Tag Archives: writing

Grotesquerie S1 E9

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“Episode 9”

An intense episode that, once again, really throws my understanding of what is going on into a confused state… and I loved that.

It felt as if Lois was on a crusade to put things to rest before she moved down to Florida. She saw Marshall and gave him divorce papers (and he was downright cruel at this point), she saw her daughter for one final slap, and she continued dream therapy.

It was here where things started to go weird once more. It was suggested that Lois’s dream, specifically about the Burnside family, which had no connection to her own life, was Lois seeing the future.

Of course, Megan was arriving at a murder scene exactly like the Burnside murder in reality. Right down to the mystery contents of the boiling pot on the stove, which feels as if it is a secret that we will be getting in the finale.

Reality? Hm, I wonder.

When Lois met Megan at the hotel, Lois had her cut her arm so she could see her blood. That was supposed to be how Lois proved to herself that this was real… and then the most surreal thing happened, with Megan’s abusive boyfriend showing up and attacking her. Lois held a gun on him but he did not stop. He tormented Lois about being the dream woman and that she knew she couldn’t kill him. He went so far as to put the barrel of the gun Lois held into his own mouth.

And then she shot him.

That was an awesome moment. A-hole got what he deserved. However, I worry for Lois.

Still, I am not convinced that everything here is real life. The background TVs kept talking about the fires that were spreading, much like the final sections of Lois’s dreams, and I feel there may be something “biblical” going down.

Yellowjackets S1 E7

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“No Compass”

An exciting episode. With the three current day women dropping off the money, and the dramatic danger at the end of the episode with a pack of wolves, this was exciting throughout the whole episode.

So many things happened. Taissa had tackled the guy who was blackmailing them, but took an elbow to the face allowing him to get away. Kevin discovered that his gun was messed up and questioned Natalie about it. Shauna came back and had sex with Adam.

I saw that Christina Ricci was on the credits and I did not know that she was on this show. So I looked up who she played. I thought it might be current day Natalie, but I was shocked to see that she is playing current day Misty. Couldn’t believe it. Then, we see Misty and her sociopathy tendencies as she interviewed the reporter.

The wolves attack at the end with them tearing off parts of Van’s face. It was a brutal reminder how dangerous of a situation that they were in.

The whole Shauna/Jackie story with Shauna’s pregnancy was another key component of the episode. Jackie found the diary with the truth in it after Shauna had told her that it was Randy who had gotten her pregnant.

Three more episodes of season one.

The Changeling (1980)

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The October 11 of 13

So The October 13 has been a little lower of quality than I would have preferred this year. However, we came across a good one today. The Changeling, starring George C. Scott, is one of the best haunted house movies I have seen.

The film grabs your attention immediately as it sets up the tragedy for George C. Scott’s character, composer John Russell. His wife and daughter are killed in a tragic accident and this sends him spiraling out of control. Renting a house in Seattle, John goes to hopefully work on his music.

However, once in the house, strange sounds and events started happening, leading John to investigate what had happened in the house’s past.

Honestly, the seance scene was one of the scariest seance scenes I have ever seen. The way that the psychic approached the actual execution of the seance was great. I had never seen a seance handled in this manner before and it really set the stage for the rest of the mystery that would be at the heart of the film.

There is also a horrifying scene with a young boy and a bathtub that I will not go into further description of because it is unsettling.

George C. Scott is a tremendous actor and his very presence in the film give it a credibility that a lot of these haunted house movies lack.

I am happy that this film made the October 13 list this year and I am happy that it has helped put the list back on track.

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.

Sonnet writing- Four Wheeler

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In my 8th grade classes, we have been doing some study on sonnets. I said to my class that I wanted to write a sonnet too and I asked them to give me a topic. Most sonnets are love poems, but I did not want the eighth graders writing love poems, so I allowed them to do whatever topic they wanted. My topic was chosen to be Four-Wheelers.

The rules were that the poem had to have fourteen lines, follow the rhyme scheme of abbaabbacdcdcd and could have no more or nor less than ten syllables per line (which is kind of linked to iambic pentameter. Yes, I know there is more to it than just the syllable count, but it is a tough concept for 8th graders).

Here is my sonnet.

FOUR-WHEELER

The sun shines brightly in the midday sky,

The warmth on my face brings joy to my life.

It washes away the pain and strife

I am so excited, I want to fly.

Bursting forth with an exuberant cry,

Bouncing and hopping; excitement is rife.

Sharing this fun with my friend and his wife.

Suddenly, the fun ceases. Why oh why?

I cry as my body flies through the air.

My four-wheeler flipped when I hit a rock,

The oncoming ground gave me quite the scare.

Spiking my head caused me a state of shock,

The doctors placed me in intensive care.

Months and months to recover. What a crock.

Bates Motel S4 E5

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“Refraction”

Sometimes this show catches me off-guard. Chick followed Norma for awhile, and wound up coming to see her, offering to fix the stained-glass window that was broken during the break in. It was very stalker-like, but during the episode, Chick almost had me convinced that he was going to turn over a new leaf and just fix the stained glass and redeem himself for his past sins.

Nope. At the end of the episode, he comes to Norma and tells her the truth. That he wants to find her brother Caleb. When they were speaking before, Norma called Caleb her brother and Chick was able to piece it together since Caleb had introduced himself to Chick originally as Dylan’s father. Chick took this info and tried to play on Norma’s uncertainty, her deep seeded pain over what had happened to her. He was manipulating Norma and suddenly the good tidings that he had earned in this episode went right out the broken stained-glass window.

I really felt for Norma in that moment. Its as if she can never fully catch a break. She has just started to connect with Romero, so much so that she even asked him if he had killed Bob Paris. His response was that he had no choice, but you could see the truth in his face. He killed him because Bob was a danger to Norma. It was to protect her that Romero had no choice. Norma could see that. I say this every episode write-up but I loved Romero and Norma as a couple which makes what I know is coming up later this season all the worse.

Dr. Edwards met Norman’s Mother personality as Norman blacked out during a session. Edwards had pushed Norman about an imagined meeting Norman had with Norma at the mental institution which happened in Norman’s head and Norman flipped out. Freddie Highmore does a great job switching into Mother. The way he moves, the glint in his eyes, the tilt of a head. Highmore is exceptional in playing the role.

There was a sweet scene between Dylan and Emma where Emma showed Dylan her scar. She was embarrassed by it, but she wanted to get past it. Dylan handled it wonderfully, showing Emma the scars across his body from gunshots and other moments from the drug running career he had been involved in. Another fun moment was when Dylan interviewed for a real, honest job and told the interviewer the truth about his past in the drug trade. Amazingly, it seems as if the truth may have worked out for him.

We have gone past the halfway point in season four and I am not thinking that Chick is long for this world.

The Greatest American Hero S2 E4

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“Hog Wild”

Ralph and Bill are on the way back from a communication seminar and they come across a biker gang that was itching for trouble.

Now, Bill is anything but subtle and his borderline obnoxious personality ended up getting him three broken ribs and taken hostage by the gang.

Oh, and the gang wound up with the suit.

Of course, it only works on Ralph, but it still led to a whole bunch of trouble as the biker gang returned to a town that had run them off the day before and blackmailed Ralph into being their “muscle.”

Bill was really over the edge in this episode, displaying how he is too stubborn and hard headed in most situations. Ralph, although too involved with the communication from the seminar, does a great job doing what he could. I liked how Ralph and Bill used some other characters in the show to help the overall scenario. It was neat to see Ralph working with others without having to hide the suit.

I do think that Ralph could have taken this biker gang out much easier than he did, but I understand they needed to stretch the story to make it a full length episode. Overall, it was a fun show, but probably the weakest episode of the second season so far.

The Jinx Part Two s2 E5

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“Mostly the Truth”

It’s Bob’s turn to testify.

He had to testify because they had stipulated the fact that Bob had written the cadaver note and Bob had to explain that for the jury. Because he had to explain that fact that he wound up admitted to, Bob was able to be cross-examined by the prosecutor John Lewin.

Lewin planned on showing the jury that Bob was a liar… perhaps even pathological. Lewin picked his testimony apart. Bob had told a story of how he would play Uno and throw the frisbee with his mom, brother and father. Lewin pointed out that Uno was created in 1971 and frisbees were created in 1958 and Bob’s mom died in 1950. This showed clearly that those ‘memories’ were not true.

Nine days of cross-examination. Whoa.

Lewin got Bob to admit that he had lied about some things during his testimony and that if he had killed Susan, he would lie about it.

Those words are shocking.

The trial started really strong for Bob and it took a major downswing.

When they played the “Killed them all, of course” clip from the first Jinx show, it was an amazing moment. Bob said that he had said that he muttered the words “They will all think that I” ahead of those five words. However, they did not let that stand.

Another amazing moment was when Bob, who was saying things that he would lie about, said that he would lie about where Kathie was buried. The prosecutor jumped on that phrasing immediately and it sounded terrible.

The verdict came in: Guilty. Durst was not there at the time because he had been exposed to Covid.

Shockingly, since Bob was not there, someone had to tell him that he had been convicted. But none of his own lawyers did it. They left town imediately.

It was Bob’s current wife, Debbie’s lawyer who told him.

And that feels like the next piece of the story.

The Jinx Part Two S2 E4

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“The Unluckiest Man in the World”

The trial had been going Bob Durst’s way at first.

Then came Emily Altman.

Emily and her husband Stewart were long time friends with Bob. When the prosecution put Emily on the witness stand, they were able to get her to place Bob in Los Angeles at the time of the murder of Susan Berman. That was something that had never happened before.

Because of that, Bob admitted to writing the “Cadaver note.”

I’m not kidding.

This is absolutely nuts.

Bob had sent years denying that he wrote that note, the one sent to the police alerting them to the death of Susan. The one with the misspelling of “Beverly” with an “E”. Now, he has changed his story and claimed that he had walked in and found the body and sent the anonymous note to police to avoid his own suspicion.

This changed the entire feel of the trial.

Emily had not intended on making thing bad for Bob. In fact, the show speculated that she may have thought she was trying to help him.

This episode ended with the shocking reveal that Bob had decided to testify on his own behalf. We get that next episode. Can’t wait!

Boy did this one take a turn. I love how the producers of the mini-series used Bob’s correspondence with friends and others to score the program. Bob’s voice was the key to the first season, and this second season uses his voice just as well. When Bob said that Emily was so stupid, it was an amazing moment.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #85

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March 8, 2024

Another big week. Some great new books.

The Bat-Man: First Knight #1. Written by Dan Jurgens and art and cover by Mike Perkins. I picked this one up off the stand. It is a larger book from the DC Black Label featuring a Bat-Man from 1939. It is a interesting first issue, but it really was similar to other Bat stories. The ending with the electric chair, though, that was shocking….

The Spectacular Spider-Men #1. “Arachnobatics: Chapter #1: Regulars” Written by Greg Weisman and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Ramos & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Peter and Miles decide to hang out together, outside of any Spider-action. Can Peter become a regular at the coffee shop they are meeting at? Lot of fun.

Ultimate X-Men #1. Written by and drawn by Peach Momoko. I loved this. This is what I wanted the new Ultimate Universe to be like. I did not just want new versions of the same characters. I want something new. You never would mistake Hisako for the regular X-Men. Instead of just another version of Wolverine or Jean Grey, we have a new character that is really enjoyable. I am excited to see the series continue.

Pine & Merrimac #3. Written by Kyle Starks and illustrated by Fran Galán. This fun Boom! Studios series gives us some back story on Linnea, including meeting Parker. Meanwhile, Linnea and Parker find their way onto the mysterious island and find even more than they expected. These two lead characters are the absolute strength of the book so far.

Sensational She-Hulk #6. “All In: Part 1” Written by Rainbow Rowell and featuring art by Ig Guara. Jen Bartel did the cover art. She-Hulk is suspended as a lawyer for her ‘rampaging’ and she decided, with Jack of Hearts, to take a vacation … in space, near the sun.

Captain America #7. “Intermezzo, Part One of Two” Written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Carlos Magno. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. Steve Rogers is involved in a strange, magical story at The Front Door. This was an interesting start to the new story.

What If…? Aliens #1. Part 1 written by Hans Rodionoff & Adam F. Goldberg with art by Guiu Vilanova. Phil Noto did the cover art. Paul Reiser was involved in creating the concept for this limited series in the What If world. Reiser’s character Carter Burke from Aliens the movie survives and things go different. I love this too.

Torpedo 1972 #1. “About the Dead Sea” Written by Enrique Sanchez Abulí and art by Eduardo Risso. Risso, Dan Panosian & Fritz Casas did the cover art (one of the medalists this week). A new crime series from Ablaze, but I have to say that the first issue was a struggle to get through. I hope this one improves.

Doctor Strange #13. “Cobolorum Pt. 1” Written by Jed MacKay and with art by Pasqual Ferry. This may have been the most fun book of the week. A magically based RPG called Cobolorum? Strange has to follow the rules of the game and has to recruit a ‘party’ to go gaming. He needs a thief (Black Cat), a priest (Hunter’s Moon), and a fighter (Taskmaster). As a former D&D player, this was a hoot.

Thanos #4. “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends” Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Luca Pizzari with German Peralta. Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho did the cover art. Can the Illuminati do anything to stop the epic war between Death and Thanos? Probably not.

Daredevil: Gang War #4. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Sergio Davila. Davila, Sean Parsons, & Ceci De La Cruz did the cover art. The Gang War is over, but there is one more thing for Elektra to do. A showdown with Bellona.

Void Rivals #7. Written by Robert Kirkman with art by Lorenzo De Felici. The second story arc begins with the introduction of a brand new villain called Proximus. Solila and Darak are trying to escape, but challenges abound. However, there was something familiar for Darak.

Jill and the Killers #2. Written by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and illustrated by Roberta Ingranata. Sanya Anwar did the cover art. Jill has discovered a pattern in the mystery of what happened to O’Brien. Have there been multiple murders? This is another fun new series from outside the basic companies.

The Avengers #11. “A Grand Tradition” Written by Jed MacKay and featuring art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was from Stuart Immonen. The Impossible City was missing something. What was it? I know… Edwin Jarvis!!!

X-Men #32. “From Emma, With Love” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Phil Noto. Joshua Cassara & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Magik is back and teams up with Kate Pryde and Polaris to keep the war with Orchis going.

The Sentry #4. “Legacy Part IV” Written by Jason Loo and with art by Luigi Zagaria. Ben Harvey did the cover art. The power of the Sentry, which had been split among several people. However, the sociopathic Ryan Topper killed several of them and claimed their part of the Sentry power. With this battle, there is one with the power.

Other books this week: Giant Size Spider-Gwen #1, Antarctica #9, Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #1, Love Everlasting #13, and Weapon X-Men #1.