Tag: Things to Read

Various and Sundry Writing

Spock, Chabon, and This Mortal Coil

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

If you’ve checked out any of the anthology series “Short Treks,” you’ll know the arguable standout thus far is the first season’s “Calypso” co-written by Michael Chabon. Chabon, probably better known to many as an award-winning novelist, also wrote this season’s “Q&A” and is the showrunner for the forthcoming Star Trek: Picard. When I saw a behind-the-scenes photo of Chabon and the Vasquez Rocks (a popular Hollywood “exotic” filming location and one very storied for…

Continue reading

Various and Sundry

“Comic Book Movies” and “High Art”

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Just last month I was musing about how, even in the face of “nerddom’s” ascension in all aspects of pop culture, people still feel the need to belittle or otherwise distance themselves and their work from science fiction as if the genre itself was wildly radioactive. Now, in the face of a more meditative and gritty look at the origins of Joker –with more than a few homages to Martin Scorsese’s films– Scorsese himself felt…

Continue reading

Various and Sundry

Worldcons and World Conquest (by way of Pop Culture)

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I’ve never been to a Worldcon, but I’m thinking I ought to for when it’s in my backyard. George R. R. Martin, however, has been to just about every Worldcon he could for several decades running. This year’s WorldCon is in Dublin, so the Irish Times caught up with him and he mused on WorldCons and fandom and all sorts of things. If you want more of Martin musing on his career and art, you…

Continue reading

Various and Sundry Writing

Recommended Reading: For Love or Money (or both!)

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

The other week, I mused about giving your young’uns a steady diet of scares, inspired in part by reading an article by artist Greg Ruth. Well, as probably comes as no surprise, Ruth also has some thoughts about the eternal struggle to make a living from one’s creative work and yes, it’s naturally pertinent to illustrators, but I think his points should resonate with writers as well. By the way, if you want to check…

Continue reading

Various and Sundry

Navigating Being Online, Offline, and Increasingly In-Between

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

After Wednesday’s post that focused a great deal about how to curate one’s persona online, I was surprised that I hadn’t written at length about Jenny Odell and her efforts to help people curate their involvement in the “attention economy.” I’ve found the article bears repeat reading, because there’s so many different ideas it raises and so much that you, personally, need to reflect on. And yes, I mean need. At its core, and related…

Continue reading

Various and Sundry

Scare Because You Care

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

This past weekend, I let my kids watch the original Clash of the Titans. Besides being able to pass on my love for Ray Harryhausen films as my dad passed on to me, I’ve had the chance to do some short stop-motion films with both of them with smartphone and tablet (ain’t modern technology grand?). One of the concerns was how scary the film would be to the young’uns. The man burning alive, the giant…

Continue reading

Various and Sundry

Rather Sad about Mad

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

It’s no secret that Mad, the steadfast satirical magazine that’s been on newsstands for the past 67 years is all but ending, as per these pieces in the Washington Post, New York Times, and a personal one from The Week. I learned about it first from Mark Evanier’s blog, as he’s not only a pop culture historian, he regularly works with one of Mad’s most storied illustrators, Sergio Aragonés. Technically, Mad is not completely dead:…

Continue reading

Various and Sundry

The Internet’s Altar of Umbrage

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I’m working on some other posts related to fandom. One is a follow-up in the Crisis of Infinite Star Treks series (where I talk about fan involvement with Star Trek throughout, but specifically go into more here and here.) I’m also working on a longer piece about getting one’s own creative work out there and developing fans oneself. One struggle I’ve had of late has been how much the Internet thrives on hate and outrage.…

Continue reading