This year I finished 57* seasons of television, which is about on par with recent years. (I watched 53 in 2024.) Overall my favorites were: 1. Andor, season 22. Ripley, season 13. The Sopranos, season 54. The Sopranos, season 15. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, season 16. The Sopranos, season 27. Reservation Dogs, season 18. The …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
2025 Movies
This year I watched 26 movies, which is a lot more than I usually do! (I watched 17 in 2024.) That increase was due in part to my new Film Franchise Fridays routine, where I’ve so far watched all of the Jason Bourne, Indiana Jones, and Bill & Ted movies. Overall my favorites were: 1. …
Book Review: Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson
Book #195 of 2025: Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with this author.] This is Brandon Sanderson’s second collection of short fiction, following Arcanum Unbounded in 2016. That earlier volume collected all the writer’s smaller works in his expansive Cosmere setting, while this one contains the opposite: ten tales expressly not …
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Bill & Ted movies, ranked
1. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)2. Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)3. Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) Overall rating: ★★★☆☆ Previously on Film Franchise Fridays:
Movie Review: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
Movie #27 of 2025: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) A fun but muddled legacy sequel, picking up with the titular dudes several decades after their previous adventures. Overall I would say this movie is better than I expected it to be, and easily stronger than Bogus Journey (1991). It just could have benefited …
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Book Review: The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy
Book #194 of 2025: The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy (Daughters of the Empty Throne #1) I’m not blown away by the generic fantasy setting or the one-dimensional villainous motivations here, but as a personal story rooted in its protagonist’s gender identity, it’s certainly a more distinctive entry in the genre. Sixteen-year-old Lorel is someone …
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Book Review: Star Wars: The Last Order by Kwame Mbalia
Book #193 of 2025: Star Wars: The Last Order by Kwame Mbalia This Star Wars title has definite potential, but it unfortunately doesn’t live up to it in my opinion. The action unfolds across three different timelines, one of which at least should have automatic appeal for any fan — it’s canonically the latest story …
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Book Review: The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Book #192 of 2025: The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (The Ripliad #4) Two observations I made earlier in this series continue to prove fruitful in shaping my understanding of Mr. Thomas Ripley: that his adventures can be as ludicrous as those of Dexter Morgan on TV, and that he’s best read as …
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Book Review: A Hard Day’s Knight by Simon R. Green
Book #191 of 2025: A Hard Day’s Knight by Simon R. Green (Nightside #11) This isn’t the worst entry in its urban fantasy series, but it might be the most generic. Our protagonist received the legendary sword Excalibur at the end of the previous volume, and in this one, he has to return it to …
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Movie Review: Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991)
Movie #26 of 2025: Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) One of the strangest genre pivots for a sequel that I’ve ever seen, swapping the time-travel shenanigans of the first movie for the afterlife experience of this installment’s title. Things here start out fine: the last film established that a utopian future was somehow built …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 