Lisa’s Week In Review: 8/3/20 — 8/9/20


Season 22 of Big Brother started this week and with it, my summer job of covering the show for the Big Brother Blog!  So, I didn’t watch as many movies as usual this week.  Nor did I review as many …. well, actually, I didn’t review anything.  It’s been a while since that’s happened.  However, I have a lot of reviews scheduled to go for next week so yay!

Anyway, forgive the rambling intro …. here’s what I did this week:

Shock (1977, dir by Mario Bava)

 

Films I Watched:

  1. Charge Over You (2012)
  2. Countdown to Looking Glass (1984)
  3. Crowhaven Farm (1970)
  4. Giant (1956)
  5. Insignificance (1985)
  6. Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret (2013)
  7. Shock (1977)
  8. Top Gun (1986)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Bar Rescue
  2. Big Brother 22
  3. The Bold and the Beautiful
  4. Days of our Lives
  5. Doctor Phil
  6. Dragnet
  7. Fear They Neighbor
  8. General Hospital
  9. It’s A Living
  10. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  11. The Love Boat
  12. Masterchef
  13. The Office
  14. Paranormal Survivor
  15. The Powers of Matthew Star
  16. See No Evil
  17. The Simpsons
  18. World’s Most Wanted
  19. The Young and the Restless

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Ami
  2. Britney Spears
  3. Chris Zabriskie
  4. Daft Punk
  5. Elle King
  6. Ennio Morricone
  7. Jessica Simpson
  8. Lam Gallagher
  9. Libra
  10. Lou Reed
  11. Phantogram
  12. The Psychedelic Furs
  13. Pulp
  14. Saint Motel
  15. Selena Gomez
  16. Skrillex
  17. Taylor Swift
  18. Tegan and Sara
  19. The Ting Tings
  20. The View

Our Tribute To Morricone:

  1. Main Theme From A Fistful of Dollars (A Fistful of Dollars)
  2. Main Theme From For A Few Dollars More (For A Few Dollars More)
  3. Gui La Tesa (Duck, You Sucker!)
  4. Malena (Malena)
  5. Chi l’ha vista morire? (Who Saw Her Die?)
  6. Neve (The Hateful Eight)
  7. Final Theme From Cinema Paradiso (Cinema Paradiso)

Links From The Site:

  1. Along with my Morricone tribute, I shared a music video from Ami.
  2. Erin shared the Covers of Action Stories, along with Tip on a Dead Jockey, Big City Nurse, Like Crazy, Passionately Yours Eve, Whisper, Collier’s and Spicy Mystery!
  3. Jeff shared music videos from Bon Jovi, Madness, Grateful Dead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Squeeze and Metallica!  He reviewed Snatched, The Hanged Man, Cotter, The Airzone Solution, Boulevard, Dream’s Ashes, and The Rise and Fall of a White Collar Hooligan!
  4. Val reviewed 365 Days and shared 4 Shots From 4 Films!
  5. Ryan reviewed Micky, Ghouls, Mondo Groovy, and Mondo Groovy Horrorshow!

More From Us:

  1. I reviewed Big Brother for the Big Brother Blog!
  2. On my music site, I shared songs from Jessica Simpson, Skrillex, Tegan and Sara, Liam Gallagher, The View, The Psychedelic Furs, and Chris Zabriskie!
  3. On her photography site, Erin shared: Walking, Ahead, Fields of Green, Rain, End of the Street, Alley, and Modelo!
  4. Ryan has a patreon!  Consider subscribing!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

 

Lisa’s Week In Review: 7/27/20 — 8/2/20


The important thing, for me, is that I got my car inspected and paid the registration fee this week.  I hate having to do stuff like that and I resent the inconvenience.  But I got it done and now …. well, now, I guess I’ll just spend the rest of 2020 sitting on my couch and ordering stuff off of Amazon.

Seriously, the world’s just kind of standing still right now.

Anyway, here’s what I watched and read this week!

Films I Watched:

  1. Adopted in Danger (2020)
  2. Baby Monitor Murders (2020)
  3. The Black Castle (1952)
  4. The Comic (1969)
  5. The Crazies (2010)
  6. Deadly Daughter Switch (2020)
  7. The Encounter (2010)
  8. Engaged to a Psycho (2020)
  9. Enter Laughing (1967)
  10. Gotti (2018)
  11. Radioactive (2020)
  12. The Thin Man (1934)
  13. Tread (2020)
  14. The World, The Flesh, and The Devil (1959)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. 9-1-1
  2. 9-1-1: Lone Star
  3. The Alienist
  4. The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever!
  5. Bar Rescue
  6. Community
  7. Cults and Extreme Beliefs
  8. Daily Mail TV
  9. Degrassi
  10. Dr. Phil
  11. Dragnet
  12. Evil Lives Here
  13. Friends
  14. Ghost Whisperer
  15. Homicide City
  16. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
  17. It’s a Living
  18. The Love Boat
  19. The Office
  20. Paranormal Survivor
  21. The Powers of Matthew Star
  22. Saved By The Bell
  23. Seinfeld
  24. The Simpsons
  25. Storage Wars

Books I Read:

  1. Go Ask Alice (1971) by “Anonymous”

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Above & Beyond
  2. Adi Ulmansky
  3. Afrojack
  4. Alvin Risk
  5. Amy Winehouse
  6. Armin Van Buuren
  7. Avici
  8. BANKS
  9. Big Data
  10. Blanck Mass
  11. Britney Spears
  12. Cage the Elephant
  13. Calvin Harris
  14. The Chemical Brothers
  15. The Correspondents
  16. The Crystal Method
  17. Daft Punk
  18. deadmau5
  19. Dillon Francis
  20. DJ Snake
  21. Ennio Morricone
  22. Goblin
  23. Gwen Stefani
  24. HAIM
  25. Hardwell
  26. I DON’T KNOW HOW THEY FOUND ME BUT THEY DID
  27. Icona Pop
  28. The Interrupters
  29. Jessica Simpson
  30. Joywave
  31. Kedr Livanskiy
  32. Kid Rock
  33. Lynard Skynard
  34. Neon Indian
  35. Robyn Adele Anderson
  36. Spice Girls
  37. Steve Aoki
  38. Swedish House Mafia
  39. Taylor Swift
  40. Tove Lo
  41. UPSAHL
  42. Warren Zevon
  43. Zedd

Our Continuing Tribute to Moricone:

  1. Chi Mai (various)
  2. La Resa (The Big Gundown)
  3. Main Title Theme (Red Sonja)
  4. The Main Theme From The Cat O’Nine Tails (The Cat O’Nine Tails)
  5. Deep Down (Danger Diabolik!)
  6. The Main Theme From Autopsy (Autopsy)
  7. Main Theme From Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion)

Links From Last Week:

  1. Why Comic-Con ‘At Home’ Was a Bust
  2. Have You Been ‘Wokefished’ While Dating? Here’s How to Tell
  3. 6 people who don’t deserve their Emmy nominations this year — sorry
  4. 13 people who didn’t get an Emmy nomination this year, but should have
  5. Emmys 2020 Nominations: 12 Biggest Snubs and Surprises
  6. Emmy nominations 2020: 10 surprises and snubs
  7. Gianni Russo Tells The Story Of Getting Kidnapped By Pablo Escobar After Murdering His Underboss In A Las Vegas Restaurant
  8. Buy physical media
  9. RIP, WIlford Brimley, funnier than you might think

News From Last Week:

  1. Gotham under attack: ‘Joker’ spotted jet-skiing on the East River
  2. ‘Upstream Color’ Director Shane Carruth Accused of Abusing Ex-Girlfriend
  3. ESPN investigation finds coaches at NBA China academies complained of player abuse, lack of schooling
  4. Taylor Swift Remains Silent as Fans Doxx and Harass Music Critic Over ‘Folklore’ Review
  5. Dozens Of Former “Ellen Show” Employees Say Executive Producers Engaged In Rampant Sexual Misconduct And Harassment
  6. ‘This Is a Real Kick in the Shorts’: Small-Town Theaters Owners React to AMC’s VOD Pact With Universal
  7. NBC Insiders Say Entertainment Boss Fostered Toxic Culture, Under Investigation
  8. Alan Parker, director of ‘Midnight Express’ and ‘Mississippi Burning,’ dies at 76

Links From The Site:

  1. Jeff reviewed The Bounty Man, The Love War, Blood River, Cave-in!, Die Watching, Stranger On My Land, and Zapped!  He shared music videos from The KLF and Debbie Harry and he paid tribute to Wilford Brimley!
  2. Erin shared the covers of Fight Stories, along with: The Cautious Amorist, Tropical Spitfire, South Sea Stories, Point Venus, Jewel of the Java Sea, The Tracks, and Flame Goddess!
  3. Ryan reviewed Questions of Molten Motion, Dress Rehearsal, and Detective Double Digest!
  4. I shared music videos from BANKS, The Devil’s Daughters, The Hillbilly Moon Explosion, Los Bitchos, and Dum Dum Girls.  I shared the Emmy nominations and I paid tribute to Richard Linklater and Mario Bava.  I shared a scene from Danger Diabolik!  I shared my Oscar predictions for July!  I shared trailers for After We Collided, Kajillionarie, and Honest Thief!  I reviewed Her Deadly Groom, Deadly Daughter Switch, Gotti, The Powers of Matthew Star, Engaged to a Psycho, The Baby Monitor Murders, The Comic, Tread, and Adopted in Danger!

More From Us:

  1. Ryan has a patreon!  You should consider subscribing!
  2. On her photography site, Erin shared: 3 Trees, Garden Statue, Green Sky, Street, Blue, To The Side, and Path to Somewhere!
  3. On my music site, I shared songs from BANKS, Saint Motel, I DON’T KNOW HOW THEY FOUND ME BUT THEY DID, The Correspondents, The Interrupters, Robyn Adele Anderson, and Amy Winehouse!

Want to check out last week?  Click here!

The Crazies (1973, dir by George Romero)

Lisa’s Week In Review: 7/20/20 — 7/26/20


It’s difficult, isn’t it?  The constant onslaught of bad news can be hard take, especially when you know that it’s being pushed by people who have an incentive when it comes to keeping everyone depressed.  I’ve always said that one of the secrets to good mental health is to get away from social media and to go out and enjoy yourself.  Unfortunately, so many things have come together this year to take away that option for a lot of people.  When I do go out and talk to people, I discover that things aren’t as bad as you might think.  But when I stay inside and just look at twitter or the news, it’s easy to feel like the entire world is falling apart.

I was really looking forward to 2020.  This is the 10 year anniversary of this site and I had a lot planned.  Unfortunately, I’ve had to put a lot of those plans on hold.  For instance, it’s hard to do a series of reviews about the Olympics or Cannes when both of those events have been delayed.  It’s hard to review a series of political films when neither the Democratic nor the Republican convention is going to be occurring (at least not in their usual way) this year.  It’s difficult to review new films when all of the theaters are closed and all of the big films are being pushed to the side.  The same is true when it comes to reviewing TV shows.  The world’s on hold right now.  I’m not whining about it or playing the poor me game.  I’m just acknowledging the truth of the situation as far as my 2020 plans are concerned.

So, what do I do?  Do I give up, as so many others have?  Do I say, “Well, I’m just going to sit around and be miserable?”  Or do I simply put those plans on hold, secure in the knowledge that I will get a chance to do them eventually?  Me, I’m going with the latter.  As of right now, it looks like our 10 year anniversary celebrations are going to extend into 2021 because 2020 just doesn’t count.  Then again, perhaps we should make every day a celebration whether it’s an anniversary or not.

I was going to start work on a bunch of back to school reviews next month but now it looks schools might not be reopening.  So, we’ll put those reviews off until 2021.  I’ll just concentrate on getting my reviews for the October horrorthon prepared.  The important thing is to never ever give up.

Here’s what I did this week!

Films I Watched:

  1. After Midnight (2020)
  2. Arkansas (2020)
  3. Her Deadly Groom (2020)
  4. House (1985)
  5. I Was Lorena Bobbitt (2020)
  6. The Invisible Woman (2020)
  7. Mile High Escorts (2020)
  8. Murder in the Vineyard (2020)
  9. Night of Terror (1972)
  10. Psycho Yoga Instructor (2020)
  11. Shirley (2020)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. The Alienist
  2. Children’s Hospital
  3. Degrassi
  4. Dragnet
  5. Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia
  6. House Hunters
  7. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
  8. The Love Boat
  9. Medical Police
  10. The Office
  11. The Powers of Matthew Star
  12. Saved By The Bell: The College Years
  13. Twilight Zone
  14. Wynonna Earrp

Books I Read:

  1. Mexican Gothic (2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  2. The Swap (2020) by Robyn Harding

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. BANKS
  2. Big Data
  3. Bob Moses
  4. Britney Spears
  5. Calvin Harris
  6. The Chemical Brothers
  7. Creed Bratton
  8. The Crystal Method
  9. Daft Punk
  10. Deadmau5
  11. Dillon Francis
  12. DJ Snake
  13. Elle King
  14. Elohim
  15. Ennio Morricone
  16. Future Islands
  17. Garth Emery
  18. HAIM
  19. Hardwell
  20. The Hunted
  21. Jakalope
  22. Lush
  23. Metric
  24. Public Service Broadcasting
  25. Rich White
  26. Saint Motel
  27. Taylor Swift
  28. UPSAHL

Our Continuing Tribute To Morricone:

  1. Theme From Frantic (Frantic)
  2. La Lucertola (Lizard In A Woman’s Skin)
  3. Spasmodicamente (Spasmo)
  4. The Theme From The Stendhal Syndrome (The Stendhal Syndrome)
  5. My Name Is Nobody (My Name Is Nobody)
  6. Piume di Cristallo (The Bird With The Crystal Plumage)
  7. For Love One Can Die (D’amore si muore)

News From Last Week:

  1. From Avatar 2 to Mulan: Delayed films and their new release dates
  2. Regis Philbin, TV’s Enduring Everyman, Dies at 88
  3. ‘Gone With the Wind’ star Olivia de Havilland dies at 104
  4. John Saxon, ‘Enter the Dragon,’ ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Actor, Dies at 83

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin wished everyone a Happy Moon Day and profiled artist Darrel Greene!  She also shared: Navy Romances, What A Body, Pleasure Island, No Mask For Murder, Diamond Head, Isle of Free Love, and Ah King!
  2. Jeff reviewed Cease Fire, A Cry For Help, Shell Game, Thunder Alley, Meatballs IV, Fools, and War Hunt!
  3. Ryan reviewed Five Perennial Virtues, MOAB, and Wimp Digest!
  4. I shared music videos from Public Service Broadcasting, Garth Emery, Metric, Saint Motel, Bob Moses, Creed Bratton, and Calvin Harris!  I reviewed Arkansas, After Midnight, Mile High Escorts, Murder in the Vineyard, Psycho Yoga Instructor, and I Was Lorena Bobbitt!  I shared tributes to Olivia de Havilland, John Saxon, and Stanley Kubrick!

More From Us:

  1. Ryan has a patreon!  Consider subscribing!
  2. At my music site, I shared songs from The Crystal Method, Lush, Elle King, Future Islands, Bob Moses & ZHU, The Hunted, and BANKS!
  3. At her photography site, Erin shared: Machines, Corner View, Four Ducks, That One Tree, Green, Fountains, and Made of Glass!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Happy Moon Day From The Shattered Lens


Today is the 51st anniversary of Neil Armstrong taking the first steps of any human being on the Moon.  Between 1969 and 1972, 11 more men would walk across the Moon.  As of today, only four of them — Charles Duke, Buzz Aldrin, David Scott, and Harrison Schmitt — are still alive.  The final manned mission to the Moon was in 1972.  No one has stepped foot upon it since.

No one has been to the Moon in my lifetime and it’s sad to think that someday, there won’t be anyone left who has experienced walking on the lunar surface.  We spent years trying to get to the Moon and now, we just take it for granted.  We don’t appreciate the enormous risks that men like Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins took during the first moon landing.  Today, would we even be able to pull off something like a moon landing or would we be too busy arguing with each other to care about anything beyond our own petty disagreements?

As a photographer, the Moon is one of my favorite subjects.  Unfortunately, it’s not easy to take a good picture of the Moon.  Every time that we’ve had a Super Moon or a Blood Moon, I’ve stood outside in our back yard with my camera and I’ve taken a lot of blurry pictures.  In most of them, the Moon just looks like any other distant star in the night sky.

However, sometimes, I get lucky.  Of all the pictures that I’ve ever taken of the moon, these four are my favorites:

Happy Moon Day from Through the Shattered Lens!  My hope is that you’ll use his day to not only celebrate the first walk across the Moon but also the ambition and the imagination that made it all possible in the first place.

Lisa’s Week In Review: 7/13/20 — 7/19/20


The best thing about this week?  On Saturday, as the host of the week’s #ScarySocial live tweet, I got to introduce a whole new group of people — including four of my colleagues here at the Shattered Lens — to Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead!  Leonard, Jeff, Case, and Patrick joined me and a few others in watching Fulci’s classic zombie film.  Here’s just some of their opinions about the film:

#ScarySocial is a weekly event.  Basically, every Saturday at 9pm eastern, we watch and live tweet a movie.  I’m one of three hosts, along with Tim Buntley and Deanna Dawn.  It’s a lot of fun and next week, we’ll be watching the 1986 film, House.  So, if you’ve got the time and you want to watch a horror movie with a good group of people, check out our twitter account for more details!

Here’s what else I did this week.  To be honest, I probably did more shopping this week than I should have but we all deal with stress of modern life in our own way, right?

Films I Watched:

  1. Becky (2020)
  2. Cease Fire (1985)
  3. City of the Living Dead (1980)
  4. Escape from New York (1981)
  5. M.O.M. Mother of Monsters (2020)
  6. Where Have All The People Gone? (1974)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. The Alienist
  2. Family Feud (These were like old episodes from 1988.  It’s weird what you discover on Prime.)
  3. King of the Hill
  4. The Love Boat
  5. The Office
  6. Ozark
  7. Planet of the Apes
  8. The Powers of Matthew Star
  9. Snowpiercer
  10. Unbelievable

Books I Read:

  1. The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History (2020) by Andy Greene
  2. So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed (2015) by Jon Ronson

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Big Data
  2. Britney Spears
  3. The Chemical Brothers
  4. The Crystal Method
  5. Cults
  6. Ennio Morricone
  7. Garth Emery
  8. HAIM
  9. Hardwell
  10. Havelock
  11. Jakalope
  12. John Carpenter
  13. Ludwig Göransson
  14. Motorama
  15. Public Service Broadcasting
  16. Purity Ring
  17. Roosevelt
  18. Saint Motel
  19. TAKIA
  20. UPSAHL

Our Ongoing Tribute to Morricone:

  1. The Return (Days of Heaven)
  2. Man With A Harmonica (Once Upon A Time In The West)
  3. The Ecstasy of Gold (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly)
  4. The Main Theme From The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly)
  5. Regan’s Theme (The Exorcist II: The Heretic)
  6. Desolation (The Thing)
  7. The Legend of the Pianist (The Legend of 1900)

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin profiled Everett Raymond Kinstler and shared Illustrated World, Weird Tales, Rage on the Bar, Captain Dack and the Mystery of Peril Island, Danger Trail, Adventure, and Forever Evil!
  2. Jeff reviewed Footsteps, Marooned, The Gladiator, Disaster on the Coastliner, Demolition High, Demolition University, and Repo Jake!
  3. I shared music videos from Roosevelt, TAKIA, Ludwig Göransson, Havelock, Haim, Gareth Emery, and Motorama!  And I reviewed Becky, M.O.M., Carlito’s Way, and Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power!
  4. Ryan reviewed The Werewolf Expert and Incoherents 2/UBU!

More From Us:

  1. Ryan has a patreon!  You should consider subscribing!
  2. On her photography site, Erin shared Around the Neighborhood, Trampled, Richland, Richland 2, The Park, Two Trees, and Turtle!
  3. At Pop Politics, Jeff wrote about Kelly Preston, The Redskins, Kanye West, Bari Weiss, Nick Cannon, and Kanye West again!
  4. On my music site, I shared songs from UPSAHL, Purity Ring, John Carpenter, Cults, Paul Engemann, The Crystal Method, and Garth Emery!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Lisa’s Week In Review: 7/6/20 — 7/12/20


Ennio Morricone, R.I.P.

What a sad week.  On Monday, Ennio Moricone died.  On Wednesday, Naya Rivera went missing at Lake Piru in California.

As for me, I’m okay.  It’s hot!  Summer has just begun and it’s a pain.  But, still, there are movies to watch and books to read and songs to dance to and that’s the important thing.

Here’s what I did this week:

 

Films I Watched:

  1. Burning Kentucky (2020)
  2. Dispatched (2020)
  3. Dog Soliders (2002)
  4. Emerson Heights (2020)
  5. Frances Ferguson (2020)
  6. Healing River (2020)
  7. War of the Colossal Beast (1958)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. The Bold and the Beautiful
  2. The Brady Bunch
  3. Days of Our Lives
  4. Dr. Phil
  5. The Flintstones
  6. General Hospital
  7. Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours To Hell And Back
  8. Happy Days
  9. Hell’s Kitchen
  10. The Love Boat
  11. The Office
  12. Saved By The Bell
  13. Storage Wars
  14. Westworld
  15. The Young and the Restless

Books I Read:

  1. Altamont: The Rolling Stones, the Hells Angels, and the Inside Story of Rock’s Darkest Day (2017) by Joel Slevin

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Afrojack
  2. Armin van Buuren
  3. Blanck Mass
  4. Britney Spears
  5. CHVRCHES
  6. Daft Punk
  7. Distract
  8. Drastic
  9. Ennio Morricone
  10. HAIM
  11. Hardwell
  12. Kylie Minogue
  13. Michael Penn
  14. Muse
  15. Neon Indian
  16. Roosevelt
  17. Saint Motel
  18. Steve Aoki
  19. Taylor Swift
  20. UPSAHL
  21. Washed Out
  22. Zedd

Our Tribute To Morricone:

  1. Deborah’s Theme (Once Upon A Time In America)
  2. Violaznioe Violenza (Hitch-Hike)
  3. Come Un Madrigale (Four Flies on Grey Velvet)
  4. Il Grande Silenzio (The Great Silence)
  5. The Strength of the Righteous (The Untouchables)
  6. So Alone (What Have You Done To Solange?)
  7. The Main Theme From The Mission (The Mission)

News From Last Week:

  1. Is Anyone Watching Quibi?
  2. Why ‘Hamilton’ Can’t Win Any Oscars
  3. Venice, Toronto, Telluride and New York Film Festivals Join Forces in Non-Competitive Alliance
  4. ‘Empire Strikes Back’ Leads At The Weekend Box Office Again, 23 Years After Sequel’s Special Edition
  5. Naya Rivera search should be handled by the authorities: cops

Links From Last Week:

  1. Wait for It: The Hamilton Oscar Debate Is Not Over

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin shared An American Dream Girl, Year 3097, The Only Thing That Matters, The Case of the Lonely Heiress, God Wears A Bowtie, I Live to Love, and Lariat!  She also shared the covers of Science Wonder Stories!
  2. Jeff shared music videos from Scorpions and The Charlie Daniels Band!  He also reviewed Black Moon Rising, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, The Late Shift, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Mistrial, Above Suspicion, and Hurricane!
  3. Ryan reviewed Old Haunts and Tartarus!
  4. I shared music videos from Michael Penn, HAIM, Neon Indian, Britney Spears, and Drastic!  I wished a happy birthday to Kevin Bacon!  I reviewed The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, Scarface, The Untouchables, Emerson Heights, Burning Kentucky, Frances Ferguson, Dispatched, and Healing River! 

More From Us:

  1. On her photography site, Erin shared: Green White And Blue, July 7th, Falling Light, Green, Stop, No Dog, and Creek in Black and White!
  2. At my music site, I shared songs from: Kylie Minogue, Ennio Morricone, CHVRCHES, Saint Motel, Britney Spears, HAIM, and Hardwell!
  3. At Days Without Incident, Leonard wrote about Ennio Morricone!
  4. Ryan has a patreon!  You should consider subscribing!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Lisa’s Week In Review: 6/29/20 — 7/5/20


I’ve been up at Lake Texoma and on a mini-vacation this entire week.  I haven’t turned on a television or checked the news since last Sunday and it’s been wonderful.  I’ve spent this week meditating, writing, sunbathing out on the deck, and listening to Lee Horsley read Larry McMurtry’s epic novel, Lonesome Dove.  And while I’m definitely frustrated by the fact that I can’t tan worth a damn, I’m otherwise feeling very relaxed and very much at peace.  I’m ready to face the second half of this year.

It’s funny.  When I came up here, I brought my portable DVD player.  I brought several DVDs.  I think I was assuming that I would spend the whole time watching movies and writing about them.  But once I got up here, I realized that I really, really needed to get some rest.  Like some real, actual rest.  I needed to stop worrying about things and stop pushing myself and just enjoy nature and basically, take care of myself.  So, that’s what I did.  As a result, I didn’t watch a lot of movies this week.  But I now feel so centered that I know I’m going to be able to make up for it next week.  I think that sometimes, we forget how important it is to just rest and get centered with the universe.  I feel like I can breathe again and that’s a wonderful feeling.

ANYWAY — here’s what little I did watch, read, and listen to.

Films I Watched:

  1. The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
  2. Athlete A (2020)
  3. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
  4. Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. The Office
  2. Unsolved Mysteries
  3. Warrior Nun

Books I Read:

  1. Lonesome Dove (1985) by Larry McMurtry  (Technically, I didn’t read it as much as I listened to it on Audible.  It’s a great book, though.)

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Adi Ulmansky
  2. Big Data
  3. Bob Dylan
  4. Britney Spears
  5. Calvin Harris
  6. Haim
  7. Jessica Simpson
  8. Kid Rock
  9. Moby
  10. Muse
  11. Phatogram
  12. Rocky and the Bullwinkles
  13. Saint Motel
  14. Taylor Swift

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin shared Film Fun, The Stranger, Hanging On, The First Quarry, Thrilling Love, 4th of July, and Affair With Lucy!  She reviewed Major League, Major League II, The Stratton Story, and Hardball!  She also profiled artist William Jacobson and shared, for the 4th: Vintage Patriotic Posters, The Patriotic Magazine Covers of July 1942, Independence Days Of The Past, and My Americana!  She also wished America a happy birthday!
  2. Jeff shared music videos from AC/DC, Queen, Sparks, ELO, Tom Petty, and Huey Lewis and the News!  He reviewed Faster, Blue Thunder, The Baltimore Bullet, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Some Kind of Hero, From Noon Till Three, and Three Fugitives!  He also paid tribute to Carl Reiner!
  3. I shared a music video by Classified, wished all of you a happy 4th of July, and paid tribute to Peter Walker and Michele Soavi!  I also reviewed Bugsy Malone, Love Me or Leave Me, and Murder, Inc.  And, of course, I shared my June Oscar predictions.
  4. Ryan reviewed King of Nowhere, Billionaire Island, Gideon Falls, and Dead Eyes!

More From Us:

  1. At Days Without Incident, Leonard shared Hamilton’s Wait For It.
  2. Ryan has a Patreon!  Consider subscribing!
  3. At her photography site, Erin shared Ducks, Be Prepared To Stop, House and Flag, In the High Grass, July 3rd, Flag Flying High, and Flower!
  4. At Pop Politics, Jeff shared Election Predictions, The 2000 Year Old Man, and Kanye West For President!
  5. On my music site, I shared music from Adi Ulmansky, Calvin Harris, Lindsey Stirling, Haim, The Big Moon, Lady Gaga, and Cage The Elephant!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Happy 4th of July From The Shattered Lens!


Happy Independence Day!

Obviously, this 4th of July is going to be different for a lot of people.  I’m not even sure how many counties are still going to be doing an official fireworks show and I know a lot of people aren’t going to want to spend all day outside, wearing a mask in 100 degree heat.  This is probably the angriest Independence Day in my lifetime and I know there’s some people who are even saying that it’ll be our last because America’s on the verge of collapsing.

Personally, I don’t think it’ll be our last and I think that, though it may not seem like it today, things will get better.  America’s been through tough times before.  If most of the people out there knew as much about history as they thought they did, they’d know that.

Now, myself, I have to admit that I love the whole ritual of fireworks.  I’m a Texan and I’m probably more of a country girl than even I’m willing to admit.  I mean, as sophisticated as I may try to be here on the Shattered Lens, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t own an American flag bikini and if I didn’t kind of get a thrill from the sight of fireworks exploding in the night sky.  In fact, since I’m up at Lake Texoma, I’m planning on spending tonight out on the deck, wearing an American flag bikini while watching fireworks explode over the water.  Of course, I’ll also be writing about classic movies while I do so because I love cinema even more than I love fireworks.

Anyway, here’s my point.  There’s going to be fireworks tonight, whether they’re “legal” or not.  A lot of them will probably be set off by drunk idiots in their backyard.  People have been locked up for a long time.  There’s a lot of frustration and a lot of people are going to be expressing that frustration by making as much noise as possible.  (I don’t blame the people, by the way.  I blame government officials who, instead of understanding people’s frustrations and trying to help them deal with them, have instead used this entire crisis to act like a bunch of petty authoritarians.  A little empathy goes a long way to convincing people to do the right thing.)

So, please, as a favor to me — GET YOUR PETS INSIDE!  KEEP THEM INSIDE!  Seriously, they’re going to be scared to death.  Every 4th of July, our cat hides underneath a bed and refuses to come out until after the fireworks have stopped.  Erin and I usually toss one of his kitty toys under there and he’ll usually end up playing with it until he eventually decides to come out.  It’s funny.  As much as we would worry whenever we saw Doc scramble under the bed, that’s where he feels safe on the 4th of July.  I don’t know if it’s the same for dogs but cats are all about finding a safe place.  Once they do, they can handle just about anything.

Also, please remember that fireworks may be fun to you and me but they’re not fun for people who have served in war and/or who are suffering from PTSD and who might find them triggering.  So, check on your neighbors.  Keep them in mind before you go crazy trying to recreate a combat zone in their neighborhood.

“But Lisa, you just said you love fireworks….”

Yes, I do.  But I love animals and treating people with consideration even more.

Anyway, stay safe out there!  Happy Independence Day from the Shattered Lens!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Review: 6/22/20 — 6/28/20


Oh, what a week.

Foolishly, I assumed that the world would be able to basically re-open in July but, as June comes to a close, it’s obvious that is not going to be the case.  All of the big theatrical releases for July — Tenet, Mulan, that Bill & Ted movie — have been pushed back to August and, to be honest, it wouldn’t surprise me if they got pushed back again.  A lot of people out there are saying that we should just all stay inside until there’s a vaccine for COVID-19 but who knows when that will be?  Whenever I hear anyone say that we’ll have a vaccine in 6 months, I want to point out to them that I thought the country would be able to reopen in July.  There’s a lot of wishful thinking out there right now.

Me?  I’m wearing a mask when I go out and I’m being careful.  I’m practicing social distancing.  I’m washing my hands.  I’m doing everything that I know can be done.  That’s really all I can do right now.

Oh well!  This upcoming week, I will be taking a little mini-vacation up at Lake Texoma.  I’m looking forward to meditating and recharging and getting some writing done.  I’ll probably listen to a lot of Bob Dylan.  And yes, I’m taking along a few DVDs because reviewing movies is something that keeps me focused and centered.  Mostly, though, I’m just looking forward to taking a break from all the noise of the world.

Here’s what I watched this week:

Films I Watched:

  1. 7500 (2020)
  2. American Wisper (2020)
  3. Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
  4. The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
  5. Bugsy Malone (1976)
  6. Carlito’s Way (1993)
  7. Carlito’s Way: Rise To Power (2005)
  8. A Field in England (2013)
  9. Go Ask Alice (1973)
  10. How To Stuff A Wild Bikni (1965)
  11. Love Me Or Leave Me (1955)
  12. Murder, Inc. (1960)
  13. Only One Way (2014)
  14. Penance (2018)
  15. Rust (2010)
  16. Scarface (1983)
  17. St. Valentine Day Massacre (1967)
  18. The Untouchables (1987)
  19. The Way Back (2020)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. The Bold and the Beautiful
  2. Community
  3. Days of Our Lives
  4. Doctor Phil
  5. General Hospital
  6. Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours To Hell And Back
  7. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  8. The Murder of Laci Peterson
  9. Saved By The Bell: The College Years
  10. Seinfeld
  11. Shipping Wars
  12. South Park
  13. The Young and the Restless

Books I Read:

  1. Death of an Expert Witness (1977) by P.D. James

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Adi Ulmansky
  2. Black Pumas
  3. Blanck Mass
  4. Bob Dylan
  5. Britney Spears
  6. Garbage
  7. Jim WIlliams
  8. The Killers
  9. Muse
  10. Muzz
  11. The Pretenders
  12. Saint Motel
  13. Selena Gomez
  14. ZOON

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin shared Senor Saint, The Long Memory, Film Fun, Big Eli, True Gang Life, Westering, and Cancel All Our Vows!  She also shared The Covers of Famous Detective Cases!
  2. Jeff reviewed Falling Down, The Gumball Rally, Quiet Killer, The Last Hour, and The Onion Movie!
  3. I shared music videos from ZOON, Seal, The Pretenders, Muzz, Garbage, Saint Motel, and Muse!  I reviewed American Wisper and paid tribute to Mel Brooks!
  4. Ryan reviewed Violent Delights, Crime at Babel, Egle and Snake, and Banal Complications!

More From Us:

  1. At her photography site, Erin shared: Dallas, Founders Plaza, Blue, Red, Do Not Enter, Play Now, and Moon!
  2. Ryan has a patreon and you should consider subscribing!
  3. At my music site, I shared songs from Black Pumas, Selena Gomez, Jim Williams, The Killers, Garbage, Jim Williams again, and Muse!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Anyway, have a good week, everyone!  As for me …. well, a few days up at the lake?  What could possibly go wrong?