What's the deal with the photos, people?

For reasons that I don't understand, I am unable to upload photos on Blogger these days. This has been going on for weeks, with the exception of the one day when I managed to post that new cover of The Flood (below). It's tough to get too excited about posts that consist of nothing more than texts but... bear with me. Maybe it will correct itself somehow.


Meanwhile, Uzma's last book Thinner Than Skin has managed to pick up an award at the Karachi Book Festival, given by the French Embassy. To which I say: right on! It's a great book -- I may have mentioned this elsewhere on this blog -- and if you haven't checked it out yet, well, you really should.


As for myself, my recuperation is pretty much complete, and this unfortunately means there will not be a huge number of additional Recuperation Reviews forthcoming. I have been watching plenty of movies and TV shows, though, and will perhaps be discussing some of them in the not-too-distant future...


So, if anybody has any ideas why photos are failing to upload, give me a shout. Thanks!

Canongate to reissue my first book in the UK with a new cover. Woo-hoo!

Recuperation Review: Daimajin (1966)

Well, that was a lame ass Super Bowl, wasn't it? The only silver lining is that the 35-point margin of victory for the Seahawks eclipses the 34-point margin when the Pats lost to the Bears 44-10 in 1986. So there's that.


Happily, I have an endless supply of mediocre-to-awesome movies to keep me diverted as I continue to recover from my early-2014 bout with near-mortality. (Nah, just kidding. Sort of.) This time around it's...


NEXT UP: Daimajin (1966)


Directed by: Kimiyoshi Yasuda


OVERVIEW: Okay this is kind of a weird one, but it's great. Set some time back in feudal (or medieval? Or is that the same thing?) Japan, it tells the story of a giant 40-foot-tall statue of a local mountain god who comes to life and wreak vengeance whenever the powers-that-be get too greedy and exploit the peasants too much. Thing is, once the statue comes to life, it's not too discriminating as to who deserves punishment and who's just getting in the way...


WHAT HAPPENS: There's a coup, and the local, benevolent overlord gets replaced by a really nasty one. The royal kids escape, grow up in the mountains, try to avenge their dad, fail, and get stomped on a bit. This rouses the abovementioned god-statue, who then proceeds to stomp on things with his stony feet. And hands.


THAT SOUNDS COOL, DAVE. HOW ARE THE SPECIAL EFFECTS? Very impressive, as is the cinematography in general.


WTF MOMENT: Not really a "wtf" moment, but the moment when the status comes to life is pretty darn effective and creepy, even though you've been waiting for it for the better part of an hour.


HOW YOU KNOW THIS IS THE FUTURE: It's not! And we know that because people are walking around wearing kimonos and samurai swords and those weird hairstyles where it's shaved bald on top but then with ponytails in back. Also there aren't, like, Toyotas or anything. Some of the bad guys do tote around muskets though, which is slightly jarring. (Not that they do much damage against the god-statue's stony-faced badassery.) I guess this isn't medieval times after all.


DO WE GET A STONY-FISTED HAPPY ENDING? [Spoilers!] Hell yeah.


GRADE: B+