Book Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Trilogy

About three years ago I was browsing the sale books at Barnes & Noble when this book caught my eye in a big way. I wasn’t sure if it was the old fashioned photo of the little girl on the cover, or the highly unusual title, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I had a gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket. It was from one of my wonderful children. We must have raised them right. They know how much ol’ step dad loves books and gift cards! Needless to say, I nabbed the novel while it was 40% off.

Now, there was one thing that bugged me. I was reading a review of the book and they called it a “young adult” novel. Of course, in my mind that meant that it was a kids book. Being a full grown, well aged gentleman, I began to stress a little, Did I just buy a kids book? I got my answer later that evening when I started reading. It was a real page turner A fantasy along the lines of Harry Potter or The Wizard of Oz series. Sure, tweens will love these books, but so will adults. I sure did.

Author Ransom Riggs has created a whole alternate world that if filled with people who don’t age, monsters called hologasts, bizarre beings called wights and a series of time loops where the residents experience the same day, every day. Over and over, kind of like Ground Hog Day.

Taken as a whole, the three novels –the second being Hollow City and the final one, Library of Souls- tell an amazing story that makes Dorothy Gales adventures in Oz seem like just a dream. Oh. Oh yeah. Nevermind.

It’s pretty amazing how the book came to be. The author collected vintage photographs, and was originally planning a book of photos. An editor suggested he tell stories about the photos, and a classic was born.

These are the adventures of young Jacob Portman. After the horrible death of his grandfather at the hands and tentacles of a monster that looked just like the monsters described by his grandfather in the many stories told to him, Jacob starts snooping around. Recalling the old photos and stories his grandfather used to tell of a school for special children that was run by a lady called Miss Peregrine, he sets out a journey that will change his life forever.

He discovers his first time loop, and finds the school, where he meets Miss Peregrine and her students, each possessing a special gift, or power. One girl will just float into the air line a balloon unless she wears lead boots, There’s an invisible boy, a boy that has swarms of bees living inside of him, a girl with an extra mouth on the back of her head, and then there’s Emma, his future love interest, a girl who can summon fire with her hands in varying degrees. Of course their leader, Miss Peregrine, an ymbryne, can turn into a bird at will, and back.

The first book was truly a page-turner. Excellent fantasy. I was hoping the movie version would be as good, but they never are. And it sort of made me mad that thy gave the flame to another character and made Emma the floating girl. I call that messing with perfection.

Over the course of the three books, Jacob and his new friends get into one adventure after another, several of them being edge of your seat thrillers. The Miss Peregrine series is one of the most adventurous and fun journeys I have ever read. It’s got it all – adventure, suspense, love, freaks of nature, kids with special abilities, memorable characters, evil bad guys and a heroic talking dog.

I cannot recommend these books any more highly, whether you are a young adult or an older one like me, it’s great fun. Thank the birds for Ransom Riggs.

- Michael Buffalo Smith

Movie Review: LOGAN (Warning! Spoilers!)

Okay, let me be very, very clear here. This review contains more spoilers than a Payday candy bar had peanuts. Okay? If you have not yet seen the film, I urge you to grab some popcorn and a soda and get comfortable at your local multiplex to enjoy the best Wolverine movie of all time. Then come back and read our little review, and comment. Let us know what you thought of the movie and whether or not you agree.

Trivia factoid:  Hugh Jackman holds the record for the number of films in which the same actor portrays the same character. (X-Men; X2: X-Men United; X-Men: The Last Stand; X-Men Origins: Wolverine; The Wolverine;  X-Men: Days of Future Past; X-Men: First Class (Cameo); X-Men: Apocalypse; Deadpool (on a magazine cover); and now, Logan. That’s ten films, but who’s counting.

Again, spoilers ahead.

Logan is rated R, and like Deadpool, who broke the mold on the way superhero movies are “supposed to look,” the film is filled with serious Walking Dead blood and guts violence, lots of f-bombs and other content not normally seen in a comic book film. This is a decidedly adult super-hero film to be sure. In fact, the super hero element is all but lost here. Instead, it’s more about human (and mutant) life and death.

In a storyline loosely based on the Old Man Logan comic series, we find Wolverine in 2029, a few years after he finally fell apart. A chronic alcoholic, he is also quite sick and his healing powers have slowed considerably, due the Weapon X program bonding adamantium to the antihero’s skeleton. The indestructible alloy has broken down over time, poisoning the mutant.  (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 2009)

All of this following an incident at the school for gifted youngsters, in which enemies overtook the school in an attempt to kill off the mutants. Wolverine single handedly slayed the attackers, only to discover it had all been an illusion concocted by the evil Magneto, and Logan had in fact slain all of his friends. Of course, there was also the “Winchester incident” in which Professor X accidentally killed all of the mutants of the world with one of his seizures. Since I have not read that comic book series, I cannot truthfully tell you just what happened, but the point is, most all of the mutants are dead, and no more are being born. Well, except for Our (Mutant Gang), a group of kids with powers that show up in the third act.

Logan cares for Professor Charles Xavier, who now has dementia, and also suffers  from seizures that can cripple anyone around him at the time by way of the effects of psychic pain. Logan has a plan to get Charles from his hiding place in Mexico onto a boat to live out in the ocean where he can’t hurt anyone.

The plot thickens with the discovery of Laura (Dafne Keen) a 12-year old mutant with claws and powers similar to Wolverine, but the new and improved model also has the claws in her feet. The agile youngster is an amazing defense machine, able to take on a large group of heathens on her own. Oh, and she can drive a vehicle like a pro.

Comics fans rejoice. There are several characters from X-Force that appear in Logan, including variation on Julio Rictor.

Perhaps the best thing about the movie is the intimate story telling. Like Deadpool before it, the film concentrates mostly on the central character, with no GGI monsters to wrestle with, and only a handful of special effects.

Did I say spoilers? It is common knowledge that both Patrick Steward and Hugh Jackman have said that this is the last hoorah for Steward as Charles and Jackman as Logan, so it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Dr. X and Logan both die in the movie. Talk about a one-two gut punch! The positive side is, both actors, freed up by an R-rating, give their all in this film, whether it be the senile, f-bomb dropping Xavier or the head-chopping, truck beating, clone fighting Wolverine.

The final scene of Logan’s grave is both sad and immediately classic. As Laura picks up the wooden cross at the head of the grave and tilts it into an “X” and puts it back, it is the perfect end to what could very well be the best comic book movie of all time.

Take Me Home, Dusty Rhodes

The following article was featured in a blog I started called Afterthoughts. I was really busy at the time, and let the blog go to seed, so I am planning on resurrecting a few of those article for KUDZOO. This is the first one, written about four years ago. -MBS

Today I decided to re-launch an ongoing series of tributes to some of my favorite professional wrestlers (ie; “Rasslers”) who played a part in my life during the seventies and eighties. If you read my book, Prisoner of Southern Rock, you know that there were a number of years where me and my and theatre performed by the likes of Ric Flair, Andre The Giant and Blackjack Mulligan. I’ll be dropping one of these in ever so often just for fun. Let’s begin with one of the best. The “American Dream,” Dusty Rhodes.

friend “The Weasel” went to Greenville Memorial Auditorium every Monday night to watch Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and experience the bizarre hybrid of sports

I was fortunate enough to catch Rhodes in matches countless times at the old Greenville [SC] Memorial Auditorium (and a few times in Spartanburg) and every event was a show stopper. And then there were the numerous appearances on the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show every Saturday afternoon.

I had a several chances to speak with Dusty over the years, and have always found him to be a genuine and downright nice guy.

Rhodes was born Virgil Riley Runnels, Jr. in Austin, Texas on October 12, 1945. During the peak years of his career, which began in 1968, Rhodes weighed in at 302 pounds and stood 6’ 2.”

Dusty is a 3-time NWA World Champion and has also won the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship once, the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship ten times, the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) seven times and the NWA National Heavyweight Championship one time. He has also won many other championships during his wrestling career. He is a member of the WCW and  WWE.

Rhodes began his illustrious career as a heel [a bad guy,] tag teaming with fellow Texan Dick Murdoch to form the tag team The Texas Outlaws in the American Wrestling Association.

In 1974, Rhodes turned solo star after turning on tag team partner Pak Song and manager

 Gary Hart during a match in Florida against Eddie and Mike Graham. He was on his way to superstardom, primarily in Florida, referring to himself as "Stardust", the "White Soul King", and the "American Dream." Rhodes rose to the top of several National Wrestling Alliance promotions in Florida - where he also wrestled wearing a mask as "The Midnight Rider."  I have to wonder if the Allman Brothers Band song influenced that choice of name?

Soon he began wrestling with Jim Crockett Promotions in the Mid-Atlantic area, the forerunner of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Here, he formed a team with Manny Fernandez. He also teamed with Magnum T.A. as "America's Team," fighting the Four Horsemen in 1985. They were one of the more dominant tag teams in the promotion until 1986, when Magnum's career was ended in a car wreck. Subsequently, he teamed with Nikita Koloff as The Super Powers. Rhodes was a World Six-Man Tag Team Champion with the Road Warriors.

In Greenville, Rhodes was involved in several memorable feuds over the years, including an outstanding series of matches against Blackjack Mulligan, and some serious contests against  Harley Race, "Superstar" Billy Graham, "Crippler" Ray Stevens and especially “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. I was front and center for a few of those blood-lettings and I can honestly say, Rhodes vs. Flair was one of the most entertaining cards I ever witnessed.

After years as a superstar in the Mid-Atlantic, Rhodes continued his career with the WWF where he left in January 1991, marking the end of Dusty Rhodes' career as a full-time in-ring competitor.

Rhodes soon returned to WCW as a member of WCW's booking committee and later joined the broadcast team. Then in 1994, Rhodes returned to the ring to team up with his son Dustin along with The Nasty Boys versus Arn Anderson, Terry Funk, Bunkhouse Buck, and Col. Rob Parker.

He eventually left WCW and went to ECW before returning once more to WCW and re-igniting his feud with Ric Flair.

For several years, Rhodes operated Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, a small Georgia-based promotion, featuring wrestlers trained by himself alongside veterans such as Steve Corino.

In 2005, Rhodes signed a WWE Legends deal and was brought onto the Creative Team as a creative consultant. Dusty was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31, 2007 by his two sons, Dustin and Cody. He also works as a backstage booker and producer on the FCW brand. He is one of six men inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the WCW Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

- Michael Buffalo Smith

Rhodes died from complications brought on by stomach cancer, June 11, 2015.