Author Archives: Doc

Pluribus S1 E8

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“Charm Offensive”

Episode eight is the penultimate episode of season one of Pluribus. It feels as if I have only begun to watch it. Having the first season on the brink of being over is odd.

The episode started off with Manousos getting medical attention from his trouble in the jungle last week. He refused to stay to recover though, as he discovered that he was in Panama. There was not much from him this week, but it is clear that he is on the way to Carol’s soon.

Meanwhile, Carol has reunited with Zosia, which she seems very pleased about after her forced isolation by the hivemind. Carol was bonding with Zosia, though also picking her for information. Carol wrote on her dry erase board that the hivemind was planning on creating an antenna to send message (virus?) to other planets.

The show revealed an answer to a mystery. Specifically, are animals a part of the hivemind. We meet a nice dog at the hivemind’s sleepover that proved that animals are not a part of the hivemind.

Carol took her relationship with Zosia to another level after an emotional confrontation with her after a weird trip to a diner from Carol’s past. They had sex and Carol started to write afterwards again. She does feel like she is becoming more connected to Zosia. I wonder what will happen when Manousos gets there.

One more episode to go for Pluribus. It has been a wonderful show so far on Apple TV +. Vince Gilligan seems to have another hit on his hands.

It Was Just An Accident

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It Was Just An Accident was an international film which was a co-production between Iran, France, and Luxembourg. I had heard positives about the film on FYC and I had a chance to rent it off Fandango at Home.

According to IMDB, “An unassuming mechanic is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, he rounds up a few of his fellow ex-prisoners to confirm the man’s identity.”

Powerful storytelling as we follow this group of people who had had their lives touched by this tormenter from an Iranian prison. Each person had to reassess their own choices and moral line as they attempt to confirm that this man is who they believe him to be.

There are enough doubts tossed around by the script that you as viewer are never quite sure which way the story will go. Is this the cruel torturer or is it a man who had a similar injury? The tormentor had a prosthetic leg and was dubbed the nickname “Peg Leg.” The man had the same prosthetic, but since the victims were always blindfolded, they could not specifically identify him, and the man had a seemingly cohesive story to cover the possible truth. I will admit that I was never 100% sure during the movie is he was Peg Leg or not.

Without spoilers, I loved the ending of the film. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really found it to be refreshing.

The performances from the actors were top line. Vahid Mobasseri played Vahid, the mechanic who first discovered the possible Peg Leg, played by Ebrahim Azizi. Mariam Afshari was Shiva, a photographer who Vahid tried to get confirmation from. Other cast members included Majid Panahi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohammad Ali Elyasmehr, Delnaz Najafi and Georges Hashemzadeh.

I really enjoyed this international film. It was extremely well written with some exceptional performances.

4.4 stars

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #48

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This week for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, we start a two episode documentary on HBO Max about Billy Joel called Billy Joel: And So It Goes. This is truly a first for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk because the first episode is almost 2 and a half hours long. Next week’s is about the same. We have never had an episode for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk as long as this was.

Honestly, I love Billy Joel, but, when the show first came out on HBO Max, the runtime of the documentary was something that put me off. However, the timing of this worked out perfectly as The Haunting of Hill House ended last week, and the next series would start over Christmas break from school. I have two weeks off from teaching and so anything that I did not get to watch on a Sunday because of the length of the documentary could easily be watched during the week. It was perfect.

I watched Part 1 today, and the doc was fascinating. It reveled a ton of details that I was unaware of pertaining to Billy Joel. The early career depression that led him to attempt suicide a couple of times was truly unexpected.

Many rock documentaries do not feature some of the worst times of the performer. They may gloss over things that they do not want to explore. I did not get that feeling about Billy Joel: And So It Goes. The cliché phrase “warts and all” seems to fit as the first episode talked about Billy’s drinking, his depression and suicide attempts, his attitude toward the record companies, just to mention a few. All of this came together to show us a cool portrait of this musician.

There were plenty of talking heads in the film including comments form Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, John Mellencamp, as well as people closer to Billy. His wife/manager Elizabeth Weber was an essential character in the narrative of Billy Joel’s early successes, and she appeared through the entire episode. Of course, we also heard directly from Billy Joel in multiple settings and time periods.

The first episode ended just after the motorcycle accident that Billy survived and the split of his marriage with Elizabeth.

We will finish episode 2 next Sunday.

2025 Year in Review: Meme of the Year

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Meme of the Year is not an award we give out every year, but this year there is one absolute meme that has taken over the culture.

TikTok brought us a bunch of these “Brain Rot” words that kids were using. Among the “rizz,” “Ohio,” and “skibiti toilets” came two numbers… 6-7.

You had to throw a hand gesture in with the numbers, extending seven a bit.

One of the best (???) parts about 6-7 is that it means nothing. I mean, not literally nothing, it just has no intrinsic meaning, and that caused plenty of confusion among adults.

Of course, adults have confiscated the word for jokes or cringe moments. Still, it does not seem as if 6-7 is going anywhere.

It originally came from a song called “Doot Doot.”

Then, it came from a nickname of a basketball player…

And this blew the whole thing up

And the rest is infamous …

Daily Countdown: TV Show Themes #90

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#90

The A-Team

Composed by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. Arranged by Paul Murta.

The voice over that started the theme off was spoken by John Ashley.

According to Google, the them was “known for its military-inspired, lighthearted tone, the theme was designed to reflect the show’s action-comedy nature rather than pure reality. “

The A-Team was fun and the beginning worked to get the viewer into the show. I was always the biggest fan of Murdock, as I felt he was the most original character around.

2025 Year in Review: The Logan “Hurt” Trailer of the Year Award

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Okay, I am ready for a HOT take!

Probably going to have some controversy over this… but I had been wracking my brain to think of what was my favorite trailer of 2025. Most of the films of 2025 had trailers that opened in 2024, so I was having a tough time coming up with this award.

This is just the second official year for his award…

The Logan “Hurt” Trailer of the Year Award

Previous Winners: Superman (2024)

I saw this officially today… our winner is…

Avengers: Doomsday

I know there was some anger over this. I know it had been leaked, but I tried to avoid it. Sadly, I could not so I expected to see what I saw at Avatar: Fire and Ash today.

I thought this was a great use of a trailer. The line STEVE ROGERS WILL RETURN IN AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY was epic. It showed that Chris Evans was back for the film, something that had only been speculated on… and what about that BABY?

It is a character trailer, which I think is smart considering we have almost a year to wait yet. I loved the countdown clock that popped up at the end of it as well.

So… bring on the hate, Internet. Avengers: Doomsday’s first teaser is my winner of the Logan “Hurt” Trailer of the Year Award.

2025 Year in Review: Comic Cover Art

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Yesterday saw the final week in our competition for the Best Comic Book Cover Art for 2025. I give out three (sometime 4) medals a week: Gold, Silver and Bronze, and we keep track. A Gold Medalist receives three points, Silver receives two points and a Bronze garners one point. The tallies are taken.

Best Comic Cover Artist of the Year

Previous Winners: Alex Ross (2024)

In this post, I will also be giving out medals for the Best Covers of the Year. I will give medals for the Best Primary Cover (Cover A) and medals for Best Variant Cover. I will then give out a Platinum Metal for the Best Cover of the year, choosing between the two Gold Medalists.

Kicking off with the Best Comic Cover Artist…

Last year Alex Ross ended up with 14 points as the winner. This year, it is a little different.

Bronze Medalist

Szymon Kudranski

Kudranski had one major series this year, No Man’s Land. He received all ten of his points from that series. He got three Gold Medals and one Bronze.

Silver Medalist

Jorge Fornes

Jorge Fornes had more different covers this year than Szymon Kudranski. He had two Gold Medals, two Silver Medals and two Bronze Medals for a total of 12 points. He did art for Exquisite Corpses, Ordained, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Nightwing, and House of Slaughter.

Gold Medalist

Mark Spears

We were just a few months into the new year and it was apparent who was going to win this award for 2025. Mark Spears wound up with a staggering eleven Gold Medals, eight Silver Medals and eight Bronze Medals for a total of 57 points, blowing away all the competition. He was very prolific with his cover art this year. He not only had his own two series from Keenspot, Mark Spears Monsters and Monsters and the Wolf, but he did covers for Shazam, Return of the Living Dead, Space Ghost, Green Hornet/Miss Fury, Vampirella, DC’s Absolutes #1 (Trinity reprints), The Atom Project, Silverhawks, Gargoyles: Demona, Vampirella: Armageddon, Thundercats, and Harley Quinn X Elvira. There was one week this year where he received all three medals in the week, becoming the first artist to do so in the three years we have done this. His Blind Bag releases for Monsters and the Wolf and Mark Spears Monsters #8 are massive hits. He is the clear winner of this competition and the EYG Comic Cover Artist of the Year.

Comic Cover Medal Winners

Regular Cover (A Cover)

Bronze Medalist

Uncanny X-Men #17

Cover art by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson

The debut of Mutina was big, but this cover really made it an issue that everyone had to have. Release date: July 9th.

Silver Medalist

Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #1

Cover art by Steve McNiven

Such a beautiful cover with the old man Murdock in from of the image of Daredevil in the back. The graveyard behind him giving that extra level of metaphor. Add the white background and this is a definite winner. Release April 2nd.

Gold Medalist

No Man’s Land #1

Cover art by Szymon Kudranski

Our Bronze Medalist for cover artist of the year got his first gold medal for this cover. The creepiness of the eyeball with the reflection in the pupil is fabulous. And the red blotch against the grey color is excellent. Release Date: September 17.

Variant Cover of the Year

Bronze Medalist

Something is Killing the Children #45

Cover art by Stefano Simeone

This virgin cover had the golden foil teeth on Erica’s mask and it is stunning. This was most recent of the medalist having been released on December 3.

Silver Medalist

Feral #13

Cover art by Tony Fleecs & Trish Forstner

Feral has had some great horror movie inspired variant covers this year, but none as epic as this one, an homage to Friday the 13th. Release Date: May 28th.

Gold Medalist

Mark Spears Monsters #3

Cover Art by Mark Spears

This was my favorite variant cover immediately when I saw it in Previews. It cost a lot of money, but I had to have it. It was a metal variant and had this amazing image of Jaws on the cover. Release date: January 29.

Platinum Metal Winner for 2025

Favorite Comic Cover of the Year (Platinum Medalist)

Previous Winners: Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2 (2024)

Mark Spears Monsters #3 (Metal Variant)

Next week’s covers will be an extra for 2025, and the new competition begins the week after. Congrats to all our metal winners for 2025!

The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants

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This is a movie where the trailer helped get me into the theater. I will say that I don’t mind SpongeBob SquarePants, but I have never watched much of his stuff before. However, I thought the trailer for the movie was entertaining and funny, and, since it worked into the schedule well, I decided to give the new Paramount film a chance.

I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I must say that, although I do believe I saw it in the trailer, I did not remember that Mark Hamill was in the cast, doing the voice of the Flying Dutchman. That was a awesome surprise, and Hamill was sensational in the role.

According to IMDB, “SpongeBob journeys to the ocean’s depths to face the Flying Dutchman’s ghost, encountering challenges and uncovering marine mysteries.“

The voice actors, most of which were from the series, including Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence and Mr. Lawrence, do a phenomenal job. It was clear that they are experts at their roles by this point, and they bring a lot to the script.

The animation was fun. It had a lot of variety throughout the movie, keeping it flowing from one weird scene to another.

]The script is extremely funny, though there may have been a few jokes that were overused as the film progressed. Running jokes can work, but they can also become a touch old. There were examples of both in this mostly hilarious script.

This was an entertaining animated movie that I laughed at multiple times. I am not a huge fan of this show, but I enjoyed this movie the whole time.

3.75 stars

Avatar: Fire and Ash

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The third film in the remarkably successful franchise of Avatar was released this weekend with the film Avatar: Fire and Ash. I have had an up and down reaction to the franchise over the years. When I first saw the original Avatar, I was not a fan. Before the second one came out, I rewatched the original film and liked it better. When I saw the next film, I enjoyed it more. I was not sure what all that meant when it came to Avatar: Fire and Ash.

According to IMDB, “Jake and Neytiri’s family grapples with grief after Neteyam’s death, encountering a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.“

Avatar: Fire and Ash, once again, is amazing to look at. I saw the film in 3D and it was spectacular looking, especially with the setting and background. I will say that there were some moments where some of the characters looked weird to me. It was not consistent, but there were enough times where it jump out at me. Otherwise, the technical aspects of the movie are marvels.

I have to say, I was bored with most of the first two acts of this movie. It is painfully long and I do not think that it needed to be as long as it was. It felt as if it could have been trimmed down, at least, a half hour. Having said that, the third act was much more compelling and full of action. I will say that, during some of the scenes in the third act, this movie fell victim to something that always bugged me about Transformers movies, which was it was difficult at times to tell who was who in the big battle.

I also feel that lot of this story is a basic retread of the other films, especially the second film. There were a bunch of things that seemed to be the same beats we already have seen.

I am sure that Avatar: Fire and Ash will make a ton of money at the box office this weekend and during the holiday season, I am not sure that it will reach the same levels as the first two did. I could be wrong, but this feels like an inferior version of those films. While it is spectacular to look at, there is not something new and amazing in the special effects. It is amazing, yes, but I do not think we can say this is considerably better than other films in the area of effects.

2.8 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Show Themes #91

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#91

Hawaii Five-O

The Hawaii Five-O theme song was composed by Morton Stevens.

Originally performed by the Ventures.

The theme spent 14 weeks in the Billboard Top 100 chart, reaching as high as #4.

This is an example of a show that I never watched, but a show that had a theme song that I knew and enjoyed. The theme is as iconic of a TV show theme as you will find.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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December 19

This is the final, official EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Year. After this one, I will compile the year’s winners for the Year in Review. While it is a foregone conclusion which artist is going to be the Gold Medalist, Silver and Bronze are up in the air, and the Medalists for the Best Comic Covers (Regular and Variant) are up for grabs as well.

Also Rans: Survive #4, Space Ghost #6, The Mortal Thor #5 (A Cover), Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #5, Black Cat #5, and Power Fantasy #14 (B cover).

Bronze Medalist

The Mortal Thor #5

Knullified variant

Cover art by Netho Diaz

The Knullified Variant cover gives us a powerful image of Thor with the lightning and the rain around him. This was a book that attracted me off the stands, as I had already bought the A cover for Mortal Thor #5. Beautiful work.

Silver Medalist

Exquisite Corpses #8

Variant Cover D

Cover art by Jorge Fornes

Another book that I saw on the shelf and my exact thought was… “What is that?” I saw that other variants of Exquisite Corpses were around this book, so I guessed it was that one. Another gorgeous cover that many weeks would be #1. However….

Gold Medalist

Mark Spears Monsters #8

Blind Bag Foil Variant Cover A63

Cover art by Mark Spears

I picked up one blind bag at Comic World and as I opened it up, I saw the foil on the back and I got really excited. This cover is 1:666 (funny) and it is stunning. The clown is always a personal favorite and the foil only made it all the better.

Daily Countdown: TV Show Themes #92

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#92

The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams

Written, composed and performed by Thom Pace.

Theme song was titled “Maybe.”

Originally written as a theme for a movie, “Maybe” was a hit in Europe. It spent nine weeks in the number one spot on the charts in Germany in 1979/1980.

The opening is one of the most memorable parts of the series. The beginning narration by the character Mad Jack, played by Denver Pyle, added that little bit to the theme and it worked so well with the song.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S2 E3

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“We Board the Princess Andromeda”

The third episode of Percy Jackson’s second season dropped recently on Disney +, and it continues to be a fun ride, filled with a lot of Green mythological goodness.

Based on the Sea of Monsters book, this episode brings Percy face to face with Luke once again. The ship that Hermes sent Percy aboard last episode, turned out to be Luke’s very own vessel. Thanks a lot Lin-Manuel.

We got a return for Adam Copeland (formerly Edge in the WWE, now Cope in AEW) as Ares. Ares backed Clarisse, who decided to head after the Golden Fleece on her own. Ares provided her with a crew of undead seamen, who were in no rush to accept Clarisse as captain… that is… until they were. She gave a speech and turned all of their thoughts around. It felt a little weird.

The Great Prophecy has been weighing down Annabeth, but Percy has been letting her keep the secret. He told her he did not need to know. Of course, she ended up telling him that he could be the demi-god that destroys the age of the Gods.

Big news. This was a solid episode with the interactions between Percy and Luke and Annabeth.