When, in his first inaugural address, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stated that, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” he wasn’t necessarily talking about the nature of horror in television and film. The main thrust of his speech was that, in wretched economic times, hope and a positive attitude were integral to pulling America out of the Depression. Nonetheless, that one expression has, in the general zeitgeist, outlasted the rest of his speech about how “Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits.” And it seems fair to say that the line about the only thing we have to fear certainly outlasted FDR’s exhortations that there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people’s money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.”

Historically, comedy entertainment has flourished in times of economic strife and war and drama and horror have done better when the audience’s day-to-day lives have been more comfortable and free of fear. But we live in interesting times and horror is booming. NBC has an ambitious new television series starting today which showcases the works of thirteen top horror teams. In case this wasn’t obvious from my deconstruction of the origins of the expression about what we have to fear, the name of the series is Fear Itself.

I asked my unsavory pals and I asked the Blue Blood boards and I asked my sixty thousand close personal friends on MySpace what frightened them. They were all frightened by things besides fear, but hopefully they’ve got some optimism and some taste for the allstar horror series NBC is releasing.

Interestingly, Alien, The Exorcist, and Halloween tied for first place as scariest movies ever. Most people I know were quick to add that they absolutely 100% only meant the first Halloween movie when they were talking about terror. Poltergeist came in fourth and apparently scared a lot of viewers off of television. Pretty clever for the filmmakers, given that Poltergeist came out at a time before movies and television media had quite the synergy they do today. Hellraiser came in fifth, although I think some people I know liked the fashions more than they were genuinely scared, but I’ll accept it. Bizarrely John Carpenter’s The Thing and E.T. tied for the next slot. Apparently, I know some alienated-ass people, who didn’t trust their government or scientists as children, and who were just sick with fear over what was going to happen to that poor alien. I felt the same way actually about both E.T. and Short Circuit, if the truth be told, but no one but me thought of Short Circuit for this list, so I think it doesn’t make it. The Shining came in number eight and I would have felt that all work and no play had made us all very dull if it wasn’t somewhere on the list. Newer flicks like the SAW movies and 1408 and The Descent were mentioned, as were slightly older ones such as Event Horizon and Child’s Play and The Cell, and of course classics like Jaws and Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Nightmare On Elm Street. But none of those films got a real critical mass of respondents putting them in their top ten. I’d have to give the number nine slot to a special subgenre, rather than one movie. And the number ten spot actually is a movie I’ve never seen, but I’m vaguely creeped out at how many people thought of it in the top scariest movies and television of all time.

So, in conclusion, here are the top 10 scariest films of all time, according to Blue Blood readers:

1. Alien
2. The Exorcist
3. Halloween
4. Poltergeist
5. Hellraiser
6. The Thing
7. E.T.
8. The Shining
9. Anything Japanese involving doing weird stuff to eyeballs
10. Jesus Camp

Special occasion nights in Hollywood generally involve a lot of party-hopping. Sure, there are the people who have to get back in their car and go to the next event every twenty-six minutes because that is how long it takes for the last bump of cocaine to wear off. But it really does make sense to hit as many shindigs as possible in an evening. First of all, Los Angeles is such a vibrant city with so much going on at once, at any given time, especially on a holiday like Halloween. I know I don’t want to miss a thing. The hardest thing about going out at night in Los Angeles is blow-drying my hair. And the whole having to wear pants when outside of the house thing. Once I’m not naked and I’m wearing eyeliner, I feel like I might as well get full value out of having gotten dressed and a lot of my fellow Angelenos feel the same way.

Los Angeles tends to have a dress code where it is important to look good but not to look like you tried too hard. This means club-goers do not dress up as much here as I might enjoy. Happily, when it comes to any special event like Halloween, the dress-down rule goes out the window and everyone is encouraged to really do it up.

For this past Halloween, Blue Blood sponsored a whole lot of parties, in a whole lot of cities, in addition to doing a full on media sponsorship arrangement with the Hex Halloween event in Hollywood. My old housemates Perish and Eden Muse (pictured above and in our Halloween picture galleries), were the flyer models and Perish’s costume concept was to embody the future. “For me,” he says, “it wouldn’t be computer parts and neon colors, rather, a personal functionalism mixed with individual ornamentation, recycled and re-articulated through experiences. Don’t throw it away just yet, turn it inside out and tell a story, the concept evolves.”

Forrest Black and I set up a location studio at the event and photographed literally more than seventy of our fabulous friends and compatriots (pictured in our Halloween picture galleries). DJ Xian, who was in charge of the event, is totally cool; it was just a new and gigantic venue and things were a bit snafued and the mix of people in the crowd just did not quite gel, so that there were also some kind of mean people there (not pictured) who made it a bit less fun than I would prefer. Fortunately, Area 101 with Federico Zignani and Apollo Starr had an incredibly awesome afterparty that most of the people pictured here were also at and so we all ended the evening on an up note.

When Forrest Black and I shoot an event, we seek to photograph the people who are the most stellar examples of whatever the event is about. For example, we are going to be looking for couture latex and corsets at a fetish event, tasteful use of sequins at a burlesque event, artistic original ink at a tattoo event, great costumes at a Halloween event, etc. And, like anyone with a camera, professional or amateur, we enjoy shooting our friends. Additionally, Forrest Black and I are artists so we need to be inspired. If we are just not feeling someone’s vibe, we are not going to be into photographing them. I mean, people do hire us to shoot things that might not be our first choice, but, when I am wielding my camera for art and for the scene, I just kind of expect people to be I just kind of expect people to be appreciative and cool and understanding rather than demanding and hostile and envious.

It is funny looking at these photo galleries because I remember it not being the most fun shoot I ever did, only the people we actually did photograph were the ones I feel warmly towards. So we’ve got some totally kickass pictures for your viewing pleasure. You may recognize a number of members from the Blue Blood forums and Blue Blood hotties Michelle Aston, Aiden Starr, Natalie Addams, Zoe Matthews, and Vima. If I did the complete luminaries in attendance list, it would be like a phone book. Suffice it to say that a real night on the town in Hollywood should always involve multiple events, but, if you picked the right shindigs, you will probably see some of the same usual suspects more than once in an evening. And that is generally a source of good fun.

The thing I love best about photography is the way it can capture and preserve a moment.

Most of my ephemeral moments have gone unrecorded. When I got to college, it was my twelfth school in twelve years. Moving that often gave me many qualities I like about myself, but it also meant that there were so many people, so many communities, so many adventures, and so many times in my life which evaporated with nothing to show they ever took place. Just my memories with no one to share them with. People who do not move can at least have conversations about “remember when . . .” but my friends and compatriots were scattered across dozens of countries.

I always loved when people showed me their photo albums and yearbooks and explained the most important images. Oscar Wilde once famously said, “After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see them as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, which is the most horrible thing in the world.” Oscar was speaking of absinthe, but pictures are a lot like the green fairy that way. Sometimes a flattering photograph represents a loathsome situation and sometimes a hideous photograph is a reminder of something wonderful.

I reminded myself of what is most important about a photograph, while going over the scans for the two most recent photo galleries by Forrest Black and yours truly. These galleries are bittersweet. While I was going over the final edit to put the pictures in the BlueBlood.net system, one of the people pictured instant messaged me to tell me she had just had a nasty break-up with the guy, also pictured, who she was with on this particular Halloween night at Bar Sinister. Two of the girls Forrest Black and I shot that night became mortal enemies shortly thereafter. Over a guy, of course. There are pictures of people from multiple bands which should have broken bigger than they did in there. Heck, there are pictures in there of someone I used to really like who eventually was nearly singlehandedly the main reason Forrest Black and I all but totally quit rock journalism and photography. Occasionally shooting musical friends and high dollar jobs, Forrest Black and I probably still shoot more rock work than most of the knobs wandering around Los Angeles claiming to be rock photogs, but we used to do so much more and feel so differently about it. These two galleries also feature a girl I thought could be a great mainstream model, but she never followed up the contacts I gave her. There’s the promoter, who was one of the first people we ever covered in Blue Blood in print, who just closed his most recent venture. The list goes on. It was a fabulous night, even though we broke the camera we were shooting with. This happens more often than I’d like in a nightclub setting. I’m not even sure where all the pictures from that shoot are because the ones we shot on a second camera seem to be MIA.

Regardless, there are so many people here I have felt such fondness for. Dreams and relationships may wither or shatter, but our photographs preserve one hot moment.

There is even one person in our photographs here who is dead now. He was a nice person, talented and fun, and he passed away far far too early. Some of Forrest Black’s and my photography was used in his memorial service, but he never got to see these pictures. There are many things I feel there will always be time for, but sometimes the clock stops. Rest in peace, J.D. I guess there was a reason you had to wear a shirt which reads, “Die young; stay pretty”?

When a bunch of my friends went to see Nightmare Before Christmas for Halloween, I took a pass. I think director Tim Burton has one of the most beautiful and impressively realized aesthetics in film today. Unfortunately it bums me out that his misunderstood and offbeat heroes and heroines often accept their second class citizen status. Different does not equal lesser. I just can’t get with that, no matter how poignant the color palette or how extravagant the design. So I’m pleased to see such a master of darkly beautiful cinema taking on the vengeful barber of Fleet Street in his forthcoming adaptation of Sweeney Todd.

Also, I find the posters where Johnny Depp is reclining in his chair, with a straight razor in his outstretched hand, unaccountably erotic. I feel a little spark every time I see it online (thanks for advertising on my sites, guys) and every time I drive by one of the ubiquitous billboards in Los Angeles. There are just times when what turns you on is not what you would find convenient to be turned on by. (I will still shoot anyone who comes at me with an open razor because I always bring a gun to a knife fight. So don’t get any ideas; I’m just sharing my feelings.) You can check out the Sweeney Todd trailer below, after the jump. I’m not personally that big a fan of show tunes, but, damn, that is one gorgeous movie in both the lush scenes and the spare ones. Yumtastic and no mean feat. (more…)

For everyone searching for one of the most spectacular Halloween events Southern California has to offer, we’ve always had a great time at HEX Hollywood, and this year is even bigger than ever. Blue Blood is proud to once again sponsor this epic Halloween holiday party and we will be in attendance, shooting more beautiful pictures and generally having a blast.

This year, Hex Halloween is taking over the spacious historic Avalon theater, located directly across the street from the world famous Capitol Records building. This theater was the first venue on the West Coast ever played by The Beatles back in 1964 and is even rumored to be haunted by quite a collection of interesting ghosts and spirits, so I know a spooky good time is in store for us. There has even been one regularly spotted on the balcony where Amelia G and I will be taking pictures.

The list of performers, activities, and attractions brought together by promoter Xian and her dedicated staff is truly impressive. There will be five DJ’s accross several dance floors, a full program of individual talented performers including Zombie Girl, Inure, the debut of Hex/Rx, Monastic, and even a full Butoh-a-Go-Go show by the Corpus Delecti Butoh Performance Lab. I’m also personally looking forward to seeing the collaborative performance Aesthetic Meat Front (AMF) and Constructs of Ritual Evolution (CoRE), all of whom have been our friends for a long time and always put on unforgettable shows.

Upstairs, in the Avalon’s Spider Club, there will be magicians, contortionists, hypnotic hoop twirling performances, and much more, all to the sounds of Gothic Darkwave Synthpop from some of the best spooky DJ’s the West has to offer. And, it wouldn’t be Halloween without a cash costume contest. Scariest, sexiest, and most creative creations go home with hundreds of dollars in their pocket.

Blue Blood will of course be hanging out with all of our degenerate pervy friends Masters of Fetish and Bondage Arts in the Theatre Masoch, located on the haunted balcony. Come surround yourself with erotic demonstrations and spectacle from the likes of Michael Manning and Dee Manning, sub Ann, with exciting visuals from Avi and Master Aryn, plus performances by a litany of wicked Mistresses and Masters. The trick for me is to not go home with a ton of the sexy furniture being provided for the event by Sonny Black Dungeon Furniture. I really love their sexy stuff! You are encouraged to come watch and/or participate, so I’m sure we’ll all be having a really good time up there.

There is tons more going on, I haven’t listed the half of it here. You can check on all the event details at the Hex Hollywood website. Come party with us, and don’t be shy. We love getting to meet all our online friends in person.

People always think I am making it up when I tell them that Robert de Niro guested on Sesame Street and taught Elmo how to be an actor. This is a good time of year to take a little acting training to round out your Halloween costume, give it that extra spark. So here is YouTubian proof that I was not hallucinating when I saw de Niro on the Street. And also some nice tips on how to imagine and pretend, if you are dressing as a dog or cabbie on October 31st. Robert de Niro is very convincing as a good source of riboflavin.

The following are the top three definitions of Halloween, as voted on by the users of Urban Dictionary:

”(1) An annual excuse for girls to dress like sluts and get away with it.

Girl 1: I’m going to be a ______ for Halloween.
Girl 2: What’s your costume look like?
Girl 1: I’m wearing my ______ underwear and _____ bra and heels.

(2) celebration where little kids dress up and get candy, teens dress up, get drunk, and go get candy, and adults dress up, get drunk, and give out candy, funny how things all work out.

im dressing up as a farmer for halloween. im so cool.

(3) the day that makes the other 364 worth living.”

For a lot of people Halloween is the one day out of the year that they can truly be themselves. It was always my favorite holiday and then one year it seemed like almost a let-down, like it wasn’t really any different from any other day. Which, in a way, meant that I guess I’d made the right life choices to get to be who I wanted to be all the time, but, since then, I try to pull out the stops when October rolls around, so it still feels special. Sometimes trying to pack so much into one short time period makes me melancholy and high strung around Halloween, but I generally end up feeling good about it, after all is said and done.

As usual, this year, Blue Blood is the media sponsor for a ton of events. The ones Forrest Black and I will be personally shooting at include the just passed Release the Bats Nine Year Anniversary and the upcoming Hex Hollywood Halloween 2007. You can see what we shot last year in the Hex Hollywood Halloween 2006 photo gallery.

”well I live with snakes and lizards
and other things that go bump in the night
cos to me everyday is halloween
I have given up hiding and started to fight
I have started to fight

well any time, any place, anywhere that I go
all the people seem to stop and stare
they say ‘why are you dressed like it’s halloween?
you look so absurd, you look so obscene!’ . . .

well I let their teeny minds think
that they’re dealing with someone who is over the brink
and I dress this way just to keep them at bay
cos halloween is everyday”

That is a quote from the seminal Ministry song Every Day is Halloween, by the way. It was actually first released in the early 80’s, although most people will guess later than that, even those somewhat versed in their goth-industrial trivia. This week, I recommend you give candy to drunk girls in excusable slutty costumes and quiz them about the origin of the expression “Every day is Halloween” and win barroom bets, with an assist from your pal Amelia G.

I first wrote and published this article October 29 of 2005, but it is that time of year again and I’m simultaneously having a lot of fun and really stressed out from being stretched so thin. We’re crazy busy, so I’ll make this brief. The “Blue Halloween” article has not been available through the Blue Blood site navigation since the redesign, and I was thinking that this is the time of year when some of you might need to hear this.

Around Xmas-time, a lot of apparently normal people get completely freaked out. They just want everything to be so so so very perfect. They tear up at the very thought of how perfect they want everything to be. They spend more money than they can really afford on things that neither they nor their friends and family really need. But- but- but it is Xmas and everything has to be so so so very perfect. If there is the slightest flaw in the ornaments or the gifts or the comfy sweater, then it is like there is no good fellowship among mankind, no peace on earth, no family love, blah blah blah.

Just try wandering through the mall around Yuletide and you will see the stress level I am talking about. I can look at that objectively and just sigh and think they need to relax and maybe get more mistletoe.

But Halloween rolls around and, ooh boy, I am singing a different carol. I just want everything to be so so so perfect. I mean, if every day is Halloween, then Halloween has to be super duper Halloween, right? Almost everyone I know is totally off the rails right now. Everyone I come across is so edgy that the slightest thing blows up into World War III.

A lot of the people I know are either doing totally nothing for Halloween this year except maybe taking their kids trick-or-treating. Or else they are trying to do twenty different things every night for the four nights around Samhain and hoping a chemical assist gets them through.

My phone keeps ringing with people who want me to play free casting agent for them. My voicemail keeps overflowing, so I’m probably getting even more calls than I know for this stuff. Who knew there were so many mainstream organizations and people who wanted to throw a spooky party and didn’t realize until the end of October that they wanted some spooky people to perform at it? Now everyone I know who does performances is either (a) booked or (b) double-booked or (c) so hard to work with that I wouldn’t recommend them to someone I like or (d) totally spazzing out that it is Halloween and they want it to be so so so perfect.

Halloween used to be my favorite holiday. The one day a year I was most myself. I suppose I should pat myself on the back that I get to enjoy those aspects of myself pretty much 24/7/365 now. Maybe everyone I know should give themselves a bit of an attaboy for the very same reason.

I tell myself that serious drunks don’t go out on New Year’s. They know that is amateur night. But somehow the comfort rings hollow. I just want everything to be so so so perfect for Halloween.

The costumes, the parties, and the sweets, the pranks, the tricks, and the treats all have to be just right or there is no community, nothing is cool, all my choices have been wrong, there is no joy in Mudville, the sky is falling, blah blah blah.

I’m glad I don’t freak out in December. That would be so unimaginative, dull, and mundane. Or maybe it would be the same damn thing on a different calendar.

Blue Blood and Gothic.net would like to bring you all the opportunity to win a screening of the Rob Zombie re-imagining of one of the original gangsters of slasher flicks, Halloween. The grand prize is a screening of the film for the winner and twenty of their most intimate friends, as well as a Rob Zombie grab bag including a limited edition T-shirt, CD’s, the Devil’s Rejects DVD, and the House of 1000 Corpses DVD. Four runners up will also win their own grab bags.

You know how sometimes you and your friends like to smear yourselves with vanilla-flavored corn syrup with a lot of red food coloring in it and take pictures? Well, if you are familiar with the Halloween series, go ahead, bust out those mask and knife collectibles, and take the most Halloween iconic shots you can and submit them over at the Rob Zombie’s Halloween Contest site to win.

Fine print: real murders void eligibility to participate.