It took a decade+, but I can finally say I’m a “published writer” now. “Thompson Heller: Detective Interstellar” hit shelves this week, and I couldn’t have been prouder. The fine folks @ Bedrock City Comics hosted an in-store signing event for me:
I had a blast interacting with readers and getting the opportunity to pitch the book to customers at Bedrock City. I had a lot of friends & book-club members come out, who braved the rising Covid19 spike to come out and show support for me and the book, for which I’m greatly appreciative.
“Spotted in the wild” & new reviews
Release week had a number of other delights - including the first sighting of a copy of “Thompson Heller” out in the wild. And it was a thrill to see a copy of “Heller” included in a nice stack of #NCBD comics posted by comics fan online:
We also received some excellent new reviews in the indie comics press:
From Comics Bookcase’s review : “an engaging detective comic that introduces readers to an original universe and makes the most of its unique premise”
Reading with a Flight Ring says: “This is a true unexpected gem of a book and you need to be checking this out.”
And Christa Harader at Comic Book Yeti says, quite colorfully:
Radar Pings
I picked up a handful of titles at the Barnes & Noble Criterion Collection 50% Off sale and took a chance on a Romanian film titled “Graduation” - a contemporary social drama, which I can only describe as the Romanian version of the Lori Loughlin college-admissions scandal. It shared the Best Director prize at the Cannes festival in 2016, and provides a scathing perspective on a society rife with corruption.
My re-watch binge of The Crown, in anticipation of the upcoming fourth season, reminds me of what a spectacular series it is: each episode is a distinct marvel: impeccably photographed and beautifully performed. A second viewing of the two best episodes of season 3 (Aberfan, involving a tragic accident in a coal town, and Tywysog Cymru, which miraculously humanizes and gives a soul to Prince Charles) have convinced me that the third season is just as brilliant as the first two. It took some adjusting to the new cast, but now I can’t wait to see their next season.
AppleTV commits a cinematic atrocity
So, we’ve all got those unexplained major gaps in our movie viewing history, right? Those handful of flicks that you somehow just missed out on? One of my favorite directors of the ‘80s is John Carpenter. And yet somehow, I never managed to see the film that many people rank as his best: The Thing.
With the Halloween season in the air, I decided to finally watch The Thing this year. I fired up my AppleTV and found the film in the menu system and started watching.
Immediately, something seemed a little bit …off. The quality of the image was just too crisp. One of the initial shots seemed impossible to pull off using 1981-1982 filmmaking technology. But, it wasn’t until about 8 minutes into the film that I realized I was involuntarily watching the terrible 2011 remake.
I captured the failure of the AppleTV system here just so you’ll see it wasn’t “user error” -