“A book illustration of an angel shows a model of Hagia Sofia to Justinian in a vision. The cathedral had burnt down during a riot; now Justinian would build an even more beautiful one.” (Wikimedia Commons)
Category Archives: Uncategorized
A Pretty Peach Ford (photo)
Seen at an antique shop on West Main Street in Salem, Virginia.
Georg Macco’s “Frühlingsmorgen” (“Spring Morning,”) early 20th Century
A few quick words on “Kong: Skull Island” (2017)
“Kong: Skull Island” doesn’t have the charm and sense of fun of Peter Jackson’s version, but it’s still a first-rate monster movie that I highly recommend. It’s got a good script, likable characters and terrific special effects.
Parts of it were actually scary. The first action set-piece is unexpectedly brutal, and there’s a sequence with a giant spider that was a little unnerving, too. I was surprised at how the filmmakers here so heavily emphasized the story’s action-horror elements.
I had a blast with this, and I’d give it a 9 out of 10.
I have a question — did anyone else notice a reference to “Jurassic Park” (1993)? At one point, Samuel Jackson’s character tells his companions to “Hang on to your butts.” Isn’t that his character’s line in “Jurassic Park” when he restores power to the facility, shortly before he gets killed?
Fugly Fortysomething Elmo.
My new haircut makes me look like a pipe cleaner.
Or an unusually tall, fugly muppet.
“Live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”
“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”
— Charles Bukowski
Detail of flayed tiger skin from “Attributes of the Six-handed Yeshe Gonpo”
Detail of the flayed skin of a tiger from Attributes of the Six-handed Yeshe Gonpo (Mahakala) (Jnananatha ‘Lord of the Pristine Cognition) in a Tibetan “rgyan tshogs” banner.
Ifjabb Benedek Jeno’s “Almodo Ora” (“Dreaming Time”), 1939
Image credit: By Ifjabb Benedek Jenő (http://benedekjeno.uw.hu/d1.jpg) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
A review of the “Westworld” pilot (2016)
Blog Correspondent Pete Harrison suggested I give the Westworld” series (2016) a try, and I’m damn glad he did. The first episode was superb, and it’s safe to say it’s reeled me in. I’d give the pilot a 9 out of 10; this seems like it could be the best science fiction television show I’ve seen in a long time.
I still think the premise is just slightly cheesy — grown men and women spending a fortune to visit a western-themed amusement park with interactive android cowboys. (I think maybe westerns were a more mainstream genre in 1973, when Michael Crichton’s original film was in theaters.) And there are times when the show’s central western-themed motifs are a little annoying to me … even though I know the park is supposed to appear superficial and cliche.
But “Westworld” is a highly intelligent thriller — it looks like a hell of a lot of thought went into the script. Just about every aspect of the show seems like it was well developed — everything from the actors’ performances to the set design. And don’t let the gorgeous, idyllic, sunny landscapes fool you — there is no shortage of pathos here. It’s brutally dark in its storytelling. (By the way, if you happen to be a fan of this show, I must recommend 2014’s “Ex Machina” film — it is similarly cerebral and dark in its outlook.)
Anthony Hopkins is fantastic, as usual; Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton are all very good. They’re all overshadowed here, though, by two stellar performances.
The first is Ed Harris as a black-clad psychopathic visitor to the park — I had no idea he could be so frightening. Dear God. Has he played bad guys before? I’ve always associated him with nice-guy roles — even his antagonist in 1996’s “The Rock” was misguided and sympathetic. I’d love to see him get a role in an upcoming “The Dark Tower” film, maybe as one of the Big Coffin Hunters, if they are ever featured.
The second is Louis Herthum, the ostensible “father” of Wood’s heroine. (They are both androids within the park — I don’t think that’s much of a spoiler, as it’s all over the show’s advertising.) Herthum may be a lesser known actor, but he stole the show in a tour-de-force performance, in my opinion. And that’s no small feat in a cast including Hopkins and this surprisingly vicious Harris. I haven’t seen a performance that good on television since NBC’s “Hannibal” went off the air.
Anyway, I noticed something funny here. Steven Ogg plays a bandit who invades people’s homes and murders them … this is basically the same role he plays as Negan’s chief henchman on “The Walking Dead.” It must be weird to be typecast like that.
Hey … it is only just now that I realized the logo below is a riff on Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man.”
Prague Astronomical Clock (Photo)
The Prague astronomical clock (in Old Town Square) was installed in 1410 by clock-makers Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel, and is the oldest functioning Astronomical clock in the world.
Photo credit: Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 
