Good Movie, Bad TV Shows

I saw the new Midway movie with my sons and it was pretty good. I know there have been a lot of movies about Pearl Harbor and such, but this time, the focus was on Midway. Yeah, they had the Pearl Harbor attack in there, and they had the Doolittle raid in there, and they had the Japanese perspective in there, which was great.

But the new deal this time was the depiction of the Battle of Midway. I know there's already a movie called Midway, in which Henry Fonda and other great actors of the past had starred. But the modern special effects really put this one over the top.

Seeing the dive bombers closing in on the Japanese aircraft carriers from the perspective of the pilots was quite a spectacle. Seeing all those anti aircraft rounds flying by, knowing that any moment one could strike was a harrowing experience. And the success the Americans had made the viewer understand why this battle was so important.



On the other hand, my one time favorite TV show, Blacklist continues to disappoint. I watch it anyway because of James Spader, and of course I'm hoping it will give me the same enjoyment it used to give me from watching it during the first three seasons. But for the fourth year in a row, now, I'm shaking my head in disgust.

In Season Four, I had to watch a one-time loyal ally of Red's turn against him. And even though Red ended up on top at the end of that season, it was a premise that was complete bullshit. Season Five was a throw-away season that carried over the same "suitcase of bones" premise from Season Four. And it sucked. Season Six was even worse. Because here we go again with Red's allies turning against him. This time it was  Lizzy herself. Again.


As I have already pointed out, Red had already saved Lizzy's life on multiple occasions, and saved the lives of her closest friends and coworkers, as well as saving their careers, and still there she goes vowing to "bring him down" and "destroy him."

Sheesh, talk about bullshit, that topped the bullshit of the prior seasons. But then at the end of the season, Lizzy was over all of that, and back on board with Red. But no. Now in the current season, Season Seven, there she goes again plotting against him because her mother is in the picture now opposing Red for who knows what reason. The writing seems to be trying to create a reason, but it makes no sense at all. She wants to know who's coming after her. She already knows. She wants to know why. But she already knows why. She wants to know what Red knows. But why? And what the heck does Red know anyway?

Lizzy's mom. I doubt she could break Halle Berry's
neck, let alone a Russian agent in his fighting prime.

It's all complete bullshit writing. To make matters worse, we have to watch a frail, sixty-year-old woman break the neck of a man in his fighting prime, a Russian agent, with her bare hands in a hand to hand fight. Really? Come on, this is more bullshit. I've blogged at length with my problem with that scenario.

And even though this woman has two FBI agents murdered, Lizzy once again chooses to oppose Red and side with her to "find out the truth" about Red.



What truth? Well, we've learned at this point that he's not really the man Lizzy thought he was: a former lover of her mother's, and this seems to be a thing Lizzy just can't get over. She just has to know who he really is.

So, The Blacklist show is pure crap at this point, but I might say there's something that might save it for me. That would be if they finally reveal somehow that Red really is Red, the real father of Lizzy. They had shown burn scars on his back once, which might suggest that this is the case. And if it is, then and only then might I return to liking this show again. But until then, it's a show that features bullshit. And that's too bad. But we'll see...

As far as the other bad TV shows, of which there are many, that will have to wait until later. This post is already long enough.

Rambo V - Great Movie

I have not been so enthralled with the Rambo franchise over the years. For me they didn't rate up there with The Transporter franchise or John Wick, but they were fun enough.

Actually, for me the John Wick franchise took a fall with the third chapter as I've blogged about.

As for Rambo V, I suspect it's the last and final episode for the Rambo franchise and it was a great one. I mean, finally we have men acting like men and women acting like women. And that is not to be mistaken as men are strong and women are weak. No. Women are strong too. But in real life they're not going around beating up and/or killing everyone. Not like in a Halle Berry fantasy, anyway.


No. In Rambo V, women are strong and determined individuals who, as adults, have their shit together, but as teenagers, they don't. (Kind of like in real life.) And that is the basis of this story. In Rambo V, you have an adult woman and a teenaged girl (her niece,) who live with Rambo, and the niece makes a choice that is not the right choice. Imagine that...


They're both strong women, but neither one of them go around beating up twenty men all at the same time. I mean they don't beat anyone up. And that was a refreshing twist in the Hollywood universe these days. I have grown very weary of watching women beating up and killing men left and right, at every turn, and sometimes as many as fifty men all at the same time.

So no. This movie was realistic. Gritty, and quite brutal. Because in the Rambo character, we have an ex special ops military man. He's trained to kill, and trained to survive. He's a veteran of wars and, of course, a veteran of the four  previous Rambo experiences to his credit.



And as an older man, the Rambo character still exudes toughness. He looked strong. Probably because of Stallone's workout ethic and yes even the steroids he doesn't lie about taking, unlike other Hollywood musclemen, (i.e. The Rock,) But whatever...

Rambo V Last Blood worked, and it was great. It was refreshing and I'll take it any day. And at this point I'll take it even over John Wick. At least over John Wick Chapter 3. No wanna be tough chicks in the Rambo franchise. Thank god.

Music Time Again

I know this blog was dedicated to my novels. But you might have noticed there hasn't been a lot to post about regarding those novels for a while. It's like, right now, those novels are in Limbo. Only my two Killer Books are in print, but I have a lot of satisfaction in the other books, too.

Especially now, since I've rewritten them in the days since the respective publishers went under. All three books are in a far superior form in regards to writing and the prose. I mean The Vase, Second Chance, and John Dunn are so refined and polished now, I can't wait to see them in print again in their current states.

But like I said. All three books are in Limbo. Which means waiting on agents, waiting on publishers, and all at a snail's pace, you see. And I move faster than a snail I'm glad to say.

So instead of writing more, I'm back to my music. I had composed 13 plus albums averaging about ten songs per album, and I was very proud of that music I had written. My only set back or hold up was that I can't sing worth .... You get the idea.

Even though I tried singing on volumes 12 and 13, I was not satisfied with my voice or my singing. At all. I have no range and I am missing the notes often. It's better if you don't listen to it.

But I had always wanted to get back to it. I was particularly proud of volumes 3 and 4, so I went back and recorded those with me singing....yuck.

Then the man who had been making the CDs for me told me to try a different machine....meaning a machine other than the old-fashioned cassette tape recorder. It was time I crossed into the 21st Century and recorded everything digital. So I did and wow, what a difference!

I'm using digital devices now and all my songs are being recorded onto an SD card rather than old cassette tapes. Everything sounds better and even my voice sounds better. I almost sound like a real singer. Mind you I said almost. I am still no singer. But hey, whatever. I'm not sending these to Sony Records or Warner Records, or Atlantic Records, or MCA for that matter.

I know I'm never getting anything done professionally. This is all for fun. But you know what? I like my songs a lot better than MOST songs that are out today. I'm not saying I can compete with real singers out there. I can't. How many times do I have to say it. I'm not a singer. But again, I like my songs a lot better than a lot of songs that HAVE been professionally recorded. So there.

So what all this means is that I am going to redo Volumes 2, 12 and 13, with this new digital device, and go from Volume 2, then Volume 3, 4, 5 and all the way through Volume 13. Then I might just keep on going. What about volume 1 you might ask? Well, Volume 1 was simply a compilation of all the songs I had written in my early years. Early, like in high school, I mean. Yeah, I like the songs, sure, but those songs are not the rockin' riffs I've put together since then.

The funny thing is, and I suppose it's quite coincidental, but I've re-established contact with a couple of my old high school band mates. Both are still playing music and were glad to hear I was too. Who knows. Maybe one day we'll get the old band back together. Or not. I suppose we'd need to be on a mission from God for that to happen.

But hey.... In the meantime, I'm still rockin' out. And lovin' it.

John Wick 3 - Almost Ruined - Almost

I took my time before I went to see John Wick Chapter 3 - Parabellum. Of course the big news was that Halle Berry was going to be in it. It was no big news to me. In fact when I heard she was going to be in it I was disgusted.

Why? Because the John Wick franchise had become one of my favorite movie franchises. Right up there with The Transporter franchise. I thought Chapters one and two were terrific. I was so glad that Hollywood was preserving at least ONE tough guy that was still a dude.

I've lamented recently here on the blog that Hollywood had been turning men into wimps in just about every medium. We've had to see women become the new "tough guys" and the men turned into pussies in every TV show and movie franchise from Star Wars to Star Trek to Flash, Arrow, Person of Interest, and the list just goes on and on.

When The Transporter franchise tanked, thanks to Jason Statham leaving the franchise, I was glad that the John Wick franchise was still going strong. I couldn't wait for Chapter 3. Then I heard Halle Berry was going to be in it. Worse still, she had petitioned to be in it. Here's the link. And here's another. So I suppose the producers figured she was an A-list actress with an academy award in her resume. How could they refuse? Well, if they found a good part for her, I'd have had no problem.

But my fear was they were going to do the same thing to John Wick that they did to the Jim Caviezel character in Person of Interest. Meaning they had two seasons as Jim Caveizel being the show's bad-ass, then in the third season they introduce another bad-ass character in a little chick. Yeah, and she was an even tougher bad-ass than Jim Caviezel. Sheesh.

So I saw the show, and sure enough. Halle Berry is in there beating up and killing fifty dudes all at once, a la John Wick. I mean she was using the same moves and the same type of styles that John Wick had been using in the two prior movies. Did she train with the same people? No. She was just a female version of John Wick. Yeah. All 5' 2" and 110 pounds of her.

Fifty-two-year-old Halle Berry as "tough guy" Sofia in John Wick 3.
Yeah. A real tough guy. She looks about as tough as a middle school girl.
She couldn't take on 50 middle school kids, let alone 50 trained
killers all at once. Her character was a complete piece of crap.

That scene almost ruined the movie. Thankfully, it was just that scene and then she was gone. But not until after spitting in an empty water bottle as Wick is about to undergo a romp in the Sahara desert. And like a pussy, Wick takes it. The scene with Berry was nothing more than gratuitous violence inserted for her egotistical benefit. It was like placating a spoiled child. The movie would have been better without her. And yet the goose-steppers are out there claiming how great she was, which, of course, is bullshit. The fact is she almost ruined the movie.

There were so many holes in that scene and when it was all said and done the scene made no sense at all. They killed her dog? Yeah, where had we seen that before? Except wait...they didn't kill her dog. Whatever. It didn't stop her from going all John Wick on them, and completely ruining the concept that she had laid out of not wanting them going after her daughter. It made no sense for her to go into a killing frenzy for no reason at all. Her dog wasn't dead.

So yeah. Halle Berry sucked in this movie. She did not fit at all. Her character was lousy, and her acting was the worst. What happened to that great acting ability that won a best actress academy award for her role in Monster's Ball? It wasn't displayed in John Wick 3, that's for sure. Her acting sucked. And because of these reasons, John Wick 3 was almost ruined. The best thing about Halle Berry is when we didn't have to see her anymore after that horrible scene was over.

I have to admit this was the worst of the three John Wick movies so far. Will John Wick 4 get back on track? We'll have to wait another two years to see. I won't hold my breath. As far as I'm concerned, the John Wick franchise sucks now. Thanks to Halle Berry.

Maybe it can be great again. As long as Halle Berry is no longer in it. Or maybe if her character is killed off that could fix the problem they created. But I don't expect that to happen. Berry's scene and her privileged demand which was unconditionally granted, proved she has a huge ego belying her diminutive and very NON-intimidating frame. And I wouldn't doubt it if she is one of those actors and actresses who has the kind of ego that refuses to let any of the characters she plays from ever getting killed in a movie she's in. And I'm probably right.

Bottom line is it's a damn shame the producers of the John Wick franchise bent to the will of this privileged and self-serving actress who can demand to be in a movie that had already established itself as a great success without her. She brought nothing to the franchise. And like I said. She almost ruined it. Please, no more Halle Berry. Or if she does return, please, kill her off.

Avengers Endgame -- Sucked

It sure seems like I'm hard to please. At least that's what one might think when reading my blog. But  whatever. I'm not going to say a movie is good when it's not. And even though Avengers Endgame made billions of dollars, it sucked. Big time.

So why did it make so much money? I've said it before...the goose-steppers. For those of you who don't know what that means, goose-steppers are the rabid fans who will like anything, or any movie, that has their favorite heroes in it.

Jack Kirby's rendition of the Scarlet Witch

Like Star Wars for instance. Disney bought Star Wars from George Lucas for four billion dollars, a price he couldn't refuse, I suppose, even though I heard he donated the money. But whatever. In selling his franchise to Disney, he surrendered what little integrity the franchise had left after its atrocious prequel trilogy.

Disney studios proceeded to destroy the legend of Star Wars. First by doing nothing more than rehashing the original story line, albeit with a female "Luke Skywalker" this time. And then by delivering prequels and sequels that totally sucked with boring scripts, tired plots, and bad casting. But the Star Wars die hard fans had been waiting so long for anything Star Wars, they ate it up. These are the "goose-steppers" and Disney made billions off of them.


The same thing was true for most Star Trek fans. So hungry for anything Star Trek, even the stupid movies and TV shows couldn't fail. The goose-steppers soaked it all up and still are. I said "most" fans because once upon a time I was a Star Trek fan. I thought the original series was terrific as did millions of other people. But the second series "Next Generation" was a total load of crap, and so were the ensuing movies...nothing but crap. I didn't buy it. I quit watching The Next Generation soon after it aired, and even though I admit to seeing the movies, I couldn't stand any of them. Therefore I am removed from the "goose-stepper" status.

The Scarlet Witch as drawn by Jack Kirby

But one might argue that since I paid for seeing the movies, doesn't that make me one of the goose-steppers? No. Because a fan will go to see a movie hoping it will be good. The goose-stepper will come out of that theater raving about how great the movie was, even if it sucked. Why? Well, because it was a "Star Trek" movie. Not me. I loved the original Star Trek. But after seeing the movies, I realized I wasted my time and money. So no. I'm not a goose-stepper.

I had been a Marvel superheroes fan since I was a kid and I can call myself an expert on the characters and the Marvel universe, at least so far as the Silver Age is concerned. I still have quite the collection to this day.

Elizabeth Olsen is NOT the Scarlet Witch

I have been critical of the casting and the story lines of most of the movies. Yeah, Robert Downey, Jr. is good as Tony Stark. Yeah, Chris Hemsworth is good as Thor. Jeremy Renner was fine as Hawkeye, and I didn't mind Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange. Chris Evans is a better Captain America than he was the Human Torch. But just about every other actor was horribly miscast.

That means from the first movies like the X-Men to the last one...Spider-man Far From Home this summer. They all have been miscast. And they ruined the characters, too. I remember seeing the first Conan movie. I was a Conan fan and I was thrilled they were making a movie. I saw it, and even during the movie I remember thinking to myself..."That isn't Conan."

But of course the goose-steppers were thrilled just to see a dude dressed up as Conan with a broadsword riding a horse. Never mind the dude had nothing else in common with the character created by Robert E. Howard. Never mind the story completely sucked.

Mila Kunis is the perfect Scarlet Witch

So it's the same thing with Avengers Endgame. The characters are all there. There's Captain America, ending up as an old man, passing the torch to a new Captain America. There's Thor, but with a pot belly and wasting his days playing video games. Yeah, that's right. A pot-bellied Thor doing nothing but playing video games all day. Everyday. I mean, um, that's supposed to be the "god of thunder" but yeah. He's a pot-bellied couch potato now. What was worse was the completely ridiculous story. The bad guy kills half of life in the universe, because... Well, there really was no reason. Balance, he said. What does that mean? The story, plot, and script sucked big time.

One last example before I go. The Scarlet Witch, as pictured above (drawn by the original artist Jack Kirby.) She used to be my favorite female superhero. But casting Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch was a disaster. Especially when the PERFECT actress for the part was available and still in her prime.

Imagine that outfit in red-The Scarlet Witch!

Who could argue that MILA KUNIS isn't the PERFECT Scarlet Witch? No one that's who. It's because Mila Kunis is the perfect Jack Kirby drawing of the Scarlet Witch come to life. So why can't the movie people get something right when it's staring them in the face?

I can go on. My point is the actors and actresses are out there. They got Thor right and Iron Man right. But that's like two out of fifty or something. With a little more effort they could get them all right. And with a little more effort they could have great stories, too. I mean it really isn't that hard to figure out. If the movie people went with the stories written by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee during the Silver Age, all of these movies would have been a hundred times better.

Too bad the effort is lacking. But why bother? They're getting their billions. That's all that matters, right? To them, at least.

The Spanish Princess

I enjoyed the first two installments of this series: The White Queen and The White Princess. Both focused on the women, (of course) of the York line, as their male counterparts vied for the throne of England, eventually losing to the Tudors. Ultimately the two bloodlines joined through matrimony, when Henry VII married Elizabeth York, ending the civil wars that plagued England for years.

In the third installment, the timeline of this historically based series takes us to the introduction of Catherine of Aragon, who was famously married to Arthur, (Henry VII's firstborn son,) and after he died, to Henry VIII, (his second son.)

And yes all this is true history, which makes for great story-telling. But being the critic I am, I am not without criticism of this third installment. I've only seen the first two episodes, so far, but right from the start there were some problems. Major ones.

As we know, Catherine's parents, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, had reconquered Spain from the Moors, (Muslims who had occupied Spain for several hundred years.) And they had rid Spain, (and the entire Iberian Peninsula) of all non-Christians. Meaning there were no more Moors or Muslims left in Spain.

But the story starts with Queen Isabella, in full armor, leading a charge to fight off a Muslim insurrection that had ambushed the royal entourage on its way to send off Catherine to England.

Um, say what? Yeah. It wasn't the king leading a charge, it was the queen fighting off Muslim attackers as if she were the top knight of the land. King Ferdinand was nowhere to be seen, once again playing into Hollywood's perverted mandate to elevate women above men in all ways, up to and including military bravery and leadership. Sheesh. So that was a two for one stain on this new show. Muslims still fighting in Spain and the queen leading the charge to fight them.

That's critique number one. Next, we see in Princess Catherine's royal entourage, one of the royal Spanish soldiers is a black Muslim. I have no problem with skin color, but the Muslim part is complete crap. I had already established that all Muslims had been kicked out of Spain or killed. In this show, not only did they portray an army of Muslims still there, but now we see a Muslim is among the royal entourage as one of Princess Catherine's personal guards!

Princess Catherine and her Entourage

Never mind that he's a secret Muslim. I mean how secret can you be when you're kneeling on your Muslim prayer rug five times a day in the ship that's crossing the English channel? It doesn't work. Clearly the show is pandering, not only to women, but to a Muslim audience. Again, it doesn't work, if only because the entire concept is crap.

As if that wasn't enough, to further the Hollywood mandate to diminish male characters, they have one of the English guardsmen, (of the royal palace, no less) trying to molest the top woman of Catherine's entourage, (a black woman, of course.) If any royal guardsman tried to molest anyone he'd be executed on the spot.



So what's next? How about little Princess Catherine bests Prince Henry in a sword fight... Yeah, that's coming next as the show's preview for the next episode portrayed. Never mind that England won every war it ever had with Spain. Never mind that Henry was 6' 3" and athletically inclined, and trained in the military arts. Never mind that Catherine, (at least THIS Catherine) is a tiny thing, standing no more than 5' 2" and weighing 100 pounds.

This is just too much. But it's  been too much for twenty years now. My only conclusion is that the goose-steppers buy into it. But like I said before. I don't.

Game of Thrones - a joke

I had something to say about Game of Thrones for the first time last week, and now after watching the second to last episode, I was amazed at the joke of a show it is.

I had lamented about how the writers of the show had fallen in line with the female dominance premise which Hollywood has been promoting for the past twenty years. But that really hasn't been unexpected. With last night's episode, it has dropped to a new low.

It's all about the super Danny girl and her super dragon now. The show had established that Cersei's new "scorpion" arrows were very effective in killing dragons, as they had killed one with little effort already. But lining up these "scorpions" only along the front wall of her walled fortress was so stupid it was a joke. Did anyone ever notice that the dragon had wings and can fly? Did anyone care to realize that a flying dragon can fly at their walled city from any direction?

I mean anyone with half a brain would know to position those "scorpion" arrow shooters, not only on the front wall, but on the rear wall, and on the side walls, and throughout the city's interior. I mean, no one realized a dragon could fly directly down from a high point, thus evading the walled "scorpions" to breathe its fire? So the joke is how stupid the positioning of these scorpions was.

And by the way, since when does fire burn stone walls and stone towers? Since when does a fire cause stone walls to explode? It was like the dragon was shooting explosive tipped missiles out of its mouth. Well, it's all part of the joke, I guess.

This show was so poorly written, it was very surprising. And clearly, whenever a show is this stupid it's the fault of the writers. I haven't read the books, so I don't know if the original author wrote it this way. Whoever did, the goose-steppers will buy into it. But wait...not entirely. At least there's a TV critic out there who didn't buy it. You can read her article on USA Today here.

Game of Thrones - Totally Predictable

In all my posts in which I'm lamenting the reduced roles of male characters these past months, I haven't posted about Game of Thrones. Never mind that almost all the male characters have been reduced to wimps and cowards, like in just about every other show and movie franchise, they have also been reduced to subservient pawns at the beck and call of their female "superiors."

And following this, was it any wonder that the character who saves the GoT world from the horrid Night King was, of course, the little girl, Arya Stark, all of the 5' 1" and 90 lbs of her, played by the equally tiny Maisie Williams of England.

But my point is that it was totally predictable. My wife and I, both, had predicted the one who would finally kill the Night King would be Arya. Everyone I knew, with whom I talked about it, also knew it would be her.

While the 6' 6" 250 lbs "Hound" was cowering in the shadows, it was the littler girl Arya who was fighting off dozens of "white walkers" all at once. It was all too expected now that Hollywood has set the precedent that it's the women who are the smart ones, the heroes, the brave ones, and the saviors of the universe, while the men are wimps, cowards and degenerates.

Maisie Williams

So, here we go. The baddest character in the GoT universe is little Arya Stark. And, of course, the goose-stepping fans of the show are "all in" with this. As are all the other "goose-stepping" fans of shows like Star Trek, Star Wars, Disney, the Marvel universe, and every other TV and movie franchise, as they follow blindly the destruction and demasculinization of the male characters in Hollywood.

You know, I do have a suggestion of how that GoT episode could have been better. And it doesn't even diminish Arya's bravery. She had somehow leaped over a crowd of the Night King's followers, I'd say about 40 to 50 feet in distance and about ten to twenty feet in height. Never mind how she managed to do that. But after doing so, the Night King had caught her by the throat. As we saw then, Arya dropped her knife into her other hand and stabbed him, at which point he, and his army, exploded. That was the predictable part.



What would have been a hundred times better and more believable would be if the Night King snatched the blade from her and handed it to his "right hand" man, one of those other elite white walker dudes. But then, the dude turns around and HE stabs the Night King. And after they all explode, we see that he doesn't. Why? Because at that point, he removes his "white walker" face and Arya sees, (as does the TV audience) that he's actually that dude from the "assassins guild" who had been tutoring Arya in the ways of the faceless assassins. You know, those dudes who put on the faces of others to mask their true appearance. That would have been awesome.

But no. Clearly the writers of this show aren't as good as I am. Whatever. It goes to show they are all in with Hollywood's directive. It's the women who are the heroes. And the men who are wimps. The goose-steppers buy it. I don't.

Blacklist Still Sucks - Worse Than Ever

When I mentioned in a previous post that The Blacklist was continuing its downward spiral, I didn't realize how right I was. I dared hope that the Aram resolution was going to be indicative that perhaps the show was coming back to its prior greatness.

But it was not to be. It seems the writers keep finding ways to make the show lousy. It started with the falling out of "Mr. Kaplan" and how "she" became an enemy of Red's after being a staunch ally. That ended badly, with the suicide of Kaplan, in her effort to destroy Red. Then you had Lizzy and her ridiculous antics to "destroy" Red, along with the help of Red's other daughter.

That was somewhat resolved, but only after Red was mere seconds away from being lethally injected. But still, Lizzy, like Aram, came around, unlike Mr. Kaplan.

And now we have yet another falling out. Now it's Dembe. I mean, come on.... If it's not one ally of Red's it's another. And Dembe was Red's most loyal ally of all. But, not anymore...

This is so tiring. I mean, it's been tiring for a long time. My god, don't these writers have any better ideas than to keep sowing discord among Red's allies time and time again? And now Dembe? For chistsake, no.... Not Dembe, but yes. Dembe. I mean he was only my favorite character, after Red in the entire show. His unyielding loyalty was awesome. Apparently it wasn't so unyielding after all.

And there's another thing. Finally we learn who James Spader's character really is. We've been slowly introduced to the idea that he's not the real Red Reddington. Okay, I was willing to go with that, as long as he was the real father of Lizzy. I mean the real biological father. But no, we don't even get that. Talk about a let down. That was the killer. The show sucks. Big time.

The only thing that could possibly had justified Red's apparent "obsession" with Lizzy is if he was her REAL father. But it turns out he's not. He's just the former lover of her mother. Never mind that she had an affair and a baby with another man. (the real Red Reddington.)  Never mind that she's leaving him because the Russians are out to get her. But this guy, some Russian contemporary of Lizzy's mother, decided to take the place of Red because.... Who knows why?

The show didn't explain that to my satisfaction. I think it was to keep Lizzy's mother safe. Say, what? How does him becoming Red keep her safe? Well they tried to explain that somehow, but it was impossible to explain, imo. It turned out to be just plain stupid.

So the guy promised he'd take care of Lizzy as if she were his own. Sorry...that doesn't work for me. "As if" just doesn't work. Look. I'm a father. I have two sons. I would go to the end of the world for them. Just like Red had been doing for Lizzy. But it would only work if she were his biological daughter. Not some baby your girlfriend had with another man. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Only a fool would do that. So what now? Hope that some additional episodes can fix this? There is another one or two on the way before the current season is over. Can they fix it? We'll see.

Blacklist - Aram gets over it

Aram

I had complained about the direction in which The Blacklist was headed, and it was due to the fact that they were writing Samar out of the show. It was a major problem for Aram but the next episode took care of that problem. It was written well enough, and tied up some loose ends, but still I believe Aram should never have blamed Red, or held it against Red for doing Samar a huge favor even if it meant she had to leave him forever.

The character of Aram is actually a very good one. He's a behind-the-scenes type of FBI guy, meaning he's not the one in the field shooting up the bad guys. He's more the mild mannered type, and his ability to work computers is invaluable to the team. He also offers some comic relief.

I didn't like that Samar had to go, because I liked her character, too. I still believe that, overall, the Blacklist is tanking, and it's too bad. It had been my favorite show. Red Reddington is a great character, and James Spader's portrayal of him is golden.

Another favorite character in the show is Harold. He seems to be the only one in the show who actually appreciates Reddington, (although Lizzy is coming around.) I mean Reddington has saved all of their lives time and again, and saved their careers as well. But it seems that this show has the premise that if a guy saves your life, so what? You gotta hate him anyway. Forget the fact that if it weren't for him, you'd be dead. Let's just hate the guy and destroy him.

Harold is the only one who hasn't had that sentiment. (Maybe Samar is another.) But Lizzy, Ressler, and Aram as of recently, have all harbored a hatred for Red. Kudos to Harold, the only decent one in the bunch. If it weren't for Harold, I'd have quit this show long ago.

Blacklist Continues to Suck

Just when I thought Blacklist was going to emerge from its downward spiral, it flushed itself right back down the toilet. I had complained that at the start of this current season, (season six,) Lizzy had decided to turn against Red Reddington, and had sworn to destroy him. This after Red Reddington had saved her life, oh, about half a dozen times, and the lives of most or even all of her friends in the FBI.

So it was like, huh? A man saves your life, multiple times, and now you want to destroy him because he may not be the same man you thought he was. Why don't you just ask the dude? No, it's more like let's destroy him instead.

But as the season progressed, Lizzy decides that maybe she doesn't want to destroy him. And this after she quite nearly did. Seconds from being lethally injected, Harold, the FBI Deputy Director comes through and gets the president of the U.S. to call and stop the execution.

Okay, and Lizzy is back on board with Reddington. But wait. Now, Red Reddington saves, once again the lives of Lizzy's fellow FBI members, this time Aram and Samar. But to do that, Red had to abide by Samar's wish to leave everyone behind so as to "hide" from the assassins trying to kill her. But wait, because Red had a hand in helping Samar "disappear off the grid," now Aram hates Red and HE wants to destroy him. Never mind that he's the one keeping Samar alive.

Come on...this is getting beyond ridiculous. I mean, the guy can't understand that Red is only doing what Samar wanted, which was to get away for her safety and to protect everyone from harm? And now he can only harbor a hatred for Red for "taking her away from me..."? This is so dumb, it's like the guy has the IQ of a five year old! Is the idiot still in kindergarten?

Nope. It's dumb. Too dumb and I can't stand dumb. Can't anyone write some smart episodes with some smart plots for Blacklist please? Let me know when they do, and stop regurgitating the stupid story lines that I've grown tired of long ago.

Writing Improved

During this "hiatus" stage which three of my novels are in right now, I've been rewriting each one over and over again, improving the writing, or the prose, or whatever you want to call it. And I have succeeded beyond even what I had thought possible. At this point the writing for Second Chance, The Vase, and John Dunn are many times better than what they were for their first publications.

Not to say anyone who bought and/or read any of those three books will have enjoyed it less for having done so. But I'm a perfectionist. As all artists should be. I don't settle. Meaning I don't content myself for any job I've done on anything that might have been done better.

I had already established to myself that the more I reread and revised any of my books, the better it became. So I didn't stop. Until they were published. But then, with those three books, the publishers went out of business. So that meant, to me, anyway, I had another opportunity to make those books even better. So for the last several months, I've been doing just that. And I've rewritten all three by this point. I just finished Second Chance, and I am very proud of how that came out. Now I've returned to The Vase. For the umpteenth time. And I'm making that one better than ever.

I've taken a break from John Dunn, my longest novel. Not to worry. I've rewritten that one at least three times over since its original publication, and it too is way better than it was for its first appearance in the book world. And when I'm done with this current rewrite of The Vase, you can bet that I'll return to John Dunn and make that one better still.

I'm doing the same thing with my music. I had written over a hundred songs during my musical creativity years, which was about twenty years ago. It lasted until about fifteen years ago. Which means for about five years of my life I dedicated my creative self to creating music. Before that I was more into creating art, as in drawings, paintings, and sculptures. But I switched to music for those years, because I had a musical background, having played the piano and keyboards for a rock band in the early days of my life. I didn't get too far into composing music at that point, however, so when I dedicated myself to writing music, the creativity flowed.

Now, these years later, I'm doing the same thing with my songs that I'm doing with my books. I'm making them better. I guess the proper term is rearranging them. As the songs remain basically the same, but with some "editing" so to speak, which is making them way better.

It's an interesting point in my life. My older son is grown, my younger son is a teenager, and I have more time to work on my personal goals. One of which is to put all my songs into the "albums" that I had originally envisioned them to be. I have only one on SoundCloud right now. Click on the Rockin the Cosmos icon in the right margin of this blog and you can hear it. It's Volume 12 of my collection of songs. I have another one ready, the Rockin the Afterlife album, which is Volume 13.

What I consider to be "ready" is when I have all the elements finished, which includes the vocals. And I've only put vocals on three of my "albums" so far. Volume 2, Volume 12, and Volume 13. That means Volume 1 and Volumes 4 through 11 are still in need of having the vocals included before I can call them ready. Volume 12 is "ready" and that's why it's over there for anyone to hear. Again, my singing sucks, but if you can get past that, I think the musical compositions are very well arranged with catchy tunes, and an intriguing "concept album" format.

And all the while, I'll keep making by books better. Who knows. They may get published again, and if they do, they'll be better than ever.

Last Kingdom Comes Around

I was saying how Last Kingdom blew it. And I still think they did. But the storyline had come around full circle, and once again, Uhtred is back with the Saxons and in full graces of King Alfred, (if not publicly, then at least privately.) So much so, anyway, that he has made it clear to his royal priest to see to it that after he dies Uhtred remains the right hand man for his son Edward when he becomes king. So yeah, I would call that full circle.

Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred

I do like the story development of how Alfred's daughter has a strong attraction to Uhtred. And I wouldn't mind if they actually hooked up, but since she's already married to the king of Mercia, I don't know if that would ever happen. At any rate, it's back to being a show I like, and that's a relief, as I had expressed my disappointment at how the story took a turn for the worse, imo.

Say, the actor, Alexander Dreymon, who plays Uhtred, and the actress, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, who plays Skade the witch in season three, might actually be good actors for the male and female leads in my Killer of Killers book. Here's a couple publicity photos and I think they would be good choices for the roles of Trent Smith and Samantha Jones if KOK were to ever make the big screen. Judge for yourself.

Thea Sofie Loch Naess

Dustin Clare was my first choice for Trent Smith, but his star has fallen since his heyday as Gannicus in the STARZ show Spartacus. He must have the worst agent ever. You might have thought that after he stole the show in the Spartacus series, he would have landed some big time roles.

But the guy hasn't been heard from since! It's like he's totally dropped off the radar. It's not understandable to me. He was a great actor, with a great screen presence, and fans adored him.

By contrast, Amber Heard, who I had initially chosen for the role of Samantha Jones, has since had an uptake in success in the DC movie Aquaman. But her role was small and her screen presence negligible.

I posted about that recently, and have chosen to continue my search for the right actress for the role.
Interesting to me is that, with the exception of Amber Heard, none of these actors are American. Dustin Clare is Australian, Alexander is German, and Thea Sofie is Norwegian. What happened to all the American talent? I'm sure there are some who would be more than capable to fill the bill. But I've yet to find them. No matter. It's only a pipe dream. But The Last Kingdom is back to being good. And I'll be looking forward to season four.

The Last Kingdom blows it

I guess it was bound to happen. I mean right when I'm thinking I'm liking a show, it makes a turn for the worse. Here was the hero, Uhtred, being ordered by the king to be the prince's right hand man when the prince becomes king, and it's too much for Uhtred. So he throws everything in the garbage by putting a knife to the the king's throat and escaping back to the Danes.

Now, instead of being a Lord in the emerging England, he's a condemned enemy fighting for the Danes who are slowly but surely being pushed out of England. I mean, who would do that? Who would switch from the winners, (which you had a big hand in making them the winners) and switch to the losers, whose time is limited.

Perhaps I speak in hindsight. Twelve hundred years of hindsight, but it just didn't make any sense.
And it happens all the time to me. I'll start watching a show, and it's a great show, and I rave about it, and then three years into the series, or so, I'm not liking it anymore.

The list is a long one. In the modern era, it's The Blacklist, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and a slew of others that I can't even remember anymore. In the old days it was Lost in Space, The Man from Uncle, I Spy, and The Wild, Wild West.

I don't know what is wrong with TV writers. I guess it's just a simple thing. At first, they have a great concept and they have a lot of great ideas for stories to go with it. But then, after three years or so, the great ideas dry up. It happened with Star Trek too. I mean the original series, which was the only Star Trek that was worth watching.

For Star Trek, tos, they had the great concept, and they had great stories that lasted into its third season. But in that third season, you can tell they were on the down slide. And then when they brought the series back, called Star Trek, the Next Generation, the stories and characters were so bad, even the great concept couldn't make up for it.

And the same was true for every single Star Trek incarnation that followed. I mean every single new Star Trek series that followed sucked, and every single Star Trek movie that followed equally sucked. The concept of Star Trek was so great that they kept trying to rejuvenate it, but for some strange reason, no one could come up with a decent story to match the concept. Not since the original series, that is, and that is surely a shame.

We have probably the worst incarnation of Star Trek happening right now, which I couldn't even watch through the first full episode without turning it off in complete disgust. It was like the producers believed the great concept by itself was enough, (the same thing they always believed) and some actress from The Walking Dead had enough "star power" to make it a success, regardless of the lack of writing talent they put into the show.

It's a recipe for failure, and you would think they would learn their lesson by now. I figure if the current writers of whatever show run out of juice, then hire new writers who haven't been tapped out yet. They are out there. Give them a chance. Or is Hollywood stuck in the "same ol' same ol' system? You know -- the "good ol' boys" (or the "good ol' girls") system at work here. Probably is.

That's the worst shame of all. It means the same problem will just continue. As long as their bottom line is acceptable, nothing will change. And as long as you have the fan base blindly following a show for only its concept, being thrilled only by the sights and images, not caring if there's a quality story, the bottom line for Hollywood will continue to be acceptable. It is a shame.

Carl Deuker's Gym Candy - Good Book

Gym Candy 

After reading John Coy's Crackback, I read Carl Deuker's Gym Candy. And it's another good book worth reading. Like Crackback, it targets teenage boys, or high school boys, and especially those boys who play football. It really has an important message: stay away from steroids.

It's a message I hope all boys listen to, and not just football players. I know guys who lift weights to stay in shape, but they want to do more than just stay in shape. They want to build up their bodies. So they take steroids. You see, the human body can get only so big no matter how much you lift. But some men, (and I've known some personally) want to get more than just big. They want to get huge. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger huge. Or Dwayne Johnson huge. And the only way anyone can get that huge is from taking steroids. So they do it. And then they get huge and they are happy.

Crackback

But, to me, it's not worth the risks. Those risks are depicted in Deuker's Gym Candy. And those risks do include life threatening risks. I remember seeing Lyle Alzado's video after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He admitted to being on steroids for most of his professional football career. Yeah it made him huge. And it made him ultra aggressive. And I suppose it made him a great football player. But he was dead before he reached fifty years old. I am glad I never used steroids. Because I am well over fifty now, and still healthy. And by the way, I still lift, and I'm pretty big for it. But I'm not huge and I don't need to be. I'll take normal big over the abnormal huge any day if that means I get to live longer than forty-eight years.


So yeah, having a great story is great for a book, but having a great message is also great, and that is the case with Carl Deuker's Gym Candy.

Second Chance
1st publication's cover

And btw, Gym Candy features a running back as the main character. Like you would think it would. Coy's Crackback and my football book, Second Chance feature a defensive back as the main character. So that was interesting to me. Bottom line is this: Crackback and Gym Candy are great books. And not just for MG/YA audiences. For all audiences, like Second Chance. Here's to hoping Second Chance gets a second chance at publication.

Fingers crossed.

The Last Kingdom way better than VIkings

The Last Kingdom - a Great Show

And it's not even close. Netflix's The Last Kingdom is 100 times better than History Channel's Vikings. That's not an exaggeration. It's that much better.

I've seen all five seasons of Vikings. I've had mixed feelings about it. Mostly I think it sucks. And there's a whole lotta reasons for that. I've only seen the first four episodes now of Netflix's The Last Kingdom. But that's all I needed to see to reach my conclusion that it's way better than Vikings. It takes place during the same time period as Vikings, and it's the same type of show. You know, Vikings invading England and both shows include the rise of Alfred the Great.

But Vikings is a poorly written show. It's premise is poor. The plots are poor. The directing is poor. Everything is poor. Bottom line: it sucks. In Vikings, Alfred the Great becomes king because his brother stepped down from consideration. And then his mother kills him anyway so as not to threaten her second son's claim to the throne. That's all bullshit.

In real life Alfred's brother WAS king, like in The Last Kingdom, and then when he died, Alfred became king, like in The Last Kingdom. And it's a way better story that way. It's the TRUE story. (Actually, three of Alfred's brothers were king before him, but the point is already made.) And the further point is that the Vikings' writers messed everything up with their attempt to make the story more melodramatic. But all they did is make it suck. The real life story is better and The Last Kingdom has it much closer to the way it was in real life and is far superior for that reason.

Vikings - this show sucks

Oh, and there's the "woman warrior" thing. Sheesh. I'm so tired of this "warrior woman" concept Hollywood is promoting over and over again. I mean Hollywood is shoving it down our throats that women are equal warriors to men. That is bullshit as I've chronicled here on the blog several times. I have made clear that women CAN be warriors, and some CAN be equal to most men, but that is the exception. I say again. It's the EXCEPTION, not the rule.

The Vikings show will have you believe it's the rule. They have women out there as warriors on the battlefield in near equal numbers as the men, and many of them are outfighting their male counterparts as if the men are nothing more than children. Again, that's bullshit. Sure, as I've said before there could very well have been a few women fighting in battles, but I say again that's the exception not the rule. And in The Last Kingdom they have it right. There are NO women warriors on any battlefield.

And I must be clear, that's not to say that women are weak characters. I will make my point for the hundredth time that women are STRONG characters, but they don't have to go around beating people up, or killing people to prove it. I would think any intelligent woman (or any intelligent man) would be in complete agreement with me.

But I digress. Suffice it to say The Last Kingdom is written way better, is produced way better, is directed way better, and is acted way better, with way better stories and more compelling plots than Vikings and again I say it's not even close. How and why Vikings keeps getting renewed for additional seasons is beyond me. It sucks. And it's even hard to watch.

So here's to the show that deserves to be long lived. Here's to the show that is fun to watch, the show that gets it right. The Last Kingdom. A way better show.

Crackback by John Coy is a good book

Crackback by John Coy is a good book to read. It's about a high school football player but you don't have to like football to like the book. It seems to target the high school reader which would make it an MG/YA book as far as genre is concerned. And John Coy is a great writer for that genre.

What makes it more interesting to me is that the main character in Crackback is a defensive back like the main character in my football book, Second Chance. You would think that football stories might feature quarterbacks, like Troy Aikman and Tom Brady, or running backs like Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders. But no. It's a defensive back. Like Tony Belmont in Second Chance.


The difference is the main character in Crackback is a high school player. Whereas the main character in Second Chance is an adult playing with high school players. Of course that turns out to be a big mistake, as he finds out. But that's the story in Second Chance. That's the plot. And what a story it is. What a plot. And throughout the story I cover several different football games. Not just high school football games. There's a pick up game in the beginning and then there's some city-run flag football games too, because the main character, Tony Belmont works in the city's parks and recreation department, and they run the flag football leagues. I played in those leagues for three or four years, so that's where I got the idea for that.

And I cover the games with a lot of detail. All of them. Anyone who ever played football will appreciate the way I relay those games to the reader. It's like you're actually in the game playing. I must say that my style of writing is not necessarily for high school kids. Not if John Coy's book is the template for high school readers. My book, Second Chance, reads like my other books.

That's not to say a high school reader can't understand it. It might be geared for a high IQ high school reader, but who said some high school kids don't have high IQs? Yes, even football players can and do have high IQs. And it's probably those high IQ types who read in the first place.

As for Crackback, it's a very easy book to read. Even if you can't read well. Clearly, the author, John Coy, deliberately made it readable for all kids. Which is good thinking on his part. What's the use of writing a book for kids if kids can't read it? But you don't have to be a kid to enjoy Crackback. It's a football story, like Second Chance, but it's also a story about a teen boy going through the trials and tribulations of high school life.

And that high school life includes the acne, the girlfriends, the parents, the uncles, the other boys in the school, the pranks they play, the teachers, and their classes, and homework. The whole picture of high school life is depicted in Crackback, and Mr. Coy didn't miss a thing. Makes you remember your own high school days. Almost to a tee.

As for Second Chance, Tony Belmont only interacts with high schoolers on the football field. He's not into teen-aged stuff, since he's no longer a teenager. But everything catches up to him. I'ts what makes the story interesting.

So now that the first publisher went out of business, I'm hoping Second Chance will get a  new publisher. Whether that will be JustFiction Edition or some other publisher remains to be seen.

Jack Reacher - Good Movies

Just finished watching Jack Reacher, Never Go Back, which was the Jack Reacher 2 movie, and it was good. As a tough guy character, the Jack Reacher character fits the bill. But with Tom Cruise playing the part, I might say it could have been better cast.

That's not to say Tom Cruise doesn't make a good tough guy. He made a good tough guy in the Mission Impossible movies. And he does an adequate job as Jack Reacher. But that is mainly because he's a good actor. Like Keanu Reeves in the John Wick franchise.

But from what I understand, the novels by Lee Child described Jack Reacher as a dude who was 6' 3" tall. Tom Cruise is 5' 7" and that's a long way off.

I do believe the part could have been better cast if only for height alone. For instance, Keanu Reeves is 6' 1" and Hugh Jackman is 6' 2". Both make good tough guys and there are many more.

There is artistic license, of course, and movie magic can make an actor appear taller or shorter in a movie. But I would not approve of an actor over six feet tall to play Trent Smith from my Killer books. Because the whole point of those books is that the main character is an average sized dude who just happens to be the most lethal martial artist in the world. Which proves you don't have to be a big dude to be tough.

The Wolverine character was supposed to be an exclamation point to that idea. In the comics, Wolverine's height is listed as 5' 4". And that is awfully short for a tough guy. And no one questions the toughness of Wolverine. So what's with the 6' 2" Hugh Jackman getting the part? Well aside from his height, he actually does look like Wolverine, so there you go.

Anyway, the Jack Reacher franchise is worth seeing. I don't rank it up there with John Wick or any Jason Statham movies, but it holds its own.

With that said, here's to the imminent release of John Wick - Chapter 3. Can't wait.

Computer Died - New Computer

What a time for your computer to die. And that's just what my computer did. I saw it coming, though. For the last few weeks, it had been going blank on me. Black screen. Not blue screen, but completely black. Knowing I'd have to take it in for service I changed my pass codes for the important stuff, like banking and such. But the computer fix-it guys told me that I had just better buy a new one.

So off to Fry's I go. Since it was shortly after the Christmas season, it was dead in there. Hardly anyone. I had never seen Fry's so empty. And not just of customers. Hardly anyone was working there. No customers, no staff, I was almost all alone. But so what. I went to look at computers. And I saw a couple that might work well for me.

I don't play computer video games. At all. Zilch. Not a one. So getting a computer for that was not a consideration. I was ready to tell a clerk or SOMEONE that I only needed a computer to write documents and to research information, like for my novels. I use Amazon and eBay, but that and email are the only things I do on a computer.

But, whatever, no one was there to help me. It was weird. I was used to people coming up to me and asking me if I needed help. And this time I did need help. But no one was asking. So I left. I went to Best Buy. And even though they, too, were far less busy than during the holiday season, at least there were people there to help me. And somebody did. He helped me decide on a good computer, on which I am writing this post right now.

So it was a bad time to have to transfer all my data. I've got my manuscripts on my computer, my songs, and a lot of research. Not to mention photos of my kids when they were small.

And I am pretty much involved in a semi negotiation with that publisher in Europe for my novel Second Chance; a Football Story. He said he likes sports novels, and is a fan of the Friday Night Lights series. So I guess it's going to happen. Second Chance will get published by JustFiction Edition. Whether the snobs like them or not.

I'll wait however on the submissions for The Vase and John Dunn. Since both are in the process of being submitted to agents and to publishers, it would behoove me to wait out the process. You never know. In the meantime, Second Chance will get published and we'll see how it goes. If by this summer there's no progress on my submissions to the agents or publishers, I may go with JustFiction Edition for those as well.

And that's that. We'll see.

Aquaman Movie Not Bad

So I saw the Aquaman movie with my two sons, and it wasn't bad. It was pretty good, actually. As for Amber Heard? Not so impressive. Her acting I mean. And this is a disappointment to me because I had been waiting for some time for Amber to play a major role in a major movie. And now that it has finally happened, my fears have been realized. First of all, Amber makes a bad redhead. Some actresses can change their hair color without losing a step. Scarlet Johanssen is one of those. She can be a blonde, a brunette, or a redhead, and for her, it works. Not so with Amber Heard. She's a blonde, and as a blonde, she is very beautiful, as I've mentioned often on this blog.

But as a redhead, (see above,) Amber Heard does not make it. Maybe acting has everything to do with it. And as I've mentioned, Amber is not very talented in that regard. And I'm disappointed because I had envisioned her as the lead female role in my book Killer of Killers if it were to ever make the big screen. The lead female character in that book is a blonde. And as a blonde, there is no other actress I can think of who can top Amber in looks. But being an actress is dependent on more than just looks. You have to be able to act. And she doesn't have the acting skills to pull it off.

In Aquaman, for example, she delivers her lines with no passion, no sense of urgency, and no base skill. It makes you wonder if she ever took acting lessons. But whatever, she didn't ruin the movie Aquaman. And that could be because the lead female role was actually played by Nicole Kidman, who has never been questioned about her acting skills. She's a veteran actress with a long resume. And she delivers in Aquaman as the mother of Aquaman. She worked well. And yes, she is getting on in years, and it shows, but, hey, she's the mother of Aquaman, who's a fully grown man, and that means she's playing the part of a middle-aged woman, and she was right for the role.

But Amber Heard is not right for any role. And that is because she is not a good actress. That doesn't mean she can't become a good actress. Her role in Aquaman is her first major role in a movie as far as I know. I mean other than some B movies like I've mentioned before. So like anything, with time and practice, anyone can get better at whatever it is they aspire to do. The only problem is time. For women in the movie business, and for men too, btw, time is not an ally. It's an ally when you consider that with time you get better at something. But on the other side of the coin, time takes away the very essence of what being a movie star begins with. Looks. It's that way for everyone.

So the movie Aquaman works well enough to suit me. Even with Amber Heard. Heck, get her some more roles in some other major movies, and maybe she can end up being a good actress. Maybe even good enough to play Samantha Jones. But time will be the ultimate judge of that one.