31 Days of Horror: The Uninvited

"They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here... and sea fog... and eerie stories... "

The Uninvited (1944) is one of my favorite haunted house movies. The story is simple - Ray Milland and his sister Ruth Hussey buy an abandoned house that faces the ocean in small seaside resort. The previous owner's daughter died there and his granddaughter (Gail Russell) has be forbidden to ever enter the house. Of course that doesn't stop Milland from becoming infatuated with Russell and inviting her into the house.

Milland leaves his sister to fix the house up while he's away in London. When he returns he finds out that their dog has run away and there are certain spots in the house that give you a cold chill. And at night they can hear a woman crying. And Russell is being drawn back to the house time and time again.

The movie is one of those quietly creepy movies that slowly builds and builds the tension. The cinematography won an Oscar and Ray Milland plays it cool despite all the creepy events.

The fact that this movie isn't currently available on DVD and that Universal Studio has released Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy on DVD three times each but hasn't found the time to release this classic is just a crime.

Radiothon wrapping up

Hopefully, it isn't too late to put in a plug for CJTR's Radiothon (cjtr.ca). During the donation drive, different programs are announcing different prize giveaways for donations, but the overarching one is an entry for every $25 you donate means you've entered a draw, with the winner receiving a trip to a Mexican resort. (My mother-in-law is pulling for my wife and me to win – on the provision that if we go, I have to make my own way back – 'it'll save the travel agency some money,' she says.) The fundraiser ends Friday, I think.

In all seriousness, they're looking to raise in the neighbourhood of $20K, and they deserve every penny. The radio station has done so much for the Regina music and cultural scene – it's time to reciprocate a little love their way.

Friday Afternoon Kitty: Monty Python-Style

Is your cat...confused? If not, they can help.

Six In The Morning

OBAMA WINS SURPRISE NOBEL PRIZE Why did Obama win the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize? Maybe things have gotten so bad in the world, having a President who isn't a crazy warmonger with a psycho sidekick is now prize-worthy. Or maybe the Nobellers want to give the President O. a little push to progressive politics. Or maybe, the Nobel committee wanted to get this one out of the way before some Conservative teabagging bastard shoots the president. Posthumous Nobels are such a drag. (Guardian)

IMMOLATION BID DOUSED A Saskatoon man is fortunately stopped from hurting himself very, very badly. Very weird and troubling and mysterious and probably crazy. (CBC)

DZIEKANSKI'S MOM SUES Mother of the man fatally tasered by RCMP launches legal action as hearing heads to a (second) close. (Toronto Star)

PEDOPHILE GETS CHANGE OF ADDRESS The Roman Catholic bishop busted for laptop photos of young boys fondling and fellating has a court's go-ahead to relocate to Ottawa after New Brunswick residents complained about him living in their community. (Globe And Mail)

GOOD SCIENCE CAN BE BORING United States outer-space organization NASA successfully shoots an empty rocket at the moon to search for lunar water and all we get is a lame video. Oh, and knowledge. (Washintgton Post)

WHAT? NO PYTHON? It's coming later today, I promise. Check back at 12:01. In the meantime, here's a piece by Murray Dobbin about progressives winning a victory against Big Asbestos (Big Ass for short). (The Tyee)

So, how come it's always the crazy lefties complaining about health hazards and trying to protect people from corporations? Aren't lefties weird, dangerous people? And yet these days THEY'RE ALWAYS RIGHT. About almost everything. George Bush (he was bad). Banks (they need to be regulated). The Iraq war (stupid, expensive and pointless). Asbestos (causes cancer). Global warming (it's real).

Huh. It's almost like...they should be listened to.

Naw, that's just crazy.

Pick of the Day: Arctic

Not to be confused with the English alt-rock band the Arctic Monkeys (or the weather, for that matter), Arctic is a Vancouver-based ambient rock band fronted by Marcus Martin. Having spent his childhood in Yellowknife, Martin comes by his band's moniker honestly. In 2007, Arctic released Today Brought Me Here-- a CD unique for the fact that if you went to http://www.projectarctic.com/ you could design your own cover for it. Tonight, Arctic is at O'Hanlon's Pub with the Calgary band Friendo. Here's video of Martin and his band performing a song called "Some One Turning". (YouTube)

Famed U.S. crooner Tony Bennett is in Regina tonight too. Here's some video I found on YouTube of him performing a song. I wouldn't call it a duet, although you should be tickled to see who he's singing to.

31 Days of Horror: The Thing

Who Goes There?

Stupid snow! Sure it's inevitable but it doesn't mean I have to like it. And when it gets this time of year and the temperature drops and the snow falls, then melts, then falls again, I always turn to one movie that always makes me feel better. John Carpenter's 1982 remake The Thing. As cold as it gets here - it always looks colder where Kurt Russell and company are.

Not to discount the original 1951 Howard Hawks "produced" film - it's a damn fine film but Carpenter's remake is absolutely terrifying. Set in the harsh isolation of Antarctica - an American research station stumbles across a couple of Norwegians from a nearby research station that are trying to kill a dog. The Norwegians end up dead and the dog gets to stay with the Americans. A quick trip to the Norwegians' base shows that everybody there is dead and that they had previously dug something up in the ice (which references the 1951 version). And that dog isn't what it seems to be. It's some thing.

The 1951 film featured a group of American scientists and some U.S. army personnel digging up something in the arctic. The creature (James Arness) revives and goes on a rampage. As I said it's a good movie but a vegetable alien monster is no comparison for Rob Bottin's amazing special effects in the 1982 film. Also between the two films Carpenter's is closer to the original short story Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr. that the movies are based on.

The cold, dark isolation of the arctic is the perfect setting for a scary game of guess who the monster is. This movie looks cold, damn cold. Kurt Russell's beard constantly seems to have icicles hanging from it. And there's nothing worse than freezing your ass off while trying to fight an evil shape changing monster.

Four In The Afternoon

1 THE CUTS COMETH Whacked by falling potash royalties, the Saskatchewan government sharpens its fiscal knife. (CBC)

2 SEVERENCE SCARE Canwest employees fear they'll lose their vacation pay. Isn't that illegal? anyone know? (CBC)

3 WHITE DUDE PUTS BLACK WOMAN IN PLACE Prime Minister Stephen Harper is correct. Governor general Michaelle Jean isn't Canada's head of state--she is the head of state's--the Queen's--representative. But did the PM really need to stick his big, pink nose into this minor gaffe by our country's GG? (Leader-Post)

4 DAILY PYTHON And not just ANY daily Python, but one NO ONE expects! Diabolical laughter!

Pick of the Day: Chad VanGaalen w/ Castlemusic

Tonight's second instalment in the Regina Folk Festival's Concert Series at the Exchange follows on the heels of Final Fantasy and Timber Timbre on Oct. 30. Like it, the headliner here is a veteran of the RFF's main stage. Chad VanGaalen played the festival this year, in fact. Prior to his appearance on Aug. 7 Steve did this Dog Blog post on the multi-talented Albertan.

Another similarity between the two concerts is that like Final Fantasy, VanGaalen is also backed up by a pseudonymous singer-songwriter -- Castlemusic a.k.a Jennifer Castle. Toronto-based, she's collaborated with the likes of Elliott Brood, the Constantines and Fucked Up, but when she performs solo she favours quiet, quirky introspective songs. I'm not sure when the Oct. 8 issue of prairie dog will hit the streets, but inside you'll find an interview with Jennifer by Emily Zimmerman. Here's a video for her tune Man Outa Me. (YouTube)

31 Days of Horror: Deep Red

It's time for a little Giallo. Giallo is a genre of Italian horror crime / murder thrillers, predominantly from the 1960's to the 1980's although there are still attempts being made to make them today. Dario Argento was the master of this genre at one time and the 1975 Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) is his best film. Sure his supernatural witch movie Suspiria gets a lot of praise but after watching it a few times, I think it's highly overrated.

The movie starts with a psychic woman (Macha Meril) giving a conference on her abilities. While trying to demonstrate her abilities, she shouts out that someone in the theatre is a murderer and will kill again. Later on at night - David Hemmings is walking along with his friend down a street and happens to witness the medium getting killed in her apartment. He rushes into her apartment and misses the killer but the killer sees him. Thus a game of cat and mouse begins as Hemmings tries to find the killer before the killer finds him.

The film is filled with Argento's trademarks - extremely gory and innovative deaths, a music score from Italian rock band Goblin and brilliant cinematography. It's a shame that Argento's current films (The Card Player, Mother of Tears) are no where near as good as this movie is. Apparently Argento plans to remake this movie in 3D - I hope that's just a bad internet rumour.

The American Dream

Right. The American Dream has been demonized, says John Thain, former head of Merrill Lynch.

Umm, now, as a Canuck, perhaps I'm wrong about this, but I always thought the American Dream was where anyone could have a good idea, work hard, act ethically and become a success. Guess I was all wrong about that.

Apparently the American Dream is really about moving up the banking oligarchy, coming damned close to bankrupting your own country, going on the hook for up to $17 TRILLION WITH A 'T" taxpayer dollars, then bitching that the plebes aren't treating you with due deference because they're a tad pissed about the whole thing.

Holy crap. These people haven't learned a damn thing. I've been more than a bit bearish on the States over the past few years, but I was hoping against hope they'd keep it between the ditches and figure it out like they always have before.

But if they can't bring people like this to heel, it's official. They've jumped the shark.