Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Christmas is such a great holiday— in normal weeks I usually take Dec 23- Jan 1st off— I won’t be able to do that fully for the second year in a row— but I’m planning on it in 2025.

I’m glad the DOGE Program is looking at eliminating Daylight Savings Time as one of its first priorities, I think that archaic bit of nonsense needs to go away. There is no argument to keeping it so please don’t try. There are 24 hours in a day no matter how many ways you cut it. Don’t like waking up in the dark, sleep later— don’t like going home in the dark— go home earlier— I can’t make all your life decisions for you.

Reeently I talked about BATMAN #14 when I reviewed the covers for the first 20 issues of BATMAN comics— these from the 1940s are considered “golden age”— #14 holds a special place for me for a number of reasons;

1- It was the first Golden Age Comic Book I ever saw and the first one I ever bought. I remember Paul Howley showing it to me at his great THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT on Chandler Street (that store is gone, now replaced by a much bigger but I’m sorry to say less fun giant store on Park Avenue— if you want to get a feel for Paul’s old store head out to THE OUTER LIMITS in Waltham— you might just run into me on a Sunday Afternoon). Coincidently it was in the Fall that he showed me, because I remember riding my bike back the 6 or so miles to my house in the dark.

The book was much larger than a regular comic book— and it was the incredible price of $50— I thought about it for about a day and then had to have it— I ended up with it and I still own it. I also own four other copies including the one in the photo above which I just picked up. I may clear the herd a bid and sell a few of my extras but I don’t like selling Golden Age Comics.

But that was a happy memory— hanging out with Paul, having him show me so many great things in the comics collectible world I’d never seen before— it was more than a store— it was a clubhouse.

KING KONG 1976

In the mid-1970s a kid could go to the movies with his friends with nary a parent around— I remember Saturday afternoon showings that were little more than a food fight with a movie playing through the stream of popcorn and juju fruits soaring through projected image flickering on the screen.

My friends and I got excited by a preview that played both in theaters and on TV Screens— it showed us that on Dec 17th KING KONG was coming. As a kid I’d stay up to watch the original KING KONG (1933) on TV usually late at night— and there was even a time when Worcester Public Library showed it on the big screen. So when they announced a color movie coming soon I created a countdown clock in my head and couldn’t wait.

To say we loved the movie is an understatment. In my 10 year old mind it was the greatest piece of cinema ever created and I couldn’t understand why it didn’t dominate the 1977 Academy Awards. My friends and I got an 8mm movie camera and started making our own version of King Kong. Thankfully none of that footage still exists.

Today- the movie doesn’t hold up, in fact I have a hard time getting through the whole thing— but there is a small part of me that appreciates the merch from the movie and the music— which was by John Barry and it was incredible.

The movie made a deep enough impression that I remember the date deeply.

Good times.

The Worst Pizza I've Ever Had...

Pizza.

Where do you think the best pizza is? For most people they think of New York and they think of Chicago— I’ve had both and I can attest that both places are convinced theirs is superior.

New York pizza is flat and foldable and that’s how you’re supposed to eat it— Chicago pizza is served in a very thick crust— almost like a pie— and one piece is enough thank you very much.

I like both.

A recent survey found both cities left out of the top 20 so maybe my opinion is old. Boston came in at #3. Worcester Pizza is mostly the Greek kind— that means a doughy crust and not a lot of sauce.

For around here, I’d suggest New Haven Ct as the best pizza around— Frank Pepe’s and the rest of the crew on (ironically) Worcester Street put up pretty amazing pies.

The UxLocale has a really great selection of pizza’s thanks to my friend, chef and owner Elaine. She even will have them put an over easy egg on it for me like they do in Tokyo— delicious.

The worst pizza I ever had? Until recently I thought I could eat just about any pizza and then I got one from a hotel restaurant in Chicago— which brags that theirs is “legendary”. It was completely inedible. It smelled like feet— and I’m not talking pretty lady feet I’m talking my high school locker room (not that I spent a lot of time smelling my fellow Football players feet). I took one bite and sent it back.

So much for legends.

Oh man Friday the 13th

My minions and I are working on major website changes

Friday the 13th- I’ll be spending the day under my covers shaking.

Ha I kid, I ain’t afraid of no superstitious nonsense. Couple of things to update— I’m reworking the website, the truth of the matter is I’m dropping SquareSpace after 10 years- it’s a good service, I don’t think I need an expensive website even if it is tax deductible. In 35 years not a single gig has come from the website. Or maybe a very few. Regardless, I’m not looking for new clients, I have plenty. My plan is to wrap up what I’m currently signed on for which will take me into 2026/27 and then I’ll do a personal project and then I’ll cut back on how much work I take.

Expect the new website to change over here without missing a beat— you won’t know things have changed until it changes— domain name will remain the same.

Veronica has been away— day one I accidently ordered THREE large fries from the Kelly’s Roast Beef app— and if you’ve ever been to Kelly’s you know they have great food— especially fries, but the large order is enough for about three people. I also melted my wife’s salad spinner (don’t ask) and possibly ruined a pan but I’m going to try hard to save it. I’ve already re-ordered a new spinner and it’ll be here before she gets back. I write this in advance, she went to visit family to help with health meetings with their providers, I was unable to go because I’ve I’m buried in work, and my plan is while she’s gone to get two weeks worth of work done. I’m not a betting man but there’s a good chance I accomplished that— there’s also a chance I’ve sat on the couch covered in crumbs holding a remote in my hand because I tend to get depressed while my wife is gone.

But the good part is I’ll focus on work. Had a bit of trouble with some technical house stuff that bogged me down a bit on the first day but hopefully the rest goes well.

LOST IN SPACE- THE GREATEST TRIP THROUGH SPACE... EVER!

The 60s produced some amazing TV shows. Today it’s the golden age of TV because TV has become Film and Film has become Big Budget Junk. Something like BETTER CALL SAUL is a 70 hour movie and it will engage you for every minute.

With no slight intended to Saul I want to turn my attention to a show that I’ve loved since I was a kid, LOST IN SPACE. I like STAR TREK, LIKE it. I like BATMAN. I LOVE LOST IN SPACE. Die hard fans of science fiction hate it because the first season was filmed as a pretty straight outer space drama and then the second season came in and the show went Color and it also went BONKERS. The third season pushed things too far and had alien vegetables trying to wipe out the Robinson Family, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Disclosure time; I did a show many many years ago and had the pleasure of hanging out for a weekend with Dr Smith himself, Jonathan Harris. He had just finished doing a voice acting job for Pixar and he was funny as hell. Easily my favorite and most entertaining celebrity in person. That’s saying something because I once spent four hours in a bar sitting next to Frank Gorshin who put on his full Vegas act but Harris was funnier because he was just being himself. I also got to know Billy Mumy there.

Back to the show;

LOST IN SPACE is an amazing journey to go on, the series, as I said, started out very seriously with Dr Smith being a stow away on the doomed Jupiter 2 space-craft which is slated to carry the first family into space, the Robinson’s, lead by Professor John Robinson and his co-pilot Major Don West. Smith sabotages the flight plan but then gets himself trapped on the ship which throws the whole thing off kilter and sends them, well, Lost in Space.

The first season of the show straddles between sci fi drama and straight horror show— kids Will and Penny Robinson discover a crypt full of skeletons and scary things and there is even a giant cyclops that tries to kill the family.

By the second season Dr Smith stopped his murderous ways and became a comedy foil for the show, while some might find him grating I dig the whole act. Which takes us to the episode I saw last night which reminded me of why I like this show so much;

TREASURE OF THE LOST PLANET Airdate Mar 7, 1967 - Season 2 Episode 23 Directed by Harry Harris. Here’s the plot from IMDB:

In this quasi-sequel to The Sky Pirate (1966), Will's reunited with Captain Tucker, who along with his alien pirate crew are searcing for a legendary lost treasure. The key to finding the booty is a metallic talking head in a box.

You got my attention at alien pirates and you had me with metallic talking head in a box. I mean how could you NOT want to watch that??

Here’s how the episode plays out;

The episode starts with Dr Smith teaching the kids how to play roulette after constructing a giant board and using the Robot as a spinner. It’s all in the name of teaching them about odds and luck but that’s the least crazy part of this episode and the show in general. I know, you want to jump off this review and scan Amazon for a complete set so you can watch this right now, well hold on, I’ll put a link at the end.

The head (top) and Space Pirate Captain Tucker and his crew (bottom).

Penny finds a gold coin in the sand which leads Smith to have them scour the rest of the area for any other sign of treasure. They find a metal ring which pulls open a huge trapdoor sending Dr Smith crashing down into a hidden crypt where he finds the metallic head in the box. Dismissing it as ghoulish he leaves it behind and takes the kids back to the ship. As the Robot is about to leave the head lights up and says “Good Evening” in a creepy metallic voice, which is accompanied by creepy harpsichord music to boot.

The Robot is freaked but no one will listen to him. That night, Dr Smith is sound asleep in his Ebenezer Scrooge night shirt and cap and he’s suddenly awoken by the appearance of the metallic head in his cabin where it springs to life and says “good evening” again.

John Robinson is convinced this is just a practical joke of his son Will Robinson, who denies having anything to do with it. Will’s got science stuff to do but he’s interrupted by the appearance of a familiar Robot Parrot who tells will he’s needed somewhere right now and leads him on a mission where Will stumbles upon the trussed up Space Pirate Captain Tucker behind some rocks, we met Ol’ Tucker last year in black and white and he’s a good enough guest star to bring him back for this go round in color. Tucker has been the victim of a mutiny from his crew and they left him here for dead. Needless to say, Will free’s his underhanded old buddy and brings him back to the ship where Ol’ Tuck bunks with Dr Smith.

When the head reappears Captain Tucker knows exactly what this is, it’s Beelibones, a robotic device created to guard a massive treasure which brought Tucker and his mutinied crew to this planet in the first place.

Tucker reunites with his crew and they set off to find the treasure with the help of Billy Bones, er Beelibones. This particular episode is loaded with Lost In Spaciness; Captain Tucker is a great character, even if he does put ribbons in his beard. The disembodied head is suitably creepy and the story, based very much on TREASURE ISLAND, is engaging enough to hold your interest for the full 50 mins.

LOST IN SPACE DIALOGUE:

TUCKER: Foul Weather himself, ya treacherous dogs! Now we'll parley with me holdin' the upper hand. 

SMEEK: You can't blame the lads, Foul Weather. You promised Beelebones's treasure. 

DEEK: Aye, and a chart to where it's buried. 

TUCKER: Aye, and I'm a man of my word. 

[Pounding on the box]

TUCKER: Say somethin', ya blasted head. 

HEAD: Good evening. 

DEEK: Wh-What's that? 

TUCKER:: What's that? I'll tell ya what it is, ya scum! Ol' Beelibones was too smart to put a chart on paper. So he took a better road, ol' Beelibones did. This here head here is tuned into Beelibones's personality, in a manner of speaking, so that he'll lead Beelibones, and no one but Beelibones, to his treasure. 

DEEK: Aahh! A lotta good that do us. Beelibones is dead and molderin' on Antares 6 these last five years. 

SMEEK: You led us on a false trail! 

TUCKER: Stop your yappin' toungues, ya dogs! False trail is it? Supposin' I were to tell ya that I have in the palm of me hand, so to say, a human who matches ol' Beelibones's personality trait by trait... and fault by fault? 

DEEK: It ain't likely. Why, there never was a man as treacherous and cowardly, and as big a liar, and as greedy a glutton as Beelibones. 

TUCKER: There be one! Zachary Smith by name. He be one of the crew of the Jupiter 2. 

You can have your Shakespeare, I’ll take this script by Carey Wilber and Irwin Allen.

Lost in Space: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

Starring Guy Williams, June Lockhart, Billy Mumy, Angela Cartwright, Jonathan Harris, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen

Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler is my favorite writer.

His work was hard boiled featuring tough talking thugs and fem fatales but there was always a humor interlaced among the dialogue.

"From 30 feet away she looked like a lot of class. From 10 feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from 30 feet away.”
― Raymond Chandler,

Man, that's writing.

“It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in.”
― Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

A poet.

So it was that I found myself buying to two volume hardcover collection of the complete works of Raymond Chandler from The Library of American Literature or something like that.  The only trouble is the dust jackets on the two volumes are what I would call...bland.

You can't judge a book by it's cover, but in this case I can.  There's nothing bland about Chandler's writing.  The man himself?  Well that may be another story.  He wasn't afraid to criticize the writing of his peers-- once calling Agatha Christie's mystery style as lazy.

He was right to attack-- one of the rules he puts forth in his book on writing is that things can't happen via coincidence or happenstance.  A murderer can't base his whole ingenious scheme on some bizarrely abstract accident and then expect to be successful.  Chandler's characters talked like real people but in a stylized way-- so I made my own dust jackets for the set;

The Films of Wes Anderson

From THE LIFE AQUATIC

Wes Anderson can be a polarizing figure— you either like his movies or you find the kitschy characters and sometimes oddly artistic settings not your thing. I love his movies, at least most of them. I’ve not seen them all but of the ones I have seen I’ve either really liked them or loved them with the exception of ISLE OF DOGS which I didn’t like at all and FRENCH DISPATCH. I’ve also not seen ASTEROID CITY because FRENCH DISPATCH was so bad.

Here, without further introduction, is a complete list of Anderson’s films with a brief thought as to my opinion of them (because you should care for some reason I will never understand);

1996- BOTTLE ROCKET - His first film and one I wasn’t crazy about. I found the storytelling jarring and while there were elements of what would later be hallmarks to his films there was not enough to keep me engaged.

1998- RUSHMORE - His first home run about an over achieving high school kid who can’t get a decent grade to save his life because all of his passion is in extra curricular activities. Bill Murray is brilliant as a millionaire friend of the lead.

2001- THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS - I loved this one, having just seen it recently. Gene Hackman is positively brilliant as a “Son of a Bitch” who tries to make amends with his family. The entire cast is outstanding and Pagoda is my absolute favorite character (played by a guy who was a coffee barista at Anderson’s favorite coffee shop before becoming a mainstay in his films).

2004- THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU - Bill Murray is the title character who leads a Jaques Cousteau style life on the high seas. Bill Murray makes for a great action hero.

2005- THE SQUID AND THE WHALE- I have never seen or heard of this one. I’ll add it to my list. Anderson tends to use the same actors in a lot of films, this one has a totally unique cast— that’s either good or bad.

2007- THE DARJEELING LIMITED - Loved this one too. Three brothers make a trek across India to find their mother who is living as a nun in a convent. Beautiful art direction.

2009- FANTASTIC MR FOX - Animated film. I’ve not seen it.

2012- MOONRISE KINGDOM - It’s got it’s flaws. Bruce Willis is always great, but he’s also someone who is too cool for school no matter what he does and that makes him a hard fit in Anderson’s quirky worlds. Still a great coming of age story.

2014- THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - I think this was the first Anderson film I saw and it’s an absolute favorite of mine. Should have won the Oscar and maybe it did, I don’t follow that garbage.

2014- SHE’S FUNNY THAT WAY - I’ve never heard of this one, don’t know how he made two movies in one year, but the IMDB rates it the lowest of all his movies so we’ll have to see.

2018- ISLE OF DOGS - I love dogs, I love Japan, I should have loved this. I didn’t. I didn’t find the characters or the story engaging. I kind of hated it.

And that’s it for now, although he’s got more in the works. Give them a try if you’ve not seen them and see what you think. Your local library carries all or most of them.