Thursday it's Hot...No, Wednesday, it's Cool.

Dear Bloggery, it's been five months since my last confession. [This was written on May 1, 2014...today it is May 21, 2014].

Ah, blogs... how you taunt your keepers. You are the crying baby that we neglect. You are the nagging wife that we make promises to. You are the friend that we have allowed, so graciously, to sleep on our couch only to still be there when we tire of you...

Let's see, last entry was on December 17; that means that I need to update you (you nebulous "you," you!) with my new branch of entertainment journalism. I have been writing and taking photos for the local entertainment journal OC Weekly. Here is a link to some of the articles and reviews I've written. Many of them are still heavily connected with other aspects of the entertainment industry; for examples, I wrote a feature article on the highly theatrical band Skinny Puppy, I wrote a review of the musical performance of Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges's show with his band, The Abiders, and I wrote a review of a Goblin concert (they, of course, scored many of the horror films of Italian horror director Dario Argento). I've also had an opportunity to take some photos for OC Weekly, and in addition to conducting an interview with Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction, and writing an article and a review about them, I took photos of their exclusive Las Vegas show, wherein they performed their entire first studio album, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.

In addition to the OC Weekly work, I've recently had several articles come out in various horror magazines. I have a cover story in the latest issue of Screem magazine; the article is an interview I conducted with Gareth Edwards, director of the new Godzilla movie. I also recently had another article published in Fangoria; this one was an interview with the director of the film Jinn.

Naturally, with all of these gigs, work on Horror Works, my site dedicated to the horror community of Los Angeles, has slowed; however, I still chip away at it. There are probably a dozen or so new reviews and articles waiting for your thirsty eyes at the site. As usual, most of my overflow photos from various events wind up on the Horror Works Facebook page. And, not to brag...but, there are many amazing photos waiting for you in the photo albums there. The most recent addition is an extensive album of shots from the recent horror convention, Monsterpalooza, which was held in Burbank as usual.

As far as film work goes, as usual, I currently have numerous projects in various stages of development. That, dear diary...err...I mean "dear bloggery" is the news for the day (and if my latest tendency to keep up with the blog is any indication, this will be the news for the next half year). Take care, all! See you next time 'round!

A B C D E F Tuesday

And here we...STOP! I was about to get the pre-production going for my third feature film, but for reasons beyond my control [money], the mission has been temporarily suspended. It was a bit of a heartbreak because I do so love putting a production together. Alas, sometimes reality checks artists. Oh well, what can you do? Keep on keepin' on, I suppose. There's still plenty to occupy me. I'm actually still fine-tuning the script, regardless, and if I can't find the means to produce it, I'll see if I can sell it; it's a pretty catchy idea, and it's got everything that a good horror film should have. Onward...

I recently interviewed Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad regarding his upcoming film Jinn for Fangoria. I'm pretty excited about that as well as another article I'm doing for Fango (mums the word at the moment). My work on Horror Works has slowed a bit, which is a great relief. Boy does that site take a lot out of me. It's fun, I'll admit, but it requires mucho worko. I posted a review there last week for a really great show that I saw called The Mystery Plays at The Lex Theater in Los Angeles. Powerful good stuff!

Apart from some more music I'm working on and started recording for a possible short experimental film (feature or no feature, I just can't stop the flow of creative juices), I guess that's about it for now. Y'all take care, and have yourselves some happy holidays!

It's about that time on a Wednesday...

Wow, now that's what I call an October! For Horror Works, I was basically double and triple stacking my weekend days with various events (mostly haunted houses). Then, during the week, I would hustle to catch up on writing my coverage and, usually, post additional photos from each event in respective photo albums on the Horror Works Facebook page.

In the course of my adventures, I have been meeting some really talented and cool people -- some of whom I may be collaborating with in the not-so-distant future. In any event, now that I've gotten past Halloween, my event coverage will be significantly lessened; this means that I'll have more time to dedicate to other projects. Mind, I'll still be updating the Horror Works calendar of horror-related events for LA horror fans and keeping tabs on the horror community -- as well as finally getting the Reviews section of the site going and doing a few profiles on various horror artists in the Los Angeles area; however, it's about time I got back to some of that good old film work, especially since I've had a new feature screenplay in the almost completed stage since September. Additionally, I've got another story that's been pouring out of my mind in the form of images and themes, and it's calling for my attention to give it a solid form.

For my final announcements, I've gotten a couple more horror magazine writing assignments, and, just because I'm a swell guy, I also wrote a short piece on Hammer horror films for Zombie Hamster (the website of my buddy and fellow horror scholar Colin McCracken). Oh yeah, I believe Fangoria issue #328 just came out. In it, I interview comic archivist and publisher Russ Cochran regarding the historic and artistic importance of the classic EC horror comics (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear) which are just now continuing publication in the beautiful Archive volumes, courtesy of Dark Horse.

All right, I think that's all I've got for you right now. Peace be with y'all!

Things have gone crazy...and it's Saturday

It's hard to believe that it's already October 12! I've been busy like I haven't been in a long time; I've been averaging 5 hours of sleep a night, juggling various day jobs, pitching more articles to Fangoria and Rue Morgue, working on my new screenplay and tending to the many demands of my mistress, Horror Works -- and I'm loving it!

For each event I cover for the Dervish Pictures subsidiary site of Horror Works, I Photoshop event photos, research and write coverage, layout the page, create a photo album of additional images from the event (in most cases) for our Facebook extension, write clever descriptions for the images and tag relevant people, then promote the heck out of the page via Twitter and by sending e-mails and Facebook messages to strategic folks. In this way, each article reaches / expands the Horror Works audience, and most everybody whom I've hipped to the site has loved it and shared it with their own friends. Thus, the target Horror Works audience is growing on a consistent basis (knock wood).

Some of my recent articles have included coverage of H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon, Queen Mary's Dark Harbor, The Hive Art Gallery's Tribute to Ray Harryhausen and the Cambria Scarecrow Festival.

It is only because I had a few spare hours this evening, that I'm taking a brief break from my Horror Works responsibilities to take care of a few of my recently neglected tasks, like: updating this blog, taking a walk and doing the dishes. With that said, I should be getting back to it. Tonight's objective: process the photos from Los Angeles Haunted Hayride and finish writing the article on it. I attended the hayride on Thursday; last night I attended Rob Zombie's Great American Nightmare, and tomorrow I'm attending Son of Monsterpalooza.

All right, then. Enough of this break; it's back to work I go!

On the eve of one Friday...

Hey there, gang! Let's start with a little Outtake Reel news, shall we? Last night I did a live online interview for Indie Horror TV. It was a fun experience, I got to plug my projects, give people advice on how to chase their filmmaking dreams and talk about movies that inspire me. Also, the film is now available for HD downloads and VOD in the UK through The Horror Show TV. If you go there now, a banner with part of the OR poster is the first thing you'll see.

I submitted my article on EC Comics to Fangoria magazine, and editor-in-chief Chris Alexander said he loved it. It's a pretty intoxicating experience to get that kind of feedback from the editor of a magazine you cherished when you were a kid. And the topic is really close to home, too. Creepshow was one of the first movies that scared me badly enough to land me at the foot of my parents' bed. Creepshow, of course, was inspired by / was an ode to EC Comics, which my dad then proceeded to teach me about (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear, etc.). Later, the cable series presented adaptations from the comics, but the comics still have some of the best storytelling in them. So, when I discovered that Dark Horse Comics was going to collaborate with Russ Cochran to continue producing Mr. Cochran's exquisite EC Archives series, I was thrilled! So, I pitched the idea to Chris, and he loved it to. "And," as Paul Harvey used to say, "now you know the rest of the story."

In other news, I have been continuing work on Horror Works, the website dedicated to the Horror Community of Los Angeles. Last weekend, I read an ad in the OC Weekly for a club event called Fetish Apocalypse. The description of the event mentioned costumes of horror and sci-fi themes. Thus, I figured it was fair game for coverage for my site. I called them up and was put on their guest list. The resulting experience was synthesized into the article photos and video show I posted here. Mind, don't click there if you're at work or if you are troubled by images of an S&M crowd. Regardless, I tried to keep the presentation as tasteful and as artfully crafted as possible given the subject matter.

I guess that's about it for Dervish Pictures for right now. I bid you peace and good will until the next report...

Thursday, the coffee tastes good.

Hey there, kiddies!

I'm pleased to announce that there's lots going on in Dervish Land on this fine August morning. Let's start with Outtake Reel, shall we?

Not only is today the birth date of Ava Santana, star of Outtake Reel, but it is the day that The Horror Show TV announced that it has picked up the film for VOD distribution throughout the UK.

Pre-production on the musical film project The Orange Man: Adrift has been fairly intense. Regrettably, much of the content of that project is incredibly depressing material, and after having buried myself in it for several weeks, I am slowing down for the purpose of maintaining my sanity. But it's good stuff, folks!

The residual energy that I've had to dedicate to all things productive and horror has been re-routed to a couple of other things. I will be writing my second article for Fangoria on the legacy of EC Horror Comics. Russ Cochran had been working with Gemstone Publishing to re-print them in beautiful archive books, but stopped right after horror and comic book fans were sufficiently hooked. Now, Dark Horse is picking up where he left off, and I'm on the case!

The final exciting news bulletin is that after attending Scare LA, the first Halloween Convention in Los Angeles, I wrote an article and posted it on my new site, Horror Works. The site is intended to inform horror fans about the various goings-on in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Being as though there is a generous-size horror community here, I thought it was odd that there wasn't a centralized hub; so, I hastily decided that I should start one. Also, I love attending various horror events and writing about them, but sometimes the various horror magazines for which I write pass on my coverage of said events. So, through this new site, "I give them to you, the people" [spoken in a Henry Kissinger / Bane voice].

The site features a News page, with listings of various LA area activities for horror fans; an Articles page, which features -- you guessed it -- my writings about local horror events; and a Reviews page, which is currently the home of a doozer and an "under construction" sign.

Whelp, that should catch you up for now. Fare thee well, and don't forget to have a great day!

Wednesday...some time in the United States

Aloha dear reader!

Yes, it's been a while [standard pre-amble for many a blog-post]. I must confess, I've been spending a lot of time with my other blog, but that's no reason for this blog to be jealous. It should be happy for me; I've been extending my creative energy into the world in the most productive way I can conceive [Freudian readers, please enjoy this sentence], and that has been my principle way of dealing with the various little (as well as overwhelming) life issues which have swarmed upon me and infiltrated my soul as of late.

However, since this is not an appropriate venue for expressing my issues -- even though it would really be a bargain for both of us -- I'll just stick to business here, and if you're really interested in experiencing the creative impulses of a suffering soldier who is fighting to get a grip on this thing called life, I urge you to follow my other blog. I promise, this one won't be jealous. As far as providing details of my personal struggles, that's off of the table at the moment, suffice it to say they deal with relationships and good old fashioned money.

Now for the sauce! In addition to my article which will be in an upcoming issue of Fangoria magazine, I've contributed an article and some ditties to Rue Morgue magazine. I'll keep you posted on street dates / issue numbers. As for TITO, I heard back from the Fantasia Film Festival...and they thought the acting sucked, but at least it wasn't a formal rejection. [Note to self: stop acting in your films]. But there's still hope for the project; two rejection notices are pending! In any event, that's certainly enough negative reinforcement to make working on The Making of TITO into an uninspiring chore. Still, I've got some decent material to cobble together for it, so it's still a possibility...

Currently, I've been pouring a lot of energy into yet another high-concept project [Note to self: perhaps if you created fewer "high-concept" projects and more "paint-by-the-numbers" ones, you might see an increased critical response and a modicum of money]. Anyway, this one is a sort of musical film project. I've written a series of songs which tell a metaphoric story. So far, I've workshopped and recorded several versions of the first two songs, and I'm pretty enthusiastic about continuing to develop the songs and then eventually produce a live-action / animated film to show the story.

Whelp, I guess that's about it for the news. There are other things in the planning, but since there always are, I'll just share what I've done and what I'm currently doing.

I can say Wednesday (with some difficulty)

For a person to say they're a poet seems anachronistic. I had a "professor" at Columbia College Chicago who tried to convince her class that rap was poetry. Perhaps there's some that is, but I never had any interest to spend time wading through all the "gangsta," "bitch, suck my dick," "pop a cap in yo ass" idiocy to find it. In any event, I keep journals regularly; they are comprised of story ideas, "brilliant" one-liners, snippets of dialog that may fit into one of my stories, doodles and poems. Hmm, I'm going to err on the side of "if I write poems even though I'm not in a poetry class, I'm a poet."

In any event, I believe that this fairly rambling pre-amble is just an advertisement to get you, dear reader, to pop on by my new blog. Don't worry, this one's not going anywhere -- as "the other blog" serves a different purpose from this one. This one is basically about keeping you posted on my film and writing projects, whereas the new one, called Personal Juice, is essentially a virtual version of the journals I was just describing. Anyway, check it out if you are so inclined. It is here.

All right, onto business. Progress on the TITO documentary has been slow (mostly due to having to deal with selling my dying car and buying a new one [a work in progress]). However, I just submitted TITO to the Fantastic Film Festival, which I hope accepts my little film. On Monday morning, Chris Alexander, the Editor-in-Chief of Fangoria magazine accepted my first article for Fango. And although for some reason I'm not feeling the nostalgia value of the acceptance (probably due to being pre-occupied with the car situation [and my mom's concern thereof]), I grew up reading Fangoria magazine and, in fact, had wallpapered my bedroom with the mini-posters of monsters, make-up artists, and grotesqueties that they portrayed.

In fact, when Chris read my article, he gave me the same feedback as Ogre had [reference is to an article I wrote after interviewing a childhood hero: lead singer of the band Skinny Puppy]; they both said that the articles were "fantastic." So, that's definitely good news.

Beyond that, I've been gradually molding several stories, which are in various stages of development, for future film projects -- including the biker film that I originally wrote with my late father. I've also been tinkering with some musical recordings and may spring something fairly interesting on a most-likely uninterested public in the near future.

Until then, I've got plenty of work to do, so I bid you peace and good day!

Thursday...far out, man!

Hey there, gangland, it's been a whirligig month or so... The first order of business is that I'm officially stepping down from my position as Editor-in-Chief of Diabolique magazine. My decision is essentially due to financial necessities; although time was a big factor, too.

In any event, it was both an honor and an educational experience working for Diabolique, and I want to thank Publisher / Layout Designer Dima Ballin for the opportunity of being the steward of his enterprise for five beautiful issues.

About a week ago, Screem magazine issue #26 came out. It is the first of several other horror magazines that I will now be writing for. For the Screem issue, I interviewed Stuart Gordon (director of Re-Animator, From Beyond, and many other films...), and we spoke mostly about H.P. Lovecraft. If you're a horror fan, you should check it out; it's a pretty good interview!

Also, I've pretty much got all of my old programs re-installed on my computer (after the crash), and since I'll now have a bit more time on my hands, I can proceed with the documentary for TITO. It's just a little making-of featurette that I'm going to include on the Tuning In, Tuning Out DVD that I'm giving to all of my investors, cast and crew members -- who have been most patient!

In the Harley news, after being told at the Illinois Secretary of State office that I could ride the 2004 Road King, that I'd basically inherited from my dad, from Chicago to Los Angeles and register it here, I called the California Department of Motor Vehicles. On the phone, I was told that I needed my mom to sign the bike over to me since she was the official custodian of all my dad's possessions. So, I mailed her the form, she filled it out, and I went to the DMV office only to be told that both the Illinois SOS office and the DMV phone representative had misinformed me. So, I mailed the title back to Illinois. Next, my mom went back to the SOS office, submitted the paperwork to have the bike put into her name, and next I will be able to return to the DMV office to finally register the bike. Unfortunately, I have to wait about three weeks until the SOS office completes the title transfer process.

All right, that basically catches you up. Beyond that, of course, there are numerous little and big projects that I'm always chipping away at on any given day. Thanks for tuning in! I'm out.