Monday Movie Review - F1

DH and I went to see this movie in July during one of our double-feature weekends. It's a flick; it was simply overshadowed by Superman (2025) in my mind. So, here's my thoughts.


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SPOILERS


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PROS
1) This is a great story in that it manages to avoid most of the usual BS tropes in a guy-centric racing flick. The mentor doesn't die. The student doesn't die. The efforts of the bad guys don't succeed. It's actually a feel good movie in a summer of awesome feel good movies.

2) Brad Pitt brings his usual charm and charisma to the big screen. His character Sonny is a driver-for-hire who was severely injured in an F1 crash thirty years before the beginning of this story. He's not down on his luck (a trope broken), but he's intrigued when his friend (Javier Bardem) needs a second driver on his F1 team.

3) Javier Bardem plays the owner of a F1 team on the brink of a forced sale. Javier matches Brad charm for charm. You can't help, but root for the pair as they seek a racing win.

4) Damson Idris as the team's rookie driver was a total delight. I expect we'll be hearing more from him in the future. He twists the rookie with a chip-on-his-shoulder trope by his character realizing racing is a team sport after clashing with the older Sonny. Yes, there is a crash, but they don't kill the kid off!

5) Kerry Condon's turn as the team's technical director was incredible. No one argues with her character's knowledge.


CONS
1) My only gripe is her character falling into the trope of sleeping with Sonny. (Nothing against Brad since he's DH's age, and Kerry is in her 40's, bt I'm so tired of the twenty-year age differences between the male and female stars.


Overall, this is a fun movie if you like racing films. I give F1 9 stars out of 10.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

This is my month, and this is my all-time favorite song by Alicia Keys!

Monday Movie Mania (A Little Late) - Caught Stealing

DH and I wanted to see this movie when it first came out this summer. However, life got in the way. Like my car accident last Wednesday. (Don't worry. Both the other driver and I are fine, and this time it was my fault. Our vehicles on the other hand? Oof!)

Anyway, DH was checking the theater showings for the weekend in order to cheer me up. Lo and behold, Caught Stealing was back in the theater. But only for one late showing. Like 10:40 p.m. (While I'm a night owl, DH is usually in bed by 1 a.m. on the weekends.) We both said "Screw it!" and went to that late show.


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SPOILERS!


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PROS
1) The entire cast is fucking awesome! From Austin Butler's out-of-his-depth bartender Hank to Carol Kane's adorable Hasidic Jewish grandmother.

2) Special kuddos to Regina King, playing the badass Detective Roman!

3) The movie is set in 1998, but it has the same of vibe of a lot of 80's and early 90's action flicks.


CONS
1) Fridging the girlfriend is so fucking passe'. Neither Yvonne or Zoe Kravitz deserved it.

2) You can tell Roman was originally supposed to be a guy. No woman in her right mind would lay down her gun to fist fight her opponent.


Overall, Caught Stealing is a fun little movie as long as you can ignore the two major cons. I give it 8 stars out of 10.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

You haven't succeeded in the music business until Weird Al paradies you!

A Sad Time

Per an e-mail I received from the trustee, the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust is officially shutting down on December 31, 2025. By shutting down, I mean the trustee is pulling every single copy, both electronic and paper from all retailers.

The Trust lasted for twenty-six years, but the folks working for the Trust have reached their own twilight years. I don't blame them one bit for wanting to spend their last years working on their own projects.

What does this means in regards to me? My first trad publishing contract was with the Trust for a short story called "Justice" in Sword and Sorceress 28. I sold three more stories to editor Elisabeth Waters that appeared in Volumes 30, 31, and 32. I'm proud of those stories. Back in 2013, I wasn't prepared for the popularity of the main characters of "Justice". Life's funny though, and I just released the tenth novel in the Justice series, A Cup of Conflict.

If you'd like paperback copies of Sword and Sorceress Volumes 27 through 34, or e-books of the currently available volumes, please get your copies before 2026 rolls around.

Life and Death

Last week, DH had the week off. We did a lot of work around the house. We also did a few fun things. As a result, I wasn't doing much writing.

This week, between writing sessions, I'm prepping for next month's Kickstarter, or Witchstarter since it's  in October. I jokingly said that this one should go more smoothly that my first one since all of mine and DH's parents are dead now.

So, Murphy laughed hysterically and decided to do something about that.

Three people I'm close to who have long-term health issues got suddenly worse.

I'm so angry right now. Angry at the health system because doctors, PAs, nurse practitioner, etc., aren't given the time they need to deal with patients. Angry that people at insurance companies think they have the medical knowledge and experience to make healthcare calls. Angry that health care is for profit. Angry that the president is trying to make sure no one has any insurance.

I could go on, but you get the drift. Here's the thing. You can do everything the health care professional tells you to do, and things still don't get better. But the patient will get the blame.

For example, I get a lot of crap from docs about my diabetes. First off, I'm on more expensive medications because I can't tolerate Metformin, one of the cheapest medicines on the market. I swear, if there's a VERY RARE side effect to the med, that's what will happen to me. In the case of Metformin, I end up with explosive vomiting and diarrhea within three days, to the point I start suffering from severe dehydration. Others that I can tolerate were taken off the market for their side effects, in other people even though I never exhibited those particular side effects.

So, yeah, I'm venting right now. Because in all three cases, things were misdiagnosed. And they probably wouldn't have been if medical professionals weren't turned into money making machines.

Shit can happen, but this is shit that could have been avoided.

Monday Movie Mania - Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

If you haven't seen This Is Spinal Tap, you need to watch it first. Otherwise, the climax of the sequel will make no sense to you. I was a little shocked two years ago when I discovered Darling Husband had never seen the original. That movie was so up his alley. So I made him watch it. Of course, he desperately wanted to see Spinal Tap II while he was on vacation for the week of his birthday.


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SPOILERS!


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PROS
1) Nigel, David, and Derek are forty years older, but none the wiser. A rift occurred between Nigel and David years ago, but no one knows why. Including Nigel. Nor will David tell anyone. The actors pick up their characters like it was yesterday.

2) Marty, the documentary director, learns that Hope, the daughter of Tap's old manager Ian, has inherited her dad's interest in Tap, and the band is required to perform one more concert. Rob Reiner or Marty haven't changed in forty years either. He still plays the straight man to perfection.

3) Valerie Franco is adorable as Tap's latest drummer.

4) The guest stars are awesome! From Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood reigniting interest in Tap by doing a cover of one of their songs to Elton John agreeing to play at Tap's last concert.


CONS
1) We won't discuss the atrocious wigs. It would have been funnier if the guys had gone bald (like so many other hair bands of the 80's).


If you loved the original, you'll love this one! Spinal Tap II: The End Continues earned 9 stars out of 10 simply for the long setup of who actually slept with David's wife.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Whenever Don McLean comes on the radio, I sing these lyrics instead. And the hubby joins in!

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Funny how this parody make me happy!

Garage Sale!

Nope not here!

Our neighborhood is having a multiple-house garage sale today, including Casa Harden. I admit I'm on an unpacking and cleaning binge now that A Cup of Conflict is out in the world.

(For those of you waiting on the paperback edition, I literally just received the cover wrap. I'll uploaded the files to the printer later tonight. Depending on how fast they review the book, retailer sites should start poplulately in a week.)

Anyway,  I'm sitting in the shade of our Japanese maple and getting words done on Death Goddess Fighting in between customers.

I'm still planning on a Kickstarter for The Books of Apep series in October, which Death Goddess Fighting is Book 2. It's jamming along and I'm feeling pretty good about getting close to done over the next two weeks. The only change might be moving the Kickstarter to the middle or later part of October rather than the beginning. The monster doorstop that A Cup of Conflict became took longer than I'd planned.

Indian summer is upon us after the last three weeks of cooler temperatures, and the trees are changing their outfits before dropping their dresses entirely. Time to put up the Halloween decorations!

P.S. If you want to be notified when the Kickstarter goes live, sign up for my mailing list. (Your informationis never, sold, bartered, or traded!)

If you want to read the sample chapters of the first book of The Books of Apep, Death Goddess Walking, start with Chapter 1 on my website!