Writer/Home of MYOPIA
To read part one, click here. Last time I wrote about the history of animation in Japan and left off at the early 80s. This decade was huge for anime. Movies proved theatrically successful. TV shows often became better looking, and series maintained popularity over several years. All this, plus the VCR became common. VHS tapes allowed for niche anime...
Anime is a mainstream form of entertainment throughout the world today. The word “anime” likely even evokes a distinguishable style of drawing, allegorical storytelling, or fantastical settings. Maybe the ideas of monsters, martial arts, or giant robots come to mind. Anime hit the western world like a tidal wave in the 90s, and its popularity never faded. As a teenager...
I was born in the early 80s. I loved the movies, the music, the optimism of the decade. I recently found myself curious about famous books that inspired some of my childhood’s biggest movies. All movies on the following list share three things in common: they are live-action (primarily), they have traits of fantastical elements, and they all have lasting...
The reunion show has been part of the TV viewing experience since the 60s. In many ways, a reunion is an encore, a last hurrah that lets old fans see their favorite characters one last time. Reunion shows continue to take place today, but these shows once seemed like far bigger events. Television, of course, became common in households during...
The Heimat Review publishes work focused around the idea of home, of centering, and of belonging. I’m happy to have a short creative nonfiction essay in the summer issue. You can read online and for free by clicking the title of “A Big Quarry in a Small Place Named Genoa.” Check out some of the other work while you are...
Were I to ask you to name your favorite fantasy-genre hero, the answer might come easily. If not, there are many choices to contemplate: Frodo, Arthur, Harry Potter, Atreyu, Willow. What might soon become evident is the lack of women who occupy the main hero’s role in the fantasy genre. There have been some exceptions though, and that’s especially where...
By sheer volume alone, zombies have become popular culture’s dominant monster over the last few decades—of course there is admirable irony that the monster known for overwhelming through volume has also saturated the market. Zombies are everywhere, and though it may seem like the story of surviving amidst zombies would have become cliché long ago, creators still manage to tell...
I’m very pleased to have a story published in the latest issue of Neo-Opsis. My story, “In the Shade,” is inspired by a love of gardening, the many historical villages my parents drug me to when I was a kid, and my imagination for a future where plants have reclaimed dominion over the world. It is about many things, but...
Jazz musician by night, superhero by night also, and frequently during the day despite the name, this is my retrospective on the live-action superhero no one was clamoring to see on TV, but for comic-book fans in the 90s, this was about as good as it got. This is the not so aptly named Night Man.
I’m thrilled to have my story, “Visitor,” published in Dark Horses #8. The story is about a husband contending with a threat that seems to delve into the unreal, but I won’t reveal anything more. Available in print or ebook from many retailers.
The 1980s were a time of many pop-cultural shifts in the US. There was MTV, the proliferation of neon, movies aimed at youthful angst, even a brief fixation with Australia. It was a distinct decade for certain, and something rather drastic happened regarding children’s toys. At the beginning of the 80s, laws previously shielding children from television marketing were loosened....
I’m a big fan of The Legend of Zelda. My first MYOPIA was about Zelda. I’ve always seen the series as being the pinnacle of adventure games. With many titles in the series, I’ve naturally categorized my favorites. I’ve tried to approach ranking these games based on experiences when I first played them–usually playing in pretty near proximity to the...