tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:45:16 +0000"They should have told me ahead of time they did not want me to lie or make up facts."http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/noreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)Blogger563125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-5055484580398740555Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:51:00 +00002009-07-15T08:34:01.923-04:00Another trip through the shortboxes last night. This time I dug out some old stuff from Pacific Comics: an indie outfit from the eighties that seemed pretty daring at the time. I usually confuse them with Eclipse, but a quick Wiki-check shows that many Pacific folks headed over there when PC went belly-up. At any rate, the books aren't terribly memorable, but they are sort of charming. There's http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2009/07/this-is-captain-america-calling.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-7795009594091851766Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:57:00 +00002009-07-14T17:06:04.599-04:00Not all rediscoveries are fun. On a high from the Star Trek movie, I was looking for some old-fashioned space opera and gave the Lensman books another whirl. Rather, the Lensman book: I got about three pages into part two before hollering basta. My tolerance for square-jawed heroes is pretty high, but "Doc" Smith really abuses the privilege. Chapter after chapter of sang froid and joshing in the http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2009/07/cartoon-planet.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-5991495041488553535Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:27:00 +00002009-07-14T06:41:58.852-04:00I've made a couple of rediscoveries lately. Portishead's third studio record, which I didn't even play all the way through when it came out, popped up on the shuffle and I was surprised at how strong it was. It's definitely not as fun as the earlier ones; it doesn't have that trashy-sexy vibe and there are very few hooks to grab onto. But it's an ingratiating headphone record: a moody, meditativehttp://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2009/07/dancing-with-moonlit-knight.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-4315807254866947745Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:25:00 +00002009-07-14T06:27:27.487-04:00Eagle-eyed readers will notice that I haven't filled in links and other things, which means you're being denied vital stuff like my 1996 article about the peccadilloes of e-commerce. I'll get around to it when I can, I promise.http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2009/07/please-pardon-our-appearance.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-5222925684223505492Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:36:00 +00002009-07-13T20:37:40.525-04:00Firing things up again. The new look, hopefully, will shake me out of the rut a little bit. Keep an eye out.http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2009/07/crawling-from-wreckage.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-1849424513212101888Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:32:00 +00002008-11-22T06:56:52.988-05:00How about that, I'm back.This blog took a field trip into the big city last night to catch up with an old friend. Two, actually: a long-suffering editor and James Bond. The editor has all the familiar gripes, and Bond is still burning about stuff that happened two years ago in the last movie. The new one isn't a tenth as good as that one. The editing is terrible--everything shot in choppy http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/11/james-and-cold-gun.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-4135886445144669451Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:28:00 +00002008-08-14T09:31:15.190-04:00Speaking of first lines and Seventies sci-fi, I should also point to the copyright page of Isidore Haiblum's Interworld, which contains the following:A portion of this work appeared in Swank magazine.http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/08/better-tomorrow.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-207564945701711701Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:26:00 +00002008-08-13T12:28:54.189-04:00This post is about one of the greatest first lines I've ever read. But first I'm going to bore you with some thoughts about Seventies sci-fi.Our friends at Outside the Dome have an ongoing series about bargain-bin genre novels from the Me Decade. They've covered lots of the high points, but I want to suggest one stylistic tic that I think defines the genre: the hipster voice.I haven't read enoughhttp://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/08/my-spaceship-knows-which-way-to-go.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-154900897032008123Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:06:00 +00002008-08-01T18:08:21.734-04:00Damnation Decade gets a nice review at Ain't It Cool News:D20 Damnation DecadeOkay, I am NOT a fan of the d20 Modern system. Never have been. As much as I love the d20 system for all my fantasy needs – the modern version of the game always felt forced and required too much tweaking to feel anywhere near right. I’ve heard of some folks using it to create some cool Zombie survival horror RPGs, but http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/08/celluloid-bikers-is-fridays-theme.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-8439791194808122738Wed, 07 May 2008 23:40:00 +00002008-05-07T19:41:12.089-04:00At right, I've added a page for my article on The Nightfly.http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/05/i-wait-all-night-for-links-like-these.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-2321395809754637120Wed, 07 May 2008 20:21:00 +00002008-05-07T16:25:56.104-04:00An RPG vet gives Damnation Decade a nice notice:Wow. Just wow.Damnation Decade has been on my "check it out" list for a while now, and I succumbed today. Ever since downloading it, I've been bothering all my friends with lots and lots of quotes.Instead of writing up an actual review sort of thing, I'm going to do more of the same here."What the hell happened? Nobody who knows the truth is tellinghttp://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/05/so-sue-me.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-7540308064866073731Wed, 07 May 2008 19:55:00 +00002008-05-07T16:17:55.051-04:00I've been on a Welles kick lately, after reading a book of interviews. (Obligatory trivia: Orson, like Hitchcock, was raised a Catholic. God loves fatsos.) Sadly, most of his movies just don't hold up--he either didn't have the money to finish them, or he didn't have the final cut, so you end up with bastardized mishmashes. "Mr. Arkadin," for instance, has lots of great flourishes but ultimately http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/05/dork-calling-orson.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-656686856638940350Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:13:00 +00002008-04-24T17:35:40.062-04:00Longtime readers (Mom?) know that I've been complaining about the state of sci-fi forever--it's too serious, it's too dark, it doesn't have the oomph of the old cheeseball stuff. Last week, I put my money where my blog was and bought some Doc Savage reprints--and returned them after about thirty pages.There's cheese and then there's cheese. Lovecraft stories are practically wheels of brie, but hehttp://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/04/just-little-savage.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-3813105323056019867Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:03:00 +00002008-02-28T21:03:53.432-05:00http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/02/last-call-for-lunatic-liberals.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-6976836866320184151Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:12:00 +00002008-02-28T06:41:53.307-05:00R.I.P. I actually have a William Buckley story. He was godfather to someone at my high school, so he showed up to give our commencement address. Little did we know we were in for an Andy Kaufman routine. Nobody could understand his accent--which sounded like Thurston Howell moments after a stroke--and the few things we could pick up were incomprehensible. (I still refuse to believe, after all http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/02/mr-right.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-3054453224330847181Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:39:00 +00002008-02-11T10:42:14.448-05:00Everyone who reads this blog probably also reads Outside the Dome, a vital resource for hardcore culture. OTD tops himself today with a post on (mostly) seventies crime movies. Check it out.http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/02/dome-sweet-dome.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-5239030118399292767Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:54:00 +00002008-02-11T10:39:43.453-05:00On the recommendation of, who else, OTD, the Wrong Turn household checked out Sunshine--essentially, Event Horizon done by the 28 Days Later guys. The premise is ridiculous--drop a bomb into the sun to save it!--but if you can get past that one big leap, the movie's pretty good. Solid acting, nice twists and turns, some interesting semi-science and philosophy.Spoiler-filled observations:-- A veryhttp://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/02/spoonful-weighs-ton.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-6860833338784479084Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:30:00 +00002008-02-01T12:38:52.570-05:00Reply to BeK's comment: Actually, I think I appreciate the strip even more now that I've read the book. Knowing the sources for everything, the characters and gags have gravity they didn't before. And knowing Schulz was a basket case makes his achievement even more impressive: You have to be some kind of genius to (1) be that nuts and (2) create a cartoon that lays bare your neuroses yet (3) keephttp://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/02/i-drew-line-for-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-6839938547490671054Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:19:00 +00002008-01-31T20:50:34.185-05:00You know you're in trouble when Mort Walker is the most appealing figure in your own biography. Schulz and Peanuts paints you know who as a miserable, venal, self-pitying, self-mythologizing son of a bitch who could barely believe other people existed. I keep thinking of Mark Steyn's account of meeting another ten-thousand-laker, Garrison Keillor:I once did a radio show in New York with [Canadianhttp://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/01/you-were-all-yellow.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-3126110872803233499Sat, 26 Jan 2008 10:27:00 +00002008-01-26T06:16:20.307-05:00While I was transferring files over to the new host, I glanced over some earlier entries--as in, the first few weeks of Wrong Turning--and I was surprised at how gentle and reflective it sounded. I don't know what happened to me in the meantime. Apparently there was some kind of conflict overseas.In honor of those hopeful first posts, here's some diarizing.We moved to this town two and a half http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/01/and-you-want-to-follow-blind.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-4044156855760533554Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:00:00 +00002008-01-25T15:04:45.894-05:00Big thanks to OTD for helping me switch this site over to a newer, cheaper host. What the hell, I'll plug the host, too: GoDaddy has some amazingly cheap hosting plans and exceptionally friendly and patient customer-service reps. Their homepage looks a little chintzo, but otherwise I've got absolutely no complaints.http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/01/behind-curtain.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-2030375109158674290Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:51:00 +00002008-01-23T07:55:16.022-05:00A late addition to the 2007 list: The Shepherd's Dog, by Iron and Wine. In the vein of most indie weirdos these days, Iron and Wine is mostly one guy, with some occasional buddies along for the ride. At any rate, the record sounds wonderful--spooky alt-country very much in the Jim White style. In fact, the only reason I'm not swapping out Jim White on my top-ten list is residual affection. What'shttp://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/01/just-song-before-i-go.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-2535339548372324053Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:16:00 +00002008-01-21T21:47:25.020-05:00A few other thoughts on Cloverfield. I'm unusually disappointed with this one--I bought into the marketing and I dug the concept. I'm sympathetic to folks who try to approach tired genre stories in a new way, and this one seemed particularly novel. The trouble is, you've got to have really sympathetic, believable characters and you've got to give them something really interesting--and plausible--http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/01/when-it-comes-into-room-people-hit-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-4176829842670738022Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:49:00 +00002008-01-20T21:54:51.188-05:00You know you're getting old when...1. You see a monster movie about preening hipster yuppies living in a Manhattan loft and you think, "Oh yeah! Friends!" And then you realize that you, and the guys and gals from Friends, are about twenty years older than anybody in the cast. Isn't it still 1991?2. The zigzag camerawork does such a number on you that you run out of the theater and barf into a http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/01/aside-from-that-mrs-lincoln.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5660225.post-5008377103792352380Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:49:00 +00002008-01-06T08:30:38.757-05:00Well, the electoral field is a mess and economywise we appear to be heading into Americathon territory, but at least we had a great year for music. Lots of old faves delivered solid records, and nobody fell flat on his face. ("Pulling a morph," as a buddy now calls it.) For once, coming up with ten favorites was a real puzzler. Most of the albums that missed the cut would've topped the list in http://www.wrongturnjournal.com/2008/01/that-was-year-that-was.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rob Toth)4