New Uniform Resource Locater!

That's right, the URL will soon be simply www.salemwitchwiles.com !

They said it could take up to two days, until then some of the links and the archive page will be screwy. You can handle that though.

God Hates the Lords of Salem - Rob Zombie Sightings in Salem, MA

[11/21/11: Most recent article here.]

"Lords of Salem is probably the bleakest of all my films."

Although I question the concept of Rob Zombie's upcoming movie Lord of Salem, I am still looking forward to it. It can't possibly disappoint me, nothing he has ever done has. In fact, Zombie always surprises and impresses people with his ability to imbue depth and emotion into movies that, on the outside, just seem like violence and gore.

In a recent interview with Empire Online ("www.EmpireOnline.com) Rob mentions that this is an idea he's had for a while, "Like a lot of my ideas, I had this one a long time ago, but it was never the right time to make it. Eventually it spun off into a song [see video below] but there were still no plans to turn it into a movie until the Paranormal Activity guys approached me and wanted to do something. I didn't have any specific plans, but I mentioned Lords of Salem and they really latched onto it."



He goes on to clear up the plot a bit, "There were twenty people that everyone knows about - obviously all innocent - executed as witches in Salem," explains Rob. "The basic premise of the film is that there were a further four who actually were witches, who were killed secretly, and vowed one day to return to wreak havoc on Salem's descendants. That's when the movie jumps ahead to the present day and things start to go wrong..."

Another interesting rumor is that Zombie is actually going to be using his own music in the film, creating an original score or just writing songs to use. I wonder if he will do a new version of the song that gives the movie it's title?

Yesterday, Zombie told his fans "Heading out for more location scouting on The Lords Of Salem," via Twitter, and today there have been multiple sightings of him around the city, including a stop into Coven, a local cafe. (I always wonder what famous people eat, so I asked around and found out he got a coffee and croissant. lol)

Honestly, I don't know how people scout locations in a town they don't know. I can think of at least a few different amazing places that would be great for filming near that the average person wouldn't just stumble across. Hell, ask some of the townie kids where they go to drink in the woods, those are usually the most isolated and scary places around!

And thank the gods that he scrapped his idea to remake The Blob "without the blob", and that it was only a rumor he would be directing the Motly Crue movie. Those both sounds like horrible ideas. Lords of Salem sounds far more interesting and I, for one, can't wait to hear more about it. When I do, you will be the first to know!

And as far as film, what's next for Zombie? "I'd love to make a Western too, but the trouble is that films are expensive."

[edit: One hour ago he updated his Twitter feed again "Just left Salem. Great day of scouting. Found some amazing locations." ... So exciting!]

Salem "Warlock" Uses Charlie Sheen Meme for Free Publicity

Haha, I am so sorry Christian, but I have to write about you again. lol

Anyone who is watching this Charlie Sheen fiasco can see it's getting out of hand. It was an insta-meme that exploded the interwebz with the expected wins and fails, bad mspaint macros, and application of quotes into non-sequitur pics via the lolBuilder. Personally I am not a big fan of this meme. I like the nerdy ones a bit more.

But now, this meme has hit close to home.

Sheen's use of the word "warlock" resulted in some great jokes, but also an opportunity. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, local witch Christian Day has a habit of using controversy for publicity. How do you cause controversy? Through provocation or causing an argument - otherwise known as trolling. In fact, Christian has already been using the controversy surrounding the use of the word warlock to describe a male practitioner of the witchcraftness as a way to drum up publicity. This whole Charlie Sheen thing was just pure luck and opportunity for him, and he jumped at the chance.

So I wake up this morning and check my various news feeds to find our local Troll Warlock has achieved a certain level of media saturation. The Daily Telegraph, The Boston Herald, ONTD, Random morning radio shows so many blogs, so so many plugs for his new book. That's right. New Book. Who would have guessed?

So how did this happen? Well, by listening to his blogcast show it's pretty clear. He and a local shop owner made the decision to contact TMZ. You know, TMZ the entertainment show/website that exists only because of paparazzi embarrassing, stalking, and harassing people, gossip, and cheap media tricks - surely they will buy into the meme as well.

What has resulted is nothing short of absolute proliferation. At the time I write this article there are approximately 100 websites that come up when doing a Google news search for ' "christian day" warlock "charlie sheen" ' and it will continue to climb.

My opinion? I play a lot of online games and frequent many online communities where trolling can be considered a fun and entertaining addition to any forum or chat room - as long as it is witty and thought provoking. I have yet to make a decision whether I view Mr. Day's trolling as entertaining or think it just makes him look like a sell-out. The first thing to do is wait and see if all this publicity backfires on him.

Shout out to Christian: I'm worried about you, dude. You're playing with fire. Or trash rather. TMZ is a trashy trash fire. And it smells. Don't let that stink rub off on you because some Salem witches already smell bad enough!

[Edit: And how does the warlock himself feel about all this sudden media attention? A reliable anonymous source promises me that this is an ACTUAL status update from Christian's Facebook, it might not be true, but it totally sounds like him: "I hope that all this publicity has enabled me to potentially fulfill one of my important New Year's resolutions ... to find a midget personal assistant like Margaret Cho has. Well, ok, I think they're called little people now, but I've asked on three radio shows for one to come to me. I'm sure this will really put 'em over the edge, but I must find one! :-D"