Friday, December 12, 2025

Whasome’s Dreck (OFFICIAL SHAMELESS BOOK PLUG TRAILER)

RETURN 

TO

GAPESIDE!




๐Ÿ“˜

Whasome’s Dreck 

is a short parody of Dawson’s Creak…


Written in 

blood

๐Ÿฉธ

and set on 

fire 

๐Ÿ”ฅ

๐Ÿ“˜


Cover of Whasome’s Dreck (a short parody) by John L. Harmon, with text that reads…  “Satire so sharp it will slice through your eyeballs!” - Compensated Famous Author. “A love letter to teen dramas written in blood and set on fire!” - John L. Harmon, internationally known indie author. “It will probably end up on some sort of list!” - The New York Grimes. “Unmitigated crap!” - Michael Yarrington, fictional public figure.


Available from


Amazon logo


&


Audible logo


Even New England cool cats dig Whasome’s Dreck

๐Ÿ˜ผ
A grayish cat sniffs a copy of Whasome’s Dreck (a short parody) by John L. Harmon
Photo courtesy of Fred’s Book Boutique

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click for more shameless book plugs… 

 ⤵️ 
Red text highlighted in black reads, why haven’t you experienced dark excursions?

Green text highlighted in black reads, welcome to sturgeons.


Sunday, December 7, 2025

I sold my soul for Doctor Who, but ended up on a Freaky Muppet Jonas trip instead!

Fine! 

I did it! 

I was weak and backsliding, like Carrie’s fanatical mom, and subscribed to Disney+ so my sister and I could finally catch up on Doctor Who!  

Have we been watching Doctor Who though? 

Nope.

We immediately started watching The Muppet Show (1976-1981).  It may even be funnier and more outrageous than we remembered, and it also proves Disney doesn’t have a clue what to do with these wonderfully sardonic, violent, sexual and irreverent characters in the 21st Century!  My only concern is being triggered with nightmarish childhood flashbacks when we get to the episode horrifyingly featured in An American Werewolf in London (1981)! 
A scene from the Muppet show shows Beaker looking scared.
Next we were going to watch Bride Hard (2025) because it stars Rebel Wilson.  Ugh, it was so painfully unfunny that we gave up after 10 or 15 minutes.  Instead, we watched Freaky Friday (1976), the one with Jodie Foster, who is always worth watching, and we still enjoyed this classic.  Sure, allegedly savvy, modern audiences might find the original dated now, but you just can’t beat the absolute charm of the opening credits!  I learned from Gill at Realweegiemidget
Reviews that “I’d Like to Be You for a Day” is sung by stars Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster! 
A scene from the animated beginning credits of freaky Friday shows a mother and a daughter who seem like very different people.
Then, I guess to prove my sister and I are not stuck in the past, we started watching and actually finished A Very Jonas Brothers Christmas Movie (2025).  For the sake of this post, and to take away any boy band blackmail power from Dave of My Gay Opinion, I confess that, for a very brief moment in time, I listened to the Jonas Brothers and may even still have one of their CDs.  So, of course we had to watch their Christmas movie.  The plot is completely ridiculous, but some terrifically funny guest stars, such as Will Ferrell, Laverne Cox, Andrea Martin, Billie Lourd and Randall Park kept us entertained.  However, I kept thinking the movie needed less singing and more of whatever this is…
scene from a very Jonas Christmas movie shows a shirtless pilot flying a plane with the Jonas Brothers, looking tense and apprehensive in the cockpit
What happens on the Jonas plane, stays on the Jonas plane!
In conclusion…
Maybe for such a fun, trippy Disney+ experience, my soul was worth the price of admission…so far!
 
Now on to Doctor Who and more of The Muppet Show!  

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S.  A Pennsylvania reader’s feline companion is eager to check out my Dawson’s Creek parody! 

Saturday, November 8, 2025

freakboy on film: THE TERRORNAUTS (1967)

Should we really search for life out there in the deep, dark, perilous universe?  I mean, if we can’t get along with each other, what makes us think we will play nice with an alien species?  Never mind that the outer space aliens might be just as war-hungry as us.  This doesn’t stop three scientists from trying to reach out and touch E.T. by forming Project Star Talk, which sounds more like a celebrity psychic hotline from the 1990s than a search for alien life.
Three scientists sit in a row wearing sci-fi caps on their heads with wires coming out in a scene  from the terrornauts.
Calling occupants of interplanetary hair salon!
The aliens wait to send a signal until funding for the project is about to be pulled just to make skeptics more skeptical.  When the scientists reply, they are greeted by having the Project Star Talk building abducted with them inside, along with a fussy auditor and a boisterous tea lady for comic relief.  What do the aliens want with these five humans?  You’ll have to watch to find out! 
Vinegar syndrome Blu-ray of The Terrornauts shows a man and a woman surrounded by robots, alien creatures and spaceships. Text reads, a message from across the stars…. From a world of nightmares.
THE TERRORNAUTS, despite sounding like horror, is a fun blend of serious and silly sci-fi written by John Brunner and directed by Montgomery Tully.  In some ways, it’s more DOCTOR WHO than the Peter Cushing DOCTOR WHO films.  Plus, there’s a robot who looks like a cousin to Robot from the classic LOST IN SPACE series. 
A tall robot with a cylindrical head and multiple thin metal arms in a scene from the terrornauts.
Who’s a good robot?
In conclusion… 
I ordered THE TERRORNAUTS from Vinegar Syndrome just for The Hammer-Amicus Blogathon V, hosted by Gill of Realweegiemidget Reviews & Barry of Cinematic Catharsis, with no regrets on my part.  I enjoyed this Amicus production for its fast-paced storytelling, its retro sci-fi vibe, and that wonderfully awkward robot.  If you like your science fiction a little less serious, then THE TERRORNAUTS may be the film for you! 
Poster for The Hammer-Amicus Blogathon, hosted by  Realweegiemidget Reviews & Cinematic Catharsis, from the 7th thru  the 9th of November, 2025.
Freak Out, 
JLH 
P.S.  November is my birthday month, so it’s the perfect time to crack open the fantasies of my deranged mind… ๐ŸŽˆ๐Ÿ“š 
Books by John L Harmon, available from Amazon, include the dark excursions series, the sturgeons series, vision bent half blind poems, and bubba‘s truck a short story

Friday, October 31, 2025

The New Halloween

Give up the ghosts 
The goblins and ghouls 
Creatures that go 
Bump in the night 
Forget the vampires 
The zombies and werewolves 
Monsters that may 
Give you a fright
The scariest thing 
Of scary things 
Is waiting 
Outside your door  
The news is the new 
Horror Reality Show 
Just sit right down 
Tickets aren’t free 
All you need 
Is to be 
Deceived 
Confused 
Alive  
In the year 
Of our doom 
2025  
Darkness suffocates diminishing light
~~~~~~~~~~~~
2025, John L. Harmon 

Happy Halloween or something… ๐ŸŽƒ 


Freak Out, 

JLH  

P.S. Escape the current reality with a good book! ๐Ÿ“š 
3 books by John L. Harmon include dark excursions the complete set, Sturgeons the complete serials and vision bent half blind poems

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

booking freakboy: BEST MOVIE EVER (An Oral History of Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont's "Josie and the Pussycats”) by Russ Burlingame

I confess! 

I didn’t instantly love the 2001 film of JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS when I saw it during its theatrical run.  My 20-something ass was planted in that AMC theater seat in Omaha, Nebraska because of Parker Posey Sure, I was familiar with reruns of the animated series, but my obsession with the PARTY GIRL actor was first and foremost in my mind.  
Movie ticket stab for just seeing the pussycats on Thursday, May 17, 2001 at 2 P.M. admission was five dollars, plus $.31 in tax.
I remember overall liking the movie, enjoying the music and thinking this was the best use of Parker Posey in a mainstream film.  As the days, weeks and months unfolded, I kept thinking about what I experienced.  Dots were slowly connecting in my mind and by the time JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS was available to rent at Hollywood Video, I realized I didn’t like the film, I LOVED IT!  So, I quickly rented a VHS copy to confirm my cinematic love and was met with negativity at the front counter.  As I sat the videotape down, the clerk at Hollywood Video announced that the movie sucked.  I immediately responded how I thought it was great!  Nothing more was said and I went back to my apartment to cleanse the negativity from my cinematic soul. 

Hallelujah!  My second viewing proved to me how clever, funny and wildly entertaining JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS really was!  I initially purchased it on VHS and tried to spread the Gospel of the Pussycats, but nobody seemed to appreciate its brilliance.  Friends whined that the movie wasn’t just like the cartoon or they just didn’t get it, often complaining about all the product placements throughout the film.  So, I drifted like a lone iceberg in my love and obsession over this film, eventually upgrading to DVD, and recently Blu-ray.  In 2019, I wrote a brief blogpost giving 4 reasons to see JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS and I realized I wasn’t alone.  There were other fans out there!  I didn’t realize how many until I stumbled upon the book BEST MOVIE EVER by Russ Burlingame when the author liked one of my random Josie-related post on Bluesky.  (Hmmm…maybe I should start ❤️-ing every sturgeons-related post out there… ๐Ÿค”) 
The book BEST MOVIE EVER (An Oral History of Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont's "Josie and the Pussycats”) by Russ Burlingame.
BEST MOVIE EVER is an entertaining deep-dive into all things JOSIE, primarily focusing on the 2001 film, obviously.  Readers will hear from fans, behind the scenes crew, music creators, the writers/directors and the actors, though, tragically, not Parker Posey.  Even without direct comments from the reason I watched the film, BEST MOVIE EVER is an incredible book full of everything you wanted to know about JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS!  You may even find a few surprises within the pages.  For example, I’m currently reading the novelization I never knew existed!  Plus, I’ll never not know the boy band b4-4 and never unsee their video Get Down, which is cut from the same cloth as DuJour’s Backdoor Lover!
In conclusion…
If you like or love or are obsessed with JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS, you need to read BEST MOVIE EVER by Russ Burlingame!  I promise it’s totally jerkin’

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S.  click a pic ⤵️ for more JOSIE… ๐Ÿ˜บ
A scene from the animated series, Josie, and the pussycats in outer space

A scene from the animated series, Josie, and the pussycats

A scene from the 2001 film Josie and the pussycats

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

For Andy…

His acidic words 
Like a salve  
On my being 
Shouting in hate
Swarming in lust  
Swirling in violence 
Screaming in vain 
Quiets the voices 
Hacking away under 
My volatile mindskin 
Calming what passes 
For a kindred soul 
In this malformed body 
Feeling tethered 
To a forgotten ghost 
Flickering wet night terrors 
Leaving me satiated 
Until the creeping silence 
Becomes severe whispers 
Abruptly intensifying 
Wailing for more  
Photo of various films of Andy Milligan swirling around a drawing of the filmmaker on the cover of the dungeon of Andy Milligan box set.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2025, John L. Harmon 

_____________
I wrote this tribute to late filmmaker Andy Milligan while “songs from a holographic mind” by Matthew Nowik burrowed deep within my nervous system. 
Album cover for “songs from a holographic mind” by Matthew Nowik shows a long  empty hallway
click to listen on bandcamp 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. click a pic ⤵️ for more Andy…  

Donnie and Jenny stand in a field in a scene from weirdo the beginning

Jessica and Peter share a moment in a scene from seeds, aka seeds of sin.

Dink and Dee lay side by side on the floor in a scene from nightbirds

Bob and Dusty in bed in a scene from fleshpot on 42nd street