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Fandom

What is This?

Below, you will find brief commentary on and reviews of media I am particularly fond of. While criticism may find its way into what I write below, the content should trend tonally toward praise and admiration. I'll aim to place anything longer than 1-2 paragraphs on the "My Writing" page. Overlap may occur if/when it is both viable and desirable to speak both succinctly and at length.

I've avoided doing something like this for a long time, despite a fierce desire to share my writing and opinions with others. One of the issues has been laziness, without a doubt. It feels so much easier to watch yet another episode of House, or play any number of games that don't require me to focus on a productive, more mentally complex process. Additionally, despite my love of creative self-expression, I so often think of writing as an agonizing slog. I tend to get in my head, and fixate on every detail, halting entirely if something doesn't look or feel exactly right. Ultimately, I need to power through, and normalize a healthier approach wherein setbacks don't critically endanger my momentum and motivation. If I manage to do that, I think both the writing process and the act of sitting down to write in the first place will be easier, and therefore more appealing. I'm hoping for an effort begets results, begets effort, begets results type of positive feedback loop.

There is another element to my reluctance to write, and it's deeper than laziness and lack of motivation. I've considered this element for several months, and have at length found concise wording that satisfies me. Some of my favourite creative elements are such not only because of their quality, but of course by virtue of how they make me feel, and by extension, how they relate to my life experiences and attitudes. It may sound like I'm referring to privacy, and I am, but not solely. Alongside privacy is a concern for the permanence - insofar as strength is concerned - of feelings I share. There's something delicately special about things felt but not spoken. What I fear more than making my feelings bare is that their potency will wane if I share them, diffusing uncontrollably into the ether. It may be silly, but the concern persists. Ultimately, I've sat for too long, resting on long-decayed laurels that were hardly there in the first place. If I don't start meaningfully creating, I'm not sure what point there is in going on. PLUS, I'm already paid up on the website for a while, so, you know...might as well extract some value.

Quotes of Interest

(Spoiler warning for all named media)

Dune (Frank Herbert), Dune (2021) (Denis Villeneuve)

"What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises - no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting."

My love for Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2021 adaptation are tremendously difficult to overstate. Both book and film illustrate to compelling effect the shifting human and inhuman conditions that dictate and bind lived experience. As lived experience goes, Gurney Halleck has more than most, insofar as the harshness of reality is concerned. Halleck's (Herbert's) quoted words serve not only as wise advice to Paul Atreides, but adumbrate future events key to the plot. Standing in scarred defiance of his physical and emotional suffering, Halleck very admirably lives by the same principles he imparts to others.

(Gurney Halleck / Josh Brolin)

The Boys (Amazon Prime Studios)

(Billy Butcher / Karl Urban)

"Where's your fucking rage? Your self-respect? Sitting here in your little share circle, having a little whinge and a moan. Fuck 'letting go.' You should be out there with a fucking chainsaw, going after 'em! Just a bunch of scared fucking rabbits."

The Boys explores a world where superhuman people both plague and bolster an otherwise similar Earth. Powerfully conveyed by Karl Urban's Billy Butcher, The Boys's quoted take on righteous anger is justifiably fervent and colourful, if a little dismissive and inconsiderate. Butcher, grappling with ongoing grief and trauma that, to his credit, would likely destabilize any normal person, is justifiably angry with the idea of wallowing in sadness and accepting mistreatment under what he deems a condemnable guise of healing. Despite being insensitive, and unreasonably dismissive of the value of safely sharing one's feelings - sensing some projection here, Butcher - his call to action is just. Sometimes, talk isn't enough.

Dimension 20: Fantasy High (Dropout)

(Bud Cubby / Brennan Lee Mulligan)

"Laws are threats made by the dominant socio-economic, ethnic group in a given nation. It's just a promise of violence that's enacted, and police are basically an occupying army, you know what I mean? You guys want to make some bacon?"

The first season of Fantasy High served as my introduction to recorded D&D programs, and remains my second-favourite Dimension 20 campaign (topped only by A Crown of Candy). I would be remiss not to acknowledge that Brennan Lee Mulligan is, generally speaking, a superb dungeon master, including and especially in regards to his improvisational and dialogue skills. Here, with a characteristic dash of levity, Mulligan furthers the story while simultaneously delivering thoughtful social commentary.

YT Creators/Videos

Dune (Frank Herbert), Dune (2021) (Denis Villeneuve)

"What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises - no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting."

My love for Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2021 adaptation are tremendously difficult to overstate. Both book and film illustrate to compelling effect the shifting human and inhuman conditions that dictate and bind lived experience. As lived experience goes, Gurney Halleck has more than most, insofar as the harshness of reality is concerned. Halleck's (Herbert's) quoted words serve not only as wise advice to Paul Atreides, but adumbrate future events key to the plot. Standing in scarred defiance of his physical and emotional suffering, Halleck very admirably lives by the same principles he imparts to others.

(Gurney Halleck / Josh Brolin)

The Boys (Amazon Prime Studios)

(Billy Butcher / Karl Urban)

"Where's your fucking rage? Your self-respect? Sitting here in your little share circle, having a little whinge and a moan. Fuck 'letting go.' You should be out there with a fucking chainsaw, going after 'em! Just a bunch of scared fucking rabbits."

The Boys explores a world where superhuman people both plague and bolster an otherwise similar Earth. Powerfully conveyed by Karl Urban's Billy Butcher, The Boys's quoted take on righteous anger is justifiably fervent and colourful, if a little dismissive and inconsiderate. Butcher, grappling with ongoing grief and trauma that, to his credit, would likely destabilize any normal person, is justifiably angry with the idea of wallowing in sadness and accepting mistreatment under what he deems a condemnable guise of healing. Despite being insensitive, and unreasonably dismissive of the value of safely sharing one's feelings - sensing some projection here, Butcher - his call to action is just. Sometimes, talk isn't enough.

Dimension 20: Fantasy High (Dropout)

(Bud Cubby / Brennan Lee Mulligan)

"Laws are threats made by the dominant socio-economic, ethnic group in a given nation. It's just a promise of violence that's enacted, and police are basically an occupying army, you know what I mean? You guys want to make some bacon?"

The first season of Fantasy High served as my introduction to recorded D&D programs, and remains my second-favourite Dimension 20 campaign (topped only by A Crown of Candy). I would be remiss not to acknowledge that Brennan Lee Mulligan is, generally speaking, a superb dungeon master, including and especially in regards to his improvisational and dialogue skills. Here, with a characteristic dash of levity, Mulligan furthers the story while simultaneously delivering thoughtful social commentary.

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