Author Archives: Daniel (@MKNN)

Reading Well: My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Oyinkan Braithwaite‘s debut novel, My Sister, The Serial Killer (2018) is a rollicking ride, the arc of which is described quite well by its title. Set in contemporary Lagos, the strength of the novel is the relationship between the two … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Reading Well: The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

This massive collection encompasses The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010), The Broken Kingdom (2011), and The Kingdom of Gods (2014). A shorter novella, The Awakened Kingdom (2014) is tossed in for good effect. Having been really pleasantly surprised by N.K. Jemisin’s … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

WWC2019: The Final

I’ve been oddly reticent about writing up a preview of this one. I suspect it’s because I will be rooting for the Orange, without thinking they have much of a chance at all against the USA. Soccer analytics still feels … Continue reading

Posted in Football/Soccer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WWC2019: The Semifinals (for real this time)!

Four games remaining … How We Did Meh. No exact scores, got Germany – Sweden wrong (along with everyone else), and had basically refused to pick the USA – France match. England – USA Jill Ellis‘ highly conservative style, demonstrated … Continue reading

Posted in Football/Soccer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reading Well: Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver

I have very high expectations each time I start a book by Barbara Kingsolver. Most of the time, she exceeds them. Unsheltered (2018) is a good book, but not among her best. The premise/structure is pretty lovely: the novel alternates … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

WWC2019: The Quarterfinals!

{ Got ahead of myself and originally published this as the Semis. Whoops. } How We Did Not bad. Not great, but not bad. Evidently, I don’t respect Scandinavia as much as I should, as both Norway and Sweden surprised. … Continue reading

Posted in Football/Soccer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WWC2019: The Round of 16

{ I’m writing this immediately after the Germany-Nigeria game–travel and work got in the way of getting it done before that. } Nothing too surprising coming out of the groups–sure, exactly how Scotland/ Argentina/ Nigeria/ Chile/ China would end up … Continue reading

Posted in Football/Soccer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WWC2019: The Second Games

A note on VAR to open. I’m a fan, for sure–getting calls right strikes me as generally important–but there are two points that, I think, need to be addressed: First, if you look for a penalty, you will usually find … Continue reading

Posted in Football/Soccer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reading Well: Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan

Infinite Detail (2019) is the debut novel from Tim Maughan, a journalist of some note. It’s a good read, focusing on the relatively cataclysmic aftermath of an extended Internet outage. The setting is the near future, a world just slightly … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

WWC2019: The First Round of Games

Notes and thoughts on the first games in each group. GENERAL NOTES I really want to highlight the difference between Argentina, Italy, and Brazil on one hand and Spain on the other. Twenty years ago, none of these countries cared … Continue reading

Posted in Football/Soccer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment