Best things on streaming HULU this month : Donald Glover’s ATLANTA leads the pack

It took me a while to get aboard the ATLANTA hype train, but catching the whole 1st season of the series courtesy of HULU, it lives up to the hype,

The multi-talanted Donald Glover crafting an ethnic focused drama, with echoes of Twin Peaks (the first interesting season, not the 2nd horrendously boring 2nd season of twin Peaks) mixed with a wonderful filmic vibe of WHAT’S HAPPENING meets HAPPY DAYS meets MENANCE TO SOCIETY.

I binged the entire ten episode 1st season, and look forward to season 2 breaking on HULU or Blu-ray/DVD.

Other recommends or items of interest this week from the VOD/Streaming service are:

GAME SHOWS or LIFESTYLE PROGRAMMING (I’m not a fan of the term Reality TV)

• CHOPPED
• BEAT BOBBY FLAY
• IRON CHEF
• HOUSE HUNTERS
• COUNTING CARS
• FORGED IN FIRE
• AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR

DRAMA SHOWS

• THE HANDMAIDS TALE
• LETHAL WEAPON
• TAKEN
• THE CROSSING
• FARGO -Just SEASON 2, Season 1 is okay, Season 3 is pretty unwatchable, Season 2 is great.
• POWER
• STAN AGAINST EVIL – Horror/Comedy/Drama…. it is great’
• THE ORVILLE
• THE STRAIN
• SPOOKS
• THE MUSKETEERS- These two BBC shows, SPOOKS and THE MUSKETEERS are two of my favorite shows of all time. I’m buying the BLU-RAY of both against the day they get pulled from streaming. Or one of the actors in the future gets villified and they call for all the shows to be burned/removed. That’s right mofos I still have all my ISPY, FAT ALBERT and COSBY shows. As well as the Grammy winning albums. So sit on it and spin. 🙂 (I really don’t know what that means. 🙂 ) And if you don’t know what I’m referring to, go check out my earlier post.

CARTOONS

• TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

 

CLASSIC SHOWS

• THE BIG VALLEY
• THE SAINT
• THE ROCKFORD FILES

MOVIES

• AMERICAN GANSTER
• ROCKY V – A lot of people hate on this fifth entry in the series starring real life Boxer Tommy Morrison (who gives a really good performance), but I love this movie, and its generational overtones. It is a nice, at the time, capper to the series. Rating the movies I would have to go the first two ROCKY films, CREED, than my next favorite one by far, is this film. ROCKY V. ‘I didn’t hear no bell, Tommy. I didn’t hear no bell.’  I Love this movie.
• AWAKEN THE SHADOWMAN
• RYDE
• STARSHIP TROOPERS: TRAITORS OF MARS
• COLOSSAL
• 78/52:HITCHCOCK ‘S SHOWER SCENE
• THE HANGMAN

Still waiting on Season 2 of LEGION and RUNAWAYS to drop on HULU.

That’s it for this installment.  Come  back for more, or feel free to suggest a VOD channel you want me to do an installement on. Till then be well, be kind, and don’t let big media decide your Gods or your Demons.

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Today’s Comic Book and Book Recommendation of the Day! BLACK COMIX RETURNS

I’ve already said that THE SIGNATURE ART OF BRIAN STELFREEZE by Boom Studios was my favorite art book of 2017. Just a stunning, masterpiece of a tome in terms of content and book design.

Today I received an early contender for best Artbook of 2018, from LION FORGE and THE MAGNETIC COLLECTION I received Damian Duffy and John Jennings BLACK COMIX RETURNS.

I didn’t know much about this book going into it, except it was edited by the prolific John Jennings, and after seeing this creator interviewed on Youtube,I was on a mission to pick up his work. BLACK COMIX RETURNS is a ten year old followup to the sold out first volume (which iI delayed picking up, and is now out of print, and the copies that are availabl;e are selling for 3 figures).

I was eager to get this volume, and finally received today, it is stunning. I didn’t know what to expect, what I got was a curated overview of the creators who are putting out some great and very individual works. Similar to David Roach’s MASTERS OF SPANISH COMIC BOOK ART, but where that is a look back, BLACK COMIX RETURNS is a look at creators who are currently redefining the medium, one passion project at a time.

Get any of the books recommended in this post at the links below:

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Also this book, like that aforementioned Brian Stelfreeze artbook, is simply massive and gorgeous. A lot of collectors today concentrate on variants and rarity, I like to call it manufactured rarity, and I tend to not have a use for it. I remember the bubble of the 90s, and much of that had to do with variants and speculation of value, the illusion of scarcity and value, and when the music stopped people had paid lots of money for books that no one wanted, and were now worthless.

BLACK COMIX RETURNS should firstly be bought because it is a fantastic and informative and  stellar addition to anyone’s library (showcasing fantastic artists such as Paris Alleyne, Gregory Anderson Elysee, Dawud Anyabwile, Eric Battle, to name a few) , however it should also be bought because it is a map to true, underground, and often scare and underseen comics and their diverse and talented creators.

And as the first BLACK COMIX shows it should thirdly be bought because quality hardcover artbooks,  particularly regarding populations of color, tend to go out of print, and become in themselves… rsrities.

For all these reasons BLACK COMIX RETURNS is my book of the day!

https://amzn.to/2uwPlFq

 

Currently Watching : POWER Season One on HULU!

POWER The acclaimed Curtis ’50 CENT’ Jackson produced STARZ series finally makes itself available on HULU, and man was it well worth the wait. Showrunner/Creator Courtney Kemp Agboh’s POWER is the very definition of binge worthy television.

From opening credits to final fade to black, the show is FANTASTIC!! Omari Hardwick helms a powerhouse cast, in an exquistely photographed, compulsively paced stunner of a show.

Currently Watching : Richard Linklater’s BEFORE SUNRISE

‘The Answer must be in the attempt.’

I had no desire to see this film, but finally watched, it is quite a lovely film. Covering one day, one chance encounter between two people. There is something very relateable and universal about meeting someone in passing, and bridging that gap between is there or isn’t there something there.

It’s a wonderful film about those fleeting glances we have all had, followed and acted upon, and leading to something by chance begun. Here that unlikely and awkward and magical and inept circumstance of burgeoning love is told against the backdrop of one of the most beautiful of cities, Vienna, immortalized by Carol Reed’s and Orson Welles’ THIRD MAN.

It’s a wonderful way to pass an hour and a half. Watching a film about the moments that live… because of the attempt.

 

“I believe if there’s any kind of God it wouldn’t be in any of us, not you or me but just this little space in between. If there’s any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone, sharing something. I know, it’s almost impossible to succeed but who cares really? The answer must be in the attempt.” — Celine in BEFORE SUNRISE

 

The 20 Best HORROR Movies on Amazon Prime for May 2017!

Before May rolls out and June rolls in, make sure to catch (if you haven’t already)these 20 great Amazon Prime HORROR flicks.

These movies are not available on Netflix.  And they all come with trailers, again unlike Netflix, so Amazon makes it easy to ‘try before you buy’ so to speak. A trailer is an easy indicator if you really want to spend any more time watching the full movie.

The following movies are worth the time:

 

Best BATMAN BLACK PANTHER WONDER WOMAN Statues Collectibles! Make Great Gifts!

 

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MUST LISTEN Audio Books for BLACK HISTORY Month and every other month! :) Part 1 of 2

I first became familiar with these two novels, both by master writers, as novels proper. And both blew my mind in ways both stunning and lasting. Later I listened to the Audio Books. Audio Books, if you get the right reader, for the right work, can be rewarding experiences, even to lovers of the novel.

I love me some Walter Moseley EASY RAWLINS mysteries, I’ve read just about everyone of them, and I have to tell you the pairing of Moseley’s iconic words with a formidable actor such as Michael Boatman, is to have those works enriched, and nuances discovered that may have been skimmed over by even the most loving reader.

A great Adaptation, a great marriage of words and performance can do that, can alchemize into something more than the sum of its parts. Something magical. And an audio book avoids the constraints of time and budget and indeed visuals, that a film or TV show runs into. An audio book has the biggest theater of the world, and the biggest budget, in which to breathe life into the writers words,… the theater of the mind.

So Audio Books when they get that mixture right, become part of a sacred line of story and storytelling, going back to the cradle of not just Black History, but all history.

 

This 2 part post, honors two of the best, that should be loved and listened to and cherished by everyone.

They are:

Charles Johnson’s seminal and National Book Award winning novel, MIDDLE PASSAGE. It is an American epic, a rousing seafaring saga, blisteringly funny at times, deeply harrowing at others, both poetic, prosaic, and magical all at the same time. As someone who has read Melville, and Dickens, and Hemingway, and Crane and Poe and Bradbury and King and Baldwin, all the quintessential American masters, this is the novel I would save when everything else is burning.

 

 

I give the hardcover out as presents. I consider it, in an imperfect world, an arrow toward a more perfect union. So having it on a pedestal that high the audio book has to bring it. It was made into an audio book twice, the first was an abridged and hence flawed cassette version, but read by the author himself, I quite liked it. He brought something… wonderful to it.

The 2nd time was on CD, unabridged thankfully. The performer Dion Graham, gives a different performance than Charles Johnson, that I slowly warmed to. And as the story drew you deeper so did his voice. It’s a wonderful way to be introduced to this great novel.

I would say both audio book versions are indispensable. Start with the unabridged CD version, and then follow up by listening to the Abridged version. And have a copy of the paperback or hardcover, to read over especially loved passages.

In an America where folly holds sway, the words of men who both remember history and learn from it, is of the highest value.

Check them out at the links below:

Middle Passage Cassette Audio Book read by the Author!

Middle Passage Audio CD Unabridged!

By Charles Richard Johnson Middle Passage (Reprint) [Mass Market Paperback]

 

If you like this blog please support it by using the links above and by leaving comments! And come back for the 2nd part where we discuss the 2nd, must own, Black History Month (and other months) Audio book!