VETERANS DAY 2024 (11/11): IN HONOR & RESPECT

 

REMIND MAGAZINE: COWBOY CHRISTMAS ISSUE (NOV/DEC '24)

Good cheer comes early this year, as Remind Magazine delivers its 2024, "Cowboy Christmas" issue. 

Good ol' James Stewart is the heartwarming highlight for this edition, which not only shows him in a cowpoke light, but salutes his perennial, holiday classic, Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life.

And further on the western front, there's a lovely countdown of holiday, cowboy movies and television episodes, ranging from Bonanza to Gunsmoke to Walker, Texas Ranger.  

Additional features include "A Cowboy Prayer"; a John Wayne Casserole recipe; an overview of cowboy heroes and outlaws; a cowboy, trivia test; beloved, Christmas albums; recommended, Christmas movies; plus Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and its related specials.  

On the whole, Remind's Cowboy Christmas 2024 is a heartwarming gem and a half. 

To stay on top of Remind's many sentimental releases, it's wise to subscribe, and one can at 

https://www.remindmagazine.com/

I saw Daryl's Book of Carol (Season Concludes)

Daryl Dixon: The Book of Carol was good, damn good, in fact. The Shane aspect remained (and there was even a reversal variant to accompany it), but The Searchers component was its thrust, even with the concept already tested in the Maggie/Negan venture, Dead City. With this popular trope inserted, a resilient quest pushes The Book of Carol, in which our titular lady seeks our titular gent (ah, signs of Leia and Han when Star Wars was good).   

Between these themes, there's significant chemistry, thanks in no small part to the characters, which in turn succeed because of their performers: Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Louis Puech Squigliuzzi, Manash Dayal, Clemence Posey, Anne Charier, Adam Nagiatis, Lukerya Ilayshenko, Roman Levi, Joel de la Fuente, Eriq Ebouany, among many others. They team up, divide, console and fight, holding different views and motives throughout their perils, sometimes at the cost of their lives, but in a way, their combative positions are nowhere near as myopic or intolerant as what we find in our rueful, present day. 

The Book of Carol, moreover, rises to the occasion because it analyzes what results from such conflict: faith, cynicism, hope and deceit (the latter most evident when Carol lies to Ash, so he'll take her to France). Such ambivalent additives distinguish any life. Though Daryl Dixon (like any Walking Dead tributary) is fictional, it's also like any worth-while Star Trek adventure, swinging right back to earth, right into stark reality, after its allegory is completed. When one peels away its reflective layers, one sees nothing but sincerity. (Try to find that in Harry Potter or This is Us. Go on. I dare you.) 

It now appears (per handy gossip) that Daryl Dixon: Season 3 will take place in Spain, and perhaps that's where we'll receive a closer-to-the-bone confirmation as to whether Laurent is ethereal or just a pampered, run-of-the-mill kid as he resides with his new, surrogate dad. Whatever happens, it's certain to be historic, but then when all is said and done, what stretch of The Walking Dead hasn't been?  

EIGHTH TOWER'S SOLARIS CURATION

Though Eighth Tower Publishing's William Gibson/cyberpunk anthology is still in the works (set for a possible February release), yet another, science-fiction volume has entered the queue: a tribute to Stanislaw Lem's novel, Solaris, and director Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972, movie adaptation of it. 

My contribution is entitled "Safe Space." Though it's Solaris-derived, it's as much a homage to Ray Bradbury's Space Age fables, particularly The Illustrated Man's "The Rocket."

For the record, "Safe Space" is an alternate-reality sojourn, a category into which Solaris and "The Rocket" fall, even if they curl from different ends. 

"Safe Space" also presses a political angle, just because I've never gotten over my Cold War apprehension. Anything Soviet-based, therefore, tends to make me defensive. 

As with other Eighth Tower releases, I'm grateful to be involved in this ambitious project and will be certain to share updates on its progression. 

GOODBYE, GREG HILDEBRANT

With your dear brother, Tim, you created visual templates for so many of our favorite movies, books and games, with The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Clash of the Titans and Star Wars in the pop-cultural forefront.  

Your solo ventures proved darn impressive, as well, and include awe-inspiring imagery for Dracula; Star Trek; Poe: Stories and Poems; Peter Pan; Robin Hood; The Phantom of the Opera; Alice in Wonderland; Peter Cottontail's Surprise; Christmas Treasury; Treasures of Chanukah; and Favorite Fairy Tales. In addition, there's your highly respected, tie-in work for Marvel, DC, Amazing Stories, Omni and Heavy Metal.

And let's not skip that wicked imagery you dealt for Black Sabbath's Mob Rules (aka "Crucifiers"), your influential, musical influence on Trans-Siberian Orchestra's captivating catalog, and all those super-sultry pin-ups you seduced us with through American Beauties' monthly views. 

I can't tell you how many times I've stared at your work, whether in books or on posters tacked to my wall. The inspiration they've induced has been inexhaustible and because of that, appreciated far beyond what mere words can tell. 

There's no question you were a maestro of magic, Mr. Hildebrant, an artist who'll go down with the great likes of Frazetta, Vallejo, Dallmeier, Rembrandt and DiVinci, and believe me, brother, that ain't too shabby! 

I saw the Penguin: Season 1 (A Respectful Rumination)

Matt Reeves' HBO/Max, six-part miniseries, The Penguin, delivered the dark, virile goods, sharing its Faustian testosterone not only among its men, but its women. It did this surrounding a Dickens/Oliver Twist-esque pact, establishing a fascinating relationship between mobster and teen. 

Colin Farrell's Oswald Cobblepot, aka Os/z Cobb, was even more spellbinding than in Reeves' excellent The Batman, because, of course, extra exploration was invested into the character's seedy progression. For one, we were able to observe the Penguin's "sympathetic" side, only to be jarred when its layers were stripped, exposing his conniving, Yojimbo tactics for all to see.

His relationship with Rhenzy Feliz's Victor Aguilar, a victim of the Riddler's explosive purge, emerged as pure, melodramatic dynamite. With careful, callous precision, the burgeoning bond shows how a by-chance encounter can change everything, as a confused boy bucks his fear to shake hands with the Devil. 

Clancy Brown's Salvatore Maroni proved a real treat, too, as a tough-as-steel, jail bird, lamenting his lost command. The same can be said of Mark (Shazam!) Strong as the flashbacked Carmine Falcone, who holds a creepy, murderous secret, making him more vile than believed. I also enjoyed Deirdre O'Connell's Francis, Pengy's mom, shrewd and cautious, even if dented by dementia, and then there's Falcone's son, Michael Zegen's Anthony, arrogant and entitled in his heir-apparent intro, but when his past is uncovered, not such a bad bloke, after all. 

The big standout, however, is Cristin Milioti's Sophia Falcone, a nuanced lady said to be the Hangman, a killer of  women, confined to Arkham and tortured into revenge. We see her fooled by everyone yet no one, acting as both Cobb's foe and confidant, and once the dust clears, the greatest of all Gotham's unexpected kingpins. (Will her presence creep into The Batman: Part 2? I wonder, but if there's a Penguin: Season 2, she'll be present. If not, the next phase will drop a profound peg for sure.) 

I found this series to be euphoric and fulfilling in its two-fisted gist: a DC, Sopranos variant, for certain. Because it exceeded my expectations, I want--no, demand!--more, and the sooner, the better. 

HAPPY GODZILLA DAY 2024 (11/3)

HAPPY 70TH, GODZILLA

It was 70 years ago (November 3, 1954) that the original Godzilla (Gojira) premiered in Japan. (The popular, Raymond Burr recut, King of the Monsters, would premiere two years later.)

Godzilla is, in truth, a disguised remake of Eugene Lourie/Fred Freiberger/Lou Morheim's  The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (which in its own right was based on Ray Bradbury's "The Foghorn"). The concept was also inspired by King Kong (in particular, the T-Rex that fought the titular ape) and was directed by Ishiro Honda, who would become synonymous with the kaiju genre, from a script that he wrote with kaiju innovator, Takeo Murata. The movie was shot in black-and-white, which works to its brooding benefit, with Godzilla (Katsumi Tezuka) filmed in eerie slow motion to emulate a stop-motion style. (This gives Godzilla a lumbering but formidable flow, unique to this initial entry.) 

The tale's theme is  introspective, with an implication that the Titan's emergence was a karmic reply to Japan's imperious sins. This, therefore, makes Godzilla a cause-and-effect tragedy, with a push toward redemption. 

Whether one views the 1954 original or the Burr revision, Godzilla's significance can't be denied. Why not re-watch it on its landmark anniversary and rejoice in its savage roar!