An FBI agent attends a Flat Earth Convention. He's a special agent who specializes in online conspiracy theories, so he's morbidly curious. He wants to see his subjects in their element. While he's there, he's spotted and recognized by one of the richest men in America who graciously invites him to a "private event" going … Continue reading Department of Truth – Subjective Reality in the Modern Age

Author's Note: I thought my next review was going to be of Avatar 2, but come on. You don't need me to tell you about that. King James Cameron is the best in the world at his exact brand of go-for-broke, earnest blockbuster filmmaking. Go see it. I did not see Disney's newest animated feature, … Continue reading Film Review – Strange World

So how good was Andor right? In a television where all eyes (including mine) were on Amazon's Rings of Power and HBO's House of the Dragon, Andor came out of nowhere. Smartly written, beautifully acted and with production design that deserves all the awards, this show immediately established itself as one of the best, if … Continue reading “Remember this: Try” – How Andor Uses Monologues

So I've been reading/listening to this book called Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind. It's a pretty gossipy tell-all piece of nonfiction about the rise of New Hollywood in the late 60s through to the 70s. Listening to that book has certainly been enlightening in some respects. But so far my main takeaway is … Continue reading Movie Review – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

The Theory of Generations is a term coined in a 1928 essay of the same name by Hungarian sociologist Karl Mannheim. The theory, which like any theory in sociology, psychology or...pretty much any social -ology, is limited but in brief it basically describes a "generation" as being a cohort of people who develop relationships and … Continue reading The Nice House on the Lake – True Millennial Horror

Welcome back to Midlands Generalist, the blog where we talk about currently airing genre TV. That's our brand now. That's what happens here. Oh well, at least it sort of motivates me to get stuff out in a timely manner. Anyway, this week we're talking about Andor, the newest Star Wars streaming series out of … Continue reading Star Wars: Andor – First Impressions

So there's this article from a satirical news site called Clickhole. It came out four years ago but it keeps coming up on social media. Like a lot of these joke articles, I get the feeling that very few people have actually read the piece, but the headline is clever enough that the article was … Continue reading The One Part of the Rings of Power that Bugs Me

Well crap, I guess I'm just a mark for this stuff, aren't I? Game of Thrones is probably the greatest story of Hubris in modern television history. It was an unprecedented and sprawling fantasy epic that was greenlit at the apex of the so-called "Golden Age of Television." The show received glowing reviews early on … Continue reading House of the Dragon – Initial Impressions

A Note from Your Author: Greetings Fellow Travelers, I wrote this back in June and just sort of left it to sit. I'm publishing it now because the school year is starting and I want to say I wrote something in the last two months. I hope you enjoy. I'm a fan of pro wrestling, … Continue reading Undiscovered Country and Art from Trump’s America – A Comic Book Essay

A while back, I wrote a pair of pieces about several new digital initiatives in the comics industry. I talked about the growing rise in creator-owned content on the Substack platform, partnerships between major creators and digital publishers, and a pivot towards new mediums of distribution for more traditional superhero stuff. Well it's been seven … Continue reading Digital Comics Re-Examined – Seven Months Later