Author: Alex Diaz-Granados
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Book Review: ‘The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem’
The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem Written by: Jack Mitchell Illustrated by: Jessica Benhar Publisher: Abrams Image, an imprint of Henry N. Abrams Publishing Date: September 28, 2021 Spirit of learning, angel of the Force, In grief, in longing for your tender touch, I call you to my side: let sorrow cease, Let…
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Musings & Thoughts for Thursday, October 21, 2021, or: Remembering Arbetter’s – Hot Dog Nostalgia Strikes Again!
Hello, Dear Reader. It’s early afternoon on Thursday, October 21, 2021. It’s a warm “autumn” day here in west-central Florida. Currently, the temperature is 84˚F (29˚C) under mostly cloudy skies. With the wind blowing from the east-northeast at 6 MPH (10 KM/H) and humidity at 36%, the heat index is 86˚F (30˚C). Today’s forecast calls…
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On Films & Film-Watching: Chills, Thrills, and Creepy Things that Go Bump in the Night
October is, of course, the month that ends with Halloween. Since that holiday is only 11 days off (as I write this), it’s a good excuse opportunity for me to tell you about my favorite horror films and TV miniseries. Of the 414 Blu-ray titles – including ones that I have multiple versions of –…
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Musings & Thoughts for Monday, October 18, 2021, or: Of Moms, Birthdays, and My ‘Maybe Later’ Pile
Hi, there, Dear Reader. It is late morning here in my corner of west-central Florida on Monday, October 18, 2021. It is a nice fall day; the current temperature is 74˚F (23˚C) under sunny skies. With humidity at 38% and the wind blowing from the east-northeast at 11 MPH (18 KM/H), the feels-like temperature is…
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On Film and Film Watching: My (Inadvertent)Saturday Night Diane Lane Film Festival
“Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that’s why we’re all interested in movies- those ones that make you feel, you still think about. Because it gave you such an emotional response, it’s actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.”― Tim Burton, Burton on Burton Last…
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On Film and Film-Watching: Revisiting ‘The Hunt for Red October’ in 4K…and Listening to the Commentary Track
Well, it’s early afternoon in New Hometown, Florida on Saturday, October 16, 2021. Even though it is ostensibly autumn, because we are in the subtropical zone it is summer-like hot outside. The current temperature is 86˚F (30˚C) under mostly cloudy skies. With humidity at 41% and the wind blowing from the north-northwest at 8 MPH…
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On Poetry: ‘Where Time’s Winds Blow’
I rarely write poetry. I am, first and foremost, a writer of prose, with a side dish of screenwriting added for good measure. Poetry is a genre that I don’t tackle much because I always feel like, “Nah. This is drivel. It doesn’t sing.” In today’s parlance, poetry, my friend, is not in my comfort…
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From the Epinions Files: ‘Anna Nicole Smith: Exposed’ DVD Review
(Written for Epinions in 2004, when I was 41!) Erotic? No. Soporific? Yes. Warning: This review deals with a DVD that contains “erotic” material, and as such contains references to nudity, sexuality, and other topics which may be offensive to some readers. Part One: Sex, Money, and Balancing Budgets, or, Why I Own this Awful…
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Musings & Thoughts for Wednesday, October 13, 2021, or: Shatner Boldly Goes to Suborbit, and My Blu-ray Collection Expands (a Bit)
Hi, there, Dear Reader. It is late morning here in New Hometown, Florida on Wednesday, October 13, 2021. It’s gray and somewhat cool outside; the current temperature is 77˚F (25˚C) under cloudy skies. With humidity at 48% and the wind blowing from the northeast at 6 MPH (9 KM/H),the feels-like temperature is 74˚F (22˚C). The…
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Musings & Thoughts for Tuesday, October 12, 2021, or: Parting Shots of a Protracted Rift Between Siblings
“I blinked my eyes and in an instant, decades had passed.”― John Mark Green, Taste the Wild Wonder: Poems Today it dawned on me that it’s been over half a decade since I last had a polite, if not friendly, exchange of words with my half-sister Victoria after our mother’s death. It wasn’t even a…
A Certain Point of View, Too 