Science Fiction, Technology, and the Singularity
Science fiction writers, as a group, seem to share more common traits than writers of other genres (and, indeed, other groups of people in general). Many have the same background, […]
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: The Problem with Portraying Violence
The amount of male-on-female violence in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is hardly surprising in a book with the original Swedish title Men who Hate Women. The book is […]
Brave: Gender, Bias, and Expectations
Pixar’s Brave, long-anticipated (at least in some circles), was released to surprisingly lukewarm reviews. As of the writing, it holds 77% on Rotten Tomatoes (edging out Cars, at 74%) and an […]
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The Difference between Illustrating and Writing
Given the number of successful writer-illustrators out there, it’s perhaps unsurprising that writing and illustrating are so often treated as concurrent skills when, in fact, they are quite different and […]
The Art of Receiving Criticism
My previous two posts discussed the art of providing helpful criticism. This time, I’ll be discussing the author’s side of the process: How to receive criticism so that you get […]
The Art of Criticism, Part II
Last time, I discussed the different types of criticism and how your methods should vary accordingly. This time, I’ll discuss general rules that you should always follow when critiquing someone […]
The Art of Criticism
Everyone’s a critic. This is a shame, because not everyone is good at it. Everyone has an opinion and seems to think that, not only are all (or, at least, […]
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak died yesterday at the age of 83. Considering that we were all children once, adults understand children rather poorly, a fact which all too often comes to light […]
About No More Dead Parents
To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness. – Lady Augusta Bracknell, The Importance of Being Earnest Being a parent […]