Ron

I was watching a movie mostly unconnected to the Creature Feature anthology theme when suddenly, like a voice from the outer world (lol, I know), a first line of a story popped into my head and —- voilà. Now comes the hard part.

Please don’t!

Since you’re not great at poetry I’ll use your A & B example here to say that there’s no reason a Creature Feature couldn’t also be a Suspense Thriller. If you consider that most Creature/Monster books/movies/stories have both a level of suspense and thrills/scares. And there’s nothing that says your creature need be a monster either since the anthology only needs to be loosely connected to the title but, you know… who doesn’t like a monster or two to shake things up.

I want to read about an army of New York State penguins attempting a circumvention of the takeover of the city of Buffalo by Canadian otters. Now that would be something! Go Steve!

I read that Kitt Williamson of Eastsiders will have a new series set to run on Revry next year. It was the first time I’ve heard of Revry so I downloaded the app for the service to take a look at it. I saw that the British Queer as Folk was there, so I started watching it. I was bored. For a gay themed video service it was weird that the show was censored — curse words cut out and shots showing any nudity were subject to a blur edit. What purpose did that serve?

I know it's Friday night, but it's Monday somewhere, isn't it?

@Cia I do believe you have somehow achieved time travel. Please tell us how you got to December 2025?

Listening to Masterpieces by (Duke) Ellington (Uncut concert arrangements released Jan 1, 1951) (digitized by Sony 2004) via Tidal through HEOS app on my Marantz AVR. This mono recording is fantastic. If you have the chance, it's well worth a listen on a decently good system. I got my exercise in when dancing around to Tattoo Bride. It may not have been pretty, but it is what it is.

I get what you’re saying. But then you’re basing your feelings on a subjective relationship that you have with the story, the author and what you believe is best for the story. If you feel that your efforts aren’t in keeping with your values, interests, belief system — even belief in the story itself — then you’re within your rights to request that you are not connected to the work, and not cited with the work. Beta-readers provide a valuable resource. I don’t believe anyone would equivocate the need for them. I get, also, that a beta-reader is invested in the author’s work. In the end it’s a choice of making a case for your efforts (if you disagree) and if rebuffed you either bow out or accept that you will be attached to the work. And… thank you for your service. Taking on being a beta-reader is no easy task.

I think that I may have introduced this album before; it bears repeating. Music for a Sushi Restaurant. Holy crap, what a title for a body of work and the song of the same name is great (imho). The whole album works.

For us old fuddy duddy's ... I present David Gilmour, with the addition of Romany Gilmour, which should offer an update for younglings and present audiophiles to sample (and resample) artists of the past. This album is a brilliant work of artistry for Gilmour. So enjoyable and highly recommended! Edit to add: I clapped my hands at the end of this complete work. It was so good! The eleventh tract just sealed the deal for me... with its harking back to the earlier work of Pink Floyd.

But... but... if the spider is just sucked up and put into a bag... won't it just crawl back out again?

@wildone Definitely visit the Getty Museum, both the old and the new. At the new museum is a favorite of mine: Bacchante with an Ape by Hendrick ter Brüggen. In the space this painting occupies the subject just glows, and she invites you in — Won't you have a sip of wine with me? Just remember, although admission is free you do need to reserve a time to visit both of them. As I was leaving the new Getty Museum on my last visit, Robert Englund of A Nightmare on Elm Street fame who played the iconic character Freddy Krueger, and his smallish entourage were arriving in the main lobby. Also, on that trip, as I was coming down from Nichols Canyon after having visited a friend, I was stopped at an intersection at the bottom of the hill leading into West Hollywood... Walking along the crosswalk right in front of my car was Nicolas Cage and someone with him. And... oddly, enough... when my former partner and I sold our townhouse in Toronto (leaving for Boston), none other than a body-double for Mr. Cage bought the place. Coincidence?

I went into my kitchen to get something to drink. Unfortunately, upon the wall by the refrigerator a tiny, medium sized, gargantuan black spider was crawling DOWN the wall (headfirst) thereby defying gravity... I think. It should have been falling! I didn't want to kill it (I didn't!) but I had to. It was in my home!!!

Angus and Julia Stone are transcendent and needful for this day. Here is the lead song from the album Down the Way. Just chill and ... Edit to add - You must listen to the whole work to achieve peace and tranquility.

According to the NIH, entropy has nothing to do with time. And let us not forget that there are many definitions of entropy. Entropy is specific for whichever calculation you have a need according to higher-educated minds than my own. Entropy appears to be determined by how you want to apply it and what you want to apply it to. And yet entropy can have absolute value. (The mind boggles.)

By an author named Chad no less. I’m beginning to see a connection…

As anyone not experiencing a science phobia can tell you this is just balderdash! Perception of time does not equate with the actual passage of time. (One of these things is not like the other. - Sesame Street) As has been postulated but not yet truly demonstrated for the individual (no one has yet achieved this), the faster you go the slower time becomes until... Well, you arrive a few days later than you left, and many years have gone bye-bye for everyone else. Now that's the reality of time for you!

I know. I was just poking in.

No. No. We all know that Steve's an otter.

I can't say that I was ever a major fan of The Cure. But the new album Songs of a Lost World is great to listen to. The bass is strong with this one. I particularly like the latter half of the new work, beginning with Warsong. Here is the last song on the album Endsong - which is appropriate, and long. Enjoy.

To bay leaf or not to bay leaf... Beth Teitell with the Boston Globe isn't sure either — but with humor. Do you bay leaf?

I've watched a few movies since my last post. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much interest in this horror movie genre here, so I won't be posting any comments. I leave this topic, though, with a last post. Terry Ann Garr (known as Teri Garr) passed away today. I'm watching Young Frankenstein (1080p digital version, Apple TV+) tonight for my last post on Halloween movies. I've found this movie to be massively entertaining over the years, and I'm sure I'll enjoy watching the movie yet again. Classics stay classics for a reason. "Put the candlestick..."

And then again on October 20, 1986, by Duran Duran.

Many of us have some idea of how an alien's arrival might come about or what the result will be, if not because we've imagined it ourselves, it may have something to do with the science fiction we've read or watched in the movies or on TV. Author Jeff VanderMeer had a unique way of looking at the possibility in his novel Annihilation published in February of 2014, which was quickly followed by Authority in May, and ended with Acceptance in September all in the same year. Now, a decade later he has released a fourth novel Absolution which is described as a prequal written in a form of three contained novellas which I will be reading. Having read the original trilogy back in 2014, I highly recommend them if you like highly imaginative story telling. Mr. VanderMeer does not shirk on description, and you wouldn't want him to. He also wrote WONDERBOOK: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction (get the revised edition) which contains sidebars and essays from big name writers, and a companion website Wonderbooknow.com. I watched Annihilation (4k Blu-ray 2018) last night. This movie is loosely based on the first book of the same name. The movie moves through a series of flashbacks and forward moving drama that makes complete sense to the viewer (a rare thing). The original score written for the movie mimics the underlying theme of the movie and works so well in conjunction with the visuals as to be inseparable. Natelie Portman is the lead actor here, but the entire cast of actors are well known - Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny. I won't go into details of the movie because that would be impossible without spoiling it for you. Suffice it to say that if you like creepy (very creepy), horrifying subject matter, slow building dread, excellent visuals, with a couple of good jump-scares then this is a movie for you. It was for me. What are you watching?