Éric

Éric has had an eclectic career which ranges from casino dealer to canal boat captain to radio station DJ. Since 2009, he’s worked as a desktop publisher for the federal government. During his off time, he works as a freelance typesetter for various Canadian-based authors and publishers, roasts gourmet flavoured coffee, runs several pen-and-paper role-playing games, writes, and helps run JenEric-Designs.ca (Home of the TravellingTARDIS.com).

He lives in Ottawa, Ontario with his author wife, daughter, and son.

Dear Dragon and Pegasus

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Dear Dragon and Pegasus,

This week we did something that we hadn’t done since the before times. We visited your école. The last time we were at the school was the sliver of time between getting over Covid and the complete shut down. It was February 12th, I believe.

Last time we went, Pegasus had just started walking and Dragon was so tiny.

This week was about Pegasus seeing a real classroom and playing with other kids his age. We also wanted to get Dragon excited for school next year. Dragon, you’ve been in digital school for almost three years and I think you’re stressed at the idea of changing.

People have been telling us that it would be better for the you two to be at school versus digital school.

I’ve been hesitant for a few reasons. First are the memories I have of being in grade school; I didn’t have a great experience and I really don’t want the same for you.

The second is more selfish, I’ll miss you. Right now I get to have lunch with you 3 times a week and hang out after. I also get to hear or be told what you did and I know that’ll change.

Change is inevitable and I know the best thing for Dragon is to go into in person school. I’ve been seeing signs that the screen combined with the sound quality is bothering you. You’re showing some pretty obvious signs of neurodiversity, which would be mitigated by having a teacher next to you and the resources at the school. I’m still worried about your temper and emotional regulation though. You also fidget more than I did at that age, which is saying something.

I’m not as convinced that Pegasus should be going into full day junior kindergarten. You are advanced in your language, math, and letters. Your small motor skills are excellent too. Unfortunately, your social skills are heavily influenced by your sister, so you’re more used to playing with kids rather than parallel play. During the open house, you actually got into a little fight with another kid. They didn’t want you to play with the kitchen and you really wanted to. You used your words, but they only spoke in partial phrases and didn’t. You ended up pushing the child almost twice your size against the wall. You did have fun and you would probably thrive with the right guidance.

Added to the fact that you are stubbornly refusing to fully potty train, I’m not sure it’ll be the best place for you. We definitely need to take you to the park and set up some play dates with other kids though.

All of this is complicated by my fear and stress. I’m trying really hard to not show it though. Covid is becoming a new normal and honestly I hate it. I’m still dealing with side effects, mostly breathing issues, from the first time I got it 3 years ago and I don’t want this for you. I was told that long covid seems to mostly get better with time, but I still worry about you both.

It was great seeing you playing with other people and I love how independent you were. You both checked in with us and wanted to share your joy, but you didn’t need us there.

Once again, things are changing and I don’t like it. I’m going to enjoy the next few months of us all being together as much as I can. I’ll try and store up the snuggles before they’re gone and appreciate the happy sounds before the house is too quiet.

I love you both so much,

Papa

Matilda the Musical – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Matilda the Musical.

Story

The story is very similar to the older movie, but with some interesting changes. I’ll admit I don’t know the book. It’s heartbreaking and tries really hard to lessen the pain with exaggerated characters. The story elements don’t always land well, parts were slow and others overdone.

I do like the message that no matter how small you are, you can still write your own story… although it is undercut by her needing superpowers.

Score: 0.5

Characters

I’m pretty done with the ugly and/or fat character is the villain, while the petite pretty person is the good guy. I know it’s the book, but it’s an overdone and lazy stereotype.

Matilda herself is fantastic. She has a strong sense of right and wrong along with enough strength of character to push back.

The librarian was amazing and the kids were okay.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

Lots of repeated phrases and messages. It had some excellent dialogue from Matilda, especially when she told her stories. Beyond that, it oscillated between saccharin and melodrama.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The camera work and framing were great. The costumes and sets were perfect. The dancing was excellent.

The music and score were fun, but heavily repetitive. This isn’t a soundtrack that I’d want to own.

My biggest problem was that the musical aspects were underused and, other than a few songs, underwhelming.

Score: 0.5

Fun

I wouldn’t call this a feel good movie. It had all the “Hell Yeah!” it needed, but the path there was really sad and painful.

The 6 year old loved it, the 3 year old was entranced but nonplussed. The adults were split between not liking it and finding it pretty good.

I found myself looking forward to the music and disappointed at the same time.

Score: 0.5

Overall

A musical version of Matilda with all the baggage of the original story with a few fun songs. Although I love the message that you can write your own story, the movie doesn’t really back it up very well.

Final Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5

Some movement! (AKA: I saw a doctor)

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Hello friends, family, and fans,

I SAW A DOCTOR!!!

Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor dancing

No, not that sort of doctor. I saw a medical doctor. An elbow surgeon whom WSIB referred me to. I also saw a very nice occupational therapist. All three of us were confused as to why WSIB sent me to an elbow surgeon, but after a very thorough history review and exam they concluded I needed to see a neurologist. (What my family doctor said 6 months ago.)

They’re also going to schedule an MRI for my neck.

The surgeon said that since it’s both arms, that it’s most likely neck or brain. Neck is most likely since I’m not getting headaches or nausea. (Of course he said that and this weekend I’ve had both, but I’m 98% sure it’s just weather and stress.)

I should hear in the next few weeks about the MRI and then within the next month about the neurologist.

THINGS ARE MOVING! I’m really relieved to have finally gotten to this point. Next milestone, figure out what’s wrong.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Rescheduled Signing

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*UPDATE: The signing has been POSTPONED until further notice.*

Hello Readers,

Unfortunately due to a massive cyber security incident on Indigo, we are forced to reschedule the signing to next weekend.

Meet the Authors of Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers Sunday February 19th, 1pm to 3pm at Indigo Pinecrest (2735 Iris St. Ottawa)

See you there!

Éric

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Story

An epic playing on emotion, colonialism, family, and politics. There were a few flashback style sections that I didn’t like, why are you showing me what happened 30 minutes ago? But that’s not enough to cast a shadow on the impressive story.

Score: 1

Characters

There are a lot of characters and unfortunately without watching the first one again, I forgot who a few of them are. That being said, the arcs are satisfying and I didn’t feel cheated in anyone’s story and that’s impressive.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The movie was sadder without T’Challa’s quips. He had a charisma in his delivery that was amazing. That being said, the movie was a wonderful mixture of high drama, epic, and action dialogue.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The movie was beautiful, great special effects, choreography, and cinematography, when I could see it. We have a 4k OLED TV with excellent contrast and brightness, but a good 10-25% of the movie was so dark we could barely see.

The music is epic and amazing. I liked that the sirens sang something that sounded vaguely like a sea shanty.

Score: 0.5

Fun

The kids were bored in the emotional parts, and that made it harder to get into the emotion.

For the adults, we all agreed that it was both entertaining and thought provoking. I’d watch this again for that balance and to catch all the details I missed.

Score: 1

Overall

An emotional and sweeping story that takes the time to grieve Chadwick Boseman without losing itself in loss. There are some wonderful themes and ideas. This is a proper epic superhero movie.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Signing – Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers

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*UPDATE: The signing has been POSTPONED until further notice.*

*UPDATE: The signing has been rescheduled to Sunday February 19th*

Hello Readers,

Have you wanted to get a copy of Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers, but were waiting so you could get it signed? This is your chance.

Meet the Authors of Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers Sunday February 12th, 1pm to 3pm at Indigo Pinecrest (2735 Iris St. Ottawa)

We might have some extra goodies for those that show up.

Hope to see you there!

Éric and Jen

Motivation

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Hello Readers,

I have plans. Lots of plans. So many plans!

Unfortunately, due to health and fatigue, I have very little motivation.

That should change. I have a doctor’s appointment next week and the weather is changing.

Hopefully I’ll get to those many plans.

Speaking of plans, I was thinking of recording me reading the serial story and posting it with the story. Is that something people would like?

Anyway, I should go do something.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Monster Hunter – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2020 film Monster Hunter.

Story

This is based off a game that I have not played, but from the writer/director’s past history, it’s probably not all that faithful. That being said, it was fairly simple and had some interesting world building.

After the first exciting bit, it was a little slow however.

Score: 0.5

Characters

There were a lot of characters that didn’t get much screentime and they were pretty cool. Hard to go wrong with Ron Pearlman.

The two main characters are interesting, but I’m not sure they were interesting enough to hold up the movie.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

This was a very typical white story, the non-english speaker learned bits of English and the English speaker learned the names of the monsters.

Most of the dialogue is pretty boring but there were a few good action lines.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The visuals were spectacular when it came to the monsters and the fight scenes. The fight choreography was really cool. I love seeing monsters versus modern war machines.

The music was okay but at times distracted from the story and action instead of enhancing it.

Score: 0.5

Fun

I went into this expecting a silly monster movie with lots of action and that’s what I got. It was fun and exciting. It wasn’t as well paced as others by Anderson.

Score: 0.5

Overall

The movie is silly fun but doesn’t really shine the way it should have. It’s mostly just meh with a few moments of awesome.

Final Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5

The Suns of War – Chapter 1 (Serial Story)

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Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 1: Vengeance Interrupted

When faced with the complete collapse of civilization, some people freeze, others refuse to believe, and even more break down completely. 

Nessa was in the first category to start with; she just stared, frozen in horror, as her homeworld floated by as countless pieces of rock. 

She was replaying everything she knew about science and weapons and coming up completely blank as to how this could happen, while her jailer kept repeating that it was an Aresian trick.

Nessa had a hard time controlling her tail in her current state. It insisted on puffing up as if there were some imminent threat.

“This is your captain speaking. All hands prepare for combat. Get to your posts, we’ll teach those Aresians what happens when they blow up our homeworld!”

The Camlann’s engines roared to life and the rubble faded into stars. Their stardrive was fast, but it would take them almost a week to reach Ares Prime at maximum thrust. 

“I have to talk to the captain! This is a trick, we’re being tricked,” Alfred was pale as he left her alone. 

No one came to check on her and no one came to feed her for a few days. She wondered if they’d forgotten her. “Maybe they just threw themselves out of an airlock?” she said aloud. Her voice sounded dull and dry. The lack of water was going to get her before anything else happened. 

On the fourth day of travel she was jostled awake by the ship dropping out of lightspeed. Once again she was grateful for the porthole in her cell. It showed a star system she didn’t recognize. It had a white dwarf star and from what she could see, only two planets. She thought there were a lot of asteroids, but upon closer inspection, they weren’t asteroids, they were ships. The ships were so black they seemed to absorb light. Their darkness and the insignia on their hulls were the only things that made them visible. The insignia was a dark blue thirteen pointed star.

There had to be millions of those ships and she had no idea who they were. The Aresian ships were boldly coloured and garish, the Martian ships were silver and sleek, the Tyrite ships were green living things, the ancient Earth ships were grey eyesores, and the other new ship they’d met had been round, red, with three golden crowns as an insignia.

Who are they and how did they manage to amass such a massive fleet without anyone knowing? she wondered to herself.

The lights turned bright purple and the alarms went off. “This is a mauve alert. Battlestations.” The captain’s voice had lost some of its battle lust over the past few days.

The ship’s weapons powered up and they shot at something she couldn’t see. As she looked out the porthole she saw a wave of blueish energy erupt from several ships and fly towards them like an ominous curtain. When the energy hit, the ship lost all power, and she started to float. There was a blast and she heard screams. They’d been boarded.

Her lack of food and water meant she had a hard time not falling asleep. She woke up briefly as men in black robes entered her cell, but didn’t have the energy to argue.

They took the entire ship into their hangar and then took the surviving crew as prisoners. She didn’t understand their language and couldn’t answer any of their questions.

Her cell was plush compared to the brig. Her bed had a pillow and she was given food and water right away. The cells were two metres cubed with one wall that was completely made by an energy forcefield.

Most of them looked like typical Homosapien. They were bipedal, mostly hairless, and their skin varied in colour from pale pink and white to dark brown. There didn’t seem to be any Felisapiens or Canisapiens among them. 

She could see cells just like hers across the hallway with various people in them. She recognized uniforms and people from all three empires. She couldn’t hear them and no matter how much she screamed, no one seemed to hear her.

After a day or two of being a captive, she started to feel better physically. Whatever they put in their food wasn’t very tasty, but it obviously had some healing properties. She was pacing her cell when they lowered the forcefield and a woman walked in. She was pretty with sharp features, pale skin, and short, bright red hair.

“Hello. I’m Sun Speaker Aria of Blue-Star fleet one. Whom am I addressing?” Her Martian was very good, if formal.

“I’m former Commander Nessa Hath of the United Martian Empire ship Camlann,” I tried to control my physical reactions to the woman, but there was something about her that didn’t smell right.

“You say former. Why is that?”

There was no harm in explaining. “I was stripped of my rank when I chose historical curiosity over duty to my captain.”

For a long time the woman said nothing as she looked through Nessa, then she said, “Yes. I see. You’ve made contact with the Myrddin. Do you know what it is and what it was searching for?”

Nessa shook her head, remembering that the ship had transmitted a message that said, Myrddin searches for Arthur. “It was searching for someone or something called Arthur.”

“Hm.” The redhead paused and then asked, “Do you know where to find Arthur?”

“No.”

“A pity. Your crew mostly said the same thing. Those that didn’t die fighting.” She paused as if for dramatic effect. She must have thought it would shock Nessa to hear that some of her crewmates had died. She obviously didn’t understand Martians and their love of war. 

“Okay. Is this the point where you kill me?”

“You have a choice, former Commander Nessa Muldune. You can join us in our holy mission to rid the universe of the heretic stars, or you can die in a vain display of obduracy.

Read Chapter 2

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Health Update January 2023

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Hello Friends, Familly, Readers,

I’ve finally been approved for the WSIB Specialty Clinic.

What that means is that I’ll be hearing from their nurse practitioner in the next week or so and should have an appointment by the end of February. At the appointment they’ll, hopefully, run a lot of tests and figure out what’s wrong or send me to a neurologist.

I’ve also leveled up to a Long Term Case Manager, since my injury is now over 6 months. Let’s hope they’re faster and more organized.

Overall, I’m hopeful.

Be kind and stay safe,

Éric