Thriller

The High Five Podcast Episode 1 – My Favorite Comics & Books Of 2020

Posted on January 22, 2021January 22, 2021 by TJDietsch

Hi gang, as you can tell from the title here, I’m launching a brand new podcast called The High Five. The idea is that I love pop culture so much and want to get the word out to as many people as possible, so I’m creating High Five lists each week that celebrate the worlds of film, TV, comics, books, toys, music and even other podcasts!

To kick things off, I’m doing a series of episodes looking back on the very bad year that was 2020 with an eye towards some of the great media I put into my brain. This first one gets into my favorite comic and book reading experiences of the year. You might notice a lack of horror titles and that’s because I’m going to do a whole separate list focusing on just that genre for most of these categories because I absorb so much of it.

The High Five Podcast Episode 1 – Best Comics & Books Of 2020

I hope you enjoy the episode. If you’re looking for a rundown of what I talked about, hit the jump and see the comics and books as well as some other helpful links!

It’s All Connected: Blow Out (1981)

Posted on October 2, 2020September 30, 2020 by TJDietsch

Even though I found my previous Brian De Palma film, Dressed To Kill, wildly problematic, I decided to watch one more of his flicks as part of It’s All Connected 2020: Blow Out. Of all the De Palma films from this era, this was the one that I’d been wanting to see the longest. I even tried giving it a look one time, but the volume was weird and loud, so I had to turn it off, not wanting to wake up my wife and kids. I’m glad I finally got around to it on Amazon Video because Blow Out became my favorite of this particular bunch!

Continue reading It’s All Connected: Blow Out (1981)

Riding With The King: End Of Watch (2016)

Posted on January 25, 2019September 24, 2019 by TJDietsch

I keep a checklist on my phone of all the Stephen King books out there that I use to keep track of which ones I own, in what format and whether I’ve read them or not. Dude’s got so many offerings that it’s hard to keep everything in my head and I’m not a big fan of buying the same book more than once, even at flea market or yard sale prices!

After writing about the four King books I read in 2018 and looking at my list, I realized that I’ve actually read more of his most recent dozen books than his first dozen. I dig this fact because it means I still have plenty of his works to read, but also it reminds me that he’s still spinning yarns that I can’t wait to get my hands on and tear through.

My Favorite Newer Horror Movies Of 2018 Part 2

Posted on January 24, 2019October 2, 2020 by TJDietsch

Alright gang, once more with feeling! Unless I decide to get my act together and do a post about my favorite comic-reading experiences of 2018, this will probably be my last recap post. On one hand, it’s been fun looking back at everything I watched and read last year, on the other, I’m reminded of why it’s fun to do these sorts of posts as they happen. Here’s hoping I do more of that! Anyway, this last batch of horror movies features a five-pack of movies that not only deal with the complexities of childhood both during and after that stage of life, but also emotionally devastated me (well, all but one). Alright, let’s dive in!

My Favorite Book Reading Experiences Of 2018 Part 3

Posted on January 9, 2019September 27, 2019 by TJDietsch

Alright folks, we’re hitting the home stretch here with the last post about books I read in 2018. Hopefully, I’ll keep up on writing about the novels and non-fiction works as I read them, so these year-enders (or beginners at this point) don’t become so unwieldy, but we’ll see about that. Check out parts one and two here and here then hit the jump for the last entry.

My Favorite Book Reading Experiences Of 2018 Part 2

Posted on January 9, 2019October 2, 2019 by TJDietsch

Over the course of my reading in 2018, I found myself drawn to the dark corners of the library and my own book collection. As you can see from this photo of the books I read and gleaned from the first in this three-part series, darkness makes its way into a lot of my book selections.

With this post, I’m going to focus on two horror writers who captured my imagination repeatedly this year: Stephen King and Lauren Beukes. I may not have torn through the books as quickly as I’d hoped, but I still walked away from all six of these thankful that I’d stuck with them and gone on those rides.

My Favorite Book Reading Experiences Of 2018 Part 1

Posted on January 9, 2019October 2, 2019 by TJDietsch

It feels like I always had something interesting to read in 2018, but it took me a long time to get through some of them. Thankfully, I’m glad I stuck with the books as they all proved worth the effort at the end of the day.

My Favorite Film Experiences Of 2018

Posted on January 2, 2019September 24, 2019 by TJDietsch

I haven’t done a lot of blogging this year, but, don’t worry, I’ve still been watching a ton of movies! I’ve even been keeping track of everything I’ve watched or read in a pair of Composition Note Books that I’ve (not so) cleverly dubbed Pop Notes. Thanks to them, I’m pretty confident looking back at the year and piecing together thoughts on some of my fave film-watching experiences (minus horror, which will get a list or two of their own). This one’s pretty long, so hit that jump and get into it!

The Great Hannibal Lecter Deep Dive

Posted on January 29, 2018October 2, 2019 by TJDietsch

Do you ever get really excited about a deep dive, go full-boat into it and then wash out? Well, that’s kind of what happened last year when I found myself minorly obsessed with Hannibal Lecter and his exploits throughout television, film and, of course, the written word. I started watching the series, which made me read the books, while still watching the show (a very unique and interesting experience) and then the movies, but I petered out after seeing my third take on the Red Dragon story. But, I still wanted to get these thoughts out there, so here’s most of the original post I started sometime last spring.

For years, I’d been hearing great things about NBC’s three season-long series Hannibal based on Thomas Harris’ character made most famous in The Silence Of The Lambs. It ran from 2013-2015 with Mads Mikkleson starring as the title character and Hugh Dancy as Will Graham, a pure empath who FBI Behavioral Sciences head Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) brought back in from his teaching gig in an effort to help catch a serial killer. I decided to dive right into the series thanks to its presence on Amazon Prime Video and now have a new favorite show! Continue reading The Great Hannibal Lecter Deep Dive

My Favorite Older Horror Discoveries Of 2017

Posted on January 11, 2018October 2, 2019 by TJDietsch

All in all, I had pretty great luck with newer horror films during 2017, as I wrote about in a post last week. When it comes to older films, especially horror ones, I tend to have lower — or at least different — expectations. If a movie’s off-the-wall bonkers, but made with effort, I’ll probably love it. That accounts for about half of the movies on this list. However, I also discovered a few that I now very much consider new-to-me classics that I hope to watch again and again. To find out which ones, you’ve got to hit that jump!

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