Official AT LAST, OKEMAH! Trailer!

Here's the official trailer to AT LAST, OKEMAH!, the short film I co-wrote. Hector, who you might remember from my book Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps, co-stars as Miguel. Can you spot my cameo?



AT LAST, OKEMAH! homepage.

Not Necessarily the AT LAST, OKEMAH! trailer :)

While working on a trailer for the movie, we started to joke about how the trailer would look if we were doing one of those "summer blockbuster action flicks" instead of a comic retelling of Don Quixote set in the world of folk music. Perhaps...like this?

The Foolkiller Submarine: A Chicago Mystery

One of my favorite research topics in Chicago History is the Fool Killer Submarine, which was found in the Chicago River in 1915, where it had been buried in river muck for decades. A couple of months ago PBS interviewed me for a story on it that aired last night. You can watch it here and see my Weird Chicago Blog entries about the thing (which constitute just about everything this is known about the thing) here.

Speaking of mysterious history, here's a new Playground Jungle post about the history of saying "jinx" when two people say the same thing at the same time. The practice may only be 50 years old - but it might also be 500!

Another Zombie video

Yes, I'm in a video-making frenzy lately! Here's another public service announcement about zombies and vampires, featuring Claudia Gray, author of the Evernight series. There's a message from both of us at the end.

New Zombie Video

The first of 3-4 new videos that will be rolled out over the next week leading up to the release of I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It



Also, here's a terrific shot of my stepson making his own AT AT and Death Star while watching Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back on New Year's Eve:

Best Picture Ever / Andrew North Review

This review of ANDREW NORTH BLOWS UP THE WORLD calls me a comic genius - much more pleasant than being called filthy or vulgar (but, honestly, not as exciting). But as for excitment, here's a pic of me with Hulk Hogan from the Mancow radio show (on which we were both guests last week)!

Notes on the Naked Trike Angel

Most of my books take place in or around the town of Cornersville Trace, a made-up suburb of Des Moines. One of the fun things about having multiple books take place there is showing the wildly different ways that different characters perceive the town. Leon likes the old part of town, but hates the new subdivisons and strip malls and thinks the whole town is sort of a dump compared to the big city. To Jennifer Van den Berg, who lives in a smaller town a few miles North, Cornersville Trace IS the big city. And to Andrew North, the town is full of mystery and wonder.

At Merle Hay Mall, just outside of Des Moines, there used to be bronze statue of a life-sized naked guy with angel wings riding a tricycle. right in the middle of the main walkway. It was built for the mall by Mark Jacobsen in 1974, and was called "Up Down." If you looked closely at his legs, there were pipes coming out of him, like the guy had plumbing inside of him. Growing up in Des Moines, I never thought twice about the thing - it had just always been there.

But years later, during the time I was writing Andrew North Blows Up the World, I found myself driving through Des Moines and trying to describe the thing to a friend. "Man," I thought, "what would Andrew North make of that statue?"

One of the reasons that I opted for a made-up suburb instead of a real one was so that I wouldn't be bound by reality; the statue was taken out of Merle Hay Mall in the 1990s, but it can still be at the mall in Cornersville Trace! Since then, I've written it into many of my projects. To paraphrase the Beatles, the naked trike angel looms large in my legend.

Are there weird statues at YOUR mall?Send a picture! I'll create a gallery of weird mall art. Did these statues just prove that people in the 1970s were somewhat disturbed, or are they secret entrances to spy headquarters hiding in plain sight?

Take a look at the thing - it's no wonder I grew up to be such a weirdo!



Photos courtesy of Merle Hay Mall

Cornersville Trace

Cornersville Trace (the town where most of these books take place) is what they call it on all the maps, and in the census forms, but the residents just call it Cornersville most of the time. It's a made-up town in the suburbs of Des Moines, Iowa (in between Urbandale and Johnston - on maps of the Des Moines metro area, the only thing between those towns is an interstate, but it this version of reality, I-80 is like the Tardis: it's bigger on the inside).

S.J. Adams, who uses Cornerville in the novel SPARKS, has more info here!


Click to view the map up close!

CORNERSVILLE WRITINGS:

Books:

How to Get Suspended and Influence People (2007)

Pirates of the Retail Wasteland(2008)

Andrew North Blows Up The World (2009)

I Put a Spell On You( refers to Cornersville Trace, but takes place in Preston, about 7 miles north).

I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It



SONGS:

Friday Avenue
I Don't Believe in Summer
Valentine's Day
Punk Rock Tango Girl
New York Rain
Satan's Parents' Basement


SEE ALSO:

The Naked Trike Angel of Monk Hill Mall.

How to Get Suspended: Used Library Card

Ms. Yingling sent me this. It's probably the coolest thing ever (edit to add: or was, until that picture with Hulk Hogan):

My cat, after election day, 2004:

Archaeology

My top dresser drawer has been my junk drawer for as long as I can remember, and some of the junk has been in there for a long, long time. Every time I open it, I wonder if I'll discover the cure for some disease (or possibly some bacteria that'll give me cholera). Anyway, here's some results from a recent dig:



A handful of ID cards - my 8th grade school ID, a metallica fan club card from 97, and an MST3K Info Club card from about 95.



M.U.S.C.L.E. men! They've been in that yellow thingy for YEARS - the first use I remember using the yellow thingie for was to carry around Garbage Pail Kids 1985, but I've had it since before that. I'd say the muscle men found their way in in the late 80s, though they've been in the drawer since 86 or so. Also included: some arrowheads my neighbor gave me (early 90s), a Steve Avery rookie card (89 topps), and a magnet that probably dates the the early 80s.



In eighth grade I had a hat that was covered in buttons (no, this was not hip at the time. I was a dork, then, too). Left to right: an anti-smoking one that I think I got at the Iowa State Fair in the early 90s, a handmade one (it was supposed to be an anarchy sign over a smily face with the words "crazy days are happy days." Uncool though my hat was, this button was well-admired), and a "why be normal" that came from a store at Merle Hay Mall called DV8. They sold buttons like this, incense, and a fine selection of junk made outta hemp. I thought they were the coolest store in Des Moines.



Four early 80s audio tapes. I think they found their way into the drawer when I digitized some of the stories I recorded on side 2 (which I did a lot of in the 80s) a few years back. The stories are wacky and full of references to "Muppet Babies." Hearing them a few years ago, my mother described them as "what A.D.D. sounds like."



My mom started working for Mattel in the late 80s; this is some Toy Fair schwag she picked up. A Ren and Stimpy cassingle signed in ballpoint by Billy West (who did the voices and ended up doing many Futurama voices). The button advertises a "The Last Action Hero," a total flop film that Mattel was all excited about in 1993 or so. I never saw it.



Finally, we have me in the costume I wore to school on Halloween one day in high school. Going to a school in Gwinnett County, Georgia dressed as Gene Simmons - even 15 years after most of the religious groups stopped talking about KISS - was an excellent way to attract interesting lectures. I'd put it on the Weird Chicago bus, but I'm pretty sure Simmons would try to sue me or something.


There was also something in there that's making me itch, but I'm a bit afraid to guess what it might have been.