How has my site changed over the years? Here’s a brief history.

2001: [...]]]> It’s time once again for a Mad Dog Movies re-design. Lately, I’ve been a bit tired of the Sliding Door effect for my top links… plus it doesn’t behave well with the latest WordPress iterations. So… on with the new!

How has my site changed over the years? Here’s a brief history.

2001: THE HAND

Before I ever bought maddogmovies.com or even mikeboas.com, I had a free site hosted on Tripod.  I was trying to share my resume, so to that end I created a Flash “interactive resume.”  Cute, eh?  The Animation Scoop was a cartoon news blog idea that I never did more than a dozen posts for.

2004: MIKE BOAS SITE

After getting fed up with pop-up ads at Tripod, I moved over to another free host.  Not surprisingly, service there was intermittent.  Eventually, I moved my personal site to Cyberpixels.com, where I bought legit domain names.  The site itself had a spooky sci-fi theme, with sounds and music borrowed from The Outer Limits and The Creature From the Black Lagoon. The design of these bio pages went unchanged until I re-organized the site in 2009. (This snapshot is from 2007.)

2004: THE LANDING PAGE

At this point, Mad Dog Movies was the name I gave to my network of sites.  The bio site stood on its own, and the Mad Dog Blog was a third entity.

2005: THE SMORGASBORD

As I created more websites and cartoons, the landing page became more and more crowded.   I won’t get into it here, but Almost A Movie, Subterranea, and Ominous Events also went through a few versions over the years.  Oh, and those references to the Cinematic Almanac?  That site encompassed a half dozen articles I felt (at the time) should stand on their own.  I later moved them into the blog.

2006: EL BLOGGO DEL PERRO LOCO

Meanwhile, the blog continued.  Cyberpixels became unreliable in 2005, so I moved everything over to Hostgator, where I continue to reside today. Early on, I chose the B2Evolution blog software.  A sort of competitor to WordPress, Blogger, and Moveable Type, it later made me crazy.  

2008: Brightcove

At some point, I wanted to put more video on the landing page.  Brightcove was a cool Flash player that allowed me to do that.  Until they discontinued their free service, that is.  After that, I made due with a Youtube playlist for a while.

2008-2009: CHANGING HAIR

Over on the B2Evolution blog, I made some significant changes.  Unfortunately, I don’t have screen caps from that time, but I do have this selection of vanity headers showcasing my various haircuts.

2009: WordPress

In December of 2009, I bit the bullet and migrated from B2Evolution to WordPress.  There was some angst involved, as I didn’t want to lose all my old posts, but I managed to keep everything intact.  I also took this opportunity to combine the bio site, the blog, and the Mad Dog Movies identity all into one.  The Atahualpa theme lasted a week or two, and then I created something crazy…

2009: DARK RED SLIDING DOORS

There was something about the “Sliding Doors” theme I liked.  It had javascript-powered sliding banner links at the top of the page.  But there were other design elements in the “Dark Red” theme that I wanted, also.  So I combined the two — which was fine for a year or so.  Eventually, WordPress updates (and the lack of updates in both Sliding Doors and Dark Red) necessitated another change.

2011: PAGELINES IN PROGRESS

I burned through a ton of test themes in the last few days.  I landed on one called “Platform” from Pagelines which has a great interface for making changes.  I rarely want something straight out of the box, and I need to make changes to colors, fonts, backgrounds, and column widths.  Platform lets me do most of that without hard coding.  Here’s what it looked like yesterday.

2011: CURRENT

And today I’ve brought in my current logo and scratchy paper look.  I’d like to tighten the spacing a bit (mostly in the sidebar) but it’s pretty satisfactory.  Pagelines offers pro versions of their themes, so I might consider upgrading.

AIRPORT SHENANIGANS
To begin with, I’ve been fielding comments from family and friends who’ve seen my face on giant screens at the airport. No, it’s not security related, it’s a short movie called Virgin Fang written and directed by Mike Russo. [...]]]> It’s about time for a run-down of my current projects.

AIRPORT SHENANIGANS
To begin with, I’ve been fielding comments from family and friends who’ve seen my face on giant screens at the airport. No, it’s not security related, it’s a short movie called Virgin Fang written and directed by Mike Russo. (I play Draculess, the Woody Allen of vampires. ) It’s part of a media showcase put together by the Rochester/Finger Lakes Film and Video Office to showcase local productions.

ANIMATUS STUDIO
Over at Animatus, our big project in 2010 was dancing cats for Wegmans’ Buju & Ziggie cat food. More recently, Fred, Dave, and I worked with a group of Rochester teens to animate a music video about teen pregnancy and STD’s.

SECRET ANIMATED SHORT
I’m contributing animation, drawings, and random textures to a mixed media film that Frank Kielar is directing. I’d say more, but we’re keeping it quiet for now.

ROCHESTER MOVIEMAKERS WRITERS WORKSHOP
As a challenge to myself, I take part in the RMM Writers Workshop. I’ve written a few shorts in the past couple months, based on elements chosen at random. The “talking fish, lemon, argument in a laundromat” script was particularly fun.

MIND RIP
The Philrose horror feature Mind Rip is still cranking along. We held some auditions (more to come) for upcoming shoots. We’re also designing and making creatures, plus planning a Kickstarter campaign to raise some art department funds.

POPCORN
I’m contributing website stuff and moral support to the Bells On Productions DVD release of Popcorn. It’s a personal favorite of Kristy Jett, Horror Queen of the Internet and Fright Rags huckster. She’s tracking down video elements and producing a behind the scenes documentary.

MERRY-GO-ROUND / 3.14
Back in the fall, I crewed on this feature from writer/director Gregory Gotham Smith. (It was once called Merry-Go-Round, now the name is changing to 3.14.) Now I’m editing, assembling the footage before continuing with the second half of the shoot — a week in the California desert later this year.

360 | 365
And then I go home at night and watch short films, trying to decide what we’ll screen at the 360 | 365 George Eastman House Film Festival at the end of April.

THE INTERROGATION
When will I get the chance to do my own Lunchbox short? I’ll have to squeeze that shoot in soon, then get to work animating the monster character.

Is that all? Certainly it’s enough for now. Stay tuned for news of my impending bout with exhaustion.

Last week’s beige and gray design has been kicked aside like a tumbleweed. Now we have something simple, yet striking. It’s got the black and red and white scheme I’m so fond of, but the really special bit is the header. The sliding images which make up the menu can take visitors to any [...]]]>

Last week’s beige and gray design has been kicked aside like a tumbleweed. Now we have something simple, yet striking. It’s got the black and red and white scheme I’m so fond of, but the really special bit is the header. The sliding images which make up the menu can take visitors to any section or sub-site in the Mad Dog Movies Universe (TM).

Let me know what you think. Too many choices? Too few words of explanation? I’m trying to streamline this baby, not confuse people.

-M

I’ve created a monster! I’ve stitched the Mike Boas blog back into the front page of Mad Dog Movies. The theme is most likely temporary, a work in progress. I’d like the video player to be prominent, but using Vimeo has its drawbacks. No iPhone support, for example.

There was a time when I [...]]]>

I’ve created a monster! I’ve stitched the Mike Boas blog back into the front page of Mad Dog Movies. The theme is most likely temporary, a work in progress. I’d like the video player to be prominent, but using Vimeo has its drawbacks. No iPhone support, for example.

There was a time when I wanted to keep my personal blog separate from the MDM business, but what the heck. I AM Mad Dog Movies, after all, no sense hiding it. My tendency is to compartmentalize my work into categories: Subterranea, Animatus, Philrose, and other projects. I’ve heard from people that my content is too spread out and hard to follow. This is the first step in consolidation.

Next is to update the Mad Dog Movies Podcast site to match this one. (Maybe do some new episodes, too. What a novel idea!)

I’m still on the fence about merging the Subterranea site. I at least should post links here whenever something goes live there.

Still looking for that perfect gift for your weird friend or relative? Today I’m launching the Mad Dog Movies Emporium, a video store powered by Amazon.com.

Anyone can recommend something popular like Harry Potter or Star Wars, so I’m instead singling out movies made by people I know.  I’ll also be highlighting [...]]]>

Still looking for that perfect gift for your weird friend or relative? Today I’m launching the Mad Dog Movies Emporium, a video store powered by Amazon.com.

Anyone can recommend something popular like Harry Potter or Star Wars, so I’m instead singling out movies made by people I know.  I’ll also be highlighting niche interests like adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft.

There will be new sections added in the future — I’m already contemplating a “so bad it’s good” category — but there’s dozens of films there right now.

Check it out. Remember, Amazon pays me a few pennies per purchase! Oh, the exciting world of internet sales…

Visit the Emporium at http://maddogmovies.com/emporium

(Special thanks to the people of Facebook, who helped me pick a name.)

It’s been an embarrassingly long time since I updated this blog. Why is that? Am I spreading myself too thin? Perhaps I need to pull some of my many projects into one place. (Perhaps I’ve already been doing that on Facebook?) Perhaps I need to rethink my blogs, podcast, and website and make them [...]]]>

It’s been an embarrassingly long time since I updated this blog. Why is that? Am I spreading myself too thin? Perhaps I need to pull some of my many projects into one place. (Perhaps I’ve already been doing that on Facebook?) Perhaps I need to rethink my blogs, podcast, and website and make them all one sticky blob of a website.

But not tonight.

No, tonight I’ll be giving a run-down of things that are going on in my world. Ready?

***

THE 360 | 365 FILM FESTIVAL

During my day job at Animatus Studio, I’ve been working my tail off with a new uber-website. The Rochester High Falls Int’l Film Festival is now called 360 | 365, and the website is its public face. It’s a daring new identity, and I’m really invested in making this year’s film festival better than ever.

Check it out at http://film360365.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/film360365
Animatus on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/animatus

***

SUBTERRANEA PROJECTS

Remember The Other Gods? It’s playing in Buenos Aires. Yeah, that’s cool.

Love classic horror movies? My horror-movie-music-video-mash-up for Aviary’s Skeletal Remains is playing at The Little this Halloween.

Do I have a new career as an actor? Well, let’s put it this way — I only go out for silent movies. Mike Russo’s Virgin Fang features me and was edited by… me.

No clips for those last two on the internet yet, but you can see each at The Little Theatre’s 25 Hour Horror Feast October 31st.

And then there’s Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated. Honestly, it’s too complicated to explain here, but there’s clips over on the Subterranea blog.

Read about all of that at http://maddogmovies.com/subterranea
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/subterranea

***

MIND RIP

The John Vincent movie project is chugging along. We shot several scenes this summer, including a zombie congregation of epic proportions. I put on my assistant director hat and got out there to wrangle zombies — a great experience. We’re working on editing a promotional trailer to present to investors.

See some pics & clips at http://philrosefilms.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/mindrip

***

ROCHESTER MOVIE MAKERS

Another summer, another series of summer shorts. I worked as A.D. on Wing Man, written by Mike Russo and directed by Derrick Petrush. It’s currently being edited, but the footage I’ve seen is pretty darn impressive.

RMM also hosted a night of shorts at the Club at Water Street a couple weeks ago. We had about 100 people, raised some cash for the 501c3, and we’re looking forward to doing it again in the future.

Join the educational cooperative at http://rochestermoviemakers.org

***

OBLIGATORY SOCIAL MEDIA PLUG:

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for now. Here are my favorite virtual locations.

I’m on the Twitter. Find me at http://twitter.com/mikeboas

Facebook is much cooler than Myspace. Find me at http://facebook.com/mikeboas

Growl:

Rawr!

Mugshot:

It’s time for an update on what I’ve been listening to. I started using Mypodder when I got bored with Itunes, but then I overloaded Mypodder. Now I’ve divided my feeds between the two aggregators, with Mypodder for my favorites and Itunes for video downloads and audio ones that update infrequently.

Aside from [...]]]>

It’s time for an update on what I’ve been listening to. I started using Mypodder when I got bored with Itunes, but then I overloaded Mypodder. Now I’ve divided my feeds between the two aggregators, with Mypodder for my favorites and Itunes for video downloads and audio ones that update infrequently.

Aside from using Mypodder and Itunes, I’ve tried compiling lists for online “browser” listening. Digg has an okay podcast area, but lately I’m using iGoogle. I can direct any RSS feed to my Google account, and I end up with a whole panel of mp3 links. I use it for listening on the computer at work.

Here’s a giant list of podcasts that I check out on a semi-regular basis.

HORROR MOVIE NEWS, REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS

killer reviews

http://killerreviews.com/media/itunes_feed.xml

night of the living podcast

http://nightofthelivingpodcast.podomatic.com/rss2.xml

racks and razors

http://sweetsweetproduction.com/SSP/Racks%20and%20Razors%20Podcast/rss.xml

rue morgue radio

http://www.ruemorgueradio.com/podcasts/rss.xml

texas frightmare

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TexasFrightmareWeekend

the horror podcast

http://www.allaboutmedia.co.uk/horror/horrorpodcast.xml

***

ENTERTAINMENT

battlestar galactica

http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/podcast.xml

diggnation mp3

http://revision3.com/diggnation/feed/mp3

geekscape

http://feeds.feedburner.com/geekscape-audio

npr movies

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=1045

product of circadia

http://poc.graveworm.com/pocrss.xml

radio free wease

http://wease.com/radiofreewease.rss

real time with bill maher

http://www.hbo.com/apps/podcasts/podcast.xml?a=2

soundtrack.net

http://www.soundtrack.net/rss/podcast.rss

the official lost podcast

http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/podcastRSS?feedPublishKey=3421

***

MUSIC

brain damage: the definitive pink floyd podcast

http://braindamage.libsyn.com/rss

they might be giants

http://www.tmbg.com/_media/_pod/podcast.xml

***

FILMMAKING BEHIND THE SCENES

animation podcast

http://www.animationpodcast.com/podcast.xml

creative screenwriting

http://feeds.feedburner.com/CreativeScreenwritingMagazine

film editing podcast

http://www.filmediting.com/film/Podcast/rss.xml

framed podcast

http://framedpodcast.com/?feed=rss2

kcrw’s the business

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510023

kcrw’s the treatment

http://media.kcrw.com/podcast/show_itms/tt

sam and jim go to hollywood

http://samandjimgotohollywood.libsyn.com/rss

this week in media

http://thisweekinmedia.libsyn.com/rss

***

TECHNICAL

i should be writing

http://feeds.feedburner.com/IShouldBeWriting

media artist secrets

http://www.fmstudio.com/podcasts/rss2.xml

pandora music series

http://podcast.pandora.com/pandora/podcast

podcast 411

http://www.podcast411.com/feed.xml

radio leo: twit & associated podcasts

http://leoville.tv/podcasts/leo.xml

sound bytes

http://soundbytes.org/archives/podcastamatic/rss.xml

videogrunt

http://feeds.feedburner.com/videogrunt

***

VIDEO PODCAST SHOWS

ask a ninja

http://feeds.feedburner.com/askaninja

lynchland

http://www.liamlynch.net/podcast.php

tiki bar tv

http://tikibartv.com/feeds/itunes

totally rad show video

http://revision3.com/trs/feed/quicktime-large

After many months of John Vincent and I saying “We should do a podcast,” we finally got our act together, sat down, and recorded ourselves talking shop.

The first episodes of The Mad Dog Movie Podcast are online at http://www.maddogmovies.com/podcast

The goal is to offer a behind-the-scenes look at independent filmmaking. [...]]]>

After many months of John Vincent and I saying “We should do a podcast,” we finally got our act together, sat down, and recorded ourselves talking shop.

The first episodes of The Mad Dog Movie Podcast are online at http://www.maddogmovies.com/podcast

The goal is to offer a behind-the-scenes look at independent filmmaking. We’ll talk about issues relating to our own movie production, but also invite guests (and listeners) to take part in the discussion.

Those interested can listen online or subscribe through podcatching software like iTunes.

So come join the fun! If you like what you hear or have specific questions, write us at feedback(AT)maddogmovies.com

That, plus the Product of [...]]]> Now that I have a new MP3 player, I’ve been using www.podcastready.com for acquiring podcasts. (I’ve never liked the navigation in iTunes.) You can set up flash widgets there to display your subscribed podcasts and even record ones yourself, if you have a mic hooked to your computer.

That, plus the Product of Circadia interview I recently did, got me thinking about a possible Mad Dog Movies podcast. El poddo del perro loco!

There’s tons of movie review podcasts, and I don’t think I’d do a great job with that. There’s also some movie business related ones, but they’re all about big time movie-making and screenwriting. I think I could do something about indie productions. Talk to all the people I know, record some of their stories, and edit them into short audio podcasts. On the same feed, I could include MP4′s of their short films, trailers, etc. Even include versions with their commentaries.

The ultimate goal would be to provide information to other indie filmmakers, but also promote local productions. Since Mad Dog Movies is already a catch-all for my work with Animatus, Philrose Productions, and Subterranea, it feels right to me.

Hmm. Just thinking out loud here.

So instead of just calling it Mad Dog Movies VOD, I’d like to give it a clever moniker. Something like scifi’s “pulse.” I like “feed” but I [...]]]> I’m adding a vod section to my website, where I control the content (it won’t be interactive like YouTube). My model is sites like scifi.com/pulse, fear.net, and fangoria.tv.

So instead of just calling it Mad Dog Movies VOD, I’d like to give it a clever moniker. Something like scifi’s “pulse.” I like “feed” but I think there’s another site out there using that.

The word(s) should work in conjunction with my website title or alone. For example, The Mad Dog Movies GRIND or just THE GRIND.

I’ve been truckin’ through thesaurus.com looking for words that will work. I want to keep with the theme of dangerous animals (like a mad dog or wolf). I’m interested in feedback, if people out there have any. Here are my favorites so far.

grind (The Mad Dog Movies GRIND or just THE GRIND)
gnaw (Mad Dog Movies GNAW or just GNAW)
attack (Mad Dog Movies ATTACK or just ATTACK)
render (Mad Dog Movies RENDER or just RENDER)

Some other choices from a huge list:
feast
devour
shred
hunt
chomp
savor
chew
rend
taste
gulp
jaw
surge
assault
onslaught
blast
maul

However, I sometimes get off my behind, leave the house, and actually go to a place where I can take in a live show.

I stopped in to the East Ave. Record [...]]]> My favorite way to listen to music is in a low-lit room, staring into space and contemplating my place in the universe.

I stopped in to the East Ave. Record Archive on Tuesday for the “Versatility of Emotion” CD release party. I recently did the cover for said album, the debut from Reality Fix. Or, as I know him, Nick Bovenzi.

Nick put on a great show, with a little help from another hip hop up-and-comer, ASAP. They began by speaking against “corporate” rap, which seems designed to sell merchandise to suburban kids and defame women. This led into performances of songs from the album, as well as spouting some freestyle rhymes.

One Reality Fix song, “Father Earth,” includes a real unique beat featuring harmonica(!) by Nick’s uncle. (Some trivia: The track kicks off with a sample from the anime Full Metal Alchemist, which also inspired the album cover.) Nick encouraged people to check out track 11, which is a sort of cross-genre fusion piece. Great stuff.

Check out some tracks online over at music.myspace.com/realisticfix.
You can visit the main site at www.realisticfix.com, and be sure to stop into the Record Archive and pick up a copy.

My next adventure in music-going was last night at Milestone’s, where the MDG Band rocked the house. I’ve known MDG (Matthew D. Guarnere for you squares) for several years now, having designed his website. For this particular show, Matt and company were video recording (four cameras, no less!) for an upcoming promo disc he’s planning.

When the MDG Band gets going, there’s no stopping them. They do big, loud, adventurous prog rock. This includes many of MDG’s recent tunes, like “White Trash Wonder,” “Underachiever,” and “Roadmap,” but also classic rock covers of Rush, Queen, and even Stone Temple Pilots. Matt plays his rock star role to the hilt, with shiny clothing and stage acrobatics. It don’t matter how big the room is, he performs like the world’s gonna end tomorrow.

Maybe I should also mention that they can do quieter numbers, too. Like the original “Where’s everybody gone?” — but I do so enjoy the rockin’ tunes.

Anyway, visit matthewdguarnere.com to find out more about the band. MDG CD’s are available at a whole lotta record stores around Rochester.

Last up was The Niche, a Rochester jam band. I’ve heard about them for a long while, since my friend Ryan DeClerck does their posters. Well, I stuck around and grooved to their song stylings. They’ve got quite a hippie following, folks who get right up to the stage and dance. If you’re into Phish, String Cheese Incident, and even Kansas, check out these guys at www.theniche.org.

May 2004

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1170

Dave digs deep in [...]]]> Where do I go to find out about the “new” cult movies? Dave Davis over at CHUD does the research I don’t have the time for. Since I find CHUD’s method of archiving Dave’s Underground difficult to use, here’s a running index of the columns for easy access.

May 2004

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1170

Dave digs deep in his inaugural column.

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1171

Dave on Nid de Guepes (The Nest), Michelle Yeoh, Intacto, and more.

June 2004

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1172

Dave covers Sabu, Zebraman, Zatoichi, Getting Any? (Yes!), Vidocq, Running on Karma, and more

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1173

Dave chews on Sky High, Le Samourai, Tattoo, Robot Bastard, and more.

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1174

Dave talks The Last Horror Movie, Reckoning Day, Monster Squad, Matthew Blackheart, Monster Smasher, Forklift Driver Klaus, and more.

July 04

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1175

Dave discusses Haute Tension, Ping Pong, The Driver, Vanishing Point, Gone in 60 Seconds, Fantasia & Fantasy Filmfest lineups, and Shaolin Soccer & Chiaki Kuriyama DVDs.

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1176

Dave spills on JSA: Joint Security Area, Juvenile (not the rapper), Othello, Revengers Tragedy, Le Dernier Combat, and more.

Aug 04

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1190

Dave talks a bit of Silmido, The Eye 2, Ju-on 2, Garuda, Q – The Winged Serpent, The Stuff (of the “right” variety), Branded to Kill, and more.

Sept 04

http://chud.com/davesunderground/28

Dave covers Guyvers, Drives, Living Hell and Breaking News.

Oct 04

http://chud.com/davesunderground/132

Dave covers Immortel, Arahan, and a bevy of butt-kicking babes.

http://chud.com/davesunderground/235

Dave covers the Russian Night Watch, classic animation, and a bunch of weird westerns.

Nov 04 none

Dec 04

http://chud.com/davesunderground/632

Dave delves into Casshern, Three…Extremes and southern zombies.

Jan 05

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1065

Dave looks at A Tale of Two Sisters, Frankenfish and some early John Woo efforts.

Feb 05

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1479

Dave does Jackie Chan, Appleseed, killer babes, Cutie Honey, Clayton Rohner, and loads more!

March 05

http://chud.com/davesunderground/1915

Czech zombies, Hungarian subways, Brazilian thrills, Spanish serial killer and an American Astronaut!

April 05

http://chud.com/davesunderground/2453

Zombie Honeymoon, kung fu hobbit, Canadian comedy, British vengeance and more!

May 05 none

June 05

http://chud.com/davesunderground/3353

Banlieue 13! Smartparts! Tony Jaa!

July 05 none

Aug 05

http://chud.com/davesunderground/3910

Who are… The Men Who Fell?

http://chud.com/davesunderground/3976

Born To Fight!

http://chud.com/davesunderground/4004

A Bittersweet Life!

Sept 05 none

Oct 2005

http://chud.com/davesunderground/4697

Zombie quickie: Texas Fortune.

April 2006

http://chud.com/davesunderground/6529

IN THE DARK, Stagknight, Sugar Creek, The Men Who Fell, Chinatown Dick, No Right Turn

July 2006

http://chud.com/davesunderground/6966

FAMILY, IN MEMORIUM, DOUBLE DARE, Cyxork 7, the Green Hornet

THIS POST LAST UPDATED: 07/21/06

Anyway, in addition to a shiny new design, there’s updated info on some foreign fests and even one from far [...]]]> While I there’s been a lack of cool stuff in this particular blog lately, I’ve been updating the Horror Fests & Cons Database big time. (Should I call it the HFCDB? How about the HoFeCoDaBa?)

Anyway, in addition to a shiny new design, there’s updated info on some foreign fests and even one from far off Wisconsin.

It Came From Lake Michigan!
Macabro: Festival de Horror en Cine y Video
World Horror Convention 2007
Duistere Openbaringen (Dark Revelations)
Fantastisk Filmfestival (Lund, Sweden)
International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival
Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival
Ravenna Nightmare Film Festival
Weekend of Fear Film Festival
BlobFest!
Fearless Tales Genre Fest
Freak Show Horror Film Festival
Screamfest Horror Convention (Florida)
Mingle Mangle: Horror Filmmakers and Fans

Meanwhile, there’s also some action over at Almost A Movie. See the main page for a complete list of changes.

As I get into promotion mode, I’ll be putting plenty of new text and images there. For now, there’s a selection of artwork from [...]]]> I now have an online gallery at the Animation World Network Showcase website. People who have never heard of me can now stumble onto my member pages over at AWN.

As I get into promotion mode, I’ll be putting plenty of new text and images there. For now, there’s a selection of artwork from Jason, The Other Gods, and my Animatus projects.

The big question seems to be… do I write my bio in first person or third person? How pretentious am I, really? I like to think Mike Boas is without ego.

View my own and other galleries at http://showcase.awn.com

Aren’t blacklights wonderful?

I wasn’t alone, however. I had help from Uncle Grim and Fido:

Most trick-or-treaters were entertained. Except one. I swung open the door and a five year old boy screamed in abject terror. [...]]]> Dozens of children young and old collected candy from yours truly tonight. Here’s my hideous visage:

Aren’t blacklights wonderful?

I wasn’t alone, however. I had help from Uncle Grim and Fido:

Most trick-or-treaters were entertained. Except one. I swung open the door and a five year old boy screamed in abject terror. His parents led him away, crying, while his sisters laughed and accepted his candy.

Really, all I did was open the door.

….
Follow the link for some photoshopped pics…

Well, that didn’t make much sense to [...]]]> Back before I started this blog thing, I looked into other places like Blogger, LiveJournal, and MySpace. I wasn’t crazy about any of them at first. I actually signed up for MySpace, and was immediately receiving messages from total strangers who wanted to be my “friends.”

Well, that didn’t make much sense to me. I just wanted a blog.

So I ignored MySpace for awhile. I wrote it off as being a thing for kids and people looking for internet love. Then I started seeing more and more of my indie film contacts had pages there. Film festivals, bands, and TV shows have MySpace identities. So I began to see it as a way to market my projects and network with like-minded folks.

I’m still not crazy about the site, but I’m giving it a try. Too many people have UGLY pages with multiple video and audio files popping up and interfering with each other. I hate the obnoxious banner ads that are a requirement at the top of each page. It’s really difficult to get around the pre-programmed templates, too. Forgive me for not wanting to advertise my Zodiac sign and marital status, but it seems unprofessional. (On the other hand, I’ve got a really goofy picture of myself up there, so what does that say?)

According to a recent article at WebProNews, the site has 32 million registered users. And I’m not sure if I believe this, but the article also states that “MySpace.com is the fourth most visited domain on the Internet, trailing only Yahoo!, MSN, and eBay.” When I do a search for myspace.com on TrafficRanking.com, the site comes in at 59, just ahead of MapQuest. Still not too shabby.

So, mosey on over to http://myspace.com/maddogmovies to see what I’ve done with my real estate. Maybe it’s not as cool as some (see The Horror Channel, Masters of Horror, Nine Inch Nails, and The Family Guy) but at least it’s easy to read.

I did tune in for the news this week (how could I not?) and I ended up craving… maps. An overall layout of the [...]]]> I’m not the best about keeping up with current events. I get frustrated with news coverage that doesn’t answer my questions or just repeats the same sensationalized images over and over.

I did tune in for the news this week (how could I not?) and I ended up craving… maps. An overall layout of the city of New Orleans – what’s underwater, etc. So I went online.

Google Maps has images of flooded New Orleans, but it’s hard to know what you’re looking at without an expert’s help.

The best analysis I’ve seen so far is from Digital Globe, which I found through the NPR website. They’ve got before and after satellite comparisons of Biloxi and New Orleans.

And I just read (in an article at Wired.com) about a remarkable interactive that tracks the status of specific New Orleans locations. It uses Wiki coding to allow visitors to update it continuously. It’s hosted at www.Scipionus.com, but unfortunately the site was down when I tried it. Check it yourself, it may be up by now.

This whole tragedy became less anonymous for me when I discovered that B-movie critic “The Foywonder” had to leave his home in Biloxi last week. Scott Foy gives the most entertaining coverage of bad movies this side of Joe Bob Briggs. I wish him well and hope his life gets back to normal as soon as possible.

I’ve been using Gmail for over a year now, [...]]]> Now anybody with a cell phone can sign up for a Gmail account. Google is sending out text message invites to people who sign up at http://gmail.com/. It looks like the beta testing might be done soon, as their group of testers is growing ever larger.

I’ve been using Gmail for over a year now, and it’s wonderful. I’ve got over 2.5 gigs of space at my disposal — Google encourages it’s mail users to never throw anything away. Treat your email center like a search engine and access your history of correspondence. By the way, it was Gmail’s pending launch that prompted Yahoo and others to up their mailbox sizes a while back.

Another feature of Gmail: your sent messages and responses get linked up in an easy to follow “conversation” format. It’s easier to follow the flow of letters to and from certain contacts.

Plus, really great spam protection and filters.

Read the story here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/sign-up-for-gmail.html

Win a copy of Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream!

I’ve got a real snazzy package to send out to a lucky reader. It includes the DVD screener, some ironic posters about select midnight movies, and other goodies. Just send an email to info(AT)maddogmovies.com by September 15, 2005 to qualify for the [...]]]>

Win a copy of Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream!

I’ve got a real snazzy package to send out to a lucky reader. It includes the DVD screener, some ironic posters about select midnight movies, and other goodies. Just send an email to info(AT)maddogmovies.com by September 15, 2005 to qualify for the drawing.

Make your subject line read “Midnight Movies Contest” and be sure to include the following:

Full Name
Mailing Address
Email Address

That’s it! Good luck!

The problem comes down to that strange and powerful entity, the registrar. The name itself conjures an image of a great and powerful potentate, a minister at the head of a vast empire who has absolute control over its [...]]]> After two days of frantic emails to my webhosts (past and present), maddogmovies.com is back online.

The problem comes down to that strange and powerful entity, the registrar. The name itself conjures an image of a great and powerful potentate, a minister at the head of a vast empire who has absolute control over its citizens.

People who are new to setting up websites don’t always realize that reserving a domain name and securing webhosting are two different things. Often I’ll have a client who wants me to build them a site, and they’ve already reserved their domain through a registrar like Network Solutions, GoDaddy or some place I’ve never heard of. This usually makes things difficult for me, because I need to figure out how to log in and change their nameserver set-up. I’d much rather sign someone up for a domain name through a webhost and let the host take care of the registrar mumbo jumbo.

That’s why I had Cyberpixels handle both for me last year. They deal with the Enom.com for registrar services, but that didn’t concern me. When Cyberpixels’ hosting started sucking big time, I FTP’d my files over to Hostgator. To get the domain name associated with a new IP address, I had to log in to Enom (for the first time) and redirect the nameservers.

I realized a couple weeks ago that Enom charges 30 dollars for domain renewal. (Which comes to 60 dollars when you include my alternate domain, mikeboas.com.) Since I’d rather have my registrar and webhost billing tied in together, I tried to have the domain transferred to Hostgator’s registrar service, which would cost 15. I’d probably still have to pay another 10 for the renewal, but still come out ahead at 25 per domain.

Unfortunately, it takes seven days for this to take hold, and I didn’t make the request to Hostgator until a few days before maddogmovies.com was set to expire.

So the domain expired, and I was in no man’s land.

I couldn’t login to Enom to renew, because they had no record of my domain for some reason. Hostgator couldn’t help, because they never gained control. And would Cyberpixels help me if I didn’t even have an account there anymore?

Well, they did. The new staff at Cyberpixels was extremely helpful. (Kinda makes me wonder if their hosting services have improved, too.) It only cost 10 bucks, and I’m set for the next year. It should automatically renew, too.

Now the question is, should I bother moving mikeboas.com, which expires in a few weeks?

Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way isn’t like other books. Bruce calls [...]]]> I’ve been riding a Bruce Campbell wave all week. I bought his new book a few days ago, read a great interview with him last night, and woke up to hear Brother Wease interview him on WCMF this morning.

Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way isn’t like other books. Bruce calls it an autobiographical novel. He’s the star, playing an exaggerated (idiotic?) version of himself. I’m about 50 pages in so far — it’s amusing, but not quite what I expected. When the fictionalized Bruce makes a fool of himself at a pre-production meeting, I cringe a bit. He paints himself as such a pathetic character, and I find it tough to laugh AT him, even though it’s all pretend. I’ll keep reading though — hopefully I’ll grow to like it as much as If Chins Could Kill, Bruce’s previous book. A truly funny and informative autobiography, I’ve read it several times.

What thrilled me during this morning’s interview, aside from Wease’s love for the movie Bubba Ho-Tep, was the news that there will be a audio dramatization available later this year. I’m a big fan of radio drama, and I can see the material working really well in audio format. I assume they’ll be getting some impersonators to play Richard Gere, Renée Zellweger, and others. Then again, who knows?

http://www.aliencountry.org/

Well, in mid-March Cyberpixels moved my site from Wintermute servers (whatever that means) to a more reliable server to help correct the downtime I was having.

That worked okay for several weeks. Then the site went down for several hours on April 5th. I wrote to them [...]]]> So what exactly happened with my old webhost?

Well, in mid-March Cyberpixels moved my site from Wintermute servers (whatever that means) to a more reliable server to help correct the downtime I was having.

That worked okay for several weeks. Then the site went down for several hours on April 5th. I wrote to them to ask what was up. They said:

“It appears that when the server was rebooted, it came up with a kernel panic. Unfortunately there has been software failure. Don’t worry all of your data will remain unchanged. We are in the process of an operating systems reload. Your site will be up and active asap. We appreciate your patience on this matter. I can assure you we have been working as hard as possible on this today.”

And that was the last I heard from them. I wrote two days later to see why the site wasn’t up yet. They didn’t reply, so I jumped ship.

Sure, I could have called their service number, but I’ve on the fence about leaving for a while now. There was a lot of bad buzz about them earlier this year when they changed hands. I’ve heard other web people say to be wary of low low priced hosts — for $5.95 a month you get what you pay for.

I jumped on Hostgator cuz I’ve heard good things about them and their customer service is reported to be top notch.

1) I like being able to post multiple times on the same topic, with the thread remaining [...]]]> I have long considered changing over from the forum structure to a more trendy weblog. When I set up the Mad Dog Message Boards in the summer of 2004, I had several reasons for going that way.

1) I like being able to post multiple times on the same topic, with the thread remaining in chronological order. That is, with the first post at the top, then the second, etc.

2) It would be relatively easy to set up several categories for posts, all under the Mad Dog Banner. One forum for random stuff, one for Subterranea news, one for Almost A Movie posts, with the possibility of adding more.

3) Visitors could take part in conversations, not just comment on an entry.

There were drawbacks, however. Since I was pretty much the only one posting, the forum structure looked kind of silly. My image was next to every post, and it came off like an exercise in narcissism.

It became increasingly difficult to read my website stats. Search engines were working overtime crawling through the thousands of little forum generated dead end pages. (I’m not sure if this situation will improve with a blog, though.)

So as I considered a changeover to blogging, lightning struck. Cyberpixels, my webhost, had some sort of catastrophic failure last week and my site went down. They assured me they’d correct the problem, but after 3 days they stopped answering my polite emails. I’m now starting over with Hostgator.

Since I lost the message board, I’m starting from scratch with the all new Mad Dog Blogs. I’ll be able to reconstruct some things, like the Subterranea section. Most other posts were pretty much expendable, fortunately.

Welcome to a new experience in narcissism!