Saturday, December 27, 2008

Time to Play B-Sides

With family scattered and a volatile winter at hand, this holiday season has seemed a bit fragmented. But I have had a nice Christmas; I got a cool GPS for my car (still deciding on a name), a stash of Justice League DVDs from my brother, some dress clothes, and with some mad money went out today and bought that new Dog Whisperer book and the board game Diplomacy which I have always wanted to try. I am right now contendedly reading comics and watching Doctor Who. A small happiness is enough sometimes.

Now that you can catch me on Facebook and on Twitter I get more mail from all kinds of sources. Perhaps it's time on this winter's eve to open the ol' mailbag and check out some fresh correspondence.

New reader Kevin writes, Hey John. I came across your blog from CommonFilm's website. I was intrigued by your short bio, and I was wondering if you had any of those old mixtapes you used to make in your basement available, or any of your other works? Also, I personally prefer nerd. DIY hipster is no fun.

I have been asked for a few odds and ends, but never any old mix tapes or copies of my classic punk recordings from the early 80s with The Johnnies; especially my stirring cover of "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones, which stunned audiences into silence at Muncie Northside High School during those halcyon days of Punk and New Wave. Sadly, all of this material, as well as a number of my old homemade comics and Super-8 movies, are lost to the dustbins of history. Though, perhaps, not as many as should be lost. Thanks for asking, though!

Along those same lines, my old friend and neighbor Ivan found my blog and wrote, Sounds like you've definitely found what you enjoy doing. I remember those 8mm movies as well and all the comics you used to do. It's great to see your creative streak is still alive.

Obviously you don't remember those movies and comics that well! But I do have you to thank for my dream of getting into Fangoria Magazine, which I first read at your house!

B-movie fan Kipp wrote, Finally sat down and watched Monster Movie and saw you on the extras very touching addition my eyes did water up.

Thanks, Kipp, I was honored to be asked to be part of the John Polonia tribute on the "Monster Movie" DVD; but I'm not sure I'll watch it again. The movie itself is a lot of fun, though. Check out the trailer for "Halloween Night," based on one of John's scripts, here.

Until later, give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Diplomacy is great... one of the few games I can think of that involves no luck. It is a long one though, and can be difficult to find 7 willing players.