Thorn: The Complete Proto-Bone College Strips 1982-1986 by Jeff Smith: Book Review

(Book Review--Bone Series)

Part of my Bone series reading project for this summer.

(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)

Thorn: The Complete Proto-Bone College Strips 1982-1986 by Jeff Smith: Book Review

Playlists of all my Bone reviews: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5KLbFLyQFO6CTdp_XzdCbs&si=qswidW7z7fU1uvjr

Related Playlists: 

* Graphic Novel Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x6NMoYW6CBw6Qj_cqK8DIeb

* Books I read in 2025: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7Fev7Uv6_tzuSf84LtYwQu&si=Im1rdozRXrgGnr99

* Book Review Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7dao6py7ODX_PkUvrAEch7&si=EJ7CG8iO9IouNaYY

* Bone Series Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5KLbFLyQFO6CTdp_XzdCbs&si=qswidW7z7fU1uvjr

I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Support this Blog:

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4lIFkJZ             (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

Started: Countdown to Final Crisis Volume Two

This book doesn't appear to be currently in stock at Amazon, but here is the link nonetheless: https://amzn.to/4nDd0L2      (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

The Newsroom: TV Series Review

Links to some of my previous reviews:

* Charlie Wilson's War: https://youtu.be/jXqVKItHkZ8

* The Social Network: https://youtu.be/gtmfvfuHYDY

* The Trial of the Chicago 7: https://youtu.be/YyRAXm3rIIY

This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE:

https://youtu.be/HgneyXvRI04  

and HERE: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2018/12/vlog-scripted-book-reviews-i-ramble-on.html

In this case, the old blog post is here: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2013/11/television-addiction-part-4.html

This is also part of my Television Addiction series.  For my explanation of what the Television Addiction series is and why I'm doing it, see: https://youtu.be/T5CEQ9-35xA and http://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2021/04/television-addiction-article-on.html

The original 2013 post reads: 

The Newsroom

          I mentioned a while back that I had been watching this show.

            I first started watching this show because it was recommended by the magazine Asia Life, one of the expat magazines out here in Cambodia.

            I was only a few episodes in before I started wondering what in the world the editors of Asia Life were thinking.  The show was so cheesy, and so contrived, and just…well, ridiculous really.

            (The AVclub has an episode by episode rundown of the show that do a very good job of highlighting all the ridiculous points about this show).

            And yet, despite all the problems with the show—despite the cheesy soap opera relationships, the contrived plot points, and the arrogant 20/20 hindsight smugly applied to every news event, I still found myself watching episode after episode.

            Aaron Sorkin may mess up a lot of things, but he still understands the mechanics of screenwriting very well.  Each episode may be terrible objectively if you focus on the plot, but Aaron Sorkin still knows how to keep the dialogue snappy and he knows how to keep the forward momentum of the story going.  So the show may be terrible, but it never really gets boring.  And, I have to confess that even while I was rolling my eyes at how cheesy the plot was, I still kept watching it.

            Also, if you’re a political junky, then all the political diatribes mixed-in with the soap opera drama is another guilty pleasure.  On several of the polemical speeches throughout the series, I think Sorkin did a very good job of sticking it to the Republican Party.

            Of course when Sorkin bashes causes I’m sympathetic to, like Occupy Wall Street, then I enjoy it a lot less, but I guess that’s just my liberal bias double-standard showing through. (I think actually there’s actually good case to be made for the strength of a grass roots bottom up leaderless movement.  But the straw-men Occupy Wall Street characters that Sorkin created were never able to give a good defense for this.)

Related Playlists:

Scripted Reviews Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5BKcEIufNKlS58JHU_glyL&si=Pje0KQqIqOgWGGUI

Television Addiction: Oh, the TV Shows I've Seen: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5dG-fZus5AmF1kQSDBfSDJ

Television Addiction Part 4: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7tGOeUw5E7xQBVO_DQ3xcn&si=lM1iMgfWSgaA3Bzf

TV Review Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x6YpO1G45qHp2EEa5bGZLns

Aaron Sorkin Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7Cj5VZ1egfFzrAUG2nFYLK&si=9HyCTBJiUUQ6Z8Ts

Support This Blog: 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this series on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4kqIjpo          (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

The Cuthaean Legend of Naram-Sin translated by Benjamin R. Foster (from Before the Muses): Summary

(Book Review--Blogging the Canon, Classics)

According to Wikipedia, this text is also titled: Naram-Sin and the Enemy Hordes

From my reading of Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Edited by Benjamin R. Foster

The Cuthaean Legend of Naram-Sin translated by Benjamin R. Foster (from Before the Muses): Summary

Links to Stuff mentioned: 

* Starting: Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Edited by Benjamin R. Foster: https://youtu.be/GntFy0nIRPA

* Akkadian Literature: The Classical Period 1850-1500 B.C.: https://youtu.be/vzEm8Vl5LXM

* Akkadian Literature: The Archaic Period 2300-1850 B.C.: https://youtu.be/YfRJgsPRqJE

* Sargon, King of Battle: https://youtu.be/hIoAKGIC_lw

* My review of the Enuma Elish: https://youtu.be/xSY_h8helQo

* Oldest Stories Podcast: Slanderous Legends of Naram-Sin: https://youtu.be/A1_7gXhY-W0?si=FJHgHHP9yYtP1dfq

* Wikipedia article here: Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuthean_Legend_of_Naram-Sin

Wikipedia uses the spelling "Cuthean".  Benjamin Foster uses the spelling "Cuthaean"

Related Playlists

* Classic Books Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x53EsuWSZ-z0uFGL_0Jl6F1&si=giDKwvKMzCWtXvzl

* Book Review Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7dao6py7ODX_PkUvrAEch7&si=kiFeTonJJ3Ux5H1T

* Books I read in 2025: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7Fev7Uv6_tzuSf84LtYwQu&si=Im1rdozRXrgGnr99

* Babylonian / Akkadian Literature Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5BtyzrSv3NMPA3VpzLIuq8&si=x0yeQPCkXyxtPCr4

* Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4Cvg1Yw4LQyKEXIwDwo1m0&si=X6OZ7Ectw-fzHbCn

* Akkadian Literature: The Mature Period 1500-1000 BC Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x545tikwEDqcgD_qmFqtLUF&si=XlI2gaYNnh1HGPyf

I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Support This Blog: 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4k08VgZ            (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

It's me.  This video is my story. 

Sargon, King of Battle translated by Benjamin Foster (from Before the Muses): Summary & Discussion

(Book Review--Blogging the Canon, Classics)

From my reading of Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Edited by Benjamin R. Foster

Sargon, King of Battle translated by Benjamin Foster (from Before the Muses): Summary & Discussion

Links to Stuff mentioned: 

* Starting: Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Edited by Benjamin R. Foster: https://youtu.be/GntFy0nIRPA

* Akkadian Literature: The Classical Period 1850-1500 B.C.: https://youtu.be/vzEm8Vl5LXM

* The Wikipedia article is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Battle

In the video, I misquoted the Wikipedia article slightly.  What it actually says is:

Of the twenty-three tales composed of the Kings of Akkad, this was one of only three, along with the Birth Legend of Sargon and the Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin, to continue to circulate in the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, some 1,500 years after the events they describe.^[3]

...in the video I said 3 texts about Sargon, but I should have said 3 texts about the kings of Akkad.

Related Playlists

* Classic Books Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x53EsuWSZ-z0uFGL_0Jl6F1&si=giDKwvKMzCWtXvzl

* Book Review Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7dao6py7ODX_PkUvrAEch7&si=kiFeTonJJ3Ux5H1T

* Books I read in 2025: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7Fev7Uv6_tzuSf84LtYwQu&si=Im1rdozRXrgGnr99

* Babylonian / Akkadian Literature Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5BtyzrSv3NMPA3VpzLIuq8&si=x0yeQPCkXyxtPCr4

* Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4Cvg1Yw4LQyKEXIwDwo1m0&si=X6OZ7Ectw-fzHbCn

* Akkadian Literature: The Mature Period 1500-1000 BC Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x545tikwEDqcgD_qmFqtLUF&si=XlI2gaYNnh1HGPyf

I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Support This Blog: 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4k08VgZ            (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

Hymn to Tiglath-Pileser I translated by Benjamin R. Foster (from Before the Muses): Discussion

Alternative title: A Heroic Poem in Celebration of Tiglath-pileser I's Muṣru-Qumanu Campaign

(Book Review--Blogging the Canon, Classics)

From my reading of Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Edited by Benjamin R. Foster

Hymn to Tiglath-Pileser I translated by Benjamin R. Foster (from Before the Muses): Discussion

Links to Stuff mentioned: 

* Starting: Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Edited by Benjamin R. Foster: https://youtu.be/GntFy0nIRPA

* Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire by Eckart Frahm: Book Review: https://youtu.be/R8Igl5zP7iU

The article From Chicago University Press is available here: https://archive.org/details/hurowitz-westenholz-1990-musru-qumanu

Related Playlists

* Classic Books Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x53EsuWSZ-z0uFGL_0Jl6F1&si=giDKwvKMzCWtXvzl

* Book Review Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7dao6py7ODX_PkUvrAEch7&si=kiFeTonJJ3Ux5H1T

* Books I read in 2025: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7Fev7Uv6_tzuSf84LtYwQu&si=Im1rdozRXrgGnr99

* Babylonian / Akkadian Literature Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5BtyzrSv3NMPA3VpzLIuq8&si=x0yeQPCkXyxtPCr4

* Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4Cvg1Yw4LQyKEXIwDwo1m0&si=X6OZ7Ectw-fzHbCn

* Akkadian Literature: The Mature Period 1500-1000 BC Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x545tikwEDqcgD_qmFqtLUF&si=XlI2gaYNnh1HGPyf

I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Support This Blog: 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4k08VgZ            (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

House of Cards Season 1: TV Series Review

Links to stuff mentioned:

AVclub reviews on House of Cards: https://web.archive.org/web/20140209070436/http://www.avclub.com/tv/house-of-cards/

This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE:

https://youtu.be/HgneyXvRI04  

and HERE: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2018/12/vlog-scripted-book-reviews-i-ramble-on.html

In this case, the old blog post is here: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2013/11/television-addiction-part-4.html

This is also part of my Television Addiction series.  For my explanation of what the Television Addiction series is and why I'm doing it, see: https://youtu.be/T5CEQ9-35xA and http://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2021/04/television-addiction-article-on.html

The original 2013 post reads: 

House of Cards

          I had high hopes for this series.  I love political dramas, and I’m a big fan of Kevin Spacey.

            Alas, I regret to say that the series was awful.  So awful, in fact, that I didn’t even bother finishing the last few episodes.  (What was the point?  None of the characters seemed at all like real people, and I the plot was obviously manufactured and contrived.)

            The AVclub has an excellent rundown of all this show episode by episode, and I basically find myself in agreement with their analysis of all the show’s faults.

Related Playlists:

Scripted Reviews Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5BKcEIufNKlS58JHU_glyL&si=Pje0KQqIqOgWGGUI

Television Addiction: Oh, the TV Shows I've Seen: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x5dG-fZus5AmF1kQSDBfSDJ

Television Addiction Part 4: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x7tGOeUw5E7xQBVO_DQ3xcn&si=lM1iMgfWSgaA3Bzf

TV Review Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x6YpO1G45qHp2EEa5bGZLns

Support This Blog: 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this series on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3TlSbWG           (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)