Rubber Chickens and Toynbee Tiles

Whuzzz Up?

Yep, it's me, I'm back, but it has been awhile since I've put anything down here in the ol' Dave Blog. "Blahog" is I think more appropriate as there are so many of us out here in the blogosphere just "chatting up a storm" (do they call the internet the super highway anymore?). Personally I rather like reading blogs of reviewers, and people I consider of interest. Facebooking..  people posting every-little-thing-they-do, every hour, every day, on Facebook, gets a bit tedious, and let's face it, once you have hundreds of people doing this.. who could keep up with it all? Facebook is good though for a quickie. I use it for the bookstore, and the press to promote and discuss products, and I can get a quick glimpse of family and friends near and far. However Dave's Blog is where I want to spend a little more time to share a few things. I'll try to get back here a bit more often.

I still use the phone to catch up, and conduct business. Had a wonderful hour-long visit with author Nancy Collins recently as we embark on some interesting projects for the future. First time I met Nancy was in Seattle in '89. She was up for the World Fantasy Con that year, which was also my first WFC, and had just arrived from an earthquake torn California which was all over the news when we arrived. First night there the one thing I distinctly remember is her giving me a rubber chicken key ring. The joke is that it's no joke. She did. I had that thang for years (yes thang people - I live in the South) and I wouldn't be surprised if I still had it tucked away somewhere. I tend to keep things like that. It was a memorable meeting, and when I brought it up to Nancy recently, she remembered. She had just procured it from some store in California that earthquake week. Why she gave it to me I have no idea. And here I am talking about this "thang" twenty-three years later.

The fact that you're still reading this means.. that damn rubber chicken has gone on a lot further than anyone knew it would. Now we're going to produce some special editions with the chicken's previous owner. Life is funny. Go figger.

Which leads me into another odd sort of "thang:" The Toynbee Tile Mystery. Know about it? Well yer about too. Because of an award-winning documentary by Jon Foy, ( who deserved the award let me tell ya), "RESURRECT DEAD: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles" is a fascinating, yet somewhat unbelieveable (but it's true) tale of these mysterious tiles that have been showing up in Philadelphia, around the US, and even down through South America on streets. Literally hundreds of these tiles have been spreading a message on the streets of the world.

What is a Toynbee Tile you ask? Watch this trailer for the film...

Jon Foy's work on this production, and anyone else who was involved, truly did an outstanding job of bringing this odd little story to the screen. I didn't know anything about this until it showed up on Netflix this week with this quick description:

"For three decades, strange plaques with messages about resurrecting the dead have mysteriously appeared on streets throughout North and South America..."

What? Resurrecting the dead? So this is where The Walking Dead originated. Seriously, what the hell was this about? The "play" button was immediately punched and I sat back to take this in. On so many levels this film is at once.. odd, interesting, peculiar, "what are those there?" "Why am I still watching this?" Wait, I'm sucked back in. The music works. Are they going to solve this mystery? They may have found out who's doing this. Maybe, maybe not. These three men have worked for years, one even a decade, trying to discover what this tile mystery is all about. Jon Foy has definitely turned in a class act doc on a very unusual subject. What I find interesting in the end is here I am watching these three, who have dedicated themselves to unlock this mystery, and they too are sort of an enigma. Why is this so important to them? It's especially important to Justin, who I think really kept this going. It's his passion that pushed to discover what was behind all this weird tile business. This was better than most mystery or thrillers out currently out there, and this is a documentary! I have to admit... where they putting me on? Was I now a part of this odd discovery that may be a film hoax? Life, as they say, is stranger than art, and this my friends is a prime example. I guarantee you'll get caught up in this. I did, and even LeeAnn popped her head out of her book, as we were getting towards the end to find out if the mystery was going to be solved. Did they unlock the mystery?
I dunno.. you tell me. Jon Foy also performed the music, which fit the film very well. I look forward to future work by him. This will be a tough one to beat and he's got his work cut out for him next time 'round.

PROMETHUS, the sorta prequel to Alien, by Ridley Scott. Good film. Not everyone's going to like it, but I did. By the time it finished up I was like "noooo... wait.. this can't end here.. I wanna see more." It's a gorgeous looking film, and it's top notch Scott on many levels. It's full of surprises, and I'm just not going to get into it here. It's not a "quiet horror" like we had with Alien, but it does have its moments. We saw it opening day when we were in Seattle vising our boy Clay. We were with a full theater that was there to see it. The tension was palpable as we waited for it to start. It's always great to be with "fellow fans" on the opening of a cult series. They get it, even if we don't know what we're getting exactly, we're here together. All of us in sci-fi-heaven-geekdom. You should have seen us.

A quick plug for the store...

We just received special merchandise to offer from The Overlook Hotel, in Sidewinder, Colorado. Now.. you may remember this is the hotel in The Shining... and that Room 237 isn't all it's cracked up to be, so might be better to buy this key and just say you were there. But this way you can wear your shirt, drink from the glass, and even put out an ashtray in your library (not to be used of course, don't wanna be smokin' up the books people) and "say" you were at the Overlook. You can see everything at the link here from our store The Overlook Connection Bookstore. There is limited stock on this sorta thing, so let me know soon if you'd like an artifact or two.

The Overlook Hotel - T-shirts, Glass, Ashtray, and Room 237 Key Ring!

Y'all keep on shining out there.. and I'll be back real soon with more news, fun, and updates on whaz happening at the Overlook and with me. YO!

Dave 

Dave Hinchberger,
Owner, Operatator of The Overlook Connection Bookstore and Press