Some of the greatest lesser known magicians.

We have all heard of the likes of Harry Houdini, Lance Burton, Penn & Teller, David Copperfield, The Amazing Jonathan & Criss Angel, but there are a few magicians that were great in their own right. And in fact most of the above mentioned magicians were inspired by such magicians that I shall name below. They were never all that famous in the likes of playing Vegas or having TV specials, but they were masters of their craft and they were just as good if not better than those of today. They didn’t have the publicity machine like the magicians of today and they didn’t really have a gimmick like some of the famous ones, but they didn’t need it. These men and women were magicians, masters of their craft and experts in illusion and slight of hand, history should never forget these people.

Harry Blackstone Jr.: A man following in the path of his father, Harry Blackstone Sr, he was a true gentleman of magic. He also had that mystique to him and his persona. His look could easily be compared to Doctor Strange or the classic villain who would tie the damsel to the train tracks, but his heart was as big as anything in the world. One of the classic tricks I remember watching him do was the bird cage that he would have members of the audience put their hands on and then make is disappear even as they were touching it.

Doug Henning: A magician who has been lost to a long list of other magicians, he did stand out amongst them in my opinion. His Zig Zag trick was his trick that he was most notably known for and when he did that trick you were in awe. You could watch it over and over again and still be entertained. He unfortunately died at an early age of 52 due to cancer, one thing he could not escape from.

The Pendragons: A husband and wife duo, these magicians are known the world over and have been entertaining people for years. They are masters at the famous Houdini trick “the metamorphosis” and do it in a much better and classy style than anyone in the world. It is such a privilege to watch them work. In fact during a rehearsal for a trick Jonathan Pendragon was shot through the chest with an arrow. He has since made a full recovery and both he and his wife are still doing magic today.

Harry Anderson: Some may know this name as his was the judge from the popular TV series Night Court. He was known as a practical joker and had a very good career as a stand-up comedian and was a part of the early years of Saturday Night Live. What some people may not know is that he is a accomplished magician. His card tricks are second to know and he makes you feel like you are a part of the trick all the time while making a fool of you.

Carl Ballantine: We know about the Amazing Jonathan, but what about the Amazing Ballantine? This man was the true and original Amazing Jonathan, now I am a huge fan of Jonathan’s, but Carl Ballantine was the forefather of comedy magic.  Some may know him from the TV series McHale’s Navy with Ernest Borgnine as Lester Gruber, but he was a vaudeville man from years before. His comedic magical timing was second to none and I highly recommending you to look him up on youtube. You can still find a few clips of him out there.

Jeff Mcbride: The original Criss Angel, and by far much more entertaining and a lot less whiny. Jeff performs his magic with a dark sinister side to it, almost as if you were watching an evil warlock casting spells. He incorporates Japanese Kabuki into his act and does mask transformations better and faster than anyone else in the world. He is an accomplished teacher and master of the craft on magic, but yet so many people have never heard of him. He is truly a great magician to watch.

Now while I am sure that I am missing some, these are the ones that stand out in mind.  I have been a fan of magic since as far back as I can remember. I got my first magic set when I was a young lad and I remember doing mini show for my family and friends. I would always look forward to the David Copperfield specials and watch intently as the magicians at the state fair would entertain and amaze us all. Like I said, these are the ones that got me into magic and made me a fan of the entertainment and joy that goes along with watching it. So check out these magicians and look into a few others, also check out your local magic shop, there are few left in the world, but they are worth going to and supporting.

Be safe…and pick card any card,
John Cannon

JFK & Marilyn Monroe….and don’t forget the UFOs

In the many many…did I mention many publications I read and research as well as watch over and over again till my eyes bleed I have come across an interesting tale of mystery. It is the classic government conspiracy, in fact some of you may know the first part of it, but there are many who aren’t quite aware of the second part to this tale. Many know that JFK and Marilyn Monroe are surrounded in tales of conspiracy and mystery, in fact if you didn’t know that then I would say you have been living under a rock for most of your life. Now we all know about the conspiracies of them sleeping together, his death and her death…but do you know about their shared conspiracy theory in regards to UFOs???

Now this is another theory surrounding both JFK and Marilyn’s deaths, but this ties them together under one umbrella as to the reason as why they were killed…and I do believe both deaths were planned out. You see thanks to the Freedom of Information Act some documents have surfaced from the CIA in which it is stated the JFK was requesting information regarding UFOs. It was also believed that he was entertaining the idea to do a joint space exploration program with the Soviet Union, yes the same Soviet Un ion responsible for the Cuban Missile Crisis at the time. It was said he believed that together they could explore space and find other worlds with life on it especially in relation to things that had been seen and found on earth ie UFO sightings and crashes.

They say it was because of this inquiry that the hit was put out onto JFK. And how does Marilyn tie into this, well she also knew about the UFOs and the day before she was going to go public with her relationship with JFK and his brother, but also because of her knowledge of the UFOs.

Now I know what you’re thinking…this is just one story amongst many surrounding their deaths and their mysterious lives that they led both individually and together. Yet as I said earlier thanks to the Freedom of Information Act there are supporting documents to verify this “theory” as it were. If you Google NSAM 271 it will bring up multiple links regarding JFK’s interest in joining with the Soviet Union to jointly explore space. Now if you read all the documentation you will see that there is some crypticness that alludes to UFOs, but it is there.

Now as for how we know Marilyn knew anything about the UFOs it was documented in a phone recording between a journalist and one of Marilyn’s close friends. So could this be real??? The only person who would know for sure is unfortunately deceased.

Did JFK really know the CIA had information on UFOs??? I think he did I think every single president has some type of information on some of the shady programs this government has to hide. I think he saw using UFOs as a way to gain alliance with a bitter enemy of the Soviet Union and together they could protect the world. Its admirable in my opinion and look at how he handled things with the Cuban Missile Crisis, he didn’t fold under pressure and he wanted to do everything he could to make the USA the best and better than the rest of the world even if it meant teaming up with our enemy at the time.

Do I think both JFK and Marilyn were killed due to a UFO cover-up…no I do not. I think they were “silenced” due to other matters of national security, but it’s a nice tale to tell when you think of all the conspiracy theories tied to these two individuals and UFOs.

So take the time and look this one p because it is a good one in my opinion. It’s one of those small little theories that keeps me going and makes me enjoy researching and learning more and more about what this earth has to offer.

Be safe and happy birthday Mr. President,

Jon Bolton

 

Note: Here is a link to wet your whistle as it were.

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/exopolitica/exopolitics_kennedy02.htm

Also, here is a small YouTube Video describing some of this thoery:

 

 

Street Fighter the Later Years…Sonic Prunes

A legacy of video games that shaped the arcade world from a dying out culture to that of a one on one battle of game play that would spawn other video games to follow suit. As well the legacy of Street Fighter spawned multiple video game sequels, comic books, cartoons and even a feature film. I remember playing street fighter in the arcade shop till my fingers bled and reciting the words and phrases such as “Sonic Boom” “Tiger Uppercut” & “Yoga Flame” to my friends in many conversations.

Now we all age, except those fortunate enough to have fountain the fountain of youth located in the Florida everglades…which will be another topic for another time. So as I said, we all age, we all get old and at some point we won’t be as “agile” as we once used to be. So should it be any different that our favorite characters of long ago should not be susceptible to the same aspect of life that we face??? My vote is no for a number of reasons, one reason being that we can’t live in the past as much as we would like to and the other reason that it is comedy gold. That’s right, watching our heroes/legend of long ago grow old and fumble about life is pure comedy, except in the case of Steven Segal running around as a make believe cop…now that was just plain sad, there’s a reason why they didn’t want him in The Expendables.

Ok, back to my point to old people, heroes and comic gold…I stumbled across a website about a year ago called CollegeHumor.com and it’s basically a sketch comedy website. If you have never been there to check out their stuff or you have only seen a couple of vides from them I highly recommend you go there or go back and look at everything they have to offer. They have a number of sketch comedies and even a few web series, all comedic and all well filmed, edited and presented. Sometimes I like to go to the site and click around at some of the things I have seen before when I am feeling a bit down…the stuff is just that funny/entertaining.

So in my most recent of returning to the site I discovered a 9 part mini-series called “Street Fighter The Later Years”, which presents the classically famous and original Street Fighters aged and put out to Pasteur by Capcom, the creator of the video game series. You see all your favorite characters and their current life status like Dhalsim being a Taxi driver, Blanka being an electrician, Guile pushing a hot dog cart and Chun Lee as a dry cleaner. So yeah, when you look at it, it is a bit stereotypical, but it’s done in a funny way.

Its starts with Zangief and Dhalsim meeting up by accident and talking about their old times and having one last tournament. They meet up with M Bison, who is completely aged and in a wheel chair, and convince him to help them train and hold one last tournament. Oh and for the record they are not only old, but they are way out of shape, on a number of levels and in some aspects they have lost their powers and spend some time getting them back. They spend a good chunk of time trying to hunt down the other members and it comes out that Capcom has pretty much cut off any royalties to them and wants them all dead.

The story line is very solid and entertains you at every twist and turn so it makes the mini episodes seem go fast and leaves you wanting more and more. There are a few twists and turns in the sub plots and while some were obvious there was one at the end that was not and that right there was well worth watching all of the episodes. The only bad thing I can say about the overall series is that they didn’t make more than 9 of them, I wish they had made more. I would love to see what they could do with other series like Street Fighter, maybe something in the line of Mortal Kombat the Later Years.

Again though I can’t stress enough how funny it is and how much you should check it out, so what are you waiting for???

Be safe and remember that the thousand hand slap is the cheapest and easiest move to kill someone with,
John Cannon

P.S. One EVO a guy won the whole tournament with Zangief, the worst player next to Balrog, go figure.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (aka the Smog Monster) Movie Review

In 1971 a film of horribly un-epic proportions was made and unfortunately is was part of the Godzilla series. In a series of films that lived up to certain expectations you would expect a level of “cheesiness”  due to men in giant rubber lizard suits destroying small miniature cities and Army men, but Godzilla vs Hedorah really put is out there as bad. I am a huge Godzilla fan, but even for me I couldn’t believe what I was watching and really wish the film hadn’t been made.

This film seemed to be trying to convey the hippie loving, peace flag waving, global warming way of life as an alien race came down to the planet and this monster of doom and gloom fed off of the earth’s pollution. So the movie was trying t portray an anti pollution message, not unlike the anti nuclear message which created Godzilla in the first place. Now I am not a fan of pollution, really I’m not…no seriously I’m not, I think global warming is a joke, but I’m not for pollution in general. Anyways, this was a true movie of the 70’s as it focused on movement of Greenpeace that aliens could come down to our planet and feed of the pollution we put into the air, ok maybe Greenpeace didn’t say anything about aliens, but they might have especially after seeing this film.

Just as a footnote to this, this movie must have been so bad that it was cursed as the actor who played Hedorah got appendicitis and had to be operated on while he was still in the suit…how epic is that, lol.

 Anyways, the movie is strange beyond compare with a mixture of  absolutely horrible music that sounds like bad cartoon music from the era of Hanna Barbera to scenes that look like something out of an acid trip. The dialogue seems like it was created by a class of first graders who just read the Dick & Jane series of books: See monster…see monster attack ship….see Godzilla attack was of monster. As well there are stupidly weird cartoons in it, what is the point behind that one, it just boggles my mind and doesn’t even fit into the movie. The one cartoon shows the monster drinking the oil from a ship…BP eat your heart out. Then the topper of it all is the trippy acid sequence with skulls and stuff flying around while some weird sexual revolution type chick is singing some weird song. Give me the singing Mothra twins any day of the week next to this weird chick. Now I know I said that was trippy, but once I saw the Hedorah monster huffing off of smoke stacks, holy crap Toho must have been doing lines of cocaine cut with ground up Morthra eggs to ever think this movie was a good idea.

As I sit here and continue to subject myself to this film I find weirder and weirder scenes….a dance party with everyone wearing fish head masks, holy crap, please Godzilla kill everyone, kill them all now. I mean its easy for him to do since they are holding a freakin bonfire in the middle of a field where the people can see both monsters fight, these people had to have been stoned. Oh and a word of advise, at the 1 hour 7 minute and 38 second mark Godzilla strikes an Ultra Man pose to protect himself against a laser beam…it doesn’t work all that well for him. That would be like me striking a pose while trying to stop someone from tasering me, I’m not gonna try it. Ok…I think I have seen it all now, Godzilla can fly, yes you read it right, Godzilla can fly, when has he ever flown before this movie or after….no wonder Toho hates to remember this film was ever created.

There are only 2 good things I can say about this movie when you boil it down. One, there is a scuba diving scene in it, and since I scuba dive I enjoy seeing stuff like that. And the second good thing about the film is it’s end…not how the ending was done, but just the fact that it ended. I haven’t wanted to hurt myself after a movie since I saw Santa conquerors the Martians, I pray both those movies go away forever. So in closing, nothing good is in this film and if you are a drug addict strung out on Acid or Extasy then you’ll love the film, as for the rest of the world…don’t watch it, unless you enjoy looking into the sun for fun, cause it sucks just as bad…although the sun might be better.

Be safe and don’t watch this movie, for the love of God don’t watch this movie,
Jon Bolton

Lake House Hotel in Saylorsburg, PA: The horror isn’t just for Halloween

FYI...This post was from the 2010 Halloween Season

 

Now when Rob, Sal and I first went up there to meet with the owners we had no idea what was in store for us. We figure it was you basic standard haunted attraction for the Halloween haunting season. How wrong I would be about this…how about dead wrong? You see in talking with the owners it turns out that the Lake House is in fact haunted and while we did not get into details of stories and experiences I did get the sense that they had some to share. I mentioned to them that I had been a paranormal investigator for well over 5 years now and was wondering if they would allow me to conduct an investigation. We talked a bit about the possibilities and then went on our ways as we figured out the logistics and involvement of our show with their attraction. Once it was all said and done we went about our ways and prepared to do some filming in September to prepare a special show based out of their attraction.

So rewind now back to September 9^th as I was on my way to have a meeting with Rob and Sal I stopped at a Barnes & Nobel to pick up some books, as I am a big into reading; especially when it involves the strange and bizarre. Now as I walked into the PA Travel section and began to thumb through a book about ghosts of the Lehigh Valley, written by Kenneth Biddle, I did not expect to see what I saw next. I thumbed through and as if by a strange force the book opened up to page 61 the chapter entitled The Lake House Hotel. I was floored and began to read, and of course I had to purchase that book right then and there. I mean how could I not?

I read about how it was considered the “place to hang yourself” as close to 15 hangings had apparently taken place in the hotel. While most of these hangings are difficult to find and proves based upon lost records and carless organization at least 3 had been confirmed. These were people who lost it all and simply checked into the hotel, went to their room & then hung themselves. As odd and harsh as this might seem, I have done some background checking and this was not an uncommon act for a man to do if he had lost everything and in other words, nothing to live for.

One story is that of a bartender who was savagely beaten and he was not mentally or physically right again, now I tell you this story in particular as you shall see later on in this article. Another story is of a injured mine worker who worked at now long gone brick factory next to the hotel, he was injured so severely that he passed away on the front porch of the hotel. In fact in a lot of the stories I have found in books and online the front porch seems to possess the most likely area for paranormal activity as hangings, deadly beatings and injured people passed away there. Just keep in mind that just because it happened on the porch does not mean that the spirits can’t go into the house and “play” as it were.

Some of the paranormal activity that takes place within the Lake House is of usual “haunting” standard or as standard as haunting can be. Things can go missing that were just laid down or other small items like rocks or caps may be thrown across the room as the walls or people. In the book it talks of a chair that appeared out of nowhere when there wasn’t one there 2 minutes earlier and everyone had been accounted for. Now there are the two things in particular that sparked my interest the most, the first being a telephone that mysteriously rings. This may not sound mysterious if it weren’t for the fact that the wires are completely cut and it’s not plugged into anything. Why did this spark my attention, well when I showed the owners the book I had found and they began to thumb through it they both stopped at the telephone and excitedly said “Look! There’s the telephone!”. So I knew there was another story to be discussed in relation to the phone.

The second thing that sparked my attention was the appearance of shadowmen/figures, now remember the story of the bartender I told you about earlier. Look at the picture below. This photo was taken I the bar next to the front porch and you can see that in the red circle there is the figure of something resembling that of a person. Now let the speculations commence, but let me fill you in with the details first. I was the only person in the room and the other people were on other floors or in other hallways. The skeleton head on the bar I thought may be casting a shadow, but if you look based off of its own reflection in the mirror, it couldn’t have been that. Could it have been the shadow of the bar tender or that of a miner or a hanging victim, who knows, but all I can say is that it’s very interesting to say the least. I know some may say”Oh you’re quick to assume” not so in my case for this reason. I actually studied this photo for a week trying to figure it out and actually sent it to some of my closest paranormal research friends who did their best to debunk it to no avail.

 

 It is a slice of history where maybe the past just doesn’t want to let go fully. So remember this as you begin to walk through the haunted attractions of the Lake House Hotel; is what I am seeing part of the attraction or am I looking at the real deal? You never know.

Be safe and happy ghost hunting,
John Cannon

Footnote: While the cast of Late Night at the Horror Hotel have moved on and begun doing other ventures in this world...the Hotel of Horror is still going strong and very active. Make sure you check it out this Halloween Season..http://www.hotelofhorror.com/index.html

 

 

September 22nd 2012…4 men…a cage…weapons…pain…blood…brutality.

This is the night cage matches are made under circumstances of hate, hate between people who would push each other in front of moving traffic, hate that would push one another off a cliff if they were hanging on by a thread…hate that would rather see one another dead. For months now the SOV have been relatively silent about the matches, the war the hatred they have for Fallah and Harley…until now.

People have come up to us and asked are we upset we lost the belts, are we upset we didn’t blaze a path in WOW as champions, are we upset that we lost them to the Church of Hierarchy???

The answers I have for you are as follows…we are not upset that we lost the belts, belts are not what made us who we are we were never about the belts, we were and still are about the fight and brutality and the technical wrestling ability we both have and show and continue to show each and every time we step into that ring…so no…we aren’t upset we lost the belts.

Are we upset we didn’t blaze a trail through WOW as champions…the answer again would be no. We have been blazing a trail through WOW without belts and we will continue to do so. We are the tag team that has lasted through all others…even when we weren’t tagging and we were beating the living hell out of one another…we were still a team. We are the tag team that is still standing when the dust and smoke clears and we will keep standing till we finish what we came here to do, which is to dominate the tag team division within WOW and beyond. We are the team that the torch gets passed on to. Demolition and Legion of Doom are just some of the legendary tag teams that would pass the torch to us because we are the tag team worthy of such an act.

Are we upset that we lost to the Church of Hierarchy…to be honest I am a little bit upset about that, but only because it wasn’t in a fair fight…but that’s fine we have their number in the future to make sure they know they never had  a chance with us.

Now as for this match…I guess if you want to make a mark not only in WOW, but the world of tag team you go for the top and attack…or at least try to attack. That is what Fallah and Harley did they went for the biggest and baddest WOW had to offer, now whether it was their idea of Nephtali’s…it was a dumb one, because when it’s all said and done we will be standing and Fallah and Harley will be broken and battered. They have said no one has given the SOV  a beating like this before…lmao…they’ve given us beatings??? Somehow I don’t remember it that way, but ok think what you want because it won’t matter after this Saturday.

We destroyed you in the tables match and the you wanted a cage match…fine it’s your death not ours. This cage will not be able to contain the violence that will ensue…I can guarantee you of that. What some people don’t know is that it’s not just a cage…it’s a cage with weapons inside. Now it’s the usual weapons, but as everyone knows I’ll bring some sort of surprise into that cage with whether WOW management allows me or not.

We have been asked the question what’s our goal with this match, is it to end the feud, its it to teach a lesson or is it to dismantle the Syndicate…we don’t care about any of that stuff, what we care about is breaking Harley’s neck and carving Fallah up like the fat Halloween pumpkin that he is…plain and simple.

Who ya gonna call…when the regulars are holdouts.

If there’s something strange…in your neighborhood…who ya gonna call??? GHOSTBUSTERS!!! Well you would, if Bill Murray wasn’t acting like a total d-bag and realized that he is a comic genius and without him the Ghostbusters wouldn’t be the same. A man who spent his life entertaining the masses with such pieces as Stripes, Life Aquatic, Caddy Shack, Meatballs, Groundhog Day, Scrooged & of course Ghostbusters, you would think he would want to reprise a famous character role. However that doesn’t seem possible as he has gone off the deep, fired his agent & manager and now has a 1-800 number in order to reach him then he barely checks the voicemail system anyways. Of course you then have Dan Aykroyd who has gone “bye bye” in his mind and I think honestly believes that he is a Ghostbuster in real life. So with those 2 major Ghostbusters sidelined because they are insane and can’t come to an agreement for a 3^rd film a Mr. Hank Braxton decided to make his own fan film entitled Return of the Ghostbusters.

The synopsis is as such:
The mile high city is rocked when an ancient Egyptian menace comes to town, and the Denver Ghostbusters must return to save the universe once more.  In this sequel to the internet cult hit Freddy VS Ghostbusters, the boys in gray find themselves up to their eyeballs in spooks, as a greater threat looms on the horizon...

I have to admit I didn’t think too much of it when I first heard about it, I was never in love with fan films and had never really seen one that peaked my interest. So I as much as I was not looking forward to it I was such a fan of Ghostbusters I figured I would watch it. Heck if you said the Ghostbusters were in the new Santa Conquers the Martians I would suck and watch that film again…not willingly, but I would.

As I began to watch the film I fell in love instantly, the music the film quality, the editing and the special effects were absolutely fantastic. I sat there thinking to myself “Why isn’t this the next one in the film series, seriously???” The whole thing was crafted so perfectly and it made me a fan of Ghostbusters once again. Despite the real Ghostbusters actors like Murry and Aykroyd the people of this fan film took the dropped ball and ran with it. They didn’t try to be exact carbon copies of the iconic Ghostbuster characters we all know and love, they did their own thing and it worked perfectly.

This movie was put out in 2007 and according to their website took a little over 2 years to complete and the film was made up of volunteers doing the acting, special effects and overall filming.  Now that is true love for what you are doing and trying to do as a fan. To spend 2 years creating a fan film based upon an icon film is true and pure dedication at its highest level.

Now when they finally get off their butts and decide to do the 3^rd Ghistbusters my vote is for them to bring the people in who made Return of the Ghostbusters because they won’t phone it in. They will take it seriously and put forth the effort the original cast did in the very first Ghostbusters.

I highly recommend seeing this fan film if you haven’t yet, because if you are a fan or former fan of the franchise please check this movie out and support fan films.

Be safe and make sure your proton pack is charged,

John Cannon

 

Check out their website: www.returnoftheghostbusters.com