Movie Review: The Damned Don’t Cry

Ethel is comforted by her mother.

Movie Review: The Damned Don’t Cry (1950) directed by Vincent Sherman Someone may be getting rich off this Oklahoma oilfield, but it’s sure not Ethel Whitehead (Joan Crawford). She, her husband Jim (Morris Ankrum) and son Timmy live in her parents’ house, and they’re still barely getting by. Jim isn’t getting promotions or raises, and the… Continue reading Movie Review: The Damned Don’t Cry

Movie Review: For Your Eyes Only

James and the Countess enjoy a last peaceful moment.

Movie Review: For Your Eyes Only (1981) directed by John Glen James Bond (Roger Moore) is visiting his wife Tracy’s grave when he’s informed that a helicopter has come to take him to “the office.” This turns out to be a trap, as the pilot is murdered by his own headphones so that a man who… Continue reading Movie Review: For Your Eyes Only

Movie Review: Shampoo

George at his workplace, being scolded for coming in late.

Movie Review: Shampoo (1975) directed by Hal Ashby It is the day before the United States election in 1968, but in Beverly Hills, hairdresser George (Warren Beatty) has other things to think about. He’s something of a star in his profession, much sought out by women, but locked into a contract with the owner of the… Continue reading Movie Review: Shampoo

Book Review: The Case of the Constant Suicides

Book Review: The Case of the Constant Suicides by John Dickson Carr Castle Shira is not a canny place. Ever since one of the Campbell soldiers involved in the Glencoe Massacre threw himself from the tower, supposedly to escape the ghost of a murdered MacDonald, there have been a series of falling deaths associated with… Continue reading Book Review: The Case of the Constant Suicides

Book Review: Clive Barker’s Books of Blood Volume II

Book Review: Clive Barker’s Books of Blood Volume II by Clive Barker Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we’re opened, we’re red. Prescript to the Books of Blood, presumably a joke by Clive Barker himself. In the mid-1980s, Clive Barker broke onto the horror scene with a collection of short(ish) stories divided up into… Continue reading Book Review: Clive Barker’s Books of Blood Volume II

Book Review: Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics

Book Review: Manga!  Manga!  The World of Japanese Comics by Frederik L. Schodt Back in the early 1980s, manga and anime fandom was tiny, with almost no material being available in English save dubs heavily edited for American children’s television and expunged as much as possible of their Japanese roots.   It required a certain amount… Continue reading Book Review: Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics

Book Review: Sex with Kings

Book Review: Sex with Kings by Eleanor Herman One of the advantages of being a king is that the rules don’t apply to you the same way as they do to commoners.  For centuries in Europe, this also extended to tolerance of extramarital affairs, to the point that many kings had maitresse-en-titre, the “official mistress.”  This… Continue reading Book Review: Sex with Kings

Book Review: Kings & Queens of Great Britain: A Very Peculiar History

Book Review: Kings & Queens of Great Britain: A Very Peculiar History by Antony Mason For about 12 centuries, the English have been ruled by monarchs, and eventually this form of government spread to all of the British Empire.  That’s a lot of history, and many kings and queens to take account of.  This small… Continue reading Book Review: Kings & Queens of Great Britain: A Very Peculiar History