Dear Literature: An Apology of Sorts
Dear Literature, I apologize. For the longest time, it was just you and me in a room, and the stories too. Stories of good and evil, stories of Potter and Atreides, nutrients for my boyhood imagination. And then high school happened and I had to bump up the ante. It became embarrassing for some reason … Read more
Why I Hate Writing My Novel
More than talk radio, more than the music of Bruno Mars, more than stubbing my toe in the early morning, more than the books of James Patterson, I hate writing my novel. I am not the type of person who continues to push forward like some brave adventurer roaming the unknown. More accurately, I’d say … Read more
How Will You Die? (Project Zomboid)
You slam the door behind you and lock it. Outside, you can hear them moaning, the shuffling of their feet upon the unkempt lawn. You back away from front door and hear your wife’s panicked voice from upstairs call, “Honey?” There is a burning in your lower stomach and you touch the sticky wound. … Read more
The Tragedy of “44 Inch Chest”
What happens when a man is robbed of his virility? What does that word even mean, truly? Is it a synonym for honor, or is just macho bravado bullshit? And if that virility does exist and it is stolen, can it be regained through vengeance? All these questions lie at the heart of Malcolm Venville’s … Read more
The Importance of voice in creative writing
Hunter S.Thompson sits before me in a plastic lawn chair, frustratingly trying to light up a cigarette with an uncooperative Zippo. Jesus, he says, do you think you could have found a more fucking uncomfortable chair? Okay, okay, it actually isn’t Hunter S. Thompson himself (but you probably already knew that since he’s dead). … Read more
Back to the Future, Woody Allen Style
There is perhaps no other film genre more diverse in terms of quality than City Symphonies. City Symphonies are films that attempt to portray the qualities that make a particular city renowned. When done successfully this type of film can be fresh, fantastic, and insightful; it can also make you long to visit somewhere you’ve … Read more
I Owe J.J. Abrams 10 Bucks
When the trailer for Super 8 debuted a year ago I was less than excited as (A) I’ve never really been on the Abrams bandwagon since I haven’t seen more than a handful of episodes of Lost, (B) it looked like a mixture of E.T. and Cloverfield. I’ve never had a warm place in my … Read more
Gomorrah (2008) Review
There is a scene in Antonie Fuqua’s Training Day where Ethan Hawke is thrown into a bathtub by drug dealers and has a double barrel shotgun pressed into his perspiring face while he begs for his life. This scene is without a doubt one of the most tense and raw moments I’ve ever witnessed in … Read more
Bad Classics: “This Side of Paradise”
A couple of weeks ago I decided to read a novel written by Fitzgerald that wasn’t The Great Gatsby. I had read that and some of his short stories, and was curious to experience some of his other novels just for the sake of doing so. I chose his first one, This Side of Paradise. … Read more
Goodbye. Farewell. Amen
One of the hallmarks of my generation is our hatred of sentimentality. We are accustomed to rejecting any method of expression embraced by prior generations, labeling them as clichés and asinine aphorisms. We favor the expression of the soul only if it is boxed within intricate labyrinths, buried beneath layers of subtlety and levels of … Read more
