I’m a little late with the newsletter. I started to skip this month since all I really have to report is that I’m still working on Diner Punks, but then I realized I’ve watched a bunch of movies lately. Rather than have a huge list next month, I’m doing a media-only issue this month.

Book-wise, I’m nearly finished with Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, the first book in Jason Pargin’s other series. It’s got a bit more cyberpunk vibe than his other books, but I’m enjoying it so far.

TV Shows

Ted (Season 2): More of the same, plus a D&D episode. The last episode seemed like an ending, so I’m guessing there won’t be a season 3.

Orphan Black: I finally finished this one, and enjoyed it quite a bit. She-Hulk deserves a lot of credit for playing 3-5 completely different characters in every episode.

DTF St. Louis: I was on board for Bateman, Harbour, and Cardellini, then I saw Richard Jenkins name in the credits and my expectations went up. They were met. Harbour in particular is really good, but I’m on board for a “Richard Jenkins investigates weird sex crimes” spinoff.

It’s Florida Man (Season 2): More dramatizations of Florida stories. If you enjoyed season 1, you’ll enjoy this one. The bet thing about it is that you can watch the whole season in an evening.

Hysteria: This is Satanic Panic movie where a heavy metal band accidentally start a Satanic Cult. It stars Anna Camp with some truly bad 80s church lady hair, Garrett Dillahunt in one of his creepy-ass dude roles, and Bruce Campbell as the small-town sheriff who goes around dispensing grandfatherly advice to high school kids and middle school civics lessons to Bible thumpers. It’s not great, but it gets an A for effort.

His & Hers: Valkyrie and The Punisher are a reporter and a cop who used to be married and are now investigating the same murder (which the show works really hard to make you think one of them committed). The murder mystery is a little predictable, but still worth a watch.

Movies

K-Pop Demon Hunters: Finally watched this. It’s fine, but not really my thing.

The Substance: This movie stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Margaret Qualley’s Ass, has some gruesome body horror that’s still somehow not as gross as Dennis Quaid eating shrimp, and ends in a GWAR concert. 5/5

Sisu: Road to Revenge: More Crank-level action insanity, but this time instead of trying to smuggle a bag of gold past the Nazis, he’s trying to smuggle an entire house past the Russians.

Mercy: This is the one where Starlord has to prove to an AI that he didn’t murder his wife. I enjoyed the Philip K. Dick vibe of the setup even though the ending felt like it was pulled directly from the writer’s ass.

Spiderhead: Thor is the warden at a prison where he’s shoots the prisoners up with experimental drugs. It doesn’t go well.

Pretty Lethal: A bunch of ballet dancers get mixed up with some Eastern European mobsters and murder them with ballet moves.

Survival of the Dead: I completely missed this Romero movie. I wasn’t missing much. It’s the first Romero movie I’ve seen that’s just a zombie movie with no commentary on the modern world.

Blink Twice: This is a movie about Channing Tatum running an Epstein Island-style operation where rich guys drug and abuse women. It’s fine, but I don’t think Zoe Kravitz should give up acting for directing just yet.

Hellboy (2019): Not terrible, but I prefer Ron Perlman.

Strawberry Mansions: A tediously indie movie about dreams.

Wizards: I hadn’t seen this Bakshi classic in a while. It holds up.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets: This is the first Luc Besson Movie I’ve seen that was mostly good without any massive problems. It’s also the first one where I couldn’t tell exactly which 80s movie every scene was ripped from.

Convoy: Despite having heard the song hundreds of times, I’d never seen this movie, which I didn’t realize was directed by Sam Peckinpah. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Red Sonja: You know what’s missing from stories of the Hyborian Age? Steampunk tech, apparently. This is not a very good movie.

I’ll have real updates next time (maybe).

TYTYVM
Steve