Waxwork Records 2015 subscription
Soundtrack collectors are currently spoiled for choice when it comes to vinyl editions of cult horror movie scores, thanks to labels like the recently merged Death Waltz Records and Mondo, which have labored to elevate the long-neglected musical cues behind exploitation fare into something approaching genuine art. Though relatively new, Waxwork Records has already established itself in that increasingly crowded field with eye-and-ear-stunning reissues of soundtracks to Re-Animator, Rosemary’s Baby, Friday The 13th, and Day Of The Dead, and in 2015, it’s following Death Waltz’s lead by setting up a subscription program. For $175, members get five titles automatically shipped to them in 2015—including the impossible-to-find scores to C.H.U.D. and Phase IV, Danny Elfman’s masterful Nightbreed, and others still to be announced—with limited-edition colored vinyl, plus bonus merchandise like apparel, pins, and patches. If you’re a fan of the genre, it’s an easy way to guarantee the year is filled with forgotten corners of darkness. [Sean O’Neal]
Strong Language blog
One of the most fun and weirdest parts of my job is codifying vulgarities. We can’t just have people spelling “blowjob” every which way all over the site (contrary to Merriam-Webster, The A.V. Club styles “blowjob” as one word). So when I discovered, via Twitter, an entire blog about swear words, written by editors, it was word-nerd nirvana at first sight. Strong Language is a simple WordPress blog advertising itself as “A sweary blog about swearing,” and the very first entry breaks down George Carlin’s seven words you can’t say on television—by examining their phonology and comparing the distribution of phonemes in swear words and in general language (I told you this was nerdy). If that’s too much for you, try the post about the swearing in The Thing, or the one about whether “shit” is a contronym (a word that has two contradictory meanings, like “cleave” or “oversight”). Although the blog’s authors are serious about language, they don’t take themselves too seriously, so the posts are as hilarious as they are informative. Plus you’ll pick up some language that would make Malcolm Tucker proud. [Laura M. Browning]
I Was There Too
When it was announced as part of the Wolfpop podcast network’s inaugural lineup, the podcast I Was There Too made me think, “Damn, I can’t believe The A.V. Club didn’t come up with that idea first.” And then my next thought was, “Damn, I can’t wait to hear this.” Here’s the gist of the program: Hosted by Superego’s Matt Gourley, each episode of I Was There Too revolves around an actor who played a small part in a major cinematic scene. (Guests so far have included podcast superstar/There Will Be Blood bit player Paul F. Tompkins and Melody Rae, who played the woman with the baby carriage in The Untouchables’ Union Station shoot-out.) There are plenty of podcasts teasing out the behind-the-scenes details of Hollywood productions, but Gourley’s concept brings moviemaking down to a relatable, human scale, surveying Aliens from the point of view of doomed Colonial Marine Ricco Ross and decoding the boondoggle of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace through the experiences of pod-race announcer Greg Proops. (If you think you were disappointed by that movie, put yourself in Proops’ shoes: He showed up to the movie not knowing that his face had been CGI-ed over, with only his vocal performance preserved.) Gourley’s approach to interviewing is authoritative and enthusiastic, but his own acting experiences start every new I Was There Too conversation out from a place of instant understanding and rapport. With that in mind, I guess it’s okay that he thought of the idea before we could. [Erik Adams]