Tag Archives: book-reviews

Battlestar Galactica S3 E9

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“Unfinished Business”

The perfect example of a toxic relationship is explored as we do a deep dive into the strange relationship between Lee and Kara.

Both Lee and Kara are married to others, but neither seem to be able to keep from each other. However, it felt that the anger and violence overtook them as we saw flashbacks to detail specifics of their past and how they ended up where they were.

I have to say, there was a time once where I felt as if Lee and Kara was the rooting couple, the one that you wanted to see together. That is no longer as they both seem beset on a self-destructive path. Nothing symbolized that better than some brutal boxing.

Admiral Adama stepped into the ring as well, calling out Chief Tyrol, whom he was having troubles with too. This felt like an addition to the storyline, and we see some flashbacks that gave some understanding where this animosity came from.

This whole episode, while expertly written and acted, was extremely uncomfortable and difficult to watch. It truly made me not like either the character of Lee or Kara. It did make me think about Dave and Maddie from Moonlighting with their first time having sex, how violent it was and how angry they seemed. That is not the kind of relationship that I want to support.

Both Kara and Lee are damaged people with a selfish side to them, and they have or will hurt the people who love them and it will be difficult to watch. You can feel it.

Yellowjackets S2 E1

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“Friends, Romans, Countrymen”

The second season of Yellowjackets is underway and the winter has started to take its toll. There also appears to be some mental breakdowns starting to creep into the survivors (I say ‘starting’ although this is probably a mad rush). Shauna eating the ear of Jackie, who had died two months earlier, but not buried (I assume because the ground is too frozen to do so). Shauna has spent much of the last two months since her friend’s death talking to the frozen corpse in the food storage area (unsanitary). Of course, Jackie would talk back to her too, as they got into discussion of Shauna and Jeff’s affair. Tiassa continuing her own crazy behavior, which will continue into the present day. And there is Lottie who is some kind of self-help cult leader and the person who had Natalie kidnapped at the end of season one. Don’t worry Nat, cause Misty is on the case.

Present day, I would think that Shauna would have been better about concealing a crime by this point in her life. Burning Adam’s license and things in her barbeque was just a silly way to get rid of evidence. Then, the art studio caper made no sense either. They can’t control their passions? Shauna and Jeff have sex and leave all kinds of DNA evidence around. And did they just use paint remover to ruin all the painting of her they found? Um… that is not a good choice.

Natalie and Lottie coming face to face at the end of the episode as her cult were burying an old naked man alive was weird, and probably not the best choice by Natalie, but she is a very impulsive character so I can believe that she would see her old teammate and head right forward to her.

A couple of strange choices were made this episode, including some new survivors in the wilderness (I assume they were the background characters in season one and now have more importance… aka Nikki and Paolo from LOST. We know what their fate turned out to be).

EYG Comic Cavalcade #118

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October 4, 2024

It will be a busy Saturday this week, with a couple of movies, Badd Blood from the WWE, and a Dodger post season game, so with a smaller number of books this week than recently, my goal was to get this Comic Cavalcade out on a Friday instead of the weekend. I just finished reading, even with a couple of new arrivals from eBay.

Books this week:

Storm #1. “Grand Opening.” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. I go the variant foil cover with the art by Jerome Opena. Storm is seeing quite the upswing of popularity as she is just recently in the Avengers and now with this new series. This is the fifth volume of Storm which surprised me, and she is one of my favorite mutant characters out there these days.

Hyde Street #1. Storytellers are Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis. Cover art was by Ivan Reis, Danny Miki and Brad Anderson did the cover art (Gold Medalist). This is the new series joining the Ghost Machine imprint from Image. It is very creative concept and it gave me an Ice Cream Man type flavor. This one is going to be very interesting.

Dead Eyes #1-4. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by John McCrea. Here is the eBay series I just recently purchased. A few week ago, I picked up Dead Eyes: Empty Frames and the book felt as if it were a sequel series, and, after a quick trip to eBay, I confirmed that truth. The Dead Eyes series arrived in the mail today. I loved this first series. Read them all in one sitting tonight.

Ultimate Black Panther #9. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Stefano Caselli. Cover art by Stefano Caselli and David Curiel. I have not done a write up for this series recently and it is because it has been my least favorite new Ultimates series. That is still the case, but we get a issue that is heavily featuring Storm and Killmonger and they do make a good team.

Daredevil #14. “Introductory Rites” Part Fourteen. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Luigi Zagaria. Cover art this issue was by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove (Bronze Medalist). Matt Murdock has to face off with Elektra and she is not having it. To say that she is spurned is an understatement. However, there is little time for hurt feelings as they are in search of the missing kid from the halfway house.

The Power Fantasy #1-2. Written by Kieron Gillen and art by Caspar Wijngaaard. This is a series that I missed the first issue of and I had heard positives about, so I got #1 on eBay and read these two. Only a handful of superheroes on the earth and they are causing trouble. How about one Kieron Gillen has done a solid job with that.

Immortal Thor #16. “Fire and Stone.” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Alex Ross did the cover art. If I am being honest, this was a fairly pedestrian issue of Thor that was saved by a new group of villains and a shocking final page. I am excited to see where this goes from here.

Deadpool #7. Written by Cody Ziglar & Alexis Quasarano and art by Andrea Di Vito. Tauron Clarke did the cover art. This was okay, but I am not sure how I feel about the daughter of Deadpool taking up his mantel. I do like how they are keeping Wade’s body around with sunglasses on it expecting a resurrection.

X-Men #5. “Psychic Rescue in Progress” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Ryan Stegman. Stegman, JP Mayer & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Psylocke and Quentin Quire heading on a psychic mission together was a joy. I am a fan of Quentin Quire because he is such a little jerk. And I love it.

Redcoat #6. Creators are Geoff Johns and Bryan Hitch. Variant cover art is by Francis Manapul. For awhile in this book, it was feeling like a end of the series as things were wrapping up with Benedict Arnold. However, there is another issue coming as George Washington has reared his wigged head. Next issue is entitled “Epilogue” so does that mean next issue is the final one? That would be sad as this has been a consistently entertaining book.

The Deviant #8. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Joshua Hixson. The penultimate issue of this series really sets this one up for a huge finale. The mystery of what is exactly happening is great.

Plastic Man No More #2. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Alex Lins. Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo did the cover art (Silver Medalist). Plastic Man is taking a huge step to try and solve the problem of his rubbery body falling apart, afraid that his son may wind up the same way. Unfortunately, it leads to a bad situation for the Metal Men.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #6. “Haunted” Part 6. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Gwen Stacy joined up with one of my favorite female Marvel characters, Jessica Jones, and I loved it. I could always enjoy the appearance of Jessica Jones.

Get Fury #6. Written by Garth Ennis and art by Jacen Burrows. Cover art was done by Dave Johnson. The finale of this series is just as brutal as this series has been. Nick Fury is downright unbalanced. This was a series that I did not initially plan on getting, but after re-reading the first issue again, I was in and I have enjoyed it each month.

Other books this week: Creature Commandos #1, The Nice House by the Sea #3, Robbie Reyes: Ghost Rider Marvel Voices Special #1, All In Special #1, and Wolverine: Deep Cut #4.

Hazbin Hotel

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I binged the Amazon Prime adult animated musical series last night and this morning. It was a real easy binge as the episodes are all around 25 minutes.

I started off with the pilot on YouTube. It was posted four years ago and has been very popular on YouTube. That pilot led to A24 and Prime and a big budget. Eight episodes of the series arrived on Prime.

Charlie Morningstar, daughter of Lucifer and princess of Hell, is hopeful and loving (and very musical) and organizing a hotel where she wants to help demons find redemption and go to Heaven, a way to prevent the overcrowding of Hell.

This is such a awesome series. It is absolutely not for kids. There are curse words, sexual situations and innuendo, and adult situations.

The characters are amazing. Charlie is the main protagonist and brings the heart to the show. She is vital to making this a real series. I think of her like Luffy from One Piece who is the center of the show and provides the heart. Charlie’s friend/love Vaggie has a secret background that may destroy their relationship. Angel Dust is the first resident of the hotel who is a porn actor. Alastor the “Radio Demon” was an overlord who comes to watch the events unwind at the hotel. Sir Pentious is a former villain whose pathetic life led him to the hotel. Husk is the straight shooting bartender. These characters are way deeper than I ever expected to be. I really love how these characters grow and their arcs are truly strong.

The music is so epic. Not only catchy and fun, but are used to inform the characters. These songs are way more engaging and fun than they have any right to be.

The animation is spectacular and remarkably unique. The colors and the character designs are exceptional.

Plus, the story of Hell and Heaven is brilliantly developed and you can not guess where things are going. The angels are just as horrible, if not more so, than the demon characters. And there is a definite question about what going to Heaven or going to Hell means.

The finale is just so masterful, and I sure hope there are plans to continue to season two. This was a real treat.