Cause of Death: Pushed in front of oncoming subway train
This was an unbelievable shock in the season two premiere of Netflix’s House of Cards. Zoe Barnes was one of the top characters in season one, if not the main protagonists. Season two kicked off with Frank Underwood basically throwing her in front of a subway train. It took the streaming show to a completely different level.
I remember finding out about this rock opera earlier this year when Anthony Stewart Head passed away. I loved Head as Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I knew he could sing so I was curious about this film.
It is one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen.
According to IMDB, “A worldwide epidemic encourages a biotech company to launch an organ-financing program similar in nature to a standard car loan. The repossession clause is a killer, however.”
The film reminded me of Rocky Horror Picture Show, Moulin Rouge, and Heavy Metal. This movie did not make any money on its release, but it has become a cult film, much in the same manner as Rocky Horror. The music throughout was rocking and entertaining.
The story was crazy. Anthony Stewart Head was really solid in the role of Nathan. Paul Sorvino was the lead antagonist in Rotti Largo. I am not sure I liked his voice as much as I did Head’s.
The film had fun comic book-like panels used at times during the film to help with exposition. It was a fun technique to move the story along.
The rock opera was entertaining, but the story was so weird and extremely gory, some times too much so. It was gross at too many moments.
I could listen to Anthony Stewart Head’s voice all day though. This was something else.
The story behind this death is as legendary as the scene itself. Harrison Ford was reportedly feeling sick on this day of shooting and did not want to go through the big sword fight that had been written. Ford went to Steven Spielberg and pitched an idea. The swordman would show up, spin his sword around, and Indy would take out his gun and shoot him. It is not only one of the best scenes of all-time, it told us so much about the character of Indiana Jones. We’ve seen lenghty sword fights before, but this left us with an impression unlike any other scene could.
A few months ago, I came across a film called Dementia 13, which interested me. I wanted to save it for the October 13, so I emailed myself the name of the film to remember it.
I added it to the list for The October 13 and chose to watch it tonight. As the opening credits were running, I spotted something that I did not know. This film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. In fact, this was Coppola’s feature film debut. It was intended to be a low-budget film similar to Psycho, and the film would be produced by Roger Corman. I did not know about Coppola’s involvement at the time I emailed myself, but it was a welcome addition.
According to IMDB, “Ax murders follow a heart attack at an Irish castle full of mourners.” This is a fairly simplistic synopsis of the film, which had some decent and unexpected twists in it. The ending was predictable as I kept waiting for a bigger surprise to happen. One that never did arrive.
The film had some good ambiance. It was creepy and filmed well int he style of a gothic horror. You could certainly see what Coppola may have in his future with the directing of this film.
Actors appearing in the film included William Campbell, Luana Anders, Mary Mitchel, Bart Patton, Patrick Magee, Eithne Dunne, Karl Schanzer, and Derry O’Donovan.
You could tell this film was older and not as cleanly preserved as some other 1960s film, but it was still a decent watch, and I am glad to have seen the historic first film directed by an all-timer.
The fourth season of Ted Lasso came to a close as most of the storylines wrapped up and set a new status quo for anything moving forward.
The ending is a shocking moment as Ted Lasso stepped down as head coach of the Lady Greyhounds to take an assistant position instead. This allowed Alice to take the head coaching position. Part of this was obviously for Ted to be able to spend more time with his son, who was having a hard time dealing with the loss of Mae last episode.
I’m wondering what this will do for any future seasons of the show. I thought maybe Ted would move over to coach the men’s team again since Roy accepted a head coaching position at Chelsea, but that did not happen. It was a fascinating twist and I am curious how it will play out.
I did love how Rebecca and Higgins put one over on Zelda, who thought she had succeeded in purchasing enough shares to take over the Richmond team. I love how they played this and how Higgins was able to figure out the mystery of Zelda’s betrayal. The whole use of the shareholders meeting to reveal to Zelda that she fail was cool. I really thought Zelda was going to win, but the whole fight between Rebecca and Higgins made me suspect the truth.
The Roy-Keeley story was sweet during this time and I really did not think that Roy would take the job. I wonder how that will affect Keeley at Richmond.
This season picked up the pace in the second half, really starting to feel like Ted Lasso. I am unsure what any future seasons may hold, if it even does come back.
Last week was Amazing Spider-Man #1000 and this week was the debut of Midnight from Marvel Comics. So two of the variant covers from those Marvel books have placed in the top three medalist.
Also-Rans: Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death #1, Comics! The Maga zine #8, Something is Killing the Children #50 (C Cover), The Deadman #5, The Dirt Beneath the Devil #3, Of the Earth #6, and Pop Kill: Big Candy #1. There are also a ton of awesome Midnight covers that would be on this list.
Bronze Medalist
Midnight Fantastic Four #1
Variant cover H
Cover art by Jaeyung Lee
What an awesome Sue Storm cover on this book. It was a 1:25 variant, but I could not resist it.
One amazing FF cover that uses the invisibility in special ways.
Silver Medalist
Midnight X-Men #1
Variant Virgin cover 1:50
Cover art by Skan Srisuwan
This was expensive, but I just could not ignore this amazing piece of art. I have always been a fan of Nightcrawler, and him being front and center in this Midnight X-Men story is epic. This cover is just an amazing work and drew me in.
Gold Medalist
Something is Killing the Children #50
Blind bag Variant Cover
Cover art by Joe Palmer
This one came out of a SIKTC #50 blind bag and I had a hard time for a day or so figuring it out. However, it is a gorgeous B & W foil variant that I feel totally lucky to have gotten. I love this cover and it feels like it is something special.
Ginny Weedon and other Freezer Victims (Picket Fences)
TV or Movie: Picket Fences
Actor: Zelda Rubinstein; Richard Masur
Time of Death: Season 3, Episode 5, titled “Cold Spell” (aired October 28, 1994); (Season 3, Episode 11), titled “Freezer Burn,” which originally aired on January 6, 1995
Cause of Death: frozen in freezer
On Picket Fences, the beloved operator at the Rome Sheriff’s department, Ginny, was found dead in her freezer. A season later, the town investigated a possible serial killer who shoved his victims into a freezer. The running gag continued later in the series as recently elected mayor, Ed Lawson, was killed by his wife and his body was hidden in a freezer.
The dark, comedic tone of Picket Fences worked very well with this bizarre reoccuring incident.
Cause of Death: the Jungle Hunter shoots him through the back and chest with a plasma energy weapon (shoulder cannon), leaving a massive, fatal hole in his torso
“I ain’t got time to bleed”
We kick off our brand new Daily Countdown with Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a former pro wrestler who, at the time, was a commentator in the WWE. In fact, the main reason I went to see Predator, the new film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was because of Jesse Ventura. I was sad that he was one of the first to go in the film, but he was one of the most memorable characters with people quoting him to this day.
Animation Style: 3D computer-generated imagery (CGI)
Studio: Pixar/Disney
Here it is. The number one animated movie for EYG. Toy Story 3 was the perfect ending to the trilogy of Toy Story. I know there have been two more movies since, but that does not take away from this conclusion to the Andy storyline. Toy Story 3 had one of my absolutley favorite movie villains in Lotso and has a final scene with Andy and Bonnie just before Andy heads off to college. Then, when I first saw the film, I thought they were literally going to burn our heroes to death in an incinerator. That scene when Lotso leaves Woody, Buzz and the others to face a fiery doom was shockingly tense. Nothing has matched this for me. Toy Story 3 is the #1 Animated Movie in the Daily Countdown.
Voice cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton, Jodi Benson, John Morris, Charles Bright, Jeff Pidgeon, Blake Clark, R. Lee Ermey, Laurie Metcalf, Bea Miller, Emily Hahn, Lori Alan, Erik von Detten, Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal, Bonnie Hunt, Jeff Garlin, Amber Krone,Brianna Maiwand, Bud Luckey, Lee Unkrich, Teddy Newton, Woody Smith, Whoopi Goldberg, John Cygan, Jack Angel, Jan Rabson, and Richard Kind.
I got a ton of books this week. Mainly because I attended In This Issue’s 10th anniversary sale. They had their stuff a bag sale and I had two of the bags, $50 dollars each, and I wound up with over 200 back issues. I got a lot of New Avengers, War Machine, Rebels, New Universal, some alternate covers of Something Epic and many others. It was a lot of fun. Congrats to In This Issue on their anniversary.
Comic of the Week
Gee, what could it be?
Amazing Spider-Man #1000
I got so many Amazing Spider-Man #1000 this past week. Of course I did. Spider-Man is my favorite character in all of fiction, not just comic books, so this is a major accomplishment. There were a bunch of covers and two of them were medalists this week (Silver and Gold).
The initial story was slightly disappointing when Peter’s cousin, Cormac, became a villainous character. I was hoping this would go in a different direction. I thought the story itself was fine, but I hoped for something different.
I loved the Old Man Parker in the retirement home story though.
Books This Week:
Operation: Iron Coffin #3. Written by Kenny Porter with art and cover art by Tyrell Cannon. I picked up the B cover too by Juan Ferreyra. Count Dracula finally finds his way to the children… which leads to the end of this series. Now, they certainly are going to continue this series eventually I believe. I have enjoyed this series very much.
Uncanny X-Men #36. “Wild Ride,” Part 4: “Rights of Rage“. Written by Gail Simone and art by Luciano Vecchio. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio & Matthew Wilson. We get the fourth part of the Wild Ride. I am not sure if Gambit is cured or if there is more, but I do love the originality of the series.
Queen in Black #5. Written by Al Ewing and art by Iban Coello & Paco Medina. The cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Marcelo Maiolo. I have to say that I am not a fan of the end of the Queen in Black. It started fairly strong, but the ending did not do much for me.
Hyde Street #13. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Ivan Reis. Cover art was done by Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, & Brad Anderson. The Butcher is here and the denizens of Hyde Street are not a fan. Things are very dangerous with the Butcher out to attack Mrs. Goodbody.
Mister Nemo #3. Written by Mark London with art by Alden Kaye. Cover art was done by Duncan Rouleau. Big new adventure as Nemo and the crew launch a rescue mission on the island of Faro. The Mister Nemo book has been very engaging and entertaining as the series moves on.
Hammerfist #2. Written by Rick Remender and art and cover art by Steve Epting. William is on the run from all of the people who want what he has. There are some great action and brutality in this new series. This is a great new Image book that has been fun to read.
Denver #2. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray with art by Pier Brito. Cover art was done by Amanda Conner. Max Flynn’s wife has been kidnapped and the villains are threatening to kill her off if Max does not do what they want… let several boats into Denver. Max gets a bit wild.
Geiger #25. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank. Variant cover D art was a pic of the MacFarlane Toys Action Figure. The big 25th issue of Geiger saw the battle between the Glowing Man and the bandaged President Griffin. It looked like we are on the way to a showdown with Glowing Man and Redcoat.
Fantastic Four #17. “A Rat is Killed, A Man is Broken…” Written by Ryan North and art by Vincenzo Carratu. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. I also picked up the Muppet version of the FF cover by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Edgar Delgado. The FF are shrunken down and are inside the body of Magneto. Problem is they do not remember anything. It was fun how they interacted with each other without their memories. It was one of the strengths of Ryan North and it reminded me of the early days of his run.
X-Men #38. Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Tony S. Daniel. Cover art was done by Netho Diaz, Sean Parsons & Arthur Hesli. This DNX tie-in goes inside Magneto’s mind with Charles Xavier showing up… or does he? There feels to be a never ending mine of details between Magneto and Xavier.
Amazing Venom #1. Written by Jordan Morris with art by Luke Ross. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli (Bronze Medalist). Fred Myers was at one time Boomerang. He has bonded with the symbiote Passenger and they come together as Comeback. I am not sure if I am getting this book in the long run or not. I do like Fred so I might give it a chance.
DNX #2. “Part Two” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Federico Vicentini. Cover art was done by Kaare Andrews. Cyclops and Chairman face off as the X-Men try to keep 3X from releasing the X-Virus in Philadelphia. And seemingly, they succeed. Problem was… 3X had a second site… and the X-Virus was released in Juniper. The X-Virus is now out. What are they going to do?
X-Men United #7. “Shadow Play Pt. 3” Written by Eve L. Ewing & Evan Narcisse with pencils by Ruairi Coleman. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli & Federico Blee. Wither and Blade arrive, leading to… a fight with Bald and Wolverine, of course. But in the end, they are in search of the missing daughter of Blade, Brielle aka Bloodline.
Venom #262. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art was done by Carlos Gomez & Guru-eFX. This is the end of this version of Venom. Mary Jane has had her symbiote taken away and she is back to normal. I am not sure where things go from here, but it looks as if Eddie Brock is back as Venom.
Hello Darkness #25. Todd saved me a couple of variant covers by Jenny Frison. She created these variant covers as a connective cover and they are just beautiful. The stories within this issue were not my favorite over the 25 issues so far, but I am always down for some awesome cover art.
White Sky #6. Written by William Harms and art was done by JP Mavinga. Cover art was done by JP Mavinga. The first arc of White Sky wraps up with issue six. David tries to break out of the scavenger camp while Violet leaves San Francisco. White Sky will return in a few months.
Hillbilly: The Treason of Twelve-Toe Maggie #1. Written, art and cover art by Eric Powell. The synopsis? The wandering hero Rondel (wielder of the Devil’s Cleaver) must save an old friend. To do so, he is forced into the service of his former captor, the twelve-toed witch Twelve-Toe Maggie. Rondel must figure a way to break the magical tie to Maggie. This was a cool new book from Dark Horse and I am looking forward to more.
Zorro’s Legacy #3. “True of False.” Written by Dan Abnett and art by Guillermo Fajardo. Cover art was done by Aaron Lopresti. Crooked cops and the mafia of the area are trying to set up the new Zorro. Zorro knows this is a trap, but he does not seem to care. The present day Zorro has been an entertaining twist on the classic character.
Bizarro: Year None #3. “Chapter Three: How Do I Look?” Written by Eric Carrasco & Kevin Smith with art by Nick Pitarra. Variant cover C by Ibrahim Mostafa. I picked up a great cover off the stand for this book. Bizarro apparently has realized that he is not Superman. Is that a good thing?
Other books this week: Shift #1, American Caper #11, Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #3, Fantastic Four: First Foes-Dragon Man #1, Web of Destiny #1, The Smart Division #2, and Valhallaw #1.
Quick Hits: The Tomb of Apocalypse #2 was back this month with more action involving Jubilee, Shatterstar, Rictor and Wolverine. The Sorcerer Supreme #10 found the end of the series with Wanda. I have not loved this series, despite loving Wanda. Reborn Ultimate Impact #5 wrapped up this week as well. I was also not a huge fan of this, but I did like the New Jersey Wonder Man. Gambit Wanted #3 saw our wonderful Gambit in a dark situation. Predator versus the Planet of the Apes #3 brought two of the big tentpole franchises owned by Disney together again. How many other mash-ups are in our future? Speaking of… AVX #1 which is Alien vs. X-Men. Final Boss #10 is another brutal video game-like fight. Vertigo’s Bleeding Hearts #8 and the zombie action moves along. The is a wonderful Conan the Barbarian #35 which had a beautiful cover that could have been in the medal round had there not been 20+ Amazing Spider-Man books out there. Bad Thoughts #4 is one of the top notch Ignition Press books. Ande Parks is a awesome writer and this has been a strong book.
Animation Style: a hybrid 3D-and-2D technique that mimics a living, hand-drawn comic book
Studio: Sony Pictures Imageworks
The first big screen appearance of Miles Morales was a masterful film. The adaptation of Miles, along with the use of some of the awesome Spider-Man variants such as Peter Porker, Spider-Noir and Penny Parker, made this such a fun and emotional movie that you just did not expect. The animation is some of the most creative and original animation you will ever see… so much so that some people said the animation was what bothered them the most. This won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Voice cast: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Vélez, Zoë Kravitz, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, Kathryn Hahn, Chris Pine, Lake Bell, Liev Schreiber, Jorma Taccone, Marvin “Krondon” Jones III, Joaquín Cosío and Post Malone.
The finale of Lanterns was really good, in my opinion, but I have a feeling that it may not be as well received as it should be.
The mystery of who killed Hal Jordan was wrapped up with an interesting twist when it was revealed that Sheriff Kerry did indeed shoot him in the head.
Motive? She was protecting her son, Noah, who was revealed as a Manhunter. Noah knew he was a Manhunter and had healed Hal when Hal got stuck in a burning building. Noah had confessed to John that he had killed Hal, in order to protect his mom. Noah was the one who freed Sinestro and convinced him to forge him a lantern in exchange. Noah got the drop on John and got ahold of the ring, but he and John had a powerful conversation inside a car.
I say that I do not think the finale will be as well received because there was not much action in the episode, and there was a lot of talking. I like that kind of writing, but I know there has already been criticism about the use of the Lantern powers in this show.
I do think the episode was strong for the character element though, and watching John Stewart claim the ring and use the forged lantern to charge his ring with his own distinct oath.
In Brightest Day In Darkest Night I’ll embrace my fear… I’ll do what’s right I choose this ring, I choose this fight… In service to this lanterns light
Guy Gardner made another appearance and John told him what it was going to be. It was great to see John become what he was destined to be, but taking it in his own way.
Great series. I am sad that Hal Jordan seems to be done for good, but, even still, this was very entertaining.
I adjusted the rules of the October 13 because I wanted to do a rewatch of Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. Typically, the October 13 is reserved for films that I have never seen before, and I did see this film in the theater back when it came out. However, I decided to include this one in the October 13 as a rewatch this year because I did want to give it a second chance, and I am glad that I did.
I remember not liking this movie at all when I saw it in the theater. I distinctly remember sitting in the Voy Theater and hating this film. I pulled it up today on HBO Max and thought it was much better. I still wouldn’t say that I loved it, but I did enjoy it more than that first time, and I am happy I did the rewatch.
According to IMDB, “An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival.”
One of the reasons why I think I liked this more this time than back then was I was not as familiar with HG Wells’ novel War of the Worlds at the time. Since I have read it and taught it at school and I have more of an appreciation for it. While they made many adaptations to it, there are several key scenes that come from the novel, including the scenes involving Ogilvy (Tim Robbins).
I was now familiar with the ending of the story, and how the alien tripods were brought down. I remember being really unhappy with the conclusion when I first saw it, but now it feels much more acceptable, if not even somewhat iconic.
Tom Cruise is solid as well, and we get some great scenes of him running. The two kids (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) were annoying through much of the film, but they grew on me as the story progressed.
The film looked great with the tripods and the aliens, and the scene where the long tentacle searched through the basement where Cruise and Ogilvy were hidden was very tense and suspenseful.
In the end, this was way better than I had remembered, and, while it is nowhere near the top of my Spielberg list of movies, it is no long near the bottom either.
