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How Do You Select and Read The Books You Read?
I’m a book nerd. You too? Yeah, it’s great, huh. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a ton of To Be Read lists on my various devices and literal piles here at my house. I’m always reading blogs to see what’s new. I read articles about new books and keep adding them to my lists. On Facebook, the algorithms are primed to send me sponsored ads by authors or publishing companies promoting books they think I’d like. Sometimes, I strike gold. Others times, not so much. When it comes to consuming and actually reading these stories, I rely on both reading (on my Kindle or hard copy) as…
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What Was Reacher Like When He Had Friends?
I’ve now watched the second season of Amazon’s “Reacher” and not only am I caught up, I’m all in. Let’s be fair: I was all in back in the first fifteen minutes of the pilot episode, when Reacher did the Sherlock Holmes thing to the local police detective. Alan Ritchson’s portrayal of Reacher is fantastic. He has the brawn to take on anyone and be scared of no one. He has the brain to outthink any opponent, usually before they even realize it. But it’s Ritchson’s gentle demeanor that is probably my favorite part of the character on screen. Season 1 is Reacher the Wanderer, the guy who literally walks…
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How Do You Overcome Resistance in Your Creative Life?
(This was originally written in 2022, but this is a perennial reminder that Resistance is always present and we need to keep it at bay.) Where has this book been all my writing life? Well, right in front of me, the entire time. I’ve known about Steven Pressfield for a good number of years. In fact, I have his blog feed in my Feedly app and I am a subscriber to his email. But in all that time, I had never sat down and read his most famous non-fiction book: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. I guess I just wasn’t ready for…
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There Are Too Many Books and Too Little Time. Now What?
It started with The Six Million Dollar Man. A few weeks ago, I learned that the debut of one of my favorite childhood TV shows occurred fifty years ago. With that in mind, I thought about going back and rewatching the series, this time with adult eyes, and see how it holds up. When I got to the Peacock, I realized there were 99 episodes. I don’t have time for that, so I went to Google and conducted a search of the Top 10 episodes of the show. Thankfully, the Bigfoot episodes are in there as well as a few crossovers with The Bionic Woman (weren’t those epic episodes!). Now,…
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True Detective: Night Country Asks an Interesting Question: What if The Thing Was a Murder Mystery?
I’m a True Detective newbie but I was all-in on the fourth season, True Detective: Night Country. Why? Jodie Foster. And the setting. I know Foster moved behind the camera for a long time and she did some great work. She worked on an episode of the science fiction show “Tales from the Loop” a few years ago and I really enjoyed that series. Last year she co-starred with Annette Bening in “Nyad,” a movie I’ve not seen (but will now). Thus, Night Country is the first acting performance I’ve seen in a long time. She’s fantastic! She’s hard, stern, dogged, determined, and occasionally unlikeable. In a recent podcast episode,…
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A Maverick Pathologist (Mostly) Seeks the Truth: Harrow Season 1
I actually laughed when I watched the first fifteen minutes of the pilot episode of the Australian TV show, Harrow, that ran for three seasons from 2018 to 2021. I then chuckled at the last minute as well. Why? Because the script did exactly what a pilot is supposed to do: Introduce you to the character(s) and then hook you good enough to watch the next episode. Done and done. The Characters Daniel Harrow (Ioan Gruffudd) is a forensic pathologist based in Queensland. He is a maverick in the department, brilliant of course, lives on a boat, and always rankling the higher-ups and his more uptight peers. He always wants…
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Being in the Room and Witnessing Creativity
I love to know how things are made. It’s one of the main reasons why I buy the DVDs of my favorite movies—other than, you know, ownership—because there are behind-the-scenes featurettes and interviews with the creators. I think this started back in the Star Wars days of the 1970s when I would read all about how George Lucas and company created the movie that changed the trajectory of so many lives. I loved how they raided model shops to create the Death Star and used miniatures, models, and matte paintings to create the galaxy far, far away. How many of us picked up our own cameras to make our own…
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When Reacher Did the Sherlock Holmes Thing, I Was Hooked
It took a pair of podcast hosts and Sherlock Holmes to finally get me to watch Season 1 of Reacher. By the time I finished the first episode, I wondered why it had taken so long. Setting the Hook Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin host the Fatman Beyond podcast and in the first episode of this year, Smith discusses Season 2 of Reacher. He was his usual ecstatic self when he loves something and that finally tipped the needle. Granted, when Bernardin mentioned it last year, that should have been been my cue to watch because Bernardin is one of the brightest guys I listen to, and his understanding of…
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Are you one of the 80% or the 8%?
Are you one of the 80% or the 8%? The first data point is the estimated number of people who fail and/or opt out of New Year’s Resolutions by the end of January. I’ve seen other stats that put that number at 43%. There’s even a day called Quitter’s Day that lands on 17 January where many folks who brimmed with confidence on New Year’s Day just stop. No matter the quitting number, think about the success number: 8%. That’s a single digit. Not even 10% of the people polled over the years have managed to continue their resolutions through 365 days. That’s shocking and, yet, not surprising, is it?…
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You Would Never Know The Mysterious Affair at Styles Was a Debut Novel
For the past four years, I’ve tried to read along with the reading plans hatched by the folks behind AgathaChristie.com. Each year I’ve not completed all twelve books but I’m always game for a themed list like this that carries a reader throughout the year so I’m giving this year’s list a try. Unlike past lists that were, say, arranged by styles of murders, this year is simply chronological, and it begins at the beginning. The Time Period The Mysterious Affair at Styles is not only the first time we’re introduced to famed detective, Hercule Poirot, and his friend, Arthur Hastings, but it also is the first book Christie ever…