Musical Monday with Psychostick

If you're not in a romantic mood on this Valentine's Day, Psychostick is here for you. Even if you're bitter, angry, and heartbroken I think this song will put a smile on your face... ESPECIALLY if you're bitter, angry, and heartbroken!

On Valentine's Day...

... Terry Moore is here to tell all visitors to Shades of Gray how we feel about you!

 
We're sending all of you imaginary flowers and chocolate kisses. Then, you can join us for an imaginary romantic dinner!

Bones Coffee's Highland Grog

It's Sunday, so I'm going to let the world know about the coffee I've been drinking!

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: HIGHLAND GROG

The concept of this blend confuses me a bit. To me, "grog" is something that's associated with the latter part of the Age of Sail... and I don't associate sailing ships with the Scottish Highlands. When I did a web-search on "highland grog", I discovered that there are several coffee companies that have a version of this flavor under names like Highlander Grog, Highlands Grog, and so on. Each have their own special little twist, but the common theme are the flavors of rum and butterscotch.

With the Bones version of this apparently popular variety of flavored coffee, we get  rum, butterscotch, and caramel. As weird as I find the notion of Highland Grog, I was certain that Bones had given me the resources for some great tasting coffee, because they had done such a wonderful job with their Coconut Rum blend.

Like most of Bones' flavored coffees, the foundation is medium roast. When brewing, the smell of run rises from the pot with a bit of butterscotch mixed in--exactly as advertised. It's not one of those blends where the aroma fills the kitchen and nearby rooms, but standing near the pot as the coffee brews gives you a preview of what you'll be drinking shortly.

As with all the coffees I drink for review purposes, I tried the Highland Grog blend in several specific ways. I drank my first cup black and (bag)piping hot. The rum flavor was front and center from the outset, dominating both the flavor and scent... and seeming like I might actually be drinking coffee spiked with a tremendous amount of rum. Or maybe rum spiked with coffee--the rum flavor is so strong it almost wiped out that of coffee. That, plus the subtle but still noticeable butterscotch flavor, led me to drink an entire cup without adding of my typical unsweetened almond milk or sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. Interestingly, the advertised caramel flavor isn't present until the coffee begins to cool. This made the drink even more enjoyable. It's nice the way the flavor profile changes, and this may have to be a blend I will have to get a bag of, since it's perfect for someone like me who often drinks his coffee slowly, so it invariably cools to room temperature well before I'm done with a cup or mug.

With that in mind, it probably comes as no surprise that this blend works amazingly well over ice, whether it's consumed black or with the usual varieties of almond milk or sugar-free creamer added. Although the flavors are a bit muted--as tends to be the case with most coffees--the rum is still very much evident, as are strong hints of butterscotch and caramel. Even better, there is none of the saltiness that creeps into some Bones Coffee blends when they are consumed iced, or sometimes even at room temperature.

As I mentioned above, this is a flavored coffee that even I, with my reflexive habit of adding almond milk, milk, creamer, or booze to any cup of coffee that is placed before me, could drink black. In fact, the typical unsweetened almond milk I use didn't enhance this blend, but rather seemed to detract from and dilute what made it appealing. The sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer mixed better with the Highland Grog blend, and it was an okay addition to the coffee whether hot, iced, or in-between, but it didn't improve the flavor all that much.

As also mentioned above, I noticed that a number of other coffee roasters offer their version of this flavor, and a number of them have vanilla as part of their mix. I decided to break with my usual review protocol and try Bones' Highland Grog with Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk added. Like the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer, it mixed nicely with the coffee, and the addition of vanilla wasn't bad, but it was only a slight improvement over drinking the coffee black. (At least when hot or room temperature; I based this review off a 4-oz sample pack of "Highland Grog", and I ran out of coffee before I could try the blend iced with the vanilla almond milk.

Highland Grog is another winner from Bones Coffee Company. I particularly recommend if you're looking for a coffee that's great iced.

The Boys like their coffee hot and their kilts below the knees.

Fantastic Friday!

"The Fantastic Four" first appeared in 1961, in a comics magazine published by Marvel Comics. Created and co-plotted by Jack Kirby (artist) and Stan Lee (writer), their early appearances were reminiscent of DC Comics' sci-fi/adventure title "The Challengers of the Unknown" (which Kirby illustrated, and possibly co-plotted, for a while before creating this group). The Fantastic Four, however, quickly evolved into something wholly unique, with Kirby and Lee spinning tales featuring equal amounts of cosmic mysteries, superhero action, and down-to-earth--if tending toward the soap-operatic and melodramatic--family dynamic between the characters and their growing supporting cast.

Lee and Kirby wrote and drew the "Fantastic Four" for roughly 110 monthly and annual issues. These issues, and the 200 or so that followed, still remain my favorite Marvel Comics... and the Fantastic Four (as they existed in the stories told by Kirby & Lee, followed by Marv Wolfman, Doug Moench, and a variety of a artists, and, ultimately, John Byrne) was a cornerstone of the entire Marvel Universe.

The Fantastic Four began to drift as a property as of issue #301 and by the mid-1990s, they had fallen from their position as Marvel's First Family. Over the past 30 years, there has been numerous reboots and re-inventions of the Fantastic Four, in addition to several cancellations and revivals of their title... but none of the creators that have brought us those tales have been able to recapture the Golden Age of the first 25-30 years of the characters. (As a big fan of Sue, Reed, Johnny, Ben, and all their family and friends, I have kept hoping someone might... but so far, I've only been disappointed.)

This post series presents drawings that celebrate the glory years of the Fantastic Four! This year, I hope to make at least one each quarter.

A Picture Perfect Wednesday with Anita Page

Although she mostly played supporting roles, Anita Page (1910 - 2008) was one of the most popular screen actresses of the early talkies, at one point receiving thousands of fan letters each week. Her career began to stall during the pre-Code years, and by 1934, she had mostly retired from acting. She is perhaps best remembered for "Night Court" (1932), and her co-starring turns with Bessie Love in "The Broadway Melody" (1929).

In 2000, at the age of 90, she returned to the screen in a string of four B- horror movies.

On this Picture Perfect Wednesday, we bring pictures of Anita playing some instruments. Why? Because!

A great effort with serious flaws

Killing Time (2010)
Starring: John Carlin and Zander Riggs
Director: Phil Baumhardt
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A young man (Carlin) sits alone in a room, waiting...

"Killing Time" is a short film that resulted from a student project, but it's very impressive. I really like the lighting (even if it's a little on the dark side), the use of sound, the placement of the camera. All-in-all, it does a great job in capturing the film noir mood and style.

Except for a couple minor details.

Usually, when I post student films I come across during my trawling through YouTube, I don't get too critical of them--they're student films for crying out loud, so if I'm impressed or amused, I leave it at that! There's generally no point in nitpicking them: If I think they're worth the time of the visitors to the blog, they're good enough, period. 

In the specific case of "Killing Time", the flaws break the illusion Phil Baumhardt was going for with such force that it almost ruined the whole thing for me. Still, the overall effort is good enough that I think it's worth checking out... even if you have to click through to YouTube to do so. (And if you do... maybe you can spot the flaws that I did. If you do, let me know if you think I'm being too critical.)

Musical Monday with Head Cleaner

I can't understand a word when it comes to the lyrics of this song--they could literally be Greek, since Head Cleaner is a death metal band hailing from Greece--which is almost always the case when it comes to the growled/screamed vocals of this genre. I assume the lyrics carry a theme about wicked and corrupt people in power coming to brutal ends, because of the song's title and the music video that comes with it. It's a neat short film about a corrupt business executive or political bureaucrat who meets his end at the hands of an axe-wielding killer who may or not be a supernatural being acting in the service of Justice. Check it out; the music isn't to my liking, but the short film got my imagination going... and there may even be a NUELOW Games post with some roleplaying game stuff as a result.

Head Cleaner: Crime and Punishment (2012)

Starring: Anonymous actors

Director: Jim Evgenidis

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

For more music videos and photography from Jim Evgenidis (who was also the front man of Head Cleaner), visit his page at Icon Filmworx.

Ice-Cold Blonde at the Grocery Store

I drink coffee. Do you drink coffee? If so, you can read about coffee that I've drunk, right here every Sunday, so you can decide if you want to drink it, too!

STARBUCKS CORPORATION: ICED BLONDE ROAST, UNSWEETENED

If you've read my Coffee Log (which is probably the most boring page on the web), you already know that I've been avoiding Starbucks and other such outlets since the middle of 2021. That doesn't mean Starbucks hasn't been getting some of my money though...

Not too long ago, I was grocery shopping when a big, brown bottle caught my eye. It was in the cooler with the cold coffee-themed drinks in cans and little glass bottles and it declared itself to contain Unsweeteend Iced Blonde Roast coffee from Starbucks. It was $6 for 48 oz., so I figured I'd give it a try. If I didn't like it, I could bring it to work to share... and everyone would think I was being generous!

As it turns out, I don't so much like the magic bean juice in the brown bottle as love it. In fact, I think the results I get at home with the unsweetened Iced Blond Roast is superior to both what I recall the iced drinks tasting like, as well as a comparison to my recent return to an old favorite, the Pike Place Roast.

True to what is printed on the bottle, this coffee very much mellow and smooth. It's so smooth that I liked it with just a single packet of Stevia added. Like white coffee, blonde roasts have very little of the bitterness that is typically associated with coffee. It also has a high caffeine content, so it's perfect for someone like me who doesn't like their coffee black--because of the bitter taste--but who wants the caffeine. 

Unlike most other reviews you'll read here, since it's made to be consumed cold and over ice. In addition to trying it straight (which was okay) and with a packet of Stevia added (which was better), I've had it with the usual Unsweetened Almond Milke and sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. I also mixed this the Iced Blonde Roast with Unweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, sugar-free French Vanilla creamer, vodka & Unweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, Unsweetened Chololate Almond Milk, and probably some mixings I'm forgetting at the moment. I probably should also try it with dashes of various fruit juices to see if I can approximate some of the Bones Coffee flavors while I'm at it...

Basically, at the moment, when my tumbler doesn't contain something iced that I'm drinking for review purposes, it holds iced, blonde-roast Starbucks coffee from a bottle that comes off the grocery store shelf.

A plotless collection of winter sports jokes

Cracked Ice (1927)
Starring: No one; it's a completely silent cartoon
Director: Paul Terry

Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Cartoon animals frolic in a winter wonderland--sledding, skiing, ice skating... you name it, they do it. Meanwhile, their keeper tries to maintain order and safety.

"Cracked Ice" is an offering from the proto-Van Beuren animation department, back when it was run by Paul Terry. It was originally an entry in the long-running "Aesop's Fables" series.

Whether it's signs of things to come, or evidence that John Foster, Vern Stallings, and the rest were carrying on a grand tradition is hard for me to say... but this is the most plotless, nonsensical cartoon I've discovered among the offerings from the Van Beuren Corporation and related operations. It's devoid of any semblance of plot, and I just deleted a paragraph from this post that talked about all the things in this cartoon that don't make any sense. Why? Because as I was typing, I realized that I was faulting a cartoon featuring a skiing hippo and ice skating cats for including things that didn't make sense.

One critique I am going to let stand is that this early Van Beuren release contains another mainstay of many of their offerings: Sometimes they don't know when to move on from a gag. There are couple bits in "Cracked Ice" that start funny or cute but are then dragged out to the point of becoming tedious. Thankfully, it's the minority, but the trend for the next decade seems to be getting established here.

My customary teaser summary at the top of this review isn't just a teaser here--it relates everything that's contained in the cartoon (except the particulars of the gags). If you're in the mood for cartoon animals being goofy in the winter-time, you should watch the cartoon embedded below. One thing's for sure--it's as entertaining as anything you're going to see from the Winter Olympics.

2/2/22 -- Day of the Doppelgangers!

Today, on 2/2/22, we're sharing stories about doppelgangers, here and at Terror Titans. We hope you enjoy... and we hope you don't encounter your doppelgangers in your wanderings today.

Doppelganger (2020)

Starring: Michael Diulus

Director: Michael Diulus

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A writer (Diulus) drifts off to sleep while working and finds himself in a struggle for his soul.

"Doppelganger" is a straight-forward, no-frills supernatural horror short that captures the feeling of dreams dead-on. I appreciate its simplicity, and it shows that a single person with a camera and a good eye can create a great experience for the viewer. (The only criticisms I have amount to little more than nitpicks. But I think the main character might have an easier time writing if he sat at a desk; I was more worried for the laptop than his safety for a while there; and the strangling bit was... well, a bit too obvious that it was just one guy and a camera making the film.)

Check out "Doppelganger" by clicking below. I think you'll like it.

You can see more from Michaek Diulus on his YouTube channel by clicking here.