Musical Monday with Phil Collins

We wish the great musician and singer Phil Collins a one-day belated Happy Birthday on this Musical Monday! We hope you'll enjoy this classic song and its great video. Like the best music videos, it's something of a mini-movie--and even moreso than most, with humorous inside references and creative use of celebrity look-alikes, stock footage, and trick photography.

 

I Wish It Would Rain Down (1990)

Starring: Phil Collins, Jeffrey Tambor, and Eric Clapton

Director: Jim Yukich

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Something just came to mind: In some ways, this video encapsulates what goes on at this blog, what with the way it remixes and matches bits and pieces from across the decades while throwing in some commentary and humor.

Bones's Red Velvet and Chocolate Raspberry

It's Sunday, so I am once again telling the world about coffee I've consumed! Today, it's two more flavorful blends from the Bones Coffee Company, one of which they marketed squarely at Valentine's Day (so I'm posting my review early enough in case you want to get goofy and share some flavored coffee with a skeleton mascot with your sweetheart)!

This year, Valentine's Day will be spent renewing our love affair with coffee!

I approached brewing and drinking these blends in the way I do most of the coffees I consume with an toward writing about: I brew it in my trusty drip coffee maker, and then drink it hot, also as it cools to room temperature, and then iced. I drink it black or with Unsweetened Almond Milk, or with sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. Both reviews were also written with 4-oz. sample packs as the source of the coffee.

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: RED VELVET CAKE

The Red Velvet blend is one of Bones Coffee's seasonal/holiday releases that they only produce for a limited period of time each year. This one, they offer around Valentine's Day, and they've got their mascot dressed up like Cupid against a background of hearts to underscore that fact.

The Red Velvet blend is another one that starts with medium-roast Arabica beans, and then the people at Bones at their flavoring magic. My previous experience with their cake-inspired blends has been hit and miss--I enjoyed Birthday Suit but couldn't stand Strawberry Cheesecake--so I went into this one with no idea of what to expect.

The unboiled grounds didn't seem to provide any clue as to what might come; they smelled like coffee. That's, of course, not a bad thing by itself, but I've come to expect some other aroma to be mixed in when I open one of these bags.

As the coffee brewed, there was also no evident aroma other than that of coffee, and this was also the case when I poured the first mugful. Not unsurprising, there was also no detectable flavor other than that of high quality coffee with some from of sweetener added. I couldn't pick out a distinctive flavor, but it was sweeter and smoother than even typical medium- or light-roast coffee. This held true when I tried it hot with Unsweetened Almond Milk. When I tried it with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer, it tasted no different than it would have if I'd added the creamer to Bones' Costa Rican blend, or maybe Seattle Best's House Blend.

Although the Red Velvet blend was unimpressive when hot, its flavor changes as it cools. Once it's luke-warm, the advertised red velvet cake flavor has emerged and it becomes increasingly dominant as the blend cools to room temperature. This is the case no matter which of the two standards I've added to the mix. From luke-warm to room temp, the Red Velvet blend tastes like cake that's been soaked in coffee... and it's a delight the way that flavor gets stronger and stronger.

It might be logical to assume that the cake-like flavor would be exploding all over the place if this blend is consumed cold and over ice. This isn't the case, though. The flavors are more muted (typical of iced coffees, really), but there's also a slightly sour after-taste that is present. I initially thought I hadn't been careful enough in rinsing out the tumbler I use for the iced taste-tests after a somewhat disastrous experiment in creating a cocktail using the Starbucks Iced Blonde Roast and gin and... well, maybe I'll post details about my failure down the line. Meanwhile, the sour aftertaste was not the result of a contaminated mug, but probably from some reaction with the Unsweetened Almond Milk--it wasn't present when I tried the drink iced with sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. One very positive thing about Red Velvet when iced is that the saltiness that emerges in other Bones Coffee blends when had over ice is not present here.

In the end, I think the Red Velvet blend works best after it's had a little time to cool, and then as it continues to cool until room temperature. I recommend it, except as an iced coffee.

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY
In theory, this is one of the more "well, yeah, of course" blends. In theory, a medium-roast with a chocolate raspberry should be an easy slam-dunk for Bones, what it being a flavor that works great with coffee, as well as medium-roast coffee already having a slight chocolaty undertone to it. But will Bones pull it off?

The aroma of raspberry rose powerfully from the bag as soon as I opened it. Past experience has shown that this could be a bad sign. As the coffee brewed, I couldn't there was a distinct air of raspberry in the kitchen, but it wasn't so strong that I could smell it all the way down the hall in my office. Past experience has shown that this could be either a good or bad sign. Clearly, this was a blend I'd have to actually try before any opinions were formed.

When this blend is consumed hot and black, the raspberry flavor is very noticeable, and sweet enough that I could drink this coffee without adding almond milk or creamer. However, the chocolate taste was very subtle, almost undetectable. In fact, it's only slightly more than the ghost of a chocolatey flavor that sometimes seems to just be present naturally in medium-roast coffee.

Once I added sugar free Italian Sweet Cream creamer to my cup, the chocolate really popped and there was a fabulous blend of coffee, chocolate, and raspberry flavors. Drinking a cup with Unsweetened Almond Milk had a similar effect--the chocolate flavor was still very much present, but raspberry and coffee dominated, and it remained a wonderful drinking experience. In fact, I liked it better with the Unsweetened Almond Milk, because the mix is less sweet (which is not something I say very often).

This blend works nicely at room temperature--which is how I end up drinking much of my coffee, because it cools as I get busy and/or distracted and let the mug sit for a while--with the raspberry flavor remaining constantly strong, and the chocolate present as a powerful undertone, no matter what else I mixed in. 

As with the Red Velvet blend, the flavors retreat when it's consumed iced, with only a hint of raspberry remaining to make the coffee seem slightly sweetened. This was the case whether I mixed it with sugar free Italian Sweet Cream creamer or with Unsweetened Almond Milk. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't anything to sing about either.

In the end, I recommend that you drink the Chocolate Raspberry blend hot and with some milk added. It really does seen to be where it works best. Drinking it over ice pretty much negates the flavors.

"Coffee--ah'll never quit yew!"
(Click here if you want to learn how to make cowboy coffee)

Francis and Powell shine in 'Jewel Robbery'

Jewel Robbery (1932)
Starring: Kay Francis, William Powell, Helen Vinson, Spencer Charters, Lee Kohlmar, Clarence Wilson, Hardie Albright, Andre Luguet, and Alan Mowbray
Director: William Dieterle

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

A bored socialite in a loveless marriage (Francis) and a dapper jewel thief (Powell) fall in love with each other when he robs a store while she is shopping at it.

 

"Jewel Robbery" is a fun, straight-forward romantic comedy. In fact, it's so straight-forward that I kept expecting this or that action on behalf of a character to be the prelude of something tragic or sinister... but, with one minor exception, it wasn't. Every character in this film is exactly who and what they appear to be, and the story follows a very simple A to B to C progression from beginning to end.

But that's okay, because Kay Francis and William Powell are so much fun to watch together that you're going to want things to be honest and up-front between them. In fact, I suspect that if I had been watching this movie in 1932, I probably would not have thought Powell's character was up to something other than a) securing his stolen loot, and b) following up on the pretty blatant signals he was getting Francis' character in the jewelry store. 

Of course, it also helps that Francis spends about half the movie in a dress that looks like it'll fall off her at any moment. (Even if she wasn't such a good actress, Francis is worth watching just for how great she looks in the outfits she wears in this movie. Or almost doesn't wear...)

Although this film is dominated by Francis & Powell--they are the stars, they have the most screen-time, and they're really the only characters we care about as the film unfolds--there is literally not a character that doesn't get to have at least one memorable moment in the film. Any performer who has a line either has a memorable, amusing line, or they get to have some other noteworthy moment; even the very minor character of the maid gets to mug at the camera in reaction to a massive bouquet of flowers  that mysteriously appear (as Powell's way of announcing himself to Francis). There is literally not a wasted moment in this picture, nor any element of it that doesn't work or that falls in the least bit flat, and everyone involved gets to shine. If you only watch one Pre-Code romantic comedy, you wouldn't regret making "Jewel Robbery" the one.

So, since I really have nothing negative to say about the picture, why is it only getting a Nine of Ten rating? Well, partly because I'm not sure if my feeling that the film is just a little too straight-forward really is an artifact of the 90 years that have passed since it's release or if this story DID need another complication or two. Also, I was enjoying the interplay between Francis & Powell's characters so much that I really wanted a bit more of a denouement than what we're provided with. Yes--I am aware that such niceties were not a well-established part of cinematic storytelling in the 1930s, but I wasn't really for this movie to end when it did. It's a good ending, but I wanted MORE!

"Jewel Thief" is one of four movies from the Pre-Code era that can be found in the DVD collection "Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 4". It's worth the price almost entirely by itself, so I recommend this set highly.

Yvette Mimieux has passed away

Actress Yvette Mimieux passed away on January 18, 2022, ten days after her 80th birthday. She is perhaps best remembered for her roles in "The Time Machine" (1960), "Where the Boys Are" (1960), "Monkeys Go Home!" (1967), her starring turn in the shortlived detective television series "The Most Deadly Game" (1970 - 1971), "Bell, Book, and Candle" (the 1976 television version), and the criminally underappreciated sci-fi flick "The Black Hole" (1979). Along the way, she also appeared in numerous disaster movies.

Here are some photos in her memory.

Musical Monday with Adele

Earlier this month, Adele released the video for "Oh My God", another single off her latest album. If you're a fan of Adele, I suspect you'll enjoy what's here. Even if you aren't, if you're a regular in these parts, we think you'll enjoy the weirdness of this video!

It's the Mint Invaders from Chocolate Space!

 

They have come to Earth from a faraway world...
Whether they're friend or foe depends on if they've had their morning coffee!

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: MINT INVADERS FROM CHOCOLATE SPACE

This was a flavor I'd put off trying, despite it being one of the offerings that first attracted me to Bones Coffee's flavored offerings, along with Army of Dark Chocolate and White Russian; the movie theme of the packaging appealed to me, but the promise of a mint flavor did not. Like I said in my review of the White Chocolate Peppermint Bark blend, I'm a bit dubious about whether mint-flavored coffee is something I want to put in my mouth.

But, it came time to order another set of 4-oz. sample packs from Bones (to keep this Sunday post series going, as well as to feed my addiction. There have been Bones selections have surprised me in the past with how good they were, so maybe this one would too. Plus, I am starting to run out of flavors to test! (I estimate that Bones Coffee blends will no longer be the common subject of these posts by the time we get to the end April.)

Mint Invaders from Chocolate Space got my hopes up as soon as I opened the bag. The grounds smelled strongly of chocolate, which is always a good thing as far as I'm concerned. There was just the faintest hint of mint, too. The chocolate smell was stronger than I would expect from the flavor the package stated the blend existed to capture--that of mint chocolate chip ice cream--but I have learned with Bones blends that the aroma emanating, or even as the coffee brews, from the package doesn't always match the flavor of the beverage.

In this case, although the unbrewed grounds smelled very strongly of chocolate with just a ghost of mint, the resulting coffee tastes strongly of mint with chocolate showing up as a pleasant aftertaste as you drink it.

When you drink Mint Invaders from Chocolate Space black, the flavor of high-quality medium-roasted coffee flavor mingles nicely with the bite of mint, with the taste of chocolate becoming increasingly evident as you consume it. The "ice cream" aspect of this drink--which would be a certain creaminess--is not really there until... well, until you add something creamy, or milk-like. 

When I added Unsweetened Almond Milk, for example, this blend began to exhibit a little of the creaminess that one associates with ice cream when I drank it. It also seemed to draw out the mint flavor even more. When I tried it with sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer, the drink seemed to become even creamier than these coffees usually become with the creamer added. The mint flavor also seemed more intense.

As the drink cooled, whether black or with almond milk or creamer added, the chocolate flavor moved from aftertaste to being present as an undertone that grew stronger the more of the coffee that is consumed. This is also true when this blend is consumed iced; the colder the drink is, the stronger the chocolate taste. Mint, however, remains dominant. That said... those flavors were all somewhat washed out.

If you like minty coffee, I think you'll like this blend. Personally, when consumed according to the baselines I've set up for these reviews, I preferred Mint Invaders from Chocolate Space with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer added, whether it's hot or at room temperature. It didn't seem to work well iced.

Random cartoon insanity. And Ko-Ko the Clown!

Bed Time (1923)
Starring: Max Fleischer
Director: Dave Fleischer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

The Animator (Fleischer), wanting to get a good night's sleep, tries to stop Ko-Ko from escaping into the real world by stranding him on an animated cartoon top. How will Ko-Ko even the score this time?

The "Out of the Inkwell" series were cartoons that mixed live-action footage and animation, telling crazy stories of an Animator either bullying and abusing characters in a cartoon reality, which he partially created through his pen and ink; or telling stories of characters escaping their cartoon world and entering the ours where they either help or hinder human activities, or set out to get revenge for abuse heaped on them by their creator, the Animator.

"Bed Time" starts out like a typical Out of the Inkwell installment--with the Animator taking a someone inexplicable hostile attitude toward the character he brings to life--but it quickly veers into surreal and crazy territory that's beyond even what one can expect from the series. The sequence where an angry Ko-Ko is out to get his revenge on the Animator is fabulous and waaaay over the top!

I'm not going to go into detail about what happens in the roughly nine minutes of unbridled weirdness that is "Bed Time", because this is one of those things that needs to be experienced without too much foreknowledge of what's to come. I will mention, though, that it gets a little too repetitious at times, and it was bad enough that I kept it at a rating of Seven instead of the Eight Stars I was on the verge of giving it. Plus, if you're like me, you may have the feeling that the entire situation in this cartoon could have been avoided if the Animator had taken a different, far easier and straight-forward way to keeping Ko-Ko in check--and be midly irritated by it. However, if you stick with this fun little film until the end, it wraps up in a way that makes those actions seem acceptable.

Take a few minutes and brighten your day with some Ko-Ko driven craziness. The version embedded below is taken from Craig Davison's YouTube Channel, and, if I understand his notes correctly, the sound-effects were added by him. You should swing by and check out his many excellent offerings.

It's what we're about...

Musical Monday with Eartha Kitt

Singer/dancer/actress/national treasure Eartha Kitt was born on this day 95 years ago. We celebrate her with some pictures and a really fun musical performance!

Going Nuts with Bones Coffee

Today we're covering not one, not two, but three flavored blends from Bones Coffee!

The coffees reviewed in his post were all "taste-tested" under the same circumstances: They were made in a drip coffeemaker and tried without hot straight from the pot, at room temperature, and cold and over ice. Each blend was also tried with Unsweetened Almond Milk and sugar free Italian Sweet Cream creamer., hot, room temperature, and iced.

All the blends reviewed in this post are medium roasts, and they came to me via Bones' 4-oz. sample packs which each yield between 12-16 cups of coffee (depending on how carefully I measure when I pour the grounds in the basket).

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: MACAMANIAC

The very first impression I had of Macamaniac is that the package features another one of those fun cartoons of the company mascot. Here, our favorite living skeleton is in Hawaii, driving away from an erupting volcano with a carload of macadamia nuts while sipping a drink from a tiny umbrella-festooned coconut half-shell. Once again, the sense of fun in the package art made me feel contented to have given Bones my money even before I got a taste of coffee it was selling.

When I opened the package and as the coffee brewed, I thought I could smell macadamia nuts. That same aroma was strong from the pot and rose from the cup as the coffee is poured. However, as I drank the beverage, all I tasted was coffee with a slight hint of something sweet. That flavor could have been coconut or it could have been macadamia nut (the two flavors that Bones claims are in this blend), but it really was too faint to tell. I am leaning in the direction of the flavor being more like coconut than anything else, but I might just be tasting that because I was expecting something along that line. Basically, this coffee tastes like coffee that's had a bit of sugar or creamer added--but otherwise, it just tastes like a solid, high quality medium roast.

Whether I drank Macamaniac hot, cooled to room temperature, or iced, it had a solid, well-rounded coffee flavor--Bones Coffee knows how to make those Brazilian Arabica beans dance in your mouth!--with a slight saltiness appearing along side the sweet when the coffee was iced. But, the overwhelming flavor remained that of straight coffee.

Sometimes, if I add almond milk or creamer to a Bones blend, it brings out the flavors. In the case, it didn't. It just made the blend taste like coffee to which I'd added almond milk or creamer. That's generally not a bad thing, but I feel like a flavored coffee should have a bit more flavor than Macamaniac has.

If you like your coffee black with perhaps a little sweetener added, this is a blend that you will enjoy. If you're looking for something that will dazzle you with the taste of macadamia nuts mixed with coffee, you need to look elsewhere. 


BONES COFFEE COMPANY: MUSTACHIO

This blend was presented as tasting like pistachios, as its punny title might make obvious to you readers out there.  But does it? The answer is yes, but it morphs depending on how you consume it, with the pistachio flavor coming and going.

When I opened the package, I could indeed smell pistachios, which was promising; the aroma was faint, but it was there. The aroma was a bit stronger when it brewed--not to the point where I could smell it down the hall in my office as is the case with some Bones blends, but it was there when I stood next to the coffee-maker and as I poured the coffee into a cup.

Curiously, when I drank the coffee hot and without any added almond milk or creamer, the pistachio flavor was so subtle that is was almost undetectable. While some the flavor in some of the Bones blends get stronger in your mouth the more of the coffee you drink, that did not happen with Mustachio. Adding sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream didn't make the pistachio flavor any stronger--it just became mixed with the milky flavor. (That said, the pistachio flavor didn't get any weaker, so I suppose that could be read as it becoming stronger; it seemed to remain constant.)

When I drank this blend iced, the pistachio flavor was similarly present, but only as an undertone and not really recognizable as pistachio; it seemed even fainter, whether I drank the coffee straight or with almond milk or creamer added. It wasn't bad--it was like drinking a very nice medium roast coffee with a something slightly sweet added.

One thing that was absolutely fascinating about this blend is what happened when it cooled to room temperature. As I've said in previous coffee-centric posts, it takes me a while to finish a cup of coffee because my life a series of interruptions or distractions. Generally speaking, by the time I finish a cup or mug of coffee, it had gradually cooled to room temperature. In the case of the Mustachio blend, however, this revealed that as this blend cools, the pistachio flavor grows stronger. At room temperature, without anything added, the pistachio flavor was strong and very tasty. Adding a dash of Unsweetened Almond Milk blunted the coffee taste a bit, but the pistachio was still there.

I don't know how many of you out there like your coffee room temperature, but if you do, and also like pistachios, then that's how you should drink Bones' Mustachio. It might also serve as a nice foundation for a coffee liqueur. I will have to get another sample pack and do some experimenting. Stay tuned!

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY

Have you ever looked at a peanut butter and jelly sammich and wondered "what would that taste like if I dipped it in coffee?" No? Well, neither have I, but Bones Coffee is out there asking flavor questions that we never thought to ask and providing answers that sometimes defy imagination.

From the moment you open the package, the aroma of grape jelly is noticeable. It is also strong as the coffee brews, so strong that it wafted from the kitchen, down the hall into my office. The sweet smell of grape jelly also rose noticeably from the pot and cup as I poured the coffee and went to drink it.

Initially, as I drank this blend without any Unsweetened Almond Milk or sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream added, the sweet taste of grape jelly came through strongly. It was so strong and so sweet a flavor that even someone who orders their coffee strictly from the fru-fru menu can drink it straight. 

One thing I'm discovering is that Bones Coffee does fruit flavors really, really well; sometimes too well--as the overwhelming fruitiness of their Strawberry Cheesecake and Peaches and Scream blends show--and they nailed the grape jelly flavor perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that it balanced nicely with the coffee.

One thing I am also noticing is that Bones Coffee doesn't do nut flavors all that well. Like Macamaniac, the nut flavor here is almost undetectable; this blend does not taste like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich dipped in coffee, but merely grape flavored coffee. I drank about half a mug's worth before adding some Unsweetened Almond Milk, and I think I started to detect an aftertaste of peanut butter, but the grapey sweetness remained front and center. It could also be that I was expecting a peanut butter taste, so my imagination may have made it materialize because other Bones blends have grown more flavorful as I consumed them (like, for example, their Dusk Till Donuts blend where the grape flavor grew more intense as I drained the cup).

None of my usual approaches were able to tease any solid peanut butter flavor out of this blend, nor could I detect any bread flavor (although the latter is probably for the best). Further, when I drank this blend over ice, there wasn't even the ghost of peanut butter to be found.

In the end, I consider this a tasty blend that might go well with dessert, or maybe a pancake breakfast if you're a fan of grape jelly. It's not a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich in a cup, though. 

She Sleeps...

 ... and she dreams. But she is...

 ... and she is a monster magnet. Can she even find restful sleep? What does she dream of? Does she dream in color? Click here to visit our sister blog Terror Titans for the answer... but is it just a dream?

(This post, and the one over at Terror Titans, mark the beginning of a year-long celebration of the artistic vision of the late Richard Sala. You'll find comics and illustrations by him on an irregular basis here, but at Terror Titans, there will be a samples of his delightfully creepy ink-and-watercolor drawings every 2nd and 4th Friday of each month for all of 2022.)

There's an index of all Sala posts at both blogs here for ease of reference.

A Word from the Slaughter Valley Authority

She may be stuck like this...

We're sharing this important announcement from our sponsor, in case any of you want to come visit us at our Slaughter Valley office. Watch this before you take the trip, especially if you're going to stay overnight.

 

Wonder Woman Wednesday

On this, the first Wonder Woman Wednesday of 2022, we view our favorite Amazon through the pen and eyes of Milton Knight!

You can see more of Milton's work at his website here. You should also check out his Patreon site and consider subscribing!

'Wedding Present' is a gift for Cary Grant fans

Wedding Present (1936)
Starring: Cary Grant, Joan Bennett, William Demarest, Edward Brophy, Gene Lockhart, Conrad Nagel, and Purnell Pratt
Director: Richard Wallace
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Charlie and Rusty (Grant and Bennett) are big-city journalists who are colleagues and lovers who spend as much time tracking down leads and working on stories as they do pulling pranks and staging elaborate practical jokes. When Charlie is promoted to editor, and he suddenly has to be serious about managing writers and assignments, his relationship with Rusty falls apart. It isn't until she's about to marry a stuffy author of self-help books (Nagel) that Charlie quits his new job, reverts to his previous self, and tries to win her back with the help of a notorious gangster (Demarest).

"Wedding Present" is a fast-moving, witty comedy. It's a little too fast-moving in some ways, as the first half of the film feels more like you're watching a series of loosely connected sketches rather than a movie. It put me in mind of some comedy television series, such as "Faulty Towers" or "'Allo, 'Allo" where most episodes unfolded with a series of almost free-standing sketches that were only united by a circumstance which framed them. 

As the film continues, the story begins to coalesce firmly around the rocky romance of Charlie and Rusty. At about the halfway-mark, the film ends up firmly in romantic comedy territory. It's almost like we're watching a sequel to the first half, as this part is comes complete with its own beginning, middle, and end. Some of the "skits" from the first half turn out to be crucial to the story here, but if we'd walked in late, we wouldn't have missed anything, because characters remind us of what went on and why they're doing what they're doing. 

This is not a great movie, but it's not a terrible one. Its odd structure is a bit distracting, but it's not a fatal flaw. In some ways, what I view as a flaw might make it more enjoyable for some viewers, especially those who are big Cary Grant fans.

"Wedding Present" is one of the first films where Grant was unquestionably the star. While Joan Bennett certainly holds an important role in the story, has lots of screen-time--most of it in scenes with Grant--it is Grant who carries the movie. His is the character the audience is primarily invested in, and the story that's ultimately told is that of Charlie's road to life-long happiness (if not maturity). It's also the film where, I feel, that he clearly has come into his own as a comedic screen actor. Thanks partially to the episodic nature of this film's first half, we get to see Grant perform in different comedic styles, playing off different actors and situations... and even being the straight man in a scene or two. 

Cary Grant is so much fun to watch in this film--especially in scenes shared with Joan Bennett (who gives as good as she gets, every single time) and William Demarest (who does a great job at walking the line between seeming funny and dangerous) that I almost gave it Seven Stars. The totality of the odd structure, though, made me decide to give it the highest possible Six Star rating. This is a highly entertaining, but flawed, film that contributes to making the "Cary Grant: Screen Legend Collection" well worth the purchase price. (I've watched three of the five films in the set so far, and each was almost worth the price by itself.)

Oh--a fun way to watch this film is to consider it a prequel to "His Girl Friday". It's very easy to imagine the lead characters from this film being those portrayed by Grant and Rosalind Russell in that one. Maybe you should get both and have a double-feature watch party with friends!

Then there's that time...

... when four Japanese high school girls saved the shopping mall by defeating a giant monster with a chemistry set, a pineapple, and pure spunk 'n' funk!

Atarashii Gakko! is a girl band out of Japan that has been working their toward international fame with their catchy songs, energetic dancing, and more-than-a-little crazy music videos. After five years, it appears they have arrived, managing to even do some U.S. concert dates  during 2021.

This music video, which features an abbreviated version of their first international hit "Pineapple Kryptonite", is a great introduction to the group and their musical antics (as well as being a fabulous spoof of Godzilla and other Kaiju movies.

This is Atarashii Gakko!'s second appearance here at Shades of Gray. Click here to see that other post, along with a look at how wide their musical range is. And if you aren't afraid of having your senses overwhelmed by lots of color and the full-length version of "Pineapple Kryptonite" (performed against the backdrop of the girls taking on a monster at Area 51 in Nevada), click here.

Sunday Coffee Klatch with Tanzanian Peaberry

A friend and former coworker who's been enjoying my coffee reviews sent me a couple of bags of unground beans that were a total mystery to me: Tanzanian Peaberry!

But I ground it, I drank it, and here's my review of it!

TANZANIAN PEABERRY

As mentioned above, this drink was even more of a mystery than the Mystery Blend from Bones Coffee that I reviewed a few weeks back. I had no idea what to expect from it.

Looking at the beans, I assume this is a blonde or light roast. Given that this was not one of the many flavored coffees I've been drinking over the past several months, the only aroma that I got from the beans or the ground coffee, whether in the grinder, in the basket of my drip coffee maker, or from the pot as the coffee brewed, was... well, coffee.

But what ended up in my cup was so surprising that this might has well have been a flavored blend. 

I put this Tanzanian Peaberry blend through my now-standard steps of my review process, starting with drinking it black. This was an amazingly smooth coffee that seemed like might have been a flavored blend but isn't. The coffee flavor is there, but it's mellow and sweet, almost as if sweetener of some sort had added. There's also a lemony note that put me in mind of lemon cake. I liked this coffee so much black that I drank half a cup before I added anything to it.

Since this coffee already had a natural sweetness to it, I first tried adding Unsweetened Almond Milk. It blended nicely with the existing flavors. The sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer seemed initially to make this drink too sweet, but when I tried another cup with my usual amount dialed back to just a dash, it worked as well as the Unsweetened Almond Milk. 

At room temperature, this coffee was best with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer (when it was just a dash). It also works extremely well when iced, whether with the almond milk or the creamer, or just black. I think I actually prefer it when iced, but I'll have to try a few more pots before I can completely make up my mind, since I thought it was tasty in all modes. (Fortunately, I was gifted with an entire 12-oz. bag of beans, so I have plenty to "work" with!) 

So... what IS Tanzanian Peaberry Coffee?

If you're an unrefined clod like me who just likes to drink the magic bean juice whether it's from a blend made by a boutique roastery, from a bag off the shelf at a grocery store, or from the vending machine down the hall at work, you probably had no idea there even was such as thing as Tanzanian Peaberry coffee was before seeing this post. 

Well, as I discovered by doing a little half-assed research via the Google Machine, coffee is among Tanzania's top ten exports (along with precious metals and cashew nuts, another two of my favorite things). What coffee snobs generally think of as "Tanzanian coffee" is mostly grown on the lower slopes of Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro, and it's considered inferior to the better-known other African export, Kenyan coffee. (I will have to order another bag of Kenyan coffee before I run out of my Tanzanian Peaberry so I can compare the two...)

As for the "peaberry", a coffee plant's fruit usually contains two beans, each of which is flat on one side and rounded on the other, basically forming two halves. However, in about 5% of fruits, there is only a single, round bean, and these are called peaberries. These malformed beans are typically sorted out and used in specially designated roasts, such as the flavor of the week here at Shades of Gray HQ, Tanzanian Peaberry. Since peaberries are rarer than the regular coffee beans, roasters can (and do) charge extra for coffee made exclusively from peaberries. Depending on who you ask, peaberry-based coffee is superior in taste to the regular stuff--some swear this this to be case while others are just as adamant that any perceived differences in taste are just marketing-induced delusions.

 What is the truth about Peaberry coffee? Is it tastier or just more expensive? I have no idea. All I know is that the Tanzanian Peaberry coffee I drank was GREAT, and I'll be grinding and drinking more of it in short order... with thanks to the generous friend who sent the bag o' beans my way!

It's a Sala Saturday!

 Here's another early work from the late, great Richard Sala. It was collected in his anthology from Kitchen Sink Press "Black Cat Crossing" (1993) and it dates from the mid- to late 1980s. (Click for a larger, more readable version.)

This is my favorite of the sci-fi/horror genre-based one-pagers that Sala did.

Sidney Poitier dead at 94

Celebrated actor and director Sidney Poitier passed away on January 6, 2022.

Sidney Poitier was born in 1927 and spent his early childhood in the Bahamas. At 15, he was sent to live with his brother in Miami, as his parents tried to head off a growing tendency toward criminality. There, he encountered racism for the first time in his life, and it shaped many of his attitudes as he grew into adulthood.

After a brief stint in the U.S. Army (joining after lying about his age) and a series of menial jobs, Poitier decided to try his hand at acting. His initial audition at the American Negro Theatre was such a disaster that he spent six months focusing on eliminating his Bahama accent and improving his acting skills. His next attempt was far more fruitful, and he was soon performing on Broadway.

Poitier's first major film role was in "No Way Out" (1950) in which he played a doctor who had to treat a bigoted racist. He immediately attracted the attention of Hollywood, but, in an approach that would mark his stance for his entire career, he turned down most offers because he thought they were demeaning toward him as a black man.

Poitier starred in many great movies, among these being "Blackboard Jungle" (1955), "Edge of the City" (1957), "The Defiant Ones" (1958), "A Raisin in the Sun" (1961), "The Long Ships" (1964), "The Bedford Incident" (1965), "To Sir, With Love" (1967), "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967), "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) [and he played a slightly revised version of his character from "In the Heat of the Night", Virgil Tibbs, in two kinda-sorta sequels, "The Call Me Mister Tibbs!" (1970) and "The Organization" (1972)], "A Piece of the Action" (1977), "Shoot to Kill" (1988), "Sneakers" (1992), and "Mandela and DeKlerk" (1997). He appeared in a total of 55 movies, and on many of his projects, Poitier had contracts that stated he received a percentage of earnings from the very first dollar that was taken in.

During the 1970s, Poitier turned to directing and producing. He also remained active on stage. He retired from acting in 2001, He spent his remaining years in the Bahamas where he also passed away.

The Coming of Gun Fury!

Gun Fury 1-5 (Aircel Comics/Malibu Graphics, January - May 1989)
Story and Pencils: Barry Blair

Inks and Washes: Dave Cooper

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

In a city where innocent citizens are being preyed upon by the rich and powerful, and by the violent and psychopathic; where the media lies as much as they tell the truth; deluded goofballs can't tell the difference between comic book fantasies and reality, a cry went up for a hero. Gun Fury answered that call... to the regret of many.

"Gun Fury" was a 10-issue series by Barry Blair and Dave Cooper, with the latters artistic style becoming increasingly dominant as the series progressed. Published by Aircel (which was by this time an imprint of Malibu Graphics) from January of 1989 through October 1989.
It featured broad, often crude, satire of the "grim and gritty" comics that were trendy at the time, as well as making fun of fandom and comics industry.

The first five issues are liked by several intertwining storylines and subplots. Along the way, the title character Gun Fury as a demented, ultra-violent hero who's part 1960s Batman and 1980s Punisher. His secret civilian identity is Jack Luger, mild-mannered staff writer at Fan Graphics, a firm that publishes several entertainment-related magazines and comic books. He has a money-grubbing, homophobic boss, and a go-getting investigative journalist female co-worker with a superhero fetish. 

In the first issue, Gun Fury's boy sidekick, Ammo, is killed in a clash with minions of the mysterious Master. Over the next few issues, he adopts and breaks in teenaged orphan Peter Pane as the new Ammo while simultaneously protecting the boy from the Master's agents, including fellow superhero Captain Rearguard who is duped into furthering the evil schemes. Meanwhile, a second more odious threat is lurking in the shadows, preparing to ooze onto the scene. 

Over the course of five issues (which form a complete, self-contained storyline), Blair and Cooper poke fun at superheroes as they were developing in the mid-1980s and into the 1990s... all grim and gritty and violent in the wake hits like "The Watchmen" and "The Dark Knight Returns", with a few dollops of hamfisted social commentary thrown in for  good measure. Perhaps the most clever aspect of Blair's approach to the topic was having the grim-and-gritty co-exist with the lighthearted melodrama and downright goofiness that were the hallmarks of the superhero comics he'd grown up with. It gives a bizarre feeling to Gun Fury's world that is perfect for the title.

What is less perfect is Blair's sense of comedy. While this is an effective spoof in broad strokes, it's less effective when you zoom in. 

First, Blair was just not very good at coming up with one-liners, and the timing is even sometimes off on gags that span panels or pages. His inability to come up with zingers that hit home is particularly obvious when he's trying to play with characters making unintentional double-entendres that are supposed to be plays on sexual activity--homosexual activity in particular. It's particularly painful when it comes to Gun Fury exclaiming "Justice is about to spurt from my loins!" (or some such battle-cries). Some of those kind of jokes made around the superhero suffering from PTSD known as Captain Rearguard work a little better, but not by much.

Second, some of the humor is just too mean-spirited for my tastes--and I'm the guy who produced things like "Bill Clinton Meets a Girl Scout" and "Super Muslim Bros." Reading these comics, it appears that Blair might have hated comics fans, comics retailers, and comics critics in general, and Gary Groth (the founder of Fantagraphics and a key figure in the comics industry when this series was published), since they're all stupid, perverted, gross, and/or money-grubbers who are corrupt to the core. Some of the shots at the comics industry are dead-on, but others just feel like Blair is grinding his personal axes and isn't terribly concerned if he's being funny or not. 

The best of Blair's industry commentary can be found in the scene where the Gary Groth stand-in is berating an editor and a pair of talented hacks for not delivering the promised issues, despite having been paid. The scene ends with the trio heading off to find ANOTHER publisher from whom to get paid for not producing a product. Most of it, though, just feels too venomous and personal to be amusing.

One thing that is of high-caliber and always close to perfect is the art. While not quite at the level of Blair and Cooper's other major collaboration, "Jake Thrash", the combination of Blair's slick, cartoony-with-a-slant-toward-the-manga-style (a decade or more before EVERYONE started doing it) and Cooper's chunky inks and brilliantly applied washes was the perfect visualization for the mixture of old-school superhero posturing married with modern-day gore and violence. The occasional playfulness with the "language" of comic book storytelling that shows up in the art is also very well done. The page below is from "Gun Fury" #1, and it's one of my favorites from the entire series.

Sometimes, when I break out these old comics and re-read them for review purposes, I find myself disappointed; I find that something I have fond memories of doesn't match those memories. That is not the case with "Gun Fury". I had the same reaction to reading it now as I remember having back then--it's fun but flawed. It's got great art and it's a decent spoof of All Things Comics as they stood ca. 1989, but it's dragged down by the writer spewing too much venom in various directions.

Watch this space for thoughts on "Gun Fury" #6 - #10. (Meanwhile, if you have any memories or opinions about "Gun Fury" or any other Aircel Comics, that's what the comments section is for! Also, for an excellent exploration of the man behind the creation, Barry Blair, click here.)

It's January...

... January Jones that is. And she's decided to "declutter" in the new year, reducing her belongings to the essentials.

We think she may have gone a little too far...

A caution for those traveling to or within Slaughter Valley

If you're planning to visit us here at Shades of Gray HQ, you might want to delay the trip. Here are a few problems with getting around at the moment. This video will explain:

Musical Monday with Weird Al

I think Aaron Sorkin and Co. missed a major opportunity by not using this as the theme for their "Being the Ricardos" movie, nor using this clip as part of the End Credits. (The parody song is lots of fun, and while 'Weird Al' isn't the greatest Ricky Ricardo, Tess MacNeille is GREAT as Lucille Ball!)

Ricky (1983)

Starring: Al Yankovic and Tess MacNeille

Director: Janet Greek

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

(Click through to watch the video on YouTube. If you have any familiarity with "I Love Lucy", you won't regret it.)

Bones Coffee's Birthday Suit

In 2021, Bones Coffee Company celebrated their 5th year in business by releasing a special flavored blend. So, we're starting the new year off by reviewing a blend that celebrated the birthday of its maker.

Feel free to assume this is Your Host, drinking coffee in his birthday suit.

 BONES COFFEE COMPANY: BIRTHDAY SUIT
The packaging, Bones' sell-copy, and the stated motivation for releasing this "limited release" blend, all make it very clear that this is coffee that should taste like birthday cake. Could it live up to expectations? Would I be treated to a birthday-cake-in-a-cup, or at least something that tasted like coffee-soaked birthday cake? Either way, I was very interested in how this would turn out. (Hell, for all I knew, it could be a big gag and the Birthday Suit blend was just coffee-flavored coffee--black miracle juice not dressed up with anything at all!)

 

As the coffee brewed, though, I could smell the aroma of birthday cake in my office, which is down the hall from the kitchen, so the blend was clearly more birthday cake than birthday suit--yay! Interestingly, the aroma wasn't as strong once the coffee was poured into the cup. Even more interesting, the birthday cake flavor isn't detectable when you first sip the coffee, but it fills your mouth as you swallow it. The cake flavor was an aftertaste, but it was a strong and absolutely wonderful aftertaste! It was an aftertaste that lingered, so the more I drank of the coffee, the stronger it became. Unlike some other Bones Coffee blends with sweet flavors that become overwhelming (like Strawberry Cheesecake), Birthday Suit remains just right. I think this is because it is more of an aftertaste and, although the flavor remains in your mouth as you drink, it has a bit of reset with each swallow.

But the above only applies if you drink the coffee black, which I would have been perfectly fine doing, even considering that I NEVER drink coffee black, except when I'm doing articles like this. And then I only do it so I can talk about what the drink tastes like on its own--more often than not, I like any coffee better (except in really small portions) with stuff added to it. And once I added a dash of sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer to my cut of hot Birthday Suit blend coffee, the birthday cake flavor moved to the front and the experience of drinking this became even more tasty and wonderful. In fact, it was exactly like you might imagine a birthday soaked in coffee might taste like. This blend was made to celebrate Bones Coffee and its fabulous flavors, and it rises to the occasion!

Everything above applies whether you are drinking Birthday Suit hot, at room temperature, or iced. At room temperature, the birthday cake flavor seemed to be strongest, but it never became so strong it was overpowering.

When I added unsweetened Almond Milk to the Birthday Suit blend, the other thing I usually do when drinking these coffees for review, it added a sour undertone to the flavor that made it very unpleasant to drink. In was so bad, in fact, that I dumped out my cup without finishing and I didn't bother testing this blend with almond milk at room temperature or iced. (I did make sure that it wasn't a problem with the almond milk by not only drinking some of it without putting it in coffee, but trying it in a different cup of freshly brewed Birthday Suit... and it definitely was not the almond milk.)

In the final analysis, Birthday Suit is another excellent flavored coffee. One just has to be careful with what one mixes it with. As I departure from my usual review regiment, I tried a cup of Birthday Suit black with Stevia added. I liked the blend better with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream, but the Stevia helped bring the cake flavor immediately to the front as well.

Here's Gina Gershon in her birthday suit. Just because.