If you were to search Parasomnia in Google, this is what might show up…
Not really, but these are related to the book!
Parasomnia Google Search
A Very Jonas Christmas Movie – JenEric Movie Review
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2025 film A Very Jonas Christmas Movie.
Story
This is a combination of the “must get home for Christmas” and American “European vacation” tropes. It’s done extremely PG but never feels like they held back on their humour. It wasn’t original but didn’t need to be. The story delivered with lots of emotion. I really appreciate magic being the reason for all the mishaps instead of the brothers doing stupid things.
Score: 1
Characters
No matter how intense your knowledge of the band is, the characters they play are very obvious. The neurotic “mom friend”, the womanizer, and the innocent everyman. They play the roles well and even managed to do a good job of fleshing out their feelings. The story arc for each character is fun and rewarding.
Do yourself a favour and watch it with a longtime fan, they’ll let you know the in-jokes.
Score: 1
Dialogue
Standard brother banter. I like that sometimes when they teased each other it hurt. So often in movies, men will say horribly mean things to each other and there are no consequences.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
The visuals were standard Disney TV fare. Nothing special, but they did a good job.
The music was excellent and I look forward to getting the album.
Score: 1
Fun
I don’t know the group super well but I enjoyed this a lot. It was feel good, low angst, and fun. The whole family was glued to their seats.
Score: 1
Overall
A fun Christmas movie for anyone, even if you know little about the Jonas brothers. The music, the dialogue, and the hijinks are all delightful.
Final Score: 5 Stars out of 5*
*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.
Geeking out of the Holidays!
Come see JenEric Coffee and JenEric Authors at Geeking out for the Holidays.
This Sunday (November 30th) from 10am-4pm at the Nepean Sportsplex.
Come see us at the Merivale Mall
Tomorrow JenEric Coffee, Crochet, and Authors will be at the Merivale Mall from 10-4.
Come by and see us!
The Sign of Faust Google Search
If you were to search The Sign of Faust in Google, this is what might show up…
Not really, but these are related to the book!
Edition is discontinued. Will be available at in person events until a new edition is released.
Odd Thomas – JenEric Movie Review
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2016 film Odd Thomas.
Story
The screenwriters took all the fatphobia, misogyny, and ableism and removed it. They also took the overall slow story and made it feel fast paced. Unfortunately, all the polishing doesn’t help a mediocre attempt at a supernatural thriller.
Score: 0.5
Characters
The characters are made more human in this than in the book and that’s probably because of the actors and the cleaning up of the relations between characters.
Special shout out to Anton Yelchin who turned one of the least likeable characters into someone I’d want to read and watch. Also Addison Timlin who made Stormy into more than a cookie cutter manic pixie dreamgirl.
They still feel like outdated cardboard cutouts instead of real characters.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
The dialogue is pompous, dated, and awkward. In the books, it was terrible, but in the movie it worked to build a sort of stylistic surrealism to the whole movie.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The digital effects look dated but everything that’s practical looks great. The cinematography and weird blue filter makes for a good match to the dialogue’s surrealism.
The music was okay. It did its job but was extremely predictable and a little dull.
Score: 0.5
Fun
I liked the movie and might even rewatch it. I watched it alone after hate-binging the novel. I don’t think the kids or the family would have enjoyed it. As a supernatural movie it was good. As an adaptation, it was better than the novel.
Score: 0.5
Overall
An amazing adaptation of a mediocre book. Anton Yelchin and Addison Timlin infuse personality and emotion into bland, borderline unlikable characters. Unfortunately, no clever writing or acting can save a tired plotline.
Final Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5
Pokemon
These were all crocheted by the one on the left. They were even more impressive in person. If you get a chance to see them at a craft show, do it. @geeky_fiber_quest
Height of Civilization
Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
There’s a meme going around about The Matrix, saying that the movie was right, that 1999 was the height of human civilization.
It’s easy to agree with. Finances, war, politics, the environment, and almost everything else feels like it’s gotten worse over that past quarter century.
This doom and gloom has been rampant on social media since around 2015 and in the past ten years we’ve sort of started to accept that everything is a dumpster fire.
As much as I agree that there are a lot of issues and in some ways it feels like we’re fighting for the last breaths of western democracy, a lot has improved too.
I was reading Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz recently, and was taken aback by the overwhelming amount of homophobia, fatphobia, transphobia, ableism, and misogyny. I can’t blame it all on the author either. In all forms of media from that time period, you are bombarded with the message to be different but in a way that is acceptable. As a closeted and fat neurodivergent kid at the time, it wasn’t a great world. The push toward conformity was a reaction to a world that was quickly changing technologically and socially.
If that level of judgment, hate, and fear is the pinnacle of human civilization… then I don’t want anything to do with it.
I have to believe that the current political climate is a temporary shift backwards. That love, tolerance, and humanity will win out in the end.
The answer isn’t idealizing the past, it’s improving the present. Even if it’s just in little ways, small kindnesses, and being able to be happy for others’ joy. Even when we can’t understand it.
Beyond that, we need to find the joy in ourselves, no matter how “cringe” it might feel. Love yourself, your neighbours, and your hobbies unabashedly.
Be kind and stay safe,
Éric
Motivation, Writing, and Creative Procrastination
Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
Have you ever started a movie, and five minutes into it, you realize you’re really not in the mood? Now imagine if that movie was going to take you months to watch… That’s kind of how writing can be. I have more ideas than time and I should be done the fifth Elizabeth by now, but I’m stuck at chapter 4.
I don’t even have a good reason; I just can’t seem to motivate myself. I love the characters and I want to see what happens, but I’m having trouble writing without a deadline. Jen has spoiled me. When we write together, I feel the pressure of a deadline without the stress. It makes writing solo a lot harder.
A shiny new idea is always hard to resist.
In that vein, here is a short list of ideas I’ve had recently that I’m aching to work on:
The Pie Shop Murders
Short murder mysteries following Pieper the burnt-out web developer who takes over her recently deceased Grannie’s Pie shop. There will be murder, a grumpy slow-burn romance (at least 4 books), a ghost, and magical shenanigans.
Guardian of Chaos
Follow the adventures of Elizabeth Coderre at thirty+ as she comes to terms with being the Guardian of Chaos and what it means. With the power to travel the “back rooms” and a world that is still hostile to the magical community, she needs to not only discover her place in the universe but will need to save it too.
This would be a sequel series to the Baker City Mysteries
Public Service Zombies (PSZ)
Thomas, a father of 2, returns to work for the Federal Purse of Canada in January 2020. Being away from his kids is hard but the free coffee is nice. Until the government loses an election and suddenly there’s no free coffee. He’s missing the focus it gives him, but his coworkers are having a really hard time and they’re starting to freak out a little. When someone brings COVID into the office, the withdrawal mutates into a full on Zombie apocalypse. Then the zombies start showing supernatural abilities.
Paracosm
Agents Kitty Price and MacKenzie Fairfield of Elmsley are starting to think that their boss’s sudden retirement is fishy. Especially as the new head of Elmsley wants to bring it back to its glory days. They have to figure out how to bring back their boss and expose the corruption in Elmsley, all while trying to figure out why kids are disappearing into magical pocket worlds.
I’m hoping that Jen will write this with me since MacKenzie is her character and I think there’s place for a romance with the two leads.
This would be a direct sequel to Parasomnia.
“The University Book or Battle of the Bands”
A group of friends at Baker University move into a haunted house. The book would be split into “Episodes” like short stories that feature each of the main characters. Each story would have their own plot but would also be part of the overall story.
Jen and I have been talking about this book for way too long.
It will connect with characters from Baker City Mysteries and act as a sequel to both The Copper Tarnish and Faymous (Coming 2026)
There are more…. so many more.
This post has been brought to you by procrastination and executive dysfunction.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric