Exhausted after a long Saturday in the cold for a local outdoor Christmas market, but @sparkytopia.com had a great day. It was crazy how many people saw the Geordi and Data print and immediately said Sparky should do one of Garak and Bashir! I agree with them, of course.

Had an almost perfect afternoon with @sparkytopia.com - LEGO Store (double points!), book store (holiday sales!), and comic book store (Lower Decks!). I didn't buy any chocolate, cake, or ice cream, so that's why it was ALMOST perfect.

My artist child (24) is a full-time freelance illustrator. I'm especially fond of the classic monster themed art, but I'm the parent who bought that kid My Little Pony in the first place, so that obsession is my fault, too. :)

Met some new librarians today, and I'm once again reminded why librarians are just my favorite people in general.

THE NIGHT of the HUNTER (1955), the only film directed (beautifully) by Charles Laughton. #LillianGish #RobertMitchum #ShelleyWinters

Showed the retirement community group THE LADYKILLERS (1955) today, and it was a big hit. Katie Johnson is the sleeper MVP of that picture in spite of a truly wild performance from Alec Guinness.

The Queen of Spades (1949) Classic British horror film about a money crazy Russian officer who will stop at nothing to learn the secrets of a countess who always wins at cards Starring Anton Walbrook and Edith Evans Cinematography by Otto Heller Directed by Thorold Dickinson - BOTD in 1903

Follow CMBA on Letterboxd! see the latest blogathon entries via this list, we'll update it all week letterboxd.com/clmba/list/e...

New on the blog - my post about THE MUMMY (1932) for the @classicmovieblog.bsky.social Fall Blogathon. #filmsky

Welcome to CMBA's fall blogathon Early Shadows & Pre-Code Horror Movies with horror themes, silent thru pre-Code era. Themes of societal unease, all kinds of monsters, dark instincts, existential dread. Join us here and at clamba.blogspot.com all week clamba.blogspot.com/2025/11/welc...

Virtual Virago talks about the body horror of The Mummy (1932) for the CMBA Early Shadows & Pre-Code Horror blogathon virtualvirago.blogspot.com/2025/11/cmba... @virtualvirago.bsky.social

Happy Halloween!

NEW: Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power. Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well beyond the borders of his state. By @dougbockclark.bsky.social

Jane Randolph in the Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur horror classic CAT PEOPLE (1942) She was BOTD in 1914

Bulldozing space for women sounds very on point for this regime.

I'm shaking almost too hard to type. I entered SLC airport and heard screams and cries for help. I could see people gathered around, watching. I sped over to discover this woman face down on the floor, four grown men pushing her down, while she cried "HELP ME" and pled for her child.

They admit in the article that it's political because the regime hates PBS and, you know, educating people. We already lost our local NPR station, and they didn't even ask us to help save it before they pulled the plug.

This administration is using hunger AND propaganda as a weapon. Don’t fall for the lies meant to divide us— the problems we face weren’t created by neighbors who are just struggling to survive.

New on the blog - I've been watching John Carpenter movies this month on the Criterion Channel. THE FOG (1980) is a favorite because of Val Lewton's influence and the range of interesting female characters. #filmsky

Mamdani supporters: This should worry you. Do not underestimate the money and power behind the campaign against him. Go vote.

Even more badass than most realize. #RIP #JuneLockhart

I consider this piece by @sparkytopia.com proof of successful parenting on my part. #phantomoftheparadise

NEW: NBC News confirms that the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, on the east side of the White House, has been destroyed as part of the demolition of the East Wing. (📸 Getty Images)

The optics of Trump building a ballroom that 99.9% of Americans will never set foot in while millions line up for food banks are worth more than any policy paper or economic proposal. This image is a visceral punch in the mouth that needs no words. It should haunt the GOP for a generation.

I'm really enjoying the THURSDAY MURDER CLUB series (now halfway through book 2), and I recommend them if you need to see some justice meted out by a small group of charming and unlikely heroes. The first book is so much better than the Netflix movie (although the casting was great). #booksky

trump is demolishing our national symbols and selling the country for scrap to his corrupt donors

Chris Murphy: "There's a lot of history that has taken place in the East Wing & it was just destroyed without any conversation in the public, without any consent of Congress. It's absolutely illegal. That visual is powerful b/c you're watching destruction of the rule of law as those walls come down"

the president has destroyed the east wing of the white house without so much as a word of input from anyone else to build a royal ballroom paid for with bribes

NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.

October 21, 2015 #BackToTheFutureDay

What is your favorite horror film released before 1980?

Donald Trump is trying to fire nearly every federal worker who supports special needs education. It’s kids with disabilities who will suffer. The cruelty is the point.

A Homewood charter school that opened in 2021 with a mission to serve LGBTQ+ students won renewal last week, but no longer uses that language. Editor Brian Lyman says its a terrible marker of the degeneration of tolerance and Alabama politicians' endless embrace of bigotry and grievance.

When the Birmingham, Alabama, march is packed, you know something is up in America!

The Declaration of Independence specifies 27 grievances with King George III and Britain. Donald Trump and his regime have committed at least 20 of those same offenses highlighted in yellow. #NoKings

My latest post for @classicmoviehub.bsky.social is a look at MAD LOVE (1935), a Hollywood version of THE HANDS OF ORLAC that really leans into its weird thrills. #filmsky

Donald Trump has been illegally shutting down the parts of government he doesn't like and firing tens of thousands of federal workers since Day One. Republicans’ shutdown doesn't give him any more power to create chaos. It’s workers and the American people who will suffer.

Last class today for my Women and the Early English Novel course with the lifetime learners. It was a lot of fun but also bittersweet to revisit the subject I meant to study as a career academic. Hugs to my fellow refugees and escapees from the dungeons of the ivory tower.

This administration is flooding the zone so furiously that people have largely lost track of the lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean, the gov’t shutdown, the economy, failed release of the Epstein files & so much else. It’s a tactic of would-be strongmen.

Watched BACK TO THE FUTURE II (1989) last night, not having seen in it in many years, and they got the whole terrible timeline thing right except for it being 2025 instead of 2015.

This Halloween season, spend some time with the Masters of Horror. These are directors who have defined and redefined the genre over the past century. See their films today on Kanopy and tell us your favorite filmmaker. letterboxd.com/kanopy/list/...

The biggest divide is not between “right” and “left." It’s between democracy and oligarchy. The billionaires who control our economy and democracy seek to divide us. They want us to turn on each other so we don't look up and see that they have all the wealth and power.

If you're an old school horror movie fan and need a good laugh, let me recommend HAUNTED HOTEL on Netflix. They named the town Midwich, and it just gets better from there. The Body Snatchers homage episode even has a Donald Sutherland tribute. #filmsky

I don't know about you, but it feels crazy optimistic to make plans of any kind now. How do I know what next week will be like at this rate, much less 2026?

If you're cancelling certain streaming services today, remember that your library card gives you access to Kanopy, which has heaps of great programming! www.kanopy.com

In case you need an address for a letter (sent mine yesterday): Disney-ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution 500 S. Buena Vista St. Burbank, CA 91521-2515