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Two Slow News Weeks
I’m headed for the eastern Caribbean with the Writing Excuses team aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas¹. The blog posts here may go a little stale, as updating the blog from the ship² is time...
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WXR16: On the Way Home
Sandra and I are on our way home from Sint Maarten, dieseling across the eastern Caribbean with 180 fellow Writing Excuses Retreat delegates. The event has been delightful. We still have a full day at...
View ArticleLive-Tweeting an Unwatchable Movie
Technically Raiders of the Lost Shark isn’t actually unwatchable. K.B. Spangler and I did watch it, after all. We shouldn’t have. It’s not “so bad it’s funny” or “so bad it’s good.” It’s “so bad I...
View ArticleIn-N-Out Redux: Next Time, Maybe Lead With That
Back in 2010 I tried In-N-Out, and did not like it. There was nothing setting the burger and fries apart from those served at other fast food restaurants, except that it somehow felt greasier. I...
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Coin Pre-orders Opening Soon
We’ve been wanting to make some new challenge coins for a while now. Our hope is to have at least two designs done, die-struck, and delivered in time for Christmas. This is the first one. It’ll be...
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Me, Tolkien, and G.R.R.M.
A couple of weeks ago someone told me I was being quoted in Civilization VI, but I couldn’t spot the reference. This morning someone again pointed me at the play-through video, right to the the 8:20...
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Pre-Orders for Maxim 70 Coins
You may now pre-order the Maxim 70 coin. We expect to be able to ship these out during the second week of November. “Maxim 70: Failure is not an option. It is mandatory. The option is whether or not to...
View ArticleMy People are not Sportsball People
[View the story “Howard Tayler, Sportsballcaster” on Storify]
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Magnificent Seven (2016)
I’ve only seen parts of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, and it’s been so long since I saw 1960’s Magnificent Seven that I can’t recall any of the particulars beyond the presence of Yul Brynner and Steve...
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Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
I took the advantage of $5.00 movie day at the local cinema to see Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from an espionage/action movie, down to the last trope, but I...
View ArticleA New Common Core
There’s talk these days about college educations being too expensive—and by “too expensive,” some experts have said it’s simply not worth the money. I’m not currently working in the field I studied,...
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Inferno
The trailers for the latest Tom Hanks Treasure Hunt, Inferno, looked kind of silly. The line “I left you a path… the hardest one yet” suggests that somebody has created a puzzle for Professor Langdon,...
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Doctor Strange
My oldest daughter came home from college for the weekend, and insisted that I not see Doctor Strange without her. I talked to the rest of the kids about it, and one by one they each decided they...
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Arrival
Arrival is brilliant, beautiful, touching, and quite thought-provoking. It clears my Threshold of Awesome, and invites me to say very little about it lest I rob my readers of the voyage of discovery...
View ArticleRevisiting the Threaded Thanks
We’re all connected, and I’m thankful for that. Last year I wrote this piece on the subject, and this year I think the idea is worth revisiting because we’re much less likely to spew hatred and vitriol...
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Shopping Schlock Mercenary for the Holidays
From time to time people ask us: “what’s the best way to support Schlock Mercenary?” Here are some answers! Shop at Amazon with the Schlock Link Just click on this link before beginning your...
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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
I saw Rogue One. The odds are pretty good that if you’re reading this, you’ve already decided whether or not to see it, and if you haven’t yet seen it you’d rather I not spoil anything. I’ll make this...
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Passengers
I saw Passengers on Tuesday night. Here are some words I used on Twitter: Beautiful. Powerful. Heartbreaking. Inspiring. Awesome. Chris Pratt did a fine job, and Michael Sheen was spot on, but Jennifer...
View ArticleWelcome to 2017, Now Let’s Get to Work.
Back in 1999 I had a boss who would consider our team’s approach to over-engineering some solution or another and say “I don’t want you to boil the ocean. Just make a nice cup of tea.” Put another way:...
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Hidden Figures
I loved Hidden Figures. It was beautiful, and uplifting ,and pretty much the perfect first-film-of-the-year for me. It clears my Threshold of Awesome, and reminded me of how awesome actual human people...
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