New Bloggy Update 9/22/22

First day of Fall.

Thank goodness for that. The sooner the warm weather goes, the better. But then again, I’m not a fan of legged and crawly things. What I DO love are the changing of the leaves, fall decor, pumpkins, cool weather, and the general atmosphere that autumn brings.

An important announcement* – I will not be “available” for the first week and a quarter in October. Therefore, I will NOT be posting a new Meet & Greet interview on October 3 (and likely not on the 10th either). However, rest assure that I HAVE received interviews and they WILL be posted starting back on October 17 (or, if I can, on the 10th. I just don’t want to promise anything at this point).

That said, PLEASE feel free to send me your answers if you have them. This is only a temporary hiatus as we celebrate our anniversary/Charlie’s birthday 🙂

Speaking of dates, my NEXT event is on Friday, October 14 from 4pm to 6pm at Bobzbay (indie bookstore) in Bloomington, Illinois! If you’re local, come on by, grab some books, a toad bag, a toad mug, or just say hello! There will be two other authors there as well. Check out the Events section of the blog for more details.

After our “celebration week”, my plan is to begin Draft #4 of Sanctum. I’m thinking the middle of October sometime. I’m kind of excited about this one! It’s more “creepy” than Rage is, so folks looking for something a bit spookier are going to dig it.

What have we been watching as of late? Quite a few things!

The Catholic School (2021) – A semiautobiographical coming-of-age story, framed by the harrowing 1975 Circeo massacre by Edoardo Albinati, Three well-off young men—former students at Rome’s prestigious all-boys Catholic high school San Leone Magno—brutally tortured, raped, and murdered two young women in 1975. (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374119256/thecatholicschool) Now, don’t let the harsh subject matter throw you. Nothing is explicitly shown (although, if trigger warnings are needed, this movie might need one) – most of the “acts” are implied and they take close to the end. As for the film itself, I found it to be a bit of a muddled mess. Time jumps, too many characters thrown at the audience, half baked B and C plots tossed in – it might have worked in a book, but for a run time of 1:46, it felt confusing and somewhat difficult to follow. If you are a fan of true crime, you might dig this. Otherwise, I’d give it a pass. Maybe read the book instead.

Arkansas (2020) – Kyle and Swin live by the orders of an Arkansas-based drug kingpin named Frog, whom they’ve never met. But when a deal goes horribly wrong, the consequences are deadly. (IMDb) This was an odd one. At first, I was hoping that Charlie would want to turn it off. Then, I started to like it. Then I didn’t. By the end, I thought it was O.K. So, yeah – pretty back and forth on this. Why? The plot, which I wasn’t really hooked into – low class drug dealers, road trips, slow paced everything . Clark Duke (you might recognize from the latter seasons of The Office) kept me invested. He has a great sense of comedic timing and a way with a phrase that, surprisingly, can hold a semi-boring film together. It wasn’t horrible, but I don’t need to see it again. There are violent scenes, so if you don’t like that, be aware.

The Father Who Moves Mountains (2021) – When his son goes missing during a snowy hike in the mountains, a retired intelligence officer will stop at nothing — and risk everything — to find him. (IMDb) Eh…I gave this a 4.2 out of 10. Honestly, I don’t think I could dislike 95% of the characters more. Smug. Self-serving. Underhanded. Are lessons learned at the end of the film? Well, no spoilers, but let’s just say that this kind of movie/story has been done better. Go forth at your own peril.

Our Father (2022) – After a woman’s at-home DNA test reveals multiple half-siblings, she discovers a shocking scheme involving donor sperm and the popular and controversial fertility specialist Doctor Donald Cline. (Documentary) Pretty interesting documentary on what a horrible doctor did to a number of unsuspecting women (and their families). It brings to light just how skeptical and cautious we ALL need to be when it comes to believing and trusting medical specialists. Research, people! (even then, sometimes bad things will happen. Bad people exist…)

Okay, that’s probably enough.

Thanks and enjoy the first days of Fall! 🙂