From the monthly archives:

January 2010

Turn Off, Tune Out, Drop Out: Timothy Leary’s Advice Twisted to Talk to Writers

January 18, 2010

Okay, “Turn On. Tune In. Drop Out.” Is the correct phrasing but while trying to get to sleep the other night, it occurred to me that if we tweak Leary’s counterculture contribution, we can use it to help us as writers: Turn Off: One of my New Year’s resolutions was to keep the television off [...]

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Superheroes: The Character of the Gods

January 15, 2010

I’ve been a fan of comics and superheroes most of my life, but it wasn’t until I was an adult (or ‘adultish’) that I began to appreciate their roots are much deeper than just fueling the imaginings of geek kids. In some ways, the superhero is the reincarnation of the classical Gods – powerful yet [...]

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Criminal Boredom

January 13, 2010

Image via Wikipedia I like Michael Mann’s work.  I was (and am) a devoted fan of the Miami Vice show.  The Last of the Mohicans is one of my favorites and high in my movie quote rotation.  Manhunter, even though it differs quite a bit from the Harris novel Red Dragon, is superior to the generally [...]

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Looking Back on Classic Horror Movies – Frankenstein

January 11, 2010

I recently watched several of the classic Universal Studios monster movies with my daughters.    Last night’s selection was Frankenstein.  They were somewhat unimpressed and I can understand why.  The story as presented in this version is kind of a mess, picking and choosing only some bits from Mary Shelley’s novel, and playing up the “monster” [...]

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Poetic Pain: Teaching Poetry to High Schoolers

January 8, 2010

Image by Micheo via Flickr During the holidays, I met up with a longtime friend who, like me, teaches high school English. He told me that he was going to be teaching a semester-long poetry class at his school, and he asked if I had any suggestions. Here’s what I said: Pick poems that you [...]

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