Pyewacket By Adam MacDonald.

What are my favorite Miyazaki/Ghibli films?

My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) and Spirited Away ( 千と千尋の神隠し).

"All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril." - Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Classics Illustrated #80. "White Fang" by Jack London.

Halloween (1978) by John Carpenter.

One of the greatest horror movies of all time. A genre supernova. Created a taxonomic category that still lives. Unsparing precision, a simple premise and style.

While the original Halloween may not be the first slasher movie, it is the film that set the groundwork for the genre and paved the way for all the other great slasher franchises like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. If you claim to be a horror fan and you haven't seen the original Halloween, first of all, shame on you. Second of all, watch it NOW. This one is required viewing.

Also, it is my personal opinion that John Carpenter's Halloween has the greatest opening scene in horror history.

Fun Fact:

Appearances can be deceiving. So whatever you do, do NOT mess with a kelpie. You're not gonna want to pay the price to escape.

A long time ago in Scotland, there was a string of disappearances. Nine children went missing, and no one knew who to blame. One day, a little boy was playing by the water where the children were said to have vanished when he saw a black horse emerge from the water dripping with every step it took towards him and sporting a mane made of kelp. The boy was fascinated and wanted to take the horse out for a ride, but when he stroked its nose, he realized his mistake. His finger was stuck to the beast, meaning this horse was actually a kelpie, a creature known for drowning and devouring anyone who dares to ride it. The kelpie started to pull the boy back towards the lake, but he refused to become its snack. Left with no other choice, he took out his pocketknife and chopped off his finger, allowing him to escape a watery grave.

Did you know that in Southeast Asian folklore there's a flying bat monkey hybrid that abducts children?

It's called the "Orang Bati" and it's described as being four to five feet tall with reddish skin, large black leathery wings and a long leathery tail. Said to inhabit the island of Seram in Indonesia, the Orang Bati is a nocturnal creature with a diet that mostly consists of small, adorable children who are easy to pick up and fly away with. It's raids take place in the darkness of night and before descending into the villages and cities that border it's territory, the airborne attacker will emit a shrill wail that warns any child who hears it that it's already too late to escape. The residents of Seram insist that the creature is a flying monkey, while outsiders have suggested it's more than likely a giant bat. However, some researchers have stated that physical descriptions (including the shrill wail it lets out before a hunt) match pterosaur physiology.

Fun Fact:

As much as I admire the legends of merfolk and swan maidens, we ought to give some spotlight to the selkies.

Selkie folk, also known as "seal folk", come from Norse and Celtic folklore. They're what's known as "therianthropes", meaning they can transform from human to animal at will. In the case of the selkie, this is done by shedding their seal skin. When in their human form, selkies are super attractive. Both males and females have humans chasing after them, if they're lucky enough to see them naked on the beach.

The stories about male selkies are pretty hilarious and usually entail them being the object of desire for bored housewives (they were essentially medieval pool boys), but the female selkies always had it rougher. Men would steal their seal skin so they couldn't change back to their natural form, then coerce them into marriage. And what's really tragic is that even if the selkie does marry the thief, falls in love with him and has his children, the moment that she rediscovers her hidden selkie skin, she abandons her family and makes her escape back to the ocean, because that is where she's truly meant to be.

La Belle et la Bête: journal d'un film (Beauty and the Beast: Diary of a Film) by Jean Cocteau.

A superb book about the making of a masterpiece.

EL OMBLIGO DE LA LUNA (Animated Short Film, 2023. Gobelins)

Merry Little Batman by Mike Roth.

Saw it and loved it!

The Ronald Searle-esque art style is amazing!!

An animated superhero film full of personality and genuine invention!!