Good morning, gentle readers, and welcome to Thursday, January 25, 2024.
Wow ... can you believe it? Why, it seemed like just yesterday we were starting this all new year, and -- as of today -- we're almost done with its first month, January. Boy oh boy, does time fly whether or not you're having fun, am I right?
Whatever the truth there may be, I've not a whole lot to report this morning. Oh, don't take that to mean that there isn't a grand amount of information deserving of your attention today because nothing could be further from the truth. I do my part to place as much relevant information into those Daily Citation Page as is humanly possible, and -- with also being humble -- I really do think that there's plenty of information up there worth a gander. You can take that to the bank, my friends.
Behind the scenes, I've been working on -- yes, yes, and yes -- a few more reviews to add up onto the MainPage. The flicks have been -- sigh -- only OK, if I'm being perfectly honest. I do get a solid handful of requests for new releases, and they're not always top notch entertainment. Because I tend to be forgiving, I'm perfectly happy reviewing and promoting smaller, independent, and older flicks as I find them more interesting than a lot of mainstream stuff. But I'm kinda/sorta in a rut as January through March tends to be a gruesome time of year wherein not exactly the hottest features get released. It's an interesting portfolio of projects ... but it does occasionally get challenging for me to muster some greater focus. Just bein' honest.
Wow ... can you believe it? Why, it seemed like just yesterday we were starting this all new year, and -- as of today -- we're almost done with its first month, January. Boy oh boy, does time fly whether or not you're having fun, am I right?
Whatever the truth there may be, I've not a whole lot to report this morning. Oh, don't take that to mean that there isn't a grand amount of information deserving of your attention today because nothing could be further from the truth. I do my part to place as much relevant information into those Daily Citation Page as is humanly possible, and -- with also being humble -- I really do think that there's plenty of information up there worth a gander. You can take that to the bank, my friends.
Behind the scenes, I've been working on -- yes, yes, and yes -- a few more reviews to add up onto the MainPage. The flicks have been -- sigh -- only OK, if I'm being perfectly honest. I do get a solid handful of requests for new releases, and they're not always top notch entertainment. Because I tend to be forgiving, I'm perfectly happy reviewing and promoting smaller, independent, and older flicks as I find them more interesting than a lot of mainstream stuff. But I'm kinda/sorta in a rut as January through March tends to be a gruesome time of year wherein not exactly the hottest features get released. It's an interesting portfolio of projects ... but it does occasionally get challenging for me to muster some greater focus. Just bein' honest.
I'm torn here, peeps, so let me share.
I was considering do a full review of Chuck Dixon's "The Siege Of The Black Citadel" for readers. I finished it late last night (couldn't sleep so I was up a few extra hours in the dark); and -- having picked it up after watching the forthcoming Arrow Films' new home video releases of the Schwarzenegger flicks -- I was hungry to continue the experience further. (I had purchased this one last year, but I didn't get around to reading it until now.)
But here's my thing ...
Fans of the Robert E. Howard property, frankly, tend to be a bit vicious in their opinions of follow-ups to the Conan saga. In my experience, they either hate them or they like to pile on anyone who has any opinion other than theirs with respect to these random or errant continuations. (I say this as I encountered nothing but controversy in dealing with them during my years as an Amazon.com Top 1,000 reviewer.) Given that I prefer to avoid a certain type of controversy in this space, I'm less inclined to give this short novel -- really, it's more of a novella with some graphic inserts -- a full once-over.
Second ... well, yeah, as I said above, it's really a bit short. A honest review of it would amount to little more than how well the story was told (which is very good) and whether or not it felt authentic to the wider Conan universe. (Functionally, I thought so, and I say this entirely on my memories of reading them years ago.) There both is and isn't a big climax -- it's kinda/sorta brought to a close not so much my Conan's efforts and more to the band of characters he's involved with -- so readers showing up to see the Cimmerian in the same muscular prowess as the films are bound to be a little underwhelmed.
So ... I'm gonna leave it at that. What I wrote right there services just enough to let you know I found it a middling affair -- good at parts, a bit off in others -- and let's hope that averts the Howard fanatics from releasing the hounds on me, as it were.
I was considering do a full review of Chuck Dixon's "The Siege Of The Black Citadel" for readers. I finished it late last night (couldn't sleep so I was up a few extra hours in the dark); and -- having picked it up after watching the forthcoming Arrow Films' new home video releases of the Schwarzenegger flicks -- I was hungry to continue the experience further. (I had purchased this one last year, but I didn't get around to reading it until now.)
But here's my thing ...
Fans of the Robert E. Howard property, frankly, tend to be a bit vicious in their opinions of follow-ups to the Conan saga. In my experience, they either hate them or they like to pile on anyone who has any opinion other than theirs with respect to these random or errant continuations. (I say this as I encountered nothing but controversy in dealing with them during my years as an Amazon.com Top 1,000 reviewer.) Given that I prefer to avoid a certain type of controversy in this space, I'm less inclined to give this short novel -- really, it's more of a novella with some graphic inserts -- a full once-over.
Second ... well, yeah, as I said above, it's really a bit short. A honest review of it would amount to little more than how well the story was told (which is very good) and whether or not it felt authentic to the wider Conan universe. (Functionally, I thought so, and I say this entirely on my memories of reading them years ago.) There both is and isn't a big climax -- it's kinda/sorta brought to a close not so much my Conan's efforts and more to the band of characters he's involved with -- so readers showing up to see the Cimmerian in the same muscular prowess as the films are bound to be a little underwhelmed.
So ... I'm gonna leave it at that. What I wrote right there services just enough to let you know I found it a middling affair -- good at parts, a bit off in others -- and let's hope that averts the Howard fanatics from releasing the hounds on me, as it were.
A few years back, a very polite fellow reached out and wondered if I -- as the web's self-proclaimed steward of All Things Genre -- had ever put some serious thought into ... ahem ... both tracking and reporting on all of the flicks that had come out in Science Fiction and Fantasy that had more of a pornographic focus.
Now, don't take this the wrong way, peeps.
After swapping a few emails, it became clear that the guy wasn't looking for nudes. (snicker snicker) Apparently, he was interested himself in doing a more extensive article on the subject matter, but he was interested to see if I had gone to any special cataloguing of these films on my own. Clearly, if I had, then it would be of use to him in ways one can only imagine. Eventually, I explained to him that I hadn't -- I Googled the topic and pointed him in the direction of a few longer features that had some listings -- but the idea has always stuck in my mind that having some means to find pictures of particular focus would be of historical value.
Again, stick with me here.
For example, suppose I did a daily feature blog/column called "It's Alive, It's Alive," and this post would detail any and all Frankenstein-related highlights from history centered on thi day. (I dabbled with this some time back -- using Marvel as a centerpoint -- with some posts titled 'All Roads Lead To Marvel.') This kind of specialized focus could be applied to any number of interesting subsets -- i.e. on this day in Star Wars history, on this day in Star Trek history, All Roads Lead To Marvel, etc. -- and I think it might be a way to continue broadening the appeal to all of SciFiHistory.Net.
What does this have to do with ... erm ... porn films in genre?
Well, not all that long back, I started adding a tag to them when I celebrate anniversaries on Twitter (X). When I see them -- and I remember to do it -- I add the hashtag #HeroErectus to the titles. This way, if a user wants to go on Twitter (X) and search #HeroErectus, one can find all the releases I've managed to correct for posterity's sake ... or is that posterior?
On this day in 1978, La fille a la fourrure enjoyed its first release ever.
Now, don't take this the wrong way, peeps.
After swapping a few emails, it became clear that the guy wasn't looking for nudes. (snicker snicker) Apparently, he was interested himself in doing a more extensive article on the subject matter, but he was interested to see if I had gone to any special cataloguing of these films on my own. Clearly, if I had, then it would be of use to him in ways one can only imagine. Eventually, I explained to him that I hadn't -- I Googled the topic and pointed him in the direction of a few longer features that had some listings -- but the idea has always stuck in my mind that having some means to find pictures of particular focus would be of historical value.
Again, stick with me here.
For example, suppose I did a daily feature blog/column called "It's Alive, It's Alive," and this post would detail any and all Frankenstein-related highlights from history centered on thi day. (I dabbled with this some time back -- using Marvel as a centerpoint -- with some posts titled 'All Roads Lead To Marvel.') This kind of specialized focus could be applied to any number of interesting subsets -- i.e. on this day in Star Wars history, on this day in Star Trek history, All Roads Lead To Marvel, etc. -- and I think it might be a way to continue broadening the appeal to all of SciFiHistory.Net.
What does this have to do with ... erm ... porn films in genre?
Well, not all that long back, I started adding a tag to them when I celebrate anniversaries on Twitter (X). When I see them -- and I remember to do it -- I add the hashtag #HeroErectus to the titles. This way, if a user wants to go on Twitter (X) and search #HeroErectus, one can find all the releases I've managed to correct for posterity's sake ... or is that posterior?
On this day in 1978, La fille a la fourrure enjoyed its first release ever.
That's all I have for now, gentle readers, but I'll be toiling away as I always do, trying to widen the scope for those who traffic in this space. It's what brings me joy, and I hope you enjoy the ride.
Here's the link for today's goodies ...
As always, thanks for reading ... thanks for sharing ... thanks for being a fan ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
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