Author: Chuck
-
How many Spartans does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
I’ve got to admit I was biased against 300 from the start, because I don’t like Frank Miller. I don’t like his art, and his writing only works for me when he sticks to one or two of his strong areas. And I can never tell where he’s coming from — he always strikes me…
-
The best song of the BOSTON band of all the times
John Scalzi’s blog passes along the story that Boston’s lead singer died on Friday. He also passes along some damn lies, saying that the band’s “moment is over.” Spoken like a guy who never played Guitar Hero. Or, for that matter, never heard Boston. There are very few “perfect” pop/rock albums, and Boston is one…
-
Flight 180 Part 2: The Pile-Up
Seems like every time I make an effort to meet Hollywood halfway, they slap me down. Last night I watched Final Destination 2, and it used up all my good will towards idiotic consumer entertainment product. In this case, Flight 180 Part 2: The Pile-Up is a better title. Partly because they mention Flight 180…
-
Death be not too proud for focus testing
I watched Final Destination a while back, and I enjoyed it just fine. It’s perfect for all your young-people-getting-killed-in-gruesome-ways needs. I suspect that this is one of those cases where waiting for the DVD is hundreds of times better than seeing it when it first came out. For one thing, the opening works as well…
-
An Evening at the Improv
Do the “Lost” guys seriously expect anyone to still believe they’re not making it up as they go along? I feel like a joiner, seeing as how it’s fashionable now to rag on “Lost,” but there’s just so much material there. They try stunt casting, and the best they can dig up is Cheech. Their…
-
LA Congestion
I’m currently down in the Lesser Los Angeles area (calling it “greater” just doesn’t feel right to me). The weather has been perfect today — sunny with just a few clouds, the temperature in the high 70s or low 80s with no trace of the San Francisco chill I left this morning. I spent the…
-
One Duuuuuhhhhhrrrr
Every year I think it’d be just awesome to go to the San Diego Comic Con, because I’ve never been to the city or to the convention. And every year I go to Wondercon here in San Francisco, and it kills every desire I have to go to a large gathering of nerds ever again…
-
I wish I knew how to quit you, Mickey
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but I recognize it’s vitally important to keep the internets up to speed on my whereabouts. I just got back from a week-long trip down to southern California, cementing my coveted status as The Most Boring Business Traveler Ever. I’ve complained about Los Angeles so much that I’ve…
-
Circadian Arrhythmia
No two ways about it, the past two weeks have sucked. I think I left the apartment only once the entire time, my days and nights have gotten completely reversed, and each day I’m looking more and more like a mugshot of Ted Kaczynski. The key difference, of course, being that he managed to get…
-
Lovely Golden Ointment
Still buried under work at the moment, but for the sake of updating: I’d heard about TV cook Nigella Lawson, and how her schtick was basically food as barely-disguised metaphor for sex, but I had no idea how intense it was until I saw this clip of her making Chocolate Hot Pots: By the time…
-
Oh, do we have a clip?
I’ve been sequestered in my apartment for the last week, and I think I can finally say what the project is. I’ve been helping out with Telltale’s Sam & Max adventure games. The first episode I worked on, “Abe Lincoln Must Die!” is coming out on Gametap this Thursday, and then on Telltale’s site March…
-
Writer’s Workshop: Pacing
I’m currently under contract to get paid money for stuff that I write, which means that I am a professional writer. And when you’ve been a professional writer as long as I have, you know how crucial it is to master pacing. It’s a tricky concept to explain to you amateurs, so here’s a simplified…