(1) All the rumors were true. The Fallout TV show was pretty great. Maybe a little weird for people who haven't played any of the games? Maybe not. Delightfully silly, absurd and fun. Violent, sure, but frankly not as much as I expected. Lucy was pitch-perfect, the Ghoul was the villain we all love to hate, until we just love him, and even Maximus grew on me by the end.

(2) Shogun was beautiful, heartbreaking and haunting, but also uplifting in the end. It pulled no punches about the culture and practices of historical Japan, yet somehow made you fall in love with the place anyway. It didn't try to "update" the story for our modern sensibilities. It's been a long, long time since I read the book, but my sense is, it stayed pretty close to the source material.

(3) Godzilla Minus One was...sweet! It felt like an homage to the old Japanese Godzilla movies in the best ways, and didn't let its cautionary themes about the toil war takes overwhelm its story of the importance of found family. And, you know, killing Godzilla.

(4) Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, though? Possibly one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. And I say this is an unashamed lover of terrible disaster and monster movies. It wasn't just nonsensical and boring. It was BAD.

Feel free to disagree with me on any of these! We all love (and hate) what we love (and hate).