The Not so wonderful world of "Vloging": The delcine and death of the CTFxC

For those of whom that are of keen sense of the wave that is vloging on Youtube, you must know of the CTFxC. The vloging channel started by now We The Kings bassist Charles Trippy, his vlogs including his (Now ex) wife Alli Trippy (Nee Speed), dogs Zoey and Marley, his parents, his then in-laws, and his friends/band mates in We The Kings, has almost 1,500,000 subscribers and holds a world record in the Guinness Book for longest non-stop daily vlog on Youtube (6 straight years). Diagnosed with brain cancer in 2013, and suffering seizures since 2012, he's not stopped, even filming his brain surgery and rehab. 

Recently, on April 7th, 2014, he uploaded a vlog entitled "We Need To Talk". It's here that he announced that after a 5 and a half year relationship which included a 2 and a half year marriage, he and his wife Alli, who vloged along side him and became a fan favorite, were divorcing. After countless videos, including skits, set backs, high times and low points, they were calling it quits. Alli, who'd ran, and still runs her own, independent channel from Charles on Youtube, was absent from the video, later revealed by her as a choice made by Charles. The strong, and then considered kindest fan base on Youtube flocked to the comments to leave well wishes and kind words of sorrow for the couple who were going their separate ways, that is until the internet interfered. Uploaded in the late morning, the comments were peaceful and kind. Disaster struck later that afternoon that has only gotten worse. Gurugossiper happened, and happened in a big way.

Someone, whom I won't mention because they don't deserve it, posted link to their forum in the comments on the video, where people had started doing what the forum was designed for. Gossiping. The forum goers, mainly all teenage to early 20's aged females, had started to ease their way into the role of private investigator, and started looking at Charles' online comments and usage. They managed to dig up comments he made on various photos, and "likes" made on a woman's Instagram and Facebook profile, whilst still in the relationship with his wife Alli. This is all they had to go on (Pretty much still is), along with the "We Need To Talk" video. Commence cheating rumors on the part of both Alli and Charles, along with rumors of spousal abuse (Rumor had it that Charles had thrown a camera at Alli's face in a fit of rage, blackening her eye).

The monkey wrench of the internet that was thrown into the cogs of the fandom had worked marvelously. In the original video announcing the split, Charles addressed the fact that he and Alli had been arguing for quite some time, and that it had reached it's peak to where neither were happy anymore, despite trying to work on it away from the videos. He said that the two constantly being away traveling didn't help things. He stated that neither party had cheated or wronged the other in any fashion, and that it was mutual. Charles included that he wanted to stay close to her, and her family because they had grown very close and he wanted it to stay that way despite the divorce. Alli would echo sentiment in a video she would make weeks later, after collecting her thoughts. None of this would sit well with the fan base, who by the time Alli released her video, had split into "Team Charles" and "Team Alli". Very few, like myself who's watched from day one in 2006, were Team Both.

What was once and cohesive and kind fandom/community, had now turned like virus victims in a George Romero zombie film. Upset over many things for very selfish reasons, they attacked like said zombies and and ravaged the comments with hate, accusations and threats of physical harm, one going so far as to stalk Alli and threaten to "Rip her face off and eat it." Those against Charles use(d) cheating as their excuse, as did those who were anti-Alli along with hate about leaving him while having cancer, and cheating with first, a We The Kings band mate of Charles', and then a life long friend of her own (People using a vague section of video from the vlogs as proof). This was and still was just an attempt to make themselves feel better, and have a reason to sleep better at night, because they didn't like the truth. I liken it to the CM Punk leaves WWE debacle. 

Moving along, those at the aforementioned forums, after a series of vlogs from Charles, who is still soldiering on with the vlogs, uncovered that he had started dating again, by snooping on Facebook and Instagram. Despite both He and Alli BOTH stating that they had doubts about the relationship even before they married, and then stating that their relationship had been over for a while off camera, the "teams" just couldn't accept that. Cries of "He moved on too quickly" arose, and still echo now. These fueled the cheating rumors. They bothered and bugged and harassed and bullied and threatened Charles so much, that he had to include a daily message about being kind and moving on in the vlogs everyday until the divorce was announced as final. He has since introduced his new girlfriend (Named Allie) in the vlogs whom many have grown to like, yet some continue to harass her because the Gurugossiper forums revealed that she had a DUI her family has a criminal background. Snooping yet again throwing a wrench in the works. 

Still, hate persists towards Charles. People set up fake accounts to troll him, and baiting him to make comments about his ex-wife Alli, buy bashing his new girlfriend, or disguising it as support for him, all in the effort to get him to say something in  the heat of the moment so they can screen shot it and send to Alli, in hopes of ruining ANY chance she and Charles had of remaining friends, believing they're acting in Alli's defense. People STILL bring it up in the comments and on reddit daily, further making the fighting last longer. They STILL argue in the comments on the videos and elsewhere, so much so, some are determined to get him to admit he cheated, though both he and Alli stated he didn't, and neither did she. They refuse to unsubscribe, though some have. The last real bit of news in the story, is on the opening day of Warped tour, Charles under duress from the hate he was getting sent, and just ending a cycle of chemo treatment (Cycle 9 I believe) had a seizure on the tour bus in the wee morning hours. His band mate Hunter, and his girlfriend had to make sure he was ok, and was by his side as it happened. He played the show that day, as he had done once before. 

Moral of the story, the internet can be the greatest place on earth, and the absolute worst all at the same time, and will turn on a heartbeat the minute something changes that people don't like. Fans are passionate, and after a certain amount of time especially after 6 years, when they get used to something, and then it's no longer there, they revolt. They can be hurtful, mean, nasty and downright terrible people, but because they're keyboard warriors, and the internet and it's anonymity give them "Virtual courage", they'd NEVER walk up to them and saying anything negative. They'd have to face repercussions. Real world cause and effect. Not physical harm, but a verbal dressing down. Rightfully so. It's indicative of the fact there's no privacy on the internet. Even of you don't want it out there, people will find it and leak it, or force you to make it so. Entitlement at it's worst. Take notice, that though people would have you believe that males are predominately the bullies of society, take a look at the bullying in this case. 70% or more of the hurtful comments, come from females. 

In the end, people, especially those who live vicariously though others online, need to check themselves. There's a bigger problem than Charles and Alli's personal lives that you DON"T get to see. It's you lacking empathy, sympathy and and general manners that's the problem. Think of others before yourself. Your words do more damage than you think, and hurt more than your intended target. They hurt all involved including you. 

I know this isn't my "normal" fare, but it needed addressing.  

Day of the Dead: How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse

It's coming, and it's not an if, but when. The more people who survive the better, but how are you gonna make it? Plans are best executed if made in advance. If you have one, great. If not, these tips, tricks and know how are gonna help you come up with yours. 

FYI, these are also good for pretty much any type of apocalypse, or natural disaster. Use them as you will.
As most of you all should know by now, zombies are killed by destroying the brain, or its ability to comunicate with the body it's attached to.  However, what you don't know, is that your type of weapon can also influence the outcome. Guns are best (I'm not a gun advocate, or advocating gun violence, in fact I'm strongly against it, but in this situation, lets face it, we'll need them), but also are others. You want something that can inflict heavy damage, but can be used quickly. Something that won't leave you open to be grabbed. That is something people forget about. The mouth isn't the only way a zombie can hurt/inflict damage to you.  If they're able to incapacitate you, you're doomed.

You need to be prepared mentaly, emotionally and utility wise. You'll need first aid equipment, such as gauze, bandages, antiseptic, burn creme, slings, braces, splints, medication and cotton balls, flash lights (Solar powered, or crank powered if you can get them)and batteries. You'll also need fresh, uncontaminated water. Bottled or gallon sized jugs should be stocked at the ready. I cannot stress enough the need for a water filtration system. You can filter rain water or standing water if you run out of bottles. For food, I recommend MRE's. They're military grade meals in a packet that have super long shelf lives, and come with their own heater. These can last virtually forever, and can be aquired easily at either an Army/Navy supply store, or online. Also, canning can be a game changer. Things such as meats/sauces/veggies/fruits can last atleast a year or two because of the process, and they're still edible andsafe to consume if they begin to spoil. You can either buy them, or do it yourself depending on what you want/need. 

Placement of your camp can be a life saver. Farms and going underground can be your saving grace. Farms not only provide you with free protection in the form of fences, but also because of land to farm and animals to use for food. The only downfall is the risk of your protection being breached. Fences won't last forever, especially under force of zombie weight. Also the need to heat yourself and cook. Smells and smoke can be a dead giveaway of your position to not only zombies, but to looters and potential dangerous people. Underground affords you the comfort from all that the farm cant. You'll be virtually undetectable to zombies and looters, you'll get free heating from the ground itself, and you can cook without anyone knowing, and drawing any attention. However this comes with risks too. You'll be unnoticable to zombies and general bad people, but also from rescue. If you can't be seen, you can't be saved.  Also, you need an entrance and exit that cannot be easily found by others, but easily found by you should need to go top side to  gather food/firewood/Ammo. You don't wanna get lost and not know how to get back.

Lastly, and this I can't stress enough, is dillegence. You need to pay attention, you need to be aware, you need to learn all you can, and you NEED to take seriously news when you hear it when it happens. You need this to act quickly, as those with a plan, and act the fastest, can survive anything. Whether it's zombies, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, snowstorms or whatever, nothing should be underestimated.

You can survive anything on knowledge and prepardedness alone.

Halloween: The Case for a National Holiday

It's that time of year again. Good ol' Samhain, or as it's more widely known, Halloween. My favorite of ALL the holidays. It's a celebrated tradition in my family, and has been since I was a kid, and even before I was born. Infact, it's celebrated with such furvor, it rivals Christmas in this family.  Mass amounts of candy, lights, pumpkins, decorations, costumes, movies (Most on old VHS tapes copied from TV when I was little), spooky sounds tapes, and even my own itunes playlist of fitting halloween metal songs. It's good to be "Among The Living" every once in a while! (CwatIdidthur?)

And that's just it. National statistics show that Halloween, 2nd only to Christmas, is not only the most profitable of all the holidays to businesses and establishments, but also the 2nd most celebrated and recognised holiday in the US. Well, even around the world for that matter. In a time where we have such silly holidays (Columbus Day, Valentines Day, Flag Day, Labor Day, Presidents Day, ect...), and kids being over-worked at school despite the nation saying they're behind where they should be (I blame that squarely on teachers. You can't teach a kid who doesn't wanna learn, and you can't teach a kid about something you don't wanna put time into and make interesting to them). Lets give them some time off when it'd be most advantageous to them, and make Halloween a National Holiday, and get rid of the other useless, outdated "breaks" they get. Give them the whole week off, and axe "Mid WInter Recess". Do they really need that between Christmas Break and Spring Break? It's only 3 months between them.

Also, think of it from a money stand point. Less kids in school that week, less need to pay teachers, and less money being used to pay heating bills when they're not there. More kids free to Trick Or Treat, means more people buying candy to hand out and more parents buying costumes. Also, bars and other establishments will more of an influx of older couples and younger couples without kids. Also, more people free that week, means decoration sales will shoot up aswell, as a main reason people cite for not decorating, is not enough free time to do so.

Halloween has even more of a following than other "main" holidays such as Thanksgiving, Haunaka (Sp?), St. Patrick's Day, Independance Day and Memorial Day. This is because Halloween has taken on a different meaning with people from its roots in Samhain. It's no longer about the God of the Dead, and animal sacrifices and any sort of religious overtone. The only people who whine and cry about it are those few "Christians" who fly in the face of their own religion, and seek to judge others and condem them for outdated and contradictory beliefs (Much like the ones they cling to). Which is why even athiests celebrate the holiday. Halloween is the only holiday that adapts to is surroundings, without seeming old, tired or hokey. It's become inclusionary and inviting to others, and can change to fit the times. No other holiday can do that. Most are very standard and paint-by-numbers every year. 

Making Halloween a National Holiday, by numbers and statistics alone, makes almost too much sense. That puts money in our country's pockets, and in our local and even big businesses. It cuts costs for schools, and allows for more school time later in the school year by reducing breaks by lumping them together for Halloween week. 

Most importantly, it will make our kid's live that much better by getting to experience, and learn life lessons like politeness, kindness, inclusiveness, manners and tradition, through fun. That's all Halloween ever was, and all it ever will be. Fun. 

Please be safe this Halloween, and have a great, FUN time, without judging others. 

Pipebomb! My experience with THQ, CAWS.ws and WWE 12.

Sorry if this gets a bit long. Its quite the long saga. I could write a book. Please bear with me though.


Its not sour grapes (though there are a lot to be had in the mess), but I just hate the fact companies and their employees are allowed to treat their customers the way they do. I mean, they almost make EA Sports look saintly. They're almost as bad as Activision. They're on the same level as the caws.ws forums and it's mods. That's a tough act to follow. I'd love to think that when THQ meets it's inevitable, fast approaching end, things will get better, but no, we still have EA and Activision to screw it up so badly, it can't be revived.



It all started November 22nd, 2011. The release day of THQ's much hyped, much anticipated, return to form installment of their licensed WWE franchise, WWE '12. I, having followed it being a member of and contributing community member of the caws.ws forums since November 2006 as Stinger_tap10, and previously as Spinal_tap06 (I changed my user name due to wanting it to be more wrestling related, but similar to my old one), and being a life long WWE and wrestling game fan, rushed to buy it on release day due to interaction on the forum with the seemingly very helpful THQ employed Community Managers. I assumed that, being THQ employees being directly and very involved with getting community feedback, their word was trustworthy and frequently defended them from haters. Boy did I ever turn out to be wrong in doing that!lol So, I buy it against my better judgement, having had previous problems with the games from THQ in the past being buggy and glitch filled messes, but because I'm a wrestling/game fan, I gave it a chance.



I get it home, create a wrestler, download the day 1 DLC and go to use the online portion of the disc. Not working correctly. Seeing as how the rest of the game seemed to be great, I gave it the benefit of the doubt, and figured I'd check and see if others were having problems with it as well on caws.ws (where I had/have alot of good friends, both local and long distance). There were. However to my own comfort, THQ was quick to acknowledge the problem, state they knew about it, and that they were working to get it fixed (Connection problems to the online servers) ASAP. This turned into days, and soon into weeks. During this time, I befriend (Atleast I thought I did), THQ Community Manager (Now ex), Marcus Stephenson. Through many Twitter Dm's, we decide that, due to my knowledge of the game industry, video games, and computers, that I'd help people to report problems with the game to him, along with any server down time and outages to the online portion of the game. In February, THQ, after 2 full months of complete inaction on fixing anything wrong with the game (Bugs, glitches, forgotten Superstar commentary audio files, all of the online mode), announced they'd be issuing a major patch to fix the above stated problems. Little known to us users, they blanked out Community to appear like all creations had been wiped from the servers. I'm not the only person who thought so. So, enraged at everything that's transpired so far, and the then current lack of any communication with Marcus, I take to caws.ws to air my feelings, along with many others, which prompted Marcus to ask if we still wanted him to post there, threatening to leave and never gather feedback again. I said no, again along with many others. However, only I was harshly reprimanded by forum mod Ernez, and was "warned" after fighting with him about the punishment for saying what I did, which was true.


Now I'm on fire mad, that A: THQ is treating us customers like we don't matter, B: that caws.ws is trying to censor its users from speaking out about THQ, just because people who work at THQ are signed up there, and that with everything I'm helping to fix, I seem to be getting the short end of the stick. Again, after many back and forth DMing sessions, Marcus and I make peace and again I set forward trying to help. I let bygones be bygones. At this point, I'm still speaking out about THQ and create a petition to take the WWE Franchise away from THQ for their mistreatment of the consumer base, and the seemingly purposeful "knee capping" of the game. Minutes after creating it, I post a topic on caws.ws to spread the word, and within what I'd say was 5 minutes, and with not one reply, the topic was locked and closed by a mod there named Joel, who was very rude and condescending to me. This prompted me to put a link to it in my forums signature, and (Forgive the term) "whore" it out when I could in the "Post Patch Issues" and "WWE 12 Server Problems" threads at caws. I was again pretty much yelled at for this, and again, "warned". At this point people began to discover that not only had the patch not helped the servers, but that it also caused several more issues with the game aswell, even as far as corrupting whole game saves. At this time, and pretty much most of the time going forward, Marcus (And all the other WWE THQ community personnel) hid, and barely ever said word one about it, and never even mentioned the game again. Marcus eventually left THQ (To much speculation) to join the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets in an office position. He at one point recommended me for a "job" writing for a new blog at Virtual Squared Circle for friends of his looking to create the "polar opposite" of caws. That didn't last long, as again, I was treated unfairly, and poorly by Charles Shane (Ex employee at caws).


So after defriending Marcus, Charles, and apparently making enemies at caws.ws for helping people, Marcus causing twitter fights between me and others on twitter and speaking out against THQ, caws decided to ban me from the site, without any notice of any wrong doing (Which there never was), any excuse for the ban or any chance to retrieve any info from my message inbox before my account was deactivated, and now completely un-viewable to anyone but a mod. I'm not the only one. They've banned a member named Nemphosis, who was a long time member and outspoken about his dislike of Marcus and all things THQ. They stopped allowing long time member Dynomite from posting caws at the site, until he decided to just stop posting there and create his own site with Petchy, which prompted them to re-allow it. They were censoring long time, respected member Petchy through his comments and caw posting. They disallow any talk of hacking the game on the 360, yet promote said hacked caws on their site, and even hand out awards to the best caws/makers (Who always just happen to be the ones who hack the game). So during one night of twitter convos, relaxing after giving guitar lessons, I encounter a convo between my friends brienj and Petchy about lead forum mod ThreeG, who they stated to be hitting on and flirting with a 16 year old girl with the twitter handle @JustLikeJill. He's 25, she's 16. You do the math. I, in trying to understand the convo (I came in on the middle of it), jokingly asked "So ThreeG is a pedo bear in disguise?" (This all went down before my ban). Next day, my account at caws was deactivated. After 3 e-mails (2 went ignored), ThreeG responded by saying I'd not be getting my account back. While reporting outages to Stephenson, when I'd report to him they were working fine momentarily, in real time (within seconds), it would go back to being terrible to use again. Also ran across a great little story about their former mod Status blackmailing a mentally handicapped person who was banned from caws.ws, for xbox live points (Which cost money). Ask him about that. Also ask him about calling people on twitter fags and homos, and telling them to die. His twitter bio is "Only faggots unfollow me." Well, guess what, I did. It doesn't apply.


So after many heated messages back and forth with Marcus after this had all went down, I learn, though not in the exact wording I'm about to use, that he was basically using me to shut people up so THQ wouldn't get in trouble for the game being the way it was, and when I started saying how bad it was, that's when he'd instigate a fight between me and a community member, so as to lose all my credibility, and so it wouldn't spread to anyone who's not a forum goer or WWE and THQ share holders.


Now, THQ's already in a world of financial trouble, with the stock split (Which was an emergency move after being threatened to be de-listed from NASDAQ for trading below a dollar for so long), ADIDAS suing them for 10 million because they failed to make a game with their sponsored tie in, and the Wii U failing. What am I gonna do, to great big THQ, that they need to silence me?lol I mean, the fact they put this terrible game on the market, and offer no refund and to not have a flawless, problem free replacement is illegal in it self, along with deceptive advertising due to the features it hyped not working properly or at all. They did this to themselves. Not me.


To this day, the servers still don't work right, they never added in Shawn Michaels' personalized commentary audio (Which Marcus admitted to me that the team flat out just forgot to include on the disc), story designer still is a disaster filled glitch and bug fest, the reversals glitch and are horribly unresponsive, and they completely took out the only helpful glitch, that allowed users to place Paint Tooled logos and ingame logos over the breast, crotch and buttocks areas that the game normally blurs out as a censoring safe guard (A few jerks who made completely nude caws one year, and uploaded them). They hurt the community every year, by making terrible games, that they say we have a part in shaping (Yeah, right), just to spite us. Wake up THQ. This is the reason Dana pulled UFC's game license from you, and WWE eventually will too. Apparently though, you want that from rumors I've heard. You're so deep in the red that you want to purposely fuck up games till all your licensed clients pull them, and you're free of any legal liability. Why don't you just make us sign a waiver when we buy a game, that if you make a game that doesn't work, its not your fault, but ours!lol


I want THQ, Marcus, caws (Especially Ernez, Joel, Status and ThreeG) you just don't treat people like crap and get away with it. It comes back to haunt you. 200 people signed, in agreement with me, my petition to boycott THQ and their games, their WWE franchise in particular. You just can't treat long time, loyal, respected members of a community like trash. You don't just slap together a shit game and force feed it to us, and act like we should just run out and take it, with smiles on our faces cause your the only wrestling game around. You're seeing the effects of that attitude.


So in closing, Sianara THQ. You'll be out of business faster than the Titanic sank, and caws.ws, you'll be lucky to have any active members left in a year. Marcus, you ruined what took me so long to build, my reputation online as nice person, cost me a few friends, and an online forum account. Never once got an apology from him. And thanks to most of the WWE gaming community. Most of you helped this mess happen in the first place by backing me when you moaned about the game, but never stepping up to back me when the time came. From now on, you buy a bad THQ WWE game, you're all on your own.

My rebuttle to HotdogCinema's Hatchet Review.

Now let me start out by saying just a few things. First thing that comes to mind is my need to say that this in no way a slight to Hotdog Cinema. They have an awesome site over there which I strongly urge all my readers to visit. They, along with my good friends over at Bloody Disgusting have probably the best 2 horror sites on the net. Secondly, this isn't really about Hatchet, but rather a serious (albeit friendly) disagreement over whether not not the Slasher horror genre is "done and dusted" and if the movie has "done a disservice" to the genre itself. So lets get on with it shall we?

Let me state that I (at the ripe old age of 25), was introduced to horror movies BY the slasher genre, and it has been my "home" in horror since. The very first horror movie I was ever allowed to see was NOES 3: Dream Warriors the very first Halloween I was ever allowed to trick or treat by myself (I was 8).  The very first "scary thing" I was ever allowed to see was "The Halloween That Almost Wasn't" or "The Night Dracula Saved The World" for those who bought the VHS. 

So lets start out with good ol' Victory Crowley and his Hatchet. Has he done his fellow slashers wrong? Hmmm, that could made into a country song!lol  Anyways, no. After a long, long, LONG tireless parade of remakes of old slasher and other classic horror movies, and the tired continuation of the Scream franchise (Quite possibly Wes Craven's worst films ever), Hatchet comes along and revitalized the horror scene. The first thing that comes to mind about the movie, is the fact its not like other slasher movies. Its not NOES, its not Friday The 13, Its not Halloween, it's it's own "Monster". Sure it might feel that way, but really, think about it? What can you really do in a slasher film (That hasn't been done already or at all)? It finally said to Hollywood that original ideas, can and will sell and make money. If anything, for that reason alone its helped a multitude of different movies see the light of day that normally wouldn't have (Frozen, The Piranha series, Rec, The Lady In Black, The Woman,  The Rite, Insidious). He/She also included that it breaks many typical stereotypes and hallmarks of the genre (I'll itemize these). Well, that in of it self is refreshing, especially in a time when most, less sophisticated movie goers can't watch a movie for more than an hour and a half. First real problem they site is that they have the killer appear too early in the movie. Well, I assume you must have hated that Dracula appears no less then 1:20 in to Dracula (Lugosi driving the carriage), and when Mike Myers pops out from behind the bushes while Laurie Strode walks home (About 3 minutes in). This is done stylistically for a reason. Its so that the tension builds faster when you know their there and what the protagonist is up against, when they don't. It also helps to lend some level of sympathy to the character. They also write that there's nothing there to build suspense. Welcome to the 21st century. You must again hate anything after Friday Part 2 and NOES 2. Suspense isn't needed for the slasher genre, that's for the thrillers of the world. If you can incorporate it then great, but its not needed, and I agree it is somewhat lacking in that department. The next complaint is the 'wooden" acting. Show me a horror movie where there isn't any wooden acting/actors/actresses. Its horror. Its almost understood that's gonna occur, and especially in slashers where its more about gore and jump scares. Budget also applies here. Last complaint, is actually the look of Victor Crowley. Lets just say, I'd like to see you say what you did in the article to Jason or Leatherface!lol Think they'd take exception. 

"Slasher aficionados looking for a new nostalgia may end up feeling circumvented. This one did." Really? Your statements aren't really helping that statement, and making me question it aswell. Also don't think circumvented is the word you wanted right there. 

So IS the Slasher genre dead as Walt Disney is frozen? No, and it never will be. The sad thing is that there are many more quality Slashers being made, that we'll never get to see due to studio stigmas and budgetary limits. The only thing right now that's really hurting the genre (I'll admit its like any opponent that ever lost to John Cena), is that we have people, making the movies, who have no business being near them. We have people like Form, Fuller and Nispel making these movies (that are atrocious), while being paid millions, when they're not even fans, and people like Rooney Mara, who admittedly tanked their performance. They belong nowhere near the genre while people like John Carl Buechler, George Romero, Sean Cunningham and Tom McLoughlin are relegated to low budget, DTV (Direct To Video) clunkers cause studios won't give them the time of day. There is a whole generation of people who grew up on these movies, and became film makers because of them. Lets let them handle the movies, not failed music video directors and talent less waifs. 

Link to HotdogCinema: http://hotdogcinema.wordpress.com/

Play Date! Aladdin at The Cortland Repertory Theatre

Where: Cortland Repertory Theater
Show: Aladdin (Performed by the CRT Troubadours, the intern company)
Date: 6/0/12

Upon hearing of my little brother's the, upcoming school field trip To the CRT, I jumped at the chance to be one of the 4 chaperons allowed to accompany the classroom in its excursion. Normally, his school (Alton B Parker) doesn't really offer anything to anyone but parents and grandparents, I needless to say was very excited. I arrived to his school the morning of the rip, and we left around 9:15. Around 10:40 the play started. 
These period-dressed people (I would guess very late teens) came rushing out onstage, dragging with them, and old chest, upon which sat one of the actresses. They bantered back and forth for awhile, telling of their shipwreck and and journey to shore, and how all they had left was what was in the chest. They continued to banter about who was most important to the group, and acknowledged they they would still put on a play, but had to see what survived the journey to determine what could be done. They settle on Aladdin and proceed to hand out parts, props, costume pieces and start the play. 

Chris Collins - The Genie
Avery Epstein - The Director
Alexander Hulett - Aladdin
Alexa Shanahan - The Sorceress
Abby Sheridan - The Princess
Parker Slaybaugh - The Sultan

It begins with The Princess pining about her current love life and people her father (The Sultan) chose for her to date (People were brought up from the audience to create this). Along comes Aladdin, with whom she almost immediately falls deeply in love with. They have a music-backed (The Lovin' Spoonful's "Do You Believe In Magic" and Taylor Swift's "Love Story") montage, when the Sultan enters and immediately chastises the Princess and places a difficult challenge on Aladdin if truly loves the Princess and wants to win her hand in marriage. The Sorceress (Later revealed to be the Sultan's wife, and the Princess' mother) Overhears of the challenge (To find a magic lamp in the "Mysterious Caves of Little York", and bring it back) and enters herself to gain wealth and power. They journey to the caves and through audience participation (Making sounds, lining up to make the cave entrances), make their way to the lamp, where they both struggle with it, and in doing so, summon the genie. In both touching the lamp at the same time, the genie has the audience decide who gets the wishes. Aladdin wins, and uses his three wishes. The first, the hand of the princess, the second, that the Sultan and the Sorceress rediscover their love for each other (Que music!), and the last, to free the genie from his duty to the lamp. More music is heard, and then to end the show, audience members are brought onstage to dance with the actors and actresses.  They come back out after going backstage, and introduce themselves and bow. They announce that they'll be at each exit to take pictures with the kids, and give high-fives.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience to be had. The acting for such young individuals was amazing. It certainly held my attention, as it did the rest of the children who attended the show. Even with the plot holes in the story, the ensemble and their excitement and presentation made you look past it and just immerse yourself in the experience. I would most definitely go again, if only just to see this particular casting group. They are headed towards greatness, and I wish them all well.


John Bonham for The Halloween Horror Blog

Zombie Appocalypse: Fiction or your Government's best firend?

On the heels of what might be drastic financial disaster for Europe, and Greece more severely, the world economy is rougher than ever. The US was downgraded as a whole in our credit rating for failing to pay its debt on time and balance the national budget in a timely manner, rising unemployment, rampant inflation, European markets crashing, disgusting poverty numbers world wide, numerous countries revolting and staring over. Things seem as unsure and shaky as ever, but there's two things that always seem to offset this 90% of the time... War, and disease.

There's mounds of sound, economic data that proves that any country with a failing economy can rapidly generate revenue, create jobs, decrease inflation and generally "right the sinking ship". For brief example, WWII helped to bring The Great Depression of the late 1930's to an end, and usher in a new age of prosperity. Disease works in quite the same way, but with different variables. When faced with an impending epidemic, it causes panic. It causes people's fear responses to impulsively spend what they can at whatever the cost on OTC medicines, vaccinations, doctors office visits, prescriptions, hospital stays, and anything they think will help ward off the pandemic. It forces people to spend at any cost, and those individuals and companies rake in profit and, in turn, provide much needed revenue for the federal government as well. Take for instance SARS, Bird Flu, AIDS, Influenza.

Now, to the juicy part (No pun intended!lol). If you had read my previous blog detailing all of the plausible real life scenarios in which a zombie could be created, you'll know what I'm about to refer to and inference, if not go back and read it, then read the rest of this. Go ahead, I'll wait...

Imagine this: With the US facing its toughest economic times since before the Clinton administration, and with Syria recently ousting its tyrannical leader, the late Moamar Ghadaffi (sic?), both are more vulnerable than ever, economically. With the vast majority of the middle east not being such huge fans of ours, and terrorism running rampant, many seek to control bigger countries in order to take "shots" at ours. With election season right around the corner, our new found friendly relations with Syria and the known corruption and back-room deals our own government is known for, talks commence between the candidates and those other elements take place. Both seek favors to meet various means. A deal is stricken for the top scientists in the world to work on zombifying virus of just a small scale with back up doses of antidote. Both US and Syria would infect a small portion of the population with said virus, claiming both to be terrorist attacks on their respective countries (With Al Quaeda being the scapegoat). Perspective leaders will use this to their own advantage to gain their position, however only prolonging and prohibiting any action to be taken to help stop the spread, and in the process, creating hoards of undead zombies. As chaos ensues, and the death toll rises and the hoards get bigger, the military, or whats left of it is sent in to create "safe zones" and find survivors.

As the population dwindles in both affected countries, and survivors are less and less, time passes and eventually and the corpses start to deteriorate past the point of being able to operate and harm others. The military are ordered to start rounding up any zombies left, and destroy the remains of the previously dead zombies, as not only to destroy any evidence of wrong doing, but prevent any recurrence of the disease, by burning, pulverizing and burying the remains. The only strategically remaining political candidate emerges and under emergency declarations amends the constitution's election amendments to his favor and and assumes the role of president/ruler, and declares war on the terrorists (Sound familiar?)

You might be thinking '"Well, how does it all fit?" A: Try paying better attention, and B: I'll explain. The massive death toll, would leave hundreds of jobs open for the taking, leaving the unemployment to plummet drastically to the lowest its been ever. The damage to homes and buildings means tons of money would be made in the rebuilding process. Foreign aid will pour in as threats of the disease carrying overseas, and not getting any aid money themselves from us will send the western world into a spending frenzy here. Trade values will skyrocket and ports will become even more valuable, and the war effort will drum up spending, and create more jobs to circulate more money.

In summary, just because you think you can trust your government, doesn't mean they won't try and sell you up the river for an easy dime. Like the saying goes "Absolute power corrupts, absolutely". Politicians will do anything and everything under the sun to keep their money and power, and will fight tooth and nail to obtain and keep it, Plan on being a zombie someday. It can happen, and sooner than you'd think.

BRAINZ!!