Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Valkyrie: Movie Review


Links to things mentioned:

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:
In this case, the old blog post is here: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2014/04/valkyrie.html

The Empire Strikes Back: Movie Review




Links to stuff mentioned:

The worksheets I used when I showed this movie to my Cambodian students: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-empire-strikes-back-movie-worksheets.html

My thoughts on SFDebris's documentary on the making of The Empire Strikes Back: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2017/08/if-youre-nerd-youll-find-these-video.html

started: Vergil's Aeneid, Books I-VI (Latin Edition) (Bks. 1-6) by Virgil (Author), Clyde Pharr (Editor), Alexander G. McKay (Contributor) 

Quizlet:

Monday, September 21, 2026

Came across a couple of interesting links (via Freddie deBoer) and I wanted to bookmark them here so I don't lose them.


...that article also includes another link to another article, which I also found very interesting:

* Reading Comprehension Is Not a Skill

Booster Gold: The Complete 2007 Series Book One: Book Review


Started: August 29, 2026

 


This video was really hard for me to film, because my brain felt like it was exhausted.
But I filmed it anyway, because I make it a point to review everything I read.  
I also try to make it a point to film my review of a book within 48 hours of finishing the book.  
I developed this second rule a couple of years ago, when I began to notice that I would sometimes go a week or more between finishing a book and filming the review.  I had been trying to wait until I felt like I had enough energy to film the review, but often a whole week would go by, and every day I felt like I was tired.  (And quite often I was tired every day--between having 2 young kids, and working every day of the week, I was just exhausted all the time.)  So, I decided that if I was going to keep up this project of reviewing everything I read, I would have to be strict with myself.  After I finished a book, I would have to film a review within 48 hours, whether I felt like it or not.

But on the night I filmed this review, my brain was just not cooperating.
To start with, I got ten minutes into the review, before my brain blanked out, and I decided to just give up on that whole take.  (My normal rule is that once I'm more than 10 minutes in, I don't give up on a video, but just keep going even if I mess up on something.  But in this case, my brain just came to a halt, and I had to give up.)



...then, after failing with the first video, I was able to get through the 2nd video reasonably well.  But then when I tried to film the 3rd video, my brain just gave up, and it ended up being another failure:



...what can I say?  I wish I could have made these videos better, but my brain just wasn't cooperating.

I did contemplate trying to refilm these videos the next day, but I was actually still sleep deprived the following day as well, and I wasn't sure it was going to be much better.  Plus, I wasn't sure this comic book was worth so many reshoots. It's just a stupid comic book.  If I don't have the energy to review it, then I don't have the energy to review it.

While I'm on the topic, a lot of my reviews are not as good as I would like them to be.  For various reasons.  One reason is often that I'm tired.  I wish I wasn't tired, but there it is.  I work a lot, I'm busy with my kids, I'm just tired a lot. 

(Addendum: I was in the staff lounge at work, and a lot of the other teachers were also talking about how exhausted they are recently--how they come home from work, and just feel exhausted, and collapse in bed by 8 pm, or something like that.  Prior to overhearing this, I had been assuming that my brain wasn't functioning because of lack of sleep, but now I'm thinking that in addition to not getting enough sleep, I'm probably just exhausted because teaching is an exhausting job, and doesn't leave you with much energy at the end of the day.)


Booster Gold: The Complete 2007 Series Book One: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL_FQ1PEG9e8&si=52llG4mOXtzLn-hj

Superman: The Man of Steel Volume 3 by John Byrne, Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway: Book Review









Sunday, September 20, 2026

This Week in Booktube: September 20, 2026
(These are the Booktube videos I watched this week. As always, I encourage you also to check out each of the videos I've linked to down below.  Support Booktube.  And let me know what you've watched this past week.)

Google document: docs, pub

Star Wars: Movie Review




Admittedly this ended up being more about my reminiscences of watching Star Wars than a review of Star Wars itself.  Sorry about that.  I just had to get that out of my system, I guess, before I could talk about the objective merits of this film.  At some point, I'll have to come back and take another crack at reviewing this movie.  Sooner or later, I'm bound to watch it again, and when I do, I'll try to just jump straight into the review next time.

Links to stuff mentioned:
My blog post on the first time I tried to introduce this movie to my kids: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2026/01/star-wars-movies-that-ive-half-watched.html



A Bridge Too Far: Movie Review



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: