Zero Hour, Captain America Review, and Notion’s New App: My Latest Updates
Writing Updates
Zero Hour
It’s taken a lot longer than I expected—as it always does—but I’m happy so far with the results of my final draft of Zero Hour.
This book has been a part of my life for so long that I realized I could only do so much when editing it from a computer screen. So, I went ahead and ordered an author copy for myself to have a physical version I could read as if for the first time. This has been invaluable. It’s allowed me to spot errors, inconsistencies, and plot holes much faster and easier than working solely in my text editor.
In the meantime, sign up for my newsletter to get access to Zero Hour as soon as it’s available for purchase! Sign up here
The Nephites’ Story
I’m also still plugging away at The Nephites’ Story, which I think is turning out very well. I’m shooting for a summer release.
I believe The Nephites’ Story will be an invaluable tool for kids and teenagers preparing for missions—or anyone who struggles to digest the stories of The Book of Mormon in its current scriptural format. It’ll make reading The Book of Mormon much more enjoyable and easier to understand, drawing readers into the world of the ancient Nephites.
Stay posted for updates as they come!
What I’m Watching
Captain America: Brave New Failure?
These days, with an eighteen-month-old toddler running around (I call him Carson—The Wrecking Ball—Rodrigo!), I don’t get out to see many movies anymore. However, I did manage to catch the latest Marvel movie, Captain America: Brave New World, a few weeks ago with some friends.
There was a time when I was intrigued by Brave New World. I thought it might pull off being a callback to one of the best MCU films, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But after hearing about its extremely poor test screenings and multiple reshoots, it became clear that Brave New World was likely not just a money sink, but a creativity sink too.
I like Anthony Mackie as Falcon, but even though the movie goes to lengths to justify making a human without superpowers being Captain America, the concept falls flat on its face. That drags the entire story down with it. Having Sam Wilson face off against a Hulk just doesn’t make sense, even for an MCU movie. Sam should’ve been dead many times over with how hard Harrison Ford’s Red Hulk hammered him, yet he walks away without a scratch.
I’ll give them props—the filmmakers definitely tried to make it work using Cap’s wings and shield. Ultimately, the fight was a huge letdown because they had to weaken Red Hulk so drastically that he couldn’t just tear Sam apart in an instant.
The ending felt lackluster too. It reverses The Winter Soldier, where Sam’s sidekick, Joaquin, is the one injured, and Sam’s at his bedside. In The Winter Soldier, Steve’s the one in the bed with Sam by his side. Having Sam go uninjured here just made it all seem so pointless.
The main villain was an interesting idea—bringing back Mr. Blue from The Incredible Hulk (the Edward Norton one). They set him up as a mad genius, but he’s so easily thwarted by Captain America at every turn that he just seems stupid. If they wanted to have fun with it, they should’ve made all the events part of his master plan, even him losing everything at the end for some nefarious purpose.
Was Brave New World a bad film, like Quantumania? No, it was just... okay. I’d have liked them to hit harder with a new Captain America movie, but it felt rushed and cobbled together, with no real ramifications or consequences. That left it all feeling a little stale. The film had some incredibly interesting ideas, which makes its failure to deliver such a shame.
At the end of the day, I’d rather rewatch The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton than ever feel the urge to revisit Brave New World.
Survivor
Several months ago, my wife and I got hooked on Survivor. I’d heard about it since I was a kid but never watched it—it never seemed popular in my social circle. Reality game shows have never been my cup of tea. The only one I’ve consistently watched was Shark Tank, though I haven’t tuned in for quite a while now.
There are elements of Survivor I don’t love. I especially dislike how the Jury just picks a winner at the end. Instead of something concrete or skill-based, it feels so arbitrary—especially last season’s upset, where some jurors’ reasons boiled down to thinking a person “deserved it.”
Still, there’s enough intrigue and suspense to keep my wife and me hyped for Thursday nights. We don’t get to watch much TV, so it’s nice having something simple to look forward to each week together.
Overall, Survivor offers a nice dose of escapism. It makes me think it might be fun to be stranded on a Fiji beach—though I’d prefer not to be stuck there with strangers. There’s enough action and adventure for me, plus drama and suspense to keep my wife engaged. It’s the perfect win-win recipe.
What I’m Reading
Shadow of the Conqueror
I’ve been out of practice with settling down with a good book and really diving in, but I’m currently reading Shadow of the Conqueror by Shad M. Brooks. Shad’s a YouTuber who specializes in medieval armor and weapons, so I was curious to see what he’d bring to his debut novel.
It’s an intriguing story so far, but some of the character development has been a little underwhelming. I’ll give a full review once I’m done, but one disappointment stands out: the main character, Daylen, starts as the worst kind of tyrant imaginable in a fantasy story, but now he’s an old man and he decides that he’s going to end his life by committing suicide.
But while he’s trying to carry out the act, through a magical series of events, Daylen transforms into a younger version of himself with enhanced powers. Then, out of nowhere, he decides to use his new youth and abilities to do good, help people, and reverse his past evils.
The idea is solid, but the execution feels rushed. Instead of Daylen gradually realizing the harm he’s caused—say, by witnessing his kingdom’s suffering from a new perspective and slowly coming to terms with it—he gets his powers and instantly decides to be a better man for some reason.
While the world-building and fantasy setting are intriguing, the character development has fallen flat so far. I’ll need to finish to see if it redeems itself or if the whole book feels similarly lacking.
Tech I’m Using
Notion Mail (Beta)
I signed up for the beta release of Notion Mail, Notion’s new email app. I don’t use Notion for note-taking anymore due to its lack of offline functionality, but I’ve always been intrigued by Notion as a product. Notion Mail is no exception. It does things I’ve never seen in other email apps—outside of those with pricey monthly subscriptions I’m not willing to pay for.
It uses AI to categorize incoming emails automatically, tidying up your inbox and making it easier to scan at a glance. I have a couple of gripes, though. The biggest is that it doesn’t yet support viewing multiple email accounts together. For example, I can’t see my personal and work emails in the same view—I’d have to sign in separately for each. I’m hoping they update that in the future, but we’ll see.
Overall, I’m glad to use an email app that feels transformative compared to others that haven’t evolved beyond basic functionality.
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