No Retreat at Club Paradise

If you’d like to help support my coffee addiction, and get my blog post as they are written, please think about donating to my Patreon page. You’ll get my blog post a few weeks early there. Thank you. https://www.patreon.com/StevenOaks

Hello all. Once again a blog appears. Enjoy.

So, how many books did I read this week? Welp, it was six books. All from the same author, all but one in the same “Bought the Farm” series. They’re fun, so maybe read a comfy murder mystery.

Well, the first movie Samantha and I watched was “No Retreat, No Surrender”. Well, it was the rifftrax version. I suppose that added something to it, but really there wasn’t much to go with. A family from LA runs a dojo(martial arts school) and they are attacked as the refuse to sell. So they movie to Washington. The kid is obsessed with Bruce Lee… and because of this he has a training montage with his ghost in the movie… played by a Korean actor who couldn’t speak English… so there’s that. It’s not a good movie. Probably skip it. Really the only thing memorable for Samantha and I was a really short girl at a dance… she really caught our attention.

Next we watched Club Paradise. Staring Robin Williams as a retired firefighter who is trying to run a resort on the fictional island Saint Nicholas. It was a bit of fun, even has Peter O’Toole, so that’s fun. He’s probably the best part of the movie, always dramatic, always funny. I’d say it plays as a nice pairing with Running Scared. I actually liked the people in this movie, save the bad guys of course. So give it a watch.

As for writing I did a bit of work. It went well enough, though I wound up mostly editing what I’d already wrote. I kinda didn’t do that on purpose, I just started reading things, and it led to editing. Oh well, I was still working on the book I guess.

Anyway, that’s all I have for you this time. I hope you have a great week.

TTFN

You Must Be Drunk link to the Amazon store here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM

What I’ve published

Walk On

click here for a link to the book

Outsider Trilogy

Click here for a link to the book

Poetry

Link to my author page on Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Oaks/e/B00MEGSEZ6

Or you can help me out on Patreon. Again, thank you. https://www.patreon.com/StevenOaks

Update: You Must Be Drunk is published. Find it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM. Did some editing, looking good, if slow… back to it next week.

– Steven Oaks

Follow me on the things below.

How to Murder the Expendables 2

Hello everyone. Welcome back to the blog.

So, as per usual, how many books did I read since last time? Oh, only 6. It would have been 7, but some things came up. I’ve continued to read the Cozy Murder Mystery series, and they go by fairly quickly. I can say I’m quite happy with them, and look forward to the several still yet to come.

Well, Samantha and I watched movies over this weekend. The first one was a film from 1965 titled How to Murder Your Wife. Well, it started off well. I liked the cinematography, and the set design sparked many a conversation about interior design. It was rather fun and funny at times, but it got rather dark by the end. Anyway, it’s about a comic strip writer. He’s popular, and a dedicated bachelor. Unfortunately for him, in a drunken stupor, he marries a woman. Double unfortunate, she doesn’t speak English, and refuses a divorce. Now she’s rather loving in her own way, but causes quite a bit of hassle for his lifestyle. That and she is then instructed on how to be a wife by his lawyer’s wife, with some rather poor results to their budding relationship. By the end he’s accused of murder when his wife goes missing, and the ruling and whole courtroom shenanigans is rather dark and terrifying to women in general. Would I recommend this movie? Actually I would, but just know it isn’t a friend to women nor the institution of marriage. Taken in parts it’s rather amusing, but as a whole the ending courtroom scene, and the ending as a whole is rather terrible.

The next movie we watched was The Expendables 2. I think it was a good idea, but not for a movie. As shorts I could see this working, and being fun/funny to see all these action stars come together, but as a nearly 2 hour film… well, it dragged and wasn’t as funny as it thought itself to be. There wasn’t much story to be had, just a group of mercenaries doing a job, and they gun down the bad guys. The other thing we noticed was that any shot nearly always didn’t last any longer than say 5 seconds, almost as if the film was edited by someone with ADHD. Would I recommend this movie? Not really. While yes there were some fairly amusing moments, I would mostly say they were killed by the fact that it was a movie with a run time, as opposed to a short where what could be played for laughs didn’t have to have some sort of story.

Otherwise I did some writing. It still is going rather well, but I think I’m coming up to the end of what I can say about the particular topic I’ve chosen. Perhaps I’ll have another epiphany, and will add on something new, or some new perspective, but as it stands, I think I’m nearing the finish line… but who can say? Perhaps next time I sit down the words will flow out of me, and I’ll double the word count. Heh.

Anyway, I hope you have a great week.

TTFN

You Must Be Drunk link to the Amazon store here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM

What I’ve published

Walk On

click here for a link to the book

Outsider Trilogy

Click here for a link to the book

Poetry

Link to my author page on Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Oaks/e/B00MEGSEZ6

Or you can help me out on Patreon. Again, thank you. https://www.patreon.com/StevenOaks

Update: You Must Be Drunk is published. Find it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM. Did some editing, looking good, if slow… back to it next week.

– Steven Oaks

Follow me on the things below.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Howdy folks. Blog post time.

So I wound up reading 6 books since last time. I was getting a little irritable, and tried several books after I finished the first 2 books of the week. So with a sigh, I settled on reading something cozy. Literally I searched for cozy, and wound up liking the idea of a cozy farm murder mystery book. Turns out it’s a series, and so far I’m liking it a lot. It’s about a woman who after some head trauma during a rescue for a dog winds up getting a rescue farm. Sadly murders keep happening around her, and with her genius dog by her side, she goes about solving murders. Much to the chagrin of the local police chief and her family, as she tends to be put in danger. It’s a very fun and relaxing series, and every book so far concludes with a full recipe for an item or two that show up in the story. SO COZY!

As for movie watching, Samantha and I had been wanting to watch this Nicolas Cage movie called The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. So we rented it, and gave it a watch. Oh, it’s so meta. A story about the story that you are watching. Now we’ve always enjoyed a bit of Cage overacting, and he doesn’t let us down. If you are in the mood for some Cage, I’d say give it a watch. Very Meta.

Otherwise I did my writing. It went well enough, even if I didn’t produce much. I did however clean up a bit of wording from my previous sessions, hopefully making myself clearer. This is a new genre for me to be working on, so I’m giving myself a bit more slack when it comes to production. Not so much that I stop, but since it’s not a narrative in the storytelling way I’m used to I simply can only write what I think is true and helpful. Interesting stuff.

Anyway, that’s all I have for you right now. I hope you have a great week.

TTFN

You Must Be Drunk link to the Amazon store here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM

What I’ve published

Walk On

click here for a link to the book

Outsider Trilogy

Click here for a link to the book

Poetry

Link to my author page on Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Oaks/e/B00MEGSEZ6

Or you can help me out on Patreon. Again, thank you. https://www.patreon.com/StevenOaks

Update: You Must Be Drunk is published. Find it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM. Did some editing, looking good, if slow… back to it next week.

– Steven Oaks

Follow me on the things below.

AfterLife, and the end of Doc Martin

Hello all. I return to you once more to make a blog post. Let’s start.

This week I finished reading 6 books. I think the farming book, and the series as a whole, is rather good. I find them relaxing and relatable. I suppose they’re comfy little stories that make me feel relaxed. Yes, the others had a bit more conflict going on, but while that can be an important part of any story, why not just chill out with some folk trying to grow crops? Heh.

Anyway, I finally finished Doc Martin. Dang, I’m kinda in a state of loss. I mean, the show is so relaxing, even if sometimes a giant gruesome squirt of blood comes out of nowhere, we all know the Doc is going to fix it and things are going to turn out okay. I’m going to miss this show.

So, in my desperate attempt at finding something to replace Doc Martin, I found a show on Netflix called After Life. A guy is going through a hard time, his wife just died. The show follows him and his nihilistic view of the world. It’s funny at times, and a little heartbreaking, but mostly enjoyable. The only real downside I would say is when he starts arguing his atheistic viewpoint versus a Christian. Why is that so bad? Well she’s a straw man. She has no autonomy to argue back, she simply makes a claim, he says something that has been said hundreds of times before, and mostly better, and she just walks away. It’s not funny, it certainly isn’t smart. It’s just as purposeful as if you were arguing with someone you disagree with in your head. You simply state your opinion, and they’ll leave you alone. Nope, that isn’t reality, that’s just your opinion. But I did finish the first season, so I guess the show isn’t too terrible, but I think I want to find something better. Man I miss Doc Martin, or Hamish Macbeth.

As for writing, it went well enough. Speaking of making arguments with yourself, heh. I think I’ve outlined a few opinions in a decent way. I’ll have to see how I feel about what I’ve put down the next time I sit down to write.

But that’s all I have for you this time. I hope you have a great week.

TTFN

You Must Be Drunk link to the Amazon store here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM

What I’ve published

Walk On

click here for a link to the book

Outsider Trilogy

Click here for a link to the book

Poetry

Link to my author page on Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Oaks/e/B00MEGSEZ6

Or you can help me out on Patreon. Again, thank you. https://www.patreon.com/StevenOaks

Update: You Must Be Drunk is published. Find it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM. Did some editing, looking good, if slow… back to it next week.

– Steven Oaks

Follow me on the things below.