New Bloggy Update! 6/9/24

The Steampunk Convention: Cogs & Corsets (Saturday, June 8, 2024)

For some delightful, wonderful reason, Cogs & Corsets: A Steampunk Happening is always a great show for me (and my wares). The vendors were outside this year (which always freaks me out), but you can see that my new orange sandbags (one seen at the lower left-hand corner) are doing their best to keep the tent from blowing away. Fortunately, the wind wasn’t too bad yesterday, but I felt better knowing they were doing their 35 pound best.

The next event for me won’t be until the latter part of August, which, as far as this year is going, is a good thing. I’m trying to stay the course on Draft #3 of my new book (6 stories are done, with nine to go as of this writing) and we have some mini-trips over the next two months, so not having to deal with events ’til then is fine.

I actually ran out of Toad Bags (tote) yesterday, which is a first for me. Since my bag supplier doesn’t have the material color I normally order, I had to pivot to a new, non-green color: What do you think?

We’ve also had some adorable “visits” out on our back deck lately: A fluffy raccoon stopped by and ate all the cat food; two chipmunks decided that our tree was the perfect place to ‘have adult relations’; a cat smelled the dish and instead of eating, camped out on the deck and watched Monkey from its vantage point. Adorable things all around! 🙂

So, what have we been watching?

Club Zero (2023) – An upscale academy hires Wasikowska’s Ms. Novak to teach a class on conscious eating, an ideological practice predicated on mindful consumption (with regards to our bodies, waste, the environment) which through her instruction degrades into a form of intermittent fasting and then straight-up starvation (Google) Boy, do I wish this movie was better than it was. The premise could have made for a fantastic horror movie OR, taken in a different direction, could have been a full frontal attack on “not questioning authority” or “the social ills of poor eating choices”, but none of these roads were taken. Instead, we, the audience was left with a middle-of-the-road, pastel-feeling, subtle take on mindful eating. It was fair, but if we had missed it, I would have easily survived. Not a recommend, but not a warning either.

Togo (2019) – “Togo” is the true story set in the winter of 1925 of champion dogsled trainer Leonhard Seppala and his lead sled dog, Togo. Together, they embark on an adventure across the treacherous terrain of Alaska to transport medicine to a small town. (Google) Willem Defoe and Diesel, the dog-actor, bring this tale (tail) to life. What’s VERY cool is this factoid: Diesel, the main dog actor who plays Togo, is a CKC registered Siberian Husky from Newfoundland, Canada. He is a direct descendant of the real life Togo, going back 14 generations. If you want a feel-good, not overly Disneyfied movie for the whole family, you could do a heck of a lot worse than this. I gave it an 8.4.

Color Out of Space (2019) – After a meteorite lands in the front yard of their farm, Nathan Gardner and his family find themselves battling a mutant extraterrestrial organism that infects their minds and bodies, transforming their quiet rural life into a technicolor nightmare. (Google) This movie is based on the short story from H.P. Lovecraft (with the same name), and if you listen closely, you’ll hear Lovecraftian words/names/places like Miskatonic, Arkham, mythos, indescribable (color), etc. It’s the kind of film that will pull you in with realism and then twist things around. Nick Cage does a pretty decent job “containing his crazy side” right up until it’s needed. Charlie and I actually watched this a few years ago, so this was a re-watch. We graded it better the second time around. Why? I don’t know. (lol) Recommended for those who enjoy sci-fi/light fantasy/H.P. Lovecraft stories/horror lite.

Godzilla Minus One (2023) – Japan has barely recovered from the Second World War when a gigantic peril emerges off the coast of Tokyo. Koichi, a deserter traumatised by his first confrontation with Godzilla, sees this as an opportunity to redeem his conduct during the war. (Google) Yeah…it was fine. If you have EVER seen a Godzilla movie, nothing will surprise you here. It’s basically a re-worked 1950s/1960s film made in the current time. What IS cool about this, however, IS the fact that they made a 2023 movie seem like it was done in the 50s/60s – including the technology, the (bad) acting, the overdubbed dialogue – everything. Those aspects were very cool and probably lost on some of the audience. I gave it a 6.7 and Charlie was right there with his 6.8.

Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022) – Valeria’s joy at becoming a first-time mother is quickly taken away when she’s cursed by a sinister entity. As danger closes in, she’s forced deeper into a chilling world of dark magic that threatens to consume her. (Google) There’s quite a bit going on with this one. It’s part horror, part mystic, part religious, part cultural…and part annoying. It’s not that the actors were bad – I just didn’t care for many of the characters’ choices and behaviors. In order to avoid spoilers, let me leave you with this: if you’re going to make a sinister entity harass someone, it might be a good idea to let the audience in on why. I mustered a 5.2 and Charlie came in a 5.9, but those numbers might run a bit high.

So, there we are. If you haven’t lately, check out the All Business articles (posted on the first of each month), the newest interviews, and if by chance you’ve read one (or more) of my books, PLEASE leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. It’s a BIG DEAL! 🙂