weird harold told santa to "stuff my - blank -!"

What PopCereal flake wouldn't want his stocking stuffed with this?



BCI is putting this out in time for Christmas.

hey hey paula!

Here's another jolly Xmas find for you PopCereal nuts. Mr. Miller found this LP at a nifty little record shop in New England a couple years back.

This hip shaker comes from the dynamic duo known as Paul and Paul. Sure, they're a couple square pegs, but on this Christmas LP the kids show us all how to have a hootenanny good time!!

For your listening pleasure, Mr. Miller has slapped this disc on the ol' turntable and with the wonder of Digi-rama, he's made it available for download!

And here's a link to another download option:
rapidshare

them muppets sure know how to celebrate xmas

One of Mr. Miller's favorite television Christmas specials (and subsequent holiday LP) was John Denver & The Muppets: A Christmas Together. We've found someone by the name of Lemurlady over at youtube.com who is posting segments of the program. Thanks Mrs. Lemurlady!!

have a merry youtube

Yes, the Christmas season has hit youtube already. Here's a clip from what looks like a Kristy McNichol TV special, singing and dancing with Karen Carpenter.



And now a word from our sponsors...

tis the reason

We've been very lax these past few months here at PopCereal, what with all the other duties of life mulling about (yep, that ol' excuse). I can only convey to you my sincerest of apologies and promise that we will try a lot harder to bring you more original content (along with stuff cribbed from other sites that we desperately feel you should go look at!).

To make up for lost time, we're going to dive headlong into the Season of Seasons! Yes, Christmas shouldn't start until after Thanksgiving, I know, but we just can't help ourselves. I fully understand that Turkey Day just doesn't get the respect it's due (for crimeny sakes it's pretty much the forgotten holiday, being wedged between Xmas and Halloween), and we plan to rectify that one day. For now, though, here's the first of some Yuletide recordings for you to feast upon.


This fantastic record was found by Mr. Miller in a Holiday bin at the world famous WFMU Record Show a few years back, and ever since then he's had it on the top of his "must hear every year" list. It's a well polished bubblegum ball of sugary pop Christmas songs, with that sound that could only have come from out of the 70s.

The Rhodes Kids had a small amount of fame back in their day, with a guest appearances on an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney and a TV variety special Welcome to Our World, but who the hell knows where all these teen popsters go to after their brief stint in Fameland.

We haven't been able to find out a whole lot about the traveling family band's whereabouts these days, but Mr. Miller was able to dig up an interview done by one of the eldest Rhodes kid, Ron, who has been keeping very busy with his own ministry and writing books. Check out the interview where Ron talks about the days of Tigerbeat and Mike Douglas.

And then go download their fantastic Christmas LP. Mr. Miller guarantees that you'll dig it!

download it here: Rock 'n Rhodes Christmas

A MY BAD ADD:
The rip you are about to download (and the cover scans) has come to you by the courtesy of none other than the King of Jingaling over at Falalalala. His rip is far better than the one from Mr. Miller's LP, so we're happy to share it -- thanks to the King. Please visit him, and visit him often.

a halloween filmstrip adventure

For a Halloween treat I am reposting an old favorite of mine GEORGIE (he's the original friendly ghost).
As a 70s kid I couldn't get enough of books about ghosts, ghouls and goblins, from Spooky Tricks to How To Care For Your Monster, I was all about monster books. One of my favorite series featured a friendly little ghostie by the name of Georgie. Naturally, the Halloween adventures were my favorite, but the first of the series was spook-tacular! I found this filmstrip and cassette tape combo on eBay last year and flipped my can!! Take a listen to this encore posting and tell me you ain't happy.

download it here: http://rapidshare.com/files/1330664/Georgie_PopCereal.wmv.html

The Cube (1969)

Jim Henson fans, go find this treasure!!

For old school television nuts (like me), Jim Henson’s The Cube has been something of a Holy Grail. Before the days of the Internet, a video freak would really have to hunt through every video store backroom VHS bootlegger to find themselves a copy (of a copy of a copy…) of this highly original TV production. Thankfully, with obscure video and DVD outlets all over the web, we video hounds can hang up the leashes and press the play button on the DVD remote.

The Cube was an hour long teleplay, created by Jim Henson, that aired only twice as part of the 60s weekly anthology series NBC Experiment in Television. It featured Richard Schaal (Chuckles the Clown from Mary Tyler Moore) as an unwitting every-man who finds himself trapped in a stark white, cube-shaped room. With no knowledge of how he got there or of how he can escape, the Man is visited by a parade of strangers who enter through hidden doors and hatches that are, he discovers, not accessible to him. Each visitor poses something of a conundrum for the Man, never being able to provide him with answers to where? what? or why? but instead piling on even more questions, mostly about philosophical uncertainties of identity, time, and about reality versus illusion.

Henson (creator of the Muppets) directed the trippy teleplay from a script co-written with longtime Muppet’s writing pal Jerry Juhl (Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas). In nostalgic retrospect, The Cube is an excellent example of the type of creative and thoughtful (as well as thought provoking) programming that used to be available to television audiences. It’s also a dismal reminder that the writing on today’s television is no longer in the hands of skilled scribes who have honed their craft through years of work and practice, but rather by sycophants who want to show off their hip pop culture references and (not really so) clever dialogue. If only TV Land (the cable channel, that is) would forget trying to latch onto the unreachable IPod audience and turn everyone else on to the long lost television shows like The Cube.


one good place to find this (in B/W and in Color) is at A Different City

a friday the 13th treat

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! There's nothing like an extra day of doom and gloom in the month that harbors Halloween. To celebrate the excessive creepiness I wanted to steer you towards some great links.

Over at Tomb it May Concern David has a couple excellently warped and twisted -- not to mention bloody -- monster finds. Two full comic books based on the stories of Frankenstein and Dracula!

And as a bonus, here's a link to the fantastic site Bubblegum Fink, where the curator likes to make his own bubblegum cards out of the craziest movies. They've done them for Logans Run, A Clockwork Orange, and a bunch of other cool flicks.

Here's his latest, appropriatly designed from the slasher classic Friday the 13th!

Enjoy! And may all your good luck be bad on this most gruesome day.

groovie goolies get together on DVD

PopCereal freaks surely have spent a Saturday morning or two enrapt by the monster mayhem of the Groovie Goolies. And now we men-children can further draw back into our childhood cocoon full of sugar cereal fantasies with the release of an all new DVD collection of the ghoulish Saturday Morning fav cartoon. Just in time for Halloween!


press release for The Groovie Goolies DVD release:


ONE OF THE GROOVIEST CARTOONS FROM THE ‘70S COMES TO DVD AS NAVARRE CORPORATION’S BCI INTRODUCES

“GROOVIE GOOLIES”
The Saturday “Mourning” Collection

Available October 24th For $29.98

Los Angeles, CA – They were the grooviest, most eclectic array of animated monsters ever to hit the small screen in the early ‘70s. Now, thanks to BCI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, the latest series from the Filmation catalog will be available on DVD with the release of “Groovie Goolies.” 16 digitally remastered episodes will be released on October 24th under BCI’s Ink & Paint brand, and from media company and underlying rights owner, Entertainment Rights Plc (“ER”), at a suggested retail price of $29.98.

“As evidenced by our previously announced lineup, Filmation released some of the most memorable animated series ever to hit television in the ‘70s and ‘80s,” said Jeff Hayne, Director of Acquisitions, BCI. “The Groovie Goolies were one of the most unique casts of characters on Saturday mornings, and we’re glad to offer this series not only to those of us that remember it on television, but to a whole new generation.”

“Groovie Goolies” features a cast of legendary monsters who get themselves in all sorts of wacky predicaments, as they joke, dance and sing their way through each episode. The hyper-colorful series stars the residents of Horrible Hall; Frankie, Wolfie, Drac, Mummy, Hagatha, Bella LaGhostley, Boneapart and a wealth of other animated tributes to classic monster movie icons. In each episode, the Goolies offer an abundance of goofy gags in “Weird Window Time,” a segment reminiscent of the classic “Laugh-In” series. Each episode ends with an original Groovie Goolies rock song presented in the form of a wildly animated music video. This show inspired many famous “Goolians” including Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, and wealth of Hollywood’s top award winning costumers, writers and make-up artists.

Special features include:

“Goolians”—brand new, 45 minute “docu-comedy” created by producer and voice over artist Wally Wingert (Family Guy, Invader Zim) and Daniel Roebuck (Lost, The Fugitive), featuring interviews with Alice Cooper, Forrest J. Ackerman, Ron Chaney, Lous Scheimer, Oscar® winning make-up artist Bill Corso, “Goolie” head writer Jack Mendelsohn, and more. Includes new original rock song “True Blue Goolian,” and a music video with the Sacramento punk band “The Groovie Ghoulies.”

Audio commentary tracks for two episodes, featuring producer Lou Scheimer, “Goolie” head writer Jack Mendelsohn, Filmation historian Darrell McNeil, and Hollywood monster expert Bob Burns. Hosted by Wally Wingert

Image gallery featuring original model sheets, animation cels, storyboards, backgrounds and PSAs

“Goolie-Get-Together Sing-a-Long”

Candid story from producer Lou Scheimer about “The Creation of Filmation”

Trivia and episode guide

DVD-ROM extras, including scripts and the original Series Bible for “The Kookie Spookies”

don't get him started

Don’t Get Me Started – A Conversation with a B-Movie Star
Bruce Campbell talks about why he’s happy not to be a part

of the plasticized world of Hollywood
By Barry Meyer

(from Penny Blood Magazine)

Ever since the Hollywoodland sign sprang up on the Los Angeles hillsides, millions of starry-eyed hopefuls have swarmed to the sunny coast for a self-entitled shot at fame and fortune. Young ingénues eagerly don their finest mid-drift baring blouses and hunky hopefuls strap on their most indulgent slacks, all in hopes that one day their images will be hung in lights and their faces will be lathered across the pages of the top running gossip rags (preferably the photos would be of them canoodling gap-mouthed and wild-eyed with Tom Cruise – that goes for both ingénue and lad).

And then there is that strange breed of actor who steps earnestly and coolly over the gold-plated sidewalk-stars and cemented handprints, searching the strip for some cheap cigar-chomping B-movie producer who appreciates the… uh… less refined aspects of contemporary moviedom.

Well, okay… there aren’t many of that breed in existence, because, let’s face it – who strives for the Bronze Medal? Who would endeavor to eek out a career filled with relative obscurity? Who would choose B-movie notoriety over a lifetime pass to every Paparazzi encrusted red carpet stretched out across the sunny 31st state (that’s California)? There aren’t many who would willingly schlep all the way to the land of glitz and glamour just to steer clear of the beautiful self-aggrandizing herd of Oscar-clingers playing box-office bingo. That is, unless your name is Bruce Campbell.

If you’re scratching your head and wondering “just who in the hell is this Bruce Campbell?” then I can only suggest that while you were clawing your way through the newsstand shelves for the latest on Britney & Kevin in Us Weekly or OK!, you may have unwittingly clutched onto this little mag instead (in that case, run to the nearest TV set and sanitize yourself with an episode of Access Hollywood). But for those of us, the luckily initiated, the mere mention of Mr. Campbell’s name could send us into foot-stomping squeals of delight as we rush down to the local 2nd run movie house, or set us off blissfully Goggling our laptops for “Ash” “chainsaws” and “Ellen.” For us fans of the oft-canceled television show and humble B-movie fare, Bruce Campbell is a living legend.

Like Vincent Price before him, Campbell embraces the unfettered freedoms of the small cinema. For Campbell, the small cinema is home; a place where studio heads, and other assorted stuffed-shirts, are less likely to intercede; a place where Bruce can do what Bruce wants to do; where he can be the big chin in the small pond. Sure, he enjoys the fresh faces on young directors and producers full of eager imagination. But mostly, the Indie world is one where Campbell knows he can be his most creative. And like B-movie legend Vincent Price, Campbell has become one of the most fascinating and recognizable faces on the Cult movie scene.

No doubt he has the chiseled-jaw looks and the smoothly-toned wit of a classic Hollywood star – which would indubitably qualify him for Harrison Ford-like stardom – but Campbell wants as little to do with big Hollywood as he can possibly get away with. He’s not one for the brand of snobbery that’s bought with a home in Beverly Hills, or the spurious Royalty that’s procured with frequent visits to the Oprah stage. Even though he collects a pretty paycheck from the Hollywood Bank of Suspended Disbelief, Campbell keeps a healthy contempt for Hollywood. And with a reproachful tongue planted firmly in cheek, he’s able to spit out the uproarious fictional autobiography Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way which details the challenges of being a cult artist in a plastic-coated world.

Penny Blood: You've become quite the hyphenate these days: actor-producer-director-writer-documentarian. I can go on.

Bruce Campbell: Well… you know… just trying to keep the wheel in the air. It's just sometimes opportunities come up. The longer I stick around in this business, the more I find that I can do some of that stuff myself – I don't need to have all these other people hanging about. You know, I've worked with plenty of hack directors, so why not be my own hack director? I've read lots of shitty dialogue, so why not write my own shitty dialogue? If I'm staying in that low-budget world, you usually don't have that many people with that much experience. So, I found that "Alright, step aside, I'll do it myself." (laughs)

PB: Might as well cut out the middle-man and take control yourself.

Bruce: Pretty much. The writing thing presented itself. I did the first book (If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a "B" Movie Actor) and that allowed me to do a second book. It's an opportunity that allows me to stay at my home in Oregon more often.

PB: That second book "How To Make Love The Bruce Campbell Way" is out as a book-on-tape (actually a book-on-CD).

Bruce: Yeah, that's a good one for those long commutes.

PB: Six CDs worth of drive time! Is the audio production ver batim from the book?

Bruce: It sure as heck is! That's the one thing we wanted to do is not to give the people some pared down, cheese ball version of the book. This is it! You could sit down and read along in the book - if you really wanted to.

PB: Besides being a straight read from the book, the audio production is done like a radio play, with sound effects and voice actors.

Bruce: Exactly! That's why the tagline of the CDs is "You've read the book. Now hear the movie."

PB: Very clever.

Bruce: Here's what I want to encourage people to do… you know, in this high tech society - where everyone has all this great gear now - sit down and crank it up! That's what I have to say. Like an old radio show, just sit down and get comfortable for a few hours a night… or however you wanna do it. You know, now people just download it. But however you do it; it's all good by me.

PB: Are you a fan of those old time radio programs?

Bruce: Yeah! Sam Raimi and I used to have a show on Friday mornings in high school. We would do recordings at his house, because his dad had a pretty cool cassette deck. Other friends would have little bits of equipment and tape we could use; and we'd buy patch cords and figure out pretty much how to do stuff. So, now these CDs are just a higher version of all that.

PB: You and your friends also did your fair share of Super 8 movie making, too.

BRUCE: Yeah! A bunch of Super 8 amateur movies. That's the stuff that really got us going. We'd just hit the end of high school and we said "Holy shit! We have to do something for a living!"

PB: And you chose film.

BRUCE: Yes. Crazy as it is.

PB: Were you a big movie geek when you were a kid?

BRUCE: I was a movie fan, but I'd have to say that I was more interested in doing it than watching it. I've got friends who are far more interested in watching it, and they're encyclopedic in their film knowledge. But, I couldn't tell you who won what Academy Award and in what year – I don't care about all that. You know, when I saw a movie for the first time, I said "I wanna be doing that - not watching it!" I wanted take a more proactive roll.

PB: In your movies and writing, though, you certainly demonstrate an admiration and an appreciation of those films you grew up watching. Stuff like the action and Sci Fi flicks from the 50s and 60s - your enjoyment of those comes out in The Man with the Screaming Brain (Campbell’s feature film directorial debut).

BRUCE: Yeah, I've been injected with the cheese ball miasma – what ever that means. It's just that I like stuff that's alternative. I don't wanna see anything that I can see on an airplane. [deadpan] But that's just personal taste.

PB: You weren't quit in the Star Wars generation, were you?

BRUCE: No, no. I was a little older. I'm more like mid-1960s kid. I was like ten years older than that generation. Some kids had that as their first "big movie" experience in '77 or when ever that was. My time was the mid-60s seeing the "big" movies in a small downtown Detroit theater.

PB: Star Wars was a very important movie to many, but to some, like myself, it ushered in a new wave of moviemaking that emphasized style over story. I suspect you may have felt the same way.

BRUCE: Yeah, that one did kinda change everything - didn't it? It got us into the blockbuster world. Between – what that and Jaws, you know.? But the great irony is, that all those rebel filmmakers—George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Coppola – all three of them single-handedly created the blockbuster. Between The Godfather, Jaws and Star Wars, they basically ruined the business for what they all originally set out to do. It's pretty hilarious how the big wheel of Karma turns. Now these guys couldn't even make an independent movie. Heck, they wouldn't even know one if it bit 'em in the ass! Can you believe that George Lucas - the guy who gave us Jar Jar Binks is the same guy who brought us American Graffiti? I can't believe it's the same guy who did both movies.

PB: That's quite a contrast.

BRUCE: Yeah. Some big changes going on in that life.

PB: Do you like indie movies better?

BRUCE: I like indie movies, but I like the indies with the small eye. I mean, everything these days is an "indie" movie. But, let me tell you this: you're not really an indie movie if you have a release date. If you're financed by a Fortune 500 company - bullshit! You're not an indie. If it's your dad's money, or your family's money, or a relative’s, or an LLC, or limited partnership - great! That's an indie. That means you're whippin' it out and puttin' it right on the line.

PB: How about the no-budget indie stuff that comes out straight-to-video?

BRUCE: [Sighs] My beef with that is that when you get into the low end of moviemaking, there's too much parody. You know, it's like “just show me what kind of movie YOU really wanna make. Don't just make fun of horror films. Don't just make fun of Sci Fi films…” I don't like movies where the filmmaker doesn't respect what they're doing so much that they'll say "Aw, we'll do the stupid stuff, the audience will love it."

PB: Like you said before, that there are people who like to watch movies, and those who want to make them. I find that so many of the no-budget stuff is made by those kinds of people who should -

BRUCE: - who should just be watching. Yeah.

PB: A lot of the stuff turns out to be rip-offs of Evil Dead. Badly lit, terribly mic'd, flustered rip-odes to Evil Dead, where a bunch of kids find and old book and open it, and everything goes bloody. Ever come across any of these?

BRUCE: [Knowing laugh] Horror goes in all directions. It's changed a lot, too. In the Evil Dead days, there were lots of chainsaws and monsters running around. Beheadings and stuff like that. Now we're doing this Japanese obtuse shit that's just… You know, a PG-13 horror film is NOT a horror film. You can actually only make a horror film, in my opinion, as an R-rated movie. That means, "Kids beware! This movie is so scary that you can't go see it." To me (an R-rating) just makes that movie ten times better, 'cause, "Hey! Guess what? We're not screwing around little kid! You can only come see this when you're ready!!" It just makes it better for the movie. You know, if you make a comedy, it should be funny. If you make a Sci Fi film, it should be, you know, Harlan Ellison. Just go for it! So, that's my beef with the low low budget stuff. With the big budget stuff - here's what kills me… I used to apologize for being in the B-Movies because they're low budget and people usually don't have that much experience, and usually they're not as good as the A-Movies; but now all the A-Movies are trying to be the B-Movies! If you're gonna dress up like a bat and fly around Gotham City - you're a B-Movie! Batman Begins? I mean, who are they kidding? Batman begins again and again… It's obtuse. You know, you have the Japanese style horror where you have a strange sequence, followed by a creepy shot, followed by a weird, you know…

PB: … a weird long black-haired, creepy little girl…

BRUCE: … and then the credit roll. And, you're like, "What?" There's no point in something like The Grudge where someone picks up a chainsaw and says "Let's Go!" They miss the entire point of it, that they never let the hero do shit. It's like, why am I following this mousy chick around for no reason? Give me something. Give me something! Unfortunately, that stuff is doing well now. But, that too shall pass. And it's because they can do that stuff PG-13. A producer explained it to me very succinctly. He said "If you can go PG-13 instead of R, then you've just made 10 to 20 million more at the box office." And I'm like "Okay. You're a pussy!" Whatever…

PB: Then they turn around and finance their next big PG-13 drag.

BRUCE: Yeah! They're already working on a sequel. You know, when movies become about the numbers, I lose all interest. The higher the budget, the less I'm interested. It's more formulaic, more marketed, more tied in. They won't put in certain material because it might offend people. Movies need to be outrageous.

PB: Like Bubba Ho Tep.

BRUCE: Now, to me, that's the kinda thing I'm drawn to.

PB: "Cause, first off, it's a story. Not only a good one, but a real bona fide story.

BRUCE: Movies like Bubba could also fail horribly if you don't get the tone right, as well. That could've been a winky winky Roger Corman thing, like, [Elvis voice] "C'mon baby! C'mon Mummy! Let's go." You know that kinda messing around the whole movie. It could've gone Troma, real easy.

PB: Yeah, but you had a great director.

BRUCE: Don (Coscarelli) is an interesting, meticulous kinda guy. He's great, because there are so few meticulous people in the low budget world. In the low budget world it's like "C'mon, c'mon, let's shoot it already!"

PB: And how many horror movies can give you a lump in the throat at the end?

BRUCE: Exactly. Well, it's not really a horror film. It's a story about two old guys – and oh! There's a Mummy.

PB: Another good director you've worked with is Lucky McKee in The Woods. What's going on with that film?

BRUCE: That film is done. It's way done. In fact it's too done. It's so done it's just been sitting on the shelf - I don't even know when it's coming out. I think they've done all they can with it.

PB: Is it gonna be a good one?

BRUCE: I haven't seen the final version. I've seen a version, but not the final. It's really adult, very creepy. I can't say that a monster goes running around for the whole last act, but with Lucky - he's a very bizarre director. So, the movie is gonna turn out to be very disturbing. And it's in that classic 60s style. It even takes place in the 60s. I love that! You get the Cary Grant haircuts and the horn-rimmed glasses and the big cars. It's great. It reminded me of when I was a kid. I was sitting there ready to shoot a scene, and all the controls in the vehicle looked familiar to me, from when I used to ride in those things as a kid. The shapes of the buttons and - man, if you hit your head on that dashboard, you'd be dead!

PB: Is there still talk of an Evil Dead sequel, or remake, or whatever it is?

BRUCE: We don't really talk about the sequel too much, 'cause Sam (Raimi) is too busy right now. It would all be kinda moot. But I think we're gonna do a remake. It'll be a whole new story, though. It won't be with Ash (Campbell’s character), though. It'll be the evil book, and it'll affect a whole new group of people in a different situation. More like a reinvention. A lot of people, they got really crabby on the Internet when they first heard that type of stuff. But, we would never do anything to insult them. The trick is to take that premise - and we think it's a scary premise - and use some cool modern day FX… so we won't have green garden hoses in the shots. We wanna make a flat out, scary-ass, un-rated horror film.

PB: So, you're not doing the Lucas thing and just adding upgraded CG FX to the original film?

BRUCE: If we went back to Evil Dead and got rid of all the wires and the pipes and the tubes - what fun would that be?

PB: Right. It would just destroy the magic of it all.

BRUCE: I agree.

PB: It seems to me that the more CG FX there are, the less magic there is in the movies?

BRUCE: Right. You know, my feeling on that is that we're just in a masturbatory stage. And because we can do it, we do it. I think that will eventually settle down and we'll figure out what we can really use this stuff for. I mean, Forrest Gump was, I think, some of the best use of special FX.

PB: Right, 'Cause the stuff was used in support of the story.

BRUCE: There are some people in America today who still believe that Gary Sinise has no legs! To me, that's using FX to help tell a story. You get this cool effect where you can follow this feather as it floats from the sky all the way down to this guy’s feet. You, know, I love that!! It works because it makes things seamless. It's not just there because it can be.

PB: Some movies seem to have the FX as their central premise. As if to say, "Forget story or characters. Take a look at this!"

BRUCE: Which is why I think that things like that Polar Express movie didn't do too well. The characters in that just looked too creepy.

PB: They looked downright disturbing.

BRUCE: The children looked like they had those dead shark eyes. Like "Yiieeeee."

PB: That movie reminded me of those Coke commercials from a few years ago, with the creepy looking polar bears. The ads were supposed to be for Christmas, but jeesh! It looked like Halloween.

BRUCE: That's funny.

PB: Speaking of creepy... Sam Raimi was a silent producer on The Dead Next Door [which is purported to be the most expensive super 8 flick ever made]. Where you involved in that movie at all?

BRUCE: Oh yeah! I did all the sound for it. Yeah, I think I owed Sam some money, so he said "You have to go finish the sound for this movie."

PB: Now, that flick is a good example of a no-budget movie that works.

BRUCE: When that movie was done... that movie was shot in super 8, and that is what fascinated Sam, I think. He wanted to see if you could really make a feature in super 8. I mean, 'cause we never made one to sell one. We always did super 8 to just make a movie. We knew that we'd always have to go to 16mm, or 35mm to make a real movie. But, in this case, I think he saw that "Hey, this kid [director/writer/star JR Bookwalter] really wants to do this. He's got a high-budget idea, and he's got all these people ready in Akron, Ohio." So (Sam) really thought they could do it. It turned out to be his Heaven's Gate though. It was the most expensive super 8 ever made.

PB: It sorta went out of control after a while, you mean?

BRUCE: Yeah. When they shot it, it turned out that their sound was so shitty, that they could not use a single bit of original production sound. That entire movie had to have every voice looped; every footstep redone... everything. It's like, when Sam gave it to me, he gave me a silent movie. Really, we had such low budget editing facilities that we couldn't even edit dialogue. So, when you looped it, you had to get it just right. It was a very strange, strange scenario.

PB: So, you had all the actors in to redo it?

BRUCE: I knew a bunch of actors, and we just all got together and we redid it. It was actually a really fun experiment, 'cause it wasn't my movie, and I couldn't give a shit one way or the other. But it was like: how can we pull this off when we have no money, and we have no sound whatsoever? Normally with a movie you get decent production sound, and you're just enhancing it; adding cars and crickets and stuff, and the dialogue is in pretty good shape. This production had zero. Yeah, I re-voiced that whole movie with the main character.

PB: That sounds like a lot of work.

BRUCE: It was horrible! Especially when it's not in your cadence. I can voice myself, because I know how I talk, but someone else...

PB: Bookwalter has recently re-mastered that movie for release from Anchor Bay -- did you know that?

BRUCE: Really! For Anchor Bay? Jeezus.

PB: As a big change of pace, you did a role on Homicide, which was a straight up piece of acting. Any chance you'd want to tackle more dramatic roles like that? That was some piece of work, that role.

BRUCE: That was just an oddity, only because I had a deal with NBC, and they had to kinda use me...

PB: Yeah, and they really used you in a good way.

BRUCE: They did. You know, I got this call... It was one of those classic cases where the producer calls and – you know, as an actor you're sorta told what is gonna happen – so this producer calls up and says "Hey, what story do you want to do?" "Whattaya mean, what story do you wanna do?" He goes, "You ever thought of something you might want to play?" or that type a deal. I went "Cripes! I never thought of it. Let me call you back." So, I called him back in a week and I pitched this sorta Simpson-esque scenario where this guy got away with -- I mean, you know this guy's fuckin' guilty of murder, and he gets off. And then this cop takes it into his own hands and whacks the guy – and he gets caught. (The producer) was like "Great! We'll do it." I was like, "What!" Next thing I know, there was a full script for a two-parter. It was great. That's not the way it's supposed to happen, you know? That's how you'd imagine it to work out for you in the film world, that you'd have this great report with producers and directors, where it's all free flowing. But, usually it's so regimented.

PB: Well, that sorta brings us right back to you "How to Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way,” doesn’t it?

BRUCE: Oh, that thing! Yeah.

PB: It's obvious in there that you like to skewer Hollywood.

BRUCE: I do. It needs it. Needs it desperately.

PB: Yeah. But you do it in such a clever way. You're not outright sadistic, and you don’t do it in an angsty, call-you-nasty-names type of way. It doesn't seem as though you don't like Hollywood, but rather you have this friendly disposition towards it.

BRUCE: Yeah... I liken it to an uneasy association. Because I still have to venture out there, every so often, to get money. But then I can go away again. I don't know... there's a lot about it that if average people knew more about it, they just wouldn't be all that impressed. It's a group of people, where in it you have a lot of hard working, capable people, and then you have this fringe element of like twenty-five percent of them who are just wannabes. It's just an industry that attracts wannabes; gold diggers. Like "I'm gonna go be rich!" With Hollywood, you can be rich and famous – you get both, so it draws this certain percentage of the population that are really just morons. Because there is money to be made, you have this group of people who are the money-managers of Hollywood – which represents the studio folks, agents, people who really control where the money comes and goes, the distributors, getting into the business side of it. So, it's a really freaky clash of talented people, hard-working people, and... morons. And there’s a bigger clash between art versus commerce, because all filmmakers are trying to make a cool movie, and the producers are trying to make something that makes them money. It's just that they sometimes have different agendas. And you have to reconcile that. That makes Hollywood a horrible, almost irreconcilable situation. Whenever a good movie makes it out, I'm like "Wow! That one actually got through." And if it makes money -!

PB: That would be a double-whammy. Was there any point where you just got fed up with it?

BRUCE: I only got real fed up with it when I was on the verge of my first divorce. I was thinking about how do I keep the marriage together? Let me do something else if this is part of the problem, because, I was traveling a lot –you know, a lot of the usual clichés. Other than that, I've just felt that now it's changing so quickly that people in the film business, they kinda got to stay loose these days. Remember how feature film actors used to laugh at television? Now look at who's the star of every show.

PB: And it's not just TV. Look at Broadway.

BRUCE: (laughing) Yeah! Broadway's hysterical, because, by god, you’re gonna have either a film or TV star in everything now.

PB: It used to be that the actors would clamor to get off the stage and onto the screen. Now it's the other way around. Now movie stars can get a nice long cushy gig, and get pampered and score a stay in a posh New York City hotel suite.

BRUCE: They know they'll get taken care of for two months. It's an easy eight week gig, and they know things can only get so bad. It's just typical! When things get more expensive, (the producers) need more of a guarantee. They're gonna do the big shows with the well-known actors – granted. The best Petri dishes are always the Off-Broadway, the funky theaters, the weirdo movies that play in Art Houses. To me, if you're really gonna look for originality, those are the places to go. If you look towards the mainstream entertainment, it's not gonna be all that original. It's gonna be derivative. They're looking to do something that's similar to something that already worked. They're just gonna keep doing Damn Yankees with a different guy. It'll never leave Broadway.

PB: Or you can do what Mel Brooks did. Make a movie and then turn it into a major Broadway production, and then turn around and make a movie of the play.

BRUCE: He's the most brilliant of all! He's got everybody fooled. But, I actually think it'll work, in some weird way, because not enough people have seen the original movie. Even though I think (the original) is kind of a brilliant movie, and it's one movie I wouldn't mess with, it's just gonna be so different. Look at the casting. You've got [in a flamboyant manner] Nathan Lane, of all the big Hollywood goofballs. Oh! But Uma Thurman has to be in the movie, though. Was she ever on Broadway, before?

PB: Don't think so.

BRUCE: Yeah, funny how that works, huh? "Yeah, that Broadway chick was funny. But we need someone bigger."

PB: I guess that sorta sums up the career of a B-Movie star.

BRUCE: That’s right.

PB: Thanks for talking with us, and good luck with the book-on-CD.

BRUCE: Right. In parting I guess I'd tell everyone to "Listen up!"


Bruce Campbell’s audio production of his second book How to Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way is available in bookstores and on the Internet now.

halloween is just super duper hehehehe!!

If there is one thing that the newer generations have sorely missed out on (besides Disco) is the television variety show phenomenon. Yeah sure, Jessica and Nick tried to revive the form with their insincere cut-n-paste Christmas show, but they couldn't even come close to the cheeseball shenanigans of those iconic 70s programs.

The holiday seasons were an especially great time for the variety show lover. Year after year we were treated to Perry Como and his Christmas presence. Donny and Marie, Andy Williams, Mac Davis, Carol Burnett, Sonny and Cher, and a host of others sang and jested their way through the 4th of July, Easter, Halloween and Thanksgiving, as well. But, the best holiday programming came from the offbeat sources...

Like Paul Lynde and his zany Halloween TV Special



To see more Paul Lynde holiday (and non-holiday) clips, head on over to this fantastic Paul Lynde Fansite.

superman is a superdick!

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive... bitchier than a diva supermodel with an aerodynamic cell phone.
Geesh! Whoda thunk that the superstar superhero had such a mean streak!

Check out Superdickery to see their gallery of Superman comic covers that show Superman in a less than heroic light. There's the one where the superhero threatens to leave Lois Lane floating in outerspace unless she marrys him. Then the one where he lets a boy dangle precariously from atop a building as he counts out his stolen cash. Then there's the one where Batman lays dying in a hospital, and Superman has his respirator pulled, muttering "What's one Batman, more or less?" And there's a crudload of covers where Superman is a superdick to his little buddy Jimmy Olsen -- threatening to toss him in jail, busting up yet another adoption attempt.

This is one side of Superman you don't get to see in his movies.

Also, check out the other weirdo comic cover gallery that are just too bizzaro for words.

end of summer means new cartoons!

Summer's over, kids. "Oh crap," you say? "The fun's over," you cry?

Yes, the summer sun may be setting a lot sooner these days, and the girls are wearing a lot more, as well. And, yes, school is beginning... But! Let's not forget that it's time for the new Fall Saturday Morning line-up!!

Forget Shazam and the traveling Winebago, I only endured that half cartoon half live action bit to get to the Isis segment of the show. Man, what a doll!

And of course there was Kukla, Fran and Ollie. That was my guilty pleasure through the 70s. Even when I was too old for puppet shows, I still tuned in to KF&O for the off chance to see "Skinny and Fatty" one more time.

Don't ask me why, but I was a big Hudson Brothers fan. Actually, I probably got to enjoy the Bros. from all of their variety show exposure, so when the Razzle Dazzle Hour came to Saturday morning TV, I was well initiated. But what really hooked me was Rod Hull and his sadistically aggressive Emu puppet.

Check out these other sites for some more great Fall Saturday Morning line up ads:

http://www.tomheroes.com/Comic%20Ads/comicads.htm

http://www.juggalos.net/80sComicBookAds/partone/index.html

oh no! there goes tokoyo!!

Oh, how Mr. Miller loves to find comics to read online!


Here's a site (that was pointed out by the Bubblegum Fink) that has a whole run of the Marvel series of Godzilla comic books. Check 'em out at: XYZ Cosmonaut

quazy for quisp!

Summer time and the munching is easy.

I haven't been very active with this site as of late, due to the fun of summer. But I did want to show up once in a while to point out some sites I've seen. (Stay tuned for some great LP sharities in the future, along with some comic books)

A favorite of the Saturday morning generation was easily Quisp cereal. Sure, you've got yer Cap'n Crunches of the cereal world, but nothing beat that quazy qookie Quisp martian. And as it so happens, the Quisp advertisement campaign was designed by the same people who came up with the Cap'n Crunch ads -- Jay Warden of Bullwinkle fame.

"Vitamin powered sugary cereal Quisp for Quazy energy." That was the motto behind Quisp cereal, whose mascot was voiced by Daws Butler (the voice of Yogi Bear). The cereal had a fairly short shelf life (even shorter was the companion cereal treat Quakes) first landing in local grocery stores in the mid-1960s, only to be zapped out of wide distribution by the 1980s. Don't fret o downhearted Earthniks! You can still buy boxes from the Qusip website, or at a handful of local grocers -- listed on the site as well.
A complete Quisp profile can be found at the Quisp Cereal site

silly just got sillier

The Silly Record is back (again)... not that it ever left our minds. A very silly soul named Kerry has kindly shared her own recording of the LP we love to giggle with.

Kerry's dub is a bit more clean sounding then the one I offered earlier (and is still available here: PopCereal: i am silly), but Kerry warns that there may be a couple Moonie Goonie skips. Hey, it's worth a listen, though -- right? You can never get enough of the Boodlehiemer, I say.








Go fetch it here: http://rapidshare.de/files/26676893/SillyRecord.mp3.html

name that movie!

Do you think you know what movie this still frame is from? Huh! Wassat!! The character has been rendered invisible!! Oh No!
The clever "Boyz" over at FilmWise have devised a devious little game they call Invisibles. What they do is use modern technology from their labs on Mars (Mr. Miller is only guessing on that) to erase the physical bodies from the movie still -- as you can see above -- and then asks you to wrack yer brains to figure out what movie the dang thing is from. Clever indeed!

another great gold key comic book!

Mr. Miller knows you PopCereal flakes love your comic books, so he keeps a hard lookout for any copies online.
I ran into this little nugget today -- a downloadable copy of a hard-to-find Gold Key edition of the Twilight Zone from February 1963. Go have a look!!

Lazar's Corner of Lounge Music: The Twilight Zone Comic - Gold Key

it couldn't have been tori?

Well, if that don't beat all!! Not a good year for keeping my entertainment idols around. Don Knotts, Darren McGavin, Buck Owens -- Dan Curtis!! And now Aaron Spelling. Can the weekend for a kid from the Saturday Morning generation get any more lousy?

I don't know if you've seen any of the other posts here at PopCereal, but yours truly Mr. Miller, here, is a big fan of 70s TV. Especially the Made For TV Movie. Like many other kids of my day, I was great friends with the family TV set. Good pals we were. Still are. Oh, we had some good times, we did. Loads of laughs, plenty of thrills, and yes -- some tears, as well.

One of the shows that my ol' pal introduced me to, back in 1968, was The Mod Squad.



Spelling's name in the producer slot didn't mean much to me then, but this show was just the beginning for me. The Made for TV Movie soon came into my life -- movies like Crowhaven Farm, The House That Would Not Die, A Taste of Evil. It was love at first fright. Funny thing was, the more of these movies I watched, the more I started noticing this weird name.

Aaron Spelling.

Of course, as a teenage boy springing through puberty in the mid-70s, Mr. Spelling fast became a real true hero. Whenever in need of some shapely bodies to drool over, or an extraordinary face to fall in love with, my man Aaron came through, time and time again.



Shows like Charlie's Angels, Love Boat and Fantasy Island had enough T&A imagery to fill my hormone cluttered mind for years. I had not a clue to who this Spelling guy was -- TV producers didn't have much celeb cred as they do these days -- but, I was indebted to him.



So, thank you Mr. Spelling for filling my life with gluttonous amounts of trivial fun, T&A, and pop culture trinkets -- for all this we forgive you for introducing the boob tube world to your daughter (pun intended).

Good-bye Mr. Spelling.

Mr. Miller

more gold key comics online!

It looks like we have some other Gold Key comic book fans out there!

Check out Senses Working Overtime for two great titles. They have 2 PDFs up for downloads