BY IAN JOHNSTON - Writer/filmmaker, Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
The late, great Ackermonster continues to show up in the oddest places.
The most recent appearance by Uncle Forry came on this week’s Youtube sensation (700,000 hits in one day) featuring actor Billy Bob Thornton’s interview meltdown on CBC Radio.
The Wednesday interview – also carried on Canadian TV and, thus, captured on Youtube for all time – found the always-entertaining
But apparently, morning interviews ain’t 
He offered no answer to simple questions, got pissed when he was asked if he was passionate about music (“Would you ask Tom Petty that?”) and generally made Ghomeshi squirm.
But wait – we were talking about Forrest J Ackerman weren’t we?
Yes. We were.
When a desperate Ghameshi soft-balled Thornton with the question of what music he listened to as a child, Thornton just went off - explaining his passion for the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland and Forrest J Ackerman.
I think
He didn’t. But hearing him talk about Forry even in this radio crazy context made me think there’s a lot of truth to that rumor that Billy Bob loves his scifi and horror. Hell, Dwight Yoakam’s character in Slingblade is easily one of the best modern film monsters out there. No shit. Check it out. That man is creepy.
And there have been rumors of Billy Bob as the new Freddy of Nightmare on
So what the hell? If a million Youtubers around the world now see Forrest Ackerman as a musical influence, I can live with that. Don’t matter how they remember you. As long as they remember.
