Ghostbusters (no, the 2016 one)

Posted on by Henry

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My first title for this was “Deconbusting Ghoststructures,” but I’m setting my sights a bit lower than that.

New Ghostbusters and Old Ghostbusters are not the same movie. Thank goodness. I can watch both of these movies, enjoy both of them, and not have to worry that I’m stuck watching the same thing twice. There are plenty of moments that are obvious homages to the original, and they pretty obviously had to tie the new movie to the old one given the subject material and premise, but I feel like they’re different enough that the connection is almost more baggage and drag than it’s worth. The name and premise are enough to make this a target of nostalgia-hazed criticism, when it really ought to be viewed (and reviewed) as it’s own thing.

The fact is, New Ghostbusters is an enjoyable movie. It fits into the summer blockbuster mould. It made me laugh, it scared me a bit, it was fun. I have some problems with it, but on the whole I’d say it’s worth watching.

Now, with that out of the way, I’ll engage in hypocrisy and do more to compare the two.

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Flash Fiction Fragment: RTFMap

Posted on by Henry

I found this piece that I started a few weeks ago for one of Chuck Wendig’s prompts, and realized that I never posted it. I also didn’t bring it to much of a conclusion, but I think you might like it anyway. Enjoy.

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Miska Take Two: 7/13/2016

Posted on by Henry

Near the end of the semester I had to rewrite the first scene of the Miska story for class, but somehow I never shared it with you. Here it is, with a little bit extra tacked on at the end. I suspect I’ll have more of this for you over the next while. Enjoy!

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Commence Radio Silence

Posted on by Henry

I will be busy this week, running a larp at The Wayfinder Experience’s staff week. I’m afraid that this means that I’m unlikely to post anything this week. I know I’d only just gotten back into the rhythm of posting twice a week, but don’t worry. I’ll be back. Until then, enjoy yourselves, and maybe check out the beautiful cyberpunk hack of Lady Blackbird, Always/Never/Now.

Flash Fiction: What Have I Done?

Posted on by Henry

This week’s (second) flash fiction is brought to you courtesy of Chuck Wendig’s challenge on terribleminds. I rolled randomly and got “An accident occurs which may be no accident.” My first attempt started going somewhere but ultimately bored me. My second attempt was, I think, much better. Also potentially disturbing.

Enjoy.

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Flash Fan Fiction? Have Some Zelgan

Posted on by Henry

You can thank FigmentForms for this one. Despite my love of other people’s works and my love of writing things, I have never before, to the best of my knowledge, written fan fiction. Unless you count works based on RPGs that I’ve run or played in, in which case I’ve been doing it for a while?

Anyway. FigmentForms has a beautiful comic which is itself fanfic, exploring an alternate Hyrule in which Zelda and Ganondorf consider marrying one another for reasons of state. This is the link to the chronological archive. This is a link to the “all things Zelgan” section, which encompasses others’ work as well.  I had not even thought of Zelgan as a thing until I read this comic, and now I eagerly await every new installment. If you like Zelda games, or like pretty art, I strongly suggest checking it out.

This piece tickled me this morning, and I’ve been happily writing it on and off all day. It’s set some time after the current state of the comic (#63 at time of post) and explores what happens shortly after Rinku gets her hands on some bombchus, though it focuses more on Zelda and Ganondorf than on Rinku.

Enjoy!

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The Story of a Sword

Posted on by Henry

I had an idea a while back, something that came to me while I was lying in bed at night. It’s an unfortunately productive time for my imagination, when I’d like to sleep but instead often come up with story ideas. Then I struggle to record them and whatever resonance they hold for me before they slip away, and when I wake in the morning and stare at whatever I’ve written down I have to wonder why I thought it was a good idea.

Wait, no, I’m mixing this idea up with many others that I have. *This* one came to me while I was supposed to be listening to a presentation. I promptly jotted it down on my phone and emailed it to myself. Anyway, I’ve elaborated on what I think the opening of the story is and I’ll share that opening scene with you today. Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s not, it’ll probably change… but first you’ll have a chance to enjoy it.

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The Nice Guys

Posted on by Henry

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The tag line really shouldn’t surprise you. I certainly wasn’t surprised by the fact that the same director (Shane Black) did Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I wasn’t surprised because The Nice Guys is a fundamentally similar movie: grim and irreverent, full of dark humor, with heroes who just aren’t that heroic. The intrigue our protagonists investigate is convoluted and seedy, they wind up in trouble way above their pay grade, and nobody comes up smelling like roses. Like I said, they’re very similar movies. Whatever its faults may have been, I liked Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I can say the same thing about The Nice Guys.

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Good News & Current Projects

Posted on by Henry

I’m settling back in to the East coast, my body is on the mend, and I’m waiting to find out whether or not I’m about to get sick again.  So far so good!

I don’t have a new fiction post for you today, or a new review, but I can tell you all about a fun thing that I’m doing for The Wayfinder Experience (a large scale improv theater summer camp… aka LARP camp for kids). I wrote a game at the beginning of this year that loosely uses the setting of the stories Trouble Close Behind, Bloody Expanse, and Hot Mess, and which follows the events of Bloody Expanse by seeing what happens to the town of Shepherd’s Brook many years later. Read on for more details!

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Reunions!

Posted on by Henry

Fun fact. I graduated from college five years after I graduated from high school. This means that all those big 5, 10, etc year reunion things fall on the same calendar year for me. This is a bit awkward, as you might imagine, when it comes to planning.

When I’m also recovering from mono during the same stretch of time that all of those reunions are happening… well. My apologies for continuing to be slow with my posts, but I’m seeing folks I haven’t seen in years and having a very good time doing so. And when I’m not doing that, I’m sleeping.

Do not fret, I’m still here. I’m simply busy. I’ll be back with you soon.