Snark, Critic and Pop!

In honor of the late, great science fiction author who passed away today at the age of 91, a little ditty from the band Utopia, with their track named after and inspired by Bradbury’s great novel, “Fahrenheit 451″.

Howling Mad by Peter David

In what may be a series of posts in the future, let me talk about a book that I think needs to be made into a movie. Howling Mad is a terrific comedy-horror hybrid. Published to little fanfare from fledgling author Peter David in 1988, Howling Mad is the tale of a wolf bitten by a werewolf who turns into a man every full moon. Tell me that gimmick alone wouldn’t look great on the back of DVD cases! The wereman dubbed Josh is separated from his pack, taken to the New York Zoo, turns human, escapes, meets with a single New York gal, then turns back.

The book has a bit of a slapstick edge, with the evil werewolf’s associate, a hilarious vampire named Duncan, who does his bidding. The book is a great read, alternating between laugh-out-loud funny and genuinely scary. Cast Alan Tudyk as the “Wereman” Josh, Rachael McAdams as the love interest, give me a budget of $40 million, and by gum you’ll have a hit! (*Crosses fingers* *waits for phone to ring*)

Here at SnarkCriticPop, we watch and talk a LOT of movies. Upon occasion watching a movie feels like an obligation for the sake of a good blog (see: Streets of Fire), and I can kind of see why some movie critics hate movies.  I don’t hate movies, but I would like to talk about a fine, seldom used alternative to movie watching, a little something I like to call: READING.

I did some quick research on Wikipedia, and I discovered some interesting facts regarding reading: Did you know that reading was invented by Thomas Edison as a method of exploiting his invention called papyrus, which we now refer to as paper?  Blind people had actually been reading lips for several years prior to Edison, but since they could not find the patent office until it was too late, Edison owns the trademark on reading which is why blind people and astute readers like me have to pay a fee to Edison’s estate any time we read something. (Okay Wikipedia’s not quite THAT bad, but any resource where Howie Mandel can be a contributor on John Adams I don’t trust . . .)

One book I’ve recently been reading is A Year At The Movies by Kevin Murphy.  Murphy, for those who don’t know, is one of the writers and stars of my favorite TV show of all time, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), playing the robot Tom Servo and Professor Bobo the Gorilla.  (continue reading…)