On this day in movie and book history - Immortal (2004)

Immortal

French title: Immortel, ad vitam,

directed by Enki Bilal,

written by Enki Bilal and Serge Lehman,

based on the comic books La Foire aux immortels and La Femme piège by Enki Bilal,

was released in France on March 24, 2004.

Music by Sigur Rós and Goran Vejvoda.

Cast:

Linda Hardy, Thomas Kretschmann, Charlotte Rampling, Yann Collette, Frédéric Pierrot, Thomas M. Pollard, Joe Sheridan, Corinne Jaber, Olivier Achard, Jerry Di Giacomo, Dominique Mahut, Gary Cowan, Augustin Legrand, Javon Constantin, Owen Steketee, Joel Mitchell, Shush Tenin, Vanessa Hope, Charles Maquignon, Derrick Brenner, Rhonda Edmonds Constantin, Tony Vanaria, David Gasman, Thierry René, Jacquelyn Toman, Eddie Crew, Mark Reed, Rochelle Redfield, Max Delor, Barbara Scaff, Dominic Gould, Geoffrey Carey, Allan Wenger, Paul Bandey, Coralie Seyrig, Goran Vejvoda, Helen Later, Paul Barrett, Leslie Clack, Lemmy Constantine, Robert Dauney, Geoffrey Greenhill, Irene Palko, Féodor Atkine, Jacques Bonnaffé, Patrice Bornand, Géraldine Bourgue, Bernard Brieux, Pierre-Jean Chérer, Anne-Laure Delpech, Nathalie Lacroix, Pierre Laplace, Lucienne Legrand, Marine Logier, Françoise Lorente, Michael Ozanon, Alexis Perret, Christophe Ratandra, Christophe Raymond, Philippe Risler, Jean-Claude Sachot, Christopher Thompson, Jean-Louis Trintignant.

Recommended reading:

The Nikopol Trilogy 

by Enki Bilal.

Filmed as Immortal, French title: Immortel, ad vitam (2004), directed by Enki Bilal.

 

Published by Titan Comics.

This compilation edition published 2016.

Translated from French to English.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1782763538

ISBN-13: 9781782763536

Original French edition trilogy cover artwork:

A LEGENDARY COMIC BOOK, FINALLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH!

For thirty years, Alcide Nikopol has floated alone in space, sentenced to cryopreservation. When he finally returns to Earth, the year is 2023, and the world has been ravaged by two nuclear wars!

But the strongest change in the world floats above Paris – a giant pyramid, home to the recently returned Egyptian Gods, who would like to reclaim humanity as theirs, if only they could all agree...

The year is 2025, and Herakles Nikopol has returned to Earth following a 30 year exile in cryostasis. The Paris he lands in, however, is not the one he left. In his absence, the Gods of Egypt have returned to reassert their dominance over the human race.

One God in particular, the renegade Horus, has great plans he can only carry out with the help, unwilling though it may be, of Nikopol himself. Together they embark on a wild adventure that involves politics, intrigue, love… and a brutal, blood-soaked, hockey game.

This brand-new collected edition of The Nikopol Trilogy presents in full the brilliance, humor and stunning artwork of Enki Bilal's iconic masterpiece.

On this day in movie history - Inside Man (2006)

Inside Man

directed by Spike Lee,

written by Russell Gewirtz,

was released in the United States on March 24, 2006.

Music by Terence Blanchard.

Cast:

Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Carlos Andrés Gómez, Kim Director, James Ransone, Bernie Rachelle, Peter Gerety, Victor Colicchio, Cassandra Freeman, Peter Frechette, Gerry Vichi, Waris Ahluwalia, Rafael Osorio, Rodney 'Bear' Jackson, Daryl Mitchell, Ashlie Atkinson, David Brown, Robert C. Kirk, Frank Stellato, Ken Leung, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Ed Onipede Blunt, Amir Ali Said, Lemon Andersen, Samantha Ivers, Peter Kybart, Jason Manuel Olazabal, Jeff Ward, Anthony Mangano, Michael Devine, Ed Bogdanowicz, Aaron Vexler, Anthony Borowiec, Joe Coots, Lionel Pina, Ken Ferrigni, Frank Hopf, Robert Testut, Craig M. Spitzer, Limary Agosto, Patrick Illig, Frank Composto, Rozanne Sher, Rachel Black, Gregory Dann, Ben Crowley, Shon Gables, Dominic Carter, Sandra Endo, Kandiss Edmundson, Al Palagonia, Florina Petcu, Agim Coma, John Speredakos, Baktash Zaher, Ernest Rayford, Julian Niccolini, Ed Crescimanni, Brad Leland.

On this day in the Star Trek universe - The Star Trek Reader II, The Next Generation, Voyager, Picard

The Star Trek Reader II / book (1977)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1990)
Star Trek: Voyager (1999)
Star Trek: Picard (2022)
 

The Star Trek Reader II

by James Blish.

Published by E P Dutton.
Published 1977.
First Edition.
Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0525209603
ISBN-13: 978-0525209607

Description:
Here for the first time in hardcover are 19 of the most exciting episodes that ever appeared on the award-winning Star Trek television series. Novelized by the renowned science fiction writer James Blish, each of these stories is a little gem with a permanent sparkle, and their combination a collector's item.

 

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 3. Episode 18.

Episode entitled: Allegiance.

Released March 24, 1990.

Directed by Winrich Kolbe.

Written by Richard Manning, Hans Beimler, Ronald D. Moore.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Ron Jones.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, Stephen Markle, Reiner Schöne, Joycelyn O'Brien, Jerry Rector, Jeff Rector, Joe Baumann, Michael Braveheart, Debbie David, Eben Ham, Richard Sarstedt.

 

Star Trek: Voyager
Season 5. Episode 18.

Episode entitled: The Fight.

Released March 24, 1999.

Directed by Winrich Kolbe.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor.

Written by Joe Menosky, Michael Taylor, Bryan Fuller, Nick Sagan.

Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Jay Chattaway.

Cast: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Jeri Ryan, Carlos Palomino, Ned Romero, Ray Walston, Majel Barrett, Tarik Ergin, Sylvester Foster, Peter Scott Harmyk, Susan Henley, Alicia Lewis, Michael Munoz, Erin Leigh Price, Pablo Soriano.

 

Star Trek: Picard
Season 2. Episode 4.

Episode entitled: Watcher.

Released March 24, 2022.

Directed by Lea Thompson.

Created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, Alex Kurtzman.

Written by Juliana James, Jane Maggs, Travis Fickett, Matt Okumura, Chris Derrick, Kiley Rossetter.

Based on Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Jeff Russo.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jeri Ryan, Alison Pill, Annie Wersching, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, Evan Evagora, Orla Brady, John de Lancie, Madeline Wise, Ito Aghayere, Leif Gantvoort, Penelope Mitchell, Sol Rodriguez, Chloé Wepper, Karl T. Wright, Oscar Camacho, Sean Freeland, Kelli Dawn Hancock, Isabella Meneses, Brian Quinn, Kirk Randolph Thatcher, Danielle Thorpe, Dylan Von Halle, Kay Bess, Dartenea Bryant, Paul Lacovara.

On this day in television history - Justified (2015)

Justified
Season 6. Episode 10.

Episode entitled: Trust.

Released March 24, 2015.

Directed by Adam Arkin.

Written by Graham Yost, Benjamin Cavell, Keith Schreier.

Based on the short story Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard.

Music by Steve Porcaro.
 
Cast:

Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Jere Burns, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Walton Goggins, Mary Steenburgen, Justin Welborn, K Callan, Rick Gomez, Jonathan Tucker, Andrew J. West, Ryan Dorsey, Jonathan Kowalsky, Mykelti Williamson, Sam Elliott, Chandler Patton, Russell Bertolino, Gary Tiedemann.

Voltaire, on writing:

 

Writing is the painting of the voice.

- Voltaire.

Recommended reading - The Underground Man

 

The Underground Man

by Ross Macdonald.

# 16 in the Lew Archer series.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1971.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0679768084
ISBN-13: 978-0679768081
 
Description:

"There are certain books that bide their time, like plants, waiting decades to flower.... If a copy of The Underground Man, a novel from 1971, by Ross Macdonald, has been sitting on your shelf for ages, unread and barely noticed, try opening it now. Suddenly it's a book in full bloom." – Anthony Lane, The New Yorker.

"A more serious and complex writer than Chandler and Hammett ever were." – Eudora Welty.

"Ross Macdonald is an important American novelist!" – San Francisco Chronicle.

"I should like to venture that Ross Macdonald is a better novelist than either...Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler." – Anthony Boucher, The New York Times Book Review.

As a mysterious fire rages through the hills above a privileged town in Southern California, Archer tracks a missing child who may be the pawn in a marital struggle or the victim of a bizarre kidnapping. What he uncovers amid the ashes is murder – and a trail of motives as combustible as gasoline. The Underground Man is a detective novel of merciless suspense and tragic depth, with an unfaltering insight into the moral ambiguities at the heart of California's version of the American dream.

If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler, it was Ross Macdonald.  Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his predecessors had only hinted at.  And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.

Born on this day – Madison Cawein:

Madison Cawein

Writer

March 23, 1865 – December 8, 1914

Credits:

A Voice on the Wind and Other Poems (1902); Accolon of Gaul (1889); Blooms of the Berry (1887); Christmas Rose and Leaf (1913); Days and Dreams (1891); Idyllic Monologues (1898); Intimations of the Beautiful (1894); Kentucky Poems (1902); Let Us Do the Best We Can (1909); Library of Southern Literature (1907); Lyrics and Idyls (1890); Minions of the Moon (1913); Modern American Poetry: A Critical Anthology, 4th revised edition (1930); Moods and Memories (1892); Myth and Romance (1899); Nature-Notes and Impressions (1906); New Poems (1909); One Day & Another (1901); Poems by Madison Cawein (1911); Poems of Nature and Love (1893); Red Leaves and Roses (1893); Shapes and Shadows (1898); So Many Ways (1911); The Cup of Comus (1915); The Days of Used to Be (1913); The Garden of Dreams (1896); The Giant and the Star (1909); The Message of the Lilies (1913); The Poems of Madison Cawein. Volumes 1–5 (1907); The Poet and Nature and the Morning Road (1914); The Poet, the Fool and the Faeries (1912); The Republic, A Little Book of Homespun Verse (1913); The Shadow Garden (A Phantasy);  and Other Plays (1910); The Triumph of Music and Other Lyrics (1888); The Vale of Tempe (1905); The White Snake and Other Poems (1895); Undertones (1896); Weeds by the Wall (1901); Whatever the Path (1913).