Metal Monday

YouTube Obsession

It’s no secret to regular readers that I love Warhammer 40k. The Horus Heresy is a book series that I read back when they were being released and serves as a prequel of sorts to 40K. I read a lot of them but I stopped reading at about 20 books in. It has only grown since and so much in fact that there is an entire flowchart of all the books that, if you stare at it too long, will cause harm to your brain.

So, in lieu of actually rereading these books when I want to it’s been nice to “re-experience" the Horus Heresy 40k novels with Arbitor Ian and Mira Manga.

They are going through the novels in release order and giving a full book-club style run-down of each entry. Ian’s knowledge and Mira’s newcomer naivety is a perfect blend to discuss these silly books. Nice podcast-level discussion, perfect to have on in the background while I answer emails at work.

Watching

Growing up, my family would go to Catholic mass on Sunday mornings at 8am and after we would go to my Granna’s house. While my Granna made biscuits & gravy, eggs, sausage, etc we would watch TV on her giant wooden console TV.

Being that it was only 9am on a Sunday, it was too early for football, so we would watch re-runs of the original Star Trek series. As a kid, I really only enjoyed when weird and sometimes scary shit would go down, I could not appreciate the drama as it were.

As an adult, I would only slightly embrace Star Trek: The Next Generation, DS9 and Voyager. I can’t say I’ve seen anything related Trek produced in this millennium.

I do have a distinct memory of watching Star Trek: The Motion Picture from 1979, on TV, probably TBS or TNT, with commercials as a kid. I remember liking it, kinda boring but also, very much bummed when I had to leave the house before the movie was over.

I’ve had Shatner on the brain since 372 Pages Podcast is reading another Shatner book; Tek-Kill. So, I decided to re-watch The Motion Picture and I like it, a lot.

It’s a movie they made 10 years after the TV show that -for all intents and purposes- failed upon initial release. It obviously found it’s fanbase in syndication and by the time the movie was made the fans were rabid for Kontent (the “k” is for Kirk). Yet, the movie approached the reunion in an ingenious way; When Kirk, Bones and Spock are reunited, there’s tension, misunderstandings and awkwardness that is addressed in what is my favorite scene of the movie.

I know William Shatner’s acting is oft the butt of many jokes and in some ways, rightly so. But this scene really shows how he adds so much pathos to the line "Will you please, sit down." (at 0:53) It’s not just that he’s frustrated with Spock but that you feel his immense concern as well.

I might be Shatner-pilled now. I want to go back and watch the The Original Series. Though, I need to find a giant wooden console TV to watch it on.

Reading

In my opinion there are two writers that write mysteries exactly for me. By this I mean their books evoke the feelings I want to feel when I read mysteries.

John Le Carre and Umberto Eco. No matter how much I read, there have been many imitators but none can replicate. Le Carre plays to my disenfranchisement with authority and pessimism towards crumbling institutions.

Umberto understands what makes history cool: It’s all connected. The Name of the Rose might be the best historical fiction I’ve ever read and Foucault’s Pendulum is what The Davinci Code wants to be when it grows up.

So I was excited to sit down and finally read The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco. It’s fantastic, ruthless and cathartic. I don’t want to spoil the book but it perfectly embodies why people get caught up believing in ridiculous conspiracy theories: When you go through life with the knowledge you were born naked, that you are basically a monkey with pants and deodorant, why are you paying rent, why are you working 80 hours a week? Why is there a value to everything? Something is wrong with how the world is, we know it in our bones. When life is like this, it is so much easier to blame the weak, the marginalized and the “other.”

It is a HEAVY read. In true Eco fashion there is a LOT of information coming at you the entire book. But it is worth it.

Other Notables

** I’ve been largely apathetic on Joe Rogan’s penchant for embodying the average unemployed dude brain, but he just keeps getting worse.

** Shein and Temu court battles are literally: