Weapons, Ozzy, & Flavors of Fear
Can we talk about two weird things this week?
First, years ago I made a very conscious decision to skip the hate. So even if I don’t like something, I’m not going to trash it or speak negatively about it. I pose my reviews as learnings or as my friend Joe says when he learns something: “Updates Received”. I like the phraseology. My point in starting here is not to signal anything other than I won’t tear apart someone else’s work, and I ask that you do not do that either. Comments are welcome and I hope we have awesome conversations here, but please, keep the hate to 24-hour news stations and social media sites (this is a haven for my story nerds - hate has no home here).
Weapons (the movie)
Hmmmm…where to start here. The trailer had me hooked. I loved the visual style, the concept, and you know I love me some horror with freaky kid mysteries. This is spoiler free, even when I get to a point about the machine gun vision - so read on without concern if you haven’t seen the movie.
The narrative structure really resonated with me. I love how the story is told from the different perspectives and each unravels a bit more of the story. This is a structure I use in my own stories, especially in my novel-in-verse stories. Each character’s voice and tone comes through very well, albeit confusing at times. Hang with the whole movie to get the whole story (well…nah, I won’t say it b/c that might a spoiler).
The Aunt Gladys character was very interesting. The cynical part of me assumed the treatment of this character was to start setting up a franchise (I might have been right: https://variety.com/2025/film/features/weapons-sequel-director-david-fincher-1236468200/). I like how the character was introduced (before she was officially introduced) and think I will leverage that approach in upcoming stories. The appearances were extra bizarre because we had no idea who she was until much later in the movie. There was a lot of the horror in those scenes that reminded me of the dream within a dream sequence from In the Mouth of Madness. I’ve experimented with this motif in the past but look forward to digging deeper into it. The disorientation it creates is awesome for a scare but is challenging in writing vs. film.
I didn’t get the machine gun dream or a few other elements of the movie. And it was interesting to me to reflect on what was okay that I didn’t get vs. no, that disrupted the narrative for me. Dreams play a significant role in the scares early in the movie. As someone who uses dreams in their own stories, I am open to the surreal and weird in a story as long as it makes sense in the narrative and furthers the story. Many of the dreams do because we see hints of the villain - but I’m not exactly sure why we see nightmares of the villain for these people. Like what’s the connection? A great lesson for me was to ensure the “why’s this here” is answered as some point in the narrative - unless the point is to just be weird, which I don’t usually get positive reviews about that kind of stuff.
Overall, I thought Weapons was interesting. I’d watch a sequel, but then again I watched all the Thankskilling movies and 2 of the 3 Birdemic “films” (my daughter and I discussed the difference between movies and films and I’m not sure if Birdemic rises to be either…again, no hate just it’s a really challenging watch on many levels).
Did you see Weapons? What did you think? Anything you found really great or really surprising? What’s one thing you think someone would enjoy about the movie? (don’t be snarky :) )
My first Ozzy Osbourne Album
I couldn’t imagine how important this album would be when I got it in either late Middle School or early High School (I don’t exactly remember)
Ozzy’s Last Rites
I’ve been reading Ozzy Osbourne’s book Last Rites, and am about 1/2 way through it. This has been an exceptional read for me. I love the writing style and can literally hear Ozzy saying this in my head. I didn’t get the audiobook because Ozzy doesn’t read it, and I’d rather hear his mumbling, high pitched, accent in my head than someone else say his words.
The book is about his recovery from a neck injury and his return to music but the story resonates with me on a much deeper level than that. While reading Last Rites, I keep reconnecting to the idea of a man reflecting on his life unapologetically assessing who he is, who he was, and who he could have become. The stories about his time with Black Sabbath, and his solo career are fascinating. How he survived his lifestyle is mind boggling (a point often brought up in the book).
One shocker in this book that made me put the book down and say “whoa…” was how many times Ozzy talks about having stage fright, worrying if anyone was going to show up to his shows (like after he was a massive superstar - after the TV show), and how he constantly compared himself to others. This is Ozzy Osbourne, he’s revered but musicians around the world, he’s emulated by others in his art and style, he’s considered a God Father of Metal, and HE is having these feelings? He’s having the same feelings I have about will anyone show up to my book signings, what if this book bombs, what if this isn’t as good as [fill in anyone’s name here]. The parade of self-doubt is constant for all artists I guess. But reading this really hit hard for me. I am so grateful that he included it in his book, because it is a powerful reminder that I’m not alone.
I highly recommend this book. I’m not finished yet, so if my recommendation changes I’ll let you know. But I don’t think it will. I’ve found this book a deep reflection of an artist who is asking some heavy questions after a major tragedy in his life. That this book came out after his passing adds to the gravitas of the content - but don’t worry, very little is taken seriously or sacred in this telling of these stories. It is a heavy read that is delivered in the hilarious story format you’d expect from the Prince of Darkness.
RIP Ozzy. He was a huge influence on my youth and I find it truly a full circle moment to see the impact he’s having on me now in a very different way.
Who’s an artist who’s had a huge impact on you? Writer, musician, painter, sculptor, actor, etc… All art welcome :) Drop your influencers in the comments. I’d love to hear who’s moving you with their work.
Life Could Be a Dream…
Thinking about Ozzy and music made me think about how much I love music in my life. I’ve never played, but I’ve always been an avid consumer. So many memories are rooted to music whether it is And Justice for All playing while I played Star Fox on Super Nintendo, or listening to Sunshine Highway with my future wife in the Hard Rock Club in Oslo, Norway. Or even the joy that fills my soul listening to the Hamilton Soundtrack with my daughter, music is everywhere in my life.
And so as I had music playing while writing this, the song that drifted into the playlist was Life Could Be a Dream (Sh-boom) from The Chords. This is in my playlist from the Cars soundtrack. This song always makes me think of my wife and driving down the highway on one of our roadtrips that I drag her on.
I grew up always in a car. We would go for drives for fun, but really it was something we could do that was cheap and got us out of the house. Driving is something I love. Long trips in the car are great for deep conversations, amazing music, and when I’m alone - long audio books.
Enjoy the song and I hope life is a dream for you this week.
See you next time!
Tim