Tag Archives: Eric Robert Nolan

Uncategorized

I FED THE RABBITS IN ROANOKE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY HAIKU.

2 Comments

I’m just a poor boy — no bunny loves me.

As I told you guys yesterday, I’ve been trying to feed the legions of little brown bunnies that perennially invade my neighborhood.  They’re totally not going for it.  I’ve been out there two days in a row this weekend, and it looks like they haven’t touched my offering below.

Yeah, yeah, I know — I should be feeding them lettuce or something; rabbits probably don’t eat bread.  But I don’t really maintain a healthy fridge; the only green thing in there is a package of Mint-Chocolate Chip Klondike Bars.  (I have a problem.)

Cheese?  Will bunnies eat cheese?

I suspect I’m still thinking too much in terms of New York’s animal supplicants.  The cats there will eat anything, and then demand more.  You feed a stray cat in New York, he shows up the next day with five more cats and a lobbyist.

Even the birds won’t eat my bread, for some reason.  That makes no sense to me.  There was a single, dejected-looking robin outside this morning that only looked at me like I was some sort of imbecile:

Presented with bread,
one plumping, sullen robin,
indicates disdain.

[Update: that Robin has not left the yard.  Pretty sure she lives here now.]

 

20190504_131146

Uncategorized

Today’s agenda — feed the bunnies.

Leave a comment

Seriously. The annual influx of little brown bunnies has arrived. There’s a warren somewhere under my backyard.

I gotta get some video for you guys.  I tried last year, but those little fur-twerps are quick and shy.  I felt like a paparazzi last spring zig-zagging around my yard with my cellphone camera. Neighbors thought I was nuts.

[Update: a “warren” is a rabbit burrow, right? I can never remember my “Watership Down” accurately.  I don’t mean that a guy named “Warren” is buried somewhere under my backyard. This is Roanoke, not New Jersey.]

 

 

Uncategorized

“The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.”

Leave a comment

[MINOR “GAME OF THRONES” SPOILERS BELOW. ]

This is what makes me worry over Arya’s fate before the show ends. I think a lot of people would think of Jon as the “lone wolf” of the family, being a putative “bastard” and being relegated to the Night’s Watch, etc.  I, for one, always imagined the prognostication applied to him. (I think it was a verse Ned recited to Sansa in Season 1?) But … being marginalized, vilified or betrayed doesn’t mean Jon has been alone.

Jon’s has always had friends near him.  He became a King, for god’s sake.  But more than any of the other Stark children, Arya has usually walked alone.  Her primary motivation is personal revenge, whereas Sansa, Jon and Bran are respectively motivated by their duties to House Stark, Westeros, and all of humanity.  (I myself am slightly befuddled about Bran’s importance, including during the Battle of Winterfell.  He’s … “the world’s memory?”  I thought we had books and maesters for that.  But whatever.)

Arya doesn’t exactly leave the Faceless Men under the best of terms.  Even when she encounters Nymeria in the woods on her way back to Winterfell, her own former pet turns down her invitation to join her.

Then, even when she’s back among her siblings at Winterfell, she keeps to herself.  Upon her arrival, she slips by the two guards who were supposed to escort her.  When Jon asks where she is, Sansa says something to the effect of “She’s lurking around here somewhere.”

Besides … [MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SEASON 8 AFTER THE JUMP BELOW]

Arya-Stark-seems-distorted-in-trailer-alone-with-her-horse-closer-to-north

 

Continue reading “The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.” →

Uncategorized

10 classic movies that I will never fully understand the appeal of:

8 Comments

Because I can’t sleep, and you’ve been dying to know.  Here they are, in no particular order:

1) “Memento” (2000)
2) “Fight Club” (1999)
3) “American Psycho” (2000)
4) “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968)
5) “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975)
6) “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975)
7) “Natural Born Killers” (1994)
8) Lucio Fulci’s “Zombi” (alternately titled “Zombi 2,” 1979)
9) “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (1982)
10) “The Big Chill” (1983)

And … worst of all … I’m kinda on the fence about the first two “The Evil Dead” films (1981, 1987), Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” (1971) and John Carpenter’s original “Halloween” (1978).   I am hanging my head in shame here over those last two.  I know Kubrick’s film is considered a masterpiece.  I saw it twice when I was a college student (once in a psychology class!), soooo … maybe I just wasn’t mature enough to grasp it?  Mea culpa, people.

I left “Citizen Kane” (1941) and “Ben Hur” (1959) off the list, because I haven’t seen them in their entirety.  I was nonplussed enough to turn those off after 40 minutes or so, but I’m weird about never saying I dislike a movie unless I watch the whole thing.  You can add 1979’s “Phantasm” to this category too.

I know, I know … there’s nothing wrong with any of these films (except “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” of course, which is terrible).  There are just basic ingredients in them that I somehow fail to appreciate.

Now one of you needs to e-mail me a cure for insomnia.

 

51jojzqpkPL (1)

Uncategorized

Knights in Wight Satin …

2 Comments

Soooo many “Game of Thrones” puns that I want to post online, soooo many spoilers I need to beware of sharing.  What’s a nerd to do?

The generic puns are safe enough.  People seemed to enjoy my “I’m dreaming of a wight Christmas” tension-breaker when that storm started hitting during last night’s episode.  Or maybe they were just humoring me.  They do that a lot.

I’m waiting for someone to do that weird thing where they brag about having never seen an episode of the show.  I want to hit them with “Arya Stark raving mad?!”  Which I guess is kind of pointless, because they won’t understand the reference, but still.

 

58443895_2423533550999825_5757512786817056768_n

Uncategorized

Check out this stand-up performance by Nate Bradford!

Leave a comment

Nate Bradford has been my Facebook friend for years, but I only recently got the chance to see his stand-up comedy, thanks to Youtube.  It turns out he’s a damned funny guy.

Here he is at Central Maine Comedy Invitational on March 15th.  (Warning — adult content.)  His bit about the “Farmers Only” dating service is my favorite gag here.  (If you have ever spent time in the Baltimore area, those endless commercials might have driven you insane.)

Nate’s a member of the River Comics comedy troupe, and he regularly performs stand-up at House of Bacon, Pedro O’Hara’s, and 84 Court Street in Lewiston, Maine.

You can find him on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/nate.bradford.33
or Follow him on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/DiminishingRet

 

Uncategorized

A short and spoiler-free review of “Avengers: Endgame” (2019)

Leave a comment

Mind. Blown.

If I could tell my 19-year-old self discovering superhero comics in college exactly how good their big screen adaptations would become, I wouldn’t believe me.

I saw “Avengers: Endgame” (2019) tonight with expectations that were very high. It was still better than I thought it would be. It was easily better than last year’s “Avengers: Infinity War” (although I think of them as two halves of the same epic movie).  I don’t pretend to be a film expert, so take this as speculation — I personally think the pair of “Infinity” films have made comic-book movie history in the same manner as the original “Superman” (1978), Tim Burton’s “Batman” (1989) and Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy (2005-2012).

I don’t really want to make any more observations, because I’m too afraid of inadvertently posting spoilers.  But I will say that there is a massive tonal change between “Infinity War” and “Endgame.”  The banter and humor of the former is largely left aside, and this concluding story is darker and far more emotionally sophisticated.  It’s moving.  It feels strange to write here, but I kept thinking during the movie that this was a more “grown up” Marvel film.

And it is EPIC.  I honestly can’t imagine how Marvel can top it with future films.  There is an action set piece that made my jaw drop.  I can’t say more.

This is an obvious 10 out of 10 from me.

 

71x0IhSHtqL._SL1303_

Uncategorized

A short review of “Truth or Dare” (2018)

Leave a comment

Blumhouse’s “Truth or Dare” (2018) isn’t high art, but it isn’t quite as bad as everyone makes it out to be.  I’d rate it a 6 out of 10 for being a passably good fright flick.

It’s a gimmick horror film, but the gimmick kinda works –a powerful demon possesses an oral game of “truth or dare” — then follows its players home from vacation with lethal consequences. It’s actually not quite as stupid as it sounds; I had fun with the premise, which sounds like the basis for a decent “The X-Files” (1993-2018) episode.  An exposition-prone minor character explains to our protagonists late in the game that demons need not infect only people and objects, but also “ideas” like games or competitions.  The notion of an idea or a philosophy being demonically possessed has a hint of creative brilliance, and I’d love to see it fully developed in an intelligent, well written horror film.

Alas, this isn’t it.  And instead of lovable heroes like Mulder and Scully, we get a predictable, throwaway group of unlikable teens on spring break.  The movie’s most interesting character is the one it sets up as the stereotypical jerk, Ronnie, adroitly played by Sam Lerner.  The film would have been much better if it had fleshed him out as a three-dimensional character, and had the story revolve around him as a surprise anti-hero.

“Truth of Dare” also borrows maybe a bit too much from “It Follows” (2014) and “The Ring” films (2002-2017). Finally, it confuses the viewer with some head-scratching plot turns near its end.

Oh, well.  The movie still doesn’t deserve the hate it gets.  I figure it’s at least a fun time waster before bed on a weeknight.

 

Truth+or+Dare+2018

Uncategorized

A few quick words on the premiere of “The Twilight Zone” (2019)

Leave a comment

If the premiere is any indication, then Jordan Peele’s relaunch of “The Twilight Zone” (2019) looks to be quite decent.  It’s got Peele’s fingerprints all over it (he even serves as the narrator here), and that’s a very good thing.  I’d rate it an 8 out of 10.

This first episode, written by Alex Rubens and directed by Owen Harris, channels the same muse as Peele did with his outstanding “Get Out” (2017) — it’s got clever characters, snappy dialogue and gravely dark humor.  I suppose it’s impossible to gauge the quality of an anthology show by its initial episode, but I’m on board.

And one of the upcoming episodes is penned by Glen Morgan, of “The X-Files” fame.  I’d say that’s an auspicious sign too.

 

rs_1024x759-190221103529-1024x759.the-twilight-zone-jordan-peele-lp.22119_fit_inside_900_auto_output-quality_90

Uncategorized

In the Game of Nolans, predictions are lies.

1 Comment

I’ll say it again.  Sansa’s outfit on “Game of Thrones” is absolutely reminiscent of the Night King’s armor.

Is this a thematic clue?

I keep hearing from fans of the books that there was a “Night Queen” or “Lady of the Night” who figured prominently in the source material.  A few people thought Catelyn Stark would become this figure following the events of the Red Wedding.

I am usually wrong about these kinds of things.  Seriously, all of my predictions about what will happen on popular TV shows inevitably turn to to be false.  But still.

 

gn-gift_guide_variable_c