Raising the Floor Instead of the Ceiling

We live in a world obsessed with ceilings. Everyone wants to brag about their biggest squat, their fastest mile, or the day they cut down to their lowest bodyfat. Those are the highlight reels—the snapshots that get posted and shared. They’re fun to celebrate, and they matter in their own way. But the real story of change doesn’t come from chasing ceilings. It comes from raising the floor. Arnold talked about this on today’s Pump Club podcast, and it’s a concept that hit home for me. The floor is what you fall back to when life gets busy, messy, or … Continue reading Raising the Floor Instead of the Ceiling

Comic Review: The Old Guard by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández

Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández’s The Old Guard began as a sharp, tightly written comic series before spinning into a multimedia franchise that includes the popular Netflix films. Having come to the comics after watching the first movie—a personal favorite for both me and my wife—I found myself reading them with Charlize Theron’s Andy and the rest of the cinematic team already in mind. That context colored the experience, for better and for worse. The First Series: A Strong Start The opening series of The Old Guard delivers everything you’d hope for in an immortal-mercenary saga: gritty action, complex characters, … Continue reading Comic Review: The Old Guard by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández

Book Review: Babylonia by Costanza Casati

Costanza Casati’s Babylonia is a modern retelling that moves fluidly between the worlds of history and myth. At its heart lies Semiramis, the legendary Assyrian queen whose reputation has been maligned in centuries of ancient texts as the “whore queen.” Casati flips that narrative on its head, offering instead a nuanced and sympathetic portrayal of a woman whose power, cunning, and humanity resonate across the ages. Reframing a Legend One of the most compelling aspects of Babylonia is the way Casati re-frames Semiramis. Rather than leaning on the lurid accusations of antiquity, the book positions her as a figure of … Continue reading Book Review: Babylonia by Costanza Casati

Things We Learned in High School in the ’90s That Turned Out Wrong

If you graduated high school in the ’90s, you were probably taught that fat was always bad, Pluto was a planet, and we only use 10% of our brains. A lot has changed since then. Here’s a look at the biggest classroom “facts” from the 1990s that turned out to be wrong—or at least in need of an update. Continue reading Things We Learned in High School in the ’90s That Turned Out Wrong