February 28, 2026 · 5:15 am

Upstairs, Downstairs and in the predator’s chamber: TV and a film

When I blogged that the third season of UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS was eventful I had no idea the fourth season would go “hold my cuppa!” Given that it’s all taking place in WW I, I probably should have anticipated that.

James (Simon Williams) and Edward (Christopher Beeny) go off to the front as respectively an officer and an enlisted man. Georgina (Lesley Anne Downe) goes too, as a nurse; for years I thought a sequence where she lights a dying man’s cigarette came from an adaptation of Testament of Youth, but nope. Richard (David Langton), as an MP, has to deal with the political and strategic side.

Among the servants, the staff has to deal with tight rationing, shortages and Rose (Jean Marsh) going to work as a bus conductor as a second job (manpower shortages were chronic then, as in WW II). There’s a clash with a terrified Belgian refugee family, James and Edward returning on leave scarred by what they’ve seen, Hazel’s (Meg Wynn Owen) charity work, Edward and Daisy getting married and a tragedy as the war ends in the season’s final episode (I’d correctly pegged that death would strike on the home front but now how). As always, great viewing. “It wasn’t very dignified — fighting for my husband in a ward full of injured soldiers.”

Following 2022’s superb Prey and the animated Killer of Killers, PREDATOR: BADLANDS (2025) continues the winning streak. I missed hearing about it when it hit theaters last year but as soon as Camestros Felapton blogged about it streaming, I caught it.

The protagonist is Dek (Dmitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a Yautja (Predators’ name for themselves) runt of the litter, thereby deserving of culling. His brother sacrifices himself to give Dek a shot at redemption — hunting and killing the Kalisk, a kaiju no Yautja has ever overcome. Arriving on the Kalist planet, Dek discovers every lifeform on it, even the plants, is hostile. Fortunately he encounters Thia (Elle Fanning), a synth (android from the Alien franchise) who lost her legs trying to capture the Kalisk. She knows this planet; if Dek takes her along, together they might have a chance (“I know the Yautja hunt alone — but they also die alone.”). Suddenly we’re in the Predator/Android buddy comedy I didn’t know I wanted. Of course, Dek is hardly a fun or trustworthy travel companion but it turns out Thia’s got a few secrets of her own … Two thumbs up. “I’ve never been thrown before — what a thrill!”

All rights to images remain with current holders.

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February 27, 2026 · 4:30 pm

This week, I ate my own homework

Which is to say, not much done.

In fairness, part of that carried over from last week’s dog chaos. We’ve only now reached the end of all the added drugs they’re getting. and spacing them out, adjusting them to the “don’t give with food” rules, etc. means the regimen sucks up more time (plus Plush Dudley is increasingly uncooperative about eating his meds). And Monday Trixie had her recheck at Peak Paws (our PT place) and with added errands on the way home, I wound up starting work Monday way later than usual.

(No, I don’t know why she’s sniffing Plushie).

I rewrote the introduction to Savage Adventures when it hit me that I bog down in the history of the pulps instead of selling why Doc Savage is cool to read (and read about). I turned in two Local Reporter articles, one on how Carrboro’s funding stormwater management projects and a debate in Chapel Hill on taking a stand against President Toddler’s anti-immigration raids. And I got a bunch of stuff done on various tasks — picking up pet meds, contacting contractors, etc.

And that was pretty much it. The week kind of evaporated. I always have a fear that if I let that happen once, I’ll let it happen again, and again, and I’ll end up with nothing but a hatful of rain (to borrow from the title of an old film). I know that’s not true, but still.

The flip side: as the 501(c) non-profit Local Reporter takes a two week pause I have more time but now I have less money coming in. Not that the wolf’s at the door but I do take pride in contributing to household bills.

February overall was disappointing for fiction writing. Between the dogs and the snow I got almost no fiction written. On the plus side I did complete the latest draft of Savage Adventures; updated my “in case of my death” paperwork; provided my obligatory critiques for some of the stories in Break the Sky (as it’s a collaborative anthology, we all edit each other); donated blood today; and made more money than usual, thanks to The Local Reporter. On the downside, my social life has been quiet, as either my schedule or my friends’ proved unworkable (one coffee date, very short due to an emergency on their part).

However the week wasn’t all wasted. Monday I got an FB message from a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor (an excellent paper — I subscribed for years). Between the president declaring a release of the government’s UFO-related files (I do not expect any shocking revelations) and the upcoming movie Project Hail Mary, reporter Stephen Humphries came up with the idea of interviewing me, as an expert in ET-visitor films, about movies, real-life UFO beliefs and how they interact. One reason I didn’t get more work done is that I pored over The Aliens Are Here, refreshing my mind on the subject. It paid off — it was a 45 minute interview and I think I talked intelligently for all of it. I’ll link to the article when it comes out.

On that note, have a good weekend. All rights to images remain with current holders; Doc Savage cover by James Bama.

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February 27, 2026 · 5:15 am

Go for baroque!

A few weeks back, TYG and I went to a baroque music concert at a local church. It’s more her kind of thing than mine but I did enjoy the music. And the church looks cool.

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February 26, 2026 · 5:12 am

Republicans, rancid and rotten

As I mentioned recently, the Necrotic Toddler of the United States tried to pressure Democrats into renaming Penn Station and Dulles Airport for him. Florida was more cooperative: the state legislature has renamed Palm Beach International Airport for the Toddler. And by what I’m sure is a complete coincidence, one of the Toddler’s private businesses has filed a trademark on the name President Donald J. Trump International Airport. I haven’t the slightest doubt the Toddler not only wants his name glorified, he intends to make it another way to suck up government money and put it into his own pocket. While it’s not how trademark law works, as we’ve seen the Toddler’s willingness to ignore things like laws frequently works out well for him. Case in point, threatening to send ICE after people who ignore fundraising letters.

Which raises the question of what he’ll do now that the Supreme Court has struck down his beloved tariffs — in his delusional, clueless brain, the greatest instrument of economic policy conceived by the greatest president of all. I’m sure his claims of a Secret Backup Plan are just as rational as his claims there’s a legal theory allowing him to nationalize elections.

Part of the appeal of tariffs was that he could wield them as a personal weapon to punish whatever nation didn’t kiss his ass enough. For example raising tariffs against Switzerland because when he met one of their leaders ““I didn’t really like the way she talked to us,”

Politics is quite literally personal for the Toddler and his toadies. “U.S. foreign policy over the past year makes no sense if interpreted through the lens of national interest. How can it serve U.S. interests to insult and demean Canada, which has been an utterly reliable ally? Why would a U.S. president talk about seizing Greenland, which belongs to another ally, Denmark, and is a place where America already has a military base and can do whatever it considers necessary to protect our national security? But the Trump clique doesn’t care whether nations have been staunch allies of the United States. They want subservient clients paying tribute, not to America, but to them personally. And that’s something democracies like Canada and Denmark won’t do.”

That personal touch extends to wanting to lash out at anyone he doesn’t like, such as Democrat Ihlan Ohmar. And again.

The Toddler’s lackeys are just as rancid. FCC head Brendan Carr is quite clear that politics on TV is bad if it involves giving time to people who criticize his master. He recites the standard talking points about “trump derangement syndrome” but I’d sooner be deranged (not that opposing the Toddler is at all deranged) than a crawling toady like Carr.

Carr also wants networks “to pledge to provide programming that promotes civic education, national pride, and our shared history.” I presume that means nothing that will hurt Pete Hegseth or Stephen Miller’s feelings by reminding them white people do not own America more than any other group, and that slavery and segregation were bad things.

Over in another cabinet department, “Donald Trump‘s Department of Education has unveiled a new policy that will make workers of LGBTQ+ nonprofits ineligible for student loan forgiveness.”

And Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s sons are poised to make bank on the end of tariffs.

Kennedy Center head Richard Grennell is shocked and appalled by Nazi imagery and themes deployed by Republicans — oh, wait, he’s outraged liberals are pointing it out.

To wrap up, here are two blog posts about the Toddler’s State of the Union speech and all the lies in it.

Now, moving into the wider world of rotten Republicans

Raving anti-semite Lara Logan is now shrieking that it’s the gas chambers for conservatives if Dems win in the mid-terms. And yet as usual, it’s people on her side demanding their enemies be put to death.

Ever-rancid Ann Coulter declares even a fourth-generation descendant of immigrants isn’t really American enough to be president. The Toddler, of course, is only a second generation immigrant but she thinks he’s fine.

“It puts a bounty on the government of $10,000 just simply for somebody being in the wrong room — not for them having done anything, but just having been in the wrong room,” — an Idaho Republican on the Idaho House’s support for an anti-trans bathroom bill.

“They want to create a new Voldemort. They want to create a new genocide. They want that genocide to be of white people. They openly talk about it. They want white people to be subservient slaves to them.” — Kremlin-funded MAGA bullshit artist Benny Johnson.

Florida’s Matt Gaetz was a shitbag. New House Rep. Randy Fine to Matt: Hold my beer! More about Fine here. And here.

Sen. Ron Johnson insists an attack on Ihlan Omar was no big because Dems wouldn’t punish an attack on a Republican.

Texas Republican Bo French wants to deport Native Americans. So far he hasn’t explained where to.

Ben Shapiro thinks the State of the Union could have best captured America by having Tom Homan arrest members of the audience.

Megyn Kelly insists the cult isn’t MAGA, it’s people who think ICE is bad: “being convinced that you have everything to fear, the Gestapo is here, like these ICE agents, they’re locking people up, they’re stopping innocents and throwing them away without a key — American citizens.” Never mind all of that is true. And never mind that ICE’s conduct includes stealing work visas and IDs from legal immigrants. Ron DeSantis likewise thinks ICE deserves our sympathy, not protesters.

Go Trump, Go Broke. Paul Krugman looks at the topic in more detail.

Of course, it’s not like they’re all the same shade of rancid rottenness. Despite the dictum “no enemies on the right” Cheryl Rofer points to cracks in the coalition, some from ideology (not everyone’s comfortable with blatant Nazis), some from losing out in the struggle for power in the Toddler’s coalition. Let’s hope that works well for us.

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February 25, 2026 · 5:15 am

Wow, my teenage protagonist has taste identical to my 67 year old self!

Several years back, Camestros Felapton reviewed Stephen King’s Fairy Tale and liked it, with one reservation, “the extent to which King makes a young (17) contemporary (2010s) protagonist into a template that would work for a character in the 1970s. Charlie has an iPhone and a laptop and looks things up on the internet but for plausible background reasons has watched lots of classic movies and read lots of relevant books and has an interest in fairy tales. Physical newspapers even play a role in the story. Partly I think this is King trying to emphasise that smaller American towns have changed slowly — I’ll take his word for it because my only experience of small American towns is via fantasy-horror. Less artistically, I suspect it is also a convenience to have a just slightly updated setting.”

I have not read the King book but this is one reason I prefer writing books set in the last century (e.g., 19-Infinity, above): I simply don’t know contemporary popular culture as well as, say, the 1980s. Even if I did, I write slow enough that it would probably change by the time any book of mine came out. Three years from now, will Taylor Swift fans still be calling themselves Swifties? A few years ago I’d have thought nothing about a reference to CBS News doing serious journalism, but now that Bari Weiss is turning it into Pravda?

As Camestros notes, one way around this is to give someone old-fashioned taste — and in today’s world, that’s not implausible. If someone wants to read Bronze Age comic, 1930s pulp horror or listen to old-time radio, it’s easier than ever before. In my previous draft of Impossible Takes a Little Longer, protagonist KC Rogers read a Silver Age Supergirl TPB in her pre-teen days and decided she was the coolest hero ever. It’s easier to find those stories now than it would have been in the last 30 years of the 20th century. In the new draft it’s the early 1980s and KC’s old enough to have read the issue when it was new.

However there’s also a degree of hand-waving in that. In my first draft of Let No Man Put Asunder, my protagonist Paul was a film buff with a particular fondness for the Golden Age of Hollywood. Plausible as I was writing in the 1980s and I knew plenty of college students who’d gotten into old movies. When I started rewriting in the 21st century, it felt more of a strain — pop culture had 30 more years of film under its collective belt and it’s not like Paul saying “the old movies were better” was entirely convincing (as you know if you follow my movie review posts, I watch a lot of more recent stuff).

My current version of the book is set in 1976 so that’s not a problem. Mandy, who so to speak inherited Paul’s passion for movies, is the right age to have grown up with Universal’s horror films in syndication. She caught B-movies on the late show. She also enjoys new films but it’s not implausible she’s seriously into the old films.

I’m not fool enough to argue with Stephen King’s creative choices (except The Stand, which was a terrible, terrible book) but I think I’m happier with mine.

Covers by Kemp Ward (top) and Curt Swan, all rights to images remain with current holders.

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February 24, 2026 · 12:07 pm

Epstein thoughts for Tuesday

Jeffrey Epstein’s circle included lots of scientists and lots of businessmen. And royalty. Some of whom, like Prince Andrew at the third link, are paying a price. As Paul Krugman says, this doesn’t mean they all committed statutory rape. They probably included people seeking money, people who wanted to hang out at a cool party, people who saw networking or business opportunities, people who found Epstein charming and flattering. And some how wanted to have sex with underage teenage girls.

As Anand Giridharadas puts it, “He was not only grooming teenage girls, he was grooming all of these people. This was all grooming, and it was a continuum of grooming from light consensual grooming of bankers all the way to the most depraved and criminal grooming of teenage girls.”

Some of them may not have known how bad Epstein was; some of them actively gave him advice on fixing his reputation. Some of them joked about how much he liked them young. Larry Summers asked for advice on picking up a younger (adult) woman; one correspondent recommended Epstein read Lolita. Others grumbled that young women were honeypots destroying the lives of older men. I find some of that stuff incredibly disgusting. I’m pretty sure that’s not criminal but it’s creepy enough some sortr of sanctions seems appropriate.

Some of the network, as Girirdharadas says, didn’t care: “These people are actually not that serious about character. In fact, character may be a liability for some of them, may be an unnecessary source of friction.” If you know the right people, well, soliciting a minor may seem trivial by comparison. Peter Attia (in the Girirdharadas piece): “At that point in my career, I had little exposure to prominent people, and that level of access was novel to me. Everything about him seemed excessive and exclusive, including the fact that he lived in the largest home in all of Manhattan, owned a Boeing 727 and hosted parties with the most powerful and prominent leaders in business and politics.”

Not everyone’s facing consequences — and to be fair, some of the people in the outer circles probably shouldn’t. Going to a glamorous party hosted by a notorious creep is bad judgment but not necessarily immoral. The further in you get, the worse it looks. The CNN article says lying about your ties to Epstein is currently a big Danger sign. Hanging around Epstein after his statutory rape conviction is another. In some cases it’s simply the fear that having damaged goods as the head of your firm will be very bad for business. In Andrew’s case, he did some insider trading with Epstein (Paul Campos: “Child rape is one thing, but manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate is going a bit too far, apparently.”). And some people knew Epstein but didn’t hang out, or went to one party and decided they’d had enough.

The Toddler of the United States has no interest in facing consequences. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, his solution is to start claiming he’s been completely exonerated. He hasn’t. And the Department of Justice is still hiding files that may say otherwise.

For bonus thoughts, Celeste Davis makes a good case the problem isn’t networking or glamorous parties, it’s patriarchy. Which includes a lot of contempt for women in STEM (” Epstein responded: “It’s the tail of distribution , no really smart women – none.” )

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February 24, 2026 · 5:11 am

Southern Discomfort: getting the voices right

One of the standard rules of thumb for writers is that someone should be able to hear a line of dialogue from your writing stripped of any tags or identifiers and know from the word choice who’s speaking.

That is definitely beyond me and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone pull it off unless they had a small cast. It can easily turn into something simplistic, like giving everyone a distinctive catchphrase or quirk. This can work in small doses. In the Doc Savage novels, we have Renny’s “Holy cow!” declarations and Johnny’s catchphrase, “I’ll be superamalgamated.” both of which work as character tags. On the other hand, the four boys in The Gold Ogre have verbal tics that make them distinctive — I can tell Funny from B. Elmer from Mental — but getting annoying fast.

That said, having at least some variation in voices makes sense. An elderly academic should sound different from a young homicide cop. A nerd who’s into anime might have different metaphors than a football buff.

In Southern Discomfort, I worked to give Olwen McAlister, an elf well over a thousand years old, her own voice. Not the archaic dialog of Marvel comics’ Silver Age Thor but something that didn’t sound conventional either. For example: “You are both welcome to dine on whatever tongue or stomach crave, at my expense.” Or when she’s sharing her plans for dealing with Gwalchmai: “Rest assured I am far more dangerous than he. Only one of us will live to see tomorrow’s dawn.”

That sounds just enough ‘off’ to work, I think. By contrast, Maria, contemplating the possibility there’s a cop on her tail: “I’d ruled out the old fart in the window seat next to me. While I drew on my Winston and brooded, he’d fallen asleep with his Pall Mall smoldering between arthritis-gnarled fingers. Like I was still a nurse, I carefully extracted the cig and set it in the ashtray on the seat arm. Then I returned to worrying about the rest of the bus.”

(The book’s cover by Sam Collins, short a little more polishing)

Maria’s from Brooklyn. Sheriff Slattery’s a Pharisee Georgia boy and he sounds (I think) a lot more Southern: “Doesn’t matter. I swore an oath to protect and serve the people here, like my daddy and my granddaddy, and I gotta live up to that. If that means asking for help—well, I don’t think police work is any business for girls—”

FBI Special Agent Rachel Cohen is a cooler customer. One of the first female agents, she’s conscious if she fails, every woman in the FBI fails. She’s Southern, tough, and frequently forgets to put her iron fist in a velvet glove. When she needs to stay controlled, she does. When arguing with Liz Mitchell about the FBI’s ugly anti-civil rights history: “I won’t make excuses for Mr. Hoover. His actions were illegal, unjust, and at times monstrous. You have every right to be angry. As much as Hoover betrayed the FBI’s principles, those principles are sound. That’s why I joined.” Mitchell’s glare stayed icy. “I want to see justice done for Cannon, Smith and McAlister. I also know the Klan and their ilk hate Jews as well as blacks. We have common adversaries.”

While I think most of my key players are distinctive individuals, not everyone has a distinctive voice — I don’t believe Liz does, nor Father Michael. Still, now that I’m writing about it, I’m quite impressed with myself.

Doc Savage cover by James Bama. All rights to images remain with current holders.

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February 23, 2026 · 5:16 am

Vaclav Havel vs. toxic masculinity

In his essay The Power of the Powerless, the Czech dissident Vaclav Havel argues persuasively that dictatorships fear dissent and dissidents because modern dictatorships claim their politics (fascism, communism, white supremacy) are the Truth and the truth empowers them. To openly express different views, to imply the government doesn’t have a monopoly on the truth, sounds to the tyrant like an attack on their authority

An excellent Dr. Nerdlove post on toxic masculinity argues the same attitude shapes some men’s intolerance for nonconforming guys: their definition of masculinity “only can work as the “standard” as long as everyone agrees to play by the same rules. People who diverge from its dictates threaten to undermine the “truth” in “biotruth”. Trans people challenge the idea that being a man is inherent in one’s genitalia or having a Y chromosome. Feminine acting or presenting gay men challenge male sexual roles. Passive, submissive or emotionally expressive men put paid to the idea that men must be aggressive and stoic. And because they challenge the status-quo, they must be forced back into compliance, whether through mockery and derision or through outright violence.”

As I’ve mentioned before, when men such as J.D. Vance whine that feminists won’t let men be men (which is not true unless you mean “feminists object to having a 1950s male-dominant hierarchy”), they ignore that men are heavily invested in policing male behavior. “Let men be men” refers to a specific type of male stereotype — a guy who chases women, likes scotch and cigars, watches sports, plays sports, etc. (as far as I know, nobody’s stopping guys from doing any of that). It doesn’t extend to letting guys who prefer theater, opera, biochemistry or herbal tea be men in their own way (to say nothing of guys who are gay, asexual, trans, etc.). Those guys undercut the idea manhood is a narrow path and all Real Men are on it. As Nerdlove says, the alternatives have to be dismissed — white knighting, beta male, etc. Similarly I’ve read What Men Are Like articles that claim any man who says he’s faithful is lying, or any man who doesn’t objectify women is just posing to impress them.

Of course the same is true of men who perform masculinity for other men, to impress their buddies or their community. That’s okay, though because the performance affirms the supposed truth of stereotypical masculinity instead of questioning it. I’ve covered a lot of this stuff but the Nerdlove post is worth reading.

Toxic masculinity is also deeply entwined with rape culture, which is enough of a reason to post this quote about the Steubenville rape case from an old post of mine (the quote is not mine, links in the piece): “the guys who made a video laughing about it, the spreading of the images, the unwillingness of anyone to interfere, the congratulations for domineering, abusive behavior. That is why assault happens, not because some girls drink too much. We need to help young people, both men and women, spot predatory behavior for what it is, and to push against it instead of laughing it off.”

In other moments of misogyny:

NYT’s Kellen Browning quotes A-OC as follows:

As noted at the link, nobody quotes the Necrotic Toddler like this — nobody quotes anyone like this. It’s standard journalistic practice to chop out uh, you know, um and other pause-words in speech; it doesn’t change the meaning, it makes it clearer and more readable. Quoting it verbatim is a way to make a highly intelligent woman sound like she’s the one sliding into senility, not the Toddler; it’s a dry run for what to expect if she ever runs for higher office than she has now (if you thought they were bad with Hilary Clinton …)

Lying antifeminists Allie Beth Stuckey and Megan Basham are terribly, terribly upset some Christian women are upset over the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti — where is the compassion for ICE agents?

Another pregnant woman who can’t get an abortion and dies. Lots of women who live get arrested for drug use in pregnancy — based on inaccurate tests. As Jessica Valenti says, “Think about the worst guy you knew in high school. The biggest jerk in class, the most ignorant asshole—the guy who bullied other students or made people miserable.  Now imagine he’s the district attorney in your county who decides what happens to women who have abortions. Or that he’s your police chief. Or your state representative.”

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February 22, 2026 · 5:15 am

It’s another “no reviews, so here’s some book covers” Sunday

I did read a couple of books this week but I’m still exhausted from coping with sick dogs so the reviews will be postponed. Instead, here’s a cover by Ralph Brillhart —

— and two uncredited covers.

And to finish up, here’s an old favorite, Gervasio Gallardo’s cover for The Last Unicorn.

All rights to images remain with current holders.

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February 21, 2026 · 5:18 am

The wandering shadow of Valentine’s Day: movies

LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS (1970) is a favorite rom-com of mine that I always think of watching on Valentine’s Day, but usually too late to actually do it. This year, I made it.

This is based on a stage play collecting several different one-scene skits. Here, however, they’re woven into a coherent hole as everyone’s related to everyone else, all gathered together for the wedding of Mike and Susan (Michael Brandon, Bonnie Bedelia). Her father (Gig Young, excellent in the role) is cheating on her mom (Cloris Leachman) with Susan’s aunt (Anne Jackson); her sister Wilma (Anne Meara) is getting sexually frustrated with her husband (Harry Guardino); Michael’s brother Richie (Joseph Hindy) is divorcing his wife Joan (Diane Keaton) and their parents (Richard Castellano, Bea Arthur) can’t understand it — so the marriage didn’t work out, you can’t end it just like that!!

The film shows it’s age in some ways. It’s an era when no-fault divorce was new (and divorce itself was still a touchy subject — though America has always been a divorce nation) and living together was a sin; when TYG and watched it a decade ago, she didn’t pick up that Mike’s male roommate was a lie he’d made up to hide that Susan was his roommate.

The emotional core, however, holds up well. Young’s slick dodging over commitment. Castellano and Arthur expressing their sad view of marriage. Michael listening to their stories about other bad marriages who didn’t divorce and finally exploding (“I don’t want someone telling a horrible story about us that ends with ‘but they’re still together.”). Overall it’s a charmer. “If you let ten years of love end in a bathroom, I’ll lose all respect for myself.”

Returning to that Christmas gift collection of Fritz Lang films — THE WANDERING SHADOW (1920) has a woman fleeing into the mountains to escape a vengeful pursuer. We eventually learn this is the outcome of an insanely melodramatic backstory involving free love, a fake marriage, an inheritance and more. Overwrought though it is, it looks and watches way better than Harakiri (reviewed at the link), whether that’s Lang learning on the job or just being more at home with German material. “For your support and assistance I am eternally in your debt, but I must carry my cross alone.”

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