Friday B-Movie Pick: Halloween Edition
Ghostbusters
It’s almost Halloween again, so we’re going with some of the classics. This 1984 classic remade and flopped big time.
Personally, didn’t think they could capture the spirit of the film, pun intended. They completely missed the Libertarian theme to the movie, which the director admits was intentional.
Bonus films:
Innocent Blood
The Mummy
Young Frankenstein
An American Werewolf in London
Let’s not forget Near Dark and Dog Soldiers, picks from October 2011, for a double header of vampires and werewolves.
Quote of the Day
“You probably thought Trump was the bigot in this contest, until Clinton called half of Trump’s supporters a “basket of deplorables.” That’s the point at which observers started to see a pattern. Trump has been consistently supportive of American citizens of all types – with the exception of the press and his political opponents. The main targets of Trump’s rhetoric are the nations that compete against us. In stark contrast, Clinton turned her hate on American citizens. That’s the real kind of hate. Trump is more about keeping America safe and competing effectively in the world. That is literally the job of president.”
Monday Book Pick: Quest of the Spider
Quest of the Spider by Kenneth Robenson
Setting the Wayback Machine to May 1933 for this chunk of crunchy pulp goodness. The third published Doc Savage adventure, and an important change in the series. After killing bad guys left and right in the first two books, Doc returns from his Fortress of Solitude (just where did you think Superman got the idea from?), and vowed not to take human life (directly) again. This is where he and his team start using the “mercy” bullets that just render people unconscious, the introduction of his “Crime College” in upstate New York for turning criminals into honest citizens. There is plenty of action, pulp style, and plenty of bad guys dying in horrible fashions. It’s just not Doc and his five companions dealing death directly anymore.
Quote of the Day
“…Hillary Clinton has revealed herself to be frail, medicated, and probably duplicitous about her health. We also hear reports that she’s a drinker with a bad temper. Suddenly, Clinton looks like the unstable personality in this race. Who do you want controlling the nuclear arsenal now?”
Monday Book Pick: Soldiers Out of Time
Filed under: Baen Books, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction
Soldiers Out of Time by Steve White
Jason Thanou is once again traveling through time, and in this latest entry in the series, space as well. Keep in mind that Thanou is not from Earth, so the space travel element in this series has been baked in from the start. If fact, most of the action against the evil Transhumanists takes place on planets other than Earth. There is, of course, time travel on Earth, late 19th Century, near the Khyber Pass. Lots of action and plot twists. A good addition to the series.
Round Up Post
Filed under: Clintons, Culture of Corruption, Free Speech, Politics
Cleaning up the browser tabs again…
To lead off, a reminder that the progressive left has never been a big fan of that whole “free speech” thing.
NYT’s Blow Explodes On CNN Guest: ‘This Guy Should Not Be Allowed’ On TV
Ten Minutes of CNN Cutting Off People Who Dare Criticize Hillary
A few reminders of whom is the candidate of graft, fraud, and corruption.
Watchdogs warn of ‘serious’ conflicts of interest for Clinton Foundation
KKK Grand Dragon Endorses Hillary Clinton
1/3 OF ABEDIN EMAILS 100% REDACTED
Memo undercuts Hillary story on controversial Russian uranium deal, Clinton foundation
Clinton ran a pay-to-play program at the Clinton Foundation while she was Secretary of State.
Clinton’s economic plans likely to boost her corporate donors
Hillary Clinton ‘Very Likely Caused’ Iranian Nuclear Scientist’s Death
Monday Book Pick: Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge
Filed under: Baen Books, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge by John Ringo and Larry Correia
As my gentle readers know, I’m a big fan of John Ringo and Larry Correia. So when John Ringo decided there was a few Monster Hunter books in him that just had to come out, of course I was there. This is the first in a series of books detailing the life and hard times of one Oliver Chadwick Gardenier, a hot shot monster hunter during the 1980s and early 1990s. Returned to Earth by a fisher named Peter, who said “the boss” had a job for him. That job was hunting monsters. Interesting fellow Chad, genius with a gift for languages, who studied the ASVAB tests so he could make sure that he was made a Rifleman when he joined the Marines. Then there was Chad’s relationship with his parents, especially his mother. Let’s just say they didn’t get along well. One of the cool parts of the book was the “Pro Tips” Chad scatters around his memoirs. Here are some examples: “Pro-tip: If you’re going to be cutting off a lot of heads, get a really good katana.” “I don’t care how big and muscle bound you are, things like yoga and ballet are useful. That’s the pro-tip.” Then there is what to wear when jogging in the dark in an area you know monsters live in. A fun read, like most of Ringo’s books, there is a fair amount of humor mixed with really, really good actions scenes.
Friday B-Movie Pick: The Last Legion
The Last Legion
Yet another historical fantasy on the Arthurian legend. When I say fantasy, there is a wizard, but he is limited to slight of hand. It’s more alternate history. Start with a historical fact. The Goths invaded Rome, and the last Caesar, a teenager named Romulus, ended up in exile for the rest of his life on an island. In this movie, Romulus (Thomas Sangster, the kid from Love Actually), is rescued by a Roman general (Colin Firth), and advised by is tutor, the before mentioned wizard (Ben Kingsley). They travel to Britain, fight a major battle, defeat the bad guys, and set the stage for King Arthur to show up later. Throw in Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as an Indian warrior in the service of the Eastern Roman Empire (work with me on this), and Kevin McKidd as one nasty Goth, and you have a B-Movie worthy of the rental and popcorn. Movie nerd note, Colin Firth is in Love Actually as well. He doesn’t share any screen time with Thomas Sangster. Sangster does share a lot of screen time with Kevin McKidd in the HBO series Rome. If you are interested, the movie was based on the book by Valerio Massimo Manfredi.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Hail Caesar
Hail Caesar
The Cohen Brothers managed to produce a particularly subversive movie. A very well made movie, but subversive. Frankly, I’m surprised this movie made it out of Hollywood. It’s a story about movie industry in the early 1950s. It was the era of big studios. When the stars worked for the studios and did what they were told, and the studio took care of them. The protagonist is the studio boss, who runs the Hollywood end for the owner in New York. He is dedicated to his job, loves his family, is devoted to his wife, takes care of his stars, and is a devout Roman Catholic. Like I said, this movie is subversive to the Hollywood culture. To fight the current Hollywood culture even more, the bad guys are actual communists. To be fair, they aren’t very competent, mostly whiny writers who are pissed that they are not running the studios and making the big money. I really enjoyed this movie, it was very rich in detail, and provided good insight into the time. The studio didn’t care if you were homosexual, or Hispanic, or had poor taste in husbands (“He was a minor crime figure.” “He was not minor!”). You were part of the studio family and the studio took care of you. Loyalty was expected in return, but that was part of the studio culture of the time. Fire up the popcorn, lean back, and enjoy this well crafted bit of film work. Excellent work by a excellent cast that includes Scarlet Johansson, Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum (singing and dancing), Alden Ehrenreich, and Veronica Osorio.
Round Up Post
Guccifer 2.0 Leak Reveals How DNC Rigged Primaries for Clinton Is any really surprised about this? Just about the only thing that socialist with nationalist tenancies got right was that the DNC had the system rigged against him from the start.
Democrat who opposed welfare fraud measure indicted – for food stamp fraud Again, no surprise here. Arizona state rep state Cecilia Velasquez, a democrat, was charged with three felony counts: unlawful use of food stamps, fraudulent schemes and practices, and theft.
New York state congressional democrat Charlie Rangel Found Guilty on 11 of 13 Ethics Charges. Rangel has a lot more he needs to answer to the American people. He was the one who first publicly suggested that Hillary Rodham Clinton run for the Senate in New York.