Hilda (Netflix Series)

I love cartoons. All cartoons. Doesn't matter the age requirements or target audience. I think they are just fun.

Currently, Netflix is running a series called Hilda, based on the graphic novel series by Luke Pearson. I wasn't sure when I was going to get around to this series, but finally, I sat down and viewed the first episode. I was hooked..

Hilda is a young girl who lives in a house in the Wilderness (yes, a capital "W"), with her mother. You know the series has a different spin of the world when this character just walks into the house and makes himself at home. 

The Woodman

The Woodman doesn't even pay any attention to the fact that his is rude and self-centered. But he is somehow endearing.  

This is just one of the many creatures that inhabit the world of Hilda. 

The series follows her life, from the Wilderness to having to move to the neighboring town, which, in its way is a different kind of Wilderness, with its own mystical creatures. Hilda seems to have an affinity with them all. She makes friends with many of them, as well as with a couple of children, Frida and David, who she meets when she joins the Sparrow Scouts. Together, they have adventures and begin to grow up.

The series shows interactions between characters that are more real than most. The children argue, the get mad, they pout, they face their imperfections. They actually have imperfections! The creatures usually inspire not only wonder but often a certain amount of sympathy. Most are not trying to be harmful, though some are.

There is no real violence in the series. No sharp edges. No embarrassing situations. There are spooky scenes and some suspense, but little that will send someone running from the room. It truly is a series for children. And it doesn't talk down to its audience. It has an intelligence that is not always found in television. And it doesn't get preachy.


Hilda is voiced by Bella Ramsey, who was in about ten episodes of Game of Thrones. I believe that, one day, it will be a requirement to have appeared on GoT in order to get a job in television. Like "Peppa Pig", the show is from the UK and your child will begin to talk with a British accent. But it will be more of a Stephen Fry accent, rather than a Spike Milligan accent.

The series won the 2019 Annie for Best Animated Production for Children, Outstanding Character Animation and Outstanding Writing.

Young or old, this series is worth bingeing. There is a second season in production that will be available in 2020.

The Highwaymen (2019, Netflix)

I have always been a big fan of crime.

I know that's an odd thing to admit. Give a great caper film like The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974), a crime drama like Diva (1981), a true crime movie like The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) or murder most foul like Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and I am enthralled! So is the case with Netflix's current offering, "The Highwaymen".

The Highwaymen are a pair of Texas Rangers, Frank Hamer (retired, played by Kevin Costner) and Maney Gault (on the skids, played by Woody Harrelson), who are called on by the new Governor, played by Kathy Bates, to track down Bonnie and Clyde.



Unlike the entertaining vehicle from 1967, starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, this film deals with the relationship between two old friends and their realization that the world has changed and is passing them by.

Through the film, their technique and eye for details and clues shines brightly as they outdo a better equipped and younger group of FBI agents. They don't do it to show off. Their training was obviously different from the current methods employer by law enforcement. But the idea of wire taps and aerial surveillance, even a car radio, is a revelation to them. Still, they do their jobs well and bring the case to its inevitable conclusion.

Most interesting about this film is Bonnie and Clyde. Here, they are only bit players, often seen from a distance. They are also shown as more killer than bank-robbing folk hero. There is little sympathy for the two, as would be generated by the 1967 feature or 1958's "The Bonnie Parker Story" starring Dorothy Provine. If you do a little online research, you'll find that the pair robbed more gas stations and Mom-and-Pop shops than banks. They also murdered 13 people, mostly police. That aspect of their behavior is shown hundreds of feet away. No gratuitous blood here.

Overall, the film is engaging, with excellent performances by Harrelson and Costner (of whom I am not really a fan). Kathy Bates plays a great politician. I'd have voted for her. And, like Titanic (1997), we all know the ending. That doesn't make the film any less watchable. The director, John Lee Hancock, is a veteran of several notable films, like "The Blind Side", "Saving Mr. Banks" and "The Founder". He seems to have a good knack for capturing real stories of real people and bringing them to the screen.

The Black Box (1915)

I work for an auction house, specializing in stamps.Sometimes, while going through our purchases, unusual things present themselves.

Below are six "Movie Poster Stamps". They show scenes from Episode 10 of the silent serial "The Black Box". Research showed that this serial is nearly all lost. I believe that some of one episode still exists. The rest is gone.

The film itself was given a novelization at the time it was released, with about 30 scenes from the movie included. So, the story and some of the picture do exist. These stamps were used for many serials of the time. If you traipse about Google, you can find examples for serials like "The Goddess" and others, all of which appear to also be lost.

I wonder how many of these stamps still exist...

testing....

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I've never done this before and I need to see what it looks like.

I'm also in the midst of a great deal of indifference to writing right now. I can't explain it. It had been a busy week with work, a funeral and a visit to a lawyer's office, along with a move in. I'd like to say that these are the reasons for the writing problems, but they kind of start before then.

I was looking over my first attempt at a novel. It was submitted to an agent, who turned it down. The more I looked at it, I guess I felt that the opening was a little too downbeat. I started to rewrite the thing and got stumped.

I did fire off a couple of reviews to another website, and felt very good about getting things done so quickly. I even sent a short story into a competition. But, that seemed to end it.

I couldn't get another review to gel. Another story that I want to send to another competition started well, then seemed to stall.

I would like to find excuses, but there aren't any that would justify my lack of productivity.

I think I'll hit the sack.