Old Family Photo's of the Fiorito's.

My grandfather just couldn't let Clem go. He tackled his body as the cemetary guys were trying to bury him. My Grandpa could be heard yelling, "No Clem, come back. We're going to Rhinelander this weekend for Bass Fest '67!"

This is a photograph of my grandfather back in 1967. He was attending the funeral for his old fishing buddy, Clem. When the cemetary workers saw that this is how my grandfather looked, they tried desperately to shove him into an available plot. He wasn't having any of this. Ultimately he gave in and let himself be buried, only to have the kids dig him out an hour later.

 

Old family photo I found in my grandmother's attic. This was my Aunt and Grandfather playing Zombie.

 

My Aunt was not happy being photographed during her game of Zombie so she went after the camera person. My grandma was holding the camera.

 

My Aunt was so pissed she attacked Grandma who it turns was holding the camera.

My Aunt brought home an African American she'd been dating.  My Italian family was not happy.

 

 

In my family when you die, they don't bury you, they just leave you where they find you.

 

My grandfather's final Beer Blast circa 1966.  Clem is on the far left.  These guys had a band in the 50's and did Shakespeare plays in the 60's.

 

 

 

 

Remembering Brent Mydland

Easy To Love You

Lyrics By: John Barlow

Music By: Brent Mydland

Good, good morning, so good to see you
You weren't just a dream of mine
Real as a raven, real as thunder (note 1)
Real as the sun shining
But still so very hard to find
I can't imagine what's behind those sleepy eyes

Little stranger, don't try to hide now
You look so young and you're afraid
There is no danger but from the devil
And he may want you but I'm in his way
You don't know how easy it is
You don't know how easy it is to love you

And come the moonrise, when the dew falls
Don't be the sun that fades away
Don't leave me darkness, she is no lover
She hides the day
You don't know how easy it is
You don't know how easy it is to love you

Watch the Video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04cnUPDDh6o

"Speed Dating" Sketch I Wrote

---

Lights up on a speed dating circle. Joy and Eric sit facing each other, wearing nametags. Cindy sits off to the side with a microphone and a gong.

CINDY

Okay, speed daters, you’ll only have 30 seconds to get to know each other, so don’t be shy! When your hear this sound

(Cindy bangs the gong)

It’s time to move on. If only it were that easy in real life, am I right ladies?

(laughs at her own joke, a little too long, then sighs)

Oh, well. Let’s begin then. Ready? Set? Go!

(Cindy bangs the gong, confusing Eric, who gets up and exits)

JOY

(calling after him)

Oh, I don’t think that’s what she meant…

(Eric enters)

ERIC

That was the starting gong, evidently. I’m sorry, I’m not good at this at all. I’m just gonna leave.

JOY

(giggling)

No, it was totally confusing! Don’t worry about it, I’m nervous too.  And none of us are good at this otherwise we wouldn’t be Speed Dating.

ERIC

Well, we probably have like 8 seconds left so I’m just gonna go.

JOY

Come one. Speed Dating is not that bad.

ERIC

No, I’m good at Speed Dating; I just don’t think you’re attractive.

JOY

Oh, well…uhm, do you have any passions?

ERIC

No!

(Cindy bangs gong)

CINDY

NEXT!

JOY

(to Erik)

Can I give you my phone number anyway?

Eric gets up and walks over and starts flirting with Cindy.

(enter GREG)

JOY

My name is Joy.

GREG

Shhhhh!

JOY

(confused) Uhm ok, but we only have like 30 seconds.

GREG

That’s cool. We don’t need to talk. I’m an artist and you don’t appear very artistic to me so let’s just wait for the gong silently.

(long uncomfortable pause for Joy, Greg is relaxed with his eye’s closed)

(Cindy sounds the Gong)

JOY

Uhm, it was nice to meet you.

GREG

Whatever.

JOY

Can I give you my phone number?

Greg gets up and walks over and starts flirting with Cindy.

(MIKE sits down)

JOY

Hi, my name is….

MIKE

I’m Mike, I don’t work, I travel, I shower only on Thursdays unless its raining, otherwise I take a walk. I have the government, I wanna move to Seattle and write poetry and I believe in multiple sex partners in order to recapture that free spirit of the 60’s.  Yes, it’s true, I got fucked being born in 1986. I would have been such a great Hippie.

JOY

You sound very passionate. And a bit unkempt.

MIKE

You don’t appear to be a very free spirit.

JOY

No I’m very free. I swear to you.

MIKE

Let’s leave right now and go have sex in my VW bus.

JOY

Darn, you’re right I’m not a free spirit. 

(Cindy bangs the gong)

MIKE

Peace out.

JOY

Uhm, can I give you my number?

MIKE

You’re sweet, but no.

Mike walks over to join Eric and Greg in flirting with Cindy.

Joy sits there looking beat. Notices that Eric, Greg, Mike and Cindy are all leaving together.

JOY

What the hell?

(Michelle is the woman sitting right next to Jamie)

MICHELLE

Cindy always does this.This is her Speed Dating gig.  She promises to screw any guy who rejects the rest of us. 

JOY

Then how are you expected to meet a guy?

MICHELLE

I’m not here to meet a guy. I’m here to meet a woman.  The easily rejected are easier to hook up with.

Joy takes a moment to think. She looks Michelle up and down.

JOY

You wanna go back to my place?

MICHELLE

I thought you’d never ask!!!

Old Dr. Teeth review of Night of the Living Dead. (slow writing day)

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) 

Dir.   George A. Romero

Back in 1968, George Romero was already successful at producing and directing commercials with a company he and his friends started called Image Ten Productions.  They decided they wanted to try their hands at a feature.  They decided the easiest and most accessible genre was Horror.  They pitched in roughly $10,000 each and soon George was writing the script for the cult phenomenon that would become NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

When production and editing were finished the group threw the film reels into the trunk of a car and drove towards New York to find a theater, any theater, willing to project their film.  And around the time Malcolm X was shot, they found one.

The film starred Judith O’Dea, Duane Jones, Karl Harman, and Marilyn Eastman as the core group of people stuck inside an old house in the middle of the Pennsylvania countryside during an outbreak of Mass Hysteria.  The film opens as Barbara (O’Dea) and her brother Johnny are driving up to put a wreath on the grave of their father. They bicker as Johnny turns off the radio just as news about this event is about to be broadcast, leaving them unaware.  Moments later, after teasing Barbara in front of a seemingly harmless man wandering, the horror begins. The man attacks and kills Johnny leaving Barbara to fend for herself and escape.  She finds her way to the seemingly abandoned home where she takes shelter.  Very soon she is met by Ben, who himself just escaped Ghoul chaos at a diner a few miles away.  That’s one thing that should be noted about NOTLD, that never once is the word Zombie uttered.  They are referred to as Ghouls.

Ben starts boarding up the house to protect he and Barbara and after awhile the basement door flies open and out pours, Harry, Tom, Judy and Helen.  Harry and Helen are an unhappily married couple constantly bickering as their daughter lies in the basement suffering from the effects of having been bitten.  Tom and Judy are teenagers who seem scared and uncertain, and it is Ben who immediately takes charge.  But his methods anger Harry.  During 1968, and the Civil Rights Movement, the idea of an African American taking charge was unheard of. And although Romero maintains that Ben could have been played by either a white or black actor, it still stands out that Ben is black and in charge.

Soon the movie becomes not a film about people against monsters, but rather people against people. The infighting between two men, husband and wife, racial tensions and the idea of gender roles are brought to the surface.  And what happens when people can’t or won’t work together?  Things start falling apart and soon we find the hopes of survival diminishing. And that is what makes Night of the Living Dead stand out.  Granted some of the characters become victims to the Ghouls but most of their fates lie in their inability to work together.  Pride, ego and anger are the true “monsters” in this film.

Ultimately Night of the Living Dead has gone on to become on of the most respected cult films in history and Romero has gone on to make several more “Zombie Films” to varying degrees of success.  But he created the genre and dozens of filmmakers have copied or have been influenced by this film and this filmmaker.   Night of the Living Dead is seen less as a horror film, and more as a study into the human condition, especially during the tumultuous times of the late 1960’s when Vietnam raged on, major assassinations were taking place, and the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing.  Whether or not Romero intended all of these subtexts to the film is still not truly known.  He shy’s away from saying that all we get is what he intended, but maybe he didn’t realize how deep this low budget film really was and what it said and still says about society at large.

GRADE- A

Watch the movie here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfShkumjeq8