THE NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2011 PENGUIN AWARDS. Well, it's been a long, rough couple of years here at the Penguin Awards when it seemed like good music was few and far between. But could it be that music is back??? It's a little too early to tell but the amount of nominations this year is more like the level of years gone by; in fact, it's a little TOO much to choose from because this time around there is a baker's dozen of album nominees, a total of 44 songs with nominations and (get this) there are 28 nominees for Song of the Year alone! So strap yourself in, it's gonna be an epic ride!

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NOMINEES FOR SONG OF THE YEAR

• BOOTS - The Killers
• Calgary - Bon Iver
• Caravan - Rush
• Cold - Black Country Communion
• County Line - Cass McCombs
• Elizabeth - Ghost
• Heavy In Your Arms - Florence + the Machine
• Holocene - Bon Iver
• Howl - Florence + the Machine
• I'm Alive - Anthrax
• I Never Learnt To Share - James Blake
• In the End - Anthrax
• Leave My Body - Florence + the Machine
• Misty - Kate Bush
• Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex - CSS
• No Condition - Mary J. Blige
• Only If For A Night - Florence + the Machine
• Overlord - Black Label Society
• Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) - Florence + the Machine
• Ritual - Ghost
• Set Fire To the Rain - Adele
• Shallow Grave - Black Label Society
• Someone Like You - Adele
• Song of Yesterday - Black Country Communion
• Stand By Him - Ghost
• Turn It Around - Crowded House
• The Wilhelm Scream - James Blake
• The Words That Maketh Murder - PJ Harvey

NOMINEES FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• 21 - Adele
• WORSHIP MUSIC - Anthrax
• BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION - Black Country Communion
• ORDER OF THE BLACK - Black Label Society
• JAMES BLAKE - James Blake
• BON IVER - Bon Iver
• 50 WORDS FOR SNOW - Kate Bush
• INTRIGUER - Crowded House
• CEREMONIALS - Florence + the Machine
• LUNGS - Florence + the Machine
• OPUS EPONYMOUS - Ghost
• LET ENGLAND SHAKE - PJ Harvey
• WIT'S END - Cass McCombs

NOMINEES FOR COVER SONG OF THE YEAR

• AIN'T NOBODY - Mary J. Blige
• BETTER BE HOME SOON - Busby Marou
• FALL AT Y OUR FEET - Boy & Bear
• LIMIT TO YOUR LOVE - James Blake
• LOVESONG - Adele
• NEED SOMEONE - Mary J. Blige
• NEVER BE MINE (DIRECTOR'S CUT VERSION) - Kate Bush
• WORDS OF LOVE - Patti Smith
• YOU'VE GOT THE LOVE - Florence + the Machine

NOMINEES FOR DUET OF THE YEAR

• FEEL INSIDE - Mary J. Blige & Nas
• LAKE TAHOE - Kate Bush & Stefan Roberts
• MR. WRONG - Mary J. Blige & Drake
• SNOWED IN AT WHEELER STREET - Kate Bush & Elton John
• SNOWFLAKE - Kate Bush & Albert McIntosh
• WILD MAN - Kate Bush & Andy Fairweather Low

NOMINEES FOR BEST ALBUM COVER (see above for photos)

• WORSHIP MUSIC - Anthrax
• JUGGERNAUT OF JUSTICE - Anvil
• BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION - Black Country Communion
• ORDER OF THE BLACK - Black Label Society
• BON IVER - Bon Iver
• 50 WORDS FOR SNOW - Kate Bush
• INTRIGUER - Crowded House
• LUNGS - Florence + the Machine
• OPUS EPONYMOUS - Ghost
• LET ENGLAND SHAKE - PJ Harvey

IN A RARE MOVE, I'D LIKE TO PLUG A PRODUCT HERE IN THE LAND OF CERPTS AND HONEY. For kung fu fans, there's been a site called "SHAOLIN CHAMBER 36" over there to the right on my link list. Recently the fellow running the site has branched into making kung fu movie T-shirts under the banner "36 STYLES". The line was introduced this past summer with 4 great T-shirts (pictured above); these shirts are very good with high quality transfers. I bought some when they first came out and can highly recommend them. Where else are you gonna get kung fu film T-shirts? And especially of such good quality. Now they have added one more shirt: the classic "MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE" in probably the handsomest design yet. CLICK HERE to go take a look at them and I strongly encourage you to pick up a couple. The nice thing also is that they accept paypal so it's no fuss and no muss. These shirts are made by an extremely nice guy who I think should be encouraged in his labour of love so please visit the site and take a look. You won't be disappointed!

FOR A YUMMY AUTUMN TREAT: LAMB'S WOOL! I am no real fan of apple butter. I never buy it or eat it . . . UNLESS it's homemade apple butter from this recipe at Lisa Pardo's Kitchen blog. Sadly, there has been no blog activity there for two years but this recipe for homemade apple butter is delicious and I've made it several times. However, if you make it (and I urge you to), take my advice and half the amount of sugar and cut waaaaaaaaay down on the clove to just a smidge. But why am I showing you a recipe for apple butter??? And what's all this got to do with lamb's wool????

Well, I'll tell ya. According to Ruth Edna Kelley's 1919 "BOOK OF HALLOWEEN": "A popular drink at the Hallowe'en gathering in the eighteenth century was milk in which crushed roasted apples had been mixed. It was called Lambs'-Wool (perhaps from the "La Mas Ubhal", "the day of the apple fruit")." Well my perverse curiosity led me to create my own version of this Autumnal artifact to see what it might taste like. As I had just whipped up some of Lisa Pardo's homemade apple butter a couple days ago, I threw some in some milk for my own approximation of Lambs'-Wool and Wheeeeeeeeee doggies it was good!!! The only way I can describe it is that it's kinda like an apple milkshake! And it's certainly one of the most autumnal treats I think I've ever tasted. You've gotta try this. But that means you have to make the homemade apple butter first. So get cracking! And once that's done, take about half a coffee mug of milk (about 3/4 cup) and stir in about 3 heaping teaspoons of homemade apple butter. That's it! My own version of that ancient Irish Hallowe'en treat: Lambs'-Wool!

A NOVEMBER BOOK OF POEMS.

THE FIRST WINTER SONG by Arthur Perceval Graves

From 'Songs of Summer and Winter' (From the early Irish).

Take my tidings! Stags contend; Snows descend— Summer's end! A chill wind raging; The sun low keeping, Swift to set O'er seas high sweeping. Dull red the fern; Shapes are shadows; Wild geese mourn O'er misty meadows. Keen cold limes each weaker wing. Icy times— Such I sing! Take my tidings!

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THE DEATH OF THE FLOWERS by William Cullen Bryant

The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere. Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn leaves lie dead; They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread; The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the jay, And from the wood-top calls the crow through all the gloomy day. Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, that lately sprang and stood In brighter light and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood? Alas! they all are in their graves, the gentle race of flowers Are lying in their lowly beds, with the fair and good of ours. The rain is falling where they lie, but the cold November rain Calls not from out the gloomy earth the lovely ones again. The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long ago, And the brier-rose and the orchids died amid the summer glow; But on the hills the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood, And the yellow sun-flower by the brook in autumn beauty stood, Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls the plague on men, And the brightness of their smile was gone, from upland, glade, and glen. And now, when comes the calm mild day, as still such days will come, To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home; When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the trees are still, And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill, The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore, And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more. And then I think of one who in her youthful beauty died, The fair meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side. In the cold moist earth we laid her, when the forests cast the leaf, And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief: Yet not unmeet it was that one, like that young friend of ours, So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers.

HALLOWEEN LEFTOVERS AT THE BOTTOM OF OUR TRICK OR TREAT BAG. As a look back at our 2011 Halloween Countdown before it turns into a pumpkin, we present this month's headers. Gee, I'm nostalgic for October 2011 already. . .

THE HORRIFYING HALLOWEEN BOOKSHELF. As Halloween (and October) rockets towards its big finish, I thought I'd mention a couple books I'm currently devouring that lend themselves to the season. Both books are about horror films naturally; one is a sedate hardcover and the other is a glossy photo-packed riot of colour. The first book was actually recommended by John Rozum on his blog; actually he recommended a few books and I promptly bought them all! The one I'm currently reading first is Jason Zinoman's SHOCK VALUE and you can read John's recommendations here. SHOCK VALUE is subtitled "How a few eccentric outsiders gave us nightmares, conquered Hollywood, and invented modern horror" and the book concerns the major maverick horror filmmakers of the 70's & 80's such as Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Dan O'Bannon, Brian DePalma, William Friedkin and others who were inspired by three influential 60's horror flicks: Peter Bogdanovich's TARGETS, George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and Roman Polanski's ROSEMARY'S BABY. This is an area of horror which has been relatively written little about in book form which makes this tome a welcome addition to horror film scholarship. Zinoman puts seemingly unrelated 70's films like TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, ALIEN, HALLOWEEN, DARK STAR, THE EXORCIST and CARRIE in their proper context as a dawning of a "new horror" radically different from the previous generation of Roger Corman and William Castle. The book is also a fluid read and never becomes dry or academic. There are one or two nagging errors which annoyed me; one of which is when Zinoman refers to the character of Norman Bates in Robert Bloch's original novel as "skinny" making Anthony Perkins good casting. In fact, Norman Bates in the novel is overweight; there has been compelling speculation which I believe to be true that Bloch actually based the character of Norman Bates' physical appearance on "CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN" publisher Calvin T. Beck. But one or two factual errors do not spoil what is a fascinating read.

The second book is Gary Gerani's "TOP 100 HORROR MOVIES"; a big colour-splashed book with white printing on black glossy paper which is built more for fun than scholarship. Gerani, of course, is the author of that seminal early reference work "FANTASTIC TELEVISION" which examined in detail (probably for the first time) genre TV from STAR TREK, TWILIGHT ZONE, and THRILLER to KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and SPACE: 1999. Here Gerani indulges in that wonderful list-making we boys find so much fun. Brief film synopses and credit lists accompany entries as to why each film is important and deserves to be on Gerani's "top 100" list. Here too we have one or two nagging errors; paramount of which is Gerani's constant reference to child actor Martin Stephens (of THE INNOCENTS and VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED) as Martin Phillips for some reason. But here too such details don't spoil the fun. While "TOP 100 HORROR MOVIES" doesn't really offer anything new under the sun, it is always enjoyable to see somebody's list of top 100 horror movies and this is no exception. And don't worry, Gerani has also provided a companion volume of "TOP 100 SCI-FI MOVIES" which I'll get to later. So there you have it: a couple really good reads for these dark autumn nights. Light a candle and read 'em aloud to a restless spirit near you!

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Today's 31st and final Halloween Comic Book Cover of the Day is NIGHTMARES #1 from 1985.

THE DECADE DOZENS: MY FAVOURITE HALLOWEEN MOVIES FOR EACH DECADE FROM THE TWENTIES TO THE NOUGHTIES. An exercise suggested to me was to list my 12 favourite scary movies from each decade starting with the silent 1920s. Some decades were MUCH harder than others (and not the ones you might expect) but I've managed to do it. I've winnowed them down to the 12 I'd most prefer watching for some tasty Halloween viewing. I only really fudged on one movie; the TV movie THE DARK ANGEL was actually made in 1987 but it wasn't shown in this country until 1991 so I placed it in the 90s. So there. Nuffin' you can do about it! So let's get down to it.

THE TWENTIES

1. THE GOLEM (1920)
2. DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (1920)
3. THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE (1921)
4. HAXAN aka WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES (1922)
5. NOSFERATU (1922)
6. WAXWORKS (1924)
7. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925)
8. THE MONSTER (1925)
9. THE BAT (1926)
10. THE MAGICIAN (1926)
11. THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1927)
12. WEST OF ZANZIBAR (1928)

THE THIRTIES

1. THE BAT WHISPERS (1930)
2. DRACULA (1931)
3. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
4. SVENGALI (1931)
5. DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (1931)
6. THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932)
7. THE MUMMY (1932)
8. KING KONG (1933)
9. THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933)
10. THE BLACK CAT (1934)
11. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)
12. SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939)

THE FORTIES

1. THE WOLF MAN (1941)
2. CAT PEOPLE (1942)
3. I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)
4. THE LEOPARD MAN (1943)
5. THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943)
6. SON OF DRACULA (1943)
7. RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1944)
8. THE UNINVITED (1944)
9. CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (1944)
10. FOG ISLAND (1945)
11. DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)
12. ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948)

THE FIFTIES

1. THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951)
2. WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953)
3. CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954)
4. THEM! (1954)
5. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
6. THE MOLE PEOPLE (1956)
7. NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957)
8. QUATERMASS II: ENEMY FROM SPACE (1957)
9. HORROR OF DRACULA (1958)
10. THE BLOB (1958)
11. HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959)

THE SIXTIES

1. PSYCHO (1960)
2. HOUSE OF USHER (1960)
3. CITY OF THE DEAD (1960)
4. THE INNOCENTS (1961)
5. THE HAUNTING (1963)
6. THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1963)
7. CASTLE OF BLOOD (1964)
8. THE GORGON (1964)
9. DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS (1965)
10. PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965)
11. ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968)
12. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)

THE SEVENTIES

1. THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970)
2. HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970)
3. THE NIGHT STALKER (1972)
4. DRACULA A.D. 1972 (1972)
5. LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973)
6. THE EXORCIST (1973)
7. FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (1974)
8. DEEP RED (1975)
9. HALLOWEEN (1978)
10. DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)
11. ALIEN (1979)
12. SALEM'S LOT (1979)

THE EIGHTIES

1. THE FOG (1980)
2. THE SHINING (1980)
3. AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)
4. THE EVIL DEAD (1981)
5. THE THING (1982)
6. RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985)
7. THE RE-ANIMATOR (1985)
8. HORRIBLE HORROR (1986)
9. THE LOST BOYS (1987)
10. THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW (1988)
11. KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE (1988)
12. LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM (1988)

THE NINETIES

1. THE DARK ANGEL (1991 US Release)
2. THE RESURRECTED (1992)
3. GHOSTWATCH (1992)
4. BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES II (1993)
5. ED WOOD (1994)
6. IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994)
7. CEMETERY MAN (1994)
8. RINGU (1998)
9. OUT OF MIND: THE STORIES OF H.P. LOVECRAFT (1998)
10. THE SIXTH SENSE (1999)
11. HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1999)
12. THE NINTH GATE (1999)

THE NOUGHTIES

1. WILD ZERO (2000)
2. JU-ON (2000)
3. THIRTEEN GHOSTS (2001)
4. DAGON (2001)
5. 28 DAYS LATER (2002)
6. SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)
7. SLITHER (2006)
8. THE MIST (2007)
9. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008)
10. DORIAN GRAY (2009)
11. ZOMBIELAND (2009)
12. DEAD SNOW (2009)

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS IS HERE! One of the most long-awaited and eagerly-anticipated DVD releases has finally arrived -- just in time for Halloween. The 1932 classic film based on H.G. Wells' anti-vivisection novel has at long last been released on DVD . . . and from none other than Criterion, yet! The Paramount film directed (astonishingly) by Erle C. Kenton and starring Charles Laughton was very strong meat indeed; coming as it did from pre-Code Hollywood. Banned in England and hated by H.G. Wells, the film has since become an acknowledged classic of the first Golden Age of sound horror initiated by Universal's DRACULA in 1931. That film's success, along with its follow-up FRANKENSTEIN, caused every studio in Hollywood to mount a horror production and Paramount's ISLAND OF LOST SOULS was a corker! Charles Laughton as the icy Dr. Moreau, decked out in his tropical white suit and (according to David J. Skal) channeling the ghost of Oscar Wilde in his performance, has set himself up on a deserted island in order to continue his sadistic experiments changing animals into humans; he does this by mysterious means involving vivisection in his aptly-named "House of Pain" laboratory. A shipwrecked Richard Arlen slowly begins to realize what his laconic host has been up to -- but has no idea the plans Dr. Moreau has for him and his genetically-engineered panther woman Lota (played by the winner of a nationwide actress search Kathleen Burke). The film is filled with queasy and uncomfortable images and implications: the white-clad Moreau cracking his whip as the bestial "Sayer of the Law" (Bela Lugosi) repeats to him the law like a catechism. "What is the Law?" bellows Laughton. "Not to run on all fours," Lugosi responds, "That is the Law. Are we not men?" "What is the Law?" "Not to eat meat. That is the Law. Are we not men?" "What is the Law?" "Not to spill blood. That is the Law. Are we not men?" Devo aside, this is a classic exchange in classic horror filmdom. Laughton coolly prods and examines a wailing beast man strapped to an operating table in the House of Pain completely oblivious to his suffering; showing the poor creature off to Arlen as if he is a model car he's just finished building. When Arlen's fiancee Leila Hyams shows up on the island to rescue him, Laughton whispers a command to one of his beast men ordering him to rape her. This will fit in with his experiments trying to mate Arlen with Lota the Panther Woman. Why did Moreau have to wait for Arlen to land on the island to try this out? Why didn't he just have sex with Lota himself? Laughton's performance (which is not suggested in the script or stage directions) makes it obvious that he's incapable; he's channelling Oscar Wilde, remember. Homey don't play that.

The new Criterion DVD features a new digital restoration of the uncut original release as well as a nice group of special features: audio commentary by horror film historian Greg Mank, short interviews with John Landis, Rick Baker, Bob Burns, David J. Skal, Richard Stanley (director of the 1996 remake), and Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo. There is also a short 1976 film by Devo, the theatrical trailer and a booklet written by Christine Smallwood. As always, the Criterion disc is of the highest quality and horror fans everywhere will be leaping for their whips to corral the DVD into their collection.

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Today's Halloween Comic Book Cover of the Day is BLACK CAT #48.

WHILE DIGGING THROUGH OLD VHS TAPES, I CAME ACROSS MY THREE RECORDINGS OF THE HORROR HALL OF FAME. Hosted by Robert Englund on a succession of UHF (remember that) channels, the "award show" was shown starting in 1990 through 1992. It was an Oscar-type program with presenters and filmed segments which inducted horror stars and films into the Horror Hall of Fame. Inductees would be awarded a statuette of a "Grim Reaper" which Forrest J. Ackerman dubbed a "Grimmy" at his induction the first year. The first and second year shows were quite excellent while the third year featured almost entirely segments rerun from the first two shows. Is it any wonder that the fourth Horror Hall of Fame promised by Robert Englund never aired. Way to take a great concept and sabotage it, guys! Such films as THE EXORCIST, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, PSYCHO, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, ALIEN and THE BIRDS were inducted as well as horror icons like Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, Roger Corman, Forrest J. Ackerman and others. Fun special effects and makeup segments by Steve Johnson and his wife scream queen Linnea Quigley were a hoot and one of the few bright spots on the third broadcast was a new live performance of MONSTER MASH by Bobby "Boris" Pickett -- and he wasn't lip syncing, folks! THE HORROR HALL OF FAME II probably featured one of the last television appearances by Vincent Price (escorted on stage by Elvira) as he announced the winner of the best horror film of the year 1991. Not surprisingly it was SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. All three shows were co-hosted by The Crypt Keeper from HBO's then smash hit TALES FROM THE CRYPT. It's fun (and more than a little sad) to see so many great stars who have since died; Sam Kinison even appears on the first two shows as do Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Forrest J. Ackerman, William M. Gaines, and many more. It's shocking to re-watch these shows I taped off the television and realize they're 21 years old! Thankfully we zombies don't age. ++

Halloween Comic Book Cover of the Day #29: UNEXPECTED #144 (1973).