Author’s Note: This story is inspired by my years as a tour guide at Weta Workshop, located in the heart of the Miramar peninsula in Wellington, New Zealand. Weta Workshop is most famous for making all the props, costumes, prosthetics, sets, miniatures, and practical effects for Peter Jackson’s “The Lord…

Next month I will begin sharing the sequel to my first novel, ‘SONS OF THE GREAT SATAN’,which was inspired by my teen years as an American expat living in Tehran, Iran just prior to the Iranian Revolution of the late 1970s. The second part of this tale is called ‘SINS…

The beginning of a story is a very delicate time… and chock of SPOILERS so if you haven’t seen the 2021 film version of DUNE — leave now! Go see the movie. It’s BADASS. Go see it. Get the heck out of here! Ok… I was 13 years old when…

Author’s Note: The hardest part of moving from the Big Island of Hawai’i to New Zealand over three years ago was leaving behind family and friends. One of the best friends we left behind was Ziggy, our family dog. That was a heartbreaker as we all loved Ziggy but we…

The long and winding road that leads to your door Will never disappear, I’ve seen that road before. It always leads me here, leads me to your door… Peter Jackson’s Get Back is a technical marvel in both 21st century sound and film editing, and it’s also the best representation…

“The Wizard of Oz” is BADASS. Let’s start at the beginning as that’s such a good place to start. The first movie I remember seeing — mostly because it both thrilled and scared the bejesus out of me — was “The Wizard of Oz”. To this day, I feel that…

I’m envious of those who talk about the connection to their homeland or where they grew up, that sense of place and belonging to something outside of themselves. How wistful and comforting that must feel. For those of us who grew up in many places, that sense of attachment doesn’t…

“We don’t get a lot of things to really care about,” says Robin Feld, the main character in the movie Pig. My wife and I saw Michael Sarnoski’s Pig last night at the Roxy Cinema here in Wellington, New Zealand. Yes, we wore masks, and yes, we were in socially…

What do you do when your science-minded, 17-year-old doesn’t want to get vaccinated? My wife and I are both fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and we never thought that our son would have a problem with it. It’s a virus and you get vaccinated — that’s what you do against viruses…