Introducing: Halloween Fright Packs!

Introducing...The very first HorrorMovieBBQ Fright Pack!

It's pretty simple. I got a lot of cool stuff hanging around but I also have bills to pay. So what better way to make some extra cash than by putting together some neat fun boxes for my friends! I think you'll really enjoy these! But before I introduced the boxes, a few notes:

1.) Each box will be 26.95. That includes shipping.

2.) I'm doing a short test run. Only 6 will be available at this time. I'm more interested to see how well these are received before I do more.

3.) I cannot, at this time, ship outside the country. Sorry!

4.) These can only be purchased through PayPal, which you can find the link down below!


Ok, so that's the not-so-fun stuff. Let's check out the loot!

There's the entire loot! Enough to get you in the mood for Halloween! Some fun stuff from your childhood and the present! Let's dive deep!


MONSTER CEREAL CAR:

Somewhat of a "cereal box prize" but for the Fright Pack, you'll get one of the three Monster Cereal cars! Car will be selected randomly. Keep 'em int he box, use them as a desk toy, or zoom them around as you eat breakfast!


SPOOKY BOOK:

 A spooky book! You'll receive a randomly selected book to read while you sip delicious warm apple cider or maybe a pumpkin beer!

LIFEFORCE BUTTON:

  Remember the weird space vampire/zombie/sex film from Cannon films? Well, it certainly was a memorable piece of cinema and I'm sure if you had seen it, you wouldn't forget it. Now you tell the rest of the world how much you loved it by rocking this awesome button everywhere you go!


WINDOW CLINGS:

Can't have Halloween without window clings! You'll be the toast of the neighborhood!

 SMALL MONSTERS:

These are fun. Think little green Army Men but with Dracula, Godzilla, Mothra, zombies, Wolfman, gravestones and more! Contents of bag will vary from photo You'll receive approximately 10 figurines .


MCDONALDS MCNUGGET AND HAPPY MEAL BOX:

To keep the nostalgic feel of Halloween going, you'll receive one randomly selected, sealed McNugget Buddy and an unused, mint condition Happy Meal box! You can't have the McNugget buddies without their cardboard home!



TRICK OR TREAT BAG: 

What fun and mysterious goodies will you find in here? Well, technically, you can see the goods up in that first photo. But not everything is shown! You'll get one Trick or Treat featuring candy and some other fun Halloween treats! It's like taking the effort out of going door to door! Instead, you can just stay at home and call it a night!



So there you have it! Some fun stuff ready to jazz up your Halloween spirit! I certainly hope you'll enjoy these. If so, I'll be able to do more int he future in larger volumes. You can pay for them right below and will receive some spooky goodness very soon!

-Chad

Fall Flea Market Finds!

This year has been a pretty crappy year for flea marketing. I don't know why but I can't say I've been to flea markets and walked out with gems. Seems like last year's adventures seemed to have been a giant peak period. A little disconcerting but I still kept at it. A dry spell started in July. But dry spells don't last forever. Thank goodness.

This past Sunday, my friend Sean was in town and he was interested in heading to the flea market. I was more than happy to oblige. I wasn't expecting much but I figured it would be a fun time with him. Maybe I could find a new VHS or a He-Man figure missing an arm, but I wasn't expecting to walk out with a complete Boulder Hill from MASK. Perhaps low expectations worked in my favor after all. Maybe being beaten down by the flea market fates for so long finally humbled me to just accept finding a worn out copy of Sleepaway Camp 3 and be happy about it. Humbling indeed. But today was my day.

So, let's take a look at what I found:


ET CARD GAME:

The ET card game was a real surprise to. It's not the most sought after piece of nostalgia but it's still a neat thing to pick up! I always enjoy finding stuff like this. I love ET and any retro games, so how could I pass it up? I'm totally down for an afternoon of this and other corny card games! I'll order a pizza and you bring the Reeses Pieces!

MAGNETS AND BUTTONS:

Trivia: The first date I went on in Middle School was to see Spice World with my high school girlfriend. Titanic was sold out. I can't tell if that was a good or bad thing. Because I sat through 90 minutes of that Spice-ploitation movie.

Power Rangers, Land Before Time and Star Trek are great and all, but the champs of this lot are the vintage Pepsi magnets. Owned in the Grandmothers everywhere in the 80s, these tiny replicas are a nice for magnet collectors such as myself. Plus, I'm a Pepsi guy so it's nice to add these to my fridge. Woo!

ACTION FIGURES:

Somewhat of a "comfort food" when it comes to flea markets. Any collector knows it's the ultimate goal to find as many rare or old action figures as possible. It's not really explainable but ask any flea market junkie what they need to find to feel satisfied, they'll most likely say action figures of their youth. Thankfully after this flea market trip, I feel satisfied to the point that I could start smoking cigarettes again.

As you see below, I had to break them into groups. Just so many to go through:

Two animated Batman figures, Batman Returns figure and a Michael Keaton Bruce Wayne. That's a lot of suits for Master Wayne, but I think he's covered for future missions and battles. Assuming that stylish purple turtleneck isn't enough to intimidate the worst Gotham has to offer. I mean, as great of a Keaton likeness as that is, he looks like he should be a member of Colour Me Badd. That shade of purple only really works for Batgirl.

Also notice my bunny Charlie not letting Batman have all the fun and glory. Right after this photo was taken, he raced over and started licking these figures and refused to leave unless I gave him head-rubs. Bunny problems. I has them.

 A Batman Forever Robin and a Huntress from the DC Total Justice line. I must confess, I'm a big fan of Chris O Donnell as Robin. I thought he was a natural in the role, so this was a welcome addition. Any Batman movie universe figures are welcome. Well, except Batman and Robin. I actually left a Poison Ivy figure behind because I try to avoid that movie. Wasn't my favorite and until I revisit it, I don't think I want any part of it.

As far as the Huntress, I'm a lifelong fan of hers. I always found her to be a compelling character. And this is one of her best action figure representations from the Total Justice line, which was already an awesome line. Sadly, there haven't been nonstop releases of her like say a Supergirl or Zatanna, so a double win there.

At the same time, this figure looks like she belongs in an episode of Gargoyles or something. She's just so 90's I can't take it much longer.

More DC goodness! The Penguin is from the 2005 line The Batman which was perhaps the most bizarre interpretation of Batman yet. It was a fan favorite toy line and cartoon and offered some new wrinkles to the Batman lore. Good ol' Oswald here represents his fishy persona more than ever I mean, he's one step away from literally swimming and biting raw fish. Awesome.

Up next is the Joker from 1998's New Adventures of Batman toy line. This has always been one of my favorite Joker figures. The pose, the card in his hand, the expression in his hand and the paint job. What a flawless Joker. I'd totally put him in my top 5 Joker's of all time. Love that Joker!

Speaking of Joker, you can't have the Mistah J without his number one guy, Bob The Goon! Yes! From the 1989 Toy Biz "Batman" line. I can't tell you how long I've been wanting one of these but never pulled the trigger. As cheap as that early Toy Biz line was, it still marks the only appearance of Bob. Not he's an amazing action figure by any means, in fact he resembles more of George Carlin on his worst day than anything, but seeing as how much I adore Batman 89, I simply had to have him. 

This potpourri of figures including figures from Small Soldiers, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Visionaries, X-Men, a Burger King Simpsons Halloween, Beetleborgs(FLABBER!) and a Ninja Turtle Troll Doll. A nice handful of collection padding pieces but nothing personally amazing. Although, Flabber was a favorite even back in 1997 and even became a long running joke between me and my friends. So, I don't consider this a bad find at all. Plus, who can't use a Creature from the Black Lagoon/Willie mashup? That may be my favorite of the lot. I'm sure it's a favorite of my buddy Thomas of ShitMovieFest, He loves him some Gillman.

More Batman fun! A Joker suction cup figure that is somewhat reminiscent of his final scene in Batman 89(although, he was hanging from a helicopter rope ladder, let's not fight over petty semantics here) makes a fun figure for either hanging from my car window or the window in my office. He may be the villain in Batman, but he's a hero to those who hate boring windows. Although, windows are supposed to be boring. It's what you see outside...eh forget it, I'm spending too much time thinking deep about windows, here. Moving on.

Darkseid is from Burger King's "Super Powers" promotion. He joined Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as figural cup holders. Here's what they all look like:

Photo Credit: The Super Friends Wiki

Not bad for $1.27. Pretty impressive. You get a cheap cup and a neat Super Friends figure! Sounds like a great deal to me! Darkseid has always been my favorite DCU villain, so again, total victory here. Anything with the bad boy of Apokolips is an instant buy.


And hey...speaking of Burger King...

Yup, the Burger King himself was thrown in to the deal as well. Actually, I'm not convinced this design didn't inspire King Randor from Masters of the Universe and considering I don't have King Randor in my collection, this will just have to do. I mean he's fatter and more jovial than Eternia's ruler but hey, when you're in a pinch...

VHS:

Well, duh. This shouldn't be a shock. I saw some tapes that I had never even heard of before, which is always the goal! Some kid friendly horror, a Christmas Babysitter's Club movie(I'm such a sucker for terrible Christmas specials) a documentary narrated by Orson Welles about Nostradamus, an 80s comedy called " Another Chance" and some fun wrestling finds. If you were to ask me to summarize my life in VHS, this would be the photo I'd point to. I don't know if that's good or bad but it's pretty much me in a nutshell.

New Kids on the Block Scrapbook:

How about that New Kids on the Block scrapbook? That's pretty cool. Something for any fan to put her favorite pieces of NKOTB memorabilia and photos. I mean, if you were like me as a teen, you were so unorganized and just put clippings and photos all over your wall. I feel like my entire wall was just plastered with Shirley Manson to the point that my wall may as well have been orange. No regrets. 

So how nice is it to have an already licensed scrapbook for your favorite memories? Well, as cool as this book was, what fell out tonight while I was taking photos was even cooler:

 A NKOTB HI-C BOPPIN' BERRY LABEL.

WHAT?!?!?!?!

Of all the things to find in a NKOTB scrapbook, I find THIS. I swear as it fell out, a light shined and the "Hallelujah" started playing as I locked eyes on it. Stuff like this doesn't happen often. It probably happens once in a lifetime. And I'm glad I was the lucky recipient. This is definitely the find of a century. How can I follow this up? I mean...CAN I?

Oh I'll find a way. Believe me.

So thar she blows. Not sure if this is my last flea market trip for the entire year, but it certainly turned out to be the most successful! Very happy with the way things turned out. I guess it was worth the dry spell.

-Chad

Visiting Buffalo Comic Con!

Yay, it's comic con time!

I made the relatively short trip to Buffalo for the Buffalo Comic Con last weekend for a day of fun, comic books, toys, celebrities and awesome cosplay. Now being new player in the comic convention game, there were worries that Buffalo Comic Con was just gonna be a small show. I wasn't expecting a lot, I had just done Fan Expo in Toronto a few weeks before, which was a claustrophobic nightmare, so this would've been a giant change of pace no matter what. But my expectations weren't the highest. Which may have worked for me.

Me, Deadpool and JD

So upon entering the convention with my friend and fellow General Geekery podcast partner. JD, I was very surprised at the layout. The convention center itself was split into two floors. A main show floor upstairs and the bottom floor with rooms for meetings/seminars/panels/whatever it may be. Which worked big time. Sometimes in a convention space, everything's just thrown together and everything is just placed on the main convention floor. Not here. Everything was spread out, put in it's own spot, and felt very well organized. I sat in with JD's daughter for an anime panel and it was a nice throwback, considering my past anime con-going days. Very well done.

Also a nice addition was a kids room, which was put on by the local library, I believe.They had activities for the younger geeks in attendance such as coloring superhero masks, cardboard cutouts for photos, tunnels to crawl through, lightsaber battles. All the kind of stuff youngsters of any age would want. I was very impressed by this.

The vendor/celebrity/artists/writers were upstairs on the main floor and much like any convention, was no doubt the main draw. Where else will you get the opportunity to hang with fellow fans, rifle through musty, old comics, buy about 17 back issues of NFL SuperPro and meet your favorite writers? I also finally got to hold the first appearance of the Punisher! See my joy:

So the main draw for me, really, was the addition of some of the Nightmare on Elm Street 3 stars. It's of no surprise that I go crazy for anything Freddy related and when I have the opportunity to meet the stars of the series, I take it! In all my time of convention going, I've actually never met Ken Sagoes and Penelope Sudrow, who were guests at this show, and I could finally add them to my prized Freddy's Dead poster.

Yes, I'm sure it drives poster enthusiasts insane, but I wanted something I could get every member of the NOES series on and I kinda like the simplicity of the born-dead date. Kinda reminds me of a tombstone! It looks great with signatures!

So I finally got Ken Sagoes who admired all the signatures on my poster and even laughed when he saw the Freddy doodle, done by Robert Englund. Ken was super nice, as I've been told multiple times.

Up next was Rodney Eastman who played Joey in Part 3 and 4, who I've met before but never got his signature on my poster. He looked at my poster, which I always request the character name and the actor's favorite quote, and said "well, I only had one line" to which he gave me THIS:

Also, I refused to leave without a photo with Joey and Kincaid. And our photo turned out great, mainly due to Rodney suggesting I sit down due to my height. Neat!

Too awesome.


Penelope Sudrow who played Jennifer in part 3 was very...memorable. She kept asking me about the names on my poster and even pointed out how she thought every time Robert signs "Welcome to Prime Time, Bitch!" she should get a dollar. She also gave me a rather interesting signature and quote on my poster. Which I get since she didn't really have any memorable one liners.

 She also posed for a rather memorable photo op:

With my main goals accomplished, I now needed something to keep my attention and excitement. Thankfully, the huge maze of local vendors and artists selling their wares. It didn't take long for me to run into Mike Smash of Curious Goods, an artist known for his amazing figures and shadowbox illustrations. It was a pleasant surprise to see Mike, it's been years since I've seen him last. It was great to catch up and see his newest offerings, including a NOES 3 poster/shadowbox!

I could rant and rave all day about the Cosplayers. But instead, just check out these rad photos I took:

Buffalo Comic Con certainly isn't the biggest convention but its a very, very comfortable convention. I feel very confident in saying it's been the best convention experience in quite some time. I'm very excited to see where the show gows int he future. I have no issue pointing to this show and saying "My hometown comic convention".

This show gets a solid 10/10 score for me!

Hope to see you next year! I'll buy you some wings after!

-Chad

Ranking The New Stephen King BluRay

A very Happy Birthday to the Master of Horror himself, Mr. Stephen King! For a lot of people, Mr. King is the reason they're into horror and indeed, if it wasn't for watching Creepshow at an early age, I wouldn't be talking to you.

In their own way of celebrating, our friends at Warner Brothers have released a set of three of Stephen King's most famous movies on bluray, in what seems to be Best Buy Exclusives.

The goods, as seen above, are certainly great collectors items and for King completists, they are must owns. Now, I must confess, I've only really seen IT and Cat's Eye. I've never seen Salem's Lot so that provided me an advantage in viewing this on bluray. In crystal clear, hi-def with great sound, this would certainly be the right way to see it. Warner Brothers certainly knows how to make old releases feel new again with their transfers and using the original poster/vhs art, which is a nice comfort. Not that I mind new art but sometimes that art just isn't up to snuff. So I was excited to dig in. But was I fan of all of them? Let's find out:

First up, Salem's Lot. I've heard a lot of King fans profess their love of this and it really made me hopeful. Being a fan of King, I knew I would at least be in for some fun scares and good humor mixed. On top of that, I was expecting great characters in precarious situations. Well, to be quite honest, I didn't get that. I felt like none of the characters were all paper thin and 100% unlikable. I found the story even more unlikable and boring and just made for a very dull movie. That said, I can full respect the effort on producers to make it as close to the book as possible, so in those terms, I can totally see why fans like this. But in my personal opinion(by no means fact), this was just one King movie I couldn't get into.

Next movie is the 1990 made for tv miniseries, IT. The story of Pennywise the murderous clown also deemed "IT" by a local group of friends "The Losers Club", brought to life by the amazing Tim Curry. Now, of course, it's hard to follow up Tim Curry as a villain but the rest of the cast including the late-great John Ritter, Harry Anderson, Tim Reid, Olivia Hussey and more. A great cast, a great story, great directing by Tommy Lee Wallace. Now, as with Salem's Lot, the effort to make it as close to the book, both story and length, are there so it makes sense as to why it was broken up into two movies. But for a fan like me, it gets a little on the long side and gets a bit dull. That's no fault of the cast and crew, it's just that Part 1 is so well done and leads to a very big build up in the end. Part 2 doesn't deliver on that and just gets super long and drawn out with a predictable ending. I'd rank this higher than Salem's Lot in terms of entertainment and scares.

Cat's Eye rounds out the trio and in my opinion is the best of the lot. I'm a sucker for anthologies and will sit down and watch as many as I can. As previously mentioned before, without Creepshow, I wouldn't be a fan, so when I discovered this movie back in the early 2000's, I was excited. "Another Stephen King anthology? sign me up.". Now, albeit not every anthology film is flawless and has perfect stories. This focuses on a stray cat that travels through multiple scenarios and stories in order to get to a young girl(played by Drew Barrymore) to save her from doom. The cast is great, again, a constant in most if not all of King's adaptations, the stories are entertaining and the writing has as much humor as it does EC Comics-like ironic punishments. You can definitely see EC's influence on King and all his work. This may not be the most famous or even favorite of King fans, but of the three, it's certainly my favorite.

So there you have it! Warner Brother's offers you three blurays to add to your horror movie/King collection. Quite frankly, while I may not be the biggest fan of Salem's Lot, I must confess, I certainly hope fans rush out and buy it just so we can get more King movies  released! They all definitely have their place on every fan's shelf!

So a happy birthday to that lunkhead, Jordy Verril himself, the master of horror, the King of Fright, Mr. Stephen King!



-Chad


PS-For some extra King goodness, check out this fun commercial he did for American Express!

Review: The Punisher

The Punisher has always been tied with Batman as my favorite superhero. As a child, there was nothing cooler than a huge badass blowing things up and fighting for good. As an adult, I find him to be a sympathetic character and respect his belief of cleansing the streets and making those who get away with their heinous crimes. When you hear about the horrible things going on in life, even as a optimistic pacifist, wonder what life would be if Frank Castle was running around. At my current age, it's no longer about The Punisher blowing things up, it's cleansing the world of crime and perversion.

And believe it or not, a LOT of that interest has to do with the Dolph Lundgren movie from 1989. I had been a fan even before seeing this movie with my brother in 1991 so I knew what the Punisher meant, which to a degree, the movie kind of delivered. If you talk to people about this movie, I would bet good money they will roll their eyes and ask to move on from discussing it. Rightfully so, I get it. Despite not having a skull on his shirt and having issues delivering his lines, Dolph just didn't feel like he understood the character or what made him tick. I also understand at that point and time, comic book characters and movies were only marketable to kids. It wasn't really until Batman, also from 1989, that companies saw potential in dark, serious comic book movies, so I don't think Dolph deserves as much blame for portraying the Punisher as he's received.

Now, that said, the story of this movie has always been a little shallow. Sure, the general public who *knew* Punisher just wanted him to blow stuff up. And that, indeed, is delivered. But for loyal fans of the character, it just felt like a rehash of the Sylvester Stallone movie Cobra. There wasn't a lot of development in the Punisher character. He just kinda showed up and started shooting people and blowing things up. What made him the Punisher? Well, it's kinda hinted at that he's a former cop who witnessed his family murdered by a mob hit. Believing there's no justice, he goes after those who he deemed guiolty of crimes.  The movie is just pretty plain and underperformed for fans and critics, and yes, the movie studio. This, and that atrocious Captain American movie from 1990, is a huge reason Marvel was considered a huge joke at that time. My, how times have changed.

Well...all this made Punisher 89 an absolute embarrassment. Until now...

Austrailian distributor Umbrella Entertainment put out a bluray for any and all comic book/action movie/Punisher fanatics must own. Why do I say that? Simple, it includes three cuts of the movie.

Let me repeat that: THREE CUTS.

You read that right. Three different takes on the Punisher: The so called "theatrical", the directors "Ultimate Cut" and the Mark Goldblatt Workprint. Now, each movie has differences. The "Ultimate Cut" and workprint have different openings to the movies and even more origin stories, including footage of Frank on duty, his family being murdered, and more footage of the Punisher in action. While it's a few scenes that were taken out of the theatrical/vhs release, it makes a giant difference. It allows you to sympathize with Frank and discover what lead to him abandoning his normal, every day life and becomes the vigilante we all know and love. An origin story of a character that, at that point, only a handful of mainstream fans are aware of, helps with the storytelling. If you hated the original cut, you have two more options to give it a fair shake. Even better? The directors cut has commentary from Mark Goldblatt, which provides a lot of useful tidbits of info and a look into the production of the movie.


Now, if that's not all to reel you in, the bonus features are just as incredible. Brand new interviews with the man himself Dolph Lundgren, director Mark Goldblatt, a GAG REEL, and the theatrical trailer. And even cooler? The reversible cover artwork:

These features are way more generous than this movie deserves, some would argue. After all, that dvd release from the early 2000s was trash and that's what this movie deserves, right? Wrong. This was the first mainstream exposure of the Punisher and as much as it can suck, it still should be watched and studied in terms of just how far Marvel has come and in fact, I think this movie is better than that Thomas Jane movie.


Thanks to Umbrella Entertainment for releasing this. It's a release that every fan should invest in. You can purchase it, here.here. Of course, it will help if you have a region free player or know how to hack your bluray player.
-Chad

In Memory of Olive

So this entry is more of a release for me. Something I've been wanting to do for the longest time, so while it's not really my usual pop culture/horror movie/rasslin' entry, it is necessary and hopefully will help me. I'm gonna warn you, it will be a little long. It really will be. See, September 3rd is not a fun day for me and anyone who's lost a pet, probably can relate. September 3rd 2014 is the day where I lost my baby Olive.

My now fiancée Laurie and I "rescued" Olive from the local animal rescue, LollyPop Farm, in March of 2013 after making the decision to find a friend for Laurie's longtime pet, Charlie, who she's had since 2010. Charlie has always been very loyal and a very well behaved bunny but we had heard bunnies do even better in pairs. So, after taking Charlie on a couple of trips to Lollypop to meet other bunnies, we finally found a good match in Olive(named Coolata by the staff because she had no name when dropped off). Besides, Laurie and I instantly fell in love. She was beautiful!

She had giant Disney-like eyelashes, she had the prettiest pattern we had seen on a Dutch rabbit, and most of all, she was very energetic upon meeting her. She also had a "TEST" stamp on her right ear which at first angered me because I knew she was harmed in her previous life but I then came to the realization that the stamp gave her character and she was in a better spot with us.

She came over to me, sniffed me, then raced over to Laurie, sniffed her and raced back and fourth. She was very much a social butterfly. Er...Bunny. Finally, she sniffed Charlie and they kinda just looked at each other and hopped around the room. It was set. If it wasn't meant to be, they would've just ignored each other. But, we knew it was meant to be. After figuring out names, I randomly said "Olivia", which Laurie always liked but she saw it more as a human's name. So I said Olive and that stuck. It was perfect. Just like her.

The first picture we took of her, after bringing her home. March 2 2013

We brought her home. She was pretty comfortable with us. Although, the first night, we put a something on top on her cage so she wouldn't hop out. That became a bad idea, as she got super nervous, had a panic attack and proceeded to run around the cage carelessly to the point that she got a bloody nose after hitting the bars. So, we then decided to not to lock the cage at night and just let her roam around the apartment at her own whim. And boy did she ever.

Charlie(left) and Olive plotting evil deeds?

There'd be mornings that Laurie and I woke up and found a rabbit staring at us in that weird "feed me now or I'm gonna chew up all your vhs collection". Or if you were just laying on the couch or the bed, she'd randomly just hop up on your stomach or back and just call it a night and sleep on you. Or demand petting. Olive would also find random spot and nap.

You know in horror movies where someone goes into the kitchen, opens the fridge door, closes it and then sees someone standing there? Olive. It didn't take long to figure out that when that door opened, it was food time for us or her. You'd be sitting on the couch after work with a bowl of Cheetos and she'd race over, stand up, sniff and hop up on you and try to steal your food. She had quite the appetite. She wasn't much for toys but she loved chewing up carpet. In fact, she left quite a few "bald spots" on the carpet in our old apartment. She had no shame in doing that. It was aggravating as heck, but honestly, I miss hearing that carpet pulling sound. As weird as it is.

Her influence on Charlie was also very important. Charlie went from very well behaved and never did anything out of the oridnary to Olive's sidekick. She influenced him to eat carpet which got annoying too. There also were times where we'd be sitting in the living room, hear something in the bedroom, call "BUNNIES!" and they'd both run out and just stare at us like they were guilty. To this day, Charlie still has a lot of her habits and you can definitely see she left a very positive influence on him.

September 1st 2014, my birthday, we noticed Olive was acting very weird. I mean, she was always weird, but this was too out of the ordinary. She was moving slow, breathing shallow and actually fell over. We found out that she ate some random wash rag on the floor near the couch. We immediately took her to the animal hospital where she was discharged after about 4 hours or so. Later that night, she still wasn't acting right, so Laurie took her back. They kept her overnight and we went to visit on September 2nd. They still couldn't give us any full answers but suggested they keep her overnight until the morning of September 3rd when we could take her to her normal vet who specializes in caring for smaller animals. We obliged but before they kept her overnight, we got to spend what would be the last time we saw her together. Olive was in a head cone and upon seeing this, I immediately knew something wasn't right. I knew she wasn't well and there was the possibility,,,well...I didn't wanna acknowledge the possibility of her not surviving. I just didn't.

That night, when visiting Olive, was weird. She could hardly able to move. All her energy was drained. But, when I put my head down to cry, she used up her energy for the evening to come over and nudge me with her nose. It was almost like her trying to comfort me in some weird way. As to say "it's ok. No matter what, I'll be ok". And that kinda gave me some hope that the procedure in the morning would solve everything.

So, after my morning shift, I raced over to the hospital, picked up Olive, started to cry because that thought of her not surviving was still in my head. She was frail, she was weak, she was not in good health. But the people at Cats and Critters(the vet) always solved everything. She'd be ok. I knew it. I just knew it. I dropped her off, gave her three kisses, one from me me, one from Laurie and one from Charlie and told her I'd be back for her. I was told it would be a few hours for the procedure and they'd call us when she was in recovery. Which would be close to 6 hours or so.

Well, an hour later, I got the phone call I never ever wanted to receive. As soon as I saw the number on my caller id, I immediately panicked.

"Hi Chad. We're calling to let you know..."

At that point I began screaming and crying and begging them not to finish their sentance. I'm sure they've heard it before.

"I'm sorry, Chad...Olive didn't make it.".

I rush to my car, speed off to the vet's office and call Laurie. She had the same reaction I did, upon hearing me cry. She told her job what happened, and understanding how much Olive meant, she was told to leave.

We met at the vet's office in room 4, which we've since demanded to never be put in ever again, a request they've reasonably and respectfully obliged, where they brought in our baby. She was lifeless and we immediately became inconsolable. We cried hysterically and the vet assistant stayed with us, until we requested time by ourselves. Again, a request she understood.

That day, that week, that month, the rest of that year, was rough as hell. It really was. Laurie and I hadn't eaten anything but junk food. We obviously had no motivation to go anywhere or do anything social. It was rough. It was painful. It was like a part of our heart was torn out. At one point, and this may seem silly to you, but I honestly questioned my faith in God. Why would this happen? The rabbit did nothing to harm anyone. She just wanted love. I questioned a lot within that period. But eventually I kinda came to terms with everything.

Shortly after we realized Charlie couldn't be alone. Laurie and I were still in pain but we had no idea what he was going through. One day, his best friend was here. The next day, gone. Charlie had grown to love Olive just as much as we did. So we needed to find a new partner for him. Olive no doubt would've wanted it. We knew this, but we weren't really keen on the idea of getting another rabbit. It was still too much to handle. So after a good chat with my buddy John Squires, who for a few days the ONLY person I had the energy to talk to and really became a big help in all this, I realized we *had* to. So 2 weeks to the day, we took Charlie to meet his new friend, Penelope. She was just sitting in a cage all by herself. We fell in love all over again. But it still felt weird. So when we brought Charlie, they bonded in the same way he and Olive did. It was another "meant to be" moment.

Charlie and Penelope! They've definitely become best friends! 

Quite frankly, Olive left a huge impression on Laurie, me and Charlie. There's not a day that goes by that we don't talk about her or think about her. We continue to cry. But Charlie, he seems to have done just fine. We think. There's no way to read his mind, but he certainly kept Laurie and us sane in our worst moments. And truth be told, my love of Charlie has grown even more.

In my dream world, we'd have 3 bunnies in our lives but I know without Olive, we wouldn't have Penelope. As I said, I'm sure Olive would've been fine with that.

So. There it is. I don't look forward to September 3rd, because I know how miserable I'll feel. But I feel like writing this helped lift a weight off my shoulders, if that makes sense. This felt very therapeutic. Not in a "letting go of Olive" but a "letting go of the pain". Because when I do think of Olive, I smile. That's what she was best at. Making everyone smile.

So, Olive, I hope you're tearing out all that delicious hay and grass over at the Rainbow Bridge. I look forward to when we meet again...

I'd give everything I own just have this moment one more time.

Thanks for reading. I'll return to the pop culture goofball stuff sooner than later.


-Chad