A few years ago, writer, media consultant, and avid Stoic, Ryan Holiday, decided to open a bookstore with his wife. What with being a writer who is very into philosophy and how one lives one’s life (seriously check out some of his books), he decided to share some thoughts about what he learned from running the bookstore. The 23 lessons are on the shorter side, but are thought-provoking and often link to longer pieces that…
As some readers know, despite focusing more on audio fiction these days, I still am keenly interested in how films are put together, especially when it comes to speculative fiction stories… as they almost always employ some tricks to show the fantastical with as much thrift as craft. Last year, I learned more about how the latest version of Dune departed from traditional blue and green screens. I’ve heard a lot about the “virtual sets”…
I may have overlooked it, but I don’t think I’ve previously done a blog post about a little known holiday today. Sure, you knew it was William Shatner’s birthday today. Sure, you knew that, at age 92, he’s still making movies and even being blasted into space. But you might not know that today is International Talk Like William Shatner Day, a minor holiday started over 10 years ago, but really deserves to be a…
I’ve been a fan of writer Ray Bradbury since reading The Martian Chronicles and listening to Bradbury 13, a fantastic series that did audio fiction adaptations of, well, 13 short stories (the latter is still an inspiration for our work with Jabber Audio). So when Bradbury passed in 2012, I read the various obituaries and remembrances and several mentioned an anecdote Bradbury had told about an encounter with a magician in the 1930s. It’s a…
This past Monday, I shared an article about the allure of the film Master and Commander: But Wait, There’s More Title, directed by Peter Weir. This Sunday during the main Oscar ceremony, I learned that said director, now 78, received a special lifetime achievement award last November. And it got to me thinking that, apart from one or two of his films I haven’t seen, all of his films are always in my sort. Peter…
Thinking of my biennial “Favorite Films” post this past December, it’s clear from last night’s Oscars, I’m not the only one who was bowled over by the bagel that is Everything Everywhere All at Once. It’s definitely due a rewatch… but actually, I’m here to point out a recent article by Gabriella Paiella for GQ about how my top pick, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, was made and is now an…
With the airing of the final season of Star Trek: Picard, my ranking of all the Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) episodes is getting a steady amount of traffic. So going from the viewing guide for one of the least watched series in the franchise, Enterprise, let’s go to a Trek series that still ranks as the most watched… and based on feedback is clearly one of the most beloved. Much like many of…
On Saturday, I linked to an article about actor Michael Dorn and his long-running portrayal of the character of Worf across multiple Star Trek series and movies. Last week, the third episode of Star Trek: Picard‘s final season gave him a glorious (formal) introduction that is already spawning memes across the Interwebs. In fact, the whole season promises to give us a measure of closure with the TNG era on many fronts. There’s the main…
I never wanted a Next Generation (TNG) season eight out of Star Trek: Picard as many fans did, but I did want more satisfying closure with the Next Generation characters than was offered by Nemesis. With that in mind, I’ve enjoyed this latest and reportedly last season of Picard, still underway. As Dylan Roth explores for Polygon, perhaps no character deserves closure more than that of the quintessentially non-Merry man: Worf. As a huge Deep…
Eight years ago today, I relaunched a personal website not really seen since the previous millennium. I’ll leave it to readers to decide if it’s a little bit good or a little bit bad and in what proportion. But eight years does appear to be the Bronze Anniversary or, if you’re indecently British, the Salt Anniversary?!? I’m guessing that latter one dates back to the Danelaw. As with previous versions of this blogiversary post, I’ll…