one.
Continue reading “HAPPY HALLOWEEN from DAVID’S BASEMENT OF THE BIZARRE!”