Author: Rreed423

Robin Reed is a writer and cartoonist. She has been published in a number of publications and has novels and short stories online at every possible ebook site.

A Trip to ‘Emerald City’ (POV #2)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Time now for the second perspective on Emerald City. Which do you agree with, #1 or this one, #2?

Characterization, Emerald City style. Right – it isn’t there!

by Robin Reed

It’s not that I object to a new take on L. Frank Baum’s Oz stories. I read Philip Jose Farmer’s “A Barnstormer in Oz.” I tried to read Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked” (and I just now learned that there are three more books) but Maguire managed to make a magical, enchanted land boring. I haven’t seen the musical based on his book. The original books are in public domain, so new versions are inevitable.

I was in college when I first saw “The Wizard of Oz” with Judy Garland in color. The change from black and white to color was wasted on me before that because I only saw it on black and white TVs. I have liked it ever since. I’m not a big musical lover, but the comedy and vaudeville shtick made me like it. read article

TV Review: The Daredevil is in the Details

Daredevil-Netflix-Details

by Robin Reed

In Marvel Studios/Disney’s ongoing efforts to take over the media universe, they have now reached Netflix, where the original series Daredevil recently debuted. Thirteen episodes fell all at once into our binge-watching lives, and I have taken in six of them in the last three days.

I am a long-time Marvel comics reader, though I faded away from constant comics consumption in the late eighties when I realized that the characters would never really change, that by the nature of the industry they couldn’t change. I craved endings, and superheroes never end as long as their books, movies and TV shows sell. Even death isn’t the end, they come back whenever there is another chance to profit from them. Sometimes they snap back to their beginnings and devoted readers such as myself are left with years of stories in our heads that have been rendered nonexistent.

Daredevil was created when someone at Marvel said, “How about a blind superhero?” How this was possible was explained half by the old saw that blind people compensate with sharper hearing, smell, and touch; and half by a mysterious chemical that spilled over young Matt Murdock in an accident. At least it wasn’t radiation, the other favored bit of handwavium in the Marvel universe. read article

Robin Reed: Amazon Studios and Me

Solidarity Department:

Because we’re writers, and we support each other, dammit:

gorilla_picby Robin Reed

In this brand new TV landscape, when every distributor of shows has become a producer of shows, there should be more opportunity for writers. To test that theory, or because I was bored the other day, I pulled a comedy pilot I wrote circa 2004 off my hard drive and posted it to Amazon Studios. read article

Robin Reed: My Most Favorite Thing on TV Right Now

Hmm, doesn't look like a Henson muppet to us., but what do we know?
Hmm, doesn’t look like a Henson muppet to us., but what do we know?

by Robin Reed

The show that I have to stop and watch every time I come across it these days is “No, You Shut Up!”

Host Paul F. Thompkins discusses current events with a panel of puppets who seem to be forgotten relics from the Henson Creature Shop storage shelves. There is usually a human guest also, though he or she is usually forced to answer only in rap, or while doing impressions, or something else very silly.

The show is on the Fusion Network, which probably has other shows but I don’t know what they are. I don’t know exactly when the official air time of the show is either, I just find it while flipping channels, and when I do I have to stop and watch. read article

Robin Reed Sees American Horror Story: Freak Show

Not Horror, Not That Freaky
by Robin Reed

Don’t read this if you don’t want to know details of “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” which recently ended its run.freakshow-a-creepy-poster-collection

I am usually right there and ready to be scared when any horror film, book, or TV show comes out. When the word horror is in the title, you know I have to check it out. So when “American Horror Story” started a few years ago, I watched it. For a while. I liked it at first, but then it just got dumb. It was set in the current day (as of several years ago) so the internet existed. How hard is it to enter the address of a house you are looking at into a search engine and find out that it is internationally famous as “The Murder House” and a tour passes by every day with people who want to see it? There were some shivers and cool stuff near the beginning, but I lost all interest after a few episodes.

So I skipped the next two seasons. The only reason I decided to watch “American Horror Story: Freak Show” is that I find the circus/carnie culture interesting, and I have been treated like a freak often enough to feel some kinship to the people in such shows. read article