Book Review: Bowling With Corpses by M. Mignola et al.

Bowling With Corpses and Other Strange Tales form Lands Unknown written and drawn by Mike Mignola, colors by Dave Stewart, and letters by Clem Robins

This collection of tales by Mike Mignola is a mixture of borrowed stuff from other folklore and his own creations. Like many stories, characters start out as simple folk seeking a larger life, if they be the young lad who leaves hearth and home to bowl with the undead or the young woman who doesn't want to marry her father's apprentice and stay in the same blacksmith shop for the rest of her life (she goes on to be a pirate). The tales are very fanciful and follow the typical visual style of Mignola, with a lot of dark hues and odds bits where normally there would be white space. I found the volume very entertaining (I have much fondness for Mignola's style as a writer and artist) though not particularly deep. It's not meant as a profound exploration of human nature or history, so no worries!

Recommend, highly for Mignola fans like me.

Movie Review: Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)

Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025) directed by Gareth Edwards

Zora (Scarlett Johansson) is hired as security by a big-pharma guy (Rupert Friend) who promises to pay ten with six zeroes after it, so that motivates her to sign up for a dangerous trip. He wants to go to the forbidden tropical region and get some samples from larger Jurassic dinosaurs where they haven't died out yet. Their tissue samples, which need to be taken from live dinos, will help cure heart disease, so that motivates phrama-guy because of an even bigger payoff than ten with six zeroes. To recognize the right dinos, they bring on Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a paleontologist whose museum is closing because the general public has lost interesting dinosaurs. He's never seen the creatures in their own habitat, so that motivates him. They head off to an island that has three targeted mega-dinos, one in sea, one on land, and one in the air. They all join up with Captain Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), an old friend of Zora's who is willing to do dirty work. Meanwhile, a dad sailing with two daughters and the eldest daughter's boyfriend have their a transatlantic voyage interrupted by dino mayhem very near where Zora and company are located.

The set-up to the movie is not very convincing, a problem underlined by lackluster performances from the cast. Once they get to the tropical island, the action picks up and the performances get better. Edwards does a good job directing and has some exciting action sequences that are well paced.

The film relies on the formulaic plotting of other Jurassic movies. Zora and Henry have an on-going conversation about the morality of the big-pharma guy's plan and how it would be better if the heart disease cure would be available cheaply to everyone, so the scientific responsibility theme. The random ship with a family (including an eight-year old) adds imperiled child(ren), another staple of the series. Most of the dinosaurs are new, hybridized monstrosities that up the ante on terror and menace, something the movie hangs a lantern on by stating that this island was a research facility looking to make bigger, better, newer dinos for a public that was getting bored of seeing the same old ones. Do they mean the public in the movie's world or the viewer's world?

The movie ticks all the Jurassic trope boxes and has an entertaining second half. It is not much more than a summer B-movie with A-level special effects. I enjoyed it but wasn't wowed.

Mildly recommended--at this point, you probably know if you are "the audience" for this movie.

California 2025 Trip--Day Three

Day three of our California trip took us to a couple of different places.

I went and did some caching while everyone else visited a Google office, discovering a dino with a flamingo and finding other treats.

Neither dino nor flamingo is in good shape!

Getting your picture taken may not be a treat

We visited Shoreline with the historic Rengstorff House (which was not open for touring). The nearby lake and bit of San Francisco Bay provided nice walks.

Rengstorff House

The original owners bought a windmill from Montgomery Ward for less than $50 in the early 1900s. They had to put it together to irrigate their farm and home, but probably well worth it!

Water house and wind mill in the backyard

The shoreline...no, really!

We drove over to a local library to kill some time before meeting family at Stanford University for a picnic and some exploring.

Mitchell Park Library

On campus, our first stop was the Rodin Sculpture Garden to see some of the great works of Auguste Rodin.

Sign we were in the right place

Claude Lorrain stands up high

Orpheus

The family was cool enough to recreate Three Shades, the sculpture, in real life!

Three Shades become six!

Martyr

The star of the garden is a casting of The Gates of Hell, one of Rodin's masterpieces that incorporates The Thinker and Three Shades at the top. The Gates are flanked by statues of Adam and Eve.

The Gates of Hell

Adam

Eve

A Burgher of Calais and Jules Bastian Lepage were also immortalized by Rodin.

Burgher of Calais

Jean Bastian Lapage

Further in the campus, we saw their bell tower and the campus church.

Bell Tower and outer buildings

Church exterior

Inside was quiet and interesting.

Nave

Main altar

Organ

A fun thing about Stanford is that some of the fountains are okay for people to wade in! This fountain outside the bookstore was a favorite, though the student union had a deeper one that was more popular.

People allowed, not books

Smaller, deeper fountain

Trying to make a whirlpool

California 2025 Trip--Day Two

Here's some other stuff besides Mission San Jose that we saw on our second day in California...

While I was geocaching, the kids enjoyed a playground nearby.

Fun at a playground

We visited Pineapple King Bakery in Fremont near the Mission San Jose, though the cakes there were more pineapple-shaped than actual pineapple-flavored. I order the pineapple cream cake which had a cream filling with pineapple chunks (so definitely pineapple-flavored). Delicious!

A variety of cakes

We tried out omescape's Sorcerer's Sanctorum, an escape room that initially divided our group in two (we went with my brother-in-law and his family). As we proceeded through the Sanctorum's chambers, we were reunited. The puzzles had a good variety and we solved them in enough time to escape (53 minutes out of 60!). We were so happy, we went out for treats afterward (though we didn't get pictures of the yumminess).

Decorations at omescape

Our victory pose!

Posing by the poster

Mission San Jose, California

Mission San Jose is surprisingly not in San Jose, California. It's actually in Fremont, just north and east of the town named after him. A modern Saint Joseph's church has been built a few hundred feet away that serves as the parish for local Catholics.

The mission was founded on June 11, 1797, by Padre Fermin Francisco de Lasuen. It was the fourteenth of the twenty-one missions on the Camino. The 1809 church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1868. A Gothic-style church was built. In 1982, it was decided to rebuild the mission church based on records and drawings from the early nineteenth century, following the construction methods from 1809 and incorporating the decorations from the 1833-1840 refurbishment of the interior. 

Mission San Jose

The Camino Real (the road joining all the mission churches) had bells along the route between the missions to guide travelers. Those bells are recreated along Route 101 and a sample is on display just outside the mission church.

Example of the Camino bells

Most of the old mission has been turned into a pilgrim center and museum, showcasing period items and lifestyles. The first room talks about Saint Joseph, the patron of the mission, including some Nativity scenes.

A classical Nativity

A native interpretation of the Nativity

Saint Patrick

A typical Franciscan bedroom is on display, showing the simple lifestyle of the missionaries.

Bedroom

The next room has information about the Ohlone, the local tribe when the Franciscans arrived.

Ohlone village

Tool used by the locals

A carpenter's bench, since it's Saint Joseph's spot

At the end of the mission building is the Saint Joseph Chapel of Healing, a recent addition that features vestments and liturgical objects from the history of the mission.

Chapel of Healing nave

Altar with relics

Various processional items

Historic vestments

Back in the 1800s, parishioners could "subscribe" to a pew in the church. They would donate money and have a reserved seat. A display of pew labels tells the story.

Not necessarily reservation in Heaven

A vintage organ

The new church (where we went to Sunday Mass but didn't take pictures) has a recently-installed mural called The Wedding Feast of the Lamb: God's Dream for Humanity which features Jesus in the center flanked by saints from all over the world and all through time. It is quite impressive. A copy is in the museum.

Left side of the mural

Right side of the mural

The mission church is impressive in size and has a few items that survived from the original church.

Nave

Choir loft

The Ecce Homo side altar has a statue from the original adobe church. It shows Christ as Pilate presented Him to the crowds after He had been scourged. 

Ecce Homo altar

An elaborately-decorated side entrance

Our Lady's altar

The main altar includes a fifteenth-century statue of Saint Joseph and a painting of Jesus commissioned by Junipero Serra.

Main altar

Jesus

Bells used during Mass!

A door leads out the the mission cemetery.

Skull and crossbones exit sign?

Cemetery

A historic marker

A dry fountain

The main room of the visitor center includes a timeline of the missions' history.

Timeline

The regular church features a lot of interesting outdoor items. A long path has very large Stations of the Cross. A grotto has a statue of Saint Joseph the Worker.

Outdoor stations of the cross

Saint Joseph the Worker

The most interesting spot is the Dream Garden, with a large statue of Sleeping Saint Joseph. The work is inspired by how Saint Joseph was visited by angels in his dreams, telling him it was okay to marry Mary and instructing him to travel at a moment's notice. 

Dreaming saint and what the dreams made him do

The other side of the statue

A spot to leave prayer requests

Warning

This was the first of many missions that we visited on our trip.