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Read this week: “The Crowd”, a short story by Ray Bradbury, from his classic collection The October Country. Bradbury is typically considered a science-fiction author, but his work in the horror field is extensive; he, Harlan Ellison, and Richard Matheson probably constitute some kind of Trinity of short-story horror writers. The October Country is a seminal collection of Bradbury’s work, and “The Crowd” is a brilliant and disturbing work that asks the question: just how does that crowd that always gathers around a horrible accident always form so quickly? Good stuff, this. Bradbury is an essential writer of horror. ShareDown the rabbit hole….

(Note: This is a story that I wrote shortly after the events of 11 September 2001. Its genesis was in a simple image that haunted me for quite a while afterward. I originally thought to write it as a poem, but I am not a good poet. This story was rejected by one market, and I have never submitted it anyplace else as I am quite ambivalent about the results I achieved. Nevertheless, I offer it here as some kind of offering in memory of those lost.) The City of Dead Works There is never any rest for me, theDown the rabbit hole….

Six months. I’m amazed that it has been that long. I was getting in my car and on my way to work when I heard the news on the radio: an airplane had struck the World Trade Center; details were still sketchy and more would be said as they became available. I was envisioning a Piper Cub or some such thing, not a jetliner. And certainly not both buildings being hit. I switched to NPR, and they hadn’t broken the story yet either; Morning Edition‘s Bob Edwards finally said something about both buildings being hit while I was sitting inDown the rabbit hole….

It’s always impossible to judge a film by its trailer, but the trailer that aired last night on FOX for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was a pretty amazing thing to watch. So far Lucas has given us a trailer that highlights the love story and Anakin’s movement to the Dark Side; now he gives us a trailer that highlights the story’s epic scope and the galactic-scale events that will transpire in the new film. Is it May yet???? (Actually, I’d settle for April 23, when the film’s score is to be released on CD.) Share ThisDown the rabbit hole….

NPR’s program Weekend Edition Sunday has begun its yearly examination of the five Oscar-nominated film scores. Check it out here. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

ABC’s Bond movie of the week last night was Live and Let Die, which is without possible question the worst of all the Bond films. Yep, I said worst. The film that I see most often cited as the worst, A View to a Kill, is nowhere near as bad as this film. Let me count the ways that Live and Let Die is horrible: 1. It’s the most sexist Bond film ever. Now, the Bond films will never be listed in Great Cinematic Hallmarks of Women’s Equality, but a nadir was reached with this one. Here we have womenDown the rabbit hole….

I’ve added a link to the left to a place I had totally forgotten about, though I used to frequent the place quite often: Odin’s Castle. This is a site designed to be a clearing house on the Web for other sites devoted to history, mythology, and literature. There are a lot of excellent resources here. Check it out. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

The most underrated, ignored, and generally shafted show on network television, Once and Again, again appears to have its neck on the chopping block. ABC has moved the show around its schedule for three years, and still it has a dedicated audience; however, when a show moves that much it doesn’t get a chance to develop much more than that devoted audience. It is now on Mondays, and this appears to be its last chance to generate sufficient ratings to be renewed. A website devoted to saving the show, with a link to an online petition, can be found here.Down the rabbit hole….

Standard operating procedure here is for us to watch Whose Line Is It Anyway? on Thursday nights, after Friends. However, our ABC affiliate decided to air the current incarnation of Billy Graham, so for some unknown reason I watched the second half of last night’s Survivor episode. Why on earth are people still watching this stuff? To me it all looks the same: a bunch of narcissistic TV-star wannabes wandering around some godforsaken place, scrounging for water, complaining about one another, babbling into the camera about how “[Person X] isn’t doing squat to help the team/tribe/group”. They then gather forDown the rabbit hole….

Ah, spring in Buffalo: when fifty-five degree sunny days are followed by thirty-three degree snowy ones. But at least our summers have never, not once since they started keeping the stats, hit one hundred degrees. The Bills signed linebacker London Fletcher from the St. Louis Rams yesterday. He replaces Sam Cowart, who went to the New York Jets. Cowart is an outstanding athlete, but he has had problems with injuries and missed all of last season after getting hurt in the first game. Ah well, take heart, Jets fans: if Cowart stays healthy, your team just picked up a hellDown the rabbit hole….