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The Conqueror Valentine
Here's what I honestly think happened. At some point during his first term, Trump had a conversation with Putin about how powerful countries used to go out and conquer new territory and why don't they do that anymore? Putin said with his military power he could easily do just that and Trump replied he could do it purely with real estate ( Read more... ) -
Energy Vortex Time
One of the things I love about living in Japan is the wind. It gets really strong and eerie. It kind of kept me up at 2am, though. Something was banging around, hopefully nothing important.
It a nice follow up to a nicely creepy episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation I watched, a second season episode called "Time Squared". The crew of the ( Read more... ) -
From New Trees
Rebellious Japanese teenagers deal with the presence of Americans and American culture in 1956's Crazed Fruit (狂った果実). The film has a similar flavour to American delinquent movies which dealt with teens in a world of changing cultural and familial dynamics. Crazed Fruit has a mostly average ensemble cast with the exception of a terrific ( Read more... ) -
Sirenia Bats with Crystal Hearts
I read the latest Sirenia Digest to-day which has the new Caitlin R. Kiernan story called "DARKNESS, ON THE FACE OF THE DEEP". It's another nice, gloomily atmospheric piece.
Like many of Caitlin's stories for the Digest, it consists of dialogue between two lovers. It's told in first person by a writer who's gone to stay at a seaside cabin while ( Read more... ) -
The Mouse Eclipse
Last night I dreamt that Disney took over the world and things got worse and worse by slow degrees. People were prohibited from taking in any media from outside the company and even unedited versions of Disney's own past catalogue. There was a woman who somehow smuggled in goods in her big orange Spanish skirt. It may or may not have been due to ( Read more... ) -
If Thy Feathers Offend Thee, Pluck Them Out
A man goes great lengths to redeem his name from the charge of cowardice in 1939's The Four Feathers. Every source I read on this film sees fit to mention it is "widely regarded as the best of numerous film adaptations of the 1902 novel" it's based on. I've never read the novel nor seen the other adaptations but the 1939 film is damned good ( Read more... ) -
Star Trek: Mad Tumble
Netflix needs a feature that keeps track of when I fall asleep during a show. I fell asleep during the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode called "The Dauphin" and woke up in the middle of the next one, called "Contagion". I woke up and Geordi LaForge was tumbling about in a turbolift and I had no idea why. It occurred to me it would be kind of ( Read more... ) -
A Gulf Demanding a Bridge
A grown woman poses as a twelve year old to get cheaper train fare and winds up in a military officer's cabin in 1942's The Major and the Minor. This was the first American film directed by Billy Wilder and he hit the ground running with one of the cleverest and most engaging comedies of all time ( Read more... ) -
Tie Your Shoes
American politics are really pathetic at the moment. I was thinking yesterday about Trump's executive orders and contrasting it with the swirling cloud of disaster around Emilia Perez, the 2024 Oscar frontrunner with thirteen nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress. It already cleaned up at the Golden Globes and Cannes ( Read more... ) -
Another Disrupted Vacation
Fleeing from a plague ridden ship into the Malayan jungle are the subjects of 1934's Four Frightened People, a smaller adventure film Cecil B. DeMille made between two of his massive spectacles. It doesn't rank among his best but it is charming ( Read more... )
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