[inspired by this Slate article: Mermaids are not the new vampires] The concept of something being the “new vampires” is almost exactly like the concept of something being the “new black” — it’s a joke. There is no new black. There is never a new black. Black is black forContinue Reading
Saw Pacific Rim on Sunday… another movie I wanted to love, and unfortunately didn’t. Guillermo del Toro! Nerd obsessions! Giant monsters! Mako Mori! Idris Elba! It looks pretty and there are some parts of it that work great, but overall I was bored too often and surprised and delighted tooContinue Reading
Yes, you can still support me (or anybody else) in the Clarion West 2013 Write-a-thon. If you support me, I will give you a cookie! Well, not actually a cookie. You get a book that I wrote for Nanowrimo in 2008, plus groovy illustrations. Personally, I would rather get a bookContinue Reading
This recent Slate article [Save the movie!] suggests that an over-reliance on the beat sheet from Blake Snyder’s “Save the Cat” books is ruining Hollywood movies, but I think it’s completely wrong. The problem with dull blockbusters isn’t that they are following Snyder’s beat sheet — it’s that they aren’tContinue Reading
The short of it: I didn’t write any blog posts because I was too busy actually writing. So, in the interest of remaining entertaining, I am posting an essay that I started long, long ago, and somehow lost the first half of. This essay is about the relationship between writing-writing,Continue Reading
As part of my birthday shenanigans, we visited the newly remodeled Sundance Cinema in the U-district. (It used to be the Metro) It is now 21-and-over, and you can get a cheese plate and beer and drink in the theater. Also, reserved seats, and really nice big seats with lotsContinue Reading
Dear Facebook, you are broken. You have frustrated me so much that you have made what is supposed to be a PLEASANT SOCIAL EXPERIENCE (ie people wishing me a happy birthday) into a nightmarish exercise in dysfunctional computer interfaces and annoyance that ELICITED AN ACTUAL PRIMAL SCREAM OF FRUSTRATION. Seriously.Continue Reading
I have been on a jury in a criminal trial. We convicted on assault 4 (which has pretty low standards in Washington State – basically if somebody touches you and you don’t want them to, that counts as assault 4) and one other count, but failed to convict on twoContinue Reading
A mixed success. I successfully wrote every day for at least half an hour, except for Tuesday — I was still busy setting up the new website, and so the morning got away from me, then I went to the Elizabeth Hand reading, which then turned into an emotional farewellContinue Reading
(In case it’s not clear, the title should be read in a full-on mad scientist cackle) This is the official debut of the new gothhouse.org, with all the old content arranged on a shiny new WordPress with Comicpress installation. Poor little comics that have been stranded behind my aging, neglectedContinue Reading
After spending pretty much an entire work day last week uploading comics, the new site is almost ready to go. This post is the first test of LiveJournal cross posting.Continue Reading
I happened to recently read this piece on CNN’s website, “When Christians become a ‘hated minority’” (even though the piece itself is from a month ago). It tries too hard to be even-handed, I think, and ends up feeling unreasonably flattering to the “your intolerance of my bigotry is theContinue Reading
In The Rocky Horror Picture Show (which I saw an unconscionable number of times in my adolescence) when Frank N. Furter unveils Rocky, his artificially created superhunk, Janet says, “I don’t like a man with too many muscles.” Frank snarls back, “I didn’t MAKE him for YOU!” That little exchangeContinue Reading