TV Review: Unriddle Season Two

Xiaoman and Bun contemplate their next move against a killer.

TV Review: Unriddle Season Two At the end of Season One, Singaporean police officer Hu Xiaoman (Rui En) and streetwise informer Bun (Li Ping Chen) were able to find their friend and mentor Officer Zhang Yuze (Ping Hui Tay) and clear his name. So, now Xiaoman can finally concentrate on whether she wants to date… Continue reading TV Review: Unriddle Season Two

Movie Review: Horror Hotel (1960)

Nan gets ready for light jazz dancing.

Movie Review: Horror Hotel (1960) directed by John Llewellyn Moxey In 1672 Massachusetts, the tiny town of Whitewood has supposedly been plagued by witches. The townsfolk have chosen Elizabeth Selwyn (Patricia Jessel) as their scapegoat and burn her at the stake. Elizabeth curses the villagers as she is consumed by the flames. Cut to Professor Driscoll… Continue reading Movie Review: Horror Hotel (1960)

TV Review: Unriddle Season One

Bun and Officer Hu

TV Review: Unriddle Season One Fifteen years ago, five Singapore police officers were investigating a drug smuggling case. Some of the money from that case went missing, and one of the officers was killed. The incident was covered up, but now it’s coming back with a vengeance. Who can unriddle this conundrum? ASP Hu Xaioman… Continue reading TV Review: Unriddle Season One

Book Review: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Book Review: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice edited by Jack Zipes Most likely, when you saw this title, you immediately thought of the Fantasia sequence with Mickey Mouse, or perhaps the more recent Disney film with Nicolas Cage. But the multiplying of brooms is only one aspect of the tales gathered under the general title of “The… Continue reading Book Review: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Movie Review: Dead-Alive (1992)

Movie Review: Dead-Alive (1992) directed by Peter Jackson Times have been tough on Skull Island since the colonialist exploiters stole the island’s biggest attraction, King Kong, back in the 1930s. And now another colonialist has come for a specimen of the Sumatran Rat Monkey, which despite the name is found only on Skull Island. Explorer Stewart… Continue reading Movie Review: Dead-Alive (1992)

Movie Review: Blackmail (1929)

Movie Review: Blackmail (1929) directed by Alfred Hitchcock  Alice White, who works in her father’s tobacco shop, is bored with her police detective boyfriend Frank. She acts obnoxiously during a date with him, causing Frank to cancel. But Frank hesitates long enough outside the restaurant to see Alice leave with handsome artist Mr. Crewe, who’d… Continue reading Movie Review: Blackmail (1929)

Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond

Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond by Erika Schelby The author is a German immigrant to New Mexico. While studying the history of her new state, she learned that Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the famous Prussian naturalist and explorer, had passed through what would become New… Continue reading Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond

Magazine Review: High Adventure #160: Ten Detective Aces Special

Magazine Review: High Adventure #160: Ten Detective Aces Special edited by John P. Gunnison Ten Detective Aces started publication in 1928 under the title The Dragnet Magazine and primarily featured gangster stories. Public interest in gangsters as a separate subgenre was fading, so in 1930 the magazine started featuring more general crime and detective stories under the title Detective-Dragnet Magazine, and in 1933 switched to Ten… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #160: Ten Detective Aces Special

Book Review: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Book Review: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin On Alice Island, off the coast of Massachusetts, there is a bookstore, Island Books.  It isn’t doing so well right now.   Owner A.J. Fikry was never the most sociable of people, and he’s gotten downright surly since the death of his wife Nic.  Sales… Continue reading Book Review: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Book Review: The Fourth Galaxy Reader

Book Review: The Fourth Galaxy Reader edited by H.L. Gold Galaxy Magazine had a decent run with a lot of good stories, so it’s not surprising that even this fourth collection of fifteen science fiction reprints from the 1950s has a strong selection.  (I recognized almost all of these!)  There’s an introduction which runs down inferior… Continue reading Book Review: The Fourth Galaxy Reader