At a running time of four hours and 2 minutes, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is way too long. It has six “Parts” and an Epilogue (which is essentially a commercial for the upcoming sequel). The movie opens with Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) trying to recruit Aquaman (Jason Momoa) to join a group that he believes will be necessary to battle the upcoming invasion from Space. Aquaman turns Bruce Wayne down.

Bruce Wayne has better luck recruiting Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and The Flash (Ezra Miller). Together they face the might of an ancient threat thousands of years old. Incredible devices called “Mother Boxes” were left on Earth and hidden away. Now forces arrive to claim the Mother Boxes and conquer Earth.

Zack Snyder provides the backstory to this movie: Thousands of years ago, Darkseid and his legions of Parademons attempted to conquer Earth using the Mother Boxes. The attempt was foiled by a unified alliance of Old Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, humanity, and a Green Lantern.

After the battle, the Mother Boxes were separated and hidden in different locations, guarded by the Amazons, Atlanteans, and Humanity respectively. In the present, Superman‘s death triggers the Mother Boxes’ reactivation, attracting Steppenwolf, one of Darkseid’s servants, to Earth. Steppenwolf, who has fallen out of favor with Darkseid, aims to regain it by gathering the boxes to form “the Unity,” which would terraform Earth in the likeness of their world Apokolips.

Needless to say, the Justice League doesn’t stand much of a chance against Steppenwolf and his legions of Parademons. Even with the addition of Cyborg (Ray Fisher), the invaders have the advantage.

You can probably guess how the balance of power is changed. There are plenty of long battle scenes. Jeremy Irons is wasted as Bruce Wayne’s butler, Alfred. Amy Adams is wasted as Lois Lane. A lot is wasted in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. But the biggest waste might be your time. GRADE: C

Keith Laumer’s Retief’s War (the third book and the first novel in the Retief series) was serialized in Worlds of If Science Fiction in 1965 with a cool wrap-around cover by Jack Gaughan. Retief’s War has been published in paperback numerous times (I picked the TIMESCAPE cover done by Rowena and the Wayne Barlowe cover on the BAEN Books editions because there’s such a contrast between them).

James Retief seeks to unite the hostile Quoppian tribes for the sake of Earth’s security and diplomacy. But first, Retief must first foil the destructive plans of the evil Groaci. In the process, Retief encounters a beautiful princess whose space yacht has crashed. Pure SF fun! GRADE: B+

RETIEF SERIES:

 1. Envoy to New Worlds (1963)
   2. Galactic Diplomat (1965)
   3. Retief’s War (1965)
   4. Retief and the Warlords (1968)
   5. Retief: Ambassador to Space (1969)
   6. Retief of the CDT (1971)
   7. Retief’s Ransom (1971)
     aka Retief and the Pangalactic Pageant of Pulchritude
   8. Retief: Emissary to the Stars (1975)
   9. Retief at Large (1978)
   10. Retief Unbound (1979)
   11. Diplomat at Arms (1982)
   12. Retief to the Rescue (1983)
   13. The Return of Retief (1984)
   14. Retief in the Ruins (1986)
   15. Reward for Retief (1989)
Retief of the Red-Tape Mountain (1962)
The Frozen Planet (1966)
Retief and the Rascals (1993)
Retief! (2001)
Gambler’s World (2009)
The Yillian Way (2009)
The Governor of Glave (2020)
Aide Memoire (2020)
Saline Solution (2020)

Back in 1962 when Island Records was founded, they released “My Boy Lollipop” by Millie. That first hit brought in much needed cash that allowed the record company to sign Traffic and The Spencer Davis Group. Once Island Records established themselves as successful company, they branched out with “Caribbean” music from artists like Toots and The Maytals, Bob Marley & The Wailers, and Jimmy Cliff.

Big groups like U2 and Fairport Convention generated hits for Island records which funded more alternative groups like Eddie & The Hot Rods, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and The Buggles. Other Island hits included Joe Cocker & Jennifer’s “Up Where We Belong,” and Steve Winwood’s “Night Train.” Tom Waits, Robert Palmer, and Grace Jones all found success at Island Records.

Are you a fan of Island Records? Do you remember these songs? Any favorites? GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

Ed McBain is best known for his legendary 87th Precinct series. But, on occasion, McBain would write stand-alone works. McBain’s Duet collects two of these works: “Driving Lessons” and “Petals.”

“Driving Lessons” is a police procedural set in a small town. A teenage girl with a Learner’s Permit, while on a drive with her Driver’s Education instructor, hits a woman and kills her.

Detective Katie Logan investigates the incident and discovers the dead victim is the Driver’s Education instructor’s wife. And, the blood test on the instructor comes back with traces of a powerful drug. Logan follows the evidence and discovers plenty of secrets. GRADE: B

“Petals” is a spy story. An American agent in Europe is investigating the recent murders of former Nazis. At the same time, the American agent is falling in love with the woman who might be killing these men. If you’re in the mood for a surprisingly romanic spy story, give “Petals” a try. GRADE: B-

Minari is the story of a Korean-American family who decides to move from California to a tiny Arkansas farm, The father, played by STEVEN YEUN, is obsessed with making the farm work and become successful. The family dynamic changes completely when their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother comes from Korea to live with them.

Much of the success of Minari rests on the excellent cast especially the incredible performance of 6-year-old of Alan S. Kim. Kim plays David, a little boy with a lot of problems. Kim manages to capture the happiness, fear, and sadness of a small boy in a strange land. Lee Isaac Chung does a masterful job directing his talented cast through the script he wrote.

With attacks on Asians in the U.S. on the rise, Minari shows the plight of immigrants in trying to secure the American Dream. GRADE: B+

Murder and the Movies opens with David Thomson and his wife playing a game. They try to list all the people who died in Season One of Ozark. From that introduction, you can see where this book is headed.

Like Thomson’s Sleeping With Strangers: How Movies Shaped Desire (you can read my review here), Thomson takes the reader on a guided tour of his subject. Yes, Thomson loves the murders in Hitchcock movies especially Strangers on a Train. Other Thomson favorite murder movies are The Conformist, The Godfather, and The Shining,

If you’re looking for a short, fun book that will jog your movie memory, or send you to Netflix to watch a movie you’ve missed, Murder and the Movies will delight you. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

In Ozark — 1

Alone — 7

Red Rum — 17

I could… — 29

It’s not fair — 33

What is an overlook? — 47

A nice English murder — 59

The good soldier — 77

We can kill anybody — 91

Cruel being kind — 107

A lark! An aside — 121

Are murderers crazy? — 123

Single-handed — 135

Femme fatale — 149

The woodman’s bright axe — 163

Slaughter — 167

The room I had to live in — 183

Solitary confinement — 195

And now, Death — 203

Sources and Thanks — 217

Index — 221

For about 20 years I’ve been using TURBOTAX to do my taxes. Now that Diane and I are retired, our taxes are pretty straight-forward. We have our pensions and our Social Security and that’s just about it. We have Roth IRAs, but they are tax-free.

This year, it took me a little longer to use TURBOTAX because it insisted I upgrade my Apple Operating System to BIG SUR. That took about an hour. Then, TURBOTAX was finally ready to do its thing. I inputted my data and TURBOTAX informed me I was getting a $2100 Federal Tax refund. I also broke even on the New York State taxes so I owe them nothing.

Have you done your taxes? Have you received your Economic Stimulus check yet?

About 20 minutes of Patrick talking about Privacy.

Probably the best known story in this collection is Alfred Bester’s classic “Star Light, Star Bright” about a gifted but dangerous child. I enjoyed Charles L. Harness’s clever time-travel story, “Child by Chronos.” Anthony Boucher’s story about a little demon, “Snulbug,” has lost none of its charm over the decades.

In these early The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction volumes, the editors were partial to L. Sprague de Camp and Fletch Pratt’s Gavagan’s Bar stories (like “The Untimely Toper”) and Manly Wade Wellman’s Silver John stories (like “Vandy, Vandy” where an obsessive brand of Love leads to strangeness). This Third Series volume contains several excellent stories and Boucher’s wonderful Introductions to all the stories. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction / [Anthony Boucher, J. Francis McComas] — 7
Attitudes / Philip José Farmer — 13
Maybe just a little one / R. Bretnor — 35
The star gypsies / William Lindsay Gresham — 51
The untimely Toper / L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt — 69
Vandy, Vandy / Manly Wade Wellman — 79
Experiment / Kay Rogers — 96
Lot / Ward Moore — 100
Manuscript found in a vacuum / P.M. Hubbard — 131
The maladjusted classroom / H. Nearing, Jr. — 134
Child by Chronos / Charles L. Harness — 153
New ritual / Idris Seabright (aka,Margaret St. Clair — 172
Devlin / W.B. Ready — 182
Captive audience / Ann Warren Griffith — 197
Snulbug / Anthony Boucher — 213
Shepherd’s boy / Richard Middleton — 230
Star light, star bright / Alfred Bester — 233

TRACK LIST:

After Motown music, I was a big fan of the artists at STAX Records. I own all of Isaac Hayes’s albums. Loved Otis Redding (who left us too soon) and Booker T & The MGs. Later, I discovered William Bell and Johnny Taylor.

Even Wal-Mart created a Pandemic TV commercial featuring Sam & Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin'” as the music background. If you’re looking for some great Soul Music, Top of the STAX–in the words of The Staple Singers–will take you there! How many of these songs do you remember? Any favorites? GRADE: A