Steven Helmer Publications

My wife has a photoshoot (very early) this morning and, while she was showering, getting her clothes together, etc. I amused myself by finding a movie to watch. This turned out to be The Blob, which I've seen more times than I can keep track of, though this was the first time I had watched it in its entirety in a while. Here are some of the thoughts I had as I re-watched the classic monster film: Casting a 28-year-old Steve McQueen as a teenager works about as well as you would expect. Don't get me wrong, I like McQueen and think he does an excellent job in the lead role. It's just I had to suspend quite a bit of believability to buy him as someone who was still in high school, along with 25-year-old Aneta Corsaut , who was closer to her character on The Andy Griffth Show , Helen Crump, than one of Ms. Crump's students. Jim Bert's (John Benson) past could have made a movie on its own. War veteran. Hates teenagers because of an accident involving his wife. Second-in...

Synopsis: This non-fiction book talks about the darker stories from American history, ranging from plagues to serial killers, told from just before the American Revolution through the Jazz Age Review: My wife picked up Terrible but True: Awful Events in American History from one of our local thrift stores, for both of us. I ended up being the first to read it, while waiting for a library hold to come in, and finished it earlier today. It turned out to be pretty good. Since the book was published by Scholastic, most likely for students, I had some doubts about what kinds of things and how many details the book would share. To my surprise, while it was clearly written with younger readers in mind, it included quite a bit that was both factual and borderline creepy. This includes things like the gruesome details of the meat packing industry before reforms and why people feared being buried alive. As a history nut, I did recognize quite a few of the stories the book told. However, there ...

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a popular landmark that gives visitors a glimpse of Hollywood history. It consists of nearly 3,000 stars recognizing celebrities from movies, television and multiple other forms of entertainment with some, like Gene Autry and Stan Lee, having multiple stars. Yet, there is one celebrity that was a Hollywood staple that still doesn't have star 83 years after his death, something that frankly has never sat right with me. His name was Dwight Frye  and here are my arguments for why someone should correct that. He had an acting career that lasted 25 years and could have gone longer. Born in 1899, he started with silent film shorts in 1918, was in his first silent feature film in 1926 and was one of a select group of actors who was able to make the transition to "talkies." He was in more than 50 films and could have added to that total if it weren't for his untimely death from a heart attack at the age of 44. He set movie standards.  Frye's ...

I wasn't sure what the weather was going to be like today. It was foggy when I left, dreary later in the morning and, for a time, looked like it might rain.  The sun did come out though, so I ended up going for a walk at lunch. Here are some of the photos. It took me a few tries to get the green heron above. The sun was reflecting off the algae/water and kept washing everything out. Fortunately, it was too busy hunting to care I was there. I saw the egret from the far side of one of the ponds and spent a good portion of my walk trying to get close enough for a photo without scaring it. I didn't even realize there was a blue heron standing near it until I was taking the photo. I got this one while it was taking a drink from the creek. Not really sure what kind of berries these are. Just liked the pop of color coming up from the green over the water. ______________________________________________________________________ Here are some of my previous nature photos: Lunchtime Walk P...

Synopsis: Stuart ( Kevin Sussman ) and friends arrive in a universe where magic is real, and science is something that can get you burned at the stake. Fortunately for them, Bert ( Brian Posehn ) ends up with magical powers. Unfortunately, before they learn that, they unwittingly unleash a demon version of Bernadette Rostenkowski ( Melissa Rauch ). My Thoughts: Going back to what I mentioned before, the episodes are just too short. A half hour just isn't enough time to give any depth to the alternate reality they are visiting or the plot that results from it. By the time we reached a point Bernadette was putting their lives at risk, Stuart and company were transporting to a whole different universe. If we're going to be seeing a new universe every week, the episodes really should be about twice as long. Bert is the breakout character from this series. It may be Stuart's show, but I'd argue Bert is the most entertaining character. He's also the person who saved the ...

I found myself humming the theme song to Reading Rainbow on my walk today because while wildlife was limited, I certainly saw a lot of butterflies flying in the sky. I was able to capture a few of them with the camera too, along with some other things. Here are some of my photos:  ________________________________________________________________________________ Here are some of my previous nature photos: Lunchtime Walk Photos (6/4/2026) Lunchtime Walk Photos (7/6/2026) Lunchtime Walk Photos 9/18/2020 Lunchtime Walk Photos (7/22/2026)