My favorite Bigfoot movie

In 1985, I saw "The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek" at Cinema North in Goodlettsville, TN. There was only one other person in the theater, a Vietnamese man trying to learn English. A few minutes into the show the film broke. We talked for a good half hour until I realized that no one in the theater knew of the problem. I walked around and finally found a concession stand worker. The film restarted. It was a gem of bad movie making.

Charles B. Pierce, writer, director and star of "The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek" passed away in Dover, Tennessee, this past Friday at the age of 71. He will be missed by bad movie fans everywhere.

Renowned space artist Robert T. McCall, 90, passed away in Scottsdale, Arizona on Feb. 26. McCall's extraordinary paintings spurred the imagination of millions. He painted the future we deserved. His poster for 2001: A Space Odyssey is iconic. His manner of inspiration is reflected in my novel "Teen Girl From Mars" available at Smashwords.com.

"Alice in Wonderland" review

YouTube review

"Alice in Wonderland" reviewed by Jason Goldtrap 03.03.10

Tim Burton has triumphantly welded the medium of film in "Alice in Wonderland" by stepping out of the way and letting the story stand on its own legs. In other words, he did not make it a "Tim Burton film."

"Alice in Wonderland" is the greatest gift of Lewis Carroll, whom Wikipedia describes as an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. In this movie, the viewer can appreciate all that is laudable about fine literature, be comforted by the surety of consequences, be admirable at the complexity of the endeavor, be charmed by the worthiness of high values while being grateful that the technology at hand, in this case computer generated special effects, was employed not only with great skill but with the utmost care because the bedazzlement never overpowers the story.

Wonderland is its own world. While it borrows figures it is not a symbol or even an illustration of what the world should be or is from a skewed perspective. It is what it is: a land of color and whimsy, chartered to cherish innocence while extolling goodness. It is a shelter sorely needed. Dropped like a stone deep into this collage of crimson, indigo and saffron is Alice (confidently portrayed by Australian ingénue Mia Wasikowska), a young girl who may, or may not, yet be ready for womanhood. Though fair haired and delicate in form, Alice is not a naïve waif pining for a prince, she is fully self-actualized: dauntless, faithful to herself, civilized and beyond common reproach. Without being over idealized, her pervasive humanity and femininity allows her to be a realistic role model. She possesses no magic other than the grand rampart of knowing who she is even when she does not necessarily realize who she is. Ultimately, Alice's adventure in


Wonderland only provides an avenue, a format by which she can simply be awake.

The movie itself is family friendly without being preachy. It is a children's story which holds the adult's attention. It has no modern subtext, no hidden meaning, no twist ending; it is simple storytelling in the best tradition. The true ogre is not aristocracy; it's bad behavior.

Each character is complex and sympathetic. Even on the playing field of black and white, heroes and villains, there is room for analysis and understanding.

The Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) is truly pathetic, wearing her misery just below the surface of her painted face and her, appropriately, bulbous head. She is not so much loved as she is feared and she is fully aware of her loathsome state, yet, even in her most agitated moments she remains superbly insolent, with a dry English wit always willing to pierce the soul of any foe with a snide observation.

Johnny Depp, with his costume of frizzy orange hair, top hat and ludicrous yellow eyes presents his Mad Hatter not as a comical banshee but more as a simpatico to Alice herself. Like his costume, he is a cacophony of man's best traits and man's worst foibles. Forever, emotionally, in the moment, his gallant yet rambunctious nature endears him to both Alice and the audience.

Seeing a quality movie, much like eating a finely cooked meal or hearing a good song, elevates the one privileged to taste the mastery. "Alice in Wonderland" extols the ideals of dreaming in a world which desperately needs dreamers. It approaches the purveyors of mediocrity, compromise and depravity and says, "Off with their heads!" See "Alice in Wonderland" and you will skip from the theater more willing to envisage your own kingdom.

Ideas swimming in my mind

Feb, 24, 2010


1. The Beatles said it best in their song "Fixing a Hole": I'm painting the room in a colorful way and when my mind is wandering there I will go.

2. "Hope springs eternal, it can do nothing less." -Jason Goldtrap, Feb. 23. 2010

3. On the next episode of 24, Jack will flap his arms and fly to the moon. I mean, why not?

4. I saw "Avatar" recently. I liked it better when it was called "Where the Buggalo Roam" (episode of Futurama).

5. Announcer: Next time on "Monster Quest" we'll travel to Las Vegas to investigate recent sightings of a half man... um... Bill, the script is blank... What? Just make up something? Well, ok. 3-2-1 recent sightings of a half man... half... um.... turtle. Yeah, that'll do. Turtle-Man on the next "Monster Quest."

6. As I look across the candidates emerging for the 2012 elections, I must ask, "Who will be the next Morry Taylor?"

7. "America was a better place when we looked more like Mayberry instead of the Mos Eisley Cantina." JG 2.16.10

8. Goodnight. ring-a-ding-a-ding-a-ding... 5 4 3 2

Blog Day 1

A Few Random Thoughts for 02.12.10


1. When you compromise with evil you don't get evil-lite... you get New Coke.

2. When Congress works together America stops working.

3. A man who dresses like a woman but never goes anywhere is a vestite.

4. My day was quite reasonable. It was very voluted. I am mixed down. This makes me feel gruntled and combobulated.

5. No snow in Central Florida. Thus, driving is peded and a bacle.

6. Sting's newest album is the tenth in a series, "Songs that are interesting to me and three other people."

7. Summer 1986. Freed Hardeman College. Tennessee. At 4 pm on the college radio station two songs were played back to back and I said, "That was Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da De Do Do Do De Da Da Da. I am Steve Fisher and you're listening to FM 91." I went to Freed for one summer. I was not into learning. I largely stayed in my dorm room not doing much of anything.

8. Once, I thought outside the box. I then looked outside the box. As it turns out, I was in a room full of boxes that stretched to infinity. Whoa.

9. I know nothing about his administrative abilities but Kansas City mayor Mark Funkhouser has the coolest name in politics.

10. SPOILER ALERT FOR 24:... spolier alert.... ok, so, Jack can be stabbed in the gut with a 6 inch knife, bind the wound himself and be just fine? Dude, seriously?