Hey all….It’s been an action-packed October, with lots of items to discuss, so here are a few of my recent favorites
Stay the Hell out of the Cecil Hotel: The incident itself happened much earlier this year, so why The Vigilant Citizen (an entertaining haven for conspiracy theorist crackpottery) chose to publish their rumination on it now is a bit mystifying (perhaps for Halloween?). In any case, the strange story of Elisa Lam remains a truly unsettling tale from the facts alone. While I understand the official explanation that Ms. Lam was ruled bi-polar, that doesn’t explain everything. Why was the Canadian tourist staying at the Cecil Hotel -- a seedy establishment with a pointedly morbid back history involving multiple suicides, Richard “Night Stalker” Ramirez and even the “Black Dahlia” – to begin with? Why did the elevator behave the way it did? How on earth did she get up to the roof? I’m not copping the conspiracy theory nor suggesting the supernatural, but it remains a captivatingly creepy story. Check it out.
It being near Halloween, the time seems right to address this unearthed interview with founding FEAR member Derf Scratch. Derf passed away in 2010, but had left the FEAR fold acrimoniously prior to that. Here he lengthily tells his story.
Want to stroll around Central Park, but are chained to your computer? Well, now, thanks to Google Street View, you can still virtually ramble around New York's favorite green space.
Notoriously polarizing British music periodical N.M.E. released its list of the top 25 albums of all time, and the backlash has been predictable. But, of course, lists of this kinda are entirely arbitrary to begin with. But really….Arctic Monkeys and Oasis among the best of all time?? DO give me a friggin’ break.
Listen to Tommy Ramone do a mournful rendition of “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.”
The A.V. Club weighs in on why “Donnie Darko” is creepy. I’ll have to watch it again, as I didn’t think it was all that creepy.
Sarah Palin poses with dead bear she just presumably shot to illustrate a point to Piers Morgan. This Just in: She’s a bad person.
To cleanse your palette, here’s a little ditty from Public Image Ltd. about the unfortunate young lady that inspired “The Exorcist.”