Random thoughts...

[RonClinton]

Anybody do anything fun over the Father's Day weekend?

Flew back up to WA for a few days to visit my kids and new 3-month old grandson...hard to beat that as a way to celebrate being a dad, which is by far the greatest event in my life.

And check out his shirt!

eli_shirt_med.jpg

[sholloman81]

Anybody do anything fun over the Father's Day weekend?

Friday night we had a nice dinner out, then caught Social Distortion in concert. My wife and I had this running joke about seeing Social D in concert because we've gone to Vegas on two or three occasions and Social D is playing while we're there, but we're never able to go due to prior plans. After like fifteen years, we finally were able to make it happen...and in a venue that was no more than forty minutes from the house. While admittedly I'm not a super-fan, we did have a great time.

Saturday, we just relaxed, then Sunday we grabbed a coffee, did some light errands, then caught The Shawshank Redemption at a local theatre. While I own this on disc, I've never seen it theatrically and just didn't want to miss the opportunity to see how it played on the big screen. Honestly, it's hard to believe the movie is over 30 years old. It still feels so fresh and has a steady, chugging motor to it that just pulls you in. Back in the day, before we were all streaming, I remember TNT would have Shawshank on rotation all the time and no matter when I caught the film as I flipped through the channels, if I stopped for more than 10 seconds, I would be watching the whole thing. This film has to be in my Top 5 of all time.

Sounds like a very fun day! And yes, if you stop on Shawshank, you definitely end up watching it. Totally sucks you in!

[Sock Monkey]

Anybody do anything fun over the Father's Day weekend?

Friday night we had a nice dinner out, then caught Social Distortion in concert. My wife and I had this running joke about seeing Social D in concert because we've gone to Vegas on two or three occasions and Social D is playing while we're there, but we're never able to go due to prior plans. After like fifteen years, we finally were able to make it happen...and in a venue that was no more than forty minutes from the house. While admittedly I'm not a super-fan, we did have a great time.

Saturday, we just relaxed, then Sunday we grabbed a coffee, did some light errands, then caught The Shawshank Redemption at a local theatre. While I own this on disc, I've never seen it theatrically and just didn't want to miss the opportunity to see how it played on the big screen. Honestly, it's hard to believe the movie is over 30 years old. It still feels so fresh and has a steady, chugging motor to it that just pulls you in. Back in the day, before we were all streaming, I remember TNT would have Shawshank on rotation all the time and no matter when I caught the film as I flipped through the channels, if I stopped for more than 10 seconds, I would be watching the whole thing. This film has to be in my Top 5 of all time.

[sholloman81]

Just received my copy of Never Flinch from CD. Arrived within a day or two of receiving the shipping notice. Received this as a bonus item for ordering Widow's Point earlier this year; so, it was essentially free! Thanks again for the great deal Rich!

[Ben Staad]

Woohoo!

I did drop a message to Stephen Mark Rainey, who I believe was the editor and publisher of Deathrealm, but haven’t heard back yet. Fingers crossed. Now that you mention it, maybe Wilson would still have a contributor copy on hand…hmm.

EDIT: I was able to connect with Rainey, and it looks like I'm now hopefully good to go.

[RonClinton]

Best of luck on your search, Mr. Ron. I hadn't heard of that magazine before. Some good names on the cover. David is still around, and maybe you've already reached out, but he is on social media.

https://davidniallwilson.com/contact/

I did drop a message to Stephen Mark Rainey, who I believe was the editor and publisher of Deathrealm, but haven’t heard back yet. Fingers crossed. Now that you mention it, maybe Wilson would still have a contributor copy on hand…hmm.

EDIT: I was able to connect with Rainey, and it looks like I'm now hopefully good to go.

[Ben Staad]

Best of luck on your search, Mr. Ron. I hadn't heard of that magazine before. Some good names on the cover. David is still around, and maybe you've already reached out, but he is on social media.

https://davidniallwilson.com/contact/

[RonClinton]

Does anyone happen to have the Summer 1997 issue of Deathrealm, apparently its final issue? If so, I would be greatly appreciative to get a scanned copy or photos of one of the articles in it. The cover looks like this:

DTHRLMSMMR1997.jpg

[Ben Staad]

That sounds like an amazing time, SK.

[Sock Monkey]

Last night, the wife and I had a pretty great time attending "An Evening with Albert Brooks" in nearby Santa Barbara, California. I've always been a fan of Brooks so when I happened to stumble across an ad for the show one day while browsing online, I was pretty excited. But then I saw that it was being hosted by Kevin Pollack, who is one of my favorite actors/comedians, and this was like a little double whammy of "heck, yeah!" The show was just two hours of Pollack and Brooks on stage, in this little theater of just over 600 seats (which was packed), talking about Brooks's career and, man, was it entertaining. Both men are funny, but Brooks is also a heck of a storyteller and his honesty in detailing the challenges of making his early films and his recounting some of his encounters with Robert DeNiro and Nancy Reagan were hysterical. I've been putting off watching the recent documentary about him, but now I feel the urge to watch it along with getting through some of his backlog of films I haven't had a chance to catch yet.

[Ben Staad]

Yea. I saw that as well. May he rest in peace.

Well, gosh darn it, I just found out that one of my favorite comic writers, the legendary Peter David, has passed away. I know he's been struggling with health issues for a very long time, but 68 is still pretty darn young. He cemented his status as a legend through his insanely long run on The Incredible Hulk, but I don't know if I've ever read a bad run of a Peter David book and his Aquaman is still my favorite version (it's a harpoon, not a hook, darn it!) Man, this bums me out.

[Sock Monkey]

Well, gosh darn it, I just found out that one of my favorite comic writers, the legendary Peter David, has passed away. I know he's been struggling with health issues for a very long time, but 68 is still pretty darn young. He cemented his status as a legend through his insanely long run on The Incredible Hulk, but I don't know if I've ever read a bad run of a Peter David book and his Aquaman is still my favorite version (it's a harpoon, not a hook, darn it!) Man, this bums me out.

[RonClinton]

Just got my most recent order from Book Outlet. For less than $40, I received trade hardcovers of C.J Leede's "American Rapture", Jeff VanderMeer's "Absolution", Rio Youers' "The Bang-Bang Sisters", and Clay McCleod Chapman's "What Kind of Mother". Have had my eye on each of these for a while and am glad I was able to snag them at this steep discount. Hope to read them sometime soon.

I have my eye on three of those four -- interested in particular what your take is on AMERICAN RAPTURE once you've read it. MAEVE FLY, too, is another Leede book that I've considered in the past...with AMERICAN RAPTURE, I figure it's probably time to get a fix on what her work is like.

[sholloman81]

Just got my most recent order from Book Outlet. For less than $40, I received trade hardcovers of C.J Leede's "American Rapture", Jeff VanderMeer's "Absolution", Rio Youers' "The Bang-Bang Sisters", and Clay McCleod Chapman's "What Kind of Mother". Have had my eye on each of these for a while and am glad I was able to snag them at this steep discount. Hope to read them sometime soon.

[Martin]

Thanks again, everyone, for the kind words and well wishes. It’s an exciting time for our family, albeit a big, new change, but certainly one for the better.

Martin, unfortunately he’s in WA…my daughter found out she was expecting literally days after the closing of the sale of our WA home. Had it been a week later, we could’ve cancelled the sale, but by then it was too late. Just a case of very, very bad timing.

But we rented a home in WA and helped them with things the first month, so were able to help them segue into their new routine and stage of life, and happily spend a month with our new grandson — win-win — and we’ll be making many trips back to WA and flying them down to us.

Sorry to hear that, was hoping you were moving closer to them! I am sure even with the distance it is a great thing!