EYG Comic Cavalcade #104

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June 28, 2024

Another big comic week. Todd brought me a bunch of Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 issues. I mean… a bunch. I also was able to finish up my New Warriors Vol. 1 collection as issues #70 and 72 arrived from eBay. It was a big week from eBay again as I got some of the original Tick series, some Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man original issues and the one issue of Spider-Man/Deadpool that I was missing.

I finished the rebagging/reboarding/reboxing of the collection. It was a major goal that I had set for this summer, and I was able to complete it early because I had started early. It was also the first week in awhile that I did not buy bags or boards at Comic World. Ah… freedom!

Next up is the organization of the collection. I started that this week too and discovered that it is going to be an even biggest task. Books are scattered all over the place. All in boxes, but it might take even longer to organize than it did to rebag etc.

Anyway, new books this week:

Animal Pound #4. “Titan’s Bad Day” Written by Tom King and illustrated by Peter Gross. Variant cover art by Yuka Shimizu. Piggy’s power play of rabbit-eating has led to even more control. The political metaphor going on here is very obvious and filled with thrill.

Void Rivals #10. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Lorenzo De Felici. Variant cover art by Cory Walker. Darak and Solila seem like they were making it after round two between Springer and Proximus. However, it looks like things are only getting worse.

X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse #2. Written by Steve Foxe and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art was by Dotun Akande. The war for the right to replace Apocalypse as the Earth’s mutant ascension moves on with Apocalypse’s son Genocide’s arrival. Some of the contenders are not going to make it.

Superior Spider-Man #8. “Superior Spider-Man, No More” Written by Dan Slott and penciled by Mark Bagley. Mark Bagley & Edgar Delgado did the cover art, which was an homage to Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #50 (one of the most iconic covers of all time). The final issue of this series sees the end of Doc Ock’s plan to take over the world thanks to Spidey, Spider-Boy and Anna.

Rook Exodus #3. Creators: Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. Cover art by Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson. Rook and Dire Wolf are coming together with other wardens to face off with the bear warden, Ursaw. Sides are being drawn and trouble is here.

Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt #2. Written by Bryan Hill and art by German Peralta. Cover art was done by Ken Lashley & Juan Fernandez. Tulip, Johnny Blaze, Victoria Montesi and Ghost Rider are teaming up trying to find out why Blade has become the head of all vampires. Blade is here to let them know.

Jackpot & Black Cat #4. Written by Celeste Bronfman and art by Emilio Laiso. Varian cover art by Betsy Cola. The final issue of the latest team up between Felicia and Mary Jane see them taking on the Owl and his men as well as Felicia’s girlfriend, Amelia. I do like the friendship between MJ and Cat, even if I wish MJ would not be a super hero.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #6. “Under the Same Moon” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. David Paratore did the cover art. Reese, Soldier and 8-Ball are trying to bring as many bystanders they can to the Midnight Mission. And everywhere they turn…vampires. Of course, two of them are also vampires. With no Moon Knight in this series, the side cast has done a great job of keeping it going until things get straightened out.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider#2. “Haunted Part Two” Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Federica Mancin. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Peter, Miles and Silk are trying to find out what Gwen Stacy is doing in the 616 universe. She’s not telling. And the Chameleon is here to cause trouble.

Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt #2. “Blood Ties” Written by Cavan Scott and penciled by Kev Walker. Rod Reis did the cover art. A more brutal and bloody Union Jack than we are used to before. Union Jack has come into his own fighting vampires in Blood Hunt.

No/One #9. Written by Kyle Higgins & Brian Buccellato with art by Geraldo Borges. Nicoletta Baldari did the virgin variant cover art. Prop 87 has passed and chaos ensued. Violence has broken out across Pittsburg and even No/One is not sure what is going to happen.

Something is Killing the Children #38. “Road Stories Part Three” Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Werther Dell’edera. Another single issue story of Erica Slaughter and her past. She has been injured and is hiding out in a treehouse. It’s not as calm as that sounds. I’m really liking these stand alone issues for now.

Plastic Death & Dolls #1. Written by Doug Wagner and art and cover by Daniel Hillyard. What an interesting first issue this was. Two pages in and we have a decapitation. And it looks like our protagonist is the one who is doing it. Is he a serial killer? I am excited to find out. I am pleased to finally get this first issue which was actually out a couple of weeks ago.

Blood Hunt #4. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Pepe Larraz. Larraz & Marte Gracia did the cover art. The big crossover series continues to make exciting action. We discover why Blade has done what he has done…and we get a return from Moon Knight. Marc Specter is alive once again as Khonsu finally is free from his Asgardian prison. Blood Hunt has been a lot of fun so far as it is down to about a month remaining.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House #1. “Book One” Written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn by Javier Rodriguez. Variant cover art was by done by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau and Jorge Jimenez. Todd made me buy this DC book. He was right. This was very good and I enjoyed the take on Zatanna. I was different and had a mystery behind it.

Universal Monsters: Creature of the Black Lagoon #3. Written by Dan Watters & Ram V with art and by Matthew Roberts. Cover art by Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart (Bronze Medalist). This has been an excellent use of the Creature of the Black Lagoon and there is quite a twist at the end of this issue, the penultimate one for the mini series.

Department of Truth #23. Written by James Tynion IV and drawn and cover art by Martin Simmonds (Silver Medalist). YES! It is the return of Department of Truth! I did not think this was going to happen, and as I caught up with the series during the EYG Comic Catch-Up, I was sad when issue 22 seemed to be the final one. After a long intermission, this is back again and this was a great issue. There was some member-berries involved here, but it was awesome. This was a big week for James Tynion IV as this came out, there was a new Blue Book 1947, W0rldtr33 and Something Killing the Children.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #4. “Chapter Four: The Pitch” Written by Greg Weisman and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover art by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado (Gold Medalist). Arcade and Mentallo are showing off their new technology by screwing with Peter and Miles. Peter and Miles are preparing to square off against each other.

Redcoat #3. Geoff Johns & Bryan Hitch are the creators. Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson did the cover art. Todd told me to read this one right away. It was okay. I do like the way this book has been using the historical figures in the story. This has been my favorite of the Ghost Machine books.

Daredevil #10. “Introductory Rites Part Ten” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Juann Cabal. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Richard Isanove. When one of the kids of Father Matt’s home finds the Daredevil costume, all things go wrong. But Matt can’t focus in on that because Kingpin is here… and possessed by one of the demons that Daredevil has been battling recently.

Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #5. “Heroes Rise Again” Written by Chris Claremont and art by Edgar Salazar. Phillip Tan & Sebastian Cheng did the cover art. The final showdown between Cap, Wolvie and Black Widow and the Hand happens here. There was some decent character development for Cap this week.

Thanos Annual #1. “The Infinity Watch” starts. This is a storyline that is going to go across some of the annuals as Thanos, with the newly formed Death stone, is in search of the stone bearers of the other infinity stones. We also learn who the new Death stone bearer is… and it was Phillip Coulson! Welcome Back Phil!

W0rldtr33 #11. Words by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Fernando Blanco. The internet is down and the world is in a chaotic situation. The W0rldtr33 crew is on it, but Gregory seems to be opposite that. Everything is coming together into an intriguing sotry. It has been tough to follow at times, but I enjoyed this issue quite a bit.

Magik: Blood Hunt #1. Written by Ashley Allen and drawn by Jesus Hervas. Rod reis did the cover art. This one shot includes some excellent story involving Illyana Rasputin. Magik has always been one of my favorite New Mutants/X-Men so it was cool to see her featured in this one shot.

Black Widow & Hawkeye #4. “Broken Arrow Part IV” Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Stephen Segovia and Jesus Aburtov did the cover art. This series wrapped up as the symbiote is shared around by Natasha and Clint. Clint as the symbiotic archer was a pretty cool sight, even if I am not a huge fan of having so many symbiotes running (slithering?) around the Marvel Universe.

Blue Book 1947 #5. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Michael Avon Oeming. The second volume of Blue Book ends its run with the story of Project Blue Book and its eventual end. It is a continually fascinating book and I am hoping we see more of the UFO storytelling in the future.

Other books this week: Grimm #18, Drawing Blood #3, Rare Flavours #6, Project: Cryptid #10, X-Men ’97, Ultimate Black Panther #5, Nights #8, and Blood Squad Seven #2.

A Quiet Place: Day One

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The original A Quiet Place was one of the best movie experiences I have had in a theater. The tension in the theater, with everyone being just as quiet as the actors were on screen was an amazing atmosphere. It has not been rivaled in that manner since.

That does not mean that this new film, a prequel to that first film was not good. On the contrary, I found this new film, A Quiet Place: Day One, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn was a very engaging and intense film.

A woman named Sam and her service cat Frodo found herself trapped in New York City on the first day of an alien invasion. The aliens responded and attacked with their amazing hearing forcing everyone to be as quiet as they could be.

I am reminded just what an exceptional actor Lupita Nyong’o is. Her portrayal of Sam was exceptional, displaying every bit of anxiety and stress with the most limited dialogue possible.

And early on during the film, I thought to myself, “If that cat dies, we riot.” Maybe that was an exaggeration, but the cat had some great moments in the film as well.

I did not realize that the other actor playing against Nyong’o was Joseph Quinn, who has been cast as the next Johnny Storm, the Human Torch in the upcoming MCU film Fantastic Four. I found this performance from Quinn as Eric to be very solid and working extremely well with the nearly silent Sam. Johnny Storm seems to be in capable hands with Quinn.

The film also had Djimon Hounsou as Henri, but he was not used to the level that one would expect. I wonder if this is intended to be the same character that he played in A Quiet Place Part II as IMDB only lists him as “Man on Island” in that film. Overall, Hounsou felt more wasted than anything else.

One of the few nitpicks that I had with this film was it sure seemed as if the whole ‘sound attracts these monsters and that you can avoid them if you are really quiet’ concept was figured out too quickly. I kept wondering how they figured that little tidbit out in such a rapid manner. It did not pull me out of the film, but I did think about it several times throughout.

The relationship between Sam and Eric was very original and strong, again because so much of their interactions came sans dialogue, I was connected to them, and it was not just because of the cat.

The sound design of this series of films has been sensational, and Day One joins in with them beautifully. The little sounds that were suddenly amazingly loud because of the way the aliens hear it was anxiety-creating and built amazing tension.

Of course, in the first couple of films, the focus was on a major character who was deaf. Here, Nyong’o had something else that I won’t spoil, but you learn about in the first ten minutes that really set the stakes for her character in an unexpected way.

Admittedly, the gimmick of the aliens who are attracted to sound has been played out a bit, but this film makes it work with the way it created a new group of characters and made us care for them. Then, by casting some excellent actors in the roles, you elevate what could have been just another monster movie into more than that, while still maintaining the aura of the original and sequel. I am not sure that I wanted another A Quiet Place movie, but I am glad that I got one.

4.2 stars

You Hurt My Feelings (2023)

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June 28, 2024

Julia Louis-Dreyfus starred in today’s June Swoon 3, a film called You Hurt My Feelings, an A24 film that follows her life as writer.

Louis-Dreyfus played Beth, a writer who overheard her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) telling his friend that he really did not like the new book that she was writing. This bit of honesty sent Beth on a spiral, doubting everything in her life and putting her marriage under a scrutiny that she had never had before.

The film was fine. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is funny and she delivered her performance in the slow, real life tone. The film builds a series of events together, showing a full picture of her and her family’s life.

Some could consider the pace of this film to drag on, but I liked the simplicity of the presentation. The film takes its time it spends with each character to really reveal what they were like. Nothing major would happen to any of them, but these seemingly unimportant moments all had a powerful impact on each person.

The film does take time with Don as well, looking at his job as a therapist, a job that the film seems to be implying that he is not very good at. He has several clients that come in to air their problems with Don, to little success. Amber Tamblyn, David Cross, and Zach Cherry are standouts among the therapy sessions.

This had a definite independent movie feel to it. It is not flashy but it was an entertaining film with some thoughts on the little white lies and their effects.

Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter One

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A three hour, chapter one Western?

Kevin Costner’s epic Western Horizon: An American Saga debuted this weekend. At least, the first part of the movie debuted this weekend while Chapter Two will arrive in August.

This film looked beautiful. There were some decent performances. However, the film has its share of problems that outweigh the positives.

What are the problems? Well, there are a bunch of characters and storylines and it feels as if there are too many. Even for three hours, they bounced around to these different storylines, all that were interesting to be fair, and it never got a good feel for any of them. There were so many characters that half the time, I was never sure who was who and what each one of them were doing.

It did feel as if Kevin Costner wanted this film to be sweeping, with multiple plots going on at once, and it felt as if some of them should have been tightened up or removed to make it more cohesive.

The last five minutes of the film featured, I assume, scenes put to music from the next film. This montage was confusing and felt silly.

There were scenes that were enjoyable, but I just do not think it matters because the story is so scattered and the characters are not as developed as they should be.

2.8 stars

The Boys S4 E5

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Spoilers

“Beware the Jabberwock, My Son”

I never thought a chicken flying through someone’s chest would be as scary as it was.

And monstrous, flying sheep tearing people apart?

Sheep that are able to tear apart a Compound V-riddled bull?

Okay. The Boys ending with “Old MacDonald” over the closing credits.

This show is something else.

Stuck in with the crazy killer animals hopped up on V, you had a beautiful send off with Hughie’s dad (after he butchered a bunch of innocents, of course), the return of Giancarlo Esposito, Butcher being Butcher (which means horrendous betrayal and lies, I guess), and Frenchie’s guilt driving him to a new level.

The Boys is crazy.

Oh, and I forgot about Homelander and his new way of manipulating Ryan. One way that really seems to be working. Again, Antony Starr deserves an Emmy nomination (if not win) for his performance. This year has seen even a deeper psychological depth to Homelander than we have seen previously. He continues to be one of the most frightening things on this show.

Has Butcher finally taken it too far? His obsession has turned him into a MFer with a heart of gold to a monster. He would be happy to see Starlight and Kimiko fall to this virus as well as any other supe.

I am afraid for A-Train. His redemption arc this year has been awesome, but does he stand a chance?

I also loved the shade tossed at the MCU with the Vaught movie announcements. That was funny.

Infinity Pool (2023)

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June 27, 2023

I avoided this movie not only when it was in the theaters, but this month during the June Swoon 3. I had a feeling that this would not be a film that I would enjoy. Infinity Pool was a Brandon Cronenberg directed film. Brandon’s father is David Cronenberg, who was renown for his body horror films. I am not big on the body horror.

Despite my hesitancy, I gave Infinity Pool a chance on Hulu.

Boy, was I right.

I did not enjoy this movie at all.

According to IMDB, “While staying at an isolated island resort, James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi (Mia Goth), they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror“

I will start with the positive. Mia Goth is a star. She has been amazing in other films such as Pearl and X and she is just as frightening here. I look forward to seeing her career move on.

That was about it. I had no character in this movie that I could support or root for. They were all just horrific people. I think I was meant to cheer for Alexander Skarsgård’s character, but I found him unlikable in just about every way.

The bizarre sequences of the film were not enjoyable to watch for me and just did not engage me with the story.

It was unsatisfying and I was right to skip it last year. I wish I had skipped it this year too.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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Week of June 24

Welcome back to the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week! Another strong week of covers through the BUNCH of books I bought.

Bronze Medalist

Universal Monsters Creature from the Black Lagoon #3

Cover art by Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart

I believe this is the third cover from this comic that has earned a medal. Impressive since it has only had three issues in the series so far.

Silver Medalist

The Department of Truth #23

Cover art by Martin Simmonds

The Department of Truth returned after a long intermission. I love the look of the cover, featuring what appeared to be the Kennedys with the series’ typical blurred imagery.

Gold Medalist

The Spectacular Spider-Men #4

Cover art by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado

As soon as I spotted this cover, I knew it was going to be gold medal winner this week. I love the visual with the glass shattering, breaking the fantasy worlds of our heroes. The light blue on the yellow background really makes this impressive.

Flora and Son (2023)

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June 26, 2024

How have I never seen anything about this movie before?

What a wonderfully charming movie. From the director of Sing Street, Flora and Son is a story of a single mom Flora (Eve Hewson) who has had trouble connecting with her 14-year old son Max (Orén Kinlan). One day, in an attempt to find something for her son to do, she rescued a guitar from the dumpster. When he rejected it, Flora decided to take online lessons to learn the guitar herself and she found a guitar instructor Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who changed her life.

This film is a love letter to music and its power to create, heal or maintaining relationships, even those that feel as if there is no possible way for those relationships to work.

The film has a complicated relationship between Flora and Max at the center, a mother and son who seem to barely stand each other, but their eventual similar love of music started to repair their bond.

The relationship with Flora and Jeff is one of the most fascinating ones of the film as they never meet face to face, only over the internet. However, the film uses some clever ways to show this online relationship that helps create a connection that benefitted both of them.

Ewe Hewson is tremendous as Flora. She is the ultimate standout of the movie and her performance carries most of the film. I found her so appealing that I bought every relationship she had and I rooted for her to be a better mom. Orén Kinlan was solid too, bringing the typical brooding teen more depth than you would think.

I did not expect to enjoy this film as much as I did, but I loved Sing Street and the vibe definitely matches that one.

20 Days in Mariupol (2023)

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June 25, 2024

“Wars don’t start with explosions. They start with silence.”

Today’s June Swoon 3 film is another Oscar winner that absolutely rips at your soul and had me crying within the first 20 minutes. 20 Days in Mariupol won the 2024 Best Documentary Academy Awards this past March with this chilling look at the Russian invasion into Ukraine, specifically into a coastal city called Mariupol.

Three AP journalists, led by Mstyslav Chernov, who wound up writing, directing and appearing in the doc, end up the final journalists inside war torn Mariupol, dedicated to getting their footage out of the country to show the world the atrocities being committed by Russian soldiers.

Absolutely heart-wrenching as the footage showed men, women, children being torn apart by the shrapnel and the bombing of civilian structures. As I watched, I was taken aback by the continued filming of these tragedies and how the Ukrainian people, for the most part, wanted the filming to continue. I guess the desire to show the world what was happening, to be able to record the travesty was vitally important to everyone involved.

The switching to news clips of Russian representatives claiming these images and film was of actors, that it was “fake news” was downright sickening. The use of that phrase to try and minimize the truth and throw shade at the media is obscene, and I am ashamed of how that term has been used in the US as well as abroad.

The film was so raw and painful to watch these innocent people suffer through because of the aggression of an occupying force. As painful as it was, it also was a homage to the power of the human spirit and the dedication to one’s craft in the face of real-world horrors. This was harrowing.

A Disturbance in the Force (2023)

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June 24, 2024

A Long, Long Time Ago… in a Galaxy far away… Well, maybe not that far away.

Few fandoms are as currently as toxic as the Star Wars fandom. Not to put down the entire group of people for the divisiveness of some, but there is no denying that Star Wars fans lean towards hyperbole. One only needs to look at the discourse surrounding the new Disney + series, The Acolyte, to understand it.

However, the Star Wars universe had something once that is both beloved and reviled unlike anything else. It was something that George Lucas himself wanted to see banished from the canon of his creation. It was something that Star Wars fans desperately tried to see for decades… a badge of honor among those who truly called themselves Star Wars aficionados.

The Star Wars Holiday Special.

So today’s June Swoon focused in on a documentary from Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak all about the creation of and response to on of the most infamous TV specials of all fandom.

Between the release of Star Wars and Empire Strikes back, the CBS network wanted a Star Wars special to broadcast over the holiday season and they turned it into a variety show, featuring Chewbacca’s family as well as Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman and Art Carney. It aired once and then disappeared, only to be seen by those who could find a bootleg copy.

This documentary included clips of all of the Star Wars performers, including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher with their thoughts on the special. Harrison Ford’s responses are always the most entertaining as he is clearly hoping the special would disappear forever.

There were also interviews of a ton of famous people in the geek community giving their comments and thoughts on the special including such notable stars as Kevin Smith, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bobcat Goldthwait, Seth Green, Paul Scheer, Donny Osmond, Gilbert Gottfried, and Patton Oswalt. There were a lot of interviews with people involved in the creation of the special including Bruce Vilanch, Mick Garris, Bob Mackie among others.

Though the doc certainly says that this special was bad, there was items included that show how some people, particular those who may have seen the special as a child, loved the show. Jon Favreau is an unapologetic fan of the special and they showed how he included Easter eggs from it in The Mandalorian. The clips from the animated section of the special was shown as the first place we saw Boba Fett.

The documentary was very funny and gave real opinions of people who were desperate at the time for content in the Star Wars community. One wonders what the fandom today would do if something like the Star Wars Holiday Special were to be released on Disney +. The review bombing that would happen would be generational.

All Star Wars fans should be looking for this documentary, which I rented on Amazon Prime. If you are interested in how something like this able to be created, you should check this out. It was highly entertaining and an easy watch.

Bates Motel S2 E5

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Spoilers

“The Escape Artist”

Norman is such a nice guy. He is so easy to root for in this show that it is almost really sad that you know where he is going to wind up. It is easy to forget about his psychotic tendencies when he is played with such charm and warmth by Freddie Highmore.

This show does a great job of creating Norman Bates as a character that you can enjoy and root for while still seeing how he winds up with his mother stuffed in a rocking chair in his attic.

I’ve mentioned this before, but this show has also done a sensational job of creating an ensemble around Norman filled with three-dimensional characters that enrich Bates Motel wonderfully.

There was a tremendous scene between Norma and Romero in this episode. I know where this will eventually go and this episode is the first time we see some sparks, albeit slight ones, between these characters. Romero is such a bad ass and that little chink in his armor came with a slight smile.

Dylan is another tremendous character this show introduced us to as Norman’s brother, who despite everything cares for him, and who is also a bad ass.

Norma lecturing Norman about spending time with Cody when she is constantly involved with the wrong people is the height of hypocrisy. Norma clearly knows that when Romero tells her about the councilman Lee Birman died in a car crash, her new ally Nick Ford had something to do with it. I mean, he specifically told Norma not to worry about Lee Birman. He couldn’t have been more ominous if he had tried.

Then, both Norman and Emma had sex in this episode. Both with different people, of course. Personally, I like Cody much more than the post smoker Emma slept with.

The Detective Daniel Prophet Podcast Episode 6

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The finale.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6s2cE162Q1RAcQP0gEKAvL?si=2vyBNFPuSg6ExesZc49Z_g

==================================================================

I am very proud of this podcast. I came up with the idea for my squad, which was the Actor’s Guild, after taking a class on Podcasts in the Classroom as a license renewal credit. I wrote up a script, and assigned roles to the different students. I have not listed their names online just to be safe, but I am very pleased with their efforts.

Setting the story of the podcast in Dalton Hill really helped make the podcast feel important to me. Dalton Hill is one of the books that I wroted, based on a short story that I wrote in college. I love the character of Lincoln Phillips and I was excited to include him in this podcast. I was also excited when the young student who voiced Lincoln joined the project. He was very talented and he leant a lot of credibility to the project for the rest of the Actor’s Guild.

I think what we accomplished here was awesome considering no one here was a professional and that we really only had around a half and hour a week to do it. I did use time outside the squad time to record some of the staff members who joined in on the podcast. I want to thank everyone who took their time to record something with me. You helped make this awesome.

I know the listeners are limited, but that does not limit my enthusiasm for this project or for what we were able to accomplish. I have an idea for a second podcast, though I do not know the status for squads next year at school. I hope that we can continue with this moving forward.

A huge thank you to those 8th grade students who contributed to the podcast, who will be moving on to high school next year. You all should be proud of what you helped do.

The X-Files S5 E15

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Spoilers

“Travelers”

This was an interesting episode that was fairly odd.

It was all a flashback. Not only the main part of the story, but also the framing device including Fox Mulder. When we saw Mulder in this episode, this predated his arrival at the X-Files. Truthfully, this introduced Mulder to the concept of the X-Files.

I am not sure the purpose for this episode, outside of highlighting the time of American history when people from our government targeted certain individuals as Communists for political reasons. It was also nice to see Mulder’s father, Bill, involved in the story. Bill Mulder was the hook that brought Fox Mulder into the narrative in the first place.

I liked the aesthetic of the episode, with the throwback look of the show. The fifties feel was very retro and it was a cool break from the typical design of the X-Files. Connecting this to Nazi scientists who had come to America to continue experiments was a solid tie-in and worked for this episode. The do not go too deep into anything from here though.

This was a fun episode, but it was a total filler episode. I do not know i f any of this would mean anything moving forward. I think it was just meant to be a show placed just after Mulder reclaimed his belief system, to give us a way to easy back into the status quo of the series.

Of course, it also meant that we did not get anything with Gillian Anderson and that is always an unwelcomed thing.

El Conde (2023)

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June 23, 2024

Today’s June Swoon entry is a piece of historical fiction blended into a vampire tale that received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography this past Oscars.

El Conde tells the story of Chile’s brutal dictator Augusto Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) as a 250-year old vampire who arrived at a point that he wanted to die. His sycophant children came to see him, with the hope that they would receive their inheritance. When they were unsure of the plans of their father, they hired a nun named Carmen (Paula Luchsinger) to find the missing fortune, although Carmen has ideas of her own to put into place.

The film is a black comedic satire of not only the vampire movies, but also of the political world of the time. One only needs to wait to discover the mother of Augusto Pinochet is to understand that.

There are some really gross moments in the film, but everything is shot in black and white which makes it more artistic. Again, to avoid spoilers, the use of a blender definitely stands out as one of the creepier aspects of the film.

The film may drag on a bit, but it does have its funny moments and makes the most of its gimmick. The performances are decent and the film looks amazing. El Conde is available for streaming on Netflix.

Battlestar Galactica S1 E4, E5

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Spoilers

“Acts of Contrition”

“You Can’t Go Home Again”

This is a two-part adventure featuring Starbuck that was really epic.

I will state that I had some problems with the first part of the episode knowing what time frame was going on at certain times. As we started with Starbuck in a Viper and spinning out of control, and, as far as I remembered, that was not where we left off with episode three.

Then, they bounced around, kind of like Starbuck was seeing her life flash before her eyes. At least, that is how I took it, though it did not make for easy viewing. Again, I was not sure what was present day and what wasn’t.

However, that did not last for long and once I was able to get my bearing for the episode, this turned into an incredible fight for survival.

Watching Starbuck find that Cylon vessel and figure out how to fly it back to Galactica was exceptional. I do wonder how she wrote her name on the wings of the ship to avoid getting shot by the fleet. I loved how she just kind of flew rings around Apollo while he was mistakenly attempting to destroy the Cylon ship she was piloting.

We learned a lot about our main characters during this attempted rescue mission including Adama. Starbuck confessed her passing of Zach when he should have failed to Adama. Still, you could see how important she was to him and to Apollo as they were willing to put it all at risk to save her.

There was an advancement of Helo on Caprica too as a pair of Cylon machines get into a firefight with him. After this, he cannot find Sharon. This is a still evolving story bit.

I enjoyed this two-part episode even if Starbuck’s ability to fix and pilot the Cylon ship is stretching reality. I just took it as she made herself some great dice rolls (as in D&D). Perhaps some natural 20s.

Or is there more to it?