Columns

Breaking Worse? The 'Ozark' Pilot Treads Dark Territory

September 22nd, 2017

Heavy spoiler warning!!! Ozark eschews the traditional "slow burn" that has defined (and sometimes plagued) television drama recently with a pilot episode designed to surprise you with gut punches—all to prepare you for the uppercuts yet to come.

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Road Trip Horror: 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' and 'Nocturnal Animals'

September 20th, 2017

Nocturnal Animals, released in 2016, took a classic horror movie trope and added prestige to it. That is, the idea that traveling on rural highways, especially at night, will result in an encounter with lunatics and death. This has existed at least as far back as 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with its band of five teens picking up a hitchhiker which turns out to be a catalyst for a night of brutal violence and madness. Then there’s 1986’s The Hitcher, in which C.

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The Worst Required Reading

September 19th, 2017

It’s back to school time. According to the aisles of stores. Man, I hated that as a kid. It’s like, I KNOW we have to go back to school. You don’t have to put up a big banner about it. That’s like having a huge, enthusiastic banner at a funeral: “You’re Dead!” In fact, the more I think about it, the more I like that comparison. Those back to school banners do signify a death: The death of summer. The death of fun. The death of reading whatever the hell you want.

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The Little Genre That Could: Why Now is the Time to Read Bizarro

September 18th, 2017

For some strange reason, there are more articles about the origins and definition of bizarro than about what this genre is doing now. While the history of the genre is great, and defining it is as entertaining as anything else when it comes to debating literary definitions, the fact that bizarro has grown exponentially in the last few years is what I think we should be focusing on. Once an almost underground movement, bizarro is now everywhere, and the authors currently working under its banner are among some of the best contemporary purveyors of fiction across all genres.

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What Writers Can Learn From the Films of Darren Aronofsky

September 15th, 2017

Image I'm so stoked for Darren Aronofsky's new film, Mother! Ever since I saw Pi I've been a super-fan. I've watched all of his movies multiple times and have used them as background atmosphere while I worked on certain projects. Going through all of his films can be as helpful and inspiring as any craft book. One of my goals is to try to do what Aronofsky does with his films in my own writing.

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The Defenders: Defeated by Dull Writing

September 14th, 2017

The Defenders, Marvel’s epic crossover between its (mostly) beloved Netflix series, finally landed on the internet to a mixed response. While many fans greatly enjoyed watching their favorite heroes interact with each other (much like they did in The Avengers five years ago), others found their fun tempered by serious flaws in the storytelling. The show gets off to a promising start, but by the end it has squandered its potential by making all of the same mistakes as its predecessors, all while adding a slew of new ones.

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Out of Inspiration? Turn to Writing Prompts

September 13th, 2017

Ah, inspiration. Or, as some writers might instead say: Hello, darkness, my old friend.

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Using The *Big* Words: Five Tips On Making Jargon And Tech Work For Your Writing, Rather Than Against It

September 12th, 2017

I love work.

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The Inauthenticity of a Fuckless World

September 7th, 2017

Original image: Arthouse Studio via Pexels I can still remember the first time I dropped an F-bomb. My friends and I had tied a giant log to a rope hanging from a swing set, and we were spinning it around. I got too close to that spinning, wooden devil, and it blasted me in the face, knocking out my front teeth. In that moment, I used a word I had been very familiar with but had yet to ever utter.  Fuck. 

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Ten Reasons I Hate Remakes...And They're Not What You Think

September 6th, 2017

Header image by mahdi chaghari On one hand, I try not to discuss movies with people online because most folks have very strong opinions about everyone else's opinions, and because trying to escape my ultraviolent past is hard to do when someone mansplains a film to me or tries to explain why I didn't "get" a movie. However, from time to time, I engage in movie talk with friends, and one of the most touchy subjects is remakes.

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