Swords, Specters, & Stuff
Welcome to My World
I started this blog in January 2012 for one simple reason: I love to write. I named it “Swords, Specters, & Stuff” because I especially love to write about writing, about books and movies in my favorite genres, about authors that mean a great deal to me. But there’s more to it than that, which is why I included “Stuff” in the title. It is “Stuff” that gives me carte blanche to write about anything, which is why you’ll see stories about special trips to Cooperstown, Sedona, and other places; about getting older; about baseball; about the otherworldly way in which I met my soul mate; about the loss of good friends, and so much more. Enjoy! And feel free to leave a comment.
Cannot Hit Curveball? Jobu Maybe Help…
The 1989 baseball film, MAJOR LEAGUE, is one of the most outrageous comedies ever to hit the silver screen. The characters and their lines are still quoted to this day, thirty-three years later. But one such character, who had no lines in the movie and was not even alive, may be more popular than any of them. I’m talking about Jobu, the cigar-smoking, rum-drinking voodoo demi-god.
Throwback Thursday: So Much Hate…So Much Evil
Have things changed much since I first presented this post in 2018? If anything, they’ve gotten worse.
Cruising Through The MonsterVerse: Part Two
The Legendary MonsterVerse almost ran out of steam with the lack of success of its third entry. Fortunately, the fourth film in the series bailed it out. So does that mean the franchise will continue? Read on.
Throwback Thursday: Hill House—A Scary Place, In The Night…In The Dark…
So what did horror-meister Stephen King think about the Netflix series, “The Haunting of Hill House,” a revisionist version of the 1959 classic ghost story by Shirley Jackson? He tweeted that it was great, practically a work of genius.
Cruising Through The MonsterVerse: Part One
The MonsterVerse, produced by Legendary Entertainment, didn’t actually start out to be a franchise, but rather a vehicle for an American reboot of Godzilla. It was only after Legendary acquired the rights to King Kong and visualized the two famous monsters appearing in a film together down the road that the MonsterVerse was born.
Throwback Thursday: Films About Books—BOOK CLUB
It seems as though, of late, both the big screen and the small screen are paying more attention to those of us who are, uh, a bit older than most. This is true of the 2018 chick flick, Book Club, which offers up a quartet of impressive actresses, all of whom have been around for a long time.
FROZEN HELL: The Novel That Formed The Basis For THE THING
A magazine called Astounding Science Fiction was highly influential in bringing the sci-fi genre into the mainstream decades past. One of its editors, John W. Campbell, also wrote for the magazine, and in 1938 he published a novella titled, “Who Goes There?” The popular story, a hybrid combination of science fiction and horror, would later be adapted to the big screen in 1951 as THE THING.
Throwback Thursday: Guilty Pleasures—END OF DAYS
Arnold Schwarzenegger in a horror movie? Yep, he starred in the 1999 clunker, END OF DAYS. Wait, did I say clunker? Well, the reviews were uniformly bad, but since I’m easily entertained, that never bothered me.
Curious Possessions V
With over two centuries in the rearview mirror—okay, seven-plus decades—I’ve had plenty of time to collect a whole lot of neat stuff. Here is a look at some more “Curious Possessions” floating around my domicile.
Throwback Thursday: “You’re Killin’ Me, Smalls!”—Great Lines From Baseball Flicks
With the MLB season well under way, I thought it would be a hoot to revisit a 2018 post that offers some great dialogue from a number of baseball-themed movies. Enjoy!
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