Video essayist Evan Puschak embraces writer Robert Heinlein’s notion “specialization is for insects.”

I stumbled upon Puschak’s work this past weekend while seeking online analysis of Denis Villeneuve’s masterful film “Arrival.” Puschak creates, edits and produces the weekly web series The Nerdwriter. He’s been making the series since 2011, so, sure, I’m late to the party, but one nice part about the internet is playing catch-up.

Viewing Puschak’s insightful piece on “Arrival” led me to take in a dozen more of his productions. He pegs the overarching failing of 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and examines why dragons are a central problem in the world of HBO’s Game of Thrones. But Puschak also discusses science, art, and culture, from “How Nuclear Weapons Screwed Art Forgers” to “How Louis CK Tells A Joke.”

Puschak also discusses politics. I suspect many East Oregonian readers will not agree with his take on President Donald Trump, but the 2016 analysis on how Trump answers a question reveals why his simple speech resonates with people as well as why we should be wary of his salesmen tactics.

Politics aside, The Nerdwriter series offers intelligent, sincere commentary and critique in digestible form. Check out the series at thenerdwriter.net and www.youtube.com/user/Nerdwriter1, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Most of the video essays are less than eight minutes.

Like a lot of fun things, you probably won’t stop at just one. — Phil Wright, reporter