The Random Crap Which Infests My Brain, Part III

Some time ago I mentioned one of my (many) personal quirks: "in my head (and thank Crom, only in my head), no conversation is ever finished, no experience is too trivial for periodic re-examination, everything is subject to repeated investigation."

Well, here we go again.

By the way, today's bit of mental masturbation was sparked by a MetaFilter post on the growing market for movie props and movie prop reproductions. Blame them for what follows.

Like many kids of the 'Sixties who'd been turned monster-mad by Shock!, Universal's attempt to squeeze just a little more profit from their horror films of the '30s and '40s, I was a devoted reader of Famous Monsters of Filmland and a slavish fan to editor/writer/memorabilia collector/occasional schlockmeister Forrest J Ackerman. Issue No. 30 was of particular interest because of a fun little article on (well, a list of) the powers of Dracula, Bela Lugosi just happening to be my man-crush at the time.


A few pictures from Uncle Forry's vast collection of movie stills and fan photos accompanied the article including this close-up of Dracula's ring (uh, don't go searching your DVD of Dracula frame-by-frame quite yet; you won't find it. More on this in a minute):

To my little 8-yr.-old mind this was the Coolest. Thing. EVER! And Forry owned it. In fact, he'd been given it by Bela Lugosi himself!

The auction photo

So Forry died in December, 2008 after a long illness and soon thereafter what was left of his massive collection of movie memorabilia (he'd sold much of it earlier to pay his medical bills) was auctioned off in April, 2009, including the Dracula ring.

Anyway, in farting around the web chasing down this information I noticed something odd--many of the newspaper accounts (the LA Times, for example, who should have done a little more fact-checking) referred to the ring as having been worn by Lugosi in the 1931 version of Dracula, the same thing I had assumed lo those many years ago. It wasn't. The auction house description got it right:

This “Dracula” ring was originally created in 1944 for Universal’s House of Frankenstein and worn by John Carradine in the role of the Count. Carradine again wore the ring in House of Dracula (1945). Three years later Universal signed Lugosi to reprise his role as Dracula (for his second and last time on film) in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). Lugosi, who was a very close friend of Forry, wore the ring in this classic comedy and kept it for several years thereafter. Late in life he gave it to a young fan and friend who gave the ring to FJA, along with other Lugosi-owned wardrobe. Likely to be Forry’s most prized artifact, this ring is depicted in numerous photographs, portraits and artistic renderings of FJA and became intertwined with his persona. Its significance cannot be overstated. $20000 – $30000.

Maybe.

Apparently there was (and is) a huge controversy (at least, "huge" as reckoned by those who care about such things) concerning the ring's provenance--is it the original or a replica?--see "Debate and Analysis: Forry Ackerman's 'Dracula' Ring" for an interesting in-depth discussion, but the upshot is, yes, this is Forry's ring, so there! Neener, neener, neener!

I have no idea who bought it or what he/she paid for it; my only hope is that the ring is now owned by someone who will treasure and cherish it.

Addendum: Covet this item? Want to pick up hot Goth Girls or Boys in sleazy Goth bars? Several replicas have been produced over the years, most recently by Dimensional Designs (sold out), Monsters in Motion ($285) and Factory Entertainment (forthcoming--August, 2010, $200, but I saw it somewhere online for $180).

Factory Entertainment

Just Some Random YouTubery

My Verizon DSL has been down since early yesterday morning, which makes me more than a little... pissy irritable. Not that I suffer from Intarweb addiction or anything. Oh, no, not I.

Damn it.

Anyway, my connection's back so here are a few YouTube videos that never fail to bring a smile to my face:

Necronomiconophilia

Veterans' Day and, paradoxically (I work for the VA), it's a holiday for me, which means lots o' time to cruise the Intarwebs for weird and unusual stuff, to wit:


A Cthulhu sculpture made from Miskatonic Valley Fine Arts!

"Miskatonic Valley Fine Art features sculptures by Joe Broers based on the 'Cthulhu Mythos' creations of H.P. Lovecraft and the 'Lovecraft Circle' of writers. Each sculpture is cast in resin, finished, and comes with fictitious 'documentation' that helps provide a feeling of verisimilitude to the project."

Such as...

If I had the money I'd send one to, well, a loooong list of people I know.

By the way, some years ago Stephen Hickman released a Cthulhu statuette that I SO wanted, but was, and still is, WAY out of my price range ($700 for the resin; $1200 for the bronze... if you can find one):


You reading, Cath? Forget Ganesha; you need Cthulhu! HE'LL remove obstacles for ya!

(spotted on Boing Boing)

Skullduggery

The Halloween Countdown--Day 2

Conal Cochran: "Ha ha. We had a TIME getting it here. You wouldn't believe how we did it."
--Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

Way back (as Internet time is measured) in September, 2008, Dan Aykroyd* began pimping Crystal Head Vodka (Warning: 8 min. of tedious New Age flummery, paranormal bullshittery, Aspergerian perseveration and extravagant product claims). Yeah, I know: another celebrity-endorsed overpriced novelty vodka; what's the big deal?

Well, this:



*gasp* Pretty... shiny... skull-y... made to glisten and gleam in the moonlight...

Listen, for a skull collector** such as myself, this is nothing less than pure porn, a fetish item of high desirability, an object guaranteed to get me in good with the drunken little Goth Girls in black crushed velvet dresses and high-rise Doc Martens who wander the darkened cobblestone alleys of Richmond.***

There were just a few itsy-bitsy, teensie-weensie problems:
--$44.95 plus shipping.
--Not available in Virginia ABC stores
--NO (legal) shipping to Virginia.

Well, OMG/WTF?, what's a poor boy to do?

eBay.

Oh, yeah! eBay sellers aren't worried about such trivial things as rules and regulations and shipping alcohol across state lines to possibly underage individuals; I could get one from eBay! Good ol' eBay!

But good ol' eBay wanted $100 plus shipping for an empty bottle. If you wanted a sealed, factory-fresh bottle complete with box you were going to have to pay a lot more.

Okay, I knew I was up against the Novelty Factor--back then Crystal Head Vodka news was all over the Internet and everybody wanted the bottle, therefore, sellers could charge whatever they wanted and someone would pay, but that someone wasn't going to be me. I pushed my Skull Lust to the back burner.

And then today I happened to be thinking "Ya know, it's been over a year, maybe the hoopla has died down a bit. Let's find out."

Friends, I'm here to tell you that good things do come to s/he who waits: just in time for Halloween the Virginia ABC stores now stock Crystal Head Vodka for $53.95/750 ml. and the bottle is every bit as pretty and shiny and skull-y as I imagined.

So if you're going to fancy-ass Halloween party this year or know an inveterate Halloween fan (over 21, please) you'd like to make very happy, this could be the Perfect Gift.


* Yes, that Dan Aykroyd.

** Mostly replicas, so relax. See some here and here.

*** Uh, that sounded creepier than I intended.

Smells Like Goth Spirit!

Halloween Countdown Day 3
Being mostly a motley collection of vaguely Halloween-ish links with a Gothic edge I need to purge from my Google Notebook:

What Halloween Party would be complete without a Skeleton Disco Ball? It's exactly what you think it is--a motorized, revolving 8-inch skull covered with little mirrors. Though smallish, is still perfect for an apartment-based Zombie Prom Night theme!

From the original post on Boing Boing:

"If only we'd had one of these skull-shaped disco balls in the Malden High gymnasium during prom night. A magical night, in which I convinced the DJ to play 'Bloodletting' during the last dance of the night, which I spent futilely trying to slip my hand under the blood red corset of my consumptive-looking goth date. Sigh. Our love making? It would have smelled of cloves."

Poor guy. He might have had better luck if he'd first arranged an intimate, elegant Halloween dinner and used these skeletal serving forks (again from Boing Boing).

Or, had his finances been tight, a simple Gothic cook-out with the Cthulhu Roaster. Add a couple of My Little Cthulhu ponies (see the comments on MetaFilter) and various items from the Gothic Garden as a centerpiece and, yeah, the clove smoke would have filled the room. And should there be a little, uh, accident, there's always the Gothic Cradle!


*sigh* I have got to start dating.

Skullbuster(s)?

Halloween Countdown, Day 2
A couple of things to covet...

You know you're going to need something to wash down (or distract you from) Penn & Teller's Bleeding Heart Gelatin Dessert, right? Well, according to MetaFilter* there's a new booze in town and Dan Aykroyd is pimping it: Crystal Head Vodka.

Quadruply-distilled alcohol blended with water from the aquifers of Newfoundland then triple-filtered through Herkimer diamonds to infuse it with...

Well, I have no idea, but Dan talks about it real purty, almost as if his Bass-O-Matic salesguy character had finally gotten his bipolar disorder under control and yeah, there's a lot of hoo-ha about paranormal phenomena and UFOs and ghosts and mysterious doings and the crystal skulls, but the bottom line is this:

I don't drink anymore so I don't care if it has mystical powers and/or tastes like rat urine mixed with cow dung; IT'S A DAMN COOL-LOOKING BOTTLE O' VODKA AND I WANT ONE!

No, two! For my skull collection!

And wouldn't your drunken Halloween Bash be just a leeeetle cooler if your bar was well-stocked with these?


Just remember to send me the empties.

And speaking of skulls and paraphernalia for your drunken Halloween Bash, Brass Goggles reports on an artist who's made a pinhole camera that incorporates the 150-year old skull of an 13-year old girl child:



*See also the comments on reddit. They're a hoot!