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.
A Very SPECIAL Special Effects Collection
The late, great Ray Harryhausen was an animator and special effects creator, well known for his development of stop motion model animation (known as Dynamation). The largest body of his work was done during the 1950s-1970s. He retired after his efforts on the 1981 gem, CLASH OF THE TITANS.
Throwback Thursday: JACK MILLER IS BACK ON THE BIKE PATH!
With a fifth book in the series on the horizon, here is my 2020 post about book #4, BACK ON THE BIKE PATH.
Yea Verily, The Month Of March Bringeth Madness
“Et tu, Brute?” For sure, March did not turn out to be the best of months for Julius Caesar. But for those of us who love college basketball, this month is “…the most wonderful time of the year.” That, of course, is because the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments are upon us.
Throwback Thursday: Guilty Pleasures—GEOSTORM
The much-maligned 2017 film, GEOSTORM, is a disaster movie. And a sci-fi movie. And a political thriller. Guess what: I enjoy disaster movies; and sci-fi movies; and political thrillers.
An Iowa Basketball Story
My bride, Jacqueline, is a Hawkeye through and through. After we met in the early ’90s we would fly back to Cedar Rapids once or twice a year to visit her parents, Carol and Jack Benzinger. On a visit in the early 2000s Jack took me to a basketball game at the University of Iowa…a WOMEN’S basketball game, to be exact, featuring the Lady Hawkeyes. And that’s where this story begins.
Throwback Thursday: Can Old Dogs Learn New Tricks?
My bride and I have watched a lot of police procedural/detective shows on BritBox, Acorn, and PBS Masterpiece. They range in presentation from intense (VERA, MYSTERY ROAD) to outrageously funny (AGATHA RAISIN). Somewhere in the middle, joining favorites such as MIDSOMER MURDERS and THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, is the delightful BBC production, NEW TRICKS.
78 Is Just A Number
Yeah, but later this week (March 6, to be exact) it becomes more than a number to me. It marks how many years I’ve been on this plane of existence since the day I was deposited here by the Mother Ship. HOLY CRAP, 78?!? I thought only old people achieved that number. Oh, wait…
Throwback Thursday: Report From The Quarantine Cave 6.0
Day 18,764 of the coronavirus pandemic: enough already! I mean, freaking enough! Are we back in the Dark Ages with the Black Plague? And it only seems to be getting worse.
The Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy Spider…
Of the all the numerous 1950s sci-fi/horror/“big bug” movies, TARANTULA (1955) stands out as one of the best. Its director, Jack Arnold, was among the leading filmmakers of the era, with hits such as IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953), CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954), and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957).
Throwback Thursday: Attack Of The Giant…Penguin?
Would a horror movie with a title like that make you want to sign up with another streaming service so you can watch it? No, I didn’t think so. But just such a creature emerged from the ocean off Clearwater, Florida over seventy years ago—or did it?
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