If social media use is dwindling is it bots n the like? Or were we given this wonderful opportunity to communicate...and realized many of us just don't have much interesting to say?
And that while some people can be argumentative A-holes
others become A-holes when people disagree with them
lol

Likewise: Batman going from a guy in suit with a few utility belt gadgets to a guy whose costume is pimped out more than Iron Man's armour (see also: Black Panther) lol
3/3

..interesting "message" for Bruce Wayne *not* be a billionaire; among his rich friends he's seen as a relatively poor millionaire *because* he gives away so much money on philanthropy (like Dolly Parton!)
But I suspect creators & fans both are too in love with a kind of Alpha Male archetype. 3/3

Funnily, even as the superhero genre wants to be more adult it can equally seem more childish: notably the need for every hero/villain to be the strongest/smartest/richest/etc. So Batman goes from being vaguely "wealthy" to a billionaire whose family shaped Gotham.
I've said before it'd be an...1/3

Ya. I have no idea if Howard really meant it that way or if it's just easy to read that into it, but I always felt such undercurrents give the story some heft (and I agree that it's one of the best of the Conan stories).

I always think of "Red Nails" as Conan...does a Star Trek episode :)

I've always thought Feldon's was one of the great comedy performances: straight (wo)man but still getting laughs, and tying seeming character contradictions (capable woman who idolizes the incomptent Smart) into a quasi-believable character

There should be a middle ground to discussing shows between RWers shrieking "Go woke, go broke!" and fans blithely insisting haters gonna hate. These shows can have wildly uneven writing (and I was never juiced about a SF Academy idea...even when Harve Bennett floated the idea in the '80s lol)

Contributing to and reading pieces on Shelfdust is one of the best ways to engage with comics. Every week there's some delightful. And Steve is an incredible editor who always helps bring out people's best work

working on an essay about comic book thought balloons vs the more cinematic approach, and the psychological underpinnings, because they do different things.
But not sure if there's even a pub to submit to (let alone one that would publish it...my views tend to be atypical lol)

I mean, age/fan loyalty would tilt me toward the Enterprise NCC-1701

But in terms of cool spaceships, got to throw
The Liberator (Blake's 7)
The Valley Forge (Silent Running)
on the board :)

Random thought recalling how in high school there was a German song that was a global pop hit at-the-time and we discussed/studied it in German class. The song?
99 Luftballons
Kind of wonder if nowadays (with the rise in RW reactionary-ism) the teacher would get in trouble for doing that?

As vile & unhinged as this is, like lot of the modern Trump/MAGA/GOP stuff, its roots go deeper, with even progressive/lib/left Americans sometimes seduced by American Exceptionalism/Manifest Destiny rhetoric; "jokes" about CDN not being a "real" country etc have been floated for years :(

Living thru the current era really reinforces my long held cynicism of all those old apologist claims about the 1930s rise of fascism ("Know one really understood..." "He was so charismatic..." "It was a response to economic hardship and reparation costs...")

I'd argue, tho, that conservatives don't look for "allies" so much as "useful idiots" in the sense that, for examp., a racist, homophobic conservative will absolutely ally with a racist homosexual...but (secretly) intends to go after the homosexual next. I'm not sure liberals are as duplicitous.

..to milk for pulpy adventure. "A Home for Roddy Gunnigan" (The Masques Chronicles vol. 1) drew upon the Newfoundland Resettlement program for a noirish tale of a supervillaiin on the run, a heroine on his trail, and wrapped up with a very comic booky (almost Len Wein-ish) twist ending. 2/2

It always bugged me when writers would insist Canada was too "boring" to make a good setting for entertainment. To me that was a failure of imagination. So in The Masques Chronicles I deliberately *challenged* myself, sometimes picking unlikely themes...1/2
www.amazon.ca/Masques-Chro...

By the Wayside; nicely done (small scale) interview/pop culture show 👇
David A. Lloyd's comment of putting a slight Left/lib spin on genres often coded as Right-leaning struck a bit of a chord with me and my own approach :)
(tho obv Right/Left labels can be complicated lol)

Keep seeing plugs for writing work shops, writing classes, editing services, etc.
I mean...I don't need places to teach me how to be a better writer*, I need active markets to send the stories I've already written!

(*I don't mean I'm a "great" writer; just markets are as important as lessons lol)

I mean, yes, you always hone your craft ; I can look at old stories I wrote and think, yeah, maybe a few he said/she said would've served just as well as more colourful attributions. But it can feel like everyone is told to polish their work so much you sand off the patina that made it shiny.
4/4

..they don't read prologues/epilogues as if they've taken a moral stand...when all it says is you don't enjoy reading, because different stories have different needs and prologues can serve different functions depending on story/author (in fairness I do wonder if this controversy is just Trolls).3/4

..with words, language, form. And I don't mean in a profound/pretentious way. I just mean I like words, language. The whole: only use he said/she said. Okay, but sometimes I like to colour it with "he harrumphed/she exhorted." 'Cause it's fun to play with words, imagery. Likewise folk bragging...2/4

Seeing a flurry of writing stuff on social media (advice, controversies, to prologue or not prologue, etc) and one thing I wonder is: do people read and/or write...for fun? Everyone seems so super-serious laying down their dos/do nots and it just seems so dour. When I write I oft like to play...
1/4

So so so soooo many struggling, desperate, enthusiastic writers out there eager for even a crumb of work, a sliver of opportunity...and publications use "writers" who can't even be arsed to write their own book reviews (the dream: to be paid to read/watch stuff and opine on them!)

..they simply re-confirm your editorial bias then does that mean you reject pieces, not 'cause they are "bad" but because they don't fit your bias?
And so, dunno. I'm stuck wondering if I write *objectively* bad essays, or if I'm just not writing the right kind (and if it's "who you know" lol)
6/6

..getting down to it. And seemed a bit of a hammer/nail argument (if you get the reference). Worse (or problematic) the editor introduced the piece by saying the essay "re-confirmed" his own take on the topic. But surely a think piece should make you...think? If you're selecting essays because...5/6

..an essay they had posted (by another writer) and found it kind of...blah? At least, turgid (long verbose paragraphs full of obtuse terminology...when surely clarity of ideas, esp. in a "pop culture" essay, is important) that seemed to spend half the essay setting up the argument rather than...4/6

..writer's book and was mostly critical, reacting much the way I had. Leaving me either scratching my head (them telling me to read a writer they had criticized) or more demoralized (since they were saying I wasn't as good as a writer we *both* felt had shortcomings). But more, I tried reading...3/6

..to more generic "thanks but no.") But this stuck in my mind (more than most rejects) because it was a topic I'd been reading about literally since childhood! Also a writer they recommended I read I *had* read...and oft wasn't impressed with. But weirdly, I realized they had a review of that...2/6

Was thinking of writing a pop culture essay. And then ennui hit...
First, looked like the site I was thinking of pitching is dead (hasn't up-dated in a few years)
But also it was a site that rejected a prev piece I pitched rather bluntly suggesting it wasn't up to their standards (as opposed...1/6