Bjorn Munson

“Our desks were never meant to be our altars.” Work as faith in the 21st Century

By Bjorn Munson | March 6, 2019March 5, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

Coming off my post on Monday about having hobbies as hobbies and nothing more, I stumbled across an article by Derek Thompson in The Atlantic about the reverence that work and “busyness” has in modern American culture. America has long had a paradoxical status as a Calvinistic Babylon, to reference historian Michael Kammen. To follow along that allegorical thought, if all hobbies ought to be hustles, leisure time itself is suspect. Being unproductive is almost…

Various and Sundry

Get Creative… Off the Clock

By Bjorn Munson | March 4, 2019October 1, 2020 by Bjorn Munson

I had the opportunity over Presidents’ Day weekend (aka Washington’s Birthday weekend for OPM sticklers) to do something I can’t remember doing in a long time, if ever: painting miniatures. Many of my gamer friends have various Warhammer and related armies and I know my efforts are not remotely in their league. They paint minis regularly. In fact, for several, it’s a bona fide hobby. One preditor friend (that’s producer-editor for the uninitiated) has taken…

Writing

Taking Silly Very Seriously

By Bjorn Munson | February 22, 2019February 19, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

As mentioned earlier this week, I will be appearing at this year’s Escape Velocity on Memorial Day weekend, both presenting a producer’s guide to moviemaking and with Jabberwocky Audio Theater (JAT) doing a live performance. Last year, JAT did an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic War of the Worlds since it was the 80th anniversary of Orson Welles’ 1938 radio broadcast. It was great fun to update a radio adaptation to the present day and set it…

Producing Writing

Where I’ll Be: Escape Velocity 2019

By Bjorn Munson | February 20, 2019February 19, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

Last week, I got confirmation that Jabberwocky Audio Theater has a thumbs up to do a live performance at the Museum of Science Fiction‘s annual science-expo-meets-pop-culture-convention, Escape Velocity! Escape Velocity 2019 Promo from Museum of Science Fiction on Vimeo. We had a chance to do a live performance of War of the Worlds last year which was well received (and a lot of fun to do as well). We don’t know the exact date and time of our performance –it’ll be…

Producing

In Case You Want to Misbehave

By Bjorn Munson | February 18, 2019February 18, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

A lot of my efforts these past few months have been working on building the audience for Jabberwocky Audio Theater. Frankly, a great way to do that is with a giveaway. As recipients of the JAT Mailing List know, JAT is running a second giveaway during this “pledge drive period” between our seasons. This time, we’re focusing on Firefly, which more than a few listeners have compared my space opera, Rogue Tyger to. What can…

Producing Writing

Choose Your Own Theater Adventure

By Bjorn Munson | February 12, 2019February 12, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

I’ve enjoyed more interactive theater for a long time, whether it’s traditional audience response (applause/boos/hisses) or more modern breaking of the fourth wall or simply the immediacy of staging a show “in the round.” I’ve often thought about staging a play for our local Fringe festival whose outcome is decided by the audience… perhaps after they’ve weighed in on several decision points. I thought about those ideas again when I read a piece by Alysia…

Producing Various and Sundry

We’re All Mad Marketers Here

By Bjorn Munson | January 28, 2019January 28, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

While this is really more of a Team Jabberwocky thing, specifically Jabberwocky Audio Theater, it’s time to put on my marketing hat which is, by its very nature, mad! Regular readers may recall that we did a Doctor Who giveaway last year and we’ll do a few more this year: all to help build an audience for Jabberwocky Audio Theater. You may also remember that I’ve occasionally mentioned the work of Russell Nohelty on behalf…

Various and Sundry

Real Princesses Roll for Initiative

By Bjorn Munson | January 10, 2019January 9, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

If your 2019 has been bereft of geeky, geeky mashups thus far, have we got the video for you! Behold: nearly all the Disney princesses playing D&D (with Belle as DM, which just makes sense). In case you not only like it, but love it, they apparently have a crowdfunding campaign going through February.

Various and Sundry Writing

This Year, Resolve to Make Art

By Bjorn Munson | January 7, 2019October 1, 2020 by Bjorn Munson

I thought I had already posted this article by Sean Kane from 2016, but evidently I hadn’t. So go ahead and read up on seven darn good scientifically-backed reasons why you should make art even if you’re not “any good” at it. A perfect example of simply making art is Inktober, an annual event to do an ink drawing every day during October. I did this with my son –and moms and dads reading this,…

Various and Sundry

I, for one, don’t welcome our net ‘bot overlords…

By Bjorn Munson | January 4, 2019December 31, 2018 by Bjorn Munson

Though from reading Max Read’s piece in New York magazine, it’s kind of moot whether I welcome them or not: a huge portion of the Internet is fake. I mean, it’s not that it’s a huge surprise that the Internet is full of automation to simulate traffic for ad revenue purposes, engage people for some Machiavellian monetization motives, or otherwise amplify some ill-conceived echo chambers… But it’s depressing to have it validated to such a…

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“Our desks were never meant to be our altars.” Work as faith in the 21st Century

Get Creative… Off the Clock

Taking Silly Very Seriously

Where I’ll Be: Escape Velocity 2019

In Case You Want to Misbehave

Choose Your Own Theater Adventure

We’re All Mad Marketers Here

Real Princesses Roll for Initiative

This Year, Resolve to Make Art

I, for one, don’t welcome our net ‘bot overlords…