Nostalgia & terrific plot - great combination!
932547
I loved this book!  The author got the tone of the 80's right, the dialogue sounded like it soooo could have happened just as he wrote it, and the ending was just right - not too abrupt, not too sappy, not unbelievable - just right.  I look forward to reading more of Jason Rekulak's books.  PS the narrator (audio version) was perfect.
1506764
For anyone who was a fan of the short-lived TV series "Then Came Bronson" this 2-disc collection of music from the show will be a treat, one that takes you back to a younger, more innocent time. True, due to clearance reasons, it doesn't include "Long Lonesome Highway" or "Wayfaring Stranger" -- but at least those are available elsewhere online. What you get here is the orchestrated music for most of the episodes, using variations on George Duning's main theme that never seem to become repetitive (CD 1) & music by several other composers in a similar vein (CD 2). And because it's a more traditional style of scoring a show, rather than an attempt to (badly) mimic then-popular rock songs, it has an enduring timeless quality, a real sweep & breadth of emotion. Plenty of 1960s/1970s TV shows & movies used popular songs of the time, often to great effect; but I find that this style really suits the tone of the series. It's more reflective, as the program itself was; and like the program, it captures the searching, yearning spirit of the times without overt, period-specific reference to it. The music will set you to remembering & mulling over the past -- not only your own past, but the past few decades of the country. For a little while, you'll be reminded of a time when life seemed full of possibilities, and the most important thing was to seek out yourself & your place in the world. Admittedly a niche item ... but for those who recall it with fondness & bittersweet longing, highly recommended!
1739024
Great characters and plot line--read it through twice to fully enjoy it!
2996195
I first read Midnight Movies back in high school -- way back in 1986 -- when the midnight movie circuit was still functioning, though slowly fading out.  There were a few cinemas left in my town that continued to run Rocky Horror, and sometimes midnight movie staples like Dawn of the Dead, A Clockwork Orange, El Topo, Pink Flamingos, etc.  There was also a film foundation that sometimes showed underground films from the 1960s, like Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures, and No Wave films from the punk 70s, like Black Box and Vortex by the team of Beth and Scott B.

That was a long time ago -- and re-reading this book, which I've done a few times, brings back memories of a very exciting time for cinema-going.  I cannot recommend this book highly enough -- but a word of caution: depending on your age, you may suffer serious nostalgia pains for the pre-Avatar movie days.
4448708
Note: A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

This book took me back to when I was a 14 year old and first getting into romance as a genre. A little predictable, but oh gosh, it's everything I remember falling in love with back then (over 10 years ago, wow!). I have no doubts whatsoever that this book will do extremely well in the young teen age group, and I even found myself getting really into the storyline (even though I guessed about the happenings pretty early on). That said, I definitely didn't expect the bad guy to be who it was.

Loved the nostalgia that this story forced forward, and if you're looking for that, or if you have kids around the 14 year mark, I really recommend this one.
3268719
I remembered this series from my middle school  days, it just took me a few years to remember the Pollifax name! I discovered Mrs. Pollifax and Agatha Christie's Miss Marple the same year and loved them both! This is a story of genuine intrigue and full of delightful plot surprises! The setting and political references are a little dated, but still the quirky premise of the plot and vivid characters have withstood the test of time and emerged as enjoyable as ever. Becoming reacquainted with Mrs. Pollifax does make me look at several of my mother's friends, in hindsight and wonder how well I truly knew them.....
2025173
I just turned 54 this year, which means I grew up with some of the great old sci-fi/horror/mystery/fantasy television shows like "The Twilight Zone", "One Step Beyond", and "The Outer Limits".  As a kid, I loved watching every episode!  The stories portrayed were always far-out - some were humorous, some were scary, but they were *all* entertaining and they still hold up today.

Reading "Stage 5" took me back to the days of my childhood, watching my favorite old time TV shows.  Any one of Robert Brumm's five stories could easily be adapted to one of those series.

I read each story twice. The first time through was so enjoyable!  I loved every story, and each one brought something different to the table.  For me, the second pass was the icing on the cake.  Being a Wisconsin resident, I reread each story with an eye to detail. Lots of Easter eggs here for those who have an eye for "Cheese Head" references and trivia.

I'm not one to spoil the tale, so I leave the reading up to you, but I highly recommend "Stage 5".  If you're a fan of the 60's shows I mentioned above, I'm sure you'll love this book as much as I did.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Stage-Five/dp/1480104159/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Stage Five</a>
2521607
I had read this book when I was in Junior High, and always wanted to read it again as I had enjoyed it so much, and was curious to find out what I had missed due to my age at the time.  I took advantage of the opportunity to download the book to my iPad and to read it while I was flying on vacation.  I found it to be as riviting and exciting as it was when I was MUCH younger, and found that while there were some nuances I had missed the first time around, I had managed to commit to memory the most important parts of the book.  I highly recommend this book to fans of Robert Heinlein, or anyone that likes suspense or mysteries set in the future!
2634858
I absolutely adore the vintage vibe of this book, written in a bygone era (1950s). That said, although the writing has the polish and style of a gentleman from that era (and that's good), the humor is still highly relatable to any parent or grown "child" in this era (2013 as I write this). Especially in regards to vacationing together, as the extended family does in this book.

I actually did laugh out loud, several times, reading this book. (I'm afraid I embarrassed myself at work, reading on my lunch hour.) Streeter has a dry sense of humor and an unfailing ability to nail the funny, everyday predicaments and irritations that drive us crazy. He would have been a fabulous sitcom writer. There is a hilarious chapter when they move into the summer rental cottage and he's trying to decipher the cryptic notes on how to start the well pump (while his wife impatiently urges him to hurry and get the water going). There are other times throughout the book when I was captivated by his spare, spot-on and hilarious writing as Hobbs tries to enjoy, and then gives up and just tries to get through, his family vacation.

Unfortunately, too often for my taste, Streeter goes off into flights of fancy, and the prose sags and lags while descriptions abound and Hobbs thinks about incidents in the past (with lots of description and little action) or even fantasizes (with lots of description and little action). I found myself thumbing quickly through these sections.

Happily, Streeter picks it right up again later, and I could enjoy entire chapters by skimming over any section that bored me.

Note: He is the author of the novel on which "Father of the Bride" was based, the original movie with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor, and its subsequent remake with Steve Martin and Diane Keaton. Any fan of that movie (or book) will notice many lovely and enjoyable similarities here, the language, the relationship between father and daughter, the father's angst, the married-couple-talk. A delightful part of the book.

Recommendation: Yes, as long as you feel free to page through parts that might not be of interest. Well, well worth reading, and timeless in the gentle (and spot on) observations on family life -- and even politics and the economy! -- even though it was written in 1954
.
1572769
I remember watching this as a child and loving a part a certain scene!  Re-watched again and was pleasantly surprised to find that I still loved it.  The setting and whales used are wonderful!
3828373
I saw this movie long time ago, precisely in springtime 1958. when I was 12 years of age and was more than pleased, so I puchased this DVD to renew my childhood memories. I am glad to say that after all these years this movie did not lose any of it's allure (no pun intended) for me. The story is compelling and plausible the cast is excellent, ms Peters is beautiful and late mr. Hunter is handsome and manly enough to be convincig in his role. Late mr. Brennan is, well, good as ever. Last but not least there is the best villain in history of american cinematografy unforgettable mr. Elam. I recommend this movie to all as nice afternoon entertainment. Tehnically, DVD is very good, picture and sound are very good an of course there is old glorious tehnicolor, the best color system that was ever invented.
2704379
I'm not sure if you need a childhood enriched with Scooby-Doo to truly enjoy this book or not, but as someone who grew up watching Scooby-Doo, this book was just fun---an adult-worthy satisfying dose of childhood nostalgia, but of course, much darker. I was worried that the author would literally just change the names and not really create something new, and though he is clearly inspired by Mystery Inc., he's made his own interesting, well developed characters. There are plenty of satisfying nods to Mystery Inc. also, which were fun to notice while reading. There are several plot twists, which kept me on my toes, but I still ended up figuring out the villain long before the characters. However, overall, the book is a nice mixture of nostalgia, dark humor, and horror. I'm glad that I read it.
1058348
Really good book that reignited childhood memories..
4079110
In an era dominated by frenetic, nerve-jangling, video-game cartoons, I know there's an audience out there for the clean lines and elegant simplicity of this '60s adventure serial, which recalls the early Hardy Boys series or comic strip serials like Terry and the Pirates. The Quest team jets to exotic locales, confronts nefarious evildoers of various suspect ethnicities armed with the latest "science" (lasers, rockets, fake volcanos), and beats them with better "science," old-fashioned American brawn (courtesy of Roger "Race" Bannon), youthful ingenuity, and a touch of the mysticism of the Mysterious East (courtesy of Hadji). It's great retrograde fun--though sensitive types should be warned that it's borderline racist at times, in the casual, semi-spoofing spirit of an adventure movie like GUNGA DIN or the INDIANA JONES pictures. It has the virtues of straightforward storytelling, slow build-ups of tension, and a sense of mystery--all lacking in contemporary cartoons. I loved it as a kid, my kids love it today.
3072531
I bought Robin Hook out of pure nostalgia, having watched it as a child. What I did not expect was that it would be smart, well-written and well-acted television that compares favourably to anything being done today. Both thumbs up!
823344
Certain storylines of "Doctor Who" reverberated as distinct images in my memory during the years between my youthful enthusiasm in the 80's and my somewhat recent rediscovery of this wonderful show. They stood out clearly from the vague nostalgic haze that the many episodes had become in my mind. They were memorable. One of the more powerful of these without a doubt was "City of Death"--and the decades have done nothing to diminish its power. If anything, like a fine wine it has improved with age.

First off, this story is incredibly well-written, combining an ingeniously creative science fiction concept from Douglas Adams with suspenseful adventure along the lines of a Pink Panther detective tale or else the Da Vinci Code without the mystical edge. Once again Douglas Adams' dry, quirky sense of humor dovetails perfectly with Tom Baker's eccentric characterization of the Doctor, and this humor fits seamlessly into the story either as diversionary tactics by the Doctor in adversity or else simply to offset and counterpoint the enormity of the story's premise: A starship with the last survivors of a planet's race exploding as it attempts to take off in warp from the primitive Earth's surface, killing all but the pilot while sparking life on this planet--meanwhile, the pilot, Scaroth, is split into twelve fragments across the span of human history, where he/they work to impel human civilization forward technologically ultimately so that he can go back to that fateful moment and so undo his race's destruction (retroactively erasing the evolution of life on this planet in the process, of course).

All of that sounds a bit complicated in summary, but the dimensions of the tale unfold gradually and naturally in a finely crafted plotline also involving Scaroth's masterplan to fund his scientific research by selling seven Mona Lisa paintings to private collectors--one stolen from the Louvre, six (genuinely by Da Vinci, no less) in his basement. This in turn allows the writers to cleverly weave into this already masterful tale a subtle meditation on the uses (& misuses) and value of art. And Scaroth is played masterfully by Julian Glover, who brings a sinister sophistication and smooth cruelty to the role along with a wickedly dry sense of humor of his own. He is also a very believable villain whose motivations are understandable if reprehensible to us in their implications. Who wouldn't try to save his own people, after all?

Everything else about "City of Death" fits like a glove, too. The location shots in Paris are very nice indeed--sure, it's good to see that the Tardis can go somewhere on modern Earth besides merry ol' England, but the location of France's artistic capital is integral to the story, too, and thus much more than merely a neat but inconsequential backdrop. Lalla Ward's regenerated Romana has a natural rapport and chemistry with Tom Baker's Doctor that Mary Tamm, for all her fine abilities, just fundamentally lacked somehow, and that comes across especially strongly in this storyline. Even the special effects are excellent and 99.99% believable to the eye, and Scaroth's starship is convincingly alien and yet aesthetically cool in design and is utterly a showpiece of model-making on a slim budget. And the cameo appearance of John Cleese pontificating pretentiously on the artistic merits of the "afunctional" Tardis is a superb little touch.

In short, "City of Death" is a quintessential "Doctor Who" masterpiece, an unforgettable classic--why, it's practically a work of art itself.
4316176
This book is great fun if you are a fan of books of the golden age
of spy novels, extending roughly from Eric ambler through the end
the cold war.

This pastiche through quotes, characters and style uses the
"tradecraft" and techniques of these books to guide our hero through
today's Europe on an entertaining chase.

When the plot brings back old techniques from masters of spy
literature you are engulfed in nostalgia for the classic books you
read years ago when they were a best sellers.  The style also
captures the era, and subtle reuses of literary devices make you
remember and chuckle.

As he describes the events, characters, and procedures of the books
the "handler" uses to manipulate our hero it also becomes book
length review of the classics of the genre, as well as a list of 222
such books in the most useful appendix.  It has provided me
with a list of books I want to read or re-read from that era, I
hope they are still around at Amazon and have been "Kindlized".
Readers, be sure and check the wonderful Edwin Lemaster books
on Amazon.

So, why not 5 stars? Only 4 because the lead characters, father,
son, girl-friend and villain are all pretty anodyne and hard to
care much about. Unlike, say Le Carre's Smiley, who I continue to
empathize with 30 some years after he "retired".