Matthew Hughes is one of my favorite writers. But the vagaries of publishing today has forced Hughes to self-publish his work. Hughes’s latest book is Passengers & Perils (2022) available through AMAZON which is a fix-up novel made up of eight short stories.

Conn Labro, his lover Jenore Mordene, and Captain of the Peregrinator, Yalum Erkstachian, lease their space yacht to various clients who prefer to travel in a small starship instead of a large transport. In the first story in Passengers & Perils Conn, Jenore, and Yalum deal with a sinister death aboard their craft.

The second story concerns a kidnapping and the payment of ransom. But, things go astray.

The third story involves attempts by the criminal group Green Circle to acquire Conn’s hidden planet.

The fourth story starts with the disappearance of a woman and leads to the drug overdose of a Person of Interest.

The fifth story features Conn dealing with a spoiled son of a wealthy family who owes money in gambling debts.

With story six, the action moves to Old Earth where an enigmatic organization initiated legal proceedings to seize the space yacht Peregrinator. Conn and Jenore engage another of Matthew Hughes’s characters, the foremost freelance discriminator–Henghis Hapthorn–to help resolve the issue.

The events of story six continue in story seven as another of Matthew Hughes’s characters, the criminal Luff Imbry, joins the plot and assists–in an unlikely way–in the investigation of the problem of the Peregrinator.

The eighth and final story in Passengers & Perils send Conn and Jenore in a search for a religious idol.

Passengers & Perils provides thrilling episodic journeys from exotic planets to Old Earth filled with mystery and secrets. These marvelous adventures will delight and amuse you! GRADE: B+

Here’s the technical skinny on this new 50th Anniversary Edition of The Godfather:

“Certainly, Paramount’s remastered 1080p Blu-ray cannot match the might and majesty of the 2160p/Doby Vision UHD release of the film, but this presentation is certainly no slouch. While it is obviously the inferior of the two, it is still a very strong image and betters the long-ago released, and remastered, Blu-ray from 2008. This new picture boasts refined textures and superior clarity and grain management. The image is breathtakingly filmic. The grain is elegantly presented, balanced for the most part with only modest spikes in density here and there, inherent to the film stock rather than a fault of the Blu-ray transfer process. The grain is in support of beautifully managed textures that reveal the fine appointments around the Corleone home, for instance, and in other locations throughout film where wood panels, brick facades, and other environmental components delight for muscular definition and tactile intricacy. Likewise, the picture thrives in its ability to present complex skin textures with commanding ease and efficiency. Granted, again, these lag behind the UHD but are presented at the 1080p resolution with seemingly the most complexity available to the picture at this resolution. Fine lines and wrinkles, pores, hairs, and other elements are wonderfully rendered, bringing each character to life with extravagant ease. Clothing definition is wonderful, too, capturing the high visible yield of the period textures with satisfying depth and clarity.

“The color presentation is dynamic as well. Certainly, the film’s lower light and warm appearance plays very well here. The picture is not as darkly brooding and warmly intense as it is on the UHD, but the picture certainly captures the depth of Gordon Willis’ photography and lighting with brilliant stability and authenticity. Shadow details is wonderful, and blacks are stable and accurate; the Blu-ray is well capable of allowing the film’s tonal aesthetics to shine and delight within the full context of the intended presentation parameters. Likewise, whites are crisp and brilliant, yielding no push to creaminess, grayness, or flatness. Additional tones beyond warm woods and whites and blacks are solid, too. Things like blood, natural greens, floral bouquets, and other critical and supportive content hold stable and pure. Further considering the lack of print splotches and wear, not to mention encode flaws, this picture is about as perfect as the format can deliver.”

The Collector’s Edition version of set will include a bonus Blu-ray with new special features, three commissioned illustrated portraits, and a hardcover book that features “extensive photography and an introduction from Francis Ford Coppola, housed in a beautiful foil-embossed box.”  Check out the other bonus features below:

New Bonus Content:

• The Godfather: Part III—newly remastered and restored versions of the original theatrical cut and Coppola’s 1991 cut (note: these are exclusive to the 4K Blu-ray Collections)
• Introduction to The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola
• Full Circle: Preserving The Godfather—Paramount Pictures archivists detail the incredible restoration process with archival footage showing the evolution of the film through various home entertainment incarnations as picture and audio technologies make quantum leaps over the decades.
• Capturing the Corleones: Through the Lens of Photographer Steve Schapiro— In this reflective and frank discussion, special photographer Steve Schapiro shares his unique perspective and cherished memories as a witness to the making of this seminal film. Commentary on curated archival images makes for a fascinating, never-before-seen addition to the production’s history.
• The Godfather: Home Movies— An assortment of 8mm home movie footage shot in 1971 offers a candid glimpse into the production of The Godfather. Shot on location at the Norton family estate on Staten Island’s Emerson Hill, this is the first time it’s been made available to the public.
• Restoration Comparisons— Before and after highlights showcase extensive picture quality improvements to The Godfather.

“I am very proud of The Godfather, which certainly defined the first third of my creative life,” said Francis Ford Coppola. “With this 50th anniversary tribute, I’m especially proud Mario Puzo’s THE GODFATHER, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is included, as it captures Mario and my original vision in definitively concluding our epic trilogy. It’s also gratifying to celebrate this milestone with Paramount alongside the wonderful fans who’ve loved it for decades, younger generations who still find it relevant today, and those who will discover it for the first time.”

Are you a fan of The Godfather? GRADE: A

It’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years since The Godfather showed up on movie screens. Reading Mark Seal’s informative Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather, it’s amazing that the movie managed to get made at all. Casting conflicts, the struggles Coppola endured as the project unfolded, the moody Brando, the upstart Pacino, and the interference of movie executives make the story of how The Godfather came about despite the odds enthralling and fascinating.

If you’re more interested in the Paramount+ dramatization of the making of The Godfather, The Offer–a 10-episode series–takes viewers behind the scenes and shows how Coppola navigated the Byzantine aspects of Hollywood during the shooting of this movie.

Fans of The Godfather might think they know a lot about the process of movie-making of this classic film, but Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli and The Offer reveal new details about what went down 50 years ago. GRADE: A (for both)

Table of Contents:

Preface: A Story as Extraordinary as the One Told Onscreen ix

Prologue: To the Mattresses! 1

1 “I Just Go Out and Kill for Them” 7

2 The Man in the Gutter 13

3 Hurricane Charlie and The Kid 37

4 The Best Selling Writer in the World 55

5 The Producer: The Man Who Gets Things Done 74

6 Coppola: A Celestial Occurrence 97

7 The Miracle on Mulholland 118

8 The War over Casting the Family Corleone 155

9 The Godfather vs. The Godfather 181

10 Tableau: Each Frame a Painting 209

11 Looking for Places to Kill People 243

12 Bada Bing! 278

13 “He Looked Like He Could Eat Raw Meat” 290

14 Dancing on a String 313

15 “I Met Him, I Married Him, and I Died” 328

16 “A Baptism in Blood” 355

Epilogue: The Man Who Touched Magic 385

Acknowledgments 389

Selected Bibliography 395

Index 425

Each year about this time, Bills fans–and National Football League fans in general–get hyped up over the NFL Draft. The NFL Draft happens to garner some of the highest audience ratings of ESPN’s programs. This year, the NFL Draft travelled to Vegas for the pomp and circumstances. Over a 100,000 fans came to party, too!

The Buffalo Bills, scheduled to draft at Number 25 in the First Round, traded with the Baltimore Ravens to move up to Number 23 to pick Kaiir Elam, CB, Florida Gators. The Bills needed a cornerback and Elam looks good after being a three-year starter.

The rest of the Draft provided the Bills quality depth at various positions. None of the players selected–other than Elam–have a chance at starting on this team. But, the Bills have an eye for the Future. How did your favorite NFL team do in the Draft?

BUFFALO BILLS 2022 DRAFT CLASS:

After a two-year pandemic delay, NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” came to Buffalo Thursday night for a sold-out show at Shea’s Performing Arts Center.  Diane and I donned our N95 masks and joined over 3000 other fans of “Wait Wait.”

The award-winning weekly hour-long quiz program tests your knowledge — and sense of humor — against some of the best and brightest in the news and entertainment world, while figuring out what’s real news and what’s made up.  Contestants vie for the most coveted prize in all of public radio: a custom-recorded greeting by any of the panel members for their voicemail.

On Thursday night, Hosts Peter Sagal and Bill Kurtis led a panel of experts that included Emmy Award-winning VICE News Correspondent and comedian Alzo Slade; best-selling author, nationally syndicated columnist and NPR contributor Amy Dickinson; and Irish actress, comedian and writer Maeve Higgins. Maeve delighted the crowd with her Irish accent and off-beat humor. Amy Dickinson, who lives in Central New York and is very familiar with Buffalo, proved witty commentary on the region. Alzo Slade, who admitted this was his first time visiting Buffalo, commented on the chicken wings and the cold weather.

Peter Sagal, also visiting Buffalo for the first time, made a few snarky remarks (his specialty) about the Buffalo Bills and the cold. Sagal is a runner and the chilly weather forced him to buy warm running clothes in Buffalo. We thank Sagal for stimulating our Economy! Bill Kurtis also admitted to owning a dozen buffalo’s on his ranch.

“Wait Wait” airs typically airs on Saturdays at 11 a.m. and Sundays at 10 a.m. Check your local NPR station and you can hear–and laugh–at what we experienced a couple nights ago. Are you a fan of NPR? GRADE: A

“Personally, I’ve alway admired the short-short. I find conceiving and writing them to be pleasurable, challenging, stimulating. They’re over and done with quickly, too. Novels take months to write. You can turn out a finished short-short–the first draft of one, anyhow–in an hour or two. Immediate sense of accomplishment, instant gratification.” (p. ix)

I’ve always been fond of short-short stories. My early favorites were by Frederic Brown. Brown’s most famous short-short story is: “The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door…” If you’d like to read Bill Pronzini’s spin on this classic short-story, read “Whodunit” in Small Felonies (p. 269).

Bill Pronzini has written over a hundred short-short stories. This new Stark House collection, Small Felonies 2, possesses a different vibe from the previous Small Felonies chiefly as the result of 14 collaborations with Barry N. Malzberg. You’ll really enjoy their “The Man Who Loved Mystery Stories.” And you’ll learn a lot from Malzberg’s Afterword, “The Felicities of Fiction or The Heart of the Artichoke.”

I’m a big fan of “Trade Secret” where a retired hit man is approached with a contract to kill. And fans of Pronzini’s “Nameless Detective” series will enjoy the three “Nameless” short-shorts included in this first-rate collection. Pronzini juggles plot elements, characters, and setting to pull off a surprising stunt time after time. Don’t miss this gem from Stark House! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PREFACE — 11

• Trade Secret — 13
• Wishful Thinking — 18
• The Monster — 24
• Home is the Place Where (A “Nameless Detective” Story) –27
• Night Walker (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 32
• Out Behind the Shed — 37
• Chip — 42
• Multiples (with Barry N. Malzberg) 48
• The Being — 52
• Stroke of Luck — 56
• Betrayal — 61
• Shade Work — 65
• The Man Who Loved Mystery Stories (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 70
• Lines — 74
• Wedding Day — 79
• Putting the Pieces Back — 84
• Birds of a Feather (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 88
• Where Am I? –92
• The Shrew –98
• Meadowlands Spike (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 102
• Angelique — 107
• Crazy — 111
• Demolition, Inc. (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 114
• The Last Laugh — 119
• Confession — 123
• The Tuesday Curse (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 128
• Bones — 132
• I Think I Will Not Hang Myself Today — 137
• A Matter of Survival (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 142
• Dago Red — 146
• Why Did You Do It? — 151
• Bomb Scare (A “Nameless Detective” Story) — 155
• What Kind of Person Are You? (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 157
• The Wind — 160
• Such Things as Nightmares Are Made Of — 164
• A Matter of Justice (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 170
• I Didn’t Do It — 175
• Home — 178
• The Crack of Doom (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 181
• Do It Yourself — 186
• The Night, the River — 191
• Always Her Eyes (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 196
• I Know a Way — 203
• Neighbors — 206
• Final Exam (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 211
• Funeral Day — 217
• Caius (with Barry N. Malzberg) — 220
• The Space Killers — 225
• Free Durt — 230
• Zero Tolerance (A “Nameless Detective” Story) — 236
• AFTERWORD By Barry N. Malzberg — 241
• Bibliography — 244

Normally I’m indifferent to “remixes” of songs. Too often they are long, unwieldy, and add nothing to the quality of the original song.

However, I understand the motivation behind many remixes: they convert songs into dance music. When I first saw Detroit: The Motor City Remix Project, Volume 2 I was tempted to pass on it. But the subtitle–Remixed, Remodeled, Redefined for the 90s–tickled my Funny Bone so I parted with 50 cents at our local Salvation Army Thrift Store.

After listening to Detroit: The Motor City Remix Project, Volume 2 my initial assessment proved to be correct. Producer Paul Klein takes well known songs and extends them with repetitive choruses, repetitive lyrics, and “solos” backed by heavy bass and out of control synthesizers. This would qualify as “dance music” if you downed four or five mixed drinks and wanted to be hypnotized and surrender to the power of the beat. GRADE: D (for dull!)

I’ve been a fan of Bill Pronzini’s work since the early 1970s. I’ve read dozens of Pronzini’s books–he is one prolific guy!–and enjoyed them all. I’ve had Small Felonies on my book shelf for over 30 years so I felt it was time I finally got around to reading it. As the title suggests, Small Felonies is a collection of 50 short-short stories.

Bill Pronzini proudly proclaims, “Small Felonies…is the first single-author collection of exclusively short-short–none is longer than two thousand words–and exclusively criminous stories.” (p. x)

Pronzini includes some short-short stories narrated by his most famous character, the “Nameless Detective.” I enjoyed “Something Wrong” when the Nameless Detective senses someone had broken into his apartment…but took nothing. I also liked “The Same Old Grind” where a hoodlum razes an old restaurant owner about his lack of money and discovers the owner has a second source of funding. The final sentence in the story is classic!

I highly recommend Small Felonies! Some of Bill Pronzini’s best work resides between the covers of this book! GRADE: A

On Sundays, Shea’s Performing Arts Center usually offers two performances of their musicals, a matinee and an evening performance. Diane and I attended the sold-out matinee performance of Anastasia. When we returned home and were preparing dinner, the phone rang. It was Diane’s cousin who had tickets to the evening performance of Anastasia. “They cancelled the performance!” Phyllis exclaimed. Later, we found out several of the actors who performed in the matinee of Anastasia developed symptoms and when they were tested after the matinee…they tested positive. Yes, Covid-19 is still alive and spreading in Buffalo.

Diane and I wore our N95 masks, but we were in the small minority in the audience who took that precaution.

Remember the name Kayla Stone. She plays Anastasia with verve and flair. Kayla Stone sings, dances, and projects her enigmatic character marvelously.

We also liked the two Russian con-men, Dimitry (Sam McLellan) and the raffish Vlad (Bryan Seastrom) who “groom” their young street sweeper to pass as Anastasia. They plan on fooling the wealthy Dowager Empress (played in superb world-weary fashion by Gerri Weagraff) living Paris that Anastasia survived the execution of the Romanoffs…and collect the reward.

Anastasia features luscious costumes, lush music, and a great cast. Don’t miss it if it shows up in your neighborhood…unless it gets canceled because of Covid. GRADE: B+

Kevin Goetz specializes in the field of focus groups that evaluate movies before they are released. Goetz tells dozens of stories of movies whose endings were changed based on audience feedback. For example, in the original ending of Fatal Attraction Glenn Close committed suicide. But the focus group audience who watched the movie wanted Glenn Close “punished” for her actions. So, a new ending was shot. If you get the Director’s Cut version of Fatal Attraction you’ll see both endings.

I was also fascinated to find out the original movie focus groups came about because of George Gallup, the pollster. He approached the movie studios and offered his services.

“In The Big Broadcast of 1938, a new comedic actor named Bob Hope was featured in several early scenes that didn’t play well to the test audiences. Moviegoers were unfamiliar with his style of humor and didn’t find it particular funny. But, in one of the film’s later scenes, the audience roared with laughter at his antics. So Paramount, recognizing that audience might need a different introduction to his brand of humor, reordered the scenes to put his big laugh scene before the others. At the next test screening, moviegoers found Hope to be funny all the way through.” (p. 30)

Kevin Goetz ran dozens of focus groups that provided key information to improving films. At a time when Batman, Indiana Jones, and Die Hard dominated the movie screens, a movie like Driving Miss Daisy looked like a loser. But test audiences loved it. When Driving Miss Daisy was released, Roger Ebert wrote, “After so many movies in which shallow and violent people deny their humanity and ours, what a lesson to see a film that looks into the heart.” Driving Miss Daisy won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1989 and Jessica Tandy won Best Actress at 80 years of age! Her career began in the 1930s. And the movie took in $145 million!

If you love movies, Audience-ology provides plenty of insights and stories and surprises about films, directors, and actors. Terrific book! GRADE: A

Table of Contents:

Foreword Chris Meledandri ix

Introduction 1

1 Finding My “And” 9

2 Locked Doors, Severed Heads, and the Early History of Test Screenings 25

3 The Lights in Minneapolis 39

4 The Girl in the Black Cocktail Dress 63

5 Know Thy Audience 93

6 From Straight-to-DVD to Five F*cking Sequels 119

7 Scores Settle Scores 137

8 When Bad Things Happen to Good Movies 155

9 It’s Like Seeing Your Lover Naked for the First Time 167

10 Spock, Laddie, and Lessons in Managing Highly Emotional Individuals 179

Conclusion 207

Acknowledgments 211

Notes 214

Film Index 215

Name Index 220