About stories of all kinds
Ten years apart, set in two very different periods of Poe's life, the films The Raven (2012) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022) may not seem very similar portrayals of the American poet. Yet, when I rewatched them recently in anticipation of the 175th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's death, I found more correlation than… Continue reading “The man you’re looking for is a poet”: Edgar Allan Poe in Film
Poe has quickly become one of my favourite authors (if not the favourite judging by how often I reference him or his writings) and as such must have an extra special dedicated post for once rather than simply popping up throughout everything else I write like a macabre jack-in-the-box.
It was mid-August. "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary," I was browsing through the eclectic offerings of a free movie streaming service. "Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore..." The classic movie listings presented a familiar title to my eyes. "As of some one gently rapping, rapping… Continue reading Quoth Vincent Price for evermore
I don’t know if anyone is aware of this “really old movie,” but The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 film adaptation of the 1954 book of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is the first volume of the larger work The Lord of the Rings, which helped define an entire genre… Continue reading May the Fellowship Be Unbroken, By and By: A Lord of the Rings Appreciation Post
The context. In my third year of university, I took a class upon the topic of Middle English romances. We’re taking chivalry, we’re talking Vikings and Bretons, we’re talking lords and ladies and castles and whatnot. We’re talking spoofs, exoticism, and legendary revisionism. The longest piece we read was Sir Gawain and the Green Knight… Continue reading An afternoon with The Green Knight
I have a problem that’s been going on for quite sometime. I’ve sort of noticed it off and on in the background, but always dismissed it as something I don’t really need to take steps to fix. Until now. It came to a head when I went back to a WIP and started thinking about… Continue reading Secondary Characters: The Curse of the Dark Horse
So I was reading along in The Nest of the Sparrowhawk, and in one scene a paragraph of narration caught my attention and reminded me of something else. In the scene, some Cavaliers have been cornered in the upper room of an illegal gambling house by Cromwell's guards. They draw their swords initially, taking umbrage… Continue reading Enjolras, Cromwell, and Counter-Revolutionary Dictates of Common Sense
I'm re-reading the Raven Cycle by Maggie Steifvater right now. For a long time, I've had this comparison in my head between the second book, The Dream Thieves, and this scene from Inception. In The Dream Thieves, Ronan has the ability to pull objects and creatures out of his dreams and give them form in… Continue reading Inception’s alternate title: The Dream Thieves
You know those books that come out and they're a great hit and suddenly they're everywhere, in every store, and everyone is raving about them? And for one reason or another, you just don't subscribe to the hype--either you're busy reading something else, or you just don't have time, or aren't in the mood for… Continue reading 7 Popular YA Book Series I Never Got Into
Star Trek--Shakespeare's Star Wars I recently made a post about how drama compares to narrative and poetry. (Link here.) Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher is a good example of narrative (film) converted to drama employing poetry (verse). And I couldn't help but think the line "To boldly go where none hath gone" was a… Continue reading Bold Bones
Fictitiously Yours 