Tonight’s post is a personal update. It’s a little bit of a bummer, and it’s one of the ways I deal with my emotions so that I can get back to writing. If my more emotional check-ins aren’t you’re thing, you can skip this one. Maybe we’ll talk about Novel Writing Month soon.

Last week, someone I cared for very much wrote to tell me we could no longer be friends. He said I undermined him at every turn, that I made his other friends uncomfortable, but mostly, he was upset that I let something happen at an event that undermines his value in the community.

There’s a bit to unpack there, and I’m not trying to make his beef with me a public thing. Maybe there are other things going on his life which led to him blaming me for things I have no control over. There is no point in arguing the points, because the reality is that him cutting me out of his life is doing me a favor, emotionally and financially. It’s better not to crowd your life with one-sided friendships, but I was never going to tell him to shove off because I cared for him so damn much.

It’s that last part that I’m trying to work through. That, and all the other self doubt I carry with me all the time. There are a lot of voices in my head, many of which are telling me things that are simply untrue. But sometimes, events like this give support to those voices, and it makes it harder for me to get through these already troubling days.

For example, there is some part of me that is convinced that I am a difficult person to like. A long time ago, someone that was neither a friend nor a foe told me that when I’m around, I suck all of the oxygen out of the room. His words have stayed with me for 30 years.

I think about my mother, and all the ways I’m like her. She was a difficult person to like. Competitive to a fault, she loved to embellish stories and pull all of the attention to herself. She always had to be right. And when she was angry, she was cruel. She possessed a great deal of empathy, and if you pissed her off, she would weaponize that empathy in order to say things that would leave deep, lasting scars.

I try not to be like that, but I am her son. I am competitive to a fault. I love to tell stories. Sometimes, I enjoy being the center of attention, but I’ve learned that sharing the spotlight is much more fun. I try to manage my anger, and when I’m upset, I’m more likely to withdraw and go away, so that I don’t say something I will regret later.

It was early in the week when I got the email, and I had a lot of processing to do. It affected my sleep, which affected my work. I didn’t work at all on Thursday. Going to bed Friday, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to the No Kings rally.

Saturday morning came, though, and I found myself moving. I left the house, took the lightrail downtown, and met up with my friend Mike in front of the capitol.

Honestly, it was a good time. Lots of good signs. Lots of good energy, and it is encouraging to see so many people exercising their right to protest, because what Trump and his squad of sycophants are doing needs to be protested.

Since the protest, I’ve been feeling better. I still have some processing to do, but I’m free. There is a weight I’ve been carrying for a while, and I’m not sure I realized it until just now that I’m a little bit lighter without that person in my life.

Which leads me to the next weird email I received just last night, which I guess I’ll talk about.

It starts off like this:

First, let me say how much I admire your inventive approach to blending supernatural mystery with grounded, character-driven storytelling. I recently discovered The Repossessed Ghost and The Psychic on the Jury and was immediately struck by your ability to merge the eerie with the everyday. Your writing feels cinematic yet sincere, rich with atmosphere and subtle humor that gives the paranormal genre a refreshing twist.

There’s more like that, and on first read, it was fairly convincing. It includes details about my books which are mostly accurate. The main thrust of the email is that they are a book promoter, and they want to offer their services to help me reach more readers.

A few red flags stood out to me. First, they addressed the email to a bunch of “Brian Buhl” addresses. One was my work address. Several of the addresses were Brian Buhls I do not recognize. The last address was Bryanna Buhl, my daughter.

It’s honestly really easy to get a hold of me. I read all of the comments on this blog, and all of the non-spam messages sent via the “Contact Me” form. I’m pretty sure this blog is the first thing that comes up when someone searches for “Brian C. E. Buhl.”

The next red flag was their name. There’s nothing wrong with the name they gave: Shannon J. Sain. The problem is that when you search for them with relation to book marketing, there are no results. If they’re doing a great job of promoting other people’s work, it shouldn’t be hard to find them.

I eventually posted to Bluesky and asked if anyone had received something similar. Someone pointed out that Victoria Strauss has recently been writing about this scam. On one of her posts, I found an example which matched the pattern of the email I received. Turns out it’s from Nigeria.

It sucks to get your hopes up, and it sucks to be the target of a scam like that. At the same time, it feels pretty good to see through it. The only real pain from this event is knowing that someone fed my information and potentially my stories into the machine and used AI to generate the email. Up until now, I think my work had flown under the radar and had not been given to an LLM.

I think that covers it. I’m a little bit stalled an my writing, and on the WXR 2025 keyboard I need to finish. I’m hoping that I make progress on both this weekend. For now, I’m not going to beat myself up too much.

Wherever you are, I hope you’re doing well, and surrounded by friends that care about you.

It’s 10:30PM on a Friday night, and I just got home from watching Tron: Ares.

Like the rest of my reviews, I’ll start with non-spoiler impressions. Then I’ll give a warning, just before going into spoilers.

General Impressions and Overall Experience

I went in with very low expectations, and walked pretty happy! I had a good time!

Like Tron: Legacy, the music stands alone. Absolutely fantastic. I’m sure I’ll listen to the music outside the theater just like I did with Legacy. It was the one aspect of the movie I had high expectations for, and it did not disappoint.

The visuals were great! I liked the look and feel of this movie, both in the real-world and on the grid. There’s more I’ll say about that in the spoiler section.

From the trailers, I thought this was going to be a different movie, one that I wasn’t as excited for. The reality exceeded my expectations, which is good.

The story was fine. Serviceable. It didn’t evoke huge emotions, but I don’t need that from every movie. It was fine, and made better with one piece of headcanon, which I’ll talk about in the spoilers section.

For this movie to work for you the way it worked for me, you do have to turn your brain off a little bit when it comes to technology. It’s the same issues brought up in the other two Tron movies, so the fantastical technological issues in this movie are not new. If you’re a fan of the other movies, this won’t be a problem for you.

Overall, I had a good time. I’m not going to be in a rush to see it in the theater again. I wouldn’t mind owning it and putting it with the other two Tron movies.

Spoilers Below

I’m about to get into spoilers. This is opening night, so if you want to see this movie unspoiled, stop reading. Delete the email, close the browser tab… whatever you have to do.

End of spoiler warnings.

You have been warned.

Okay.

Here goes.

I think a person can enjoy this movie without having seen the original two, though they still have the issue I mentioned where they need to turn off parts of their brain. There are some physics problems around bringing things out of the computer, into the real-world. There are logic problems around programs functioning in the real-world.

It’s techno-magic, established in the first movie, expanded a little in the second, and expanded much further in this one.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Not every story needs to be grounded in dry, unwavering realism. Not everything is directed by Christopher Nolan. It really is fine to enjoy a story that’s impossible. Eat your popcorn and enjoy the show.

So, it’s possible for someone new to the franchise to enjoy this movie, but some parts really lean in to deliver extra tasty crumbs for Tron diehards. Some of this is nostalgia bait. Some of it is world-building. Some of it is just for fun and style.

For example, when Ares goes to the original grid from the first movie. It’s nostalgia, but it’s also fun. I especially like that the music comes up with the original score.

Now that I’ve mentioned Ares, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Jared Leto. How did he do?

To be honest, I think he did fine! I didn’t hate him in this role. I found him sympathetic, and I had no problem rooting for his character. Some people can’t look at his face without thinking of the weird (and sometimes scummy) things he’s done off-screen. In this movie, I thought he was fine. At no point did he turn to the camera and say, “It’s Morbin’ Time.”

Maybe he’s saving that for the next movie.

Let’s get to that head canon I mentioned at the top of this, then wrap this whole thing up.

Julian Dillinger, played excellently by Evan Peters, is a scumbag, and the first person to talk to Ares in the beginning of the movie. Ares asks, “Who am I?” and Dillinger says, “You’re Ares. You’re master control. I made you.”

I don’t think Julian is telling the complete truth. I don’t think Julian created Ares. I think he repurposed him from a program conspicuously absent in the entire movie.

My headcanon is this: Julian got a hold of Tron and repurposed him, turning him into Ares. Similar to how Clu repurposed Tron into Rinzler in Tron: Legacy.

The opening scenes support this. Fledgling Ares appears on screen and is struck down. He appears again, defends himself, but is struck down again. And again. He’s forced to learn. Come up to speed. All the while, he is masked, looking very similar to Rinzler from Legacy. We even see him fight with two discs for a moment, just like Tron/Rinzler.

It makes the interaction between Ares and Flynn make more sense, too. I think Flynn recognized the Tron in Ares, which is why he was so amused by him, and so willing and eager to help him.

If Ares is made from Tron, it explains why he broke from his orders. It explains his “malfunction” as it were.

I’m stating this theory like it’s not obvious, but the movie is not explicit about this. That’s why I’m treating it as headcanon, and thinking about it while watching the movie improved my enjoyment of it.

I had fun with this movie. I’m glad I saw it. I would not be upset if they made another one. Given how empty the theater was, I think this is the last Tron movie I’ll ever get to see.

End of Spoilers

Did you see it? What did you think of it? Do you like Tron like I do? Let me know.

And whatever you’re up to, I hope you have a great weekend.