Dracula and his Vampire Brides (1973)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) also known as Count Dracula and his Vampire Brides starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Michael Coles.  The satanic name fits a lot better since there really isn't any Bride, plural or otherwise.  Lots of female vampires and a brief mention of turning Von Helsing's granddaughter into his consort but that is as close as it gets.  Wikipedia has a good write up on the movie as always.

Strangely, IMDB insists on the singular Bride, maybe because of the singular consort reference?  But watching the film, title sequence says Brides.  And there are a lot of them in the Cellar.  Brides it is.  I do want to see the engagement rings however.  There's got to be rings right?

Cudos go to The Grindhouse Cinema Database for the best Movie Posters

Love Lee and Cushing.  Though I feel that Cushing as Von Helsing, got the better deal in this movie.  He definitely was the better actor of the two in this one.  Lee was a little wooden.

The actual plot with a few modifications would make a first class modern germ horror movie.  Instead of a "real" Dracula, drugs and trickery could be used to convince and compel others to help a cult of crazies who want to destroy the world for their "dark master".  Would make quite the thriller I think.   Plenty of high tech with the security sensors and all.

I had a major objection to the concept in that why would Dracula want to kill off the human race when as a vampire, humans are his food source.  But they didn't overlook this piece of illogic and instead used it as a piece of psychoanalysis of an immortal who wants to end his soulless forever existence once and for all and wants to take the whole world with him.

Wonder if he was pissed when he was brought back to (un)life?  Did he kill off whomever brought him back to life after the last time he was destroyed by Von Helsing.  Maybe the Asian woman who does the rituals now, was not the one that brought him back.  It matters not.  The Count is tired and wants to go on to a more final eternal night. 

Now there are a couple problems.  Von Helsing makes a silver bullet, which I thought only worked on werewolves. At least it was from a cross.  But then he puts this silver bullet in a small one shot pistol.  Ummmmm, where is the bullet case and gun powder???  It wont even stop a baby werewolf, or anything for that matter, in its current incarnation.  Of course when he uses it later, it works fine.   Must be an "older" cartridge model.

And not only is silver bullets out of character, so is the running water.  That is used for witches, a la Wizard of Oz.  Not sure where else.  But not on Vampires, unless it was holy water.  So the sprinkler system should not have bothered the brides at all.

One final note, just why are all the "Brides" chained up in the basement anyway?



Blood Tide (1982)

Monday, October 10, 2011
Bad Horror / Monster movie night.  Blood Tide is a British film made in 1982. (Wikipedia, IMDB)

I would post the Amazon link but you can watch this for free on Internet Archives. Not sure why a film from 1982 is already in the public domain but I am not one to argue.

Ok, you have James Earl Jones, Jose Ferrer and some other recognizable actors/actresses.   A pretty decent premises for a plot.  A Monster.  And what do you get?  A bomb.  The acting is not all that bad.  James Earl Jones plays his parts pretty well.  For a monster movie though it is horrible, specially for a movie made in 1982.  The monster is barely shown except for a few seconds.  And for good reason.  It is a horrible piece of Rubber that has no movement to it what so ever.  They were doing better then this in the 70's.  Hell, the 60's!  The best movie poster was European.


Copano Bay Sunset

Sunday, October 9, 2011

more Backyard Flowers

Saturday, October 8, 2011


Bloody Pit of Horror (1965)

Friday, October 7, 2011
Bad (horror) Movie Night.  I am not sure Bloody Pit of Horror (IMDB also Wikipedia) even rates as a B horror movie.  It was very slow to start and then the Crimson Executioner was actually quite silly when he was torturing his victims.  I am sure he was not meant to be.  Of course I wasn't expecting much in special effects, low budget and all.  But most of the acting was worse then I expected.  I really like the original movie poster, the DVD cover is very amateurish in comparison.

Original Movie Poster




DVD cover


Yard Critters

Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Here are some of our Neighbors


A large moth by our front door


A yellow jacket trying to make it's nest next to our patio.




A male Green Anole lizard on one of our backyard rails.

St. Elmo's Motel

Monday, September 5, 2011
Was out today taking photographs of Roadside Memorials and an old overgrown slave cemetery. I will be posting photographs as I can. But I thought I would post this image of unique Austin "thing". St. Elmos used to be a tiny Motel on the corner of St. Elmo and South Congress. Well they tore down the motel a few years ago and hauled all the debris away. They still have not built anything on the property. However they left the neon sign. Unfortunately it does not light up at night. Though I wonder if one could find the power cables if it would still work.

Couple nice pieces on Urban Exploration and Photography

Monday, June 20, 2011


Art of Urban Photography - Slide Show

San Francisco Chronicle on Urban Exploration

Pinholes

Saturday, April 23, 2011
Pinhole Photography is very cool.

There is a cool article on BBC that says the 24th is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.

There is a dedicated Flickr group to Pinhole Photography

Here is a page with some really nice panoramic pinhole photos.

New Roadside Memorial Post

Thursday, April 14, 2011
New cross posted on Roadside Memorial

pbase.com

Tuesday, April 12, 2011
I use zenfolio and flickr, not to mention Picasa Web Albums but here is a different photo gallery site that was started years ago that I just "found", PBase.com.

However it is not free, or has a free option beyond it's 30 day trial period. Costs begin at $23US per year for 800MB of space.

Still checking it out, there is a lot great work there and some active forums. But I already pay for Zenfolio and use Picasa and Flickr's free options. Not sure where this would fit in.

Backyard Flowers #2

Saturday, April 2, 2011


Backyard Flowers #1

Friday, April 1, 2011


The Strokes at SXSW

Saturday, March 19, 2011
Went and saw The Strokes at SXSW on Thursday. It was a great show. The shows at Auditorium Shores are always free and the place was packed. They turned people away by the thousands.









New Roadside Memorial Post

Posted another memorial on my Roadside Memorial blog.

Lady Bug photograph

Monday, March 14, 2011

This photograph is from a tree growing in our backyard. I spent sometime taking pictures. The ladybug was a wonderful bonus.

Caye Caulker Cemetery, Belize

Monday, February 28, 2011
This little wooden cross was off to the side at a small old cemetery on Caye Caulker in Belize.



A US Marine and an Artist/Painter

Thursday, February 17, 2011
An interesting contrast between the artist and the cigar chompin' marine.  The video from the BBC also has some nice shots of how he works as well.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/9400137.stm

Happy Valentines Day

Monday, February 14, 2011

This is the first Valentine that I created and gave to my wife 9 days after we met. I actually started it about 4 days. Took me a couple days to get it right.

Happy Valentines Day #2

Pete Eckert: Blind Photographer

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Pete Eckert is an artist who lost his eyesight. In the process he discovered a passion for photography. The story is inspirational and the art is very good.

http://www.peteeckert.com/index.php

Wild Onion Flowers

Saturday, February 12, 2011


Something I was working on last year. These are from the wild onion flowers that pop up after the rains.

Butterfly photos for sale

Saturday, February 5, 2011
I have been creating some photographs of butterflies for Mariposa of Austin. My wife's business.  They consist of isolating spread butterflies against pure white backgrounds.  She has created a Cafe Press store also called Mariposa of Austin where you can buy various products that use the images such as mugs, t-shirts, prints and tote bags








Digging this crop circle

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Prague Astronomical Clock

(has it really been almost two months.....wow)

I was really struck by this photo from a blog on discovery.com.


It is of the Prague Astronomical Clock.  It was built in the 15th century.  The clock celebrated it's 600th anniversary last year.  It is amazing the number of things that it keeps track of.