The Final Girls of Friday the 13th
Saturday, August 18th, 2012
Almost every horror movie has what one might call the ‘final girl’ – that is to say, the last girl standing who faces off and (usually) defeats the mad killer who has been picking off people for the entire duration of the film. The Friday the 13th franchise is certainly right at the top when it comes to the horror/slasher genre, and I had the distinct pleasure to meet and greet three of these final girls when they and I attended the Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Convention on Sunday, August 12, 2012. Although I greeted them in reverse order, we’ll move along the Friday the 13th time line, and start where it all began… Read the rest of this entry »
There’s such a thing as a quest. The guys and gals from Star Trek knew that. Sometimes they don’t even make perfect sense. I know that. For me, after I managed to meet two of the cast members of Star Trek by sheer chance, those two being George Takei and Leonard Nimoy, my quest to finish the job of getting photos with the rest began in earnest. I consider there to be seven main cast members, but some might add actresses Majel Barrett and/or Grace Lee Whitney, the former of whom is deceased, and the latter whom I have in fact met. This whole thing is ironic because I’ve seen very few episodes of the original Star Trek, although I have quite enjoyed the films. 
Thursday, July 5, was the second day of the two-weeklong road trip that Bob and I were taking. It was a good day overall, although just a bit grave-heavy, so please have tolerance. Checking out graves of the famous appeals to me for a few reasons. The first and most obvious is to simply pay my respects to someone whose work I like or admire. If rule number one doesn’t apply to someone who has achieved some other fame or notoriety, see rule number two… which is the checklist/scavenger hunt aspect of it. And finally, I legitimately enjoy the detective work sometimes involved in tracking down a headstone based on various clues that we pick up in advance. So although it is easier to just go to the main office of the cemetery and ask for directions, a lot of times I enjoy it more when we have to scour the cemetery to find it. So while I have no objection to the stereotype of the grave-hunter to be somewhat morbid, I wanted to lay out the facts as I see them. 
My meeting with Johnny Whitaker had been a long time coming. One of my goals in life is to correct my own stupid action of not getting photos with most of the celebrities whom I met during my first two autograph shows in