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Rebecca Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4635
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| Posted: 05 May 2024 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | 1
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That's one of those '70s films I really should've gotten a deluxe edition DVD for as with Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, but it's so... terrifying! Hard to watch, for me anyway. I've tuned in for the ending multiple times though. :^)
On the Universal Studios tour the tram crossed some water and a mechanical Jaws lunged up snapping; my brother got a great close-up that's in one of the family photo albums!
Another memory is seeing the 'Wacky Packages' sticker for a Gums paperback. I think Art Speigelman had a hand in some of those...
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Craig Earl
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1408
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| Posted: 01 July 2024 at 6:31pm | IP Logged | 2
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Picked up a copy of HOUSE OF HAMMER - THE COLLECTION, which is a chunky hardcover featuring comic adaptations of some Hammer Horror classics (DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, QUATERMASS etc).
These stories are reprinted from the British B&W horror mag that ran from the mid seventies to early eighties. There's a charm to these stories (although they are a little clunky), but the real joy is in the great artwork from Paul Neary, Brian Bolland, John Stokes, John Bolton, David Lloyd, Steve Parkhouse and others).
Fun fact: I bought my copy from Dez Skinn, hired by Stan Lee to head up Marvel UK in the late seventies (Skinn used to travel from London to a town called Sevenoaks where Marvel UK were based - which is also the town where I was born and still live!).
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Mark Haslett
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 6511
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| Posted: 01 July 2024 at 6:54pm | IP Logged | 3
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QUENTIN TARANTINO’s “CINEMA SPECULATION”
Thoroughly entertaining journey through Tarantino’s unique life as a child
going to all the “wrong” movies and becoming who he is because of it.
Surprisingly emotional finale. Loved it.
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 896
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| Posted: 01 July 2024 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | 4
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Just finished MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE (2020) by Vaseem Khan, the first novel in his ongoing series featuring Persis Wadia, the first female detective on the Indian police force and British criminologist Archie Blackfinch.
The series is set in early 1950, just a few years after the nation of India was partitioned by the British as part of its independence and the fallout from the Muslim/Hindu ethnic violence is still quite fresh.
I enjoyed the book and have the sequel on order as we speak.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133577
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| Posted: 02 July 2024 at 4:22pm | IP Logged | 5
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THE INSOLENT CHARIOTS (1958) by John Keats. A dark, witty, caustic history of the American automobile, that I first read when I was about 14. Brilliantly illustrated by Michael Osborn.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133577
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| Posted: 02 July 2024 at 4:27pm | IP Logged | 6
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Fun fact: I bought my copy from Dez Skinn, hired by Stan Lee to head up Marvel UK in the late seventies (Skinn used to travel from London to a town called Sevenoaks where Marvel UK were based - which is also the town where I was born and still live!).••• As part of the promotion for the launch of Marvel UK, someone had the bright idea of including folding cardboard zip guns in each issue. These were manufactured in Ireland, and when they were ready to ship to Marvel a telegram(!) was sent announcing THE GUNS ARRIVE TUESDAY.
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Peter Hicks
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 1986
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| Posted: 02 July 2024 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | 7
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Currently reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I’m about halfway through it and beginning to wonder, does it ever have a plot? Or is it just one prolonged character study/universe building?
Also reading Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters, about the life and works of the legendary stop motion animator and CGI film maker.
I love Malcolm Gladwell, and totally missed that he published a book called The Bomber Mafia. It’s due to be delivered this week.
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 896
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| Posted: 05 July 2024 at 10:32pm | IP Logged | 8
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Now starting TEN LESSONS FOR A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD (2020) by Fareed Zakaria.
I read two of his earlier books about five years ago and really enjoyed them, but now I am playing catch-up by tracking down his last three books at my local libraries.
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Michael Arndt
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 April 2004
Posts: 8566
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| Posted: 06 July 2024 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | 9
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Reading:
THE SHORT AND UNRULY LIFE OF THE WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION by Ed Willes
and
AMERICAN MIDNIGHT by Adam Hochshild
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
Robotmod
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 36087
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| Posted: 07 July 2024 at 12:02am | IP Logged | 10
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I’ll recommend two books: one I’ve finished, the other I’m working my way through.
HOLLYWOOD: THE ORAL HISTORY (2022) - Finished. It’s what people call a door stopper. At 700+ pages, it’s an exhaustive yet absolutely engrossing deep dive into all things Hollywood circa its invention in the teens of the last century to roughly 1980. Taken directly from various interviews conducted for decades by the American Film Institute of those long since past the veil, carefully edited for length and clarity purposes, it’s a fascinating behind the scenes look at the minutia of Hollywood, warts and all. Not a muckracking or salacious book at all as it barely dives into the scandals of any given period, it’s more about how the system worked and the eventual tearing down of that system through various lawsuits and time. It’s a must read for anyone interested in Tinseltown.
THE NAZI CONSPIRACY: THE SECRET PLOT TO KILL ROOSEVELT, STALIN, AND CHURCHILL (2022) - In progress. Other than his work in comics, I’d never read a word of Brad Meltzzer’s prose in nonfiction. Picked this up at Costco a couple of months ago based purely on the fact that I knew nothing about the topic. My knowledge about WWII is scant other than what the general population knows, but I’m slowly warming to the topic as a source of reading. So far, it’s compelling. Much of the broad strokes I know, but the specific planning for a mission to assassinate all three in Tehran in 1943 was heretofore unknown to me. I hope to give my full assessment of the book once I’ve finished.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133577
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| Posted: 26 July 2024 at 6:26pm | IP Logged | 11
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THE SITUATION ROOM by George StephanopoulosAn in depth look at this sixty year old nerve center of the American defense grid. Not too far in, but I cocked an eyebrow when the flow of narrative was paused to poke fun at the inaccuracy of portrayals of the space in the likes of DR STRANGELOVE*, THE WEST WING and 24, while failing to note the nearly spot on portrayal in THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN. ___ * That jibe isn’t strictly necessary, since Kubrick’s completely fictional War Room is located in the Pentagon, not the White House basement as is the SR.
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 896
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| Posted: 27 July 2024 at 1:36am | IP Logged | 12
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Just finished UNDER ALIEN SKIES by Philip Plait, sometimes known as the "Bad Astronomer" after the name of his first book and its associated website. The book outlines what it would be like for a space traveler to observe the sky on various places in our solar system (Moon, Mars, Saturn, Pluto) and then goes further out to red dwarf stars, globular clusters, and black holes.
The book was very interesting in parts, but his lead in to each chapter has the traveler having booked a trip on a spacecraft of various types in order to reach his/her destination. That got a little tiresome after a while and took away from his insights of how astronomers figured out what was happening out there based on observations from Hubble and other sources.
Now starting SHANGHAI by Joseph Kanon, his latest hardcover mystery/thriller novel set in 1939 as World War II is looming on the horizon. If you haven't sampled his stuff, start with LOS ALAMOS which won the 1998 Edgar Award for Best First Mystery Novel by a new author. |
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