A rant about a so-called “restaurant.” — So, about a year ago I was driving across country somewhere in the Midwest and I had to pull in to a travel plaza for some gas. It was one of those stops on the highway that has a fast food restaurant attached. This one, as I’m sure you’ve guessed…

The ‘Barbie’ company is about to blast its toy box all over the silver screen. Are you ready for this Cambrian explosion of cinema? — With the super successful Barbie movie likely on its way to the billion dollar club at the box office, Mattel is ready to unleash the rest of its numerous branded toys into theaters. It all started in 2018, when new CEO Ynon Kreiz, faced with declining toy sales, decided to…

The real theme is cynical and darkly hilarious. So, a while back, I caught a video on good ol’ YouTube titled “Ghostbusters: A Movie About Nothing.” Basically, the video essay posits that the 1984 comedy classic lack a unifying theme. If you scroll down through the comment section, there are…

Chronicling pearls of wisdom, though it’s very hard to keep up as Pearl is quite prolific. — If you’re not familiar with H. Pearl Davis, she runs a rapidly growing channel on YouTube called Just Pearly Things. There she conducts interviews and discusses all things related to the manosphere, MGTOW, red pill stuff, etc. All generally in the form of delivering “harsh truths” to women, especially criticising…

Which platform best rewards commitment over the long term? — Over the past few months, I’ve found myself increasingly dissatisfied and disinterested with Medium, and have decided to focus my efforts toward building a Youtube channel instead. It’s not that I haven’t seen some good results on here. …

The short answer, I suppose, is competition. I found during an agent query for a novel a few years ago, that many agents and publishers prefer writers with a platform, as that gives them a better shot at making an ROI. A longer answer is that many of these publishers…

Failure is your best option. — "Oh my God, YOU smoke?" "Yeah." "You don't look like you smoke." One of the weirdest things that kept happening to me when I was younger was strangers refusing to believe I was a smoker. Maybe I looked like a Boy Scout, or put off some Mama's Boy vibe, or…

Fiction Affliction #5: Son of Rosemary, by Ira Levin — A novelist’s career is a strange thing. You can have “it” for a number of years/books, and then suddenly lose “it.” Maybe sometime later you get “it” back. Or maybe you never get “it” again. What is “it” exactly? The good stuff. The spark. Creative synergy. Your finger on the…

Today, April 16th, is my birthday. And I don’t care what anyone says. Your birthday always feels special, no matter what your age. Even if you didn’t plan anything special. Or if you’re at work on your birthday, which I am today. Last year I wrote a reflection article on…