The Bacon Number

I assume you are aware, Gentle Reader, of the game, “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”?  It is a ‘shortest path’ algorithm as to how far an actor or actress is removed from Kevin Bacon.  This is the actor’s / actress’s Bacon Number. 

“Huh?”

It’s not as bad as it sounds, save that you have a love for movies.  Take an actor – for our discussion let’s say, Robert Downey Jr.  Now we have to connect him to Kevin Bacon.  It goes something like this…

Robert Downey Jr. and Clark Gregg appeared in The Avengers.

Clark Gregg and Kevin Bacon appeared in The Air I Breathe.

So, we can extrapolate that Mr. Robert Downey Jr.'s Bacon Number is 2

I would love to tell you that I pulled that out of my hat.  I did not.  While I am a huge fan of the movies, I would have to really take my time and think it through.  “Animal House” is a huge blessing since so many actors were in that with Kevin Bacon and so with that film alone you can make hundreds of connections.  Still, it is, at times, no easy feat. 

Enter Google!

Google has now added to their search engine the Bacon Number.  All you have to do is type in the actor’s / actress’s name and the words Bacon Number and voila!  And now you to, with the help of Google, can whip out the Bacon Numbers with aplomb and succinctness! 

What did we do before the internet? 

Mr. Bacon has built a charity around the game and it from his SixDegrees.org website that I took the picture for this humble blog.  You can find it here: http://www.sixdegrees.org/kevinbacongameforgood.

No, really; what did we do before the internet?

The NJ HORRORFEST is Creeping to Vineland

Ron DiPrimio is a friend of mine.  He also happens to be the brains behind “Little Red Wagon Films”.  He loves horror movies.  As it turns out he loves them so much that he has organized something that I hope becomes an annual event here in Vineland – the NJ HORRORFEST.  It’s a great venue for independent filmmakers and horror fans.  It is going to happen at the historic Landis Theater in Vineland.

Michelle Brunetti Post from the Atlantic City Press featured Ron in her article, “Everyone Has a Story: Vineland Filmmaker Offers NJ Horrorfest at Landis Theater.  You can read all about it right here: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/blogs/michelle_post/everyone-has-a-story-vineland-filmmaker-offers-nj-horrorfest-at/article_beeb0f58-04fb-11e2-9aba-0019bb2963f4.html

“So what is a Horror Fest?”

As always, Gentle Reader, that is an excellent question.  The NJ HORRORFEST is an independent horror film festival that is happening at the Landis Theater, in Vineland, NJ on October 13^th.  There will be 11 straight hours of independent horror films and all for the fee of just 13 bucks.  That’s a lot of creep for your cash.  Tickets are on sale now and a portion of the ticket price will be going to the charity, ‘Scares That Care’ for sick children, burn victims, and for breast cancer.  That’s a win – win all the way around the Horn.

As per the website, “The NJ HORRORFEST will be held Saturday October 13th.  Doors open at 10am and the movies begin at 11 am.  The festival will last until the last film ends.  Then there will be an after party to follow where we will announce the winners for Best Short, Best Feature, and Best Director.”   

You can get your tickets here: http://www.njhorrorfest.com/tickets.html

You can Like the NJ HORRORFEST here on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/263535170418095/

This has legs.  I believe that Ron has grasped onto lightning here and I sincerely hope that this is the first in a long line of Horrorfests at the Landis Theater.  It’s good for independent filmmaking, the Vineland area at large, and for all the people who will benefit from ‘Scares That Care’.  I’m looking forward to the frights that I’m going to find at the Landis Theater on October 13.

I hope to see you there!

The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

My family, the EC-5 (Evil Chicken 5), traveled 110 miles to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire this past weekend.  Let me simply say, if you have not made the time to go to the PA Ren Faire then make the time and go.  It is ‘Participatory Theater’ at it’s best.  The entire troop delivered on the whole, “the show must go on” ethos and were true professionals in the torrential rains that poured down on the just and the unjust during our visit.

As the Mount Hope Estate & Winery’s web site (http://www.parenfaire.com/) says concerning the Ren Faire, “…A cast of hundreds of colorfully costumed characters fill the Shire with music, dancing, and more! With over 90 stage shows daily, 22 Royal Kitchens and scores of artisan merchants with handcrafted wares, the Renaissance Faire invites guests to immerse themselves in our 35-acre village and experience the fantasy!”   

Wear comfortable shoes for your journey to the Shire.  If it rains a poncho is not a bad accessory either.  We beheld sword fights, ate Scotch eggs, shot arrows, threw axes, watched brawls at the Boarshead Inn, saw Lord Chamberlain's Men perform scenes from Henry the V as Shakespeare himself took a bow and heard shouts of “God Save the Queen!” as her majesty herself was escorted across the grounds by her entourage and armed guards.  The story is episodic in nature and you have to be at a certain place at a certain time to grasp the scope of what the troop is doing.  If you want to see things from soup to nuts understand that you have a full day of activity ahead of you. 

It is time well spent.