Tentalizing TV & Bitchin’ Books

This is how you do a clickbait article. If I saw this headline I’d say something like, “who’s this asshole? I didn’t even know tantalizing was a word”. – Until 5 seconds ago. But apparently tentalizing is confusing as hell because it means both to torment and to excite, aka your emotions are about to be challenged.

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I go through different entertainment phases every few months. Because of the overwhelming availability of different mediums that we are exposed to, I often find myself bing-watching/reading/playing epic escapades all at once.

I’m making the transition out of heavy gaming and film watching and diving back into TV binging and book reading. Here are some TV series I’m diving into or have watched recently, as well as some books I’ve put on the back-burner as of late.

5 The Missing (2 Seasons 16 Eps)

The Missing released in 2014, follows a father who lost his son and a French    investigator as they track down missing children who disappear for many years without a trace. Like True Detective, each season is a different case with entirely different people. I’ve binged this series recently and it’s very intriguing.

The first 4 episodes or so, I like to describe it as, “first 5 minutes, middle 10, last 5 minutes”, is the important content. Give it a chance, and you’ll be rewarded afterwards. The second season is money and will leave your viewing experience fulfilled.

This show is a lot slower in pace than many others on the list, but it is respectable enough in how the story continuously builds as tension and urgency continue to rise.

4 Into The Badlands (2 Seasons 16 Eps)

This was Tweeted out yesterday by Gary Whitta, one of the writers for The Walking Dead, Rogue One, and many other TV Series and films. He jokingly stated, “I started INTO THE BADLANDS and am now considering changing careers to podcast full-time about it. This show is NUTS! How does it exist?”

One Twitter user @thehipsch tweeted, “It feels like Mad Max meets The Hunger Games meets Drunken Master”.

Based of of the Twitter hype alone, this intrigues me enough to start watching it. Nothing is better in the Twitter Universe than live tweeting a TV show, an award show, sports games, etc. etc. Binge watching shows and movies provides the same value.

Will update thoughts on the series when I start it very soon.

3 Peaky Blinders (3 Seasons 30 Eps)

A Gangster family set in 1919, Birmingham, England, focusing on a family made known for their use of razor blades stashed in the peaks of their hats, earn a coveted and fierce reputation in the city. Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), a confident and quiet, yet vicious boss acclaims notoriety as his empire grows, but suffers his hardships competing with crime bosses who try to remain at the top.

This is without a doubt one of my favorite TV Series on Netflix at the moment. There is a lot of violence and gore, so be warned, but should come to no surprise when the show is centered around a band of British badasses who slash at the necks of unsuspecting scoundrels trying to make a name for themselves.

Within every family, there are different personalities, relationships hanging on by threads, and short tempers. The feeling the viewer gets when watching the Shelby brothers walk into their next fist/gunfight is hard to recreate in the way they’ve done it. That same feeling of confidence and certainty knowing that whatever happens next, however challenging and scary, your brothers and crew are standing by your side having your back. That’s powerful and noteworthy when the viewer is able to experience the same feelings the characters in the scene are exposed to.

2 iZombie (2 Seasons 32 Eps, Season 3 started Tuesday)

iZombie, mentioned a handful of times in previous Weekend Havoc posts, is the current show I’m binging, along with the final show on my list. iZombie follows a doctor, Liv Moore (Rose McIver), who despite her best judgement, decides to go to a boat party on a lake one night. Next thing she knows she’s waking up in a body bag on the beach craving human brains. Liv finds herself using her cravings for brains for good by helping the police, Clive (Malcolm Goodwin), her PIC (Partner In Crime). She sees visions through the perspective of the victims brains she ate.

The character relationships and humor between them are my favorite aspects to the show. It’s a clever concept, seen previously in Hollywood before (Medium 2004-2011), but with the added comedy to the mythical aspects of Zombies, no show has been able to link the two at a level that iZombie creates.

I was hooked immediately after the first episode. If you need a new show to watch that is both mysterious and funny, this is definitely one to add to your list.

1 Black Sails (4 Seasons 38 Eps)

Black Sails is about a group of pirates led by Captain Flint as he commands a brutal onslaught against the civilized world. Set in 1715 in West Indies, Captain Flint once perceived as an Officer and a Gentleman in England’s Navy, turned to the life of a Pirate to settle old disputes.

I think I’m on episode 6-7 of Season 1. One of my favorite scenes so far that I think was portrayed in a unique way that doesn’t get shown nearly as much as it should, is when a Pirate is fearing for his life and the scene goes into slo-motion mid-battle. But it’s not a badass slo-motion gunfight scene where he is dealing death, it conveys that he is terrified when the scene slows down the time. As the guy’s head exploded in front of him after getting shot in the face, the scene speeds up as he is tackled and in for the fight of his life. The attacker is knocked to the ground after another pirate is forced into him. The terrified pirate then gnaws into the guys neck like a zombie killing him as blood is squirting into the air.

This scene particularly set the stage for what the show was going to entail. Violence, brutality, and bloody savage like behavior, are to be expected in future shows. Adult themes, sex, powerful women, intimidating psychological warfare, and brotherhood are many aspects that are done specifically well. I’m sure I’ll have more to follow as my viewing experience progresses.

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Bitchin’ Books aka books that put asses in the seats. Books that make you say to yourself, “I need to sleep but I also need to find out why a British soldier carried a 3-foot long broadsword while charging a Nazi machine-gun nest during WWII and lived to tell the tale.”

BADASS by Ben Thompson

I’ve mentioned this book before multiple times on the blog, on Instagram, and Twitter. I still haven’t finished it yet because I was too busy watching films until my eyes bleed and shooting Zombies in their ugly zombie faces in The Walking Dead: A New Frontier on PS4.

Reading about the baddest of asses throughout the earliest times in history as well as modern war heroes is something I crave. Written in a style so epic, it’s hilarious and badass all at the same time. I try to emulate Thompson in a way he writes with his humor. It’s executed so flawlessly it leaves me in awe. He calls a soldier “dude”, uses pop-culture references that create spectacular imagery, and retells an exaggerated to an extent, story of the events that unfolded.

If you enjoy War History and don’t want to have drool slide across your face as your falling asleep, read this alternative perspective because it’s the perfect balance to the amount of mayhem and knowledge one can attain in one sitting.

Here is one blurb of one of the Badasses featured: Chandragupta Maurya – “An Indian warlord who commanded an army of drunken war elephants and employed an elite detachment of highly trained female bodyguards”.

5/5 – Would recommend to anybody

Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command By Sean Naylor

If you have any interest in the US war conflicts from the past 20 years, particularly the involvement of the US’s elite units within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), this book will be for you. It’ll blow your mind. Jason Bourne type shit. Except instead of one Bourne, there are teams of a bunch of badass dudes, sometimes woman, read the book and find out that tidbit, who work closely stealing, hacking, and face smashing every would-be terrorist who decides to strap on a suicide vest like a backpack and obliterate himself/herself for jihad.

The book is in chronological order from the early 80’s up until 2012. It dives in to describe the units involved, intelligence gathering that is James Bond-level cool, commando raids throughout terrorist hot spots all around the world over the years of the War on Terror.

People have no idea how good the US has become as they evolved over the past 15 years of continuous combat. The intelligence units that are attached to JSOC will find you no matter how untraceable you believe you’re being. One of the coolest stories, among many in the book, is when one member would sit in a coffee shop in the middle of the most violent cities in the world (Somewhere in Iraq circa ’05-07) directly next to the suspected person, and steal everything from their phone and walk out like he was just enjoying a cup of coffee. But instead he’s stealing the guys entire livelihood and sending the information to a group of commandos preparing to kick his door a few hours later. Something straight out of a movie.

The best video games that didn’t get the respect they deserved were Medal of Honor (2010) and Medal of Honor Warfighter. Those missions are based off of real people. Some of the codenames in the game like “Dusty” are actual people using their actual callsigns. I had a “Holy Shit, that’s awesome!” moment when I saw it in the book. I knew about the Battle of Roberts Ridge previously, but didn’t know that even the smallest details were included.

It’s one of the most in-depth books about JSOC that has ever been written to date. It’s informative, revealing, and quite shocking at times. Definitely one that shouldn’t be missed if you enjoy reading non-fiction war books.

5/5 – If you want your mind blown tenfold, read this

There you have it, 5 TV shows and 2 books. Discussion

1. What’s one show and one book you’d recommend to anybody?
2. What are you currently watching/reading?