It was the type of cabin that exuded “we’ll laugh about this someday” energy. The bed was so short that my feet hung off the end, the bathroom that threatened to set my hair on fire (it’s complicated) had no door, and the water was literally purified by sulfur. I’m sure I found these quirks… Continue reading Liberty Hill, TX
I had a couple hours to kill before leaving Fredericksburg when I spotted this childhood destination on a map. With nothing more than vague heat-drenched memories of being dragged to "interesting" places by my mom, I decided to check it out and hopefully spot a bird or two before continuing on the drive. It was… Continue reading Enchanted Rock, TX
When I was a kid, Wolverine wasn't a "comic book" character. I didn't qualify my heroes with the medium they came from. For me, they lived alongside the characters up on the big screen, on prime time, and even in those crazy books that didn't have drawings in them. At that time, most people didn't… Continue reading Logan
We've seen a much better version of this movie before... decades ago. Chris Pratt stars as our raptor-training hero. He's a dino expert with a heart of gold and a cocksure attitude. At the best of times times, he actually felt like an amalgamation of Malcolm and Grant from Jurassic Park. He's joined on the island by Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent… Continue reading Jurassic Park, Michael Bay Edition
I love this so much. Let's start there. Spoiler-free review. The storytelling on display in Stranger Things is so entrenched in who I am as an adult that there was no way for this not to feel personal. At a time where pop-culture references get tacked on to token pseudo-geeks, the dialogue between the friends in Stranger Things felt like an honest necessary… Continue reading Stranger Things, Perfect Things: More Than Just Nostalgia
This. Is. Perfect. Even though these are the first 8 minutes of the series, I felt like it was seasons into the show—I identified with the characters that much and that quickly. It feels like a mashup of Goonies, X-Files, and even a little Twin Peaks. The score is fantastic. It's loud and obvious and… Continue reading The First Eight Minutes of Stranger Things
The below game takes place weekly on a Google Hangouts call with players in Texas, Brooklyn, Long Island, and Southern California. We're playing Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition. The Party Rolen: Half-Elf Druid Gokta: Half-Orc Priest Marook: Human Warlock A BRISK WALK IN THE MOONLIGHT Rolen stood in the town square, listening to the approaching guards… Continue reading At the Shores of Lantiga – Session 2
All too often, the book a film is based on becomes the default watermark for the story being told. And why shouldn’t it be? After all, it existed first, doesn’t that inherently make it the ideal form of the story? Some would say that the more you stray from the source material, the less successful your… Continue reading The Martian: Elevating the Source Material
Here's another recipe that comes from my mom. Most places will bread them or deep fry them, so I don't really get to have these unless I visit home. I've loved them my entire life and, this weekend, I took my mom's challenge and made them for the first time. We're a few thousand miles apart… Continue reading Chiles Rellenos
It had been 10 years since we last spoke. The call from Meri'ta was as unexpected as the news she had to share. Our friend, Andrew Urahl, had been murdered. According to Meri'ta, the police on Atmos didn't have much to share, and aside from the bulletin she had seen on the evening news, she… Continue reading Murder on Atmos
This is a spin on a standard street taco, except I've substituted the meat for mushrooms and a bell pepper. This is another one of those dishes that you could easily add pork or beef to if you're not interested in keeping it vegetarian. Conversely, you could drop the cheese and make this a vegan… Continue reading Vegetarian Street Tacos
How I started to hate my favorite game of the year. Before I get into this, let me start by saying that this game is incredible. Regardless of what I say, you should absolutely play this game. There are simply no other studios making expansive, living, breathing worlds like Bethesda. Fallout 3 is one of… Continue reading Skyrim
Richard Barrick 