LBL

Mr Blonde is Dead and I Don't Feel So Good Myself

Today, Micheal Madsen, who so brilliantly played the sadistic Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs, passed away at the age of 67. When I first saw Madsen on filming the 90s, I was in my teens, and sixty seven seemed like a far off number. Madsen himself was young, only thirty five when the film was released, but seemed so old and rugged. I remember, for several of my friends, he was the favorite member of the gang, edge lords we might call them today, if they even say that today anymore. My favorite was Mr. Pink, of course, because I'm a fucking professional, but I appreciated all the performances here and even celebrated the most hardcore scene, as Madsen's Mr Blonde cut off the ear of a cop to the tune of Steeler's Wheel's "Stuck in The Middle with You".

The scene, filmed as a veritè of pain, is the perfect kind of cinema to examine growth in relation to it. Back in the 90s, things were fairly peaceful, fun, extreme with many extra X's, and a scene like that, to younger eyes, often played like a badass doing badass things, but I often wonder now, those same guys and gals, is their favorite Dog still Mr. Blonde. Are they the same folks who think Fight Club is about fighting, Scarface about how cool guns and cocaine are, and the same folks who think Sid and Nancy is a lovely love story for the ages?

That crowd has held up cruelty as the point with a lionization of villains without the media understanding as to why they are bad. In fact, we have spent the last several years making all the media we can about why they are not bad. The bad guys are okay, they say, nothing wrong with them, it's ok to be a bad guy they are just misunderstood. There's even a huge organization which often goes out and helps kids, which is great, while dressed up as identical space nazis, which is less great.

We have spent years making the bad guy the good guy and we wonder why we have a culture that is okay with being seen as evil.

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My Halloweens 1997-2010 (Plus a Couple of Extras)

Hey everyone. I want to thank everyone who made last weeks first past of My Halloweens so successful. I hope you enjoy seeing the rest of the pics that I've dug up for you. To start off I want to put up a couple more early shots that my mom dug up.

1983 I love this picture. I was definitely trying to do my best Bela Lugosi here, but the black and white bow tie (that some readers may recall from last week) is holding me back.

Here's another shot from around 84 or 85. I did used to love me some Zorro! ....and the Hamburglar!

Here's the last old picture, from 1986. I didn't know it at the time, but I may have been going as Peter Murphy.

Now down to business. When we last met, I left you with the image of the mullet-pyre. There's quite a few years in between where I either didn't dress up or I don't have pictures so we'll pick it up with 1997.
You would think that would be the most embarrassing thing I would release of myself would be the mullet-pyre, but don't be silly. I worked a seasonal job at a Halloween store, and this was my bonus. I don't know what possessed me to want this costume, but I did.

In 1998, I worked at the Halloween store again, and decided on going low tech and high concept by dressing as Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. This was mostly so I didn't have to talk intelligibly to anyone all day long. Most folks wanted to know if I was Ozzy Osborne

In 2002, I chose a costume from one of my favorite TV shows, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. That's right I'm a Trekkie and a Niner as well. Despite being a prepackaged costume, these things are devilishly comfortable, bring on the Eugenics wars so I can start dressing like this all the time.

I'm going to say that this photo comes from around 2003 or so. One of our friends used to have a rather kick ass Halloween party which we got the pleasure of attending a few times. This first year I went as RUN from RUN DMC while my lovely wife went as the vampire bunny, Bunnicula.

The nest time we went to out friends party (I want to say this was 2005) I found a rare gem, a prepackaged costume that I really liked. I had always wanted to be Arthur, King of the Britons.

For the next couple of years we didn't do anything special on the holiday that I recall. The last time we dressed up was in 2008 when I went as the living breathing embodiment of "The Lightning Bug" and my wife went as my date, the slasher prom queen.

As for this year, I haven't decided yet, but you can bet your buttons that when I do come up with a costume, I'll be happy to share it with you folks. Thank everyone for taking this stroll down memory lane with me, and I hope it brought back memories of all your great Halloweens in years gone by. Stick around because the Halloween Top 13 starts in just 2 days. I still need some submissions to get to 13 reader lists so check out out link for details.

My Halloweens 1976-1993

Hey folks. I've been meaning to do this for the last couple of years and I never got around to it. With the help of my dear mother, I have dug up all the Halloween pictures I could come up with going back to when I wasn't even a year old. This week I'm going to start at the beginning and go through early school. Next week, I'll come back with Part 2 and costumes from high school and beyond. Without further adieu, lets get started.

1976- The year of my birth. So I must have been about two months old here. I don't know what I was supposed to be, a small animal of some kind I expect. I also look like I might have just passed gas here so I feel bad for my Aunt who is holding me.

1977- So I was a one year old by then, and so I fit nicely into a pillowcase to be a ghost. In case someone didn't know what I was thankfully I had the helpful word 'Boo' on me. Hmm, maybe I was going as the sound 'Boo' that is very innovative for a one year old.

1978- Mickey Mouse. Now I never knew the Mouse to wear checked pants, but I used to love these kind of costumes when I was a kid. This was the standard. The soft, hot plastic suit and a hard plastic mask that would dig in your face. Ahhh, memories.

1979 Look out! Here comes the Spider Man!

1980- Oscar the Grouch- It took a special kid to want to go as a mean thing that lived in a can of garbage. I was that kid.

1981- Now this is a guess because these were not dated, but I'm pretty sure it has to be 1981. I had jsut started getting into Universal monsters thanks to Super 8 films we checked out of the library. I also have fond memories of my folks dressing up this year as a couple of tramps. As I recall my face was painted to match theirs under my mask.

1982- The first year that I was a vampire, and by vampire, I meant Bela Lugosi. For the next few years I did this costume over and over, but I don't seem to have pictures for all the years. As I recall, it was pretty similar, and don't fret because we'll pick up the theme later on again

1987 or 88 I couldn't tell you which, but I was at a Halloween fair at my Grandmother's church. I think I was mixing my clowns here. Big pants, Graucho glasses, and Chaplin's bowler.

1988 or 89 Not sure which again, but I know this was my buddy Micheal. It's like the really low budget, prehistoric version of True Blood.

1990 Getting ready to head out to a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium. It was probably the first time the film had been shown in Greenville for 20 years, and the whole event degraded into a food fight. You can see the difference in the before and after shot.