I know Cap’n Bob loathes Tom Cruise (AKA The Evil Dwarf), but I found a lot to enjoy in the latest (and best) of the Mission Impossible movies. A cunning terrorist has framed the Impossible Missions force with the bombing of the Kremlin. The U.S. Government has invoked the “Ghost Protocol” where they publicly disavow the MI while covertly encouraging them to find the terrorist before a political disaster occurs. There’s the usual eye-popping stunts and cool gadgetry. Cruise’s team of Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, and Simon Pegg balance off the screen time. If you’re looking for a stylish action-movie, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL will keep you on the edge of your seat. GRADE: A

I subscribed to Night Shade Books’ six volume series of Clark Ashton Smith’s works. Now, the final volume has been published and I’m sad to reach the end. If you haven’t read any of Clark Ashton Smith’s baroque fantasies, you’re really missing out on some fabulous stories. The Miscellaneous Writings of Clark Ashton Smith is an expanded edition of the planned Tales of India and Irony. If you’re a Clark Ashton Smith fan, this is a must-buy.
Table of Contents

Introduction: The Sorcerer Departs by Donald Sidney-Fryer
The Animated Sword
Prince Alcouz and the Magician
The Malay Krise
The Ghost of Mohammed Din
The Mahout
The Raja and the Tiger
Something New
The Flirt
The Perfect Woman
A Platonic Entanglement
The Expert Lover
A Copy of Burns
Checkmate
The Infernal Star
The House of Monoceros
Dawn of Discord
The Dead Will Cuckold You
The Hashish-Eater
Appendices
Story Notes
Bibliography
Errata for The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith volumes 1 through 5
“O Amor atque Realitas!” By Donald Sidney-Fryer

Diane and I went to a delightful concert featuring a Quebec-based baroque music group, Les Violons du Roy (“violins of the king”). On this current tour, they’re accompanied by recorder virtuoso, Maurice Stegner. If this crew performs in your neighbor, they’re well worth a listen. Check out the sample below.
CONCERT PROGRAM:
Handel. Concerto grosso in B-flat Major Op. 6 No. 7 (“The Hornpipe”)
Telemann. Suite in A Minor for alto recorder, strings and B. C., TWV 55: a2
Sammartini. Concerto in F Major for soprano recorder and strings
Geminiani. Concerto grosso in D Minor
Geminiani. Concer per flauto No. 10 in F Major

Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, and Elizabeth McGovern lead a stellar cast in this Second Season of Downton Abbey. Maria Doyle Kennedy, Iain Glen, and Zoe Boyle freshen up this the Second Season of this Emmy Award-winning drama. This 3-disk set includes the Downton Abbey Christmas Special, as well as several bonus features like deleted scenes. The action continues from Season One with England in the middle of World War I. It’s 1916 and the events of the Battle of the Somme up to the end of the war power the plots. If you’re a fan of British drama like Upstairs, Downstairs and Brideshead Revisited, Downton Abbey will entertain and delight you. GRADE: A

When I reviewed Kiss Me Deadly a couple weeks ago, Todd Mason mentioned Odds Against Tomorrow, a movie I hadn’t seen in three decades. I found a DVD of Odds Against Tomorrow and watched it. I also had a copy of William P. McGivern’s novel that the movie is based on so I read that, too. In the novel version, Earl Slater (a sociopath), Johnny Ingram (a gambler who owes too much money to the loan sharks), and Burke (a former cop) plan a bank job. The structure of the movie and the book differ. In the novel, the bank job takes place about mid-way through the book. In the movie, the bank job happens almost at the end of the movie. The movie’s explosive finish isn’t in the novel. The movie starred Robert Ryan as Earl, Harry Belafonte as Johnny, and Ed Begley as Burke. Director Robert Wise chose to focus on the racial tension between Earl and Johnny. The screenplay by Abraham Polonsky and Nelson Gidding scintillates! GRADE: A-

Death of Kings is the sixth book in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon series. The series is narrated by Uhtred, the Saxon-born, Viking-raised warrior. Alfred the Great is dying and with him might die the dream of a unified England. It falls to Uhtred, an outsider, to decide whether England survives or falls into chaos. Death of Kings follows the template of the other five books: plenty of political chicanery, double-dealing, and graphic fighting scenes. I’ve enjoyed all the previous novels in this series and I enjoyed Death of Kings as well. GRADE: B+

Every Saturday morning in the early Seventies, I’d flip on the TV and watch Soul Train. Don Cornelius, the man with the velvet voice, hosted the shows back then. All the great soul artists, Aretha, Marvin Gay, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, James Brown, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, showed up on this program. Don Cornelius died a few days ago, but memories of Soul Train will continue to live on.

Last month I reviewed Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making where John Curran culled hundreds of fascinating facts from Christie’s notebooks to enlighten creative the process she used to create her masterpieces. In this second volume, Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making, More Stories and Secrets from Her Notebooks, John Curran focuses more on Christie’s short stories. I also found “How I Created Hercule Poirot” and “Agatha Christie’s Booklists” to be interesting. If you’re a Christie fan, this is a must-buy.

Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a troubled writer of Young Adult novels of the Gossip Girl variety. Mavis feels an overwhelming compulsion to reconnect with her high school boyfriend, Buddy. So she drives from Minneapolis to her hometown of Mercury, Minnesota to rekindle an old flame. Along the way, Mavis meets the nerdy guy whose locker was next to her’s in high school, Matt (played brilliantly by Patton Oswalt), who she completely ignored for four years. Matt plays the Greek Chorus in this movie warning Mavis her quest will end in disaster since her old boy friend is happily married and has a new baby. Director Jason Reitman makes the most of Diablo Cody’s edgy script. Yes, there’s humor here, but it’s mostly dark and ironic. GRADE: A-