Finding a Missing Black Hole: NASA Image of the Week
Today's image is of a black hole, or rather the lack of a black hole. There should be a black hole but no evidence of a black hole where the black hole should be exists.
For What It’s Worth: An Obligatory 2020 Best of List
2020 was a strange time. (Understatement, I know.) As far as entertainment goes there wasn’t as much released (or at least not as much as had been scheduled) for obvious reasons including distribution problems,
Retrofuturistic NASA Space Art: NASA Image of the Week
Happy Tuesday! Way back in the long-forgotten days of the mid-2010s I used to post images from the NASA.gov website, specifically their "Image of the Day" section. I did this for two reasons: 1) The
Glimmers of Hope: My Life in 2020: A Conclusion
So, 2020 was a bit of a challenge. As I have already talked about (here and here) 2020 was not the best time I ever had. On a personal level, it was – to use
Website Roundup: 2020
Howdy everyone, I reckon it’s time for one of deez here website roundups like I used to do…yee haw! Okay, so in the past, I (Paul Matthew Carr) used to do these periodic updates on
2020’s Dark Night of the Soul: The Year So Far Part II
And so it goes. 2020 continues its endless slog into the dark night of the soul that has been thrust upon us by the ruthlessness of nature, the cruelty of fate, and the incompetence of
My Life in 2020 so Far (Or What a Clusterf*ck)
So…2020 has been a clusterfuck so far, huh? Before I continue I feel I should point out that when I first contemplated writing this post I had conceived of it as being an eloquent, lyrical,
A Very Pagan Christmas: The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus
I’m sure you all know the story of Santa Claus, right? Of course you do. Everyone remembers how when Santa was an infant he was abandoned in the woods in a snow bank till the
An Immaculate Fix: A Junky’s Christmas
It was Christmas Day and Danny the Car Wiper hit the street junksick and broke after seventy-two hours in the precinct cell. It was a clear bright day, but there was warmth in the
Thou Doth Protest Too Much: The Silent Night, Deadly Night Controversy
Picture this: the year is 1984 and you are an impressionable youth watching an episode of Three’s Company or Little House on the Prairie when during a commercial break this comes on the TV:
Christmas in Patagonia
Christmas Day, 1999. Twenty years ago. Was I at home in New York, a gentle snow falling outside, while inside blazed a warm fire in the fireplace, with presents under the Christmas tree that
Happy Life Day: The Star Wars Holiday Special
Author's note: This was written nearly six years ago and I must admit my opinion of the Star Wars Holiday Special has softened a bit. Oh, I still think it's awful don't get me
A Merry Little Alternative Xmas
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Sure, that’s a given. People seem to enjoy the colored lights, the slowly dying tree in the living room, and the glitter. Oh, and the gifts.
The Missing Child
I wake in darkness to find my child gone. The realization comes slowly. Half-awake I reach out a hand to the opposite side of the bed. Grasping, slowly at first then faster, palm flat and
My Favorite Things to Eat: A Former New Yorker Talks About Food
What are my favorite things to eat? Good question. Thanks for asking. Bagels. Mozzarella. And what are the two foods I loved most in New York that I can’t find now that I live
The Worst Guy to Have Dinner with in Ancient Greece
Once upon a time there lived a guy named Tantalus who was, for reasons that will become clear, a rather unpleasant fellow. Tantalus was the king of a place called Sipylus and had a
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” has for a long time been my favorite “ghost story,” not solely because of how well it is told, but also because it is, for me, a “local” tale, in
The Blood Elevator: Its Meaning & Symbol
The blood elevator scene, sometimes called the ‘river of blood’, from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a horrifying and disturbing image in a film full of horrifying and disturbing images. Upon watching it the scene
Blood Rush (A Short Story by Guest Author Tessa Lee Carr)
We shared our first kiss under the cherry blossom tree. It was perfect, like a scene from the movies. I stared into her eyes and brushed her soft hair from her delicate face. I saw
I Mistrust My Own Judgement: Dracula (Monster Memories)
Tod Browning’s 1931 adaptation of Dracula is the granddaddy of them all, the film the launched the Classic Monster films of Universal. The Universal cinematic universe if you will. I try not to judge
Things I Like: Longbox of Darkness
There are three things I like quite a bit: comics, horror, and podcasts. So imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered someone combined all three! The Longbox of Darkness is a podcast covering horror
Notes from the Dreaming: A Shape in the Darkness
In the darkness you were dreaming. Dreaming and that is all. You did not see what you thought you saw. You did not experience what you thought you thought was so real. There was not
I Dislike Being Touched: The Mummy (Monster Memories)
The Mummy from 1932 is a classic. A flawed classic for sure, but a classic nonetheless. There are parts of this film that are truly brilliant and there are parts that are…well…not. To be honest
Even a Man Who is Pure in Heart: The Wolf-Man (Monster Memories)
By 1941 Universal had been making monster movies for over a decade. It had now become a well-oiled machine and while not quite formulaic just yet was well on its way to becoming so.