This is funny if you are used to the Vox "X Winners and Y Losers" articles.

It's Michael Dukakis' 90th birthday today! His was the first presidential campaign I ever worked on. Although I was originally supporting Joe Biden.

LOL! Seriously, because I'm a big fan of the Roger Corman Poe series. But you are right! It is silly! Although I am quite serious about death not being anything close to the worst thing we humans face.

https://psychotronicreview.com/films/roger-corman-poe/

I just searched for "What to do if you are buried alive in a coffin?" People have a lot of advice! My advice: relax; try to sleep; you're screwed but death is nowhere close to the worse thing that could happen to you. Spend the rest of your life thinking, "At least I'm not on fire!"

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year-old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." -John Rogers

Sidney Powell Sings Her Greatest Hits!

"No More Special Privileges for Social Media Giants: Reform Section 230" by Dean Baker, the only economist you should read.

https://themessenger.com/opinion/no-special-privileges-social-media-reform-section-230-defamation-internet

Legendary Iranian filmmaker Daryush Mehrjui and his wife (writer Vahideh Mohammadifar) were murdered in their home today.

https://cafehdanesh.com/en/the-murder-of-daryush-mehrjui-and-his-wife/

My cousin got this shot of the eclipse this foggy morning in northern California.

Piper Laurie has died at 91. Sad to say, I will most remember her in The Faculty (1998). She was certainly great in other things, of course. Carrie (1976) certainly comes to mind.

Brief interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn2hiHvUblI

Tomorrow, I will find nice things to say about it. But now... Once the horror starts, it's one cliche after another. And the denouement is ridiculous and way too long. It's pretty much impossible to make an exorcism film that is good. The only great one I can think of is The Exorcist III and it barely has an exorcism in it. But really, this film, like so many these days, is horror for people who don't really like horror. But I *will* find nice things to say about it. Later.

I'm having a hard time enjoying The Pope's Exorcist because it claims to be based on real events. Such nonsense just makes me critical of it. But it's lovely to see Franco Nero. And Russell Crowe is his usual charismatic self.

Capsule Review: The Haunted Mansion (2003)

I didn't realize there was an earlier film. It's a fun romp. I think the new one is better but they would work well together as a double feature given the plots of completely different.

https://psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/h/#haunted-mansion-2003

Capsule review: Haunted Mansion (2023)

"A mother and son flee from a haunted house but the ghosts just follow them. So they settle back into it and reach out to experts to help them: a priest, astrophysicist, psychic, and historian. Slowly, they figure out what is going on and how to defeat the evil that lives within."

Not starring Eddie Murphy!

https://psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/h/#haunted-mansion

Capsule review of The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942)

This is a low-energy farce. It’s pretty much a single-location shoot and not much was spent on the production. But it features an excellent cast who work very hard to get as much out of this material as is possible. And Karloff and Lorre together are constantly fun.

https://psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/b/#boogie-man-will-get-you

"Blaming Democrats for McCarthy’s Fall Is Bullshit" by Nicholas Grossman

"It's the political version of 'Mom, Dad, bail out my coke dealer, because if you don’t I’ll eventually find another one and they could be worse.' The right response is 'No.'"

https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/blaming-democrats-for-mccarthy-fall-is-bullshit

I saw Haunted Mansion. It was quite good -- occasionally scary, generally funny, and sweet. It's exactly what you would expect from a Disney PG-13 horror comedy. I'm not sure why people complain. Did anyone expect something different? That it would be The Awakening or The Beyond?! It's like watching Remains of the Day and complaining that it was sad.

There is a colorized version of Carvinal of Souls on Prime. Who would want that?! There's a great free B&W print on Archive...

https://archive.org/details/carnival-of-souls-1962_202010

Israel's "Shocking" Intelligence Failure by Ken Klippenstein

"I’m going to let you in on what is perhaps the intelligence world’s best kept secret: they’re not that smart."

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/israels-shocking-intelligence-failure

The voice is clearly Frank Oz but the puppetry is so Jim Henson. I'd never thought before just how much he influenced everyone else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbo1pr7Po7Q