Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a 2018 fantasy film that takes place in the Harry Potter universe. If you are a Potter fan you can't resist this. If not, I'm not sure how much sense it would make to you.

trailer:

The Horse of the Invisible

Pull up a chair and let me pour you a cozy cup, may I?

Please join me at the T Stands for Tuesday blogger gathering.

There's nothing quite as engaging as these old tales.

The Horse of the Invisible is a 1910 short story by William Hope Hodgson. It features his detective Carnacki, who specializes in the occult. You can read it online here. It begins,

When I reached 427, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, I found Carnacki sitting alone. As I came into the room, he rose with a perceptibly stiff movement, and extended his left hand. His face seemed to be badly scarred and bruised, and his right hand was bandaged. He shook hands and offered me his paper, which I refused. Then he passed me a handful of photographs, and returned to his reading.

Now, that is just Carnacki. Not a word had come from him, and not a question from me. He would tell us all about it later. I spent about half an hour, looking at the photographs, which were chiefly "snaps" (some by flashlight) of an extraordinarily pretty girl; though in some of the photographs it was wonderful that her prettiness was so evident, for so frightened and startled was her expression, that it was difficult not to believe that she had been photographed in the presence of some imminent and overwhelming danger.

The bulk of the photographs were of interiors of different rooms and passages, and in every one the girl might be seen, either full length in the distance, or closer, with, perhaps, only a hand or arm, or portion of the head or dress included in the photograph. All of these had evidently been taken with some definite aim, that did not have for its first purpose the picturing of the girl, but obviously of her surroundings; and they made me very curious, as you can imagine.

Near the bottom of the pile, however, I came upon something definitely extraordinary. It was a photograph of the girl, standing abrupt and clear in the great blaze of a flashlight, as was plain to be seen. Her face was turned a little upward, as if she had been frightened suddenly by some noise. Directly above her, as though half-formed and coming down out of the shadows, was the shape of a single, enormous hoof.

I examined this photograph for a long time, without understanding it more than that it had probably to do with some queer Case in which Carnacki was interested.

When Jessop, Arkwright, and Taylor came in, Carnacki quietly held out his hand for the photographs, which I returned in the same spirit, and afterwards we all went in to dinner. When we had spent a quiet but profitable hour at the table, we pulled our chairs round, and made ourselves snug; and Carnacki began:-

"I've been North," he said, speaking slowly and painfully, between puffs at his pipe. "Up to Hisgins of East Lancashire. It has been a pretty strange business all round, as I fancy you chaps will think, when I have finished. I knew, before I went, something about the "horse story," as I have heard it called; but I never thought of it as coming my way, somehow. Also I know now that I never considered it seriously -- in spite of my rule always to keep an open mind. Funny creatures, we humans!

"Well, I got a wire, asking for an appointment, which of course told me that there was some trouble. On the date I fixed, old Captain Hisgins himself came up to see me. He told me a great many new details about the horse story; though, naturally, I had always known the main points, and understood that if the first child were a girl, that girl would be haunted by the Horse, during her courtship.

"It is, as you can see, an extraordinary story, and though I have always known about it, I have never thought it to be anything more than old-time legend, as I have already hinted. You see, for seven generations the Hisgins family have had men children for their first-born, and even the Hisgins themselves have long considered the tale to be little more than a myth.

"To come to the present, the eldest child of the reigning family, is a girl, and she has been often teased and warned in jest by her friends and relations that she is the first girl to be the eldest for seven generations, and that she would have to keep her men friends at arm's length, or go into a nunnery, if she hoped to escape the haunting. And this, I think, shows us how thoroughly the tale had grown to be considered as nothing worthy of the least serious thought. Don't you think so?

"Two months ago, Miss Hisgins became engaged to Beaumont, a young Naval Officer, and on the evening of the very day of the engagement, before it was even formally announced, a most extraordinary thing happened, which resulted in Captain Hisgins making the appointment, and my ultimately going down to their place to look into the thing.

It was adapted for the TV series The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes starring Donald Pleasance as the detective:

You can listen to it read to you:

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 2011 Cold War spy thriller based on the John le Carre novel. The movie stars Gary Oldman, Kathy Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Stephen Graham, Tom Hardy, Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt, and Toby Jones.

You can watch it on Netflix. Here's a trailer:

The Guardian concludes, "What a treat this film is, and what an unexpected thrill."

Roger Ebert has a positive review. Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 83%.

The Last Word

The Last Word is a science fiction short story by Damon Knight. You can read it online here. It begins,

The first word, I like to think, was “Ouch.” Some cave man, trying to knock a stone into better shape with another stone, slipped, hit his thumb – and there you are. Language. 

I have an affection for these useless and unverifiable facts. Take the first dog. He, I feel sure, was an unusually clever but cowardly wolf, who managed to terrorise early man into throwing him a scrap. Early man himself was a terrible coward. Man and wolf discovered that they could hunt together, in their cowardly fashion, and there you are again. ‘Domesticated animals.’ 

I admit that I was lax during the first few thousand years. By the time I realised that Man needed closer supervision, many of the crucial events had already taken place. I was then a young – well, let us say a young fallen angel. Had I been older and more experienced, history would have turned out very differently. 

...

The Girl in the Spider's Web

The Girl in the Spider's Web is a 2018 thriller film based on a novel which is itself based on characters in Stieg Larsson's Millennium series.

trailer:

Critics were unkind, but audiences liked it better. As a soft reboot of these characters, it's a fine continuation of the story.

The Soldier's Peaches

The Soldier's Peaches is a short story by Stuart Cloete. You can read it online here. It begins,

Mrs. Brennen took snuff. She got it out of her grandson's store; going in and helping herself from the big tin on the second shelf. It was a habit her family deplored. Mrs. Brennen did not like snuff much. It was one of the things she had got over. It made her cough. But the fact that her family deplored her taking it prevented her from giving it up completely. She drank a little too. Not much; just enough to get "tiddly." That was what she called it, "I'm a little tiddly to-day," she'd say, and the family didn't like that either. Nor did she, save for the fun of shocking them and the interest outwitting them gave her. 

An old woman did not have much fun, and she had her reputation as a character to keep up. Sometimes she wished she was not a character. 

...

Stranded

Stranded is a 2013 science fiction/horror film starring Christian Slater. From Wikipedia:

Four isolated astronauts in the lunar mining base Ark suffer a meteor storm. While inspecting the damage caused by the meteors, astronaut Ava Cameron discovers spores contained in one of the fragments and brings them back to the base for investigation. The medical officer discovers that these spores can grow rapidly, and in the process Ava is contaminated with them.

I watched it on TubiTV. Watch Alien instead, and take a pass on this one.

trailer:

Roger Ebert's site concludes a negative review by praising Amy Matysio:

The cast performs heroically considering how little they have to work with. The standout is Amy Matysio as Ava Cameron, the first astronaut to be affected, or infected. As the lone woman in an otherwise male cast, she's tasked with dramatizing much of the ick-and-boo material, and she's so ferociously committed that you'd think she's playing Joan of Arc. She belongs in a better movie. Or a movie.

Horror Freak News calls it "an absolute stinker from start to finish". HorrorNews.net says it's "a typical sci-fi B-movie. Nothing too terribly great, nothing too terribly bad."

St. Paul 42

The Daughter and her husband recently moved to St. Paul, MN, and she found this 42 on a recent walk in her neighborhood. I'm excited for them that they get to live in a blue state.

My Name is Nobody

My Name Is Nobody is a 1973 comedy spaghetti western starring Terrence Hill and Henry Fonda. The music is by Ennio Morricone, which is reason enough to watch it. I saw it on tubitv, or you can watch it via DailyMotion:

 

******* 

Spaghetti-Western.net says it "simply works marvelously as an allegory for a dying era an a dying genre." AV Club calls it "The definitive spaghetti Western parody". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 100%.

Here's Nobody having a beer at the bar:

Please join me at the weekly T Stands for Tuesday blogger gathering hosted by Bleubeard and Elizabeth.

The Red Thread

photo of the author from Wikipedia

The Red Thread is a science fiction short story by Sofia Samatar. You can read it online here. It begins,

Dear Fox,

Hey. It’s Sahra. I’m tagging you from center M691, Black Hawk, South Dakota. It’s night and the lights are on in the center. It’s run by an old white guy with a hanging lip -he’s talking to my mom at the counter. Mom’s okay. We’ve barely mentioned you since we left the old group in the valley, just a few weeks after you disappeared. She said your name once, when I found one of your old slates covered with equations. “Well,” she said. “That was Fox.”

One time -I don’t think I told you this- we lost some stuff over a bridge. Back in California, before we met you. The wind was so strong that day, we were stupid to cross. We lost a box of my dad’s stuff, mostly books, and Mom said: “Well. There he goes.”

Like I said, the wind was strong. She probably thought I didn’t hear her.

I think she’s looking at me. Hard to tell through the glass, it’s all scratched and smeared with dead bugs. I guess I should go. We’re headed north—yeah, straight into winter. It’s Mom’s idea.

I’ve still got the bracelet you gave me. It’s turning my wrist red.

.......

Pee Mak

Pee Mak is a 2013 award-winning Thai comedy horror movie with romance elements. It's based on the Nang Nak ghost legend. I watched it on Netflix. I like the film adaptations I've seen of this tale, and I thoroughly enjoyed this one even though comedy horror isn't my favorite sub-genre. I wouldn't make this the first adaptation I watched. Maybe start with Nang Nak instead.

trailer:

President-elect Joe Biden

It's been a hard four years. I'm celebrating today.

Big Ass Truck

Here's live video from a Memphis concert at the Shell:

by Big Ass Truck, a Memphis band from the 1990s.

The Delightful Rogue

The Delightful Rogue is a 1929 pre-code adventure film starring Rod La Rocque as a modern-day pirate in the south seas. I watched it online but can't find so much as a trailer now.

Fatal Remedies

Fatal Remedies in the 8th book in the Inspector Guido Brunetti series by Donna Leon. I enjoy these, the setting, the characters, the plots, and am asking for them for presents. They should be read in order as the characters develop over time, but I read my first few out of order having found them in a local used book store.

This one takes place in November.

from the back of the book:

In the eighth book in Donna Leon's internationally bestselling series, Commissario Guido Brunetti's career comes under threar as his professional and personal lives unexpectedly conflict.

It all begins with an early morning phone call. In the chill of the Venetian dawn, a sudden act of vandalism shatters the quiet of the city, and Brunetti is shocked to find that the culprit waiting to be apprehended at the scene is his own wife, Paola. She has taken a stand against a travel agency known for a certain kind of shady tourism. Meanwhile, at work, Brunetti is under pressure from his superiors to solve a daring robbery with a link to a suspicious accidental death. Does it all lead back to the mafia? And how are his family's actions connected to these crimes?

I've read the following from this series:

#1 Death at La Fenice (1992)
#2 Death in a Strange Country (1993)
#3 Dressed for Death (1994)
#4 Death and Judgment (1995)
#5 Acqua Alta (1996)
#6 Quietly in Their Sleep
#13 Doctored Evidence (2004)
#18 About Face (2009)
#19 A Question of Belief
#20 Drawing Conclusions
#22 The Golden Egg

The Ghost Train (1941)

The Ghost Train is a 1941 thriller mystery comedy, not the horror movie the title might lead you to believe. Cute enough.

1000 Misspent Hours calls it "timid and corny".

Election Thoughts

I don't post more than once a day, but Kathy's post and her response to my comment there, and the fact that this is election day have made me decide to consider these issues here.

First, Kathy's post can be read at this link. This is the comment I made there in response to what she wrote:

1) The Democratic Party does not want "far left socialism-communism" or to "change our constitution to their "agenda"".

2) That Joe Biden is our candidate oughta be ample proof that it's not true that "The far left and militant-terrorist groups such as antifa have taken over the Democratic Party."

3) This: "The far left has already silenced our free speech" is just not true for several reasons, the first of which is that our first amendment right to free speech doesn't give us the right to say whatever we want to on private platforms in violation of their terms of service.

4) I'm not even sure what you mean by the far left "no longer taught to love our country, flag and our history" as Democrats are every bit as patriotic as Republicans and just as interested in having us understand our history.

5) Churches aren't closed anywhere. Churches are not the buildings or the meetings but the Christians themselves. Even in states -both Republican and Democratic- where there are regulations about masks and gathering size, worship services continue. Zoom and FB Live are booming! Drive-in, open-air services were a thing some places in prettier weather. And outreach to the community in these difficult times continues. Food pantries are being stocked, aid to the sick and homeless and jobless continues. Donations for Christmas gifts for those less fortunate may well have increased. Churches are thriving in these days even as they look forward to the time when they can gather in more traditional ways.

6) The number of people across this country who want to repeal the 2nd amendment number [is] in the single digits. The Democratic party has never advanced this as a part of their platform or legislative agenda.

In conclusion I'd just like to say how much reactions like this remind me of my days campaigning for Obama during his first run when people screamed and cried in my face, tears running down their cheeks, honestly frightened, swearing we wouldn't even have a country if he were elected. They were wrong. And I'd like to encourage you that even if Biden does win, even if he's allowed to take office in a traditional and peaceful change of administration, Biden will be a president for everybody. He's encouraging us to leave aside the hate and fear and come together as the great nation we are. Know that I'm praying for you no matter which way this election goes. “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”

******* 

My decision to address this here instead of in her blog comments was made due to her response which began, "I have no response to this comment because your points show that you only listen to main stream media you are Not hearing what is really going on in this country..." I mean she did respond 😉 but in such a patronizing way that I don't feel welcome at this point to continue the conversation there. Blogging isn't like Facebook where interactions happen in real time. I just want some things on the record here.

I numbered the points above and will letter the ones below so you can respond more easily if you'd like.

A) There's no evidence that any of this fear-mongering is based in fact. None. I'd welcome actual evidence of it, but it's just not there. The Democratic Party is not The Enemy, is not trying to repeal the 2nd Amendment, has not been taken over by radical leftists, and isn't going to cancel Christmas or take away your constitutional right to free speech. We love our country just as much as you do. Sheesh. The ignorance in these claims is mind-boggling. There's never even any attempt to provide evidence to support them except that Trump, whose lies are legion, has said so or that there's some soundbite quote lifted out of context that can be twisted into seeming to support it.

B) To think that we aren't far enough left isn't proof of some kind of nefarious plot. It's a political leaning. When Republicans say they don't think we're far enough right I don't accuse them of being Fascist.

C) Biden is not a leftist or a puppet of leftists and that Trump and his surrogates say it doesn't make it so. Biden has managed to build a coalition of support from a wide variety of political leanings from Bernie Sanders supporters to many Republicans (surely you've heard of the Lincoln Project).

D) That anyone would think Biden has worked this hard to step aside for Harris is ludicrous, and if you believe it then this is me laughing. If we're gonna start counting times politicians have misspoken then I'm not done with Trump yet. It'll be a while before I make my way that far down the political ladder to get to state-level campaign staffers.

E) Kamala Harris has not "already spoken publicly during this election how they will be collecting our guns". That's just not true. She favors reasonable gun safety laws, and you thinking they're not reasonable doesn't turn them into "collecting our guns".

F) I won't address the abortion issue at all, except to say if you can find any evidence that Harris supports abortion at 9 months (full term at 40 weeks) I'd like to see it.

G) I follow a wide range of news sources. I'd be happy to share them.  I do my best to stay well-informed. That people make the assumption that because I disagree with them I'm the one in a media bubble is hilarious, especially when they tend to be sharing links to Drudge, Breitbart, Infowars and The Blaze. QAnon is also not a news source. That we don't agree doesn't make me wrong.

******* 

I'm used to talking politics on Facebook, not in blog comments. On Facebook the discussion tends to be private (friends-only), free-spirited and casual, and a short form, with many a meme and video and gif. This is different. This is public. Comments must be approved. Writings tend to be more organized and better thought out and longer. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. That said, I'm open to this discussion if anyone wants to have it. 

Breakfast

Breakfast:

by Henri Matisse, who died on November 3 in 1954 at the age of 84.

Please join me at the weekly T Stands for Tuesday blogger gathering hosted by Bleubeard and Elizabeth.

Matrimony's Speed Limit

Matrimony's Speed Limit is a 1913 short silent comedy film directed by Alice Guy-Blaché.

Birds in the Mouth

Birds in the Mouth is a 2011 short story by Samanta Schweblin. You can read it online here. It begins,

I turned off the TV and looked out the window. Silvia’s car was parked in front of the house, with the emergency lights on. The bell rang again; she knew I was home. I went to the door and opened it.

“Hi,” she said. “We have to talk.”

She pointed to the sofa, and I obeyed because sometimes, when the past knocks on the door and treats me as it did four years ago, I continue to be an idiot.

“You’re not going to like it. It’s…it’s hard.” She looked at her watch. “It’s about Sara.”

“It’s always about Sara.”

“You’re going to say I’m exaggerating, I’m nuts, all that stuff. But there’s no time today. You’re coming home right now. This you have to see with your own eyes.”

“What’s going on?”

“Besides, I told Sara you were going to come, so she’s waiting for you.”

We remained silent for a moment. She frowned, got up, and went to the door. I grabbed my coat and went after her.

The house looked as it always did, with the lawn recently cut and Silvia’s azaleas hanging from the balconies on the second floor. We got out of our cars and went inside without speaking.

Sara was on the sofa. Although classes were over for the year, she was wearing her middle school uniform