This cover is from 1954. There’s a lot going on here.
Music Video of the Day: This Is Why We Ride by Body Count (2015, directed by Treach)
Body Count never gets the respect that it deserves. Though it may have started out as being Ice-T’s side project, it developed into an important band of its own.
This video was directed by actor and rapper Treach, who also directed three videos for his own group, Naughty by Nature.
Enjoy!
Late Night Retro Television Review: Pacific Blue 3.22 “Best Laid Plans”
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network! It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.
This week, season 3 comes to an end.
Episode 3.22 “Best Laid Plans”
(Dir by John B. Moranville, originally aired on April 19th, 1998)
Heh heh …. they said laid.
The third season finale of Pacific Blue finds everyone at a crossroads, almost as if the showrunners weren’t sure who would be back for the fourth season so they wanted to make sure that everyone had an excuse to leave. There’s a lot of personal drama in this episode and I guess it would be compelling if any of these people were the least bit likable or sympathetic.
Victor Del Toro is being investigated by Internal Affairs and he spends the majority of the episode telling people that he suspects that he’s going to lose his job.
Cory is dumped by her long-distance boyfriend and leaps into a new relationship with some guy she accidentally punched at a bar. (She was trying to hit his friend, who was being pretty obnoxious at the time.)
Chris takes a pregnancy test and it’s positive. TC asks her to marry him. Despite the fact that Chris was previously hoping TC would ask her to marry him, Chris says no because …. well, because Chris is the worst. No, actually, it’s because Chris doesn’t want TC to marry her just because he feels like he has to. Chris and TC have separate scenes where they imagine how wonderful it would be to have a baby and how annoying it will be once the baby grows up to be a bratty teenager. But then Chris finds out that it was a false positive.
Palermo, meanwhile, is burned out. He’s feeling old. He wants to do more than just look at crime scenes. Plus, he’s having sex with a 22 year-old (played by Saved By The Bell: The Next Class’s Sarah Lancaster) and he’d rather do that then go to work.
Sadly, Palermo does have to go to work. A gang of criminals is breaking into people’s home and carving letters on their foreheads. (The letters correspond to their last name — Edwards gets an E and so on.) It turns out that the leader of the gang blame Palermo for his mother’s death and is spelling out P-A-L-E-R-M-O. The bad guys are always one step ahead because a member of the gang (Ginny Shcrieber) is working as a receptionist at Pacific Blue headquarters. Do they not do background checks before hiring people?
Palermo does catch the guy, though only after several people have been permanently scarred. Once again, you have to wonder why the bike cops are the only people working these cases. Add that the end of the episode, Palermo announces he’s going to Italy.
That’s one down and four more to go! Who will be around for season 4?
We’ll find out next week!
Brad recommends STRANGER ON HORSEBACK (1955)!

I’m a big fan of westerns made in the 1940’s and 1950’s. I’m also a big fan of the writings of author Louis L’Amour. STRANGER ON HORSEBACK, a 1955 western based on a story by L’Amour, is a good example of why I love both, and it’s currently playing on Amazon Prime, HBOMAX, and Tubi.
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK opens on the traveling Circuit Judge Rick Thorne (Joel McCrea) as he rides his horse into a small western town that seems to be run by the Bannerman family. We hear his thoughts on western justice, and it goes something like this… “a judge needs three things to bring justice to this country; a law book, a horse and a gun. The further west he gets, the less he needs the book.” That’s a L’Amour line if I’ve ever heard one. As soon he gets into town, he finds out from Colonel Buck Streeter (John Carradine) that young Tom Bannerman (Kevin McCarthy) has gunned a local man down and Thorne is determined that the young man face trial for the killing. That doesn’t set too well with Tom’s dad Josiah Bannerman (John McIntire), who bluntly tells the judge that his son will not face trial for murder. After Thorne and the local Sheriff Nat Bell (Emile Meyer) arrest young Tom, it’s just a matter of time before Thorne has to take on the Bannerman clan and their hired guns. Meanwhile, Amy Lee Bannerman (Miroslava), Tom’s cousin, starts making some love moves on the judge. Is she truly falling for the righteous judge, or is she trying to save her cousin’s ass?
Director Jacques Tourneur (CAT PEOPLE, OUT OF THE PAST, WICHITA) has crafted an extremely economical, classic western. Clocking in at just 65 minutes, the story can’t afford to waste any time and gets right to the action. Joel McCrea is perfect as the morally impeccable judge who will face off against impossible odds to make sure young Tom Bannerman goes to trial for murder. Kevin McCarthy is the exact opposite as the arrogant, amoral killer whose family name has protected him all of his life. John McIntire, as the patriarch of the Bannerman family, is as tough as they come and nobody is going to tell him what to do, or hang his son. He’s not necessarily against his son hanging, but as he implies at one point, if anyone’s going to hang my son, it’s going to be me! And Miroslava is awfully cute as the Bannerman who ends up putting her feelings for the judge over the family name. Sadly, the actress would take her own life just after filming this movie.
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK was filmed in Sedona, AZ, which makes for a beautiful backdrop to this combination of western and legal thriller. The fact that McCrea is playing a judge rather than a sheriff is an interesting twist on the classic western story. His primary focus is to make sure Tom Bannerman gets his due process, but still faces a jury for his crimes, and he’ll do anything to make sure that happens. And it doesn’t take him very long to do it, because it felt like there should have been more movie when the words THE END flashed across the screen. I guess I was enjoying myself, because this 65 minute movie felt even shorter than you might expect!
Gentlemen With Guns (1946, directed by Sam Newfield)
In the old west, Billy Carson (Buster Crabbe) gets a letter from his old friend, Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John). Fuzzy writes that he’s in “a little trouble” and requests that Billy “mosey on over” if he has time. When Billy shows up at Fuzzy’s ranch, Fuzzy explains that Jim McAllister (Steve Derrell) wants his land and his water rights. McAllister not only his own gang but he’s got the sheriff in his pocket as well. When two of McAllister’s men show up at the ranch to try to force Fuzzy out, Billy is there to throw a punch in the defense of his good friend.
Billy is surprised to learn that Fuzzy is getting married to a woman that he’s never met for. Fuzzy gotten to know Matilda Boggs (Patricia Knox) only through the letters that they’ve exchanged as members of a lonely hearts club. By the time Matilda arrives in town, McAllister has already arranged for Fuzzy to be framed for murder and arrested. Fuzzy is sitting in jail, hoping that Billy can clear his name. Matilda is only after Fuzzy’s money and if they get married and Fuzzy gets hanged for murder or shot after breaking out jail to see her, that’ll just make it easier for her to get all of it. Billy can see through Matilda’s schemes but Fuzzy is blinded by love.
This was an interesting and engaging B-western. It had all the usual fist fights and horse chases that you expect to find in these films but there was also some unexpected emotional depth. Usually, Fuzzy was the just comedic sidekick in these movies. In this one, he’s not only facing the hangman’s noose but he’s also looking for love. Life gets lonely on the frontier. Buster Crabbe is his usual dependable and likable self. Buster always looked convincing throwing a punch and both he and Fuzzy get to throw a lot of them here.
For many, B-westerns like this will always be an acquired taste but, for fans of the genre, Gentlemen With Guns is a superior example.
Retro Television Review: Saved By The Bell: The New Class 1.12 “Tommy A”
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Saved By The Bell: The New Class, which ran on NBC from 1993 to 2o00. The show is currently on Prime.
It’s midterms!
Episode 1.12 “Tommy A”
(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 27th,1993)
Tommy D has got his driver’s license!
Everyone’s excited because Tommy’s father has promised to buy him a car and that means Tommy will be able to drive them everywhere. Keep in mind, no one is excited for Tommy. Instead, they’re just excited that they’re going to get a chauffeur who is too dumb to realize that he’s being taken advantage of. Consider this your reminder that the first season of Saved By The Bell: The New Class featured some of the least likable character to ever appear on a dopey teenage sitcom.
Uh-oh, Tommy’s father is concerned about Tommy’s terrible grades. He informs Tommy (and, for some reason, Mr. Belding) that, unless Tommy gets at least one A on his midterms, he won’t get his car.
The gang tries to come up with a class that Tommy could do well in. This is kind of dumb as it’s already been established that Tommy is an amazing mechanic and that he takes autoshop. He’s also a jock and therefore, he should do well in his physical education class. The gang, however, decides to get Tommy an A in his science class. Because the teacher grades on a curve, the gang tells the nerds in the class that they have the answers to the midterm and that they’ll signal which answer is correct by coughing. By giving the nerds the wrong answers, they’ll help Tommy get an A….
So, to be clear here …. I mean, what the Hell? Seriously, who comes up with a plan like this? Wouldn’t the teacher notice that there are a lot of extra students in the class on the day of the midterm and that they’re all coughing in unison? As well, it’s one thing to try to help Tommy pass. It’s another thing to try to make a bunch of other students fail. Not even Zack Morris would have gone that far. (As I’ve mentioned before, the first season of Saved By The Bell: The New Class has been oddly mean-spirited.)
It doesn’t matter, though. Tommy still flunks his science midterm. Now, he only has one chance left to get an A and it’s in …. ENGLISH!
Oh my God, how difficult is the English midterm going to be? Apparently, the entire grade will be determined by each student standing in front of the class and giving a one minute speech. What? What type of class is this?
Luckily, Scott and Weasel have a scheme. Weasel dresses up like a janitor and he convinces Mr. Snavely, the strict English teacher, that it would be dangerous to enter his classroom. Mr. Belding steps in to give and grade the English midterm. Scott figures that Belding will go easy on Tommy and Scott is right. Tommy speaks for less than a minute and basically says that everyone should just be themselves. Belding gives the speech an A. TOMMY’S GETTING A CAR!
And Megan realizes that she doesn’t have to play dumb to get boys to like her. That was the episode’s B-plot. It was pretty dumb and required Megan to behave in a way that was totally out-of-character.
Anyway, Tommy D is now Tommy A. He thanks his friends for helping him. Hey, Tommy, they just want a ride!
Next week, the first season ends!
Song of the Day: Maria, performed by the UNT One O’Clock Lab Band
Since today is San Jacinto Day, it seems appropriate that today’s song of the day should come from Texas!
Here is the University of North Texas’s One O’Clock Lab band performing Maria at the Addison Jazz Festival.
AMV of the Day: Legion of Monsters (Gēto: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri)

The “Legion of Monsters” AMV by KamikadzeAMVs absolutely rips, fusing Disturbed’s pounding, battle-ready sound with Gate’s modern-vs-fantasy spectacle. From the jump, the track’s aggressive rhythm locks perfectly with the visuals—gunships roaring overhead, tanks rolling through medieval battle lines, and dragons getting met with missile fire. The editing rides the music’s intensity, slamming into every beat drop and chorus so that each explosion and charge feels bigger, louder, and almost mythic in scale.
What really stands out is how the AMV frames the JSDF as an unstoppable force of nature. KamikadzeAMVs leans hard into the contrast between modern military precision and the chaos of a fantasy battlefield, turning every artillery strike and aerial assault into a show of overwhelming dominance. The pacing keeps escalating, building this sense that once the Gate opens, there’s no turning back—the modern world doesn’t just enter, it takes over.
At the same time, the title “Legion of Monsters” starts to shift in meaning as the video unfolds. At first, it points toward the creatures of the Special Region—dragons, armies, the unknown—but as the destruction ramps up, the label becomes ambiguous. The JSDF, with their advanced weapons and calculated tactics, begin to feel just as monstrous in their own right. By syncing the heaviest moments of the track with scenes of modern warfare tearing through a fantasy world, the AMV creates this hype-fueled tension where both sides embody the idea of “monsters,” making the spectacle feel even more intense and layered.
Song: Legion of Monsters by Disturbed
Anime: Gate (Gēto: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri)
Creator: KamikadzeAMV
Past AMVs of the Day
- Royalty (Solo Leveling)
- Here Comes Trouble (Various)
- Hide and Seek (Corpse Party)
- Crazy In The Night (Gakkou no Kaidan)
- Don’t Stop Believing (Various)
- Whatever It Takes (Spy x Family)
- Eye of the Storm (Gate: Thus the Japanese Self-Defense Force Fought…)
- Gods (Solo Leveling)
- Blinding Lights (Yofukashi no Uta)
- Down The Road (Cowboy Bebop)
- Lullaby (Corpse Party)
- Godzilla (Dragonball Z)
- Summer (Naruto Shippūden)
- This Is Halloween (Various)
- Horror Movies (Mieruko-chan)
- Don’t Let Me Down (High School of the Dead)
- Sweet But Psycho (High School of the Dead)
- Haunted House (Various)
- Shatter Me (The Irregular at Magic High School)
- Shatter Me (Fate/Stay night: Unlimited Blade Works)
- Time of Our Lives (Ace Attorney)
- Work Bitch (Kakegurui)
- Wake Me Up When September Ends (Various)
- Mother (Bleach)
- The Phoenix (Ace Attorney)
- Circus (Act Attorney)
- Space Oddity (Cowboy Bebop)
- This is Halloween (RWBY)
- Another (Scary Song)
- Sunako Nakahara (You’re So Creepy)
- Sarcasm (Corpse Party)
- This Is Halloween (Blood-C)
- Horror Movies (Satsuriku no Tenshi)
- The Test (Final Fantasy X)
- The Boxer (Midori No Hibi)
- Phobia (NHK ni Youkoso!)
- Galvanize (Bleach)
- Keep Hope Alive (Initial D)
- Want To Be My Soldier? (Hakuouki)
- Teeth (Scissor Seven)
- Shake It Off (Various)
- Miss Independent (Okami-San And Her Seven Companions)
- Trouble (Kill La Kill)
- Clint Eastwood (Soul Eater)
- Dracula No Innocence (Castlevania)
- Madness (Castlevania)
- Non-Stop (Ace Attorney)
- A Good Song Never Dies (Black Butler)
- Baby One More Time (Diabolik Lovers)
- Toxic (Kuroshitsuji)
- If U Seek Amy (Shiki)
- Gimme More (Kakegurui)
- 3 (Winx Club)
- Monster (Various)
- Blood/Water (Various)
- Panic Room (Various)
- Just Gold (Corpse Party)
- Tag, You’re In (Corpse Party)
- It’s My Life (Lady Oscar)
- You’ll Be In My Heart (my roommate is a cat)
- Jingle Bell Rock (Various)
- Secret (Another)
- Madness (Various)
- Dracula (Diabolik Lovers)
- Control (Various)
- Blood in the Water (Castlevania)
- Believer (Ace Attorney)
- Shatter Me (Vampire Knight)
- I’m Not A Vampire (Blood Lad)
- I’m Not A Vampire (Soul Eater)
- Shut Me Up (Soul Eater)
- Carry A Big Fist (One Punch Man)
- You Can Be King Again (Hotarubi no Mori e)
- Serve and Protect (Space Battleship Yamato 2199)
- Hey Brother (One Piece)
- This Is Halloween (Soul Eater)
- Leave Me Alone (Ace Attorney)
- Something For You (Sekirei)
- Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Ace Attorney)
- Brand New Day (Ace Attorney)
- Angel With Shotgun (Fairy Tail)
- I’m Strong (Re:Creators)
- I’m A Kitty Cat (Nichijou)
- Dazzling Inferno (Little Witch Academia)
- Children of the Grave (Gakkou Gurashi)
- Homura’s Seven Devils (Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica)
- Moonlight Requiem (Sailor Moon Crystal)
- Just Funkin’ Dandy (Space Dandy)
- Clarity (various)
- Skyfall (Cowboy Bebop, Fate/Zero)
- Chained (Princess Tutu)
- Breaking (Various)
- Another Fanny Service Video (Kemeko DX)
- Cosplay Bargain Bin (various)
- Can Can Pantsu (various)
- Warriors (Various)
- Sweet Dreams (Various)
- Carnivore (Tokyo Ghoul)
- Sweet Dreams (Another)
- Ship Happens (various)
- Evangelion 2.22 [Lights]
- Snowball Genocide (various)
- Iwatobi Weather Service (Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club and Attack On Titan)
- Otaku Paradise (various)
- The Breath of Spring (Bakemonogatari)
- Spiral Ascension (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)
- Strangers Like Us (Gargantia on the Verdorous Planet)
- The Gore Never Bothered Me Anyway (Elfen Lied)
- Valor (Kill la Kill)
- Time Falls Away (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0)
- Don’t Stop (Nichijou)
- Left Us Falling (Clannad and Clannad: After Story)
- Devil’s Game 2.0 (Puella Magi Madoka Magica Series and Films)
- Animegraphy 2013 (Various)
- See Who I Am (Various)
- Demons of the Past (Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail)
- Ride or Die (Redline)
- Yurei (Another, Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, Mirai Nikki)
- Bloody Ayase (Oreimo)
- The End of My World (Clannad/Clannad: After Story)
- Life Is Fantastic (Nichijou)
- Event (Nichijou)
- Star x Crossed (Romeo x Juliet)
- Protectors of the Earth (Shingeki no Kyojin)
- Let Them Eat Rei (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
- Sorry for being Hercule, Sincerely Mr. Satan (Dragonball Z)
- Fidelity (Wolf Children Ame and Yuki)
- Nothing to Lose (One Piece)
- Affective Schoolgirls (Nichijou)
- RadioAkshun (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
- Danger Zone (Macross Plus)
- Maid to Kill (Black Lagoon)
- A Thousand Years (Clannad/Toradora!)
- Careful What You Wish (Black Lagoon)
- Ash vs Gary (Pokemon)
- Just Can’t Get Enough (Bakemonogatari)
- Our Miracle (Sword Art Online)
- Dead End (Mirai Nikki)
- Am I Not Human? (Another)
- Moves Like Jagger (NSFW)
- Mayoi Calling Araragi (Bakemonogatari)
- Troll of Hearts (The World God Only Knows)
- Written in the Spirals (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)
- The Way You Are
- Means to an Endgame (Code Geass)
- Azumanga Daioh 1985
- Safety Dance (Nichijou)
- Cherry – Chronicles of PHOTOpanic
- Remember My Name
- Futuristic Lover (Bakemonogatari)
- Sexy and I Know It
- Everytime We Touch (Toradora!)
- War (Valkyria Chronicles)
- Hold On To That Feeling
- Disco Heaven
- Hands Up! (Dragonball/Z)
- A Little Late
- Sexy
- I Heart Tsundere
- The New Era (One Piece)
- Fairytale of Lies
- Calling
- Alchanum
- This Is War (One Piece)
- Move Along (One Piece)
- Party Rock (One Piece)
- Remember the Name (One Piece)
- Imagica
- Maya and Company
- Who’s That Chick?
- Just The Way You Are
- My First Kiss
- Death Romance
- Furor (Oreimo)
- Highschool of the Dead Game
- Kobato – Ring A Bell
- Devil’s Game
- Mahou Shoujo Requiem
- A Prelude to Dreams
- A Thousand Miles (Macross Frontier)
- Instinct
- Hold Me Now (Princess Tutu)
- The Beautiful People of Black Lagoon
- SugardanSen & Attack of the Otaku
- Fairy Tail Teenage Dream
- Repeat (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
- Toradora! Rough Love (Grow A Pear)
- Black Lagoon…To Be Loved
- This Is War (Fullmetal Alchemist)
- Danse De Raven
- Azumanga Daioh – Little Girls
- Something Fishy
- And Now, A Word From Our Sponsors
- Against All Odds (Macross Frontier)
- A Thousand Miles (Todaradora!)
- Toradora Fireflies
- Spinning Infinity
- Have You Got It In You?
- Azumanga Daioh Portal
Scenes That I Love: Bernie
Happy San Jacinto Day!
You can celebrate by watching my favorite scene from Richard Linklater’s Bernie! I really love this quick lesson about my home state:
By the way, that line about “Dallas snobs,” always got a big laugh from the audiences at the Dallas Angelika. It’s important to have a sense of humor.
Don’t worry, Vermont. You’ll learn how to laugh at yourself someday.
4 Shots From 4 Films: Another Special Texas Edition
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today is San Jacinto Day, which means that it is once again time for….
4 Shots From 4 Texas Films







