Featuring
Aristotle's Poetics in 5 Easy Steps
Exciting wonder in your audience is your final goal
Do not give your hero a "tragic flaw" like hubris
The actual tragedy is the constant, potential fate of the character
Do not restrict your stories with the so-called "Classical Unities"
Figure out which precept of life you want to turn on its head
A Quick Note on Joseph Campbell
"Professor Campbell places the cause of the monomyth squarely on the human psyche: it's our unconscious minds that generates the Power of Myth. The problem ... his account of why the modern reader is almost completely protected from the Power of Myth."
An Immodest Proposal: Campbell-totle
"The downward movement of the Monomyth (the tragedy), must excite in the audience wonder -- and this wonder is then answered by the knowledge learned by the hero. It is this new idea that not only unites the story, but also contextualizes (finally) the suffering the hero endured, and reshapes the world as he brings this idea to the world on his upward movement (the comedy)."
Katharsis in Aristotle's Poetics
"Tragedy provides the Ancient Greeks with other sacrifices -- humane ones for our very human mistakes."
Theories of Art: Campbell, Nietzsche, Lovecraft and Aristotle
"In theory, Lovecraft seems to like the Gothic / Byronic antihero. In practice he seems to prefer Men of Science who have devolved to unreliable, possibly insane, narrators because of their cosmic experience. Characters like Herbert West seem to embody both (the Byronic Man of Science)."
Eisenhower's Speech on the Military Industrial Complex
"Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite."
Why You Don't Read Comics Anymore (if ever)
"Don't get me wrong, there are comics out there very much worth your while (and I can name a lot of them if you ask me), but the comic book shops probably aren't carrying them, and, most likely you'll just wait to see the movie."
And More! ...
*Art samples and shameless self-promotion included
“Processing… Processing… The Processing” and “I am a vector of my nascent dreams”, TPP Anthology 2004 ISBN Number 0-9543621-4-4
“(Re)Packaging Grittiness: Nihilism in Ultimate Spider-Man”, Comic-Con 2005
The Hierograph: Volume 2, “Lesser Men Rule Over the Middle Lands” (illustrated poem)
Jack Bauer for President: Terrorism and Politics in 24, “Simulating Terror” (essay)
Marlow: Soul of Darkness [Web Page]
Kid Lightspeed & the Neutron Women (serialized) [Web Page]
Marlow OGN (collects “Soul of Darkness” and “River of Symbols”) ISBN Number 978-1-897548-30-1 [Web Page]
Herald of Olympus (forthcoming)
Memori (short film) (completed)
Still Alive (short film) - Story
Stateless Media
Petman Will Pick Up Your Groceries, Your Pad Thai, and Your Date Whose Name is Ginger
Occupy Silicon Valley Will Probably Be The Death Knell of the Occupiers Everywhere
Wannabe Heroes Outside Capitol Kill Mostly Innocent, Crazy Woman for Being Crazy
The Rise of the Geek, Slave Leia, and Why You Are Very Important