J.B. Sommerset

Well, I'll be a mushroom's uncle, so far " The Last of Us " is a solid show. Good story, good acting, and good visuals. It's still too early in the series to tell how it's going to go, but much like the " Game of Thrones " Spinoff " House of the Dragon " it showed up and demolished the competition. It seems that all the good writers and actors went and got jobs for HBO.  First off, there might be some spoilers ahead... so if that's not your thing, stop right here. Prepare to get infected, but this time it's not a virus or a bacteria, it's a fungus! A gross one too.  Unlike " The Walking Dead ", this show has roots, or mycelium as they are called in the world of molds and spores. The Walking Dead was one of the best post-apocalyptic zombie outbreak shows ever made, but one thing about it always bothered me. The audience never learns what happened, how it happened, and the mistakes that were made. I was okay with this ...

In another life, I learned and taught martial arts. My Sensei had a number of books he wanted us to read, some made more sense than others. The one that always seemed to make no sense to me, at least until I was in the moment during a match, was " The Art of War " by Sun Tzu . It's one of those layer books that have more meaning the more they are read, also they get new meanings as time goes by. Unlike the other books I read, The Art of War was something I never fully got, and don't think I ever will.  Every few years I go back and read it, and I am also pleasantly surprised to glean more lessons from it- I no longer wonder why it can sometimes be found in the business section at Barns & Noble . So today, the biweekly audiobook is The Art of War. I know some of you won't be into this, and I know some of you will- it's an acquired taste. Cheers!

One of my favorite shows back in my twenties was a show some of you might have heard about. In fact, a number of you might have envied the hosts for the jobs they had. That show was " MythBusters " , one of my all-time favorites. I went into a post-explosion withdrawal when the show ended. For a while, I left it as dead. All the hosts were dead. All the experiments and curiosities were over. And no one was testing urban legends anymore. Times were dark. I didn't think about it much and just moved on with life. Then a few years ago I discovered that Adam Savage (one of the hosts) had a Youtube channel. I started following him and enjoying the content- he created a lot of strange and really awesome things. Jamie Hyneman  (the other host) was also doing his own thing too, although I have really kept up with him. At the same time, I became aware of an author named Mary Roach who has her own esoteric interests. Her work is great, but it's a different kind of literature. ...

Every once in a while I get all nostalgic, nostalgic like a drunk historian under hypnosis. I start reminiscing about my life and how things have gone, thinking about the things that would be different had I made some different choices. Inevitably this leads me down the rabbit hole of old stories and movies.  I was in one such mood last night, a driftless melancholy, a stillness if you will. Usually, when I am in such moods I tell stories that start off with "back in my day", but last night there was no one to spin a yarn for. It was just me and my lonesome, so I did the next best thing- turned on the TV and found a movie that meant something to me. In this case, that movie was a classic from "back in the day", that day was a day in 1985.  You guessed it...  Back to the future .  I watched it, I loved it, then I went to bed missing the old days. But it got me thinking, why was Back to the Future such a good movie? What made it stand out in the eighties, and why does...

I am not sure if I have posted this one before, but I am going to post it nonetheless. When I was a child this was one of my favorites, by one of my favorite authors, Jules Verne.    I used to read his books on the reg, everything from " Journey to the Center of the Earth "  to " Around the World in 80 days . " When it boils down to it, he is all about adventure, and let's face it, we could all use a little of that. So without further delay, here's "20000 leagues under the sea!" Cheers!

( Photo by Pietro Jeng) I usually don't do movie reviews, but I felt this one is appropriate considering that  movies  are a storytelling medium- plus, this movie's made almost 2 billion dollars so far. In other words, it's doing something right. Study up my burgeoning writers, directors, and film majors!  Before I get started, I have to post a short disclaimer here: I am going to avoid major spoilers, however, I might give away some smaller ones. As much as I would like to go in-depth on this one I will abstain and perhaps bring it up in the future.  For convenience I will break this down into five parts; the story, the characters and their development, the use of elements and themes, world-building, and lastly, the visual aesthetics. Hopefully, this will answer the question-  Does it tell a good story and should I go see it ?  Starting off with the story and plot. There's no easy way to say this, the story and plot are the weakest part of the movie. That...

I thought I'd start the year off with something new. So, I fired up the "googs" and typed in my magical keywords then started looking through the authors with the eyes of a hawk. I looked and looked for authors I haven't read or listened to before. So this week, I present " Lord Dunsany ". I wasn't sure I wanted to listen to this guy. I visited his wiki and it was there I found out his full name was  Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany . Now I have to post him. Here is the first audiobook of the year, "A Dreamer's Tales", I hope we all enjoy this, because with a name like that- he better know how to write! Cheers!