Settling the Serial Comma

Well, you “don’t need” your appendix either. Would you like me to remove it for you?

Didn’t think so.

Blog Maintenance

Sometimes you have to look through the past, see what is worth keeping, what is not worth keeping, and be honest with yourself about successes and failures.

Writing 3.4 – Giving & Getting Advice

The only thing writers do more than write is give advice about writing. May as well put in my two cents. I’ve thrown together advice I’ve been given but didn’t understand until recently.

Time – chapter 1 (1st draft)

Well, it’s sure been a long time since I’ve done this. For many years I’ve wanted to write a time travel story, but the problem was that I just never had a believable device. Welcome to – Time. It’s only a working title and, yes, it’s rather obvious. Well, let me clarify. No time travel device…

“Bad Words” – film review (B+)

Jason Bateman has had an interesting acting career. He started in the early 80’s as a regular character on Little House on the Prairie, a very successful tv show from when you youngsters weren’t yet born. From there, Silver Spoons, and Valerie, a big hit with Valerie Harper. For a long time he was unfairly compared…

Back in the Day: “Batman” (June ’89)

In Jaws, when Chief Brody is asked why someone who is afraid of the water would live on an island, he says, “It’s only an island if you look at it from the water.” Similarly, the 80’s were only horrible when you looked at them from beyond the 80’s. It was more style, less substance, and that’s…

Writing 3.3 – “The Death Story”

In January of ’84, after a decent winter break between college semesters, I was excited and nervous about something new in my college schedule – theater. Not theater from a book but more like an intro to acting. I had always loved movies and plays, but I had never actually done anything towards joining a…

Back in the Day: “Do the Right Thing” (June ’89)

“…you’d waste a lot of time searching for a better first film by any other writer-director.” – me Hard to believe it was 25 years ago this June that a much unexpected film was so provocative that, during the Oscars for which Do the Right Thing was eligible but largely ignored, Kim Basinger was willing to…

Back in the Day: “Dead Poets Society” (June ’89)

Comic book pages can look great from a distance. Just ask Vivek. However, when you get up close enough, it’s really just a bunch of different color dots. There are also some movies that seem brilliant until a close examination shows they aren’t as great as you first thought. One of those is Dead Poets Society,…

Writing 3.2 – “Finding your voice”

One of the greatest compliments I have ever received was from a colleague who had just read one of my sarcastic emails sent to inform the rest of the staff about something unimportant. Sue: “You will never get away with sending an anonymous letter.” Me: “Whaddya mean?” Sue: “Because I don’t even have to look at…