Well, the weather didn't get its way: we not only made it to Chicago for Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, we made it back as well. Yes, the planes were delayed coming and going, but at least we didn't take Jet Blue and wind up as hostages...
Anyway - as with last year, the Chicago Fango was a big success for us. We got to hang with some very good friends, folks we don't see too often like Tim Buchholz (exec producer of Abattoir), Scott Licina (from Fangoria Comics) and the whole Wicked Pixel crew - particularly Eric Stanze, Jeremy Wallace, Emily Haack who have been fans-via-email for years. I also got the chance to hang with some of the Precinct 13 gang - Robert Kurtzman, Al Tuskes and John Bisson - and got to see the trailer for The Rage, which was very exciting. It was cool to see shots that I got to watch being filmed when I visited the set last fall. (Not to mention it being a rather odd experience. I don't do that many "big" set visits.)
Plus, we got the chance to spend some quality time with Monique DuPree and Saint. We discussed the possibilty of doing a project together - something with a lot of "cool" potential, incidentally.
The nice thing about this show, though, is people tend to come up to us with more regularity - folks we don't necessarily know - and tell us how much they respect our work, our philosophies, etc. Amy had a number of women tell her how much her portrayals of strong women mean to them, how much they admire her views on women in the industry. A number of people - a few who I wasn't aware even knew who I was - came up to tell me that I'm the "best fucking writer around". And they weren't even trying to sell me anything! A couple of folks asked our advice on producing, screenwriting. I worked hard to sound like I knew what I was talking about.
Financially, we left with less stuff than we brought - always a good sign. Abattoir sold well, as did The Spicy Sisters Slumber Party, which usually sells the slowest. (Despite the whole Dinner for Five in Lingerie aspect, it's still a documentary and, therefore, a hard-sell at conventions. So the renewed interest in it was refreshing.)
But, perhaps best of all, Scarecrow, we got to hang with Sofiya and her friend, Rian, who we'd met at that very convention last year, leading to our working with her on Abattoir and Blood Bath. They generously allowed us to stay at their apartment in Chicago, thus saving us a bundle on hotel rooms, but also shuttled us around. Sofiya's friend Alex DelMonaco, and her husband, Tristan, were also staying with them. We'd never met Alex before and she turned out to be a lot of fun. Tristan and Rian ended up cooking for us - steaks, fettucini - and since I'm not much of a cook and they had a two-person kitchen, I opted to hang back and just be one of the girls. I hung with Amy, Alex and Sofiya. We talked about boys and did each others' hair. I discovered that I'm an Autumn. Good times.
We discovered, too, that adding the word "waffle" to profanity will enhance only masculine insults - "Cock waffle", "Dick Waffle" - with the exception of "Dousche Waffle", which seems to work just as well (good thing, too, as that's the exact word I stole from Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job). "Cunt Waffle" doesn't work. "Waffle" softens the impact of former. "Cock waffle" indicates a particularly heinous individual, while "dousche waffle" seems to imply a higher degree of loser than simply saying "dousche" or "dousche bag".
Honestly, we spent a great deal of time figuring all of this out. So you wouldn't have to.
You're welcome.
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The other big news: I've been cast as "Buddy" in Professor Jack and the Electric Club, Jeff Waltrowski's follow-up to Project: Valkyrie. PJ&EC is a genuine tribute to '40s serials and is being done in black 'n white and will actually be serialized on the internet - the first time, at least to my knowledge, that a real serial will be offered in the new frontier that is this nifty internet thing. Now we have to convince Jeff to include a cartoon and a newsreel after each segment.
The first episode is called "Message from Beyond the Moon". Professor Jack, Buddy and Penny journey to find a the crew of a previous moon mission. We encounter Moon Men and The Queen of the Moon (played by Amy!). We're shooting the whole thing in front of a green screen, with 
the backgrounds and sets added in later by the lovely and talented Jacob Ross.
the backgrounds and sets added in later by the lovely and talented Jacob Ross. Here's what I look like in the film:
A little bit Ronald Coleman, a little bit Clark Gable. A little bit Snoopy.
You can check out more about this terribly cool project at http://www.myspace.com/theelectricclub
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Big news about Abattoir and The Resurrection Game, coming soon!
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