Showing posts with label 2024. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2024. Show all posts
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Thursday, April 3, 2025
On this day in movie history - Point Blank the Documentary (2024):
Point Blank the Documentary
directed and written by Alan Berry,
was released
in the United States on April 3, 2024.
Music by Johnny Mandel.
Cast:
Sharon Acker, Lloyd
Bochner, John Boorman, Angie Dickinson, Lee Marvin, Carroll O'Connor, James
Sikking, John Vernon, Keenan Wynn.
Friday, March 28, 2025
On this day in movie history - Film is Dead. Long Live Film! (2024):
Film is Dead. Long Live Film!
documentary directed by Peter Flynn,
was
released in the United States on March 28, 2024.
Cast:
Louis DiCrescenzo, Stan
Taffel, Geoffrey Curtis, Ray Faiola, Stu Fink, Bob Furmanek, Ira Gallen, Michael
Lattavo.
Saturday, March 8, 2025
Recommended reading - Star Trek: Open a Channel: A Woman's Trek, by Nana Visitor (2024):
Star Trek: Open a Channel: A Woman's Trek
By Nana Visitor.
Published by Insight Editions.
Published 2024.
Hardcover.
ASIN: B0C7P8NTH2
ISBN-13: 979-8886633016
Description:
Nana Visitor, Star Trek’s Kira Nerys, explores how
the series has portrayed and influenced women. Interviews with the stars,
writers, producers, and celebrity fans reveal the struggles and triumphs of
women both behind and in front of the camera throughout the sixty-year history
of Star Trek, and how they have mirrored the experiences of women
everywhere.
The groundbreaking casting of Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura
in 1966 was a paradigm shift for women and people of color. Pioneering is no
picnic, and she planned to leave the show until none other than the Reverend
Martin Luther King, Jr. contextualized her appearance in people’s living rooms
across America as a way for people of color to know they were indeed an
important part of the future.
Since then, each Star Trek show has both reflected
the values of its time and imagined a future of equality. In her first book, Open
a Channel: A Woman’s Trek, Nana Visitor sets out to discover both how Star
Trek led the way for women, and how each show was trapped in its own era.
For Visitor, this is more than a book about Star Trek.
It’s also about how society and the stories we tell have evolved in the last
sixty years, and how the role of women has changed in that time.
STAR AUTHOR: Written by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
actor Nana Visitor, famous for playing Major Kira Nerys. This is both her story
and her journey through the stories of other women involved with Star Trek
from the 1960s to the 21st century.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS: Features interviews with more than a
dozen women who starred in Star Trek, including Kate Mulgrew, Sonequa
Martin-Green, Terry Farrell, Gates McFadden, Denise Crosby, Tawny Newsome, and
Jess Bush.
INSPIRING STORIES: Explore how Star Trek has
influenced women in the real world, including soldiers, scientists, and even
astronauts. For the book, author Nana Visitor visited ESA HQ and interviewed
astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti while she was in orbit around Earth on the
International Space Station.
PIONEERING SERIES: Following the humanistic
tenets of creator Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek, throughout the decades,
led the way in promoting diversity. Youths who grew up with Captain Janeway on Star
Trek: Voyager, for example, not only learned to accept a woman as a leader
but were also able to expand what they could imagine for themselves. The book
makes clear how important storytelling is, and how the storytelling of Star
Trek has had a profound effect on its audience.
Sunday, February 23, 2025
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
On this day in movie history - The Movie Man (2024):
The Movie Man
documentary directed by Matt Finlin,
was released at the Santa
Barbara International Film Festival in the United States on February 12,
2024.
Music by Kevin Drew.
Cast:
Keith
Stata.
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Recommended reading - Star Trek: Picard: The Art and Making of the Series (2024):
Star Trek: Picard
The Art and Making of the Series
By Joe Fordham.
Published by Titan Books.
Published 2024.
Hardcover.
ISBN-10: 1803363673
ISBN-13: 978-1803363677
Description:
An in-depth look at the making of Star Trek: Picard,
a three-season spin-off of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and a
must-have for all Star Trek fans.
Star Trek: Picard stars Patrick Stewart,
reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The book explores each of the three separate season-long narratives, which tell
the story of Picard in later years, as he is brought out of retirement on his
family chateau to face old enemies such as the Borg, take command of a new
starship, and ultimately reconcile with his past.
New characters such as Doctor Jurati (Alison Pill),
Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera), Soji (Isa Briones) and Elnor (Evan Evagora)
feature alongside appearances by old enemies and friends, such as Will Riker
(Jonathan Frakes), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), the Borg Queen (Annie
Wersching), Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), Data (Brent Spiner), and Q (John de
Lancie). Season 3 sees a full-scale Next Generation reunion, featuring Worf
(Michael Dorn), Dr. Beverley Crusher (Gates McFadden), and Geordi La Forge
(LeVar Burton).
Alongside interviews with showrunners, writers, cast, and
crew, discussing concepts and character arcs, “Spotlight” features explore
makeup, costumes, art, and visual effects. A final section features reflections
on the much-beloved character from its original incarnation in Star Trek:
Next Generation through to its final satisfying conclusion.
This beautifully illustrated hardback, featuring
behind-the-scenes and on-set photography, and a range of production art, is an
in-depth exploration of a hugely popular and seminal Star Trek
character.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
On this day in music history - Love and Titanium, by Jeremy Renner (2024):
Love and Titanium
Album by Jeremy Renner,released January 19, 2024.
Track list:
Lucky
Man; The River; Wait; Love and Titanium; Garden of Stone; Lonesome Town; Survive.
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Recommended reading - 1001 Movie Posters (2024):
1001 Movie Posters
Designs of the Times
Edited by Tony Nourmand.
Introduction by Christopher
Frayling.
Contribution by Alison
Elangasinghe.
Published by Reel Art
Press.
Published 2024.
Hardcover.
ISBN-10: 1909526932
ISBN-13: 9781909526938
Description:
Steeped in nostalgia,
this beautiful, diverse and definitive collection features posters from over 20
countries with work by over 150 art directors and illustrators.
The most comprehensive
overview of movie posters ever published, 1001 Movie Posters is a
definitive coffee-table volume from world authority on the art form, Tony
Nourmand. Spanning more than a century of global imagery, the book celebrates
the most arresting, aesthetically powerful examples of the genre, including a
number of posters that have never been published before.
There has always been a
raw immediacy to film posters: provoking and enticing, shocking and seducing
audiences across the threshold of the movie theater. The artists tasked with
communicating that have been at the forefront of design: groundbreaking visionaries
such as Saul Bass and Paul Rand; Eastern European artists using poetic, surreal
and often disturbing imagery in highly original and subversive concepts. Other
poster artists have woven contemporaneous movements in art and popular culture
into their designs, creating a time capsule of the obsessions and concerns of a
different era.
Iconic posters for films
such as Metropolis, The Man with the Golden Arm, Breakfast at
Tiffany’s and Goldfinger sit alongside more unexpected and
lesser-known artwork for films such as 2001, Star Wars, Taxi
Driver and The Birds. Nearly all cinematic movements are included,
from early silent masterpieces through German Expressionism, film noir of the
1940s, 1950s science fiction, the psychedelic imagery of the 1960s, the gritty
violence and retribution of the 1970s and 1980s, and then onward into the 21st
century, where the stripped-back graphics nod back to the Bass minimalism of
the 1950s.
An extraordinary visual
compendium, 1001 Movie Posters is the final word on movie posters and a
must for film lovers and anyone interested in the power of advertising and
design.
"Cinematographic
posters are like popular songs… they take you back to certain moments of your
life, preventing you from losing them. They take you back not only to the film,
but to their seasons, the atmosphere, and the taste of an era.” – Federico
Fellini.
A vast selection of
posters spanning the past century offers insight into contemporaneous tastes
and styles, showcasing the medium’s eye-catching artistic innovations:
glamorous paintings for 1922’s Salomé, scratchy, left-field illustration for
1987’s Withnail and I, and that terrifying, looming shark for 1975’s Jaws. – Tara
Joshi, Guardian.
... readers can travel
back in time with a rich collection of iconic posters from memorable films
including 'Metropolis,' 'Breakfast at Tiffany’s,' 'Goldfinger,' 'Star Wars' and
'Taxi Driver' and 'The Birds.' – Lizz Schumer, People Magazine.
Spanning the colourful
Parisian lithographs that marked the first public film screening by the Lumière
brothers in 1896 through to recent blockbusters including 'Barbie' and
'Parasite,' it is the most comprehensive collection of film posters ever
published. – Aimee McLaughlin, Creative Review.
In the exquisite '1001
Movie Posters: Designs of the Times,' Nourmand shares a wealth of his own
favorites. [...] The volume is thick and arguably the most comprehensive review
ever published. – Elena Clavarino, Air Mail.
Page after page elicits
gasps. – Ty Burr, The Wall Street Journal.
A
sweeping 640-page compendium of promotional posters announcing movies around
the world, from 'Do The Right Thing' to 'Parasite,' to 'Snow White' to 'Star
Wars' (the American, Hungarian, and Polish versions) to the first public
screening in 1896. – The New York Times Book Review.
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Recommended reading - Noir City Annual 2023 (2024):
Noir City Annual 2023
By Eddie Muller.
Edited by Imogen Sara Smith.
No. 16
Published by Film Noir Foundation.
Published 2024.
Paperback.
ASIN: B0DG6XTLVL
ISBN-13: 979-8218508180
Description:
2024's NOIR CITY Annual 16, the best of the best
from the Film Noir Foundation's 2023 NOIR CITY Magazines, is here – essays,
profiles, interviews, and appreciations of classic and modern noir films from
today's top writers. This year's contributors are Imogen Sara Smith, Danilo
Castro, Rachel Walther, Jake Hinkson, Vince Keenan, Steve Kronenberg, John
Wranovics, Jeremy Arnold, Peter Tonguette, Wallace Stroby, Andy Wolverton,
Thomas Burchfield, Ben Terrall, and Eddie Muller. Book layout and design by
Michael Kronenberg. And, as with any purchase from the FNF, when you buy the
NOIR CITY Annual 16, you'll be helping fund the non-profit foundation's film
restoration efforts.
Saturday, January 4, 2025
On this day in movie history - The Power of Film (2024):
The Power of Film
6-part documentary,
directed
by Laura Gabbert,
written by Doug Pray and Howard Suber,
was released in the
United States on January 4, 2024.
Music by Garron Chang.
Episodes: Popular and
Memorable; Trapped Between Fate & Destiny; The Power of Character
Relationships; Heroes and Villains; The Power of Paradox; Love and Meaning.
Cast:
Howard Suber.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Recommended reading - Golden Age Whodunits (2024):
Golden Age Whodunits
Edited by Otto Penzler.
Short story anthology.
Published by American
Mystery Classics.
Published 2024.
Paperback.
ISBN-10: 1613165420
ISBN-13: 978-1613165423
Description:
Depending on who you
ask, the term "whodunit" was first coined sometime around 1930, but
the literary form predates that name by several decades. Still, it was in the
years between the two World Wars--the so-called "Golden Age" of mystery
fiction--that the style flourished. Short mysteries were published far and wide
by a variety of authors, not just those primarily associated with the genre.
They appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker, and
other high-end periodicals that still exist today. These tales were, in short,
among the most popular diversions in literature and were of the highest
caliber.
Fifteen puzzling tales
from the masters of the mystery genre Depending on who you ask, the term
“whodunit” was first coined sometime around 1930, but the literary form
predates that name by several decades. Still, it was in the years between the
two World Wars – the so-called “Golden Age” of mystery fiction – that the style
flourished. Short mysteries were published far and wide by a variety of
authors, not just those primarily associated with the genre. They appeared in
The Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker, and other high-end
periodicals that still exist today. These tales were, in short, among the most
popular diversions in literature and were of the highest caliber.
In this volume, Edgar
Award–winning anthologist Otto Penzler collects some of the finest American
whodunits of the era, including household names and welcome rediscoveries. F.
Scott Fitzgerald, Ellery Queen, and Mary Roberts Rinehart are all included, as
are Ring Lardner, Melville Davisson Post, and Helen Reilly. The result is a
cross section of the whodunit tale in the years that made it a staple in
mystery fiction.
"Stellar . . .
there’s not a weak link in the bunch. For classic mystery fans, this is a
must." – Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW.
"Guaranteed to make
Americans prouder of their country than any episode in its recent political
history." – Kirkus.
"You simply can’t
go wrong with any anthology that has [Otto Penzler’s] name on it." – Parade
Magazine.
"Penzler’s
depth of knowledge of the genre is in full evidence in this volume . . . This
anthology is sure to contain something to surprise even the most diehard
mystery fan." – Toronto Star.
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Recommended reading - PHICTION: Tales from the World of Phantasm (2024):
PHICTION: Tales from the World of Phantasm
By Don Coscarelli.
Illustrated by Aaron Lea.
Foreward by Joe R.
Lansdale.
Paperback.
Published by Molotov
Press.
Published 2024.
ASIN: B0D2QZ3MQK
ISBN-13: 979-8988243038
Description:
“Electrifyingly tense
and gruesome… Horror fans and cult devotees of the classic horror series will
find Coscarelli’s ingenuity a rare treat.” - Kirkus Reviews.
“It’s magnificent. An
impressive collection of remarkable short-story horror fiction that I can
proudly display on my bookshelf next to Poe, King, Dahl, Barker, Bradbury, and
Lovecraft.” - Nick DiGilio, WGN Chicago.
In 1979, filmmaker Don
Coscarelli (Bubba Ho-tep, The Beastmaster) wrote and directed
what became one of the seminal sci-fi/horror films of that era, Phantasm.
The film was a worldwide theatrical success and spawned four
acclaimed sequels.
For the first time in
the history of horror cinema, a celebrated filmmaker of a cult-classic horror
film series has continued the adventure by swapping mediums and personally
authoring a series of fictional works exploring in detail the characters he originally
created. Coscarelli has now returned to the world of Phantasm to tell more
tales of these inspiring phantasmic heroes.
PHICTION comprises six stories set in the expansive Phantasm world
that have never been told before:
In Life and Death in
the 'Nam we explore the origin story of our favorite ice cream vendor/hero
Reggie and his first encounter with the supernatural forces of evil in the
jungles of the Vietnam war. It's a two-fisted tale of a young man enduring the
horrors of war and at the same time facing down the horrors of the unknown.
In Behind the
Mortuary Door we learn the secrets of the embalming trade from one of the
most memorable characters from the original film.
In He Was Home Alone
we revisit the young boy Tim, prior to the events from Phantasm Ill, and
how, using only his wits and guile, he survives against unspeakable horrors.
In Tobe we follow
the trail of one of Phantasm's forgotten characters as he witnesses the key
events of that film from an entirely different perspective.
In The Rocky Road
we track the events of one of the Phantasm saga's fan-favorite characters, the
nunchuck-wielding Rocky as she's mustered out of the armed services and travels
the backroads of the rural South in the early 90's. In a desperate search to
find her family she encounters love, vengeance and horror, frequently reacting
in the only way she knows how, with her fists and her feet.
And finally in Escape
From New York we join another Phantasm fan-favorite character, the
diminutive Chunk from Phantasm Ravager as he attempts to flee his home
in the big city from the horror of an oncoming apocalypse. Along the way he
bonds with some unexpected allies on a thrilling quest for survival.
In association with
illustrator Aaron Lea (GHOST, Rob Zombie), Molotov Press now presents Phiction:
Tales from the World of Phantasm.
Tales from the world of
Phantasm.
Phiction conuures six stunning new tales from the world of the
classic Phantasm film franchise. Acclaimed filmmaker, series creator and
Master of Horror, Don Coscarelli, returns the reader to Morningside Mortuary
with revelatory origin stories for some of the Phantasm saga’s most
compelling characters including ice cream vendor/action hero Reggie,
fan-favorite Rocky from Phantasm III and Chunk from Phantasm:
Ravager.
Six Stories from the
master of horror.
“You
are in for a treat. As with the [Phantasm] films, these stories will give you
what people call chicken skin, and others call Goosebumps. What [Phiction] will
do above all else, is entertain. Dive in. The dark waters are fines.” – Joe R.
Lansdale (best-selling author of Hap & Leonard, Cold in July and
Bubba Ho-tep).
Monday, July 8, 2024
Recommended reading - The Backyard Beekeeper (2024):
The Backyard Beekeeper (2024).
An Absolute Beginner's
Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden.
By Kim Flottum.
By Kim Flottum.
Revised and Updated.
5th Edition.
ISBN-10: 0760385823
ISBN-13: 978-0760385821
ISBN-13: 978-0760385821
Description:
Enjoy the time-honored
tradition of beekeeping in your own backyard or urban rooftop with this
accessible resource for beekeepers of all skill levels, now in its 5th edition.
More than a guide to
beekeeping, The Backyard Beekeeper features expert advice for:
Setting up and caring
for your own colonies
Selecting the best
location to place your new bee colonies for their safety and yours
The most practical and
nontoxic ways to care for your bees
Swarm control
Using top bar hives
Harvesting the products
of a beehive and collecting and using honey
Bee problems and
treatments
New in this edition:
Natural beekeeping
techniques like insulating hives for the winter to mimic the advantages of bee
homes in the wild
Important new treatments
for and updated info on the battle with Varroa mites
How to deal with the new
antibiotic recommendations for American foulbrood
Introduction to new
recordkeeping technology to consider
In addition to content
updates to reflect the most recent research and technology in beekeeping, the
book features a new design with larger, easier-to-read text, many new photos,
and a more easily navigable structure.
With
this complete reference and the expert advice of Bee Culture editor emeritus
Kim Flottum, your bees will be healthy, happy, and more productive.
Sunday, May 12, 2024
On this day in astronomy history - Northern Lights Aurora borealis:
The view of the Northern
Lights Aurora borealis, from our home on Friday, May 10, 2024.
I’ve always loved astronomy and I wish I had more time to dedicate to it.
It was great to experience this rare natural event with my wife.
I’ve always loved astronomy and I wish I had more time to dedicate to it.
It was great to experience this rare natural event with my wife.
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