Author Archive

We were joined tonight by our great friend Jake Wheat.  Jake tells us all about the CD “Stomp Out Cancer Volume 2: Hope” which all proceeds benefit Stomp Out Cancer and Ewing’s Sarcoma Research.  You will be hearing songs from the CD featured on our Independent Music Breaks over the next few months.  While Jake was here, we also talked about his other project, ‘The Waverly Hills Sanatorium Audio Experience” and “Stomp Out Cancer: Volume 1“.  It was an incredible hour and we hated for it to be over.  Actually, when we stopped recording, we kept talking for quite a while afterwards.

Before Jake joined us, we talked about the new ABC series ‘Happy Town‘ which we plan on covering when it starts up on April 30th.  You can watch the first 14 minutes on ABC’s site.  It looks GREAT!!!  We can’t wait.  We’re planning to make it our guilty pleasure this year.

As we mentioned, tonight’s Independent Music Breaks were from the CD “Stomp Out Cancer Volume 2: Hope” which you can find on iTunes.  We played the songs ‘Stronger’ by Public Symphony and ‘Emory’ by Heros and Madmen.  Remember, all proceeds from all the CDs benefit Ewing’s Sarcoma research.

Thanks for listening!

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Just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that we’ll be taking Easter Sunday off.  Be sure to join us next Sunday when our guest will be the always incredible Jake Wheat.  Please be sure to check out the amazing banner that our good friend Mark Hayden did for us.  ;)

This was, without a doubt, the most effort we’ve had to put into a show in quite a while.  I forgot to record the beginning of the show so what you hear up until the first break, we recorded after the show.  I think it came out pretty good, all things considered.  We were joined by Mr. Methodic himself,  Chris .R. Notarile to catch us up on what’s been going on with Blinky Productions.  Chris has quite a few projects in the works.  During the show, we played the Daddy’s Girl trailer.  The audio version doesn’t do it justice so, be sure to check it out at http://iwillkillforyou.blogspot.com/ for yourself.  We also talked about Chris’ incredible follow-up to Methodic the short Methodic 1.5.  Check it out as well.

Our Paranormal News this week was by Bonnie Vent at http://www.sdparanormal.com/.  This week’s Independent Music Break featured the Devil Himself and the song ‘Deserted’.

Explicit language and topics

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A little different episode in that we didn’t do it live.  Due to some family obligations, I (Frank) was running too late to make the live show.  Fortunately, we had a great interview recorded with David MacDonald from KY MUFON that we had planned on playing anyway.  ;)  David takes us through some general MUFON info and some incredibly interesting history of UFOs in Kentucky.  UFOs have been a topic that I have wanted to include for quite some time.  I  think we’re starting 2010 off with doing it justice first with Kyle Lovern and now with David MacDonald.

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We often joke that we plan great episodes but it’s the execution of the episode where we mess up.  Well, tonight, we more than lived up to that expectation.  We were having the mother of all audio problem nights.  Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll work on getting those problems ironed out before our next live guest.  With that said, awesome time tonight.  We started off the show with a recap of our road trip last weekend down to the Myers House NC to check out the incredible premier of Judith.  We also reminisced about the old forgotten drive-in theater with one of our Spooky Groupies, Patrick.  Tying in with the Judith discussion, we gave our views on the rewatch of  Rob Zombie’s Halloween.  We both loved it!  The key is not to compare it to the original John Carpenter version.  Realize instead that Rob Zombie made it his.

After our first break, we were joined by Ken Arnold and Wendy Donigian from the incredible web series ParaAbnormal in character as Ken Livingston and Wendy the Psychic.  After our second break Ken and Wendy hung around as themselves and we had a blast talking ParaAbnormal.  If you haven’t seen ParaAbnormal yet, do it today.  Head over and check it out.  It is truly funny.  If you’ve been around the paranormal community long, chances are, you’ll see someone you know in the characters.

Our Independent Music Breaks featured a familiar band to Spooktalkular listeners, Tenpenny Joke out of Australia.  The first break was ‘Black Satellite’ and the second was ‘Chaos Engine’.  Be sure to support independent music whenever possible!

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We’re still recovering from the late hour but without a doubt, it was so worth it.  Josh and Kenny really put together a first class tribute here worthy of being a pitch to a full length prequel for the original franchise.  At the very least, the tribute would be great as an extra on the next edition of the “Halloween” DVD.

Any body of work is always more than just a sum of the parts but in this case, many parts alone are well worth mentioning.  One of those parts was a major issue that had to be overcome with filming in rural North Carolina as opposed to California.  In the original “Halloween”, Haddonfield, Illinois is a suburban area with neat little rows of middle class houses, where everyone in the neighborhood knows one another.  In Judith, Kenny and Josh do an excellent job of transitioning the viewers mind to the fact that Haddonfield may very well be in a rural area.  In fact, that transition even lends more to the spooky factor.  The very first part of the film is a collection of imagery that really accomplishes the task without effort.  There’s a scarecrow in a field made of hay rolls, a blinking portable arrow sign with Halloween wishes for Haddonfield.  Further reinforcing the rural believability is D’arcy Mims bouncing down the backroads barefoot in an older pickup.  Coming from a rural area, I can personally attest to having seen this very scene many times.

The dialogue between D’arcy and Deborah Myers feels natural, much as you would expect a teen/friends Mom conversation to go.  The viewer introduction to Judith and her initial interaction with D’arcy was very inventive. From there, we are introduced to an angry Michael Myers as the story defines him as a troubled young man relegated to living in the attic. All of that simmers together and is served up in a dish of bloody horror goodness.

To say I loved Judith would be an understatement.  Judith forced me to reevaluate the way I have enjoyed other remakes.  I tend to be a purist with regards to the classic horror movies.  To touch something as beholden as a “Halloween” takes guts and to change something from the original takes something much stronger.  I have to admit, I enjoyed and appreciated the development of Judith as she was let to the gallows.  I would have to say, I enjoyed Judith’s passing more in this outing than I did in the John Carpenter original.

I had originally not been a huge fan of Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” but, I have to say, given my incredible enjoyment of “Judith”, I have committed to shedding my purist attitude and rewatching “Halloween” with a fresh perspective.  It’s next in my rental queue!

Our evening with Judith was a fun night to say the least.  In addition to finally having a chance to meet Kenny and Josh, we met Greg and his lovely wife from over at The Creepture Feature Horror Show Podcast.  They are super nice folks.  Greg does the show with a friend of his and they are just getting started so if you like horror (and who doesn’t), check them out.  Another of the high points of the night was the refreshments.  Swank Cake Designs created a cool cake for the event.  I have to say, it was the most amazing thing I have ever eaten in my 40+ years of eating on this planet.  I want to have an event good enough to need a cake like this one day.  ;)

If you have the good fortune to be near where “Judith: A Halloween Tribute Short Film“, I urge you to take advantage of it.  It’s really a great fan tribute to the greatest franchise in the history of Horror.  Great Job Kenny and Josh!  Also a great job goes out to the awesome cast.  Sarah Stephenson who brought Judith Myers to life, Ana Gilmore who played D’arcy Mims, Barbara Weetman playing Deborah Myers, Tara Nicole Azarian playing Jamie Perry and, of course, Michael Myers himself played by Alex Fisher.

Thanks again to Kenny and Josh for having us out and it was great chatting with you guys afterwards at the Myers House NC.  Cool House Kenny!

2010 Parawards

What could be said besides WOW?  The 2010 Spooktalkular Parawards were an incredible success.  The chatroom was packed with our regular listeners as well as a bunch of the GAC family to cheer along Zak and ‘Ghost Adventures’ to an incredible win.  Both captured over 78% of the fan vote in their categories.

Here’s the press release going out shortly:

FIRST ANNUAL SPOOKTALKULAR PARAWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Ashland, Kentucky, USA – March 5, 2010 – After a brisk two month vote, fans have selected the winners of the 2010 First Annual Spooktalkular Parawards.  Listed below are the winners.

Spooktalkular Parawards Winners (2010)

• Paranormal Reality Series Best Male – Zak Bagans (Ghost Adventures – Travel Channel)
• Paranormal Reality Series Best Female – Kris Williams (Ghost Hunters – SyFy)
• Best Paranormal Reality Series – Ghost Adventures (Travel Channel)
• Best New Paranormal Reality Series – Psychic Kids/Children of the Paranormal (A&E)
• Paranormal Drama Series Best Male – Jensen Ackles (Supernatural – CW)
• Paranormal Drama Series Best Female – Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer – CBS)
• Best Paranormal Drama Series – Ghost Whisperer (CBS)
• Best Horror or Thriller Movie – Paranormal Activity (Blumhouse Productions)

The Parawards were conceived by Spooktalkular hosts, Frank and Laura Chambers in 2008 to compliment the Spooktalkular podcast.  Nominees for the eight categories were selected in early January with Internet voting by the fans running through the end of February.

Spooktalkular is an Internet podcast hosted by husband and wife team Frank and Laura.  The show first aired in July of 2008 to discuss paranormal topics ranging from ghost hunting television shows to UFOs and just about everything in between.  The show is netcast live on Sunday nights at 6:00PM Eastern at www.spooktalkular.com.  Immediately after the live netcast, archives are available on iTunes, by RSS feed or directly from the website at www.spooktalkular.com.

For more information about Spooktalkular or the 2010 Parawards, contact Frank at frank@spooktalkular.com.

Again, incredible night.  Thanks to everyone, especially MissBree29 for everything.  As promised during the show, the link for the Nick Groff interview is http://www.spooktalkular.com/2009/07/20/spooktalkular-episode-026/.  Be gentle, keep in mind, that was 27 episodes ago.  I’d like to think we’ve gotten a little better.  ;)

Our good friend Mark Hayden won “My Bloody Valentine” in the February “I Heart My Bloody Valentine” contest.  Thanks to all that entered!  Look for an awesome new contest to be announced soon!

Tonights Independent Music Break featured the music “We Are One” by Dash the Assassin!

Join us Sunday March 14th at 6:00PM Eastern when we’ll be talking with Ken Livingston himself along with some of the gang from the awesome web series ParaAbnormal.

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Episode 52 was probably one of the most anticipated Spooktalkular episodes since we started and I really feel like we didn’t disappoint.  Kenny Caperton and Josh Hasty join us for a full hour warm up for the premiere of “Judith” A Halloween Tribute Short Film next weekend.  In addition to “Judith”, we talked about Josh’s incredible project “A Mannequin In Static” which we loved.  Films like AMIS really underscore what we love about independent films.  You can feel the passion for the project from everyone involved.

A special thanks goes out to Mark Hayden  and Jake Wheat for all their hard work.  With Mark’s graphics and Jake’s theme design, the site has never looked better.

Our independent music breaks tonight featured “We Are One” by Dash the Assassin and “Disconnect Me” by Hydrovibe.  Always support independent music!

Be sure to join us Friday March 5th at 8:00PM Eastern when we will be doing a live show for the Spooktalkular Parawards!

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With all the changes lately, it got me thinking of how our good friend Pottsie the Ghost has changed over the years.  Just like you and I look much different than we did a few short years ago, Pottsie has change styles some also as he has struggled to find his identity.

Pottsie on day one!

Pottsie looked a little plain when we started.  Much like a newborn baby.  As Pottsie grew into his youth, he entered a video game phase.

Pac-Man Pottsie

Pottsie resembled a Pac-Man ghost during this phase of his life.  He could have been rebelling since at this point, he still didn’t have a permanent name.  Once Pottsie was named, he sort of matured and became the mascot we always wanted.

Pottsie Grown Up

At this point, he’s all grown up.  It’s been great watching our little mascot Pottsie grow into what he is today.  Much as Laura and I have grown, the entire show has just matured and has become something that we can be proud of.  Thank you all for being a part of it.

What more can be said besides Wow!!!?  Our good friend Jake Wheat sat down and made the PERFECT theme to work with the graphics that Mark Hayden has been doing lately.  My graphics and design talent in general is even less than my vocal talent so up until today, we would surf themes until we found something that kinda fit but never really did.  We always just settled for something close.

The Spooktalkular or Franken-Laura theme as Jake affectionatly called it is spot-on for the mood and feel that I always wanted to convey.  I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!

Again, a special thanks to Jake Wheat for his incredible new theme!  It makes us so happy that we have so many friends who want to help us out!