So I just finished revising two novels back-to-back. That’s a lot of revising. That takes its toll. Not that I prefer one over the other (composing vs. revising), but if you do one or the other for a long time, it grinds. In any case, I needed a break from writing without taking a break from writing. I didn’t want to write any new short stories, didn’t want to start a third novel. If only there were something fun to do with my writing time. Something to remind me why I love it, like a game. A game with writing. Not one where you just fill in blanks like a…
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Tropes to Lose: He Was Never Real to Begin With
In addition to “it was all just a dream“, here’s another trope I’d love to get rid of: “He was never really there the whole time.“ This trope is so overused, so cliché, that at this point I can see it coming from miles. I just watched Goodnight Mommy and (spoilers) I knew within the first minute of the first interaction with the three main characters that Lukas wasn’t really there. We, the audience, were supposed to think he was, because the story is from Elias’s perspective. But it’s obvious from the get-go. Only someone missing a modicum of intelligence wouldn’t be able to tell. I realized it as soon…
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Does Rafiki Count as a Magical Negro?
I just watched “The American Society of Magical Negroes“. The movie’s amusing from a storyteller’s point of view, because it’s silly and true (“true” as in it still happens. Even black writers sometimes accidentally add them). But when they’re introducing the concept, someone defines a “magical negro” as a “black supporting character who only exists to help the white protagonist”. Then I thought “Isn’t that like Rafiki from The Lion King?” Before we check the criteria, let’s talk about “coding”. However, Disney is known for “coding” characters, especially when it comes to villains. Scar, Gaston, Hook, Shere Khan, Jafar, and Ratcliffe are all effeminate “limp-wristed” dandies. Ursula (who is literally…
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Diagnosing the Problem with Ant-Man: Quantumania
“Explaining humor is a lot like dissecting a frog. You learn a lot in the process, but in the end you kill it.” Mark Twain In my never-ending quest to dissect stories to the point where they resemble so much fleshy bits on a slab (if this is Marvel, would this be Throg?), I just saw Ant-Man: Quantumania, the first of Marvel’s Phase Five, where we stop dealing with the consequences of Infinity War/Endgame and start getting real with the multiverse and Kang the Conqueror. Quantumania was universally panned for being “just another Marvel movie.” Another notch in the interminably average fare Disney/Marvel has been churning out since Avengers: Endgame.…
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The Key to Any Fantasy Story
As I like fantasy, it’s very hard to make the kind that entertains me. Maybe that’s why I write atypical fantasy characters or plots, such as a coming-of-age adventure for a naga or a domestic drama involving female dwarf sisters. They’re not doorstoppers involving grand sweeping epic world wars and cosmic evils (and thus unpublishable). I love fantasy but I do not have a long attention span. I read fast and my memory isn’t great. All the names of people, places, and things are in some foreign tongue, so I can’t recall whether Niffenbukugard was that innkeeper, the capital city, or some magic spell. There’s more fantasy media than ever…
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TENET: A Beautiful Picture of Ugly Content
I don’t mean ugly as in problematic or controversial. There’s nothing jagged or worth “canceling” (so take that Hollywood — you don’t need to be provocative to catch attention). I love most Christopher Nolan movies. I loved the Dark Knight trilogy and The Prestige and Memento and Inception. But I was tepid on Interstellar and Man of Steel and didn’t see Dunkirk. But after the word-of-mouth reaction, I was dreading when Netflix would deliver that DVD. But it was the biggest movie of the year, so I had to watch it. Find out what everyone was talking about. I didn’t… I didn’t like it. And here are my thoughts on…
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Don’t Think About It
If you’re wondering how he eats and breathes and other science facts, then repeat to yourself “It’s just a show, I should really just relax…” These are the last lyrics of the theme song to Mystery Science Theater 3000. This caveat exists because the premise of the show isn’t about the setting or characters or universe. It’s about making fun of bad movies. You don’t need an aesthetic for that (and in fact, RiffTrax and Cinematic Titanic have proven you don’t). It’s just some pleasant decoration around the content. A wrapper. It’s not meant to be thought about. And yet people do. There are countless fan fictions, fandoms, cosplay, puppet…
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What Happened to the Ghosts at the End of Ghostbusters?
Soooooo… what happens at the end of Ghostbusters? I mean, yeah, they defeat Gozer, cross the streams, save the world, and everyone gets diabetes from the marshmallow covering the city. Sooo… then what? We know what happens to the characters from Ghostbusters 2 — the city sues them into bankruptcy and they all go their own separate ways. But that doesn’t tell us what happened to the ghosts. As far as I can tell, there is no link between Gozer and all the ghosts appearing in the city. Slimer’s not an agent sent by The Traveler. Zeddmore makes a mention to Ray that the proliferation of ghosts might signal the “end times”,…
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Late to the Game: Skyward Sword: First Impressions
I got The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for Christmas and last night was the first opportunity I had to play it. I’ve made it up to where you start searching for your bird, and here are some impressions. The first fifteen minutes of a video game are the most important, and probably one of the hardest things to get right, because you have to do so much in a short amount of time. You have to engage the player, establish the world, teach the user how to play, and set the tone. For more information, Extra Credits has some great editorials on this, including Pacing, Cutscenes, Tutorials 101, Narrative…
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The Most Tragic Peanuts Special
Charlie Brown has been through some shit in his day. There’s no denying it. The poor guy’s a loser in every sense of the word, and the worst of it is that his own dog upstages him. He’s the tragic everyman. But there’s no episode more tragic than that of “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown.” “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown” premiered in 1986. The story was original, although most of the gags came from the strips, like most of the specials. IMDB users have given it 7.3/10 — one of the moderately successful specials, nowhere near as notorious as “Great Pumpkin” or “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. This might be because, if you watch…
