American Horror Story is creepy, but it isn’t scary. A dysfunctional family moves into a haunted house in Los Angles. Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott), a psychiatrist whose wife caught him in bed with one of his students, thinks moving his family to his new home will provide a New Start. Harmon’s wife, Vivian (Connie Britton), is dealing with her husband’s infidelity and a miscarriage. Their daughter, Violet (Taissa Farmiga), has “issues” and is cutting herself with her father’s razor blades. Jessica Lange plays the creepy next door neighbor. The former owners of the haunted house died in a murder-suicide situation. The most intriguing character is the housekeeper, Moira. When Ben looks at her, she’s a young woman in a sexy French maid outfit (played by Alex Brenkenridge). Yet when Vivian and Violet see Moira, they see an elderly woman (Frances Conroy). None of these characters is sympathetic so it’s hard to work up much emotion when creepy things happen to them. I’ll watch a couple more episodes to see if the guys behind Nip/Tuck and Glee can entice me to stay with American Horror Story.

I’m probably the last person in North America to see The Lion King, The Musical. It’s been around since 1997. Diane, Patrick, and Katie saw a performance in Toronto about 10 years ago (I opted to go to The World’s Biggest Bookstore instead). But now The Lion King, The Musical arrives in Buffalo as part of our season ticket package at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. I saw the movie version back in 1994 so I thought a stage version would be superfluous. But Julie Taymor’s talent for spectacle turned it into a hit. Tonight we’ll see what the touring company presents. The Lion King, The Musical is here for a whole month so there must be a big market for this kind of production.

Shakespeare in Love finally made it to Blu-ray and after watching it, it’s just as good as I remembered. What an All-Star cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Rupert Everett, and Imelda Staunton. Shakespeare in Love tells a fictional story of how Romeo and Juliet was written. Shakespeare, looking for a muse to help him write again, falls in love with Viola de Lesseps, daughter of a wealth merchant who plans to marry his daughter off to Lord Wessex (who needs the money). Viola disguises herself as a man and wins the role of Romeo. Of course, complications ensue. To really appreciate the subtleties of the screenplay, I bought and read Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard’s volume: Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay. Amazing! If you’re a fan of Shakespeare, this movie and its screenplay will give you joy.

As a diabetic, I’m always on the lookout for low carb food that tastes good. My latest discovery is Fisher Chef’s Natural Raw Peanuts. I found this tasty treat at Wal-Mart. Although this product is marketed as a baking item, it makes a fine snack, too. The raw peanuts aren’t salted or baked in oil. No empty calories or added fat. Fisher has a whole line of unprocessed nuts in the Chef’s line. If you want real flavor check these out. A quart cup of raw peanuts has 5 grams of carbohydrate (2 grams of fiber). That’s 160 calories. Here’s a healthy snack that will satisfy your need for something crunchy. I’ll be trying the other nuts in this product line soon.

A few weeks ago, James Reasoner reviewed Robert Silverberg’s The Longest Way Home on his excellent blog here. I’m a big fan of Robert Silverberg’s work, but somehow The Longest Way Home had slipped under my book radar. I found a copy and read it. A young boy, visiting a royal family (on this planet called “Masters”), wakes up with the estate under attack by the Folk (the worker class). With some grit and luck, the boy manages to escape the massacre. He finds sanctuary in an alien village and then begins his 10,000 mile trek back to his home. I’m assuming this book was marketed as a Young Adult novel. The boy goes through some terrible deprivations. The journey is full of danger and mystery. If you’re in the mood for a survival novel, The Longest Way Home will grip you. For an even more exciting survival novel, I’d also recommend My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. It’s a story of a teenage boy who survives for a year alone in the Appalachian mountains. GRADE: B+

Back in 1964, I bought a copy of Swordsmen in the Sky and immediately fell in love with Swords & Sorcery fiction. From the classic Frazetta cover to the interior artwork by Jack Gaughan, the stories in this collection completely captivated me. Later, I would seek out the works of the authors included in this volume: Poul Anderson, Edmond Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, Andre Norton, and Otis Adelbert Kline. Don Wollheim, advanced for his time, devoted almost half of this book to the work of two women writers. Swordsman in the Sky is one of those books I’ll never forget because of the impact it had on me as a youth.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Swordsmen of Lost Terra (1951) by Poul Anderson
The People of the Crater (1947) by Andre Norton
The Moon That Vanished (1948) by Leigh Brackett
A Vision of Venus (1933) by Otis Adelbert Kline
Kaldar, World of Antares (1933) by Edmond Hamilton.

Even though this is the fifteenth book in the Kirk McGarvey series, you can safely jump in for a thrill ride. Nobel Prize winner Eve Larsen believes she has the solution to the world’s energy problems and a remedy for climate change. But interests who have bet billions on a continuing oil-based economy seek to stop her. Kirk McGarvey–James Bond without the glitz–sees the implications of Eve Larsen’s solution and tries to protect her from the assassin that stalks her. There’s an attempt to cause a Florida nuclear power planet to melt down, an invasion of an oil platform in the Gulf, and plenty of violence in-between. If you’re looking for a non-stop thriller, David Hagberg’s Abyss will keep the pages turning. GRADE: B

Joyce Yang delivered a hair-raising recital playing with incredible energy and passion. We’ve been to dozens of piano recitals, but Joyce Yang’s was different. She burst out on the stage and launched into Beethoven like her hair was on fire. Unlike some performers, Joyce Yang connected with the audience immediately. Her comments before she played a piece were insightful and pithy. If you have the chance to listen to Joyce Yang perform, don’t miss the opportunity to see one of the great young pianists. Her new CD will be coming out soon.
PROGRAM
Beethoven: Sonata No. 18 in E-flat, Op. 31, No. 3
Debussy: Estampes
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 in D-flat Major
Chopin & Liszt: My Joys
Schumann: Carnival, Op. 9

I’ve finally watched all six hour episodes of The Hour, the BBC mini-series about an hour news program in 1956. Think Mad Men only set in the early days of BBC television. Obsessive/compulsive reporter Freddie Lyon (played brilliantly by Ben Whishaw) stumbles upon a government conspiracy. His producer, Bel Rowley (played by the fetching Romola Garai), allows Freddie to pursue his seemingly paranoid quest to expose a vast government plot. The series sags about two-thirds of the way because of Bel’s affair with her married news narrator, Hector Madden (Dominic West). Very soapy. But The Hour springs some surprises in the last episode making the viewing experience well worthwhile. I have no idea if there will be an sequel to The Hour, but if there is one, I’ll watch it. GRADE: B+