Notorious News, Freaky Features,
Creepy Commentary, and Macabre Mayhem
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Straight From the Dark and Bizarre World of Joe Townsel ...
FOLLOW APPEARANCES OF JOE TOWNSEL ONLINE WITH NEW WEBCASTS PAGE
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NEWS
March 9, 2022
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Your favorite Dark and Bizarre Author is now making regular appearances as guest/commentator/cut-up on some great, entertaining and compelling webcasts! There's several to enjoy now, and more to look forward to in the weeks ahead! Join us, won't you?
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THE REVIEWS ARE IN ... AGAIN
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NEWS
March 13, 2020
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Writers Digest is the premiere periodical and website for aspiring and professional authors. Part of the services the editors provide to writers is to enter competitions in a variety of categories and genres. Through the process, the writer gets valuable comments from the judges on his or her work.
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Last year, I published Fury Duty, which I entered into the 27th Annual Writers Digest Self-Published Hardcopy Book and Ebook Awards. These are two distinct competitions with different judges. I'm happy to share the critique the judges from these prestigious competitions.
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THE REVIEWS ARE IN
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NEWS
March 3, 2019
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Writers Digest is the premiere periodical and website for aspiring and professional authors. Part of the services the editors provide to writers is to enter competitions in a variety of categories and genres. Through the process, the writer gets valuable comments from the judges on his or her work.
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Last year, I published The Unfriend Zone, which I entered into two Writers Digest competitions. I'm happy to share the critiques from the two judges.
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defending the dead
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COMMENTARY
April 20, 2017
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Season Seven of "The Walking Dead" is a wrap, but it remains a hot topic of discussion on the fanboy sites. Probably because it's been, by far, the most controversial season of the hit series (even before it got started).
Surprisingly, many of the plot points and characters of the TV show that have divided fans (extreme and casual alike) are based on the most popular era from the source material: the comics.
Frankly, I don't get it why Season Seven has gotten (and continues to get) such a bad rap. Maybe I'll understand it better if I address some of the more common criticisms head on:
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the four r's
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REMAKES AND REBOOTS AND REHASHES AND REVIVALS ... OH MY
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COMMENTARY
April 10, 2017
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REMAKES ... AD NAUSEUM
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Is Hollywood really running out of ideas? Maybe. But why should Hollywood be any different than this year's presidential candidates? (Just kidding. Sort of.)
Or maybe Hollywood is not running out of ideas. At least in terms of repackaging and rebranding.
Maybe it depends on the medium. If we're talking television, many viewers consider this to be a new golden age of the good ol' boob tube. However, if we're talking movies, it seems (especially in summer blockbuster season), that a lot of stuff playing on the silver screen is creatively bankrupt.
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OFF THE GRIDIRON
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COMMENTARY
February 5, 2017
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Happy Super Bowl Sunday, everyone!
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Today, it's all about the big game. But after the last post-game show is over, and Super Bowl LI highlights run their course on the 11:00 news, we can all still find post-season thrills in the many football-themed movies from the last several decades. Many football classics are also all about the big game. Classic football movies that lead up to the exciting climax of the big game? Far too many to list here.
Others give us inspiration as we follow the journeys of the players off the gridiron. In this blog entry, I'll concentrate on the latter category. Here a few of my personal favorites.
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