For my third and final trick, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, I present to you this fine list: “The best books about tennis that may or may not feature pornography.“
I’m right back at it, this time recommending five mysteriously thrilling novels by writers of Korean origin through Shepherd.com. Who are these five fine writers? Only one way to find out.
Big thanks to Shepherd, a new website that proudly states its noble intention right there next to its logo: Discover the best books. The amazing Ben Fox is the man behind the site, and here’s my contribution to their noble mission, The best debut novels by Korean American writers. As my post states, this is my first of three “best of” lists! Stay tuned for the next batch.
Well, it took me a while to finally catch up to the final season of Search Party. Initially I wanted to see one a week, to dole out these precious episodes because there would be no more, but I have to admit, my forced metering soon became an unforced metering.
My biggest complaint of the season: even though by the end of the show, we are literally talking about the end of the world as we know it, the emotional stakes between the characters couldn’t have been less compelling. Also, there was a curious lack of humor — if not for John Early’s usual brilliance, this season could’ve been purely a drama. And as a drama, well, no. I don’t watch Search Party for drama.
The second and third seasons of this show were the best — the second for dealing with the consequences of the murder, and the third for its comedy. Shalita Grant‘s lawyer character, Cassidy, in the third season was the sixth-man MVP (in basketball parlance) — just thinking about her still makes me laugh:
So if that snippet makes you as happy as it does me, then I’d urge you to watch the first two seasons, and then watch the third just so you can get to this part of the episode. Yeah, it’s that worth it.
I actually enjoyed the fourth season, mostly for the breakout performance of Cole Escola; there’s also a scene revolving around a roundabout (pun intended!) that might be the show operating at its comedic peak.
Anyway, even though the fifth and final season was a letdown, it wasn’t enough of a letdown for me to not write a little haiku for each episode (and two for the last episode ever!). So here they are. All in all, I’m thankful this show existed — I’d never seen John Reynolds, Meredith Hagner, or John Early before Search Party, and now I’m a fan for life.
S05E01
Drew seizes the day.
El and Jeff, baby daddies.
Dory, savior.
S05E02
Dory’s great escape.
Drew and Portia, echoing.
Murderous laughter.
S05E03
D and D, again.
To the “center” of the “Earth.”
A Tunnel’s vision.
S05E04
Portia’s Dory drink.
Very Lyte influencers.
Dory sees the blood.
S05E05
Brunch and the sultan.
Undercover Elliott.
Blue enlightened beans.
S05E06
Colorful foreheads.
Dr. Carpet finds beetles.
Poisons everywhere.
S05E07
Virgin hostage Drew.
Is Elliott hideous?
To Acapulco.
S05E08
Saved by the manhole.
They all take turns with Dory.
Jellybeans of…joy?
S05E09
The Walking Party.
Slowest go-kart in the world.
Dory delivers.
S05E10
Zombies take Brooklyn.
Brain dead Portia, just leggy.
Flame throwing Chantel.
Portia sings the sun.
Dory and Drew tie the knot.
Wall of the missing.
It’s not every day that I get to talk to a former work colleague who just happens to be quite the communicator. Lyle Smith has a podcast called The Story Forge, and he was kind enough to let me be on it. I haven’t talked to Lyle in decades, but you’d never know from how easily we chatted. Actually, I think it’s all because Lyle is just really good at this. Please have a listen!
Thank you to Debugger on Medium, where “Every gadget has a story. A new publication from Medium about consumer technology.” They picked up my adventures of late-stage gaming! Same story, but just on a bigger platform.
And an update — I’m roughly halfway through Assassin’s Creed III, and the biggest disappointment is the voice acting. I mean I knew I had it good with the Ezio trilogy, but now that I’ve spent a good chunk of time with III’s protagonist Connor, now I know more than ever how important it is to have the right vocal talent attached to these games.
Well, it’s happened — I’m now a gamer. Thank you, pandemic! Look what you’ve made me do.
But seriously, it’s good news — it’s really just another experience in fiction. Last year I wrote about how I just drove around the world of GTA V. But then I played it — to completion! And now I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in 15th century Italy, thanks to Assassin’s Creed.
Read: The Old Man and the Gamepad (or listen to me read it, if you wish!)
Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2021; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.
As you can see, Olivia Rodrigo is on here four times, and they are all deserving. What a talent! “Happier” is my favorite song of hers, and perhaps for this mix, though Cassandra Jenkins’ “Hard Drive” is such a delightfully oddball song…they’re both great.
So it turns out that there indeed is an audiobook of my second novel, but I can’t hear it! Read on.
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I wrote an essay on Medium’s #StopAsianHate — the header graphic is rather forceful, but it does symbolize what happened two years ago, when my wife and I were visiting Copenhagen. Usually I write, “Enjoy!” with just about everything I write, but for this one, “Be informed!” is probably more appropriate.
