Book Review: Frankenstein Underground by Mike Mignola et al.

Frankenstein Underground story by Mike Mignola, art by Ben Stenbeck, colors by Dave Stewart, letters by Clem Robins

Frankenstein's monster is wandering around 1956 Mexico after his bout with Hellboy. He's been shot in the chest and wanders into some ancient ruins. He finds an old woman who heals him through magical powers of the ancient gods symbolized by the enormous statues in the ruins. Meanwhile, a French noble who deals in the arcane (he has one of *those* bookstores, if you know what I mean) wants to add the monster to his collection of odd beings. He sends one of his agents with strict instructions not to harm or kill the monster. In the fight, the old witch is mortally wounded and the monster is harmed, prompting the collector to suddenly summon back his agent. The monster cradles the dying witch in his arms. He asks her to heal herself but she cannot. He goes berserk and demands the gods around him heal her. He smashes up the statues, which collapse on top of him. Everything crashes through the ground, dropping into a subterranean world of horrors and remnants of the ancient Hyperborean civilization, where even more bizarre things happen.

The monster is an interesting character. Like many of Mignola's other semi-human beings (Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Roger the Homunculus), Frankenstein's monster is unsure of who he is and what his purpose is in the world. Mignola follows the basics of Mary Shelly's original but has moved in his own direction far beyond that story. The monster grapples with the questions like whether he is good or evil, can he find redemption for the killing he has done, is he human or just a thing, etc. He isn't quite smart enough to come to any conclusions. But at least he is trying.

The story also lets Mignola explore more of his Lovecraftian mythology. Other people's interest in the monster is tied to the ancient "golden people," who lived in Hyperborea (the warm and inviting paradise of the remote past that is now the arctic region). The Hyperboreans created the ancient monsters that have been plaguing Hellboy's world (similar to Lovecraft's elder gods) and built colonies inside the earth. The modern-day scientists in the story are interested in the monster as a being brought to life through the ancient Vril energy that created the earth and was used by the Hyperboreans. It is interesting to see the Hellboy/B.P.R.D. mythology developed further.

The art is classic Mignola style: dark with plenty of blacks and lovingly drawn weird details. I love his art style so that by itself makes this book fun to read.

Recommended highly more for Hellboy fans than Frankenstein fans.

Ellicott City Station Christmas Train Display 2015

The B&O Ellicott City Station has (or possibly had if you are reading this far into the future--the event runs till January 24, 2016) a Holiday Festival of Trains. We went on the first weekend and had a great time. Opening weekend featured a special guest, old Saint Nick!

B&O Ellicott City Station with halls decked for the Christmas season

Santa also had lollipops!

The caboose and the freight house only had external decorations but we visited them anyway.

Caboose with wreath, mother, and child

Only decoration on the freight house

The main show was in the central building, the Main Depot Building.

The Main Depot Building (with a bit of Main Street on the left)

The telegraph room and the main waiting rooms had several different sizes of trains and layouts.

Thomas zooming along a G-gauge track

O-gauge train in a simple lay out

HO-gauge on a fancy layout

The star of the exhibit is the massive LEGO model train set up the Washington DC Metropolitan Area LEGO Train Club. The display has multiple tracks with buttons on the outside for visitors to start and stop the trains. Some of the buttons make whistles blow or gates drop. This room was the most popular.

One side of the LEGO layout

View from the righthand corner of above (see the windmill again?)

Another corner shot of the layout

Spooky haunted house

The display includes models of the B&O Ellicott City Station and a bit of Main Street!

The freight house and the main depot

Corner of Maryland Ave and Main Street

The display is well worth the visit!

Book Review: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

The Well of Ascension: A Mistborn Novel by Brandon Sanderson

Picking up a year after the events of the first volume, this book shows what has become of the Final Empire. In the wake of the Lord Ruler's death in book one, political scholar and aristocratic fop Elend Venture has become the king of Luthadel, the central city of the Final Empire. Being well-read on political philosophy, he establishes an Assembly made up of equal parts from the nobility, the merchant class, and the worker class (known as Skaa). The Assembly shares in decision making with the king, though naturally differences of opinions rise. Elend manages it as best he can. It's hard to maintain control and give people freedom at the same time.

Meanwhile, Terrisman scholar Sazed is wandering the remains of the empire, teaching the people about the ancient religions (that was his research specialty) and researching ancient legends concerning the rise of the Lord Ruler. Since the Lord Ruler's death, the mists that cover their world have become stronger, lasting further into the morning and in some rare cases killing people. The rumors of death are hard to believe but Sazed gains some evidence on his travels. So maybe the Lord Ruler was holding something worse than himself in check while he lived. Things are getting out of control.

Mistborn action heroine Vin has also done some research, even though she grew up as a Skaa waif wandering from thieving group to thieving group. She becomes convinced she may be a new Hero of Ages, which is what the Lord Ruler thought he was before he went to the Well of Ascension and gained god-like powers. She thinks she must seek out the Well of Ascension and use the powers properly in order to undo the damage inflicted by the Lord Ruler and stop the Mists, which she believes are an embodiment of the Deepness, a force or creature that the Lord Ruler presumably vanquished when he took power at the Well of Ascension.

All of this is set up in the first fifty pages of the book. But before she sets out for the Well, there's the security of the capital to consider. Other kings want to conquer Luthadel and claim the Lord Ruler's throne (and the secret stash of atium (a metal used by Mistborn)). So the next five hundred pages go through a lot of political intrigue, battles, plot twists, and world building. Also, Vin's feelings for Elend aren't settled yet. They aren't sure they are right for each other but only time and definitive choices will get them together. They finally set out for the Well only to have more plot twists come up.

I enjoyed the main story in this book but did feel like it has a lot of side plots and action (the five hundred pages I mentioned) that don't ultimately contribute to the core story. Of course, they could be set-up for the end of the story in the next volume, which brings up another problem. This novel is the typical "part two" of a fantasy trilogy. In many fantasy trilogies, the first book is written as a stand alone story. If that story is successful, a sequel or two seems justified. Several trilogies I have read seem like the second and third books are really one long story broken over two volumes, rather than two stand alone novels. The end of book two has a big cliff-hanger that doesn't resolve the narrative satisfactorily, forcing the reader to get the next volume to finish the story. Happily, the Mistborn trilogy was written years ago, so I don't have to wait around for the next volume, which I will be starting soon.

At least I'm not caught in an ongoing cycle that may never end *cough*Game of Thrones*cough*.

Cathedral of Saint Paul, Minnesota

The first cathedral in Saint Paul, Minnesota, was a log cabin used by Bishop Joseph Cretin in 1851. A second cathedral was built that year but was still too small. In 1858 the third cathedral was built and remained in use until 1914. Then the current cathedral was built in the classical revival style.

Side exterior view of St. Paul's Cathedral

The front

The building is reminiscent of European cathedrals both outside and inside.

Nave

The main part of the church has a large dome supported by four corner pillars, each of which has a niche for a statue of an evangelist.

Dome

St. Mark

St. Luke

The main altar has an impressive baldachino just like St. Peters in Rome.

View of the sanctuary

The main altar

The baldachino

The dome over the main altar

Cathedra (bishop's chair)

There are a few side altars, the largest two being the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin and the Chapel of Saint Joseph.

Chapel of the Blessed Virgin

Chapel of Saint Joseph

Chapel of the Sacred Heart

In the Founder's Chapel is a copy of Michaelangelo's Pieta.

Pieta

The lower level has a museum (which was closed while we were visiting) and a few exhibits from the history of the cathedral.

Lintel from one of the earlier cathedrals

Bell used in the first three cathedrals

Archbishop John Ireland, who oversaw the construction of the current cathedral

A Lego version of the cathedral has been constructed and is displayed downstairs.

Lego Saint Paul's

Over the front entrance

We went out the front doors and discovered the cornerstone.

Cornerstone

Us at the front entrance

It was a windy day

The back of the cathedral (the chapter house?)

Movie Review: It Follows (2014)

It Follows (2014) written and directed by David Robert Mitchell

A good looking but otherwise average college girl is living a regular life. She hangs out with her friends, likes to swim, and has a new boyfriend. Things with the boyfriend are progressing typically, which means they have sex fairly soon. Right after they do it in the backseat of his car, he chloroforms her. When she wakes up tied to a wheel chair, he explains what's going on. He had sex with a girl before and she passed on this thing that has been stalking him. It takes human form and walks slowly toward its target. If it touches its target, that's the end for the target. The only way to pass the curse on to someone else is to have sex with them. To prove he isn't lying, they wait until the thing shows up. Anyone who is cursed can see it, but not anyone else. Then he takes her home and dumps her in the street.

Her friends come out and take care of her. The cops are called in but they can't find anything on the boyfriend. She leaves out the bit about the curse from the police report but does tell her friends. They try to help her deal with the situation. Things start falling apart when an old woman shows up on campus walking straight towards her without saying a thing. No one else sees the old woman, so that's really bad news. She roams from place to place and situation to situation trying to figure out how not to get killed.

The movie is an original horror flick. The premise is a nice twist on the "having sex will get you killed" trope in horror films. The only way to get rid of the killer is to have sex again, though even that isn't a guarantee, since if the killer gets someone, it reverts back to stalking the previous person. It's clearly a metaphor for the problems of promiscuity and sexually-transmitted diseases, but that takes a back seat to the continual terror of this inhuman force in human form that constantly appears and pursues the girl. Most every person is suspect and the only thing one can do is outrun it.

The movie's style enhances the relentless terror of the character. The score is reminiscent (in the best possible way) of John Carpenter and Vangelis. It's always noticeable and occasionally heavy-handed but is highly effective nonetheless. The music pairs well with the visual style. A lot of shots linger and pan around, as if the camera is trying to look everywhere. In many scenes, viewers get a glimpse of the "it" following her when she doesn't see it at first. The temptation is to shout at the screen, "Look behind you!" or "over to the side!" The atmosphere of the film is close to perfection.

Some bits of the story don't work as well. The characters don't seem very creative in trying to outrun or defeat the menace and occasional bits of CG look very CG, though they are rare. Unfortunately they come at the end of the film and stick out after an hour's worth of effective practical effects. Even so, these are relatively minor flaws in a fascinating and terrifying horror film.

Cute Kid Pix November 2015

Here's some pictures of the kids from November 2015 that didn't make their own blog post...

The toddler has been very interested in my phone. But let's be honest, he's interested in anything with a glowing screen. Happily, I have an old phone (the one I used in England that doesn't work here) that has satisfied him for the time being.

Whatcha got there, Daddy?

Can I try it?

Thanks!

The older kids built a fort in the back yard with some help from a favorite neighbor. It's big enough to fit them in, but when I tried to get in, I had to back out carefully to avoid taking the whole thing down over my head Sampson-style.

Back yard fort

Close up

We thought about using the fireplace for the first time in the season but the weather never got cold enough. The kids gathered pillows and blankets anyway to sack out by the hearth. They made plenty of funny faces for the camera.

Kids in every direction!

The toddler doesn't know which way is up!

A nice hug for big sister

Not so nice choke-hold for big sister