Arrow: An Innocent Man

Right off the bat, I have a problem. Perhaps it's been in the first three episodes as well, but this is the first time I've noticed it. In the pre-credit, pre-opening intro sequence, Oliver refers to his father's 'dying wish.' The dude took his own life, how it that a dying wish?? Oliver must have some psychological damage if that's how he's remembering that incident. Creepy.

Anyway, when last we left our anti-hero he had saved bodyguard Diggle from poison and brought him to his underground hideout. Oh, screw it, let's call a spade a spade - it's the Arrowcave, and we all know it. There he revealed he was Arrow. Diggle appears to be less than cooperative.

Curious. In the previous episode I was almost positive Diggle knew this already, and Oliver must have as well. Miscommunication. Between the writers? Or mischaracterization for Diggle? I find it makes him seem not as bright as I thought him, troubling. And disappointing. For most of an episode at least.

When Oliver meets with him later in the episode at Big Belly Burger, he offers up the explanation that he believes his father shot himself to atone for his crimes. This boy needs a therapist. In the comics, there has always been the joke that Green Arrow was a wannabe Batman with a bow. Now, psychologically, the show has made him Batman. Not happy.

The Big Belly Burger chat also connects Deadshot to Diggle's brother's shooting, and in another nice nod to the comics, the brother is Andy, Andy Diggle being a former Green Arrow writer. Well, John Diggle has made a decision. We'll see how that works out. One thing is for sure, he's no Speedy.

The Monument Point, Iron Heights, and Bludhaven name drops were also nice. But I have to say, much like the home city's name change, I don't care for the newspaper's either. Although, really, who reads newspapers any more? But still, the Daily Star has a lot more pizazz than the Starling City Star. Awkward, and silly. What was so wrong with the name Star City?

Despite the subplots continuing to move along the ongoing storyline, this episode has the icky feeling of a fill-in issue in the comics. The main plot of this episode seems much less important than those subplots. This isn't a lawyer show with a vigilante in it, this is a vigilante with a lawyer in it, ya know? I don't like being strung along.

Hopefully next week's episode with possibly Deathstroke will be a step in a better direction. Of course that's if Oliver gets out of jail... ah, that would be telling. Maybe we'll also find out what's up Tempest. See you next week, same Arrow time, same Arrow channel. Hmmm... Scratch that, I just got carried away after that Arrowcave comment. ;-)

Let Coast Be Coast

We've talked about my radio habits and obsession here before. Up until I got satellite radio, I still enjoyed exploring the AM dial in the middle of the night. Some time in the late nineties I discovered Art Bell and Coast to Coast AM.

This was more than a year before Art finally came to Philadelphia, syndicated on 1210 AM. I remember an intriguing and heated discussion about UFOs and alien abductions. I also remember that night getting out of my warm bed to log on the computer at around three in the morning to see the artist's rendering of the aliens, you know, a visual to go with the audio. Yeah, I was hooked, and have been for close to fifteen years.

Mostly I was delighted to find talk radio that was not about politics. I could hear that nonsense anywhere and any time. I like different in my talk radio. It's probably why I have been attracted to things like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Dr. Ruth, Dr. Drew, radio dramas, audiobooks, and Joe Frank. Coast to Coast AM was definitely different.

I was overjoyed when the program found its Philly home and was a faithful listener almost every night. My insomnia proved helpful in that endeavor. Night after night I listened to a myriad of guests and topics, always in the realm of the paranormal. That was Coast's forte. If you wanted intelligent (and sometimes not so) discussion about ufology, cryptozoology, mythology, pseudoscience, conspiracy theories or anything involving the odd or surreal, Coast to Coast AM was for you.

There's a lot that can said about the host Art Bell. Surrounded by rumor and conspiracy himself, he was and is a consummate radio professional. No matter the insanity or unlikeliness of the guest or caller, he was always fair, entertaining, and at the top of his game. There are few talk radio hosts as sharp and composed as Art Bell.

Due to personal issues, Art has had to retire from radio and the show several times - the final time was in the late 2000s. He has been replaced the last time by George Noory. George is quite talented himself, but every time I hear an old Art show, it becomes quite obvious how inferior the replacement is to the original host. He never challenges guests or listeners, is often uninformed, and frequently seems inattentive or not even listening to guests and callers.

Noory also seems to have a problem with open lines. He doesn't do it that often. Anyone who knows talk radio knows that it's not about the host, it's about the callers. Art knew this, and his regular technique was to not screen callers as is usually done - he just put them on the air. Often open lines was the best part of the old Coast to Coast AM. Since George has come in board, there also seems a shift in topic, more toward politics, and current events. I'm not happy with that at all.

The two biggest nights of the year on Coast to Coast AM are New Year's Eve and Halloween. On New Year's Eve they take psychic predictions for the upcoming year, and on Halloween, the show becomes 'Ghost to Ghost' as callers tell ghost stories. I love Ghost to Ghost. However, it too has gone downhill in recent years. Noury screens the calls, taking away the spontaneity, as well as the need to think on his feet, I suppose.

This year, last night, Noory even cut short the program by taking up the first hour with news, and an interview with a security expert. Seriously? Real Coast to Coast topics are rare enough recently, and now you're truncating the best show of the year??

It's no wonder that other radio programs similar to the original Coast to Coast AM, like Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis and A View from Space, are growing in popularity and Coast is falling. Politics and current events can be heard anywhere on the dial, the topics that made Coast great can not. I want my show back.

Please! Let Coast be Coast!

Biff Bam Pop!'s 31 Days of Horror

If you've been to the Biff Bam Pop! website, you know that other than the regular pop culture features, we're all big horror fans there. Special for this month of October, and culminating today on Halloween is 31 Days of Horror.

31 Days of Horror takes a look at the past and present in horror movies, both in front of and behind the camera, horror television, horror comics, and even horror videogames.

Highlights include reviews of The Shining, The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Monster Squad, 28 Days Later, Freaks, Night of the Living Dead, The Ring, Sinister, Nightbreed, Prometheus, Paranormal Activity 4, Evil Dead, 30 Ghosts, Tomb of Dracula, Dexter The Game, "666 Park Avenue," episode by episode analysis of the new seasons of "American Horror Story" and "The Walking Dead," and interviews with Danielle Harris and Richard Crouse. It's the best way to celebrate Halloween!

Oh, and if you just want to read my stuff on the site, I'm here. Happy Halloween!

Teeth

Teeth ~ Okay, warnings up front. This movie, and this review, is not for the faint of heart, easily offended or shocked, or those with zero sense of humor. Teeth is a black horror comedy with strong sexual elements and horrific visuals. For many of you, there's nothing to see here, move along, come back next time.

For everybody else, you've been warned.

Vagina dentata. For those of us high school Latin students, and maybe for some of the more learned out there, this is an impossible and very scary concept. Especially for the men. It literally means 'vagina with teeth.' I'm spelling it out, not to be gross, but because some folks might not get it. I know at least one dentist who didn't and rented this movie only to be shocked out of her mind.

That's what this black horror comedy is about. Vagina dentata, and a girl with the condition who grows up in the shadow of a nuclear reactor. Ironically she's a believer in waiting until marriage, purity, and promise rings who is just starting to date. This is the subtle part, it gets graphic later.

Played by Jess Weixler, the acting goes between cardboard cut out and Emmy level. She's excellent as a teenage girl but when she should be serious she looks like she's about to giggle uncontrollably. John Hensley from "Nip/Tuck" is also in there as her creepy step brother, and as fans of that show know, creepy is what Hensley does best.

Teeth for the first forty-five minutes could be an after school special, but then the would-be boyfriend forces himself on her, and the hilarity and horror begins. And as I mentioned at the top of this review, it's not for the faint of heart.

Now while just as ridiculous and graphic as One-Eyed Monster, another film in this vein (I am so so sorry), it never sinks to that level of silliness or crudity. Teeth, like most good horror movies, takes itself pretty seriously, despite the subject matter. Fun at some points, horrific at others, Teeth is definitely worth a look for distinguishing genre fans.

The Girl

The Girl ~ Wow, what a piece of crap. That's what I'm tempted to say about HBO's pseudo Lifetime movie of the week about Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren, The Girl. The story is obviously one-sided, vengeful, and is about as fast and loose with facts as a Presidential candidate on the losing side of a national debate.

Here are the facts. Hitchcock was one creepy dude, and a control freak, but was a loyal husband and one of our greatest directors. He definitely had a thing for blondes. And he certainly treated Tippi Hedren like crap, both with scenes he made her shoot and not letting her out of her contract. He might have made advances on her as she alleges, or she simply may have just been difficult to work with and he wanted to hurt her career. There are cases for either option, but The Girl is simply Tippi's revenge filled side.

All of that out of the way, Sienna Miller is an adequate Tippi Hedren, suitably mediocre for the real actress. Toby Jones, on the other hand, is absolutely stunning as Hitchcock. Much like his Truman Capote in Infamous, Jones' Hitch is hypnotic. It's also a fascinating look at how The Birds and Marnie as movies may have been made. Again, this is a matter of perspective, and who is telling the story. The nice thing about making a movie about events that happened fifty years ago is it's not easy to find folks to disagree with what's truth and what's not.

The story of Marnie is used as a plot device in The Girl. I really wonder if screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes actually understood what Marnie was really about before she used it here as Hitch's revenge on Hedren. It's plausible but I think unlikely. The film's last words, "Marnie is now hailed as Hitchcock's final masterpiece." Wow. Really? Again it's a matter of history being written by the victors, I suppose, or those who live the longest.

The Girl is not for anyone with a good memory, a sense of history, or who is a Hitchcock fan. I am reminded of Oliver Stone's JFK and Nixon where we have scenes where everyone involved is dead, so who knows really what happened in that situation. That said, like all HBO productions, it is top tier television, just in my opinion, short on facts.

The Girl is worth seeing for the great performances of the actors, nothing more. This is simply Tippi Hedren's revenge on Hitchcock. I wonder what fellow blonde and Hitchcock actress Grace Kelly would have had to say about The Girl?