Recently Watched - 2023 Part 7!

Alright, let's wrap up the last bunch of films before I bring this year to a close.  I've certainly got quite the handful here, between mysteries, giant monsters, superheroes, and anime.  I know there are still some I missed in this year, but the fact that this is Part 7 means I still saw plenty enough, I think.  Anyways, on to the reviews!

Books I Read in 2023 - Part Two!

Time to wrap things up with some writing reviews!  I wasn't sure how many I'd have for this article, as I ended up writing quite a few for the first part, but I was able to wrap up quite a few novels before the end of the year, so maybe they're completely unbalanced.  In any case, I've been reading some pretty fascinating books, even if they are just more genre fiction (I know what I like, okay?).  Here we go!

A Quick Update and a New Story!

Hey, just wanted to bring some attention to a few things.  First, I ended up doing some writing for NaNoWriMo 2023.  It wasn't as much as last year, but right before it started, I suddenly got an idea for a new space opera style story, and started writing along with the other writers.  However, I didn't stick with it, so it's only 6000 words long, but I decided to throw it up on the site regardless.  Click here if you want to jump right to it!

I've also removed my previous NaNoWriMo attempt, The Elimination Virus, from the navigation bar above, and made it a part of my [Scraps] page for my NaNoWriMo attempts.  You can find both my 2022 and 2023 attempts there, and I will probably include any others I end up writing.

But that's basically it.  Just a minor thing.  I do plan on having a few more articles before the month is out, though I'm afraid they may end up crowding with the holidays.  Until then, stay safe and stay warm!

Wandering Through the Hyborean Age - Part 6: Conclusion

So, after 21 books (well, 22, if we want to count all the short stories from Swordsman that got mixed in my versions of the Lancer/Ace books), I think it's time to present my overall thoughts, like I promised.  I doubt my conclusions will be particularly profound or earth-shattering, as most of this material is the epitome of shallow genre fiction, for better or worse.  Still, as I have been poking through the catalog of stories published over the last 90s years, I have been writing up my thoughts regarding this franchise, which is why this article is so dang big.  Hopefully, you'll indulge me as I go over my thoughts on the various themes and qualities of the different authors I experienced.  Here we go!

Wandering Through the Hyborean Age - Reviewing Conan Books Part 5!

So much for finding something else to talk about!  As I got closer to the end, I found myself getting excited to complete my journey!  This final stretch has Howard's only Conan novel, the bizarre sequel by Nyberg, and the last adventures of our hero, wrapping up the Lancer/Ace books by de Camp and Carter.  While it remains stirring pulpy adventures throughout, these ones do show a few different sides to Conan that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

Wandering Through the Hyborean Age - Reviewing Conan Books Part 4!

It's taken a while, but I've finally got another chunk of Conan books to discuss.  Things seem to be moving along pretty well as we get towards the end of Conan's renowned career.  However, the stories remain consistently inconsistent in quality.  I know that when you get to this much material, it's gonna be a mixed bag, but I think I'm getting used to it now.  In fact, let's start on a rather positive note!

Recently Watched - 2023 Part 6!

Finally!  After nearly six weeks, I've got another article to share with you all!  At least I'm sticking to my "one article a month" plan, if only technically so.  (Also, I did hear that Dune got delayed, much to my dismay.)  Still, I was able to catch a handful of films, and while they may not be the mostly timely of movies, they're still pretty decent, each in their own way.

Recently Watched - 2023 Part 5!

I carry on my quest to have more articles on my website this year with another handful of movie reviews!  Most of these are films that most folks already knew whether or not they wanted to see them, as the marketing for them was pretty unavoidable.  Nevertheless, I figured I'd share my thoughts on these blockbusters, but to start off, let's go with a much more obscure, indie film!

Books I Read in 2023 - Part One!

After doing so many posts of simply putting out reviews of TV shows or movies when I have enough of them together, I figured I should do the same for the books I read.  2023 is proving to be a year of a lot of reading so far, and not just from all the Conan books I've been reading.  So, breaking from the tradition of simply posting a massive article at the end of the year, I'll be reviewing the books I read this way as well.  For this one, I've got a mix of spy thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction.  Maybe I'll get around to something that isn't genre fiction, but for now, here's what I've been reading lately.

Wandering Through the Hyborian Age - Reviewing Conan Books Part 3

Hey, it's been a while since I put together one of these!  Like I mentioned, I'm slowing down a little on my reading of the Conan books, and I will say that the ones in this article really did feel like a slog.  However, I think I've come through, looking forward to the rest of the books I plan to read.  While the quality of stories may vary, the saga of the Cimmerian carries on!

Recently Watched - 2023 Part Four!

Well, this year is certainly shaping up to be quite a year for movies.  A lot of this has to do with films being pushed back as a consequence of the pandemic, and now we're finally catching up a little.  Still, there's been some good stuff this year so far.  I actually might feel like putting together a Top 5 article at the end, but we'll see.  In any case, here's the last few I've been able to catch.

Recently Watched - 2023 Part 3!

I probably could have posted this article sooner, but I kinda forgot about it.  I've kind of casually decided to try and have an article on this website for every month of the year, but I hadn't really decided if I wanted this one to come out sooner or later.  Time passed, and here we are.  So I apologize if these reviews are not as timely as they could be.  Still, they were all pretty dang good!

Dungeons & Dragons Movie Retrospective!

Okay, so here's an article I wouldn't have thought to write when I started doing this.  I guess there's actually quite some precedent for movies based on the world's most famous tabletop role-playing game.

Some history:  My knowledge of D&D largely comes from my father, especially since he still had plenty of 1st Edition AD&D materials lying around for me to peruse while I grew up.  When he shifted over to playing the video games, I kinda shifted with him, so I didn't stay up to date with the later editions much.  While I was vaguely aware of the 80s cartoon, the first film in 2000 was more prominent, as it came out when I was in high school.  I didn't see it in theaters, but I remember watching it at a friend's house and thinking it was cheesy, but still kinda fun.  The line about "Ridley" being the new word for "dumb" became a bit of an in-joke for us at the time.  Since then, I hadn't done much with D&D, outside of the occasional video game, but when 5th Edition started to build up the brand's popularity again, I got back into it, and have since learned that two more movies got made in the meantime.  Now that the new one is out, I figured I'd do a full sweep of all four, including rewatching the first one and reviewing the new one, all in one article!!

Wandering Through the Hyborian Age - Reviewing Conan Books Part 2

So my last article about Conan went quite long.  From here on out, I'm going to try and keep things a little more concise.  Fortunately, the formulaic nature of the franchise will help with that.  Also, I can feel my interest in Conan waning, so after this set, I will be mixing things up more in my reading choices, though I suppose you won't see them until I do my end-of-year article.  As for Conan, I do still intend on getting through the rest of what I planned to read, but the rest of these articles may take some time before I get through.  For now, here's the next four Conan books in my journey.

Recently Watched - 2023 Part 2: Shazam Edition!

Well, things have certainly picked up on my blog lately, haven't they!  When Shazam got closer, I decided to give the first film and the spin-off.  As I am kind of trying to post a little more regularly, I figured these three films could make for an interesting mini-retrospective!

Recently Watched - 2023 Part 1!

So after watching a handful of TV series last year, I debated as to how I should proceed with this year.  Do I try to separate the shows from the movies, or keep it all together as one continuous series through out the year?  I decided on the latter, so my Last Watched format will include both for the foreseeable future.  As such, I plan on covering a pretty wide variety of shows and genres, but I think this will be simpler for me in the long run, instead of having to finagle a bunch of articles at the same time.  So!  Here's what I've been watching lately!

Wandering Through the Hyborean Age - Reviewing Conan Books Part 1

Conan the Barbarian.  Practically a modern-day icon, alongside the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, and Mickey Mouse, it's hard not to at least have heard the name.  However, despite being a fan of fantasy fiction, I hadn't taken the time to really read any of the classic stories from the franchise, so I only knew what could be gathered through cultural osmosis: he's a barbarian, he doesn't wear a lot of clothes, and he's a good fighter.

Nevertheless, in my trips to various used book sales, I had picked up a handful of the Tor novels from the 80s.  I figured they would be worth a read, but as I started looking things up on Wikipedia, I learned that there's a lot more to this character and world than I anticipated.  I decided I didn't want to dive in the middle, but maybe look into reading some of older stuff in an effort to understand the timeline and where the books I had bought fit in.  Of course, that's when I ran into the staggering list of books that fall into the franchise (to say nothing of the different chronologies some folks have put together in an attempt to have it all make sense).  After some consideration, I've decided to focus on the classic Lancer/Ace series (those with the famous Frank Frazetta covers) as my main core, and then reading through the handful of books I have when they show up in the timeline, mainly looking at the William Galen Gray chronology from the above link as my guide.

For what it's worth, I am not planning on reading and reviewing all the Conan books, as there are dozens of them, and that would be just too dang much for me, especially as a series of review articles.  At the moment, my plan consists of the 12 Lancer/Ace books, the 6 Robert Jordan books, and a few others that I've acquired or otherwise caught my interest (such as that new one by S.M. Sterling that came out at the end of last year!).  I figure that should let me cover the classic stories while giving me a pretty good basis of the world and timeline, should I decide to read more.

Anticipated Films of 2023

Yup, it's that time of year again.  Just like last year, I won't by trying to identify every film that looks interesting to me, but instead just hitting the highlights.  However, even with that rule, I can't deny that this year is looking pretty dang stacked!  Here are the movies that stand out to me when looking ahead.