The Ghost Breakers Go to the Breadbasket

Enough about comics!  While I was convalescing at home for two weeks, I came across a commercial.  The commercial was for a television show.  The television show was Haunting in the Heartland. I had to watch it.

The premise is this: enough of these big city haunts!  We're tired of Victorian mansions, Gothic cathedrals and Poltergeist III high-rises!  What about the REAL America?  Michigan, Tennessee and Mississippi.  We've got ghosts, too!

The host is Steve Shippy, although IMDb lists him as Steven "Prozak" Shippy.  Not to comment on a person's appearance, but he dresses like a school resource officer.  And he has a Steven Seagal goatee.  Regardless, this guy hates ghost and he is here to weed them out.

If you've ever been on Prime, you've likely seen the generic poster for a Shippy joint.  Now, the Travel Trvl Channel has given Shippy the green light to take it to the hinterlands.  Episode one starts slow, with a haunting near Shippy's hometown of Saginaw, MI (see above).  The biggest takeaway from this one is that Shippy treats his job like a plumber.  He asks for feedback as soon as the hauntee family walks in the day after!  Shouldn't they wait a full 24 hours first?  Shippy might as well say "alright, that should stop the leak, but call if it doesn't."

Entertainment picks up as Shippy migrates South.  Two further themes emerged here, bringing an informal format to the hunts.  First, Shippy is good about bringing in local historians for context.  But if said historian answers a hypothetical in the affirmative, that's a firm yes for Shippy.  

For example, Shippy asked if smallpox sufferers were burned alive.  The historian responds: "well, maybe."  Later, while debriefing, Shippy said, "so someone with smallpox was burned alive nearby."  How can a ghost haunt a house if their house was burned down???

The second theme is more a fun watch-along game: "what is the mental health explanation behind all this?"  In Tennessee, for example, Shippy believes this one daughter that died in a car crash was being chased by a demon.  Now, I'm no psychologist, but maybe schizophrenia?  Or illicit substances?  Both?  Shippy has only talked to one psychologist thus far, and I'm only three episodes in.

The real doozy is in Holly Springs, MS.  The hauntee family consists of two carpetbaggers from New York state.  The haunted home they inhabit is full of gaudy decorations, i.e. racist knick-knacks.  But that's not all!  Their ghost, named Bulah, was an old inhabitant who was involuntarily committed.  But she died while institutionalized?  Do spirits traverse?

Anyway, the New Yorkers think Bulah possessed their pitbull.  How long did they have this pitbull before it attacked its owners and police?  Two years, and it was a rescue.  Then Shippy tries to tie in a neighboring museum for a smallpox outbreak as another source of ghosts?  It gets muddled.

I must update as I finish the final three episodes.  Also, in researching this macro-blog post, I made a discovery.  Shippy is known as "Prozak" because he is also a rapper.  This video is the only place to end this.

Silver Age Fiend

Welcome to June!  My, it feels like the macro-blog posts here are coming slower and slower. Patience! I've been under the weather this week with a stomach virus. Don't worry, I'm still reading books, but at a slower rate. Right now I'm on Kitchen Confidential, and Elvis in Vegas by Richard Zoglin is on deck.

I'm also still reading lots of the comics listed in my observation journal. And I've noticed that many of the recent issues come from the Silver Age of DC Comics, especially 1965 or '66.  I've always been a bigger DC fan, but I'm not combative about it like some people.  I still enjoy the MCU films, sans Captain Marvel. (To be fair, my brother said the chronological edit of the film is better.)

I did foreshadow something like a majority-photo macro-blog post.  But why not do another comics macro-blog post?  Here are some highlights from DC Comics' Silver Age, circa the mid-Sixties.  Follow me . . .

The Brave and the Bold line is as solid as the Batman cartoon.  This is where you'll see a lot of great crossovers a la Marvel Team-Up.  Issue no. 76, for example, features a combo of Batman and Plastic Man.  Issue No. 65 pairs the Flash with the pre-Grant Morrison Doom Patrol.  And issue no. 84 is highlighter-worthy.  Batman, undercover as an Allied agent, teams up with Sgt. Rock in a Dirty Dozen-style raid.  Run don't walk!

DC's swinging comedy offerings are also worth checking out.  Macro-blog favorite Jerry Lewis, along with Bob Hope, had his own series!  Adventures of Jerry Lewis has Jerry's brat nephew Renfrew and a witch named Witch Kraft.  In issue no. 105, Jerry meets Superman! And in issue no. 94, the trio appears in "A Boy's Best Friend is His Mummy" (see above).

Two other humor titles of note are Swing with Scooter and Angel and the Ape.  Scooter reads like Archie meets A Hard Day's Night.  A merry lad from Liverpool comes to small-town USA and proceeds to get chased in fits of Lisztomania.  The comedy comes in with the listless, homely hometown boys.  They don't see the hype and try to sabotage Scooter at every turn of his scooter.  Sad to report that Scooter did not make my pre-New 52 DC Comics Encyclopedia. 

Angel and the Ape are as out there as the Metal Men.  Angel and the Ape run a New York City detective agency!  The Ape is also a cartoonist?  Humor ensues.  My DC Encyclopedia says Amazonians and Gorilla Grood also tie into their backstory.  I must read further!

But my favorite read, curtesy a recommendation from SAC Blog, was Bat Lash.  Bat Lash is a foppish, wandering rider, a gourmand and purveyor of the finer things in life.  He abhors violence, but if an outlaw were to interrupt his pleasures, he's the best gunfighter in the West.  I've read his first appearance and his too-short first volume.  I'm hoping to check out his later appearances as the summer goes on.

There are a few more issues I'm excited to dive into.  Brave and the Bold no. 66 has Metamorpho plus the Metal Men!  All-American Men of War no. 112 has a WWI gunner called Balloon Buster!  Showcase no. 83 has a sword and sorcery hero called Nightmaster!  Strange Adventures no. 189 has a "Monster-Go-Round!"  Who needs to leave the apartment when there's so much to read?

The First Last Jedi

Hello, again.  I thought I'd check-in (again) with a discovery.  I ran out of books to read on my trip home.  I finished Welcome to Hard Times yesterday, and Live and Let Die the day before that.  That makes seven books so far this quarantine summer!  Here's the full list:

1. The Raw and the Cooked by Jim Harrison (dropped at pg. 200)

2. The Ivory Grin by Ross Macdonald (Lew Archer Series #4)

3. Little Sister Death by William Gay

4. Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis (majority-photo macro-blog post coming soon)

5. If It Bleeds by Stephen King (skipped title story)

6. Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming (James Bond Series #2)

7. Welcome to Hard Times by E.L. Doctorow (see above)

So, without books, I've been reading some comics listed in my observation journal.  Some highlight-worthy issues included Police Comics #23 and Marvel's Star Wars #45.  In that Star Wars issue, I began to notice some overlaps with my favorite Saga film, The Last Jedi.  First, foreshadowing of the infamous (groan) "Mary Poppins" scene:

But that's not all!  There's also foreshadowing for the also-infamous Holdo maneuver!  Spoiler warning for a comic book from 1981:

Wild stuff, folks.  Also, look at this cool spread:

And, of course, issue number forty-nine is titled "The Last Jedi" (see above).  I haven't read that issue yet.  I saw the preview while reading issue forty-eight, where Leia fights Darth Vader (kinda):

Who cares if these comics aren't canon anymore!  There's gold in them hills.  And I've proven that Rian Johnson read these.  If only Johnson read about Southern accents when directing Daniel Craig!

Hello Cruel World

Hello, it's me.  It has been a while, right?  Fifty-seven days, to be exact.  Quite a while considering a steady posting clip of (almost) every weekday in March.

Finals ended on Tuesday, so I thought I should attempt an update with that weight lifted.  But instead of pondering recent events, I thought I'd share what's helped me so far.  And, in macro-blog tradition, it's a "link listicle."  Follow me . . .

1. Bill Evans on Resonance Records

I came across these recordings after looking up the releases for Record Store Day 2020.  Evans was a staple of the Square Books weekday jazz algorithm.  Turning to these during finals weeks may be out of nostalgia.  But Evans is also the basis for "lofi hiphop beats to study to."  Jam bands and Bigfoot death metal can only be the studying soundtrack for so long.  (Here is my jazz playlist from the college radio and bookstore days).

2. Watch TCM

I've seen too many movies since March 11th to mention them all.  But I will use macro-blog favorite TCM as a sort of makeshift coffee filter.  Shoutout to TCM for overdelivering on the following three categories.  First, new discoveries!

Seeking a Groucho solo outing with Sinatra as the Zeppo stand-in?  TCM has 1951's Double Dynamite as part of a Jane Russell marathon.  They also had on Jerry Lewis' Three on a Couch on Monday night.  Second, recent additions to my observation journal's running film list!  Right after hearing about Stanwyk's Baby Face on Trailers from H*ll, the uncut version was ready to stream.

And third, observation journal deep cuts.  Preparing for their Bogdanovich podcast, I've finally seen Targets and Saint Jack.  I remember Targets from Jason Zinoman's book Shock Value.  And Saint Jack came up after enjoying lead Ben Gazzara in Killing of a Chinese Bookie. (I also learned from the pod that Bogdanovich interviewed Jerry Lewis for Esquire!)

3.  YouTube's Wu Tang Collection, as Curated by Tarantino

QT has made two quar-ppearances on the New Beverly's Pure Cinema Podcast.  And his second is an essential introduction to the imposing world of Asian action cinema.  Distinguishing the original and US titles referenced can be confusing.  But Tarantino's review page is a great resource.  And almost every title mentioned (minus the Shaw Brothers films) is on the Wu Tang Collection.  A standout so far is Hwang Jung-Lee, seen in Invincible Armour (see above) and Hitman in the Hand of Buddha.

4. (e)Mailing Lists

I'm still enjoying Ray Padgett's Flagging Down the Double E's.  I'm also still subscribed to Poets.org's Poem-a-Day (more out of obligation than interest).  I've also signed up for Violent Miracle's new compilation tape series.  Maggie told me about William Boyle's The Narrow Margin.  And TCM (again, I know) has moved their Now Playing newsletter to inboxes.  Which includes each month's programming schedule!  Coming in May is Herk Harvey's (of Carnival of Souls fame) infamous short "Shake Hands With Danger" (see above)!

4. Online Shopping (sans Amazon)

I've placed three orders this week, and none of them were through Amazon!  Square Books is sending a hardcover of the new Stephen King short fiction collection.  The End of All Music is sending its Record Store Day mixtape.  And USA Gundam Store is sending an HGUC 1/144 #40 MS-06F Zaku 2 (see above).  I'm looking forward to another model after last summer's 1/144 HGUC RX-78-2 Gundam build.

There's some honorary mentions I'll save for future macro-blog posts.  Too bad I still don't know how to end these!

The Forever Wars

Why is it that so many sci-fi properties are based around endless wars?  I thought about this while reading Transformers: Historia.  Which gave me a canon headache.  I didn't love the first couple of issues of IDW's reboot of their Transformers comics.  So I thought reading the Historia one-shot would be a good gateway to IDW's first continuity.  The one-shot read like an auto-captioning of a Comicstorian video.  But it did make me check out Megatron Origin.  Which I dropped, because the art so dark you couldn't see anything in a given panel.  (But I still need to read the first issue of More than Meets the Eye, which looks brighter.)

I also thought about this while listening to Bolt Thrower.  I heard about this band while watching Amoeba's What's In My Bag with High on Fire.  Not only was John Peel a fan, but the band also based their lyrics on the tabletop miniature game Warhammer 40k!  Like Transformers, Warhammer 40k centers around an unending war in the stars.  But unlike Transformers, Warhammer 40k is grimdark.  And the mechs don't transformer into muscle cars.  The mechs here just brutalize ork aliens.

I thought about this, too, while watching this Gundam anniversary video (see above).  I've only seen half of the original series, but Thunderbolt is one of my favorite anime.  (And I still need to watch the Bandit Flower compilation film.)  But, like Transformers, the franchise shows the two sides of a war.  Here, the war is between the Principality of Zeon and the Earth Federation.  And, like Warhammer 40k, both Earth and Zeon fighters pilot mechs, aptly called Gundams.

So why are so many sci-fi properties are based around endless wars?  I don't know.  I just thought I'd bring it up.  I can think of others.  Starship Troopers by Heinlein (I haven't seen the movie).  Old Man's War by John Scalzi.  Rogue Trooper.  I'm sure I'll think of others in the shower later.

🚨BREAKING DYLAN NEWS🚨

Folks, Arkansas has become a HUB for musicians I saw in Missouri last year!  First, Phish decided to come to my neck of the woods.  Now, Bob Dylan decided to come to Little Rock.  Which is no longer my neck of my woods per se.  But it is still within the state!  Would that be the heel of the woods?  My big toe of the woods?

While MK and I are officially going to Phish, I'm debating seeing Dylan again.  That's not to say I didn't enjoy the show in Kansas City (see an illegal photo above).  Au contraire!  It's that we're already going to see Elton John (!) at the same venue the next weekend.  And Little Rock is a six-hour round-trip from Fayetteville.

I will, of course, keep all two of you posted of my final decision.  In the meantime, here's a recent rendition of "Not Dark Yet" from Dylan's last tour.  And here's a great newsletter on Dylan bootlegs.  And here's a great Twitter account I learned about from reading said newsletter.  And this all reminds me that I should've gotten Dylan on Dylan when I saw it at Square Books.  Drat!

Razor-Ranks

I've decided to post my most controversial macro-blog post yet.  You thought me saying some movies from the seventies were bad was a hot take?  Well, get your oven mitts out for this one!  I think I've lived in Fayetteville long enough to "Rank the Razorbacks."  Follow me . . .

5.  It's too sleek!  Whose idea was it to try and make a FERAL HOG look like an Apple product?

4.  I like the emphasis on the eyebrows.  And this almost borders on Don Martin-esque.  Mad's maddest hog!

3.  The tongue and saliva is a nice touch.  And this feels less cartoonish than number four.  It's more like a Frank Miller take.

2.  I grew up on this one.  So the runner-up status can be attributed to pure nostalgia.

1.  'Nuff said.  If this isn't your number one with a bullet, you're either a contrarian or a pleb.

P.S. The Club Red on campus, where I buy my rare coffees, boasts my number two (2) pick in its logo.  I didn't snag a photo on my way to the bus, but here's an old photo from Google Images for proof:

P.P.S. I should explain the differences between 1) P.S. (and P.P.S.), 2) Update, and 3) Editor's Note.  If I edit a macro-blog post the day it is macro-blog posted, I use P.S. (or P.P.S.).  If I edit a macro-blog post anytime after the day it is macro-blog posted, I use Update.  If I notice a mistake I cannot fix without substantial revisions to a macro-blog post, I used Editor's Note.  Glad I got that off my chest.

Dang it, Bobby!

I've started listening to Dead & Company while studying again.  Last spring, after bingeing most of Dick's Picks, I decided to take a break from the Dead with . . . Dead & Co.  I took up listening because the band is good about uploading full shows to Spotify.  And I wanted to hear how John Mayer and Oteil Burbridge interacted with Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann.

Oh, Bob Weir.  Bobby was never anyone's favorite.  I always preferred Jerry, of course, and sometimes Phil when you can hear him on Betty boards.  And I always skip "Drums" and Bobby's early 90s blues attempts like "Little Red Rooster."

But, with Dead & Co., I've come to appreciate Bobby.  As Mayer transitions into the frontman, Bobby has stepped up as the elder statesman.  One . . . well, two things I love about Bobby are that 1) he's human, and 2) he's old.  And no Dead & Co. show is complete without Bobby whiffing a lyric or two.

So I've decided to compile a couple of the best Bobby blunders.  I should say that my intent isn't to make fun.  The Dead were NEVER consistent performers, and Dead & Co. continues that tradition.  Rather, I hope this serves as a gateway to a revival that some have sworn off without listening.  And I hope you can relate to the inevitable brain farts that are coming for us all in our autumn years:

This audience cam (see above) starts near the end with a good Mayer solo.  Then the transition out of the jam is, as one commenter describes it, "a rough landing."  The official release has Bobby messing up the lyrics around the 1:50 mark.  I won't repeat the expletive he uses.  Then Bobby has ANOTHER flub near 5:45.  Happens to the best of us!  [Editor's note: here's the full track from YouTube.]

I did find the official audio for this one on YouTube.  Bobby gets lost around 2:20, but the Lockn' crowd is supportive.  And no expletive this time!  Improvement!

I tried to find at least three, but I didn't keep thorough journal records outside of the shows I liked.  I've already recommended 2018-02-24, but also check out 2017-12-01 and 2018-02-17.  And this "Bird Song" from 2018-02-18 is exceptional (see below):

UPDATE 2020-03-09:  I came across (an)other one while studying this weekend.  "Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo" from 2018-07-11, around the 3:00 mark.

Red Shirts & Red Trunks

This is your intrepid macro-blogger reporting from the bus again.  I’ve made a discovery about previous macro-blog subject Ric Flair.  No, this isn’t about him drinking with Post Malone or discussing his daily regimen.  It’s about his wardrobe.  No, not his robes!

I was looking at the comments of a SquaredCircle post.  I don't often do this, it being Reddit and all.  But the post was a gif from a match, and I wanted to see what the match was.  Perusing the comments, one commenter noted that, in the match, Flair was reffing in red boots.  This made me think of NJPW referee "Red Shoes" Unno (see below):

But said commenter said this references the red trunks Flair wears when Flair is going to lose a match.  Wait, Flair wears red when he's going to lose?  Another unverified source said that Flair wears blue when he's gonna win!  Can this be?  Does Flair wrestle like an extra in Star Trek?

I decided to run through a few Flair matches I've seen to test these allegations.  Follow me . . .

I've recommended Flair vs. Sting at Starrcade '89 before.  Sting beats Flair (spoiler).  Flair isn't in red, but his trunks are sorta off-pink.  How John Wayne of him!

Did you know that Flair wrestled in North Korea?  Yep, and he got beat by legend Antonio Inoki.  I can't tell from Google Images whether his trunks are blue or purple though.  This is like The Dress all over again!

Flair lost to Ricky Steamboat in this six-star classic.  And he did lose in red trunks!  One out of three ain't bad.

Well, those are all the matches that come to mind straight off the chrome dome.  I'll have to refer to my observation journal to see if the lack of pattern holds for other seen matches.  But, for now, consider this myth . . . BUSTED.

Emperor of Northwest Arkansas

Good morning, macro-blog readers.  All two of you!  I have another majority-photo macro-blog post.  No, we didn't travel out of state this time.  But MK and I went to the 17th Annual Great NWA Model Train Show at the Benton County Fairgrounds.  That's right: more train content!  Follow me . . .

Look at the little Piggly Wiggly!

I also love the detail of the Lucille Ball ad for RC Cola.  And I've never seen Easy Living (Interference was the working title)!

From our brief browsing, it seems that Lionel is the dominant brand for model trains.  But who watches the watchman shanties?

This is a Walthers model, so not Lionel.  But it is a good example of an HO scale model.  The first photo also features our shoes.

Hey! That's no train!

This also isn't a train, but at least it's train-related (I think).

Here's a spooky caboose (times two).

I wish I was this guy.

Some Lego builders from the area were set up in the back of the venue.  Are there tensions between the model train and Lego builder communities?  Let me know in the comments.

Oh, to have a law firm by a train track.  I bet the rent is low!

Most of the models aimed for photorealism, but one table sold fantastical dioramas.  There were some with dinosaurs!

This reminds me of a song, but I can't remember the name . . .

This is a train calendar from the month MK and I were born!

This is a macro-blog PSA.

Looks like a UFO crashed by the train tracks!  See tracks?  Think UFOs.

And I'll end with this Harryhausen-esque skeleton.  Good thing the tracks don't run down that tunnel!  See no tracks?  Think skeletons.