Halloween Double Feature with Ponty: Poltergeist (1982) and Saw (2004)

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Happy Halloween, readers! I’m back briefly with a double feature of horror reviews from Ponty, but before diving into those exquisite reviews, I wanted to share some spooky silent films for your enjoyment this All Hallows’ Eve.

First up is a 1910 silent film adaptation of Frankenstein. The Edison Company (yes, that Edison) created the film, which is just under thirteen minutes in length and tells an exciting, abbreviated version of the classic tale:

The second is the classic Nosferatu (1922), in a version that claims to be unabridged:

Now, here’s Ponty with two reviews of films of a decidedly more recent vintage for your chilling enjoyment:

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TBT^65,536: Things That Go Bump in the Night

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This post is one of the last of the already-scheduled pieces for the blog before the daily posts stop, just FYI. —TPP

In looking back at this post from last year, it seems that America’s fascination with witchcraft has only grown deeper and more terrifying. I’m convinced, although I can’t prove it, that Lindsay Clancy murdered her children as a form of witchcraft, a diabolical sacrifice. Maybe she didn’t realize she was performing witchcraft, but that was the net effect.

Similarly, the millions of unborn children destroyed by abortions—roughly a third of Generation Z was murdered in the womb—which must be the greatest infanticide in human history. The Romans demolished Carthage and salted the earth because of the Carthaginians’ practice of child sacrifice; I shudder to think what fate befalls us when God’s Wrath Is unleashed.

With that, here is 9 October 2025’s “TBT^256: Things That Go Bump in the Night“:

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The Blog

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In case you missed it yesterday, here’s a quick statement on the blog. —TPP

Hi everyone. Just a heads-up that I’ll be ceasing daily posts soon. Currently scheduled posts will go live as scheduled, and there will be occasional posts here and there. I’ll finish the book review series I’ve already started (just not adding to it this week) and will publish any of Ponty’s reviews that are currently in the hopper.

Beyond that, the blog will consist mostly of occasional updates about music and book projects, with longer-form essays left on SubscribeStar.

Paid subs over at SubscribeStar will still have full access to all of the archives and will receive (roughly) weekly posts.

Unpaid subs will still have access to the archive of posts on this site.

The comments will remain open on all posts unless otherwise stated (at this time, I have no plans on shutting off comments on any post, I’m just reserving the right to do so should I deem it necessary).

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc., you can reach me via the contact page.

aurora borealis on the night sky

Finlandia

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Good morning, all. Just a heads-up that I’ll be ceasing daily posts soon. Currently scheduled posts will go live as scheduled, and there will be occasional posts here and there. I’ll finish the book review series I’ve already started and will publish any of Ponty’s reviews that are currently in the hopper. Beyond that, the blog will consist mostly of occasional updates about music and book projects, with longer-form essays left on SubscribeStar.

Paid subs over at SubscribeStar will still have full access to all of the archives and will receive (roughly) weekly posts.

Unpaid subs will still have access to the archive of posts on this site.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc., you can reach me via the contact page.

I love this gorgeous piece by Jean Sibelius, Finlandia:

There’s a great conversation in the comments between a native Finn and myself. He (she?) sheds some additional light on the piece and its significance to the people of Finland.

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Ponty Praises: Australian Lego Masters

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I love building with Legos, as regular readers will know quite well. When I was a kid, I would frustrate my older brother because I’d want to “use my imagination” with the pieces instead of building the actual sets. As I’ve gotten older, I very much build what’s advertised on the tin (as today’s contributor might put it).

Still, few things are more fun than diving into a random pile of pieces and just winging it. When my niece and nephews were younger, the one activity they could all get behind was doing just that with Uncle Tyler. We’d dump a bunch of Legos onto my parents’ dining room table and go to town building stuff. They would ask me to build various things for them, but my favorite was seeing the crazy stuff they came up with.

One thing I’ve come to appreciate is that I am not a Master Builder—far from it. I see the things people do with Lego and I realize I am still, in terms of skill, a six-year old building overly geometric structures.

Lego have really gone “mainstream”—not that they were ever on the fringes, but they’re now advertised for everyone from kids to adults—and the talents of millions of builders are easily on display via social media, television, streaming, etc. People will spend hours building entire cities, full of hyper-specific details, or complex spacecraft with motorized parts. It’s all quite fun—and humbling.

Naturally, it’s become competitive, and television shows feature Lego builds taking on insane challenges to see who is, truly, a Lego Master.

With that, here is Ponty’s glowing review of the Australian version of the television series Lego Masters:

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Lazy Sunday CDIX: Puppy Love

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Little Tot is settling in nicely, so I thought it would be fun to share some of the recent posts about the little guy:

  • “We Got a Puppy” – If you want to see lots of puppy pictures, especially from when Tot was still pretty tiny (he’s still small, but he’s already getting bigger after just a week), this post will have you falling in puppy love.
  • “Phone it in Friday CXLVII: YouTube Roundup CCVII: Tot” – Some videos of Tot exploring the yard and our driveway.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Phone it in Friday CXLVII: YouTube Roundup CCVII: Tot

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Little Tot is settling in nicely. Dr. Wife remarked last week that it feels like he’s been living with us for much longer than a few days, and she’s right—he’s become a part of our little family very quickly. Even Nugget is warming up to her little charge, and the two of them have pretty lopsided wrestling matches.

Naturally, Dr. Wife and I have been taking pictures of Tot nonstop, and I’m already exploiting showcasing him on on YouTube. Here are a few short Tot vids I’ve uploaded:

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TBT^256: Mahler’s Composing Shack

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My album Koi Dance is still 90% off with promo code koipond. Pick it up today! —TPP

Tuesday night I had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with Roman Riva of Opium Tales. Regular readers will know that I’ve been reviewing his series of novellas (read my reviews of the first four books here, here, here, and here). We discussed music (Roman is a talented heavy metal guitarist), dogs, koi, art, and all manner of other topics. You can watch the interview on Substack or on YouTube:

Amid our conversation we talked about composing and my various musical influences. It reminded me of this post about Gustav Mahler’s composing habits.

I love this time of year, as the crisp, cool weather is conducive to creative activity. Time seems to speed up after summer, too, which creates an underlying sense of urgency to create and produce. I’ve been a tad lax on creating new works lately, as I’ve been doing some arranging for my students, but I’m eager to get back to composing original works.

With that, here is 2 October 2025’s “TBT^16: Mahler’s Composing Shack“:

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Midweek Novella Review: Opium Tales: Son of an Incubus

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Roman Riva of Opium Tales and I had a great interview last night; catch it here: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/399308

I’m continuing to review the novellas adapted from Roman and Anna Riva’s planned animated series, Opium Tales (which doubles as Roman’s Substack moniker and publication). I’ve followed Roman’s work for years, and when I found out he and his wife had a series of short novellas in print—and that they are all, save one, under $8—I snapped them up and decided to review them one-by-one.

So far, I’ve reviewed Humpty Dumpty, A Pirate’s Tale, and The Staff (those are Affiliate links—more of them below—so I receive a portion of any purchases made through those links, at no additional cost to you); at the moment, A Pirate’s Tale remains my favorite followed by Humpty Dumpty and The Staff.

According to the introduction of each volume, Roman and Anna sought, but failed to procure, funding for an animated series called Opium Tales. They hoped to call it Dark Tales, but the name was taken, so they leaned into the opium habits of early eighteenth-century Romantics and landed on Opium Tales. Since they still had all the rights to their stories, they decided to publish them as a series of novellas.

Here is the series—or, at least the volumes I purchased (the following are Amazon Affiliate links; I receive a portion of any purchase made through these links, at no additional cost to you):

The entire series is (as of the time of writing) $46.94 before tax, so these are easy to scoop up in one fell swoop.

I reached out to Roman to ask which story should be read fourth, and he suggested I read one that his wife, Anna, took the lead on writing. Instead, I just grabbed the next one on top of my stack, Son of an Incubus, and I’m pretty sure it’s one of Roman’s based on the writing style. Sorry, Anna!

Son of an Incubus is definitely the oddest of the tales so far, and based on the ending, it’s clearly meant to be one of a series of episodes featuring the characters Greta and Clafigan, our heroes. Greta is a feisty witch with a strong independent streak; Clafigan is a knight-in-training, the son of old Crusader, who puts up with Greta’s outbursts with patience and humility. It’s quite clear that Clafigan loves Greta, but from a respectful distance.

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