Bye-Bye Blogger - Enough is Enough.

Folks, this is the final post on this version of KQEK.com's Editor's Blog at Blogger because I've had it with the serious issues programmers create when they do an upgrade at Blogger. This time their bungling's created so much extra work for me, there's simply no point in posting things via Blogger anymore.

Here's the process I go through to place hyperlinked words on this page:

- text written in MS Word (or Notepad) is placed into Dreamweaver. Links are adjusted, and the *code* is pasted into a Word Press post

- further edits are finished, the intro image is added, and that version of the Editor's Blog goes live. Within Word Press, the only tweaks I have to do because of code issues is created double-line spaces with white-coloured dots, and delete within the code an unnecessary double-space Word Press adds between by byline.

- once the HTML code is pasted into a new template in Blogger, I have to backspace the byline to the last sentence in the blog, and add three fresh lines to create a similar-formatted gap as it appears in the Word Press version. Blogger will also not recognize any italicized text done in Word or Dreamweaver.

- the top image, as part of the imported code, is a mess, so I have to delete it, upload it to the Blogger archive, and then place it in the blog. Blogger allows me to centre at the top of the page, but it doesn't permit text-wrapping unless you manually add it into the code. If I want to use a prior image within the Blogger image archive - like a CD image, related to soundtrack reviews - I have to wait until ALL IMAGES are displayed before I can pick the one I need. They appear in no particular order, so it's a waiting game until I find what I need, and can place it in the blog. This is called "inefficient" and it's baffling why this system of archiving images was never fixed.

- I can create teaser text by adding a page break so the first few lines in a blog appear under the image when the main blog page opens. Problem: once you place that "jump break" icon, you have to flip once to HTML view and back to Compose view because Blogger will add an extra blank line that appears in the full body of the new blog - which I don't want.

They may have fixed some of these grating bugs (all CMS setups have their share), but as it stands, if I paste a hyperlinked blog from MS Word, there are no links; if I past a hyperlinked blog from Dreamweaver, there are no lines between paragraphs; and if I paste a blog in HTML code into Blogger in HTML view, it appears as one solid stream of text.

I have neither the time to deal with fixarounds, nor the patience anymore. Congrats, guys, you've lost me - unless you read this and fix the fuck-ups that currently reside in 'the new look.' The visual continuity with Google + makes sense, but your new coding is a disaster.

Why didn't you test it before forcing this change? Do you know how much time I spent finding a new blogger mobile-friendly template and making specific modifications so it would display properly?

Lastly, the entire publishing layout for bloggers is too lean & clean. Take the page where I can write a post: I see an orange Publish tab and several tabs for previewing, etc. the blog... but how can I see the damned thing? Where the View Post or View Blog tab? Why do I have to navigate through 2 unrelated pages? Who hired you guys? Or perhaps I should ask Who's your supervisor who signed off on the interface modifications? because I don't think he uses Blogger to blog.

Those who've enjoyed the Editor's Blog can still read further blather at www.mondomark.com, where it resides in a Word Press format that's mobile & main friendly. The Blogger version will remain for a while, because it contains a batch of older posts that I wasn't able to import into Word Press.

Because of a bug.

Sigh,




Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Bouchet-Tolo Double-Bill = Quadruple-Trouble!

Mademoiselles Bouchet et Tolo - très fierent de leurs cheveux magnifiques.

Yeah, the header's a cheap shot, but given the focus is two B-movies made between 1968-1969 - Stoney / Surabaya Conspiracy [M] (1969), and The Killer Likes Candy / Un killer per sua maestà [M] (1968) - which co-starred (respectively) Euro babes Barbara Bouchet and Marilu Tolo, why not highlight each film's most important actress?

The Titanic Legacy, Part I

Well, it’s Friday the 13th (boo!) and tomorrow marks the 100th anniversary the Titanic struck an iceberg and went down, marking the beginning of an eternal fascination with the tragedy, the people, the ship, and human hubris.

I’ve no intention of revisiting James Cameron’s film anytime soon – it, er, hasn’t aged that well since I last watched the monster hit – and there’s frankly other more fascinating documentaries and dramatizations out there to see.

The Erotic Shades of Zalman King, Part I

I’ll always contend that somewhere during the run of Red Shoe Diaries, the 1992-1996 erotic series conceived by Zalman King for Showtime, King realized he was a brand name, and spent much of his remaining years exploiting that brand in lesser creative venues.

Prior to his passing at the age of 69 in February, King seemed to be prepping an extension of his brand via a new website, zalmanking.com, which espoused “It’s not just a website. It’s a lifestyle.”

It’s a tagline that’s catchy, cheeky, but also saddening because it represents the final shift for a filmmaker who had creatively downsized from theatrical feature films to an interactive internet venture that’s plainly undistinguished. Whatever the site may have ultimately matured into, at least from the wan promo tease, it’s as indistinct as generic softcore fodder, with cheap reality-based, interactive extras ranging from ‘never before behind-the-scenes’ materials to “Amateur video submissions from the girls next door hoping to be discovered by Zalman.”

The promised site is neither interesting nor particularly creative, and it makes you wonder how the former TV actor, who successfully journeyed into writing and directing, lost his mojo as a brand supervisor.

Twisted Metal's Michael Wandmacher + Grant Kirkhope's Reckoning

This one's a quickie, due to a backlog of good stuff on the way.

Just uploaded are sound track reviews for two videogames: Grant Kirkhope's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning [M] (Sumthing Else), featuring the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Nic Raine, and Michael Wandmacher's guitar-heavy Twisted Metal [M] (Sony, digital album).

Also uploaded: an interview [M] with Wandmacher discussing the minutia of scoring videogames, and some teaser details regarding his next horror score, The Haunting in Georgia.

Yes, I really am that busy today.

Darrell Wasyk's The Girl in the White Coat

A colleague wandered into the old Ammo Video store on College last fall and came across a VHS copy of something called H, and found the basic premise – two heroine-addicted characters attempt to kick the ugly habit – intriguing, but didn’t know much else about the film, hence the hesitation to purchase the tape. When he returned a few months ago, the store was locked, and most likely so went an easy chance to snap up some vintage Canadiana because H doesn’t exist on home video.

The Films of Frankie-Boy, Part I

'Pardon me: I'm lookin' for Vanessa the Undressa. Have you seen her?'

Whether or not Frank Sinatra knew it early into his acting career, he was a good dramatic actor, and while the studios recognized his name on the marquee sold tickets and soundtrack albums, Sinatra could carry a picture in almost any genre.

During the forties he was naturally cast in musicals, and that’s where he honed his affable persona, but in the early fifties he need to prove he could in fact tackle other roles besides being the A-side of a happy-go-lucky couple, or as a member of a bunch of good guys.

Genre Variations, & System Adjustments

"Mmm... the other white meat..."

Sorry about the conk-out – the websites & blog are back online, but it might be a day or three before the domains are propagated by search engines. (In Inglaisio: main index page urls may not load, but if you Google the site or load from an existing hyperlink, the site should pop up.)

Now then.

Now live are a quartet of horror-ish reviews for specific genre splinters, each done fairly recently:

We interrupt programming due to technical difficulties...

Whoops! At the present time, neither KQEK.com's main & mobile sites, nor the Editor's Blog at mondomark.com are working due to technical difficulties. Hopefully the problem(s) will be fixed for Tuesday. Stay tuned for further updates.

What to expect when regular programming is restored?

In the genre update department, reviews of Contagion, The Dead, Frat House Massacre, and Gurozuka. In the Frank Sinatra department, reviews of Assault on a Queen, Come Blow Your Horn, and Pal Joey.

More info to follow Tuesday. Hopefully a Shaman won't be necessary.



- MRH