A Little About Me

Just so that you have a general idea of WHO is spouting off about this giallo stuff, I thought I'd tell you a little about myself.

At the time of this writing I am a 53 year old employee of the US Postal Service.  Yup, I schlep the mail for USPS.  Rain or Shine.  Snow or Sleet.  I live in the northern half of New York State, near the southern shore of Lake Ontario.  I've lived in the Northeast/New England area pretty much all of my life, so I am used to cold weather.  If its 20°F, and I'm toting a bag of mail up and down the street...I'm working up a sweat!

I grew up in eastern Massachusetts, in a small town located between Boston and Plymouth.  A generally quiet, normal life.  I loved horror and SF films and reading Poe, Agatha Christie and other mystery and horror authors.  Fortunately, I had parents who did not discourage my interests.  I grew up on Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.  I even sent Forry Ackerman a small donation for his Ackermuseum and he sent me an autographed postcard, which i still have to this day!  I will talk more about the development of my interest in horror films and giallo cinema in an upcoming post.

I graduated high school in 1976 and then my family had to move to Central New York because my dad had lost his job in Massachusetts.  I attended community college for 2 years, majoring in Broadcast Communications and got an Associates Degree.  While there, I was fortunate enough to get a little REAL LIFE experience in broadcasting when I got a job spinning records for a few hours in the evening at the local radio station.  I believe it was my second day on the job that my boss came into the studio with a piece of paper and told me to read the news that was written on it.  It was the report that Elvis had left the Planet.  Talk about an ordeal by fire!

In 1978 I transferred to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio where I earned my Bachelor's Degree.  While at O.U. I took classes in Documentary and Experimental Film and Scriptwriting. I also volunteered with the film society and helped with the weekend film screenings and with the film festival.

After graduation, I returned to New York where I spent the next 18 years or so working shifts at several different small-market radio stations.  In addition to playing music, I would have to turn the station on in the early morning, shut it down at night, write and produce commercials and generally do just about any other job that was thrown at me. 

One day I noticed an ad in the paper that said that the US Postal Service would soon be giving exams.  Since I was CERTAINLY not raking in the big bucks in the broadcasting industry, I decided to give this a try.  I took the exams and did pretty darn well.  They called me in for an interview.  I believe this was on a Friday.  When I got home, there was a note on my answering machine.  My boss at the radio station wanted to see me.  He told me that the station was doing a total format change and that they were letting most of the on-air talent go.  That included me.  I was given 5 weeks of pay and a promise of a glowing job referral if I needed it.  Three days later, on Monday morning, I got a phone call from the Postal Service.  If I passed their physical exam, they had a job for me.  Talk about LUCK, eh? For the past 15 years, I've been the Friendly Neighborhood Mailman.  I'm single and I make a nice living, which allows me to travel and collect horror films. 

I may not be an expert on cinema, but I know quite a good bit about it.  About how films are written, produced and directed.  I can talk about theme, structure, lighting, music and cinematography.  While in college, not only did I study cinema...I also had to make several audio and video productions as part of my education.  So, I have some hand-on experience, too!

I certainly won't pretend to be the final word on Giallo Cinema.  I'm just a big fan who wants to share some personal insights and, hopefully, learn some things from others about this particular genre. 

Next time,  I'll be writing about how I personally view Giallo.  How I came to discover it and what I like about it.

Ciao.