Gil Grissom, Shooter McGavin and Mr Incredible lead Pacey and Brian O'Conner into the Kingdom of the Secret Skull

 Nothing I write here is going to make me happier than the title of this post. In case you didn't figure out the references to a 26 year old middling movie, I watched The Skulls. It stars Joshua Jackson and Paul Walker and also has Leslie Bibb, Craig T Nelson, William Peterson, and Christopher McDonald. Quite the cast for a teen political/elitist thriller. 

Exceptional, but poor, Luke (Joshua Jackson) works a ton of part time jobs in order to go to Yale, and through this overwhelming abilities he's recruited to the vaunted Skull and Bones Yale secret society. This is the pathway to influence and wealth, at least by urban legend. Of course the society is nefarious and Luke has to choose between the future the Skulls "offer" and the ethics and true friends he could leave behind. 

There's a scene that starts with Creed's Higher that highlights the "glory" the Skulls have to offer, like women (ahhhhh, misogyny) cars, yachts, etc. Of course Luke's friend is investigating the Skulls and is found out and made to look like it's a suicide. The white male society circles the wagons and who will Luke side with?

Honestly the best part of this movie is when Leslie Bibb is running, for once they got an actress that it doesn't look outrageous that she could outrun some men. She could pretty easily out run a couple out of shape middle-aged men (I'm looking at you Shooter). 

There are two direct to video sequels, I was going to watch those as well, but they're not really available for free and I'm certainly not going to pay for them. The first wasn't that good.

3/10

Since The Skulls 2&3 weren't easy to find I looked across the pond for The Riot Club and to see another, perfectly innocent university secret society doing nothing wrong. This one felt a bit more realistic than The Skulls for sure. The stakes are lower, the insanity a bit more realistic and the biggest issue the complete stupidity of young spoiled men. Sam Claflin is in this one, an actor I believe is highly underrated. You still have to face the ultimate choice of what is the price of your morality. This is more difficult to watch as it's more a critique of the innate exploitation of such a misogynistic club. 

A bit more posh and classist, much akin to most British shows/movies. Man inherited wealth is grand ain't it? This is a much more human, better in almost every way movie. This is one that I appreciated watching but I'll never watch it again. 

7/10

April Was Sneakily a Readathon

 This was supposed to be a slower reading month, but once again I went a big crazy with reading. While I didn't finish the most books of the month for 2026 yet, I did read the most pages! That's just a lot! Honestly, the wife and I have picked up our listening to an audiobook before bed and it has made a huge difference for us.

The first book I finished was mostly read in March but I just couldn't get the last bit done. I found the 1995 X-Com: UFO Defense novel by Diane Duane on eBay and just loved biting my teeth into more of this video game lore! It's the oldest of the X-Com books by far and is attached to the original PC game but a lot of the world is the same as the newer Enemy Unknown universe. I believe I've finished all of the related novels now, and one of the graphic novels too. This was probably the best written, and the easiest to connect to the characters within. It was an interesting dive for sure.

7/10

I also finished Wilderness Reform by Harrison Query and Matt Query. This is the tale of a group of teens sent to a reform camp in Montana. We follow Ben through this change in his life. It could have easily fallen into the "Look how much smarter the teen is than the adults" trope that is common in YA books, but this one makes it feel a bit more realized. Ben is from Louisiana, and is woefully undereducated, but that doesn't mean he's not smart. He has just learned how to utilize his intelligence in ways to keep his brother and him safe from the horrible conditions he's been left in. Unfortunately this leads to his eventual arrest and being sent to a reform camp in Montana that is not what it seems. There a satisfying connection here and I liked this book quite a bit.

7.5/10

I followed this up with a pair of pulp/cozy tales. They were both easy listens and were quite enjoyable in their own ways. Advent by Seth Ring is my 3rd serious try into the LitRPG world and it might be my favorite. It's not as comedic and over the top as Dungeon Crawler Carl, but it feels a bit more grounded and the world is very interesting and one that I will be diving into further. I also listened to The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan. This Mumbai based cozy detective story is the first of the Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation series. It's a forcefully
retired Police Inspector gets caught up in a murder case and has to go it on his own (kind of, he still has some police connections and the help of his newly inherited baby elephant, yup seriously) to help out a family that does not have the standing (money) to make the Police listen to them. It was nothing super special but enjoyable nonetheless.

8/10

6.5/10

The wife and I started one story, that was not very good so only I finished it, kinda out of spite, I have DNF'ing, more than anything. It was the newly released The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss. This was another reality show goes wrong and people die story. It's the worst of them all so far. The premise is a competition show based around teams solving escape rooms as fast as possible. But the corruption, greed, selfishness, and creepy sexual deviancy involved makes this season one to be remembered. You switch views between characters a bit too much and the twist doesn't feel earned enough to be honest. I really need to fix my DNF aversion.

5/10

The wife and I then listened to two really good books this month though as well! The newest in the US Steve Cavanagh book Two Kinds of Stranger is the next in his Eddie Flynn series, and while it was not his best, it kept us entertained and we're coming back to him once the next in the series is released. Honestly, I'd be all about a book in this series that is just about Block. She's my favorite of them all. We then listened to the best of the month, Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera. This was a very good listen as it is a fictional true crime podcast going back to solve a murder and these sequences between the "podcast episodes" and the rest of the narrative has music and multiple narrators for interviews, it makes it feel more authentic. The ending is satisfying if not completely foreseeable. We enjoyed this book thoroughly and recommend it to all.

6/10

9/10

The last of the month was a surprise read for me. My local book store had an emergency so they needed someone to fill in for one of their book clubs, and I'm the lucky guy! The book is Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky and it is the second of his books that I've read now and I'm starting to become a fan. While I think I read his best for me book first (Service Model is a masterpiece and everyone should read it) this one is a great story and is a bit more depressing than I usually prefer, it was engaging enough that I had no problem getting through it and I enjoyed it by the end. If you have read Shroud and want more like it, I can't speak of the other Tchaikovsky books, but the David Wellington The Last Astronaut is on the same vein and was very good as well. Now I just need to finish my non-fiction book I put aside to get this done in time.

8/10