Interesting article on Alice Cooper and how he was where punk started. Actually, he kind of loses that point halfway through. I think he's right though. Alice had an immense effect on punk (just ask Johnny Rotten (you know, the guy from PiL) who wrote the liner notes to the Alice Cooper box set). I think the writer is way too hard on Alice's solo efforts though. His late '70s albums are some of the weirdest and most entertaining albums of his career.
I also like that he mentions "Easy Action" in some detail, Alice's most underrated album, I think.

Don't go anywhere without your Vampire Killing Kit. Now only $12,000! (By the way, that story has possibly my favorite headline ever.)

Here's an article trying to spoil our fun in believing that lemmings band together and jump off cliffs in an annual mass suicide. Another great legend lost.

According to Pravda, Noah's Ark may have been a submarine. Pravda is about the most untrustworthy news organization in the world, so don't hold your breath waiting for this to be confirmed. Still, it's awful entertaining.

It's Halloween, so what better time to look at Zombie Pinups.

Here's an interview with Stephen Bissette focusing on horror. Bissette is always interesting on the subject. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of horror movies and comics, and probably better than most knowledge of horror literature.
I'm hoping the article goes at least a little into why he quit comics.
I've always thought it was a damn shame that Bissette quit and gave up working on his masterpiece, "Tyrant," a comic book taken from the perspective of a baby T-Rex. The book explored the dinosaur's world with exacting detail. The only thing like it is Robert Bakker's Raptor Red (an excellent book for dinosaur lovers, like myself.)
I'm hoping Bissette someday returns to the independent comic book fold.

The members of the Gnome Liberation Front were right all along, people don't care about their garden gnomes. Won't someone think of the gnomes?

The CIA is just weird. Not only did they create a dragonfly "insectothopter," they also created, "a 24-inch-long rubber robot catfish named "Charlie" capable of swimming inconspicuously among other fish and whose mission remains secret."
Remember, this is the same agency that tried to kill Castro with an exploding cigar. Really, I think they have an overdeveloped sense of humor.

Wow. An environmental group released these pictures of a dolphin massacre that turns the sea blood red. Also Underwater Times has a link to a video of the dolphins being loaded into the boat. This is pretty brutal stuff, so if you have a special attachment to Flipper, don't look at those links.

Interesting article on the growing number of singles in the country.

According to Fangoria, "Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" (which may well be the world's longest movie title) and "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus" will be out on DVD on January 6. Woohoo!
Which reminds me, I have to get to a record store and see if the "Destroy All Monsters" soundtrack is available. It was supposed to come out today.

ABC News reconstructs Kennedy assassination, confirms Warren Commission conclusion. This would be something I'd be interested in watching. The sticking point for me is, can an average gunman (not a sharpshooter) make the shot from that book depository window.
Oliver Stone's movie made a lot of the "back and to the left" of Kennedy's head, but a person's head isn't like a watermelon. There's muscles in the neck, there is good reason to argue that his head could push back after being shot forward.
Whatever.
No one will ever come up with a clear enough answer that everyone will be satisfied. Still, I would like to see a well done documentary that really tries to come up with the simplest, most likely answer -- be it a guy on the grassy knoll or Oswald himself.

Random House has a nice animation of Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" using the comic adaption by Peter Kuper. It mostly reminded me that I should reread the story. Also, the music is cool.

There are so many good links at Fortean Times today that I'm just going to refer you to them. Just listen to these headlines: "Unexplained Boulders Found In Treetops", "Perfectly formed egg found inside egg", "Living on Butt Hole Road not as much fun as it sounds." And those are just the top ones. The Times is on its game today. Check it out.

Here's a great little article on Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (I found it after reading their article on Kill Bill, also worth a look.) It seems to me the author understands the appeal of the series very well. And he also doesn't fall for the "the movie is the perfect introduction to the series" thing that many other people have said. It's not. It's really just another episode (and not the best episode either.)
But the best thing about this article: there's a link to download the theme song "Tank!" Even if you have no interest in the show, download this song (you'll need WinZip). It's such a cool mix of big band jazz, '70s TV theme song and rock rhythms. It's awesome and I love that it's on my computer now.

A professor is researching earworms, those annoying ditties that get stuck in your head. You know, like the theme of the "Andy Griffith Show." Go ahead, start whistling it, I dare you.

Find out about how Google exploits animals. (Link via Neil Gaiman's journal.)

NASA has released documents about a crash in Kecksburg, Pa., that some believe was a UFO crash. The SciFi Channel put its weight behind the request, which actually got the documents to move, so it can a "documentary" called "The New Roswell."

Apparently Will Ferrell will play Ignatius in a film version of "Confederacy of Dunces." The dialogue from the event seems perfect for Ignatius, but Ferrell seems completely wrong physically for Ignatius. He's a fat, sloppy guy (I can't remember if he's tall though.) At the very least, Ferrell could capture the humor. I just think Philip Seymour Hoffman or Jack Black or Michael Knight or somebody would be a better physical match (and they're all good actors).

I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre last night. It was good. It was gruesome without showing a lot of gore (like the original.) It was definitely created by people who had a lot of respect for the original movie, and they show it through various visual homages to the original.
They do some things better. You get to know these characters better than the original. You care about Jessica Biel's character. And when people are in pain, you feel it. They're not just hacked away like all those nameless slasher movie victims (not that there's anything wrong with that.)
And they retained the deep, black humor of the original, which is probably my favorite thing about that movie. R. Lee Ermey was fantastic. If you like horror movies, check it out.