TV Review: Red Iron Road (2022)

Red Iron Road An Animated Horror Anthology (2022) created by Aljosha Klimov and Iouri Stepanov

This anthology of animated horror shorts is based on several short stories by European authors.

VRDLK: Family of Vurdulak--Based on a story by Tolstoy, a wealthy and arrogant traveler in 1777 Serbia decides not to wait out a snowstorm when some monks beg him to seek shelter in their monastery for the night. He continues on through the forest until he comes to a cabin in the woods. That family also begs him to stay and he is initially reluctant. Then he sees the father's sister, a very attractive woman. But the family is barring the house for the night since their grandfather has not returned from his trip to the mountain. He gave specific instructions not to be allowed in if he doesn't come before the monastery bells chime eight. They do chime eight and then Grandpa shows up at the door demanding entry. Of course the traveler thinks they are superstitious nutcases but the father is very serious about defending the family from what has become of their patriarch. The show does a fine job representing the modern skepticism of the traveler, who turns out to be wrong many times but does not learn from his mistakes.

The Forest King--Based on a poem by Zuhkovsky, the tale is set in a not-too-distant future where virtual reality games are all kids want to play. A man's son is stuck in one called "The Forest King," which is really malware designed to take the consciousness of users and upload them to use as NPCs. The dad is desperate to detach the VR visor and headset but the dystopian society requires credits for everything. He's a non-conformist and resists becoming another cog in the socialist machine. That means he cannot easily use the system to his advantage or his son's safety. The story is a bit depressing but interesting. 

The Ratcatcher's Daughter--Based on a story by Alexander Grin, 1920s Petrograd is a dangerous place. In addition to the revolutionaries in the area, the city has an infestation of rats. The rat-catcher's daughter is wandering the streets at dusk and runs into one of the revolutionaries, a charming young man. He spouts his rhetoric at and shares his cigarette with her. The local police show up, trying to force everyone off the streets. When they start beating a small child, she throws her bag of books at the brute. The daughter and the revolutionary flee to an abandoned building. The police follow, forcing them to go into the basement where they discover a rat cult that is planning to massacre her father. She naturally wants to warn him. The revolutionary, who does not have much fortitude, is reluctant but he soldiers on. The story is a bit gory (gorier than the previous) and follows the narrative beats of the VRDLK at little too much.

The Undertaker--Based on a story by A. S. Pushkin, the tale is narrated by a very sarcastic and foul-mouthed individual who claims to have passed the story on to a famous writer. An undertaker starts his career as a grave digger in a small town. He falls in love with the local undertaker's daughter. He becomes an apprentice and marries the girl, which the undertaker is happy for since he just wants to retire. It seems like a happy life is in store, but the undertaker dies immediately, forcing his son-in-law to take over the business. His wife has twins and then dies. The twins grow up learning the family business and they move to a fashionable Moscow district where they don't really fit in. The story moves very quickly. The sarcastic humor suits the cliche of Russian bleakness and did make me laugh a few times. Otherwise, this is just mildly amusing.

Lord--Based on a story by Dmitry Tikhonov, a near-future landscape has been ravaged by global disease, conflict, and pestilence. People are living the "Mad Max" lifestyle, especially a group of men who have captured a "witch" whom they are taking back to their base. The driver of one vehicle is more sympathetic to the woman, thereby drawing the wrath of the "Lord" of the group. After subduing the rebel, the Lord decides to take a short cut through an impassible tunnel which proves to be very difficult. The story goes by very quickly and gets to an odd and unsatisfying ending.

No.8 Reporting--Based on a story by Dmitry Bykov, a future city is surrounded by a security wall. The government only allows special trains to leave the city. Getting tickets is not easy. Some journalists, including a news show personality and a college newspaper reporter, go on the trip to discover the truth about life outside of the walls. The reality turns out to be more horrible than they could imagine, which isn't too surprising given the overall premise of the series. It's another bleak look at what big government can and can't control and how it deals with both.

The series is clearly a Russian production, with authors centered around the former Soviet Union and locations in eastern Europe. The styles are all different. The VR story is a combination of hand-drawn animation and computer-animated narrative; The Undertaker uses fabric cut-outs for visuals. The variety suits the level of grimness in the tales. A lot of them are very grim and gory. My favorites were The Undertaker (a nice sense of cynical whimsy) and VRDLK (a classic-style horror tale). Overall, I was entertained if not amazed by the series.

Mildly recommended--this is probably of more interest to horror fans or Russian fiction fans.

Book Review: Dark Passages of the Bible by Matthew J. Ramage

Dark Passages of the Bible: Engaging Scripture with Benedict XVI & Thomas Aquinas by Matthew J. Ramage

Plenty of passages in the Bible are hard to square up with Christian beliefs in the twenty-first century. The most famous is Abraham nearly sacrificing his only son on the command of God, a seemingly senseless and cruel request. Plenty of other verses command or condone lying, murder, and full-scale genocide. How can these texts be inspired? How can they be reconciled with teachings like "turn the other cheek" (Matthew 5:39) or "love your enemies"(Matthew 5:44)? These problems draw a lot of contemporary interest. It has been grappled with through the years by a variety of theologians. And by "years" I mean three millennia of Judeo-Christian thought.

The classical solution is to look at the whole of Scripture and the spiritual meaning of passages. The enemies of the chosen people are metaphors for sins that should be cast away or destroyed without mercy. Isaac's sacrifice is clearly meant to foreshadow Christ's sacrifice. Often the literal sense of passages are ignored or twisted to make a theological point. Some of these interpretations are sublime; others are not very convincing.

With the advent of the historical-critical method in the 1800s and 1900s, bible scholars started looking at the historical contexts of the human authors, exploring why they would write what they did and how it compares to other ancient texts. The method allows thinkers to stay on a strict literal interpretation with clever guesses or conjecture about what the human authors meant and how they could and did contradict one another and future Christian teaching. The method stays at the human level, resulting in a lot of debunking or disbelief.

Pope Benedict XVI (the retired pope) has spent a lot of time and ink on the problem of the relationship between classical interpretations (what he calls "Method A" exegesis or analysis of scripture) and the works of the historical-critical method (what he calls "Method B" exegesis). Benedict acknowledges that both methods have flaws and strengths. He proposes a "Method C" to use the best of both approaches. Ramage explains all of this in the context of the more difficult passages of scripture, including issues like the conflicting evidence in the synoptic gospels and John's gospel about the date of Jesus's crucifixion. Benedict acknowledges the problem in his Jesus of Nazareth book covering Holy Week and offers suggestions to help resolve the difficulties. 

Ramage does a great job laying out the problems and the potential solutions. He also draws out how this idea of combining methods goes back at least as far as Saint Thomas Aquinas (who lived in the 1200s). Even though Aquinas didn't have historical-critical exegetes to deal with, he did see the tension between the literal and the spiritual understandings of scripture and made a lot of effort (similar to Benedict's) to reconcile the two. Ramage acknowledges that there are too many passages to deal with in just one book but his method, inspired by Benedict and Aquinas, is a great tool to have in developing a deeper understanding of the Bible as God's inspired word.

Highly recommended.

1st Beer Brewing

I started brewing a batch of beer at home using a brew kit from a couple of Christmases ago (thanks, Granny and Grandpa!).

The kit, from Northern Brewer, comes with just about everything needed to make a gallon or so of beer (ten bottles). This particular kit makes an Irish Red Ale. 

The first step is setting up and sanitizing the fermentor, charmingly named the "Little Big Mouth Bubbler." This fermentor has a spigot which needs installing. After my first install, I added water and discovered a leak. Emptying the plain water from the fermentor, I reversed the gaskets on the spigot and got a perfect seal. With a gallon of warm water in the fermentor, I added a pouch of cleanser (sanitation is very important in brewing), stirred, and sealed the container. Also, I marked the level of the water as per the brewing instructions (the mark will be important later).

Sanitizing the fermentor

The gallon level

The kit does not come with a two-gallon pot but we had one in storage that was easy to clean. Into that, a gallon of cool water is added and put on medium heat on the stove. 

Water ready to boil

Then I added the grains (just called Irish Red Ale, so literally a mixed bag) to a mesh bag, tied the end of the bag shut, and steeped the grains in the slowly warming water. After twenty minutes, I took the bag out and let it drip. I tossed the bag in the compost and turned the heat to high so the brew would boil.

Mesh bag and grains

Starting to steep

Just about done

Ready for the next stage in its lifecycle

After boiling, I took it off the heat to add in a pound of Amber Dried Malt Extract. Stirring to dissolve it into the brew, I now had wort, the term used to describe unfermented beer. The pot went back on the stove to return to a rolling boil. That's a bit tricky since I had to figure out the right setting to keep it from boiling over. With a little trial and error, I discovered 5.5 on the dial kept the wort boiling without making a huge head of foam that would spill out of the pot. I added seven grams of Willamette hops to the brew and let it boil for 45 minutes.

Next ingredients

Malted

What the hops look like

Adding hops

While I was waiting, I got some other bits ready for sanitizing: the rubber stopper, the airlock, a pair of scissors (not included in the kit), and the yeast packet. I put them all in a Tupperware bin that would get the cleansing solution from the fermentor. At this point, I discovered a potential problem.

Can you spot the problem?

The yeast was long expired. It was too late to run out to the store and I did not have the nerve to try bread yeast (the only other yeast in the house), so I decided to use the packet anyway. I guess I should have brewed when I first got the kit!

Once the 45 minutes finished, I turned off the heat and covered the pot. I moved it to the sink where I added cold water and ice to cool the wort. With a 30-minute cool-down timer going, I decontaminated the other equipment.

Wort ready to go in the sink

Ice ready to go in the sink

Happy combo

After swirling the cleanser around in the fermentor, I added enough liquid to the Tupperware to cover (and sanitize) the next tools I would use. The rest of the solution I poured down another sink since the kitchen sink had the wort.

Sanitizing instruments

After 30 minutes of cooling, I poured the wort into the fermentor. The idea is to pour it carefully so that none of the solids in the pot wind up in the fermentor. Since this project was a one-person job, I did not get a picture of myself pouring the wort! I did realize that the "solids" were very small and eventually used a strainer (which I had dipped in the cleanser) to pour the last bit. After the wort was in, I filled the fermentor up to the one-gallon line with cold water from the tap (using a measuring cup that had also gone through the cleanser!).

Straining and adding more water

At this point I pitched the expired yeast into the wort and hoped for the best.

Yeast on the top of the wort

The next step was securing the lid of the fermentor and adding the airlock. The rubber stopper and a small valve system lets excess gas out of the fermentor without letting air in--it's a way both to keep the inside sanitized and to prevent the fermentor from exploding.

The final setup

I moved the fermentor to the basement since it is supposed to be in a temperature-controlled environment (65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit) away from sunlight. The laundry room has plenty of space!

Home for two weeks

Discussing the yeast situation with my family, someone asked if I could just pitch some new yeast in. The next day, I went to the local home brewing store and talked to the guy. He said that would work fine and recommended a substitute yeast.

New yeast

Second pitching

The brewing process for this kit took me 2.5 to 3 hours (not counting the extra time to get new yeast and re-pitching it). Then the 14-day wait started for fermentation to peak. More in a future post!

Book Review: The Nameless City Book Two by Faith Erin Hicks

The Stone Heart: The Nameless City Book Two written and drawn by Faith Erin Hicks and colored by Jordie Bellaire

See my review of Book One here.

Having averted an assassination, you'd think our heroes could rest on their laurels, but that is not to be. While Kaidu's dad is working on a peace treaty to avert a war, other forces are looking forward to war. One faction wants to rob the Stone Heart, a monastery at the middle of the Nameless City. The monastery has an extensive library, including an ancient book from the founders of the city. The book describes the power they used to create a hole in the mountain range allowing the River of Lives to connect to the sea, thereby making the Nameless City a key trade route. The book is written in an ancient, forgotten language. But the power is so tempting, the bad guys are willing to do too much to get what they want. The power would certainly make them win the war.

The story expands a little bit, following different threads leading our characters into conflict. The political intrigue creates interesting stakes for the people and leaves the story with a tough situation for the heroes. The art is just as good as the storytelling. The narrative continues into a third volume, which I will surely read.

Recommended.

Book Review: Hellboy Vol. 10 by M. Mignola et al.

Hellboy Volume 10: The Crooked Man and Others written by Mike Mignola and Joshua Dysart, art by Richard Corben, Duncan Fegredo, Jason Shawn Alexander, and Mike Mignola

A volume of four Hellboy adventures, including the one featured in the new movie!

The Crooked Man--Hellboy is wandering through 1950s Appalachia and comes across a young woman cursed by a local witch. A local who has recently returned from his own wanderings, Tom Ferrell, helps Hellboy hunt down the witch. Tom has some significant backstory that leads into a lot of other discoveries on the mountain primeval. The story is very creepy and full of folklore from the region. Corben's art gives it a distinct, rural flavor that adds to the starkness of the situations and the horror. I liked this a lot. It's a favorite story of Mignola's, so it's natural to see it winding up in a movie version.

They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships--Hellboy investigates the rediscovery of Blackbeard's skull from one angle while Abe Sapien pursues the object from another angle. Blackbeard died of decapitation and his head was taken off to other places while his body (or at least the ghost of his body) searches the Outer Banks seashore for its missing top. The story packs in a bit of history and captures the vividness of Blackbeard's character. This was another enjoyable little chiller, using its two main protagonists well.

In the Chapel of Moloch--Hellboy travels to 1990s Portugal to investigate an artist who has stopped returning calls to his art dealer. The artist has been working in an old house with an attached chapel where he has worked at his paintings by candlelight. Unfortunately, he's switched over to sculpting and has crafted a gigantic statue of Moloch, an ancient monster-god, in the midst of his other works. Things go bump in the night and Hellboy is there to bump back. The tale is fairly simple and the art (by Mignola) very atmospheric.

The Mole--Hellboy is playing cards with some English ghosts when they notice a mole on Hellboy's normal hand. Of course the mole is not just a regular growth. It's an extremely odd growth that yields some weird stuff when it pops. The situation makes an interesting moment of horror for Hellboy himself rather than for someone he is helping. The narrative is very short but an enjoyable little scene.

This volume has a lot of good tales, with the title story being the best.

Highly recommended. 

Movie Review: Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024)

Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024) co-written and directed by Brian Taylor

Based on Hellboy creator Mike Mignola's favorite comic book story (the movie's script was co-written by Mignola too), the story is set in 1950s Appalachia. Hellboy (Jack Kesy) and Agent Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph) are lost after the cargo they were transporting on a train knocked the box car off the tracks. The cargo is a giant, possessed spider that was sedated. Somehow it woke up and went crazy. Hellboy blames the mountains...he can feel the fear and evil in the trees, in the dirt, in the rocks. They wander around the mountainside until they find a house. The mother there recognizes Hellboy from a Life magazine article, so she doesn't freak out. She's a little less sympathetic with Song who is of Asian descent. They come inside the shack and discover a boy unconscious on the floor. The locals know what the trouble is. The child was taunting a local witch, Cora Fisher (Hannah Margetson), so she's hexed him. A long lost local, Tom Ferrell (Jefferson White), shows up and finds a witch ball on the front porch. That's the source of the boy's malady, so Hellboy tells them how to unwitch the child. Tom says he's come back to confront his past. Tom had made a deal with another witch, Effie Kolb (Leah McNamara), who is beholden to The Crooked Man. Tom owes his soul to The Crooked Man. According to legend, he was a war profiteer during the American Civil War who was hung for his crimes but still haunts the mountains, getting a penny for every soul he gathers into Hell. Hellboy and Song join Tom on his quest since there aren't any payphones (or even electricity) around and she wants more field experience. This trip is her first time away from the research part of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. More creepy things happen along the way.

The movie makes the most of a small budget. The Hellboy make-up is not that great but convincing enough. I got used to it very quickly. Some bits of CGI are not too convincing but the instances are fairly rare. Most of the effects look practical and lend to the backwoods horror atmosphere. The music is a little too on-the-nose at times, like they are following the standard tropes of horror cinema scores. The plot is good with interesting developments and the unveiling of information slowly and steadily. The actors are all good with some occasional accents that are laid on too thick. Kesy has the gruffness and down-to-earth quality of Hellboy. The comedic one liners (in the story to break the tension--this is not a comedy) are hit and miss. I would not mind seeing Kesy again as Hellboy.

Overall, I enjoyed this as a low-budget horror film with a favorite character of mine. Since the main character is a demon/man hybrid, it's a tall order to make it look good. They made the most of what they had, using shadows and darkness to convey a menacing atmosphere. It is surely more enjoyable than the last reboot for Hellboy.

Recommended for Hellboy fans.

This did not get a theatrical release in the USA but is available for streaming on various platforms.

Pumpkin Beers 2024

See last year's samplings here!

The stores are full of seasonal flavors including the ubiquitous pumpkin spice. The liquor store is no exception to this flavor contagion. Here are some pumpkin-based beers that I tried this year...

Caramel Pumking Imperial Pumpkin Ale (8.6 percent alcohol by volume) by Southern Tier Brewing Company, Lakewood, New York--The label had no write up but the web site says, "The King’s magical court flourished with the alluring addition of Caramel Pumking. Savor the magical aroma of spiced pumpkin pie as it unites with the sweet enchantment of caramel in each sip. No matter how you celebrate the season, this brew is sure to leave you spellbound." The beer has a light copper color and a hint of fine aroma. There's a bit of the bitterness hinted at by the "IPA" initials (regular reader may remember my distaste for the typical IPA--India Pale Ale). This beer is not so harsh. The pumpkin notes are delicate and the caramel is not noticeable enough to register. The brewer has some other Pumpkin ales with different emphases, maybe the caramel would come out by contrast to the others. Alas, I did not get the others and I am not impressed enough with this brew to give them a try. Caramel Pumking is not bad but it is not outstanding.

Jacques Au Lantern Belgian Style Pumpkin Ale (6.3 percent alcohol by volume) by Evolution Craft Brewing Company, Salisbury, Maryland--A repeat from last year, this pumpkin-colored ale has a bit of the sourness of a sour ale with a light pumpkin flavor. I associate pumpkins with sweetness, so it does a good job making the sour ale something different. This beer isn't terrible but it is not satisfying to me. The fun name suggests some Frenchness that isn't there either. I guess I am a sucker for a cute or fun name, as the next beer clearly demonstrates...

Roadsmary's Baby Pumpkin Ale (6.8 percent alcohol by volume) by Two Roads Brewing Company, Stratford, Connecticut--The very entertaining label (which suits the very entertaining name) calls this a "Pumpkin Ale brewed with spices and aged in rum barrels with vanilla beans." It has a dark copper color that goes with the dark title. The pumpkin flavor is subtle; the spices are subtle; the vanilla is almost undetectable; the rum-barrel flavor just isn't there. I found this very surprising. It tastes a lot like a standard pumpkin ale with just a few subtle notes. This beer doesn't taste bad but it doesn't live up to its name or its label description. I hope I remember well enough not to buy this for next year's pumpkin beer tasting.

The Great'er Pumpkin Pumpkin Ale (10 percent alcohol by volume) by Heavy Seas Beer, Baltimore, Maryland--A repeat from last year, the label says, "As fall approaches and thoughts turn to Halloween, we roll out The Great'er Pumpkin. A copper ale with notes of vanilla, oak, pumpkin and flavors of autumnal spice." That description leaves out a key fact elsewhere on the label: "Aged in Bourbon Barrels"! I am a sucker for barrel-aging and this brew does not disappoint (unlike the previous beer). Like other beers on this list, the pumpkin flavor is not very strong. But it is there along with the hint of spiceness. Those flavors blend well with the bourbon notes added from the cask aging. I like this a lot, just like I did last year. 

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale (8 per cent alcohol by volume) by Weyerbacher Brewing Company, Easton, Pennsylvania--The label modestly announces, "Ale brewed with pumpkin and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon, cloves." Weyerbacher is a favorite brewer for their Merry Monks Tripel, a delightful Belgium-style beer. This slightly sour ale has a nice pumpkin flavor that is very welcome and inviting. There's no razzle-dazzle, just a straight-forward coppery ale with a flavor of the season. I wouldn't drink this all the time but it's a nice taste of the season, like egg nog will be in a few months (even if it is already in the stores). 

Lancaster Baked Pumpkin Ale (7.5 per cent alcohol by volume) by Lancaster Brewing Company, Lancaster, Pennsylvania--Another humble label that says it's an "Ale brewed with pumpkin, spices and natural flavor." This ale has a lot of the pumpkin color, like a copper that is almost orange. Like others, the pumpkin flavor is very light. The spices are also light at the start though they kick in with the aftertaste more. This is another nice, seasonal brew that is satisfying in September and October. Maybe it will make it to Thanksgiving in late November. It definitely has that "comfort food" feel like pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Oatmeal Stout (6 per cent alcohol by volume) by Fat Orange Cat Brew Company (no functioning web site!), North Haven, Connecticut--The only description on the label is "Oatmeal Stout with Pumpkin Spice & Coffee." On the other hand, the label does a good job looking like a coffee shop to-go cup. The stout definitely looks like a stout--no copper coloring here! It's as black as a Halloween cat (or straight coffee). The flavor is dominated by the coffee (at least, that is all I can taste). I can almost taste some pumpkin but not really. I guess if you love the flavor of coffee this is a treat, but when I want a beer, I want a beer flavor somewhere in the mix.

I guess it's another year for Great'er Pumpkin--that's the six-pack I would buy from this group.