This weekend, Jen and I went to the Alley Theatre to check out the much celebrated Toxic Avenger musical. While that might sound strange or awesome to you depending on whatever whacky lens you use to view the world, rest assured — it was one of the greatest live performances of anything I’ve seen, ever. Continue reading →
Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.
Several months after part 5, here we are at Part 6 (of 7) of my re-read of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. And here I thought I’d knock this thing out in just three short essays. I apologize for the delay, but Jurassic Park knows best when it tells us that “life finds a way”, and that includes interrupting all of our plans to write about wizards.
In this edition, we talk about Ridgebacks, centaurs and the stars. The end of our last session found Harry spying on Severus as he threatens Quirrell for the Sorcerer’s Stone. Or so it seems. Dun dun dun, and so forth. Continue reading →
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been fascinated by an idea that sort of tumbled into my head fully-formed. For those of you who are creative types, you understand that this is something about as rare as catching a unicorn with your bare hands and convincing it to make you a sandwich afterwards. Continue reading →
As a dude that used to weigh 300 plus pounds, I think I can safely say that sometimes I bite off more than what is necessary or smart. I do this both literally and in my creative life. Although in the last couple of years, less in both.
Part of what kept me from writing for the longest time was that I was always overambitious in what I wanted to accomplish with a story. Continue reading →
When I was younger, we didn’t have a whole lot of limits on what we could and couldn’t consume in terms of media. I think I started watching rated R movies when I was around 6 or 7 years old. Of course, I started with the greats: Predator, Rambo III, Commando and the like. I guess my dad was really into burly dudes shooting machine guns, so I was into it, too.
However, through all of the blood and gore, there was one thing that my mom was always adamant that we couldn’t watch: anything with magic. Continue reading →
What follows is a post I wrote about a month ago, but never published, ironically, out of fear of looking like a dork. Thought I’d finish it and put it out there.
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A few weeks back, I watched my brother play the game Dead Space 2 and squealed in dread for the majority of the experience. I’ve always maintained that scary anything isn’t my cup of tea, and it really shows when I’m met with jaw-busting and bladder-loosening terror.
The whole ordeal got me thinking about fear in general. I was shocked to realize just how much it rules my life in other, less funny ways. Continue reading →
It’s very rare that I see something that stirs that special spot in my heart reserved for fond childhood memories, but it has been known to happen on occasion. As much as looking back on being a kid offers a mixed bag of whatever, there really is something magical about that place where imagination ran wild with unfettered gusto. To be a kid was to attempt the impossible on a daily basis, and much of that fire is missing as a guy in my late twenties that sits in a cubicle writing Web copy.
In the last week or so, I’ve hit two media examples that poked at those halcyon days of youth. Continue reading →
I’ve been anticipating 2011 as the year of the revision, much like 2010 was the year of the first draft. As such, this means that I’m now tackling the lengthy process of printing, reading and revising, and so far it’s been a mixed bag.
Oddly enough, I actually decided to revise the most recent book first, the fully fleshed out version of In the Blood (although that will not be the final title). I came to this conclusion for a number of reasons. Continue reading →
Seeing as how we’re already 12 days into the year 2011, I figured my time was running short on doing a self-congratulating post about last year. I could write a whole bunch of nonsense about how 2010 was a year of ups and downs, but it really wasn’t. In all honesty, it was one of the best years I can remember, and I have no reason to believe that 2011 will be any different.
Here’s some stuff I did in 2010, mostly in chronological order: Continue reading →
This is where I write a cliche blog post about how I haven’t blogged in a long time. It’s where I also say that I’m going to be doing more on here in the next few weeks. Both of those things are true, but I figured it was good to go ahead and get it out of the way, just so there’s a mutual understanding between us. In keeping with blogging cliches, here are what some of my next few posts are going to be about:
1. Why Everything Is Awful, Everywhere
2. How that One Thing Is Not as Good as it Used to Be, Back Then
3. 10 Tips for Talking a Big Game in Tip Posts
4. A Post About My New Hobby, Amateur Photography
5. Everyone Is Wrong About x Subject Continue reading →