DVD release of "The Lizzie Borden Chronicles"

Yes, you, too, can have the 8-episode mini series of "The Lizzie Borden Chronicles" that aired on Lifetime last spring. Sony Entertainment will release the DVD on February 2, 2016. It will contain deleted scenes and a gag reel. The release coinciding with Groundhog Day either means that if the ground hog sees its shadow, we'll have 6 more weeks of delicious bleakness. If it doesn't, spring is on the way and your blood will begin to warm any remaining frostbitten appendages. Check out this scene from the third episode starring Jonathan Banks (spoilers ahead!):

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles - Episode 1.8 - Review

Apologies for the lateness in getting this review up. I hope everyone has had the chance to catch the last episode.

We last left off with Emma Borden at Willowdale Asylum in Maine. The episode begins with her missing from the asylum after a doctor was attacked. In the closing scene of the previous episode, Emma lost her cool and started to find it in her to fight back. Lizzie is on the case to try to find Emma. Keys are missing. Money has disappeared. Lizzie finds a letter in a photo frame belonging to Emma from Officer Trotwood (now deceased). Cut to Emma at the door of Mrs. Trotwood's house in Boston. Emma had always wanted to meet them. Mrs. Trotwood insists that she stays with her and her grown children. They're mooching off of her, so why not one more?

Lizzie, of course, finds Emma in Boston and Emma wants Lizzie out of her life. Mrs. Trotwood sits with Lizzie back at her hotel and Lizzie threatens her when she learns that she's not to come near Emma. Mrs. Trotwood and one of her sons tells Lizzie to stay away from them and stay away from Boston.

Back at the Trotwoods, there's a formal engagement party for one of the sons. It's a bit drawn out so I'll just cut to the priceless moment that Emma sees the meat carver hacking into a slab of ham. We haven't had a flashback in about three episodes, so of course, she has a flashback of her attack on the doctor back at the asylum. Lizzie sneaks in, finds Emma, and tells her that she's running for her life from Charlie's old friends. Emma tells her to keep running. If the men catch up to her, tell them the truth and where they can find her. Lizzie exits, skulking through the crowded party; one of Charlie's friends finds her. Clearly, the person checking names at the door must have left their post. Mrs. Trotwood interrupts the confrontation. Lizzie conveniently pops a balloon with a gigantic dagger, which of course, the "pow" of the balloon is mistaken for a gunshot and a shootout begins. The shooters escape as does Lizzie. Mrs. Trotwood wants them caught, "Nobody sleeps, tonight!" Damn, my eyes barely can stay open.

Video clip

Emma finds the shooters who were after her and Lizzie and confesses to them that she killed Charlie. They want to kill her and decide to take her back to Fall River to face trial. She says, "It's time a Borden pays for her crimes."

Lizzie makes a deal with Mrs. Trotwood. She tells Mrs. Trotwood how to find the men and how she can get Emma back. They go to Fall River to get them and the Trotwood brothers head up to the hotel room where Charlie's friends and Emma are supposedly hiding. Another slow motion shootout with big shiny revolvers occurs and lots of walls are spattered in stage blood. It continues after a commercial break. Emma has a gun and Lizzie has a dagger. Lizzie and Emma face off while two remaining men lay bleeding. Emma says she will go with Lizzie if she can show an ounce of human decency. Lizzie says she's been trying to protect Emma this whole time, but Emma insists that she let them live. Lizzie agrees reluctantly and drops the dagger so it stands straight up into the wooden floor while the men, still bleeding, look on in dying boredom.

Emma and Lizzie depart the scene and board a sea vessel with tacky room decor that is bound for Paris. Lizzie decides she has to take a nap as all that stabbing and chasing after Emma for a day and night was so exhausting. A few seconds later, the ship's horn blows and Lizzie wakes up. She is alone in the cabin and wonders where is Big Sis. She walks to the deck to look for her. People are waving to those on the dock and there is Emma looking up at Lizzie with a tiny tear in her eye. Emma turns and disappears from the dock as Lizzie is weeping a single tear, left alone with strangers to hack up on her cruise to Europe.

The END... FINALLY!

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles - Episodes 1.5, 1.6 & 1.7 - Review

There's such a gap between the post today and the post before because I can only stand to watch "The Lizzie Borden Chronicles" in On Demand mode so I can fast forward through the commercials.

Last we saw Lizzie, she had begun to buy up land around her house. She killed some more people and got away with it. Pretty much this goes on a lot in episode five in addition to finding a way to get Charlie framed for murders. The courtroom scenes are hilarious with the moment Lizzie takes the stand as a witness in how she been defending herself when Nance O'Keefe met her fateful end. This is for Charlie's trial in the death of Isabel Danforth (another of Lizzie's new victims).

We left Emma being courted by Officer Trotwood when Lizzie reminded Emma of her dark past. Emma tries to cool off Trotwood in the fifth episode, but Trotwood is too eager. He proposes and she accepts. Lizzie gets jealous, doesn't want to lose her one and only familial advocate. She even tries to discuss the concept of love, but is too keen with the killing to have a deep conversation. There's the tiresome story of Spencer having gone missing and she deduces that the town photographer/pornographer, Chester Phipps (Rhys Coiro aka Billy Walsh of "Entourage") photographed the dead Spencer. She forces Phipps to take her to the body, but he doesn't last much longer.

Lizzie doesn't like the competition for Emma's affection and maneuvers Trotwood into finding out about the baby skeleton that was hidden back at the old Maplecroft house. He's too keen on Lizzie's manipulative methods and confronts her. The wedding is still on. Or is it?

Lizzie is getting deeper into debt as Skipjack has blackmailed her into 50% of everything she owns to cover up the death of Spencer Cavanaugh. The Skipjack story lasts into the sixth episode until Lizzie no longer can use him, plus he bungled a death that causes grief for Emma. I'm sure you can guess, but I won't spoil it. Emma, in fact, leaves but has second thoughts and returns to Lizzie.

Episode seven brings to the cast the talented Chris Bauer ("True Blood"). He's looking into Charlie's sudden demise. Also, Lizzie takes a job, relocating to Maine, teaching school children under a pseudonym, Annabelle Grimke, and with blonde hair. Emma is in a sorry state, under the name Lenore Grimke. She's sorry she ever thought Lizzie was innocent, but soon she realizes that she, too, is done with her own innocence. There's no irony like the irony of using references to Edgar Allan Poe. Lizzie's old habits die hard... bloody hard.

One episode left! Anyone want to guess how this series ends?

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles - Episodes 1.3 & 1.4 - Review

Many probably didn't catch "Today" on NBC at the end of March and possibly missed this interview with Christina Ricci on launching the mini series about Lizzie Borden.

Nearly half way through the first season, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles starts to reveal more tormented twists and disagreeable turns. The third episode opens with the burial of the Borden's half brother segueing to the deceased Spencer Cavanaugh about to be disposed of by Mr. Flowers, sponsored hidden burial by Lizzie Borden. Charlie, when not investigating Lizzie's latest murder, enjoys tea with Isabel Danforth as he learns that Spencer, the playwright, never returned from a night of drinking. Hmm, anytime someone in town dies, Lizzie is the first one on someone's mind.

Last time I left off, local girl Adele went missing. Lizzie hid her away when Spencer disappeared and uses Adele's temporary departure to convince Spencer's sister, Nance O'Keefe, that she should go looking for her brother in Boston. Cut to Lizzie unsealing the coffin lid and Adele being a bit hysterical back at the old Borden barn. She asks Adele to promise that she never misbehaves and, sobbingly, Adele agrees with Miss Lizzie. Back at the new home with Adele, Lizzie has her well-rehearsed when Emma inquires as to where she thinks Spencer could be. Matters as to their house-warming party RSVPs show how unwelcome the Bordens are to the new neighborhood.

Mr. Flowers (Jonathan Banks) arrives to convince Lizzie to retain his services behind Emma's back. "Fifteen percent of the family business, monthly." He threatens the life of Adele and Emma if she doesn't comply. What is the Borden's family business? Probably won't matter. Banks is not listed as a character beyond this episode.

Charlie runs into Adele at the florist and her rehearsed speech about Spencer going missing makes him more suspicious. Adele departs without the flowers for the party. Lizzie ends up at the florist learning about what caused Adele to flee without the flowers. Party and murder is all Lizzie can think of. Cut to Charlie getting an eyeful at the old barn of bloody dirt that makes a strawberry Kool-Aid type drink when he puts a scoop into a pale of water.

We quickly discover that Emma was the one who hired Charlie as the private investigator and he calls into question how Lizzie was raised when she asks him to vindicate her sister. Charlie is ready to check-out of the B&B when Nance runs into him to inquire about Spencer. Isabel is relieved that she doesn't have to say goodbye to Charlie or clean his room. Nance reveals that Spencer uses morphine and that he would never have left for Boston (people could probably find more morphine than they need while in Boston during this time, though). Charlie warns her that she should not go to Lizzie with this knowledge or she'll end up being Lizzie's next "project".

Lizzie watches a poor little dog being berated by Mrs. Kenney, another non-attendee of the house-warming party. She even confirms that everyone invited from the neighborhood despises Lizzie.  We previously learned Lizzie is sympathetic to dogs when she had a conversation with Charlie about a murder investigation.

Party preparations underway, Lizzie tends to Adele's anxiety after Charlie's pervasive questioning. The two leave and head to Mr. Flowers' headquarters. Charlie follows (or was led there by Lizzie on purpose). A fight randomly breaks out in an alley between Charlie and Flowers' people. They take Charlie to some railroad tracks. We are led to believe he's dead, but as you may recall, I've said that Charlie is a man of many talents.

Emma and Trotwood, the police officer, have a conversation about how much the party is going to suck without guests. Emma is completely smitten with him. When we return later to the Borden home, Emma is sitting alone; no one showed up.

Flowers, Lizzie and Adele are about to discuss the future. Lizzie assures Adele that she can relax. Flowers asks "Who's next?" She pulls out her daddy's old straight razor and distracts him so she can shoot him dead and turn and slashes Adele's throat. Plants the weapons in one hand of each victim.

Quietly, Lizzie leaves the scene and discovers Nance O'Keefe outside her home. She invites her into the party, but Nance is remembering that Charlie cautioned her. Lizzie tries to convince Nance she can trust her no matter what anyone else has told her, "I'm not a monster." They go inside to party.

Next episode, in under three minutes we learn: 1) Charlie cannot be killed by a train, 2) Lizzie talks to Emma at breakfast about how terrible Mrs. Kenney is to her dog, 3) Nance is freaked out by the site of Charlie's battered face when he sneaks into her room, still pretending to have checked out. 4) Lizzie visits Mrs. Kenney about the animal abuse. You have the set up for what is about to go down in about 49 minutes.

Mr. Flowers' team is back drinking and reflecting on the crime scene of their former boss and formerly alive Adele. Who? "The one with the bad hand." Oh, well, let's drink some more.

Charlie hides out in Nance's room drinking and sewing his face. Isabel orders him back in bed and he's on his way to kill the ones who wronged him. Nance and Isabel giving orders that he stay. Discussion about the party and how Nance spent the night and lived. Charlie gives Nance a full list of what not to do in the presence of Lizzie Borden. Don't eat, drink or go to her old barn.

Lizzie wants to buy more lots including the one lot in which Mrs. Kenney's home is on. She makes an offer on it at asking price plus half. She also finds Skipjack at the county office and he tells her he is her new business partner. He pins a photo of Spencer on the bulletin board as his insurance. He demands $1000/week starting that Friday. She proposes $1000/month and then $3000 a year. She has to come up with the first $250 this Friday.

Officer Trotwood appears to finally be courting Emma Borden. Clea DuVall is such an expert of looking like she's trying to hold her composure but is really ecstatic when Trotwood asks Emma if he could call on her sometime.

Nance and Lizzie have dinner together and when they finish, Nance asks Lizzie to drop Spencer's play off at her hotel's front desk. She reports back to Charlie that she thinks Lizzie is a sweet woman without any experience with men. Charlie and Nance have a flirtation while discussing him taking down the people who cut him. Somehow she drugged him and he collapses. She tells Charlie she's going to find out what happened to Spencer herself. This sort of thing happens at about the 25 minute mark.

Lizzie takes Mrs. Kenney's dog in to care for him. Mrs. Kenney accuses Lizzie of theft. Lizzie informs Mrs. Kenney that she's expanding her property with the lot behind her house. Emma observes this interaction and asks about this expansion, "Planning to build a moat?" Emma wants to discuss Trotwood's plans to call on her. Lizzie is happy for Emma, that she "found another suitor, that someone's come along at a better time. Will you tell him about Benjamin, that you gave birth out of wedlock? I just think you should get your past out in the open. If he truly loves you, then none of this will matter." And then Lizzie is off to deliver the script to Nance. Emma is just floored.

Nance tarts herself up to meet Skipjack and he shows off a knife trick, something he calls art. She pretends to be elated. He makes some lewd suggestion about seeing the back of a door up close and she acts all hot for it. Out in the alley, Nance jabs a knife into Skipjack and he confesses that Lizzie Borden killed Spencer.

Isabel goes searching for Charlie in Nance's room when Lizzie inquires about him. Her husband, owner of the B&B, finds her and speaks in misogynistic tones about how Charlie is not looking at her like she's looking at him. How has Isabel not sent Lizzie after this terrible husband she's stuck with yet?

Charlie gets over being drugged, another talent. Goes after the men at the bar to kill them for trying to kill him and tries to find Skipjack. Is it too late? Did Nance take care of him? He's barely alive, but cannot answer Charlie as to where Nance is, but clearly an investigator should be able to figure out she's long gone.

Trotwood retrieves the little dog from the Borden residence with a promise to return to Emma to take her on a walk. They're on their walk when Lizzie returns to find the dog gone, but Nance holding a gun in the shadows pointed at Lizzie. She has terrible aim. She knows everything about Flowers, Adele, nevermind that Lizzie offed Spencer. She should know better than to follow Lizzie through dark hallways. Trotwood and Emma hear a commotion and enter just in time to see Nance pull a knife on Lizzie, stab her as Lizzie is struggling on the staircase for Nance's gun, but then Nance falls down the stairs onto something that stabs her in the head. Charlie bursts in just as the cops arrive and they arrest him and cart him off. Lizzie gets away with a self-defense defense.

One of the more creative endings to a person's life is to blame a dog's piddling and a fallen lamp as the reason for a person's accidental electrocution. Mrs. Kenney has met her end in just standing in the wrong puddle at the wrong time. That Lizzie is oh, so crazy about little dogs.

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles - Episode 1.2 - Review

Remember when Christina Ricci played Wednesday in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values and she beamed with delight at the sight of electrocuting people with her electric chair? There's quite a look of delight in her eyes again when she portrays Lizzie Borden taking in a burlesque homage to her alleged hacking to death her daddy. Except there's no blood on stage; rose petals flutter through the air when the knife is slashed. In case you were not paying attention, the show reminds you of the ax incident with flashbacks... again, and again, and so on.

Following last week's "The Lizzie Borden Chronicles" debut, Lizzie signs the papers on a new house, not having to owe any debts of their father. The debts were wiped away when William Almy suddenly was murdered by, guess who? And who got blamed? William Borden, of course, but he's suddenly suicidal if you believe the inept Fall River Marshal's office.

Cut to Lizzie making friends with a woman named Adele (Kimberly-Sue Murray) who was injured in a factory. She turned to hooking when she couldn't get work with a right hand that just has a bit of scar make-up on it. Lizzie saves her from being assaulted in an alley after taking in an aftershow party with Emma Borden (Clea DuVall) in tow. She daringly clobbers the unsavory man called Skipjack and takes home, much to Emma's admonishment, Adele to take care of her. Lizzie shows her just how much she cares when she kisses Adele affectionately in a dress shop changing area the next day. In comparison to the graphic murder scenes, this scene with fully buttoned-up ladies kissing is quite tame.

Over the course of the episode, Lizzie enjoys tea with the person who pimped out Adele, Mr. Flowers (Jonathan Banks). Lizzie pays him off so she can keep Adele to herself. During her visit, Flowers teaches a lesson to a misogynist low-life while Lizzie agreeably waits patiently for the head bashing to end. Banks is basically "Breaking Bad's" Mike in the late 19th century.

Adele and Emma bond over soup, discussing as you may have guessed, aspirations for a husband and perhaps a family. Adele could be Emma's confidant as she makes the insightful recognition of Emma's having to practically raise Lizzie when their birth mother died. Emma clearly needs someone other than Lizzie to hang out with because the husband topic surfaces a second time and we're only halfway through the second episode. This is Lifetime, so settling down and having a family is the only way Emma's story remains within "The Lizzie Borden Chronicles."

The dashing superhero investigator, Charlie (Cole Hauser), continues privately investigating the blood trail Lizzie leaves everywhere she goes. He's had her followed.  Lizzie actually confronts him, introducing herself while he's dining alone. A few minutes of dialog lets us know Lizzie is not phased by Charlie's presence. It seems he's a man of many talents yet to be revealed. We've only just found out that his magic fingers can untwist Isabel Danforth's twisted ankle back at the B&B. [Danforth is portrayed by Olivia Llewellyn and appeared in Season One of "Penny Dreadful" (Showtime). We don't know yet if she's returning as Mina Harker in Season Two.]

Everything was going swellingly until Spencer (Frank Chiesurin), a playwright/con artist, convinces Lizzie to be a patron of the arts and, ironically, to fund his schlocky play. Planted in this scene is Adele and a coffin that just happens to be in the old barn at the old house. Coffins just are things people keep in barns back in the late 1800s. That Lizzie can sure pick them because he soon ties one on and, when he finds Adele alone, blowing out the candles in nearly every room, he decides to presume Adele will wax his own candle. Instead she nearly snuffs him out. Lizzie finds him outside, injured with a pitchfork and finishes forking him.

This is where I can spoil the rest, but I'll leave it up to you readers to catch up by next Sunday. I must advise you to always keep strike-anywhere matches in your pocket.

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles - Episode 1.1 - Review

"The Lizzie Borden Chronicles" debuted on Sunday, April 5. Lifetime Network is likely stepping up its "darker" programming on Sunday nights to win over some fans of horror who are missing "The Walking Dead." WGN premiered season two of "Salem" the same night. It seems smart that the networks waited until after season five of "The Walking Dead" ended.

This is the fictionalized telling of the story four months following Lizzie Borden's trial in which she was accused of killing her parents and acquitted. I tried to re-watch the re-airing of the movie, Lizzie Borden Took an Ax the night before. It's still difficult for me to like the sickening charm Lizzie (Christina Ricci) lathers on her father or her sister Emma (Clea DuVall). I also couldn't enjoy the modern rock music juxtaposed in the 19th century setting. Some think it's cool, but I think it is obvious that the creators are trying to be obviously different because the movie and, now, the TV series lack a few things. Character development being one of those things.

One of my favorite lines in the first episode subtly alludes to Lizzie being a lesbian when she's answering her sister Emma's question about what she has imagined her husband to be: "I never imagined a husband." If you didn't recall that Lizzie Borden had a half-brother in Ax, don't worry because he wasn't actually in it. He shows up suddenly in the TV series, stirring up trouble, of course, with flaunting a secret held by the sisters. Emma seems to be up for a back story in one of the seven more episodes in this eight-episode series.

There's a B-story involving an investigator named Charlie (Cole Hauser), who starts to look into the murders. Also, William Almy (John Heard) is suing the Borden estate for the debt owed by their late father. Other interesting characters include Lizzie's former elementary school teacher. She offers little insight into Lizzie's wrath on people. The series spends a lot of time repeating flash backs to scenes from Ax, and has lesser horrific moments of dead things in the dark.

Episode one wasn't terrible, but it makes me wary of the next seven. Little things stand out such as the noticeable historic inaccuracy: how is a character able to use a flashlight in 1893? I haven't spent loads of time searching, but what I've seen so far on the internet is that flashlights didn't become available until as early as 1896. Infrequent clever moments, as in Lizzie's reference to the Dickens story Bleak House. However, the charm act is old. I will still continue on in case Jonathan Banks saves a scene or two from being intolerably a drag.

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles Begins April 5

"The Lizzie Borden Chronicles" is going to be a short TV series drama fictionalizing the life of Lizzie Borden and the people around her. Her story continues from where the movie left off.

Stay tuned for a review of this episode in the following week.

End of Year Review

I'm sorry for not posting more often this year. Work piles up and writing more at the end of the day gets to be difficult. I did have time to review two shows of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. You can read those reviews in the August 2014 issue of RE/Search's newsletter. Here are a few other events, TV shows, and memorable moments I enjoyed over this past year (no order, just a list)

• Broad City Live (can't wait for Season 2)
• Swans
• Kelley Stoltz
• Alan Cumming (with book signing for I'm Not Your Father's Son)
• Frank Portman (with book signing for King Dork Approximately)
• James Ensor art exhibit at The Getty
• Visiting the graves of Sharon Tate, Bela Lugosi and Jackie Coogan
• "Frankenstein" production by The National Theatre of London (seen on screen with Benedict Cumberbatch as the Monster)
• 20,000 Days on Earth film
• final season and series finale of "Sons of Anarchy"
• final episode of "The Colbert Report"
• the debut of El Rey Network (launched December 2013, but was a main focal point of my TV viewing in 2014)
• the series "The Strain"
• final season of "True Blood" (the writing really suffered, but the slaughter was pretty awesome)
• the series "Penny Dreadful"
• From Inside with Gary Numan soundtrack
• film Heaven Adores You
• re-release and new print of Queen Margot: the 4K Director's Cut
• film Of Horses and Men
• film Trip to Italy
• film Boyhood (with Richard Linklater Q&A)
• "Hannibal" 2nd season
• book A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton
• TCM, the channel airing twice the movie The Man With the Cloak

In the coming year, I'll try to post a few words for each event, TV show or memorable moment for which I either view or attend just to keep the Korner active. One thing to look forward to (I miss "Pan Am") is the TV miniseries "Lizzie Borden: The Fall River Chronicles" on Lifetime coming in 2015 starring Christina Ricci. She starred in the Lifetime movie "Lizzie Borden Took an Ax" nearly a year ago. It was panned, so I don't understand the miniseries being picked up.

There's so much I could say about my favorite "guilty pleasure" TV shows which include The Mindy Project, The Walking Dead, The Good Wife, The Comeback, Homeland, The Affair, Veep, Castle, New Girl, American Horror Story, and Z Nation. I look forward to seeing more excellent writing in 2015.

Write in the comments what your favorite moments of 2014 included. Do we have anything in common?

News from Roger L. Jackson

Wednesday's Korner followers, 2013 commences with exciting news from Roger L. Jackson. You can now follow him and tweet to him your respectful praises regarding his voice work on Twitter.

"Dance Pantsed" is the title of a newly designed and re-imagined The Powerpuff Girls coming to Cartoon Network on January 20, 7:30 p.m. ET/PT. Mojo Jojo kidnaps Fibonacci Sequins, whom is played by Ringo Starr.

Roger will be appearing in 2014 (March 7-9) at the Monster Mania Con in Cherry Hill, NJ, celebrating the Scream movies. Become a follower of the Korner to keep an eye out for more convention appearances in the coming year.

Don't miss Khumba, opening in soon nationwide, in which Roger is the voice of Black Eagle. "Like" the movie on Facebook to get updates or follow on Twitter.

Thanks for visiting the Korner and I promise to keep you in the loop of all the great happenings to follow.

Jeep Parts and Accessories for Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse

Looking forward to watching the new season of AMC's "The Walking Dead"? Here's a great campaign to help you prep for a real zombie apocalypse!

Lonely are The Mainstreamers Who Should Shut-up and Listen to Peter Murphy's Wisdom

Tonight at the Fillmore, waiting for a quiet moment, "To the people who know only two Bauhaus songs, go home!" I didn't really scream it, but I wanted to. Peter Murphy's show of songs from the Bauhaus catalog (the 35th anniversary of Bauhaus) also gave us moments of him telling us stories in between songs, but the sound engineer was too lazy to remove the reverb on Murphy's mic so his voice was not too clear. Murphy began to tell a story about the song lyric "Now the ultra violet's violent" and how he and David (paraphrasing) didn't agree on that lyric and that David didn't like the words "ultra violet". This woman near me says loudly, "He's playing 'Ziggy Stardust', I told you," to her friend. The song is called "Endless Summer of the Damned," for the record and this girl just didn't get it. Peter Murphy is talking about David J, yeah, that David, if she could just listen to what he's saying and stop shouting ridiculous crap.

I move around to find myself closer to the front, thinking maybe I'll find some true fans up there. The guy in the trucker hat at about the time the band is 30 bars into "Bela Lugosi's Dead" says "I think this is 'Bela Lugosi's Dead'." It was surprising that "Bela" shows up in the middle. There's quite a stark contrast to seeing Murphy in reading glasses as he's knob-twirling during the early part of "Bela" and then he removes them and performs brilliantly without missing a beat.

Murphy mentions the show poster that the Fillmore commissioned for the show. The Fillmore gives out free posters at the end. He says that they gave him bat wings and a bald head. "I've still got hair on my head, for one thing...Someone said that I should be glad that they put a poster with my name on it up on the wall, yeah, okay... anyways, the poster doesn't make the show, it's the people that make the show!"

When a stagehand was setting his mic stand in position, Murphy quickly gestured a swat in his direction with his melodica. Spontaneous moments like this made me nostalgic for the original members of Bauhaus.

Murphy has a real drummer unlike solo shows he's done in smaller venues where it was not so electric. I wondered if the drummer ever imagined playing a goth dance beat every night when he answered the ad "Drummer Wanted". The bassist also plays violin, which I think was during "Severance," the Dead Can Dance cover. The guitarist sounded best during melodic parts, but I found the overall instrument mix with Murphy's vocals to be too muddy. His vocal reverb with the baritone is overdone to the point that it sounds underproduced and amateur mixing-wise.

Visually compelling is Murphy's use of a portable light during "Boys," much like the stripped down live sets back when Bauhaus would perform within darkness and shadows contrasted with bright light effects; lights shown up from the floor or from the side of the stage. Murphy played a gorgeous, rich sounding acoustic guitar on "A Strange Kind of Love" from his solo album Love Hysteria. He did two encores, ending the first with "Ziggy Stardust" and the second with "She's in Parties." The exiting crowd was surprised as probably was the Fillmore lighting engineer because house chandeliers lit for a second and then quickly went dark as he took the stage once more. His set included "King Volcano," "Kingdom's Coming," "Double Dare," "In the Flat Field," "Silent Hedges," "Dark Entries," "Spy in the Cab," "The Passion of Lovers," "Stigmata Martyr," "Hollow Hills," "Spirit," covers "Telegram Sam," "Ziggy Stardust," and, on of my favorites, "Kick in the Eye."

Mécanhumanimal: artist Enki Bilal exhibit in Paris at The Musée des Arts et Métiers until 5 January 2014

Mécanhumanimal: exhibit of five new works and a selection of earlier art pieces by artist Enki Bilal now at The Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris. Details in English. If anyone attends, please report back in this post's comment area to tell us how you loved it! This is the book being sold with the exhibition. More items for sale, but no way to see how to purchase them online.

Mécanhumanimal, Enki Bilal au Musée des arts et... by musee_des_arts_et_metiers

Recipes from the TV Series "Hannibal"

Spoiler Alert: If you are up-to-date on the TV Series, "Hannibal" then you will know what to expect in these recipes on a blog created by food stylist for "Hannibal", Janice Poon. Once you have had your fill, take a look at the blog, "Setting the Table" about various aspects that involve creating the series. Unfortunately, at this writing, there is no information provided if the series will be renewed for a 2nd season, but I certainly hope that it will.

Support Emily the Strange Kickstarter Today!

Wednesday's Korner is a supporter of the Emily the Strange Kickstarter: "FIRST EVER EMILY THE STRANGE ANIMATED ROCK-N-ROLL SINGLE".  Fans of animation and of Emily the Strange are being called upon to "Make Emily and the Strangers a REAL BAND, and spread her empowering message, by animating her first hit record!"  If you've ever had a lot of struggles with getting to Comic-Con, there's a pledge at the tippy-top tier that includes the Comic-Con pass, flight and hotel plus a co-executive producer credit on animation as well as hanging out with the artist Robert Reger. However some of the middle-to-lower tier pledge levels offer excellent swag including signed and numbered limited edition prints, t-shirts, flash drives, animation and music downloads as well as the advanced screening pass. It ends May 11, so don't hesitate to pledge today!

Review: On the Road

The first impression I had of Jack Kerouac was initially provided by my family describing him as a bum, a drunk; someone who did nothing with his life. I come from a working class family and they believed in working hard to pay the bills, putting family first, and going to church every week. Having been raised in Lowell, MA, the town where Kerouac was also raised and also left behind, it wasn't until I moved out to San Francisco, California that I read his novel On the Road. 

I arrived and found City Lights Bookstore, founded by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Discovering that there was more to Kerouac than his drinking and his slacking off the 9 to 5 typical work schedule, I enjoyed his novels because he wrote profoundly from the heart about the human experience, about the post-war culture of big cities and open plains, and excelled at documenting the journey that brought him over pastures, mountains and the bayous of North America. The best parts of Kerouac's stories are his witnessing of the human spirit and writing about what is at the core of living as a free person, living each moment by expressing your desires and regretting nothing. Reading On the Road for the first time was an adrenaline rush. Meeting William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady, under aliases of Old Bull Lee, Carlo Marx and Dean Moriarty, respectively, challenged my views of these writers who were not entirely bums, dope fiends and crooks. Kerouac as Sal Paradise -- his voice as the constant observer -- you feel that you're in the room, in the car, flying around the frenetic, speeding party scenes. Certainly they could have respected their woman much more, but at that time period womens' lib hadn't turned around the views of any men.

When I heard the news about the film adaptation of the book and the three significant figures in the movie business -- Walter Salles, Roman Coppola, and Francis Ford Coppola -- at the helm, I knew that there was going to be an endless amount of speculation on whether the film ever would be able to lift from the page the same experience you get from reading the book. I also had expectations that some areas of Kerouac's life would be better portrayed on film than it could be on the page. One area that was the most refreshing and nearly unexpected is his conversation in the Canadian French dialect between him and his mother, Gabrielle Lévesque, expertly portrayed by Marie-Ginette Guay of Quebec. Her expressions and reactions are hilarious!

Canadian French dialect is seldom, if ever, accurately depicted in fictional films made in the province of Quebec where mostly French is spoken. The films made in Canadian French language are later dubbed with Parisian French for distribution (in my opinion much meaning is lost within the sounds of the original language when dubbed). Hearing the Quebec French in On the Road for the first time in years was so much more of an authentic experience. Kerouac spoke a Joual version of the dialect with his mother, yet in the film, it definitely sounded more elegant like what most Montreal-ers sound like today. As Sal (Sam Riley) spoke French, I recognized several words without needing subtitles in English. My mother and grandmother spoke Canadian French at home, but I've yet to master it to speak it fluently. Hear for yourself how Kerouac spoke in this 1967 interview. 

Riley being from Yorkshire, England, he uses an American accent with a light regionalism of a French Canadian living in New England. It isn't quite the accent I heard in my family, but to have studied this accent and drop his native accent, it is no easy feat. He spoke in a similar vocal range and head vocal register that is common among the people with a New England accent. He would only have been more convincing if he put on about 20 pounds for his role as Kerouac.

The challenge for the screenwriter José Rivera is to adapt a prose novel into a film with Kerouac's jazz-influenced writing style. In the film, the literary voice of Sal is demonstrated through use of narration, unobtrusively paired to the visual. Director Walter Salles chose majestic visuals of the west -- traversing the wide open landscape by car or feet. There are no overtly sentimental sequences, though every time Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund) leaves Sal, you see through Sal's eyes the void left behind until they're reunited again. The pair enjoy going to live music events and include scenes of them singing along to Slim Gaillard's "Yep Rock Heresy". I would have preferred to see more of the live music in the film, but we do get to hear Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Son House, available on the soundtrack album.

Hedlund's Moriarty radiates on the screen, a kinetic and intensely magnetic man. Each time he turns up, you know there will be all night mayhem. He wasn't clearly a boozehead and perhaps moreso because his father was a drunk, as was Sal's (Kerouac's father smoke, drank, and died of stomach cancer). One of the key driving points is Moriarty's goal to find his old man in Colorado. Hedlund's portrayal as the speed-loving, womanizing Moriarty is genuine and rooted in loving and living. He's selfish and kind all at the same time in the scenes with Kirsten Dunst who plays Camille aka Carolyn Cassady. 

Moriarty's empty promises to Mary Lou aka LuAnne Henderson (Kristen Stewart) is one among their relationship's contentious and antagonistic issues resulting from his impulsive choices. There are times when both Sal and MaryLou have to settle for letting Dean be with someone else, but it is MaryLou's emotional turmoil that is most visible in Stewart's performance. Henderson reportedly was 15 when she met Cassady, married him at 16 and the marriage was annulled shortly after so that Cassady could marry Carolyn Robinson who was pregnant with his child. Alluding to this marriage with MaryLou, Moriarty's plan to reconcile with Camille is the elephant in the room throughout the cross-country ride, but only is it apparent that MaryLou feels their relationship is forever doomed upon crossing the bridge into San Francisco. Stewart has the challenge of displaying the widest range of emotions unlike her monotone-style character in the Twilight series. Humorous as it is to hear her talk about the lack of food on the road trip for the first time we meet her, later she again refers to food in saying, "It's been 30 hours since we ate anything." Out of all the women, MaryLou and Camille are the most practical-minded women who end up with Dean, who is one of the most impractical people they know. Maybe in reality LuAnne and Carolyn felt they could fix Cassady, which temporarily kept them from breaking it off. The peak of the film is MaryLou and Dean's dancing to Dizzy Gillespie at the New Year's Eve party welcoming in 1949. Stewart's imploding emotions of MaryLou's full-on despair at Dean's dead silence as they depart in San Francisco is not unlike those times we've all had at having to face the cold, heartless truth of the ending of a relationship.

Scene stealers are Steve Buscemi, Viggo Mortenson, and Amy Adams. For the short amount of time we see the character Jane aka Joan Vollmer, memorably portrayed by Amy Adams in a state of a vacant stare, wild hair, so sadly we are not given the privilege to see her true intellect. She was said to have a severe addiction to Bennies, but mostly what we saw of her in On the Road was a very strange display of character.

The role of Old Bull Lee aka William S. Burroughs by Viggo Mortenson is not entirely mimicry; Mortenson is the eccentric but wise inventor. Sure, he's the junkie with generosity, too. On the one hand the gloomy style of Burroughs' voice is from a source of deep thinking and yet there is a sadness among his home as there's not much love between him and his wife. A brief shooting range scene is a little rough on the foreshadowing of what happens between Burroughs and Vollmer in about two years.

There are comic moments throughout, especially when we meet the group of travelers led by Steve Buscemi, the driving portion of their interaction is possibly scored by a sappy song sung by a group sounding like The Andrew Sisters. It is best not to spoil it for those having not seen the movie, but the key scene with Buscemi after he knocks on the door to Dean and Sal's room is priceless. It lends some insight into the "means to an end" ethic that Dean Moriarty lives by. Sal may be protective of his friend and, yet, is it completely reciprocated after his bad bout with sickness after a trip to Mexico? There's a constant sense that Dean doesn't wait around for anyone if he has to move on.

All the characters are well-read, but you don't know for certain if the reading they're doing is leaving an indelible influence. There are times when Moriarty quotes from Marcel Proust's Swann's Way which ironically is about a man analyzing and longing to relive his past. Eugene O'Neill is another reference to writers who they relate to in that the characters who dominate O'Neill's works are often on the outside of the mainstream society. The letter writing between Moriarty and Sal and Marx and Sal is tribute to the writers friendships and their need to constantly have an audience with each other.

As the movie comes to a close, we finally are rewarded after all the glimpses into the journaling Sal was doing throughout the movie. The impracticality of having to waste time feeding sheets of paper into the typewriter is resolved and the plunge into all night and all day purposeful tapping of the typewriter is juxtaposed with scenes the last emotional encounter between Sal and Dean in NYC. Wait through the initial credits to hear Kerouac's reading from On the Road.

Director Walter Salles did more than an excellent tribute to the book and really found the best actors to bring the characters to life, including using unique places to make us think they were in Denver, Mexico, NYC, and California during the 40s and 50s. Francis Ford Coppola had the rights since 1979. Yes, it may have taken 23 years to get people on board, but he found the right people at the right time to generate a new following for these old souls and their legacies.

Rating - 4 headless dolls

Littered with Cliche - Burton's Dark Shadows Disappoints Diehard Fans Who Loved Dan Curtis' Show

Fans of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are finally able to see the results of a new take on the gothic soap opera "Dark Shadows" from the '60s and '70s. Together Burton and Depp present a gothic vampire story with 1970s-era pop culture with some class and mainly clash. I question if Burton's fans will a) know the Dan Curtis version of "Dark Shadows" and b) will leave the theatre saying that Burton and Depp deliver a beautifully tragic story they will feel sentimental about in ten years. They have stiff competition in that the soap opera delivered 1225 episodes for the fans to look back on with dedicated love.

We definitely get the iconic Tim Burton themes of his depiction of children as victims, loss of parents, parents misunderstanding children, the mob mentality against or for outsiders, and transcendence of time and old age as a metaphor. We have seen Burton's child versions of main characters suffering at the hands of other adults in nearly all of his films. Here in Dark Shadows, Barnabas Collins as a child is not unlike the innocent boys we've seen in Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands, Batman, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Writers John August and Seth Grahame-Smith do well with the creative language of old centuries and spoken with a nod to the original Barnabas Collins played by Jonathan Frid. However, the jokes about adjusting to the new century don't reach a level of hilarity enough to forgive the obvious cultural adjustment angle. We've seen new world vs. the old world in dozens of movies and it is old in five minutes. The aim is to get teens into the humor, but it fails to be funny enough after several scenes of using the same joke in different ways. We see a young and then a grown up Barnabas before being turned into a vampire, quickly thrust into an eternal suffering at the hands of Angelique Bouchard, the witch, played incredibly well by Eva Green. The story is breezing by the audience too quickly while the cliches about cultural nuances take up way too much screen time.


Depp as Barnabas Collins is not a miscast, in fact, he has his physicality in his walking and in his use of his hands as well as the old world speech style. The make-up and hair is a bit exaggerated, but you cannot take your eyes off of him. Depp's Buster Keaton-like subtle slapstick style occurs when Barnabas is exposed to sunlight, when he finds the secret room, when he meets Willie Loomis for the first time (played by excellent character actor Jackie Earle Haley), and when he looks for a place to sleep.

Green's version of Angelique is the best example of an actor doing their homework in depicting Lara Parker's version of Angelique in the TV soap version and making it her own. She runs Angel Bay Fish Company and has portraits of her "ancestors" in the conference room in quite a hilarious array of time periods. She has the right level of OCD for Barnabas Collins and her super powers are exciting to watch. Her villainy is enhanced by a subtle special effect that depicts a weakness which is fun to see progress throughout her attempt to defeat her enemies. It brings to mind the TV show's storylines.

Equally eccentric is Dr. Julia Hoffman played by Helena Bonham Carter. We get small edges of the original character, whom Grayson Hall played, in the way Bonham Carter talks to Barnabas. The liberties taken with HBC's version are not unwarranted. We see her trying to help Barnabas, but the character was never totally without selfish reasons. There's a lot of liberty taken on the doctor-patient confidentiality in a most comedic way. The original Dr. Hoffman did have an unspoken love for Barnabas.

Some storylines are not fully explained and fans of the TV soap will hear hints about David's mother and will have to make assumptions that the film is hinting at the storyline involving the Phoenix metaphor. It is poorly executed as a side story, in the end, leaving out a crucial piece of history involving David Collins' mother.


For some reason Barnabas decides to throw a ball which takes a joke about an outdated kind of party and makes a reference to body parts -- clearly another attempt at humor that teens could enjoy if they haven't grown bored. At the start of the arrivals to the ball, if you blink you'll miss the cameos of four of the original TV soap stars, Lara Parker, Kathryn Leigh Scott, David Selby, and the late Jonathan Frid. Alice Cooper is the headlining performer highlighted at the party and offers no enhancement to the story. His name is joked about by Barnabas, again with the cultural adjustment.

There are important story points involving Victoria Winters/Josette DuPres, both played by the wonderful Bella Heathcote. Victoria and Barnabas could have a richer story, but the film depends on Angelique and Barnabas a little too much so Victoria and Barnabas' story never feels fully-realized. At a climactic scene, Victoria is nearly forgotten until their side story has to be quickly resolved, though there are liberties taken again. As we've seen in all vampire films where there's a romance between the living and the dead, the common tragedy is one dies and one lives forever. It is disappointing to see the cliche arise out of nowhere. Dan Curtis would definitely had opted for a cliffhanger or tragic plot point. The film resolves the situation to help Burton reach closure, but "Dark Shadows" fans are going to find the ending a bit irritating.

My rating is 3 out of 5 headless dolls with 2-1/2 going mainly towards the performances and 1/2 going towards the fake looking production design, which is a definite tribute to the low-budget sets used in the soap opera.

Hearing about a graphic novel named Wednesday with this blog debut halts me in my tracks; teasing me with words of "fast cars, nanobots, sock monkeys. The post-apocalypse as you've never seen it before." World War Wednesday will be erupting from writer John Bergin (From Inside) and artist Alex Riegel. Watch this space for news.

You need a Gomez in your life!

The Poe House and Museum in Baltimore is auctioning off a cartoon painting of Gomez Addams. It is signed by John Astin, the actor who we all know played Gomez in the TV series "The Addams Family". You can find out more at the auction site.

Creepy, Classic Ghosties in The Woman in Black

Hammer Films has come back to classic ghost story (since their return to vampires in 2010's Let Me In, the remake of Sweden's Let the Right One In) with their latest film production of Susan Hill's 1983 novel, The Woman in Black. Starring the ever watchable Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps, The Woman in Black, is shot in Essex, England, including exteriors on Osea Island in the Blackwater Estuary. Locations include a few classic railway stations to transport you back to the turn of the century, remote village life in northeast England.

New-ish director James Watkins is not new to horror with having made The Descent 2 and Eden Lake. Watkins honors the novel in giving the film a respectfully ornate, gothic production that creeps under your skin. Art Direction is by Paul Ghirardani known for being the Art Director on TV productions of "Little Dorrit," "Great Expectations," and "Sense and Sensibility". The introduction to the isolated wilderness, the weather, and the haunted Eel Marsh House is a slight nod to gothic classics such as The Old Dark House and The Haunting.

However, the film, as well as Hill's novel, is more geared towards the purpose to which ghosts return and how the living investigate why a ghost obsessively directs them to their history. The ghosts lurk over their shoulders and cause havoc in The Woman in Black and Kipps knows he will get to the bottom of their wrath if only the living don't get in the way of the dead. Watkins' delicate method of showing blood only when it is absolutely necessary makes tragic situations all the more morose. The villagers are terrorized, with the muted colors, no one looks well-rested, nor adequately nourished, and there's a heaviness to all the unwelcome eyes cast down upon Arthur's visitation.

Janet McTeer portrays Mrs. Daily, who has a foreboding presence with a history of becoming hysterical. We are forewarned by her husband, who hosts Arthur Kipps for his first dinner at their home, not to mention children. She slowly unravels as does their story, and as do all the townsfolk's stories of tragedy. The villagers curse Kipps presence, but little do they know how he intends to help them, though all of his intentions do not lift the ghost's need for revenge. Eel Marsh House's ghost is beyond being able to forgive and forget no matter how Kipps understands the truth as he then tries to bury the sorrow and quell the angry spirit.

Five out of five headless dolls; for being creepifyingly excellent.

REVIEW: First two episodes of ABC's The River

There are spoilers here but I will try to not reveal everything. I will say that my primary reason for watching The River is to see Thomas Kretschmann be a mean bastard. He is kinda mean. Doesn't like to do much without a gun in his hands. He has a bit of character development going on that leads us to believe he knows a lot more about what Emmett Cole was searching for and it is not magic. But don't let son Lincoln Cole know that yet... he's got magic on his mind and mentions it several times. This show is perfect for creating a drinking game. Every time you hear "magic", take a drink. Everytime the shot is messed up by fast camera moves when there is nothing to see, take a drink. It's the only way to get through the dizzying, actionless first 45 minutes. I didn't get giddy drunk, but more of an upset stomach while watching the debut of The River on ABC, created by Paranormal Activity's Oren Peli. Two hours of shaky action sequences with very brief moments of stillness in stationary camerawork. It was as if I drank an Ayahuasca smoothie when the crew, looking for missing naturalist Emmett Cole, arrived at his abandoned boat on the Amazon River. There's no widening of a shot to capture the expression on faces. The jarring motions are so predictable that I usually felt like I could look away and not miss anything during large amounts of dialogue. On that boat is a room welded closed; no pause given to waiting to figure out if it would be safe to enter. Upon entering the room, the crew discovers what looks like voodoo-like ritual tools and a vessel under a blanket that harkens to one of those empty pods from the 70s version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Immediately, whatever was in that thing, fled the room into the jungle. Seriously, you have cameras rolling and you're not rewinding and slowing down the footage to investigate it? There's a lot of foreshadowing in the mechanic's story of his daughter's ghost friend he encountered when she was a child. It's a good story, listen to it. The camera is steady on the father so you can regain some balance until the vertigo-inducing shaky cam returns. Soon his daughter becomes possessed. Oh, well, we figured with all her "spirit" intuitiveness that this was bound to happen. Papa Cole's disappearance is connected to the "magic" he was seeking. We get it. We had to wait 45 minutes for a clever use of the photography. In hindsight, it seems quite ironic that this entity from the spirit world is really into this shaky style and, while the camera is still in the hands of the man, whom the entity just took out, it gets the man off the ground, spins him before the show cuts to commercial. It was pretty funny to watch. Second episode then airs and there's some interesting moments when the Billy Zane-ish a la Dead Calm producer starts to make me wish Papa Cole's wife, Tess, will sooner than later bash his head in; give it time, I tell myself. He likes to capture moments for his documentary like the forest of hanging dolls in the graveyard. Okay, clever work in having a monkey wearing a doll face. It was creepy, Japanese-style horror in a twisted, funny way. Tess calls, "Little girl," to set up the viewer into thinking that there's a child in the jungle, yet here we are again mystified that the cameraman isn't showing what she's seeing yet. Why is the cameraman in the back of the group all the time?! So friggin' lame. I also wondered: where are the battery chargers for the cameras? They're in the jungle all day and half the night and they are not changing the batteries. It is so unrealistic. Just when you think you'll not hang in for a 3rd episode next week, in the last 30 seconds they reintroduce a plot device involving a necklace given to the son by the father. That same symbol appears on the neck of a character and it hooks the viewer in... though it will not answer any questions if they reveal next week that this character got drunk with Papa Emmett one night and thought it would be a good tattoo to get as a rite of passage. I give the first two hours 3 out of 5 beheaded dolls. It means, watch it but don't worry about rewinding sequences where you think something went too fast by the camera. You won't see anything. It's just a bunch of prop people throwing things across the frame to jar you awake.