Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey

Readers immediately asked for a follow up to yesterday's post on Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. I'd planned on watching the sequel, anyway, so happily our purposes aligned. This was only my third viewing of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. My dad took me and a friend to see it…
September 2, 202010 Comments
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Red Letter Media's retrospective on Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and its sequel, occasioned by the recent release of the series' long-awaited third film, put me in a mood to revisit the first movie. If you want a case study in how much Hollywood has changed in the last thirty…
September 1, 202030 Comments
Secondary World Religions

Secondary World Religions

World building is the one element that sets speculative fiction apart from every other category of writing. When designing a secondary world, it’s crucial to establish a foundation of internally consistent principles to help readers suspend their disbelief. Religion in general has been a constant of human existence. Writing a…
August 19, 202012 Comments
Terra Incognita

Terra Incognita

Like a lot of people, I've been on a nostalgia trip lately. The accelerating societal collapse seems to be the catalyst for this phenomenon, so it makes sense that much of today's nostalgia revolves around the High 90s--when most entertainment media sang their swan songs prior to hitting cultural ground zero. For…
July 23, 202035 Comments
Victory Defeated JRPGs

Victory Defeated JRPGs

Besides writing best selling books, I've kept myself occupied during the Corona-chan lock down by going back and playing some classic games. Mainly I've been revisiting celebrated titles from console gaming's 8 and 16-bit golden age. To say it's been a trip down memory lane would be an understatement. I've…
May 12, 202055 Comments
Anime Has Fallen

Anime Has Fallen

Contrary to many anime fans' hopes, the fanatical, totalitarian Cult that's usurped pop culture isn't letting a little thing like an ocean get in the way of their conquest. Funimation, the American dubbing and distribution house that made news last year thanks to a defamation lawsuit brought against them by…
April 2, 202024 Comments
Fempub

Fempub

May be a better name for the dying New York publishing cartel than oldpub. Data courtesy of author Ben Cheah: Some significant context: digging under the following data points turned up that it predominantly applies to oldpub. In that regard, they make for a pretty accurate snapshot of oldpub's readership…
December 26, 201928 Comments
The Seduction of Brand X

The Seduction of Brand X

Like many in his generation, Joe had always dreamed of working in television. Too introverted to be an actor, he chose instead to study writing and break into the industry as a screenwriter. Though he never did master the finer points of prose or dialogue, Joe had a flair for…
December 12, 201925 Comments
The Nostalgia Trap

The Nostalgia Trap

Author David V. Steward was gracious enough to invite me on his Writestream last night. The impetus for the episode was this post, which has caused something of a sensation among Generation Y readers. What strikes you most whenever you get Ys to open up and discuss the past is…
October 17, 201945 Comments
The Corporate IP Death Cycle

The Corporate IP Death Cycle

As a fitting follow up to yesterday's post about how shortsighted corporatism killed American comics, YouTuber David V. Stewart recommended his insightful video The 5 Phases of Corporate IP Ownership. In his video, David breaks down the corporate decision making process that runs franchises across all media, not just comics,…
September 24, 201915 Comments