[continued from previous message]   
      
   reflects this: dismal, forlorn, and sarcastic.   
      
   That hides her burning obsession for justice. And when people   
   start getting murdered....   
      
   Jenna Ortega masters this role. She plays Wednesday as someone   
   desperately trying not to show she cares, when deep inside she's   
   passionate enough to risk her life (and sometimes the lives of   
   those around her) to find the murderers.   
      
   Honorable mention to Emma Meyers. She plays Enid Sinclair,   
   Wednesday's cheerful, bubbly, almost-vampire roommate. She can   
   only turn her fingernails into claws, but she's painted them into   
   a rainbow of bright pastels. The contrast of moods is terrific.   
      
   WEDNESDAY is by turns hilarious, mysterious, and tense. The show   
   leans hard into horror tropes without being gory or terrifying.   
   (My wife and I appreciate that.)   
      
   Sadly, some of the insurmountable-seeming problems are too easily   
   surmounted.   
      
   Warning: The series demands to be binged. Once we started   
   watching, we couldn't stop.   
      
   Recommended, and I can't wait for season 3. [-psrc]   
      
   ===================================================================   
      
   TOPIC: SIMULACRON-3 (letter of comment by Andre Kuzniarek)   
      
   In response to Evelyn's comments on THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR in the   
   08/28/25 issue of the MT VOID, Andre Kuzniarek writes:   
      
   [Evelyn refers to SIMULACRON-13.]   
      
   Just a minor title correction: [it's SIMULACRON-3 actually]. I   
   know because it’s one of my top five favorite SF stories. I've had   
   a couple copies of the Bantam first edition since having first   
   read it a decade after publication. I was lucky that it was on the   
   bookshelf in our junior high English class for the week we were   
   expected to select something to read and report on! The ideas   
   were/are mind-blowing, though the writing is fairly pulpy (no   
   pretending it’s sophisticated literature). [-ak]   
      
   ===================================================================   
      
   TOPIC: Brother Guy Consolmagno, UNKNOWN, and "The Strange Case of   
   Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (letter of comment by Taras Wolansky)   
      
   In response to Evelyn's comments on the NEW YORKER in the 08/28/25   
   issue of the MT VOID, Taras Wolansky writes:   
      
   The NEW YORKER article about Vatican astronomer Brother Guy   
   Consolmagno, S. J., can be read online. (Your cookies may vary.)   
   [-tw]   
      
   Evelyn responds:   
      
   My cookies or whatever do not let me read it. [-ecl]   
      
   In response to Joe Karpierz's review of SPACE SHIPS! RAY GUNS!   
   MARTIAN OCTOPODS! INTERVIEWS WITH SCIENCE FICTION LEGENDS in the   
   same issue, Taras writes:   
      
   The fantasy magazine edited by John W. Campbell in the early   
   Forties was, of course, UNKNOWN, a.k.a. UNKNOWN WORLDS, not   
   FANTASY. Though there were several magazines of that name, over   
   the years.   
      
   In response to Evelyn's comments on "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll   
   and Mr Hyde" in the same issue, Taras writes:   
      
   Finally, until I read your review of "The Strange Case of Dr   
   Jekyll and Mr Hyde", it never occurred to me that Stevenson's   
   novella may have influenced the motion picture, FORBIDDEN PLANET,   
   with its noble Krell brought low by "monsters from the id". [-tw]   
      
   ===================================================================   
      
   TOPIC: BEN-HUR, Silent Film Accompaniment, King Kong, and   
   Historical Writing (letter of comment by Gary McGath)   
      
   In response to Evelyn's comments on the 1925 BEN-HUR in the   
   08/28/25 issue of the MT VOID, Gary McGath writes:   
      
   The 1925 Ben-Hur was very rough on the extras, of whom there were   
   something like 10,000. Some may have drowned in the sea battle   
   scene. [-gmg]   
      
   In response to Evelyn's comments on the 1925 PHANTOM OF THE OPERA   
   in the same issue, Gary writes:   
      
   There will be a screening of the 1925 PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in   
   Boston's Symphony Hall on Halloween, with live organ   
   accompaniment. I've bought a ticket. [-gmg]   
      
   Evelyn adds:   
      
   In the distant past, Boskone had live organ accompaniment to   
   silent films, and the organist was John Kiley, the same person who   
   played the organ at Fenway Park. My Boskone XXI con report   
   indicates that that year (1984) it was THE MARK OF ZORRO, and my   
   comments indicate that this had been done with other films for   
   several years.   
      
   In response to Evelyn's comments on Mark's "Ballad of King Kong"   
   in the same issue, Gary writes:   
      
   [Evelyn's wrote,] "[An alternate version has "But a biplane put   
   him in his grave". Which you prefer depends on whether you think   
   "the airplanes got him" or "'twas Beauty killed the Beast." [-ecl]   
      
   Definitely the airplanes, or else suicide. It was the ape's fault   
   he got himself into that situation. [gmg]   
      
   In response to Evelyn's comments on the first person singular in   
   historical writing in the same issue, Gary writes:   
      
   I used the first person in some parts of my history of filk,   
   TOMORROW'S SONGS TODAY. They fell into the "personal experience"   
   category. [-gmg]   
      
   ===================================================================   
      
   TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)   
      
   Once again, I have been slacking off on the new books on my shelf   
   (although THE ESSAYS OF GEORGE ORWELL, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and   
   RALPH WALDO EMERSON'S ESSAYS could hardly be called new books),   
   and binge-reading old favorites, in this case the "Solar Pons"   
   books. As I have said before, these are perhaps the best of the   
   Holmes pastiches, at least the ones by August Derleth. Brought   
   forward in time (the 1920s and 1930s), and with Parker a more   
   perceptive associate than Watson, these are definitely worth   
   reading, and they are available in reasonably priced editions.   
   (Even the original paperbacks are not outrageously priced,   
   probably because there have been reprints.) I suppose after this I   
   should revisit Seabury Quinn's Jules de Grandin stories, being   
   Holmes pastiches with supernatural elements. [-ecl]   
      
   ===================================================================   
      
                                        Evelyn C. Leeper   
                                        evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com   
      
      
      
              Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel   
              a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.   
                                              --Abraham Lincoln   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)