#issac blum

[docgold13]

All the Lex Luthor(s)

from the best of the best to the not the best of the rest...*

1). Gene Hackman

2). Clancy Brown

3). Michael Rosenbaum

4). Michael Bell

5) Lyle Talbot 6). John Cryer

7). James Woods

8). Kevin Michael Richardson

9). Rainn Wilson

10). Giancarlo Esposito

11). John Shea

12). John DiMaggio 13). Jason Issacs

14). Kevin Spacy

15). Mark Rolston 16). Chris Noth

17). Anthony LaPaglia

18). Michael Cudlitz

19). Max Mittleman

20). Steve Blum 21). James Masters

22). Jesse Eisenberg

*Agree, disagree; have I left anyone out? Let me know what you think.

[publishedtoday]

The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen - Isaac Blum

Hoodie Rosen's life isn't that bad. Sure, his entire Orthodox Jewish community has just picked up and moved to the quiet, mostly non-Jewish town of Tregaron, but Hoodie's world hasn't changed that much. He's got basketball to play, studies to avoid, and a supermarket full of delicious kosher snacks to eat. The people of Tregaron aren’t happy that so many Orthodox Jews are moving in at once, but that’s not Hoodie’s problem. That is, until he meets and falls for Anna-Marie Diaz-O’Leary—who happens to be the daughter of the headstrong mayor trying to keep Hoodie’s community out of the town. And things only get more complicated when Tregaron is struck by a series of antisemitic crimes that quickly escalate to deadly violence. As his community turns on him for siding with the enemy, Hoodie finds himself caught between his first love and the only world he’s ever known.

tw: antisemitism, blood, gun violence, hate crimes, murder, religious trauma, violence

[iamanerd1]

Shout out to Oscar Issac for calling out Disney on their bs.

But to me he’ll never hold a candle to Steve Blum who is the PRESIDENT of the “Fuck Disney, give my character a gay Star Wars romance team.”

[devientdeco]

I’ve compiled a list of my books which may interest yall, due to things relating to murder, history, or other interesting things:

The Murder Of The Century by Paul Collins; Fascinating and, at the time, famous murder case in 1890s New York. The over-the-top and theatrical lawyer William Howe would make a fascinating walk-on role if a lawyer is ever required given his penchant for the dramatic and unusual. (in unrelated cases, he once had a witness move to Japan, and successfully convinced a jury that a trigger finger “slipped” four times)

Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum; An excellent and quite readable analysis of the mass starvation known as the Holodomor, in the Ukraine in the 1920s and 1930s, told alongside the Soviet campaign to destroy Ukrainian identity and religion.

The Vampire: A New History, by Nick Groom; An interesting account of the history of the vampire and associated folklore prior to Dracula. Focuses mostly on England, but still an interesting book.

The Ghosts of Eden Park by Karen Abbott; An interesting Jazz Age murder coupled with bootlegging and madness.

The Berlin-Baghdad Express by Sean McMeekin: Detailing Imperial Germany’s attempts at courting the Ottoman Empire and trying to weaponize the concept of Jihad against the British, it also delves briefly into German spy-archeologists who wouldn’t be out of place in Imprisoned With The Pharaohs, like the scandalous Baron Max Von Oppenheim.

The Wolf; The Mystery Raider That Terrorized The Seas During WW1 by Richard Gulliat: In Dagon, a German “sea-raider” captures the narrator. I’m assuming it was one of the cargo ships converted into lethal raiding vessels, like the SMS Wolf; which spent 15 months at sea. I also wrote a paper for my history methods class, all about differences in newspaper accounts between the New York Times and the London Times, with regards to the fascinating SMS Mowe, which operated in the Atlantic, so I have other books about the raiding vessels if anyone is interested by them.

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore; Tells the tale of radioactive paint and the girls who licked the paintbrushes to get them fine enough for the number painting; and their inevitable horrible deaths and the lawsuits and struggles of the longest living ones.

Issac’s Storm by Erik Larson; Pretty much everything by Larson is fantastic; it’s non-fiction, but it’s thrilling and reads like a novel. This one tells the story of Issac Cline, a metrologist working in Galveston Texas, and the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, the deadliest in US history. A tale of hubris and storms.

In The Garden Of Beasts by Erik Larson; The story of the first US ambassador to Nazi Germany (from my state!), and his family in Berlin in the late 1930s. Politics, murder, and affairs with the head of the Gestapo and a Soviet agent (simultaneously!).

The Poisoners Handbook by Deborah Blum; A book about Jazz Age NYC and poisonings as well as the first Chief Medical Examiner (the corruption and sheer ineptitude of the last coroner before the position was abolished is almost comical; see the fact that he ruled a death as “assault or diabetes”). Explains in a understandable way how many poisons work, and provides fascinating cases as examples.

The Witches by Stacy Schiff; An account of the Salem Witch Trials, as well as an interesting overview of Puritan New England.

The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson; Another excellent book by Larson, juxtaposing the the 1893 Worlds Fair and the activities of serial killer H. H Holmes.

Dead Wake by Erik Larson; This one covers their sinking of the Lusitania and the activities of the U-Boat which sank it. Also covers the going’s-on of British Naval Intelligence and Woodrow Wilson.

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson; Another book of ships and serial killers and science, juxtaposing the invention of wireless by Marconi with the murder committed by George Crippen and how wireless led to a trans-Atlantic chase by Scotland Yard.

African Kaiser by Robert Gaudi; Tells the story of the fascinating Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck and his guerrilla campaign in Africa. Featuring recon on bikes, a British Intelligence nemesis/friend, and an airship resupply mission.

The American Plague by Molly Crosby: About Yellow Fever and it’s outbreak in Memphis, TN, in 1878, and the work of Walter Reed to discover its vector.

City of Light, City of Poison by Holly Tucker; A fascinating historical incident in 1670s France, where poisonings, murder, witchcraft, and corruption amongst the aristocracy led to scandalous trials and King Louis XIV ordering documents destroyed after a mistress was implicated. Witches, poison, and intrigue!

Black Death at The Golden Gate by David Randall; An interesting account of the 1900 outbreak of bubonic plague in San Francisco.

The Splendid And the Vile by Erik Larson; An excellent account of Churchill and London from 1940 to 1941, the brunt of The Blitz.

Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higgenbotham; An excellent and well-written account of Chernobyl. Very easy to understand and well-written, and also provides an interesting glimpse into Soviet culture.

And finally, a fiction book that I thought might intrigue y’all;

The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell; Set in 1930s Czechoslovakia, a psychologist interviews 6 serial killers at an asylum in an effort at discovering what he terms “The Devil Aspect”. Things take an unusual turn when he experiments with drugs to unlock the unconsciousness of his patients, as another serial killer stalks Vienna. Almost like a 1930s take on Silence Of The Lambs. Very well-written, in my opinion. Has a slightly Lovecraftian-ish twist, and the asylum overall/experiments make me think of Lovecraft a bit (don’t think Call of Cthulhu, think Thing On The Doorstep or Shadow Out of Time).

[screenandcinema]

Looking Ahead to 2020

With December coming to an end, I thought this would be a good time to list the films I am most excited about coming to theaters in 2020. In past years, I highlighted ten upcoming films that I was highly anticipating, however, there are too many good movies to look forward to in 2020, so I present the 15 films I am most excited about coming out next year (in alphabetical order):

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

Cathy Yan directs Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Ewan McGregor in this upcoming DC Comics film about the titular trio of heroines.

Bill & Ted Face the Music

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter return to their classics roles to “party on” to a third excellent adventure through time and space.

Dune

One of the hottest directors of the past decade, Denis Villeneuve, has set his sights on the classic 1965 novel Dune with a new adaptation starring Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Issac, and Josh Brolin (and countless others).

Fast & Furious 9

Justin Lin, who deserves more credit than anyone for what the Fast and Furious series has become after he saved it from obscurity in 2006, returns to the series after sitting out the last two installments to helm Fast & Furious 9.

The Invisible Man

Modern horror aficionado Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions finally get their hands into Universal's classic monster universe with this update of the classic 1933 of the same name, this time starring Elisabeth Moss and directed by Leigh Whannell.

King’s Man

Matthew Vaughan delivers a prequel to his Kingsman series in the form of an origin film of the titular intelligence agency set during World War I starring Ralph Fiennes and Gemma Arterton.

Last Night in Soho

This fall Edgar Wright will bring his fresh and bold style to the horror genre with Last Night in Soho starring Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Matt Smith, 

Mulan

Disney’s attempt to remake all their original animated films continues into 2020 with Mulan. The historical war drama (and not a musical) is directed by Niki Caro and stars Liu Yifei in the titular role.

No Time to Die

Daniel Craig returns as James Bond for the fifth (and likely final) time in No Time to Die, the character’s 25th official installment. Cary Fukunaga of the first season of True Detective directs.

Soul

Pixar and director Peter Docter (Inside Out) takes aim at the afterlife with the voices of Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey with Soul.

Tenet

With his first film since 2017, Christopher Nolan returns to the big screen with the mysterious Tenet starring John David Washington, Robert Pattison, and Elizabeth Debicki.

The Tomorrow War

Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, and J.K. Simmons star in the tale, from director Chris McKay, of a futuristic war that forces a failing side to draft new soldiers from throughout history.

Top Gun: Maverick

Joseph Kosinski directs Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, and Jon Hamm in this sequel to the 1986 classic, Top Gun.

West Side Story

Director Steven Spielberg adapts the iconic 1957 musical of the same name starring Angel Elgort and cast filled with newcomers.

Wonder Woman 1984

Gal Gadot returns as Wonder Woman in this sequel from Patty Jenkins that transports the superhero from the World War I setting of the first film to (you guessed it from the title) 1984.

Other 2020 films of merit (in no particular order): Bad Boys for Life, Sonic the Hedgehog, Fantasy Island, Onward, A Quiet Place: Part II, The New Mutants, Antebellum, Black Widow, Greyhound, Scoob!, The Organ Donor, Artemis Fowl, In the Heights, Free Guy, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, The Purge 5, Jungle Cruise, Morbius, Infinite, Without Remorse, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Venom 2, Death on the Nile, Halloween Kills, Snake Eyes, The Eternals, Red Notice, Godzilla vs. Kong, Escape Room 2, Coming 2 America, Uncharted, News of the World, and The Last Duel.

Now for a quick look ahead to 2021, my top picks for that year are The Batman, Jurassic World 3, Spider-Man 3, Mission: Impossible 7, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Indiana Jones 5.

-MB-