Author Archives: Jedadiah Leland

Music Video of the Day: Another Day In Paradise by Phil Collins (1989, directed by Jim Yukich)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Another Day In Paradise is one of two songs that Phil Collins has recorded about the homeless.  (The other was Man On The Corner.)  When this song first came out, Collins was accused of being a wealthy and condescending rock star who was more interested in singing about a problem than actually doing anything to solve it.  In an interview with Rolling Stone, Collins responded to the criticism with, “When I drive down the street, I see the same things everyone else sees. It’s a misconception that if you have a lot of money you’re somehow out of touch with reality.”

The video, which juxtaposes Phil singing with images of the homeless, was directed by Jim Yukich, who did the majority of Phil Collins’s and Genesis’s videos in the 80s and the 90s.  The scenes of Collins singing were filmed in New York City and were completed in under an hour.

I am fairly certain that I’ve heard a version of this song in which George H.W. Bush is heard giving a speech about the homeless.  I cannot find any official online confirmation that it exists but I know it’s out there somewhere.

Enjoy!

Dracula vs. LBJ: Who Would Win?

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

For my final President Elect simulation of this year’s horrorthon, I decided to see what would happen if, in 1964, Dracula had been the Republican nominee against LBJ.  I had already discovered that Dracula would have easily defeated both Frankenstein’s Monster and Jimmy Carter in a presidential election.  Would he be able to do the same with LBJ?

In the real world, LBJ easily defeated the Republican nominee, Barry Goldwater.  LBJ benefitted from public sympathy for the Kennedy family and also from a brutally negative campaign that portrayed Goldwater as being a war monger.  Johnson won 61% of the popular vote and he carried 44 states (and DC).  Goldwater won only 38% of the popular vote and carried only 6 states (5 in the Deep South and his home state of Arizona).  At the time, Goldwater’s defeat was portrayed as being the end of the Republican Party.  Instead, Goldwater’s losing campaign set the foundations that would later lead to election of Ronald Reagan in the 80s.

How would Dracula have done against LBJ?  Would Dracula, with his superb speaking skills and his hypnotic magnetism, have been able to defeat LBJ despite the incumbent’s strengths?

According to President Elect, LBJ would have still won if Dracula had been the nominee but the election would have been much closer, as far as the popular vote was concerned.  During the simulation, Dracula was such a strong candidate that LBJ even debated him twice.  Dracula won both times but LBJ was still able to hold his own.  If LBJ had made a serious gaffe during the debate, the election would have turned out differently.  It was a risk but it was a risk that paid off for Johnson.

The first results of election night tells the story:

Though Johnson easily won the District of Columbia, the rest of the states were much closer.  Dracula did well in the South and in the west.  Johnson did well in the North and the Industrial Midwest.  It was Iowa that put him over the top.

In the end, Dracula carried 18 states while Johnson won the other 32 (and D.C.).

(In President Elect, the Republican states are colored blue while the Democratic states are red. It took me a while to get used to it too.)

Against Dracula, Johnson still scored an electoral landslide but the popular vote was much closer.

So, if you’re ever wondering which President could have defeated Dracula, the answer is Lyndon B. Johnson.

And Ronald Reagan.  But you already knew that.

Music Video of the Day: November Rain by Guns N’ Roses (1992, directed by Andy Morahan)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

When this music video first came out, it was one of the most expensive music videos ever made.  It was also one of the longest.  Axl Rose plays a singer who marries a model (who is played by real-life model Stephanie Seymour, who was dating Axl at the time.)  Their marriage ends tragically.  This video is often described as being a sequel to Don’t Cry but I think that, even though they’re based on the same short story and are thematically connected, Rose and Seymour are playing different characters here than in the first previous video.  Seymour and Rose split up after making this video, which meant that the concept for the third video in the projected trilogy, Estranged.

Slash’s signature guitar solo was filmed in New Mexico.  The scenes inside the church were filmed in Los Angeles’s St. Brendan Catholic Church.

This is a video that I used to laugh at but, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to better appreciate its themes of loss and regret.

Enjoy!

Great Moments in Comic Book History #31: Tomb of Dracula #43

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In Tomb of Dracula #43 (April, 1976), a reporter named Paul Butterworth discovered the existence of not only Dracula but also the people (like Blade, Frank Drake, and Rachel Van Helsing) who were trying to stop his reign of terror.

Paul thought it would make a good story but he knew he needed proof so, when he met Dracula, he was sure to take a few photographs.  The joke was on Paul because vampires can’t be photographed!  When Paul’s editor sees the blank photos, he demotes Paul to doing the helpful hints column.

Not a bad story.  Tomb of Dracula was always at its best when it brought in “normal” characters and allowed them to interact with Dracula and the vampire hunters.  Paul Butterworth never made another appearance but he was still a part of the series’ overall mythology.

However, the thing that made this issue great was the cover.  Illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, this cover may not have much to do with the story but it perfectly captures the feel of Tomb of Dracula.

Previous Great Moments In Comic Book History:

  1. Winchester Before Winchester: Swamp Thing Vol. 2 #45 “Ghost Dance” 
  2. The Avengers Appear on David Letterman
  3. Crisis on Campus
  4. “Even in Death”
  5. The Debut of Man-Wolf in Amazing Spider-Man
  6. Spider-Man Meets The Monster Maker
  7. Conan The Barbarian Visits Times Square
  8. Dracula Joins The Marvel Universe
  9. The Death of Dr. Druid
  10. To All A Good Night
  11. Zombie!
  12. The First Appearance of Ghost Rider
  13. The First Appearance of Werewolf By Night
  14. Captain America Punches Hitler
  15. Spider-Man No More!
  16. Alex Ross Captures Galactus
  17. Spider-Man And The Dallas Cowboys Battle The Circus of Crime
  18. Goliath Towers Over New York
  19. NFL SuperPro is Here!
  20. Kickers Inc. Comes To The World Outside Your Window
  21. Captain America For President
  22. Alex Ross Captures Spider-Man
  23. J. Jonah Jameson Is Elected Mayor of New York City
  24. Captain America Quits
  25. Spider-Man Meets The Fantastic Four
  26. Spider-Man Teams Up With Batman For The Last Time
  27. The Skrulls Are Here
  28. Iron Man Meets Thanos and Drax The Destroyer
  29. A Vampire Stalks The Night
  30. Swamp Thing Makes His First Cover Appearance

Great Moments In Television History #27: The Final Scene of Dark Shadows

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

After five years of enthralling audiences with the story of Barnabas Collins and his family, Dark Shadows came to an end on April 2nd, 1971.  By this point, the show itself had tried to return to its gothic roots by setting its latest storyline in 1841.  During the show’s final episodes, Jonathan Frid played not Barnabas but instead, Bramwell Collins.  Unfortunately, this didn’t help the show’s once strong ratings and ABC abruptly canceled Dark Shadows in 1971.

When the show ended, it did so in typical tongue-in-cheek fashion.  With Bramwell and his love, Catharine Harridge, preparing to leave Collinsport, news suddenly came that there had been a vampire attack!

Or was it?

Previous Moments In Television History:

  1. Planet of the Apes The TV Series
  2. Lonely Water
  3. Ghostwatch Traumatizes The UK
  4. Frasier Meets The Candidate
  5. The Autons Terrify The UK
  6. Freedom’s Last Stand
  7. Bing Crosby and David Bowie Share A Duet
  8. Apaches Traumatizes the UK
  9. Doctor Who Begins Its 100th Serial
  10. First Night 2013 With Jamie Kennedy
  11. Elvis Sings With Sinatra
  12. NBC Airs Their First Football Game
  13. The A-Team Premieres
  14. The Birth of Dr. Johnny Fever
  15. The Second NFL Pro Bowl Is Broadcast
  16. Maude Flanders Gets Hit By A T-Shirt Cannon
  17. Charles Rocket Nearly Ends SNL
  18. Frank Sinatra Wins An Oscar
  19. CHiPs Skates With The Stars
  20. Eisenhower In Color
  21. The Origin of Spider-Man
  22. Steve Martin’s Saturday Night Live Holiday Wish List
  23. Barnabas Collins Is Freed From His Coffin
  24. Siskel and Ebert Recommend Horror Films
  25. Vincent Price Meets The Muppets
  26. Siskel and Ebert Discuss Horror

The Falling (1986, directed by Deran Serafian)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

After a piece of the Skylab space station crashes into rural Spain, first the cows and then the wolves are infected by a cosmic virus that turns them into cannibalistic monsters.  Soon, the virus spreads to a nearby town and the villagers also start to transform into mindless flesheaters.  While NASA tries to contain the virus and keep the rest of the world from finding out, three American college students drive their RV into the village.  Damon (Dennis Christopher), Michael (Martin Hewitt), and Samantha (Lynn-Holly Johnson) soon find themselves fighting for survival as they are pursued by both the mutants and the government.  Working with a helpful scientist, they try to recover an antidote before it is too late.

Also released under the title Alien Predator, The Falling deserves a lot of  credit for knowing exactly what it is.  It’s a low budget, B-movie and it doesn’t try to convince us that it’s anything else.  As soon as I saw the red buggy that was hooked up to the book of the RV, I knew that this was going to be good.  Eventually, Michael gets in the dune buggy and gets chased around the village by the flesheaters and the movie starts to feel like an extended episode of Starsky and Hutch.  The three leads are likable, even if they are also too old to be believable college students.  Christopher makes jokes and tries to sound like James Cagney, Hewitt does a Rod Serling impersonation, and Lynn-Holly Johnson looks good while screaming.  People who watch movies like this for the gore will appreciate the exploding head scene.  All in all, The Falling is an enjoyable “bad” movie.

Dracula vs. Jimmy Carter: Who Would Win?

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Earlier this week, I used the President Elect simulator to discover who would win if Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and The Mummy ran against each other in the 2024 presidential election.  Dracula won easily.  The Monster carried D.C. and that’s it.

Then, I decided to see what would have happened in Frankenstein’s Monster had run against Richard Nixon in 1960.  Nixon won easily.  Even though the Monster received more votes against Nixon than he did against Dracula, he was still only able to carry two states in the Deep South, Georgia and Mississippi.

Today, I decided to see how Dracula would have done against Jimmy Carter in 1976.  I set up the simulation with the same economic and world conditions that Carter, Gerald Ford, and third party candidate Eugene McCarthy were debating in 1976.  The only difference is that I substituted Dracula for Gerald Ford.  No longer would Ford carry the stain of pardoning Nixon.  Now, it would be Dracula.  Again, I gave Dracula high score for his speaking ability, his personal magnetism, and his ability to stay cool under pressure.  I also made sure that Dracula’s campaign platform represented his authoritarian politics.

In the end, Dracula’s platform didn’t matter.  Watergate didn’t matter.  The economy didn’t matter.  Dracula wiped the floor with both Carter and McCarthy.  Carter challenged Dracula to one debate.  Dracula blew him out of the water.  In real life, Carter narrowly defeated Ford after Ford lost their debates.  In the simulation, Dracula dominated the election.

On election night, Carter got one piece of good news when he won the District of Columbia.

However, that would be all that Carter would win.  Dracula won the next state and never looked back.

Carter was strangely competitive in Rhode Island, only losing the state by a few thousand votes.  As for the rest of the states:

Sorry, Jimmy.  The people have spoken.

Music Video of the Day: Don’t Cry by Guns ‘N Roses (1991, directed by Andy Morohan)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This is the video where Slash murders his girlfriend and then laughs about it.

Sure, there’s a lot of things that could be said about this video.  It’s the first part of an unofficial trilogy of videos in which Axl Rose struggles to come to terms with the loss of his girlfriend (who, in the video, is played by Stephanie Seymour).  Axl said that the scene with the gun was inspired by something that actually occurred between him and his ex-wife, Erin Everly.  Everyone remembers the scene where the three Axls confront each other and also the epic girl fight at the piano bar.  This video is also remembered for the sign reading, “Where’s Izzy?”  Izzy Stradlin felt that the music videos were a waste of money and declined to show up on the day of filming.  He would soon leave Guns N’ Roses.

But, in the end, this will always be the video where Slash drives over a cliff.  As the guitar solo proves, Slash managed to get out of the car but apparently, his girlfriend wasn’t so lucky.  It’s a weird scene but it’s also a fair portrayal as to how many people viewed Slash and Axl Rose within the context of Guns N’ Roses.  Axl was the frontman who could sing everything but who also wore his vulnerability and instability on his sleeve for all the world to see.  Slash was rock ‘n’ roll.  Nothing got to him as long as he could keep on playing.

The older I get, the more I appreciate Guns N’ Roses.  Say what you will about the self-indulgent nature of some of their albums and videos, Axl can sing and Slash can sure as Hell play.

Enjoy!