Movie Review: Grand Hotel (1932)

Otto considers the short time he has left.

Movie Review: Grand Hotel (1932) directed by Edmund Goulding “People come, people go. Nothing ever happens.” So speaks Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone). long-time resident of the Grand Hotel in Berlin. But he spends much of his time in his cups to deal with the pain of the facial scarring he got in the Great War, and… Continue reading Movie Review: Grand Hotel (1932)

Anime Review: Onmyoji (2023)

Seimei explains some natural philosophy to Hiromasa.

Anime Review: Onmyoji (2023) Abe no Seimei was a documented historical person who lived during the Heian Era of Japan. He was an onmyoji, a practitioner of onmyudo, an art that combined study of astrology, the traditional Chinese elements and other natural philosophy to make predictions and influence events. Indeed, he was considered the pre-eminent… Continue reading Anime Review: Onmyoji (2023)

Book Review: The Hills of Homicide

Book Review: The Hills of Homicide by Louis L’Amour Before he landed the contracts that were to make him America’s most beloved Western writer, Louis L’Amour tried his hand at various other genres of pulp fiction. But the pulp magazine market was drying up, so it was generally a good thing he found other work.… Continue reading Book Review: The Hills of Homicide

Comic Book Review: Gotham Central: Unresolved Targets

Comic Book Review: Gotham Central: Unresolved Targets edited by Matt Idelson Being a cop in Gotham City is rough. In addition to the long hours, hostile population and dangerous streets that come with the police officer’s job in any large city, Gotham City has one of the highest corruption rates of a police department in… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Gotham Central: Unresolved Targets

Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries

Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler While stories that could be considered “mysteries” in some sense have existed as long as writing, and perhaps a bit before, the short story mystery came into its own during the lifetime of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). This volume collects forty-nine notable stories from… Continue reading Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries

Book Review: The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories

Book Review: The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories edited by Rogers Terrill This collection of exciting tales of action and bravery plucked from the pages of Argosy, the long-running pulp magazine, is most notable for only choosing from those printed between 1946 and 1952, when the collection was published. Thus it had, at the time,… Continue reading Book Review: The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories

Anime Review: Hanabi-chan ~The Girl Who Popped Out of the Game World~

Front row: roasted gnus. Middle row from left: Versus, Hanabi and Thunder. Back row: Kuma.

Anime Review: Hanabi-chan ~The Girl Who Popped Out of the Game World~ Musashi Shinonome has recently come of age, and has decided to reopen his inheritance from his grandfather, the pachinko parlor Shitamachi God Heaven. It’s been closed for a few years, so the new manager is surprised to find a pretty young woman living… Continue reading Anime Review: Hanabi-chan ~The Girl Who Popped Out of the Game World~

Book Review: The Pocket Companion

Book Review: The Pocket Companion edited by Philip Van Doren Stern This 1942 paperback anthology was designed for people who wanted a lot of reading in a pocket-sized book, so has a novel, short stories, articles, poetry and trivia. The closest thing to a theme is the connection between the British and Americans, now allies… Continue reading Book Review: The Pocket Companion

Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories

Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories edited by Philip Van Doren Stern In his introduction, the editor talks about the thrill of adventure stories, how often they are churned out as cheap entertainment, and that he has selected twelve really good ones for the reader. This 1945 book was designed to be easily… Continue reading Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories

Movie Review: Return of the Evil Fox

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Movie Review: Return of the Evil Fox (1991) directed by George Leung The Chiang family has long been involved with Taoist mysticism. In 1991, Chiang Wu (Fung Woo) is the patriarch of the clan, and moves his herb shop and exorcism business into a mall in Hong Kong. The mall is alleged to be cursed, with… Continue reading Movie Review: Return of the Evil Fox