Author: BlueInkAlchemist

Writing as Mortar

Pop quiz, hotshot. You’re not ready to be a professional writer. You want to keep a steady paycheck, which means a steady job, which means no solid blocks of writing for you. You’ve checked Chuck’s list and felt the crushing weight of reality telling you that being a professional writer just isn’t going to happen.… Continue reading Writing as Mortar

Dragon Tales: The Mistress of Secrets

Emperor Lysander has a great deal of tools at his disposal. Vicious mercenary bands like the Iron Circle supplement the Imperial Army he is forming in the capitol city of Nerath. He also employs insidious spies, deadly assassins and priests of Bane. Some of his agents serve multiple roles, such as the author of the… Continue reading Dragon Tales: The Mistress of Secrets

A Beginner's Guide to Westeros: Great Houses

The Game of Thrones is now showing on HBO. The production and promotion of this series has been fantastic, but not everyone tuning in may be familiar with the series of books upon which it is based. A Song of Ice and Fire, currently spanning four expansive novels, introduced us to the world of Westros… Continue reading A Beginner's Guide to Westeros: Great Houses

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Shutter Island

{No audio this week, still adjusting to the new work schedule.} I’m sure that most of the people reading this review have at least one dog-eared copy of a paperback novel lying around somewhere. Let me ask you something: why have you read that book more than once? I’m willing to hazard a guess. Even… Continue reading IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Shutter Island

Be Social, Be Real

I’m trying out HootSuite. These owls look like social creatures. I’ve always been more comfortable with on-line conversations than real ones. it might be because, for most online conversations one-on-one with people, I’m a known quantity. People know what to expect with me, and for the most part they like what they expect. There’s a… Continue reading Be Social, Be Real

DLC Review: Overlord & Arrival

Like an interplanetary Paul Revere, Commander Shepard has been moving from system to system, race to race, all but screaming “The Reapers are coming, the Reapers are coming!” His warnings have largely gone unheeded. Giant intergalactic Lovecraftian space-horrors? Pshaw! here’s politics and racism to worry about. Even Cerberus puts the occasional science project gone wrong… Continue reading DLC Review: Overlord & Arrival

Dragon Tales: The Captain of the Tower Guard

It takes more than a few individuals to run a keep of any size. The small cadre of dwarves from Hammerfast have outdone themselves rebuilding the former Keep on the Shadowfell, its ten mighty towers rising up above the village of Winterhaven in the northwest reach of the Nentir Vale. A few volunteers have come… Continue reading Dragon Tales: The Captain of the Tower Guard

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans

[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/bad_lieutenant.mp3] In 1992, vocal independent director Abel Ferrara teamed up with Harvey Keitel to make Bad Lieutenant, the story of an abusive and sleazy cop of the NYPD charged with solving the case of a raped nun. While he was self-indulgent, scandalous and even downright cruel, there existed a glimmer of humanity in the man… Continue reading IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans