Halloween & Bernie Wrightson....

Wendy and I both had little missions to accomplish today, we agreed to co-pilot for eachother. She had to go to Fry's to exchange something. Yes, Fry's with the endless aisles of gadgetry and bits, as you can see, even the stores here in Los Angeles gets dressed up for Halloween...



actually it is a permanent UFO embedded in the building, i should have photographed the inside of the place, with the other side of the craft (complete with neon!) hovering over shoppers. In the computer section, a giant Kraken, tentacles everywhere...it got me in the mood for Halloween...

from there we zipped over to Dark Delicacies for my part of the mission.

Bernie Wrightson was signing in Burbank.... celebrating the 25th anniversary of his illustrated version of Frankenstein.

Frankenstein, the story of the cobbled-together being and his creator, Victor. Wikapedia says this is "arguably considered the first fully-realized science fiction novel." Hmmmm, that I did not know. I honestly never thought about it. I didn't even remember that it was subtitled "Modern Prometheus", after the cheeky Greek human who stole fire from Olympus. (and received a fairly harsh punishment for it as well...) It has been so long since i have read this story, written by Mary Shelley, who wasn't even yet twenty years old...

I remember Michael Stewart (he of Beauty Bar fame) gave me a copy of the Frankenstein book in the good old days, illustrated by one of my very favorite artists from horror comics...He could draw the look of fright perfectly, complete with what we called "mouth strings" when we were little... i mean, look at this cover...gives me a good chill.



That book Michael gave me--it is long gone... the artist, very alive and well. I was telling Del of Dark Delicacies that I once had that edition of the book, and he said, "well you are out about 200 bucks then..." I loaned it out and never chased it down. I don't know who has it, honestly.
The new version is out on Dark Horse and at thirty bucks, a true classic of a treasure. (Bill, I DID get you something, but it wasn't this. Sorry, my brother!)

Here is the gracious Bernie and his sweet wife, Liz, i took this today at his signing:





tonight is Sharle's birthday party, which i will go to after babysitting the tiny elf Ava.
Happy 30th, little "big Shurl"!!!
She is the one that I will always love for taking my parents to a Redskins bar on one of their visits to California...
she shoved everyone out of two seats right in front of the big screen tv, so my Mom and Dad could have a unobstructed view.
You see why I adore her...
here she is (grey coat) with Red at Miles' art show last October...(see a painted Malena in the background?)



tomorrow is Halloween at the Magic Castle... when I first moved to LA, i drove past this, and thought, well I must go there.
Then I was told, mere mortals cannot just "go there". You have to be invited by a member, and that to become a member, you must be a magician. I do know you can stay at the hotel, without being a member and I have been to the hotel...

proof!



as for the actual Castle, this is the most I have seen:



so tomorrow promises to be a wonderland adventure. Extra thanks to Miles for getting us in. (well, let's not put the cart before the horse, how about for getting us Invited..)
Malena is going as a geisha, I am going to be a spooky wish-granter, Red has amassed a fortune in rubber clothing, which looks spectacularly flattering when on (well, when on her!), don't know what Miles is going to be....sadly, I heard no photos allowed.
(WHAT?!!!)
we will just have to see about that...none allowed at many places I go, but those rules, I look at them more as guidelines.

and a final word, as next week I am going to be off-the-hook busy in Madonna-land:

Please remember your right to vote is a precious one, don't take it for granted.

{what, did you think my final word would be a plea to Joachim Phoenix to just take some time off, not quit acting entirely???}

(ok, well, maybe he will consider it)