Joseph Baneth Allen's Blog, page 15
April 21, 2025
The Running Man
Just finished watching "The Running Man" released by Paramount.
Now I did not see "The Running Man" when it was first released in theaters back in 1988.
Mom, Dad, Selma Franz, and I first saw "The Running Man" when it first aired on HBO back in 1989 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Back then - in the Dark Ages - there were no streaming services and it usually took about a year, or longer, for a movie to be shown on HBO, Showtime, and other cable services. Also, while VHS tapes and VHS players were common place, DVDs and DVD players were still relatively new and expensive technology. Of course, during this time, Arnold Scharzenegger was still an up and coming action hero on the silver screen fresh off his role as "The Terminator."
"The Running Man" is based on the novel by Stephen King, which was written under his Richard Bachman pseudonym at a time when nobody in the general public knew that Bachman was actually King in disguise.
While both the novel and the movie adaptation are set in a dystopian future, that is where the similarities end. In the ending of the original novel, Ben Richards is killed when he crashes a plane into a building, killing Dan Killian in the process.
What's surprising about this adaptation of "The Running Man" - and unfortunately there is a remake that is scheduled to be released later in 2025 - is that it still holds up as an exploration of how social media can be used to control the behavior of populations - something you probably didn't expect from an Arnold Schwarzenenegger movie.
In a nutshell, Schwarzenenegger plays a special police trooper Ben Richards who refuses to fire on unarmed food rioters and is arrested. Society has been transformed into a totalitarian nightmare where the masses are controlled through the media and spoon-fed various gameshows such as 'Climbing for Dollars' where people try to avoid attack dogs and earn cash prizes, and of course the most popular, the Running Man. The Running Man itself is a gameshow in which fugitives are released into 200 square blocks (the "game zone") of burnt out LA and then chased around by stalkers as a live studio audience watches. Richards and his comrades end up in The Running Man show and are chased around by some colorful and entertaining stalkers. The film does a fairly good job of playing around with the underlying social commentaries of fascism and media control. Stalkers are picked to chase our heroes by housewives who like them "big and cuddly," audience members are chosen a la The Price is Right to win extra prizes including "The Running Man Home Version" board game, and as Richards smashes, bludgeons, mauls, and one-liners his way through the various stalkers sent to kill him, he gradually wins over the crowd, and manages to roll back the media control gripping the masses.
There is no neat resolution to "The Running Man."
Richards does kill Killian by giving him a taste of his own medicine and putting him in the game, and Richards is exonerated of the crimes he was falsely accused of when the truth is broadcast all over the world, but the corrupt government takes back over the satellite feed at the end of the movie, so you don't know if a revolution has started.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Running-Man-Ar...
Now I did not see "The Running Man" when it was first released in theaters back in 1988.
Mom, Dad, Selma Franz, and I first saw "The Running Man" when it first aired on HBO back in 1989 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Back then - in the Dark Ages - there were no streaming services and it usually took about a year, or longer, for a movie to be shown on HBO, Showtime, and other cable services. Also, while VHS tapes and VHS players were common place, DVDs and DVD players were still relatively new and expensive technology. Of course, during this time, Arnold Scharzenegger was still an up and coming action hero on the silver screen fresh off his role as "The Terminator."
"The Running Man" is based on the novel by Stephen King, which was written under his Richard Bachman pseudonym at a time when nobody in the general public knew that Bachman was actually King in disguise.
While both the novel and the movie adaptation are set in a dystopian future, that is where the similarities end. In the ending of the original novel, Ben Richards is killed when he crashes a plane into a building, killing Dan Killian in the process.
What's surprising about this adaptation of "The Running Man" - and unfortunately there is a remake that is scheduled to be released later in 2025 - is that it still holds up as an exploration of how social media can be used to control the behavior of populations - something you probably didn't expect from an Arnold Schwarzenenegger movie.
In a nutshell, Schwarzenenegger plays a special police trooper Ben Richards who refuses to fire on unarmed food rioters and is arrested. Society has been transformed into a totalitarian nightmare where the masses are controlled through the media and spoon-fed various gameshows such as 'Climbing for Dollars' where people try to avoid attack dogs and earn cash prizes, and of course the most popular, the Running Man. The Running Man itself is a gameshow in which fugitives are released into 200 square blocks (the "game zone") of burnt out LA and then chased around by stalkers as a live studio audience watches. Richards and his comrades end up in The Running Man show and are chased around by some colorful and entertaining stalkers. The film does a fairly good job of playing around with the underlying social commentaries of fascism and media control. Stalkers are picked to chase our heroes by housewives who like them "big and cuddly," audience members are chosen a la The Price is Right to win extra prizes including "The Running Man Home Version" board game, and as Richards smashes, bludgeons, mauls, and one-liners his way through the various stalkers sent to kill him, he gradually wins over the crowd, and manages to roll back the media control gripping the masses.
There is no neat resolution to "The Running Man."
Richards does kill Killian by giving him a taste of his own medicine and putting him in the game, and Richards is exonerated of the crimes he was falsely accused of when the truth is broadcast all over the world, but the corrupt government takes back over the satellite feed at the end of the movie, so you don't know if a revolution has started.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Running-Man-Ar...
Batman Ninja VS Yakuza League
Just finished watching "Batman Ninja VS Yakuza League" released by Warner Brothers.
Now I was a bit surprised when I saw "Batman Ninja VS Yakuza League" when I walked by the DVD section in the Walmart where Jeff H., a.k.a. Minion #2, used to work before he graduated from You Never Finish - UNF. [UNF had a reputation for never offering the one class you needed to graduate, causing some students to not get their degrees and/or waiting one-to-three years before a required class was offered.] I wasn't expecting a sequel to the animated "Batman Ninja" movie that was released back in 2019 and it hadn't popped up on my recommendations feed on Amazon.com - which isn't too surprising because Amazon only offers what it popular and/or trending at a given moment.
Now "Batman Ninja VS Yakuza League" is not a direct sequel to "Batman Ninja" - it's more of a sideways sequel that explores events that never happed in "Batman Ninja."
The plot is simple: Only a day after returning from the past, Batman and his allies discover that the world is not quite the same as they left it. Japan no longer exists in the new timeline and neither do the heroes of the Justice League. But before they can get a handle on what is going on, yakuza literally start raining from the skies.
Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League of Assassins, is behind this new reality because he has stolen the "Quake Machine" which can distort and reshape time and he has plans to completely destroy Gotham City.
The animation is first rate, but this was not a great story, and has all the inklings of an "Elseworlds" tale, but not a well done one. And while "Batman Ninja" was a cool and fun concept of the Caped Crusader, "Batman Ninja VS Yakuza League" doesn't work because it doesn't really respect its source material and predecessor.
While I suspect that die-hard Batman fans, like Zack, Minion #1 who also graduated from UNF and who is a master of the deadly and sneaky art of Zack-Fu, would like it, sadly, it didn't work for me.
Recommended for die-hard Batman fans.
Two-and-a-half Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Yakuza-...
Now I was a bit surprised when I saw "Batman Ninja VS Yakuza League" when I walked by the DVD section in the Walmart where Jeff H., a.k.a. Minion #2, used to work before he graduated from You Never Finish - UNF. [UNF had a reputation for never offering the one class you needed to graduate, causing some students to not get their degrees and/or waiting one-to-three years before a required class was offered.] I wasn't expecting a sequel to the animated "Batman Ninja" movie that was released back in 2019 and it hadn't popped up on my recommendations feed on Amazon.com - which isn't too surprising because Amazon only offers what it popular and/or trending at a given moment.
Now "Batman Ninja VS Yakuza League" is not a direct sequel to "Batman Ninja" - it's more of a sideways sequel that explores events that never happed in "Batman Ninja."
The plot is simple: Only a day after returning from the past, Batman and his allies discover that the world is not quite the same as they left it. Japan no longer exists in the new timeline and neither do the heroes of the Justice League. But before they can get a handle on what is going on, yakuza literally start raining from the skies.
Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League of Assassins, is behind this new reality because he has stolen the "Quake Machine" which can distort and reshape time and he has plans to completely destroy Gotham City.
The animation is first rate, but this was not a great story, and has all the inklings of an "Elseworlds" tale, but not a well done one. And while "Batman Ninja" was a cool and fun concept of the Caped Crusader, "Batman Ninja VS Yakuza League" doesn't work because it doesn't really respect its source material and predecessor.
While I suspect that die-hard Batman fans, like Zack, Minion #1 who also graduated from UNF and who is a master of the deadly and sneaky art of Zack-Fu, would like it, sadly, it didn't work for me.
Recommended for die-hard Batman fans.
Two-and-a-half Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Yakuza-...
April 17, 2025
You're On Your Own, Snoopy
Just finished reading "You're On Your Own, Snoopy" by Charles M. Schulz, published by Fawcett Crest back in 1975.
Many frequent visitors to Barnes & Noble and other "big box" bookstores and independently owned bookstores with physical retail locations will find it hard to believe that once upon a time that bookstores did not have sections devoted entirely to graphic novels like they do nowadays.
Now the bookstores of old did have shelves/sections devoted to what I call "comic strip books" which essentially were collections of previously ran strips of a newspaper comic ran that were reprinted in paperback. It was really only later, at least here in the Untied States, where hardcover collections of comic strips like "Calvin & Hobbes" and "The Farside" were reprinted in hardcover and readily available to collectors and consumers here in the United States and across the world. [Sidenote: Just wait to Zack and Jeff when they find out who gets which collection in my will Bwahahahahahahaha].
While Michelle's Bookstore in the Brynn Marr shopping center in Jacksonville, North Carolina closed its doors for the last time in the mid-1990s, they did have a section that was ceiling-to-floor of shelves filled with comic strip books - a majority of which "Peanuts" books by Charles M. Schulz. Schulz, shared a similarity to Andre Norton in the 1970s because they completely dominated the shelves in their respective sections in bookstores.
Now a majority of my "Peanuts" books were lost in time due to when we moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and I got my "replacement" copies at Chamblin's Bookmine out on Roosevelt Avenue.
The Peanuts comic strips collected in "You're On Your Own, Snoopy" originally appeared in news papers between 1971 and 1972. Perhaps the most intriguing strips in this collection are those where Linus deals with his addiction to his security blanket on his own and succeeds in "curing" himself until he is foiled back into his addiction by a kind hearted Charlie Brown who believes he was acting in Linus' best interests. We also learn a bit more about Miss Helen Sweetstory, Snoopy's favorite author who writes the Bunniewunnies series. And so the six Bunniewunnies reunited at last hopped merrily home....
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Your-Own...
Many frequent visitors to Barnes & Noble and other "big box" bookstores and independently owned bookstores with physical retail locations will find it hard to believe that once upon a time that bookstores did not have sections devoted entirely to graphic novels like they do nowadays.
Now the bookstores of old did have shelves/sections devoted to what I call "comic strip books" which essentially were collections of previously ran strips of a newspaper comic ran that were reprinted in paperback. It was really only later, at least here in the Untied States, where hardcover collections of comic strips like "Calvin & Hobbes" and "The Farside" were reprinted in hardcover and readily available to collectors and consumers here in the United States and across the world. [Sidenote: Just wait to Zack and Jeff when they find out who gets which collection in my will Bwahahahahahahaha].
While Michelle's Bookstore in the Brynn Marr shopping center in Jacksonville, North Carolina closed its doors for the last time in the mid-1990s, they did have a section that was ceiling-to-floor of shelves filled with comic strip books - a majority of which "Peanuts" books by Charles M. Schulz. Schulz, shared a similarity to Andre Norton in the 1970s because they completely dominated the shelves in their respective sections in bookstores.
Now a majority of my "Peanuts" books were lost in time due to when we moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and I got my "replacement" copies at Chamblin's Bookmine out on Roosevelt Avenue.
The Peanuts comic strips collected in "You're On Your Own, Snoopy" originally appeared in news papers between 1971 and 1972. Perhaps the most intriguing strips in this collection are those where Linus deals with his addiction to his security blanket on his own and succeeds in "curing" himself until he is foiled back into his addiction by a kind hearted Charlie Brown who believes he was acting in Linus' best interests. We also learn a bit more about Miss Helen Sweetstory, Snoopy's favorite author who writes the Bunniewunnies series. And so the six Bunniewunnies reunited at last hopped merrily home....
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Your-Own...
April 15, 2025
"This Is Your Life, Charlie Brown"
Just finished reading "This Is Your Life, Charlie Brown" by Charles M. Schulz, published by Fawcett Crest back in 1963.
Many frequent visitors to Barnes & Noble and other "big box" bookstores and independently owned bookstores with physical retail locations will find it hard to believe that once upon a time that bookstores did not have sections devoted entirely to graphic novels like they do nowadays.
Now the bookstores of old did have shelves/sections devoted to what I call "comic strip books" which essentially were collections of previously ran strips of a newspaper comic ran that were reprinted in paperback. It was really only later, at least here in the Untied States, where hardcover collections of comic strips like "Calvin & Hobbes" and "The Farside" were reprinted in hardcover and readily available to collectors and consumers here in the United States and across the world. [Sidenote: Just wait to Zack and Jeff when they find out who gets which collection in my will Bwahahahahahahaha].
While Michelle's Bookstore in the Brynn Marr shopping center in Jacksonville, North Carolina closed its doors for the last time in the mid-1990s, they did have a section that was ceiling-to-floor of shelves filled with comic strip books - a majority of which "Peanuts" books by Charles M. Schulz. Schulz, shared a similarity to Andre Norton in the 1970s because they completely dominated the shelves in their respective sections in bookstores.
Now a majority of my "Peanuts" books were lost in time due to when we moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and I got my "replacement" copies at Chamblin's Bookmine out on Roosevelt Avenue.
The Peanuts comic strips collected in "This Is Your Life, Charlie Brown" originally appeared in news papers between 1960-1962 - the year I was born - and is note worthy because it features Sally, Charlie's sister, as an infant; and introduces Fredia to the Peanuts continuity until she get replaced by Woodstock as someone for Snoopy to interact with, and it also introduces Fredia's cat.
The most memorable sequence in this collection is when Lucy steals and buries Linus' blanket in an attempt to cure him of his addiction.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS.
https://www.amazon.com/CHARLIE-BROWN-...
Many frequent visitors to Barnes & Noble and other "big box" bookstores and independently owned bookstores with physical retail locations will find it hard to believe that once upon a time that bookstores did not have sections devoted entirely to graphic novels like they do nowadays.
Now the bookstores of old did have shelves/sections devoted to what I call "comic strip books" which essentially were collections of previously ran strips of a newspaper comic ran that were reprinted in paperback. It was really only later, at least here in the Untied States, where hardcover collections of comic strips like "Calvin & Hobbes" and "The Farside" were reprinted in hardcover and readily available to collectors and consumers here in the United States and across the world. [Sidenote: Just wait to Zack and Jeff when they find out who gets which collection in my will Bwahahahahahahaha].
While Michelle's Bookstore in the Brynn Marr shopping center in Jacksonville, North Carolina closed its doors for the last time in the mid-1990s, they did have a section that was ceiling-to-floor of shelves filled with comic strip books - a majority of which "Peanuts" books by Charles M. Schulz. Schulz, shared a similarity to Andre Norton in the 1970s because they completely dominated the shelves in their respective sections in bookstores.
Now a majority of my "Peanuts" books were lost in time due to when we moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and I got my "replacement" copies at Chamblin's Bookmine out on Roosevelt Avenue.
The Peanuts comic strips collected in "This Is Your Life, Charlie Brown" originally appeared in news papers between 1960-1962 - the year I was born - and is note worthy because it features Sally, Charlie's sister, as an infant; and introduces Fredia to the Peanuts continuity until she get replaced by Woodstock as someone for Snoopy to interact with, and it also introduces Fredia's cat.
The most memorable sequence in this collection is when Lucy steals and buries Linus' blanket in an attempt to cure him of his addiction.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS.
https://www.amazon.com/CHARLIE-BROWN-...
Midwinter
Just finished listening to "Midwinter" by Jon Richards, released by Medwyn Goodall Music.
Richards released several albums through MG Music and then in 2016 he took time out to pursue a successful career in voice over work. When he’s not in the studio, he enjoys the outdoors, gaining inspiration from the landscapes of Exmoor and the Lake District. His other hobbies include art and photography. His musical influences include Vangelis, Tomita, Jean-Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield, Jan Hammer, Enya and Gandalf.
If memory serves me correctly, I do believe that MG Music is planning on re-releasing his previous albums.
Richards used piano, acoustic guitars, and cello, flutes, mandolin, recorders and harp, capture the stillness and beauty of winter in this album
My favorite tracks on this CD are: "Across the Seasons," "Gaudete," "Down in Yon Forest," "Winterlight," and "Brighids's Flame."
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://medwyngoodall.com/jon-richards
Richards released several albums through MG Music and then in 2016 he took time out to pursue a successful career in voice over work. When he’s not in the studio, he enjoys the outdoors, gaining inspiration from the landscapes of Exmoor and the Lake District. His other hobbies include art and photography. His musical influences include Vangelis, Tomita, Jean-Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield, Jan Hammer, Enya and Gandalf.
If memory serves me correctly, I do believe that MG Music is planning on re-releasing his previous albums.
Richards used piano, acoustic guitars, and cello, flutes, mandolin, recorders and harp, capture the stillness and beauty of winter in this album
My favorite tracks on this CD are: "Across the Seasons," "Gaudete," "Down in Yon Forest," "Winterlight," and "Brighids's Flame."
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://medwyngoodall.com/jon-richards
April 14, 2025
Wolf Man
Just finished watching "Wolf Man," released by Blum House by Universal.
Remember when Universal released "The Mummy" starring Tom Cruise that was supposed to be the first entry in Universal's Monsterverse/Dark Universe Cinematic Universe? Well "The Mummy" bombed badly, putting an end to the planned big-budget Dark Universe releases.
So Blum House got the role of producing "The Invisible Man" which proved to be a hit, so Universal greenlighted "Wolf Man" which unfortunately wasn't such a hit, which is a bit of a shame since it was a solid monster movie - even if it relied on total darkness in some scenes to heighten the tension.
In 1995, a hiker's vanishing in the remote mountains of Oregon sparks speculation about a virus linked to the region's wildlife. During a hunting trip in the area, a young Blake Lovell and his stern father Grady spot a mysterious humanoid creature lurking in the forest and hide in an elevated hunting blind. When Grady informs his friend Dan Kiel about a strange beast in the forest, Dan turns his suggestion to hunt it away for the safety of Blake and Dan's son Derek.
Thirty years later, Blake lives in San Francisco with his daughter Ginger and wife Charlotte where he works as a writer. Like his now-estranged father, he struggles to control his temper, causing a strain on his marriage. One day, he receives a death certificate for Grady, who went missing, and the keys to his childhood home. He decides to vacation there in an attempt to repair his relationship with Charlotte.
Seeking directions, they encounter Derek, who leads them to the house as the sun sets. Before they arrive, a creature drives them off the road, scratches Blake's arm, and kills Derek. Blake frantically leads his family to the house, turning on the generator and barricading the entrance to protect them from the monster outside. With his arm bloody and infected, Blake starts to show signs of illness: losing teeth, sweating profusely, and experiencing noise sensitivity. Hearing the creature, he puts his ear to a side door only for the monster to grab his foot through the pet door and injure him further before Charlotte stops it by hitting it with a hammer.
Charlotte grows increasingly worried as Blake loses some motor functions and his ability to speak and understand her. His hair starts to fall out, as do more teeth and fingernails, with fangs and claws growing out, and his vision becomes distorted. Fur grows on his body, and to fight the pain in his arm, Blake gnaws on it like an animal, frightening her. She spots a run-down truck outside and manages to jump-start it. Before the family can drive away, the creature smashes the windshield, forcing them to seek shelter atop a greenhouse. Blake signals Charlotte to take Ginger back to the house and runs in the opposite direction to make the monster follow him.
Moments later, a limping and more deformed Blake returns. He vomits a severed finger and menacingly approaches Charlotte, scaring her and Ginger. Realizing the danger he puts them in, he prepares to leave, but the creature finds its way in and attacks them. Blake puts himself between the monster and his family, and in the struggle, he bites the creature's neck and kills it. Recognizing a tattoo on its arm, Blake realizes the monster is his infected father. He runs outside, the final stages of his werewolf transformation taking hold. Unable to control himself, he attacks his family, who flee to a nearby barn.
Blake claws his way in, using his newfound night vision to sneak towards them in the dark, but is caught by a beartrap that Charlotte laid down. He chews off his ensnared foot and continues pursuing as Charlotte and Ginger flee to the surrounding forest and hide in a hunting blind as the sun rises. Blake climbs up, and Charlotte points a rifle at him. Realizing Blake is in pain and wants to die, the family shares a final look as Blake lunges and Charlotte fatally shoots him. They comfort a dying Blake before walking out of the forest, taking in the beauty of a valley he once described seeing as a child.
Recommended.
Three-and-a-half stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Man-Colle...
Remember when Universal released "The Mummy" starring Tom Cruise that was supposed to be the first entry in Universal's Monsterverse/Dark Universe Cinematic Universe? Well "The Mummy" bombed badly, putting an end to the planned big-budget Dark Universe releases.
So Blum House got the role of producing "The Invisible Man" which proved to be a hit, so Universal greenlighted "Wolf Man" which unfortunately wasn't such a hit, which is a bit of a shame since it was a solid monster movie - even if it relied on total darkness in some scenes to heighten the tension.
In 1995, a hiker's vanishing in the remote mountains of Oregon sparks speculation about a virus linked to the region's wildlife. During a hunting trip in the area, a young Blake Lovell and his stern father Grady spot a mysterious humanoid creature lurking in the forest and hide in an elevated hunting blind. When Grady informs his friend Dan Kiel about a strange beast in the forest, Dan turns his suggestion to hunt it away for the safety of Blake and Dan's son Derek.
Thirty years later, Blake lives in San Francisco with his daughter Ginger and wife Charlotte where he works as a writer. Like his now-estranged father, he struggles to control his temper, causing a strain on his marriage. One day, he receives a death certificate for Grady, who went missing, and the keys to his childhood home. He decides to vacation there in an attempt to repair his relationship with Charlotte.
Seeking directions, they encounter Derek, who leads them to the house as the sun sets. Before they arrive, a creature drives them off the road, scratches Blake's arm, and kills Derek. Blake frantically leads his family to the house, turning on the generator and barricading the entrance to protect them from the monster outside. With his arm bloody and infected, Blake starts to show signs of illness: losing teeth, sweating profusely, and experiencing noise sensitivity. Hearing the creature, he puts his ear to a side door only for the monster to grab his foot through the pet door and injure him further before Charlotte stops it by hitting it with a hammer.
Charlotte grows increasingly worried as Blake loses some motor functions and his ability to speak and understand her. His hair starts to fall out, as do more teeth and fingernails, with fangs and claws growing out, and his vision becomes distorted. Fur grows on his body, and to fight the pain in his arm, Blake gnaws on it like an animal, frightening her. She spots a run-down truck outside and manages to jump-start it. Before the family can drive away, the creature smashes the windshield, forcing them to seek shelter atop a greenhouse. Blake signals Charlotte to take Ginger back to the house and runs in the opposite direction to make the monster follow him.
Moments later, a limping and more deformed Blake returns. He vomits a severed finger and menacingly approaches Charlotte, scaring her and Ginger. Realizing the danger he puts them in, he prepares to leave, but the creature finds its way in and attacks them. Blake puts himself between the monster and his family, and in the struggle, he bites the creature's neck and kills it. Recognizing a tattoo on its arm, Blake realizes the monster is his infected father. He runs outside, the final stages of his werewolf transformation taking hold. Unable to control himself, he attacks his family, who flee to a nearby barn.
Blake claws his way in, using his newfound night vision to sneak towards them in the dark, but is caught by a beartrap that Charlotte laid down. He chews off his ensnared foot and continues pursuing as Charlotte and Ginger flee to the surrounding forest and hide in a hunting blind as the sun rises. Blake climbs up, and Charlotte points a rifle at him. Realizing Blake is in pain and wants to die, the family shares a final look as Blake lunges and Charlotte fatally shoots him. They comfort a dying Blake before walking out of the forest, taking in the beauty of a valley he once described seeing as a child.
Recommended.
Three-and-a-half stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Man-Colle...
The Time Tunnel - The Nightmare Begins
Just finished listening to "The Time Tunnel - The Nightmare Begins" released by Big Finish Productions.
Now according to Garry Russell, who directed all three episodes in this first release - he also wrote the opening episode: "The Shudder: November 14, 2025" - Legendary, which owns the rights to the late Irving Allen's television/movie catalogue, about doing a continuation of "The Time Tunnel" - a science-fiction series that lasted for only one season on the air before it was cancelled.
"The Time Tunnel" followed the adventures of American scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, who were lost in time. In some ways, "The Time Tunnel" was the percussor to "Quantum Leap," though Tony and Doug really weren't trying to fix what went wrong.
The premise of the "The Time Tunnel" was that Project Tic-Toc is a top-secret U.S. government effort to build an experimental time machine, known as "The Time Tunnel" due to its appearance as an elliptical passageway. The base for Project Tic-Toc is a huge, hidden underground complex in Arizona, 800 floors deep and employing more than 12,000 specialized personnel. The directors of the project are Dr. Douglas Phillips, Dr. Anthony Newman , and Lt. General Heywood Kirk. The specialists assisting them are Dr. Raymond Swain, a foremost expert in electronics, and Dr. Ann MacGregor, an electrobiologist supervising the unit that determines how much force and heat a time traveler is able to withstand.
Now what makes "The Time Tunnel" stand out against other Irving Allen's science fiction shows is that there was actually a final episode written where the Doug and Tony are returned safely home, but ABC cancelled the show before that episode could even be filmed, and to the best of my knowledge, it has never been adapted to any other medium, unlike the few written Season Four "Lost In Space" episodes were adapted into comics.
Russell decided to approach the series by assuming that Doug and Tony never made it home because Project Tic-Toc was shut down.
In 1979, 20 years after it was set up, Project Tic-Toc was shut down by the American authorities. All hope of retrieving scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, lost in the Time Tunnel in 1968, had been abandoned.
In 2025, four people are brought together by a need to reopen the Arizona base and reactivate the Time Tunnel in secret. From there, they must try to find Doug or Tony because something they have done in the past has changed the present - and not for the better. The world is now under the power of Rakervia, which now rules the world in an iron grip. Yet, the team place the blame solely on Tony and Doug, without even considering that other forces may be behind the time-changing events of "The Shudder" - which changed history.
"The Time Tunnel - The Nightmare Begins" is a faithful continuation of the series, which Russell described as a "mini-series" so there is at least one more set planned and will be released in November 2025 - the day of the fictional "Shudder."
It will be interesting to see if the do manage to "fix" time and finally manage to bring Tony and Doug home.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://bigfinish.com/releases/v/irwi...
Now according to Garry Russell, who directed all three episodes in this first release - he also wrote the opening episode: "The Shudder: November 14, 2025" - Legendary, which owns the rights to the late Irving Allen's television/movie catalogue, about doing a continuation of "The Time Tunnel" - a science-fiction series that lasted for only one season on the air before it was cancelled.
"The Time Tunnel" followed the adventures of American scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, who were lost in time. In some ways, "The Time Tunnel" was the percussor to "Quantum Leap," though Tony and Doug really weren't trying to fix what went wrong.
The premise of the "The Time Tunnel" was that Project Tic-Toc is a top-secret U.S. government effort to build an experimental time machine, known as "The Time Tunnel" due to its appearance as an elliptical passageway. The base for Project Tic-Toc is a huge, hidden underground complex in Arizona, 800 floors deep and employing more than 12,000 specialized personnel. The directors of the project are Dr. Douglas Phillips, Dr. Anthony Newman , and Lt. General Heywood Kirk. The specialists assisting them are Dr. Raymond Swain, a foremost expert in electronics, and Dr. Ann MacGregor, an electrobiologist supervising the unit that determines how much force and heat a time traveler is able to withstand.
Now what makes "The Time Tunnel" stand out against other Irving Allen's science fiction shows is that there was actually a final episode written where the Doug and Tony are returned safely home, but ABC cancelled the show before that episode could even be filmed, and to the best of my knowledge, it has never been adapted to any other medium, unlike the few written Season Four "Lost In Space" episodes were adapted into comics.
Russell decided to approach the series by assuming that Doug and Tony never made it home because Project Tic-Toc was shut down.
In 1979, 20 years after it was set up, Project Tic-Toc was shut down by the American authorities. All hope of retrieving scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, lost in the Time Tunnel in 1968, had been abandoned.
In 2025, four people are brought together by a need to reopen the Arizona base and reactivate the Time Tunnel in secret. From there, they must try to find Doug or Tony because something they have done in the past has changed the present - and not for the better. The world is now under the power of Rakervia, which now rules the world in an iron grip. Yet, the team place the blame solely on Tony and Doug, without even considering that other forces may be behind the time-changing events of "The Shudder" - which changed history.
"The Time Tunnel - The Nightmare Begins" is a faithful continuation of the series, which Russell described as a "mini-series" so there is at least one more set planned and will be released in November 2025 - the day of the fictional "Shudder."
It will be interesting to see if the do manage to "fix" time and finally manage to bring Tony and Doug home.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://bigfinish.com/releases/v/irwi...
April 9, 2025
David Arkenstone & Friends LIVE!
Just finished listening to "David Arkenstone & Friends LIVE!" released by David Arkenstone.
I want to say that I remember seeing an earlier version of "David Arkenstone & Friends LIVE!" released by Narada Records in the late 1990s or the early 2000s. I recall seeing it, but I can't find the release by Narada Records. I could be wrong.
I discovered David Arkenstone when his CD, "In The Wake Of The Wind" back in the late 1990s.
Arkenstone and his friends give a great live performance on this CD which span the length of his career including tracks from "Spirit Wind," "Citizen of the World," "Celtic Book of Days," and even his first album, "Valley in the Clouds."
My favorite tracks are: "The Ice Palace," "The Southern Cross," "The Houses of Healing," "Valley In The Clouds," "Fire Fairy Dance," and "Equos Fair."
If you are not able to catch David Arkenstone when he is on tour, this CD is the next best thing to being there.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://davidarkenstone.bandcamp.com/...
I want to say that I remember seeing an earlier version of "David Arkenstone & Friends LIVE!" released by Narada Records in the late 1990s or the early 2000s. I recall seeing it, but I can't find the release by Narada Records. I could be wrong.
I discovered David Arkenstone when his CD, "In The Wake Of The Wind" back in the late 1990s.
Arkenstone and his friends give a great live performance on this CD which span the length of his career including tracks from "Spirit Wind," "Citizen of the World," "Celtic Book of Days," and even his first album, "Valley in the Clouds."
My favorite tracks are: "The Ice Palace," "The Southern Cross," "The Houses of Healing," "Valley In The Clouds," "Fire Fairy Dance," and "Equos Fair."
If you are not able to catch David Arkenstone when he is on tour, this CD is the next best thing to being there.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://davidarkenstone.bandcamp.com/...
April 8, 2025
Your Are Too Much, Charlie Brown
Just finished reading "It's For You, Snoopy" by Charles M. Schulz, published by Fawcett Crest back in 1965.
Many frequent visitors to Barnes & Noble and other "big box" bookstores and independently owned bookstores with physical retail locations will find it hard to believe that once upon a time that bookstores did not have sections devoted entirely to graphic novels like they do nowadays.
Now the bookstores of old did have shelves/sections devoted to what I call "comic strip books" which essentially were collections of previously ran strips of a newspaper comic ran that were reprinted in paperback. It was really only later, at least here in the Untied States, where hardcover collections of comic strips like "Calvin & Hobbes" and "The Farside" were reprinted in hardcover and readily available to collectors and consumers here in the United States and across the world. [Sidenote: Just wait to Zack and Jeff when they find out who gets which collection in my will Bwahahahahahahaha].
While Michelle's Bookstore in the Brynn Marr shopping center in Jacksonville, North Carolina closed its doors for the last time in the mid-1990s, they did have a section that was ceiling-to-floor of shelves filled with comic strip books - a majority of which "Peanuts" books by Charles M. Schulz. Schulz, shared a similarity to Andre Norton in the 1970s because they completely dominated the shelves in their respective sections in bookstores.
Now a majority of my "Peanuts" books were lost in time due to when we moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and I got my "replacement" copies at Chamblin's Bookmine out on Roosevelt Avenue.
The Peanuts comic strips collected in "You're Too Much, Charlie Brown" originally appeared in news papers between 1957-1959, and is notable because Lucy becomes the honorary chairwoman of the National Fussbudget Association, and she while she welcomes and is honored by this distinction, she does take her title very seriously. And no, to the best of my knowledge, there is no National Fussbudget Association. There are also several strips devoted to Charlie Brown losing an important baseball game and being referred to as a "goat" - which is not to say that he is the greatest athlete of all time.
GREAT PEANUTS FUN!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/You-are-Much-C...
Many frequent visitors to Barnes & Noble and other "big box" bookstores and independently owned bookstores with physical retail locations will find it hard to believe that once upon a time that bookstores did not have sections devoted entirely to graphic novels like they do nowadays.
Now the bookstores of old did have shelves/sections devoted to what I call "comic strip books" which essentially were collections of previously ran strips of a newspaper comic ran that were reprinted in paperback. It was really only later, at least here in the Untied States, where hardcover collections of comic strips like "Calvin & Hobbes" and "The Farside" were reprinted in hardcover and readily available to collectors and consumers here in the United States and across the world. [Sidenote: Just wait to Zack and Jeff when they find out who gets which collection in my will Bwahahahahahahaha].
While Michelle's Bookstore in the Brynn Marr shopping center in Jacksonville, North Carolina closed its doors for the last time in the mid-1990s, they did have a section that was ceiling-to-floor of shelves filled with comic strip books - a majority of which "Peanuts" books by Charles M. Schulz. Schulz, shared a similarity to Andre Norton in the 1970s because they completely dominated the shelves in their respective sections in bookstores.
Now a majority of my "Peanuts" books were lost in time due to when we moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and I got my "replacement" copies at Chamblin's Bookmine out on Roosevelt Avenue.
The Peanuts comic strips collected in "You're Too Much, Charlie Brown" originally appeared in news papers between 1957-1959, and is notable because Lucy becomes the honorary chairwoman of the National Fussbudget Association, and she while she welcomes and is honored by this distinction, she does take her title very seriously. And no, to the best of my knowledge, there is no National Fussbudget Association. There are also several strips devoted to Charlie Brown losing an important baseball game and being referred to as a "goat" - which is not to say that he is the greatest athlete of all time.
GREAT PEANUTS FUN!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/You-are-Much-C...
dharma
Just finished listening to "dharma" by Midori, released by Medwyn Goodall Music.
Midori is an alias used by Medwyn Goodall to record projects which that are very gentle in nature. Music that is perfect for the therapy arts, and deep relaxation, sleep disorders, massage, meditation and healing.
Goodall used wood flutes from Japan and India expressively flow over gentle rhythms of percussion, keyboards, soft guitars to create an instantly beautiful, hypnotic sound that is very serene.
My favorite tracks on this CD are: "The Eternal," "Path of Rightness," and "True Living."
Strongly Recommended!
Five Stars!
https://medwyngoodall.com/midori
Midori is an alias used by Medwyn Goodall to record projects which that are very gentle in nature. Music that is perfect for the therapy arts, and deep relaxation, sleep disorders, massage, meditation and healing.
Goodall used wood flutes from Japan and India expressively flow over gentle rhythms of percussion, keyboards, soft guitars to create an instantly beautiful, hypnotic sound that is very serene.
My favorite tracks on this CD are: "The Eternal," "Path of Rightness," and "True Living."
Strongly Recommended!
Five Stars!
https://medwyngoodall.com/midori
