Starting tomorrow, I will be out of touch from most of the world for all of next week. I get to go on a fun adventure for work, one of those team building events. And boy am I excited. Trust me, images from Christopher Smith’s movie Severance have been going through my head for the last couple of weeks. If you email me, I will get back to you as soon as I return.

But if/once I do return, we’ll almost be immediately back on the road for two different events this month. The first is the Dust-to-Dawn: Carpenter Fest 2 at the Midway Drive-in out in Sterling, IL that takes place on Saturday the 16th. If you’re not that far from there, and you’re a fan of John Carpenter, you are not going to want to miss this. With 4 features lined up, They Live, The Fog, Escape from New York, and In the Mouth of Madness, all projected on the huge 90ft screen they have there, it will be an amazing time. And to make even more fun, we’re doing some things to bring back the old days of old-fashioned ballyhoo, with free sunglasses to the first 100 people in line, some free eye patches, and even a photo op with an alien from They Live! All that with just the price of admission!

If you haven’t been to the Midway, now is your chance to make it for one hell of an event. The Midway Drive-in is run by Mike and Mia Kerz, the ones that run Flashback Weekend in Rosemont every year. That show actually helps support the drive-in, to keep it running so more and more can enjoy the whole drive-in experience. So, coming out to these events also helps not only support the drive-in, but also shows that these kinds of events are important enough to continue to do! So, mark your calendar and come on out for some fun! Click HERE for all the info.

The week after that, over Memorial Day weekend, we’ll be heading to Columbus for the Columbus Moving Picture Show. This used to be called Cinevent, which had to be the longest running movie memorabilia show, running for more than 50 years. But now with a new owner, and with a new name, but it is still the same old show. Dealer rooms filled with everything from posters, stills, lobby cards, books, DVDs and Blu-rays, ad matts, and anything in between. This isn’t your convention like most around these days, with a ton of guests charging for overpriced autographs, but just one where movie lovers can dig through different movie memorabilia looking for something to add to their collection. This takes place from May 21st through the 24th, at the Crowne Plaza North in Columbus. There are movie screening all weekend long, and while most are “regular” movies (meaning not horror!), they are screening 2 features on Friday night that feature Boris Karloff! At 9:45pm is The Man Who Lived Again (1936) and then after that, at 11pm, is Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947). For more information about the show, just click HERE.

With all the crazy stuff going on in the world, sometimes we need to take a little break from reality and just have fun. And these two events are perfect ways to do that. Hopefully we’ll see you at one or both of them!