(This is not a picture from the film “Happy Death Day”, Tim accidentally sent it to me as an attachment with his reviews. I wouldn’t read too much into it… I’m sure this girl is… fine. Yuuup, I bet she’s… she’s just fine… Fuck. Alright I’ll call the police. It should be me.)
Hey, guys
Paul here to introduce Tim’s kick ass review of the new horror movie “Happy Death Day”. Ignore all that stuff above and just listen to his GREAT review! Also available on ITunes:
This looks incredible. Black Panther is one of my favorite comic book characters and it looks like they’ve nailed it. Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) is an excellent director, so I think Marvel could have something pretty special on their hands here.
Wow, an X-Men horror movie. I’m there. Keeping superhero films fresh and different. Good stuff.
Hey guys, I just want to make a quick comment because this is the first time we’ve had him write an article for the site, but this is an excellent book review by Tim Cuff, who is of course my cohost on The World’s Best Podcast with Paul & Tim. Tim is a great writer and this is a great review. Enjoy!
– Paul
THE MAN FROM THE TRAIN Written by Bill James
(Reviewed by Tim Cuff)
If you’re familiar with Bill James, it’s more than likely because of baseball. He is the father of sabremetrics (basically, the use of statistics and analyzing real data to draw conclusions, as opposed to using gut feelings and eyeball observations). Anyone familiar with modern sports is aware of this word, a word that Bill James invented. Currently he is the Senior Advisor of Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox. Luckily for Paul, however, this review isn’t about baseball. Bill James and I have another passion, darker and less mainstream than baseball: serial killers.
Photo of Bill James
The Man from the Train deals with an extremely prolific (100+, yes not a typo, 100+ murders) serial killer that most of us have never heard of. This is mostly because he committed crimes in the early 1900s, which I will elaborate on in a later paragraph. His modus operandi is as follows: he would take a train to a random small town, find a house extremely close to the railroad tracks, find an axe on the family property, hide in a barn or other out building, break in through a window in the middle of the night, and kill the entire family while they slept (usually saving a young girl for last). Once completed he would hop back on the train, and would be hundreds of miles away by the time the bodies were discovered. He was methodical, vicious, but most importantly random. This randomness helped him in a time where there were no criminal profilers and no one had heard of the term “serial killer.” One small town would almost never hear the news from another small town 100 miles away, and it took many years for anyone to connect the murders.
Photo of an actual murder site taken shortly after the murders
The book focuses on two major aspects of his crimes: the crimes themselves, and the shockwaves resulting from the crimes. The former can be tough to read about. However Bill James makes no bones about it: this guy is a scumbag. James doesn’t try to get in his head, or imagine what it is like to be him, or speak about his methodology in almost admirable ways. James repeatedly states what a disgusting monster he is, and in an interview mentions he is “glad the sonofabitch is dead” as the publishing of this book would likely give him pleasure. But the Man from the Train wasn’t BTK or Zodiac. He didn’t want to be caught, he didn’t send taunting letters to the police; he just wanted to kill people. James doesn’t elaborate on the more ghastly parts of his crimes. He sort of glosses over the gory details, and more importantly he doesn’t discuss at length the sexual nature of the crimes (the killer seems to have a fascination with young girls I won’t go into here).
Photo from a logging camp. James believes the murderer was a logger, hence his propensity to use an axe.
Some of the more interesting parts of the book, however, are how society reacted in the early 1900s. Police investigations were extremely limited. A small town police force in Kansas from 100 years ago isn’t exactly chock full of Frank Pembletons (kudos to anyone who gets that reference). Most of the time local police would have to hire private investigators, who were for-profit detectives that could be anywhere from intelligent, to inept, to out-right conmen. In 1910 no one could seem to wrap their brain around the idea of a serial killer with no motive. Almost always a neighbor, or family member, or local nutcase, or local minority (almost always black) would instantly be blamed for the crime. Even when some of the murders finally were linked, police still searched for some sort of personal connection with at least one of the victims. Some of the resulting stories and trials following a murder are nothing short of ridiculous. Many people were imprisoned, executed, or lynched due to false accusations.
A rural police force
Most importantly, though not a spoiler, James (by his own admission) accidentally discovers who the killer is. James spent 7 years researching the crimes. He didn’t seek to write a book such as Jack the Ripper: Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell. That book was solely written for the purpose of solving Jack the Ripper. James had no intention he would be solving anything, until he discovers mistakes the killer made. Eventually working his way backwards he finds “the first crime,” a crime of a not-yet-experienced murderer. Mistakes were made, he was identified, and narrowly escaped the police. This escape unfortunately led to the deaths of 100 more people.
The downsides to this book, if there are any, is that it is quite long (I read it on a Kindle so it’s hard to tell, but I believe it’s over 400 pages). For a nonfiction book that can be quite a row to hoe. Reading about the 30th murder (almost all of the murders are discussed at length), for example, can be a little tedious. Eventually I felt, “Okay I get it. He killed this family too, in the exact same fashion. Let’s move on.”
If you are a fan of true crime, especially serial killers, or have a historic interest in our criminal justice system, I highly recommend this book. I admire James’s no-nonsense writing style. He will state his opinion and not be afraid to say, “This is my opinion, though I could not convince a skeptic of this.” It definitely is of a darker nature, and isn’t for everyone. If this isn’t the type of story for you, I recommend the more upbeat Curious George and the Birthday Surprise, for which I will have an upcoming review.
Hey guys,
When I started this blog I thought it would just be a fun way for me to write about things in pop culture that I’m passionate about. But thanks to my readers, friends, and family it grew into something more. Now we have Podcasts, videos, guest writers, and more! It’s been a lot of fun, but I felt it went beyond my personal blog. So I decided to change the name to World’s Best Media. As we continue to grow, I wanted a simple name that people could remember which holds everything we do under one umbrella. This won’t change anything for my subscribers, you’ll be getting the same content at the same web address. I appreciate all the support and hope you all continue to read, listen, and watch all the content we’ll be providing at World’s Best Media!
Thanks,
-Paul
Tonight was the Season 6 premiere of Arrow, the flagship show of The CW’s DC Universe. Season 5 of Arrow was by far one of the shows strongest with a deadly and vicious villain in Prometheus. A man who always seemed one step ahead of Oliver right until the very end. After the mess that was Season 4, the show smartly went back to basics, telling grounded, gritty stories (I feel like there’s a contingent that felt Season 3 was weak as well, which I don’t get because I thought it was great).
Anyway, this new season is a milestone for the show because they wrapped up the five years of flashbacks that showed us bratty, playboy Oliver Queen turned into the borderline psychopathic vigilante we see rescued in the Pilot. The show has come full circle. I’ve heard that the flashback won’t be gone completely. We may get flash forwards or flashbacks for other characters on the show. If this first episode is any indication, we should be in for another strong season of vigilante action from Arrow.
One of the big questions going into the premiere was: Who, if anyone, died in the explosion on Lian Yu in the Season 5 finale? I won’t spoil the answer here, I’ll just say you won’t be shedding any tears for the bombing victims. I suppose you could criticize the show for not making a risky choice by killing off a popular character, but I don’t really give a shit because I really like the characters who survived (2 of the survivors were spoiled over the summer when it was announced that Wild Dog and Dinah “Black Canary” Drake were being made series regulars). This episode saw the team facing down a familiar enemy and dropped a few clues at a larger game in play and we’ll have to see how this plays out.
The episode opens with a terrific action sequence that sets the tone for the quality of the episode going forward. Like the excellent VFX we see of The Flash, Arrow consistently has some of the best stunt work and fight choreography on TV. The opening action sequence and the highway fight that closes out the first act were big highlights. This is even more impressive when you consider that they only have a week to lock down these sequences for each episode. A show like Daredevil is shot more like a film which gives them more time to get stunt work and hand to hand combat down pat. So kudos to the Arrow stunt team once again.
DC comics fans like me always enjoy the cool Easter Eggs, big and small, on all of the CW DC shows. One of my personal favorites that we get to see throughout the episode are Curtis’ “T-Spheres”, the circular high tech drones that “Mr. Teriffic” uses for offense and defense in fights, data scanning, and hacking into other electronics (and it looks like they’ve received an upgrade this season).
( T-SPHERES!!!!!!)
The elephant in the room is that Oliver is a father, his adolescent son William living with him now. (This should be another big clue about who didn’t make it off the Lian Yu alive) It was nice to see Rosa, Oliver’s Russian nanny growing up who he had a special bond with, return to the show. I think this is the first time we’ve seen her since Season 1. Having her looking after William, much like she did for Oliver was a nice touch. I imagine being a Superhero/Mayor doesn’t leave a ton of Father/Son time available.
Characters like William can easily drag down a show like Arrow. The writers will have to be very careful how they use him. He’s only in a few scenes, but the sullen pre-teen act doesn’t help his cause. I can see myself wishing William will meet a tragic end in a short amount of time unless they do something unpredictable with him. If they do the whole “Father trying to win over the son he never knew he had shtick”, this isn’t gonna work. As of right now, my stance on William is that I hope he’ll be taken hostage by some psycho and join the long list of loved ones Oliver just couldn’t save.
(FUCK YOU, William! I don’t need you fuckin’ up my stories with your moody bullshit)
One very welcome return was Manu Bennet as Slade Wilson. It was great having him fight on Oliver’s side in the season finale last year and it looks like he’ll be sticking around for the foreseeable future. He was always one of the shows best characters, so it’s a real pleasure to see this “Not Bat Shit Crazy” version of Slade part of the series again.
(“Sure you killed my Mom and everything, but it’s all good Slade. You were on some hardcore drugs at the time.” Arrow: a show about forgiveness)
The episode ends on a pretty major cliffhanger which will have huge ramifications for the team and Oliver in particular. I’ve heard there will be multiple major villains this season including the great Micheal Emerson (Ben Linus from Lost). All in all this was a great season premiere that wrapped up the loose ends from last season’s finale and set up some interesting storylines for the season going forward. Unless some of the show’s minor issues turn into big problems, we should be in for another solid season of Arrow.
EPISODE SCORE: (with William) 8 out of 10
(without William) 9 out of 10
Thanks for reading!
-Paul
(I don’t know why I put this here. What to you think of the outfit? Stupid? Cool? Let me know in the comments)
Tonight was the much anticipated Season 4 premiere of The CW’s hit show The Flash. I love the “CW DC Universe”, The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, etc. and at certain points over the last 3 years, The Flash was my favorite out of all of these shows ( I’m not crazy about Supergirl, but I do watch it). The Season 4 premiere is a bigger deal than usual because after 2 amazing seasons, Season 3 of The Flash was a much weaker show than previous seasons. So a lot of the viewers, myself included, were tuning in to see if The Flash got his grove back. The answer is… too soon to tell. I think we need to see a few more episodes before we can determine if the show has improved significantly over Season 3 and so far all the pieces seem to be there for a return to form. Having said that, Episode 1 of this season “The Flash Reborn” had some big problems.
Last season ended with Barry trapped in The Speed Force, possibly forever. The Speed Force exists outside time and space, so for characters like Iris, Joe, Cisco, and Wally it’s only been 6 months, but to Barry, millennia could have gone by. Kid Flash and Vibe (Wally and Cisco respectively) with Iris running the team out of S.T.A.R. Labs, have been protecting the city in Barry’ absence. That is until Cisco finds away to get Barry out of his Speed Force prison, but there’s something wrong with Barry when he returns. His brain is scrambled from all that time in another reality. There’s a lot I’m leaving out, but that’s pretty much the set up of the episode.
I don’t necessarily have a problem with Barry being brought back so quickly. Barry made a lot of mistakes over the last few seasons and had a lot to answer for. So this was a good way to give Barry some redemption and give the show a clean slate going into this new season. I’ve heard this season will be lighter in tone, closer to Seasons 1 and 2. Season 3 was pretty dark and that’s more Arrow’s territory.
The main issue that hurt this episode was the writing. I understand that Barry is the star of the show and they need to find a way to bring him back, but this just feels like lazy writing. A new generic villain comes to town and demands “Bring me The Flash or I’ll destroy Central City!” Wally and Cisco should have this easily covered. In the comics, Barry sacrifices himself to the Speed Force in a famous DC story that the show has been hinting at since the Pilot, which was similar to last year’s finale. Following Barry’s absence in the comics, Wally was The Flash for decades of storytelling. Arguably becoming a better and more beloved Flash than Barry Allen. In those stories, he managed to protect the city all by himself. He didn’t have Cisco AKA Vibe, one of the most powerful meta-humans on the planet, backing him up. Not to mention what’s left of the S.T.A.R. Labs team and Joe and the CCPD. Wally and Cisco should wipe the floor with this D-list villain!
I love Barry and I’m happy too see Grant Gustin back playing the character, but it feels like the show put almost no effort into crafting a believable and compelling reason for the team to pull him out of the Speed Force.
By the end of the episode we’re introduced to what we’ve been told is the “Big Bad” for the season, The Thinker. I’m the biggest comic book geek you could find. I’m literally surrounded by comics as I’m writing this (many of them Flash comics) and even I had to look up who the fuck this guy was.
I was thrilled when the show runners announced the Big Bad for the season was not a speedster (one season too late in my opinion). Reverse-Flash: the first and the best, Zoom: damn near close to Thawne as the shows best villain, Savitar: started off very weak, but ended strong. The Flash has the best villains in the DC Universe besides Batman. We finally get a season without a speedster and the best they can do is The Thinker?
Here’s a scenario: In the comics, villains like Captain Cold and Weather Wizard are known as The Rogues. In the show and the comics, Captain Cold and Mirror Master are rivals for control of The Rogues. So far The Rogues that are still alive and in play on the show include Captain Cold (technically dead, but that hasn’t stopped him before), Heat Wave, Mirror Master, The Top, Weather Wizard, Golden Glider, The Trickster, Magenta, Tar Pit, Pied Piper, and Captan Boomerang, and much more. Have them each pick sides: Cold or Mirror Master and do a full on Rogue War! That would be amazing and definitely large enough of a threat to take up a whole season. It’s like a mob war with super powers. Hell, with Caitlin’s power set and her intimate knowledge of the team’s strengths and weaknesses she could be a Big Bad all on her own. Hopefully The Thinker will exceed my expectations and we’ll have a really cool new villain (they’re off to a bad start though with his cheesy faux-futuristic lair though).
Despite my issues with the season 4 premiere of The Flash, there were some great parts. First, I forgot how much I missed this show and how much fun it is watching all of these characters together again. Seeing Cisco, Joe, Iris, and Wally trying to take down meta-humans and protect the city brought a smile to my face. One of the shows biggest strengths has always been it’s excellent VFX and one scene in particular where Barry is chasing the Robot Samurai that has Iris hostage (what a ridiculous sentence) was exceptional even by this show’s high standards. Oh and before I forget to mention it, I really dig the new costume. I love how it evolves a little each season.
All criticisms aside, it’s great to have The Flash back, warts and all. It seems like they learned from some of last seasons mistakes and hopefully we’ll reach the heights of the first two seasons again. I know I’ll be watching. Because a weak episode of The Flash is still a whole hell of a lot of fun.
EPISODE SCORE: 7 out of 10
Thanks for reading !
-Paul
Hey, guys
Check out my review for Kingsman: The Golden Circle in this mini-podcast! Listen here or on iTunes:
Hey, guys
Today was the New York Comic Con and one of their biggest panels was a discussion with one of DC’s greatest writers, Geoff Johns about his epic new series Doomsday Clock which features characters from the classic graphic novel Watchmen, crossing over into the DC Universe. Some of you may be immediately turned off by that sentence, but give me a chance to make a case why I think this is going to be really cool. I have some great stuff here to get you excited for Doomsday Clock!
Below, I have all of the covers that have been released for the 12 issue series so far. Plus, a special sneak peek at the first six pages of issue number one which comes out in November. The art by Gary Frank is fantastic. One of the best in the business. I’m also using this opportunity to premiere a new mini podcast I’ll be doing from time to time where I talk exclusively about comics. I was so excited about Doomsday Clock,I figured this would be as good a time as any to finally start with a great topic to discuss. So, this first episode will be me talking about Doomsday Clock and why I think it’ll be pretty cool. It runs a little longer then these mini episodes will normally be, but that’s just because I had to plug some other things we’re working on. Now please enjoy your first look at Doomsday Clock and the first episode of “Paul Talks Comics” or I’ll come up with some other fucking title, who knows… You know what? Actually “Paul Talks Comics” blows as a title. I’ll figure something out, so stay tuned!
The Covers:
The First 6 Pages Of Doomsday Clock #1:
Note: I have a strong feeling that is not Walter Kovacs under that mask
The First Episode Of “Paul Talks Comics” ….it’s a working title:
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/12978818
As always thanks for reading and listening!
-Paul
Hey, guys
Paul, here. Darren Aronofsky is a fascinating director, responsible for such masterpieces as Requim for a Dream and The Wrestler. His new film “mother!” ( The exclamation point is part of the title) has been controversial more for it’s bizarre nature than anything truly extreme in the film. I haven’t seen it, but I was really interested to get a point of you on the film from somebody I trust. So we sent one of our best men, Mr. Timothy Cuff , into the field to review this controversial movie. Even if you have no intention of seeing the movie, this podcast is definitely fascinating and Tim explaining his point of view on the film is entertaining in and of itself. So please enjoy! Also available on iTunes:
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