Now kindly unclaw yourself from my cork and let me at my Inspiration Juice*. Filed under: Creative Uses for Skull Spiders *TMD's Creatively Named Blog does not support the unwarranted use of Inspiration Juice for paper-writing as it is a delicate practice and takes a great deal of skill to arrive at the optimum level of Inspiration.
Essays, Not Rants! 299: Long Live The Resistance It's really easy to see the original Star Wars as an anti-establishment film. Han, Luke, and Leia are a trio of rebels vying to undermine and overthrow the Man. And given that the movie is a product of the 70s, it just might be intentional. Empire has the Man crackdown on our plucky heroes, and Return of The Jedi culminates in the final usurpation. Of course, within this framework, any story about plucky rebels can be interpreted as anti-esta
This week's Essay, Not Rant isn't being mirrored on BZP 'cuz it discusses some of the more adult aspects of Jessica Jones. So instead I'll leave you with the following sentiment regarding the show which I'm pretty sure we can all agree on: Hot dang, Luke Cage is HOT.
Essays, Not Rants! 149: But What Is A Strong Female Protagonist? I write a lot about strong female characters here, heck, it was my first post. It’s still something I really care about, seeing how often it pops up in my blog posts here. I’ve got a small list of characters I bring up often: Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Chloe Frazer, Katniss Everdeen, Zoë Washburne, etc. Thing is, it’s easy to conflate the idea of a strong female characters with that of a woman who kicks butt. When we compare
Essays, Not Rants! 222: Top Nine Movies of 2015 Woah, it’s June, and I haven’t done of these yet? Big reason is because there are some movies that I still haven’t seen. Like Carol, which I really need to get around to soon. Then there’s The Room, which I really should see, but am not sure if I’m ready for the toll of that movie. So anyway, here are my, at current, top nine movies of 2015, with an extra space left for a movie that catches me in left field. 9. The Martian It’s a well done m
Essays, Not Rants! 236: Letting People Be Different One of the many (many, many) things I love about Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is that the hunky guy Rebecca is pining for is an Asian guy (named Josh, but that parts not important right now). It’s incredibly refreshing — when was the last time you saw an Asian male as a romantic lead, let alone an object of sexual desire by a white woman in fiction? But that leads me to another one of the things I love about the show: it’s not a big deal. No one cares
So I've spent more time since Mass Effect Andromeda came out playing the game than at work. Or sleeping. Or working on scripts and schtuff. How's your week been?
Essays, Not Rants! 020: The Avengers > The Dark Knight Rises You read that title right: The Avengers was better than The Dark Knight Rises. Man. Always fun to stir up some controversy. Why do I think this? So glad you asked. But let me preface all this with something: I’ve loved Batman for as far back as I can remember. I loved The Dark Knight, heck, it was one of the first movies I added to my BluRay collection. I’m not some Batman hater championing The Avengers because it’s not Batm
Essays, Not Rants! 183: The Question of So What A professor who I had, who I didn’t really like, once told me that I could probably connect any variety of works. But that didn’t necessarily mean I had an essay. Another professor said that you know you’re paper’s successfully if there’s a point that could be proven wrong. Most succinctly, when I presented an idea for a paper to her, yet another professor responded with “So [beep]ing what, Josh; so [beep]ing what?” Which, y’know, is a really g
So yesterday, well, Wednesday, I was at Yankee Stadium for the all NYU graduation where the entire NYU class of 2016 commenced. Or did commencement. Whatever. Was cool. Today (Thursday), though, was the Gallatin graduation, the one specific for my school. Gotta walk across the stage and all that. Did the thing. Got a degree in Narrative (Re)Construction; now to find a job. But first, wooo!
Essays, Not Rants! 104: Top Ten Movies of 2013 I have weird taste. I love pulp, but I love heart, and I love a movie well done. In light of that, here are my top nine movies of 2013. Some movies didn’t make the cut. I really liked 12 Years a Slave for what it managed to do, that is create a story about slavery was genuinely moving yet not a white guilt tract. And I thought Her was fantastic as I did Star Trek Into Darkness, but all those aren’t on this list. So what movies are? These are the
C'mon ya'll! PM me your questions for the powercast! About anything! New York, South Carolina, Singapore, the ship, heart disease, the Singapore military, BZP, Lego, Bionicle! C'mon people!
Essays, Not Rants! 225: Catching ‘em All Like many people my age, I grew up playing Pokémon. And man, I caught ‘em all. Literally all of ‘em. At least in Yellow and Gold; I got close in Ruby and that’s where I stopped. So when Pokémon Go was first announced last year I thought it seemed really cool. Like worth upgrading my four-year-old phone for. In case you haven’t heard, here’s the skinny on Go: It’s Pokémon in real life. You go places, your phone tells you there’s a Pokémon there, you
Essays, Not Rants! 037: In Defense of Science Fiction You ever caught yourself explaining the conceit of a piece of science fiction and, halfway through, realize how stupid it sounds? No matter how cool it is, it just sounds silly on its way out of your mouth? Compare these two ideas: • A group of kids make a movie and wind up learning about life and moving on in this coming of age film. • A mysterious alien appears in small-town Ohio giving a group of kids the adventure of a lifetime. The
I recently learned that I have access to a 3D printer through NYU. That I can use. For free. Because I don't have the time yet to find the plans for an Iron Man gauntlet, I decided to do some digging. Despite losing all my files, I managed to find some old
that I'd emailed Motago so he could render something. Then I decided to start small. Folks. I have a PHYSICAL VERSION of a model I made OVER NINE YEARS AGO. THIS IS THE FRIGGING FUTURE
In case the gif in the entry below isn't enough, here's a shot of the arm itself. (Not staged, I actually have to unscrew it to get it off. Sadly I have no team of robots to assist.)
Essays, Not Rants! 201: We Get The Subtext, Alright? Being stuck in a plane for sixteen hours is only somewhat alleviated by in-flight entertainment. Which is somewhat undermined by a dismal selection of comedies. Because when you’re trapped in a flying aluminum tube, you don’t wanna have to think too hard. Also, I once watched Fruitvale Station on a plane and I was in no mood to have a repeat of that emotional rollercoaster. So I decided to watch The Iron Giant for the first time in over a
Essays, Not Rants! 140: The Pay Off I liked Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. when it first aired. Its potential was a big reason, as was, well, bits with characters. There was little else like it on tv and hey, I’m always on board for something science fiction, especially if it’s in the Marvel-verse. Granted, the show meandered for quite a while, but I enjoyed it all the same for what it was. Monster-of-the-week and decent characters, so hey, I was in. Then the show got good. Really good.We’re a solid
Essays, Not Rants! 294: Spoilers and Reveals Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father. That’s a spoiler, right? What about Luke fights Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back? How about Yoda’s the green dude Luke meets on Dagobah? Or Luke goes to Dagobah? Where does it stop being a spoiler and become plot information? Spoilers used to mean something that’d, well, spoil a surprise, ruin the story. It’d be telling someone that Lando betrays Han in Empire. Since at the point, the story seems to be pre
Essays, Not Rants! 123: Why Guardians of the Galaxy Will Be Awesome Guardians of the Galaxy is not a Marvel movie I expected to ever happen. Not because they’re so, well, out there, but because prior to the announcement of the film I had no idea who they were. Unlike Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America, these guys had missed the general cultural osmosis that many superheroes enjoy. So I read the comics; with the ‘new’ lineup from 2008, not from 1969. Simply put, the comics were weird. There’
Warning: More Grownup Cyprinidae Coming: It's not that being an artist assistant is bad, it's just that it's kinda taxing, and the pay-by-hours isn't enough. But if I get this other gig, do I want that even though the pay is less, it's harder work, but maybe more hours? Do I want to do both? Hold out for something better? Can I hold out for something better? Am I selling myself short? But I need work.
Essays, Not Rants! 300: Let The Past Die Part of why I like The Force Awakens is that its characters are, in many ways, Star Wars fans themselves. Rey and Kylo Ren both grew up on stories about the Rebellion and the Empire (though with different takeaways) and so want to live out their version of the stories. Kylo fashions himself into an ersatz Darth Vader, Rey sees the chance to join up with the legendary Han Solo and maybe become a Jedi like Luke Skywalker. The Last Jedi, on the other hand,
