Steven Helmer Publications

One of my first "crops" each spring comes from the composter I keep behind my shed. I throw everything from yard waste to uneaten food in there and can fill all my garden boxes with my homemade soil every growing season. The main catch with that is I do occasionally get something unexpected growing out of that dirt. Roughly 99 percent of the time it's weeds but every so often, I get a bonus plant. This includes the tomato I found growing in my onion patch yesterday evening. I'm not sure what kind of tomato it is yet. The thing that makes this one interesting is I checked that same location the day before and there wasn't any tomato to be seen. This plant, which is more than a foot high, seemingly grew in one day.  It makes me wonder if I should be selling my compost as some sort of plant-growing miracle product.

Synopsis: Chicago private investigators Aberford "Abe" Allard and C. S. "Duff" Duffy are asked by retired Waukesha, WI sheriff Buddy Olson to look into the deaths of Olson's long-time friends Art and Michelle Laskey. The deaths have been ruled a murder-suicide by the local authorities with Michelle as the person pulling the trigger. However, it doesn't take the ultra-observant Duff to determine the police are likely wrong, a determination that ultimately puts the two detectives in a dangerous situation that may require them to use their guns for the first time. Review: I checked Bought the Farm out from my local library last week and finally finished reading it last night. I chose the book because I've enjoyed other Abe & Duff mysteries in the past but, while that was still true about this book, it did leave me with some mixed feelings. The primary attraction to these books, for me at least, are Abe & Duff themselves and this book didn't d...

Synopsis: After failing to complete an assignment about the Industrial Revolution, a group of students are taken on a Saturday field trip to a remote train museum as punishment. When the bus gets in an accident on the way back to school, they walk to a nearby carnival for help and are stalked by a mysterious railroad man, Jack, and his pickaxe. Who's in it? The movie stars Tony Todd , Douglas Tait , David Beeler , Stacey Carino and Hope Jaymes . You can read my review here:  Movie Review: Jack the Reaper (2011)

Synopsis: After a unit on Macbeth  leads to a discussion about ghosts, a group of four high school friends stakeout the house of local mortician Vaughn Ely to prove or disprove rumors of the home being haunted. Believing the house to be empty but seeing the silhouette of a dancing couple in the window, they investigate further, only to discover Ely is home and he is dancing with the body of his deceased wife. An angry Ely kills one of the friends as they flee his house, but the local authorities don't believe the survivors' story, forcing two of them, Abby and Travis, to try to find proof even though it puts their lives in danger. Who's in it? The movie stars Dennis Quaid , Aimee Teegarden , Tony Oller , Stephen Ford and Brett Cullen. Review: I added Beneath the Darkness to my movie library a couple days ago because it sounded like it would be a somewhat creepy film. My wife and I ended up watching it last night and it turned out not to be quite as good as I had hoped....

Synopsis: Chicago vascular surgeon Dr. Richard Kimble is convicted for the brutal murder of his wife, Helen, despite insisting she was killed by a man with a prosthetic arm. While being transported to prison, he is caught up in a prisoner escape attempt and is soon being chased by U. S. Marshals under the command of Samuel Gerard while he attempts to find evidence that proves his innocence. Who's in it? The movie stars Harrison Ford , Tommy Lee Jones , Sela Ward , Andreas Katsulas and Julianne Moore . Review: Neither of us had the energy to go out yesterday evening so my wife and I wound up watching a bit of a Tommy Lee Jones marathon. This included The Fugitive , which neither of us had seen in a long while. After re-watching it, I thought the movie withstood the test of time. The movie, which is based on the television series loosely based on a true story, does a fantastic job getting right to the action. A lot of movies like this will bog things down with a ton of character ...

Synopsis: Brodie Torrance is piloting a passenger airliner from Singapore to Honolulu on New Year's Eve when the plane is struck by lightning and loses power. Despite the odds, he manages to land the plane safely on the island of Jolo in the Philippines. However, with their radio and other equipment damaged, they are unable to alert the airline to their whereabouts and soon find themselves in danger from a gang of rebels that control the island and are looking to collect ransom money for the passengers. Who's in it? The movie stars Gerard Butler , Mike Colter , Yonson An , Tony Goldwyn and Evan Dane Taylor. Review: I briefly considered watching Plane in the past but because the Netflix description didn't quite sell me, I usually ended up picking another movie instead. My wife was the one in charge of picking out the movie last night and finally selected this one. As it turned out, it ended up being a good choice. First of all, as someone who already hates to fly, this ...