X-Entertainment

Stop it.

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:15:56 -0500

Hey, if you’re following me on this account, you’re doing it wrong. Here’s my new account. I can’t delete this one for various reasons. Thanks!

I don't know if anyone has asked this and they probably have but does Dinodrac transform into a bat, perhaps out of an eye for traditionalism, or does he transform into a bloodsucking pterosaur?

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 23:04:52 -0500

This is an excellent question! The pterosaur idea is amazing, but I must admit that I haven’t given this much thought. If pressed, I’d see him more as a bat that somehow retains the dino-head. (But Jason, the artist responsible for the logo, will *immediately* draw the pterosaur version if he hears this theory.)

theassortment: beatonna: The best thing I saw at Comic Con?...

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:09:45 -0400

theassortment:

beatonna:

The best thing I saw at Comic Con? MAYBE

This was a poster at the Mattel booth (?). He-Man is new and improved! Scott dubbed him “Trash Bag He-Man,” like regular He-Man, but wearing things he found in the trash.

Vykron is based on some very early concept art for He-Man! One of the line’s earliest concepts was to have He-Man change outfits for different situations. One situation apparently involved having a tank turret on your head!

I’ve actually read the book by the guy who invented the Vykron concept way back when. (And, at least in his opinion, He-Man too.) It’s called Mastering the Universe. People are split on whether the author’s claims are legit, half-legit or not legit at all, but it’s still an interesting look into what went into creating toy lines and how many obstacles there are.

I believe part of the reason for the “changing clothes” was because Mattel was looking for a new concept and had noted several potential styles — one based on G.I. Joe’s “military” motif, another with a Star Wars “space” accent, and so on. By having the alternative clothes, this guy could work in any of those situations. It was the (alleged) creator’s method of covering all the bases.

Dino Drac is live.

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:15:47 -0400

For those following me on obsolete accounts: Dino Drac is live!

Psst.

Fri, 25 May 2012 21:01:08 -0400

You shouldn’t be following me on this account anymore. Dinosaur Dracula opens June 1st!

Come with me.

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 20:18:42 -0400

I’m moving. Come with me.

New site, which will be under wraps until the big launch a while later: http://dinosaurdracula.com

New Tumblr, which you should follow, because I’m eventually going to leave this one to die: http://dinosaurdracula.tumblr.com

See you there, I hope!

Designers/Coders?

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:31:53 -0400

This is a little random, but I’m looking for a designer/coder to help me build “something.”

It’s a big project. The person should be familiar with Wordpress especially.

Unfortunately. at this time I’m really looking for someone who can both design AND code. (And by code, I mean take what they build and transform it into a functioning, Wordpress-powered blog.)

Obviously, this is a paying job. I can’t afford to spend a fortune but I can be fair. I have ideas and mockups of what I’m after, but need someone who is more of a pro to take it to the next level and actualize it all.

If interested, shoot me an e-mail. Matt at x-entertainment dot com. Thx!

The sad thing is that Gray Cat has no way of knowing that...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:48:00 -0400

The sad thing is that Gray Cat has no way of knowing that her weeks-long attempt to climb the floor-to-ceiling pile in the corner of my office has ended with the successful conquering of Grayskull. That’s too cool.

The Godzilla Koosh Ball.

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:42:32 -0400

It took me over a decade, but I finally saw Godzilla. The Matthew Broderick 1998 version, I mean.

Wow. Terrible.

I try to enjoy what everyone else trashes, because it’s the easiest way to be a bitchin’ nonconformist. But I could not do it with this movie. I’ve seen a thousand “giant monster” films, and even the worst of them had some charm. Here? No.

Everything about it was bad. By the time my mental bullet list grew to 37 lines – and I believe #37 was “Could they have chosen worse music even if limited to tracks from Ace of Base’s seminal album, Happy Nation?” – I gave up and agreed with the critics.

Still, I’m not sorry that they made it. Without 1998’s Godzilla, we wouldn’t have gotten 1998’s Godzilla Koosh ball.

You all remember the Koosh fad, I’m sure. Millions of rubber strings working together as a weird ball, ready to stretch and smoosh all of life’s little stresses away.

Well, at some point, King Koosh decided that his empire would grow to new heights by sticking heads, arms and feet into the things. I’m not sure how many “Koosh characters” came to fruition, but as the photo proves, there was a Godzilla version at the very least.

He’s awesome. They even used specially colored filaments to match Godzilla’s grey-green skin. He can’t stand without using his tail for balance, and sure, he looks a bit like Godzilla-as-a-Fry-Guy, but the fact remains that Koosh balls are infinitely more interesting with dragon limbs.

Also: Note the bunch of looped Koosh strings just behind Godzilla’s head. That means I can hang him from my rearview. I won’t, but it does mean I could.

There’s the header card. Not very interesting, but I didn’t want anyone to hatch the theory that I simply disassembled a Godzilla figure and glued the parts into a Koosh ball, all to perpetuate the idea that these really existed. I’m not a bad guy.

Boring.

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:10:20 -0400

So I never finished Candymania. Shocking, we can all agree. I just couldn’t come up with anything poignant about that Zagnut bar, other than the obvious Beetlejuice reference. I’ve already made Zagnut/Beetlejuice references so many times.

Then, in a fit of trying to find motivation through clean sheets, I started messing around with my Tumblr theme. Ended up buying one of the premium versions, thinking it was customizable and easy on the eyes. It was neither. When I tried to switch back to the original, I came to the fun realization that I’d neglected to save it anywhere. So, for the moment, I’ve cobbled it back together as best I could. Just need to relocate that image of me looking sad, in clown makeup.

My work schedule has relaxed, finally, and most of what’s on the immediate horizon is “homework.” So I’m trying to get my head back in the game. This Tumblr is a side toy; the main site is the bigger issue. I’ve been purposely neglecting it because it badly needs a revised design. My main issues:

1) That whole top header area is obsolete. Like, way obsolete. I’ve had it since 2005 and while it still looks okay, it just feels old. Plus, nothing in the navbar links to anything useful. Mostly dead pages. I don’t need a “links” page. I’m a hermit. I don’t need a “downloads” page for a bunch of ‘80s commercials in WMV format when they’re all on YouTube now, anyway.

2) The UGO button. I’m no longer part of the UGO network. (If one still exists? I see the site is still up, but know they merged with IGN. Don’t know if they’re continuing as separate entities permanently or what.) I don’t necessarily care that I’m sending the site’s former ad supplier four hits every six months, but it still shouldn’t be there.

3) The main content table width. It’s wide enough to work, but not as wide as I want it to be. The annoying thing is that I’d be fine with a content table even an inch or so wider, but with the way the design was built, that’s impossible to do without a complete and total gutting.

4) …and to that end, the way the whole thing is coded is unbelievably, uh, antique. My pal Brian did an amazing job with the core design (especially for those who remember the site’s main page), but it certainly wasn’t intended for what I want out of X-E now. Even so, the core code was built like seven years ago. It’s a miracle that I can still do anything with it at all, but it’s unforgivingly uncustomizable.

That and so much more. I’ve gotta hire someone to help me with this. In theory, I could choose a theme that better suits what I want and slug it in temporarily, but the fact that anyone could grab the same theme and make the same hacks would drive me batty. I’d rather have the ugly thing if it’s unique. It’s why I always picked the nastiest hamsters with the bluest fur.

I’ll probably throw in the towel and just work with the current design for a while longer. What I want to do won’t happen overnight, anyway.

There really wasn’t much need to post this. Here’s a pink monster with issues:

Candymania: Part III!

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:46:10 -0400

More candy. I’m already tired of this, but a deal’s a deal.

Candy Pipe: And there she is. The one and only.

For a while, a cherry candy pipe was my favorite candy on the planet. Don’t write it off as mere “red licorice,” because the flavor was so much richer, spicier and awesomenier. Best of all, you had to eat it slow, because no kid could get a candy pipe and not spend an hour pretending it was real.

Not to be gross, but the phony smoking only improved the flavor. With the tip between your lips, the pipe grew mushier, and by the time you finally started biting, it was like a radiator-heated slice of cherry pie. So, so good. (If you’ve ever turned a Twizzler into a soda straw, you know how good those Twizzlers were when you eventually ate them. This was sort of the same deal.)

The candy pipes also come in black, but black licorice is an affront to us all.

Two things, one photo. It’s time management, see.

Rock Candy: Spotting rock candy again reminds me of the one local ice cream parlor we had during my youth. I still remember the first time I saw it there. Being totally unfamiliar with the concept of rock candy, I just assumed that the parlor’s owners invented the stuff themselves.

So began my brief but passionate affair with rock candy. I thought it was so freakin’ cool. The most common rock candy is “clear” colored, looking much like mutant quartz. That’s the best kind, but this sparkling blue version is also capable of making the world a brighter place.

As for the flavor, it’s sugar on a stick. Nobody buys rock candy just for the taste, though. You buy it because petrophysics is much more fun when you can eat your specimens.

I’ve wanted to use the word “petrophysics” for like, eight months now.

Wax Lips: As a child, I did not understand wax lips. Actually, I’m not sure if I understand wax lips today, either. I know that the wax is pleasantly flavored and nontoxic, but I’ve never been clear on if we’re really supposed to eat it.

Can someone explain wax lips to me? What I usually do is wear them for a second, chew them for twenty minutes, and then spit the gloppy wax into a secret crevice where nobody will ever find it. Is this the proper stratagem? I’d be crushed to learn that I’ve spent decades incorrectly wax lipping.

There’s still MORE CANDY to come. I would’ve given up sooner, but someone from a foreign land PM’d me to say thanks, because he doesn’t get such cool candy where he lives. So now I feel all humbled and responsible. I must continue candying.

Candymania: Part II!

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:15:58 -0400

I believe we must continue candy-ing.

Giant Gobstopper: Yeah, disregard the pack of Beemans gum. It’s only there for scale purposes. I do NOT wish to write about Beemans gum. Not now, not ever.

You’ve likely had a giant Gobstopper/Jawbreaker before. They’re the candies nobody finishes. It’s impossible. Either you get full, or you just throw in the towel from plain mouth fatigue.

Then you sit the half-eaten candy on the table beside you, and stare. It no longer rolls, but it isn’t exactly still. It’s almost as if there’s a small creature inside, haplessly attempting to claw its way out. You’ll never know for sure, because nobody finishes a giant Gobstopper.

PS: They charged me three bucks for this stupid thing. I have to say, for candy that was produced during the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, their prices were a little insane. But where else can you find giant Gobstoppers and the Body of Christ at the same time?

Big League Chew: People like to pretend that Big League Chew is some rare artifact, but it really isn’t. It’s still sold pretty much everywhere.

We pretend it’s rare so we have an excuse to celebrate every time we see it.

Because let’s face it, we do.

We point and stare and marvel. We tell everyone to gather around, like it’s the score of the century. Then we do the same thing the following week, in a different store, surrounded by different people.

It’s time to drop the charade. It’s okay to be excited about Big League Chew. We don’t have to pretend that it’s some near-mythological treasure to cover ourselves. Everyone loves and appreciates grapey gum, shredded to mimic chewing tabackee. We don’t need the fake extra reason. Stop it.

ICEE Spray Candy: The store had an unusually high number of ICEE-themed candies, but this was the only true keeper.

Binaca that tastes like a cherry Slurpee is the kind of invention that surely made someone a billionaire. Every blast is an invigorating sting of artificial fruit and sorbium petroliate maximus.

I also imagine that you could use it like mace on featherweight assailants who don’t warrant a stronger defense.

More candy to come.

Candymania: Part II!

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:47:18 -0400

Let’s start eating candy. First finds:

UFOs: Okay, these have several names, and you probably know them as something else. In fact, I’m not even sure that anyone outside me calls them “UFOs.”

Basically, they’re bland saucers with tiny handfuls of candy sprinkles inside. As a once-practicing Catholic, what always struck most me about UFOs is how similar in taste and texture they are to the Body of Christ.

(You know, those circular bready things people eat in church. I think that’s what they’re called.)

Every time I eat a UFO, I feel closer to God. Sometimes I feel like an enormous space monster devouring alien spacecraft, too.

El Bubble Gum Cigars: Wow, I can’t remember the last time I saw the El Bubble trio. I don’t know why cigar-themed gum was so exciting, but it was. After that last sentence, it’s hard to believe that I write for a living.

I always picked the “Pink Owl” type, even if “Gold Dragon” had the better name and label.

See, Pink Owl was fruit-flavored. I can get down with “fruit” gum. It’s neutral. It works. Gold Dragon, on the other hand, was an all-out banana offense. The only thing worse than banana gum is being attacked by bears with katanas.

Freshen-Up Gum: To me, Freshen-Up will always be known as “Mom gum.” Growing up, it’s the only brand my mother ever chewed, and while she never seemed to have a full pack in her purse, there were always stray pieces, half-wrapped, hiding amid the coins and tobacco. It still feels weird to chew it without the tinge of tinny pennies and broken cigarettes.

Freshen-Up was one of the first brands to make use of the “goo in the middle” gimmick. In this case, the gum’s hollowed out center is filled with a minty slime that is in no way as blue as the package illustrates.

More obscure candy, coming later.

Candymania!

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:06:00 -0400

So, as at least one of you guessed, that random hot sauce store was in Peddler’s Village, in Pennsylvania.

I don’t know how to describe Peddler’s Village, exactly. It’s like an outdoor mall, but with enough rustic charm to make you feel like a not-asshole for spending the night there.

But you know, for a while, I did feel like an asshole. After eighteen stores full of homemade soap and Moroccan wind chimes, our “Plan B” of Atlantic City was starting to seem like a better “Plan A.”

Turns out, I just wasn’t looking hard enough. Aside from the weird hot sauce, I found a gourmet candy shop with an enchanted back room, stuffed to the brim with sweets that were ancient, rare or both:

This place was AMAZING. It wasn’t so much the volume of candy, but the brands.

They had all of the hard-to-find stuff most people assume went out of production twenty years ago.

…and maybe it did, because everything I purchased was rock hard and dusty. I didn’t care. When you see a red licorice candy pipe, you buy it, no matter how old it is.

I spent $30 in that stupid store, and I did it for you. I walked around Peddler’s Village with a giant, see-through bag of candy, looking like a complete moron, for you.

Throughout the day, I’ll be posting the highlights of my sickly sweet shopping spree. Stay tuned for various adventures in gum and marshmallows.

Hot Sauce.

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:42:59 -0400

This past weekend, I visited a quaint little shop that – at least for storytelling purposes – sold nothing but hot sauce. Lots and lots of hot sauce.

I like hot sauce. Really do. Tabasco is my table salt. But until I stepped foot in this dusty shop, I never truly understood how utterly capable hot sauce is of changing a person’s life.

That’s the stupid way of saying, “I think I’m going to get into collecting hot sauce.”

It has absolutely nothing to do with the eating part, mind you. I already have my trusted brands, and there’s little need to experiment. I smoke; it’s not like I can tell the difference between a ghost vanilla pepper and a Scotch Fuck jalapeno, anyway.

No, my new hot sauce fascination is due to the absolutely wicked bottles they come in. Wicked enough to make me type like Ron Weasley. Who I hate.

See, this weird store’s supply seemed to grossly undervalue any expiration dates normally associated with hot sauce. As I shuffled from shelf to shelf, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d stumbled upon a reserve from 1976.

Incidentally, that’s the year the Seattle Seahawks played their first game. I’m just unclear on which sport.

So, more accurately, “I think I’m going to get into collecting really old hot sauce.” You’re about to find out why.

I chose the three above, and it had nothing to do with their flavors or Scoville ratings. I chose them simply because the bottle art was so reminiscent of old & obscure horror movie videocassette boxes.

So, I’ll amend things for a third time.

“I think I’m going to get into collecting really old hot sauce packaged in bottles that remind me of old horror movies.”

Behold, the breakdown bof by burgeoning bollection:

The Thing Hot Sauce: The one that started it all. As soon as I saw The Thing, I knew I’d be spending way too many waking moments focused on old hot sauce. In this case, “The Thing” refers to the sauce’s mascot, shown on the label. He’s sort of a cross between Satan and a lumpy wolf, and he sprays fiery word balloons. I adore this creature.

Maniac Hot Sauce: The store only had one bottle of Maniac, and even with its terribly faded label, I couldn’t turn it down. Here, a shadowy, red-eyed demon is simultaneously christened “the fiend of fire” and “your worst nightmare.” Maniac has more handles than World Wrestling Entertainment’s Undertaker.

I wish Maniac was a movie. I’m dying to know what he looks like when he isn’t being lit so mysteriously. Given the head shape, I’m going with the bad guy from Flash Gordon, or a narrower Ben Kingsley. Either way, shit is solid.

18 Wheels of Heat: Granted, this one isn’t as cool, and it requires a bit more imagination. It’s positioned as the official hot sauce for truckers, because if there’s anything that can stir a trucker’s groin, it’s recognition in the form of condiments.

Whatever. My attraction to 18 Wheels of Heat stems from that eerie truck on the label. It reminds me of the bad guy (Bad car?) from Duel. I want to find a desolate highway and have that thing chase and honk at me. “Psycho Killer” would be on the radio, and there’d be roadkill everywhere.

In closing, I can’t wait to add to my collection of really old hot sauce packaged in bottles that remind me of old horror movies.

Everyone needs a hobby. Some of us need 150 of ‘em.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:42:35 -0500

I’ve been scarce as fuck lately, I know. Been busy with work, but barring a few script projects over the next few weeks, I’m about to get freed up. This is good, as I really miss taking pictures of nonsense and writing about it.

EPIX’s “Big Bloody Valentine” marathon is on tonight, and that promo we built is all over it. (A few versions of it, actually, plus bumpers.) I almost never get the chance to see my stuff on air, so even after all these years, it’s still so goofily magical.

I’m watching Slumber Party Massacre as we speak:

I only tell you guys about a fraction of the “real work” I do, because most of it is uninteresting, or because the clients involved might not be keen on a behind-the-curtain view. With Big Bloody Valentine, I had to, and not just because we did a nice job on the promo. I’m so thrilled to have some loose tie to this awesome concept of a Valentine’s Day slasher marathon. I’m misty at the thought of even a few dozen horror geeks surviving the “holiday” with this.

I used to love these weirdo all-night marathons. I still do, but they were especially great back when my social life was limited to exchanging pissy faces with the freak in the mirror. There was some detached form of camaraderie to ‘em. The thought that someone out there with similarly odd interests was watching the same stuff at the same ungodly hour just felt so strangely great.

In other news: Yes, the photo above is of my newly renovated office, which looks…surprisingly similar to my old office. Just with a television, and less dust. I’ll give you the full tour when I finish organizing everything, but suffice to say, it’s evolving into an inspiring little box that would double nicely as a psychopathic fifteen-year-old’s bedroom.

With a good scowl and some well-timed sighs, nobody at work will...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:11:39 -0500

With a good scowl and some well-timed sighs, nobody at work will realize that I’ve spent half the day looking up Inhumanoids on eBay.

EPIX Big Bloody Valentine Promo.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:01:00 -0500

We just completed this promo for EPIX’s 2012 “Big Bloody Valentine” marathon. It’s romantic and gross.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE TRAILER FOR JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND??? I'm pretty sure the mystery is how anybody forgot that it was named Skull Island. (I almost said Skull Fucking Island for emphasis but that would have sounded like a whole different thing)

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:31:46 -0500

I just saw it today, actually! You’re dead on with the Skull Island comparison, which of course means that I must see it.

Giant bees! Tiny elephants!

It’s like that Jungle Playset I just blabbed about, come to fake life.

Eye'm Famous.

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:24:34 -0500

I don’t know if I should be honored or offended.

A reader named Stina, from California I think, was out shopping when she spotted a familiar face on the signage for a “wacky contact lenses” stand.

That face was mine.

Yes, the makers of “Krazy Lenses” saw fit to use yours truly as part of their promotional spread.

They took the image from this article, published as part of X-E’s 2004 Halloween Countdown.

For all I know, they’ve been making millions off my twisted face for over seven years now.

You know what? I don’t care.

I don’t care that they stole my photo without asking.

I don’t care that they didn’t offer me a free pair of “Wizard Nut Bamboozle Snake” lenses.

I don’t even care that it’s a horrible old picture, where my head seems to be shaped like a Ferrara Pan candy mascot.

I’ll take fame wherever I can. Even from flea market contact lens vendors.

Big thanks to Stina for both finding this and somehow recognizing me. And thanks to Krazy Lenses, those thieving shitballs, for making Monday so much more interesting than it would’ve been otherwise.