Chapter 1

Introductions are easily the most awkward and embarrassing sections of any creative work to write, even if the supposed "creative" work may lean more towards the journalistic or scientific. They often have little to do with the proceeding series of articles, mostly because an introduction is written only when a select few articles are completed, and as any true professional will tell you, the topics of a series of columns can vary wildly due to the writer's hopefully overreactive imagination. And realistically, the introduction has the dubious distinction of being written in a more formative tone, which will surely be contrary to the far more informal and exciting articles that will follow. So there's more confusion for everyone, which is just what you want as a writer whose primary job has to be to hold an audience. Thanks a lot.

Of course, it's obvious what the reader is thinking: "entertain me" (sure to be followed with "...or I'm going to start reading that ____ book or put in the ____ game and not pay the money to read another word"). Well, in the first place, you lose, because you didn't pay any money to read this blog in the first place. But more importantly, introductions are not, for some reason, designed to entertain. I'm not exactly sure why. They're like thesis statements, the kind everyone hands in when writing a scholarly research article or Master's thesis. "In this paper, I will prove that x cannot exist without y, proving the direct correlation of..." at which point anyone not paid to read will have pulled the fire alarm. Again, not intended to entertain. So I'm doing my best to make this as bland and boring as possible, and I hope you will all agree that I have succeeded beyond reproach in that regard.

The title, for those of you interested enough to ask, refers to a philosophy gaining ground in the creative community pertaining to the idea that the so-called "story" format patronized by practically every screen- or stage-writing "how-to" book on the market (who seek to, for example, break a movie down from an art to a science by explaining the EXACT number of pages needed for each act, the precise emotions of every character, etc.). Many professionals have rejected this cookie-cutter story archetype and have instead advocated a more artful approach to storytelling, one designed more around pacing, basically making how a character says a line more important than what he says. It's definitely a newer opinion, but one that has grounding in the films and creative endeavors of yesteryear.

So this is (mostly) what you will find in this blog: reviews and critiques of films, games, television shows, or whatever has even slightly a thing to do with mass media and pop culture. Also, be prepared for the occasional out-of-left-field observations on various marketing strategies that most entertainment companies have but can't figure out why they work. I hope that satisfies. I'm not sure about the correlation, though. And I don't have any tables or statistics. But what I do have is an introduction. And that is something.

I hope you will enjoy.