Musings of Two Creative Minds

Just found this novelette a few weeks ago and was thrilled to get another chance to read it. I'd read it once before many years ago, but I had thought it lost and was delighted to find it was simply among my books in storage.  Mr. Campbell did a wonderful job of creating a terrifying science fiction tale of isolation and the old '10 Little Indians' theme. In the lonely antarctic, a team of researchers are slowly realizing that the remains they brought in from a wrecked spaceship they'd found in the ice is still alive. Even more alarming is the fact that it can infect and duplicate any life form, by entering the victim's body and replacing every cell in that target body, allowing it to devour and become that person/animal.  The rest of the humans must find a way to figure out who's been taken over and what this 'thing' wants, before any migrating birds come to stay at the base and move on to other parts of the world.  John Carpenter's versi...

NOTE: This review contains spoilers, so read only if you choose to. Ever since the 1956 black and white classic movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was released certain phrases became part of everyday life for most folks.  I've heard things like:  Pod person?  Have you checked his/her basement for any giant seed pods?  So-and-so is acting weird, you think he/she might've been switched by a seed pod?  Dunno, if they did it's an improvement... (this one was directed at me more than once, fyi).   But before the movie came the novel, a brilliant piece of fiction by Jack Finney (who also authored other great works such as "Time and Again", "The Night People" and many others which I hope to read and review down the road).  However, it was "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" that captured the minds of readers.  Released in 1955, it was subsequently snatched up by Hollywood to be made into a movie in 1956.   Interest...

This is a tricky topic to cover, because as with any form of art the old saying of "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" truly is the rule. Speaking ONLY for myself, it comes down to have characters been cut out?  Were certain scenes reworked to blend into one?  Was the flavor or message of the story lost or enhanced? Given the holiday season, I decided to focus on one Christmas movie that I consider a true classic, which definitely took some artistic liberties, yet managed to enhance the story in my opinion.  The movie in question is the 1951 version of  "A Christmas Carol" starring the legendary actor Alistair Sims as Ebenezer Scrooge. Now before I continue, let me assure you all that I have actually read the original story in Mr. Dickens own words many times before and am familiar with what was actually in the novella itself.  And I can safely say his original story was carefully kept intact in this film adaptation.  However, certain additions...