Sisters Brothers

Title: The Sisters Brothers

Directed by: A Frenchman

Starring: John C Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed

Cuts about 90% of the Picaresque adventures of the brotherly bounty hunters and thus misses the sense of absurdity about the whole thing. It is a dadaish work, standing in opposition to both John Wayne and Unforgiven, declaring that there was no moral order in the West, inverted or otherwise, merely luck and chance, and the only real victims were idealists.

It is significant, I think, that the only character to get a "happy" ending is Eli, the one who had the simplest motives and ambitions.

Spiderman Infinity

Title: Spider-Man Into the Spider-alaxy

Directors: Yes, 3 of them

Starring: Spider-Man, other Spider-Man, older Spider-Man, SpiderMan, Spiderman, Spider-Man But It's a Girl, Anime Spider-Man and Looney Tunes Spider-Man

"Anyone can be Spider-Man" assures this movie in which a group of heroes who have all been granted superhuman powers up to and including invisibility and the force lightning thing from Return of the Jedi after being bitten by radioactive spiders team up to do things which would instantly pulverize, squash, mash, rend, tear, destroy and kill any normal human who attempted them. 

Deliriously fun for the most part, though the "reality" level is all over the place so I was never quite sure if I should be worried for anyone's safety or not, the serious scenes are corny as all hell, and like I say, the actual story itself completely and utterly contradicts the moral it tries to tell.

But man this was good, goofy fun.

I AM NOW A PUBLISHED AUTHOR

 So yes, I'm reviving this blog for purely self-promotional aims, but I am pleased, nay, chuffed to announce that after years of trying I have at last managed get one of my wordings put into print in an actual publication that is actually sold for actual currency by an actual corporation.

Ladies and gentlemen (okay, who am I kidding; The two guys who sometimes read this blog and bots), I present Shrapnel Volume 4, featuring as its crown jewel, its core, its beating heart, a story by none other than yours truly.

That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight.

BattleTech is a tabletop wargame about giant robots, heavily inspired by Robotech (Macross to purists) as well as SciFi properties like Dune or The Mote in God's Eye, and has been an on-again off-again hobby of mine since I was old enough to be a complete dweeb. The property has long churned out dozens if not hundreds of novels in support of the game, and is currently publishing a magazine of short stories submitted by the Johnest of Q Publics.

Enter me.

I'd originally submitted a story to BattleCorps, the precursor to Shrapnel, back in 2016, and in a fit of thanks that publication promptly went bankrupt. So this has been a journey five years in the making, or about 35 years in the making if you count from the day I first picked up a copy of the old BattleTech boxed set.

Anyway, the story is called "Inverted", and it's sort of an origin story but for the whole fictional universe, and of course as a Genesis story it's about the original sin and why this universe is so utterly fucked up that you can base a tabletop wargame on it.

Purchase it from the Catalyst Games Lab store and any fine purveyor of fictional wares. Or Amazon.

I hope you enjoy the entertainment product and use your stimulus check money to purchase dozens of copies for your friends and relatives. I have no doubt this will fill the gap that has been missing all their lives. Consume! Consume!

Thank and bless