Saturday, November 30, 2019

Coweb aka Ninja Masters (2009)

Coweb aka Ninja Masters (2009)

Jiang Lui Xia starts work as a bodyguard only to have her charge kidnapping on her first day.

Not a good movie, and worse yet, a very frustrating one for the missed opportunities.  90s Hong Kong action mixed with modern direct to streaming editing and camerawork.  The DTS stuff points the camera at anything except the action to hide the fact that people are just waving their arms around.  Here, we see just enough to know that there was competent martial arts direction and stunt work somewhere, most just out of frame.

The whole thing is currently free with ads on YouTube.  There are no Ninjas.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Grand Funk Railroad - Into the Sun



Filmed at Pirate World by auteur Barry Mahon, the artist behind the Ice Cream Bunny

Friday, November 15, 2019

FF: Paperback Warrior

Eric and Tom at Paperback Warrior have put in a monumental effort covering men's adventure fiction, for the couple dozen of us out there who are into this kind of thing.  Their site, Paperback Warrior, has tons of reviews.  I'm deeply jealous of their output, but even more jealous that they have the time to read all this stuff.

In addition to covering the usual vigilante and war series books, they cover noir and westerns.

They run a weekly podcast, the only one on the subject I'm aware of.

They have a Facebook and Twitter presence as well, but mostly links back to their website.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

C.O.B.R.A. 2: Paris Kill-Ground by Joseph Rosenberger

C.O.B.R.A. 2
Paris Kill-Ground
by Joseph Rosenberger
1987, Critic's Choice



Jon Skul and his intergender team of operatives investigate the subjects of KGB blackmail, with scenes alternating between them planting bugs and murdering every cop in Paris.  Killing innocent bystanders in the name of anti-communism is a running theme in this series, and Rosenberger pulls out all the stops for this one.

Some variety in this one, with shootouts on the city streets, Parisian bars, during a boat chase, a car chase, and finally at an abandoned airstrip.  The goal, kind of, is to stop a KGB plot to assassinate a NATO general and frame the IRA.  Jon Skul and COBRA accomplish this by killing scores of French cops and special agents, mostly in the name of keeping a low profile, and framing Libya.

Rosenberger gets in a sex scene early on, continuing the budding romance with Deborah Miles we saw in the first book, but that angle is promptly forgotten.  There's an ounce of character development with Skul's drinking problem, but the other four agents are a blank slate.

Paperback from AbeBooks

Friday, November 8, 2019

FF: THE UNITED RONIN NETWORKS

I've been digging into the world of YouTube amateur audiobooks lately.  Personal tastes in speaking styles vary more than writing styles, I find.  Based on comments, some folks have very high standards for audio quality.  As long as nobody's strangling bats in the background, I'm usually good.

Ralph at The United Ronin Networks has been going through the Donald Goines bibliography.  I haven't listened to a full one yet, but his voice matches well with the material.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

The Accursed Tower - The Crusader 1 by John Cleve (Andrew Offutt)

The Accursed Tower
The Crusader 1
by John Cleve (Andrew Offutt)
1974 Dell

6602068

I was expecting some spicy historical fiction with a few sex scenes.  What I got was cover to cover ass porn with a little bit of historical fiction.

A young crusader Guy foils an assassination attempt on Richard the Lionhearted and becomes his squire and no-homo threesome partner.  There's a bit about spies and a tower siege which make for some good action, and sex scene make better padding than the usual political intrigue.

The sex scenes get rapier and more rectal as the book goes on, culminating in a traitor being tied up into a ball, having her vagina sewn up with sand, and butt raped to death by a whole battalion.  Pretty strong stuff for Dell, but historical fiction has always been a good cover for exploitation.

The whole series is available for Kindle from Amazon

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

TM Gallery: The Pit by Gene Church and Conrad D. Carnes


The Pit by Gene Church and Conrad D. Carnes
A group encounter defiled
in the interest of being sensitized to become better salesmen and leaders were beaten, whipped, jammed into coffins, forced to perform unnatural sex acts and, in several cases, crucified.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Epcot Preview Center



It says a lot about me that I'd probably enjoy the preview center more than the actual rides being previewed.  The video presentation looks amazing, despite it sounding like they hired the narrator from a YouTube ad about which foods doctors say you must not eat to avoid belly fat.

And I see that Rocket Raccoon has gone full Iago, interrupting the show to prove that Universe of Energy (Under New Management) is not your grandpa's roller coaster.

I want a house made out of the attraction posters, even if they are calling every restroom and water fountain its own pavilion.