It's the End of the World as We Know it and I Feel Full

Today (May 21, 2011) is supposedly Judgment Day and the date of The Rapture (according to some). I'm going to assume that if you're reading this that the date came and went without incident. I seem to have heard/read somewhere that the actual Rapture is supposed to happen at 6:00 PM. That's a pretty precise pinpointing, but I don't know if that's 6:00 PM EST (my time) or if it's 6:00 on the west coast, or 6:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time, or 6:00 PM in Australia...

Anyway, I figured that the impending Judgment Day was a perfect time for me to take stock of my Zombie Apocalypse supplies. I have a number of MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat) and it's always a good idea to rotate your stock if you have them in storage--getting rid of older ones and replacing them with newer ones. I had two-each of Menu No. 6 (Chicken With Noodles) and decided to eat the older one (which was from 2007) to commemorate this (non) momentous occasion!

Here's my two Chicken With Noodles MREs

The one on the left is the one from 2007 (today's lunch)

MREs are a shelf-stable ration designed for the U.S. Armed Forces. They make an excellent choice for camping, hunting, hiking and stocking up for disasters (both natural and man-made). A lot of people don't appreciate MREs (they're not exactly five-star-restaurant-cuisine or anything). But if you find yourself looking for something to eat after a hurricane (Katrina for example) or an earthquake (like the recent one in Japan) they suddenly seem VERY appetizing, to say the least.

MRE's have changed a lot since the late-1980s, when I was in the Army. Not only has the flavor quality improved, the menus themselves have gotten a lot more appetizing-sounding too. The people who design, develop and produce MREs are constantly working to improve not only their shelf life, but also the quality, flavor and variety of them. They know that the main consumer of MREs are the soldiers who are out there doing their duty for our country.

The Chicken With Noodles MRE that I chose for this review had a date code of 7171 (see photo above). For more information about how to read date codes check out this page at MREInfo.com. MREInfo.com is the place to go for pretty much anything you ever wanted to know about MREs and other rations. This particular MRE was sealed up on the 170th day of 2007, which means it is four years old. Believe it or not, that's still pretty young for an MRE that's been stored appropriately. They can easily last ten years or more and still be edible. Since I bought this one on eBay and don't know its history I have no idea if it was stored well or not. Oh well, that's what a taste test is for.

Here's our MRE for today

Here's what the contents look like when pulled out of the bag

And here are all the contents spread out for easy viewing

Here's a list of the contents of my Chicken With Noodles MRE (and their date codes, where applicable):

• Chicken, Noodles, Vegetables in Sauce (7128C)
• Cocoa Beverage Powder (7108)
• Crackers (7163)
• Cheese Spread (7101)
• Chocolate Sports Bar W/Chocolate Coating (7115)
• Peanut M&M's
• Accessory Pack "A"* (A 7169)
• Tabasco Sauce
• Flameless Ration Heater (FRH)
• Hot Beverage Bag
• Spoon

*Accessory Pack "A" contains: instant coffee, creamer, sugar, salt, matches, toilet paper, moist towelette and chewing gum.

Here's the accessory pack

And the other side of the accessory pack (note the "A" before the date code)

Here's a few examples of the date codes stamped on most components

The Flameless Ration Heater is a great addition to MREs that wasn't around when I was in the Army. We usually just ate them cold. There weren't many options for heating them up in the field. You weren't likely to have a chance to build a campfire and boil a pot of water. If you had a vehicle of some sort at your disposal, you could put an entree on the engine block, or in front of the heater. Otherwise you would most likely just have to accept the fact that you were going to be eating your meal at whatever temperature it was at the moment. Nowadays, you can put your entree (plus your side dish, coffee and/or cocoa if you want) into the FRH, add a little water, and it will heat it all up in about ten or fifteen minutes. I decided to eat this MRE as though I was in the field and didn't have anything that wasn't included in it (other than water). This means that I used the FRH for the Chicken With Noodles.

This is our entree for today (Chicken, Noodles, Vegetables In Sauce)

And, here it is out of the cardboard envelope, with the FRH underneath

One of the "funniest" things about MREs is something that is found in the instructions for the FRH. You are supposed to stuff your food to be heated into the FRH, add a small amount of water, fold the top over, stuff it back into the cardboard box the entree came in and then elevate the top of the whole assembly at an angle for maximum heating efficiency. The instructions include little illustrations to make it as easy to understand as possible (including for people who don't read English or don't read at all). The picture that tells you to elevate the FRH shows it resting on a rock, and it says "Rock Or Something".

Instructions on the FRH

And a closeup of the infamous "Rock Or Something"!

I also love this warning for people who might be tempted to eat the chemical heating unit in the FRH!

The FRH with the entree inside, already activated with water

The heating assembly put back into the entree's box and propped up on a "Rock Or Something"

Because of the amount of food (and calories, sodium, fat, sugar, carbs...) that an MRE contains (roughly the amount an active soldier in the field would need for a day), I didn't eat everything in this one in one sitting. I didn't drink the coffee (as I am not a coffee drinker) and saved the M&M's, Crackers and Cheese Spread for later. An entire MRE can certainly be eaten in one sitting (depending on the needs of the individual), but it can also be spread out to last for two--or even three--meals if necessary.

Cheese and crackers will make a nice snack later (as will the Peanut M&M's)

While waiting for the Chicken and Noodles to heat up I went ahead and added water to the Cocoa Beverage Powder and shook it up. The newer pouches for most of the beverage powders have a little zip-lock top so you can pour water in and shake it up right in the pouch with no mess. In the old days you's have to mix it in your canteen cup or try to stir it up in the smaller pouches they used to come it. Either way, you usually ended up with a bit of a mess.

Here's the Cocoa Powder pouch (note the contoured shape which makes it easier to grip for shaking)

Once the cocoa was made and the Chicken With Noodles was heated up it was time to eat. I don't exactly have an "educated palate" or anything, but I think that I would know something that tasted terrible if I ate it. I certainly give MREs a lot of leeway when it comes to flavor because of the fact that it's designed to sit in a plastic bag and be stored for months or years before being eaten--and still remain safe to eat. I would never directly compare what's found in an MRE to something that I might expect to be served in a fine restaurant. That being said, I thought the Chicken With Noodles tasted very good. I certainly wouldn't complain if I were out in the field and this was the only thing available for me to eat. In fact, I can think of a few things that might be available that I would choose this over. The chicken may be processed, but it does taste like chicken. The noodles are fine. There aren't a lot of the promised vegetables (but I'm not a big veggie guy anyway). And the whole thing is held together by a rather thick gravy sauce that tastes salty, but good. I really saw nothing to complain about with this entree (and keep in mind that it was four years old too!). Most MREs today contain a little bottle of Tabasco sauce (ostensibly to counter the bad taste of an entree and cover it up with a little kick of spice). I've never used the Tabasco on my MREs. While I'm not a big fan of spicy food in general, I've also never felt that the flavor of (the vast majority of ) the meals I've had really needed to be covered up.

This meal is now "Ready to Eat"

Trust me, it tastes better than it looks

Come on, you know you want to try it!

The cocoa was sweet and chocolatey, and I thought it was fine drinking it cold rather than hot. The Chocolate Sports Bar was basically your standard energy bar. Pretty much a chewy candy bar. I like sweets, so I had no problem with this either. As far as the stuff I didn't eat, I already know what to expect from Peanut M&M's (though it would be interesting to see how a four year old pack of them would hold up compared to the components that were actually designed to keep food fresh for up to ten years). And I already know that I like the Crackers and the Cheese Spread. This particular one was a plain spread, but they also come in different varieties (Cheese Spread With Jalapenos, Cheese Spread With Bacon), and there are also quite a few different types of peanut butter and jelly too.

Cocoa...shaken, not stirred (and cold, not hot)

The Chocolate Sports Bar, W/Chocolate Covering (shows some signs of aging, but tasted fine)

Do you think you'd like to try an MRE? Let's hope that you never find yourself in a situation where you have to eat one. But if you do, I think you'll find that they're nothing to be too worried about. It's all real food. Maybe not exactly what you'd want to eat on a daily basis, but it will keep you alive if it's a choice between an MRE and starvation. Oh yeah, there are a number of vegetarian entrees among the 24 different meals too.

I also made a video of this particular MRE opening/eating, and posted it on YouTube. If you just can't get enough of this stuff, check it out!

Inside The Mind of a Monster Dad

A Penny For Your Thoughts...

Just thought I'd give you a little inside view about how my mind can sometimes work. Random things will manage to get stuck my head for no apparent reason (see Unemployed Munchkins for an example), and then they just take off on some haphazard journey through my brain. They cause me to ponder all manner of odd things. I'm sure everyone has experience with this kind of phenomenon, but figured it was worth relating my latest episode of random thought processing.

Yesterday I was going through the drive-thru of our local McDonald's. I had just taken my two year old daughter to get some blood work done. It was a routine thing (a lead test), but it was still pretty harrowing putting her through the experience. She was a trooper, but I felt so bad for her while I was holding her down as they stuck a needle in her little arm. She must have been wondering what the hell I was putting her through, and maybe wondering if I truly was a "Monster" of a dad. Anyway, after that experience I figured it was as good a time as any to indulge in a little McDonald's breakfast treat for us on the way home. So I ordered a couple items off the Dollar Menu (big spender!). My Sausage Biscuit and Sausage McMuffin came to a grand total of $2.14. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that Massachusetts has increased its sales tax from 5% to 6.25%. It used to be so easy to figure out that you had to pay five cents on every dollar. Now you have to add 6.25 cents to every dollar (a little tougher to do automatically in your head). I know it's only a few pennies, but I swear that some places take advantage of the fact that it's not a whole number and round the total up a little more than they should. Paranoid? Maybe. But I digress (again). Back to the random topic at hand...

After placing my order I heard "That will be $2.14 at the first window" from the speaker, and wondered if I might have the exact change in my wallet. Sure enough, I found a dime and a bunch of pennies in the change section amongst the other coins. I pulled out four pennies to go along with the dime and two singles. Then I had a few moments to wait because the line at the drive-thru was pretty long. I decided to check out the dates on the pennies while waiting. Big mistake! Instead of simply holding them and giving them to the cashier without incident (as most people would do) I just had to look at the dates on the pennies and ponder all kinds of things about them. Strange how four little pennies and a minute or two in a drive-thru waiting for food can give a person so much food for thought. Here's what I learned in those couple minutes...

The first penny was from 1967. It seemed strange to think that one of the coins in the small pile of change I held in my hand was older than me. Because I wasn't around in 1967 I didn't have to wonder what was going on in my life when that penny was minted. But I did try to ponder just how much that penny's little Abe Lincoln has seen over the past forty-four years. How many places had it traveled (has it been circulating in Massachusetts most of that time, or has it been through more states in its time than I have in mine?)? How many hands has it passed through?How many purchases had it been a part of (and what those purchases might have been)? Is it possible that I, or someone I know, have had this very same penny at some time in the past? How many people who have spent this penny have since died? How many pennies end up in a penny jar and never get the chance to do all the traveling that (I assume) this one has in its time? Could this very penny have spent a couple decades forgotten in a piggy bank before returning to the world of retail? It certainly seemed pretty well-worn, so I can only imagine it's seen quite a bit in its time.

The second penny was from 1980. This was right in the middle of my Monster Kid salad days. I kind of tend to relate the golden age of the show Creature Double Feature with my own high point of childhood. The show started it's familiar two-movies-on-a-Saturday-afternoon format in September of 1975 and ran straight through the early 1980s. They started messing with the format around 1983 (going from double-features to single ones and then back again, dropping the show altogether for short periods, changing the starting time...), and it finally petered out in 1985. In 1980 I would have been ten or eleven years old. There's no doubt that I was watching and being terrified by some of my favorite old horror and sci-fi movies at that age (many for the first time). In three years I'd enter high school and my priorities would start to change. But in 1980, I was deeply entrenched in my Monster Kid heyday. I wondered what the chances were that I may have owned this very penny around that time. Could this penny have been change for me in the early 80s when I bought a package of Twinkies at the little mom-and-pop convenience store down the hill from my house? Could I have dropped it in a gumball machine or used it to pay for a piece of penny candy (when there was still such a thing as penny candy)? Could it have helped pay for a string of bowling on one of the trips to the bowling alley my nephew and I would enjoy on Saturdays? (This was back in the days when kids could be dropped off at a bowling alley and left unaccompanied for a couple hours without fear of horrible things happening.) That penny has been making the rounds since those more "innocent" days and is still out there in this modern age of hyper-fear that prevents kids from having the "unstructured playtime" that made my childhood so magical. Were will that penny be in another 20 years, and what will that world look like?

The final two pennies were from 1992 and 1993 respectively. Suddenly we are in the distant future (as far as the 1967 and 1980 pennies would be concerned). I was an adult at that time. Not only had I graduated from high school five or six years earlier, I had even entered and left the Army and been back home for a couple years. The early nineties were a time of transition for me as I tried to figure out my place in the world and how I fit into it. While there weren't any pennies from the 2000s in my McDonald's pile to bring us up to date, I'd say that I'm still in a similar place now as I was in 1992-93. I'm getting older and older (am now married, own a house, have two beautiful and challenging daughters) but in many ways I still feel like that little Monster Kid who'd drop everything to sit in front of the TV on a Saturday afternoon to watch a couple old black-and-white monster movies on Creature Double Feature.

That's a lot of pondering over four measly pennies that just happened to be sitting my wallet yesterday morning. Suddenly it was 2011 again and my turn to drive up to the window and pay for my order. I made another check in my wallet and found four more pennies (which I made a point of NOT checking the dates of). I used them to pay for my breakfast and held onto the original four just long enough to write this blog before releasing them back into circulation for more monetary adventures in the great big world...

For more on my shaky relationship with the concept of Time, see Monster Dad vs. Time.

Johnny Legend's Mega Big-Time DVD Sale--Part 2

As a kid, there were few things as exciting for me as getting something cool in the mail. I couldn't afford to do a lot of mail order shopping, but I did enjoy sending out for free catalogs from companies that sold toys and models, as well as Army/Navy stores. It was always an adventure to get catalogs like this in the mail and use my imagination to envision buying all kinds of cool stuff from them. Occasionally I could manage to scrape together enough money from my paper route to be able to buy a few trinkets from these catalogs or a comic book ad (see Anorexic Toy Soldiers for an account of one of these purchases). It's tough to describe just how awesome it was to race home from school to watch my favorite afternoon cartoons (like "Star Blazers", "Force Five", "Battle of the Planets" and the 1960s "Spiderman"), and find a new catalog--or better yet a little brown package of stuff I'd sent out for--waiting for me.

Well, it turns out that adulthood hasn't changed me all that much. I still love finding cool catalogs in the mail. It's certainly a nice respite from the bills and stuff I normally have to deal with. I also love it when a package from eBay or some cool company that sells DVDs arrives at our door. I still feel a little of that old excitement when opening a package (especially if I've managed to forget what it is until I open it!). Here's a story about my latest adventure in mail order...

Last week I wrote about Johnny Legend's Mega Big Time DVD Sale that he had just advertised on a new blog. Here's that blog I wrote (Johnny Legend's Mega Big-Time DVD Sale!). And, here's Johnny's own blog about the sale that started all this madness (Johnny Legend's DVD Blog).

When I saw this sale there was some sense of fear that it sounded too good to be true. Just to be safe I sent Johnny an e-mail to confirm that it was legit. He wrote back and let me know that it was indeed on the level. While I couldn't afford to take the plunge on his totally awesome Mega Deal (EVERY one of his DVDs advertised, plus an autographed photo of Johnny from "2001 Maniacs" AND free shipping for sixty bucks), I did manage to put together enough money for a pretty sweet box full of delectable DVD delights. I ordered a total of five titles (which included eight DVDs containing tons of movies and hours of special features). Johnny appreciated my helping him publicize the sale through the blog and other means and he threw in a couple extra DVDs that weren't listed in the sale. So I received a total of ten DVDs (including couple that were semi-surprises) AND an autographed photo of Johnny Legend from the movie "2001 Maniacs"--which is included with all orders of three or more DVDs as well as the mega $60.00 deal above. Everything I received (including the $3.00 shipping charge) came to a grand total of only twenty-one dollars! I don't think I've ever gotten more bang for my buck than I did with this sale!

The box that arrived in the mail yesterday appears at the top of this blog. Here's what it looked like inside when opened:

Here's everything that was inside:

And, here's that autographed photo mentioned above. Johnny even personalized it with "Monster Dad" for me! How cool is that?

As far as what I ordered, let's start with "The Vampire Chronicles". The sale had volumes 2 through 5 being sold as a multi-disc set for six dollars. I couldn't resist picking up four DVDs for only six bucks!

These four volumes include the following six movies: "Hannah, Queen of the Vampires" (1973), "The Last Man on Earth" (1964), "Atom Age Vampire" (1960), "Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride" (1973), "The Vampire Bat" (1933) and "Dead Men Walk" (1944). The discs include many bonus features too. Not only that, but Johnny included the "2011 Collector's Edition" of Volume 5--which is also autographed by him!

I also picked up "Johnny Legend's Deadly Doubles Volume 3"--featuring "Prehistoric Women" (1950) and "Spies A Go-Go" (1964), as well as a bunch more special features. And "Johnny Legend Presents: Halloween in Hell" includes the premiere edition of the videozine Gore Beat, Johnny Legend hosting a bunch of movie previews and trailers, and two Tod Slaughter movies: "The Face at the Window" (1939) and "Murder in the Red Barn" (1935).

In addition, I bought Johnny's Special Edition of "The Sadist" (1963)--the excellent Arch Hall, Jr. psychological thriller, and the 50th Anniversary Special Edition of "House on Haunted Hill" (1959). Both of these movies can be found pretty easily from other sources, but these Special Editions each feature a bunch of very cool bonus features that make them stand out. I've been meaning to pick up this version of "The Sadist" for quite a while now, but always managed to put it off because I thought I could find it cheaper. Don't think I'll see it cheaper than three bucks!

Last, but not least, as I mentioned earlier, Johnny very generously included a couple extra DVDs at no charge to me. First is "The Vampire Chronicles: Volume 1" which includes two Bela Lugosi flicks: "The Devil Bat" (1940) and "An American Vampire in London" (1952), as well as a bunch of Bela-related bonus features. This volume wasn't listed in the sale, but I'm very glad to have it to complete the collection! He also included "Barn of the Naked Dead" (1974), which features an interview by Johnny of the film's star, Andrew Prine and another edition of the Gore Beat videozine!

Did I mention that ALL this stuff cost me a grand total of twenty-one bucks? I feel like I'm ripping Johnny off. I hope that enough people will cash in on this sale that he makes something off of it. The stuff I ordered is only a portion of what's available. Please check out Johnny's blog for the complete list as well as all the details about the sale and how to order. I don't know how long this sale will be going on for, so I wouldn't wait too long before ordering. This is something I'd hate to miss out on. When I asked Johnny (via e-mail) how long the sale would last, he couldn't give me an answer--but he did say that it would probably continue until he "came to his senses". Hopefully that won't be any time too soon!

Finally, here is a video I uploaded to YouTube today detailing the sale, as well as the unboxing of my package from Johnny Legend:

My Own Personal Superstitions

Happy Friday the 13th!

If someone were to ask me, I wouldn't necessarily think of myself as being particularly superstitious. However, when I start to think about it I probably would indeed be considered to be a bit on the superstitious side (at least compared to someone who is truly "non-superstitious").

For one thing I am a HUGE believer in jinxes. I've always loved the cliche in movies where someone says something to the effect of "Nothing could possibly go wrong"--just before something goes horribly wrong. While I find this amusing in the movies, I find it incredibly frustrating in the real world. My Wife definitely falls into the "non-superstitious" class (though exposure to me and my ways over the past 13 years or so may be starting to warp even her sensibilities--sorry Wifey!). She never seems to be able to understand why I get so bent out of shape when we're doing some kind of outdoor activity on a cloudy, rainy day and she mentions the fact that the rain has stopped, the sky is brightening, and that everything will be great (nothing could possibly go wrong). Inevitably, the clouds and rain will quickly return after she makes a statement like that. I suppose that something like this can be chalked up more to our differing points on the glass-is-half-empty vs. glass-is-half-full scale of optimism/pessimism. Guess which side I fall on?

This jinxing problem is most frustrating when I'm watching/listening to a sporting event. Whether it's the Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics or New England Patriots it never ceases to amaze me how the commentators will just HAVE to mention that a pitcher is doing incredibly well, a hitter on the opposing team hasn't hit a home run in weeks, a team hasn't had a turnover in eighteen minutes, a receiver hasn't dropped a ball thrown his way all season, a quarterback hasn't thrown an interception in 200 passing attempts... I swear that EVERY time I hear one of these proclamations, it ends up biting the commentator in the ass. EVERY TIME! Just a couple weeks ago Tim Wakefield was pitching for the Red Sox against the Seattle Mariners--an emergency replacement for a starter who couldn't go that day. They just HAD to mention that Wakefield had been pitching superbly and had only given up two hits in five-plus innings. I think they also mentioned the slump the opposing batter was currently in. On the very next pitch (or perhaps the second one--I'm not exactly sure) the batter had a hit. They immediately pulled Wakefield and brought in Bobby Jenks (Bobby Jinx?). There were two outs in the sixth inning. Jenks proceeded to give up hits, walks and wild pitches like they were going out of style. By the time the inning mercifully ended those Mariners with a mere two hits and no runs had scored twice to tie up the game 2-2.

I seriously start to wonder sometimes if these commentators realize what they're doing. I've even wondered if maybe they were actually doing it on purpose from time to time. Perhaps if the game seems to be going too smoothly or uneventfully they feel they need to shake it up a bit with a little jinx action...

Anyway, as far as more traditional superstitions go, I never really thought about it much, but I actually do follow most of them. I don't know if it started out that I actually believed them, or if my pessimistic nature just told me it was better to be safe than sorry, but since I was pretty young I've tended toward the superstitious. If a ladder was propped up against a building I would do everything in my power to walk around--rather than under--it. If a black cat crossed my path I would dread the bad luck that would ensue. I would throw a bit of salt over my right shoulder if I managed to spill some. I even tried my best to avoid stepping on cracks while walking--to avoid breaking my mother's back. I don't exactly know what I expect when a Friday the 13th rolls around, but I always have an underlying feeling of unease that won't pass until the next day.

When I was in the Army I broke a mirror in my wall locker once and I remember lamenting the depressing fact that I'd have bad luck for the next SEVEN years. Yeah, I know this is pretty negative thinking and I was probably just making my own self-fulfilling prophesy or something, but that's just how I felt. Ironically enough, about six or seven years later I got so frustrated one day at my job that I punched the outside rear view mirror of a truck--which broke, naturally. I was ALMOST over my seven years of bad luck and I just gave myself a brand-new seven!

I've even managed to put my own personal spin on a couple of the classic superstitions. I always followed the saying "Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck". But when I was in Army Basic Training back in 1987 one of my fellow trainees told me that there was actually more to the story than that. According to him, if you found a penny that was "heads up" then you could pick it up and expect the promised good luck. However, if the penny was on the "tails" side then it would bring you bad luck if you picked it up (great, just what I needed). In this case you were supposed to pick up the penny, throw it over your right shoulder and not look back. The nice thing about this ritual was that you could not only avoid the bad luck yourself, but you also had a 50/50 chance of giving the next person to find the penny good luck! Naturally I adopted this myself (just to be on the "safe" side) It would be much simpler (and certainly more lucrative) to simply pick up ALL pennies found on the ground. Now I have to check each one first. And if it happens to be tails I have to try to pick it up and throw it over my shoulder as nonchalantly and as unobserved as possible (yes I do realize how ridiculous it must appear--and that's why I try my best to make sure no one sees me doing it).

Similarly, I always had a belief that a black cat crossing your path would give you bad luck. Having owned black cats as a kid, I figured that black cats of your own didn't count--my own personal twist--and I hope it was correct (fingers crossed). In my experience it does indeed seem that black cats are MUCH more likely to cross a person's path than cats of any other color. Whether this is true or not it seems to be the case from what I've seen. Possibly this had something to do with the superstition getting started in the first place (?). Who knows... And I've also heard that white cats crossing your path bring good luck. I'd like to believe this is true. Of course I almost NEVER find a white cat crossing my path--they ALWAYS seem to be black. It is tough to avoid crossing the path of a black cat that has just crossed your path of course. And it's even MORE difficult when your driving. I found a solution to this predicament in a most unusual place. When Bill Parcells was the coach of the New England Patriots back in the 1990s I remember one particular press conference he had. He was famous for his odd and off-beat remarks that gave the sportscasters and writers stuff to talk/write about. For whatever reason, on this particular day Parcells was discussing his superstitions (it was probably a Friday the 13th). He said that he believed that a black cat crossing your path would cause bad luck. But he also believed that you could "erase" that bad luck by backing up over the path the cat just crossed and then going over it again (either walking or driving). This sounded quite off-the-wall, and I have no idea where it came from or if he had just made it up himself (like the penny-over-the-shoulder thing), but it has stuck with me all these years. It's a little difficult to try to walk backwards and then forward again in public without looking "odd", and it's even more difficult (and dangerous) to do it in a car, but for my own peace of mind I feel it's worth it! Living on a street that has a number of black cats on it, I'm glad for whatever relief from bad luck I can get.

Well, it's now over halfway through Friday May 13, 2011. I hope the rest of the day will be uneventful for me (and you too). See you on Saturday the 14th (I hope...)!

Stay Safe!

Movies, Memories and My Dad

My father passed away recently after a long battle with cancer. Naturally I've been thinking about him a lot since he died. I've always regretted that we didn't spend more time together and that we weren't as close as we could have been, but at the same time I feel very lucky to have had him in my life for my first forty-one years.

Movies are (and have always been) an important thing in my life. While I have many, many great memories of watching all kinds of movies throughout my life, my parents haven't been a part of very many of those memories. I wrote about some of the films my sister took me to as a kid in Movies My Sister Made Me Watch, but in general I didn't really see a lot of movies with my parents. I'd like to share the movie-related memories that I DO have which involved my Dad. I'll split these recollections up into three parts: stories Dad told me, moviegoing experiences with my parents, and making up for lost time later in life.

Dad's Movie Stories

I'll only tell two of these stories here: one that I remember hearing many times since I was a Monster Kid, and one that I only heard a couple weeks before Dad died.

When I was a teenager (I believe) Dad must have realized how much I enjoyed going out to the movies with my friends and that movies had a certain importance for me. I remember him telling me this story on a number of occasions, and I always enjoyed it. Basically he just told me about how he would go to the movies as a kid during the Great Depression--when getting a little entertainment on the big screen could be a nice diversion from the realities of life. He always told me about the fact that it only cost a five cents to get in. Of course, a nickel went a lot further back then, but it was still a lot cheaper than the ten dollar-plus price of movie tickets today. It turns out that that nickel provided my Dad with a whole afternoon of entertainment--not just the movie he went to see. Before the feature at these kiddie-matinees there would be a number of cartoons. The cartoons were followed by some newsreels about current events in the world. Then there would be the latest installment of whatever serial was being run at the time. Finally, the movie would run. I always thought it sounded like a great way to spend a day in a darkened theater with a bunch of other kids all around you.

While I heard this story many times over the years, Dad told me another one for the first time just a couple weeks before he died. My Mother knows how much I love the movie "Psycho" (1960) and told me a few times about how scary it was to see it when it was new. Dad just recently told me the story of how they went to see "Psycho" at the drive-in. I guess they couldn't get a babysitter and had to bring my sister along with them. They thought she was soundly asleep in the back of the car. At least they thought so right up until the famous shower scene--when my sister poked her head between them to see what was going on and scared the crap out of them both!

Going To The Movies With Mom And Dad

I mentioned that I didn't actually go out to the movies a lot with my parents. This isn't to say that we NEVER went out to see movies together. Maybe it is because of the fact that it didn't happen all that often, but I have very fond memories of the times that they did take me to the movies.

I remember them taking me to see Disney's "The Gnome-Mobile". This somewhat obscure movie was released in 1967 (two years before I was born). After doing a little research I found out that it was apparently re-released in 1976. That would make sense, as I would have been either six or seven when we saw it--a perfect age for that movie. I remember having a great time watching it with Mom and Dad. Last year I was finally able to see the movie again (for the first time since seeing it with my parents as a kid) when I got it from Netflix and watched it with my Little Monster. It was a pretty emotional experience for me--remembering watching it with my parents, now introducing it to my own daughter, and thinking about the fact that my father was currently in the midst of his battle with cancer.

Another "kid's" movie I recall watching with my parents was "The Muppet Movie" (1979). I'm pretty sure we saw this on a Sunday afternoon, as I'm almost positive that we went to see it after visiting a flea market--where I bought a cool plastic toy version of an M-16 rifle! This is a movie I remember enjoying when we saw it, but one which I haven't seen in a long time. I suppose that I should take it out and introduce the Little Monster to this one too.

I also remember that we went on a couple of important (to me) shopping trips when I was young (to buy my first bike and to buy my first tape recorder). These shopping trips generally also included dinner and a movie. I remember going to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) the night we went to Child World to buy my first bike. I don't recall exactly what the movie was that we saw that night, but it might have been one of the Clint Eastwood orangutan movies "Every Which Way But Loose" (1978) or "Any which Way You Can" (1980). I can't recall which it was, but now that I look at the release dates, it was most likely the first one as 1978 was more likely when I would have gotten my first bike than 1980.

I have clearer memories of the night I got my first tape recorder. That tape recorder was a very important thing to me in the days before we got our first VCR in 1985. My parents took me out to K-Mart to get the tape recorder in March of 1981, and we also saw the Lily Tomlin movie "The Incredible Shrinking Woman" (1981). this is one that's hard to find these days. I think I saw it on TV way back in the 1980s, but otherwise haven't seen it in many years. It'll always be a part of a special night for me though.

I also went to the drive-in quite a bit as a kid. Back in the 1970s the drive-ins were on the wane, but there were still a lot of them around. Even my little home town of Uxbridge, Massachusetts had a drive-in of its own--The Quaker Drive-In. In addition, there were a number of other drive-ins within a half-hour drive of home. While I tend to remember going to the drive-ins with my older sisters (and later with my friends when we start driving ourselves), I do remember an important drive-in experience with my parents. Though I don't recall what movie it was paired with, in the summer of 1978 my parents took me to see "Star Wars" at the Quaker Drive-In. Of course "Star Wars" was released in 1977. for years I always assumed that my memory of seeing it at the drive-in was from the summer of 1977. For my 40th birthday we had a backyard drive-in party where we showed "Star Wars". I went to the library to try to find the drive-in ad from when saw it at the drive-in. I searched through every week the drive-in was open in 1977 and couldn't find "Star Wars" anywhere. I KNEW that I had seen it at the drive-in though. Then I tried 1978 and found ads for it playing the drive-ins that year. Dad had a big, yellow U.S. Postal Service van (not one of those little ones you see driving around these days, but a huge one that was more like the size of a UPS truck. He had turned the cargo area of the van into a camper--complete with a fold-down bed, a table, a sink and a toilet. I remember lying down in the back of the van, watching the movie up on the screen and playing with some of my "Star Wars" action figures.

My last memory of seeing a movie with my parents as a "kid" was when they took me and one of my best friends to see "Star Wars" again in 1987, when it was re-released for its tenth anniversary (and while I was a senior in high school). At the time, my friends and I were already going to the movies on our own, but it was a nice day spent with my parents that didn't feel as awkward as one might expect for a couple teenagers.

The Final Chapter

In the past couple of years I was lucky enough to have had an opportunity to re-acquaint myself with the idea of going to the movies with my parents. National Amusements movie theaters have a series of bargain-priced shows called "Silver Screen Classics".

They show an old movie (usually a Public Domain title, so they don't have to pay for it) on the big screen. It's only a DVD projection, but it's still a great program. For only two dollars you get to see the movie and you also get a small bag of popcorn, a small drink and a cookie! This series is mainly geared towards retirees, seniors and elderly people--as evidenced by the Monday at 1:00PM time slot of the movies, as well as the fact that most of the movies are from the 1930s to the 1950s. My parents started attending these shows a few years ago, and because of some luck in my schedule, I was able to join them a number of times. After my Dad was diagnosed with cancer they weren't able to get to the Silver Screen movies as often, but I made a point of trying to get to as many of the ones they did go to as I could. It all made for a great time and a good chance for me to spend more quality time with my parents than I had in a long time. It was also fun to see a bunch of classic (or not-so-classic) old movies of all types (war, musicals, comedies, film noir...) on the big screen for the first time (at least the first time for me--my parents remembered seeing many of them when they were first released). I was even able to hear my Dad's story about going to the movies for a nickel when he was a kid again! The last time we all went to the series was at the end of last October (a Halloween show that featured "Bride of the Gorilla" (1951)). Dad was hospitalized soon after, and while he managed to live for another six quality months, he was never quite up to going back to the movies. Last Monday I finally got back to the Silver Screen Classics show to see "Father's Little Dividend" (1951) with my mother. It was tough going without my father, but it was nice to go back there to remember him. I'm hoping we'll get to a lot more in the future.

Mom and Dad at the Blackstone Valley 14 cinema for the "Silver Screen Classics" show

Johnny Legend's Mega Big-Time DVD Sale!

I was just made aware of something that sounds too cool to be true! If it IS true then I just had to share it myself and pass along the exciting news. Johnny Legend is having a gigantic sale on his line of DVDs. All of his single-disc catalog titles are only $3.00 each. A couple multi-disc sets are $6.00 each. And his three brand-new releases are $8.00 for one, $15.00 for two or $20.00 for all three. Shipping is $3.00 for your total order. Also, if you order three or more titles you get an autographed photo of Johnny from "2001 Maniacs" (2005) for free.

Check THIS out though... For only $60.00 you get ALL twenty-seven titles (including the new releases), an autographed photo AND free shipping!

For those not familiar with Johnny Legend (and I admit to only having a vague knowledge of the man myself), IMDb describes him as follows:

"Actor, director, rockabilly singer, trash film historian, wrestling manager and promoter -- modern-day Renaissance man Johnny Legend has truly done it all and then some in a remarkably rich, eclectic, and impressive career that has spanned over four decades and shows no signs of stopping in the immediate near future."

I've been wanting to pick up his Special Edition of the Arch Hall, Jr. classic "The Sadist" (1963) for what feels like years now. Arch Hall, Jr. made a number of less-than-stellar movies in his short (six films) acting career, but "The Sadist" is a genuinely creepy and well-made psychological thriller.

Johnny Legend's DVD of the movie is not always the easiest thing to find. And when I do find it, it tends to be on the expensive side. Being a penny-pinching bargain hunter, I always seem to resist the urge to open the purse-strings for it. Looks like I'm FINALLY going to get my own copy of it!

Fans of old horror, exploitation, biker and just plain old strange cinema are likely to find something of interest in Johnny Legend's catalog of DVDs. And, it looks like now's the time to pick them up!

Here's a link to his new blog page about the sale with all the pertinent details:

Johnny legend's DVD Blog

In Anorexic Toy Soldiers I wrote about getting burned by old comic book ads, and mentioned phrases like "Caveat Emptor", "If it sounds too good to be true it probably is" and "You get what you pay for". I'm hoping that this sale is a legit thing. I just shot Mr. Legend an e-mail to try to confirm the validity of the whole thing. If it all seems kosher I'll place my order in the next couple of days. I'll let you know what happens. I'm also not sure how long this sale lasts, but did ask him that too.

You know, it seems kind of odd to think that I'm writing a blog about a blog. ...But at the same time, when you're talking about the one-and-only Johnny Legend, it seems kind of fitting too! Cross your fingers and wish me luck!

UPDATE:

Here's the results of my experience with the Mega Big-Time DVD Sale:

Johnny Legend's Mega Big-Time DVD Sale--Part 2

Penny Dreadful's Shilling Shockers

It has been a tough week, dealing with my father's passing and everything that went along with it. The mourning will continue, but life does indeed go on and it's time to try to get back to being a Monster Dad for my Little Monsters.

As a result of my watching of the show Creature Double Feature on Boston's channel 56 (WLVI) when I was a kid, I tend to be a fan and supporter of the many Horror Host shows that are currently in production all over the country. Two of my favorites in this genre are the great public access shows "Saturday Fright Special" and "Penny Dreadful's Shilling Shockers". Part of the reason for this is because I personally know some of the wonderful people behind these two fun shows. Knowing how much of a labor of love it is to undertake something like this, I want to try to promote and support them in any way that I can. As an example, here's the Little Monster and myself back in February giving "Saturday Fright Special" a little free advertising during our trip to Walt Disney World in Florida:

"Shilling Shockers" has already completed and aired seven seasons worth of shows and they are currently working on their eighth season. They are seen on a number of public access channels around New England and elsewhere and are always looking toward expanding their reach. Both "Shilling Shockers" and "Saturday Fright Special" base their shows around movies that are in the Public Domain. These are films that can be used in shows like this without having to receive permission to use them and without having to pay to use them. To these generally less-than-stellar movies the shows will add a number of host segments that make the whole experience of tuning in to a PD movie a much more interesting one. The host segments of "Shilling Shockers" frequently follow a plot line that mirrors the featured movie (or some aspect of the movie) in some way. While they have traditionally made individual episodes that were self-contained and stand on their own, the seventh season introduced a continuing plot line that wound through several episodes. In addition to the host of the show--the witch Penny Dreadful XIII--the cast of "Shilling Shockers" also features Garou (a werewolf, and Penny's husband), monster hunter Dr. Manfred Von Bulow and Luna, "the escaped madwoman".

I don't actually get to see Shilling Shockers on TV (as I don't have cable), but do own two seasons worth of episodes on DVD sets (which "Shilling Shockers" produces and sells). In late-October 2009 I found out that the "Shilling Shockers" gang was going to be making an appearance at the studio of public access station WCCA TV channel 13 in Worcester, Massachusetts. I had recently met the cast at the Rock and Shock show at the DCU Center in Worcester earlier that month. It occurred to me that the Little Monster might enjoy meeting these characters too. And the fact that the appearance was on October 30 made it a great pre-Halloween event worth checking out.

The Little Monster was interested in making the trip, despite the fact that she wasn't familiar with the show or its cast. I showed her some segments of the show on DVD and some stuff online to give her an idea of what she was getting herself into. She agreed to go with me to go to the appearance. She put on her skeleton costume she wore that Halloween and we headed out to Worcester. On the way to the appearance she was very excited and a little nervous. the nervousness was certainly understandable--after all, how often do you get a chance to meet a witch and a werewolf? She tends to be shy around new people anyway, and was even more reticent about meeting Penny and Garou. She was scared to greet them, but DID manage to accept some Halloween candy from Garou! Candy makes for a very effective ice-breaker.

Here's my nervous Little Monster meeting Penny and Garou in 2009

And here she is on the set at WCCA TV

After we left, the Little Monster couldn't stop talking about Penny and Garou (especially Garou). We ended up watching a number of "Shilling Shockers" episodes over the next few weeks. I just had to enroll her into the show's fan club. Back in December an envelope addressed to the Monster came in the mail. She was very excited to find out that it was a Holiday card from Penny, Garou and the rest of the "Shilling Shockers" gang. They all added little personal messages and signed the inside of the card. The Little monster had recently learned to write her own name at pre-school and she ended up signing the card herself.

Here's the 2010 Holiday card from the Shilling Shockers Fan Club

And here's the inside of the card (complete with the Little Monster's autograph!)

I recently found out that Penny Dreadful and Garou were going to make an appearance at the book store Annie's Book Stop in Worcester. It was scheduled for Saturday, April 30. As fate would have it, Saturday wound up being the day of the memorial service for my father. I had told the Little Monster a couple weeks earlier that were going to the appearance, but then thought it wasn't going to happen. In the end the timing worked out so that we were able to go to the appearance after all. While the Little Monster was still her regular shy self, she didn't show any fear when meeting Penny and Garou this time. She really seemed to know them and know that there was no need to be afraid. She dressed up in her own witch costume and hat, and even brought along her Halloween Witch Barbie doll! Unlike the first time she met them, the Monster was able to comfortably pose with Penny and Garou for some photos--and even smiled in them! What a difference a year-and-a-half can make.

Garou, the Little Monster and Penny Dreadful XIII

Penny, the Little Monster and Barbie

Garou, Monster Dad, Little Monster, Penny Dreadful

The Little Monster had a great time, and I was able to catch up with Penny and Garou for the first time since last October. All-in-all it was a wonderful end to a day which had been full of stress and mourning. It was just what my aching Monster Dad heart needed!

Here's a little piece that WCCA TV13 (a local public access station that airs Penny Dreadful's Shilling Shockers) did about Penny's appearance. The Little Monster is featured! I hope the link works...

Shilling Shockers Trip to Worcester

Dreaming of a Better Life (or Should I Say Death?)

I know that this will be a different kind of blog from Monster Dad, and I apologize for going a bit "off-topic", but it's something I just wanted to share. If you read it, thank you. If you don't, I understand...

Like everyone else, I've had many, many dreams over my lifetime. Happy dreams, nightmares and just plain-old strange dreams have filled my sleeping head over the past few decades. I detailed a couple of my Recurring Nightmares in an earlier blog. Generally my dreams tend to be a bit too "abstract" to make much real sense. I couldn't count the number of times that I've awakened from a strange dream and thought about telling my wife about it--only to not be able to remember the details. It seems that they make so little sense that they simply dissipate into thin air almost the moment I wake up. I've thought of starting a dream journal. A few things have kept me from doing that. When I wake up I can't seem to snap into an instantly alert state that would allow me to start writing about what just "happened". Because of this I can't write fast enough to get it down on paper before it leaves my mind. Plus (and most importantly) I'm just too lazy to actually start a project like a dream journal.

I've occasionally had a dream that stayed with me long enough to remember. These seem to tend to be the more "mundane" dreams that are easier for the unconcious and conscious minds to reconcile with each other: they follow some logical or semi-realistic line, they obey the rules of physics, they seem to be rooted in reality... Of course, these are the dreams that are the most boring and least worth writing down and digging into for hidden meanings or messages.

One thing I've rarely, if ever, had is a dream that seems to have a deep, meaningful and obvious reason behind it (at least not the ones I remember). That changed last night. We've all heard about dreams where lost loved ones come back and give us a message of love or peace that helps us deal with the pain and suffering of the loss. Kind of like the "light at the end of the tunnel" stories of people who have near-death experiences, it's sometimes hard to know how seriously to take such dreams. Unless you're the one experiencing it, it seems to sound like a nice story--but you kind of wonder how much it really happened and how much the person just imagined it or wanted to think it happened. I'm not saying I don't believe any of these stories, dreams, experiences or whatever they might be--just that it's hard to think that something so meaningful and "concrete" can come out of a semi-conscious or unconscious state. After forty-one years, I've finally had my first experience with what I consider a truly meaningful dream--or at least one that I've decided had a real meaning for me anyway.

As I've mentioned, my father has been battling cancer for quite a while. This has obviously been a very stressful time for him, my mother and my entire family. Over the past year-and-a-half he has had both good and bad periods. It all seemed to be leading up to something none of us wanted to think about, but which was inevitable. Yesterday, the inevitable suddenly became a lot closer. My father took a turn for the worse. Without getting into all the specific details, it became obvious that the end was near. I went down to my parents' house to be with my Dad and stay with my mother so she wouldn't be alone in that situation. I stayed overnight and we spent most of the night trying to sleep between having to give Dad medications every two hours and listening for changes in his breathing or condition while trying to keep him as comfortable as possible. Needless to say, neither my Mom or I got much sleep.

But, during one of the short sleep periods when I was drifting into and out of consciousness I had an experience that I can only consider a dream. It seemed so real that I initially thought it actually happened--until I realized that was impossible. In the "dream" my parents were both in the bed that they were actually sleeping on in reality. I was lying on the same couch nearby that I was lying on in reality. The sounds, dim lighting and even smells in the room were the same as they were before I fell asleep. The dream was incredibly simple. Because of this (and the realistic nature of it) I initially just accepted what had happened as being part of reality. So what happened? Very simply, my Dad sat up in bed, swung his legs over the side and stood up. He was fully dressed and looked healthy and happy. I believe that he slipped on a jacket and started walking across the room toward the door. I'm not sure if he acknowledged me as he passed by me on the couch, but I believe he was smiling. He walked out of the room and to the front door and then out of the house. That's it.

I woke up (though in my sleepiness it didn't feel like my conscious state really changed like it usually feels when I awaken from a dream) and slowly came to the realization that what had just happened didn't actually happen (because it couldn't have). I'm just assigning my own personal meaning to this dream and don't claim to be a qualified dream interpreter in any way, but it just seemed like it was my Dad's way of saying that it was time to go. It was very simple, and no words were used, but it just seemed to make perfect sense. With all my heart I hope that this is what the meaning was. Maybe, just maybe it will make things just a little bit easier when the time does come that I have to face the reality that my Dad has really "walked out of the house" for the last time. I hope so...

I Love You Dad!

Rest In Peace