THE BUTCHER'S BILL 2006

As is my wont, here is just a little list of those famous fame-oids we lost this year:

Osa Massen, actress "Rocketship X-M"

Lou Rawls, singer "You're Gonna Miss My Lovin"

Shelley Winters, actress "Night of the Hunter", "Who Slew Auntie Roo", "The Poseidon Adventure"

Wilson Pickett, singer "In the Midnight Hour"

Fayard Nicholas, dancer "The Nicholas Brothers"

Chris Penn, actor "Reservoir Dogs"

Henry McGee, comedian "The Benny Hill Show"

Coretta Scott King, civil rights leader

Al Lewis, actor "The Munsters"

Moira Shearer, actress "Peeping Tom", "The Red Shoes"

Betty Friedan, author "The Feminine Mystique"

Franklin Cover, actor "The Jeffersons (Tom Willis)"

Peter Benchley, author "Jaws"

Akira Ifukube, film composer "Godzilla"

Phil Brown, actor "Uncle Owen in Star Wars"

Dennis Kirkland, producer "The Benny Hill Show"

Don Knotts, actor "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken", "The Andy Griffith Show"

Dennis Weaver, actor "Duel", "McCloud"

Darren McGavin, actor "The Night Stalker", "A Christmas Story"

King Floyd, musician "Groove Me"

Jack Wild, actor "H. R. Pufnstuf", "Oliver!"

Ali Farka Toure, musician

Gordon Parks, director "Shaft"

John Profumo, former Member of Parliament/Profumo Affair scandal

Slobodan Milosevic, former president of Yugoslavia

Peter Tomarken, game show host "Press Your Luck"

Richard Fleischer, director "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "Fantastic Voyage"

Buck Owens, singer "Hee Haw"

Dan Curtis, producer/director "Dark Shadows", "The Night Stalker", "Trilogy of Terror"

Caspar Weinberger, former Secretary of Defense

Gloria Monty, producer "General Hospital"

Gene Pitney, singer "Town Without Pity"

June Pointer, singer "The Pointer Sisters"

Alida Valli, actress "The Third Man"

Jennifer Jayne, actress "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors", "The Crawling Eye"

John Kenneth Galbraith, author

Maureen Stapleton, actress "Reds", "Johnny Dangerously"

Jay Presson Allen, writer, "Tru", "Deathtrap"

Louis Rukeyser, TV host, "Wall Street Week"

George Lutz, writer "The Amityville Horror"

Val Guest, director "The Quatermass Xperiment", "Quatermass 2"

Paul Marco, actor "Plan 9 From Outer Space", "Bride of the Monster"

Lloyd Bentsen, Former Senator/Vice Presidential Candidate

Desmond Dekker, singer "Israelites"

Alex Toth, comic artist "Space Ghost"

Paul Gleason, actor "The Breakfast Club"

Billy Preston, singer "Will It Go Round In Circles", "Nothing From Nothing"

Tim Hildebrandt, artist

Gyorgy Ligeti, composer

Arthur Franz, actor "Invaders From Mars", "Monster on the Campus"

Vincent Sherman, director "All Through the Night", "Return of Dr. X"

Moose, canine actor "Frasier", "My Dog Skip"

Aaron Spelling, producer "Charlie's Angels"

Kenneth Griffith, actor "The Prisoner", "Circus of Horrors", "I'm All Right, Jack"

Arif Mardin, producer "Beaches"

Kathy Wood, actress/widow of Ed Wood

Eileen Barton, singer "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked A Cake"

Jan Murray, comedian

Kasey Rogers, actress "Bewitched"

Syd Barrett, musician "Pink Floyd"

June Allyson, actress "Till the Clouds Roll By", "Good News"

Barnard Hughes, actor "The Lost Boys", "Tales from the Darkside"

Red Buttons, actor "The Poseidon Adventure"

Mickey Spillane, author "Mike Hammer"

Jack Warden actor "Death On the Nile"

Robert Cornthwaite, actor "The Thing From Another World"

Michael Sellers, actor/son of Peter Sellers

Arthur Lee, musician "Love"

Mike Douglas, TV host

Bruno Kirby, actor "City Slickers", "The Godfather Part II"

Maynard Ferguson, jazz musician

Joseph Stefano, screenwriter "Psycho"

Gerald Green, author "Holocaust"

Glenn Ford, actor "Gilda", "Superman the Movie"

Nellie Connally, wife of former Texas Gov. John Connally

Steve Irwin, "The Crocodile Hunter"

Herbert Rudley, actor "The Mothers-in-Law"

Pat Corley, actor "Murphy Brown"

Mickey Hargitay, actor "Lady Frankenstein", "Bloody Pit of Horror"

Elizabeth Allen, actress "Thriller - The Hungry Glass", "Thriller - The Grim Reaper"

Edward Albert, actor "Butterflies are Free", "When Time Ran Out"

Sally Gray, actress "Green For Danger"

George Balzer, writer "The Jack Benny Program"

Tamara Dobson, actress "Cleopatra Jones"

Frances Bergen, actress "Eating", "Murphy Brown"

Charles L. Grant, author

Freddy Fender, singer

Jumpin' Gene Simmons, singer "Haunted House"

Phyllis Kirk, actress "House of Wax"

Jane Wyatt, actress "Father Knows Best", "Star Trek"

Christopher Glenn, newsman/narrator "In the News"

Nigel Kneale, writer "Quatermass Xperiment", "Quatermass 2", "Quatermass and the Pit"

Ed Bradley, CBS newsman

Jack Palance, actor "City Slickers"

John Hallam, actor "Dr. Who "Ghost Light", "EastEnders"

Milton Friedman, economist

Ruth Brown, singer "Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean"

Robert Altman, director "M*A*S*H*", "Gosford Park"

Dave Cockrum, comic artist "The Uncanny X-Men", "Legion of Super-Heroes"

Robert Lockwood Jr., blues artist "Can't You Hear the Wind Howl"

Betty Comden, songwriter "Singin' in the Rain"

Gerald Levert, singer "Levert"

Alan Freeman, actor/DJ "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors", "The Young Ones (as God)"

Emmett Kelly Jr., clown

Perry Henzell, director "The Harder They Come"

Jeane Kirkpatrick, politician

Martha Tilton, big band vocalist

Georgia Gibbs, singer

General Augusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator

Peter Boyle, actor "Young Frankenstein", "Everybody Loves Raymond"

Ahmet Ertegun, chairman of Atlantic Records

Joseph Barbera, cartoon director "Hanna-Barbera"

Mike Evans, actor "The Jeffersons", "All in the Family"

James Brown, singer "Say It Loud--I'm Black & I'm Proud"

Gerald R. Ford, former President

Saddam Hussein, long-time U.S.-backed flunky

The night before christmas Tom & Jerry 1941 OK This one's for Finky! Merry Christmas everyone! Not to mention the fact that it's simply one of the best Christmas cartoons EVER!

GRIM KRINGLE SEZ: "Don't worry. We haven't forgotten to comment on the recent death of James Brown et. al. We're just waiting for a few more days when we bring you the Cerptsy list of famous people who died this year. So stay tuned for THE BUTCHER'S BILL 2006 coming to this blog almost immediately."

IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T HAD ENOUGH YULETIDE HOBBLEDEEHOY. . .Grab a can of fake snow and take a gander at even MORE faces of Santa Claus.

JINGLE DOWN WITH YOUR BAD SELF!!! Well, I certainly hope all my little elves had a wonderfully Happy Krimble. To keep things in the jingly bell spirit, I thought I'd provide you with just a few of the many faces of Santa Claus over the years. Knowing full well the accumulated brilliance of all my little friends, I'm sure that you will have no problem identifying them all. If you need a better look at 'em, please feel free to click on the picture so it will enlarge to the size of Fink's Mom's butt! Ho Ho Howl!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD CERPTS!

JUST WANTED TO TAKE A MOMENT TO WISH EVERYONE A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON FROM THE LAND OF CERPTS AND HONEY!!!

THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT: THE WITCH'S DUNGEON DVD!

Well, my very favourite DVD of the moment is the wonderful monsterific documentary "THE WITCH'S DUNGEON: 40 YEARS OF CHILLS" which celebrated Cortlandt Hull's terrific non-profit wax museum of classic monsters which is only open a few weeks every October and has become a mecca for Halloweenies everywhere! Hull (great nephew of actor Henry Hull who starred in Universal's very first werewolf movie 1935's "Werewolf of London") has been sculpting breathtaking wax figures of classic monsters and displaying them to the public for 40 years now. Hull also was instrumental in banding together with Sara Karloff, Bela Lugosi Jr. and Ron Chaney to get those US Post Office Stamps of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Sr. and Jr. back in the 90's. Here's a link to the Witch Dungeon Website! Hull's genuine love and affection for classic horror is shared by a galaxy of horror stars in this wonderful, nostalgic DVD which celebrates not only Hull's Witch's Dungeon Museum but also many of the most treasured monster memories shared by all of us who love horror. The DVD takes a look at everything from TV horror host Zacherley "The Cool Ghoul", Forrest J. Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, classic FM cover artist Basil Gogos, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Peter Cushing, the special effects work of Dick Smith and Tom Savini, voice artist June Foray (who voiced Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Witch Hazel), Vincent Price (who personally recorded entrance and exit patter played at the actual Witch's Dungeon) and scads more. The generous two hour documentary is more bursting with fun than John Hurt's chest in "Alien". The disc includes appearances and interviews with Tom Savini, Dick Smith, Forrest J. Ackerman, Dan Roebuck, Basil Gogos, Christopher Lee, Elvira, Sara Karloff, Bela Lugosi Jr, Ron Chaney, June Foray, and more than I can even name here. This DVD is a joy to behold and I literally started watching it all over again from the beginning once the end credits finished running. This DVD gives me that warm, nostalgic glow (like Barbara Steele burned at the stake in "Black Sunday") and reminds me why I love the horror genre so much. It brings it ALL back to me! You're gonna see Aurora monster models and Bobby "Boris" Pickett's Monster Mash! There's clips from scores of monster movies and movie posters from coffinloads more! Frankenstein's Monster! Count Dracula! The Wolf Man! The Mummy! And don't forget Cortlandt Hull's own creation: Zenobia the Gypsy Witch! Everybody's in this DVD, fiends! This DVD isn't so much a documentary as it is a MONSTER PARTY!!!!

Here's what world-renowned special effects wizard Tom "Dawn of the Dead" Savini said about his copy of this DVD (which he also appears in, natch) on the Creepy Classics website:

"You know how sometimes you want to be drenched in a old fashioned horror mode and mood that sometimes one movie doesn't satisfy, and you want that old fashioned kiddie horror high that made you want to get into all of this when you were in your early teens, and that you miss so much....well all you have to do is put on this DVD and be transported back to the early days of your interest in the greatest movies, the old ones, the classic ones, with your favorite stars and just plain people who share the love of this stuff and show it."

So there you have it, monster kids! If you can't believe Uncle Tom Savini, then who CAN you believe?!?!? He stuck a machete in a zombie's head once so don't give him no sass!!! Just hurry up and buy your own copy of "The Witch's Dungeon" DVD; all proceeds go towards supporting the non-profit Witch's Dungeon Museum. And besides, I haven't had this much fun in centuries!

KA-CHONK KA-CHONK!!! TAKE A LITTLE MUSIC SURVEY. After Pax's Beatles post a while back (and after that email survey Ms. Henri sent me), I thought I'd put a random group of musicians up here and ask which is your favourite song by each artist. After the name of each artist, I've put my favourite song by them and all you have to do is cut and paste, delete my choice, write in yours and leave your list as a comment. So here goes: here are my fave songs by these artists:

LITTLE RICHARD: Tutti Fruitti

CHUCK BERRY: Rock & Roll Music

FATS DOMINO: Blue Monday

THE ROLLING STONES: You Can't Always Get What You Want

JAMES BROWN: Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud

ELVIS PRESLEY: Suspicious Minds

DAVID BOWIE: Life On Mars

ELTON JOHN: Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me

LED ZEPPELIN: Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You

SIMON AND GARFUNKEL: The Only Living Boy in New York

MARVIN GAYE: What's Going On

THE CLASH: London Calling

BOB DYLAN: Things Have Changed

SAM COOKE: A Change Is Gonna Come

PAUL SIMON: Still Crazy After All These Years

THE RAMONES: Judy Is A Punk

BOB MARLEY: Redemption Song

NICK DRAKE: Fruit Tree

LYNYRD SKYNYRD: Tuesday's Gone

JANIS JOPLIN: Get It While You Can

EARTH, WIND & FIRE: Fantasy

CURTIS MAYFIELD: Choice of Colors

ARETHA FRANKLIN: Ain't No Way

STEVIE WONDER: Superwoman

JONI MITCHELL: River

AL GREEN: I'm Still In Love With You

BLONDIE: Atomic

JOAN ARMATRADING: Save Me

THE SMITHS: There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

RUN-DMC: Rock Box

SLY & THE FAMILY STONE: Hot Fun in the Summertime

METALLICA: Nothing Else Matters

DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES: You Keep Me Hangin’ On

THE TEMPTATIONS: I Wish It Would Rain

THE SPINNERS: I’ll Be Around

REM: Losing My Religion

QUEEN: The Show Must Go On

PRINCE: Baby, I’m A Star

THE KINKS: Waterloo Sunset

THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS: California Dreamin’

NIRVANA: Heart-Shaped Box

PEARL JAM: Black

FLEETWOOD MAC: Wish You Were Here

DURAN DURAN: The Chauffer

SARAH VAUGHAN: East of the Sun (West of the Moon)

ELLA FITZGERALD: Isn't It Romantic?

DINAH WASHINGTON: This Bitter Earth

BILLIE HOLIDAY: Strange Fruit

FRANK ZAPPA: A Little Green Rosetta

NAT KING COLE: That Sunday, That Summer

THE CURE: Lovesong

DEPECHE MODE: Walking In My Shoes

BJORK: Joga

FRANK SINATRA: Dancing on the Ceiling

SMASHING PUMPKINS: 1979

"SIT DOWN GIRL! I THINK I LOVE YOU!" -- So, I just got the Clerks II DVD. Now, I already saw it in the theatre when it came out and loved it (as you'll know from my blog last summer) and frankly think it's one of his best films. However, now that I've had the DVD for about a day or two, I've been endlessly repeating the scene which is fast becoming my favourite in the movie. That is, the scene where Becky (Rosario Dawson) tries to teach Dante (Brian O'Halloran) how to dance on Mooby's roof. Not only is it probably the best use of a song in a movie I've seen all year (The Jackson 5's "ABC") but it's simply fucking joyous! Dante realizes for the first time (maybe consciously, certainly SUBconsciously) that he really loves Becky and not his fiancee. Kevin Smith's direction and editing of the scene is perfect; from the cutaways to the rest of the cast overhearing the song and bopping to it to the BRILLIANT musical dance number which spontaneously breaks out on the street. It's totally fantasy land but perfectly captures what's going on in the film as the passersby on the street bust out into some sort of music video dance routine. Now, I've always kind of ignored the song "ABC" as an overly-catchy simple tune which opened the Jackson 5 cartoon. HOWEVER, that song has an amazing groove and, while not yet displacing my actual favourite Jackson 5 song (that would be "The Love You Save"), it's now solidly ensconced at number TWO! Fucking joyous, man, that's all I can say. I'll see ya later; I'm gonna go watch it again.