Author Archive: Eric San Juan

Sex, Saws, Stumps & Samara: Revisiting Fangoria 2005

This was originally published all the way back in 2005, at DVD in My Pants. The following version does not include all of the photos taken (by me!) for the piece. The formatting may be wonky, too. I’m posting it mostly to keep it alive online. Two days of axes, gore and bloody stumps might sound terrifying, but for fans of the horror genre, it was just what the (mad) doctor ordered on September 24 and 25 in Secaucus, New Jersey. For two days genre fans gnawed at Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors, where hundreds horror fans and a full slate of special guests offered up 48 hours of the mysterious, macabre and meaty. Read on as  launches the first in a month-long celebration of all things horror….
Read more

There’s a Reason So Many Beers Are Named After Myths, Gods and Monsters

Originally published in the Philadelphia Weekly, May. 30, 2012, but long since taken offline (though available on the Internet Archive). So here it is in full. Drinking beer: It’s an act that transcends mere enjoyment, isn’t it? Throughout history, we’ve had an almost spiritual connection with our beer, one that leans toward the most fierce, primal part of who we are as human beings. Whereas wine is seen as civilized, refined, and at times erotic, beer conjures up something quite different—something wild, something untamed. In ancient days, triumphant warriors returned home from a day of plunder to down their ale while bragging of victory—intoxication swelling each boast into a bloated, fantastical account of deeds that defy human abilities. Small wonder, then, that so many modern…
Read more

J.R.R. Tolkien, Hobbits, and BEER

Originally published on Celebrating the Suds, September 23, 2011 So, J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Yeah yeah yeah, I know what you’re thinking. “This is a beer blog. Why the hell are you posting about the dude who wrote about elves and hobbits and all that?” I’m doing it because Tolkien and beer go together like me and Kate Beckinsale. (Just go with me on this, please.) Tolkien loved his beer, something reflected in his fiction by way of the Hobbits’ passion for a pint and the way in which a good pub is shown to be central to finding true contentment. Throughout The Lord of the Rings, for example, Merry, Pippin and Sam are forever looking for…
Read more

New zone out music: Second Slumber – Empty Nest (2020)

Unlike writing, I’ve still kept music “pure.” By that I mean it’s still something I go to when I just want to freely express myself, pushing out what’s in my head and heart and soul in an abstract way without worrying about whether or not it’s “right.” So when throughout 2019 I was working on an album I knew would end up being called “Empty Nest,” it wasn’t a formal project I was working towards — dear lord I do too much of that — it was just something I gravitated to when I wanted to escape my thoughts, cares, and worries of the day. Plug in the guitar, put on the headphones, and hope for the best, right? The following is the result, culled…
Read more