datajunkie

*posted by hyperdave at 4:18 PM* 4 comments

OK, OK... i know you're wondering to yourself "When's that Skywald stuff gonna come down the pipe?", and rightly so. Well the answer is, not today - that's fer sure. Due to circumstances beyond our control.... balh, blah-blah, blah-blah......
Let's enjoy this revamped and enhanced slighty schizophrenic "Blast from the Past" from the ol' archives while i get a chance to remember to breathe.... Don't worry, it's all PRIMO stuff!
First - from the good old dependable right brain.....
John W. Campbell/ASTOUNDING Science Fiction/EXPLORING TOMORROW
Apart from writing many numerous stories & novels in the 1930s - including "Who Goes There?" adapted into "The Thing", first in the 50's in a watered down version, and WAY more faithfully by John Carpenter in the 80's, John W. Campbell was THE editor in SF in the 40's. As editor at ASTOUNDING Science Fiction (later Analog (!?!) he shaped the talents of many young tyros who later became grandmasters in the field. You name 'em, they wrote their best stuff for Campbell. Here's some swell covers from the 1940s...

...and i got word that this was a muchly desired repost - so here it is, a nifty collection of 50's Steve Ditko SF and Horror tales i put together all from the house of Charlton. Stories are (in no particular order) JOURNEY'S END, THE CONQUERED EARTH, THE DESCISION, STRANGE GUESTS OF TSARUS, SECRET OF CAPTAIN X, MYSTERY PLANET, JUGGERNAUTS OF JUPITER, ESCAPE & LIBRARY OF HORROR and come from various publications that fall well into the public domain.
Click here for - 50's Ditko Volume 1

... and now from the weird and wonderful left brain......GOTHIC ROMANCE!
More excellent stories and art by Steve Ditko and the usual suspects - Tom Sutton, Joe Staton, Joe Gill & Nicola Cuti!
Mid-70's Gothic Romance from the "Big C"! It don't get much weirder than this!

Haunted Love #4

Haunted Love #5
And last but not least - someone asked me about robots.... well, as Campbell said in the intro to the EXPLORING TOMORROW episode posted above... and i'm paraphrasing him here - If you go up to a person and tell him something and then ask if he understands what you mean he'll say yes... and he does but if you do that with a robot (or computer for that matter... hell, even some people i guess...) it will respond yes but it's usually not the case... because they're dumb! Anyone who's read Asimov or even knows his three laws knows that there's still gonna be screwups....

Robots shmoe-bots.... what are we gonna do about robots.

I'd almost welcome horny old "Zeke" here, but we don't get no humanoid or metal men, as we all saw in the movies, but automated vir(tu)al systems that replicate humans in some way or another. Self replicating, self sustaining , viral simulations that really get me mad.....

You know in some ways Phil Dick got it 100% right, and it's not getting any better... we're creating these homeostatic simulacra... "virtual people"... or virtual workers (and robot comes from the Polish word for worker, don'cha know - Kapek, R.U.R. and so on) ....anyway, simulated "people" who do stuff, but they're more than a little dumb and don't know what they're doing, because they're not alive or self aware as such, so it's kind of like a bad tape loop playing over and over... but like in Phils' story "Second Variety"... ultimately, they'll overwhelm us by force of numbers and our tendency to anthropomorphize anything that moves. Seeya later homo saps.....

Spam and voice-mail hell are two examples just off the top of my pointy little head... BAD ROBOTS... or for example those automated payment systems that send you email that "they've" GOT your payment, and will process it SHORTLY?!? *ARGH!* Robots, gumming people up and wasting our time, you and me and everyone else too... i'm sure there are LOTS more examples.....

Where's my wise-cracking but faithful robot sidekick? Where's the automated talking cars with plummy British accents that give you dating tips? Come back Rosie... all is forgiven! Hell, at this point i'd settle for a computer i could talk to that actually understood what i was saying instead of having to pound this 19th Century keyboard. Instead i get mail about hot chicks that want to meet or for me to check them out out their webcam, real estate and stock market scams from hell and of course, deals on viagra. And how do these "robots" know about my penis size anyway? What databank is THAT in? Huh?
OK... down boy..... no point gettin' worked up over all this madness... it is what it is..... and that's the problem i guess....
....i have seen the future - and it doesn't work!
..........oh well......

Over and out from your pal, hyper dave - that frazzled datajunkie artifact modulator man...

*posted by hyperdave at 2:01 AM* 6 comments

Starting up... here's 4 OTR SF episodes adapted from stories by Phil Dick dedicated to someone i know who's kinda M.I.A., but hopefully A.O.K. Everybody else in the room can just go "Huh?" and keep on movin'... do i LOOK like i care? You can check
hyper dave's myspace profile if you have any hesitation on this issue. Just remember, you don't HAVE to understand something to ENJOY it.... 'nuff said!
"The Defenders",
"Colony",
"Made In Avak",
& "Imposter".
When enjoying these, it's probably a good idea to keep a can of UBIK close at hand.....

Forbidden Planet - The radio version..... from Australia!?!
This is pretty cool too....and you ALL knew this is an adaption of "THE TEMPEST" right?
Morbius is Prospero, Robbie is Caliban and so on....
Click here to download an Australian radio adaption as an mp3!

Just to be sneaky, i'm gonna stick these in here... they're not stricly all repost, but i'm gonna slide 'em in here on the D. L. to foil those lazy folks who rely on the old RSS feed for their intel...
and as my momma dun tol' me - ALWAYS check the small print... heh heh heh....
Tales of Tommorrow - "Watchbird"
Tales of Tommorrow - "Betelgeuse Bridge"
Tales of Tommorrow - "The Other Now" starring Dick York!
Tales of Tommorrow - "Martians Never Die"
Tales of Tommorrow - "The Old Die Rich"
Tales of Tommorrow - "Morrow on Mars"
Tales of Tommorrow - "The Girls from Earth"... and i've been having more than my fair share of headaches with one or two of those of late.... whoever said they were easy must be from another friggin' planet!

Plus, for you funny-book fans, a couple of early, EARLY Pre-Code tales by a very young Stevey Ditko, both reprinted in the 70's in black and white, scanned by me in a few days, downloaded by you in a minute or so, and hopefully read and enjoyed by you and your loved ones in the years, nay, even decades to come......
Ah yes, the circle of life in all it's fullness here at the ultra-holistic ashram of the kooky and bizarre that is datajunkie H.Q.
We (i guess that's me, myself and i) cover the fads with NONE of the ads...
A handful of hot-spots where the internet is still fun and free... oops, started to get up on the 'ol soapbox again, sorry 'bout that. Rant aborted.
Anyhow, here's "Stretching Things"
...and "Hair-Yee"!

PS - if you couldn't guess, i've been ultra-busy, so no Skywald Horror-Mood goodies today... hang in there folks, they're comin' soon... and that's a promise!

hyper dave been very busy dj-boy..... now me go take out the trash......

*posted by hyperdave at 1:25 AM* 2 comments

Thanks for everything Mr. Don Knotts.

You may not know this, but Don got his start on the radio show Bobby Bensons' B-Bar-B Riders. He got his first major recurring role as comic cook "Windy" Wales. And you know the rest....slowly from then on into the TV & film work we know him for. i may get into some trouble for this, but while i think his Barney Fife, which is his most recognized portrayal, is not his best work. But then again, i think a lot of folks most popular work is not their best stuff. Do yourself a favor - watch "The Love God" some time...his performance in that is TRUE genius. Also some of his early TV comedy work as "The Worlds' Most Nervous Man" is still hysterically funny today. Finally, his memorable performance as would-be swinger landlord Ralph Furley on "Three's Company" was the ONLY thing worth watching the later episodes for. Ptui! on you Jerry Lewis, Don Knotts kicks your ass! Rest in peace old buddy of my TV watching youth....

¡VIVA DON KNOTTS!

Here's 2 shows with my favorite Don -
Click here to download the July 28th 1950 episode Bobby Bensons' B-Bar-B "Ghost Rider" as an mp3!

Click here to download the Bobby Bensons' B-Bar-B episode from Dec. 1st 1951 - "Queen of the Cowgirls!" as an mp3!

Then there's the comic book, with KILLER art by Dick Ayers on all but one story. Bob Powell does the duties on that, so it's OK! But Dick is drawing up a storm over at Vin Sullivans' Magazine Enterprises, and his work on this is really nice stuff. Now, as to the book...you can see that by the time i got it for 10c(!?!), it was mondo thrashed and pretty much self-destructed as i scanned it...but now we can all share it, so it wasn't all in vain...i kind of liked not fixing the wear up too much...gives it a kinda funky look i think...anyway..you may not like western comics or horse-opera radio shows, but we think you'll like these..... and there's a Windy Wales solo story too - enjoy!
Click here to download the 16th issue of Magazine Enterpises Bobby Bensons' B-Bar-B comic as a pdf!

*posted by hyperdave at 12:19 AM* 1 comments

This is all untill the weekend. Busy busy busy.....
Click here for X Minus 1 Nov. 7th 1956 "Appointment in Tomorrow" as an mp3!

*posted by hyperdave at 4:25 PM* 0 comments

Well - nothing on the Skywald front today either from the turrets of Castle von Datajunkie... but while that's the bad news.... the GOOD news is i'll repost these some morbid dregs from the files, and that will hopefully satisfy all you scary monsters and super-freaks 'till the weekend...
(that's really the soonest i'll get another 64+ pages of Skywald Horrod-Mood "goodness" scanned... sorry - they're really time consuming to scan and mount up...
and - oh, i have a so-called-life that keeps me... uh - how can i put it?
....away from the computer....)

Anyway, let's check out Harvey Comics Black Cat #44.... need OIL... must have.....OIL!
Oh, and there's some other icky stuff in this ish too....
This was the first horror book i put up, many full moons ago.....
Great art by Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand and Joe Certa (?)...
i still contend that some of the Pre-Code Harvey output stands up toe-to-toe with the EC line....
Now if ya wanna step outside, i'll proove my point more eloquently....
BLACK CAT MYSTERY #44

Now let's take a peek at Black Cat #47, shall we?
The artists in this issue are Howard Nostrand (doing his best Jack Davis imitation on "Low Noon"), Joe Certa and Bob Powell. I can't identify the artist on "TORTURE", a nasty Kafka-esque nightmare that has to rate as one of the NASTIEST comic book stories i've ever read. The cover is by Lee Elias. It has very little to do with anything inside the book, but it's pretty powerful, none the less.
Y'know, i find it more than jus' a lil' perverse that the same folks at Harvey Comics, who published this gem of whacked-out over the top horror and mayhem, went on to later and greater success with Casper, the Dead Baby & Richie the Little Trust Fund Jerk. Now THAT'S weird.....
BLACK CAT MYSTERY #47

PLUS - FRANKENSTEIN!
Here's a creaky (but fun, and not too un-faithful) adaption of the classic tale from the 1930's as we contunue our reposted horror-fest here at Castle von Datajunkie (...that's just between Ingolstadt and Karlstadt on the Transylvania turnpike... take a left at the graveyard.... ya can't miss it!)
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 1 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 2 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 3 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 4 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 5 as an mp3!

Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 6 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 7 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 8 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 9 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 10 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 11 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 12 as an mp3!
Click here for FRANKENSTEIN Part 13 as an mp3!

That should keep ya busy.... heh heh heh....

*posted by hyperdave at 12:06 AM* 1 comments

As you might have guessed... the Skywald horror-mood "explosion" is taking a bit longer to "execute" than i thought... so - during the meanwhile, as someone once said, we'll just have to make do with what has proven to be a popular topic - the old Virgil Finlay. Oh dear, how sad, never mind!

These mostly come from the interiors of AMAZING SF, early 60's....

A couple from the 70's reprint title THRILLING SF.....

From Worlds of IF - late 50's...

Isn't the above just a wonderful illo for Harlan Ellison's "Wanted in Surgery"?
Here's the audio - from the South African series SF68 -
"Wanted in Surgery"

My previous posts on Virgil Finlay may be found
here, and here and also here!

Labels: Virgil Finlay