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L.A. Festival of Books

REVIEW: The Boys in the Boat

Saw The Boys in the Boat in the movie theater this past week. I read the book last year (by Daniel James Brown) and learned afterwards that George Clooney was directing the movie adaptation. So I made a point to see it in a theater. The book and film tell the inspiring story of the underdog junior varsity 8-man crew team from the University of Washington that came out of nowhere to win the West Coast regional college championship and then the national championship regatta on the East Coast (beating national powerhouses like Penn State and the Ivy League schools), earning the right to compete in the 1936 Olympics—the games held in Berlin that Hitler used as a propaganda showcase.

Like the book, the film is primarily told from the point of view of real-life rower Joe Rantz. A true product of the Depression, he was abandoned by his family when he was around 14 and forced to fend for himself. Many of his fellow rowers faced similar tough challenges, in contrast to those programs with athletes from more affluent families and better funded programs and schools. Rantz’s personal story is incredibly harrowing and amazing, making the success he found as a rower and later in life all the more inspiring.

While the film doesn’t follow the details of the story closely, it certainly does in spirit, through scenes that touch on or hint at the backstories. The book provides fuller portrayals of the other individuals who took part in these events, including the other rowers and the coaches, but they nevertheless are touched upon here and the actors (particularly Joel Edgerton and James Wold as the coaches) do great jobs bringing them to life. As I watched the film, I actually thought the full story might have worked better as a limited streaming series. The film also makes great hay in the climactic final race as the underdog American rowers face off against the competing teams from other countries, including the favored Germans, egged on by chants of "Deutschland! Deutschland!" (And, yes, the Fuhrer attends the race.)

As an aside, a few years back, I read Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, about the harrowing story of World War II POW survivor Louis Zamperini (Angelina Jolie directed the film adaptation, but I’ve never seen it). For me, the two books are complementary—like Rantz, Zamperini also competed at the 1936 Olympics, in track and field, where Zamperini had quite the personal experience (he was nearly arrested trying to steal a Nazi flag on display lol). Presumably because of this, Zamperini is briefly mentioned in The Boys in the Boat book as one of the passengers aboard the ship carrying the U.S. Olympics Team to Europe. So I wondered whether, as a nod, he might have a cameo in the film—he doesn't, but the ‘36 Olympics breakout star, Jesse Owens, is acknowledged, as he is in both books. Owens even has a line in the film when the crew team encounters him during the Games' opening ceremony.

Though I'm a fan of Clooney, I've always found his work as a director to be competent, though not exceptional. But it's hard to miss with such an underdog, inspirational feel-good story that hits the expected notes for these kinds of inspirational sports biopics, so I greatly enjoyed the film, particularly since I had read the book. I also thought it was beautifully shot, which made me glad I saw it on the big screen! I also learned that the lead in the film, Callum Turner, will be appearing in another period piece around the same era, as he’s billed as the co-lead with Austin Butler in the upcoming Masters of the Air mini-series set to stream soon on Apple+, another series under the Band of Brothers mantle.

Quentin Tarantino's Cinema Speculation

Speaking of Quentin Tarantino as I did in my last post, I enjoyed his recent book, Cinema Speculation. The book is essentially an ode to the films, filmmakers and people from his youth that shaped and informed his tastes, primarily focusing on the films of the 1970s. 

He imprinted on films early, with his parents taking him to films that were wildly inappropriate for his age, and which continued into his tweens and teens. After his parents’ divorce, Tarantino writes that his mother dated Black men exclusively for a few years, which further expanded his moviegoing tastes, since they took him to other parts of town like the South Bay and downtown L.A. to see movies at second-run houses, particularly Blaxploitation flicks. (He mentions that a former Black roommate of Tarantino’s mom also became a second mother to him, whose kids became de facto siblings, taking him to a Pussycat adult film theater when he was 14, noting that he was tall for his age.)

After setting up his childhood, subsequent chapters focus on some of the movies that he particularly admired, like Bullitt, Dirty Harry, Deliverance, The Getaway, and others…but the book soon broadens and morphs. One chapter focused on an assessment of various reviewers in the Los Angeles Times he grew up reading, like Sheila Benson, Charles Champlin and Kevin Thomas—this chapter particularly amused me since I read these critics as well as an L.A. transplant after I moved here in 1980 for college.

Throughout the book, you can clearly hear Tarantino’s voice, an enthusiastic film geek blessed with a motor mouth and strong opinions. His zealousness can’t be denied, however, and it’s infectious. He talks about thematic elements as well as craft, often reinforcing his observations and judgment through research and, better yet, the direct access he has gained as a fellow successful filmmaker to people like Martin Scorcese, Brian DePalma, John Milius, Paul Shrader and others, who he has no doubt peppered with questions about their films over the years.

Tarantino is 13 months younger than me and grew up in California as an only child of a single mother who worked hard to make ends meet; in contrast, I grew up a bit more sheltered and was far less exposed to the kind of films that Tarantino embraced in his youth. As a result, I don’t have the same feel or love of the films he covers, especially of the lower-bill films he saw. (Indeed, I have to admit that the book made me question my own film cred—I’ve always considered myself fairly knowledgeable about films and film history, but Tarantino mentions and discusses movies I’d never even heard of, much less seen. Early on, I semi-jokingly thought that Tarantino should have given spoiler alerts—but realized that if you hadn’t seen the films, that’s on the reader, not Tarantino.)

In the end, I didn’t feel necessarily compelled to see all the films Tarantino highlights since, as I said, I know most of those films aren’t in my wheelhouse. But his descriptions and breakdowns are hugely entertaining and readable, and he did inspire me to watch Bullitt, with Steve McQueen, for the first time, followed by Dirty Harry, which I hadn’t seen since the early ‘80s. (This in turn led me to watch the next two Dirty Harry films, Magnum Force and the Enforcer*. Personally, while I could appreciate Bullitt for being groundbreaking, I didn’t feel it had particularly aged well, especially compared to Dirty Harry, made only about three years later, which I found to be a much better (and slicker) production.

[* What amazed me about Magnum Force was seeing Tim Matheson, David Soul and Tom Urich playing three fellow motorcycle cops in the film, which I didn’t recall. And I was curious to watch the Enforcer since I remembered Tyne Daly being in the film.]

The last chapter (though it’s called an endnote) was a bit of a left turn and made for a touching ending—it’s an appreciative account of his relationship with an older Black man named Floyd Ray Wilson, who dated one of his mother’s roommates, and turned out to be a bit of a filmgoing mentor/companion/father figure (of sorts) to young Tarantino. Although the guy wasn’t quite father material, he nevertheless was a film aficionado, who treated Tarantino like an adult and exposed him to a wider world of film and music, with his own similarly uniquely strong eclectic and unpredictable opinions on actors and films (“Don Knotts is a mother fuckin’ comic genius!”)

It’s a great read that viscerally reflects Tarantino’s love and passion for films, and gives you an appreciation for the movies he writes about, even if they aren’t the reader’s particular fancy.

Entertainment Roundup for 2022

As I do every year, here is my entertainment roundup for 2022!

With COVID restrictions easing and life beginning to return to normal, over the past year, my wife and I attended quite a number of live performances and events, ranging from concerts (the Go-Gos), plays and musicals (Moulin Rouge and To Kill a Mockingbird), a comedy show (the Ralph Report), museums and exhibitions (the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the Hollywood Museum and a pop-up Banksy exhibition), and other in-person events like the Renaissance Pleasure Faire and even a book signing!

And after seeing only four films in theaters in 2021, we saw 10 this year (for comparison, we saw none in a theater in 2020 and 22 in 2019!)

While the Fabelmans, Elvis, Top Gun: Maverick, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness were among my favorites in the theater, with so many films dropping so quickly on streaming, it seems a bit meaningless to consider them separately from other films. So along with those, I’d name the Swimmers, Enola Holmes 2, Rosaline, and West Side Story among my favorites.

And, of course, streaming (or rather binging) shows and series continued to be a top occupation: Among my favorites: Ghosts (both the British and American versions!), Wednesday, the Dropout, Sex Education season 3, the Gilded Age, the Dropout, Pamela and Tommy, Minx, Julia, the Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks, SuperBro, and Re-Boot being among my favorites.

New this year was my significantly increased consumption of podcasts (Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast), and YouTube content, particularly from specific channels like Cartoonist Kayfabe, ComicTropes, Cultured Bubble and BeKindRewind.

I also always try to keep a book on the nightstand (or rather, on the Kindle app on my iPad). Among the books I read this year were The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe by Robert Matzen; American Comics: A History by Jeremy Dauber; Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr by Stephen Michael Shearer, Kenneth Branagh: A Beginning (which I had read on its publication in 1989), and Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner by Nina Munk. I also read (and re-read/re-visited) a bunch of comics, my favorite among them being a recent World’s Finest series, King of Spies by Mark Millar and Matteo Scalera, and the Mighty Return of Ric Hochet books 3 and 4 by Zidrou and Van Liemt Simon.

Anyway, the complete full list can be viewed after the jump.

Capsule Reviews in the Time of Coronavirus (14)

This is a “review dump” of sorts—several reviews I wrote of various comics and books I’ve read over the past year but sat on as I found the “right” time to post them. Rather than sit on them longer, I decided to finally post them…

Valerian: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 (Kindle edition)
by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières

Back in January, I noted the passing of French bandes-dessinée cartoonist Jean-Claude Mézières who, along with co-creator and writer Pierre Christin, chronicled the adventures of time traveling space cop Valerian and his comely sidekick, Laureline. (The series, also sometimes known as Valerian and Laureline, was brought to the screen in 2017 by director and Valerian fan Luc Busson) The sci-fi fantasy series ran from 1967 to 2010 and was popular and successful in its native France and internationally. Though not as well known in the U.S., it nevertheless has been often cited as an influence on films like Star Wars, Alien and the Fifth Element, particularly in their production design.

I’ve picked up a few of the sporadic graphic album English-language releases of the series over the years, but recently discovered that a complete English-language collection of the series began in 2017, likely initially tied to the film’s release. I picked up the Kindle edition of Volume I, collecting the first four stories. The first, “Bad Dreams,” is an origin of sorts, with Mézières and Christin still finding their way—Valerian travels to 11th century France in search of a rogue time traveler and is rescued along the way by the smart and resourceful Laureline, a French peasant girl. When she discovers his identity as a space traveler, he takes her with him into the future, where she becomes his partner. (She was not created to be a long term character until they wrote the series and realized what they had stumbled upon). In one of the other stories, “Earth in Flames,” they travel to1986 New York City, in the aftermath of a cataclysmic event that has struck earth and created the future Valerian lives in.

The book also includes several nice text pieces in front, including a comprehensive overview and history of the series and an interview with Christin and Mézières by filmmaker Luc Busson.

Valerian is a fun, breezy epic space opera/adventure series with a strong humanist and progressive bent. The Europeans have a great tradition in the genre and are great draftsmen, blending strong illustration technique with a cartoony style, so the series is a sight to behold. Apparently, the collection was completed in seven volumes.

The Tolkien Years of the Brothers Hildebrandt (Kindle edition)
by Greg Hildebrandt and Tim Hildebrandt 

I became a lifelong Lord of the Rings fan when I first read J.R.R. Tolkien’s the Hobbit, followed by the trilogy. I discovered it at the perfect time in my life, when I was around 13 years old as a junior high school student in the first part of the 1970s, just as it first hit the U.S. mainstream zeitgeist.

The Hildebrandt brothers no doubt helped boost the series with their immensely popular calendars of 1976, ‘77 and ‘78. While I don’t recall that I got the calendars myself (I now wonder why I didn’t request them as Christmas presents!), I remember poring over them in bookstores. Together with Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated film, the Hildebrandt brothers’ interpretation of Middle Earth greatly informed the way I envisioned Middle Earth in my own mind. (I have sketchbooks full of Middle Earth drawings influenced both by the Hildebrandts and Bakshi.)

So it was a thrill to discover this book, the Tolkien Years of the Brothers Hildebrandt, that compiles all the pieces from the calendars and offers detailed production notes and personal reminiscences by Greg Hildebrandt, Jr., who as a child watched his father and uncle paint these pieces, often serving as a model for the paintings. The book includes a generous number of rough sketches and their original photo references as well. I was too young to purchase all the calendars, so having all the pieces in this collection bring back wonderful memories of my early love of the series.

King of Spies by Mark Millar and Matteo Scalera
I randomly stumbled across this graphic novel in my local comic-book store, having not been aware of it previously. I found the art and storyline compelling and I wasn’t disappointed—the graphic novel collects the 4-issue arc originally published by Image.

Millar is a popular and prolific comic-book writer—his credits include work on major characters like the X-Men and Superman, and creator-owned work like Kingsman, which of course has been turned into a popular film franchise. (One of his projects influenced the Marvel film, Captain America: Civil War.)

King of Spies follows the last days of a top British spy named Roland King. Upon learning he has six months to live before succumbing to cancer, he decides it’s time to clean up the mess he’s helped make in the world, turning against the people he served and protected working as a willing pawn in their not always pure political ends and agendas. He also seeks redemption for the havoc and pain he’s caused to his family, particularly his ex-wife and estranged son who’s followed in his footsteps and is among those in the intelligence community now working to stop King. One could easily see Sean Connery in this role (or Jeff Bridges, who stars in a new streaming series called the Old Man—though I haven’t seen it yet, it seems to have a similar vibe).

There is great momentum, violence, raw energy, cheekiness and narrative force in the story, in large part thanks to the bravura art and storytelling of artist Matteo Scalera. The story left me pumped and breathless!

In 2017, Netflix bought Millar’s comics universe—but it was still a surprise to see Netflix’s imprint on the spine of the book. I understand it’s under development at Netflix.

Looking Back at Comic-Con

On Thursday, Sept. 8, I attended a book signing for the just released See You at San Diego, an oral history of the San Diego Comic-Con and the fan scene from which it sprung when it debuted in 1970. I planned to purchase the book anyway, so when I learned there was a signing with the author and several people interviewed in the book who played key roles in the founding of the show at Skylight Books in L.A., I figured I'd attend.

It didn’t register with me until just before I left my house that the signing was in Los Feliz, way on the other side of town from me in West L.A., and that I’d be driving through rush hour traffic! Fortunately, GoogleMaps had me avoid the freeways and just take local streets. I guess I was going against traffic for the most part, because some parts of the drive were through nearly empty streets at times! (It still took just under an hour to go 12 miles—but in L.A., distance is measured by how time, not miles.)

Anyway, it gave me a chance to get the book signed by the author, Mathew Klickstein, as well as some of the people interviewed in the book, including Wendy All and Scott Shaw, the latter who I’ve been acquainted with for many years, so it was nice being able to chat with him. I also caught up a bit with Phil Yeh, who I’ve also met a few times—I learned we’re both from the east coast and that he actually briefly lived (and worked) in the part of L.A. where I now reside!

I had an enjoyable time—I’ve even started dipping into the book and it’s a fun, great read. I’m already peripherally aware of some of the stories and history of Comic-Con, so it’s nice to get a behind-the-scenes look and details from those who were there. It’s easy to take for granted, but I’ve attended nearly every Comic-Con since 1986. Although I missed some of the smaller, more intimate shows where some of the most exciting and notorious incidents happened, I nevertheless grew up with it professionally, watching it explode from about 6,000 people my first year there in the days before it went to the newly built convention center, to 150,000+ today. I credit Comic-Con, of course, for giving me a platform and voice for my comics work and the opportunity to meet fellow professionals and comics fans. To receive the Inkpot from Comic-Con in 2019 was a total surprise and a great honor, and an acknowledgment of my own small presence in the history of Comic-Con for which I’ll always be grateful! Here’s to many more!

With Scott Shaw!

Skylight Books

The signing was actually at Skylight's Annex next door

Phil and Linda Yeh

The Los Feliz Theater next door—a panel discussion
was held there, following a screening of the film Scott Pilgrim

Remembering R.C. Harvey

I was saddened by the news today of the passing of R.C. "Bob" Harvey, cartoonist and comics scholar and historian. While I didn't know him well, we connected many years ago when I was starting out due to our shared interest, of course, in cartoonist Milton Caniff—I believe he first reached out to me knowing my work was deeply inspired and influenced by Caniff. We exchanged some letters and I'd see him at conventions, where he'd often stop by my table to say hi and catch up on my issues.

I enjoy comics history and scholarship nearly as much as comics themselves, so Bob's work in this area always interested me. Over the years, I was aware that he was working on a biography on Caniff, so I'd always ask about its status. I was delighted when Fantagraphics released it, called Meanwhile... —though he told me he had to cut it down a bit for length, the book still came in at nearly 1000 pages. I obviously was the target audience, but it says much about Bob's writing skills that I found the book to be a great read and engaging—I tore through it in less than a week. It sits in a prominent place on a bookshelf and I still occasionally go through it.

One other nice connection—Bob received the Inkpot Award from San Diego Comic-Con the same year as me in 2018! It was more than well deserved and I'm glad I had the opportunity to congratulate him in person.

Below: A sample of Bob's clean cartooning style and the cover to his biography of Milton Caniff.

REVIEW: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe

Though I was vaguely aware of Jimmy Stewart’s World War II military service (I once read somewhere he experienced a “nervous breakdown” during the war), I didn't know many details—partly because, like many of his generation, Stewart didn’t speak much about it. So while looking for a book in exchange for one I received as a birthday present, when I saw this on the bookshelf, Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe by Robert Matzen, it seemed right up my alley since I’ve always enjoyed military history and memoirs, as well as stories of old Hollywood.

Many Hollywood stars served in the military during World War II; that said, not to take anything away from their service, many served in roles to boost morale and recruitment. This was admittedly partly due to national morale as much as personal safety—the death or capture of a celebrity in combat would have been a propaganda coup for the enemy and hurt morale at home. (Clark Gable served as a tail gunner on several missions, partly to shoot footage as part of the First Motion Picture Unit, and reportedly had a bounty on his capture placed on him by Nazi Germany.)

Actor James Stewart would have none of it and saw real combat, one of a few in the military who rose through the ranks from the rank of private to major in the span of four years during the war.

Stewart came from a line of family members who had served their country in war: his two grandfathers served in the Civil War and a great uncle died in that same conflict. Though his father was too old for military service in World War I, he nevertheless volunteered to fight despite being 40 years old and having a family and children (which included young Jimmy).

Stewart was a plane nut from a young age, even building airplane models with fellow budding star and roommate Henry Fonda. Seeing the coming war and wanting to serve in the army air force, he got his pilot’s license and gained experience flying larger aircraft. He enlisted just months before the war, though he was initially turned down for being underweight. It also should be added that when he enlisted, Stewart was already in his mid-30s and deemed too old for enlistment. Though he was originally earmarked to be a flight instructor, he eventually pulled strings to get his wish to serve in combat. He was assigned to the 445th Bomber Group as an operations officer, based in England. (Neither Hollywood nor Washington, DC initially wanted him in harm’s way).

Stewart saw real action, flying more than 20 combat missions with distinction—during the course of the war, he flew as a B-29 command pilot, wing commander and squadron commander. As squadron commander, he rotated onto different planes as co-pilot during missions. He crash landed once (on a non-combat flight) and, on another mission, flak blew a two-foot hole in the cockpit mere inches from him. He successfully flew back exposed to subzero weather with a direct view of the ground below him through the hole next to him. He also led a 1000-bomber raid against Berlin in 1944.

The book successfully conveys the visceral feel of the tough and draining physical experience of bombing missions. Pilots were glued to their seats for grueling and terror-filled 8 to 9 straight hour sets, in wintertime braving temperatures from 20 to 40 degrees below where heated suits barely made a difference; the cold formed icicles below their oxygen masks that they had to break off periodically or risk asphyxiation. The cold could also freeze equipment like guns and bombay doors. And while they sometimes enjoyed the protection of U.S. and British fighter pilots flying Mustangs and Spitfires, other times they were at the mercy of flak and German fighters with only their own gunners to protect themselves. The aim of the bombing was to destroy Nazi Germany’s supply and materiel resources, which included emasculating the enemy air force as much as possible prior to the eventual invasion of Europe—and, yes, to terrorize. By D-Day and after, the allies achieved that goal for the most part. Stewart’s missions throughout Europe included runs into Berlin (“the Big B”) as well as over Paris, where his wing flew past the Eiffel Tower. (My only minor complaint about the book is the borderline salacious way it covers Stewart’s sexual escapades as a young bachelor in Hollywood, which included relationships with Norma Shearer, Olivia DeHavilland, Dinah Shore and more, though these experiences convinced him not to marry an actress! On the other hand, it was fun to hear of others within his circle of friends like Burgess (“Buzz”) Meredith.)

Though Stewart lost his share of men under his command, he was considered somewhat of a good luck charm because his losses were not as bad as others. While this can be attributed somewhat to simple good luck since combat can be fickle, the book suggests this was also partly due to Stewart's leadership and insistence on discipline, keeping tight formations which made for a smaller target and made it easier for ships to cover each other. In this case, Stewart's age and maturity relative to the young 20-somethings under his command may have been an advantage.

Not unlike Yossarian in the Joseph Hellerman novel, Catch-22, the stress of combat and the constant eyewitnessing of the downing of planes and the fates of the airmen on those aircraft would come to deeply affect Stewart, as it did many others, leading to his commanding officers to give him a break from flying. Though he assumed operations duty to give some relief, he eventually took on an executive command in another squadron where he continued to serve with competence and effective leadership.

When Stewart returned, people were shocked by how much he had aged. Hollywood also had changed, with the studio system having begun to break—Stewart signed with Lew Wasserman, who had bought out MCA, and became an independent. Stewart was adrift for a time, not sure how he fit in or what roles would suit him now. As is well known, Stewart’s first project was the beloved It’s A Wonderful Life (Stewart later said the movie and filmmaker Frank Capa “saved his life.”) Indeed, anecdotes from the shoot bookend the book. Stewart, of course, would continue to have a successful film career, his postwar Westerns particularly being known for revealing a dark brooding side of Stewart that otherwise belied his “aw, shucks'' image. (His wife would later say that was the “real” Jimmy Stewart she knew.)

World War II ultimately didn’t break Stewart, but like anyone who served, it of course deeply affected and colored him for the remainder of his life and career. This book is another sobering contribution to many other great works that recount and honor the sacrifice and experiences of the Greatest Generation.

L.A. Festival of Books

Purchased from the Hi De Ho Comics Booth
at the festival.

On Sunday, April 25, we visited the L.A. Festival of Books (sponsored by the Los Angeles Times), held on the campus of the University of Southern California (USC) near downtown L.A. My wife primarily wished to attend some signings and panels, so I tagged along.

In addition to books and authors, I was glad to see comics and graphic novels well represented among the vendors, including a booth from one of the local Westside comic book stores near me in Santa Monica, Hi De Ho Comics, which I visited regularly when I was in college. You’ll see some of my purchases in the photo gallery.

In addition, when checking the schedule the day before we went, I discovered there was a panel appearance of Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, the cartoonists behind the long-running Love and Rockets series. I snatched up tickets for what turned out to be a fun overview of their series and a fascinating conversation about their creative process. The panel was followed by a book signing.

It was also fun visiting USC (we actually took L.A.’s Metro rail there, which was only about a 20 minute ride). As I have occasionally mentioned, my wife and I both attended UCLA as undergrads. That said, I actually got my master’s degree at USC, while my wife spent several years there for her doctorate. (As a student, I went to several UCLA-USC football games, both at the Rose Bowl and the L.A. Coliseum.) But we remain Bruins through and through.

So with UCLA and USC being cross-town rivalries, naturally I made sure to wear a UCLA t-shirt (during the day, several people randomly called out “Go, Bruins!” when they saw me). At right is a selfie I took wearing a Bruin shirt in front of the Tommy Trojan mascot statue.

All kidding aside, we were impressed by the changes the campus has undergone (we’ve been aware of the changes, we just hadn’t seen them first hand). USC has gentrified much of the area around campus. In fact, a rather sketchy shopping center we remembered across the street from campus (which had a bar my wife recalled visiting occasionally with fellow grad students and professors) had been transformed into a mixed-use student residential dorm area with restaurants, bars, and even a Trader Joe’s and Target! We also quickly visited the building where our classes and programs were sited. We recalled that my wife’s office in the doctoral program overlooked USC's football practice field. This included a quick visit to the Annenberg School of Communication where I received my master’s, which I had not been to since my graduation there in ‘92!

Anyway, it was a fun day and a reminder that we’re overdue to visit the equally visit UCLA campus.

Below are additional photos...you can see the full photogallery here.

First Look at the Rings of Power

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I've been a huge fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings since discovering it around the age of 12 or so. And seeing the books come to life with loving care and a firm sense of conviction in the material in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films (2001–03) was certainly a dream come true for this kid's still beating fanboy heart—the films not only surpassed my expectations (as well as most people's), they received critical acclaim and validated my love of the books by being embraced by mainstream audiences. (While I have fondness for the Hobbit film trilogy (2011–14) and even the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings film, Jackson's films were the pinnacle of adaptations).

So it's with some interest that I look forward to the upcoming Amazon Studios series, the Rings of Power, that will cover the "Second Age" of Middle Earth, which set the stage for the climax of the Third Age, as told in the original trilogy.

With the series due to drop in September 2022, Amazon dropped a well done dramatic title reveal in mid-January...

 

...followed by advance coverage in the form of a behind the scenes first look in Vanity Fair and the drop of its first trailer during the Super Bowl:

As always, it all lies in the execution—only after the series drops will we know whether the new series stays true to the books (and fans' expectations). That said, I appreciate the scale of the world of Middle Earth they've shown in the teaser, as well as the sophistication of the special effects; both show epic action and quiet thoughtful character moments that hopefully will be part of the series.

To add my own two cents though, I do hope that there will be a modicum of humor in the series as well. While Jackson stayed true to the books, what's sometimes overlooked is that he also smartly added occasional humor to the proceedings, both to "humanize" the usually very un-human characters but also to take off the edge off of the solemnity that are indeed part of the mythic story. By doing so, Jackson deftly subtly reminded modern audiences that this was still all meant to be entertaining (he also satisfied the impish sense of humor that has always been part of this filmography), while fully showing respect for the story and characters. He approached the material very seriously without making it feel self-important. So let's hope the show runners of the new series keeps that in mind as well.

Fingers crossed!

Entertainment Round Up 2021: The Year of Binging

In last year’s Entertainment Round Up, I wondered whether I’d be able to maintain the pace of entertainment consumption that had picked up during the pandemic—well, here we are a year later, and while things have opened up a bit, who’d’ve thought we’d all still be holed at home to remain safe and healthy.

So, yes, as you’ll see from the list below, where I annually list the tv shows, movies and books I’ve consumed at the end of the year this list is indeed longer than past years. While I always make the caveat that I don’t necessarily catch everything, this year nevertheless is longer and more complete than previous entries. On the plus side, most of these were consumed while at the drawing board (I have a tv in my studio space!), so at least I was productive while channel surfing.

I also often like to list those movies and tv shows that were my favorite—though, admittedly, I don’t watch anywhere near every release. Of course, I also watched and revisited films and programs I’ve seen before, which are tagged with a “rewatch.”

That said, here are the programs that made the pandemic bearable—and given that this was a year when most of us were stuck at home for long periods of time, it was pretty much all about the binging. None all of these necessarily first aired in 2021, but they were when I discovered or watched for the first time this year:

For All Mankind (Apple+) 

Ted Lasso (AppleTV) 

Dopesick (Hulu) 

Get Back (Disney+) 

Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) 

Mythic Quest (Apple+) 

Sex Education (Netflix) 

Resident Alien (SyFy Channel)  

Maid (Netflix)

Schmigadoon (Apple+) 

The Deuce (HBOMax) 

Hawkeye (Disney+) 

Ghosts (CBS) 

As for films, I understandably didn't get out to the theater much, though of course many films were made available either simultaneously or shortly after its official release on streaming channels. In any case, among the most memorable were those that tickled my fanboy heart, particularly Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Widow, and Ghostbusters: After Watch.

I also ended the year on a tear through several books, all good and worthwhile, particularly Lone Rider: The First British Woman to Motorcycle Around the World by Elspeth Beard and A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost. But there wasn't a bad one in the bunch (otherwise, I wouldn't have finished reading them!)

And so without any further ado...

Streaming Films

Being the Ricardos – Prime (12/23/21)
Get Back – Disney+ (12/3/21)
American Grafitti - HBOMax (11/25/21) - rewatch
Anatomy of a Murder - YouTubeTV (11/24/21)
Conspiracy - HBOMax (11/23/21) - rewatch
A Fish Called Wanda - YouTubeTV (11/21/22)
Henry V (1942 version) - HBOMax (11/19/21)
Tell It to the Bees - Prime (11/16/21)
Pygmalion - HBOMax (11/16/21)
Michael Clayton - Hulu (11/15/21) - rewatch
49th Parallel - HBOMax (11/14/21)
Red Notice - Netflix (11/14/21)
Pride and Prejudice - HBOMax (11/13/21) - rewatch
Cowboys and Aliens - Amazon Prime (11/12/21)
Dead Again – HBOMax (11/9/21) - rewatch
Thirteen Days - HBOMax (11/12/21) - rewatch
Singing in the Rain - HBOMax (11/8/21) - rewatch
Experimenter - YouTubeTV (11/5/2021)
Gorky Park - YouTubeTV (11/5/2021) - rewatch
Ice Station Zebra - HBOMax (11/2/21)
L.A. Confidential - IMDB (10/27/21) - rewatch
What Happened, Brittany Murphy? - HBOMax (10/20/21)
George Stevens: From D-Day to Berlin - HBOMax (10/20/21)
Nichols and May: Take Two - HBOMax (10/19/21)
Doolittle’s Raiders: A Final Toast - Tubi (10/18/21)
Vice - Hulu (10/18/21)
Reno 911: Miami - Tubi (10/16/21)
Justice League Snyder Cut - HBOMax (10/14/21)
Batman vs. Superman: Ultimate Edition - HBOMax (10/13/21)
Man of Steel - HBOMax (10/13/21) - rewatch
Superman II - HBOMax (10/12/21) - rewatch
Superman - HBOMax (10/11/21) - rewatch
Superman: Behind the Scenes - YouTube (10/11/21)
My Fair Lady - Netflix (10/11/21)
The Cat’s Meow - IMDBtv (10/6/21)
Maid (10 eps) - Netflix (10/5/21)
Attack of the Hollywood Clichés – Netflix (10/2/21)
Shakespeare in Love - HBOMax (9/30/21)

Sedgwick - Prime (9/30/21)
Master and Commander - YouTube movie (9/29/21)
The Graduate - HBOMax (9/23/21)
Kill Cheer Mom - Lifetime (9/12/21)
To Catch a Thief - Prime (9/12/21)
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming! - Prime (9/11/21)
Intolerable Cruelty - Hulu (9/11/21)
Witness - Prime (9/4/21) - rewatch
Netflix vs. the World (9/4/21)
Count Me In - HBOMax (8/29/21)
Babe - HBOMax (8/25/21) - rewatch
The Hobbit - HBOMax (8/21/21) - rewatch
Out of My League - Netflix (8/23/21)
Lord of the Rings (extended editions) - HBOMax (8/21/21) - rewatch
War Dogs - Netflix (8/20/21)
Wodehouse in Exile - Prime (8/15/21)
Hitchcock - HBOMax (8/15/21)
Jurassic Park: Lost World - HBOMax (8/15/21)
Jurassic Park - HBOMax (8/15/21) - rewatch
The Shadow - HBOMax (8/14/21) - rewatch
The Path to War – Prime (8/10/21)
Catch Me If You Can –  Netflix (8/10/21) - rewatch
Val - Prime (8/8-21)
Space Cowboys - Netflix (8/7/21) - rewatch
Apollo 13 - YouTubeTV (8/6/21) - rewatch
Robin Hood: Men in TIghts – YouTube (8/5/21)
Milius - YouTube (8/4/21)
Doc Hollywood - YouTubeTV - (8/3/21)
On the Basis of Sex - YouTubeTV - (8/3/21)
Creed II -- YouTubeTV (7/31/21)
Forrest Gump – YouTubeTV (7/30/21) - rewatch
13 Hours – IMDB (7/30/21)
Blackkklansman - Prime (7/29/21)
This Changes Everything - Netflix (7/29/21)
Bridge of Spies - HBO (7/20/21) - rewatch
Pride of the Yankees - Prime (7/19/21) - rewatch
Get Carter - TCM (7/11/21)
Black Widow - Disney+ (7/11/21)
The Beatles: Made on the Merseyside - Hulu (7/9/21)
The Whole Truth - Netflix (7/9/21)
Welcome to Marwen - YouTubeTV (7/5/21)
The Green Book - YouTubeTV (7/5/21)
Casablanca - HBOMax (7/5/21) -rewatch
Midway - HBOMax (7/3/21) -rewatch
Harry Benson: Shoot First - Hulu (7/2/21)
Operation FInale - Netflix (6/27/21)
Burn After Reading - HBOMax (6/24/21) -rewatch
PT-109 - HBOMax (6/15/21) - rewatch
The Women - TCM/YouTubeTV (6/7/21)
Magic in the Moonlight - Prime (6/6/21)
The Bling Ring - Netflix (6/6/21)
Tenet - HBOMax (6/6/21)
The Professor and the Madman - Netflix (6/6/21)
Big Lebowski - Netflix (6/5/21) - rewatch
The Sound of Music - Disney+ (5/30/21)  - rewatch
Death of Stalin - Netflix (5/28/21) - rewatch
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge – HBOMax (5/24/21)
Get On Up - Netflix (5/22/21)
WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn - Hulu (5/21/21)
A Rainy Day in New York - Prime (5/20/21)
The Banker - AppleTV (5/19/21)
Framing DeLorean - Netflix (5/15/21)
2010: The Year We Make Contact - YouTubeTV (5/13/21) - rewatch
Age of Tanks - Netflix (5/12/21)
H.M. Pulham, Esq. – YouTubeTV/TCM (5/11/21)
Mission of Honor - Netflix (5/7/21)
Green Zone - Netflix (5/5/21)
Sing Street - IMDBtv (5/3/21) - rewatch
Sound of Metal - Prime (5/1/21)
Rush - Netflix (4/24/21) - rewatch
October Sky - IMDB (4/18/21) - rewatch
Mister Roberts  - (4/17/21) - rewatch
Bohemian Rhapsody - (4/10/21)
Grayhound - AppleTV (4/04/21)*
The Last Blockbuster - Netflix (3/26/21)
Music and Lyrics - YouTube (3/26/21) - rewatch
Carol - Netflix (3/25/21) - rewatch
Justice League Snyder Cut - HBOMax (3/20/21)
Audrey (documentary) - Netflix (3/19/21)
Last Fling - Prime (3/19/21)
Two Weeks Notice - Netflix (3/18/21) - rewatch
Crazy, Stupid, Love - Netflix (3/16/21)
East Side Sushi - Netflix (3/11/21) *
Hudsucker Proxy - Prime Purchase (3/10/21) - rewatch
Driving Miss Daisy - YouTubeTV (3/7/21) - rewatch
War, Inc. – IMDBTV (2/28/21)
Grosse Pointe Blank – Hulu (2/28/21) - rewatch
The Dig – Netflix (1/31/21)*
How to Murder Your Wife - Prime (1/29/21)*
The White Countess - YouTubeTV (1/23/21)
Spotlight - Netflix (1/18/21) - rewatch
Charlie Wilson’s War - Prime (1/17/21)
Breach - Prime (1/17/21) - rewatch
First Man - YouTubetv (1/14/21)
Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future - Prime (1/1/21)

Streaming Series/TV

Ghosts S1 Eps 1–8 – CBS (12/29/23)
Hawkeye S1 Eps 1–6) (12/22/23)
2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony - HBOMax (11/22/21)
Dopesick Ep 8 FInale -  Hulu (11/21/21)
Brooklyn 99 - S9 finale - Hulu (10/18/21)
Only Murders in the Building, ep 10 - Hulu (10//15/21)
Dopesick Eps 1–3 - Hulu (10/17/21)
The Movies that Made Us S3: Aliens - Netflix (10/14/21)
American Masters: Mike Nichols - HBOMax (10/12/21)
My Fair Lady 1964 - The Making of My Fair Lady Then and Now - YouTube (10/11/21)
Ted Lasso S2 - AppleTV (10/08/21)*
Untouchable - Hulu (10/10/21)
Monty Python Conquers America - Netflix (10/7/21)
Rita Moreno: Just a GIrl Who Decided to Go for It - PBS (10/6/21)
CItizen Hearst - PBS (10/6/21)
What If - Disney+(10/6/21)
Loudermilk, S1 - Prime (10/21)
For All Mankind S1-2 - Apple+ (9/22/21)
Only Murders in the Building, eps 1–3 - Hulu (8/31/21)
The Movies that Made Us: Christmas Films - Netflix (08/22/21)
Schmigadoon – AppleTV (8/13/21)
Defunctland: The History of the 1964 New York World's Fair - Youtube (8/4/21)
Defunctland: The History of Disneyland's Adventure Thru Inner Space- Youtube (8/4/21)
Larry Sanders Show - HBOMax (07/30/21)
The Movies that Made Us - Netflix (07/29/21)
Schmigadoon - AppleTV
History of the Sitcom eps 1-3 - CNN (7/21/21)
Paul McCartney: 3, 2, 1 ep 1 - Hulu (7/20/21)
American Experience: JFK (4 eps) - Prime (7/15/21)
Loki - Disney + - S1 (7/15/21)
Mythic Quest - AppleTV - S2 (6/27/21)
The Deuce - HBOMax - S1 (6/24/21)
Big Shot- Disney+ - S1 Ep1 (6/18/21)
North Korea: Inside the Mind of a Dictator (CNN) - (6/8/21)
Kim’s Convenience - S3 Ep1-2 (6/3/21)
Newsradio - purchased S3
Age of Tanks - Netflix (5/14/21)
Call the Midwife S8-9 - Netflix (5/2/21)
Mythic Quest - AppleTV - S1 (5/2/21)
Falcon and the Snowman S1 - Disney+ (4/23/21)*
Resident Alien S1 - DSyFy(4/10/21)
Chas S1 Ep 1 (4/10/21)
Hemingway Eps 1-3 - PBS (4/10/21)
Morning Show S1 Eps 1-3  AppleTV (4/03/21)*
Ted Lasso S1 - AppleTV (4/01/21)*
Sex Education S1 - Netflix (3/28/21)
Batman: The Brave and the Bold S1 Eps 1-4 (3/24/21)
Superman: The Animated Series S1 Eps 1-3 (3/23/21)
Falcon and the WInter Soldier S1 Ep1 (3/19/21)
My Mother and Other Strangers S1 Eps 1-5 - Prime (3/14/21)*
Superstore S3 - Hulu (2/28/21)
Resident Alien Ep 1 (2/21/21)
Superstore S1–2 (2/17/21)
Lookwell (2/15/21) - rewatch
Benched eps 1–12 (2/11/21)
Pennyworth, S1, ep 1 (2/6/21)
Sports Night, E1 - IMDB (1/29/21)
Newsradio, S2 - purchased S2 (1/29/21)*
WandaVision - DisneyPlus (1/15/21) *
Plot Against America S1 - HBOMax  - (1/9/21)
Newsradio, S1 - IMDBtv - (1/9/21)
From the Earth to the Moon (Eps. 8-12) - HBOMax (01/4/21)

Films/DVD
Spider-Man: No Way Home (12/18/21) – Fox Bruin
French Dispatch (12/5/21) - Landmark Theatre
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (11/21/21) - Fox Bruin
Lord of the RIngs Extended Version Appendices DVD (9/18/21)
Shang Chi (9/5/21) - Westwood Village
Remains of the Day – DVD (2/1/21) - rewatch

Theatre/Live Performance
A Study of Fire: NYE Edition at Eataly (12/31/21) Ben Folds: Is this Live (10/17/21)
My Fair Lady - Dolby Theatre (10/9/21)
Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition Los Angeles - La Cienega (9/10/21)
LA County Museum of Art (6/21)
A Bowie Celebration - streaming (1/10/21)
Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical  - TodayTix.com  (1/1/21)

Books
Taking Paris: The Epic Battle for the City of Lights by Martin Dugard (12/29/21)
North Korea from the Inside by Michael Palin (12/11/21)
Lone Rider: The First British Woman to Motorcycle Around the World by Elspeth Beard (12/7/21)
Around the World in Eighty Days by Michael Palin - Kindle (11/22/21)
A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost (11/6/21)
Young Blueberry Vol. 1: Blueberry’s Secret (9/6/21)
Young Blueberry Vol. 2: A Yankee Names Blueberry (9/6/21)
Young Blueberry Vol. 3: The Blue Coats (9/8/21) The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History by Jason Vuic (9/5/21) 

Podcasts Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast:
Terry Zwigoff
Barry Sonnenfeld Returns
Max Allan Collins and Dave Thomas
Mark Harris
Kevin Pollak
Steve Buscemi
Ben Mankiewicz
Kliph Nesteroff