T-shirt #336 - VAMPIRE the Masquerade

OFFICIAL INCOMPLETE BOILERPLATE TEXT: Thank you for coming to my blog. If you have been here before, you know why I post unfinished blog entries. If you are new to the blog, and came here by an Internet search or some other nefarious means, you may be wondering why someone would post something incomplete to the Internet. The shirt (ha ha.... leaving in that typo: I meant "short") answer is that I must post something every day because of the goal I set for myself when I began 365 T-shirts in March of 2013. And though there is a way to post backwards in time thanks to Blogger's scheduler utility, I would rather post an incomplete entry when the daily chaos of work, family, and the universe prohibits me from completing the blog entry for that day. Sometimes, I need a few days to complete the entry, and readers who check may see a work in progress slowly bloom.
In other words, more tomorrow. Thanks for checking.


T-shirt #336 - VAMPIRE the Masquerade

"There are no such thing as vampires..."

THEATER OF THE VAMPIRE


This is getting silly. I am falling far behind. In my defense, I have work and a big homework project due.

And then today, this is supposed to be short, but I wanted to revise previous vampire content and add to it with some stuff on women vampires and the succubus.

If you came upon this, you can see my unfinished work (a few videos)...


HIATUS TEXT: REVISED 1402.18:  I have been trying to maintain a hiatus from large or over involved blog posts beginning with the start date of my hiatus on January 20th (almost a month ago) during which time I logged 21 posts, which I consider "Hiatus Shirts." By this term, Hiatus Shirt, I mean the shirt is not one that would cause me to write a great deal on the subject it features. These are shirts about which I can write anything, either a lot or a very little. The hiatus will continue, though as it has for the last few weeks, not consecutively as I will continue to mix Hiatus and Non-Hiatus shirts. The blog's year (365 shirts) draws close to a close. (I like the double word use in that previous sentence.) I hope to finish strong with some good entries with high quality content and imagery on some beloved subjects. To earn this time, I will need to intersperse shirts of little consequence, what I have come to call Hiatus Shirts.
My original goal of working ahead remains. I need time to write the enormously lengthy text to complete the extensive love letter to certain beloved popular culture icons featured on my many special shirts. Even with "Hiatus Shirts," I will try to share some worthy content as I have either an idea, a new suggestion of something to read/look at/listen to, or another installment of my various features, such as the WHY T-SHIRTS item, the WEEKLY COMIC BOOK LISTS, and the SHIRT I AM ACTUALLY WEARING TODAY among others. BTW, this is the standard HIATUS TEXT that I will include in every "hiatus shirt" entry.
Thanks for reading. I am always honored that people have taken some of their valuable time to look at my ongoing web writing project. Keep checking this address. I promise to make it worthwhile.

THE PRETTY VAMPIRE - A BLOG

Try searching just "Vampires women."

Or try searching - "Smokin Hot Female Vampire Suckfest"

Top 25 Sexy Vampire Women

Female Vampire 11

Hottest. Female. Vampire. Ever.

From Dusk Till Dawn HD table dance scene with Salma Hayek After Dark

From Dusk Till Dawn (7/12) Movie CLIP - Welcome to Slavery (1996) HD

From Dusk Till Dawn (6/12) Movie CLIP - F***ing Vampires! (1996) HD

Succubus Seduction Beowulf Angelina Jolie

Succubus-Bo | Lost Girl | Black Betty

T-shirt #222 - Vampires by Robert Lewis



1. BARNABAS COLLINS - JONATHAN FRID

I am a child of the 1960s-1970s, and as such, I was an avid viewer of Dark Shadows, a daily soap opera featuring an actual vampire along with ghosts and werewolves and witches and time travel that ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971.

Awesome. Jonathan Frid was the first vampire in my life. I saw his work before even Bela Lugosi's Dracula, though Lugosi's predates Frid's.

Have you not heard of this? DARK SHADOWS WIKI.

2. TOMB OF DRACULA FROM MARVEL COMICS

From 1972-1979, Marvel Comics published The Tomb of Dracula comic book, which is one of the best comics in its genre of all time and definitely one of my TOP TEN COMIC BOOKS OF ALL TIME if I were to make a list (and expect a list before the end of my T-shirt year).

The comic was originally conceived and written by Gerry Conway, but the writer that distinguished himself best with the work and made the comic such a blockbuster success and a stunning read was Marv Wolfman.

The artist for the entire run of 70 issues was Gene Colan, who is one of my favorite 1970s artists and one of my favorite comic book artists of all time.

Here's just a taste with four images, two covers. I recently bought a TOMB OF DRACULA t-shirt (and may get a second one before my year is done). This shirt would be the perfect feature for Halloween, but I am not going to be able to write the love letter to that comic and to the great Gene Colan by Thursday, so I will have to feature the shirt another time.

TOMB OF DRACULA WIKI

Even the collected black & white volumes are well worth the investment and perusal.

3. BELA LUGOSI AS DRACULA

This is a classic. 1931 epic from Universal. But I came late to the party. I did not first see this stunning film until my teenage years, long after I was an ardent Dark Shadows and Tomb of Dracula fan. But still, I give Bela the edge in Dracula portrayal over my notable omissions, Christopher Lee and Gary Oldman.

4. NOSFERATU - Werner Herzog film 1979 - played by Klaus Kinski

Once again, I saw Herzog's Nosferatu long before I saw the original film from 1922. Though the original, NOSFERATU 1922 WIKI, is frightening, I give the edge to Herzog's Nosferatu, possibly and simply because I saw it first.

It's still one of the most frightening films I have ever seen.

5. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER VAMPIRES - ANGEL AND SPIKE

Knowing that I am a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- and if you don't know that, then check out
T-shirt #170. But there's no way I make a short list of favorite vampires without Angel and Spike. And there's no choosing between them. Angel and Spike. Tie for fifth in today's list.

I will probably need to expand on why these two characters are so awesome at some point, but maybe I will save that for the next Buffy the Vampire Slayer t-shirt as I own another.

For now, these are my final images of the day.

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 29 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1402.20 - 20:24
final publication - date - time

T-shirt #276 - Starman by Robinson and Harris

T-shirt #276 - Starman - Zodiac Logo, Long-Sleeve, and Watch & GAMING

This is my oldest comic book themed long-sleeve shirt. It was a promotional shirt for the Robinson and Harris Starman comic published by DC Comics from 1994 to 2001. As you can see, I also own a matching watch, and sometimes I am known to wear them together. I already blogged about Starman in T-shirt #138, in which I mentioned that I would return with more Starman content. I am not going to deliver a lot of Starman content today despite my promise from T-shirt #138. I will give a snapshot and a small cover gallery. But mainly, I wanted to share today about gaming, as seen in the older pictures of me playing Magic the Gathering with friends, and last night we watched Cloud Atlas as a family, and I really liked it, so I want to make some comments about it. This theme of various subjects mirrors the T-shirt #138 entry, in which I wrote about many things in addition to Starman: Valiant comics, Optic Nerve, Lazarus, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Gun Machine and Dead Pig Collector, and off-hand mention of Gilligan's Island.  I also briefly explored DESIGN FICTION. Actually, my original plan contained more subjects for today, but I cut it down. Comic book reviews that I was going to do today, I will do tomorrow.

So here we go.

STARMAN CONTENT

Jack Knight is the son of the original Starman, Ted Knight.

Jack Knight Wiki

Jack Knight on ComicVine

In my reading, I came across an interesting article on why superheroes disappear.

Top 10 Reasons that Superheroes Disappear

I like Tony Harris' art. I really liked the art deco look of all the Starman covers during this period. Harris' run on Ex Machina, written by Brian K. Vaughan, was also a comic I enjoyed immensely. Based on the strength of Robinson's writing for Starman, I was ready to anoint him as one of my favorite writers, but I have not liked his work lately. I very much enjoyed his Golden Age comic for DC. He wrote the Justice Society comic for years, and I liked that work. But his recent work on Justice League of America and more recently Earth-Two left me cold. Now, he is set to take over The Fantastic Four next year; see article here: WORD OF THE NERD. I am trying to keep an open mind, as I have liked much of his work in the past, but I am a bit worried. Still, Robinson wrote some Fantastic Four in 1997 with art by Mike Wieringo, in a forgettable crossover with WildStorm.

BACK TO JACK.

Jack Knight has been off the canvas for sometime at DC after retiring at the end of the series known as Starman Volume Two. James Robinson wrote an issue of Starman in 2010 during DC's Blackest Night crossover, in which dead comic book titles were revived for one month. Jack Knight did not appear in the issue.

Part of the allure of Starman Volume Two is that Jack Knight is a bit of an anti-hero, he has tattoos, he smokes, he's reluctant to wield the Cosmic Rod and be a hero, he has father issues, and both with his own father and in being a father. Jack reluctantly takes over the identity of Starman after the death of his brother, David, who appears in the series as a ghost. Jack's dad Ted also appears frequently, heroically sacrificing himself to save their home Opal City in the ultimate story arc of the comic.

Robinson wrote several compelling story arcs with deep roots, such as the long running storyline named for Alfred Bester's important Science Fiction novel The Stars, My Destination as Jack searches in outer space for the last Starman, Will Payton, who turns out is the brother of his girlfriend, Sadie. Jack encounters many of the space-faring characters of the DC universe, including one of my favorites, Adam Strange, who is DC's SF update on John Carter of Mars (see covers #52 and #53 below).

ASIDE: I even included a Christmas themed cover because of the time of the year.

The Robinson/Harris Starman saga remains one of the best DC superhero comics of the later period (since the 1990s). I love the and watch logo because it is such a great icon, mirroring the zodiac, in a smart, art-deco-ish design.





GAMING

I started playing Magic the Gathering in 1995. Just two years after it came out. I remember buying a box of ICE AGE cards in the summer of 1995.
By 1996, I was hardcore addicted to this game. My addiction for this game and computer games coupled with my propensity for depression ruined my relationship in which I was involved at that time. The loss of that relationship eventually prompted me to stop both frequent game play of Magic and of computer games. By 1998, I was no longer playing Magic every week. By 2002, I had quit computer video games completely because I could not even play a little without risking becoming addicted again.

This issue of my addiction has been discussed in my marriage as I cannot play XBox or computer games with Ivan without the risk of becoming addicted again. Plus, the learning curve to work the controller fro XBox is so steep that I would require so many hours of constant play that I am not sure I can even find the time to play to get functional let alone good.

As for Magic the Gathering, I stopped making decks in 1997-98 and just bought pre-constructed decks for the sets as they came out in the hopes of being able to find an occasional game: List of sets. Eventually, I could not keep up with buying the sets and play even more infrequently these days.

There was a period of time (2001- 2007) in which I played no Magic at all, and I missed it.


I had the good fortune to make some very good friends at WMU while teaching and eventually found someone, Stevie Pitts, pictured here, with whom I could play magic. His then girlfriend, Jenni Griesbeck (now Corwin) is also seen in the photos. The photos were taken by sometimes player Miranda Rosenberg (now Wolfe) in 2007 at one of our few (far too few) Magic gaming sessions.

Many of these good friends were at my wedding, though I wish all of them could have been. I remember well Stevie Pitts taking me aside at my wedding and telling me that I am responsible (he gives me too much credit) for changing the course of his life. He had been a student in my Technical Writing course, and I encouraged him (and convinced him) to take my women's studies media criticism course. Because of my course in media, he switched his major to psychology and the rest is history. He now has a good job, a Master's Degree (?), and is in a band TAKING OUR OWN.

I cherish his kind words.

We're overdue for a game of Magic.

See? I started with Magic the Gathering and came around to dear friends and a sweet memory.

I am due to play more Magic this holiday season.

CLOUD ATLAS

I liked this movie quite a lot. I found its intersecting and nested stories to be fascinating. I may read the book. But mostly, I loved the theme: EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED.


Other people can express thoughts and opinions about Cloud Atlas much better than I. And I am trimming back my content for the day. I hope you also know, dear reader, especially the regular and faithful, that I often put these links here so I can find them again and read them in more depth. My method, often, when sharing links is to share links that I find when searching for images. This method of searching often bears better results than the more engineered searches with straight up text/keyword.

This Geekyrant link below has a couple of good promo videos for the movie and a breakdown of the stories in the NOVEL by David Mitchell. The Wiki (linked to the word NOVEL in the former) also breaks down the six nested stories. The Wiki about the film also broke down the nesting stories. Apparently, critical reception to the movie was "polarized," but generally positive.

GEEKYRANT

I also found to great blogs about the movie. I like these a lot more than the top choices in searching for reviews. The Belbin includes some of the music.

DAVID BELBIN

WE BIRTH OUR FUTURE - PatriseArts

It's a long movie, nearly three hours, but its stories, images, and themes will worm their way deeply into your consciousness. Elements could have been handled better or focused better, but I would not have wanted too much overtly explained as it would have detracted from the way the viewer must construct the story in his or her mind.

In any case, some featuring of Cloud Atlas seems fitting and fits with today's shirt subject of Robinson and Harris' Starman. There are parallels.























 
COVER GALLERY

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 89 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1312.22 - 15:34

T-shirt #131: Starfleet Academy

T-shirt #131: Starfleet Academy Training: THE KLASSIC ARCADE

I have read a lot of very good books this year.

I would be hard pressed to pick a book of the year out of this year's choices--at least so far--and my "to read" book stack is looking very good with works like Joyland by Stephen King and Gadget Girl by Suzanne Kamata up next followed by City of Bones, Kite Runner, and Earth Afire among so many others. I also have a plan to re-read Dune and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

I posted about books that I have enjoyed recently in T-shirt #107: The Daily Planet with some newsy lists of favorite things. One of the books on that list was Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. I liked it so much that I also blogged about it here in T-shirt #61: Blade Runner. So far, everyone to whom I have recommended Ready Player One has loved it and had a difficult time putting it down. Though I thoroughly enjoyed John Scalzi's Red Shirts and Warren Ellis' Gun Machine, if forced at threat of a boiling in a pot surrounded by hungry cannibals, I would choose Ready Player One as my book of the year.


Is it cheating to quote myself? Well, I am going to do it anyway.

"Recently, I read a great book called Ready Player One, which had references to Blade Runner among many other references to favorite '80s media. This was a GREAT book, and if you love 1980s geeky media as much as I do (and even if you do not), you must read it. (Basically, everyone should read it.)" (T-shirt #61: Blade Runner).

...and...

"But really, out of this list, Ready, Player One by Ernest Cline is the most amazing. Everyone to whom I have recommended it has loved it, and the audio edition with narration by Wil Wheaton is fantastic! Beware. You will not be able to put it down. I originally mentioned Ready, Player One in the entry for T T-shirt #61: Blade Runner, another post that could have made the top five and of which I am enormously proud. (See how I am sneaking in more than a top five in posts?)" (T-shirt #107: The Daily Planet).

Here's my Goodreads review. I gave Ready, Player One FIVE stars: "This is one of the single most entertaining reads I have had in a long time, and I give it five stars with no hesitation. I finished it a week ago, but I have been waiting to share my review because I thought it needed a long review.

It does not.

Certain readers, geeks like me, will love this book. It's a lovefest for the 1980s. With a constant stream of TV show, movie, music, video game, and other game references, this book will be adored by any fun loving geek who grew up and/or lived through the 1980s. It's delightful.

The reading experience is made more delightful by listening to the audio book narrated by the brilliantly funny Wil Wheaton. This marks the third Wil Wheaton book I have listened to recently. The last one was the book I read right before this one, Scalzi's Red Shirts, which gave me a back-to-back Wil Wheaton love fest. The other book was Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation, which was another immensely entertaining reading experience.

I only wish to applaud this book and reveal no spoilers. Beyond sharing that it's an '80s love fest, I do not want to share anything else. I went into it with no pre-knowledge except the rave reviews of several of the vendors at Fanfare, the local comic and game shop.

All I can say is to READ IT. If you are in any way like me, you will love it.

Thank me later" (Goodreads review, 2013).

I have been informed that I was wrong that only those geeky kids of the 1980s would thoroughly enjoy this book. One reader, a child of the late-1990s and early 2000s, told me I was dead wrong. So, I will qualify: the resonance for those who grew up in the 1980s or the late 1970s and early 1980s will find a richer experience here than those who have consumed 1980s culture in retrospect. The experience of reading the book will be just as enjoyable for both readers, but their experiences will inform their enjoyment differently.

At this point, many of you may be asking: "what does Ready, Player One have to do with that Starfleet Academy shirt you are wearing and the Klassic Arcade?"

Good question.

First, the Klassic Arcade. After finishing  Ready, Player One, I did a Google search to find a local arcade. With my love of old 1970s and 1980s electronic arcade games rekindled by this book, I needed an outlet to play the classics. This is how I discovered the Klassic Arcade of Gobles, Michigan. But this was back in March. My delayed gratification system seems to be working well. Four months after finding this place, I made my trek on Saturday July 27th, accompanied by my step-son Ivan and his girlfriend Olivia (pictures courtesy of both). Believe me, after visiting this great place and spending most of my time at the Asteroids machine, I will be back soon.

Second, the shirt. I have featured SEVEN Star Trek shirts so far on this blog. This one makes eight.

This was my first Star trek shirt, and it was a gift from my parents (or my sister, I forget). I may have lied when I claimed in T-Shirt #39 that the UFP logo shirt was the first Star Trek shirt that I owned. Since I am committed to accuracy, I may have to try to fact check these claims, but that's nothing I can do now. So it goes on my list (it's a short list) of potential updates to make later.

In any case, why this shirt? Well, why not? I have written quite a lot of Star Trek related content. My love for Star Trek is well documented on this blog. So, I do not feel that I needed to write more about Star Trek (though I could and I probably will as I expect purchasing at least one more Star Trek shirt before this yar of 365 days ends). Also, I do not own an Asteroids or an Atari shirt. No classic arcade game shirts, though, again, this may change. So, it seemed fitting to wear my Starfleet Academy shirt. After all, what is the Kobayashi Maru but a big video game? And what better training for something like Starfleet than simulations like electronic games, which will be demonstrated in the Ender's Game film due out this fall (and the controversy over which is the subject of an upcoming blog post). My friends and I always said we were the military's secret training project, and each game had a hidden video camera that sought the best and the brightest to recruit for the future war against the alien invaders. Hmmmm... there's a book there.

I am afraid I will have to sign off soon before I can do a full love letter to the games of the 1980s as Grading Robot is still in high production mode. But as I share my silly pictures, more snippets of fun. Thanks for reading me today!





I have always pronounced the game in the sign above as "Gal-AH-ga" rather than "GAL-a-ga," IE. a long "a" sound on the middle A and emphasis rather than a short "a" in the middle and an emphasis on the first "a." My wife and step-kids love to tease me about this pronunciation, but before them, no one corrected me. Apparently, I have been mis-pronouncing this game's name for years. And yet, when I look at the word, it makes more sense to me to pronounce it my way. Hey, I have to do my own thing. Besides, I have always preferred Galaxian anyway, and I know how to pronounce that name.

My favorite all time video arcade games are Asteroids, Joust, and Robotron followed by Galaxian, Tempest, and the little known Elevator Action.

Sadly, the arcade's Robotron is in for repairs.

But the arcade has a Joust machine. This games is prominently featured in Ready, Player One, and its pairing with another great 1980s popular culture artifact is reason alone to read the book. If you read it, you will see what I mean.

But Asteroids is my all time favorite game.

When I arrived at the arcade, I went straight for the Asteroids machine. I set the high score for the day at 13,500-ish because playing Asteroids is like riding a bike. I had not forgotten how to fly and shoot and avoid death, especially in killing the tiny, annoying spaceship with the excellent targeting system.

For my old days, 13,500 is a low score for me, so I was definitely rusty. But hey, I haven't played Asteroids in about 25 years, so give me a break.

The rest of our time at the arcade (about two hours), I could not beat my first game score. The closest I came was 11,000-something.

I also had forgotten (but quickly remembered) that I used to sign all my high scores with the initials ARM, which comes from Larry Niven's Gil Hamilton books.

One important play tactic with Asteroids is to use the thrust to fly, not only to dodge asteroids but also to avoid and KILL the two ships that will come to break up asteroids and kill you. I call them fatty and the annoying little fucker, respectively.

I also remembered that we used to often cry out "certain death! certain death!" while playing games like Asteroids and Robotron.

If you are interested, play of all of these games can be found on You Tube, including my wife's favorite: Moon Cresta.

- chris tower - 1307.30 - 9:23