Earlier this week, upon learning that Cormac McCarthy died at the age of 89, I posted what I felt was Middle-of-the-Road response to what was already dividing… Read more “McCarthy/McMurtry”
Category: Home Page
1d6 Questions With…Oliver Brackenbury
I’m starting a new feature on the blog that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, now. I know a lot of cool people, creative and… Read more “1d6 Questions With…Oliver Brackenbury”
A Shopping Notice from the N.T.A.B. Department of Trade and Commerce: 2022 Christmas Edition
The administration would like to again strenuously object to any form of venturing out into public squares, marketplaces, big box stores, or malls on this or any… Read more “A Shopping Notice from the N.T.A.B. Department of Trade and Commerce: 2022 Christmas Edition”
Tools of the Trade, now in book form!
Hmm? What’s that? Oh, nothing, just this new tabletop role-playing game supplement I wrote. It’s now available in book form. You can grab yourself a copy of… Read more “Tools of the Trade, now in book form!”
Field Report: Cross Plains, Texas, June 10-12
Robert E. Howard Days is an annual event that takes place just as the heat trends to nigh-unbearable in Texas. It’s also in a part of Texas… Read more “Field Report: Cross Plains, Texas, June 10-12”
From the Vault: In Defense of Bad Movies, Part 2 – FLAAAASSSHH!
In Part 1 of In Defense of Bad Movies, I outlined the disconnect between film critics and the general public. If you want to read it, you… Read more “From the Vault: In Defense of Bad Movies, Part 2 – FLAAAASSSHH!”
From the Vault: In Defense of Bad Movies, Part 1 – Somewhere Between High Art and Cult Classic
I write a lot about old movies. I like writing about film; I have been a professional reviewer and critic for many years now, and I’ve been… Read more “From the Vault: In Defense of Bad Movies, Part 1 – Somewhere Between High Art and Cult Classic”
From the Vault: The Movies of Dungeons & Dragons, Part 5 – the End of an Era
Sword and Sorcery became an exploitation genre, rife with quickie production schedules, recycled sets, props and costumes, and written-on-the-fly scripts that checked boxes for mandatory story elements.… Read more “From the Vault: The Movies of Dungeons & Dragons, Part 5 – the End of an Era”
From the Vault: The Movies of Dungeons & Dragons, Part 4 – The Best of the Rest
Fourth in a 5 part series about the sword and sorcery movies of the 1980s as they related to our Dungeons & Dragons games.
From the Vault: The Movies of Dungeons & Dragons, Part 3 – Secondary Sources
As the 1980s trundled on, fueled by Miami Vice, swatches, and Duran Duran videos, the fantasy films should have gotten better, but they didn’t. After such a promising start, the rush to make more of the same spawned a host of shittier and shitter sword and sorcery movies, each one worse that the last. The genre had split into two tracks: cheap-o boob-grab exploitation nonsense, or big budget ham-fisted embarrassments, and both of these new movie styles served to give Sword and Sorcery a bad name.