Hector A. Ruiz

MBA, Project Manager, Tennis Player, Musician, and Author of "How to Destroy a Country"

The wolf in winter

By

On August 21, 2026

In Sports

Minor spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen Novak Djokovic: The wolf in winter.

I just finished watching the premiere of Novak Djokovic: The wolf in winter – the documentary film that takes a look at the tennis legend, directed by Jason Hehir, who also directed The last dance, the documentary 10-episode series about legendary basketball player Michael Jordan.

Under normal circumstances, I would typically wait a few hours -maybe a couple of days- to write a review, just to let my mind cool down and let any lingering emotional connections disappear. However in the case of The wolf in winter, I really do not see any need for it, and that is actually a problem because as you will see in the next lines, the fact that I can post this entry without any second thoughts is the core of my analysis on it.

Documentaries are typically made with an easily identifiable goal in mind: to transmit a clear message to the audience that conveys a deep insight into the subject in question, so that the viewer can see or learn something they had not known. It could be one or multiple things. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

The main message you end up with at the end of The last dance is that, while Jordan retired at the peak of his powers -pretty much completing his “last dance” by winning his sixth championship- you end up feeling that he left the NBA in 1998 thinking that a seventh championship could have been achieved the following season of 1998-99, and that he feels he left that chance slip. This can be concluded based on everything that has been established and built over the ten episodes: the fact that Michael was a gifted athlete above everyone else, but more importantly the fact that whenever Michael took something personal, he would completely dedicate himself towards reaching that goal, whether it was winning a basketball championship, or some meaningless coin throwing betting game with the stadium’s staff. You learn all of this looking at a deeper insight into Jordan’s experiences, his emotions, and the way he responds to them when looking at them retrospectively.

On a documentary like Senna, where the person in question is not involved in the production (in Senna’s case because sadly he was not alive), a message can still be communicated, albeit in a more personal perspective from whoever led the effort to make the documentary happen. IE: in Senna, there are multiple messages such as: 1) he was a fierce competitor who overcame all types of adversities; 2) he probably would not have tragically died during the San Marino Gran Prix, had he retired as his friends asked him to. Regardless of the quantity or type of messages, the point is that the conclusion aligns with the theme of the documentary.

In The wolf in winter though, it seems that Djokovic intends to transmit a message, however the intended effect of the documentary ends up relaying something different to the audience. The reason why I state this is because, for a documentary of who arguably is the greatest player of all time, you do not get anything other than pretty much what we already know about Djokovic:

  • He is from Serbia and was scouted as a natural talent by Monica Seles’ coach.
  • His parents literally devoted their entire lives and financial resources to support his development.
  • He grew up living through suffering of the Yugoslav war, and owing money to various lenders.
  • After being know as the tour’s clown, he crashed Federer and Nadal’s dominance and became the bad guy for disrupting their rivalry and more importantly, beating both of them in their terms, and surpassing them.
  • He was deported from Australia.
  • He is a competitor, we get it, and he still wants to compete and win Grand slam number 25 – this one being the obvious message he tries to transmit with this whole fiasco.

All of these are things any decent tennis fan knows. Therefore, we never get to know who Djokovic is and what motivates him at a personal level. What’s even worse is that he barely shares anything, instead letting other people talk about him. So rather than us learning directly from the source, we have Andre Agassi and two other reporters telling us personal things that should be coming directly from him. Additionally, I was flabbergasted of how much screen time Agassi was given -considering he barely coached Djokovic for less than a year and with unsuccessful results-, especially over people with a closer relationship such as Marian Vajda, Goran Ivanisevic, Boris Becker and even Rafael Nadal, who not only had known him for a longer time, but also are some of the primary protagonists that were part of the best moments of his career. Instead, they are given a single 5-second line and they never show up again. Even Pete Sampras, makes a completely unexpected brief appearance, completely surprising to say the least considering how private he is when it comes to these public affairs. Sampras’ participation is actually comical, with him complimenting Djokovic by saying “I have never seen anything like him”. Well no shit Pete, thank you for discovering warm water and stating what over one hundred million tennis fans already know! Obviously he is not to blame for the bad production.

Here’s a list of topics that were glossed over and would have been great to learn about:

  • His development as a junior, including the offer Great Britain made him to switch nationalities, and his early matches vs. Murray and other contemporaries.
  • His idols and role models.
  • His arrival on the tour, including the experience of playing eventual tournament winner Marat Safin in the 2005 Australian Open first round, as his first Grand Slam match.
  • His 2007 breakthrough year, including the Canadian Masters where he successively beat world numbers 3 (Roddick), 2 (Nadal) and 1 (Federer).
  • His first Grand Slam final at the 2007 US Open, and whether he realized he could have beaten Federer and won that tournament.
  • The pivotal 2010 Davis Cup title.
  • The seven consecutive wins in finals vs. Nadal between 2011 and 2012.
  • The slump period between Roland Garros 2012 and Wimbledon 2014.
  • The Djokovic slam.
  • How he dealt with his sidelining elbow injury and the miraculous comeback he staged.
  • His dominance over the next generation between 2019 and 2023.
  • His actual feelings about Federer and Nadal. Is he aware he is better than them? How did he prepare himself to face them? What were his strategies?
  • Whether he feels he in his prime could handle Sinner and Alcaraz.

…and so many other things.

The only new thing we learn is about the Serbian word he uses to encourage himself when everyone and everything is against him.

The most disappointing part was the segment about his deportation from Australia in 2022. They spent way too much time on it, unnecessarily by all means, going over something that not only at this point everybody has forgotten, but more importantly, in the end did not have any significant impact on the big picture of his career and what he accomplished after that.

In Senna, you witness Ayrton’s emotional struggles, as a competitor, as a person, dealing with the political challenges associated in F1, how he was robbed of many victories, such as the 1989 Japan Grand Prix, which led to his intentional crashing into Alain Prost the following year – in a blatant act of personal revenge. The point is you are able to connect with Senna and his deepest personal emotions.

In The last dance, you go through Jordan’s personal and professional evolution. You learn how he felt in his rookie season and the shock of joining a team that was doing recreational drugs, rather than training to win championships. You learn of his struggle against the Detroit Pistons and how with Phil Jackson’s strategies, the Bulls were able to overcome them. You learn about the fire that fueled that fantastic 1993 season where Charles Barkley was named MVP, and how that trigged Jordan to prove he was the better player by beating Barkley in the finals.

In The wolf in winter, all you get is a bunch of people telling you what you already know: that Djokovic is a great player and he cares a lot about his family. Jelena had so much screen time and her words carried so much depth, that at one point I felt like the documentary was about her. No matter how many close-ups takes you do, Novak feels remotely distant. It is unclear if he is attempting to shed the image many around the world have of him as a cold-blooded, calculating, egotistical, arrogant, or not, because he comes across as a robot devoid of any emotion. Therefore, I am not really sure what is he trying to say or accomplish with this documentary.

For the most part, biographies and documentaries go hand-in-hand with the personality of the person. When you read Pete Sampras’ book, A champions mind, you get exactly what expect: Sampras was always a quiet, uncharismatic, introvert player who was kept to himself. You could see this by the way he carried himself, both on and off the court. So you should not be expecting some sort of dramatic personal reveal. His book contains certain emotional moments and personal experiences that he shares with genuine sincerity, but overall his story is definitely not filled with any major drama or desire to beg for attention like it happens with Agassi’s biography, Open. Ever since Andre stormed the tour in 1986 with his unkempt hair and torn shorts, you could see he was an extrovert, outspoken, flamboyant person, who was calling out to the world that he wanted to be the center of attention, he wanted to make a statement, and he was carrying many personal burdens, which is why he was overcompensating them with his erratic behavior both on and off the court. So when I look at Djokovic fired up on the court, whether if it’s bursting out a loud roar after hitting an unbelievable winner against Nadal, or by giving that intense fiery stare of absolute concentration at a critical moment, you know that there is an emotional volcano inside of him. Therefore, you there is an expectation of him sharing this emotional output that simply does not happen in Wolf in winter. Sampras speaks confidently in his book when without hesitation, he names himself as one of the five greatest players of all time. So does Jordan in The last dance. In Wolf in winter, you don’t really buy it when Djokovic says that there are days he feels like the greatest player on the planet. It feels like he is being cautious and does not want to say how it really feels like to have beaten all his rivals, soundly and convincingly, shutting them down many times, including Nadal and Federer.

It seems to me that considering the amount of time spent and effort done into the whole Covid ordeal, along with the excessive participation of people talking on his behalf, that the whole goal of the documentary is that, while Djokovic definitely does not care whether people like him or hate him, I believe that he certainly does care about people not being able to see the world from his perspective. Unlike other star athletes like Agassi himself, who definitely had to deal with several personal insecurity issues (the obvious conclusion one can draw from his book), it is safe to say that not only Djokovic does not have low self-esteem, but also he is not looking for any self-validation or approval by anyone, and he is not interested in being idolized or admired in anyway. He is just wants people to understand him and nothing more.

I feel disappointed at Hehir as well, for failing to materialize what could have been another excellent product. This documentary should have definitely been a multi-episode series. You can spend hours in a bar with your fan friends, drinking as many beers as possible and debating who is the greatest legend between Jordan and Djokovic. Regardless, there is no way the Jordan’s fourteen year career as a member of the Chicago Bulls was perfectly summarized in ten one-hour episodes, while Djokovic twenty-two year career was condensed in 92 minutes.

HR

USTA Nationals

By

On August 9, 2026

In Sports

It is with great pleasure that I announce our NJ Rockstars 3.5 team is heading over to Arizona to compete in the National Tennis Championships!

Long post with further details to follow on another entry soon…

HR

FIFA World Cup 2026 recap

By

On July 19, 2026

In Sports

As I write these lines watching the trophy ceremony of Spain as World Champion following their 1-0 complete shut-off of Argentina in the World Cup finals, I have to say I feel somewhat proud my prediction entry was not too far off from the tournament’s outcome.

Below I will share my thoughts on the teams and how they performed compared to my predictions.

  • The champion Spain: while I thought that both France or Argentina were capable of cracking through Spain’s defense, I must say it took me by surprise and I was very impressed of how disciplined and structured was their defense, and how formidable was the execution of their plan to asphyxiate their opponents.
  • The hosts: Mexico went down fighting. The US got humbled by Belgium. Canada did what they could.
  • England and Brazil: did as expected. They really need to go back to basics to recover their former glory. Add Germany to this trend.
  • Cinderella: I definitely did not expect Cape Verde to embody this role. For sure they were the well-deserved highlight of the tournament.
  • France and Argentina: it is obviously disappointing they did not win.

Special thanks to both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Thanks for all the years of entertainment and high-quality level.

What to expect in 2030? A European country winning the tournament.

HR

The Iliad and The Odyssey

By

On July 16, 2026

In General

On the day before beginning my senior year of high-school, I called my parents to a family meeting (my parents are divorced, so I actually had to call my dad and ask him to come over my mom’s). The reason for this unusual request was because I had something important to tell them.

Up until then I had been a straight-A student since the first day I set foot on a school. I was not a particularly hard-working student. Without meaning to sound cocky or anything, from a very young age I knew I could get good grades by being efficient. Don’t get me wrong: I did the work when it was needed and would always deliver nothing but the best. It is just that I always felt that I could rely on my intellectual horsepower, rather than spending endless hours and sleepless nights relentlessly studying countless books.

Up until I used to lie to my parents. I would tell them I would go to someone’s house to study, when in reality I would be doing something else. That is how I was able to develop my social skills, sports ventures and other hobbies. Since at the end of each term my scorecard was full of As, my parents had this perception that I was this highly dedicated to his books kid, whose disciplined efforts were shown at the end of every school year.

That night I told my parents my plan for high-school senior year: “Forget about seeing a single A on my scorecard. It will be all Ds. This year I will do the bare minimum to pass.” To their obvious bewildered look, I followed with: “This year I am taking a well-deserved break.” They gave me a long lecture in a failed attempt to talk me out of my decision, but my choice had been made long before that, and my resolve was absolute. Up until then I used to go out and party. Now I would be deeply committed to partying and nothing more.

There is another element that factored into my decision. For my reader who have not met me, I went to high-school in Venezuela. Over there, the system to get into college is different from the US. You can learn more about it on Chapter two of my book, but the short version is that in Venezuela, senior year high-school has no effect in your college applications. More importantly, due to an overwhelming lack of supply and high demand, good schools have incredibly selective acceptance requirements, which include high GPAs from all your high-school years, plus passing an extremely difficult admissions tests. Since I already had the GPA, my plan was to ace the admissions exam of the most prestigious school in the country. Therefore, my only effort of doing any studying at all during my senior year of high-school, would be dedicated to achieving that goal.

Because of this fact that senior year high-school grades are meaningless in Venezuela and most students would somewhat be aligned with my personal vision, the education system came up with an idea to try to make the school year interesting for seniors. All the interesting topics that we had not learned to that point, would be part of the senior year syllabus: all the great books we had not read, the fun math we had not learned, the cool laboratory experiments we never did, would be featured during our senior year. As you can imagine, due to the constant streaming of daily partying, I missed all of that.

That is how I never got to read most literature classics you were supposed to go through in high-school: Tale of two cities, The divine comedy, War and peace, and… The Iliad and The Odyssey. Slowly but steadily, I have been catching up with them one at a time, and with the upcoming Christopher Nolan movie, the time has come to get my hands on this Greek classic. Once I finish it, I will share my thoughts with you.

HR

Happy 4th of July

By

On July 4, 2026

In General

Happy birthday America! 250 years!

HR

The tragic and sad story of Badfinger

By

On June 18, 2026

In Music

Today being Paul McCartney’s birthday, I feel it is more than fitting to pay tribute to a band that while they have a very strong case to be labeled as the most underrated group of all time, they are undoubtedly the most tragic story in the history of music: Badfinger. Whether you may have heard of them or not, it is very likely that their music influenced you, even if you haven’t been aware of their existence.

The roots of the band can be traced back to their formation in 1961, originated by lead guitarist and vocalist Pete Ham, bassist Ron Griffiths, rhythm guitarist David Jenkins, and drummer Roy Anderson. As it is usual with most British bands, they played many low profile gigs throughout the UK while going through many changes in their line up, until they consolidated themselves with Ham, Griffiths, drummer Mike Gibbins, and guitarist Tom Evans. After trying many different names, they settled on “The Iveys”.

They were discovered in 1968 by Mal Evans and Pete Asher -two gentlemen who had very close connections with some other British band you may know called “The Beatles”. Mal was primary assistant / right hand of The Beatles. You can see him on many of their videos and movies, including in Let it be (the 1970 movie) or its more recent extended version Peter Jackson’s Get Back mini-series. Asher was one of Apple Records’ executive managers. Impressed by The Iveys’ performances, songs and musical talent, Mal collected a series of tapes and demos, and played them to John, Paul, George and Ringo, who agreed to sign them to their label. With Asher on board, they became the first band to be signed under The Beatles music corporation.

If you are familiar with The Beatles’ history, you will know that Apple was not the cleanest, most ethical or most efficient company, and that instead, the many problems associated with running the business became main reason why The Beatles broke up -not Yoko Ono. Pretty much every Apple manager milked the Beatles’ success as best as they could, and Badfinger being indirectly linked to them by being under their umbrella, fell victim to this as well. Many of their singles were poorly marketed by both their manager Bill Collins and the infamous Allen Klein (the The Beatles’ manager). Still, oblivious to what was happening behind the scenes and looking to promote their colleagues, Paul McCartney was kind enough to write a single for the The Iveys: “Come and get it” (hence, why I posted this on his birthday).

Convinced that “Come and get it” would be their breakthrough hit and first of many successes, the band decided to come up with a catchier name. Almost at the same time, Griffiths had became estranged from the other three members due to personal reasons, and was eventually replaced by guitarist Joey Molland, which resulted in Tom Evans switching to bass. This is how Badfinger was born.

Released in December 1969, “Come and get it” became a huge hit. It was also used as the leading single to promote and catapult its album “Magic Christian Music” to sell millions of records, bringing Badfinger the hard earned fame they had been working for. This success paved the way for the sessions that would turn into Badfinger’s best album, No Dice. This time, they marketed the album using an original single written by the band, “No matter what“, composed by Ham.

No Dice contained a song that back then, was not released as a single, did not receive much attention by both the band or anyone involved with the production of the album, and pretty much went under everyone’s radar… except some guy you might have heard of called Harry Nilsson. He had become famous a few years earlier after the success of his own album Pandemonium shadow show, released in 1967 and which received great praise by John Lennon and Paul McCartney as well; and also because of his cover of “Everybody’s talkin’“, which became the signature song of the 1969 commercially successful and critically acclaimed film, Midway cowboy – a movie I highly recommend watching.

Back to Badfinger’s No Dice, after the album’s release in 1970, Nilsson heard the record without knowing who authored the songs, and similarly to what had happened with the Apple managers and all four Beatles, he was amazed by the songs he heard and the musical talent of the band. Nilsson is quoted saying that as he listed to the album, he genuinely thought that the band he was listening to were The Beatles, either an unreleased album or a series of unpublished and unreleased songs.

After confirming that this was authentic material by a new band, he reached out to Badfinger and decided to cover that one song from their album that had been written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans, who had not think much of it, therefore did not release it as a single, which meant that the song did not receive much attention by anyone, and pretty much went under everyone’s radar.

So Nilsson covered Without you and he turned it into what is broadly considered the first power ballad.

then twenty years later, Mariah Carey came up with her own version to give us a demonstration of her raw powerful vocal range.

Back to 1970, sadly for Badfinger, this is where the sad part of their story begins.

The band’s newfound success attracted a lot of corrupt people, apart from the already shady Apple Records staff. One man in particular Stan Polley has been consistently named as the main responsible for signing a serious of dubious deals and questionable contracts, that allowed him to earn most of the profits from the band’s sales, while basically paying them almost minimum wage.

As the dissolution of The Beatles was taking place at the same time while Badfinger was reaching out their commercial and critical zenith, this unfortunately meant that Badfinger got caught in the bureaucratic contractual unfulfillments and financial disasters orchestrated by Apple and Allen Klein. Polley took advantage of this mess to gain even more control over the band’s affairs, while at the same time continued to release more hits in their next album Straight up released in 1971, which included the successful singles Day after day, and Baby blue.

After two years of commercially successful touring, three more albums followed, all released in less than twelve months between 1973 and 1974, mostly due to commercial pressures and contractual obligations forced by Polley. The reception and success of all three albums was mixed, which generated frictions and tensions within the band, whose members after being incredibly successful up until that point, were now on the verge of bankruptcy due to barely getting any income for all their hard work, with most of the money either stolen by their managers and agents, or misallocated in financial instruments unreachable by the band members. This included the royalties from their hidden gem, “Without you“, which by then had become one of the most famous songs around the world, with Paul McCartney referring to it as “the killer song of all time”. Needless to say, it also became a colossal cash making machine that made a lot of people rich, except for the actual individuals who created it.

By 1975, Pete Ham had become hopelessly depressed, having no money in the bank, being in debt for thousands of pounds, and with his girlfriend expecting their child. He unsuccessfully tried to pursue legal actions against Polley’s and his shady deals, but ultimately was not able to recover or receive any money back. On April 24, he committed suicide by hanging himself in his garage. Badfinger was no more.

The following years went by with the remaining members attempting to recover their hard end money through various legal actions against Polley and all the other related companies that had signed deals and contracts with them. On November 18, 1983, frustrated due to still being unable to recover their money, Tom Evans and Joey Molland got into a heated argument about the ongoing legal action regarding the royalties of Without you. After partying ways, Evans went to his house and committed suicide by hanging himself. Gibbins died in 2005 and Molland passed away last year.

So this is why today, on Paul McCartney’s birthday, I decided to honor and pay tribute to a band of which he was instrumental in their success, even though only a few people know of their existence, or are aware of what he did for them.

HR

FIFA World Cup

By

On June 6, 2026

In Sports

Following my very elaborate series of comparing soccer / football vs. football, it is time for the corresponding predictor for the upcoming world cup.

With the now unstoppable globalization of the sport, the 2026 edition of the FIFA world cup features an all-time high first occasion of 48 countries, playing across 16 cities spread out also in a first time of three hosting nations: Canada, Mexico and the United States. Given the unusual amount of competing nations, at this point the tournament is more about which countries did not make, rather than the ones that qualified. Teams such as Curacao, Cape Verde, New Zealand, Uzbekistan, and Haiti, who -no offense to then- under more normal circumstances would not have qualified, will now be competing against the “elite” nations of the world.

You can refer to my soccer vs. football series, to understand my reasoning behind quoting “elite”, but the short story is that if there is anything all soccer fans agree on is that the quality of the game has decreased substantially over the last ten years, which is this entry should be relatively brief in terms of predicting who might win. So let’s get on to it right away:

Most likely to be eliminated early on:

  • Given their relatively low population, low exposure to high-level competition, lack of resources, and other variables, I find it very hard to see any of the five countries I listed above going beyond the group stage. Surprises are always common occurrences in World Cups, and due to the rough conditions and somewhat forgiving accommodations (IE: hydration break), who knows if any of them could be able to pull an upset.

Host nations:

  • Canada, Mexico and the US will somehow make it to the knockout stage. Despite my stars and stripes having my full support, I do believe that unless some incredibly unexpected series of planet alignments occurs and the gods of soccer descend on their squads -perhaps aided by definition of a round of 16 match in penalty rounds-, none of the host teams will reach the quarterfinals.

England and Brazil:

  • For the reasons I already mentioned in my soccer vs. football series, I feel confident in ruling out the two former traditionally favorites. England might be able to make it further than Brazil -who might not reach the quarterfinals, and actually might be lucky enough to make it through the group stage. But there is no way that in my life time, the Sun will rise in a world where Harry Kane won a World cup. PS.: Neymar should be starting to handover retirement party invitation cards. PS #2: Add Portugal to this list, and Cristiano Ronaldo to the retirement party hosts.

Cinderella:

  • With such a large pool, it is hard to say which underdog team will be the star of the tournament. All CONMEBOL teams are relatively strong, so it would not be fair to call them underdogs, while at the same time foreseeing that at least one of them could make it to the quarters and perhaps semifinals. African teams are always the tournament revelation, so I am going to put it out there, that one of them will generate a huge fuzz, one way or another. Morocco took this role in the last world cup, so even though they could have another great performance, I still feel there is another hidden surprise somewhere coming from Africa.

Deep run:

  • Not including the favorites -which will follow below- there are two teams I could see going deep into the final stages, while soundly and convincingly defeating their rivals: Belgium and Norway. Both have potential to reach the semifinals, probably even knocking out Brazil and England in their way.

Favorites that could, but ultimately will not win:

  • Germany lost their way after their 2014 victory. Their squad is fresh, but they nowadays play something different.

Finally, let’s talk about the favorites:

  • France: really solid team with no visible weaknesses.
  • Argentina: they have the best player in the world, albeit past his prime but still capable of being the protagonist. More importantly, they know how to play with Messi and since this is his last World Cup, they are going to play their best for him.
  • Spain: an annoyingly defensive team that is filled of young talents, who while not able to display the most visually appealing game, are capable of asphyxiating their opponents to death. I can see them making it to the semis, or somehow meeting against either France or Argentina in an earlier round of the knockout stage, but both the French and the defending champions will ultimately prevail due to their superior offensive.

The verdict: ultimately, I feel it will come down to a repeat of the 2022 final and in this thrilling rematch. By this time, having been the best player in the tournament -along with Mbappe-, Messi will simply be out of gas, underperform in the final, and France will get their revenge, beating Argentina 3-0.

HR

Dexter – Season Seven Review (Major spoilers)

By

On May 23, 2026

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

Major spoilers on this entry.

Do not continue if you have not seen Dexter Season Seven and wish to watch it without spoilers.

——————— — ————————

Season Seven stars horribly, poorly, stupidly. I am sorry, but I can’t hold it back. It makes Dexter himself a joke and it turns Debra into a mindless character. She also drags along LaGuerta with her.

What should be an immediate realization from Debra that Dexter is the Bay Harbor Butcher -or whatever you want to call him-, or at the very least to be able to corner him into a confession, turns out to her needing to trash his apartment to find the actual evidence. Luckily, as episodes go by the whole season starts to pick up and redeems itself, until it screws up once again by making the same mistake it did on Season One.

The introduction of both Isaak and Hannah elevate the series, by bringing characters who are relatively smart, competent in their actions and formidable foes to our main protagonist. Like I said, the series repeats the error of killing a great character -Isaak- who could have remained in the background of series as a looming shadow and a silent threat.

The cat and mouse game Dexter plays with both antagonists plays out relatively well and holds the suspense for much of the season. However, the fact that a smart and experienced character such as LaGuerta fails to take the appropriate action to take Dexter down, having collected all the proof of him being who he is, is perplexing to me. Of course I understand that Dexter is the protagonist and that the series has to continue regardless of what happens, but did the writers really need to make the secondary characters so unbelievably incompetent and dumb, so that he can live on?

The Season Finale is a complete disaster. In fact, the series should have ended right there, with Dexter being captured as LaGuerta oversaw both him and Debra being arrested with her final breath.

Sadly, there was a contractual obligation for Season Eight: the worst by far.

HR

Tron

By

On May 13, 2026

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

If I ever start a YouTube channel, the Tron franchise will probably be either my first or second video.

Tron -the 1982, and the franchise as a whole- has fascinated me for years. It is probably one of the few entertainment products that somehow keeps following an incredibly odd recurring pattern:

  1. It gets released in an attempt to introduce wide audiences to a niche market.
  2. It fails miserably.
  3. It only ends up capturing the interest of people who actually understand it.
  4. After 10-15 years go by, and they redefine its audience.

Rinse and repeat.

The first film came out in 1982 to mixed reviews and a box-office disappointing results. Very few people liked it and even less understood it. I find it surprising that well-known present day reviewers, people with tremendous experience in the film industry, fail to grasp what Tron is about, even with all the available resources we have in 2026. This is because Tron is a smart movie, made for smart people: computer nerds from that time. Tron is the movie The Matrix wishes to be. The question then is, why did a movie that failed so badly, was able to get a $150 million reboot in 2010? The answer: because of the light-cycle scene. Everyone loves the light-cycle scene. In fact, it is the only thing people think about when discussing Tron. This is how it became a cult film -a term that is loosely used nowadays, however, if there is one film that truly earns it, it is Tron.

So Tron: Legacy came out in 2010, to worse reviews than the original, and somewhat of a breakeven box-office performance -which is hugely disappointing considering the amount of publicity the movie had to try to establish a Star wars-like franchise. Because Legacy’s plot had a direct connection with the 1982 film, audiences were puzzled on what to get out of the movie. But also, since an attempt was made to try to make the story easier to understand for a more mainstream audience, it ended up being neither niche nor wide. If there is one word that can easily summarize Tron, that word is “confusing”. The question then is, why did a movie that failed so badly, was able to get a $200 million reboot in 2025? The answer: because of the light-cycle scene and Daft Punk’s soundtrack. Everyone loves the light-cycle scene and Daft Punk’s soundtrack. In fact, it is the only thing people think about when discussing Tron: Legacy.

A third oddity within the franchise, Tron: Ares came out a few months ago, produced by and starring Jared Leto, who recently has become somewhat of an oddity himself. I have no idea what it is about, but I am completely sure that if there is someone out there who fully understands Tron and is able to figure out a way to make it work to a point where the original 1982 film can be redeemed, that person is not Jared Leto.

HR

Book update 2026

By

On April 14, 2026

In Book

Believe it or not, over the last few weeks I have gained a newfound momentum to work on the English version of my book. My editor and I so far have been able to finish one third of the content, which after the considerable pause I put on it, feels pretty satisfying.

In revisiting some of the chapters, I realized that parts of the original release needed a bit of improvement, which means that at the same time I am also working on the second edition of the already released Spanish version. This is relatively good news for future readers, as I am aiming to make the reading as smooth as possible, considering the challenges of dealing with such an elaborate topic.

Considering that I can only dedicate part of my weekends -the only free time I currently have- to this endeavor, I believe it is unlikely that the English version will be published this year. My commitment to the people who are anxious and excited to get my book is still there, so rest assured that my goal is still to make my work available to you as soon as I humanly can.

HR

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