I have been a fan of this tradition of watching
television and films and have so many favorites I love. Some are The Day
The Earth Stood Still, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the original Planet of the
Apes, Back to the Future, (Yes, I know Doc Brown), Forbidden Planet, and
so many other classic sci-fi and horror from the 1950's right on through
today. I loved all the Zombie films and when I was younger, From Hell It
came and It Came From Outer Space scared the crap out of me! Creature
Feature with Count Gore De Vol was a staple every weekend for me for
years!!
I have attended genre conventions since the very early
1980's and met many celebrities attending these shows to talk and get
their autographs. I also took my camcorder to videotape
many conventions and I have amassed hours and hours of footage since the
early 1980's.
This footage I now have in my archives, or as I like to
call it, my "Markives", ha-ha.
I had a cable access TV show in the late 1990's to 2002
called Cosmic Visions. This allowed me to begin to acquire press passes
at conventions to actually interview these guest stars and use this
material in the show.
I have met so many outstanding celebrities in this genre
and have actually been lucky enough to have interviewed some of my
favorites over the years, such as, Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen, Will
and Jada Smith, Jonathan Harris, Frank Gorshin, Forrest J Ackerman,
George Romero, and scores more which I will list soon.
I co-hosted a radio talk show in 2001, and have appeared
in some films as an extra such as Cecil B Demented, Carmilla, and more.
Believe it or not, I was actually a beauty pageant Master of Ceremonies
for a nationwide pageant organization where I traveled every weekend 9
months a year from 1999-2002!! I flew to a different city each weekend
to host the pageant with contestants aged 5-24. Yes, who would have
though a guy like me that looks like a cross between, Richard Dreyfus,
Stuart Little, and a Smurf would get that kind of a gig, but, the force
was with me!
Currently I have been writing an ongoing column for
Autograph Collector Magazine since 2005, where I still attend many genre
conventions to interview the guest stars for my articles, as well as
focus on the art of autograph collecting in this field! My column in the
magazine is called the Sci-Fi Scene, by yes, Mark J. Gross. I am sure
you have seen me interviewing at various shows. If anyone sees me
upcoming at a show, let me know if you know someone that dabbles in
repairing time machines, I could use the help.
I also market some of my older interviews I have put onto
DVD format in my eBay store. I only market items pre 2005 as I do not
wish to use material since writing for the magazine as this would be a
possible conflict of interest with guests and show promoters!
I also have some awesome and very unique sci-fi ,horror
and fantasy collectables I have found over the years, comic books, rare
magazines, and my autograph collection in this genre is unbelievable! I
am quite lucky.
Here are some websites for you to see while you're
traveling the internet.