A Lesson from Wake Up Dead Man

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I watched the third installment of the Knives Out franchise yesterday—and I liked it. It’s a good movie, and even one of the better films of the year. It’s obvious that everyone involved had a lot of fun making it, and that Rian Johnson is a smart writer.

Yes, he messed up Star Wars—but only because Kathleen Kennedy allowed him to. Johnson’s filmography proves time and again that he can write clever, original stories. Wake Up Dead Man is a great example of his ability to deliver smart, well-constructed plotlines.

That said, the one thing that almost made me give up on the movie was the first act. It’s simply too long. More than half an hour passes before we get the first murder victim. After that, the movie really picks up steam and keeps you on the edge of your seat. At times, it’s downright brilliant—just like the first two Knives Out films. But I can imagine some viewers dropping out during the first act because it drags a bit.

The best way to get people interested in your story is to start with a bang. Throw the audience straight into the action—just like Tom Cruise does in every Mission: Impossible movie.

Of course, you need to develop the plot and characters at some point, or you won’t have a story at all. But first, you have to capture the audience’s attention before they’re willing to invest in your character and plot development.

As great as Wake Up Dead Man is, I would have started with the murder and then used flashbacks to convey the plot and character development that’s crammed into the first act.

Still, I liked the movie—a lot—and I highly recommend watching it.

Animal Farm by George Orwell (Books to Read #9)

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Another milestone from the master. George Orwell understood the true nature of socialist virtue-signalers like no one else. 1984 dissected their rhetorical games, while Animal Farm exposed the moral games played by statists to coerce people into compliance.

It’s a short read, giving it the feel of a fairy tale not only in style but also in scope. I remember reading it for the first time in a single sitting, finishing it within a couple of hours. When I turned the last page, it felt as though the world suddenly made sense.

If you’ve grown up in the West and have only been exposed to public education and mainstream media, this book is an eye-opener to how the real world works.

It’s absolutely genius in the way it breaks down a complex concept like mass manipulation into a simple parable: All animals are equal… but some animals are more equal than others. There may be no better sentence to describe the mind-bending games played on us daily by the system under the veil of tolerance, multiculturalism, and liberalism—and Orwell wrote it almost 100 years ago. It makes you wonder: for how long have these games been played on humanity?

If you haven’t read it yet, you can read Animal Farm for free here.

Or at least watch one of the free film versions available:

SEO Basics: Are Meta Keywords Still Important?

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In WordPress, there’s an option to add meta keywords to an article or page. Naturally, I thought it would be important to include a specific keyword in everything I publish.

However, it seems this isn’t necessary—at least not since 2009, when Google officially announced that it no longer uses meta keywords for ranking. Early SEO practitioners had abused the system by stuffing keywords into low-quality content. Once Google realized that people were exploiting this for quick gains, it began ignoring meta keywords entirely.

Some experts now even suggest that you shouldn’t add meta keywords at all. They offer no SEO benefit and may reveal your keyword strategy to competitors.

The only real reason to use them today is for internal site searches. For example, I’ve added a search bar to my Archives page, and the plugin I’m using can search articles more effectively when meta keywords are present.

So, while adding meta keywords can make your content more accessible for on-site searches, it provides no advantage for SEO.

Netflix Buys Warner Bros

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I actually received an email from Netflix announcing the takeover two days ago. It seems they’ve been flooded with messages from users asking about potential changes to the platform after the announcement that Warner Bros had been acquired.

The email didn’t offer any real details. It basically said: No changes are coming to Netflix for now, but we’re excited… — the usual corporate fluff.

Some people are saying lawsuits might block the deal on monopoly grounds. Others claim Paramount is trying to outbid Netflix again. And even Trump has been quoted as wanting to block the acquisition with an executive order or something along those lines.

I have no idea how this will ultimately play out. But for now, it really does look like Netflix has bought WB and all of its incredible IPs.

If the deal holds, it’s the right move for Netflix and the audience.

Netflix’s biggest problem is the quality of its original productions. For every Squid Game, Stranger Things, or The Last Samurai Standing, we get fifty mediocre shows nobody watches. Their strategy seems to be producing as much as possible and throwing it at the audience to see which handful deserve a second season.

HBO does it better.

How many valuable IPs has Netflix created on its own? Not many. HBO has created far more, with far fewer resources. Now, Netflix hasn’t only bought existing IPs (like Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, etc.) — they’ve acquired the company that created them.

Then there are the movies: most Netflix films are mediocre, some are decent, and only a few are genuinely good or great (like Knives Out). Meanwhile, Warner has delivered Harry Potter, The Matrix, the DC movies, The Lord of the Rings, and countless standalone classics that belong on any “1,000 movies to watch before you die” list. In short, WB has produced far better films than Netflix ever has.

Finally, Netflix might be gaining full access to the Warner back catalogue. The biggest issue with most streaming services is the lack of classic films. I enjoy watching older movies — I don’t even mind black and white. Warner has been producing films for over 100 years. If Netflix gets that entire catalogue on its platform, that alone would justify a subscription for me.

Sure, Hollywood isn’t thrilled, since it’s another blow to traditional theatrical releases. But honestly, going to the cinema just isn’t as fun as it used to be. Prices are too high, audiences can be annoying, and many movies simply aren’t worth the trip anymore. I’m perfectly fine waiting for theatrical releases to hit streaming — it’s more convenient, less stressful, and honestly safer as the streets are getting more dangerous.

Netflix might raise prices, but HBO Max might disappear, which could balance things out.

So far, I don’t see many downsides for users or audiences — while the potential advantages are pretty significant on paper.

Let’s see how things unfold over the next few months.

I Miss Baywatch (Movie/Show Review #10)

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When Baywatch first aired in Germany, I wasn’t even ten years old. David Hasselhoff was already a big star thanks to Knight Rider, but Baywatch made him the biggest TV icon of that era.

The very first episode hooked me right away. The stories were simple, and the characters were all slight variations of the same good-hearted person who wants to do the right thing—sometimes failing until a friend steps in to help.

Of course, Baywatch became a global phenomenon largely because of its beautiful women. Erika Eleniak was a perfect ten, portraying the kind, loving, and caring Shauni McLane. When she left the show, Pamela Anderson rose to international stardom as C.J. Parker. Over the years, actresses like Yasmine Bleeth and Nicole Eggert were stunning additions to the cast. For the female audience, the producers also cast plenty of ripped male models.

But as a teenager, I never saw Baywatch as the “soft p**n” it might have been intended to be from the start. I liked the characters, the beach scenes, the sunshine, and the overall kindness of the show. Sure, the stories never evolved toward any real complexity; there was basically no character development, and you could predict the ending after the opening credits.

Yet it was entertaining. It was heart-warming. It was simply nice TV.

The world of Baywatch was uncomplicated and good: beautiful people, beautiful friendships, and big, beautiful hearts.

I wanted to live in that world. I still do. Today’s world makes me long even more for that idealized early-90s California beachfront life.

Our current world is dark, dangerous, and depressing—which is why so many shows today are dark, dangerous, and depressing too. I wish we could go back to a time when we were still allowed to dream of a life that looked like Baywatch—and be naive enough to believe that such a life could come true.