For those who don’t know, the Bechdel Test asks whether a piece of fiction: Features at least two (named) women who Talk to each other about Something other than a man. It’s always been important to me that my stories pass the Bechdel Test. Half of humanity is female, so it was inconceivable to me that I’d write stories where there weren’t at least two named women who had a conversation at least once in an entire novel! And if that makes me a SJW,...

I finally saw Kingsman: The Secret Service last night. And I’m glad I did, because it was a lot of fun! I was especially impressed with the gratuitous violence, which was so over-the-top insane as to sprint past enjoyable, take a pit stop in uncomfortable, and end up so deep in ridiculous as to make it clear this was all an affectionate spoof of the typical James Bond-style spy movie. I also really appreciated Eggsy’s arc, and the excellent job his actor did—you don’t go...

We stepped into a bar in Shanghai. On the big screen TV, there was a basketball game paying—a Houston Rockets’ game, because thanks to Yao Ming, the Rockets are still China’s team. It was the single most entertaining basketball game I’ve ever watched. Not because the game was especially great, though it was a good one—the Rockets fell to an early deficit against New Orleans Pelicans, came back brilliantly, and won by two points after a last minute rally that wasn’t enough. Stirring stuff, but that’s not...

My opinion on originality in storytelling is well documented. I’ve talked about it many times before. But for those who haven’t had enough of me talking about the fetishization of the unique, here’s another post. A friend of mine is an aspiring filmmaker, and earlier today we were talking about stories. At one point he mentioned how he prefers telling unique stories, and I pounced. After we talked for a while, with me endlessly hammering home the point that it’s not unique stories, but good stories,...

Relatability in characterization, especially for main characters, is overrated. You find it most commonly in video games, where the main character is almost always a generic white male, because it’s assumed that white males are who will be buying most of the copies. The reasoning goes that if the character is more like you in background, ethnicity, gender, etc., you’ll be able to empathize with them more, and more easily put yourself in their shoes. The same thing happens with generic Japanese high school boys headlining every visual novel ever,...

First of all, sorry for the radio silence lately, all. Between the book launch, the holidays, and the RandomC Best of Anime post—which takes a phenomenal amount of time, especially since I had to write most of it in the last week—I’ve been too swamped to blog. But no more! I’m back to work on the followup to Wage Slave Rebellion and Action Politics, and I’ll be blogging at you too. I know, you’re excited. Hold your applause. Today I’d like to indulge once again in some critical...

I love to write about magic. I love to read about it and watch it as well. Not stage magic, but real magic (which doesn’t exist). And it’s worth asking: why? What makes the idea of magic so compelling? I think part of it is the secret guilt of the toolmaker. We humans obtained our position atop the world through our tools, but sometimes it feels like it’s all about our technology, and there’s no power in ourselves. We stand in awe...