Watch Parties for Quarantine Days

During extended sheltering-in-place thanks to That Darn Pandemic, we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog are pleased as pomegranates to see fellow archivists, friends, historians, classic movie and animation buffs stepping up to the plate with much needed entertainment.



On Facebook Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. Sci Fi Bob Ekman, my friend and guru of the Kodak Pageant 250S, presents a weekly slice of the Psychotronix Film Festival. Do I miss my cohorts, Sci Fi Bob, Robert Emmett, Scott Moon, Gary "The Poster King" Hascall and the gang from KFJC??? F¶*^#¡£¢¡¶$£%&~≠ YEAH!! Is it fun to see hand-picked psychotronic flicks from the Sci Fi Bob Archives, projected in glorious 16mm straight from the booth at Derek Zemrak's movie palace in Orinda, California? Again, F¶*^$#¡£¢¶¡$%&~≠ YEAH!!!



We've mentioned the monthly Cartoon Carnival programs presented by Tommy Stathes quite a few times on this blog. These fun programs had been simulcast on Facebook, which was fantastic for us who could not make it down to Brooklyn to be there in person.



Now none of us are going anywhere, so Tommy will be presenting an all-new Cartoon Carnival online from home on Facebook tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. EST.



For more info, go to Tommy's Cartoons On Film webpage and read The 16mm Cartoon Carnival Goes Online from the always splendid Cartoon Research website.



And, speaking of cohorts from past movie events, horror host Mr. Lobo presents Cinema Insomnia on Facebook weekly, late nights on Saturday, starting at 10:00 p.m. EST.



The last streaming Cinema Insomnia episode featured one of the most misunderstood movies of all misunderstood movies, a Filipino horror flick that struck this viewer as a gorier (and only marginally more competent) version of Manos: The Hands Of Fate, but with even worse hairdos and tacky early 1970's fashions. Mr. Lobo and Miss Mittens co-host!



Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. EST, silent movie experts Ben Model and Steve Massa present The Silent Comedy Watch Party on YouTube. To watch this Sunday's show, go to the YouTube channel. The past five episodes have, as all of the aforementioned watch parties, provided and continue to provide sorely needed LAUGHS!

Silent Comedy Watch Party logo by Marlene Weisman



Thanks to a very generous OK from Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films (Paris) to include short subjects he has produced for DVD/Blu-ray release, this Sunday's show includes a Lobster release from the Blackhawk Films Collection.



That would be His Wooden Wedding, one of the funniest comedy short subjects ever made, directed by Leo McCarey and starring the one, the only Charley Chase.



There are terrific comedies every week, representing the gamut of silent movie funmakers.





Opening for Charley is It's Me (1927), a comedy rarity starring Monty Collins and directed by Harry Sweet. This is from a transfer of the only known print, a very rare 16mm from the collection of cartoonist Kim Deitch, and unavailable on DVD. Also on the program, thanks to the EYE Filmmuseum, is She Cried, a 1912 Vitagraph short subject starring and written by Florence Turner, prolific star of movies in Great Britain and America. This was preserved by the EYE Filmmuseum (Netherlands), from a 35mm original print in the Jean Desmet Collection.



Previous episodes of The Silent Comedy Watch Party are up on Ben Model's YouTube channel. The episode show page is also up and features further details about the films. For more info, check out the main page for The Silent Comedy Watch Party, as well as Ben Model's podcast on Ben Model's Blog. E-mail: http://www.silentfilmmusic.com/email.

Next Weekend: FOUR Cool Screenings on TWO coasts

There will be cartoons in Brooklyn this Sunday. Tommy Stathes has been hosting a series of monthly screenings in the New York City area called the Cartoon Carnival for 10 years. The 10th anniversary show is the 80th Cartoon Carnival program, holding forth at 389 Melrose Street Brooklyn, NY 11237. Pen-and-ink luminaries Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Farmer Alfalfa, Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid and Bobby Bumps will be on hand, presented on the big screen via glorious 16mm film.



There will be two shows, at 4pm and 7pm. Buy tickets in advance via Brown Paper Tickets if you’re interested in attending.



There will also be cartoons in L.A. this Saturday, June 8th at 10am, at the New Beverly Cinema, at Beverly and LaBrea in Hollywood. Jerry Beck of the Cartoon Research website and author of numerous books on animation is curating a 35mm Cartoon Club screening. The following Tom & Jerry image expresses the Cartoon Club's theme for this month and gets me thinking of Esther Williams in Dangerous When Wet and Million Dollar Mermaid. Tickets are available at the door - and in advance here.



This Sunday at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, comedy shall rule the roost.



The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is presenting its monthly L&H/Our Gang matinee this Sunday.



The Laurel & Hardy Talkie Matinee program is a Father's Day extravaganza, a week early. Showtime is at 4PM Pacific Standard Time. The lineup of Hal Roach Studio comedies, curated and hosted by Paul Mular, shall be:

Divot Diggers (1936) Our Gang
Brats (1930) Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy
The Count Takes the Count (1936) Charley Chase
Come Clean (1931) Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy





This Saturday at San Leandro's Historic Bal Theatre, horror host and participant in several memorable Psychotronix Film Festival programs Mr. Lobo concludes his West Coast tour with a live taping of two episodes of Cinema Insomnia.



The big screen event starts at 3pm, is free to the public, and features a double bill of Teenagers From Outer Space and Ed Wood's Bride Of The Monster.



All the breaks, trailer and host segments will be recorded in front of the studio audience.



The Historic Bal Theatre is at 14808 E. 14th Avenue, San Leandro, CA.



Postscript: after posting this, learned that there will also be a classic comedy program in NYC as part of The Silent Clowns Film Series. Laurel & Hardy 1929 shorts plus special guests will rock the house this Saturday at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, 111 Amsterdam Ave, New York, New York 10023. Showtime is 2:30 p.m. That means the title of this post needs to be updated to FIVE Cool Screenings on TWO Coasts!



Whether in Brooklyn, New York City, Hollywood, Niles or San Leandro, we encourage our readers to check these shows out!

Trashy Trailers For A Saturday

It's a don't worry, we'll think of a title kind of day and, as we're enjoying listening to The Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show on KFJC, the topic of today's post shall be trailers a.k.a. coming detractions.



While we're not big fans of sunshine, lollipops and rainbows at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, we do like trailers from bad movies. No, let's make that trailers from very bad movies.



Have seen many of these movies in their entirety on Mystery Science Theater 3000, Cinema Insomnia or the live Cinematic Titanic and Rifftrax shows.



The following trailers are some lulus, and they come in extra cheesy flavors, just the way we like them at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog. We're amazed these fly-by-night production houses could even afford to make a trailer!



Then again, in the words of Mr. Lobo of Cinema Insomnia, they're not bad movies, just "misunderstood".



There's always the trailer to alert one to NOT watch the feature.



Some trailers actually show the ending of the film!



Others tip off the entire idea of the movie, in this case, "say, since that Batman TV show is the biggest boffo thing in showbiz, let's get a girl with ample cleavage and have her wear a Batwoman mask, then find a bunch of kids to dance the frug. Who needs a storyline?"



Continuing this cornucopia of cheap cinematic crap, the "coming detractions" trailer from The Mighty Gorga. Can a hard-working independent filmmaker produce a "rampaging dinosaur" epic on a budget of $1.50 and a three hour shooting schedule? No - definitely and emphatically!



If there could be a list of WTF??? and "why why why did this get produced???" movies, The Wild Women Of Wongo might be #1. Too bad Arthur Q. Bryan was not available to narrate the trailer in the voice of Elmer Fudd.



The YouTube channel of Something Weird Video, a company that specializes in the netherworld of "misunderstood" low, lower and no budget grindhouse movies, is the motherlode of schlock, trash and exploitation trailers.



Something Weird Video has assembled a vast lot of cinematic car wrecks one can't stop rubbernecking at - and we mean that as a compliment.



Here's a trailer for an indescribably terrible movie about a guy who, after a car accident, ends up as a preacher and ends up with a floozy - the cheap floozy to end all cheap floozies, strictly non-Screen Actors Guild variety. One imagines Doris Wishman, director/writer of Bad Girls Go To Hell and many more proudly sleazy (produced on-time and on-budget) exploitation flicks watched this one and took notes on how to make the tawdry storyline even more tawdry, with even less of a budget, less actors, less dialogue and less clothing.



The 7th Commandment was directed by Irvin Berwick, most certainly not a fan of sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, who also helmed the nearly as atrocious Monster Of Piedras Blancas. Funny, for some reason, it's always a pretty girl seen undressing before the gruesome murderous monster appears, as opposed to, say, Billy Sands, Maurice Gosfeld or Allan Melvin.



How does one close a post dedicated to flicks that will never, ever, be seen as part of the TCM Classic Film Festival? It is clear that, back in the 1980's, some fellows in the Twin Cities were watching these cinematic rejects and seeking the actual coming attractions trailers for said B-movies, as the boys of the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival were doing in California.



Among the films this blogger has seen on Mystery Science Theatre 3000, Cinema Insomnia and Creature Features (and could not find a trailer for on YouTube), most infamous would be the one made by an El Paso fertilizer salesman, Manos: The Hands Of Fate.



Now THAT'S a great way to get the weekend started on the wrong track!

Mr. Lobo's Surreality Check

Mr. Lobo, "your horror host", wrote this excellent rant as a response to a despairing posting on the Mr. Lobo's Sleepless Knights Of Insomnia message board that decried the noxious effects of Big Media and Big $$$ on culture, and how things have gotten 1000 times worse in the past 15 years.

The major media outlets are never going to put anything ahead of money. We need to let those dinosaurs die and discover and praise those who are making entertainment for the highest rather than the lowest common denominator.

Negativity only turns people off. . . I was unhappy with what I saw on late night TV; I made my own show. There are a lot of us that are part of the solution that doing great culturally positive work that needs support to break through to the mainstream. So often I hear people say..."they don't do it like that anymore" and I want to say--"Well, I do! And a bunch of other artists and producers are, too" They don't want to see what I'm doing because it doesn't fit in with their negative rants and ravings!

Let's take the tip of one iceberg...Last Saturday's Psychotronix Film Fest--a packed house enjoyed tons of classic entertainment for all audiences provided by SciFi Bob, Psychotronic Paul, Scott Moon (publisher of Planet X magazine and the musical mastermind behind Cinema Insomnia music video "Watching TV"), Rob Emmett of KFJC's wonderful "Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack show" and soundman Austin Space.

• Ernie "Hardware Wars" Fossellius was there with his DVDs


• The Queen and I represented Cinema Insomnia


• Cult Radio A Go-Go covered the event


• Bill Devers, president of the Indy Film Co-Op and organizer of The B-Movie Celebration was there, as was. . .


• Will "The Thrill" Viharo, who does Thrillville revival shows at theaters up and down the state


• Tom Wyrsch, who made the Creature Features documentary


• KTEH programmer Ken Patterson, who brought endless British Sci-Fi and even groundbreaking Anime to Bay Area TV


• Filmmakers, musicians, and artists galore who were there who are doing good stuff right now!

We are in a B-cult underground renaissance! I'm tired of hearing everything sucks...everyone I hang out with is doing something super special!

Here with your Surreality Check, now bend over and say ahhh...Mr. Lobo

Cinema Insomnia Presents A Tribute To Creature Features

For all you horror and B-movie fans up in Northern California. . . Cinema Insomnia's tribute to Bob Wilkins and John Stanley, wry hosts of Creature Features in the 70's and 80's, airs in the wee small hours (1:00 am?) tonight on KTEH-54. Appearing with "your horror host", Mr. Lobo: horror host emeritus John Stanley and belly dancer extraordinaire Pepper Alexandria.

Mr. Lobo's comments: "Set your tricoder for 1:00AM Saturday Night on KTEH it's gonna be a doozey! You got to watch to the very end...well I won't spoil it but I'll say you'll never look at John Stanley the same way again! It's a Creature Features tribute show...I hope we made Bob proud and I hope you guys love it...there were many sacrifices made to make it possible and everybody gave it 110%! Watch "Nightmare In Blood" on Cinema Insomnia and Keep America Strong!"

I'm hearing the "Creature Features" theme song in my damaged brain already.

Lobotronic Film Fest on June 7

On June 7th Lobotronic promises a monstrously good time to benefit the inaugural year of the Sacramento Horror Film Festival, (October 19th-21st).

The “Lobotronic Film Show” showcases a parade of bizarre short films, monster movie trailers, vintage commercials and twisted cartoons that might otherwise go unseen by mainstream audiences. Last year’s midnight Lobotronic at the Studio Theater in Sacramento quickly sold out! Because the crowd was so enthusiastic, the 2-hour show was spontaneously extended to 4 hours. Even at 4 AM the audience was still crying for more!

This year’s event promises to be even better with an earlier start time and 3 rooms of entertainment! In addition, this year’s event will be held at Willemina’s fabulous Restaurant and Bar in Old Sacramento, which offers, in addition to a full bar, an extensive menu of creative deep fried food, like the deep fried pizza, the deep fried pickle, and the amazing “Scotch Egg!” which is a hard boiled egg covered in sausage, breaded and deep fried! The “Lobotronic Film Show” will be hosted by, nationally syndicated Horror Host, Mr. Lobo and, cult sensation and comic book heroine, The Queen of Trash! This formidable couple has also signed on to host the upcoming Sacramento Horror Film Festival at the Colonial Theater this Fall. The Sacramento Horror Film Festival will also feature a Lobotronic Film Show as part of its programming.

One night only! The “Lobotronic Film Show” starts at 9pm on Thursday, June 7th, at Willemina’s Restaurant and Bar (1023 Front Street, Old Sacramento). 21 and over only. The admission is $8. All proceeds will go to support the inaugural year of The Sacramento Horror Film Festival in October. Come out and support Sacramento’s esoteric cinema scene! Photos and more details (including advance ticket information) can be found at

www.Sachorrorfilmfest.com