The Buffalo Bills flew to London, England to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in a morning game. Kickoff is at 9:30 A.M. E.S.T. The Bills are 5 1/2 point favorites. The Jaguars played the Atlanta Falcons in London last week (and won 23-7). So the Jaguars are adapted to the English surroundings and the five-hour difference. The Bills arrived Friday morning and have only had a couple of days to deal with Jet Lag and London’s atmosphere. The playing time temperature will be 71 degrees. Here in Western NY, the temps are in the low 50s. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

Loki, Season 2 (6 episodes) picks up where Loki, Season 1 left off. The Timeline is in crisis and disaster approaches. Loki leaves the shadow of Thor and becomes a “variant” of the Norse trickster god held by the Time Variance Authority, or TVA, who controls Time…at least for now. The first series paired impeccable production design with a simple emotional narrative — especially once our primary Loki (Tom Hiddleston) met his match in his female counterpart Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), a relationship that opened questions of identity, free will and self-determination.

“Loki” Season 2, has seen some changes in personnel behind the scenes. Eric Martin takes over head writing duties from creator Michael Waldron, while sole director Kate Herron has passed the baton to a larger group led by collaborators Justin Benson and Aaron Morehead.  Based on watching Episode 1, this new lineup is inferior to the original group. This season introduces new MacGuffins like the Temporal Loom and characters like Ourobouros (Ke Huy Quan), a kind of cosmic IT guy tasked with keeping TVA equipment in shape.  While there’s a flurry of running around and shouting, the story and the situations seem static. I’ll keep watching (new episodes drop on Thursdays), but so far the uniqueness of the first season is Missing In Action. GRADE: Incomplete (but trending towards a C)

Ed Lacy’s Room to Swing won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1958. Room to Swing made history by featuring the first African-American detective in a mystery in the noir genre.

Ed Lacy created the character of Tousssaint Moore, college educated and a decorated war veteran, who finds his opportunities are limited because of his race. Moore works as a private detective in and around Harlem. When Moore is hired by the producers of a reality television program called You–Detective! his troubles multiply. Moore finds a man murdered and flees New York City when he’s framed for the killing.

Moore drives to a small Ohio town to investigate the murdered man’s past. As you might expect, Moore’s presence in a racist community draws police attention. While Moore uncovers clues, he’s constantly under hostile threat by the residents.

Room to Swing broke new ground in detective fiction in the United States and deserves the Edgar Award and all the accolades that go with it. GRADE: A

I consider the 1970s and 1980s the Golden Age of great TV theme music. The theme song to “Sesame Street” welcomed Patrick and Katie each morning back then. Then there are the iconic themes to “Cheers,” “Taxi,” “Laverne And Shirley,” and “The Jeffersons.”

But it was action TV programs that really connected with me: the themes to “Miami Vice,” Baretta,” “Starsky and Hutch,” and “The A-Team.” That music really got my blood pumping! But my favorites are “Hill Street Blues,” “The Rockford Files,” and “S.W.A.T.” Do you remember these TV theme songs? Which ones are your favorites? GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

Early Morning Cartoons
1	Unknown Artist–	Sesame Street	0:59
2	Unknown Artist–	The Muppet Show	1:11
3	Unknown Artist–	The Alvin Show	1:05
4	Unknown Artist–	Speed Racer	1:11
5	Unknown Artist–	The Famous Adventures Of Mr. Magoo	0:47
6	Unknown Artist–	Inspector Gadget	1:15
7	Unknown Artist–	The Smurfs	1:03
8	Unknown Artist–	Dastardly & Muttley In Their Flying Machines	1:15
9	Unknown Artist–	Scooby-Doo	1:02
10	Unknown Artist–	Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids	1:04
11	Unknown Artist–	The Archies (“Everything’s Archie”)	1:01
12	Unknown Artist–	Josie And The Pussycats	1:02
13	Unknown Artist–	Dudley Do-Right	0:23
14	Unknown Artist–	Fractured Fairy Tales	0:24
		Sit-Coms
15	Gary Portnoy–	Cheers (“Where Everybody Knows Your Name”)	1:06
16	Unknown Artist–	The Bob Newhart Show (“Home To Emily”)	1:05
17	Joey Scarbury–	The Greatest American Hero (“Believe It Or Not”)	1:46
18	John Sebastian–	Welcome Back, Kotter (“Welcome Back”)	0:58
19	Unknown Artist–	Room 222	1:30
20	Unknown Artist–	WKRP In Cincinnati	0:44
21	Bob James–	Taxi (“Angela”)	1:05
22	Unknown Artist–	Barney Miller	0:48
23	Unknown Artist–	Three’s Company	1:01
24	Pratt And MacLain*–	Happy Days	1:16
25	Cyndi Grecco–	Laverne And Shirley (“Making Our Dreams Come True”)	1:19
26	Unknown Artist–	The Facts Of Life	0:53
27	Jim Gilstrap & Blinky Williams*–	Good Times	0:49
28	Unknown Artist–	One Day At A Time	0:53
29	Nell Carter–	Gimme A Break	0:54
30	Donny Hathaway–	Maude (“And Then There’s Maude”)	0:49
31	Ja’net DuBois & Oren Waters–	The Jeffersons (“Movin’ On Up”)	1:09
32	Carroll O’Connor & Jean Stapleton–	All In The Family (“Those Were The Days”)	0:46
33	Quincy Jones–	Sanford And Son (“The Streetbeater”)	0:56
		Prime Time Drama
34	Unknown Artist–	Dallas	1:14
35	Unknown Artist–	Dynasty	1:18
36	Unknown Artist–	Knots Landing	1:36
37	Unknown Artist–	L.A. Law	1:36
38	Unknown Artist–	St. Elsewhere	1:28
39	Unknown Artist–	Marcus Welby, M.D.	1:01
40	Unknown Artist–	M*A*S*H (“Suicide Is Painless”)	0:55
41	Unknown Artist–	The Waltons	1:03
42	Unknown Artist–	Little House On The Prarie	0:57
43	Unknown Artist–	Hart To Hart	1:20
44	Unknown Artist–	Charlie’s Angels	1:06
45	Unknown Artist–	Wonder Woman	1:37
46	Jack Jones–	Love Boat	1:37
47	Barry Manilow–	American Bandstand (“Bandstand Boogie”)	1:25
48	Unknown Artist–	Solid Gold	1:24
49	Unknown Artist–	Entertainment Tonight	1:29
		Late Night Action Adventure
50	Jan Hammer–	Miami Vice	1:02
51	Rhythm Heritage–	S.W.A.T.	1:14
52	Sammy Davis, Jr.*–	Baretta (“Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow”)	1:06
53	Unknown Artist–	The Streets Of San Francisco	1:07
54	Unknown Artist–	Barnaby Jones	0:54
55	Unknown Artist–	Starsky And Hutch (“Gotcha”)	1:15
56	Unknown Artist–	Rookies	1:02
57	Unknown Artist–	Kojak	0:51
58	Unknown Artist–	The A-Team	1:40
59	Unknown Artist–	The Name Of The Game	1:13
60	Unknown Artist–	Quincy, M.E.	1:03
61	Unknown Artist–	Hill Street Blues	1:18
62	Unknown Artist–	Simon & Simon	1:05
63	Unknown Artist–	Magnum, P.I.	1:02
64	Unknown Artist–	The Rockford Files	0:56
65	Unknown Artist–	NBC’s Saturday Night Live	1:15

I’ve read a number of ghost stories by M.R. James over the years in various anthologies. This collection brings many of his unique stories together in an excellent volume. David Morell provides a detailed and informative Introduction to James and his writings. This volume in The Haunted Library of Horror Classics includes a suggested reading list of more ghost stories, more information on M.R. James, and some info about the editors of the series.

My favorite story in Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1905) is the famous horror story “The Ash-Tree.” A woman is accused of witchcraft and burned to death. The accuser, Sir Matthew Fell of Castringham Hall, is later found dead in a peculiar manner. The bedroom where he died is closed for decades until Sir Richard Fell, his grandson, decided to spend a night in the forbidding bedroom. The next morning Sir Richard’s body was found in bed, black and dead. The cause of death will surprise you!

M. R. James set a high standard for writing and this volume presents eight grand stories in the British traction of supernatural horror. Highly recommended! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION By David Morrell — xi

About David Morrell — xxiii

Preface — 1

Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book — 3
Lost Hearts — 18
The Mezzotint — 30
The Ash-Tree — 44
Number 13 — 60
Count Magnus — 78
‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ — 93
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas — 117

About the Author, M. R. James — 138

Suggested Discussion Question for Classroom Use — 140

Suggest Further Reading of Fiction — 144

About the Series Editors — 148

Director Wes Anderson loves Roald Dahl’s fiction. Anderson produced a feature film with Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2009. Now, Wes Anderson has four short films based on Roald Dahl short stories on Netflix. The first one, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a gambler who learns to read cards and win millions of dollars in casinos (I thought I saw Cap’n Bob in the background).

The other three films are shorter: The Swan, The Rat Catcher, and Poison. If you’re a Wes Anderson fan, you’ll enjoy these. If you hate Wes Anderson’s work, you’ll skip these. GRADE: B (for all four)

“Symbolically, Putin’s most notorious crony, Evgeny Prigozhin, began his career as Putin’s personal chef. Prigozhin organized supples to the Russian military, a troll factory that churned out propaganda for Trump, and mercenary camps in Syria, Central, Africa, and Ukraine. Moving from the kitchens at home to military camps abroad was quick and easy for people like Prigozhin. Failing to pay taxes, flouting regulations and possessing unlimited resources, these princes of darkness preached and practiced a turbo-charged Machiavellian politics with the sole purpose of spreading their corrupt influence. They had no fear of the state because they were the state. Inept managers, they were efficient corrupters.” (p. 48)

Of course, none of us was surprised when a bomb aboard the plane Progozhin was on killed him (and 12 other passengers). Alexander Etkind’s slim little volume explores the essence of contemporary Russia. As Senator McCain once said, “Russia is a gas station pretending to be a country.”

Etkind shows how Russia’s dependence on oil rules most of Putin’s decision making.

“Ecologically, Russia was the fourth greatest polluter in the world; China topped the list but Russian emissions per capita were much higher. Russia’s ecological problems–smog in the capital and garbage in the countryside–stuck in the mind of anyone who had visited the country. Siberia had been extensively logged and ravaged by fires. Flaring gas torches and methane leaks create massive emissions.” (p. 20)

Russia is a dying country. Birthrates keep falling, the infrastructure deteriorates, the wealth goes to a small group of oligarchs who buy $100 million Yachts and party. A lot.

“The war forced hundreds of thousands of Russians, most of them young and educated urbanites, to leave the country. Expecting military mobilization and violence at home, they flew to Georgia, Armenia, Turkey or Kazakhstan–the countries that did not require visas. Most of them found themselves in a desperate situation, with no job, no money and no welfare support. Only the Kremlin applauded this displacement of the country’s young and productive subjects: the very same people who might take part in the acts of protests and resistance were removing themselves from the domestic scene. At this point, education, high culture and public life became mere nuisances for the Russian rulers.” (p. 62)

But as Etkind points out, this death spiral of Russian corruption makes Putin more dangerous. Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine both shows the ineffectiveness of the Russian military but also increases the chances Putin might resort to nuclear weapons. Russia Against Modernity presents an accurate picture of dangers we face. What do you think of Russia? GRADE: A

Table of Contents:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — vi

Introduction — 1

Chapter 1. Modernity in the Age of Anthropocene — 3

Chapter 2. Petrostate — 24

Chapter 3. Parasitic governance — 40

Chapter 4. The So-Called Elite — 55

Chapter 5. The Public Sphere — 66

Chapter 6. Gender and Degeneration — 85

Chapter 7. Putin’s War — 102

Chapter 8. Defederating Russia — 121

Endnotes — 141

Index — 160

The 3-0 Mighty Miami Dolphins hung 70 points on the Denver Broncos last week. This week Miami faces the 2-1 Buffalo Bills in a game that may come down to who scores last. The Bills are 2 1/2 point favorites. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

Flora and Son is a 2023 musical comedy-drama film written and directed by John Carney, featuring original songs by Carney and Gary Clark. The film stars Eve Hewson, Jack Reynor, Orén Kinlan, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. John Carney is best known for his films Once, Begin Again, and Sing Street. 

Flora, a struggling single mother living in Dublin, is having trouble with her estranged son Max, a rebellious teenage petty thief. Flora finds Max a hobby when she rescues an old guitar and, with the help of a Los Angeles-based online guitar teacher, ignites a love of music-making in both her son and herself.

Eve Hewson plays Flora as a feisty, kick-ass woman who struggles with her role of mother. Flora has always been a rebel and that attitude has rubbed off on her teenage son, Max. But, together, mother and son find common ground to build a productive and loving relationship through working together by song writing.

My only quibble is that for a movie based on music, the actual songs in this movie seemed weak to me. Nothing memorable, nothing stirring. While the actors and story line are first-rate, the music is not. Worth watching for the scenes in Dublin, too! GRADE: B+