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Normally, when you see a black man or a woman president, an asteroid is about to hit the Statue of Liberty. -- Jon Stewart, Oscars 08 Reply
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The Brainy Pirate's Mast Full Post View | List View
my thoughts on culture, etc.--from a Christian-academic-fan perspective....
- Moving!
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Yahoo 360 is shutting down and moving the blog over to profiles.yahoo.com/brainypirate .Friday June 19, 2009 - 01:31am (EDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
- Mark Waid on writing comics
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I found an interesting interview with comics author Mark Waid in which he says some interesting things about how he comes up with his stories:"But when I write, I start with the hero’s internal conflict first. What does he want? What’s in his way? What’s going on inside his head? If there’s a villain who can help me externalize that, swell."
That makes sense, and it's useful to know to understand how to read Waid's comics.
But....
I worry that it makes the hero's storyline too allegorical, maybe even solipsistic. Doesn't that sound like the way Grey's Anatomy comes up with the medical issue for each episode? 1) Figure out what the doctor's are going through; 2) introduce said issue as a medical metaphor.
It's neat, it's tidy, it shows good craftmanship -- and yet it seems false. (If I were one of the supervillains, how would I feel knowing I'm only a tool to explore the hero's personal issues?)
Now, if Waid simply means that he uses villains to create the internal conflict for the hero, then I'm okay with that. But if he's simply using villains to externalize a hero's emotional or mental state, then I worry that the story is overly-crafted. Movie reviewers sometimes complain that characters feel plot-driven more than organically created, and I worry that this is the danger of Waid's approach.
Still, interesting food for thought on how to write these kinds of stories.....Tags: comics Sunday May 3, 2009 - 09:20pm (EDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments - Good News from Geoff Johns!
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I just ran across an interview from last year where Legion of 3 Worlds writer Geoff Johns is asked about his favorite Legion characters, and I was thrilled that he mentioned Dawnstar and Wildfire!
Huzzah! Glad to see some love for the Disco Legion!!!! :)
(And having read issue #4 of the series, I'm just as thrilled to see that he's bringing them back together!)Tags: comics, pop-culture Saturday May 2, 2009 - 07:19pm (EDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments - Wolverine's amazing healing power....
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also keeps his hair dry even in the middle of intense combat! It's incredible!Tags: film Friday May 1, 2009 - 09:22pm (EDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
- A Quote and a Link
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Lisa Rosen has a nice article on some of the best bit-part casting of this past year (registration may be required to read the article):
- Brian Dierker 'Into the Wild'
- Peter Friedman 'The Savages'
- Garret Dillahunt 'The Assassination of Jesse James . . .'
- Gene Jones 'No Country for Old Men'
- Alessandro Nivola 'Grace Is Gone'
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And a quick quote from Josh Levin at Slate from his review of Meet the Spartans:
"...the movie is about an hour long and probably took about six hours to make..."I recall my college friend Scott Morlock complaining about having to sing songs that take longer to perform than they did to write. That comment has been one of the best pieces of aesthetic judgment I have ever heard.
Tags: review-quotes, film Thursday January 31, 2008 - 03:05pm (EST) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
