Even the Great Pumpkin is voting for...

Now, I know I've mentioned before that when it comes to appropriate topics for pub talk here at the Skull & Pumpkin, we hold fast to the mid-20th Century wisdom of one Linus Van Pelt:
"There are three things I've learned never to discuss with people -- religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin!"
However, in the case of this entire blog, we always exempt the last subject (there'd be no S&P, heck, no Hallowe'en, without the ol' Orange Gourd Overlord!)... and in the case of this post, I am exempting politics.

Well... okay, not really. This has absolutely nothing to do with politics in any manner whatsoever. I was just gunning for a way to get into the subject in some witty way.

I got to type 'ol' Orange Gourd Overlord', anyway.

Okay, listen up pubgoers -- this is the final week to cast your ballot for the

2010 RONDO AWARDS!

These purely-fan-driven Horror Awards were begun in 2002, the idea of David Colton and Kerry Gammill at the Classic Horror Film Board. They have no commercial sponsor, and any Horror lover can propose nominees and decide who gets one of these beauties, sculpted by Kerry Gammill (and cast by Tim Lindsey)...

... named, of course, in honor of one of the most iconic-yet-unsung 'heavies' in B-movie history, the acromegalic Rondo Hatton:

So... I want all of you to go here for the whole Rondo Awards story, and especially to copy/paste this year's ballot and submit it by the end of the week!

But I have another reason for begging your favor.

There's this buddy of mine, Max... another Hallowe'en and Horror nut who also happens to be a drunken severed head -- here he is with an old girlfriend:

Max here is nominated for TWO (2) Rondos this year.

Nomination #1 is for Best Blog. 

Now I suppose it's fair to ask "Is it in fact the best blog?", but then I'd have to say "Of course not, silly, that would be the ol' Skull & Pumpkin. What a stupid question."

BUT given that the Skull & Pumpkin truly resides in a realm far removed from mere awards, I am quite certain that of all the blogs actually on the ballot, you can't do better than Max's Drunken Severed Head blog. Seriously, please vote for him, would you?

Nomination # 2 is for Best Article.

Max wrote a tremendous (and tremendously loving) article for the June 2009 issue of Scarlet, The Film Magazine in posthumous tribute to one of the greatest artists in the genre, the late and very missed Linda 'Meek' Miller.

You can read the article and Max's annotations here.

Here's a sample of her incredible artistry:

I borrowed this image from artist Frank Deitz's Sketchy Things blog.

Linda passed in 2008 at a far too youthful age, and was one of the nicest, quirkiest, funniest ladies you could have ever known, and that was before you ever knew she was an incredibly gifted artist. Her hyper-realistic renderings of the classic icons of the Golden Age of Horror Film are finally being noticed by Horror fandom at large;  Max's article, along with his many tributes to her memory and her art at conventions and on the Web, are almost wholly responsible for the recognition her work is, at long last, beginning to enjoy.

Max's article is, in my estimation, the Best Article of the year without a doubt. I'm sure my brief but very fun and inspiring friendship with Linda 'Meek' Miller through the Universal Monster Army colors my view, but I sincerely cast this vote in Linda's natural Black & White. 

Won't you go vote for Max's blog and article in this year's Rondos?

I'm the proprietor of the Skull & Pumpkin and I approve this message.

O' ZOM-beeee!