SNACKSTUME

Rob Zombie ushered in the cast of the Munsters. Jeff Daniel Phillips, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Daniel Roebuck step into 1313 Mockingbird Lane.

Christmas is just around the corner. Quick Robin, to the Christmas-Bat Tree! DC Comics and Hallmark are releasing in October a new Batman Classic TV Series Christmas ornament.

The Shazam comic book series never took itself too seriously. The same could be said about the Shazam! movies. The sequel seems to be not too far from the first movie. Shazam! Fury of the Gods so far looks like it is a fun movie that will have moviegoers enjoying themselves once again.

I love the Penguin Classics series books. You will find some of humanity’s greatest books ever written. Comics have come a long way since Superman hopped over buildings in Metropolis. Marvel Comics is now deemed as classic literature by Penguin Classics. The first three books in the series, Black Panther, Captain America, and The Amazing Spider-Man will be published on June 14, 2022. These three books should be hot sellers for Penguin Books and perhaps pump new sales for both Penguin and Marvel.

I was lucky to see the groundbreaking series Smallville when it originally premiered on October 16, 2001. For ten years, Smallville’s adversarial showdown between Lex Luther and Clark Kent went back and forth. Viewers waited for Clark to become Superman as he secretly used his powers to help the citizens of Smallville. Along the way, Clark met a gamut of characters and actors from Superman lore from both movies and comic books. Smallville became the blueprint for Arrow and The Flash series on CW for years to come. Smallville: The Complete Series 20th Anniversary Edition is a great way to see the whole run of the classic series.

Prepare for the chill of a lifetime as the master of suspense, Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone), hosts every spine-tingling episode from the complete first season of Night Gallery. 

Barry Allan has been running for seven seasons and is not running out of speed yet. Season eight is around the corner and is running at full throttle. The Flash: The Complete Seventh Season was part of the Arrowverse and technically a spin-off series from Arrow. The Flash will be matching the Arrow series this year and outpacing Arrow with a 13 episode 9th season. The Flash always had a richer history in the comics to draw from. Season seven is no different, the show has settled on cruise control since season 4 with the same formula. Mirror Monarch plays a central role in the Mirrorverse storyline. The formula-driven Flash series will soon come to a halt. You can tune into The Flash on The CW every Tuesday night at 8:00 pm ET for new Season 8 episodes.

A new species of conodonts has just been discovered by a Danish/Swedish team of paleontologists. The fossil is around 469 million years old and was recovered from a succession of limestone in western Russia, rocks that once formed the seafloor sediments during the Ordovician Period. Because the species proved to be new to science, it had to be formally baptized with a unique Latin moniker. As all study authors are passionate hobby musicians and have long love affairs with the history of heavy rock music, they decided to honor one of heavy metal’s true pioneers — guitar legend Tony Iommi of BLACK SABBATH.

It has become a novelty act for many groups as of late to do a whole album of cover songs. Deep Purple has come full circle. Ian Gillan and Roger Glover who both were in Episode Six covered Arthur Lee’s Love song “Alone Again Or.” I am not surprised that the first song is “7 And 7 Is.” It’s a great selection of tunes on what is going to be perhaps the last official studio album for the group. Never say never. This is a great range of musical influences. Bob Dylan’s “Watching The River Flow” is a welcome surprise. This is a must for Deep Purple Fans.

Folks you might be seeing quite a lot of Squid Games costumes out for Halloween this year. The psychologically thrilling Korean drama — which premiered on September 17 is catching the world by surprise. Amazon and Etsy are selling non-sanctioned costumes. Most of the costumes are unisex, I am sure some sicko will come out with a sexy version of the Squid Games costume. Netflix fell asleep behind the wheel with this one. Better get one before Halloween gets here, shipping could be a problem if you do not watch out from where you are getting the costume.

It’s not every day an actor leaves a series after season one and gets replaced in season two with a completely different actor. Perhaps Darrin from Bewitched but that is a whole different story. Javicia Leslie who plays Batwoman in season two gives the character more meat to chew on. Caroline Dries, who developed the series returns season two of Batwoman gives us non-stop action once again. Batwoman is a fun series outside the Bat-Universe with all the same things you would expect in a superhero soap opera swashbuckling series. Some fans consider the series to be a self-serious superhero melodrama sprinkled with choreographed fighting scenes. If you want escapism from reality and inspirational hope, Batwoman: The Complete Second Season is your ticket to fun. Batwoman is in good hands with Javicia Leslie. The third season of Batwoman was announced in February 2021 and is set to premiere on The CW on October 13, 2021. Same bat-channel, same bat-time. This is a perfect way to binge-watch the series before season three begins.

Woody Gutherie has to be the most important lyrist in the history of music. His words have weight if you study the man and the times he grew up in. Kung-fu introduced me indirectly to Woody Guthrie through David Carradine’s “Bound for Glory.” Carradine channeled Gutherie’s life as no other actor has done for a musical artist. Nora Guthrie the daughter of Woody with the help of Robert Santelli has brilliantly captured the essence of one greatest musician. Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art, Words and Wisdom by Nora Guthrie and Robert Santelli collects some of Gutherie’s personal writings and scribbles. The book is graced with original Woody drawings and copies from the various copybooks of his lyrics that he jotted when he was alive. This is the most personal book on Woody Guthrie in book form. You get the see a passionate human fighting corruption in politics and big business with his music and various artistic extensions of his core believes. You don’t have to love Woody’s music. This testament to his legacy will surprise both and new and old fans. You can’t be more personal than this unless you talked to the man himself.