Guillermo del Toro at the Saturn Awards

Here, as promised, is Guillermo del Toro's acceptance of the George Pal Memorial Award at the 34th Annual Saturn Awards, preceded by a short video prologue and introduced with what I believe are universal sentiments by writer-director Frank Darabont.

I photographed this material myself, and I should forewarn you that the picture goes black for a short time between Guillermo's introduction and his first words onstage. That's because I had to put the camera down and pay the man his due by clapping my hands together.

Not included in this clip is my relevant after-party banter with Guillermo, which went something like this...

TL: Guillermo, did you ever meet George Pal?

GDT: No, I never did, I am sorry to say.

TL: I met George Pal once.

GDT: Do you want me to hit you over the head with this fucking award?

Bava Book Blog Enters the Video Age

Photo by David J. Schow.

Now playing over at The Bava Book Blog: footage of Donna's and my Saturn Award acceptance speech, and John Saxon's introduction of us, which you can access directly here. Press the play button and wait a few seconds for playback to begin. Mind you, this is no Academy Awards speech, where the band chases the speakers offstage and mid-word after 30 seconds. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films encouraged us to speak our peace, so I wrote and delivered a speech that, along with John's introduction, runs in the neighborhood of 12 minutes or so -- a running time slightly longer than what is allowed by YouTube. Enjoy.

We also recorded Guillermo del Toro's speech upon receiving the George Pal Memorial Award, and Frank Darabont's extraordinary introduction of him, which I'll be posting here anon. The version on YouTube is only a fragment of the actual speech.

Team Watchdog at the Saturn Awards

Here are some shots that were taken by David J. Schow at the 34th Annual Saturn Awards last Tuesday, June 24. Here's Donna and me, posing with our Special Achievement Award.

Dining at Table #24 with award presenter John Saxon, who I complimented on his surprising performance in Dario Argento's MASTERS OF HORROR episode, "Pelts."

Guillermo del Toro meets Charlie Largent -- VW cover artist and Donna's most important collaborator in the design of MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK. Charlie and Guillermo had a great conversation about GDT's intentions for THE HOBBIT... and now both Charlie and I want to take another stab at reading it!

Donna meets PAN'S LABYRINTH's Faun and Pale Man, and the Silver Surfer, all rolled up in one: Doug Jones. A gifted mime, a very sweet and charming gentleman... and, as Charlie shrewdly noted, "If they ever get around to making a biopic on John Waters, there's your guy."

But all this is prologue to today's new entry on the Bava book blog. Click here for instant teleportation to more pictures and much more text.