Alan has to get Barry out of the Anderson Brothers’ silo.

Attending Kumoricon next weekend!
Quick reminder – I will be attending Kumoricon 2023 next weekend. I’m not paneling this year, but I hope I’ll see you there.

Film Review: Silence of the Lambs
Very few horror films, and I’d consider Silence of the Lambs in that category (in spite of the book it was based on being credited as having killed the horror genre of novels), have won Academy Awards for Best Picture, never mind the level of sweep that Silence of the Lambs took. So, when I was going for a horror film for Halloween, I decided that Silence of the Lambs was the one to go with, as the last time I’d watched it was on a fairly small TV, and on DVD. Since then it’s gotten a 4K release (which is what I watched), and I have a larger TV to watch it on (and also better speakers), so I felt this was a good time to give it a real re-appraisal.
Continue readingAs the video title says, I went and bought a car after my old car was totaled at the start of October (more or less) – and I give my thoughts on the process, along with discussing a few things that I think generally removed some of the friction.

Book Review: The Library at Mount Char
The Library at Mount Char was October’s pick for the Sword & Laser book club, as a “Sword” pick (meaning fantasy) and something meant to be mildly horror adjacent (as co-host Veronica Belmont doesn’t handle horror well – which is fine). The book itself is some okay splatter horror with a side of urban fantasy, but it didn’t quite land for me.
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Book Review: China Mountain Zhang
Time to catch up with the book reviews for the Sword & Laser Book Club, with my thoughts on China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh.
Continue readingI returned to Portland Retro Gaming Expo this year, and gave my thoughts on the con this year.
I finally catch up with the “kidnapper”, just in time for him to reveal the truth as the Dark Presence shows up.
For the first episode of our 2nd year, and for the spooky season, we take a look at the 1985 adaptation of Hideyuki Kikuchi’s first novel in the Vampire Hunter D series.

Film Review: House of the Long Shadows
In 1983, when House of the Long Shadows came out, it was heavily panned by critics of the time as being derivative of the old film “Seven Keys to Broadpate”, that the ending undermined the story, and it didn’t have much for scares. I would argue that the critics of the time were simply not picking up what this movie is putting down.
There will be spoilers below the cut.
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Film Review: Tenebrae
Now that I’m caught up with the most recent anime reviews, it’s time to get back to the horror with some Dario Argento, and him returning to a more… conventional Giallo with Tenebrae. There will be some spoilers for a 20+ year old movie
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Anime Review: Spy Classroom Season 2
Spy Classroom Season 2 is one that is a lot more serious than the first season. It’s not to say that there isn’t a large quantity of slapstick, some comedy around the members of Team Lamplight’s personality foibles, and more development for some of the other members of the group – that’s definitely there. However, it does make an attempt to be more dramatic than last season, with varying degrees of success.
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