The Terminator

A cybernetic killing machine-relentless, ruthless, unemotional and programmed to eliminate humans.

From Warner Bros./Discovery comes the MGM classic, cyborg-killer movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the the T-800 cyborg with a deadly mission: to kill Sarah Conner, the future mother of John Connor who would lead the rebellion against the Terminators and shut down the world-wide threat of the sentient Skynet computer system.

Director James Cameron gained a name for himself with The Terminator movie and it catapulted Arnold to super-star status.

Both Arnold and Cameron redefined what a science fiction/horror film was all about.

The movie went on to spawn five sequels, a TV series, animated features, video games and an entire merchandising empire.

While many of the visual special effects are a little dated by today’s standards the movie still stands up today with its frantic pace, strong characters, well-developed script, stellar direction and acting and haunting soundtrack.

Who can forget Arnold’s icy stare as The Terminator, his massive presence and menacing power? Linda Hamilton as Sarah Conner starts out as a typical weak and helpless female and evolves into one of the Silver Screen’s most powerful female characters and the climatic screen between Sarah and The Terminator still sends chills running up my spin.

Relive a classic with the 4K Ultra HD/Digital Code The Terminator Collection that also includes special extras such as several featurettes and deleted scenes.

1 Corinthians 16:13 - Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

Zips & Eelog Make A Friend

Zips and Eelog are from the planet Zooglebeep. They’ve been on the earth for a whole week.

They find earthlings very strange but interesting. They do all sorts of things and have the strangeness customs and practice.

One such phenomenon Zips and Eelog have observed is how humans make a friend.

It’s a strange concept. Exactly how do humans make friends?

The alien visitors put their brains together a decide that they will literally make a friend from some objects they have collected. They succeed in making a human looking doll.

Using the doll they practice emotions, eating, sleeping and everything else that humans can do. Still, something eludes them until they come to a startling conclusion. What is it?

You’ll have to find out for yourself by reading Leila Boukarim’s and Alex Lopez’s delightful new, small, hardbound book published by Andrews McMeels Publishing called Zips & Eelog Make A Friend.

Easy-to-read text makes it a delightful story to read by kids and the full-color hilarious illustrations make the story come alive.

The two main characters are great comedic duo and offer a unique take on what it means to be human and what friendship is really all about.

Romans 11:6 - And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

Break-Out Escape The Dungeon

I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to playing Dungeons and Dragons or Magic I am at a total loss. How gamers can play such complicated fantasy games and keep all the rules, powers, etc. straight is beyond me.

Give me a game that is simple, fun to play and doesn’t take days to complete. I still want the fantasy element and sense of excitement and danger. Does such a game exist?

Yes it does! Smart Games’ Break-Out EscapeThe Dungeon 3D Game fits the bill.

Game pieces come in a sealed plastic, resealable bag and the heavy plastic game board, along with the challenges book are securely protected in a heavy-gauge paper, flip-lid box with colorful cover.

The one-player, aged 10 years old and up, game includes:

• One game board with gate and door.
• One Hero.
• One Monster.
• One Key.
• One Weapon.
• Two Crystals.
• Two Pillars.
• Two Crates.
• A Challenge Booklet containing 80 challenges and solutions.

Get ready to play:

• 80 Progressive Challenges.
• 80 unique puzzles from five beginner to expert levels.
• Encourages Critical Thinking, Logic, and Strategic Planning.
• Durable & High-Quality Materials.
• Navigate crates, pillars and crystals
• Pick up a weapon and defeat the monster.
• Choose a challenge, roll your way through obstacles then use your key to escape the dungeon.

Now that’s my kind of fantasy game!

Ephesians 4:29 - Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson the Finnish illustrator, cartoonist, author and cultural icon began her professional career in 1940. 

 

Her writings, and illustrations and cartoons (especially her Moomin strip) have captivated and delighted her fans for decades.

In The Illustrators Tove Jansson by Paul Gravett and publisher Thames & Hudson, the beloved lesbian bohemian’s life, career and work are lovingly explored, shown and examined.

Tove Janssen displayed a gift for art at an early age. As she grew older so too did her range of artistic expertise.

Text, aided by examples of her art, demonstrate her versatility.

Cartoon, book and magazine illustrations, paintings in various media all demonstrate how talented she was. Each piece is lovingly crafted, expertly executed and imaginative.

I'd love to have an example of her work for my art collection.

It’s obvious by her art that she possessed a sense of humor, a deep and profound mind and incredible talent.

Art enthusiasts are sure to appreciate and love this book. As a former art teacher I wish I had a copy of it when I taught. It would have proved to be a real inspiration for many of my young, budding artists.

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Quarter Century Bonanza

According to the dictionary the word Bonanza is defined as, ‘A large amount of something desirable.”

And that’s just what you get with Konami’s Shonen Jump Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game Quarter Century Bonanza!

What a great way to celebrate 25 years of YGO!

Are you ready to at it to your YGO collection? Just look at what you get:

• Five Cards per Pack
• One Super Rare in every Pack
• A Guaranteed luxury Secret Rare (Platinum or Quarter Century).
• A 78-Card Set
• Two Sets in one (200-card nostalgia)
• Includes Cards in this pack that have Quarter Century Secret Rare versions:
• Super Polymerization
• Promethean Princess
• Bestower of Flames
• Diabellstar the Black Witch
• Platinum Secret Rares, “Prismatic” 
• Ultimate Rares
• Secret/Ultra/Super Rares!
• 24 Packs per Box

So what are you waiting for? Order/buy yours today. After all, a Bonanza only happens rarely and you don’t want to miss out!

Proverbs 30:5 - Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him

Bender’s Guide To Life

It’s seems a little odd and ironic that a robot would be giving advice about life. And that’s just what’s happening in Futurama Presents Bender’s Guide To Life, by Bender and published by Rizzoli Universe.

This small hardbound book, with a huge illustration of Bender on the front who has some (sage?) advice on how to live your life. 

If you don’t mind taking advice from a foul-mouth, wise-cracking, beer-guzzling mechanical man.

Of course the advice is given from a robot point of view.  Fortunately the other members of the Futurama cast get to give their two-cents worth.  And that's about all it's worth!

Inside colorful drawings of many of the Futurama characters, supporting cast, aliens and robots illustrate the twisty-turny thing we humans call life.

Look for advice about useful skills, popularity, quizzes, attitudes, proper attire, makeup, manners, birth, family, parenthood, the arts, work, home, human and alien anatomy, aging and much more.

What a fun and funny book, especially when clever text is accompanied by hilarious art. So sit your caboose down, grab a beer and read what a man-about-town robot has to say about the ups and downs of life.

I'm adding this book to my Futurama collection.

Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Science Fiction Voyage To The Edge Of Imagination

Science fiction-I’ve loved it ever since I was little kid.

My first encounter with science fiction was in the pages of the Tom Swift books.

Soon I graduated to Jules Verne and H.G. Wells with such tales as Journey To The Center Of The Earth and The Time Machine.

Before long I frequented movie theaters to watch a plethora of ‘B’ science fiction films, gravitated toward TV with shows like Star Trek and Lost In Space and read novels and stories by Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison and Harry Harrison.

But my sci-fi addition didn’t stop there. As I matured so did my taste in films, TV shows, movies, magazines, comic books and more.

I still love a good sci-fi film, show, book or periodical.

In Thames & Hudson’s’ Science Museum’ Science Fiction Voyage To The Edge Of Imagination oversize, hardbound book, edited by Glyn Morgan, many facets of the genre are examined.

Sci-fi coincides with real life in examinations of cyborgs, alien encounters, nuclear apocalypses, climate change and other sci-fi themes and speculations.

I love this book! It is so jam-packed with facts, photos and art that I can barely pack it all into my brain. So much science fiction has become science fact.

Travel the cosmos, discover how to communicate with aliens and experience the hopes and anxieties mankind experiences when confronting the future.

It’s so much more than a gallery of fantasy. It is a fact-filled book on not only the history of science fiction but of science, world history and so much more.

I guarantee once you read this book your brain will practically explode with all the information gleaned from it.

Several well-known authors offer their perspectives. Who would have ever thought that fantasy would become fact and we have the privilege of seeing so much of past speculations becoming true?

Psalms 126:5 - They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

First Men In the Moon

Victorians land on the moon during the 19th Century.  An eccentric scientist invents an anti-gravity formula called corbonite that he uses to coat his bathysphere spaceship to travel to the moon.

With the help of a neighbor who is a writer and his girlfriend the trio find themselves rocketing toward the moon in the makeshift spacecraft.

Landing (more like a controlled crash) the trio of humans setout to explore the Moon.  With only two spacesuits available the men venture outside while the woman stays inside the homemade space capsule.

The men discover a huge geometric dome and signs of life.  They decide to explore.

I don’t know about you but I love science fiction films from the 1960s and H.G. Wells’ First Men In The Moon is one of the best.

With its stellar cast, clever Victorian sets and costumes, exciting soundtrack and clever script combined with its visual and practical effects it is a classic film.

The twist ending is a real showstopper and the drama, action and comedy all combine to make a great film.

The movie can be found on DVD from Columbia Pictures and includes lots of cool extras such as trailers, featurettes, a photo gallery and more.

John 16:33 - These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Curtis Aerocar 1928-1940

A car trailer designed by an aviation pioneer? It’s a fact.

Glenn H. Curtiss designed the Aerocar originally for his own personal use. The recreational trailer was designed for efficiency, comfort, safety and held up on long-distance trips.

So popular was Curtiss’s design that the Aerocar soon became a very successful commercial product much revered and loved by those who purchased it from 1928 to 1940.

The Aerocar gained even more popularity after Curtiss’s death.

Author Andrew Woodmansey and Schiffer Books present the history of the Aerocar in their deluxe hardbound book: Curtis Aerocar 1928-1940, filled with archival photos, some never seen before.

The history of the Aerocar is laid out with fascinating and historical text.

As with all commercial products the Aerocar changed, modified and came in a variety of styles. Improvements, upgrades and added accessories also came about.

However, this book is not just about Aerocars, it also contains some other very interesting and captivating information.

Beginning with Curtiss’s other inventions, both aeronautic and transportation the book delves into trailers, automobiles, commercial vehicles, collaborations between Curtiss and Henry Ford, business ventures and the various locations and countries Curtiss frequented, visited or had businesses in.

Then, and only then, does the book expound on the Aerocar and its many manifestations.

Full exterior and interior photographs are included along with lists and closeups of the facilities, comfort designs, accessories and more.

So many photos! There is even a section on Aerocars that have been restored and used today as seen in color photos.

The book is an engrossing, comprehensive and exhaustive examination and historical study of one of the most innovative and imaginative inventors in the 20^th Century.

James 4:6 - But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Curb Your Enthusiasm The Complete Series

There are TV show and then there are TV SHOWS! Curb Your Enthusiasm in one such TV SHOW.

Imagine a television series based on the life of its creator and his misadventures throughout his life. Sounds implausible and odd. It is, but it’s so much more.

All of us can relate to the absurdity, quirks, oddball encounters, ridiculous situations, frustrating events and the bizarre individuals we often encounter in life.

Who hasn’t been frustrated with store purchases gone wrong, misunderstandings, absurd confrontations and the events that day-to-day life can throw at you that result in a catastrophic events?

If you’re human, if your life takes unexpected turns and if existence is a conglomeration of moments of bliss and catastrophe then be sure to pick up the Curb Your Enthusiasm The Complete Series DVD Collection from Warner Bros./Discovery/HBO starring Larry David and his cast of friends, fellow actors and special guest stars.

The Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning show’s complete 12 seasons consisting of 120 episodes also includes interviews, a favorite episode commentary, the final scene, a gag reel and much more.

James 4:6 - But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

 

Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga - Captain America: The Winter Soldier: The Art of the Movie

Marvel Studios has put out some spectacular superhero movies. Most have been very good-there were a couple of stinkers. But all-in-all Marvel Studios has been hitting home runs-so say the fans.

Of all the Marvel Studios movies I have to say that the Captain America trilogy starring Steve Rogers as Captain America have been my favorites.

The first movie faithfully portrayed the origin of Captain America and his rebirth.

In the second film: The Winter Soldier, movie goers got to see more of Steve Rogers the man as he must learn to fit into a world 70 years in his future, deal with an American government and society that has drastically changed, the rebirth of Hydra that was created by the Red Skull during WWII and the return of his friend Bucky Barnes, whom he thought he lost during the war.

When Bucky supposedly plunged to his death, neither Captain America or the U.S. government knew that the Russians retrieved his broken body (including the loss of one of his arms) and brainwashed him and augmented his strength making him the perfect assassin: The Winter Soldier.

In the film Hydra has reveled itself as having taken over S.H.I.E.L.D. and its plan of ‘eliminating’ anyone who would interfere with its world domination.

Their plan is discovered and Captain America sets out to stop them-coming face-to-face with The Winter Soldier.

It’s a great film, a killer script, contains great action scenes and stars an excellent cast.

In Titan Books’ Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga - Captain America: The Winter Soldier: The Art of the Movie, written by Marie Javins, with a foreword by Anthony & Joe Russo (the directors), an afterword by Ryan Meinerding and book design by Jeff Powell, the movie is examined from concept to final production.

The oversize, hardbound book with its spot-varnish full-color dust cover featuring Captain America battling The Winter Soldier is just a warm-up of what’s inside.

Chapters are broken down into sections spotlighting characters, the story-line, physical and digital effects and much more.

Learn all about Captain America in the modern age, discover The Winter’s Soldier’s creation and powers, follow Cap as he and his team take out a Hydra stronghold, and check out Cap’s new high-tech costume.

Beautiful full-color paintings, sketches and photos fill the pages printed on dull-coat paper stock.

Spotlights are on the Black Widow, her weapons as well as other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, storyboards of key battles are provided, reminisce with Cap as he looks back on his war years and long gone comrades and you’ll marvel at the incredible sets and locations developed for the film.

Aircraft, vehicles and equipment are also given their due as well as Nick Fury and his car, Steve’s apartment, Cap’s escape and recruitment of Black Widow and the Falcon and the return of an old foe. Witness the final battle between Cap and The Winter Soldier, the Falcon’s amazing flying apparatus and the downfall of Hydra.

It’s well-designed, assembled and well-researched book that brings the film to life on every page.

John 16:33 - These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

 

Diamond Previews, November 2024

 

Psalms 34:4 - I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Folk Tales From Norway

Imagine deep gorges filled with deep clear lakes, majestic snow covered mountains, a jagged and ragged landscape that reflects the rugged people who populate Norway.

Stoic, strong yet gentle and kind the people of Norway have a knack for thriving in the most extreme conditions.

In Vol. 1 Folk Tale World Series Folk Tales From Norway by author F.T. Weaver and published by West Agora Int., six Scandinavian legends of adventure, bravery and mythical creatures are presented.

Norway, the land of the Norse gods. Growing up Marvel Comics’ Thor, The Thunder God, was one of my favorite comic books.

It was only when I was in my early teens that I discovered that Thor, Odin, Loki and the other Norse gods were not fictional comic book heroes but were actually based on the legends of the Norse gods and their home, Asgard.

Delve into the many mystical legends of the people of the north with stories of valor, bravery and cunning.

Travel snow-covered, fjords and valleys and mountains and discover their ancient secrets. Meet the many magical beings of Norwegian legend and thrill to their tales of good versus evil, magic and travel the line between reality and dreams.

Norway has one of the most fascinating mythologies of any nation or people.

Psalms 31:24 - Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.