My 15th anniversary Buffy retrospective ends with my top ten episodes. I bet you can guess which one is on top.
Portrait of a Slayer at Fifteen: the 15th Anniversary Buffy Retrospective (part 3 of 3)
Portrait of a Slayer at Fifteen: the 15th Anniversary Buffy Retrospective (part 2 of 3)
No retrospective of a beloved television show would be complete without a countdown, so here’s the first part of my top 25 episodes.
Portrait of a Slayer at Fifteen: the 15th Anniversary Buffy Retrospective (part 2 of 3)
How Not to Be a Clever Writer
I know, you want to be Joss Whedon so bad it hurts. (And, quite possibly, it’ll hurt your readers, too.)
I’d like to think that I don’t try too hard to be Joss Whedon, but sometimes you just have to do it.
Album Review: “Once More, With Feeling”
I really liked the Buffy series, and “Once More, With Feeling” was a really good episode — on Facebook, my friend Dave said, “to this day I consider this to be the greatest single episode of a series I’ve ever seen”.
From my review of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer “Once More, With Feeling” episode soundtrack, over at Escape Pod.
Posted in album, escape pod, nonfiction, review, writing
Tagged buffy the vampire slayer, musical, once more with feeling, review, soundtrack
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Brightshadow Academy for Mary Sues
And this is what happens when you put yourself into a story.
(via chainsawsuit by kris straub – brightshadow academy for mary sues)
Portrait of a Slayer at Fifteen: the 15th Anniversary Buffy Retrospective (part 1 of 3)
March 10, 1997: the day that changed television for a lot of people. And continues to draw in new viewers all the time. The fashions may not hold up; the slang and pop-culture references might be dated; the effects in the early seasons are definitely iffy. But the storytelling will make this show worth watching even twenty, thirty, or fifty years later.
Portrait of a Slayer at Fifteen: the 15th Anniversary Buffy Retrospective (part 1 of 3)
I wrote a three-part retrospective commemorating the 15th anniversary of one of the best TV shows of the last 20 years. This is part one.
Posted in article, escape pod, nonfiction, portrait of a slayer at fifteen, writing
Tagged angel, buffy the vampire slayer, joss whedon, sunnydale, television, vampire
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Movie Review: “The Secret World of Arrietty”
Overall, I found The Secret World of Arrietty to be a good film for kids. It’s not too violent, there’s no on-screen death, the subject matter is age-appropriate, and the good guys win (mostly because there really aren’t any bad guys of note other than Hara, and she’s not too malicious). The ending is a little sad, and I felt like it could use a little more than what we got, but my daughter was fine with it. She told me afterward that she enjoyed the film, and wanted me to get it on Netflix.
My review of The Secret World of Arrietty is up on Escape Pod.
There was supposed to be a Buffy-themed article I wrote going up today, but technical difficulties happened. Perhaps tomorrow or later in the week.
Posted in animated, escape pod, movie, nonfiction, review, writing, ya
Tagged amy poehler, carol burnett, cecile corbel, film, miyazaki, review, studio ghibli, the borrowers, the secret world of arrietty, will arnett
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My Problem with Graphic Novels
I’ve written a two-part treatise on graphic novels and why I don’t really care too much for them, mostly as an excuse to talk about Buffy Season 8. (Hey, I’m a simple guy, I have simple needs.)
Posted in article, escape pod, nonfiction, writing
Tagged bacon, batman, buffy season 8, canon, comic, death of superman, death of the endless, Ferrett Steinmetz, graphic novels, grey's anatomy, i am a leaf on the wind, idjits, laurell k. hamilton, ozy and millie, sandman, sean mcmullen, something positive, star trek, supernatural, the wake, v for vendetta, watchmen
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“Survivor”
From Guatemala, where a woman dreams of becoming La Gorda, the first female luchador, before discovering a greater calling in “La Gorda and the City of Silver”; to the big city in the US, where superhero Flux refuses to don spandex in order to join her new team in “Nemesis”; to the remote planet Sidqiel in “Survivor”, where student Wen survives a crash landing, only to face death from the rising sun. Fat Girl in a Strange Land takes its characters – and its readers – places they’ve never been.
My story “Survivor” – my first anthology sale – is available today from Crossed Genres publications. It’s only $5 on the e-reader of your choice.
Posted in fiction, short story, writing
Tagged fat girl in a strange land, sci-fi, science fiction, survival, survivor, ya
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“The Question” by Robert Lowell Russell
I play “Bill Linsky” in the latest Dunesteef, in which many reporters ask “The Question”.
Episode 124: The Question by Robert Lowell Russell « The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine
Posted in audio, dunesteef audio fiction magazine, performance
Tagged dunesteef, podcast, robert lowell russell, the question
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Librarything reviews “Survivor”
My two favourites were both on the science fiction side, one about a group of terraformers and one about a survivor of a crashed spaceship.
Another nice mention for “Survivor”, which is in the upcoming Fat Girl In A Strange Land anthology. The book will be released this Friday, 2/17. More info here.
Reviews: Fat Girl in a Strange Land by Kay T. Holt | LibraryThing
Posted in fiction, short story, writing
Tagged fat girl in a strange land, librarything, review, survivor
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Review of “The Never Never Wizard of Apalachicola”
@listener42 Thanks for narrating such as great version of “The Never Never Wizard of Apalachicola” for @starshipsofa!
“The Never Never Wizard of Apalachicola” by Jason Sanford
My performance of “The Never Never Wizard of Apalachicola” by Jason Sanford is now live in StarShipSofa #223.
Soundproof #16
My review of Gregory Maguire’s Out of Oz has been reprinted in this month’s Soundproof, from Escape Pod. There’s also three great stories in there, so, you know, worth your time.
Three Dragons, Three Tattoos: a review of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Part 2 of 2)
Should you go see the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? I’d say yes: it’s a well-made film with decent acting and a coherent mystery plot. But I think that, to really get the full impact, you need to sit down and read the novel first (or, failing that, right after).
Part two of my review of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has been posted.
Please note: in this article, I discuss three scenes containing graphic sexual violence. If you think it may disturb or offend you, please don’t click.
Three Dragons, Three Tattoos: a review of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Part 1 of 2)
I think, perhaps, that was what most disappointed me about the American version — it was more about the core idea of the book (Men Who Hate Women, its original Swedish title) than the tattoo itself. However, no one would’ve understood if the film was called Men Who Hate Women; the book phenom is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so calling the movie something different would’ve been an epic failure to capitalize on its popularity — something definitely necessary, given how hard it is for R-rated films to make as much money as PG-13 ones.
The first part of my two-part review of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has been posted at Escape Pod. Be warned: it contains many spoilers.
Three Dragons, Three Tattoos: a review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Part 1 of 2)
Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules of Writing
Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing, via The Trad
Know them. Love them.
Amen.
I remember reading this right before reading the 5th Frank Herbert Dune novel. The thing I noticed most was number 3 – Herbert used “said”, if he used anything at all.
As for #4, I got dinged for that when I submitted my novel the first time around.
And #8 is the pitfall of the fanfic writer. And Laurell K. Hamilton. (Sorry, Laurell, but it’s true.)
Book Review: “Out of Oz” by Gregory Maguire
I think my biggest problem with the book was its time-scale. I realize that makes me somewhat of a hypocrite, given that my favorite book takes place over about the same scale (ten or so years) and its sequels occur almost twenty years after that, but there was just something about the way Maguire cavalierly tossed off “a year passed” or “a year later” that turned me off to the story.
My review of “Out of Oz” by Gregory Maguire is now up on Escape Pod.
Posted in book, escape pod, fantasy, nonfiction, review, writing
Tagged a lion among men, elphaba, gregory maguire, l frank baum, oz, review, son of a witch, the wiz, tin man, wicked, wicked years
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The MedZilla Report for January 2012
An employment report I wrote. It may only be relevant to you if you care about employment or healthcare. I generally don’t do these anymore, but I was asked to fill in this month.
Soundproof #15
My review of Stephen King’s 11/22/63 has been reprinted in Soundproof #15, along with several good SF stories (including “Marking Time on the Far Side of Forever”, which I narrated in December).
Josh Roseman: Writer, Voice Guy, Dad, Human 