Undead

Earlier this year was the first time I saw Ed Wood.

My dear friend Lisa, an avowed Johnny Depp fan, marked it as the only of his movies she didn't like. Ditto for Tim Burton.

I couldn't feel more the opposite. I think it's easily Burton's best, and Depp's top performance to boot. Too often, I see Johnny's eyes inside the character he's playing, and it ends up as caricature because I notice how he much he's enjoying it.

Here, I bought him as the passionate, ambitious, and blessedly naive B-movie auteur Edward D. Wood Jr. Better yet, I was consumed by the masterful portrayal of our most venerable creature of the night, Bela Lugosi, by Academy Award-winning Best Supporting Actor Martin Landau. Lugosi was a collaborator of Wood's, and in Burton's biopic, the friendship between the two men is an emotional anchor that holds a lot of silliness together.

When Halloween crept upon me this year, I decided to remix one of the songs that had haunted me most across my celebrated Octobers. In choosing the song, it became clear I could attempt tribute threefold: to the post-punk musicians in question, Bauhaus; to their muse, Bela; and to the performer who channeled the classic horror star with such respect and dignity, Landau.

So Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus leads to

Bela Lugosi Lives via Mini Nerd.

Thank you, Lisa, for the gift of your Ed Wood DVD.

And thank you to everyone else who came trick-or-treating on our virtual doorstep this Halloween, especially those sent by Dr. John, who was kind enough to award Mini Nerd site of the day. I'm honored, flattered, and grateful for all the new visitors. I hope you each stick around, to see where we take the site in days to come.

First up: Down South wrapup.

Stay tooned.