Happy upcoming birthday, Mr. Matheson.

I recently wrote a post about John Llewellyn Moxey, a director who'd directed several of my favorite films, but a name that I'd been unaware of until recently.

Well, as an aspiring director and screenwriter, one would think I'd have a favorite screenwriter. Well, I don't know that I have just one, but one I've recently become aware of is Richard Matheson.

Matheson was born on February 20, 1926 in, of all places, New Jersey. He was raised in Brooklyn and started writing fiction as a child. Eventually, he would write the sci-fi classic, "I Am Legend," the source for Vincent Price's 1964 classic, "The Last Man on Earth," which Matheson also wrote the screenplay for, 1971's "Omega Man," starring Charlton Heston, and the more recent, "I Am Legend," starring Will Smith, released in 2007. All three of these movies are great, (Price's still being the best in my mind), and I own all of them on DVD. For this contribution alone Matheson is in my list of favorite screenwriters.

Yet over his career, Matheson has written a number of other highly-regarded horror, sci-fi, and fantasy stories and screenplays - many of them on my list of great movies. In 1956, Mateheson started his screenplay writing career with the adaptation of his novel, "The Shrinking Man" into the "The Incredible Shrinking Man," a film being remade in 2010.

In the early 60's Matheson wrote several classic episodes of "The Twilight Zone," including, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," the episode featuring William Shatner as a passenger trying to warn others of the gremlin on the wing! Matheson also wrote for Shatner again in an episode of "Star Trek," in which Kirk is divided into two halves, called, "The Enemy Within."

Matheson continued to write for television and the screen throughout that decade until he wrote the screenplay for Steven Speilberg's "Duel." I own this classic on DVD and still love to watch that dirty old oil tanker chase down Dennis Weaver in the desert.

After writing several episodes for "Night Gallery," another show I own on DVD, Matheson penned, "The Night Stalker," the made for TV movie directed by John Llewellyn Moxey. Isn't it odd how things like this coincide? Again, as I mentioned in my tribute to Moxey, this is a classic I own. Matheson also wrote the follow-up, "The Night Strangler," available on the same DVD with "The Night Stalker."

In 1973, Matheson was the brain behind my favorite Dracula movie, "Dracula," starring Jack Palance as the evil Count. I love the end of this movie- which I won't spoil for you here.

Another unforgettable contribution of Matheson's was 1975's "Trilogy of Terror." The third installment of that trilogy was the story in which Karen Black's character was chased around her apartment by an animated Zuni fetish doll. This has come out on DVD while I wasn't watching and I hope to add this to my collection.

Then, in 1980, Matheson wrote the screenplay for "Somewhere in Time," the love story across time starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeves. My wife and I love this movie, own it, and have been to Mackinac Island several times, including our honeymoon.

Since then, his work has continued for television and the big screen with teleplays written for "Twilight Zone," "Amazing Stories," and the "Outer Limits," and screenplays written for "The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)," "Jaws 3-D (1981)" and others. His novels were the inspiration for 1996's "What Dreams May Come," 1999's "Stir of Echoes," and of course, 2007's blockbuster, "I Am Legend."

So again, without even realizing it, I've found myself the owner of at least seven movies on DVD and several television episodes on DVD that were all written by or derived from the works of Richard Matheson. Wow.

Here's to you Mr. Matheson. If you are still with us, and I hope you are, may you enjoy a wonderful 83rd birthday on February 20th. I plan on watching several of your films that day just to celebrate.

Finally arriving.

For some time now, I've been trying to come up with a theme for a blog that will encourage and compel me to write more often. The problem is, my interest in one thing or another waxes and wanes. And once my interest in a particular topic has waned, I find it difficult to return to that blog and write new entries.

At first, I started with a blog that centered around my ideas about certain passages of Scripture in the Bible. And as much as I am intrigued by the Bible, I found myself frustrated when - with one or two exceptions for which I am grateful - my wife and sister seemed to be the only ones reading it. My ideas are legitimate and worthy of discussion, I'm sure, but just because you build a blog, that doesn't mean anyone will come. (Thanks for nothing, Costner.)

Then I started a blog about the little restuarants around my work place where I go for lunch. I thought I'd review their menus, service, etc. After all, I love food and what could be better to write about. Then the economy took a bit of a down-turn. We tightened our belts a bit to pay off some debt and I started packing my lunch. Humph. There goes that idea.

I thought a blog about home repair might be the ticket. I spent all that time working in a home center, going to home and hardware trade shows, selling hardware wholesale, and remodeling two - no, make that three - houses. This is something I know about! But I just don't have the time to dedicate to becoming THE online authority on hardware.

I then created a blog to reach out to Kevin Spacey (yeah, that's right, the actor) and ask him to read a screenplay I'd written for him. Surely, this is the best way to reach him, right? Sigh. My phone still isn't ringing, nor my email inbox a-stuffing.

So I figured, I'm just gonna start a blog and write about whatever I'm in the mood to write about on any given day. No theme, except Bobby's ramblings, rants, ponderings, annoyances, etc. Surely, someone will take interest in that. This is, after all, ME that I'm talking about ;)

Let me anticipate one of your first questions: Why the name, "Big Nasty Brain?" It's an inside joke.

Two years before we were married, I had taken Krista - my then fiance - to meet the clan: my Dad, Stepmother, and my brother and his family. That was no small feat as my brother lived on the Keewenaw penninsula on Michigan's famous Upper Penninsula (UP).

So as to not retrace the path by which we had come entirely, I plotted a return course to Pennsylvania that went through Sault Ste. Marie, MI, across the border into Canada, along the northern shore of the Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron) and across the Manitoulin Island to the small town of South Baymouth. Once there, the trek continued across the bay on the Chi-CheeMaun ferry to Tobermory, ON. From there, we traveled to Niagara Falls, and back into the U.S. near Buffalo.

In 1995, we were married, and my wife Krista and I honeymooned on Mackinac Island, Michigan. It was a blast, and on our first anniversary, in 1996, we asked some friends, Mike and Laura D., to stay on Mackinac Island and then travel with us to visit some of the great places we'd been to during that first trip to Michigan.

We'd spent 3 or 4 days on Mackinac Island with the D's and decided to head north from there to Whitefish Point and visit the shipwreck museum there. That afternoon, we travelled to Sault Ste. Marie (our joyous day interupted only by a speeding ticket) and we discovered the Lockview restaurant across the street from the Soo Locks. It was a Friday evening and their special was all-you-can-eat whitefish, prepared however you like: broiled, pan fired, batter dipped, or cajun. We've been back many times since.



The Lockview Restaurant in Sault Ste. Marie, MI

After an amazing meal, we wandered to our hotel on the Canadian side. Once we were checked in, we decided to play Scrabble before bed. I was tired and feared that I wouldn't play well, but everyone was up for it, so who am I to say no?


Now, I do fancy myself a fairly good Scrabble player. I love word games, like Boggle, etc. But I rarely find an opportunity to use all my letters in a single turn and get a Bingo. So when it does happen, I am rather pleased. That night I was able to spell out 'Podiatry.' Michael looked at it and sounded out, 'Poh-dee-at-ree.' "Hunh?" he asked. I explained what podiatry was - and how it was pronounced- and was awarded a butt-load of points.

Being tired, not of the game, but from the day, I leaned back and sighed, closed my eyes for a moment and ran my fingers through my hair. And that's when someone - I'm pretty sure it was my wisenheimer wife - responded to the word I had played and my subsequent actions with, "Awww, is the big nasty brain tired." All with a perfectly sarcastic and patronizing tone.

After a howl and a good laugh from the others, it instantly became my nickname. Bnb, for short.

So there it is. The story behind the name of this blog. Let's hope this one sticks and I'll actually write something once in a while.