I was in a Joe Cocker mood so I listened to Joe Cocker–The Life of a Man which is a solid retrospective of Cocker’s career. Then I listened to Organic, an album of songs Cocker covered back in 1996.

I enjoyed listening to Cocker’s hits: “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window,” “I Can’t Find My Way Home,” “The Letter,” “With A Little Help From My Friends,” “You Are So Beautiful,” and “When the Night Comes.” Cocker had a long career with plenty of ups and downs, but he left a respectable amount of songs that have stood up to the test of Time.

Organic starts out with a cover of a Van Morrison song, “Into the Mystic,” and moves on to my favorite (and a Cap’n Bob recommendation), “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” a big hit for The Animals back in the Sixties. Also moving is Cocker’s rendition of “Darlin’ Be Home Soon,” and a cover of a Steve Winwood classic, “Can’t Find My Way Home.”

If you’re a fan of Joe Cocker, Joe Cocker – The Life Of A Man (The Ultimate Hits 1968-2013) and Organic are two albums that delivery a couple hours of quality listening pleasure. GRADE: A (for both)

TRACK LIST (Joe Cocker – The Life Of A Man (The Ultimate Hits 1968-2013)

TRACK LIST: (ORGANIC)

Back in the 1930s, a young writer wrote a series of stories about a criminal who had perfected a device that could drench a city in darkness. Murray Leinster wrote “The Darkness on Fifth Avenue” and the story featured a mastermind named Preston whose goal is to steal everything of value under the cover of artificial darkness.

NYPD Lieutenant Hines investigates the thefts with the help of beautiful and clever reporter Kathryn Bush of the Star. The pair teams up with the exotic Professor Schaaf whose scientific knowledge of the possible approach to projecting darkness gives New York City a possible defense.

“The Darkness on Fifth Avenue” is a mash-up of a gangster tale and a Science Fiction story. As most of you know, Murray Leinster went on to become one of the Giants of the Science Fiction genre.

The Masters of Darkness collects the sequels to “The Darkness on Fifth Avenue” for the first time. Steeger Books should be applauded for reprinting these stories from the 1930s that have long been unavailable. If you want to see a young writer learning his craft, The Master of Darkness presents a good example. Are you a Murray Leinster fan? GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION By Sam Moskowitz — i

The Darkness on Fifth Avenue — 1

The City of the Blind — 83

The Storm That Had to be Stopped — 141

The Man Who Put Out the Sun — 219

About the Author — 294

I bought the first issue of The Fantastic Four comic book back in 1961 (the sad fate of that issue while I was away at Summer Camp five years later is a story for another time). I was a Fantastic Four enthusiast for years. But I lost interest in comic books in the mid-1960s and moved on to ACE Doubles and paperback mystery novels.

There have been four Fantastic Four movies: a 1994 Roger Corman-produced movie (not officially released), the 2005 and 2007 films directed by Tim Story, and the 2015 reboot directed by Josh Trank. 

The new fifth film, Fantastic Four: First Steps, introduces Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and just made $128 million over the weekend. 

“Reed Richards /Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), his pregnant wife Sue Storm / Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm / Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm / Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) learn that Galactus is coming via the Herald / Silver Surfer / Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner) who comes to warn the people of Earth that their days are numbered and they should spend those days wisely.” (Forbes)

Galactus–for those of you who are unfamiliar with the MARVEL Universe–is an incredibly powerful celestial being who devours entire worlds as he wanders across the stars. Now, Galactus wants to devour Earth. The Fantastic Four jump into their space ship and go out to meet Galactus and try to negotiate with this titanic being. Their negotiating skills are about as good as Trump’s.

The Fantastic Four flee back to Earth to prepare for Galactus’s arrival. They come up with a couple of low probability of success strategies. The Silver Surfer dashes their first option and the Fantastic Four have to fight Galactus in the middle of a city. Plenty of action!

I found Vanessa Kirby–the best Susan Storm I’ve ever seen on the Big Screen–the character with the most exciting powers, the best lines in the movie, and the person I most want to see in a sequel (or the promised Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, 2026). The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a little better than the new Superman movie. At least it doesn’t have Krypto the Superdog. GRADE: B+

Roxane Gay attempts the impossible with her impressive The Portable Feminist Reader. All the major writings of feminists show up here, both historical and contemporary. The Portable Feminist Reader includes 65 impactful thoughts on women, feminism, and the state of our culture. Can one book summarize the condition of Feminism in the 21st Century? The Portable Feminist Reader is about as good as it is going to get.

It would be hard to imagine a more thorough survey of feminism. Roxane Gay includes classic pieces like “On Women’s Right to Vote” by Susan B. Anthony and less well known pieces like “The Black and White of It” (from Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases) by Ida B. Wells.

I was most intrigued by the SEXUAL POLITICS essays starting with “Manifesto of the 343 Sluts” by Simone de Beauvoir. Roxane Gay also includes the famous “If Men Could Menstruate” by Gloria Steinem.

My only quibble is the paucity of thoughts about the future of feminism. Trump and his minions are waging war on DEI and that will spill over to women’s rights. What can women do to protect the rights they’ve fought for? We’ll find out… GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction by Roxane Gay — ix
A Note on the Text — xvii

THE PORTABLE FEMINIST READER

Part I: Laying a Foundation
“Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex” by Kimberlé Crenshaw — 3
“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh — 11
“Derailing for Dummies” by Unknown — 18
“No More Miss America” by Various — 31
“Feminism Is So Last Week” by Jessica Valenti — 36
“Women’s March Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles” by Various — 42

Part II: Early Feminist Texts
“Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex” by Henricus Cornelius Agrippa — 51
A Serious Proposal to the Ladies by Marie Astell — 55
A Brief Summary, in Plain Language, of the Most Important Laws concerning Women; Together with a Few Observations Thereon by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon — 58
“Are Women a Class?” by Lillie Devereux Blake — 72
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman — 75
“The Higher Education of Women” by Anna Julia Cooper — 93
“On Women’s Right to Vote” by Susan B. Anthony — 111
“The Black and White of It” (from Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases) by Ida B. Wells — 113

Part III: Multicultural Perspectives
“Under Western Eyes” by Chandra Talpade Mohanty — 123
“Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?: Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others” by Lila Abu-Lughod — 143
“Why Do They Hate Us?” (from Headscarves and Hymens) by Mona Eltahawy — 151
“La Guera” by Cherríe Moraga — 160
“La Prieta” by Gloria E. Anzaldúa — 170
“Growing Up as a Brown Girl: My Chonga Manifesto” by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez — 181
“I Am Woman” by Lee Maracle — 185
“Sovereignty of the Soul: Exploring the Intersection of Rape Law Reform and Federal Indian Law” by Sarah Deer — 190

Part IV: Feminist Labors
“The Laugh of the Medusa” by Hélène Cixous — 205
“The Politics of Housework” by Pat Mainardi — 211
“I Want a Wife” by Judy (Syfers) Brady — 216
“Women and the Myth of Consumerism” by Ellen Willis — 219
“A Question of Class” by Dorothy Allison — 226
“The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist” by the Guerrilla Girls — 248
“Men Explain Things to Me” by Rebecca Solnit — 250

Part V: Gender Considerations
“A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century” by Donna J. Haraway — 257
“The Woman-Identified Woman” by Radicalesbians — 265
“Women Like Me” by Wendy Rose — 272
“We Are All Works in Progress” by Leslie Feinberg — 274
“Girl” by Alexander Chee — 284
Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein — 291
“Being Female” by Eileen Myles — 310
“Volcano Dreams” by Gabrielle Bellot — 315

Part VI: Black Feminism(s)
“The Combahee River Collective Statement” by Various — 323
“Race, Gender, and the Prison Industrial Complex” by Angela Y. Davis and Cassandra Shaylor — 334
“The Uses of Anger” by Audre Lorde — 356
“Holding My Sister’s Hand” by bell hooks — 366
“In the Name of Beauty” by Tressie McMillan Cottom — 381
“The Problem with Sass” by Brittney Cooper — 399
“The Meaning of Serena Williams” by Claudia Rankine — 404
“Black Girls Don’t Get to Be Depressed” by Samantha Irby — 412

Part VII: Sexual Politics
“Manifesto of the 343 Sluts” by Simone de Beauvoir –419
“Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality” by Gayle S. Rubin — 427
“The Sexual Geopolitics of Popular Culture and Transnational Black Feminism” by Janell Hobson — 448
“Rape Joke” by Patricia Lockwood — 454
“If Men Could Menstruate” by Gloria Steinem — 458
“Assume the Position” by Patricia Hill Collins — 461
“Hooters Chicken” by Lizz Huerta — 495
“I Used to Give Men Mercy” by Terese Mailhot — 502
“Happy Hookers” by Melissa Gira Grant — 511
“Your Ass or Mine” by Virginie Despentes — 516
“To the Man Who Shouted ‘I Like Pork Fried Rice’ at Me on the Street” by Franny Choi — 525

Part VIII: Feminist Praxis
“Ecofeminism: Toward Global Justice and Planetary Health” by Greta Gaard and Lori Gruen — 531
“Gendered Geographies and Narrative Markings” by Mishuana Goeman — 537
“Slow” by Susan Stinson — 571
“Feminism and Disability” by Jenny Morris — 574
“Toward a Feminist Theory of Disability” by Susan Wendell — 583
“Sick Woman Theory” by Johanna Hedva — 589
“Making Space Accessible Is an Act of Love for Our Communities” by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna- Samarasinha — 603

Part IX: Looking Back, Looking Ahead
“Sisterhood Is Powerful” by Susan Brownmiller — 609
“Killing Joy: Feminism and the History of Happiness” by Sara Ahmed — 625

Acknowledgments — 629
Suggestions for Further Reading/Watching/Seeing/Listening — 631
Credits — 645

Syd Field, who has worked in the film industry for decades, tells the story of how he fell in love with movies. My favorite scene in Going to the Movies is when Syd Field, while soaking in a hot tub pondering Three Days of the Condor, comes up with a definition of a screenplay’s dramatic structure: “a linear arrangement of related incidents, episodes or events leading to dramatic resolution.”

While watching Chinatown and Manhattan, Field developed the idea of a “middle point” in Act II that turns a screenplay into two manageable 60-page units of dramatic action. More of Field’s lessons follow on the use of bookends, flashbacks, and the whammo, 

One of the reasons Going to the Movies is such a fun experience is Field’s tendency, whenever he sees a good film, “to take it apart and see how and why it works.” Syd Field analyzes dozens of movies in this book and you’ll come away with a new appreciation for those fields after learning what makes them tick. What’s your favorite movie? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION — xv

1. La Grande Illusion — 1
2. Movies 101 — 19
3. Catching the Wave — 35
4. Shadows on the Wall — 51
5. Movies, Myths and Heroes — 69
6. In Search of New Beginnings — 85
7. The Wild Bunch — 103
8. The Blank Page — 115
9. Sunset Boulevard — 137
10. Turning Pages — 155
11. Sherwood Oaks –171
12. Chinatown — 189
13. The Paradigm — 207
14. Second Time Around — 223
15. Finding the Mid-Point — 239
16. Time Past, Time Present — 255
17. New Voices, New Visions — 269
18. On Going to the Movies — 285

Index — 303

You may find this hard to believe, but K-Pop Demon Hunters is the top-rated program on Netflix right now. This animated film is produced by the same SONY studio who did Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

The plot is simple: three ultra-talented supernatural protectors use their popularity as girl band superstars to defend our mortal world from demon king Gwi-Ma (Byung Hun Lee).

The three lovely performers do it all: they sing, they dance, they slay demons. It’s fun to watch them slicing the evil spirits in half with their phosphorescent pink weapons. The K-Pop band also works to build a barrier–called the Golden Honmoon–that will block the demons once and for all from invading our world.

In addition to battling demons, the girls also have to contend with a rival Boy Band. Yes, this is all silly, but in the middle of a long hot Summer, K-Pop Demon Hunters is cool. GRADE: A

Track listing:

It’s Summer Reading Time and what better way to enjoy a hot, humid, buggy day in July (in the A/C, of course!) than by reading the first book in Simon Brett’s Fethering series, The Body on the Beach. Carole Seddon and her new friend, Jude Nichol, find themselves embroiled in a series of deaths.

It begins with Carole Seddon discovering a dead body on the beach while she was walking her dog. While Carole is retired, her skills from her many years of working in the Government kicks in and she finds some clues that lead…to a second body. Carole’s new neighbor, Jude, sees the series of bodies in a different light. Between the two approaches, the women discover the motive behind the deaths.

I’m a big fan of Simon Brett’s Charles Paris mysteries, but the Fethering series is almost as fun! GRADE: B+

Fethering Series:

Fethering is a fictitious village on England’s south coast (adjacent to Tarring). It is the place of residence of amateur sleuths Carole Seddon, a retired civil servant, and her neighbour, Jude Nichol, whose origins are obscure. Twenty-one Fethering mysteries have been published so far:

The Body on the Beach (2000)

Death on the Downs (2001)

The Torso in the Town (2002)

Murder in the Museum (2003)

The Hanging in the Hotel (2004)

The Witness at the Wedding (2005)

The Stabbing in the Stables (2006)

Death Under the Dryer (2007)

Blood at the Bookies (2008)

The Poisoning at the Pub (2009)

The Shooting in the Shop (2010)

Bones Under the Beach Hut (2011)

Guns in the Gallery (2011)

Corpse on the Court (2012)

The Strangling on the Stage (2013)

The Tomb in Turkey (2014)

The Killing in the Cafe (2015)

The Liar in the Library (2017)

The Killer in the Choir (2019)

Guilt at the Garage (2020)

Death and the Decorator (2022)

Death in the Dressing Room (2025)

The Classic Rhythm + Blues Collection: 1967-1969 in the TiME-LIFE series collects 30 hit songs from that era. This volume includes a few surprises. I haven’t heard the “Grazing in the Grass” instrumental by Hugh Maselela in many years. The same for The Originals’ “Baby, I’m For Real.”

Some of my favorites songs are included: Clarence Carter’s “Slip Away,” “I Second That Emotion” by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, and “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing ” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.

Many of these songs made up the soundtrack of my teenage Life back in the late Sixties. Do you remember these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

About 20 years ago, Rick Robinson urged me to read Edward Marston’s mysteries. Marston is a prolific writer who has written more than a 100 mysteries in various series. Inspector Colbeck’s Casebook (2014) collected a Baker’s Dozen of short stories featuring Marston’s Inspector Colbeck of Scotland Yard. All the stories in this collection involve trains–frequently someone getting murdered on a train–and Colbeck, and his partner Sergeant Victor Leeming, get called in to investigate.

While I found all the stories in Inspector Colbeck’s Casebook entertaining, I particularly enjoyed “Rain, Steam and Speed” which features Colbeck’s wife–a painter–who provides critical information to solve the case. Colbeck’s wife shows up again in “Puffing Billy” to assist her husband in another baffling crime.

If you’re in the mood for some historical mysteries set in the 1850s, The Railway Detective series delivers clever mysteries and a variety of characters. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PREFACE –7

Wetting the Coal: A train worker discovers a body in a coal trolley. — 13

Rain, Steam and Speed: A Turner painting is stolen during a train unloading. — 33

The Railway Church: A church warden’s Sunday routine is disrupted by a crime at St. George the Martyr Church. — 55

A Family Affair: Inspector Colbeck’s father-in-law has his wallet stolen. — 79

The Hat Trick: A newlywed couple searches for the spot of their engagement during a country walk. — 97

Helping Hand . — 119

Songs for a Swedish Nightingale . — 139

Suffer Little Children . — 157

The Missionary . — 175

On Guard . — 195

The Barber of Raven Glass . — 215

Puffing Billy . — 237

The End of the Line — 259

Purists of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy will balk at this Apple TV+ version where each season jumps 100 years into the future. Season 3 starts with a partly new cast, a new set of plot problems, and some of the old cast continuing the story of Foundation vs. Empire as well.

Genius mathematician Hari Seldon, who invented psychohistory–the mathematics that accurately predicts the Future–is aging in real time at the secret Second Foundation site.

Meanwhile an incredibly complex computer program, hiding in a giant, impenetrable vault at the first Foundation, threatens the Empire. Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell)–Seldon’s protege–is in cryo-sleep, waking every few years to help train the Second Foundation to prepare for the coming of the vicious psychic mutant, The Mule.

Yes, 80% of the current characters and plot do not appear in Asimov’s classic SF novels. No matter. The cast is good, the production values are top-notch, and the plot of mathematics trying to prevent the downfall of a Galactic Empire still fascinates me. A new episodes drops every Friday. I’ve watched the first episode of 10. GRADE: Incomplete, but treading towards a B+