Eccentric British psychic Gary Spivey - he of the Stay-Puft marshmallow 'do - heads to Vegas for a limited engagement, and predicts the city's future. (Las Vegas Weekly)
Over the course of 100 episodes of Ghost Whisperer, medium Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has crossed over 404 ghosts into the light.
To celebrate the centennial episode tonight, March 5, 8 p.m., EST on CBS, here’s a list of 100 rules that ghosts must follow in the Ghost Whisperer world…
1. GHOST WHISPERERS like Melinda Gordon can see and communicate with earthbound spirits. They help them with unfinished business before crossing them into the light, and give closure to loved ones left behind.
2. A ghost can materialize anywhere he or she wants by concentrating on where it wants to be.
3. Ghosts cannot pick up things. Under duress, in an emotionally charged situation, or in a group they can move things.
It’s the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Technically, it’s a vinyl bank of Mr. Stay Puft from Diamond Select Toys, and he hangs out on my desk – a paranormal plump, puffed sugar relative of Bib the Michelin Man – simultaneously offering to give me a hug and destroy our world. Mr. Stay Puft was acquired at last week’s Toy Industry Association Toy Fair in New York City where, amongst all the action figures, board games and plush dolls, I noticed a theme: Ghosts are good for business. Whether they are scary, cuddly or funny, we ain’t afraid of no ghosts. In fact, we love them.
The allure of spooks and specters has returned in a big way in the last five years. Even the Ghost Busters, the 1984 comedy from whence Mr. Stay Puft originates, has experienced pop-culture revitalization with last year’s successful video game, next year’s sequel re-teaming much of the original cast and with several toys on display at the aforementioned Toy Fair.
But perhaps ironically, the old Ghost Busters required the new ghostbusters to return spooks to the forefront. Set in both famous locales and private homes, each week the reality show Ghost Huntersexplores those bumps in the night, and they’re ready to believe the crazy sounding claims of frighented people. And much like Venkman, Stantz and Spengler, the Ghost Hunters have a famous logo, use an array of gadgets, drive around in a signature vehicle and – most importantly – bustin’ makes them, and audiences, feel good.
It has also made the Syfy network feel very, very good now that the hit reality-TV show will reach the milestone of 100 episodes tonight, with the premiere of the sixth season – which will be celebrated with an episode at Alcatraz along with a live interactive fan viewing/Q&A.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have covered the Ghost Hunters, the two spin-off shows Ghost Hunters International and Ghost Hunters Academy, and much of the show’s TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) team onseveraloccasions since stars Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson began their televised mission of paranormal investigations in October 2004.
In that time, I have frequently wondered what makes the show so compelling to me as a writer, and to the three million viewers they draw each week. Even though the show has its detractors, there has to be sizable momentum for anything to last 100 episodes. Beyond the curiosity of “what’s beyond?”, what is it that inspires fans to spend small fortunes to travel across the country to join Hawes, Wilson and the rest of their TAPS group at lectures, signings and ticketed ghost hunts at haunted locations?
Based on personal interactions, I accept the image of the approachable, blue-collar family-men who are plumbers by day, ghost busters by night as legit. But even if the ghost hunter characters were complete orchestrations of an imaginative producer, it would be worth watching.
Additionally, the interplay of the paranormal unknown, the personalities of normal team members and the relatable blue-collar attitude succeeds in drawing about three million viewers each week. And the show’s personality and formula of investigation, evidence review and reveal has been spoofed and imitated by a dozen other shows - each attempting to add their unique spin to the paranormal TV genre.
Yet, amongst the familiar mythologies in all of reality television, theirs ranks in the top 10. Love the show or loathe it, believe it or call it bunk, Ghost Hunters is popular culture and has earned a spot in the reality-TV pantheon (which may be a dubious distinction considering the company).
Moreover, while true that paranormal investigative groups existed long before the Ghost Hunters show, it did spearhead the mainstream awareness of – and to a growing degree, acceptance of – these groups. The show ushered in something of a new wave of Spiritualism, the movement that began in the mid-19th century when séances were held in homes and people gathered in concert halls to watch a medium speak to spirits. However, this time the movement inspired people to form their own ghost hunting communities to help troubled home owners cope with undead squatters, or to spend nights exploring historic landmarks.
But maybe it all comes back to Ghost Busters. Yes, the appeal of exploring the unexplained connects to all of us on some level, but the Ghost Hunters show realizes and breathes life into those fictional pop icons. Anytime a “real life” James Bond or Batman pops up on the news, we take notice. When life imitates art, it’s intriguing. And the possibility that if Gozer the Gozerian ever shows up to ask us to choose our destroyer, we’ll have some guys ready to strap on the proton packs for our supernatural elimination needs.
Known only as The Conspiracy Nut, this writer comments frequently on his theories of machinations, scandals and conspiracies in paranormal pop culture and their connection to the real world. The views reflected in The Conspiracy Nut Report are wacky and (probably, hopefully, maybe?) completely untrue, and definitely not those of ParanormalPopCulture.com. However, they are fun to read.
The Conspiracy Nut Report
Mummies have been around for 6,000 years, but "mumming" has only been around for about 350 years. Yet instead of having anything to do with dusty bones, mumming involves colorful costumes and folk plays. It's a tradition that originated in Medieval Europe and in the Celtic countries (Ireland, Wales, Scotland). Some say it was started by our Druid friends.
But stateside, the most well-known group is the Philadelphia Mummers, who perform a parade every New Year's Day and even have a museum dedicated to them in The City of Brotherly Love, which is what brings us to our current conspiracy.
Vook - a video-book hybrid and the name of a California-based company that makes them - is releasing their take on “The Master of Rampling Gate,” a 1984 Anne Rice short story about a vampire and his young love, reports the Wall Street Journal.
According to WSJ, the digital version of the story will include the "6,500-word short story (shot through with hyperlinks to definitions of phrases readers might be unfamiliar with ... an interview with Anne Rice in her California home, and an interview with her son, Christopher Rice, in New Orleans, where Rice lived and worked for many years."
A preview of the Rice vook is embedded for your enjoyment.
Plants vs. Zombies, the iPhone App game by PopCap Games that launched Feb. 15 and currently has more than four thousand five-star reviews on iTunes, broke records as a top-selling game with 300,000 downloads in nine days, reports PCWorld. The game, which initially launched in May 2009 on Windows, pits anthropomorphic planty creatures against reanimated undead brain-food eaters and "hit number one in 'units sold' and 'top grossing' categories on Apple's App Store charts inside 24 hours of launching on February 15, then managed to hold the top spot until yesterday."
Looks like with these lively downloads, PopCap sure knows how to "produce" results. Amiright? Right?
In the wake of the British government's fifth and largest release (6,000 pages) of UFO files, the Los Angeles Times wrote an interesting editorial on how the extra terrestrial crafts we see change shape based on what's en vogue in pop culture. For instance, in the '40s, flying saucers were the shape of sightings and correlated with those in films such as Forbidden Planet. Then the triangular shape took over in sightings around the same time audiences discovered the Star Destroyers in Star Wars (left).
Granted, some might say it's the aliens influencing pop culture and not vice versa, but who am I to say? I just think it's an interesting observation by the Times.
There's not much to add to this delicious bit of reader mail that was sent to George Roush of LatinoReview.com. It's a letter accusing Universal Pictures of ripping off Stephenie Meyer's New Moon werewolves in The Wolfman - you know, the remake of their own 1941 film?
If this wasn't so hilarious, the idiocy on parade here would be tragic. I blame the schools.
To whom this may concern: This movie was a complete waste and I feel that it offends ALL Twilight Fans around the world, that including myself. For one, it was a COMPLETE remaking of the Wolf Pack from the Twilight Saga: New Moon. It gives the werewolves a bad name and makes them look like some deformed mutation of a rabid dog. I actually started to like werewolves after seeing Jacob Black and all his awesomeness on the big screen at the movies. That was until I saw your crappy remake of what you call to be a "were wolf". I don't see how you live with yourself for making it the way you did. If I made this movie, I would be ashamed to even admit that I owned it. How can a werewolf be killed with a silver bullet? Better yet, have you saw the transformation of the man that is "supposed" to be the wolf? He sits in some chair and his entire body turns in to some mutated freak. If you would watch the transformation of Jacob Black, (Taylor Lautner) he doesn't come close to looking as fake, cheap and or mutated as the wolf man. You tell me, who looks to be the better werewolf. Your stupid Wolf Movie didn't even make the top Movie for the charts; Valentines Day WITH TAYLOR Lautner! Get that this is MY oppinion and I felt I wanted to express it because I saw that your email was on your site. I wanted to let you know this is what i thought of the wolf man that sucks. FREAKIN LAUTNER DID!
Although their speech is largely comprised of moaning and the occasional "braainnssss," a U.S. Court of Appeals released a ruling on Wednesday guaranteeing the right of free speech to the walking dead, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
The ruling actually refers to seven protesters dressed as zombie (the slow-moving, shuffling kind) who were wrongfully arrested for disorderly conduct in 2006 in Minneapolis as part of a consumerism protest.
The ruling "reanimates the group's federal lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and its police, seeking damages of at least $50,000 for each person arrested."
So while the protesters are suing the city, George A. Romero should sue them for intellectual theft for ripping off his "zombies in mall" Dawn of the Dead plotline.
USA Today published a story, um, today, about haunted histories and ghost tours being good business for hotel (such as The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo., right) and a trend many establishments have come to embrace, despite some skepticism about the legitimacy of the paranormal happenings.
Well, duh.
This is a fine feature story and is newsworthy - three years ago.
In other news, Twitter is popular, kids these days like rock 'n' roll and talking movies might catch on.
The Eclipse, the Irish ghost story we mentioned last month, has premiered on Amazon video on demand, and it's a compelling flick worth the rental fee, and at the Irish Film and TV Awards, it picked up awards for Best Irish Film, Best Script (Conor McPherson and Billy Roche), and Best Supporting Actor (Aidan Quinn).
If you want to see if it's your cup of Irish Breakfast, watch the trailer below and check out the exclusive clip over at io9.
Over the course of 100 episodes of Ghost Whisperer, medium Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has crossed over 404 ghosts into the light.
To celebrate the centennial episode on Friday, March 5, 8 p.m., EST on CBS, here’s a list of 100 ghostly encounters that have wreaked havoc in the Ghost Whisperer world…
1. Melinda is almost decapitated by a ghost brandishing a chain saw.
2. Family matters are taken to a new low when, Melinda’s own father appears to haunt her from the grave.
3. Melinda is chased by what she thinks is a zombie when a ghost inhabits the body of a fresh cadaver. (This is known as a Walk-In in the spirit world)
4. Melinda is held captive in a pitch-black closet by an evil spirit.
It’s the 
But perhaps ironically, the old Ghost Busters required the new ghostbusters to return spooks to the forefront. Set in both famous locales and private homes, each week the reality show 
Additionally, the interplay of the paranormal unknown, the personalities of normal team members and the relatable blue-collar attitude succeeds in drawing about three million viewers each week. And the show’s personality and formula of investigation, evidence review and reveal has been spoofed and imitated by a dozen other shows - each attempting to add their unique spin to the paranormal TV genre.
