Reviews on jverkamp.com

Sundiver

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

One part a book about ‘uplift’. The idea of taking a pre-sapient species and ‘uplifting’ them to join you on the galactic stage. And the idea that every alien species out there is part of a giant branching tree of uplifted species–except perhaps for those few we aren’t. Like… humanity?

One part a book about a spaceship that can survive a dive into the sun. Who knows what wild and crazy things will we find there?

Doctor Who: Season 7

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Another season! There are a number of weak ones in this season, but oh man the highs are high. Especially the finale and transition to Season 8. Oh, I’m looking forward to that!

minor spoilers It’s quite a season for the last we see of the Ponds and Eleven's last run. Not to mention the introduction (several times!) of Clara . Oh, and a multi-doctor story! with Ten, Eleven, and the War Doctor! .

Quite a season.

Onward!

The House of Hades

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

To say this series keeps escalating is putting it mildly.

What start a tale of demigods has already grown to include the gods, Titans, and giants, but it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

This time around, we have two plots. In one, five of the seven still battling their way across the Mediterranean and fighting for their lives the whole way. Hazel in particular steps up a lot of this book–which, it’s the Hades one, so it makes sense.

The Tombs of Atuan

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.

The Tombs of Atuan starts with the tale of a young girl. She was born as the old Arha died, taken from her family once she survived to the age of five, and raised as the newest in a long line of reborn priestess of dark, mostly forgotten gods.

A Parade of Horribles

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hazards: Well, we have the hail and the gatekeeper monster, whatever that might be. But I’d suggest that our biggest hazard is the fact that this bucket has to be driven by a cat this time.

And we’re back into the universe of Dungeon Crawler Carl!

On one side, we have floor ten and it’s full on Wacky Races style. We have crawlers (and now NPCs) given random cars (or giant living mounts)–Carl and Donut for example get a food truck (spoilers). And then they have to race. Just get to the finish line.

The Mark of Athena

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“And,” Annabeth continued, “it reminds me how long we’ve known each other. We were twelve, Percy. Can you believe that?”
“No, he admitted. “So…you knew you liked me from that moment?”
She smirked. “I hated you at first. You annoyed me. Then I tolerated you for a few years. Then—”
“Okay, fine.”
…

The one about Athena/Annabeth.

We have the crew of the Argo II on their way to where it all began in Rome/Greece. And if that wasn’t enough, Annabeth has been given the titular Mark of Athena. And when anyone in universe hears about this, there are gasps and sideeyes, so you know that’s not going to be anything good.

Twelve Months

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What is this? New Dresden Files?! Count me in!

Twelve Months takes place in the year (heh) after Peace Talks and Battle Ground. And in a lot of ways, it’s a book about healing and moving on. Which, after the absolute mess that Battle Ground made of Chicago in general and Dresden in particular?

“A wizard is never late,” I muttered. “He arrives as soon as he’s dealt with his PTSD.”

Minions

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Scarlett Overkill: Work for me, and all this will be yours: respect, power…
Stuart the Minion: Banana!
Scarlett Overkill: …Banana!

The kids have been obsessed with Despicable Me recently, so of course we’d have to get back to the Minions.

On the surface, this is a movie that makes a lot of sense (take the cute little guys that were a breakout hit in Despicable Me and give them their own movie) and at the same time… no sense at all (for the same reason).

There Is No Antimemetics Division

Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the Antimemetics Division. No, this is not you first day.

So… basically SCP Foundation fanfic gone solo?

Which makes it sound so much worse than it is. It’s really an absolutely bundle of fascinating ideas, a nice heap of existential dread, and an at times rough/how in the world are we getting out of this one plot.

I enjoyed it.

In a nutshell, we have a mysterious secret society that is dealing with the supernatural and just plain unexplainable parts of the world.

Strange Practice

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Whatever you’re into is some fascinatingly weird shit.

It’s always interesting what jobs the point of view of an urban fantasy book has. In the Dresden Files, we start out with a Private Investigator. In the Mercy Thompson books, a mechanic. In Rivers of London, a cop.

In Strange Practice, we have a doctor (of the supernatural).

“You are not humans," she said at last, “but you are people . All of you. The ghouls, the mummies, the sanguivores, the weres, the banshees, the wights, the bogeys, everyone who comes to me for help, everyone who trusts me to provide it. You are all people , and you deserve to to be able to seek and receive that care without putting yourselves in jeopardy. What I do is necessary, and while it isn’t in the slightest bit easy, it is also the thing I want to do more than anything else in the world.”

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

How many Fantastic Four movies is that, just since 200? Four?

I think I’ve actually seen them all. One even had a sequel And I’m not sure I can remember anything from any of them really.

This one has a nice cast, a fun, well done retro-futuristic aesthetic, found family, and some future/world building potential. It’s not the best MCU movie by any standard, but I think it might just be the best Fantastic Four film.

Thunderbolts*

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Yelena Belova: There’s something wrong with me. An emptiness. I thought it started when my sister died, but now it feels like something bigger. Just a void. Or maybe I’m just bored.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a little rough for a while. A few good movies, but mostly, everything mostly feels by the book.

Thunderbolts*… is a surprisingly good movie.

It could have been forgettable. More action movie/big skybeam showdown/forgettable mirror villains. It could have been Marvel’s answer to The Suicide Squad (either really).

The Son of Neptune

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Lost Hero followed newcomer Jason Grace as he shows up at Camp Half-Blood, lacking in memories and with a touch of … Rome about him.

So of course, now in The Sons of Neptune we get the other side of the story.

Percy Jackson, also with memories missing, finds his way to Camp Jupiter instead. What if Camp Half-Blood, but Roman. And based on legion, with a much more militaristic point of view. It’s a really fascinating bit of world building–which we only had hints of in The Lost Hero–but I really do love how it expands this universe. Seeing different aspects of the gods we’ve been introduced too–and finding the ones that have no Greek counterparts.

Mad Men: Season 2

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I think that’s probably about enough Mad Men.

I’m still not entirely sure what people see in this show. Perhaps it’s coming from my (strong) preference for sci-fi and fantasy–worlds that really make me stretch, things that aren’t quite so real. Perhaps it’s the fact that no one in the show is really a particularly good person.

On a more positive note, I feel like more happened this season. And some of it was kind of crazy. Relationship drama in the Draper household (for good reason). Relationship drama with just about everyone else. Don just… taking off in California, with flashbacks filling in more of that backstory. Corporate drama shaking up the office politics.

Hadestown: The Musical

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

♬ ♬ ♬
Way down Hadestown
Way down under the ground
♬ ♬ ♬

Hadestown is such a great show.

I first discovered the music a few years ago and listened to it almost non-stop. Then last year, I had a last minute chance to travel to New York and happened into last minute (excellent) tickets to see it on Broadway. Barely any of the original cast¹, but it’s still an awesome show.

A Wizard of Earthsea

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

You thought, as a boy, that a mage is one who can do anything. So I thought, once. So did we all. And the truth is that as a man’s real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do…

A Wizard of Earthsea is a relatively simple coming of age story about Ged. He starts out as a young boy, full of ideas and power, making a name for himself young. Then he takes one step too far, summons a dark being from outside of the world… and then he spends the rest of the book dealing with that.

Ocean's Twelve

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ocean’s Eleven was great. A straight forward heist (at least in what their goal was) with enough twists about how they got it done that really drug you through the movie. All held up by an excellent (and stacked) cast and a ton of banter.

Ocean’s Twelve has pretty much the same cast, which I loved. But the heist makes so much less sense this time around. They do try to justify it (Benedict wants his money back), but it just feels a lot more disjoint. And the final twist, much less earned.

Frozen II

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Well, it’s not quite Frozen, but you know? I’m glad they really went for something ambitious!

It’s the same world. One kingdom (really one city on the coast). Sisters, one with powers and a queenship and the other with … an impressively positive attitude? Also, reindeer, a living snowmen, and now… elemental powers, mystical fog shrouded woods, and a voice calling out from … somewhere?

Olaf: I bet you’re wondering who we are and why we’re here. It’s really quite simple. It began with two sisters. One born with magical powers, and one born powerless, with her love of snowmen, infinite.

Matilda

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Matilda: Daddy, you’re a crook.
Harry Wormwood: What?
Matilda: This is illegal.
Harry Wormwood: [hands the car drill to Mikey, then walks to Matilda] You make money? Do you have a job?
Matilda: No, but don’t people need good cars? Can’t you sell good cars, Dad?
Harry Wormwood: Listen, you little wiseacre: I’m smart, you’re dumb; I’m big, you’re little; I’m right, you’re wrong, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

The Fellowship of the Ring

Sun, 19 Jul 2026 20:00:00 +0000

Another long flight back? The perfect time to rewatch the Lord of the Rings.

Or perhaps just one of them–with the Extended Edition. Man those are long movies (especially in that version).

And man, I forgot just how awe inspiring those movies are.

It all began with the forging of the Great Rings.

It’s the tale of a little man (literally in this case) on a mission oh so very much larger than him–and even larger still; than perhaps he realizes.

The Lost Hero

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Another day, another hero.

This time around, we open with Jason. Another obvious (to the reader) demigod, hidden in plain sight. Battle reflexes, special powers, purple T-shift… ability to speak Latin…

Jason scratched his head. “You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, ‘festus’ means ‘happy’? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?

Wait. What?

Oh we’re in for a ride this time.

Ocean's Eleven

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been a while since I watched these movies. But hey, when you’re on a plane for five hours and they have a screen full of movies? Worth!

In a nutshell–it’s a quintessential heist movie. Gather the crew, plan the heist, deal with what goes wrong, and walk away in the end victorious. And then show the audience how in the world you actually pulled it off.

Building the crew? Great.

The Karate Kid

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Miyagi: Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off.

Oh this movie. It’s a classic, but somehow I’ve never actually seen it. Right now is the second best time though, so here we go!

In a nutshell, it’s a pretty straight forward coming-of-age / underdog sports movie from the 80s. Really. Daniel moves to a new town, gets beat up, meets the girl, gets beat up some more, meets the mysterious mentor figure, learns (but doesn’t realize it), learns (but does), loses the girl, gets her back, and, in the end, wins the day.

Austin Powers in Goldmember

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It took a while (relatively speaking) to get to this one. And, while this one has a lot of great individual scenes, I think it’s the weakest of the series.

This time around, we’re in the 70s, with the introduction of Beyoncé’s Foxxy Cleopatra. I enjoyed her role, especially her introduction, talking (so obviously) through a third party. She seems like she’s having fun and is a good counterpoint to Austin.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Onward in Harry Potter. And still without making it back to the first.

Plotwise, this is one of my favorites. It’s an action packed story with a lot of mystery going on and a twist to the plot that (long ago) I did not see coming–and which actually pulls the last part of the story together very well. Even if, in the broader world Harry Potter lives in doesn’t make any sense.

The Martian

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.”

LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.

With the recent release of the Project Hail Mary movie, I decided to reread the Project Hail Mary book. So of course I also had to re-read The Martian (I’ll watch it at some point too!). But the last time I read it, I wasn’t writing reviews yet… so here we are!

The Last Olympian

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is it! The Last Battle¹. Kronos and his army of titans, monsters, gods, and demigods is about to reach New York City and Mount Olympus. And, because of a rampaging Titan coming across the country, the city is almost entirely undefended.

So it’s up to Percy and the demigods of Camp Half-Blood to save the day!

Oh, did I mention that Percy is about ot turn 16 in this book? And that there’s a certain prophecy all about that?

Despicable Me

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I watched (and reviewed) Despicable Me 2 years ago, in theaters. We watched those movies over and over again for so long when my children were younger. But now, it’s back in favor, so it’s a good time to review it!

Gru, criminal mastermind, has a glorious plan.

Gru: …we are going to steal… pause for effect… THE MOON!

To do that, he needs cookie robots and three little girls to deliver them. And oh, the girls are a delight. Margo, serious and holding everything together. Edith, agent of chaos. And Agnes. Just, cute.

The Demigod Files

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I probably should have skipped this one.

I do like the three short stories well enough.

We get The Bronze Dragon–a game of capture the flag and a new guardian for the camp. Plus we get more of Silena (child of Aphrodite) and Beckendorf (Hephaestus) who are a fun couple.

Then the Sword of Hades–I do enjoy stories with Nico in them. He’s a nicely complicated character. Plus more Thalia! It’s also fun to see Hades and Persephone bickering.

The Princess Bride

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A rewatch for me, but that’s just a fun movie. More than a bit 80s feeling, but it works. I love the characters, especially Andrew the Giant’s Fezzik and Wallace Shawn’s Vizzini. They’re just fun throughout the movie.

And man is this movie quotable.

Even if you haven’t seen, it I’m sure you’ll have heard some of these.

Inigo Montoya: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

The Battle of the Labyrinth

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Labyrinth. Daedalus. Return of the Minotaur. Oh, this book has a lot going for it.

I love the setting. It’s interesting seeing more of the ways demigods can go–and have gone in the past. Not all demigods are heroes–which we’ve already seen–but they’re not always villains either. And the same with monsters; we’ve already met Tyson. And for that matter, gods and titans.

There are still good guys and bad guys. But everything is starting to get just a bit more complicated, which I appreciate in the series.

The Titan's Curse

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Annabeth is missing and a goddess is in chains! It’s time for a quest!

Only this time, it’s not Percy’s quest.

Oh, and apparently not everyone is fated to survive.

Percy is growing up–ever nearer to that fated 16th birthday. So of course, he’s got more than just demigod problems.

“Love conquers all," Aphrodite promised. “Look at Helen and Paris. Did they let anything come between them?”

“Didn’t they start the Trojan War and get thousands of people killed?”

The Sea of Monsters

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we’re related for better or for worse…and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.

After the events of The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson is starting to settle into his world of gods and monsters. So of course, things have to get complicated.

This time around, we get a new friend (Tyson, a 6'3" seventh grader who’s a bit slower and absolutely obsessed with Percy), a new quest (the borders of Camp Half-Blood are failing!), and a whole new adventure: The Sea of Monsters.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Harry Potter films have some problems¹, but they came out just at the right time to be a large part of my growing up. I’ve seen them all and, while I think the books are better in a lot of ways, the movies have a lot of charm. Especially the first few.

They’re just done in such a magical way, really capturing the fantastic feel of the world. It makes you wish you could just hop right in and explore the world, Hogwarts castle especially.

El Principito

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

El Principito. En español. ¿Por qué? ¡Por qué no!

En serio, porque estoy aprendiendo español. Un libro fácil es bueno para aprender.

Pero El Principito es un libro raro.

Es un libro sobre serpientes. Y planetas. Y flores.

Y volcanes.

Y baobabs.

Como dije. Un libro raro.

Pero lo disfruté. [[TODO:El Ojo del Mundo||La próxima vez]], debería leer un libro en inglés y luego en español.

Voy!

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Wed, 13 May 2026 23:00:00 +0000

Where Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was a delightful, raunchy, vulgar parody of spy flicks and the 90s, The Spy Who Shagged Me turns everything up a notch–for better and for worse.

It all starts out where the previous movie ended. Austin and Vanessa married and on their honeymoon. Except, surprise! Fembot. Which makes absolutely no sense. But I do appreciate that we get Heather Graham’s Felicity Shagwell out of it!

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Wed, 13 May 2026 20:00:00 +0000

Austin Powers: Allow myself to introduce… myself.

Austin Powers. A riff on 60’s culture and especially the genre of spy movies (James Bond especially) absolutely loaded with a particularly rauncy, vulgar sort of humor.

Vanessa Kensington: Mr. Powers, my job is to acclimatize you to the nineties. You know, a lot’s changed since 1967.
Austin Powers: No doubt, love, but as long as people are still having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment, I’ll be sound as a pound!

The Lightning Thief

Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What if the Greek gods (and the rest of that mythology) were not only real… but still around?

“Is it? What’s the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they’ve changed their habits in the last few millennia?”

Oh. And what if they all¹ had a bunch of half-human children. Demigods as it were. Because that’s just what the Greek gods did/do.

Doctor Who: Season 6

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Man. I forgot how good this season is. Eleven with Rory and Amy. The Silence. It opens with the Doctor dying–and just gets so much crazier from there. It’s one of the best season-long plots (in my opinion) with a lot of solid episodes along the way.

A Christmas Carol - Skipping through time, with a cloudy sky full of flying fish. Delightful.

The Doctor: [Pointing to frozen Abigail Pettigrew] Who’s she?
Kazran Sardick: Nobody important.
The Doctor: Nobody important? Blimey, that’s amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space and I’ve never met anybody who wasn’t important before.

The Book That Held Her Heart

Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Information is like water—without it you won’t live long, too much and you’ll drown. And there’s a difference between truth and information. Even correct information is not the same as truth—truth does not mislead—correct information bereft of context can be more dangerous than a lie.

Another book that I feel like I reviewed but somehow seem to have lost it.

Overall, I really liked how this series started. It’s such a cool idea, an eternal Library spanning through time–and even between worlds. And the story of two very different people, more different than they even imagined.

The Liberation

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“They’re turning on us!” cried one of the sailors, voicing a panic that threatened to sweep through all the humans on board.
“Jesus fucking wept, you cowards,” said Berenice. “Try not to splash the rest of us when you piss your pants, you dickless shitbags.”

The finale.

I feel like I reviewed this book already, but seem to have lost it (or never wrote it in the first place).

Still. It’s always good to finish a series.

Predator

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Well, I’m just about to Alien vs. Predator, so… I guess I should catch the Predator movies, along with Alien!

Much like Alien, this is a movie that came out a bit before my time, so I’ve never actually seen it. And just like Alien (Aliens even more so), I was kind of amazed at how many lines I’ve quoted any number of times came from this movie…

Dutch: If it bleeds, we can kill it.

The Book That Broke the World

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn was a crazy, solid introduction to the world: we have a giant timeless library built into a mountain range, cities built up and around it throughout time and by more than just humanity, and you have a sort of timey whimey mess of a conflict running through everything.

The Book That Broke the World sort of turns that up to 11.

I already told you: we choose sides with our gut. The words are to make us feel better afterwards.

Alien³

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ripley: You’ve been in my life so long, I can’t remember anything else.

At the end of Aliens, Ripley, Newt, and Hicks managed to survive a second Alien attack–this time with a lot more violence and space marines–only for Newt and Hicks to die off screen, replaced by body doubles in Alien³.

Not even kidding.

Other than, I actually did enjoy this movie. It messes a bit with cannon, making the Alien a bit less a force of nature, which I’m not sure if I cared for. Unfortunately, that does mean that it feels like you could have replaced the Alien with a number of different movie monsters and it would have worked just as well.

Ghost Talkers

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Take a world where ghosts are very much real and, along with mediums and spiritualists, can have an impact on the world around them. Run that forward to World War I, where British soldiers have been compelled to, after they die, report back in one last time:

“The Germans were flanking us at Delville Wood when I died.”

Quite a first sentence that.

So when our main character gets report from a ghost close to heart heart–and not only that, reporting that he was murdered–well, of course we kick off a story that’s one part war story, one part murder mystery, and one part supernatural adventure.

The Winter of the Witch

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Bear and the Nightingale. The Girl in the Tower. The Winter of the Witch. Quite a trilogy.

From a dark Russian fairytale world, full of the spirits of the woods, old gods, and the incoming church up through a more political fantasy, deep into the cities of Russia where spirits hold least sway. And now, it all comes to a climax, with ever more battles between summer and winter, between the old and the new, and between all of Russia and her foes.

Project Hail Mary (Movie)

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I really loved Project Hail Mary (the book) and I’d heard good things so far about Project Hail Mary (the movie), so I figured… let’s give it a chance and actually go see it while it’s still in theaters!

Rocky: Amaze. Amaze. Amaze.

I’m so glad I did.

As a movie, you do lose out on some of the real depth of ‘SCIENCE!’ that this story really had as a novel. Some things are left out, others glossed over. But for the most part, there’s still a great feeling of positivity in the face of adversity–of being able to just think your way out of any problem and I just love that.

Rocky: Words of encouragement.
Ryland Grace: That’s not how we say it!
Rocky: Words of great encouragement!

Now. If you haven’t read the book, seen the movie, or even seen the trailers for it, I would say stop reading this and go watch it now. I’m going to spoil a bit–although no more than they already did in the trailers¹².

Doctor Who: Season 5

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Eleven! And the Ponds!

Man, I don’t even known which doctor is my favorite. Each has their strengths. But if I had to pick one (I haven’t seen 13-15 yet), it would probably have to be Eleven. He’s just such a mix of chaos, fun, and an absolute confidence in himself.

Say what you will, but he starts the season running an alien spaceship off of Earth with nothing but his reputation and ends it with literally the entire universe at stake.

Mad Men: Season 1

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Mad Men is probably not a show I ever would have chosen by myself. It’s highly rated and got a cost full of people I recognize… but on the other hand, there’s a complete lack of aliens/magic/what have you. Still, I’ve liked other non-speculative fiction TV shows before… so what about this one?

Well, first, what does Mad Men have?

You have smoking (so much smoking):

Don: Except they aren’t.
Mr. Garner: That’s your slogan? “You’re going to die anyway. Die with us”?
Pete: Actually, it’s a fairly well-established psychological principle that society has a death wish, and if we could just tap into that, the market potential is–
Mr. Garner: What the hell are you talking about? Are you insane? I’m not selling rifles here, I’m in the tobacco business! We’re selling America! The Indians gave it to us, for shit’s sake!

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“One thing’s for sure, I’m not in kansas anymore.” It was a phrase in half the languages he knew and one that had led to a saying almost as ancient: “We don’t even know what kansas is anymore.”

Imagine a room. A single colossal room, jam packed with shelves. And on those shelves, books, thousands and millions of books.

Now imagine that that’s only one such room, miles to a side. And there are doors to other rooms, also full of books. Uncountably many such rooms behind uncountably many doors. And there are even more. Doors to nowhere. Doors to an ‘in between’.