Theatre of Cruelty!

Rarely have the torture techniques of ages past been rendered with such loving attention to detail as in Richard Verstegan's 16th century engravings - the 'Theatrum Crudelitatum' or Theatre of Cruelty - subject of a recent post at the always-fascinating BibliOdyssey.

Quoth peacay:

Verstegan's book attempted to record, in gruesome detail, the cruelty, torture and murder of Catholic martyrs in Europe - including English victims under the reigns of Mary I and Elizabeth I - at the hands of Protestant heretics. Upon publication, the author was arrested and imprisoned for libel against the Crown and all books were confiscated and destroyed (a single page has been saved). Through the intervention of friends in the clerical hierarchy, Verstegan was able to secure his release and he fled the country, ultimately settling in Antwerp... (there, he) became a very prolific and influential author and publisher in his adopted city. One of his early works was the expanded and definitive version of 'Theatrum Crudelitatum' which was published in Latin in 1587.

So take that, you Papist bastards!

Gimmie The Nasty!

Feeling crappy!

Sorry I haven't been posting lately.

I've been busy jamming with the band and otherwise sleeping much of the time due to flu and generally feeling crap. I try not to just stick any old thing up here for the sake of it, so when this happens I tend not to post at all. Perhaps December will find me imbued with newfound energies?

***If you written me lately: please note some recent emails to my gmail address have been ending up in my spam folder. I am trying to do something about this, but, if you haven't heard back from me, please try again.***

Top 100 Cult Nude Scenes!

Inspired by Mr. Skin's rather meh Top 100 Nude Scenes of All Time, Mike McPadden (aka McBeardo) has compiled his own Top 100 Cult Movie Nude Scenes, and they are actually pretty darn great.

Here we see one of my all-time faves, and No. 95 on Mr. Skin's list: Betsy Russell in 1983's Private School.

Batman 290!

Ever find something again after decades that really freaked the hell out of you at the time?

Something you'd forgotten about completely, probably from way back in your childhood - and then, decades later, it just re-appears out of nowhere, with no warning, no context, and a big shudder goes up your spine, you flash cold, and there's that spasm of dumb fear where your brain recognizes the thing, but before it's figured out what it is or why it knows the thing - and it's sort of like the vertigo spins now, everything crashing inwardly for a frozen long minute, and then you think OH - MY - GOD!!!?

I love those moments.

For me, the Jack Chick comicbooks (stuff like Exorcists or Chaos, not the tracts) were like that.

And Batman 290 was like that.

Originally published in August 1977, I would have been almost five years old at the time. I just happened upon this picture the other day while surfing, and I almost collapsed in my chair with the gibbering horrors.

I've since read up on the storyline, and frankly it sounds pretty dumb to me now (Skull Dugger's Killjoy Capers!?); at the time though, as a little kid back in '77, whoo -- that story, and most particularly this cover by Mike Grell, seemed really, really scary.

I guess it was the one-two punch of Batman, powerless and held back by demons he's not even aware of, while at the same time you've got the creepy-looking Skull Dugger killing this guy (who is obviously in great pain) by projecting a skull onto his forehead.

Crazy stuff.

If you've got a I-saw-this-thing-and-it-freaked-me-out similar story, I'd love to hear it!

Strip Clubs in the daytime

Even more than regular nightclubs, strip clubs (and other erotic businesses) look strangely seedy by day.



















All the better.