Is it possible or desirable for a good story to make its audience uncomfortable? Everyone I know has at least one or two things they can’t bear reading about or watching. For some, having to perceive sympathetic characters in certain kinds of physical or mental pain is too much. For…
Three totally easy steps: 1. Do not have children, (a) significant other(s), family, or friends. 2. Do not have a job or hobbies. 3. Put everyone else in a spaceship and send them on a tour of the galaxy at the speed of light so while they experience only a…
(But first… happy birthday, A.! You probably don’t want to be associated with this blog entry, but TOO BAD! HAHAHA.) I believe in writing the scenes that serve the story. If I’m too embarrassed to try my hand at a scene that my story needs, then I’m writing the wrong…
Gender stereotypes make me viscerally angry. Good for you, you might think. Stereotypes should make us all angry! They’re lazy writing, lazy storytelling, lazy thinking. So this is news? It’s not. I know it’s not news. But at the same time, how can it not be important when even though everyone…
This High Holiday season, I thought about a joke.* Three rabbinical students are praying on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The first student, a pious individual who has spent years and years studying Torah and Talmud and who spends all his spare time going over learned commentary, is moved…
I blame Rosh Hashanah for the fact that this blog entry is a day late. The Jewish New Year is so involved. It’s not like the secular new year, where traditions include champagne and a party. Instead, it’s a joyous but serious occasion that involves synagogue services and starting the…
(Happy birthday to a friend who probably doesn’t want his name on the Internets, and welcome back to my random blog! I suppose this topic is timely on Labour Day. Guess you’ll have to read and see.) When I was in high school, my classmates and I were aware of…
Reluctant readers, this post is not for you. You are the naturals, already well versed in this most precious of skills that we voracious bookworms lack. Not for you the precarious stacks listing on your bedside table, the shelves overflowing (but already two layers deep!) with acquisitions never read, the…
(Even you, Elementary. Though I admit your circumstances are slightly different. BUT I WILL *NOT* SPOIL THEM, SO READ ON WITHOUT FEAR!) I love updates of Sherlock Holmes, but I have not yet encountered a single version of Irene Adler who does not make me want to punch the character in…
(PRE-BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT: This is my last Sunday update! From now on, I’m switching to WEEKLY MONDAY POSTS. Just to keep you on your toes.) Once upon a time, I wrote a comedic blog entry making fun of my own embarrassment about writing a make-out scene. Then, I got a stats package…