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.