Enchiridion

Books and Literature, Education and Literacy, fandom

A Year in Forums: People Don’t Know Anything About Stuff They Like

I spent some time in a lot of new pop media forums this year. This is what I observed I have this pet peeve that shows up the most in my more text-based book forums, and science fiction book readers are the worst offenders. Someone will come into a science fiction reading forum and make… Continue reading A Year in Forums: People Don’t Know Anything About Stuff They Like

Reviews

A Review and Light Analysis of Venom:’21 Ewing and Venom War

It's been a long time since I've gotten to be part of a comic run from the start then all the way through the ending. I have to note, from the start, that I read large chunks of this run as it was coming out. So not every single issue comes back to me with… Continue reading A Review and Light Analysis of Venom:’21 Ewing and Venom War

Personal

External Challenge at the Holiday Table

Thanksgiving is coming up next week. Weโ€™re going to be stuck with a lot of family members having weird conversations that none of us want to have. So Iโ€™m going to tell you a story about my mom.My mom is smart, college-educated, and generally a good person. We have had our issues, not gonna lie,… Continue reading External Challenge at the Holiday Table

Uncategorized

How Comics Expose Our Expectations Around Critical Analysis

Recently Iโ€™ve been spending a lot more time in comic book and super hero spaces. Despite being a low-key (and occasionally high-key) fan of a few different franchises for years, those kinds of spaces were not great to navigate as a kid or teen femme-presenting person. As an adult, I donโ€™t give as many shits,… Continue reading How Comics Expose Our Expectations Around Critical Analysis

Education and Literacy, Media Literacy and Analysis, Queerness

Cultural Conservatism and the Collapse of Media Critique

Last week, the next installment in the Dragon Age franchise released, Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I'm a huge fan of the series and the studio that makes the franchise. Now the video game community, as a whole, has a really high capacity for what really comes down to justโ€ฆidiocy, honestly. It's been a problem pretty… Continue reading Cultural Conservatism and the Collapse of Media Critique

Books and Literature, Wrapups and Reviews

October Reads and Reviews

BlindsightPeter WattsScience Fiction-2006 From Storygraph: "It's been two months since a myriad of alien objects clenched about the Earth, screaming as they burned. The heavens have been silent since - until a derelict space probe hears whispers from a distant comet. Something talks out there: but not to us. Who to send to meet the… Continue reading October Reads and Reviews

Books and Literature, Childhood

Childhood Fear and Horror as Psychological Development

For a while, my husband and I opened our home to foster children for something called respite care. Itโ€™s basically multi-day to weeklong babysitting for foster kids when the primary foster parents have to attend to something else. Out of state trips. Long weekends. The kind of thing where you might drop a non-foster kid… Continue reading Childhood Fear and Horror as Psychological Development

Media Literacy and Analysis, Storytelling

The Application of Camp in Horror Media

Weโ€™re at a stage in the media landscape where I sometimes wonder if we should ever so slightly gatekeep the word camp, if only to preserve some sense of meaning. For the sake of this thought experiment, imagine camp in your head. Further imagine camp horror, specifically. Because we do this thing where weโ€™ll say… Continue reading The Application of Camp in Horror Media

Books and Literature, Media Literacy and Analysis, Storytelling, Uncategorized

I Hate the Book It, but Love the Mini-series

When I was about nine (give or take a year) some cable channel or other was re-running the 1990 It mini-series over the course of a week leading up to Halloween. My mom hadnโ€™t seen it since in released the first time and thought it would be fun family TV. Now this might be horrifying… Continue reading I Hate the Book It, but Love the Mini-series

Books and Literature, Media Literacy and Analysis, Storytelling

Deconstructing Genre Expectations Through the Lens of Horror

For horror movies, I love a good paranormal story. Something with demons or ghosts that present this sort of otherworldly threat. Mostly because I have the audacity to think I could take out a slasher, alien, monster, or otherwise corporeal menace. So I like a real threat.It's also one of the very few genres where… Continue reading Deconstructing Genre Expectations Through the Lens of Horror