Hammer has prepared 6 downloadable audio dramas that will be released weekly from June 7 to July 19.  After that date the whole set will be available.  Each 30 minute story is just under $5, or $23 for a subscription.

Writers for the first series include some of the biggest names working in horror today: Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch, The Awakening), Mark Morris (Toady, Vampire Circus), Stephen Gallagher (Chimera, The Eleventh Hour), Christopher Fowler (The Bryant and May Mysteries), Paul Magrs (The Brenda and Effie Mysteries, Doctor Who) and comedian Robin Ince (Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage). [via hammerchillers.com]

More information at the website: HammerChillers.com

It sounds good, but will I part with $5 for each of them?  I mean, there is always this if I need something to listen to…

The Awakening, released in 2011, is set just after the bloodbath that was World War I.  At the time spiritualism was both gaining popularity, and attracting con-artists out to fleece those looking for a final contact from a loved one, or proof of existence after death. Similar to Houdini’s efforts, the heroine of this film is out to expose that fakery, though her disbelief in the supernatural appears somewhat fragile at times.

Florence Cathcart, our hoax-and-ghost buster, is called to a boarding school to investigate sightings of a child’s ghost, and whether or not it is related to the recent death of a student there.

Here’s a look at the trailer:

There were a couple of good scares in this one, though if you were raised watching the  Saw movies they might be wasted on you.  Overall, it’s more ambiance and atmosphere than in your face horror, but I enjoyed it.  Unlike this insightful Netflix reviewer…

Like, totally.

Really, it is worth a watch.  Here’s the Netflix link.

I care not of these things.

Our hero approaches sound barrier.

But, can you imagine how pissed the poor guys who came in second place must be?  They have the right to be angry.

I just noticed the Kindle price at $3.99.  That’s far less than many of his older titles, and well within most peoples, mine included, ebook pricing comfort zone.

Here’s the link

This is the way to travel!  Austrian armored train, circa 1915, in all its rivet covered glory.

New additions to Netflix that have made my instant queue.

Since it’s October 1, and the beginning of the always fun Halloween season, I was happy to see some horror flicks that might be worth a look.

Click the movie title to visit that films Netflix page.

The Devil’s Hand (1962)

Voodoo dolls, cults, and a coven of devil worshipers.  What could go…oh, never mind.

Slither (2006)

For those who like a little comedy mixed in with their horror.  Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Banks star.

Apartment 143 (2011)

Parapsychologists investigate a family and their home in apartment 143.  Looks reminiscent of Paranormal Activity (hopefully a bit more exciting).

The Innkeepers (2011)

I was happy to see this one on the list as I almost bought it.  Haunted house (or inn) stories are always fun – hoping this one doesn’t disappoint.

That’s it for this batch.  Here’s to a better offering of horror films this October!

Five Air Force officer volunteers, and one cameraman who didn’t volunteer, stand 10,000 feet below the test firing of a nuclear air-to-air missile in July of 1957.  The purpose of the film was to show how “safe” it was on the ground.

For more info, check this NPR article out.

Oh, and never volunteer.

Right.  Another headline that hints to answers, another article that shows no proof.  To summarize, the CIA agent who worked for 10 years as the “first official liaison to the entertainment and publication industries,”  walks into the Historical Intelligence Collection and peruses through a box marked Roswell.  The contents, which he refuses to identify, convince him that aliens crashed in the New Mexico desert.

Why did the ex-CIA agent come out with this information?  The same reason all these guys come out with “information.”  I knew the reason before I found it.  Then, I found it.

Brandon is currently promoting his book, “The Cryptos Conundrum,” a science fiction story about the history of Earth, contact with extraterrestrials and imagined cataclysmic events on our planet.

There’s always a book.

The man is certainly entitled to his opinions, and to use his super-secret spy guy past as a tool to sell books, but sadly there is no information here.  In the end, his credentials add nothing to the veracity of a story which offers no proof.

WARNING!  If you’ve ever read one of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels, or intend on reading one in the future, DO NOT watch the trailer linked to above!  In fact, leave this blog right now.  You may have already seen too much.

If you are unaware of the character, I’ll explain the problem.  Tom Cruise is opposite in every way, from any description of Reacher I’ve read in the three (of seventeen) of Child’s novels.  The differences go beyond that, but why base a movie on a well established character, then change everything about them but the name?

The fact that this movie is, no doubt, just another piece of Hollywood crap isn’t what is really bothering me here.  It’s the fact that I will no longer be able to read any of the books without seeing Cruises’ elfin likeness every time I read the name.  He’s never been believable (to me) in any of the action films I’ve seen him in.  He simply doesn’t have ‘the look’.

What is ‘the look’ for Jack Reacher?  From wikipedia:

Reacher is a giant, standing at 6′ 5″ tall (1.96m) with a 50-inch chest, and weighing between 210 and 250 pounds (100–115 kg). He has ice-blue eyes and dirty blond hair. He has very little body fat, and his muscular physique is completely natural (he reveals in Persuader, he has never been an exercise enthusiast.) He is exceptionally strong but is not a good runner.^[3] Reacher is strong enough to break a man’s neck with one hand (Bad Luck and Trouble) and kill a villain with a single punch to the head (Running Blind and 61 Hours) or chest (Worth Dying For). In a fight against a 7 foot, 400 lb steroid-using thug (Persuader), Reacher was able to lift his opponent into the air and drop him on his head.

Yeah, Tom Cruise.

A poster, circa 1917, for the “Hero Land” fundraising event – the “greatest spectacle” that time has forgotten about.  At least we have the artwork.

On the lookout for flyers.

Instead of the review of Wipers: A Soldiers Tale From the Great War that I wanted to post here today (but haven’t begun yet), I bring you seven German’s staring at the sky.  Make that six.  The guy on the left seems not to have eyeballs.

Another trip to About.com’s paranormal section.  Good article about some of Doyle’s unexplainable experiences…

Described as a ‘dramedy’ by its creator, who also uses words like ‘re-imagining’ and ‘re-inventing’ when comparing it to The Munsters, I’m fairly certain my feelings towards remakes will remain unchanged.

Jerry O’ Connell as Herman Munster?  No.  Dramedy?  Give me a break.

Another reason to listen to podcasts.  Turn off your radios, or suffer the consequences!

Kaiser Wilhelm II (the last German Emperor) visits some troops in the field during World War I.  He appears to be chastising one man for replacing his spiked helmet with a fruit bowl.

The pointed helmet is called a Pickelhaube (plural Pickelhauben; from the old German Pickel = “point” or “pickaxe”, and Haube = “bonnet”, a general word for headgear).  They were originally made of boiled leather, but later thin sheet steel was used.

By 1916 the design was proven ineffective for trench warfare and abandoned.  It was replaced with the Stahlhelm – the German helmet you think of when you think of Germen helmets.

The helmet with the flat top?  I have no idea what that thing is, but it looks upside down.