David Prowse: The Man in the Suit — in memoriam

Of all the people who were involved with the movie, I only ever met one in person and shook his hand. I was there in the summer of 1977 when the imposing figure of Darth Vader boarded the captured Rebel starship at the beginning of Star Wars (a movie that didn’t become “A New Hope” […]

VERSUS: Episode 6: Division V: Rock Album Deathmatch: Moving On to THAT Conference

Previously, on VERSUS . . . The eight albums of Division IV—featuring works from Guns N’ Roses, Audioslave, Black Sabbath, Mötley Crüe, Sammy Hagar, Def Leppard, Sheryl Crow, and Alanis Morissette—battled it out, head-to-head, with Black Sabbath’s Paranoid winning the division. In this episode, another eight albums enter the fray. This time, the competitors are […]

10-List: Another Serving of Quotidian Quotes (Firewater’s Everyday Wisdom)

I know, some of this isn’t necessarily “wisdom” in the classic sense of the word. Some are just observations or wisecracks. Personally, wisdom is as scarce around my house these days as paper products during a pandemic. It’s estimated that 40,000 people a year die in US traffic fatalities. Here’s a stray thought you probably […]

Shameless: Season 6 — a review

What can I tell you about the U.S. series Shameless that I haven’t already said in my reviews for the previous five seasons? Season 5 was the series low point for me, so far. It was still good, just not as good. Season 6 is better than it’s immediate predecessor. Maybe not up to the […]

Firefly: a Master Class of Science-Fiction Worldbuilding

I recently watched all of the Joss Whedon series Firefly. Again. The first time I watched it was still years after it was born, and died, on FOX. The series had only one season, and yet it was burned into the collective unconscious of the nerdgeist. The Whedon connection helped, of course. It was my […]

10-List: Favorite Superhero Comic Book Characters

What follows is my list of favorite comic book superheroes. In no particular order: Batman (DC) — The Batman that I love isn’t necessarily the original Bob Kane (with Bill Finger) Batman or the 1966 Batman with his campiness and go-go vibe. Nor is it the Frank Miller “old man Batman.” It’s definitely something in-between. […]

Welcome to Twin Peaks:/\/\ First-Watch Recap: Season 2: Ep. 2.11 “Masked Ball” (Original airdate Saturday, December 15, 1990) — a review

Welcome to my First-Watch of the original 30 episodes of the 1990-91 television series Twin Peaks. Below are the bulletpointed notes I jotted down while watching the episode “Masked Ball.” On this day in history, Rachel Brosnahan, who is Midge Maisel in the terrific Amazon Prime series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, is born in Milwaukee, […]

Hell on Wheels: Season 1 — a review

I arrived at this television series, which aired for five seasons on AMC from 2011 to 2016, the way I arrive at most things: ass-backwards. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t aware that the show existed, or if I said American westerns didn’t appeal to me. I love a good western, and still […]

Spider-Man: Blue, by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale — comic book review

I’ve read Jeph Loeb’s work before. He wrote Batman: Hush, an excellent Batman story drawn by Jim Lee. I liked that one a lot. He also wrote Batman: The Long Halloween, with art by Tim Sale, the artist in the Spider-Man limited series. I didn’t hate this one, but I didn’t like it as much […]

The Stake, by Richard Laymon — a book review

What about a vampire novel without any vampires? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? There may or may not be a vampire in this one. I’m not telling. But, I will tell you that a vampire isn’t the real villain in this well-written horror novel by the late Richard Laymon. In fact, although the vampire-adjacent content in the […]

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