Perspective in Cinema: Who is there to Root For?
When there’s a showdown between Batman and the Joker, or when Simba stands up to Scar, or even when the police nab their suspect in whichever cop show you watch, you know who to root…
Revisiting Childhood: An Unexpected Journey
I recently found myself at the local used movie, music, and video game store, wandering up and down the aisles and digging through dollar bins like there was a prize at the bottom. I made…
Seven Cool Items I Wish Were Real, and Why That’s a Bad Idea
While there’s no great story without a good setting, believable characters, and interesting conflict, props sometimes play an equally important role. In fact, many movies, video games, and TV shows revolve entirely around certain important…
5 Cartoon Villains too Sinister for Children
As some of you may have noticed, I’m particularly interested in villains and antagonists because they’re usually much more complex and interesting than the heroes of film and television. I’ve said this before: I like…
Five Commercials that Actually Make me Want to Buy their Product
Unless it’s the Big Game (I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to use the words “super” and “bowl” together on a dot com in reference to that football game to end all football games), we…
Five Deities I Wouldn’t Want Running the Universe
Mythology is everywhere. You can’t create a good imaginary world without working out some sort of mythos to go along with it. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need gods or magical beings pulling the strings,…
Ten Adorable Sidekicks with Awesome Powers
It’s not often that the sidekick saves the day—especially the ones on this list. But that doesn’t mean that their awesome abilities don’t come in handy for the hero. And, it doesn’t hurt that they’re…
Five Heroes who are Good at Being Bad
I got a request after writing “Five Villains We’re Glad Went Good” to write an article around characters who did the opposite—who went from good to bad. I was grateful because writing is easy; coming…
Five Villains We’re Glad Went Good
A complex protagonist is difficult to write. It’s the character your audience will be with for the duration of your novel/movie/TV show, so it’s important that you get her right. But it is much more…