We’ve been gardening since we got our first “real” house in 2011, and each season includes at least one grave tactical error (Ahem, “learning experience,”). They all come down to one problem – Every year I try to outsmart myself, and it never, ever works. This year, I outsmarted myself twice: I got antsy, and fancy-pantsy. The antsiness …
I was trained to be an artistic snob, and as Jimmy Stewart would say, I was a very apt pupil. The prevailing attitude in my college theater program — or to do them justice, the attitude I was most primed and receptive for — was that commercial entertainment might be a way to pay …
I was working on a fantastic, thoughtful, philosophical piece on whether genre fiction is formulaic or just taps into a compelling story structure, and the inner conflict writers and artists feel over commercialism versus “pure” art. Then I realized Blues Traveler did a much better job. And they’re way cooler than me. So here you …
In honor of Holy Week, here’s a little presentation I wrote back in my acting days for an arts group discussing the Virtue of Humility. Hope ya like it. But if you don’t, I’ll try to be okay with that. Here’s the problem with too much art – it starts to hurt you. I don’t …
The Golden Age writers toyed with various sets of rules of “fair play.” The oath of the famous “Detection Club,” which boasted Christie and Sayers in its membership, was: Do you promise that your detectives shall well and truly detect the crimes presented to them using those wits which it may please you to bestow …