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Saturday January 1st 1972 might have been New Years Day, but in the Dayton, Ohio area that night belonged to a horror host with vampire fangs (that were dropped from the character pretty quickly thereafter) and white grease paint on his face. That host was Dr. Creep, and his show Shock Theatre was taking over late Saturday nights on Channel 22. Kids and adults at the time could not get enough of Dr. Creep's antics and silly skits. While at first he played the part scary, he quickly changed into a bumbling lovable ghoul. With his popularity high, Dr. Creep also became a co-host of the after school kids show Club House 22 that would feature all types of cartoons and live action kid shows as well as the hosts doing silly skits. In the 1980's, the show had a name change, and Shock Theatre became Saturday Night Dead. Sadly by March 1985, the show was cancelled for good on Channel 22. During his long run on TV, Dr. Creep was joined by all types of friends and co-hosts like Uncle Dow Thomas, a comedian good at playing off the wall characters and making up fun songs, and Obieyoyo, a pinheaded puppet and all around goofy guy. His most popular sidekick was Duffy The Dog, a giant white shaggy dog who would go along with Creep's ideas, and there were so many more memorable characters that shared the TV Screen with the good Dr. At one point Spider-Man even appeared on an episode! At the peek of Dr. Creep's popularity, he made many public appearances while driving around with his hearse and had a heart of gold, as he would do anything for charity and sick children. Creep even opened up his own charity called Project Christmas Smiles that would help get toys for less fortunate kids. Dr. Creep was the biggest celebrity in Dayton and was a household name. When I was a youngster, I knew the name and even meet him with my parents before I started kindergarten. While I don't remember the meeting, my mom does and told me all about it. My first memory of Dr. Creep, as you readers know, came from a story and picture that my brother Bryan told/showed me after meeting him at a movie theater that his school took him to, and this also lead to the first episode I got to watch with my dad and brother. I know that my dad was a Shock Theatre viewer as was my mom from time to time, and this might explain why watching and making my own horror host show is in my blood. So welcome to Horror Host Icon: Dr. Creep, an update I am very proud to bring you!
Sadly when Shock Theatre started I was not even born yet (as I was born in 1979) so by the time I was old enough to watch it, I only got the tail end of the show before it went off the air. So what I would like to do is have a few of my friends who grew up watching Creep during this time share some of their memories of watching him during his first run. I think that by having them talk about watching him you'll get a better idea of how much he impacted young lives here in Dayton. I wish my friend Andy Copp was alive to tell you about how Creep brought his family together, how he had homemade Dr. Creep pjs and how he almost drowned at a local pool when he was a kid running to meet Dr. Creep, all great stories and only his own words could do them justice. Up first to share his story of watching Shock Theatre on Channel 22 is a horror host from Dayton, Ohio, a man who I call my second dad and a person I call a close friend, the one and only A. GHASTLEE GHOUL!!
I was nine years old when the very first episode of Shock Theatre with Dr. Creep aired. It was January 1st, 1972, New Year's Day evening. That is, the end if the day following New Years Eve. My parents had gone to bed, likely still shaking off hangovers from the night before, while I stayed up flipping through the three local channels we had at that time in search of something to watch. Little did I know what I was about to find, and how it would change my life. On the screen appeared a scary, fanged visage of horror that beckoned to a fledgling monster kid: Dr. Creep, and yes, in the beginning he was SCARY! Far from the loveable character he would eventually evolve into, the one who would later host Clubhouse 22 in the afternoons and have children clamoring after him like a Halloween version of Santa Clause, this Creeper wasn't here to provide gentle comic relief from the movies he hosted, he was here to usher you into a dungeon of horrors and slam the door tight behind you. He had me at the first "Hoo-Ha-Haaah!"
In all honesty, I only saw about half of that first episode. The Doctor was hosting the classic Italian film Black Sabbath. I made it as far as the scene where the woman's corpse came back in search of her stolen ring, took one look at the stretched rictus of vengeance on her face, switched off the TV, ran to my room and lay there in terror with the covers pulled tightly over my head. After that I would tune in every week.
As I said, I'd always been kind of a monster kid. I loved the old Universal films, Godzilla, and TV shows like Night Gallery and The Outer Limits. I also had it in my mind that it would be very cool to host your own TV show, but before I saw Shock Theater I really wanted to be Captain Kangaroo or Soupy Sales. That would quickly change once I saw Dr. Creep. I knew I wanted to be THAT guy!
Years would pass before I got to meet the man in person. I was co-chairing the haunted house in Huber Heights and we went on Shock Theater to promote the place and invite him out for a personal appearance. It was so surreal being on the set with him that first time, standing in the "dungeon" with my hero, looking past the cameras at the news set across the studio. He was so kind and funny. I don't think I said two words. I was in awe and the time flew by like a whirlwind dream. When he made his appearance at the haunt I finally got over being star-struck enough to have real conversations with Barry, and he even gave us an idea for a scene for the house that we built and surprised him with the following year.
Skip ahead another few years, and making a long story a little shorter, I was hosting the first full season of my cable access program The Ghastlee Movie Show. There was an article in the Dayton Daily News about Barry and the sort of sad course his life had been taking since Shock Theater's cancellation. The article mentioned that a Best of Shock Theater tape was being made available, and had a contact number that turned out to be Rick Martin's. I called, we talked, and the next thing I knew there he was, Dr. Creep on the set of my silly little cable show! It was very nearly as surreal as that first time I was on his set. We joked and laughed together like old friends, the way Barry made everyone feel, and after that day we truly were close friends for years to come. I called him my "Illegitimate Step-Daddy." He called me his son. In a way I was, and am, his offspring.
Great memories from Ghastlee Ghoul and a perfect way to show the impact Creep had on the lives of people in the Dayton area. Creep impacted Ghastlee so much that he went on to make his own show that in turn has sparked another generation to be creative. The next person on the list is a good friend who since 1999 acted as Dr. Creep's manager and business partner, the one and only Rick Martin.
"My first time seeing Dr Creep was, I believe, when I was six or seven and my brother, sister and I were watching Clubhouse 22 in the afternoon. Here, amongst, Malcolme and his puppets, was a bumbling ghoul of a man doing magic tricks. Then I saw him on Shock Theatre. I believe he was showing Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman. The Frankenstein monster scared me to death but I loved the Wolf Man. Dr. Creep helped keep it together for me even when the monster was freaken' me out. When I was 10 or or so, we had a Back Yard Carnival for MD and I got sick that day with the flu. Dr Creep and his assistant gave me autographed 8 1/2 x 11 pictures and wrote for me to get well soon. A few months later I was on Clubhouse 22 and had a chance to meet Dr Creep. After 1985,when his show was cancelled, I met him again working as a guard at the Living Room, a local strip club. We talked and became friends. He came to the first official playtest of a game I wrote with my friend Anthoney Hensely called "Robots and Rockets". A few years after that, I started a company with Dr Creep aka Barry Hobart and we managed to get the rights back for Barry to once again don the cape of Dr. Creep. He was my friend until his passing. I miss him every day over these many years since he let slip his mortal coil. I love you Doctor Creep…"
In 1985, when Shock Theatre went off the air, Dr. Creep's alter ego Barry Hobart stayed on at the station as a master controller for a few years until, with bad blood between them, he left the station for good. For years Hobart was not allowed to wear the Dr. Creep make-up or use the name because Channel 22 "owned" the copyright to his image and name or so they claimed. Barry took assorted jobs like being a bouncer at a strip club and even was a security guard for a while. For 14 long years, Dayton was without Shock Theatre, and A. Ghastlee Ghoul popped up and filled the void, carrying the torch with his show "A. Ghastlee Movie Show" and helped hold the interest of the fans who were looking for the next Dr. Creep to fill their late nights with horrors and laughs. This is a prime example of how much your hometown horror host can mean to your town. His show was popular, and Dr. Creep was a major celebrity in the area. I can remember him sharing memories of being booked for store appearances and how much money they would pay him and the lines of people that would come to see him. While the money was nice, Dr. Creep really did it because he loved his fans. He loved the entertainment he brought to them and the late night chills he gave them. I would be so bold to say that if you lived in Dayton in the 1970's and 80's, you probably met Dr. Creep at some department store, school, movie theater or restaurant and you walked away from that meeting filled with joy and the feeling you had just made a new friend. While in this modern time when people are more glued to Netfix and iPhones and not watching local TV as much as they should, the horror host still holds special places in the hearts of those fans who watch them. Just ask the likes of Baron Von Porkchop and A. Ghastlee Ghoul about the support and love from their fans. Because of this love and respect, the late 80's and most of the 90's were really rough on those who loved Dr. Creep and Shock Theatre due to the lack of his presence of on the local airwaves.
In 1998, thanks to Rick Martin and RMM Agency, fans got a fix of Dr. Creep and Shock Theatre as a "Best of" VHS tape was released, and Barry returned as Dr. Creep for public appearances. Word of the tape and Creep's return spread quickly throughout the Dayton area, and rumors swirled about a possible return to TV. The VHS tape was a great seller and would spark a volume 2, and t-shirts were also made to mark the return of Dr. Creep. Many local video rental and media stores booked Dr. Creep to make appearances and to push the sales of his tapes, and the fans came out in full force to meet their horror host idol and gobble up his Best of tapes. I can remember Dr. Creep telling me how he was taken aback at the number of people who during his first return back to the grease paint came out to see him and it touched his heart to see how many people remembered him. I was just out of high school when this happened, and I can remember how much of a buzz was going around about Creep's return. I will be honest, I did get a little nostalgic as that old picture of he and my brother popped into my head and the memories of talks about the man echoed in my brain. My brother was also feeling a little nostalgic as he bought the VHS of Volume 1 and the Dr. Creep Lives T-Shirt from local record shop Renaissance Music and wore the shirt proudly. He would later give me the shirt, and I would also wear it around town with pride. Later, as VHS made way for DVD, both Volume 1 and 2 of the Best Of Shock Theatre made their way to a single DVD release that is still being sold to this day. A major thanks has to go out to Rick Martin for the return of Creep and the wonderful thing that was to happen next!
Andy Copp was a local film maker here in Dayton, Ohio who had made a film called Mutilation Man and also grew up watching Shock Theatre as a kid. He pitched the idea of bringing Dr. Creep back to TV for a whole new generation to watch and enjoy to Rick Martin and so spawned the relaunch of Shock Theatre that was now dubbed Shock Theater or better known as New Shock Theater. At first I think the idea was to try and get the show back on Channel 22, but things did not work out so the show found its home on local public access stations MVCC and DATV. I can remember the hype about the first show, and I and my Brother watched it on MVCC while munching on a huge bowl of popcorn. As the show started, we knew that Dr. Creep really was back! We would try and catch every new episode, and I even found myself watching the reruns and enjoying all the zany new fun. The show was different from the original show and had a storyline that would run throughout the episode at the series start. Later it would become horror convention interviews and even sit down topic discussions on events. Also missing were classic side characters of the past as it had no Duffy The Dog or Uncle Dow, but there were some great new ones added like Reverand Zealot, a religious cult like leader who loved zany cult films, and Geraldo, a hunchback worm faced mongoloid who loved to have fun. Gone were the lip synch dancing numbers to old tunes but in came Cult Corner hosted by Zealot, a place to showcase films that many viewers may not have known about. One of the biggest changes to the show was the age of Dr. Creep, who, at the time of filming, was in the early stages of very poor health and was having a hell of a time just moving around. With his limited movement also came a limit in what they were able to pull off for episodes. But even with all these changes, the show was great and showed that Dr. Creep did not miss a step in hosting and once more he was embraced by the viewers. The show was a staple of late night viewing for me, and this marked the true golden age of Dayton area public access as Dr. Creep and other horror hosts like A. Ghastlee Ghoul and Dr. Freak filled the airwaves and entertained. The New Shock Theater had a VHS run of select episodes that was sold at Dr. Creep's public appearances at Foy's Halloween Store and charity horror movie event Horrorama as well as conventions like Cinema Wasteland and Fright Vision. When DVDs took over for VHS, Rick and Andy released one DVD-R of the first episode of New Shock Theater. The impact of New Shock Theater is still felt to this day in the Dayton area, and thanks to this show, Dr. Creep was introduced to a whole new group of kids and monster movie fans.
Dr. Creep even ran for President twice and while he never won his Slumber Party Campaign was classic Horror Host stuff! He first ran in 1980 with his Vice President being Dow Thomas and they spent many episodes campaigning as well as talking to local Dayton residents about voting for Creep. In 2000 Dr. Creep once more put his top hat in the ring and tried once more to become President under the Slumber Party ticket with this time Vice President A. Ghastlee Ghoul! On many episodes of the New Shock Theater the two would have Q&A's with members of the audience and had such ideas as ban all Disco Music and every American must watch a horror film a week. Both runs for the office Creep also made bumper stickers that had the slogan "Put A Creep In The White House", and I can remember seeing many Creep and Ghastlee bumper stickers on cars that included one of my very own vehicles! I should also note that many people I knew in 2000 wrote in Dr. Creep's name but sadly he did not even come close to winning, as George Bush stole the election…as in really stole it…like his brother helped rig it…like yeah. But if Creep would have really ran and won makes you wonder what our country would be like today don't it?
In 2001 local Dayton band The Lawn Jockeys released a CD called "Amazing Sounds Of Shock Theatre: Starring Dr. Creep" that was a mix of jam band, horror & cult film clips and of course Dr. Creep! The CD was a pretty big deal when it was released and I can remember my brother going to Renaissance Music to pick up a copy, and us both listening to it and playing name that movie when clips would pop on.It was great to see a local band pay tribute to the king of late night Dayton Horror Hosting and many tracks on the CD are simply fantastic like Creep 303 and The U.F.O.'s Have Landed. From time to time we will also play some tracks off this CD on Alpha Rhythms on WYSO. If your a weird experamental jam band fan or are into Dr. Creep I would say make sure to check this CD out as it can still be bought on Amazon.
Around the time of New Shock Theater is when I got to know Dr. Creep and got to travel the convention roads with him as the no budget film company me and friends created called Independent B Movie was taking off and selling VHS copies of our movies. You see my brother had became close friends to Andy Copp and from that I got to become good friends with Andy and through him is how I got to become friends with Dr. Creep. I can remember the first convention we ever did was one called Fright Vision and Dr. Creep was nice enough to share part of his table with us and even tried to help sell our films like Werewolf Of Ohio and Suicide 2 as he would shout at people walking by. And that was just the start of our convention journeys as we attended several Cinema Wastelands together as well as other conventions like Scary Camp and Horrorhound Weekend. During this time I was also lucky enough to run camera on some episodes of New Shock Theater and helped set up interviews with celebrities, and was able to pick Creep's brain about horror hosting and his career as one. Listening to his stories of on set and off set adventures are things I will cherish and always remember from his biker bar fun with a young woman to his chat with Vincent Price all fascinating and enjoyable. Cinema Wasteland use to be the go to convention for Horror Host fans as they had a section of tables that was called "Horror Host Ally" that had the likes of not only Dr. Creep but many others including Son Of Ghoul, The Bone Jangler and Baron Von Wolfstein and they all would sell copies of their shows, t-shirts and mingle with the fans. But being at this convention for years and watching him shine among his people was heart warming and welcoming for a creative person like me who would later go onto film and direct Baron Von Porkchop. While Wasteland no longer does a host gathering fans of this art can go to Horrorhound Weekend every March and find a large amount of Horror Hosts in attendance as well as the Horror Host Hall Of Fame Ceremony. Below is some pictures of Dr. Creep at Cinema Wasteland over the years.
Speaking of the Horror Host Hall Of Fame Dr. Creep was inducted into the first class in 2011 by A. Ghastlee Ghoul and Andy Copp, Rick Martin and myself accepted the award on behalf of Dr. Creep. That moment I was filled with pride for my friend as I seen all his hard work in hosting paying off and a room full of his peers who all respected what he did and loved him as a part of their family clapping in his honor. I just wish Creep was around to have seen his induction, you see Dr. Creep who's real name was Barry Hobart passed away early in 2011 from complications from strokes at the age of 69. It was a sad day when I got the phone call from Rick who told me the terrible news, everyone at my work was sadden by the news and in his honor we played episodes of New Shock Theater for two days on the stores TVs. But while Creep was not with us on that day in body he was in spirit and his legacy will live on forever in the Horror Host Hall of Fame! Bellow is some pics of Creep and Reverend Zealot when they attended Horror Hound Weekends at two different times.
In 2014 I heard a very interesting rumor about Channel 22 wanting to relaunching Shock Theatre with a new host they would have called Professor Creep who would have had the classic Dr. Creep make-up but would have worn a graduation cap and gown as his outfit. The set was to be green screened and the show would have shown classic horror and science fiction films but would also have been used to promote upcoming events and products for sponsors of the station. I am not sure who they would have casted in the part of Professor Creep but one things for sure and thats Channel 22 must have gotten cold feet as the show never made it past the planning stages. It would have been interesting to see how classic Shock Theatre and Dr. Creep fans would have responded to this suddo "reboot" to the beloved show many of us Dayton folks grew up with, I for one would have welcomed the show as I would love to see another local made Horror Host on Dayton television and it would have been cool to see maybe a cross over with Baron Von Porkchop Dayton's current Horror Host. Below is a mock up of what the character Professor Creep would have looked like if the show would have been made.
Before we get into the New Shock Theater episodes I really want to take a moment at talk about my friendship with Dr. Creep and the man behind the grease paint Barry Hobart. In my youth as you can see I had meet Dr. Creep and seen his picture when he meet my brother at a movie theater function for his school but I didn't fully get to meet the man and become his friend till I meet Andy Copp and Rick Martin (thanks to my brother Bryan) who were doing The New Shock Theater for Public Access Television. I want to not get to mushy and talk about how much Barry/Creep meant to me cause if you really know me you know how much I cared for him so in this spot I just want to share some funny stories about my time hanging out and being around him. One of the first times I really got to be around Dr. Creep as he worked and showed why he was an icon of Horror Hosting in Dayton was when I helped on a LIVE episode of New Shock Theater that was airing on MVCC, I played a Mexican Wrestler who ran onto the set and took away Reverand Zealot for "stealing" Mexican Cinema as one of the films they showed that night was The Brainiac. Watching him live answer viewer calls and talk to guests like they were on a talk show was amazing and in between segments Creep would go out of his way to chat with me and all the other people on set, as everyone on set that day was his friend and he knew it as it was a cluster of cool people on set for that show the band The Lawn Jockeys, Horror Host A. Ghastlee Ghoul, Henrique Couto, Andy Copp, Josh Weinberg, Rick Martin, Bryan Brassfield as well as so many others. It was a magical day of TV show making and one I will not ever forget! Another great memory I have of my friendship with Dr. Creep is when he shouted at people to buy my old shot on video film Werewolf of Ohio 2 at Fright Vision as well as many Cinema Wastelands while we both were vending at those events, he use to tell me that it didn't matter the budget of the films I was making as long as my heart was in the films I made the viewers would see that and be entertained, very wise words and something I always remembered as I made no budget films for Independent B Movie and Bloodline Video. Speaking of Cinema Wasteland I can also remember many of times Dr. Creep would want to go and shoot interviews for his convention specials and Andy Copp would be tied up working his Nightcrew Video table and would ask me to follow Creep around and film and set up the interviews I use to enjoy watching him chat with the likes of Sid Haig and Bill Hinzman, one of the best was watching him deal with adult film actress Marilyn Chambers who he was a big fan of…the icon of Horror Hostsing was so star struck around her it made me chuckle inside. I also was able to film some of his interviews at Dayton's Scary Camp as well as some others at random conventions, I can remember sitting with him at his table as we talked about the past and his days on Channel 22 as well as funny stories of some of his public appearances, the one story he would tell me a million times was the time he got to meet and interview Vincent Price and how he wished I could find that lost footage of his show Shock Theatre that aired in the 80's of this meeting. I use to love to sit with him during breaks between movies at Horrorama the charity event that he created with Andy Copp and Rick Martin that they allowed me to help out at and hearing him try and get fans to get him Hot Dogs and Mountain Dews both things he was not allowed to eat! Plus being at the event and hearing him boom out with a silly one liner during the film and the audience laughing always put a smile on my face. Some of my favorite times with Creep was when we would check out ladies together at conventions, yes I would check out women with Dr. Creep who would say lines like "Ohhhhh Would You Look At Her" among other creepy and silly things! Creep loved the ladies and I must say the ladies loved him as well as he had a charm to him that drew them in like humming birds to a flower. One thing that I have always regretted is not filming new episodes of Shock Theater with Dr. Creep in 2009 as we had many ideas planned and this would have given his fans as well as Creep himself new and scripted out adventures to air on DATV and beyond. I find myself like many of his friends thinking about Barry Hobart and his Dr. Creep character all the time as he was a one of a kind person who made everyone feel special and helped teach this strange monster/metal head/comic geek/gammer kid that it was ok to be who you are and to always not let others hold you back. I love ya Barry and this update is for you and to honor what you did for not just me but the millions of others your kindness touched.
Those are just some of the memories I have of my friendship with Dr. Creep and I am sure if you were lucky to be his friend or even ever truly meet the man you have some amazing and fun stories that you could share, and I hope you do so in the comments as I am sure others and myself would love to read them! So it's at the point in the update were we will take a look at the episodes of Dr. Creep I own and given sadly at this point no known full original aired broadcasts of Shock Theatre or Saturday Night Dead have been unearthed we will take a look at all the episodes of New Shock Theater! The Host Write ups are done by me and the movie write ups are done by IMDB. So lets take a trip down memory lane and take a hosted trip with The Creepster!
New Shock Theater: Assignment Terror
Starring – Paul Naschy & Michael Rennie Not Rated 1970
Host: Two brain dead grave robbers are sent to bring Dr. Creep back to life and by doing so they have also brought back SHOCK THEATER! Dr. Creep once more steps into Horror hosting with out even missing a beat and shows Paul Naschey's classic Monster romp called Assignment Terror, and along this re-birth journey we are treated to Reverand Zealot's "Cult Corner" were he looks at the Peter Jackson classic "Meet The Feebles", Get a video postcard from Duffy The Dog and show a "Home Made Shock" that has a killer vacuum cleaner directed by a young Andy Copp all this and fake trailers and PSA's show the true Icon of Dayton hosting is back! And yes he makes those Grave Robbers pay for waking him from his 14-year sleep.
Movie: Aliens from a dying world plot to conquer earth by praying on man's superstitions. Bringing two dead scientists back to life, they use their knowledge to re-animate various earth monsters, including the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky, Frankenstein's monster, the mummy Tao-Tet, and the vampire Count de Meirhoff.
New Shock Theater: Daughter of Horror
Starring – Adrienne Barrett & Ed McMahon Not Rated 1955
Host: In this second episode Dr. Creep gets a strange package that seems to be crying from the inside! When he reads the note attached it's from a lady he went on a romantic trip to the Bermuda Triangle with and this opens more questions to what is in that box? Along the way he talks to a drunk Ed McMahon, we see some great movie trailers and get another "Home Made Shock" film called "JUNGLEBORG: Man of Mystery" directed by Joe Mackanzie, we visit Reverand Zealot's Cult Corner has the master of cult looking at the film "Cannibal Ferox", and more important we do find out what's in the box!
Movie: As the narrator invites us to explore the horrors of an insane mind, a young woman wakes from a nightmare in a cheap hotel room. We follow her through the skid-row night and encounters with an abusive husband; a wino; a pimp and the rich man he panders for; a flashback to her traumatic childhood; violence; pursuit through dark streets; dementia. Filmed in film-noir style throughout; only the narrator speaks.
New Shock Theater: The Killing Of Satan
Starring – Ramon Revilla & Elizabeth Oropesa Not Rated 1983
Host: Dr. Creep has a visitor it's a little boy who idolizes Satan and wants nothing more then to be Satan! But the MPA shows up and threatens to take The New Shock Theater off the air! All the while a magic voice is given wrong voiceovers about the events. The strange little Boy will not give up on being evil and wanting to be Satan so its up to Dr. Creep to cure the youth of his sinister ways…and does so but you must watch to see how. Also Reverand Zealot treats us to another "Cult Corner" this time it's the shot on video horror film called "Original Sin" and we get trailers form other public access shows and horror and cult flicks.
Movie: A man who is chosen by his dead uncle to battle the forces of evil. He fights a being called "The Prince of Magic," who shoots rays from his hands, makes heads spin around and hypnotizes people. He finally faces Satan himself and engages him in a battle of magic.
New Shock Theater: Mill Of The Stone Women
Starring – Pierre Brice & Scilia Gabel Not Rated 1960
Host: A stranger breaks into Creep's crypt and hides a cursed nose, the Nose just knocks over and over causing Creep and his female fan Guest wonder what is its cause, and worse now Creep has a nasty cold and so does his guest. Reverand Zealot joins in on the search and they find the cursed nose! Can Dr. Creep and Zealot defeat the nose? Who Placed this cursed nose in the crypt? And why is there a "Ghost" child walking around the crypt all those questions and more will be answered in this episode! And also Reverand Zealot's "Cult Corner" this time showcases Dario Argento's classic "Suspira", we get more trailers and vintage commercials.
Movie: Hans arrives in a town near Amsterdam to write a story on the reclusive sculptor, Professor Val, who lives on an island in the old mill house the locals call the Mill of the Stone Women. Hans meets the professor's beautiful and seductive daughter, and begins feeling passion for her despite his true love for Lisa Lotta. Slowly he becomes aware of the nefarious experiments being conducted by Val and his furtive assistant Dr. Boles, and local women continue to disappear.
New Shock Theater: Strange Behavior
Starring – Michael Murphy & Fiona Lewis Rated R 1981
Host: In this episode Dr. Creep is worried about the youth of today with their rap music, and pop culture and remembers back to his time of youth! And when that Strange Satan kid is back, Creep along side is hunchback friend Geraldo decide to turn the strange Kid into a normal kid! And the Geraldo is hit by a car after playing in traffic! The "Cult Corner" returns with Reverand Zealot has the splatter masterpiece "Cat in the Brain" directed by Lucio Fulci as his selected film. But by turning this creepy kid into a normal kid does Creep release something worse on he world..like a young republican!!
Movie: A scientist is experimenting with teenagers and turning them into murderers.
New Shock Theater: Rat Man
Starring – David Warbeck & Janet Agren Not Rated 1988
Host: This episode of "The New Shock Theater" is filled with bloopers and outtakes, due to the Good Dr. taken some time off for Easter. And we get a "Homemade Shock" called "No Fun" directed by Andy Valeri just for a little more fun.
Movie: A maniac butchers a fashion model on a Caribbean island and leaves the body to be eaten by rats. The model's sister suspects something isn't quite right with the police investigation and decides to go snooping on her own. With her friend, Fred, their investigation lead them to an unknown part of the island where they discover a monstrosity of a rat like man. The creature is killed by Fred, but the true horror of it's nature is just beginning…
New Shock Theater: When Women Had Tails
Starring – Senta Berger & Frank Wolff Rated R 1970
Host: This is a special episode were Dr. Creep sits down with director Andy Copp and producer Rick Martin to talk about the tragic killings at Columbine High School that took place April 20th 1999. This episode is very serious one and really breaks down their thoughts on the massacre and the way the media handled it.
Movie: A bunch of 7 orphan cavemen grow up on a little island all by themselves. After a fire burns all vegetation they set out to find a new place to live. Here, one day they trap a strange animal, looking very similar to them, only softer and with longer hair. She (Filli) feels attracted to one of the brothers (Ulli) and convinces him, that a certain kind of playing with each other is far more satisfying than just eating her. He hides her and serves the other cavemen a goat. Soon Ulli and Filli are playing the Johnson-Game quite frequently. But the others find out about this and want to see what's so great with "johnsonning". After they all force Filli to show them the game too, she manages to flee with Ulli. Being pursued by the 6 men of Ulli's clan, they meet the rest of Filli's clan: A tribe of about 150 unsatisfied women, who just love to have new men around for playing.
New Shock Theater: Thing With Two Heads
Starring – Rosey Grier & Ray Milland Rated PG 1972
Host: Dr. Creep is back and shares his vacation photos with the viewers and his special guest – a real two-headed transplant! Dr. Creep shares a book he's been reading and everything comes to a head when the two-headed transplant announces it's desire to marry itself and live in magical Yellow Springs! All this plus trailers and homemade commercials.
Movie: A rich but racist man is dying and hatches an elaborate scheme for transplanting his head onto another man's body. His health deteriorates rapidly, and doctors are forced to transplant his head onto the only available candidate: a black man from death row.
New Shock Theater: House Of Exorcism
Starring – Telly Savalas & Elke Sommer Rated R 1975
Host: Dr. Creep waxes nostalgic for the days of the drive-in theater and shares his memories of the now closed drive-ins around Dayton, Ohio. He shares a Halloween drive-in story about a friend named Trapper John and the pranks they pulled. So come and re-live the great days of the drive-in with Dr. Creep and be treated to trailers and classic drive-in spots!
Movie: A total re-edit of Mario Bava's gothic classic Lisa and the Devil (1973) for US release in 1975. Cheesy exorcism scenes were shot to try to capitalize on the success of The Exorcist (1973).
New Shock Theater: Touch Of Satan
Starring – Michael Berry & Emby Mellay Rated PG 1971
Host: Dr. Creep has invited a group of psychotics from the local insane asylum and wants to know how Satan has touched their lives. He meets the spawn of Satan and his mother, a man who has turned into a monkey, a goofy man-child – all whose lives have been affected by the lord of darkness. Home-made Shock returns with the film "Requiem" directed by Andy Valeri.
Movie: On his way to California, Jodie decides on a whim to make a brief side trip to a farm, where he meets and falls in love with Melissa, the proverbial farmer's daughter. Or so it seems. In between the overlong dramatic pauses, we learn that Melissa is in fact a 120-year-old witch, and her remarkably spry "great-grandmother," Lucinda, is actually her sister, who has been pitchforking people to death in her spare time. When Lucinda murders a local policeman, things start to get real complicated for Jodie.
New Shock Theater: Last Man On Earth
Starring – Vincent Price & Emma Danieli Not Rated 1964
Host: In this episode Dr. Creep and Geraldo The Hostess Monster have the crypt invaded by a group of monsters that include a mummy, a witch, a werewolf and a monkey man, all running away from normal people. This gives Creep the idea to open his crypt as a Monster Sanctuary and to keep the "Normals" away! Dr. Creep also speaks of his time interviewing Vincent Price on Channel 22, and we are treated to more trailers from classic horror films from years past.
Movie: When a plague devastated life on Earth, the population died or became a sort of zombie living in the dark. Dr. Robert Morgan is the unique healthy survivor on the planet, having a routine life for his own survival: he kills the night creatures along the day and maintains the safety of his house, to be protected along the night. He misses his beloved wife and daughter, consumed by the outbreak, and he fights against his loneliness to maintain mentally sane. When Dr. Morgan finds the contaminated Ruth Collins, he uses his blood to heal her and he becomes the last hope on Earth to help the other contaminated survivors. But the order of this new society is scary.
New Shock Theater: The Skull
Starring – Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee Not Rated 1965
Host: Dr. Creep has a guest in the crypt and its The Jewish Stud and they are attacked by The Skull of Drexel! This leads to Dr. Creep sharing true ghost stories and odd going on's in the state of Ohio, from a headless ghost in Cincinnati to Hamilton Ohio's Lover Lane skull ghost! And just spends time having fun in his crypt. Cult Corner returns with Reverand Zealot and he speaks to us about Letterboxing compared to Full Frame movies.
Movie: A collector of esoterica, Dr. Maitland, buys an unusual skull from his ordinary source of artifacts. The skull is what remains of marquis De Sade. Much too soon he discovers how the skull affects him: by turning him into a frenzied killer.
New Shock Theater: Samson In The Wax Museum
Starring – El Santo & Norma Mora Not Rated 1963
Host: In this episode Dr. Creep visits Cinema Wasteland 2001 in Strongsville Ohio and shows you the fun and good times that was had by all, he also interviews Son of Ghoul, Col. Klink and Cult film Director Andy Copp interviews Kevin Van Hentenryck of Basketcase fame.
Movie: El Santo, the masked Mexican wrestler, investigates a series of kidnappings. He discovers that the mysterious Doctor Caroll is using the victims as part of his experiments to develop an army of monsters. Naturally, El Santo is able to overcome them all – with wrestling!
New Shock Theater: The Headless Eyes
Starring – Bo Brundin & Kelley Swartz Rated X 1971
Host: Dr. Creep is back after a battle with sickness and welcomes Reverand Zealot to the crypt and they discuss the film at hand "The Headless Eyes". Then they talk about films that are so bad that they wish they could remove there own eyes to get out of watching! A tell jokes about what you don't wanna hear the doctors say during a surgery as written by Shock Theater Icon Dow Thomas, and just some idol chatter among Creep and his guest. On Reverand Zealot's Cult Corner he showcases the David Cronenberg film "eXistenZ" and along with this we get trailers for other cult films and Public Accuses Shows.
Movie: Poor artist gets eye gouged out while committing a robbery. When his eye heals, he goes on a killing spree and cuts out women's eyes with a spoon.
New Shock Theater: Giant Spider Invasion
Starring – Alan Hale Jr. & Steve Brodie Rated PG 1975
Host: Dr. Creep this time around is being attacked by a giant fly as he tries to host the show, so in order to put a stop to this annoying fly he calls 1470's and gets a Exterminator that drops off an even bigger spider to capture the fly. Will Creep get ride of the fly or will his own fear of spiders get to him first? And what will happen when Reverand Zealot tries to come to Dr. Creep's rescue.The Cult Corner with Reverend Zealot he shares an underground film called "Ice From The Sun" directed by Eric Stanze, and as always we are treated to trailers for films and public accuses shows.
Movie: A black hole hits North Wisconsin and opens a door to other dimensions. Giant 15 meter spiders emerge from it, who have an appetite for human flesh! Dr. Jenny Langer and Dr. Vance from the NASA try to save the world.
New Shock Theater: Goke Body Snatcher From Hell
Starring – Hideo Ko & Tomomi Sato Rated PG 1968
Host: Put a Creep in the White House! This showcases Dr. Creep's thoughts on the issues that drive the good old USA. He runs on the Slumber Party ticket with his running mate, A Ghastlee Ghoul. Their platform includes banning nothing (except disco), and requiring that all Americans watch at least one horror film a week. Will this cracker jack candidate team win the White House? Only time and your vote will tell. This episode also includes a variety of trailers.
Movie: The survivors of a plane crash in a remote area are attacked by blob-like alien creatures that turn their victims into blood-thirsty vampires.
New Shock Theater: I Eat Your Skin
Starring – William Joyce & Matt King Rated PG 1971
Host: The quest to Put a Creep in the White House continues. Running mates Dr. Creep and A. Ghastlee Ghoul appear on a candidates forum hosted by Reverend Zealot. They're joined by Andy Valeri of Big Beef records and discuss Dr. Creep's recent collaboration with the Lawn Jockey's. They take questions from concerned voters and discuss strategies for moral decency in America. Also included in this episode: trailers and the first appearance of the Hell-O Satan Dancer.
Movie: A cancer researcher on a remote Caribbean island discovers that by treating the natives with snake venom he can turn them into bug-eyed zombies. Uninterested in this information, the unfortunate man is forced by his evil employer to create an army of the creatures in order to conquer the world.
New Shock Theater: Macumba Love
Starring – Walter Reed & Ziva Rodann Not Rated 1960
Host: Dr. Creep is once again at Cinema Wasteland 2001 and goes around the convention interviewing the stars such as Ken Kish owner of Cinema Wasteland, Chris Seaver, Teen Ape, Kurvs Girl, Bill Blair from Babylon 5 and Maniac Cop himself Robert Z'Dar! Also filled to the brim with great trailers for other bad cheesy films.
Movie: J. Peter Wells, an expose writer, arrives on an island off the coast of South America (no country identified), to complete a book on voodoo, ju-ju,macumba, mojo and other cult beliefs, which he believes is responsible for unsolved murders on this island. Wealthy land-owner Venis de Vias warns him against stirring up the natives, especially any efforts to lessen the prestige of the reigning VooDoo Queen Mama Rata-loi. The arrival of Wells' daughter, Sara, and her husband, Warren, on a honeymoon trip, starts the pot to boiling and making the natives restless. Most restless of all is Mama Rata-loi, who asserts her powers and puts a spell on Venus de Viasa. The next thing honeymooner Warren knows is that he is trussed up and about to become the one chosen to die in a voodoo ceremony.
New Shock Theater: Devils Wedding Night
Starring – Sara Bay & Xiro Papas Rated R 1973
Host: In this episode of "The New Shock Theater" Dr. Creep is in the studio with Dayton band The Lawn Jockyes as they record the album "The Amazing Sounds of Shock Theater" and shows you all the behind the scenes stuff that lead to one of Ohio's most popular CD's! We also get treated to come classic 1993 footage of Dr. Creep at the Neon Movies for the premiere of Peter Jacksons "Dead-Alive", along for the fun is Independent film icon Jim Van Bebber and Geoff Burkman as zombies wondering the streets of Dayton! Also shown is some classic old trailers.
Movie: The 1800s: scholarly Karl Schiller believes he's found the ring of the Nibelungen, which holds great power. It's at Castle Dracula. His twin, Franz, a gambler, asks if vampires frighten Karl; Karl shows him an Egyptian amulet, which may protect him. Franz takes the amulet and sets out ahead of his brother, arriving at the castle first. There he finds a countess who invites him to dine. Later that night, Karl arrives. Coincidently, it's the Night of the Virgin Moon, a night that falls every fifty years and draws five virgins from the surrounding village to the castle not be heard from again. Can Karl protect his brother, find the ring, and rescue any of the women?
New Shock Theater: Devil Doll
Starring – Bryant Haliday & Alan Gifford Not Rated 1964
Host: Dr. Creep goes to "Renaissance Music" to promote the CD "Amazing Sounds of Shock Theater" and chats with the owner Geoff Burkman who played a zombie in "DAY OF THE DEAD" and has been a local legend of film and stage star for many years. The two chat it up over all types of subjects that include Frisbee Golf and even George A Romero! Also includes trailers and a music video for The Lawn Jockyes song "Creep 303".
Movie: Vorelli is a ventriloquist & hypnotist, with an amazing dummy, Hugo. Vorelli meets and pursues a beautiful heiress (Marianne); he mesmerizes her, and induces a baffling coma. His buxom mistress (Magda) fears he'll dump her for the younger woman, and threatens to expose him. Vorelli tricks Hugo into killing Magda while he's safely elsewhere. Marianne's boyfriend Mark investigates. He discovers another killing in Vorelli's past, of a man called Hugo. The girl wakes from her coma, and announces she will marry the hypnotist. When the triumphant Vorelli tells Hugo his plans for Marianne and a new, female dummy, a final confrontation yields surprising results.
New Shock Theater: Attack Of The Beast Creatures
Starring – Robert Nolfi & Julia Rust Not Rated 1985
Host: Dr. Creep with time invades the horror convention "Fright Vision" in 2002! Dr. Creep once more along with his camera man goes around and gets interviews with guests that include Hayden from Witching Hour Video also known as Horror Host "I, Zombi", Actress Lilith Stabbs, Horror Host Dr. Shock and the guys of Brains on Film. Also we get trailers and some footage of The Lawn Jockyes playing while Belly Dancers dance taken from a classic "Live" New Shock Theater.
Movie: Survivors of a shipwreck wash up on an island, and run into small vicious creatures.
New Shock Theater: Ghastlee Wedding Special
Starring – A. Ghastlee Ghoul & Dr. Freak Not Rated 2003
Host: At Cinema Wasteland October 4th 2003 horror host A. Ghastlee Ghoul married Horror Hostess Suspira in the worlds first and only Horror Host Wedding! Dr. Creep (who's also the best man) brings The New Shock Theater crew to the event and this you have "Ghastlee's Wedding Special" so sit back and join in the fun and watch history unfold before your very eyes! Along the way Dr. Creep and film maker Andy Copp talk to people at the convention about the wedding and the event.
Movie: Clips from Cinema Wasteland 2003.
New Shock Theater: Scary Camp Special
Starring – Tommy Gunn & Conrad Brooks Not Rated 2004
Host: May 28th -30th 2004 was Ghastlee's Scary Camp, Dayton, Ohio's first Horror film convention and Dr. Creep shot a very special edition of New Shock Theater! The show is hosted in the Crypt by Dr. Creep and the Reverand Zealot who show clips from the amazing event. Dr. Creep interviews A. Ghastlee Ghoul, Conrad Brooks (Plan 9 from Outer Space), Joe Estevez, Sid Haig, Make-Up artist Jeff Krodel and Ken Kish of Cinema Wasteland. Also shown is a full "Freakshow Deluxe" performance from Tommy Gunn, a look at the Evil Dead Museum and some weird and wild clips.
Movie: Clips from Scary Camp 2004.
New Shock Theater: Eegah
Starring – Arch Hall Jr. & Richard Kiel Unrated 1962
Host: Dr. Creep and Reverend Zealot have a relaxing time on the set and chat about the nights film as well as the actors who made it come alive.
Movie: While driving through the desert, a teenage girl is frightened by a seven-foot giant which appears in her path. After escaping, she returns to the site with her boyfriend and her father in an attempt to find the giant. They do, and it proceeds to terrorize them and the rest of Palm Springs, California.
New Shock Theater: Flesh Feast
Starring – Veronica Lake & Doug Foster Rated R 1970
Host: Dr. Creep and Reverend Zealot are back relaxing on the set of New Shock Theater and chat about the nights film Flesh Feast as well as the actress Veronica Lake. They also chat about Dr. Creep's uncle Doug Hobart who was a star in many films shot in Florida.
Movie: Dr. Elaine Frederick has just perfected a way of using maggots to make her test subjects not only look younger, but actually become younger. When they hear of the results of her experiments, her first clients, a team of hispanic neo-nazis, are delighted with the news. It seems they have a very elderly VIP in their group who needs to be rejuvenated before he can begin rebuilding his thousand-year reich. As their plan moves toward its completion, Dr. Frederick's habit of experimenting on stolen corpses begins to attract the attention of an investigative reporter.
Live New Shock Theater: Impulse & The Flesh Eaters
Starring – William Shatner & Ira Lewis Rated PG/Not Rated 1974/1964
Host: It's April Fools Day! Dr. Creep and crew have decided to show a double feature of cheesy films…and they do it all LIVE! It's The Groovie Shock-A-Thon! This was the first live Shock Theater is nearly 20 years and it's filled with live calls. Cameos and a live in-house band! Guests featured include The Lawn Jockeys, Reverend Tommy Gunn, Henrique Couto and Andy Copp.
Movies: Impulse – A paranoid, leisure-suit-wearing conman/gigolo named Matt Stone seduces lonely women, bilks them of their savings via an investment scam, then kills them. When he begins seeing an attractive widow, her daughter Tina becomes suspicious of his motives. The Flesh Eaters – An alcoholic actress, her personal assistant, and their pilot are downed on a secluded isle by bad weather, where a renegade Nazi scientist is using ocean life to develop a solvent for human flesh. The tiny flesh-eating sea critters that result certainly give our heroes a run for their money – and lives.
Live New Shock Theater: Brainiac & Blood Freak
Starring – Steve Hawkes & Abel Salazar Rated X/Not Rated 1972/1962
Host: The second live episode of New Shock Theater took place in 2001. Dr. Creep chats with fellow Horror Hosts A. Ghastlee Ghoul and Dr. Freak as well showcases his in house band The Lawn Jockeys.
Movies: Blood Freak – A biker comes upon a girl with a flat tire and offers her a ride home. He winds up at a drug party with the girl's sister, then follows her to a turkey farm owned by her father, a mad scientist. The father turns the biker into a giant turkey monster who goes after drug dealers. The Brainiac – In 1661 Mexico, the Baron Vitelius of Astara is sentenced to be burned alive by the Holy Inquisition of Mexico for witchcraft, necromancy, and other crimes. As he dies, the Baron swears vengeance against the descendants of the Inquisitors. 300 years later, a comet that was passing overhead on the night of the Baron's execution returns to earth, bringing with it the Baron in the form of a horrible, brain-eating monster that terrorizes the Inquisitor's descendants.
There is also a lost episode that only aired once; it was a Christmas episode and had Dr. Creep hosting The Deathmaster. After the original airing, someone at the station stole the tape, or that's what director Andy Copp told me some years back. It's also really sad because in the final episode of New Shock Theater (Flesh Feast) Dr. Creep is so happy and gives a list of films that he will be hosting soon. Sadly he never did get to host them as his health and Andy Copp getting busy with other projects kept the episodes from being shot. On a good note and something that might make fans happy I have come across most the raw footage for this episode and at sometime in the future I might try and recut the episode as the best I can and release it on DVD as well as show it on the Kreepy Kastle online Horror Host station. Dr. Creep impacted the lives of those who watched his show in the 70's all the way to the 2000's and still does even to this day and it shows in the shows of the hosts that followed as almost all of them credit him for their interspersion hosts like A. Ghastlee Ghoul, Baron Von Porkchop, Dr. Freak and Iris & Retina all from Dayton who cared on the tradition he started here and all do it with pride and to honor Creep who paved the way for them. This update was a fun one to write and so many great memories came back and flooded my mind about Barry. Next to Commander USA, this has been my favorite Horror Host Icon update I have written to date! If you have a fun story about Dr. Creep, please share in the comments, and if you have any original broadcast episodes of his Channel 22 days, please contact me as I would love to get a copy from you. To continue the countdown to the Halloween update that will be a surprise custom comic made by my good friend Eric Shonborn, our next update will be about The Fly and IDW's sequel to the series started by David Cronenberg in 1986. So make sure to come back for that one and bring some Raid and a flyswatter just in case of a infestation..and as always read a comic or three and support your local horror host.


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The modern American culture has swerved so far away from the 7-millennium long traditional family-centered culture to the current career-centered culture that young women are virtually forced by cultural pressure to pursue a career as a higher priority than the family. Some have claimed it is possible to have it both ways. The reality is that more and more women are discovering that by definition there can only be one priority. If the priority is career, the family will suffer now and later.
Many women would genuinely prefer to be a homemaker. But those who are brave enough to face the wolfish cultural pressure may be confronted by another barrier closer to home. Today, many married men presumptively expect their wives to have a money-earning job outside the home.
Traditionally—at least up until a few decades ago—men would be embarrassed if their wives worked outside the home. The men were proud of their ability to provide for the material needs and the security of their home. In just a few short decades, their pride succumbed to radical feminist pressures and transitioned to, "Honey, it's OK to get a job if you want to; either way is OK with me." The laisse-faire attitude, which was often interpreted by women as uncaring eventually became today's, "Honey, you MUST have a job to help pay all of the bills."
Severe cultural pressures and often poor financial planning create formidable barriers for the would-be homemaker. Here's the rub! Men, if any of you are pressuring your wife to pursue a career, rather than encouraging her to be a homemaker, God has a very direct and stern warning for you. As you read the quote in three translations, remember, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:"
- "The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory forever. Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction." [Micah 2:9-10 King James Version]
- "You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes. You take away my blessing from their children forever. Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy." [Micah 2:9-10 New International Version]
- "You throw my people's women out of the homes they love. You deprive their children of my glory forever. Get up and go! You can't stay here! Because [the land] is now unclean, it will destroy you with a grievous destruction." [Mikhah 2:9-10 Complete Jewish Bible]
The clarity of the three scripture translations is inescapable. Regardless of today's cultural pressures, a husband must not encourage his wife to pursue a job outside the home. Whether or not she actually does is another discussion. However, first consider this:
God views the entirety of history as a continuum from Creation through the coming of the Messiah. He sees a holistic master portrait. That portrait includes a seamless parade of generations, each receiving the baton of civilization from the previous generation and passing it on to the next generation. At least that is His intent.
The woman as wife and mother is the link between generations. She learns from the previous generation, primarily from her mother, gives birth to the next generation, and is primarily responsible for nurturing and raising the next generation to become men and women of strong character, capable of carrying the baton of civilization onward to the following generation. She is ultimately responsible for the cohesiveness of the family and the sustainability of the culture.
The passage in Micah 2:9 indicates that when the homemaker is "cast out," driven out, or thrown out of the home, to pursue material goals, the missing link forms a disconnect in the flow of generations and the preservation of civilization. The disconnect deprives the children of God's glory for a very long time—the passage says, "forever."
Visualize the disconnect as a seamless hand-knit sweater. When a single piece of yarn is broken, a slight tug causes the entire sweater to unravel. Similarly, the entire fabric of America unravels and is rapidly unraveling today when the family link in time is broken. Wow! That's heavy; think about it for a few moments.
The greatest expression of love between a married man and woman is the birth of a child. New parents often cry out, "It's a miracle from God!" and so it is. The child remains every bit as much a miracle at ages 2, 5, 10, 16 or beyond. The miracle child is on loan from God throughout the growing years. God has assigned the enormous responsibility to the parents, primarily the mother, to care for and raise His created miracle to become an adult of strong character who will continue to honor God and pass along an improved baton to the following generation. How could anything be a higher priority?
God places very high and challenging expectations on the woman. Her husband's job is to make her job easy. One day, the parents causing or contributing to a disconnect at the expense of the children will be accountable to God. If that is you, what will you say, when God asks, "What did you do with my miracle?"

subset: commoncrawl


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Despite previous reports indicating the UFC was planning to hold an event in Brazil on Nov. 15, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has confirmed the promotion is not expected to venture to the South American MMA hotbed on that date.
Sources close to the promotion indicated that preliminary talks to host a Nov. 15 event in Brazil may have taken place at some point but that UFC officials never formally confirmed such plans.
Brazilian MMA reporter Guilherme Cruz first tweeted news of the potential event, which would have taken place on Brazil's Republic Day national holiday. MMA Fighting later linked the rumored event, expected to serve as the fourth UFC on FOX Sports 1 event, to Goiania, Goias, Brazil. However, MMAjunkie.com has since confirmed with multiple sources the UFC currently has no such plans.
The UFC already has two future visits to Brazil on the schedule, as "UFC 163: Aldo vs. Jung" take place Aug. 3 in Rio de Janeiro and "UFC on FOX Sports 1 3: Teixeira vs. Bader" is expected to take place Sept. 4 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, though UFC officials have yet to make an official announcement.
MMAjunkie.com has learned additional trips to the rabid market are also possible before year's end, but nothing specific in terms of dates or host cities have yet been confirmed.
In addition to the two events scheduled for later this year, the UFC has already made three trips to MMA-crazy Brazil in 2013. While UFC President Dana White has called Canada a "Mecca" for MMA outside of the U.S., Brazil's passion for the sport has quickly turned the nation into one of the promotion's favored destinations.
For more on the UFC's upcoming schedule, including UFC 163 and UFC on FOX Sports 1 3, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.


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The world's falling apart around us, my friends, but we can panic later. In the meantime, this is Britain, so let's have a nice cup of tea.
Or, since it's hard to boil water online, let's talk about tea instead.
China has been growing and drinking tea since the third millennium B.C.E., or so legend has it, although it can only be documented from the third century B.C.E. Which isn't bad. That's an entire nation that's known how to stay awake for well over two thousand years.
And with that quick nod to the larger picture, we'll leave them not sleeping while we hop continents and a pocketful of centuries, because what we're talking about is how Britain became a tea-drinking nation.
The British weren't the first Europeans to latch onto the drink. That was the Portuguese. Traders and missionaries who sipped it in "the East," as one of Lord Google's minions puts it, and brought some home as souvenirs.
"The East" is kind of a big area, but we'll just nod cynically and move on.
It was the Dutch who first made a business out of importing the stuff to Europe. That was in 1606, when they were trading out of Java, the port that gave coffee its nickname. By the time tea made it's wind-powered way to Europe, it cost a small fortune, so drinking it was a way for the upperest of the upper crust in first Holland and then western Europe in general to show off their couth, not to mention their money.
You ever notice how much more specific our information is about, say, Europe, than about that vast, undifferentiated East?
But we were talking about tea. And England. Or Britain, since we're in that murky period when England and Scotland had the same king but not the same government and Wales had the same king and government but didn't want either or them because it was less than delighted about having been conquered. As people tend to be.
To keep things relatively simple, we'll keep our eye on England, which wasn't about to be seduced by this effete continental brew. England was a nation of beer drinkers, thanks, except for people with money, who weren't opposed to wine and might drink a bit of tea now and then for medicinal purposes, since it invigorated the body and kept the spleen free of obstructions.
Obstructions? That's when the spleen's on its way to an important meeting and some damn county department's closed the road just because it's washed out or something silly. The spleen isn't the most easy-going of organs. You know the word splenetic? Bad-tempered, cranky, ill-humored, and other synonyms. So, a nice cup of tea and the road is magically open before it.
No, I don't understand it either, but medicine, like spelling, was more imaginative back then.
According to a website about tea, tea, and nothing but tea, "The first dated reference to tea [in Britain] is from an advert in a London newspaper, Mercurius Politicus, from September 1658. It announced that 'China Drink, called by the Chinese, Tcha, by other Nations Tay alias Tee' was on sale at a coffee house in Sweeting's Rents in the City. The first coffee house had been established in London in 1652, and the terms of this advert suggest that tea was still somewhat unfamiliar to most readers, so it is fair to assume that the drink was still something of a curiosity."
It wasn't until Charles II married the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza in 1662 that the English took tea drinking to their hearts. Or more accurately, to their thin, aristocratic lips. Catherine loved her tea, and legend has it that since she was coming to a land of barbarians she brought a hefty supply of tea leaves in her very substantial baggage.
With Catherine drinking the stuff, tea suddenly looked less like medicine and more like a status symbol–a term that, however well it was understood, hadn't been invented yet.
Tea was still expensive. A pound cost roughly what a "working class citizen" made in a year. What kind of working class citizen, since men's and women's pay differed dramatically? (Ah, the bad old days. Aren't you glad we're past all that?) Put your money on the male variety of citizen and you're less likely to lose it. The female variety are generally referred to as "women," not "citizens." Or if the citizenship bit is important, their sex will be specified.
Odd, isn't it?
As tea drinking spread among aristocratic women, so did tea paraphernalia. Tea drinkers needed imported porcelain teapots. And the thinnest of thin cups. And dainty dishes for sugar. They may not have actually liked tea, but they sure as hell knew how to make a ritual of it.
All those peripherals were imported by the Portuguese as well.
It was at this period–in other words, right from the start–that they began adding milk to their tea. The cups were so delicate that they cracked if the tea went in without something to cool it.
Starting in 1664, the East India Company–a British creation–moved in on the trade and imported tea into England, and from aristocratic ladies, tea made its way down the social scale into the coffee houses, where middle- and upper-class men did business, and into the homes of middle- and upper-class women, who didn't get out the way the men did.
Tea was still too expensive for the working class. The East India company got itself a monopoly on British imports and kept the price high. And tea was taxed heavily, which means that by the eighteenth century it worth smuggling. By the end of the eighteenth century, organized crime networks had gotten involved. Smugglers brought in seven million pounds of the stuff. How does anyone know, since they'd have been wise to keep it out of sight and uncounted? Good question. But legal tea? Only five million pounds came into the country.
Tea–especially the smuggled stuff–was often mixed with leaves that had been brewed once and then dried. Or with leaves from other plants. To make the color more convincing, some clever devil hit on the idea of adding sheep manure. Or so say the articles I read. People kept drinking it, so it couldn't have been too off-putting.
In 1784, the government reduced the import tax and tea smuggling pretty well ended.
As the price came down, tea became a "common luxury" for working class people, and by the 1830s had become a "necessary luxury." As the temperance movement grew it became a substitute for alcohol.
The working class diet at this point was made up mostly of bread, potatoes, and tea.
Why would class people buy something that didn't fill their bellies and had no nutritional value when money was scarce and food wasn't plentiful? Hot tea with sugar offered energy, a brief break from work, and the illusion that you'd had a hot meal.
In the 1820s, the East India Company began growing tea in India, and in the 1860s it began to be grown in Sri Lanka, which was Ceylon at the time even though it occupied the same spot on the globe as it does now, under the new name. The price dropped.
Predictably enough, as soon as the working class started drinking serious amounts of tea, the overseers of public morality went into a panic about how it would affect them. Excessive tea drinking, they warned, would cause weakness and melancholy. But only in working-class people. Not among their, ahem, betters.
Then the public moralizers realized that if working people drank tea they'd have less time and money to drink beer, so they settled down and accepted the situation.
Tea became so much a part of British life that in the first and second world wars the government took control of importing it to ensure that it stayed both available and affordable. They were afraid morale would collapse without it.
And today? Britain sips its way through 60 billion cups of tea per year. That's 900 cups per person, but that includes people who've just been born, so the rest of us have to drink their share. And sixteen- to thirty-four-year-olds aren't drinking their share either, possibly because they're afraid it'll stain their teeth but possibly because tea doesn't make a statement.
A statement?
The article that enlightened me about this quoted food futurologist Morgaine Gaye, who said, "A cup of English breakfast or builder's tea is only cool when you are slumming it. You might have a cup of tea at your mum's, but not when you are out or in a cafe because it doesn't say anything."
Slumming it at your mother's? I'm going to tell her mother she said that and–I can predict this much of the food future–she won't be eating there this holiday season. Or if she does, she'll be drinking lukewarm water from the dog's bowl.
Anyway, this defection by the irresponsible young means their brown-toothed elders–those of us who don't want anything that lives inside our cups to make statements to the world at large or even whisper to us personally–have to drink even more.
And to make ourselves feel okay with that, we've started asking if it doesn't, oh please, have some medicinal effects. In other words, since we're drinking it anyway, doesn't it cure something?
The definitive answer is, maybe. The evidence disagrees with itself. Pitch your tent with the people who say it does and you may be wrong but you'll feel better about it all.
Kate Fox, an anthropologist and the author of the inspired Watching the English, reports that the higher up the class structure you go, the weaker the tea. Which is why I've decided not to hang out with the queen anymore. I like a nice, strong brew and furthermore I like to drink it with people who aren't afraid to swear, or who at least (a) understand the words and (b) don't pass out when I do.
Fox also says, "Tea-making is the perfect displacement activity: whenever the English feel awkward or uncomfortable in a social situation (that is, almost all the time), they make tea." Which may be why so much of it gets made.
And once you've brewed it, it'd be wasteful not to drink it. And since the young aren't doing their share, it's up to those of us who are over 34.
After Christmas, we'll finally get around to the connection between tea and the opium trade.


text:
Meanwhile… Politics.ie stops talking about the Taoiseach. March 30, 2008Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Political Blogs, Irish Politics.
Interesting times at Politics.ie just got… well… more interesting as noted by Starkadder. For, on foot of a discussion of the Tribunal dealings the week before last David Cochrane was sent a letter from Frank Ward and Company which called on him to remove 'comments ' from P.ie and to identify the names and addresses of six contributors to the debate.
On foot of the letter David has said:
Until further notice, the Tribunal section of the forum is out-of-bounds, and no Tribunal discussion is allowed. Furthermore there can be no discussion with respect to the Tribunals or anything concerning Bertie Ahern.
It is a problematic – and no doubt for David worrying – issue. On the one hand – and I only loosely followed the original discussion – it is clear that there was considerable heat on the matter. On the other isn't this an issue of moderation? Why not just have a limited number of discussions on the Tribunal and Ahern which are tightly moderated? The letter doesn't require P.ie to do anything other than two very specific things one of which has been done, the removal of the offending comments, one of which David (entirely) rightly says he won't:
Under no circumstances can I be in a position to disclose the identity of any user on this website, and I will not be doing so.
So why the guillotine on all discussion of the Tribunal and Ahern?
- 1. Starkadder - March 30, 2008
I'm not sure about the reason for the "guillotine" on
discussion of these issues-no doubt Mr. Cochrane is
simply treading carefully, given the strict nature of
Irish libel law. I wonder if pressed, will they have to
ban the six posters rather than hand over their names?
- 4. Starkadder - March 30, 2008
I have to agree with one of the P.ie Posters who suggested
people write to the newspapers about this issue-maybe
it could start a discussion about libel laws and the the internet.
- 5. Conor McCabe - March 30, 2008
I think it highlights the problem of being a player AND a commentator. David Cochrane´s profile, while not exactly mainstream, is high enough in political circles, given his prominent role in Libertas. People know who he is, and that he is resident in Ireland. And with libertas, he's putting himself up against a lot of people who actually enjoy playing dirty. Mind you, so does libertas! 🙂
Furthermore, it is complicated by the fact that the actual servers used by politics.ie (hosting365) are also situated in Ireland. If the servers were situated in America, or Finland, Russia, it would make attempts to "get" information from those servers all the more difficult. In other words, the physical presence of politics.ie´s servers in Ireland means that the courts and the guards can call up to the offices of hosting365 in Park West, Dublin, and physically take them. Hard to do that if they are in the States, or Russia.
so. A perfect storm of servers and administrators in the same legal jurisdiction.
The lesson is simple: if you are going to run a political message board, keep your identity ambiguous, or even better, secret, including your WHOIS identity, and keep your servers out of the country. (well that's me and Donagh on dublin opinion fucked, but there you go.)
- 6. Libero - March 30, 2008
David Cochrane's reaction to this is all very strange. In the very first sentence of his "Announcement", he concedes liability, admitting that at least some content was defamatory.
There's no rowing back from that concession. While not specific in conceding exactly which posts were defamatory, the admission is all that the firm of solicitors need to take a trip to the High Court for some serious redress. (It's probably also enough to convince that court that it should make an Order to compelling David and/or the hosting company to do all their power to identify at least some of those users cited in the solicitors letter.) I'm not spoofing on how black-and-white this is (I just it wasn't as bleak for Dave and P.ie): I have recently practiced High Court litigation including defamation proceedings.
I can't see the law firm taking this lying down. They can claim (with whatever level of justification) that the libel was damaging to their standing and their ability to do business into the future. A significant award of damages cannot be ruled out. I'd say it's a probability.
So what can be done to persuade them not to follow through? Well, posting up their solicitor's letter isn't a good start. Neither is the empty promise not to disclose information on site users.
All in all, a couple of silly posts from know-it-all users could shut leave David Cochrane with a bill he can never hope to pay. Of his assets, he could be forced to sell his controlling interest in Politics.ie or hand it over to the complainants as part of a settlement.
Can the firm be "shamed" out of following through? I don't think this particular firm works that way, and their highest-profile client isn't about to do a favour for Mr Libertas by telling his solicitors to lay off. If anything, institutional Fianna Fáil will be cackling to themselves at the fate in store for Cochrane.
- 7. Fergus O'Rourke - March 30, 2008
It is not really that difficult to discuss politics or anything controversial without provoking solicitors' letters. Just why should anyone get exemption from the law of the land by running a website ? BTW, I am not a fan of web-based discussions and nothing that p.ie produced has persuaded me to change. Usenet is your only man – and there are no self-appointed censors, either.
- 8. chekov - March 30, 2008
"Can the firm be "shamed" out of following through? I don't think this particular firm works that way, and their highest-profile client isn't about to do a favour for Mr Libertas by telling his solicitors to lay off. If anything, institutional Fianna Fáil will be cackling to themselves at the fate in store for Cochrane."
I disagree. A legal case could get much media coverage and that coverage could frame this story as a case of Ahern silencing criticism about him. As that is a real possibility, I can't see them pursuing it in earnest at the moment. A confidential deal involving a grovelling apology and tighter future moderation of Ahern related threads would probably be more prudent than a public legal assault, with the danger that it might be used as yet another stick to beat Ahern with. .
Plus, they are unlikely to be able to get a huge amount of cash out of Cochrane – he's not super-rich is he?
- 9. Conor McCabe - March 30, 2008
Well, Cochrane's reaction has certainly done the Irish blogging world no favours. Methinks there's going to be a rash of self-censorship for the next couple of weeks, especially around Bertie and the tribunal.
- 10. Conor McCabe - March 30, 2008
David Cochrane has said over on jc skinner's blog, skinflicks, that Sean Dorgan, FF general secretary, drew the solicitors´attention to the posts.
Quote: "I can absolutely 100% confirm it was Sean Dorgan from Fianna Fail who drew this to the solicitors attention.
Liam Guidera (The solicitor in question) told me this during a rather tense phonecall yesterday evening."
Jc skinner is one of the bloggers mentioned in the socilitor's letter. He said that he has not said nor done anything wrong. Thing is, David Cochrane has already apologised on his behalf for his comments. where does that leave skinner?
- 11. soubresauts - March 30, 2008
As I write, Politics.ie has gone offline.
There's an illuminating take on this controversy, by one of those directly involved, here:
The sooner Fianna Fáil get rid of Bertie, the better for all concerned.
It's funny how, up to one year ago, the Greens seemed to see all these matters very clearly (www.greenparty.ie/en/news/latest_news/address_by_john_gormley_to_the_national_convention), and then, perhaps inevitably, they hit their "four legs good, two legs better" stage…
"You can end the nightmare of Planet Bertie in the summer of 2007."
Well, maybe a year later.
- 12. Conor McCabe - March 30, 2008
The messages are still available through google cache. Are google now liable for libel proceedings? I mean, it's still on their servers.
- 14. Libero - March 30, 2008
I hope I'm not being too pessimistic about things. For all I know, David Cochrane is talking to Liam Guidera right now and they're all seeing sense.
As things stand though, they have a lot of leverage over Dave.
I don't share Chekov's confidence that this situation can be presented as Ahern silencing criticism. The simple fact is that one or more of the solicitors in that firm was libelled (unless the accusation made was true, and I have no reason to believe is the case). It is now their call what they want to do about the libel. If they go down the legal route (and the ARE solicitors), it cannot be said to be at Ahern's request.
Of course, Bertie Ahern and other clients of that firm could be in a position to tell the firm to lay off. But I don't see why they would, and it would be reasonable of the firm's partners to politely tell them that it's the partners' decision, not their clients'.
Anyway, hopefully it's not going to get too messy because it could get very messy.
- 15. Libero - March 30, 2008
On the other hand, here's the latest from David Cochrane's Facebook page: (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=660505954)
"David Cochrane is taking no lessons from lawyers who are representing a liar at a tribunal. Bring on the legal pain."
- 17. Conor McCabe - March 30, 2008
David Cochrane has just announced on politics.ie that he has changed servers. The website is now hosted in the USA.
- 18. soubresauts - March 30, 2008
P.ie is back up now…
It's not up for me. 😦
I presume that there are problems in posting a link to the Google cache, eh?
Pidge, you must understand. Too many people know me. It's bad enough having Greens after my scalp…
- 19. Starkadder - March 30, 2008
As of 8.32, I couldn't get P.ie either. I wonder what will
happen to it? Down for almost a fortnight a few weeks
ago, and now this.Be terrible to lose it….
- 20. Garibaldy - March 30, 2008
It's been working for me
- 21. soubresauts - March 30, 2008
If memory serves me correctly, the controversial thread on Politics.ie was entitled "Grainne Carruth", and the opening post was by "saul of tarsus". It wasn't particularly memorable…
- 22. Starkadder - March 30, 2008
I don't why, Garibaldy, but I can't get on thru any
of my browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Netscape).
Maybe there's a reason why some of us can't get on?
One thing struck me-I remember Cochrane
starting a thread about Ahern called "Is it the end?".
If he's unlucky, it may well be 😦 .
- 23. Conor McCabe - March 30, 2008
Starkadder, did you try clearing your internet cache? Sometimes the browser picks up the address stored in your internet temporary files. P.ie has just changed servers, so it may be the case that your browser is going to the old server address, not the new one. If you clear all history, and then try to log on, it might work then.
This whole case, though, it's all very, very strange. P.ie has changed servers, but with Cochrane still resident in Ireland, he can still be brought to court. Don't matter if the case is subsequently thrown out or not, he still can be brought to court because he lives here.
I dunno. The general secretary of FF himself rang the law firm in question to report the alleged libel. It's like we're down a fucking rabbit-hole.
- 25. Conor McCabe - March 31, 2008
Jesus H. Christ.
If you get a chance head over to politics.ie. The law firm has written to Cochrane condemning his actions in reproducing the original letter. Furthermore, they say that the letter is NOT to be reproduced in any fashion. Cochrane's only gone and done it! p.15 of the comments.
Quote from Cochrane: "I am posting the following, on the basis that this website is hosted in the United States of America, and as such I am using the First Amendment which guarantees freedom of speech, Politics.ie is not responsible for what you post on this website, however YOU ARE responsible for your own comments. My response in quotes follows. "
The guy's insane. He lives in Dublin! The only people protected are the host company.
- 26. Dublin Opinion » Blog Archive » POLITICS.IE : INSANE IN THE MAINFRAME - March 31, 2008
[…] and addresses of six contributors be passed over to the firm. The issue as unfolding was covered here by cedarlounge. Ar first, the case seemed to be one of enormous significance for the Irish blogging community. […]
- 27. eeekkk - March 31, 2008
above link just disappeared – one of several links leading to 404s on this issue I've found on my wanderings this evening – they're disappearing b4 google caches them – which is neat – irishelection blog was another- lots of lawyers staying up late browsing websites?
- 29. Conor McCabe - March 31, 2008
The article from pingback comment 26 is back up. Not a case of lawyers browsing the Internet, more rather whether I wanted to publicly call Cochrane a fucking idiot or not. Decided to go ahead and call him a dope. I mean, calling around to a lawyer´s house and shitting on his coffee table. It's hardly Zhukov when it comes to battle tactics, no?
Lawyers are professional gunslingers. cochrane's like the farmer in "Shane", and at the moment he's got Jack Palance saying to him. "pick up the gun."
- 30. soubresauts - March 31, 2008
Discussion websites and blogs have serious opinion-forming power. Politics.ie, through its clever software, generally enlightened moderation, and sheer weight of numbers of contributors, is an outstanding example. Bertie and his not-so-merry men have recognized this and are moving to gain as much control as they can.
Bertie & co are more worried about the opinion-forming power of ordinary people than of the power of journalists trained to be circumspect. At the same time they think the ordinary people are easy targets, since they (Bertie & co) have been successfully screwing them for decades.
Glancing at what journalists are writing, you can see the meaning of their words is pretty much the same as what appeared in the "offending" Politics.ie page.
For example, David McKittrick, in The Independent last Saturday, wrote:
"The secretary's near-breakdown under cross-examination produced both a wave of public sympathy for her and a surge of anti-Ahern feeling, the allegation being that she had been pushed to carry the can for her boss.
"… Mr Ahern's coalition partners, whose support he relies on to stay in power, demanding he explain glaring discrepancies in accounts of his finances.
"Ms Carruth's public humiliation and distress have rebounded badly on Mr Ahern. Her emotional reaction starkly contrasted with the performance of many wealthy individuals who had been asked to explain donations to Mr Ahern. Some brazened it out with versions of events which seem suspicious and implausible. A widespread perception is that some of them care little whether or not they are believed, so long as wrong-doing cannot actually be proved against them.
"Opposition leader Phil Hogan, said: 'The public concern with these issues did not begin the day the Taoiseach shamefully hid behind his constituency secretary and forced Grainne Carruth into an impossible position.'"
- 32. Conor McCabe - March 31, 2008
That is not what was said on politics.ie though. The alleged libel was against the law firm. They wanted the allegations regarding themselves taken down. Nothing that was said about FF or Bertie was brought up – just the law firm. We can look for conspiracies, but the law firm wanted the allegations regarding their professional conduct withdrawn.
god, this is all very depressing. I feel that Cochrane is looking at destroying all of the hard work he's put in with politics.ie, and that is actually quite sad.
- 33. Garibaldy - March 31, 2008
I wonder if Cochrane is hoping that controversy will produce media work, and perhaps open up a new career.
- 34. babs - March 31, 2008
I can't believe what a bunch of wimps you bloggers are! Typical middle class bottlers.
I'm not a fan of Cochrane but fair play to him for having the balls to stand up to the all feared "solicitors letter". Fuck them. Do you really think that Ahern will allow this crowd of fools to get him onto the front pages again? The Irish media are already under serious pressure with the libel laws (a good recent example was a serious criminal awarded nearly €1 million) and will row in behind anybody with the balls to take on the libel laws. At the moment the last thing Ahern wants is more bad publicity. The rest of the blogging world should be rushing to back Cochrane up, not shafting him. If the suits are successful with Cochrane you will see some serious self censorship in the future. Already Indymedia, the fairly open left wing website, has become more and more censorious over the past couple of months.
- 36. Conor McCabe - March 31, 2008
Babs, that's working class wimp I'll have you know.
- 37. Conor McCabe - March 31, 2008
Oh and Babs, as I said, the law firm in question said nothing about comments regarding Bertie and FF. They were concerned only with libel regarding themselves.
The problem now is that because the original posts are gone, even from google cache, it's hard to show people that FF, Bertie, and the Mahon tribunal were not part of the contentious comment. It was all about the law firm in question.
But the little tykes, gawd bless ém, on politics.ie got on their horses and starting screaming "free speech!".
This is not to downplay the enormous pressure that David must have been under, but all the more reason for a cool-headed approach.
There's free speech, and there's free speech, and then there's walking up to mike tyson and calling him queer to his face.
Man, you have got to pick your fights. The worst case senario here is if the libel case goes ahead, and by doing so sets the legal precedent regarding Irish free speech on the web.
- 38. ejh - March 31, 2008
gawd bless ém
Heh, not used to the Spanish keyboard yet I see….
- 39. Conor McCabe - March 31, 2008
ñot at all.
- 40. babs - March 31, 2008
Hello well known unanonymous internet contributor Smiffy.
Reading the comments of a number of bloggers the overriding opinion was that Cochrane was wrong to take on the feared suits and their "solicitor's letter". Some of the sadder comments implied that Cochrane's actions had put the whole important world of internet blogging at risk. The real potential of blogging is that it gives people the freedom and ability to comment on issues without depending on the mainstream media to cover their point of view. With that potential goes the risk of having complete halfwits posting shite but that can't be helped. If a blog site is good people will come back time and time again but if it is full of nutcases it will quickly die. Cochrane, not being a rebelous chap by nature, will need the support of as many people as possible because if he is forced to back down it will only encourage the suits to go after more targets.
Sorry Conor, I should have included working class bottlers as well!!!
- 41. Conor McCabe - March 31, 2008
No problem 🙂
What I'm saying Babs is that over on politics.ie there are comments being made that give the impression that this is about Bertie and FF shutting politics.ie down. It is nothing of the sort. The comment related to a law firm, and that law firm wanted the comment removed. David did this, then apologised, and then printed the letter from the solicitors, and then printed their reply!
I don't want to see anything bad happen to Dave, or to politics,ie, but what we're talking about, at best, is an incredibly immature response, one in which you've got to wonder whether the people over on politics.ie really know the implications of for themselves.
I mean, WHAT the fuck was the whole moving the servers charade all about? You've got to wonder about the thought process there.
It seems to have died down a bit, and politics.ie is still carrying on, but this is not the last we've heard of this.
- 42. Starkadder - March 31, 2008
"There's free speech, and there's free speech, and then there's walking up to mike tyson and calling him queer to his face."
According to the "New Statesman", Tyson once attacked
Robert Downey Jr. during the film "Black and White" after Downey's
character made a pass at him:
- 43. soubresauts - March 31, 2008
I mean, WHAT the fuck was the whole moving the servers charade all about? You've got to wonder about the thought process there.
I would have thought it was about ensuring that there could be no quick move to shut down the site through getting an injunction against the Irish hosting company.
Somebody pointed out above that even the Google Cache record of the offending page had been deleted, and, when I went to look for it the way I had looked yesterday, it was indeed gone. I presumed that someone had contacted Google citing "legal problems", and I guessed that would be trivial stuff for Google, who must be well used to urgent requests from Chinese government agencies saying things like: "Obliterate immediately the following posts by XX, and help us track down XX who has committed serious crimes against the Chinese people."
But then I tried searching for it a different way and, hey presto, there it was in Google Cache — the original Politics.ie page. At the top, it states:
"This is G o o g l e's cache of http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?t=33081 as retrieved on 27 Mar 2008 23:03:43 GMT."
Of course I'm not going to tell you how I found it. This is a respectable site, unlike those other sites which are no doubt brazenly displaying the offending page. I'm just curious as to how these things work, or don't work, or work themselves out.
I know there are other ways to retrieve old web pages, but the pages in question are not useful enough, or offensive enough, to make me try.
- 45. Dan Sullivan - April 1, 2008
Just to clarify something but the only comments that an apology was offered for were those of the original poster. Not those of JC Skinner or anyone of the others, so no liability was admitted in that regarded nor was there any admission that any libel took place instead the words used were inaccurate, untrue and malicious.
I think it would be very strange that someone could seek to enter into correspondence with you that was legally bound as confidential without getting your agreement to that confidentiality.
I can't help but wonder why you're all running about declaiming that the sky is falling.
- 47. babs - April 1, 2008
I wasn't implying that Ahern or FF was trying to shut down P.ie. The point I was making was that if P.ie was shutdown over this, the attention would once again be on Ahern because they are his solicitors and people would assume that he had some role in the affair. Ahern could certainly do without that at the moment.
The middle class comment was aimed at those who view the terrifying "solicitors letter" as unquestionable. This is a real middle class attitude of reverence to the law and solicitors. (Most political bloggers are of course middle class as is much of the political class including the Left in Ireland). If Cochrane does seek legal advice he will no doubt be told to concede to any requests from Frank Ward and Company because by their nature the legal profession are inherently conservative. Cochrane was absolutly right to publish the solicitors letters (or threats).
- 48. ejh - April 1, 2008
This is a real middle class attitude of reverence to the law and solicitors.
Why would you say so?
- 49. Conor McCabe - April 1, 2008
babs. How do you know that most political bloggers are middle class? Most of the ones I know are not.
- 51. ejh - April 2, 2008
Me, I have middle class tastes and a working-class income level. Right now I'm down to one opera ticket a year.
- 53. Garibaldy - April 2, 2008
Back to the Weberian thing eh? Social position is determined by consumption, and not by position in production?
- 54. ejh - April 2, 2008
No, back to the irony thing.
WbS – I notice that The Marriage of Figaro is playing in Dublin RIGHT NOW.
- 55. Starkadder - September 30, 2008
David Cochrane is currently giving Politics.ie a big
upgrade, and says it'll be back to normal in several
hours. Meanwhile, it's relocated here for a few hours:
- 57. American Proxy - July 17, 2013
I do not create many remarks, but i did some searching and wound up here Meanwhile�
Politics.ie stops talking about the Taoiseach. | The Cedar Lounge
Revolution. And I actually do have 2 questions for you if it's allright. Is it only me or does it look like a few of the comments appear as if they are written by brain dead folks? 😛 And, if you are posting on other places, I would like to follow anything fresh you have to post. Would you list of every one of all your communal sites like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?
- 58. smell wherever - May 2, 2014
I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This post posted at this website is
really good.


text:
…With emphasis on the break.
I've not posted recently for a variety of reasons. This prompted me to break that silence:
What you see here is the 1 liter erlenmeyer flask that contained my reaction from yesterday, which I was about to pour. Pick up, slip and, it being quite full, crash.
On the plus side, it is the first step and the starting materials are readily available. It is still one of the worst feelings, to see your work smashed on the hood floor.


text:
Hey Guys!
We are engaged!! :-)
Yes, it's true and we are both very excited! I was so excited that I decided to use it to my advantage and shoot another Poster for fun! Any excuse I know!
Today we deconstruct the lighting for this Poster:
It worked out pretty well with just three lights – two stripboxes for the rim on the sides and back and one small sofbox from the front
The photo was taken on seamless, for the BG we used a bunch of Christmas lights which were added in the postproduction .
Here is the original
… I have a few more posters already in the pipeline – this is fun !


text:
I called her up from
The phone booth outside
The water seeped and wet my toes
An allusion to my thoughts
My fingers – numb as ever
I wondered how warm it'd be
In say, Manila at this time
With a rhythmic pattern I punched in
A beep, a sound and then some static
I sighed and pushed in my last penny
This time I must get through
I did but it wasn't meant to be –
The number must be wrong,
For the woman who picked up
Said no 'Cherie' lived there.
I looked down and read
The number once again
And then, suddenly
With a flash it hit me –
She'd given me a false number
'Of course, I should've known
Coz oh, how distracted she was
When I asked her for her number
And the way her eyes flitted
To the guy across the room
The one in the red button-down
He caught her eye, a smile they shared
And as I called her name again
She looked back to me,
Jolted back to reality
And half-heartedly, she
Drawled 8-8-1-2-4-1-0-6
Oh, I should have known
She did not like me back
'Coz one, that guy was hot
And two?
I was just another girl.
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