#daniel mandell

[sesiondemadrugada]

You Only Live Once (Fritz Lang, 1937).

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[theultimatesexypeopleshowdown]

[eddwardtheseventhspacewizard]

I drew these at the beginning of the month but forgot to post them lol. These are my first drawings of Dan and Chris. I’ve draw them a whole bunch more nothing significant though so I may post a collection of those doodles.

[vallxlkzal]

ОРРРРР 2021

[90smovies]

[brokehorrorfan]

Little Monsters will be released on Blu-ray (with Digital) in Steelbook packaging on March 5 exclusively at Walmart for $19.96. Other than the packaging, the disc is identical to Lionsgate's Vestron Video release from 2020.

The 1989 comedy film is directed by Richard Greenberg and written by Terry Rossio & Ted Elliott (Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl). Fred Savage, Howie Mandel, Daniel Stern, Margaret Whitton, Frank Whaley, and Rick Ducommun star.

Vance Kelly designed the Steelbook art. Special features are listed below, where you can also see the interior layout.

Special features:

Audio commentary by Cult of Monster editor-in-chief Jarret Gahan

Isolated score selections and audio interview with composer David Newman

Interview with actor Howie Mandel

Interview with producer Andrew Licht

Interview with special makeup effects creator Robert Short

Vintage interviews with director Richard Alan Greenberg, actors Fred Savage and Ben Savage, special makeup effects creator Robert Short

Behind-the-scenes footage

Howie Mandel makeup transformation footage

EPK & VHS promo

Theatrical trailer

Still gallery

Little Monsters is the story of Brian (Fred Savage), a sixth-grader who’s recently moved to a new town and made friends with Maurice (Howie Mandel) – the monster who lives under Brian’s bed! Maurice introduces Brian to the world of monsters, where junk food rules, adulters aren’t allowed, and the fun and games never end. But when Brian’s brother is kidnapped, it’s time for Brian to get serious and fight the monsters on their turf.

[singeratlarge]

peter chauncey’s SONG OF THE WEEK: “Go Your Own Way”https://peterchauncey1.bandcamp.com/track/go-your-own-way ... Check out peter chauncey’s Americana-electronica arrangement of the Lindsay Buckingham-penned Fleetwood Mac anthem “Go Your Own Way.” “This song is timeless,” says peter. “I wanted to get that ‘blue lights in the basement,’ kind of feel, aiming for something intimate and atmospheric.” The recording was produced by Johnny J. Blair (who also played bass & guitars on this track). The amazing percussion and synthesizer work is by the mega-talented Daniel Berkman. Listen: https://peterchauncey1.bandcamp.com/track/go-your-own-way

#FleetwoodMac #LindseyBuckingham #Go #Monkees #DavyJones #bass #guitar #DanielBerkman #percussion #synthesizer #artrock #electronic #intimate #blue #light #basement #peterchauncey #johnnyjblair #recording #producer #Beck

[adamwatchesmovies]

Little Monsters (1989)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

I can’t believe this is the third time I’ve seen Little Monsters. The first time was in 2012. I didn't like it but my review was too short so I re-watched it AGAIN in 2016. I didn’t like it then either. In fact, I gave it a 0 score. Is the third time the charm?

After moving to a new house and new school, Brian (Fred Savage) is miserable. His parents (Margaret Whitton and Daniel Stern) are always fighting, he’s getting blamed for every random thing that happens around the house and his brother Eric (Ben Savage) keeps bugging him about monsters living under his bed. Then, Brian discovers there IS a monster living under the bed. His name is Maurice (Howie Mandel) and he loves to pull pranks.

The worst part of this movie is Howie Mandel. His character is so annoying you’ll reach for your torch and pitchfork seconds after he appears. He’s always talking, always trying to make you laugh, always moving and gesticulating. I won’t blame the actor. I’ll blame director Richard Alan Greenberg, along with writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott. The mantra must’ve been “If someone isn’t talking, the audience won’t be laughing”. They couldn’t have been more wrong. This film only contains one funny joke and to give credit where credit is due, it’s from Mandel. Nonetheless, you can’t stand him. He’s playing this imitation Beetlejuice - one of many we saw starting in 1989. I’ve only ever seen two fast-talking outlandish supernatural sidekicks that worked - The Genie from Aladdin and the aforementioned ghost with the most. Everyone else you want to beat to a pulp with a shovel before burying them in the backyard.

With the main draw being as pleasant as a dental exam, Little Monsters was instantaneously doomed but the problems don't stop there. This film is so mean-spirited you’ll wind up cheering for the villains and hating the heroes. Case and point is an extended scene in which Brian and Maurice travel from one house to another, pulling pranks on children while they sleep. They paint the walls, put plastic wrap on toilets, peanut butter on phones, etc. That doesn’t sound so bad but they shave a cat off-screen and then take revenge upon Ronnie (Devin Ratray), a bully who tormented Brian and his brother earlier. They put cat food in his lunch and replace his apple juice with urine. I know kids pretend that any yellow liquid is piss all the time. The difference is that in this movie, we see Maurice gulp down all Ronnie's juice so he can turn around (away from the camera) pull out his blue monster dick and fill Ronnie’s bottle. the movie goes too far, particularly since we get to see Ronnie attempt to wash down the taste of the cat food with it the next day.

Speaking of Ronnie, I feel like doing a bit of nitpicking. I mean, why not? This movie is mean. It deserves a bit of its own medicine. Here’s how his introduction works. Brian and his little brother are on the bus. After an argument (related to the mysterious pranks around the house), Brian tosses Eric's lunch out the window. That's when Ronnie enters. The lunch hit him in the head. Ronnie threatens Eric, Brian defends his little brother and after a quick verbal back-and-forth, Ronnie is humiliated and gets off the bus. Wait. What happened? Was Ronnie part of the route? Like was he supposed to be picked up by the sassy bus driver? Or did she just let him hop on randomly? Either way, I guess he walked the rest of the way. Eventually, the character returns for the final act when he is recruited as one of Brian’s allies against Boy (Frank Whaley), the monster world’s evil ruler. I know what the movie is trying to do. The idea is that Brian and his bully are setting aside their differences for the greater good. Maybe they’ll even become friends. Inside the movie though, this alliance means nothing. Ronnie doesn’t know Brian was responsible for the cat food and piss in his lunch. He's not "forgiving" anything.

I've become more invested than I should in a movie that doesn’t deserve to be remembered. Little Monsters is mean, gross and ugly. The monsters are unappealing and not even in a “they’re monsters, they should be kind of scary” kind of way. One look and you'll “No thanks”. In fact, you can skip the look. Just say “No thanks” to Little Monsters. (February 10, 2023)

[fictional-dan-showdown]

Round 1, Match 10

[bkenber]

Anthony Hopkins on Playing the 'Psycho' Director in 'Hitchcock'

WRITER’S NOTE: This article was originally written back in 2012. Sir Anthony Hopkins has played real-life people in movies such as President Richard Nixon in “Nixon” and John Quincy Adams in “Amistad,” but he was initially hesitant about playing the brilliant filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock in “Hitchcock.” The master of suspense has been imitated so many times over the years to where it seems…

[ronnydeschepper]

Jean-Claude Garot: Snoopy versus the Red Baron

Op 16 juli 1986 krijg ik een artikel uit “The Bulletin” van 16/5/86 toegestuurd over Jean-Claude Garot (°oktober 1941) door Johannes Bresseleers als documentatie voor mijn stuk “Snoopy versus the Red Baron” dat ik wilde schrijven naar aanleiding van het merkwaardige feit dat de vroegere “revolutionair” Garot (van “Pour”) nu een duur Amerikaans wielertijdschrift (“Winning”) uitgeeft en nog elf…

[tstimacstumblinfuntime]

January Book Roundup

The Commodore (”Aubrey & Maturin”, book 17) by Patrick O’Brian, 1995  ★★★☆☆ 

I had more fun with The Commorodre than The Wine-Dark Sea, but not enough to make it all the way to four stars. Jack and Stephen are back in England with all the domestic strife that entails. While I got into the series for the navel adventure, the personal relationships that anchor the novels are what keep me coming back and boy howdy does this one have plenty of that. The book also has plenty of navel action, a good bit of espionage, and a significant digression to acknowledge the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade. Another perfectly acceptable book and I’m excited to read the next one. 

Leviathan Falls (”The Expanse”, book 9) by James S. A. Corey (Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck), 2021  ★★★★★

For unclear reasons, it took my local library an entire year to get a copy of this one and another two months for me to get my hands on it. Thankfully, it was entirely worth the wait. The final volume of “The Expanse” has all the exciting space action and well observed human drama that made the series so beloved. Not only that, it manages to wrap up the story of the Rocinante and her crew in an extremely satisfying, narratively symmetrical way. As for the plot... gang, this book has EVERYTHING: Malevolent interdimensional dark gods, an ex-Martian space emperor trying to do an “End of Evangelion”, ancient alien history lessons, and a Good Dog who doesn’t die (technically). I obviously can’t recommend the last book to anyone who might be curious, but the series in aggregate gets a hardy endorsement. 

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon), 2022  ★★★★☆

I picked this one up knowing exactly two things: My wife enjoyed it and what the cover looked like. Based on this information I was expecting some seriously spooky eco-horror. I was less than a page in when I discovered it was a retelling of “The Fall of the House of Usher” and adjusted my expectation to a story trading in gothic dread. And there is a good deal of both those things, but it was all filtered through a narrator who felt like a comic relief character who wandered in from a different story. What Moves the Dead is a strange piece that I never managed to get completely into, but it has a spectacular voice to it. This one gets a recommendation, but I’d give it a coin flip if the average reader bounces off or becomes completely absorbed.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, 2022 ★★★★☆

Don’t let the time travel, the people from the moon, or the majority of the book taking place in the future trick you: This is literary fiction, not science fiction. Not even what Margaret Atwood insists on calling “speculative fiction”, this is all literary all the way. I’m not much of a literary guy most of the time. If you aren’t going to keep me interested with cool sword fights or dope spaceships, I’m going to need the writing, themes, and structure to be perfect. And the book almost was perfect, bar one slight stumble at the end when a character says the theme of the book directly to the audience. I’m probably being churlish knocking a whole star off for that, but reviews are always subjective. To give you an idea of how perfect the book is otherwise: One of the characters is an author expy on book tour to promote her pandemic novel that was recently adapted to a popular film only for the tour to be interrupted by an actual pandemic and I didn’t immediately close the book with a sigh. This one gets the strongest possible recommendation to anyone with a passing interest in literary fiction (who have probably already read it). If you’re not usually a literary fiction person, I’d recommend this to you, too. Just know that if you find it a bit dull, that’s entirely your fault.

By the Numbers:

Total Books: 4

Genre: Historical Fiction (1), Science Fiction (1), Horror (1), Literary Fiction (1)

Decades: 1990s (1), 2020s (3) 

Author Stats: Women (2, 50%), POC: 0 (0%), Queer Authors: 1 (25%), Living Authors (3, 75%)

I keep saying “kinda light month” after reading four books, but after three months I’m forced to confront the possibility that I’m a “four books a month” guy. Would have been five if the library app hadn’t torn a book from my hands when I had less than 10% to go, but that’s life sometimes. I’m sure I committed some great sin to cause that reversal of fortune.

Also a much bigger percentage of books from this decade than in previous months, which is always nice. And if I can finish The World We Make before the loan expires in 7 days, next month I’ll finally have something other than a 0 for POC authors. 

Have you read any of these? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. But please don’t tell me what to read next. I have so may books to read, gang. Please don’t stack that tower any higher, I’m begging you.

[magpiefngrl]

personal Top-20 Fave Books of the 21st century

I'm sure we've all seen the NYT list of the 100 best books of the 21st century and perhaps some of you caught the second list, Readers Pick their Best Books of the 21st century, after all the comments the newspaper got about the first one.

There are issues with both these lists for me, because I read mostly genre, I read more international books, and I used to read a ton of YA in the past. This is a predominantly US-centric list, with the kind of books that the readers of a highbrow newspaper would gravitate towards and it definitely suffers from recency bias.

Of course the great thing about these kind of lists is that they give rise to discussions. And I've been thinking of what my personal Top-20 would be for books that stood out in the past 24 years.

I am the kind of person who has forgotten what she ate yesterday, but luckily Goodreads doesn't forget and I've been doing the yearly reading challenge since 2013, which was a great help. If I've forgotten something amazing is because I read it before social media.

Here we go, the books published this century that blew me away:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Γκιακ by Δημοσθένης Παπαμάρκος

Captive Prince by CS Pacat

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Brand New Ancients by Kae Tempest

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Mo Dao Zu Shi by MXTX

Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

The Amber Spyglass by P. Pullman

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel by S. Clarke

The Likeness by Tana French

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

Storm of Swords by GRRM

Long Price Quartet (a series, I'm cheating) by Daniel Abraham

Runners up:

The Dream Thieves, Brothers of the Wild North Sea, Spectred Isle, The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh, Bel Canto, Amberlough, Vita Nostra.

Anyone want to do something similar? Consider yourselves tagged and PLEASE tag me so I can see!

[thousandfireworks]

Authors whose books you have to avoid because they are problematic.

Abigail Hing Wen.

Alex Aster.

Alice Hoffman.

Alice Oseman.

Alison Win Scotch. ‘Terrorism is never acceptable. Not in Israel.’

Allie Sarah.

Amber Kelly.

Amy Harmon.

Annabelle Monaghan.

Anna Akana.

Aurora Parker.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Brandon Sanderson. Islamophobic.

Carissa Broadbent. Said that hamas is doing violence against innocence.

Chloe Walsh. Siding with Israel in the name of humanity.

Christina Lauren. Believe that Israel is the victim. A racist, also Islamophobic.

Colleen Hoover.

Cora Reilly. Travel to Israel despite criticism.

Danielle Bernstein. Islamophobic.

Danielle Lori.

Deke Moulton. Said hamas is terrorist.

Dian Purnomo.

Eliza Chan.

Elle Kennedy.

Elyssa Friedland.

Emily Henry.

Emily Mclntire.

Emily St. J. Mandel. Admiring Israel.

Gabrielle Zevin. Wrote a book about anti-Palestine. Mentioned Israel multiple times without context on his book.

Gregory Carlos. Israeli author. A zionist.

Hannah Whitten.

Hazel Hayes. Reposted a post about October 7th.

Heidi Shertok.

Jamie McGuire.

Jay Shetty. ‘Violence is happening in Israel.’

Jean Meltzer.

Jeffery Archer. Wrote a book with a mc Israel operative (mossad) in a positive and anti terrorist light.

Jennifer Hartman. Liked a post about pro-Israel.

Jen Calonita.

Jessa Hastings.

Jill Santopolo. Said that Israel has right to exist and fight back.

John Green.

Jojo Moyes.

J. Elle.

J. K. Rowling. Support genocide. Racist. Islamophobic.

Kate Canterbery.

Kate Stewart.

Katherine Howe.

Katherine Locke.

Kristin Hannah. Support Israel. Shared a donation link.

Laini Taylor.

Laura Thalassa. Islamophobic.

Lauren Wise. Cussed that Palestinian supporters would be raped in front of children.

Lea Geller. Thanked people who supports Israel.

Leigh Dragoon. Islamaphobic and anti Asian racist rants on Twitter and threads

Leigh Stein.

Lilian Harris. A racist. Blocking people who educates about colonialism in Palestine and call them disgusting.

Lisa Barr. A daughter of Holocaust survivor. Support Israel.

Lisa Kennedy Montgomery.

Lisa Steinke.

Liz Fenton.

Lynn Painter. Afraid of getting cancelled as a pro-Palestine and posted a template afterwards.

L. J. Shen. Her husband joins idf (Israel army).

Mariana Zapata.

Marie Lu.

Marissa Meyer.

Melissa de la Cruz.

Michelle Cohen Corasanti.

Michelle Hodkin. Spread false rumors about arab-hamas. Islamophobic.

Mitch Albom. ‘We shouldn't blame Israel for surviving attacks or defending against them.’

Monica Murphy. Siding with Israel.

Naomi Klein.

Navah Wolfe.

Neil Gaiman. Suggested Palestinians unite with Israel and become citizens.

Nicholas Sparks.

Nic Stone. Talked nonsense that children in Palestinian refugee camp are training to be martyrs for Allah because they felt it was their call in life.

Nyla K.

Olivia Wildenstein. Blocking people who disagree with Israel wrongdoing.

Pamela Becker.

Penelope Douglas.

Pierce Brown.

Rachel Lynn Solomon.

Rebecca G. Martinez.

Rebecca Yarros. ‘I despise violence’ her opinion about what's happening in Gaza. Blocking people who calls her a zionist.

Rena Rossner.

Renee Ahdieh.

Rick Riordan.

Rina Kent.

Rivka (noctem.novelle).

Rochelle Weinstein.

Romina Garber. ‘These terrorist attacks do nothing to improve the lives of Palestinians people.’

Roshani Chokshi. Encourage people to donate to Israel.

Samantha Greene Woodruff.

Sarah J. Mass. Her book contained ideology of zionism.

Stephanie Garber. Promoting books by zionist author (Sarah J. Mass)

Skye Warren.

Sonali Dev.

Talia Carner.

Tarryn Fisher. Said ‘there was terrorist attack in Israel.’

Taylor Jenkins Reid. Posted a video about genocide.

Tere Liye. Rumoured to have ghoswriters to write his books and never give credit to them.

Tillie Cole.

Tracy Deon.

Trinity Traveler (Ade Perucha Hutagaol). Rumour to wrote book about handsome Israelis.

T. J. Klune.

Uri Kurlianchik.

Veronica Roth.

Victoria Aveyard. ‘Israel has the right to exist.’ quote from her about the issue.

V. E. Schwab. Shared a donation link and video about Israel.

Yuval Noah. ‘Israel has the right to do anything to defend themselves.’

Zibby Owens.

[eretzyisrael]

by Seth Mandel

As we consider the nature of the astonishing events both in Gaza and in Lebanon over the past month, we should recognize this one clear fact: Israel spent the last year not only fighting a two-front war in real time but learning from its every step and every move how to win the war that had been thrust upon it. And now it is.

I don’t need to rehearse it all for you, but I will, because it’s just so…exhilarating. The elimination of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah since 1992, brought to a climax a period of daring Israeli actions that included, but are not limited to:

—the assassination in the spring of leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Tehran’s most elite military unit, in a building in Syria.

—Israel’s use of some kind of science-fictional weapon we normies still don’t have a bead on against an Iranian site after the ineffectual missile attack Iran launched in response to the Syria killing—a clear message to the mullahs that Israel possesses terrifying capabilities Tehran cannot predict and that therefore Iran would be wise not to try and find out. And it hasn’t.

—the assassination inside Tehran in an apartment complex owned and run by the mullahs of Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh—a plan so daring and melodramatically implausible it seemed to have been lifted from the pages of one of Daniel Silva’s glorious Gabriel Allon novels.

—the trapping of senior Hamas leadership in a corner of the city of Rafah following a months-long halt outside this southernmost point in Gaza—a pause largely due to the historically embarrassing pressure exerted by an increasingly pusillanimous and morally impotent Biden administration and its fear of an electoral blowback in one state out of 50 in a country generally extremely supportive of Israel’s efforts.

—the relentless grinding down of Hamas to the point that in the past week Israel is now openly declaring that Hamas no longer functions as a military but has been downgraded into some kind of counterinsurgency at best.

—Operation Grim Beeper, in which Israel wounded or took off the fighting map literally thousands of Hezbollah operatives in a single second, followed a day later by the same attack on the secondary communications devices Hezbollah resorted to with their pagers blown up.

—Operation Northern Arrows, a series of Israeli strikes that did more damage to Hezbollah’s colossal missile stash in six hours than it had done in the 34 days Israel had fought Hezbollah in a conventional war in 2006. In a day’s time, the Israeli airforce hit 1,600 sites in Southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley.

—The picking-off of Hezbollah leaders systematically wherever and whenever they have been accessible for such elimination, beginning with military commander Fuad Shukr and reaching its apex on Friday with 83 tons dropped directly on the head of Hamas’s command-and-control superbunker—killing Hassan Nasrallah, the world’s most destructive terrorist over the past 32 years, thus decapitating Hezbollah, an enemy of Israel, the United States, and the Jewish people worldwide for four decades.

—the continuing elimination of Hezbollah leaders following Nasrallah’s death, three so far, demonstrating that the decapitation of Hezbollah is not going to be followed any time soon with any kind of regeneration.

And after I finish writing this and before you begin reading it, more will have happened to boost Israel’s side of the war-fighting ledger. And if you had told me just a month ago at the end of August that I would be writing these words at the end of September, I would have thought you mad.

Just one month ago, Israel had plunged into a despair deeper than it had experienced at any time after October 7 when the nation learned that six hostages, including the Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, had been murdered just minutes before they might have been rescued. Throughout Israel and the Jewish world, even some hawks found themselves all but ready to give up the fight because the continued plight of the hostages had just become too great to bear. A ceasefire was needed. Bring them home now.

The problem wasn’t an Israeli unwillingness to achieve a ceasefire. The Netanyahu government and its negotiators  accepted general ceasefire terms at multiple moments over the summer. Rather it was Hamas that would not proffer any kind of hostage return that even the United States, which wanted the ceasefire desperately, could view as minimally acceptable. But Israelis and Jews around the world had, without even knowing it really, been surviving on a kind of desperate optimism that things were really going to work out in a movie-ending sort of way. The loss of that optimism was soul-crushing and once again threatened to turn Israel inside out against itself even as the war was not won.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah was firing rockets, killing Druze children, and keeping the North depopulated. Israeli military leaders and Israelis have long known they would not be spared from directly engaging in this war on the northern border. But a country in mourning and a Jewish people worldwide overwhelmed by a degree of open hostility toward us most of us had never known could hardly bear the thought of that second front. Not to mention Yemen. Not to mention Iran.

Which is why September 2024 may go down in the annals of Jewish history as the time our people looked despair in the face and refused to submit to it. Israel said, through the proper democratic vehicle of the Jewish state’s duly elected government, that it would no longer hold itself back in hopes of a deal that would not emerge or tie an arm behind its back to manage a relationship with the United States when the U.S.’s position in all these matters had become all but inexplicable in its inconstancy.

The Netanyahu government acted, and with a kind of determination and confidence that has breathed new strength and a new sense of resolve into the Jewish people. Whatever the divisions and concerns and cautions inside the corridors of power about the astonishing onslaught of Israel against the Iran Axis of Evil, the fact is Israel stared into the abyss and said, “Not today. Not this week. Not this month. Not ever.”