Is Rambo getting to old for this, or is it just the movies that are getting old?

What an odd bird is Rambo: Last Blood. I had to watch it—I’m an American male of a certain age, and I grew up with the Rambo character. But what this movie was, I’m not quite sure. (Also, I was one of three people in the theater, on opening Friday night at 7pm.)

In a film by Balboa Productions, Sylvester Stallone returns to his other signature role as John Rambo. Even more so than the last outing, he lumbers into this fifth film in the series, looking chiseled but stiff at the ripe old age of 72 (at the time of filming). Yvette Monreal plays a damsel in distress who must eventually be avenged. Paz Vega plays a character who is unimportant. And the rest of the cast are basically indistinguishable, cardboard demon-men who must be shot, stabbed, dismembered, tortured, or blown up. » More... »

Wow! I saw Glenn Danzig’s ‘Verotika’ and trust me, you don’t have to

DanzigIf you stumbled across this article because of a web search, chances are you already know that Glenn Danzig (he of Misfits, Samhain, and his eponymous band) has made a movie. You probably know it’s called Verotika, and that it’s based on various works published by his comic book company of the same name. And you’ve probably heard it’s bad. Like, really bad. All these things are true.

But on the last part, let’s be fair. It wasn’t any movie studio that greenlit Danzig’s passion project, nor even a schlock direct-to-VOD outfit. Rather, it was his friends at Cleopatra Records who put up the cash and gave Glenn their blessing to make the movie he wanted to make. So out of the gate, we have two handicaps: First, a budget the size of Jeff Bezos’s lunch bill. Second, the fact that Glenn Danzig’s personal aesthetic is, um, unique. » More... »

The bonkers chaos of Go Nagai’s ‘Devilman’

Manga and AnimeWhen Netflix released Devilman Crybaby last year, I enjoyed the anime, but it made me realize that although I was cursorily familiar with the character, I had never really gone back and read Go Nagai’s original manga from the early 1970s. When I found out that Seven Seas Entertainment had released Devilman: The Classic Collection in two volumes the same year, I decided to check it out. And what a ride it is. » More... »

LibraryLookup updated to version 0.3.2

Icon of a stack of booksI’m not sure when my LibraryLookup extension for Chrome browsers stopped working, but when I noticed it wasn’t, I took some time out to knock it back into shape. For those not familiar with the extension, it watches when you’re browsing Amazon and when it sees you looking at a book or other item that’s available from the San Francisco Public Library, it inserts a link into the Amazon page where you can find a copy or request one be shipped to your local branch. Chrome users can install it here. » More... »

‘Suspiria’ remake deserves its own place on the screen

Suspiria (2018)I’ve long been a fan of Dario Argento’s 1977 horror flick Suspiria, and I’m certainly not alone. Among horror film aficionados, Suspiria is revered as much for its memorable cinematography and score as its ability to remain compelling despite having an almost nonsensical plot. So when the news came that a remake of this seminal Italian film was in the works, the natural question was, “Why?” » More... »

Fake books!

E-ReaderAll right, I’ll say it. E-readers are the best. I actually prefer to read books on an electronic device now than to have to carry around big slabs of dead trees. What’s more, if I hear one more person say, “But I like the feel and the smell of the paper,” I’ll scream. There are two distinct types of people in the world. Some of them think women’s panties are for wearing, and the others … catch my drift? But to me, the advantages of an e-reader far outweigh any nostalgic notions of paper books (except, perhaps, longevity).
I’d been in the mood for reading some new books, so I did a little research and I found about four that I’d be interested in reading. I wasn’t so sold that I wanted to shell out money for them, though. So you know what? I checked them out from the library. Yes, on the e-reader. That’s a thing. Now I walk around with all four of them in my jacket pocket. When I finish one I can pick up the next one, just like that. I can read them in the dark, no flashlight necessary. And to repeat, I did not steal them, I checked them out from my local library and thus supported the authors.

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Thoughts on public relations (Part 2)

This post is the second in a series of thoughts on my recent experiences as a journalist “embedded” within a tech-centric public relations agency. You can find Part One here.

In that first installment, I talked a lot about how reporters and PR pros often find themselves at odds because they don’t really understand each other. This time around, I’d like to turn to how companies interact with external PR agencies and the media, and why they don’t always get the results they want.

Now … I don’t really expect companies to take my advice. There’s very little a PR agency can do to change corporate culture. A reporter might have a better chance, provided the barrage of negative press is big enough. But companies, especially large ones, tend to be set in their ways. Still, it’s worth pondering some of the things that, in theory, should be easy to change, but that I’ve encountered again and again. » More... »

Thoughts on public relations (Part 1)

So here we are again. Last time I tried to knock the dust off this blog, it was to announce that I’d parted ways with The Register and would be moving on to my next chapter, whatever that would be. And then … silence.

Mea culpa. What happened was things got busy again fairly quickly. I decided to accept a new position, one that was different from anything I’d done before. I took a job at a public relations firm.

It certainly was a change. I’ve never had a company issue a press release about hiring me before, and nobody has ever interviewed me about my new job – although I suppose neither should have surprised me, given the industry in question.

I ended up staying in the role for 12 months, almost to the day. Now I’m on my own again, and itching to get back into editorial writing. I do expect to continue to do some communications work, albeit in a consulting capacity. The most interesting part of the experience for me, though, was the inside look it gave me at the other side of the tech media circus, a side I’d never investigated before. » More... »