TV #19 of 2026: Matlock, season 2 The modern gender-swapped Matlock is a CBS legal procedural that loves to over-explain things to its audience, but I still rated the debut season at four-out-of-five stars for how propulsively fun the core premise can be at its best: an elderly lawyer infiltrating a law firm under an …
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Movie Review: Terminator Salvation (2009)
Movie #19 of 2026: Terminator Salvation (2009) A competent action spectacle that finally shows us John Connor in his element as a resistance soldier (though not yet a leader) in the post-apocalyptic future that the franchise had repeatedly warned us was looming. That’s a reasonable premise to explore and one that never plays like much …
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Book Review: The Red Box by Rex Stout
Book #61 of 2026: The Red Box by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe #4) These 1930s mysteries remain solid enough as a sort of American pastiche of Agatha Christie, but so far they’ve failed to hit the heights that she could periodically achieve for me. The premise to this novel, for example, is initially interesting — …
TV Review: Abbott Elementary, season 5
TV #18 of 2026: Abbott Elementary, season 5 As a sitcom, this series has always had a somewhat tenuous connection to any sort of grounded reality, but like The Office, it feels as though the comedy is getting broader and the characters more flanderized as the program ages. So here, for example, the teachers spend …
Book Review: Moonwar by Ben Bova
Book #60 of 2026: Moonwar by Ben Bova (Moonbase Saga #2) Author Ben Bova’s novel Moonrise was a somewhat scattered prelude about life in a near-future lunar settlement, but it built nicely to the situation that’s front and center for this sequel: the facility’s leaders declaring their independence from Earth, so as not to be …
Book Review: Doctor Who: Deceit by Peter Darvill-Evans
Book #59 of 2026: Doctor Who: Deceit by Peter Darvill-Evans (Virgin New Adventures #13) One of the better entries that I’ve read in this 90s spinoff series so far, and especially notable for a few fun developments on the side. First, this is the sole VNA novel written by editor Peter Darvill-Evans, and so offers …
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TV Review: Homicide: Life on the Street, season 3
TV #17 of 2026: Homicide: Life on the Street, season 3 At 20 episodes, this is Homicide’s first full-length season, following two with 9 and 4 respectively while it was still an uncertain property on the bubble of cancellation. It’s another strong one, taking advantage of the greater space with more serialized arcs — though …
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Book Review: Tom’s Crossing by Mark Z. Danielewski
Book #58 of 2026: Tom’s Crossing by Mark Z. Danielewski This is an incredibly long novel — 1232 pages in hardback; 58 hours to listen to the audiobook on regular speed — that in my opinion never quite manages to justify its heft. It’s a pretty straightforward story, especially compared to author Mark Z. Danielewski’s …
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Movie Review: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Movie #18 of 2026: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) This third Terminator feature is a deeply cynical film. It would almost have to be, since series creator James Cameron famously considered the story to have finished with the exemplary Terminator 2: Judgement Day in 1991 — and so for the new rights holders …
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Book Review: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Book #57 of 2026: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins (The Underland Chronicles #1) A pitch-perfect middle-grade portal fantasy, in which our eleven-year-old protagonist stumbles into an underground world via the basement laundry room of his New York City apartment building. There he discovers giant talking animals like cockroaches, spiders, and bats, a strange civilization …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 