Sunday, November 17, 2013

The Sun Shines At Midnight....

Say what?

Is that supposed to be some kinda James Bond code?

Are you supposed to respond with something hokey like
"In London, April is a Spring month?"

No.

I am quite pleased to announce that I have been the recipient of the Sunshine Award!


It's not the acceptance letter into the Evil League of Evil that I've been waiting on forever, but it's pretty damn spiffy and I shall display it with pride!  A HUGE thank you to Warden Stokely from Warden Stokely's Horrorzine for the nomination.  It was an incredible surprise and it is quite and honor!  If you haven't been over to her corner of the blogosphere, I suggest you do so immediately.  Sure....she doesn't like Halloween III, but I forgive her....none of us are perfect.  ;-)

And so, in the spirit of thankfulness and fellowship I shall uphold the sacred duty of a Sunshine Award recipient and I will spread the love.  How does it work?  So glad you asked!

The Rules...because in horror movies....ya GOTTA have rules!

1. Include the award's logo in a post or on your blog
2. Link to the person who nominated you
3. Answer 10 questions about yourself (You can either use these questions or make up your own to answer!  I've used some of Warden's and some of my own....)
4. Nominate 10 Bloggers
5. Link your nominees to th we post and comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated


1.)  How long have you been doing this?  When did you launch?
Well, I first launched this blog under the title The Wizard of Vestron on February 28, 2010.  It was originally going to be a slightly wider scoped blog that covered video games, TV, movies, music, books, comics and anything else that I damn well pleased.  I even posted a review of the short lived Dorito's Late Night - All Nighter Cheeseburger flavored chips!  Yeah.....not my proudest moment....but I was still feeling my way around.

Then on March 31, 2012 I changed the look of the blog and changed it's title to Midnight Cinephile, with the ultimate goal of transitioning to a full fledged website.  Which.....still has not happened.

Finally on October 28, 2013 the very Midnight Cinephile Podcast was released.  You can listen to the current episode streaming on the blog, or you can download it from LibSyn or iTunes!

2.)  Most pleasant blogging surprise?
By far the most pleasant surprise that I've had is meeting a wide variety of new people and making friends in unexpected places.  Without Midnight Cinephile, I never would have had the pleasure of meeting and befriend Ms.Mija Lou....a gorgeous Danish Pin Up model with a love of horror movies.  I also never would have never met my brother in horror movie arms, Mr. Travis Love who co-hosts the podcast with me.
Dan from 3D Monster also a good friend of mine that I never would have met without my spooky little corner of the blogosphere.  I could sit here all day....but I'm sure you want to read some more of the questions....

3.)  Most hard won blogging wisdom?
Blogging takes work!  Visitors don't just magically appear....you've got to constantly and actively seek out people to read your mad ramblings.  It's downright exhausting sometimes and other times it's even disheartening when you think that no one reads your stuff.  Then one day someone shows up with a Sunshine Awards and it makes it all worth it!

4.)  Favorite Post?
I've got a few posts that I'm pretty proud of:
Movie Sequels: Roman Numerals vs. Natural Numbers was (I thought) an interesting and humorous look at the difference using Roman Numerals makes in movie sequels.
Attack of the Video Clips was my homage to the great shows like TNT Monstervision and USA Up All Night that fueled my youth.
Tales From The Darkside - Hush what I had originally intended to simply be a review of one of my favorite Tales from the Darkside episodes turned into walk down memory lane and allowed the reader to join me on a Friday night from my youth.  Heavy doses of warm nostalgia are sprinkled throughout the piece and it's also the post which lead to the adoption of Pizza Rolls as my rating form!

5.) Favorite movie to suggest to folks looking for obscure horror?
This one is a no brainer!  It is of course the ultra-wonky Track of the Moon Beast.  My god, the movie is just amazing.  It's basically a werewolf tale but instead of a werewolf, we get a were.....erm.....iguana.  Or something like that.  After a guy gets struck in the head with a meteor, he starts to change with the full moon.  This one was once covered on Mystery Science Theater 3000, but I enjoy the straight version.  The band singing "California Lady" is the cherry on the sundae.

6.)  Favorite non-horror film?
Wow, that's a hard one.  Why would I ask myself such a hard question?  Why am I talking to myself like this?  This is going nowhere.  Okay....well, much like horror, I don't have a single favorite, so if it's okay with you guys, I will just go ahead and break it down be category with my current favorite.  Though if you were to ask me again in an hour, you'd get a completely different set of films.

Comedy:  Step Brothers!  Yes, it's juvenile and it's ridiculous and that is what I love about it.  I quote the film at least 12 bajillion times a day.

Action:  Man of Steel.  I love Superman and this film absolutely did it for me on every level.  

Adventure:  Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Holy treasures....expansive desertscapes and melting nazis!  This film's got it all!

Musical:  The Pirate with Danny Kaye......what a great friggin film that is.  If.   you haven't seen it, please do so immediately.  If you are a fan of musical cinema, I assure you....you will not be disappointed.

I've also got a major weakness for all comic book movies.......

7.) What genre film did you like the least this year?
Hands down, without a doubt, World War Z.  I seem to be in the minority on this one and I'm okay with that.....I'm kinda used to it.  I don't care HOW well it works as an action/adventure flick.  It's supposed to be a friggin zombie epic and they turned it into a soulless cash grab full of the most ridiculous "zombies" I've ever seen.  Don't even get me started on the fact that there was no gore.  Seriously?  The zombies give you a love nibble and then you become a member of an insect like swarm of the undead with ridiculous speed and a snobby attitude to towards sickly meat. 

8.)  Favorite movie to subject straights to even though I know they won't enjoy it?
Killer Klowns From Outer Space.  Man.....I just love watching peoples faces when they see that flick for the first time.

9.)  Best bad movie?
Another easy one!  Invasion of the Blood Farmers!  It's such a terrible, no budget wonky trashterpiece that only certain people will understand how amazingly awesome it is.  If you want to see some of the worst acting in cinematic history, then you may look no further than this flick.  Of course.....any Don Dohler film will give you about the same quality acting.

10.) What do you do besides blog about horror movies?
Well, I work full time as a 911 dispatcher in a busy metropolitan area as well as communications for Life Flight and quite suitably I work the graveyard shift.  I am an EMT...though I haven't been on an ambulance in a while.  But enough of the boring day to day stuff....I'm sure you're much more interested to hear about what makes a dude like me tick, eh?

Well, in my 20's I was a semi-professional magician for a number of years.  I've been in several bands (though none of them went anywhere) and I've also appeared in a couple of independent films.  I still enjoy playing the guitar and would love to start a music club of sorts to just hang out and jam with fellow musicians.
I'm a video game fan.  I've been playing video games since the Atari 2600 and I love retro games.  I also run a severely neglected video game blog called The Space Dungeon of Vestron.  The most traffic on the site comes from a post that compiled all of the Mega Man box art from the US and Europe.  I keep telling myself that I'm going to spruce it up and give it more attention.  Then I realized that I neglect Midnight Cinephile too and I feel bad about myself and start to stress eat.

I also have another blog with really functions as just a silly off shoot blog that either gets updated (or doesn't) per my whim.  The House of the Atomic Rangoon is just a place for me to be my goofy ol' self and not really care what traffic is coming in.

So that's me in a nutshell!  And now, I give to you.....MY nominees for The Sunshine Award!

Dan from 3D Monster
Jayson from The Basement of Ghoulish Delights
Shonen from Black Sun
Chris & Paul from Temple of Schlock
Eegah and Tabonga from Dwrayger Dungeon
Stacie from Final Girl
Johnny from Midnite Media
Karswell from The Horrors of it All
Dave from The 2,500 Movie Challenge
W.B. from Microbrew Reviews

Congratulations to you all!


13 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. You are very welcome! Keep the awesome Godzilla material comin'! I love it!

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  2. Thank you for the honor, my friend! From Midnight to Midnite! Much appreciated. Glad someone is still reading my nonsense. ;-)

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    1. You are most welcome sir! Us nocturnal cinema fiends gotta stick together! ;-)

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  3. Hey Matt!
    If we reached our "ultimate goals" they would no longer be ultimate goals, so don't beat yourself up about the "full fledged" site. Midnight Cinephile rocks! A podcast? Oh my gosh! You really do deserve the Sunshine Award! And just to let you know, the Full Moon Award is on my list, right above Halloween III. Danish pin up? Wow! That almost, but not nearly, beats my buddy James who hangs out Behind the Couch over in Ireland. He said if I ever made it over there, we could stroll all night long through the cemetary. I'm so there. And aw, am so glad you liked the award. I sure like mine, Sunshine or no. I'll tell ya the prisoners down here are going out of their minds. Just the way I like to keep it. Will be YouTubing Track of the Moon Beast for sure. And if Step Brothers doesn't make you laugh; you're dead. Invasion of the Blood Farmers, haven't seen that one, but I do love Motel Hell. Never looked at a sausage the same way again. And the harvesting of the humans, when they're ripe, is awesome, just awesome. I can't handle video games. My thumbs get all tangled up. haha. But the fact the you are an EMT and a Horror Blogger seriously qualifies you for another award of some kind. Or at least a Thank You Matt for saving peoples lives. The irony is astounding and delightful! Congrats, Matt! And Kudos on keeping up the tradition of the Sunshine Award! Can't wait to check out your nominees!But Alas work is calling. Late again....hahaha Until next time....Keep those fires stoked!
    Eternally Yours

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    1. Hiya Warden!
      A very good point on "Ultimate Goals"! What would we strive for if we didn't have them? Truth be told, ultimately I want to turn Midnight Cinephile into a multimedia brand that contributes video, audio and printed content. The podcast is step 1 in that goal. Episode #2 should be up by this Tuesday, I'm hoping. We're going to be talking all about Thanksgiving themed horror movies!

      I do love my award and I have it hung up with pride. The vampires complain a little bit about the light burning their skin, but as long as I keep it away from their coffins, I figure they've got no gripes.

      Definitely let me know what you think about Track of the Moon Beast. It's so awesomely bad and badly awesome I can't even put it into words. Either you dig it or you don't.....but I think that there's much to love about such a schlocky piece of cinema.

      As far as being an EMT and horror fanatic.....I think that might actually qualify me for a psych ward. After all look at Roy the Paramedic from Friday the 13th V: A New Beginning. He wasn't exactly of sound mind!

      Definitely keep in touch and keep up the good fight!

      Peace, Love & Dr. Pepper
      Stay Spooky,
      Matt

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    2. hahaha, Touchet! No, Roy and sound of mind? NOT! Note to self..."Watch Track of the Moon Beast! " Lookin forward to the Thanksgiving Treats, so to speak. Which, actually reminds of Holly's Halloween post over at HollysHorrorland, which was all food related. She has this moving graphic of a wife bashing her husband in the head with a frozen leg of lamb that just keeps bashing and bashing over and over again. It's Awesome! haha. Was a Hitchcock episode. I ordered it from the library, but she said I could simply YouTube it...no surprise there! What a world.

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  4. You Tube has rapidly become one of the first sources I check for old flicks and tv shows now. They've come a long way in the past few years! For instance you can watch Home Sweet Home and Blood Rage on You Tube uncut.....(both of which are Thanksgiving themed horror flicks) and it's pretty damn spectacular!

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    1. Yah, that's how I caught the ending of Eaten Alive! My 50 Horror Classics, 5 disc set, I'm writin' up, cut off the last couple minutes. I got to see Neville Eaten Alive! Which was awesome! Love those head first into the crocodile shots with no CGI. But then the screen went blank, and the girls were still running around, so I knew he got his oats, but it's just not the same if you can't watch the end credits, or Stuart Whitman coming in to save the day.

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  6. 50 flicks on 5 discs? Is that a Mill Creek set? I've got a bunch of the 50 movie collections from Mill Creek, but they are usually like 10 - 12 discs.

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    1. I don't think so. It looks like its put out through Emson. I bought it off the tv a few years ago. It was $25. and they said if I ordered in the next 15 minutes or something, I'd get two, so I grabbed a pen and got the 800 number. I sent the other copy to my cousin, Mark Morris, who's a cinematographer in LA. He turned me on to scary movies when I was just a little kid. When we would go visit my cousins, he lived down in the basement, and had a film reel projector, so the first place I'd hit was his room and we'd watch old scary movies. Was a blast. So, he came to mind for the second copy. Anywho, it reads: Collectors Edition 50 Horror Classics. Mucho fun. Extra Cheese, for sure, and some are just downright not horror..like Swamp Woman, which I'll write up this week, but it will be short, cause it's not a horror flick, but then there are some gems like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Nosferatu and Eaten Alive! and Night of the Living Dead. So, I'm having a blast.

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