Open Thread: RIP George Jamison

Dad in one of his happy places. (Photography by Dorothy Jamison, 2020, all rights reserved.)

Open Thread: RIP George Jamison My father, George Jamison, recently passed away. He had, as they say, a full life. He was a veteran of the Korean War, a sharpshooter, correctional officer, goat farmer, avid gardener, fisherman, sign painter, woodcarver and teller of terrible jokes. He was a husband, father, grandfather and even for a… Continue reading Open Thread: RIP George Jamison

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

Comic Strip Review: Devil’s Candy Volume 1

Comic Strip Review: Devil’s Candy Volume 1 Art by Rem, Story by Bikkuri When Kazu Decker creates a ninth-grade science project for his biology class, he fully commits. With the aid of his best buddy Nemo (who’s more of a technology buff), Kazu puts together an artificial lifeform he names Pandora. She may look like… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: Devil’s Candy Volume 1

Book Review: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Strange Tales

Book Review: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Strange Tales by Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) wrote several “weird” stories as well as adventure tales like Treasure Island. This volume collects five of them. “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” starts us off with the adventures of Mr. Utterson,… Continue reading Book Review: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Strange Tales

Comic Book Review: The Darkness vs. Eva: Daughter of Dracula

Comic Book Review: The Darkness vs. Eva: Daughter of Dracula written by Leah Moore & John Reppion, art by Edgar Salazar Jackie Estacado was already a top hitman for the Franchetti mob when he discovered that he was the latest heir to the Darkness, a demonic force that grants the owner vast power, at the… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Darkness vs. Eva: Daughter of Dracula

Movie Review: The Black Book (1949)

Robespierre and Fouche conspire.

Movie Review: The Black Book (1949) directed by Anthony Mann The French Revolution is eating its own. The corrupt monarchy was overthrown, yes, and many of the cruel aristocrats executed or exiled. But the temptations of power have turned the Citizens’ Committee against each other, and control of the mob requires ever-increasing sacrifices of the “enemies… Continue reading Movie Review: The Black Book (1949)

Anime Review: So I’m a Spider, So What?

Our protagonist survives yet another near-death experience.

Anime Review: So I’m a Spider, So What? Getting reincarnated in another world after an accident or explosion is getting rather commonplace these days. But when a spider hatches out with the memories of a Japanese high school student, and her fellow hatchlings try to eat her, this seems like a bit of an imposition.… Continue reading Anime Review: So I’m a Spider, So What?

Magazine Review: The Masked Detective Spring 1942

This scene appears nowhere in the issue's stories.

Magazine Review: The Masked Detective Spring 1942 The Masked Detective is one of the lesser-known hero pulps, with a dozen quarterly issues between 1940 and 1943. The detective, usually just called “The Mask” in-story, was ace reporter Rex Parker for the New York Comet. He’d been persuaded by his girlfriend, society columnist Winnie Bligh, to… Continue reading Magazine Review: The Masked Detective Spring 1942

Movie Review: The Comancheros

Jake and Paul have a contentious relationship at first.

Movie Review: The Comancheros (1961) directed by Michael Curtiz In 1843, gambler and womanizer Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman) kills a man in an illegal duel in Louisiana. This ordinarily wouldn’t be a problem, except that the dead man (who’d falsely accused him of cheating at cards to eliminate him as a romantic rival) had a politically… Continue reading Movie Review: The Comancheros

Book Review: The Mutant Weapon | The Pirates of Zan

Book Review: The Mutant Weapon | The Pirates of Zan by Murray Leinster It’s time for another Ace Double, those fun paperbacks that are two books in one, with two covers upside down from each other. In this case it’s two short science fiction novels by Murray Leinster (pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins (1896-1975))… Continue reading Book Review: The Mutant Weapon | The Pirates of Zan