Yearly Archives - 2024

Atlantean Bull Dancers

I’m a long-time fan of Stephen Lawhead’s Pendragon Cycle.  It’s a retelling of the King Arthur stories but told from both a historical and Christian perspective.  It stretches from the final days of the Roman Empire in Albion to the Battle of Britain. The very first book in the series is to my mind the strongest: Taliesin.The book is told from two perspectives. The first follows the life of Prince Taliesin, the greatest Celtic bard in the history of Britain. His father...

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Helldivers II – First Impressions

I had intended to post a full review of Helldivers II this week, but that is not going to happen.I have to say that I am somewhat disappointed. I was under the impression that Helldivers II was going to be a non-competitive, third-person co-op shooter. One that had strong overtones of Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers. Except this one was actually funny and wasn't trying to be a secretly brilliant film that you have to have an IQ that falls in a very specific...

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No Christian White Trash Allowed, Says Disney REPOST

(2/19/24) Some of my newer readers maybe wondering why I haven't posted anything on Elon Musk's Tweet. The one where he talks about ABC's "secret Inclusion standards" sheet and how horrible it is.The reason I haven't posted anything is that I already did nearly three years ago:REPOSTApril 15, 2021Disney knows what it wants and what it wants isn't you.After a year of doing nothing but studying all the stuff that Twitter and Tumblr users are gaga about, Disney's ABC has boldly...

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The Iron Vault of Tax Write-Offs: Tim Burton’s Hansel and Gretel

Twitter was blowing up in Twitter rage this week because Coyote vs. Acme's temporary reprieve had run out. Gentle reminder: This movie was about a lawsuit that Wile Coyote launches against ACME, the company whose product line has failed him at every turn. I'll be honest, it sounded to me like the premise for an ultra low budget 1980s Looney Tunes clip show. The kind where there is five minutes of cheap new material inter-spliced with clips from Termite Terrace's golden age...

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The Rabid Puppies at Ten Years

I indeed and truly thought I was never going to have anything else to say about the Hugo Awards ever again.I mean what was there to say that hasn’t been said already?  There was a time that the Hugo Awards indicated, well I’m leery about calling it excellence because there were too many genuine classics in the field that never got an award.  Classic example.  The powers that be at the Hugos had been criticized for never giving J.R.R. Tolkien a...

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The Dark Herald Does Not Recommend Madame Web

You know you are in for a special treat when everyone’s contacts at Marvel Studios are all saying, “Dude, I swear we had absolutely nothing to do with this one.”  No one wanted credit for it.  You know how a modern movie has fifteen production company plates at the start of it these days?   There were only two for Madame Web “In association with Marvel” meaning this is as far as we can distance ourselves from this thing without endangering...

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Totally 80s Comics – First Comics

It’s no real secret that the man with the golden Rolodex is going to get ahead in life.  I recently talked to one of the guys that runs a publishing house that is usually near the top of the KU store. He had started with an email newsletter.  If you wanted a boost as an author you just sent him your book’s info and he’d give you a boost, provided it was science fiction or fantasy, and not romance or...

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80s Table Top – Star Frontiers

Recently, while cleaning out the garage I ran into something I'd completely forgotten about.Finding this book touched off a wave of bittersweet nostalgia for me. 80s tabletop RPGs were unquestionably the best of all time. If you disagree I'm not going to pretend you have an opinion that can be respected. It was the Golden Age. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was still owned by an independent TSR that was controlled by the god of gaming, Gary Gygax. Dragon Lance was taking it mainstream-ish. FASA had...

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Is Disney Abandoning California?

There was an all hands emergency meeting at Disney Animation Studios Burbank.They started the meeting by telling the animators that no one at Burbank was being laid off. Which probably means that everyone is being laid off.It turns out that the Moana 2 movie that Bob Iger announced last night is going to be made by a surprise studio that just sprang into existence in Vancouver British Columbia with a staff of 400. Seemingly overnight so far the as the...

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The Carano Lawsuit

The reason I haven't covered this suit is simple enough. It's never going to go to Discovery. There is no way on Earth Disney can let it go that far. It's bad enough that the results of LucasFilm's complete dysfunction is available for all the world to see. The one thing Disney doesn't want is to reveal just how disastrous things are behind the scenes. However, part of this suit was actually jaw dropping. Under a lot of pressure to issue an apology...

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