It all comes down to this. Four years and five movies ago, if you’d told me that Marvel Studios would craft a connected universe between film franchises building to a coherent capstone piece, I would have laughed at the notion. But here we are. The Avengers has arrived, and with it a lot of questions… Continue reading Movie Review: The Avengers
Flash Fiction: The Dinosaur
For the Terribleminds challenge, Must Love Dinosaurs. To: ALL From: TDY-04-BSMT-1138 Re: The ‘Dinosaur’ Some of you may not be aware of the fact that in your data center room, there is a small, older model terminal in the back corner. It is near the reel-to-reel tape decks that have been silent for decades. This… Continue reading Flash Fiction: The Dinosaur
Rewrite Report: Word By Word
Like any craftsperson, a writer creates a work in a gradual way. Houses are built one brick at a time, paintings come to life one brush stroke at a time, and stories and articles come together one word at a time. Again, this past week, I’ve been cramming words into the spaces I can manage.… Continue reading Rewrite Report: Word By Word
Gamer's Block
To help out a friend, I wrote the following late last year. You can check out its original appearance in The Guardian Force here. Here’s where I don my old-man hat and shake my cane at you whipper-snappers. When I was growing up, I had two types of toy at my disposal that had nothing… Continue reading Gamer's Block
Characters and Relationships
To paraphrase Churchill, I tend to judge a character mostly by the quality of their relationships. The more complex the connection, the more driven the characters involved, the better the story becomes. I’m not just talking about romantic relationships, either. Each of us has a variety of connections to others, ranging from simple acquaintance to… Continue reading Characters and Relationships
Commander 2012
Playing the Commander/EDH format of Magic: the Gathering is always interesting, to me. It’s also somewhat frustrating whenever I run into one of those infinite mana combos, but that’s a personal preference sort of thing. I mean, I used to run a deck built around [mtg_card]Arcanis, the Omnipotent[/mtg_card] combined with [mtg_card]Mind over Matter[/mtg_card] and [mtg_card]Psychosis… Continue reading Commander 2012
Flash Fiction: Burning Uniform
This weeks challenge gave me the title. The sounds of fighting were distant, now. The orders alternated between “tactical withdrawal” and “orderly retreat.” He looked down at his leg again and shook his head. He felt fortunate nothing important had been hit by the bullet. Removing his bayonet from the fire, he took a deep… Continue reading Flash Fiction: Burning Uniform
Rewrite Report: What Was I Doing, Again?
This has been one of those weeks that’s kinda gone off the rails. I mean that strictly in terms of rewriting stuff. I’ve barely touched Cold Iron. I have, instead, blown the dust off of my freelance gaming writing hat. I’m working on two articles, one with a definite home and one I’ll need to… Continue reading Rewrite Report: What Was I Doing, Again?
Hyped Up or Hyped Out?
Another featurette from Ridley Scott’s upcoming sci-fi thriller Prometheus is available for viewing. As excited as I am for the film, and in light of my peculiar adoration of Michael Fassbender, the temptation is to jump all over it and begin salivating. However, I think I’ve reached the saturation point of hype. If I watch… Continue reading Hyped Up or Hyped Out?
Villains Are People Too
I hate Joffrey Baratheon with the passion of a thousand burning suns. Not Jack Gleeson, mind you. I think he’s doing an excellent job with the material. From what I understand, he’s a really nice guy. His character, however, really gets on my nerves. He has no regard for authority outside of his own, his… Continue reading Villains Are People Too