Listen, I loathe Andrew Tate as much as the next pink-haired liberal. I am also aware that I am "just some dude" and have no horse in this race. Still, I consider myself an ally. I care deeply about the women in my life: my wife and two daughters, and I want nothing more than... Continue Reading →
The worst grade I ever got in graduate school wasn't an F or even a zero; it was "crucifixion." No, I wasn't strung up on a wooden scaffold to be slowly suffocated. But my professor did write on the back of my paper, "If you submitted this to any historical journal, YOU WOULD BE CRUCIFIED!"... Continue Reading →
As a Greek storyteller and history buff, you know I had to offer my take on the latest Greek epic to grace the silver screen. And I am happy to say, Christopher Nolan delivers. While it is far from the Lord of the Rings-perfection audiences were hoping to see, this version of The Odyssey ranks... Continue Reading →
Note: So I guess I made the mistake of posting this piece on Reddit (you know, the forum for informed and nuanced discourse) and pretty much got downvoted to oblivion. As expected, the discussion revolved around the contentious issue of Helen's historicity, entirely missing the point of this piece, namely that I will see the... Continue Reading →
Is Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821—1881) the greatest author of all time? I think the answer to that may quite possibly be yes. It puts you in mind of some frail and sickly girl you sometimes note with pity, even a sort of compassionate love-and at others simply fail to notice at all, who suddenly, in an... Continue Reading →
In the 1980 film Somewhere in Time, Christopher Reeve (of Superman fame) plays a man who falls in love with a portrait of a young woman long dead. His obsession with her photo leads him to discard everything that reminds him of the seventies, and following a rather intense night of self-hypnosis, he travels back... Continue Reading →
Am I really doing this? Yep. This guy (me), who grew up on a steady diet of He-Man and D&D, an author known for action, adventure, and monsters bleeding out across the pages of his own books, picked up the chick-flickiest of books ever written, and you know what? I enjoyed it! I never go... Continue Reading →
After reading and reviewing Cloud Cuckoo Land, my best book of 2023, I knew I had to pick up another of Anthony Doerr's books. This time, I figured, why not the book that won him the Pulitzer? In true Doerr fashion, All the Light We Cannot See is a masterclass in poetry. Every sentence sings.... Continue Reading →
What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said? Harper Lee's masterpiece and only true novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has been analyzed to death by critics and is quintessential reading for any middle school English class. How Lee manages to write with such pathos, conviction, and storytelling skill without ever having... Continue Reading →
I have thoughts. No surprise, I know, but being an oh-so-special lover of words, my thoughts tend to be stubborn things. They stick to my brain like molasses and refuse to go away. Unfortunately, we live in a time when having thoughts can be dangerous. Expressing an opinion---any opinion, really---is like strolling through a minefield.... Continue Reading →
The Art of Storytelling 
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