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★★★★★ (12)

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La Bene Vita

by Brandiwyn🎶

Rated: 18+ · Book · Personal · #1411600

The Good Life.

You Are Welcome Here
Life is good. Let's share it.

New Year, New Strategy
For 2026, I launched a weekly topic rotation designed to help me stay d i s c i p l i n e d while ensuring that you, the reader, always know what to expect. Unfortunately, I have yet to acquire a million followers

and gain official WDC "influencer" status, and I often find myself seduced by whimsy. Thus, my blogging strategy continues to evolve.

So, What Can I Expect?
I'm glad you asked. For now, until whimsy strikes again, here's what you can expect (updated March 2026):

Weekly Theme Posts

Music & music education

The art and business of writing

Owning & managing a small business

Science & technology

Parkinson's disease, type 1 diabetes, and other medical topics

Personal News & Updates

Health news

Family, work and leisure

The Occasional Rant
Although I try to post rants at "What the Fork?" (and you should, too!)

Newly Written Works
When I check off completed writing goals, I'll share the fruits of those labors, if applicable.

Weekly Goals & Progress
I'll establish work and writing goals every Monday and touch base throughout the week.

Comments · Tags ·

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Detective

about 19 hours ago
In response to "Netflix Reviews: Nuremberg, The Dinosaurs"

I'm going to need to check The Dinosaurs out. I love dinosaurs and enjoy watching dinosaur documentaries. Thanks for the recommendation.

Brandiwyn🎶

Mar 6, 2026 at 3:58pm
In response to "Using Google Ads to Drive Website/Blog Traffic"

Storm Machine

- no, because ironically, we don't teach left-handed lessons. Both hands are required to play all the instruments so we just start training the muscles to do their respective jobs right from the start. The only mention of left-handedness in the blog I think is Taylor Swift's bio. But because it's Taylor Swift, that page gets a lot of traffic.

1 Like

Storm Machine

Mar 6, 2026 at 3:41pm
In response to "Using Google Ads to Drive Website/Blog Traffic"

I have no idea if Jim Carrey is left handed. Definitely haven't blogged about that either. Why do so many left hand queries end up in your blog? Are you the left hand of music?

Should we blog about lefty music lessons to lean into it?

1 Like

Dawn Embers

Mar 5, 2026 at 6:39pm
In response to "One Review to Go!"

You can do it!

I think I have another 3 or 4 days left before I will be able to post for this particular challenge. It's a good one.

Soldier_Mike

Mar 4, 2026 at 11:54pm
In response to "One Review to Go!"

It's great you're down to one more task for "26 Paychecks " ! You can almost find a reviewable item blindfolded, so you ought to be checking that box and moving on to the rest of your list in no time!

Robert Waltz

Mar 4, 2026 at 11:51pm
In response to "One Review to Go!"

The great thing about putting stuff off until tomorrow is that tomorrow is always tomorrow.

☘️ Richard ☘️

Mar 2, 2026 at 1:19pm
In response to "Review: 56 Days on Prime Video"

It's always disappointing when the erotica isn't woven into the storyline/plot, just layered atop it, serving to titillate rather than drive the narrative.

1 Like

TJ: one day closer to camping

Mar 1, 2026 at 10:22pm
In response to "I Love This Day So Much"

It is a good day for me as well. It's always nice to see February end despite Valentine's Day and the fact that I met my wife on February 8^th and 9^th. Long story short, I met her on the 8^th, but we didn't talk, then on the 9^th, we met again and talked most of the night; another blog subject.

1 Like

Storm Machine

Feb 27, 2026 at 1:41pm
In response to "Character GMC(S)"

I think in Plot vs Character, they argued that plot-first often did get to through if you're pure action, but most of us do dig into characters to make sure we're hitting what we're supposed to.

Soldier_Mike

Feb 26, 2026 at 10:44pm
In response to "Webby Tidings"

I like the way you've arranged your goals. There are more than enough to give you something to do each day, they're clearly identified, and you have a current status for each (even if that's just "TBD"). My 'goals' tend to float around in my head until one of them stays put long enough for me to take it on.

March 8, 2026 at 9:28pm

#1110176

Netflix Reviews: Nuremberg, The Dinosaurs

As we close up another week together on Planet Earth, I thought you might like to hear about dramatic Netflix productions highlighting two of the worst things that ever happened on our shared planet: (1) the Holocaust, and (2) the asteroid collision that caused the extinction of almost all of the dinosaurs.

Nuremburg (Netflix)
A two-and-a-half-hour movie starring Russell Crowe as the Nazi second-in-command and war criminal Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, and Rami Malek as the US Army psychiatrist, Douglas Kelley, tasked with analyzing him to confirm he would be fit to stand trial at the Nuremburg Trials.

It was educational and heartbreaking. Despite the hype around Crowe's performance implying otherwise, the story is Dr. Kelley's. In order to get Goering to trust him, Kelley spent thousands of hours interviewing him, finding ways to connect and empathize with him - arguably one of the most evil persons in the history of mankind.

All of the acting was outstanding. But even more important was the educational element. I especially appreciated the cuts to actual footage from the Nuremburg Trials, demonstrating that they had staged it accurately.

The educational element may have slowed down the story a bit, especially given its length, so Wiki's classification as a "psychological thriller historical drama film" may be a little generous. It's definitely the second half of that description.

Our household rating:

The Dinosaurs (Netflix)
A 4-episode docuseries narrated by Morgan Freeman. Do you even need more than that?

If that's not enough of a recommendation, then how about "produced by Stephen Spielberg"?

So, this series was utterly stunning. The live-footage landscapes were breathtaking. The CGI elements, other than the dinosaurs, included representations of major extinction-level Earth events, and a neat signal of the passage of time where the episodes used different "camera angle" (not a real camera, lol) strategies to imply that the Earth was spinning at warp speed.

It was also incredibly educational and engaging. For comparison, I love David Attenborough nature documentaries, but I can zone them out and focus on, say, writing a blog post with it playing in the background. Freeman's voice is no less soothing than Attenborough's, but the content was so interesting that I had a hard time looking away from the screen.

Another 4-thumbs-8-paws-up rating from us.

We highly recommend both.

A goals update to close the week is below. I didn't get everything, but I got a lot, and I'm happy. New empty checkboxed goals tomorrow.

Cheers,
Michelle

Goals for 3/2/26 - 3/9/26

Work Goals