20 Apr 25
There are a couple surprises for this week's reviews (for me as much as for you). We kick off our Winter 2025 anime coverage a week earlier than I expected with a holdover from last year's fall season, Season 2 of Shangri-La Frontier. I also happened to finish reading Volume 5 of The Eminence in Shadow, so you get a review of that. We then go on to manga with Volume 5 of Dandadan and Interviews with Monster Girls. We're also launching coverage of a new series with Volume 1 of The Apothecary Diaries. Depending on how much catching up I can get done, we should have two or three Winter 2025 anime to toss onto the pile next week. I'll also be making a sincere effort to get the next chapter of WttW out. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 15:47:33
19 Apr 25
This has been a rough week, but I've managed to stick to my deadline, so here's Chapter 5 of CoP, which introduces a new set of players to the field. We'll have reviews out tomorrow, so be looking for that. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 10:59:04
13 Apr 25
It's a funny thing that we started last week's reviews with a film from 1990 because we're going to do so again this week with Gremlins 2: The New Batch. We also have another, far less silly film from 1959, Green Mansions. Next, it's time for manga with Volume 4 of Dandadan, Too Many Losing Heroines! and Interviews with Monster Girls. I'm now caught up on the Makeine manga, so I need to come up with something else to fill that slot. I'm thinking The Apothecary Diaries. Also, not next week but the week after I should start releasing reviews for the Winter 2025 anime season (and we've got the spring season already underway, so that's going to keep me busy). Coming up sooner (hopefully) is the next chapter of CoP, so be looking for that. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 11:38:18
12 Apr 25
Behold the last boss perched upon her throne. It's time to raise the curtain on the final battle with Chapter 26 of TWH. I've been doing good to stay on schedule so far, so hopefully I can continue to do so to get us to the end on time. In other news, look for reviews tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 13:20:23
06 Apr 25
We start the day off with some clowns here to amuse you in 1990's Goodfellas and if that's not enough, you can listen to Sandra Bullock grunting in space for two hours in Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity. For manga coverage, we have Volume 3 of Dandadan, Too Many Losing Heroines! and Interviews with Monster Girls. Next week is going to have Gremlins 2, so I'm looking forward to that. I will try very hard to scrape together the time to get the next chapter of TWH out, so fingers crossed applesauce. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 11:37:17
05 Apr 25
My colleague's elbow had to put the work in to keep me awake during the opening ceremony today, but I'm at least happy to say that Chapter 12 of RttW is ready for you. Reviews will be up tomorrow, so be looking for that. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 11:08:32
30 Mar 25
We kick off today's movie reviews with the Colossal Titan of the film world, the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind and then something more along the lines of a 3-meter Titan yet with its own charm (you know, like the Peering Titan) in the somewhat less classic Gods of Egypt. We then continue our manga coverage with Volume 2 of Dandadan, Too Many Losing Heroines! and Interviews with Monster Girls respectively. We've got two more weeks before something needs to take Makeine's place. I'll have to figure that one out later. Look for the next chapter of WttW1 as well. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 13:08:05
29 Mar 25
I'm taking a break from my continued work on the demographics of Korush V to bring you Chapter 4 of CoP. Look for reviews tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 11:50:04
23 Mar 25
We've only got a couple films this week because manga is back on the menu. Let's get those movie reviews out of the way first. First we have the excellent stage-to-film adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross, for which I have to bite my tongue not to make comments about certain members of the cast. Then we have the far less excellent but still decently funny 2008 film remake of Get Smart. For our manga, rather than resuming old coverage (which has been so long that I actually need to go back and reread it all), we're going to start covering three new series that I've read more recently. We kick things off with the first volume of Dandadan, Too Many Losing Heroines! and Interviews with Monster Girls. Picking the old stuff back up is going to take a little time, so it'll be quicker for now to move forward with the new stuff then circle back to get the rest later. Hopefully I can keep this going for a while as the comics section is in much need of some love. Be looking for more CoP as well next week. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 12:14:34
22 Mar 25
I actually finished this week's chapter back on Monday. For this book, that's a rare feat and it's put me in a pretty good mood. I've been making respectable progress on the next chapter as well, so things bode well for the future. The finale is getting split into at least two parts, so that'll stretch out the release schedule a bit more, but an extension with actual content sure as punch beats delays with nothing to show for it. Anyway, we gear up for the big showdown in Chapter 25 of TWH. In other news, there are actually going to be manga reviews again for the first time in a good long while, so be looking forward to that. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 10:53:00
16 Mar 25
We start this week's reviews with the story of a media mogul who looked across the pond and saw some promising stuff that he wanted to promote here at home, so he commissioned a little film called Gabriel Over the White House. Next, possibly not unrelated, we gin up support for this dandy new idea called the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the James Cagney film "G" Men. Now let's lighten the mood a bit with cats in France in Gay Purr-ee. Next, we have the late great Gene Hackman with John Travolta and Danny DeVito in 1995's Get Shorty and then Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law in the now not-so fantastical look at the near future in Gattaca. We get Thursday off for the vernal equinox, so I'm going to try to get some manga reviews written and I'll be taking some time off before the new school year starts, so I hope to further work down this giant pile of manga that's been sitting around all this time. If I'm as productive as I'm hoping, we'll get back to having a regular mixed media selection for a good while. Be looking for the next chapter of TWH as well. (And I'm really going to have to start thinking about what I want to take its place.) Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 11:47:31
15 Mar 25
It feels good to actually get things done on time. I should try doing it more often. Anyway, here's Chapter 11 of RttW. I'll be getting reviews to you tomorrow, so be looking for that. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 12:33:34
10 Mar 25
I rather enjoy going through the years, so we'll go chronologically again this time. We start with William Holden in the 1951 love story Force of Arms and 1956's Forbidden Planet. (Yes, I know Leslie Nielsen is in it, but you're supposed to take it seriously. He used to be a dramatic actor, you know.) We then have a double-header from 1988 that couldn't be more different. Harrison Ford comes back for the Roman Polanski-directed Frantic and the Chevy Chase comedy Funny Farm. If I'm going to be making Indiana Jones jokes like last week, we close with Brad Pitt and Henry Jones III in the 2014 war flick Fury. Now, I know it probably doesn't mean anything to you, but I have my movie reviews split across four files and this week marks the completion of all my backlog in the first file. A few more months and I'm going to have to start watching more movies. ^o^ In other news, the plan is to get the next chapter of RttW out by this weekend. Let's hope I don't spend so much time playing in the peripheral materials that I actually get it done on time. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 00:34:30
09 Mar 25
I've been spending a ridiculous amount of time the past week fiddling around in the Tellus Arc peripheral materials that I nearly missed this week's deadline entirely, but considering all that, I'd say being a day late isn't too bad. Anyway, here's Chapter 3 of CoP, where we see the opposing force gear up to give our gang a hard time. I'll be getting the reviews to you on the early side of tomorrow, so be looking for that as well. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 10:13:26
02 Mar 25
For this week's selection of reviews, we'll go chronologically and start with the Bette Davis film Fog Over Frisco, then jump ahead 56 years to the original version of Flatliners. Next is Henry Jones, Sr. (Sean Connery) in First Knight and Junior (Harrison Ford) in Firewall and lastly, Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson in about as close to an Indiana Jones adventure as you're likely to get in a chick flick in the form of Fool's Gold. I expect to start releasing Winter 2025 anime reviews at the end of next month, so in the meantime, expect more film posts like this, but maybe I'll actually get around to picking up manga reviews again. Look for more CoP as well. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 15:16:49
01 Mar 25
Behold the mascot enthroned in azure. Before any other encounters with royalty can occur, though, some preparations need to be made in Chapter 24 of TWH. I'll have reviews for you tomorrow, so be on the lookout for that. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 13:59:31
23 Feb 25
I've been falling behind on my anime viewing, but I did finish reading Volume 4 of The Eminence in Shadow, the latter part of which is going to be hitting the silver screen at some point in the hopefully not too distant future. For movie reviews, we have both the 1950 original and the 1991 remake of Father of the Bride, the 1962 thriller Experiment in Terror, and Roger Moore trying to break his typecasting in 1980's ffolkes, or North Sea Hijack as it's known in its home country of Jolly Old England. I imagine I'll continue to go down the line in the movie review backlog next week, but I may have a surprise or two in store. Look for TWH as well. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 16:52:44
22 Feb 25
It's a good thing I already had this finished last time or else I doubt I would've had anything for you. It's time for Chapter 10 of RttW, where we dip our toes in the fascinating world of isekai finance. I'll have reviews for you tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 18:06:15
16 Feb 25
Do you hear the strains of "O Fortuna" rising in the background? We start our coverage with 1981's Excalibur, and then go on to my favorite Steven Seagal film (heh heh), Executive Decision. Next is the Ivan Reitman-directed Evolution, the original 1975 version of Escape to Witch Mountain, and lastly the William Holden film Executive Suite. Next week's reviews remain to be seen, but I can at least promise the next chapter of RttW. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 13:31:24
15 Feb 25
We're gearing up to begin our journey in Chapter 2 of CoP. Look for reviews tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 13:15:23
09 Feb 25
By just going through and plucking movies out of the review backlog, we end up with quite the eclectic mix. (No fun Flem(i/y)ng pileup like last week, unfortunately.) We'll go chronologically, starting with 1969's Easy Rider, followed by a movie every parent-to-be needs to see, David Lynch's Eraserhead, then the post-Python Terry Jones-directed Erik the Viking, actual cannibal Shia LeBeouf in the 2008 thriller Eagle Eye, and then the Sylvester Stallone/Arnold Schwarzenegger teamup film Escape Plan. I've got Tuesday off, so maybe I can get caught up on some anime viewing. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter of CoP up by Saturday as well. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 12:55:47
08 Feb 25
My little snow bunny was so happy about the snow this morning that she woke me up at 0600 to kick me out of bed because she wanted it for herself. Isn't she sweet? On to the main topic, we have Chapter 23 of TWH for you today. Look for reviews tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 14:47:20
02 Feb 25
Over the past week, I wasn't even keeping up with current anime, much less catching up on my backlog for review purposes. However, yesterday I did attend a 40th anniversary showing of The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? Back when I posted my review of Macross Frontier, I was going to go back and fill in the gaps of my coverage of the franchise, and maybe I'll pick that goal back up now. Am I ready for the goofiness of Macross 7 again? Are you? Anyway, moving on, we've got a movie directed by Victor Fleming in 1941's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Who and the Daleks by Gordon Flemyng, and Dr. No, based on a story by Ian Fleming. A lot of doctors and a lot of Flemings/Flemyngs and entirely coincidental, but there you go. And then there's James Cagney in Each Dawn I Die, which doesn't have any doctors or Flemings that I know of. I won't make any promises about what kind of reviews we'll have next week. Most likely more backlog movies. I just barely missed the deadline for that TWH chapter, so this weekend for sure. Surely. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 13:04:53
27 Jan 25
Here we are, eighteen years of Palidor Media. Last year was fairly eventful with the reconstruction of the site in Drupal followed by moving webhosts near the end of the year. EM3 wrapped and we now have CoP in its slot just now starting to build steam. Expect RttW to continue for the foreseeable future. Although the table of contents says 26 chapters, it'll likely be quite a bit longer than that by the time it ends, it should keep going through next year. As for TWH, I'd love to say we've moved past its history of delays, but we should temper our expectations. The best case scenario is that we could wrap things up around May or June. What comes after that remains to be seen. I could jump on The Penitent Priest as it's a direct prequel, but I might revisit the Gladius Cycle for one of the stories there. I'll have to think about it more. Naturally, there will be some hectic periods at work that'll gum up the works a bit, but I should at least be able to maintain the update schedule as well as the past year. Here's to me getting that chapter of TWH out by the weekend. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 05:05:52
26 Jan 25
First off is a couple more entries of Fall 2024 anime with Goodbye, Dragon Life and TsumaSho. For movie coverage, we have the 1935 Warren William film Don't Bet on Blondes, the Billy Wilder-directed Double Indemnity, Kelsey Grammer in Down Periscope and lastly, 2005's DOOM. We'll see if I can get caught up on anything else in the viewing backlog or if it'll just be movie stuff. We'll see if I can get the next chapter of TWH without any hiccups, but before that, tomorrow's the anniversary, so I'll be sure to drop in and speculate on where things are going this year. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 12:15:09
25 Jan 25
So here I am working to get Chapter 10 ready for today's deadline. I get the chapter finished and checked, then I get it coded up and ready to go and... The last chapter I posted for RttW was Chapter 8, which means that this week's chapter is Chapter 9. I suppose it doesn't hurt to have next cycle's chapter ready to go. Anyway, you enjoy the continuing adventures in the World and tomorrow we'll have a couple more Fall 2024 anime reviews and more for you. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 13:30:32
19 Jan 25
We've got more Fall 2024 anime for you this week in the form of Season 2 of Seirei Gensouki and You Are Ms. Servant, then a series from the summer season whose finale was delayed until December, Whisper Me a Love Song, and lastly another series that I just needed to catch the last couple eps, Quality Assurance in Another World. Next, we dig into the movie backlog with 1945's Dillinger, Dog Day Afternoon and Divergent. There are a few more Fall 2024 series I intend to finish before I start digging further back, so we'll see how many I can get together for next time. Also be on the lookout for the latest chapter of RttW (hopefully). Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 14:14:01
If you've been following the blog, you know there's been a little side project I started working on last year, and as I was writing on it a bit yesterday, I realized that I hadn't formally added it to the preproduction pipeline, so I'm doing that now. In the Fifth Empire cycle of the Cross Arc, I present you with Colony Flipper, a story of real estate and land development IN SPACE. It's an opportunity to do more of a ground-level story in the post-Skyfall era, so I'm looking forward to it. No idea when it'll enter production, but the more I write on it, the sooner its turn is likely to come up. I'll be working on the reviews later in the day, so be on the lookout for that. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 05:23:00
18 Jan 25
You can see how exhausted the mascot is after getting right down to the wire to present you with Chapter 1 of CoP. We get to meet our protagonist this time around and we'll be seeing more of her in action in the near future, so look forward to that. Look for more Fall 2024 anime reviews and more tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 17:49:49
12 Jan 25
After a fun-filled week of getting back into the swing of things at work and us having our first snow in this neck of the woods, I've done some catching up so I can deliver some more Fall 2024 anime coverage. We'll kick things off with the remake of Ranma 1/2 and follow it with Let This Grieving Soul Retire!, Demon Lord 2099, and The Healer Who Was Banished From His Party, Is, in Fact, the Strongest. For movie coverage, I just happened to stumble across an old family favorite, the spaghetti Western My Name is Nobody and then dipping into the backlog, we have a couple war films in the form of the Errol Flynn/Ronald Reagan teamup in Desperate Journey and the Richard Widmark film Destination Gobi. I'm going to try to continue to catch up on my viewing backlog and hopefully get at least two more weeks of coverage of the Fall 2024 season. I'm also going to try to get that chapter of CoP out. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 12:59:07
06 Jan 25
A belated Happy New Year to my dear readers. While I wasn't up for doing this update right after travelling for some 20+ hours, I did take today off for recovery and what better way to spend the day off than by looking back at some of the things I've seen over the break? First, you can thank my niece for the following: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Deadpool & Wolverine and Blades of Glory. Next, from my folks, the Taron Egerton film Carry-On, and lastly, on the airplane, the documentary Aliens: Expanded (which was preceded by rewatching Alien and Aliens). Because I promised some Fall 2024 anime last time, we also have Dandadan, my definite favorite of the season. I've got some catching up to do on other series, the few that I feel are actually worth finishing (as I largely considered this past season to be a bust). The Winter 2025 series are starting up, so I'll have those to check out as well, all while dealing with the joy of starting back up at work. Yay. For extra fun, I have to try to get that chapter of CoP ready for the weekend. We'll see what gets done. Stay tuned.
Posted by: JamesUTC 13:12:54