Bloggy Update 10/14/24

Our mini-vacation to a cabin in Wisconsin for Charlie’s birthday was pretty darn cool. Animals on the property made it AWESOME. We tried our hand at scuttling around nearby woods in an ATV (Charlie drove and I kept an eyeball out for critters while trying to navigate – want to guess how that worked out? lol). And of course, the requisite visit to a record shop was a must. If you ever get to the Blue Highway Lodge in/near Hillsboro, Wisconsin, you’re in for a very groovy time (and tell Karri and Nate, owners, tell ’em we said hello!).

As for all things spooky-ish, I have an upcoming post/interview on Bad Moon Rising, fellow author and internet friend, Teri Polen’s blog. If you’re unfamiliar, do yourself a solid and check it out! Every October, she posts interviews with genre-related authors each day – https://teripolen.com/category/bad-moon-rising/. Thanks and a big juicy THANK YOU to Teri!

Draft #5 is just around the corner. My plan is to start back in later next week. As my previous Bloggy Update mentioned, the latter half of September and very early October were a bit chaotic. I’m hoping that by next week, everything will slow to a simmer and focusing on a manuscript won’t be so challenging. Still, I’m pretty excited about the stories I’ve worked on. I think you’ll dig ’em if you like creepy and unsettling tales.

Tomes of Terror is the next event for me. Held by Bobzbay Books in conjunction with Red Raccoon Games in Bloomington, Illinois, this is the second year for the spooky author fair. I’ll have all the info in the EVENTS section, so if you are looking for your next creepy read, come on by! It’s on Saturday, October 26 from 10am to 4pm.

And what the heck have we been watching?

Blue Ruin (2013) – An ominous piece of news sends a drifter (Macon Blair) back to his hometown to exact brutal — and inept — revenge for the deaths of his parents. (Google) The premise is great – a twisted tale of revenge and intrigue. Right? Well, the concept was there, but this was a slow moving target that sort of ‘came alive’ in the last ten minutes of its run time. Yeah, there were decent bits and pieces along the way, but it simply didn’t connect with me (and my expectations). I ended up with a 4.6 but Charlie tossed a 7.0 its way. You might dig this if you like a slow-moving retaliation film.

Under Paris (2024) – To save Paris from a bloodbath, a grieving scientist is forced to face her tragic past when a giant shark appears in the Seine. (Google) Wacky, sometimes entertaining and sometimes eye-roll inducing, this ‘sharknado bandwagon’ film is probably what you might expect it to be. Giant shark with a host of pointy-finned friends and relatives make their way to France just in time to terrorize thousands of people during a swimming contest. There’s the requisite ‘environmental troubles’ that no doubt contributed to this looming disaster (which, in my opinion, are totally justified, but pushed highhandedly here) to top things off. We gave it a 3.1/3.0 respectively. Do yourself a favor and re-watch Jaws.

Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (2022) – When an interdimensional rupture unravels reality, an unlikely hero must channel her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse as the fate of the world hangs in the balance. (Google) This Academy Award winning picture deserves high praise…for cinematography, acting, settings, and numerous other achievements. There is no doubt in my mind that the work that went into creating this was truly groundbreaking. That said, I was absolutely out of my mind bored and eventually ‘checked out’ at the three-quarter mark. This is a movie that is ALL fantasy and heavily relies on time jumps, world jumps, and unreliable characters. If you don’t enjoy fantasy, intense science fiction, and/or absurdist fiction, you will NOT have fun sitting through almost three hours of this constant barrage of visual stimuli. I know I didn’t (but that’s just me). I could barely part with the 2.2 score I gave it, but that’s only because I REALLY dislike genres such as this. Charlie loved it as his 8.5 score proves.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993) – Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) is a small-town young man with a lot of responsibility. Chief among his concerns are his mother (Darlene Cates), who is so overweight that she can’t leave the house, and his mentally impaired younger brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio), who has a knack for finding trouble. Settled into a job at a grocery store and an ongoing affair with local woman Betty Carver (Mary Steenburgen), Gilbert finally has his life shaken up by the free-spirited Becky (Juliette Lewis). (Google) Yep. It’s taken me 31 years to watch this one. I didn’t have any expectations going into it, although I had a rough idea about the subject matter. I just never managed to see the film in its entirety. Now that I have, I can state that I found it to be okay. Maybe slightly better than ‘okay’, but honestly, it gave me a quirky vibe that felt forced. Leo DiCaprio was amazing in his role (as were many of the cast), but it fell a little flat for me. I hate to say it, but I think Johnny Depp was miscast. I could see River Phoenix (I know, he passed in ’93), Christian Bale, or Jared Leto playing the part better. I ended up giving it a 7.1 for all the moving parts, but I think one viewing was enough. Charlie swung a 9.9 for this. Obviously, your mileage may vary as well.

And that is a wrap, people. Please share the blog far and wide! And if you’ve perused any of my books, do leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. It would be VERY much appreciated!

Stay Spooky! 🙂