Archive

A Brief History of My Latest Fresh Start (Volume One of Many): Would you like to know a secret? There is a part of me that wonders what it’s like in jail. Like, how would I do in prison? I would like to think I’d do my time quietly, and get released with good behavior, but there’s always a possibility I could end up running a prison gang, or …

Red Sonja Movie Review: This past weekend, I sat down and watched Red Sonja, the feature length adaptation of the sword and sorcery comic heroine. I’ve written a lot about Red Sonja over the past few months, which is shocking since I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of the character. She is just Conan adjacent …

An Act of Rebellion: A couple of weeks ago, I finally snapped. The pressure in my real-life was mixing with the outrage online and it finally became too much to bear. As my dilapidated attention span ruined my Sunday, I knew something had to change. Around 11 PM that evening, I decided to quit the internet. Ok, maybe …

Focusing on Finances in August: My finances have taken a major hit over the past five years. When my wife and I got together in 2019, we paid off $20k in debt and had $10k in the bank in what felt like just a few months. Then she suffered a COVID-related layoff, and we’ve just never recovered. Between both of us changing …

Is Thirty Seconds the Key?: I have pretty good self-control around my cell phone. When I get home from work, I take my Apple Watch off and since most notifications are off and everything else is on silent, I don’t experience many interruptions unless my phone is in my hand. Often, I take my phone upstairs and just leave …

A Few Good Things - Vol. 7: Robert Carter One Hand Interception .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Check out …

Visual Noise and Exhaustion: I had a strange weekend, but before we get to that, let’s back up a few weeks to see what led to it. One day, I was sitting in my living room, and I realized I wasn’t comfy. No, the furniture was fine, it was more of the decor. My living room has a bit of an identity crisis. First off, I …

What's In My Box?: This past weekend, I made a run to my local comic book shop to pick up my books. I thought it might be fun to share what I currently have on my pull list. Conan The Barbarian The comic that brought me into the comic book shop to begin with, Conan the Barbarian is a monthly series written by Jim …

Deep Space Nine: Paradise: When I finish a TV series, I usually take a break for a few months before I begin rewatching the series very slowly. I’m pretty methodical in my rewatch, I tend to skip episodes I didn’t love, and I don’t stress myself on needing to see every moment. I just enjoy an episode, …

A Few Good Things - Vol. 6: Suddenly Susan I’m a sucker for 90s sitcoms, especially those that are largely forgotten. The other day, I was itching to spend a $15 Fandango at Home gift card, and I saw there was a promotion for some television series. Long story short, for $25 I picked up The Dukes of Hazzard and Suddenly …

Worry Outcome Journal: Like everyone else on this Godforsaken planet, I suffer from anxiety. It’s something I experience so often, I’m not even sure I could imagine a life where I wasn’t panicking about car trouble, money issues, the safety of my wife, or that weird limp I woke up with. On a good day, I …

Conan the Barbarian (2023) Issues 1-4: It’s been almost two years since I started down my path of exploring the world of Conan the Barbarian. It all began with reading The Tower of the Elephant after taking a suggestion from reddit and my ability to find a free copy online. I read the story in one sitting and once I was done, I …

The Pandemic in Non-Fiction: It’s been five years since the COVID-19 pandemic, not that anyone who is reading this has forgotten. In some ways it feels like it’s been less than five years, in other ways it feels like it’s been a lifetime ago, but we’ve reached a spot where it’s starting to show up …

From a Journalist's Point of View: I once read a quote that went something along the lines of this: The problem with the cellphone is that it is a lens into our entire world. People are bombarded with issues and concerns that do not affect them but are difficult to look away from. By holding this lens in our hand, we feel responsible …

Choke: Back in the year 2000, I fell in love with the film Fight Club and subsequently the novel as well. My appreciation for the minimalist writing of Chuck Palahniuk led to a lifelong fandom of the author which peaked with me meeting Mr. Palahniuk in 2016 during a signing for Fight Club 2. He was …

Forgiveness: Last year, I experienced one of the biggest betrayals of my life. I don’t tend to have much drama in my life, so it was shocking to discover that someone I’d been friends with for almost twenty years was not who he portrayed himself as. His wife reached out to me following his admission …

A Few Good Things - Vol. 5: Flavored Creatine I’m a big fan of creatine’s effects, but less of its taste and consistency. Over the past few years, I’ve purchased unflavored creatine which I add to my protein shakes, or in most cases, something I mix in some water and chug. Creatine has a tendency to clump up …

Wynonna Earp (Season One), Not What I Expected: In 2016, the Canadian Neo-Western/supernatural show Wynonna Earp debuted on the Syfy channel. Based on a little-known comic series from the 90s, Wynonna Earp told the story of a descendant of Wyatt Earp, who battles reincarnated outlaws that her great-great-great grandfather killed. Easily described …

Happiness = Reality - Expectations: I don’t remember where I first saw this equation, but for a long time I kept in mind when I dealt with things such as work, relationships, or the state of the world. But somewhere along the line, I lost that perspective. I began imposing my own expectations onto the world, and with that came a …

Red Sonja and the New Trailer: I’ve briefly mentioned Red Sonja in my post about Red Sonja vs. Army of Darkness. For those of you who don’t know who she is, well… it’s complicated. Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, had a character named Red Sonja of Rogatino that was featured in a story …

Sleep, Anxiety, and Not Giving a Fuck: I haven’t been sleeping well. Each night, I find myself getting maybe three or four hours of sleep, despite being exhausted from the day before. I keep thinking that one night, I’m just going to crash and wake up refreshed, but so far that hasn’t happened. I feel like I go through …

Doing it Manually: I’ve recently hit a bump in my workout routine. I’ve grown tired of The Pump workout, which is not surprising since I’m repeating the same workout, I completed earlier this year. Day in and day out, it’s the same thing over and over again, with a small handful of exercises I …

Mad About You Season Eight – The Forgotten Continuation: Over the past ten years, we’ve seen a lot of reboots and continuations such as The Conners, Will and Grace, Night Court, and Murphy Brown. Some have been successful (The Conners), others have crashed and burned (Murphy Brown), but one that seems to always be forgotten is Mad About You. I believe the …

Sinister: A few weeks ago, a buddy of mine asked about my thoughts on Sinister, the 2012 film directed by Scott Dickinson. I told him I had enjoyed it when I saw it, but it had been a decade, and I didn’t remember much about the story. The one thing I could recall was that I really enjoyed the …

Reading More Fiction: A week ago, I read this article about how men are not reading as much fiction as they used to. I found it interesting, because I could relate. My fiction reading has steadily declined since my early twenties, and I’ve spent years reading non-fiction in search of that one special book that …

Army of Darkness Forever: Last month, when I began reading Red Sonja vs. Army of Darkness, I found myself wanting more Ash in my life. I tend to read comics before bed most nights, so I went looking for some more Army of Darkness comics to fill that void. The most logical place to start was the most recent Army of Darkness …

A Few Good Things - Vol. 4: Project Hail Mary I really liked The Martian. It’s a wonderful book, and author Andy Weir does an amazing job of writing about science and making it relatable and fun. So, naturally, I was excited when Project Hail Mary was released, and I allowed some reviews about the audiobook to sway me …

The Dark Knights of Steel: Last week, I opened up DC Universe Infinite to see what new comics were around to read. One cover caught my eye: I opened up the book and was greeted with some fantastic artwork. For fans of the DC Universe, that is indeed the legendary assassin Deathstroke in a medieval-fantasy setting. In …

The Jason Universe: A long time ago, the WWE decided to stop calling their fans… fans. They instead called them the WWE Universe, some backward corporate jargon that always sounded insulting and stupid to me. With that being said, I have a bit of a bias towards the word, so it doesn’t help that following …

Gaming Like Its 2015: This past Saturday, I ran some errands with my wife, part of our typical weekend adulting. The unrelenting heat made everything uncomfortable and once we returned home, my wife went to take a nap. I found myself tired, but I was in one of those moods where nothing sounded good. I had too many …

Summer Seasonal Affective Disorder: Folks associate SADS or seasonal affective disorder with the cold and dreary winter, but I’m convinced I struggle the most from this during the summer. As the heat increases, my desire to leave the house decreases and I begin to feel miserable. I hate being hot and that makes me want to move …

.44 by H.A. DeRosso: A few years back, I became obsessed with reading self-published Neo-Noir and Southern Noir stories. These short stories and novellas were the backbone of my reading for a few years and the gritty, minimalist writing style really appealed to me. The stories didn’t waste time with too much world …

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In 2005, I met my friend Alex. We met on a double date with his wife and my girlfriend at the time (who knew Alex from school and work), and we went to see Batman Begins. I’ll never forget one of the trailers was for the film Serenity, a continuation of the TV show Firefly created by Joss …

The James Bond Video Game Songs: Recently, IOI revealed the first cinematic trailer for the new upcoming James Bond video game. Having been a die-hard James Bond fan since the release of the film Goldeneye, and a video game fan since the release of The World is Not Enough, I am very excited to see what they do with the property. …

My Bloody Valentine 3-D: I managed a movie theater from 2007 to 2013. It was an interesting time for the industry, as I was witness to the transformation from 35 MM film to digital. When I started in 2007, all of our screens ran traditional projectors with one to two projectionists per shift. By the time I left, all the …

Weight Reduction Through Diet (1951): Back in my late teens, I got into shape for the first time in my life. That all began when a co-worker gave me a stack of fitness magazines to thumb through during our slow work shift. There was something so enticing about those glossy magazine pages and I began buying them on a regular basis at the …

A Great Day: A few evenings ago, I laid down in bed and allowed a memory to wash over me. This memory has been coming up often lately, and I’m not really sure why. I thought it might be best to share it and preserve it to satisfy my mind. Last spring, our dog passed away. I didn’t expect it to bother …

Until Dawn, Final Destination Bloodlines, A Clown in a Cornfield: After several weeks of watching 80s and 90s martial art films, I decided this weekend to take some time to catch up on some of my most anticipated horror films of the year. Until Dawn Having enjoyed my playthrough of the video game, Until Dawn was a film I was really looking forward to. Helmed by …

A Few Good Things - Vol. 3: Gin Blossoms/Blues Traveler .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Every once in a …

Brownie Chocolate Drink: Two years ago, I began increasing the amount of protein I consume. Besides consuming more protein bars and eating more protein dense foods, I also began to supplement with protein shakes. One of the first brands I bought was Optimum’s Extreme Chocolate Milk. I picked up a large bag at Costco …

My Introduction to Friday the 13th: Today is Friday the 13th, the beloved anti-holiday that is more associated with a masked killer than a day of bad luck. I was thinking back to my introduction to the Friday the 13th franchise, and thought I’d share some thoughts. Like most kids growing up in the 80s, I was aware of Jason …

The Crossroads: I tend to catastrophize big decisions. I visualize myself walking up to a crossroads and having to choose a path, not knowing where it’ll lead and with the dread that I’ll never be able to approach this same crossroads again. So, I stress myself out. I overthink, I list pros and cons, I …

My Own Worst Enemy: In Lit’s 1999 hit, My Own Worst Enemy, one particular lyric has always stood out as being a bit more relatable than most. It's no surprise to me, I am my own worst enemy. Cause every now and then, I kick the living shit out of me. Today has been one of those days. After having a pretty good …

My Kung Fu Journey - Day One: A few days ago, I discussed what brought me into a Kung Fu school this past weekend. Today, I’d like to begin chronicling my journey through learning Kung Fu, and my thoughts and impressions as I go along. Despite having a pretty terrible day yesterday, I decided at the last minute to suck it …

Sometimes You Eat the Bear, Sometimes the Bear Eats You: Today has not been the best day. After riding high on the excitement of taking my first Kung Fu class over the weekend, I now find myself on this Tuesday with my head aching and my anxiety exploding through the roof. I had intended on taking another Kung Fu class tonight, but I think it’ll …

Conan Unconquered (PC) and Conan (Xbox 360): When I first began reading Conan the Barbarian, I could help but want to explore the world in a more interactive experience. This led me to looking into various Conan the Barbarian video games, which seem to be very hit and miss (mostly miss.) One of the more recent games was advertised as an RTS …

My First Kung Fu Class: I don’t do as many things as I used to. Money has been an issue for the past couple of years, along with my own growing dissatisfaction with well… everything. I spend a lot of time looking into stuff, and at times even planning stuff, but rarely do I execute. It’s worth mentioning how …

Lady Bloodfight: Look at this poster. Its so simple, yet intriguing. Around six or seven years ago, Lady Bloodfight first popped up on my radar due to this excellent poster. It features an attractive woman in a great martial art pose, and looks both elegant and of high production, something you don’t often …

The Games I Play the Most: When I think about truly amazing video game experiences, the first two games that come to mind are God of War and Red Dead Redemption II. These games feature wonderful complex characters, tight gameplay, amazing graphics, and it all creates for a very memorable experience. In my mind, these are two …

A Few Good Things - Vol. 2: Happy Gilmore 2 .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Although entirely unnecessary, I …

Plantar Fasciitis: For the past few months, I’ve been working out regularly. I’ve really been pushing myself in the gym and supplementing my workout with yoga most days. Being a bigger guy has its challenges. Some yoga moves are difficult, and body weight exercise can be really challenging. Adding any …

The Karate Kid: Street Rumble: Those of us of a certain age grew up feeding quarters into arcade machines featuring side-scrolling beat’em ups. Games like Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The X-Men, and even The Simpsons all were adapted into these button pounding games. They were easy to pick …

Kung Fu: I have this strange memory. I was nine or ten years old, and I’m sitting on the floor watching TV. I was at one of my mom’s friend’s house because she had a son that was my age. It was the only time I ever visited their home, but I remember seeing commercials for two new television …

Conan The Barbarian: Eastern Horizons (2025): Story: ⭐️⭐️ Artwork: ⭐️ Re-Reability: Zero A few weeks ago, the standard release for the monthly issue of Conan the Barbarian was delayed, and in its place, Titan released a digital comic title Eastern Horizons. This one-shot comic was written by Walt Simonson, best known for his work on Thor in the …

Kerri Hoskins is Sonya Blade: When I was nine years old, I attended a rec center on the Navy base that we lived on. It was where I hung out after school and the summer while my dad was at work. We’d play games, make crafts, take field trips to water parks, and do all the fun things rec centers in the 90s did. The center …

The Suspension of Disbelief: I’m not really sure if I’m just becoming less tolerant or if I feel overexposed right now, but I just can’t deal with bad visual effects these days. I’m not talking about seamless adjustments like David Fincher is known for, or even CGI used in sci-fi media like Dune or Star …

The Dreaded Cold Sore: About fifteen years ago, I noticed a slight swelling of my upper lip. It was an odd sensation that I couldn’t stop running my tongue over because I didn’t hit my lip. I didn’t understand what was going on. By the end of the day, I had a noticeable bump on my lip, and my first …

Things I'm Looking Forward To: I’ll admit, these last couple of years have not gone quite how I expected them to. Between bouncing between jobs, the price of living increasing, and mental health issues things just haven’t gone swimmingly. It’s easy to look at my bank account and then look at things I want to do …

Why I'm Watching So Many 80s and 90s Martial Arts Movies: The other day, I finished watching Death Warrant and my wife turned to me and said, “You sure are watching a lot of martial movies lately.” She wasn’t wrong, it seems exclusively that’s all I’ve watched the past few weeks. I’ve attempted to watch other things, but …

A Few Good Things - Volume 1: Many years ago, I did a weekly blog post called Five Good Things. Each week, I’d post five things I ran across that I liked. Sometimes it would be a movie trailer, or a random internet article. Other times it would be a music video or a few thoughts on a video game. I thought I’d bring …

The Karate Kid - A Weekend Rewatch: A few weeks ago, I watched a movie on Tubi called Showdown. It was made in the early 90s and starred Billy Blanks. It was an unapologetic rip-off of The Karate Kid but surprisingly entertained me in that “so bad its good” type of way. This past weekend, I found myself thinking about …

Sumo Wrestling?!: A few days ago, I ran across this clip on reddit with the title: Grand Sumo wrestler Ura performs takedown of much larger Takayasu using incredibly rare technique, only the 6th time in 25 years (0.02% winning technique) .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; …

Changing the Channel: Back in the 90’s, there was a television consumer watch group that monitored and protested various shows. I became aware of this group, when they went after professional wrestling and an ugly battle played out between religious fundamentalists and the highest rated program on cable television. …

KBHR 570: A few years ago, I began watching Northern Exposure. I’d seen a few episodes as a kid, and I remembered the opening sequence quite well, but I just hadn’t felt compelled to revisit the series, despite the nifty DVD’s released in the early 2000s. [gallery columns=“2” …

Will Tennyson and Sal: Sunday night, my wife went off to her float tank appointment, and I found myself with not enough time to get invested in a movie, but not really in the mood to play video games. So, I fired up YouTube, and I saw Will Tennyson had a new video to check out. Over the past year or so, Will Tennyson has …

Today, I Escaped My Anxiety: Today did not go how I expected it to. This morning, I woke up later than usual, because I was able to work from home and start work a little later in the day. The reason for this was I had a training a couple of towns over at 12:15 PM and it was going to run longer than my usual 4:00 PM quitting …

Red Sonja vs. Army of Darkness: Last weekend, I made a trip to my local comic book shop to pick up my copies of Bug Wars and Savage Sword of Conan. As usual, I took a quick lap around the store where I found the latest issue of Rogue in the Savage World that I needed to pick up and something I wasn’t expecting: Red Sonja vs. …

Only the Strong: Here’s a funny story. When my wife and I first met, she was a little naive about how fake reality shows really were. I don’t think she believed me on how much staging went into them until I showed her a video where my brother’s boyfriend was on Lizard Lick Towing playing a …

Yoga: Sometime in the late 2000’s, I was browsing online when I ran across a digital copy of what was then known as YRG - Yoga for Regular Guys (now known as DDPY), a yoga program designed by professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page. DDP was one of my favorite wrestlers, and despite having zero …

The Conners: A few weeks ago, I watched the finale of The Conners, the spin-off/continuation of the TV show Roseanne. Once the show ended, I found myself in a depressive funk that was unexpected, and it took me some time to figure out exactly why the show ending bothered me so much. Roseanne began airing in …

Broken Promises: I really enjoyed the television show Evil. It was the perfect blend of theology and skepticism explored on a dark comedy/horror backdrop. As strange as it sounds, watching this show (that never really sides with religion or agnosticism) reminded me of what I missed when I had religion in my life. …

A Quiet Spot: A sense of unease prompts reflection on the importance of blogging as a creative outlet and a source of comfort amid uncertainty.