A Sunday Review

Agatha Christie this week was The Pale Horse from 1961. A list of dead and rumors of an organization that kills via the supernatural get a young man hunting for a killer. This one did a lovely job of showing off Christie's mild belief in the paranormal while also being totally reasonable about it. Mrs. Oliver, Christie's MarySue character, had a nicely prominent role in the solving of the problem and also gave even more insight into a writer's mind. As usual, when the murderer was finally revealed I was gobsmacked and very disappointed that I'd failed to figure it out. As with all Chrisite books, in retrospect the murderer seems obvious, but at the time of reading ... well. At least I have the comfort of knowing that Christie's narrator in this one also missed the key clues and didn't know who the murderer was until the reveal. Another great Agatha Christie book... and many more yet to read.

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This week's movie was Freaky Friday from 2003 with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. I had pretty much zero interest in seeing this, but that's why hubby and I trade off on who gets to pick the Netflix movie. To my surprise, this was a really fun little popcorn movie. I enjoyed the performances, and remembered why Lohan was so popular before she self-imploded. She was a really good actress. And then Jamie Lee Curtis is always fun to see. The updating of the situations was nice, with a much more modern take on the roles of parent and daughter. A nice light movie to watch if you need something funny and silly, with surprisingly few cringe-worthy moments.

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My library book this week was Ranger's Apprentice Book Seven: Erak's Ransom by John Flanagan. This book jumps back in time to right before Will graduates, to fill in some missing adventures, particularly Halt's wedding, where the adventure sort of starts. This is a pretty rolicking little tale of a pseudo-viking getting captured by pseudo-bedouins and then getting rescued by our Rangers. It's also a coming of age story. This is written for kids and young adults, so your mileage will vary depending on whether or not you like reading for pure entertainment or not.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic book shipment that arrived this week, of books originally released September 1st, 9th, and 15th:

• Brightest Day #9 - Lots of Aquaman related action in this one. Aquaman, Jackson, and Manta have lots of screen time, enough to make me happy with it. The J'onn bits were fine too. Much better than the last issue.
• JSA All-Stars #10 - With the annoying crossover, I'd pretty much forgotten this storyline. Wow. I wonder what's up with Cyclone?
• Superman: The Last Family of Krypton #2 - I do so love Elseworlds, but shouldn't other heroes be popping up now, besides Bruce Wayne, who makes a good showing in this one? Ah well, fun is fun.
• Astro City: Silver Agent #2 - Very nice finish to a powerful little story.
• PS238 #46 - Huh. This is getting more like a regular super-hero book with ongoing plotlines that are hard to follow and a cast of hundreds. But it's still one of the best comics out there.
• Torchwood #2 - Again, a disjointed story that presumes a little too much and leaves out a story beat. But that was just one of the three stories in this one. There's a text story that wasn't entirely bad, and another installment of the ongoing story. So far not my favorite comic.
• 1 for a Dollar Groo - Wait, Groo's a genius? This issue does what it's supposed to do, got me interested in the story. I don't know if I'll hunt down the rest, but it was fun. Aragones' artwork is amazing to just look at, finding all the details and jokes. It was worth a buck just for that.


• Green Lantern #57 - Getting a little tired of seeing all these battles between various lantern colors. I want to see good stories, but I don't feel like there is going to be much of a payoff.
• Incredibles #13 - Fun! I love this book. Only wish it was slightly longer.
• Doctor Who Ongoing #15 - Best issue so far. Pity all of them weren't this good. All that set-up, and there isn't going to be much payoff.


• Brightest Day #10 - And we get Jackson's origin story, with an awesome appearance by Aquaman at the end after he's dismissed Mera for a bit. Wow. And the Firestorm bits must be important, but I'm not that interested in them.
• Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #2 - Ok, usually I have no interest in space stories in the DCU, but this one has got a little hook in my mouth, and is beginning to pull me in. Partly because I'm wondering if the Red Lantern problem is going to come back to haunt Mera as well.
• Birds of Prey #5 - Lots of happy endings in this one, and one BIG unhappy continuation. I'm curious to see what's up with canary now.
• Justice Society of America Special #1 - Disjointed, poor artwork, silly storyline, and no resolution... or rather, the standard superhero resolution in which everything goes back to the status quo in virtually every way. Bleh.
• Zatanna #5 - I feel sorry for Zatanna's cousin in this one.
• DC Universe Legacies #5 - Not enough Aquaman. And no Aqualad. How disappointing. But then, Aquaman wasn't a big part of the Crisis, and that seems to be where we've got to by now. Maybe next issue.
• Batman Beyond #4 - um. ok. I am not impressed by the reveal, because I'm not sure what it's actually trying to tell us. Maybe I'll get it in the next issue.
• Tiny Titans #32 - Needs more Aqualad. Just a little bit of Aqualad in this one, but more than in recent issues, so that's something.
• DMZ #57 - A very powerful little done-in-one about a baby and a woman we've met before, and a mother. This is one of those truly great issues that people ought to give to others to explain just what this book is about.
• Northlanders #32 - Yikes. More violence, and more of the unlikable Erik, but at least the girl is talking and gaining personality now.

Hubby-Eric and I will soon be moving to once-a-month shipping, which means less frequent and maybe larger reviews, unless I split them up. On the one hand it's a pity we can't afford twice-a-month any more, but on the other hand we've found that the delay in getting our books isn't as annoying as I thought it would be when we first started getting books through mail order. It seems that I can avoid spoilers if I'm careful.

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TV this week:

• Battlestar Galactica: "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?" - I really wasn't expecting the hybrid to do that once she was back in control of the ship, although I suspected she was going to do something. Roslin was not at her finest when she decided to go talk to the hybrid, was she? Felix has a nice voice. Oh, this series has been surprisingly good. Can't wait for the next disc to come.


• Ghost Hunters: "A Shot in the Dark" - The team is headed to The Colonial Inn at Concord, MA, very close to the location of The Shot Heard 'Round The World. Wounded soldiers from that first battle were taken to the Inn to be cared for, and to die. Clearly a place with a lot of history. The ghost stories are wonderful, as you might expect. The one with the woman who refused to go back into her room after seeing a ghost was a pretty fun one. The room with two bloodied soldiers watching people as they wake from sleep was nicely creepy. The Ghost Hunters quickly started hearing noises, but it's an old building. I loved Britt's reaction as the door behind him closes. My immediate thought was that he stepped on a soft spot on the floor that caused the door to close. This episode suffered from over-produced sound, even more obvious than other ones this season. Whoever does the sound should stop putting in sound effects when people are investigating sounds. Sheesh. They also put loud effects on the flashlight turning on, which is silly. Anyway... the door closing was apparently tested by Britt at the time of it happening. The manager was impressed by Britt jumping out of his skin. But none of their evidence is completely convincing.


• Destination Truth: "Ghosts of Haboro/Mngwa" - Ghost Hunting in Japan, and the absolute worst kind of ghost hunting as well. The team didn't even check out that school in daylight before entering and wandering around, and it was falling down. Nifty discovery of a thermal ghost in the old apartment block, but I don't like the example they set in investigating. Off to Tanzania and that was ok, but just as dangerous. Let's wander around in an area with large predators in the dark. I suspect budding cryptozoologists are more likely to understand the dangers than budding ghost hunters.


• Beast Legends: "The Kraken" - I expected this show to be about cryptozoology, but it's not. It's a group of people attempting to use existing animals as inspiration to create a "realistic" digital animation of the monster they are looking at each week. They explore the Colossal Squid, Giant Squid, and Pacific Giant Octopus as inspiration for their Kraken, and that was probably the most interesting parts of the episode for me. I may watch this to see the animals they choose, but the show seems mostly pointless. Still, comic book artist Francis Manapul is a member of the team, so it may have some crossover interest for comic book fans. It airs weekly after Destination Truth.
• Beast Legends: "Fire Dragon" - Ok, I do like the coverage of the Polish dragon legend (and how it was defeated by a very smart cobbler). The hunt for dragon bones and dragon tracks in Poland made for fun television. This had more interesting research in it, including a 16th century manuscript that referred to the Polish dragon as Olophagus, which translates as "swallows whole" which in turn led them to alligators. They also examine snake fangs, and there's a nice moment of levity during snake handling. I kind of like the biological explanation they came up with for fire-breathing. I'm warming up to this show.
• Beast Legends: "Megajaws" - Dakuwaqa, the Fijian Shark God, is the target of this episode. I really enjoyed the animation they used at the beginning to show the legend. Very stylish. The research was almost as good as Destination Truth's travel stories. They go to Fiji and dive with eight species of shark. Without any cages. They just jump in with wetsuits and scuba gear. Meanwhile, down in the Bahamas, the comic book artist and biologist test shark senses. I like how they got people to help with the sand sculpture. This show is really goofy. I kind of like it.


• Being Human: "Series 2, Episode 8" - Annie. Oh Annie. Wow. That was a finish, but definitely a set up for another season. Wow. Right, um, this was the series 2 finale, and it took all the dangling threads and pulled them out and wrapped them around the story's throat. It's an impressive paranormal show, and it just keeps getting more interesting. And that final scene... yikes. Not what I wasn't expecting.


• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "The Siege of Starro! Part Two" - Go Aquaman! I like that he was actually a threat to a large group of heroes even under Starro control. I wasn't expecting the end of this one. Pretty strange choice of hero, but it worked.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist

A Sunday Review

This week's comic book related review is Hikaru No Go Volume 20. Only a few more volumes to go. Hikaru is in the running for a multi-country tournament, and a new character is introduced to challenge him on the style side of things. As usual, the end of the book is a cliffhanger where you aren't entirely sure who has won a game. All you know for sure is that either one deserves to go on to the tournament. As usual, I want the next volume now!

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This week's movie was Batman: Under the Red Hood, another direct to DVD animated Batman movie. And, like every other one I've seen, very well done and worthy of checking out. Yay for Netflix! This story is about the biggest failure of Batman's career, Jason Todd. I don't know how closely it aligns to the comic book adventures on the same subject, but it certainly hung together as an excellent movie story. The reveal of the reason for Jason's torment was particularly strong. I wasn't fond of the voice for the Joker in this one, although it was an adequate performance for the role. And I loved Nightwing's commentary as the story moved along. One particularly lovely moment was when Ra's experienced Batman's disappearing act. I enjoyed it, and we also enjoyed the other extras, mostly on upcoming projects, on the disc. Definitely worth a Netflix if you like the superhero genre.

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My library book this week was Going Bovine by Libba Bray. Cameron has Creutzfeldt-Jacob, "mad cow" disease. He's going to die. But first, he has a couple of things to do. Not sure why I picked this up, it must have been recommended on a website I read. But it turned out to be a very strange and pretty interesting read. It has somewhat adult themes, with NSFW language and typical teenage misbehavior that the innocent will find offensive and everyone else will shrug at. Most readers will figure out fairly quickly what must be happening, but it's worth continuing on, even if you know the conclusion, because you really don't. I won't say it's the best book I've read, but it certainly was worth the time it took to read it. Again, not for the innocent, but thought-provoking nonetheless.

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TV this week:

• Ghost Hunters International: "Demons of Nicaragua" - Another double-shot, starting in Masaya, Nicaragua and the Coyotepe Fortress. The episode started off with a visit to the family of one of the hunters, and a beautiful party thrown for the group. Brief but it was a sweet moment. The Coyotepe Fortress wasn't nearly as pleasant. The tales were of torture when the fortress was in use, and satanic rituals after it was abandoned. The boy scouts currently using the place had come up with some stories, and GHI thought they found something there. Moving on to a torture chamber in Leon, Nicaragua, Carcel XXI, which was a prison and is now a museum since 2000. The crew even talked with a man who was a prisoner in the place, was tortured there, and went back to be a museum guard and heard the voices of friends who had died there. I'm not too excited by what they found, particularly the orb, but it was an interesting place anyway.
• Ghost Hunters International: "Pirates of the Caribbean" - And now they are off to Omoa, Honduras and the Fortaleza de San Fernando. A zipline tour of the jungle to start the adventure, and I totally agree with Barry and his fear of heights. It was a massively cool ride but I'm not sure I would survive it. The location is a fortress on the edge of the Caribbean that has a long history including pirates and prisoners. The courtyard is beautiful, and the whole fort looks like one of those gorgeous old places that would be swarming with tourists. The stories of the place were incredible and I love how the people giving their personal tales end with something like "I decided to walk away as fast as I could." I'm not sure the evidence presented would have done anything to convince me there were ghosts, but it was a series of interesting sounds. Not the most exciting finish to a series, but then these are ghosts, the reason they aren't scientific is because they don't perform on demand.


• Ghost Hunters: "Haunted Hotel" - The team is going to Cooperstown! They are off to the Otesaga Hotel in New York. It's a big place, a resort, and they get to stay overnight. Oooh. Seriously, though, it's a really nice looking location. I'd like to visit, haunted or not. The experiences were strange and interesting, but still not compelling. I wonder if anything they ever produce would be compelling enough for me to believe it? And while they thought that voice was saying "Amy", I thought it was saying "Mommy". I did like that the hotel gave the Ghost Hunters the run of the entire place without any other guests. Too many of these investigations involve too much outside sounds. In any case, they didn't find anything that would scare me away from staying there if I ever get out there with enough cash to do it.
• Ghost Hunters: "America's First Zoo" - The team is visiting the Philadelphia Zoo, which just seemed insanely difficult to me. Animals make sounds, and the team relies on sounds. But the zoo appears to be a little bit more than your average zoo, and it's mostly the administration buildings that have the ghosties. The location was spread out enough that they didn't have enough cable to reach everywhere they wanted to cover. They immediately started to have interesting experiences, but so many of them were mundane. Knocks, bumps, footsteps, doors closing... I can't help but think most of those can be explained away entirely too easily to be considered paranormal. So, fun place, a dearth of animal sightings (no ghost animals?), and nothing special.
• Ghost Hunters: "Uninvited Guests" - Another two location episode, starting at the 1875 Inn in Tilton, NH. It has a story of major fires and a little girl named Laura who perished. Nothing spectacular in this one, but potential for debunking. The place looks like a funky little location, not a bad place to visit. But a dining room haunted by a gargoyle? All they found were voices, and I just don't take EVPs as enough evidence. Next they go to Oxford, NJ and the Shippen Manor. Another old building, now a museum, with cool claims. I like the look of this place better, a nice stone building in the woods. Stories include ghosts, slamming doors, rushes of wind that attack people. Mostly claims that would be hard to debunk. During the start of their investigation, I noticed that Jay and Grant believe that objects can contain residual energy ("be haunted") which makes a museum a place where all kinds of things could happen. The people I really respect in these investigations are the camera and sound crew. Having to follow these folks around tiny hallways and steep stairwells... fun. Again, nothing groundbreaking found here, but it looks like a fun museum to visit.


• Destination Truth: "Spirits of Angkor Wat/Canadian Lake Monster" - Oh man, Angkor Wat! That was cool. They should NOT have had the folks do that ceremony to ward off evil spirits, though. Doing a search for ghosts in an area with unfamiliar wildlife seems pretty difficult. They came up with some fun EVPs, and the thermal image was strange, but without experiencing the place myself I'm not really convinced. Loved their offering, though. Moving back to Canada, the group goes to hunt down Ogopogo in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, not very far from my neck of the woods. In fact, pretty darn close. I don't recall having visited Kelowna but I may have sometime in the past. I've spent a decent amount of time in Canada. Anyway, diving in a frigid lake in the winter isn't something I would be inclined to do but hey, it's Destination Truth, so they do it! As usual, they came up with nothing definite, and only offered the sturgeon answer as a possible candidate, rightly pointing out that no sturgeon has ever been caught in Okanagan Lake. And so, the mystery continues.


• Being Human: "Series 2, Episode 6" - I loved the broken psychic. He was honest even when it seemed almost wrong to be honest. I can tell that George is wrong for Sam, and Sam is wrong for George, but the daughter is cute. Mitchell's decision and hopes are heartbreaking. And that was quite a finale to the thing.
• Being Human: "Series 2, Episode 7" - Complications as Nina returns to the house! And we learn who survived the explosion in the last episode, but unfortunately they learn who was behind it. George not figuring out daylight saving time seemed unlikely, but made for a very dramatic moment. And that last bit, when Mitchell learned Lucy's last name... ouch.


• The Muppet Show: "Season 3 DVD Set" - We're more than halfway through, but there are two guest stars I want to mention simply because their appearances were, in my opinion, the two absolute best episodes ever. One was Helen Reddy, who is one of my favorite singers and whose final number with the camel never fails to give me a smile and happiness. The other is Harry Belafonte whose "Banana Boat Song" skit with Fozzie taught me what the song meant as a kid. And the line from Beauregard, "I always thought these was peachies!" has kept me giggling for over 30 years. But the highlight is "Turn The World Around" with those incredible African mask muppets. I remember as a child being stunned that even the final note from Zoot was done by an African mask instead of Zoot. I have not regretted a moment of having these DVDs, and really want Season 4 & 5 (and yeah, Muppets Tonight) to come out on DVD as well. But frankly, having Helen and Harry is enough if I never get the rest.


• Battlestar Galactica: "The Road Less Traveled" - Kara is looking utterly nutcase in this one. I'm not surprised at the result her insanity brings. And Baltar comes off as something other than slimy for once. I can't help but feel for Tyrol, although this apparent alliance with Baltar sends chills up my spine.
• Battlestar Galactica: "Faith" - Ok, I really really wasn't expecting the mutiny to resolve that way. Really. That was just about the last thing I was expecting, to be honest. And the cancer bit with Roslin was breathtaking. I used to swim with a woman who had cancer, and I remember the awesome hats and scarves she would bring in, and how that was made into a way to deal with everything. So, what exactly is going to happen when the team sent with Kara to find Earth shows up with a freaking Battlestar in tow?


• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "The Siege of Starro! Part One" - Not enough Aquaman. No, really. I liked seeing Aqualad and Aquaman in the crowd, but I'm not a big fan of B'wana Beast, Firestorm, Captain Marvel, or Booster Gold, so the appeal of that particular team-up was limited. Still, nice to see how B'wana Beast was affected by Vixen being controlled. And clever of Firestorm to figure out how Captain Marvel could stop the main menace.

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Fortean Times #265 (September 2010). The cover shows off the capitol in DC with UFOs over it and the headline, "Weapons of Mass Deception, Washing, 1952: How the CIA Created the Flying Saucer Craze" Big talk, and another implication of a conspiracy in the CIA. In the editorial, Paul Cornell is announced as a guest at UnConvention 2010, which for the first time I wish I could get to. The usual suspects make up StrangeDays, including a 70-year-old radio that seems to play period music, crop circle pictures, bodies in hotel mattresses, insane collections, and falls of fish. Ghostwatch talks about ghost photography. The Necrolog is a long article on the great Martin Gardner, whose interests parallel those of both myself and my husband, and who will be missed.

Blasts from the Past talks about a volcano that isn't, and why it came to be reported as one. The Fortean Bureau of Investigation covers the Dark Star theory of Planet X, which is intriguing but doesn't seem to have much by way of evidence to support it. There's a fascinating article on the quest 200 years ago to prove that meteors came from outer space. Articles in the Forum cover holy feathers, telepathy between dogs and their owners, and monsters. The Reviews are rich with books, movies, and games and are as strong as usual. Nothing got really poor reviews this month. And the letter column was great as usual as well. And as usual I've left out tons of stuff that this magazine it bursting with in order to keep this down to only a couple of paragraphs. Still the best magazine around.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist

Celebrity Paranormal Project

I've been addicted to Ghost Hunters for awhile now, and enjoy the show when it's on. So when I saw an ad for the Celebrity Paranormal Project on VH1 I couldn't resist checking it out. I finally watched the episode, and it was not what I was expecting.

The first episode featured Gary Busey, three young women, and a very subdued comedian. The location was the Waverly Sanitorium, which the Ghost Hunters visited as well. The format was set up to send the team in, first in pairs then as a group. With five people, this meant that one person only went into the place once as part of a pair. She was also the only one that didn't have an "experience".

I expected them to have camera crews, but they didn't. Each person carried a camera set in a backpack, and there were a number of stationary cameras set up around the areas they were investigating. As a result, there were never more than five people in the building at one time, and usually only two. The producers also split up the pairs frequently (a no-no in ghost hunting) which resulted in some interesting moments (including one that illustrated why you don't split up when ghost hunting, as a terrified person got lost).

The show uses the same annoying sound and video effects as Ghost Hunters in an attempt to make everything more dramatic. It works, true, but it also manages to hide any "real" evidence they might have collected. While Ghost Hunters is very careful to make sure any evidence is presented on its own apart from the effects, no effort was made in this show to distinguish what the team was hearing or seeing from what was added later.

And, by that standard, it was also difficult to tell if the team were really alone in the place or if the production crew were just off-camera pulling strings and scaring people. It was entertaining, sure, but it was impossible to tell if the team was set-up or if what they were seeing was real. The last mission, with all five team members going in to basically perform a seance, was ridiculous.

All told, an interesting format, but there are too many doubts about it to make it a real ghost hunting show. It's a psychological project, seeing how people react to scary situations (Gary Busey was a riot), but not much of a paranormal project. I may watch more episodes for the background on the haunted places they visit (since they did a very good job with that), but not for the actual ghost hunting.