Halloween Scene: My Horror Toys Part 2

Posted on by TJDietsch

Last week, I showed you all a detailed view of half of the mostly-monsters toys I lined up in my office this year to get into the Halloween spirit. The first batch included a Masters Of The Universe Classics giant, one of Jack Kirby’s hottest creations, Buffy, a trio of Stranger Things characters, my guy Beetlejuice, a pair of Hellboys and horror icons like Frankenstein’s Monster, Freddy Krueger and Pinhead! Want to see who else made the cut [cue cleaver chopping sound effect]?

Enter, if you dare…

Halloween Scene: My Horror Toys Part 1

Posted on by TJDietsch

To say that this Halloween season will be unlike any other is like saying that Leatherface has a unique take on cosmetics. My wife and I are still taking the pandemic seriously (it’s incredibly stupid that anyone has to say that, wear a damn mask) so trick or treating for the kids is all but cancelled. We’re trying to figure out a new way to celebrate, but we’ll see how that goes. Personally, this year will be very different for me because I’ve got a house full of people who want nothing to do with horror movies (or are too young to see them). So, I’m doing my best to squeeze them in where and when I can, but am also focusing on a lot of comics and books. But, I also decided to decorate the shelf in my office with a small army of fiends in action figure form that date all the way back to my childhood!

Continue reading Halloween Scene: My Horror Toys Part 1

My Favorite Traditional TV Experiences Of 2019

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A few years back, my wife and I decided to get rid of cable. With that, we signed up for Hulu Live or whatever it’s called so we could keep watching Jeopardy and I could enjoy football and basketball. So, we’ve got that streaming service as well as Amazon Video and Netflix. And yet, we still find ourselves watching quite a bit of traditional television. These are the weekly shows we do our best to keep up with!

Continue reading My Favorite Traditional TV Experiences Of 2019

Bumblebee Is Exactly The Transformers Movie I Was Hoping For

Posted on by TJDietsch

As a kid in the 80s, I loved the Transformers. Like many of my compatriots, I could not get enough of giant robots or things that morphed making it both the perfect cartoon and toy line for me. I wasn’t a diehard fan (I only know the names of a few of the Autobots and Decepticons) but it was a big part of my youth. I even have a Transformers sleeping bag that my son now uses!

So, I was pretty excited to watch the Transformers film in 2007. And you know what? I dug it! This was before coming to understand how problematic and awful certain aspects of that production and its director were, so I found myself enthralled with this tale of giant robots fighting each other with surprisingly durable humans running around. It certainly helped that they used the few Transformers I can name from memory AND some of the sound effects from the cartoon! With the second film in the series, I found myself no longer having fun and stayed away, that is until watching Bumblebee with my wife!

Continue reading Bumblebee Is Exactly The Transformers Movie I Was Hoping For

The Best Of Last Week: Gethard, Dragonball, Cap & More!

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Continue reading The Best Of Last Week: Gethard, Dragonball, Cap & More!

My Favorite Things This Week: Arrow, Crimson Peak & More!

Posted on by TJDietsch

Not a day goes by that I don’t think,”Gee, I should blog about this thing I just read, watched or saw that I really dig.” For me the reason for this blog is two-fold. First, I want to let people know about cool things that they might also enjoy. The second is as a kind of pop culture digital back-up memory. With both goals in mind, I think I’ll take to this format of quick hits every week (maybe, we’ll see).

Continue reading My Favorite Things This Week: Arrow, Crimson Peak & More!

Trade Pile Part 1: Lumberjanes, Gotham Academy, Mockingbird, Batman & The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

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Well, I guess I’ve been at it again. Even though I spent a good deal of my last vacation burning through the first few books of Alan Moore’s amazing Swamp Thing run, I’ve also taken time out to plow through another pile of trades, most of which come from my local library.. I thought about separating them out into various themes and writing a bunch of different posts, but don’t want to forget too much and have decided to do a good, old fashioned quick-shot pair of pile posts! You know you want to hear what I thought about these books, so hit the jump! Continue reading Trade Pile Part 1: Lumberjanes, Gotham Academy, Mockingbird, Batman & The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Watch This: Adam Savage At Third Man!

Posted on by TJDietsch

I’ve become a big fan of Jack White ever since I watched It Might Get Loud and continue to support his projects in any way I can. I haven’t been able to hit up the Third Man locations in Detroit or Nashville, but I can direct you to watch this amazing video of Mythbusters star Adam Savage recording a song at the Michigan location.

White’s mission is so cool and pure that I wish I had the money to join his Vault club, but for now that’s just not happening. I have a feeling that, if I lived anywhere near a Third Man store, I’d spend most of my money there, which might become a problem. Watching this fantastic video, though, is no problem at all! I’m still blown away that White’s set up this whole thing where you can play a song and record it right to vinyl in such a short period of time. It’s an amazing connection to the old ways of recording that is super important to keep alive.

My Favorite Things This Week: Tokusatsu, That 70s Show & Pure Cinema

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This week I find myself captivated by a Japanese genre from the 60s, a sitcom set in the 70s and a podcast that spans all decades to bring listeners a variety of must-see films. That’s right, this week I’m obsessed with tokusatsu, That 70s Show and the Pure Cinema Podcast! Continue reading My Favorite Things This Week: Tokusatsu, That 70s Show & Pure Cinema

Book Report: Ready Player One By Ernest Cline

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You wouldn’t know it to look at the blog here, but I’ve been reading a LOT lately. I’m working on a few posts that will cover my experiences reading Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter books while I also watched the series Hannibal and then the films, but they’re not ready yet. However, after finishing the book Hannibal, I found myself not wanting to get into Hannibal Rising, but still needed something to read. A buddy had just recommended Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One from 2011 and I figured why not? I really enjoyed the book, but a few things stuck with me in different ways. Continue reading Book Report: Ready Player One By Ernest Cline