On this day in television history - Justified (2011):

Justified

Season 2. Episode 3.

Episode entitled: The I of the Storm.

Released February 23, 2011.

Directed by Peter Werner.

Written by Graham Yost, Dave Andron, Benjamin Cavell and VJ Boyd.

Based on the short story Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard.

Music by Steve Porcaro.

Cast:

Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Natalie Zea, Walton Goggins, Jeremy Davies, Will Harris, Brad William Henke, Damon Herriman, Michael Mosley, Peter Murnik, Channon Roe, Joseph Lyle Taylor, Dave Alvin, Tyler Nimmons, Darrell Davis, Leonard Kelly-Young, John A. Lorenz, Jes Macallan, Abby Miller, Katie Locke O’Brien, Nathan Sutton, Paul Edney.

On this day in television history – James Ellroy's L.A.: City of Demons: Hot Spot Homicide (2011):

James Ellroy's L.A.: City of Demons

Documentary.
Season 1.
Episode 6.
Episode entitled: Hot Spot Homicide.
Released: February 23, 2011.
Series directors: Brian Coughlin, Gabe Torres, Brian Coughlin and Robert Kirk.

Cast:

James Ellroy, Heather Aitken, James Avise, Gregory DePetro, Michael Fallon, Brad Lewis, Allen Marsh, Deanna Morris, Arman Pardisi, Franklin Ruehl, Christopher Warner.

On this day in movie history - Annihilation (2018 movie & novels):

Annihilation

directed by Alex Garland,

based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer,

was released in the United States on February 23, 2018.

Music by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow.

Cast:

Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, Oscar Isaac, Benedict Wong, Sonoya Mizuno, David Gyasi, Sammy Hayman, Josh Danford.

Recommended reading:

Annihilation

The Southern Reach Series, 1.

By Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by Karen Joy Fowler.

Published by MCD x FSG Originals.

First published 2014.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0374537151

ISBN-13: 978-0374537159

Description:

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers – they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding – but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

Authority

The Southern Reach Series, 2.

By Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by N. K. Jemisin.

Published by Picador.

Published 2014.

ISBN-10: 1250824052

ISBN-13: 978-1250824059

Description:

After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X―a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization―has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten: the Southern Reach. Following the tumultuous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the agency is in complete disarray.

John Rodriguez (aka “Control”) is the Southern Reach’s newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he’s pledged to serve.

In Authority, the second volume of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, Area X’s most disturbing questions are answered . . . but the answers are far from reassuring.

Acceptance

The Southern Reach Series, 3.

By Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by Helen Macdonald.

Published by Picador.

Published 2014.

ISBN-10: 1250824060

ISBN-13: 978-1250824066

Description:

It is winter in Area X, the mysterious wilderness that has defied explanation for thirty years, rebuffing expedition after expedition, refusing to reveal its secrets. As Area X expands, the agency tasked with investigating and overseeing it – the Southern Reach – has collapsed in on itself in confusion. Now one last, desperate team crosses the border, determined to reach a remote island that may hold the answers they’ve been seeking. If they fail, the outer world is in peril.

Meanwhile, Acceptance tunnels ever deeper into the circumstances surrounding the creation of Area X – what initiated this unnatural upheaval? Among the many who have tried, who has gotten close to understanding Area X – and who may have been corrupted by it? In this last installment of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, the mysteries of Area X may be solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound – or terrifying.

Absolution

The Southern Reach Series, 4.

By Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by Julia Armfield.

Published by Picador.

Published 2024.

ISBN-10: 1250397804

ISBN-13: 978-1250397805

Description:

Absolution opens decades before Area X forms, with a science expedition whose mysterious end suggests terrifying consequences for the future – and marks the Forgotten Coast as a high priority for Central, the shadowy federal agency that monitors extraordinary threats.

Many years later, the Forgotten Coast files wind up in the hands of a washed-up Central operative, Old Jim. He starts pulling a thread that reveals a long, troubling record of government agents meddling with forces they clearly cannot comprehend.

Old Jim’s investigation culminates in the first Central expedition into what has now been labeled Area X. A border has come down, and a full team has been assembled to find Area X’s “off switch” somewhere in the volatile, dangerous terrain that has defied all attempts to be explored, mapped, or controlled.

Absolution converges the past, present, and future in unnerving, ecstatic, and mind-bending ways. It is the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time.

On this day in music history:

American VI: Ain’t No Grave by Johnny Cash (2010)

Intermundia by Olivia Belli (2024)

American VI: Ain’t No Grave

Album by Johnny Cash,

released February 23, 2010.

Track list: Ain't No Grave; Redemption Day; For the Good Times; I Corinthians 15:55; Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound; Satisfied Mind; I Don't Hurt Anymore; Cool Water; Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream; Aloha Oe.

Intermundia

Album by Olivia Belli,

released February 23, 2024.

Track list: Anima I; Bet Ha-Chaim; Respiro 1; Valadier; Diomedea; Respiro 2; Mirando; Anima II; Pian Perduto; Respiro 3; Amber Maze; Frater; Respiro 4; Sibyl.

On this day in movie history - The Number 23 (2007):

The Number 23

directed by Joel Schumacher,

written by Fernley Phillips,

was released in the United States on February 23, 2007.

Music by Harry Gregson-Williams.

Cast:

Jim Carrey, Paul Butcher, Virginia Madsen, Logan Lerman, Danny Huston, Rhona Mitra, Bud Cort, Chris Lajoie, Mark Pellegrino, Lynn Collins, Michelle Arthur, Ed Lauter, Corey Stoll.

On this day in the Star Trek universe:

Star Trek (1967 & 1968)

Star Trek: Voyager (2000)

Star Trek: Picard (2023)

Star Trek

Season 1. Episode 23.

Episode entitled: A Taste of Armageddon.

Released February 23, 1967.

Directed by Joseph Pevney.

Written by Robert Hamner, Gene L. Coon.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Alexander Courage.

Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, David Opatoshu, Gene Lyons, Barbara Babcock, Miko Mayama, David L. Ross, Sean Kenney, Robert Sampson, David Armstrong, Buzz Barbee, Majel Barrett, Bobby Bass, Bill Blackburn, John Blower, John Burnside, Dick Cherney, Frank da Vinci, Jeannie Malone, Alan Marston, Troy Melton, Monty O'Grady, Eddie Paskey, Al Roberts, Ron Veto.

Star Trek

Season 2. Episode 22.

Episode entitled: By Any Other Name.

Released February 23, 1968.

Directed by Marc Daniels.

Written by D.C. Fontana, Jerome Bixby.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Alexander Courage.

Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Majel Barrett, Walter Koenig, Warren Stevens, Barbara Bouchet, Stewart Moss, Robert Fortier, Lezlie Dalton, Carl Byrd, Julie Cobb, Bill Blackburn, Frank da Vinci, Roger Holloway, Eddie Paske.

Star Trek: Voyager

Season 6. Episode 17.

Episode entitled: Spirit Folk.

Released February 23, 2000.

Directed by David Livingston.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor.

Written by Bryan Fuller, Michael Taylor, Robert Doherty.

Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Jay Chattaway.

Cast: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Jeri Ryan, Richard Riehle, Ian Abercrombie, Ian Patrick Williams, Henriette Ivanans, Duffie McIntire, Fintan McKeown, Bairbre Dowling, Majel Barrett, Amy Kate Connolly, Marvin De Baca, Tarik Ergin, Tina Kotrich, Mary D. Mascari, Nichole McAuley, Jack Nolan, Pablo Soriano.

Star Trek: Picard

Season 3. Episode 2.

Episode entitled: DIsengage.

Released February 23, 2023.

Directed by Doug Aarniokoski.

Created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, Alex Kurtzman.

Written by Christopher Monfette, Sean Tretta, Matt Okumura, Chris Derrick, Kiley Rossetter.

Based on Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Stephen Barton, Jeff Russo.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Ed Speleers, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Todd Stashwick, Amanda Plummer, Aaron Stanford, Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut, Randy J. Goodwin, Robert Morgan, Stephanie Czajkowski, Joseph Lee, Chad Lindberg, Jin Maley, Tiffany Shepis, Amy Earhart, Adam Hunter, Naymon Frank, Grace Lee, An Dang, Christopher B. Derrick, Marie Kelli, Jerry Marr, Frances Parsons, Dominique Stango, Chris Torres, Marco Vazzano.

On this day in movie history – Harper a.k.a. The Moving Target (1966 movie & novel):

Harper

directed by Jack Smight,

written by William Goldman,

based on the novel The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald,

was released in the United States on February 23, 1966.

Music by Johnny Mandel.

Cast:

Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh, Pamela Tiffin, Robert Wagner, Robert Webber, Shelley Winters, Harold Gould, Roy Jenson, Strother Martin.

Recommended reading:

The Moving Target

aka Harper.

By Ross MacDonald.

ISBN-10: 037570146X

ISBN-13: 978-0375701467

Published 1949.

Back cover description:

CRIME FICTION

“Ross Macdonald remains the grandmaster, taking the crime novel to new heights by imbuing it with psychological resonance, complexity of story, and richness of style that remain awe-inspiring. Those of us in his wake owe a debt that can never be paid. – Jonathan Kellerman.

Like many Southern California millionaires, Ralph Sampson keeps odd company. There’s the sun-worshipping holy man whom Sampson once gave his very own mountain; the fading actress with sidelines in astrology and S&M. Now one of Sampson’s friends may have arranged his kidnapping. And as Lew Archer follows the clues from the canyon sanctuaries of the megarich to jazz joints where you get beaten up between sets, The Moving Target blends sex, greed, and family hatred into an explosively readable crime novel.

“Macdonald is one of a handful of writers in the [mystery] genre whose worth and quality surpass the limitations of the form.” – Los Angeles Times.

If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it was Ross Macdonald. Between the later 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his predecessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience whop walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.

VINTAGE CRIME / BLACK LIZARD