Mental Scars Press Release

From my pal Ivan Rogers' site...

March 29, 2008
THE LATEST BUZZ . . . comes from North Carolina where Executive Producers, Richard L. Myles, of Raleigh, and Mischa Perez, of Durham, have inked a deal with Ivan Rogers to helm their feature film entitled, “Mental Scars.” The deal will see Ivan Rogers directing from a script penned by Richard L. Myles and John Oak Dalton that is based on a story told by Myles.

Coin for the production of the Picture comes via Mental Scars, LLC in conjunction with Viper Productions, LLC. When asked about the project, Ivan had this to say, “I’m very thrilled and appreciative of the fact that Mr. Myles and Mr. Perez have entrusted me with the challenge, and the opportunity, to bring this entertaining story to life and onto the big screen. They’re expecting a great movie and they're going to get it!”

“Mental Scars” has been given the green light by the Executive Producers and will start principal photography in Indianapolis, IN and surrounding areas on May 5, 2008. To learn more about the film, visit The Mental Scars Official Web site at www.mentalscars.com.

A Lot of Bottle

I'm tired from a gangbusters Phantascope Film Festival as well as a great Easter dinner at my in-laws. My mother-in-law's retirement has done wonders for my appetite. She cooked an old-school country Easter dinner after which I was so full I could not draw breath to sneeze as my body cavity was packed tight.

Bill Gibron articulated some things I couldn't about the life and death of John Polonia and probably wrote my favorite piece I have read on this prolific b-movie filmmaker to date. Check it out here.

Locus Magazine put out a "Best Of" List of Sci-Fi and Fantasy for the year and somehow I have only read one of them (though thumbed a few more at the library). I have to get on this.

I am thoroughly enjoying this.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Bound For A Star With Fiery Oceans

Christopher Sharpe has posted a behind the scenes look at SEX MACHINE online here. I wish I had gotten to meet some of those hipsters.

Tomorrow night I will be at the Phantoscope Film Festival, which I helped judge, so if you are in east central Indiana give me a shout. Really solid lineup this year from emerging high school filmmakers.

This guy will get you to thinking. (Link courtesy the always provocative Bill Cunningham).

Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

There Will Always Be A Space In My Parking Lot

My friend Brice Kennedy has the last word on John Polonia here.

Although I have been glad to provide all of these links it is sad that it had to be done at all. I still have been getting a steady stream of hits for people looking for information about John, from many fans and friends, I'm sure.

What is strange is that the second biggest influx of hits have been people seeking Goran Visnjic and Maura Tierney sightings, which my wife had both of in Chicago this past year, wandering onto the set of "ER."

While I'm getting meta I thought I would mention that I am starting to label all of my posts (see sidebar) for easier searching of my site, because after almost a thousand posts in around five years even I have lost track of all that has coming flying out of my behind. Especially since I have had what is now evident to me an annoying tendency to title posts after whatever music I happen to be listening to at that time. I have all of 2008 and 2007 done, but bear with me as I work back through the calendar.

In the meantime, I got a lot of reading done during my worldly travels of the last month or so. You can check out more here.

Until later, I'm at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

The Girl With The Faraway Eyes

Four out of the last five weekends I have been on the road, through ice storms, snow storms, hail storms, rain storms, and haven't updated my blog like I should.

First I went to Bloomington to check out the Indiana Festival of Independent Film and Video with my brother (reviewed earlier, just scroll down), then the following weekend I was off to Cincinatti visiting a media center in Over the Rhine for day job work, seeing the great effort those folks are leading their to empower residents with community media and cable access. A worthwhile trip though I got snowed over there and spent more time in the Queen City than I intended (though I had some really good Cincy BBQ, almost as good as Cincy chili).

Regular readers know I went to Pennsylvania the next week to pay my respects to the family of b-movie filmmaker John Polonia, who passed away suddenly. On the way back I hit a heavy snowstorm and ended up stranded with a lot of other folks at a hotel somewhere in Pennsylvania, a welcoming little town whose name escapes me at the moment.

Since I had an extra day of travel I stopped at the Small Press and Comics Expo on the way through Columbus Ohio the next day. I don't know if the inclement weather played a role, but the show didn't seem as well attended by visitors or vendors. However, I was glad to see fellow Hoosier Pam Bliss, as well as Matt Feazell, Tom Scioli, and Pat Lewis, whose work I enjoy. A group I hadn't seen there before was Sparkplug Comics, and I ended up buying a big stash of their stuff as they were carrying a lot of indy people I like. I am still chewing through my swag from the show, but I picked up the most recent pair of King Cat Comics from John Porcellino and the latest You Don't Get There From Here from Carrie McNinch, two of my favorite creators of independent comics. From people I was less familiar with I got Clutch McBastard's autobiographical Clutch 16 and Jeremy Massie's superhero adventure The Deadbeat, which I enjoyed.

Last night I got home from Athens Georgia, where my brother-in-law lives, and I got my first taste of actual sunshine in 2008, though a series of Georgia tornadoes damped our enthusiasm, so to speak, towards the end of the week. But I ate really good pizza at the Mellow Mushroom and got to visit Bizarro Wuxtry, a legendary independent record store/comic book store.

Though I do enjoy road tripping, I hope to be done for a bit. I'm going to update the blog soon with some changes, methinks. Until then, give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

John Polonia: "Monster Movie"

I learned earlier this week that "Monster Movie," coming out in August from Tempe, will be the last DVD feature directed by John Polonia. There will be a tribute video on the disc, and I was honored to be asked to be a part of that. I taped and sent my thoughts to Mark earlier this week. I am very eager to see this DVD for this reason, and that the Polonia Brothers felt they had put together a pretty fun project.

My pal Dr. Squid writes his thoughts.

Genrebusters talks about John Polonia.

KGBFilms has a tribute.

John Polonia: Final Thoughts

I was at filmmaker John Polonia's viewing Friday afternoon in Pennsylvania. The funeral home was very crowded and there was quite a line; friends from work, high school friends of John and Mark, many people from their extended family in the Wellsboro area, moviemaking friends. One thing that is easy to forget following the Polonia Brothers through their movies or the web is the part of them that was their lives as ordinary people, who lived down the street from each other in their hometown in a beautiful, rural area of Pennsylvania with a lot of family and old friends around. I know that John's family was glad that there were so many people there to pay their respects. I believe the line remained long for several hours.

I saw a few movie-making guys there and I know more came later. I remember that John had said, during their surprise birthday party a few years ago, that with all the guys around they should have shot a movie instead of having a party. I thought that perhaps John would have said the same thing on Friday.

I wanted to post a few more things from the web about John's passing.

John's obituary.

This fan wrote a nice tribute.

Wicked Pixel Cinema wrote their thoughts.

Fear Zone's tribute.

Joe Barlow writes some nice thoughts on the funeral here.