🧟♂️ Sunday Shuffle #9
TV/Movies/Books recommendations and reviews...
Greetings from Newcastle
It’s time for another round-up of entertainment recommendations.
Welcome to the Sunday Shuffle.
All platforms mentioned below are the UK version, unless indicated otherwise. Amazon links may be affiliate links and Amazon may (at no extra cost to you) give me a small commission from any qualifying purchases made, which will helpfully contribute toward my writerly running costs.
🎬 Dog Soldiers - Amazon Prime (digital purchase, and available for rent). I’d never forgotten how good this movie is, but for some reason I haven’t watched it in years. When I visited my brother and he put it on for his oldest son, I had to stay for the full thing. If you’re not familiar with Dog Soldiers, I won’t spoil it for you, but people are vanishing in the Scottish Highlands, and a British Army squad is in the area performing a training exercise. They have no live ammunition, no back-up, and no idea of the real reason they’ve been sent to that specific location… A bunch of North-East actors in this one, so it’s a rare opportunity to hear anything like my accent in a film! Horror, comedy, action, perfect for the spooky season. Amazon: UK|US
📺 The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live - Now TV. SPOILERS for The Walking Dead (but not The Ones Who Live) - if you stuck with the original series, you will have seen a special appearance in the closing moments of the final episode. We finally got to catch up with Michonne as she rode down on an enormous walker horde, sword at the ready… and we also caught a glimpse of Rick. This series rewinds us a little way along those threads, and shows us what Rick and Michonne have been doing in the years of them being apart from each other, and apart from the main TWD gang. I was pretty impressed with this one. Again, like the other new TWD spin-off shows I covered in a previous Sunday Shuffle this series benefits from the tight, 6-episode structure, preventing it becoming bloated like some seasons of the main show. If anything, we might have benefitted from another episode or two, as the last installment crams a lot in. Very enjoyable, though. Great to see Rick and Michonne back in all their walker-slaughtering glory.
📘 Currently Reading: The Woman in Black, Susan Hill.
📺 Currently Watching: Celebrity Masterchef - BBC iPlayer. At this point I am getting annoyed when the ‘celebs’ refer to Greg Wallace as, or imply that he is, a chef. The man is not a chef, he’s a grocer!
📺 Currently Watching: The Penguin - Now TV. I’m always cynical of Batman-adjacent projects, where they do everything but show you Batman. But somehow this one works… 2 episodes in, so far, so good.
📺 Currently Watching: Ballers, season 5 - Now TV. Very unlikely to convert into a recommendation, but a show where I enjoyed the first couple of seasons, years ago, and I’ve recently decided to catch up with it and see how it ended.
If you have recommendations or comments, and you’re reading this in your inbox, you can reply just like any other email, and if you’re reading this via the Substack app or on my website through a browser, remember to hit like and drop a comment - and feel free to forward this and share with friends you think might like it.
Best wishes and bad dreams,
Jack
Oh, great pick - I love Dog Soldiers, too, Jack! I haven't watched it in a while, either, and I'm definitely going to have to see it again very soon. Definitely not 'bone'! ;-)
I'm looking forward to getting into The Penguin, too - recorded the first couple, and as I tend to binge watch everything nowadays, I've been holding on to watch a few at once. But I might need to jump in sooner! It actually seems like it's been thoughtfully done, and I admit I am Colin Farrell fan. It's that Irish thing ...
I'm sure I've mentioned that I recently listened to a wonderful Audible version of The Woman in Black, a few weeks ago, on one of many long drives to take Poppy to her hospital appointments? I was swept away by the intensity and atmosphere of this story, all over again. It's years since I physically read it, and all I remember is how chilling it was. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I did, which reminds me, the Daniel Radcliffe film version is on this week, I believe, as Sky have started their Halloween film channel again. Some absolute corkers coming on soon, and I've got several bookmarked. Loads of favourites, and if you haven't seen The Pope's Exorcist yet, it's a good one! I didn't realise until the credits rolled that it's based on the real person - the actual Pope's Exorcist, in the film. I did (sort of) look at a couple of his books out of curiosity, but the heavy religious theme and style of writing wasn't for this atheist/Buddhist/pagan! If you enjoy that level of commitment to a vocation, it must be wonderful, in fact, no doubt it's an essential part of the 'job description', but as I say, such blind faith doesn't do anything for me, personally. But the film is great! Russell Crowe takes it on in grand style - complete with red socks under his cassock, driving a Lambreta. I shit you not.
I must start to catch up with The Walking Dead in all its recent incarnations... however, for reasons only know to me on a sub-sub-conscious level, I thought I should actually watch the original series again, first. Right from the start. I lost part of the last few seasons, well, actually, I lost all of the last couple, I think. Starting again may not exactly be a sensible plan, but I suppose I can always skim through very familiar bits - though after so long, it will hopefully all feel fresh again. Now all I need to do is to actually start watching it again! I think that's a great plan for this afternoon, actually.
I've recently finished reading the awesome Daemon Manx 4-part 'The Ojanox' series. I was delighted to be part of the ARC team on these stories, and thoroughly enjoyed every single one. As the story is set at Hallowe'en, it's a great time to discover what's destined to be a real horror classic. Pedal to the metal creature feature, and so much more, with characters you feel you've known forever. Daemon has captured the late 70's vibe perfectly, and he's created a truly memorable place in his setting of Garrett Grove. As a 'Citizen of Garrett Grove ' myself now (though only on the Facebook page!) it's a fun environment to discuss the stories, and Daemon is quite a character himself, too. One of the good guys, in my own humble opinion, and a lovely friend who has pulled my arse out of the fire when I lost the plot earlier this year and started drinking, and other stupid shit, after 17 years sober. His own story is so inspirational to anyone fighting the fight against drink/drugs, and he's a genuinely cool dude. One of his promo videos really needs viewing... all I'll say is, if you loved Silence Of The Lambs, you'll recognise his Buffalo Bill incarnation. Hilarious. But so very creepy...!!
Another superb read I've recently devoured is the mesmerising stories in a recently released collection from John Linwood Grant - 'An Unkindness of Shadows'. Some of the most elegant writing I've enjoyed in a long time, and a lead character who will live in my memory for a very long time. John is another 'character', a dyed in the wool Yorkshireman, whose Facebook musings are very entertaining, too. His weird fiction almost defies genres, and I'm a self confessed fan. I first discovered John's work in 'Sherlock Holmes and The Arcana of Madness', a brilliant anthology from Crystal Lake, Conan Doyle himself would have been proud. Anyone who enjoys intelligent, beautifully crafted stories could do a great deal worse than to discover John's work... his amazing 'Ain't No Witch ' is a glorious collection, with Mamma Lucy - a hoodoo conjure woman, wandering lesser trid paths and surviving many prejudices in the South in the dreadful Jim Crow times of American history. A wonderful serues of adventures. As is his quirky and clever 'A Persistence of Geraniums' anthology. John has an amazing gift for creating memorable characters, setting atmospheric scenes,
and treating the reader to exquisite prose in the telling. there are a wealth of great tales just waiting to be discovered in the pages of the books I've mentioned, here. All well worth a read!
I'm still hopping in and out of The Osbournes podcasts, and loving every riotous, irreverent minute. Ozzy is always priceless, and the rest of the Osbourne clan more than capable of holding their own in these eclectic recordings. Some of the tangents that end up being explored are just brilliant. Frank, no hold varred and merciless (the trashing of Bill Cosby, for example, was wonderful. Sharon doesn't pull her punches!)
I've just started to listen to 'I Am Ozzy Osbourne ' - his autobiography - on Audible, too, and it's a fascinating, often poignant insight into Ozzy's life. Born and raised as thoroughly working class, yet still daring to dream big, it's a great adventure to follow his journey... and many misadventures. What I think I find most refreshing is that he's never allowed himself to get jaded and cynical about 'success', and instead, still has a wide-eyed awe of celebrity in all its forms, especially his own! Very refreshing.
Well, I'm almost due another dose of cold/flu capsules and a hefty swig of Benylin (other cough bottles are available!) as I managed to snag a very unwelcome birthday present during last weekend's 60th celebrations! At the present moment, I am rattling all night with a cough that would do really well on a Dickensian workhouse drama set, and am clock watching to try and keep the worst of the wild temperature fluctuations at bay. General aches and pains, a throat like barbed wire, earache and the inability to taste anything (which, as I can't swallow anyway, is the least of my worries!) made me reach for a covid test kit. Thankfully, that was negative, but I'm supposed to do another test in a day or two. I need this like a fish needs a bicycle, as the end of month is quickly approaching, with another huge event - that's when my wonderful son is getting married! A Hallowe'en Handfasting, no less, at a doorstep location here, which fans of the iconic Wicker Man film would recognise. A meal to follow the Handfasting is planned at the same lovely harbourside hotel where we celebrated my 60th a week ago, and it's all getting very exciting. I just need to get rid of this lurgie, fast!!
Hope everything is going well for you and yours, Jack... I can't wait for 'The Seance upgrade' to arrive! As a huge fan of the original, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you're doing with this wonderful story. October is definitely a great month, isn't it!
Say hi to the 'Toon for me, Jack, and as ever...
Warmest Wishes...
Fiona xXx