The guidance to SAG-AFTRA members barring them from talking about their roles in movies or series undercuts the pressure the public could put on the AMPTP. — Just days after the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists called their strike, confusion broke out. The reasons for the strike are evident. Both actors and members of the Writers Guild of America are struggling to earn a living at a time when there is…

The current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are born of the same corporate foolishness that spawned the ubiquitous ‘wars’ that helped destroy late-night TV. — In the age of the Streaming Wars, the Late Night Wars seem almost quaint. So much drama about which middle-aged white guy got to host which variety talk show after the local news. Yet, when broadcast television was still the biggest game in town, The Tonight Show was one of…

EXCERPT FROM: Tales of Adventure and Fantasy Book 2, coming soon! Book One: Captain Shock v. Titanor! is available now on Amazon. #PenultimateDraft — Four-point-four-six-seven-eight billion years ago, a cosmic cataclysm above the third planet in the solar system, itself only formed some sixty million years earlier, gave birth to me. Not directly, of course. No, this cosmic cataclysm involved a large celestial body sideswiping a very young Earth. The subsequent debris field could…

An interview I conducted with veteran and comedian Donnell Rawlings originally published in Veterans Journal in June of 2011. — “Can we please not do ‘Mr. Rawlings,” says the voice familiar as Ashy Larry to any fans of Chappelle’s Show, “I’d rather you say ‘Son’ or ‘My Dude.” Donnell Rawlings has been a comedian for many years before gaining national attention on Dave Chappelle’s short-lived but much-beloved show, but before…

Legendary writer Alan Moore apologizes for his “responsibility” for the popularity of comic book stories because he believes they prime people for fascism. Is the Watchmen author right? — Comic books as an art form have faced a lifetime of mostly scorn from people who see it as low art, if art at all, and claptrap for kids. This perception changed in the late 20th Century in no small part to the work of writer Alan Moore on titles…

My review of Kevin Smith’s return to the Quick Stop with a grounded story about the big lives of ‘little people.’ — When director and podcaster Kevin Smith revealed his plans to bring Clerks III to the screen, he said he did it because he wanted to reward the characters who made his life so rewarding. This motivation promises a very different movie than we actually get. Which is to say, the…

Reevaluating ‘Reward’ in Samuel Richardson’s Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded. — In Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded, much attention is often paid to the characterization of Pamela herself and how it reflects Richardson’s opinions about women and their virtue. Pamela’s character is surely meant to be a model to the young women of the day, yet she also serves as…

Bobby Ann Mason’s “Shiloh,” is seen as a masterpiece of feminist short-fiction and it is through this prism that the author skews the traditional love story and readers’ understanding of gender roles. The story is named after a Civil War battlefield that serves as the setting for the final scene…

The new Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is being heavily scrutinized for its miracle VFX work and comedy, but the story is great, too. — The reviews are out for the first four episodes of the new Disney+ Series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and as is to be expected they are mostly middling. The reviews from the premiere event, however, were more glowing. This is also expected, since people who attend premiere events are most…