Fangoria Uber Alles

Because ... for its first couple years, horror film magazine Fangoria featured the motto "Monsters • Aliens • Bizarre Creatures" on its cover

Because ... it was a darn cool motto

Because ... it was playful yet dark at the same time

 Because ... the newest edition of Fangoria features a return of the old logo

Because ... that old logo was my favorite of all Fango logos

and because the newest edition features an awesome play on the old motto,

I hope that someone in the Fangoria offices is getting a pat on the back from the company's president. A framed certificate, perhaps. The publisher's box seat tickets for the next Yankees or Mets game, maybe.

1,000 and Counting!

Late yesterday, viewership of my digital magazine Galaxis ("The worlds of science & science fiction") surpassed 1,000, all in about a month's time. Now, I know that 1,000 readers is a minor amount both in print and online publications. But for a free digital magazine that has had no budget – absolutely zero – and has spread only by word of mouth (and, I guess, word of Facebook and Twitter), it's a promising start. My one thousandth viewer is therefore a milestone.

If you haven't checked it out yet, click on it below to view it full-screen on your computer. You can also download it to your computer from my host issuu.com site (just look for the download icon beneath the magazine image on that page). And if you want an actual, paper-and-ink hard copy of the magazine, you can purchase it from my print-on-demand pals at MagCloud.

While I continue to welcome new readers to issue #1, I am hard at work on issue #2, which is shaping up to be even better. I've got lots of original, in-depth articles on new and classic science fiction and science from around the world. One reader commented to me that he likes reading a science fiction magazine that shows him stuff he doesn't already know about, that widens his base of knowledge and enjoyment of the genre. I feel exactly the same way, and I think this second issue will really establish Galaxis as the smart portal to the global SF field that we've been needing.

Look for issue #2 in a couple month's time. Until then, enjoy the premiere issue!

Green Bay's Martin H. Greenberg, RIP

The news is spreading that editor Martin H. Greenberg passed away today at the age of 70. Greenberg edited – what's the technical word I'm looking for? – zillions of books in science fiction and other genres over the years, working closely with other legends such as Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg.

I remember seeing his name as a co-editor with Asimov on countless SF anthologies when I was growing up, and when I learned that he was from my hometown – Green Bay, Wisconsin – it was my first clue that this far-away world of science fiction could also originate from out-of-the-way places like GB. That was almost as exciting a realization as the cool visions and ideas that were being presented in the science fiction I was reading.

Starting in 1975, Greenberg taught at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He passed away after losing a fight to cancer. As writer Max Allan Collins put it, "This business ... this world ... is suddenly a smaller, shabbier place."

.

Ed's Pop Culture Shack Takes the Fangoria Challenge

It looks like Schlockmania has competition:

Check out Ed's Pop Culture Shack for a new series of Fangoria magazine restrospectives, starting with the earliest issue in his collection, #2 from 1979.

Readers of my blog already know about Schlockmania's fun series chronicling the early years of Fango.

Is there room for both series? Absolutely. It's fun to get each person's take on the issue, the films highlighted inside, and the times (the '70s were a definite watershed for many folks!). I like them both, and I recommend them for any movie magazine fan and horror film fan who wants to do some digital time traveling back to those pre-digital days.

As everyone knows, I like to do that.

.

Starlog is Back – On Your Back, As a T-Shirt

From small beginnings ...

Fangoria magazine, the sole survivor of a small but prolific magazine publishing house, has teamed up with Fright Rags to sell t-shirts emblazoned with the logos of Fangoria, Gorezone, and Starlog.

Starlog, as every reader of this blog knows, is the dearly departed science fiction magazine that died a sad death two years ago. It continued as an online-only product for less than a year before that, too, was shuttered, and Starlog.com is no more. Much has been written about Starlog's print and online existence – and much of it by me – but there's as yet no indication that the magazine will return to print soon or ever. So this t-shirt might be no more than an exercise in keeping legal control of a logo and name. But one never knows; Gorezone was a short-lived horror film sister magazine to Fango, and it is being resurrected in July as a special best-of one-shot, with the tantalizing possibility of a full-scale rebirth, depending on customer response, no doubt. So readers can hope that Starlog has a future life, too, and that it will be done well.

Either way, I'm still happy to see Starlog's appearance on clothing – and yes, I'm glad they used the classic logo for the magazine, the logo that was used almost until the very end of the publication's run, when it was replaced by a less dramatic, less graceful version. They made the correct choice for the shirt.

You'll also notice below that the Fango shirt uses the old logo for that magazine. This version was actually the second version of Fangoria's logo, appearing from the second issue until it was changed a few years later to the version that lasted a couple decades. The magazine has been switching back and forth with this classic logo and the current logo on its covers lately, so it's an open question which logo will be the long-term winner.

The shirts are only $19.95 each. And you know I'll be ordering the Starlog shirt. Order yours, if you're interested.

Roger Ebert Censored on Facebook; 16-year-old Kids Flame Him

Say what you will about film critic Roger Ebert. You might as well say it, because people are posting all kinds of profane and nasty things on his Facebook wall today in the wake of a couple of comments he posted about the death of the star of Jackass, which he implies was because of drunk driving.

Personally, I think Ebert is a hero. Since he lost his voice, he has found his voice in the new media world, becoming one of the bravest and sharpest (and one of the few intelligent) commentators on Twitter and Facebook and blogs.

But Facebook, which never seems to stop shooting itself in the foot (and must therefore have the most bullet-riddled shoes in the world), censored Ebert this morning by taking down his Facebook page as a result of some complaints about Ebert's comments. Now, Ebert didn't post anything that was outrageous. His comments weren't racist. They weren't inciting violence.

He commented, "Friends don't let jackasses drink and drive." He was referring to a photo that showed the Jackass star drinking shortly before the accident, which killed two people.

Facebook reportedly apologized for removing the page, but it is chilling that the company would remove the page anyway. Is there really no free speech on Facebook? Does Facebook think it is the arbiter of good taste? (This is, after all, a company caught red-handed on numerous questionable business practices, most recently when it was exposed as the company behind a public relations campaign to spread negative stories about Google.)

And then there are the unbelievably foul mouthed and uneducated brats who have "liked" Ebert's Facebook page this morning so they could post messages on his wall. Here's one message (dashes added by yours truly): "I pray every single one of you idiots mothers get raped and murdered maybe then you will think twice talking about someone who is gone. f---ing idiots." Or this charmer: "you sir, are a scumbag. and so are all of you're disrespectful little "followers". you know what you said was wrong and WAY to soon to be said. you don't even have the respect for everyone hurting, and crying, to apologize. why don't you grow up a little bit and APOLOGIZE. show some respect to Ryan's family, and to the members of Jackass."

To help counter the onslaught of crying tweeners on the wall, I posted my own comment: "Roger, I think this wall shows that you have the support of people who don't ride their skateboards to work. Keep up the good work." I was pleased to see it quickly earned a number of "likes," but sure enough, responses started coming in about what was possibly wrong with skateboarding to work. Sigh.

I guess what surprised me second most (following Facebook's creepy level of censorship, of course) is the vehemence of fans of the dead man. The comments on Ebert's wall refer to themselves crying, hurting, in pain. Those are feelings you should have when a family member or friend dies, not a star of a oddball TV show and movie series. It reminds me of a time in high school when I made some negative comments about Ted Turner (most definitely not nasty comments, just negative; I was probably commenting on his opportunism as a conservative at the time; Turner would later change sides and become a vocal and at times brave liberal); a classmate confronted me about criticizing his hero; the classmate worked himself up to tears as he described how he and his mother both idolized Ted Turner for his success in business. It was an unnerving experience.

Roger Ebert has a way of not being unnerving, nor of being unnerved. You can read his sensible follow-up to the controversy on his blog (which I urge you to bookmark and read regularly).

.

Internet Domain Names Galore: The Internet Me

ICANN, the international body that regulates top-level domain names – those suffixes such as .com or .de or .ws at the ends of web and email addresses – is going to dramatically increase their number. And here's the cool/stupid/fun part: practically anyone can have one of their own top-level domains, for a paltry $185,000 fee.

The BBC reports that new domains could be things like .coke or .bbc. Frankly, this is a dream come true to me, because back when I was an editor at Internet World magazine I used to joke that I always hoped to have my own top-level domain. That way, I could have an email address of johnzipperer@johnzipperer.johnzipperer

Now I know I was not being silly; I was prescient.

The Street of San Francisco – My Current Column in Northside San Francisco

My latest Common Knowledge column in Northside San Francisco is out in print and online. Next month, I should have even more, as I begin reviewing books (and eventually movies) for Northside.

Common Knowledge
Mid-Market Dreams
By John Zipperer 

Two years ago, Business Insider ran a contest called Create Twitter’s Revenue Model, in which readers suggested ways the company with the curious “revenue-lite” business could turn into a moneymaker. Today, Twitter might still lack an obvious path to long-term profitability, but the company might be causing job growth in San Francisco simply with its move to the long-neglected (and maligned) mid-Market area.

Read the complete column 

.

Headline Bloopers: PBS NewsHour and Heavy Negotiators

More Harry Potter – or Just Pottermore?

There's a new J.K. Rowling website, and no, no one knows what the heck it means.