Thursday, May 31, 2012

How Many Ghost Hunting Shows Do We Need???

I spent some time channel surfing today and it struck me as kind of funny how many television shows there are that are centered on the paranormal. I’m not sure how many there are. Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International, Ghost Adventures, Paranormal State, Haunted Collector, Extreme Paranormal, Ghost Lab and a half a dozen others. Hell, I’m surprised that there is room for more than a couple of these shows on TV, but ten or twelve?

If you spend enough time on Facebook or YouTube you’ll find a lot of groups that call themselves “ghost hunters.” Although I watch some of these shows, I never take this stuff too seriously. I don’t believe in ghosts. Kind of odd for a guy who writes horror, eh? I had to laugh when one of these “paranormal” groups sent me some kind of online friend request. Seriously man, just because you like the shows doesn’t mean you need to go buy a mini recorder and a video camera and recruit your drinking buddy to be “lead investigator” or the “equipment tech.” What the hell is an equipment tech, anyway?

Like I said, I watch some of these shows. They’re entertaining. GHI is cool and they have that one girl who is pretty easy on the eyes. I think the show has probably run a bit too long, though. I’ve seen every one of these ghost hunting shows at Waverly Hills at least two or three times. I guess they ran out of haunted places to investigate. So what’s next for the Ghost Hunters show? Ghost Hunters Canada or Ghost Hunters Kentucky? Seriously, there is probably a group of meth-heads in Nitro, West Virginia that call themselves professional ghost hunters.

After a while, all the episodes just kind of seem the same. Unless some really cool startling evidence comes up like a full body apparition or something diabolic jumping out at these ghost hunting groups on television, I think they need to spice it up a bit. Maybe a drunken ghost hunting episode. Or maybe a few more celebrities coming along. Actually show the guy on tape who loads his pants when he gets scared. At least we could get a good laugh. Or maybe hire the cameraman who used to follow the ladies around on Club MTV. That guy gave us all a lot of thigh! At least I’d tune into GHI a little more with to watch the good looking gal.

I guess my favorite of the paranormal shows is Ghost Adventures. It was more entertaining at first, but now it’s more like watching a guy who enjoys showing off his biceps as much as Johnny Bravo running around in the dark dropping F-bombs and cursing at ghosts. That show would be a heck of a lot better if they did a few episodes drunk!

These shows are still mildly amusing, but I guess when it gets oversaturated to the point where your neighbor thinks he’s a professional ghost hunter then maybe it is getting a bit too stale. Reality TV has sucked for a long time and just keeps getting worse. These shows still have potential but they sure need to shake things up a bit to keep it interesting. But I’ll still watch until I get bored and start looking for something else to watch…hopefully not in the category of reality TV!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Between the 80's and a Dark Place

It has been a busy past couple of months working on the two latest writing projects. As you know from my previous post I recently published "The Ultimate 80's" for e-readers. What a fun writing project. I think I had more fun writing that short book than any other book I have written to date. Mostly because of the nostalgia. What a great decade for movies and music. And remembering Jennifer Beals shaking those hips in the Flashdance video certainly put a smile on my face. Seriously, Jennifer, if you read this or the book...call me. Hehe.

If you haven't read the book yet, you can find it here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-80s-ebook/dp/B007Y6WZF6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336572996&sr=8-1

For those of you that have bought it so far, thanks! For those of you that plan to buy it I say thank you ahead of time. I think you'll get a few laughs out of this one. The Ultimate 80's was a far cry from the type of writing I usually do.

Most of the time I focus on the horror and suspense genres. I have published a four-part series called Legends and Landmarks (also found online), a short story compilation called To the Edge...And Back Again, and my latest release this week Dark Nights, another short story compilation. If you like Twilight Zone type stories then you'll like the short story compilations. Happy reading!