How many fine, crisp autumn days did I sit nursing a baby in the living room of our big house in Redmond, looking out the big picture windows at the trees dressing up in their fall finery, while the water of the lake shifted subtly from bright summer blue to moodier autumn grey? How many brilliantly colored leaves did I watch tumble gently down from trees, never pausing to consider that each one that fell marked a moment, a day of my life that could never come back?

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Posted by kvoynar at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just got home from the KISS concert, and it was even more awesome than I'd anticipated. Seattle's Key Arena was pretty packed with rock fans (where but a KISS concert would I overhear in passing a conversation starting with, "So the old lady and me were on the way to the Tacoma Dome to see AC/DC, and then the cops pulled us over and we'd been working through a couple 12-packs of PBR on the way down ..."). When my daughter Neve and I arrived at the Key there was a long line waiting to get through security, and a stern recorded female voice was lecturing us about the Key's security rules (no cameras, no weapons, no outside food or drink, we might, perhaps, be cavity searched if we looked suspicious).

When we got to the front of the line, though, "security" proved to be a tiny blond chick who looked just like Hillary Duff -- hell, maybe it was Hillary Duff, have you seen her doing anything lately? -- who asked me in a little-girl voice to open my bag, which she gave a cursory, bored peek before waving us through. She missed, among other things, the Swiss Army knife buried in its depths. If I'd known security would be so lax, I would have let Neve bring her camera like she wanted to. Security inside the smoke-free Key apparently wasn't much tighter; the heady smell of pot smoke kept wafting toward us, which reminded me of the first time my brother and I saw KISS way back in 1979 in Oklahoma City.

The opener was Grammy-nommed Los Angeles hard rock band Buckcherry (you may be familiar with their love song in praise of the fairer sex, "Crazy Bitch") and they actually weren't bad. My brother kind of hated them, but I thought they were very bouncy and enthusiastic, and the lead singer, once you got past the indisputable fact that he kinda looks like the lovechild of Willem Dafoe and Malachi from Children of the Corn, was pretty hot. Or at least, his decorated skin was hot, and I his tight black rocker pants were ... very rock star. I think they have those exact pants in the store on Guitar Hero World Tour. Fortunately, the frontman could sing quite well and played the tambourine most enthusiastically, although my musician brother wasn't impressed with his dance moves ("He didn't even execute an air kick like David Lee Roth would!").

As for KISS -- holy geez, I can't believe those guys are still rockin' it as hard as they are. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, the only two original members, are still all over the place and man, do they know how to work a crowd. All Simmons had to do was stalk across the stage and wiggle that long, wickedly pointed tongue and the crowd went wild. Stanley, who's 57 now, still looks damn good wearing a spangly rocker vest with no shirt underneath, and I want the awesome fringed boots he was wearing; if I had boots like that I would absolutely strut as much as he does, all the time. I'd wear them to around Seattle, to film fests, even just to run to the store.

Newer band members Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer, who replaced Peter Chriss and Ace Frehley, respectively, held their own next to the old guard; Simmons and Stanley were always, in my mind, the more important members of KISS anyhow, with Chriss and Frehley satellites orbiting their awesomeness.


I was really impressed by the size of the crowd, at a show where tickets were pretty spendy. The crowd was very loud and enthusiastic, and KISS played an long and enthusiastic set that lasted nearly two full hours, with many pyrotechnics and both Simmons and Stanley, by turns, swooping up in the air over the crowd. We were up on the upper level, and we could feel the heat from the flames shooting up on the set on our faces, and there were more explosions than the Seattle Fourth of July bash.

All in all, a fun, nostalgic evening of rocking out. The best part, though, was sneaking peeks at my brother and his best friend and bandmate as they cut loose and sang along; KISS is the band that made my brother want to be a musician, and watching his face light up as he watched his childhood heroes perform again was the best part of the night for me.

Posted by kvoynar at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yo, LA folks.

There's this great little horror film called Make Out with Violence. I wrote a little about the film in my wrap-up of the Oxford Film Festival earlier this year, where it scored the Best Feature Award. I know, I know, you've seen lots of zombie movies, why do you want to see another? I hear you. But trust me on this one. It's not your ordinary zombie film -- it's more of a twisted tale of love, lust, possession and objectification with the zombie bit as the wrapping.

This an awesomely shot and produced film, particularly given what had to be a shoestring budget (hell, maybe only half a shoestring), and moreover, the Deagol Brothers, the guys who comprise the writing/producing/directing team behind the film, have worked their collective asses off to promote it. It's hard out there for an indie filmmaker, bu these guys have been nose-to-the-grindstone doing some excellent publicity work on behalf of their baby, and I believe that smartness and savvy deserve to be rewarded.

So. Make Out with Violence has a FREE (yes, that's FREE) screening in the LA area. This is a once-and-only-once event, so even though it's in Alhambra, you should get a group of your best horror movie-loving pals together and carpool out there to support these guys and see a great little film. Also, the soundtrack rocks, so even if you hate the film you'll probably like the music. Screening details are after the jump; help spread the word for these great guys, and best of luck to the whole Make Out with Violence team.

And if all that hasn't convinced you to go out of your way to see and support this film, check out this video interview I did with them at SXSW this year. Don't you just want to hug them and give them a lucrative distribution deal?

WHAT: MAKE-OUT with VIOLENCE, produced and directed by Nashville filmmakers the Deagol Brothers, is making its Los Angeles Premiere as winner of the Regal Cinemas Dreammaker Award.

WHEN/WHERE: MAKE-OUT with VIOLENCE will be screening at-

Regal (Edwards) Atlantic Palace on Thursday November 12th @ 7pm

Regal (Edwards) Atlantic Palace 10
W. Main Street
Alhambra, CA 91801
event phone (626) 458 9748

Although Alhambra might be out of the way for some of you, Admission is FREE and this is a ONE-NIGHT-ONLY screening of the film.

WHY: Official Selection of numerous festivals including the 2009 SXSW FF and Winner of both the Atlanta and Nashville Film Festival's Best Picture Awards our debut feature is part eerie love story, part coming-of-age drama and part zombie flick. With its stylized vision and custom-made soundtrack, MAKE-OUT with VIOLENCE recalls the early work of Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola.

Please visit the website: www.makeoutwithviolence.com
or feel free to contact us for additional information about the film: limerentpictures@gmail.com

Posted by kvoynar at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back in the day, it was more, well, black-and-white. Vampires were the devourers of humans, the seducers of innocent, pale-skinned virgins ... they were Bad Guys, plain and simple. For most of their literary and cinematic history, it made sense that this was so; the world back then was a simpler place, a place with clear-cut perceptions of right and wrong.

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Posted by kvoynar at 01:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't watch or write about television shows much, but right now it's 6:30AM and I'm sitting here wating Cartoon Network's The Othersiders with my 10-year-old son. He totally digs this show, but his younger sibs wouldn't let him watch it last night, so I promised to watch it with him today.

The Othersiders is a kids' reality show about a group of teenagers who investigate places reported to have paranormal activity. I actually really like this show -- not just because of the paranormal stuff, which is occasionally kind of cool, but more for the way in which it presents the teens on the show.

As a mom of a pack of kids, one of whom has already navigated her teen years, and the other four who are heading that way, I feel like teenagers often get a bum rap. Yes, they can be loud and annoying, particularly when they run in packs. They can me mouthy and rebellious and slam doors and roll their eyes spectactularly. Guess what? So did we when we were teens. I don't know about you, but when I was a teenager, I was a real pain in the ass. I know, it's hard to imagine, but it's true. Just ask my mother.

On The Othersiders, though, the teens are presented not as irritating creatures to avoid, but as intelligent beings who have smart things to say. The teens have "jobs" on the show -- webmaster, technical manager, etc. They go into creepy, dark places -- haunted camp grounds, haunted houses, Alcatraz -- in search of proof that ghosts and such exist. Honestly, some of the places they go creep me out just watching them on TV. I don't think I would be as calm and rational as some of these kids are.

At the end of each episode, the whole team gathers back at their headquarters and reviews all the evidence they gathered, and then votes as a team on whether they think the place they've investigated might actually be haunted. This is my favorite part of the show, because I like seeing how carefully these teens peruse their evidence. Zack,the nerdy-but-cute technical manager, and team leader Riley are always the hardest to convince. They don't actually agree as a group very often that a place really is haunted.

On a recent episode at a haunted campground, though, the team gathered evidence ranging from unexplained thermal "hot spots" to ghostly voices recorded on their high tech recorders. In that case, when the team analyzed all the evidence, they voted unanimously that the camp was haunted - rarely do they all agree that way.

On the Alcatraz episode, KC and Riley just clearly heard banjo music from the shower ... that's the place where for years there have been rumors that one-time Alcatraz guest Al Capone, who reportedly went insane in the prison, used to play his banjo. Creeeeeeepy. Is Alcatraz haunted? Jury's still out, we have to watch the rest of the episode to find out.

These are smart kids who will later be able to apply their gig on The Outsiders for grown-up jobs. Imagine a future job interview: "What's the hardest thing you've ever done?" "Well, I was in Alcatraz and heard Al Capone's ghost playing his banjo ...." Groovy.

Posted by kvoynar at 07:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)