Tag: reviews

Critiques answer the question, “Is it art?” Reviews answer, “Is it good?”

Metaphoraging Roundup: 2019

AND SO THE CIRCLE TURNS again, one more orbit of the Earth ’round the Sun; meaning it’s time for the media’s year-end lookbacks — a conceit from which The Metaphorager is not immune. As of this writing (two weeks ago), and according to WordPress’ built-in stats counter, here are our Top Posts of 2019 (with year of composition and page views):

Letter To A Dead Friend (2010) – 62 Views
Googling “letter to a dead friend” brings up many, many, MANY links. Must be a universal impulse. Mine was addressed to my dearly departed chaver, James “Sputnik” Gjerde: mystic, clown, psychic twin.

Endurance Test (2019) – 52 Views
Post-Poway, the roommate was concerned for my safety. This was my answer. Continue reading “Metaphoraging Roundup: 2019”

First Graf: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

ACTUALLY, SINCE T.A.o.S.H. IS THE first published collection of all Sherlock Holmes stories, here is (also) the First Graf of “A Scandal In Bohemia,” being the first of the tales in said collection. It’s unfortunate that Sherlock Holmes has become a bit of cultural cliche and byword, but it can’t be helped — our culture is steeped in such cliches, where what was once seminal now comes off as derivative. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous creation, whom he eventually tired of and tried killing-off only to find that the clamorous 19th-Century reading “publick” would have none of it, stands on his own eternal literary measure. A little taste to whet the appetite, then? Continue reading “First Graf: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”

Why I Hate Jay Michaelson ;-)

IT’S THAT ANYTHING I CAN do, he can do better. It’s his unaffected, artless prose. It’s his vast non-dualist scholarship and experience. It’s his light touch. It’s his unpretentiousness. It’s that he neither talks down to or over the heads of his audience, but speaks directly to their hearts. It’s that he makes what he does look so damned easy. It’s his open-faced sense of humor. It’s his genuineness. It’s that he knows a lot, but doesn’t come off as a know-it-all. It’s that I’ve been avidly following his career almost since he began writing professionally. It’s the anticipatory glee I get when I see his byline. Continue reading “Why I Hate Jay Michaelson ;-)”

5 Thoughts: Informed Appreciation

1. IT’S ONE THING TO LIKE something. It’s something quite else to know why you like it — and how it came to be.

2. “Informed appreciation” is the key to that knowing. Only when you can comprehend the effort, expense, skill and moxie involved in making anything — dance, music, sequential or static art, acting, a useful tool, a good meal — can you be said to have truly grasped its essence.

3. This is especially true of those things that are done so well that they look easy. Take Dick Van Dyke’s 1960s-era physical comedy, or Gene Kelly’s soft-shoe; it’s as though their bones are made of rubber, if indeed they have any bones at all. Continue reading “5 Thoughts: Informed Appreciation”

“It’s Just That…”

THERE’S A THING — WELL, LET’S call it a verbal placeholder-prefix — used by writers of audiovisual entertainments when they want a character to segue away from or into an awkward conversation.

My friends, meet: “It’s just that…”

You’ve heard it. Sure you have. Classic situation in point: Someone is being politely badgered into self-revelation. They’ll begin by saying, “Oh, it’s nothing” (or the like). On being pressed further, they’ll begin to spill their guts by saying, “It’s just that…”

I first noticed this while watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine reruns. Continue reading ““It’s Just That…””

Why I Love: Robert Anton Wilson

IT’S THE WAY HE BLOWS my mind. It’s the way he mixes conviction with doubt. It’s his searingly funny prose. It’s his search for Ultimate Relativity. It’s that he taught me some important Latin phrases, like “Cui bono?” and “Non illegitimati carborundum” (look ’em up). It’s how he manages to make everything he writes sound like a personal communication to the reader. It’s the little phrase-gems he drops off-handedly like “reality-tunnel,” “domesticated primates,” or “guerrilla ontology.” It’s his nimble skipping from neuroscience to neuropoetry to neuroanalysis to neuropolitics. (It’s also that “neuro-” is his favorite prefix.) Continue reading “Why I Love: Robert Anton Wilson”

First Graf(s): The Fellowship of the Ring

IF YOU HAVE ONLY SEEN the movie version of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, you are missing out on an extraordinary literary work.

Granted, it takes a while to get into — a criticism also (and often) leveled against authors Steven King, Herman Melville and other exposition-happy types. But you’ll be surprised by the richness of the prose, the wealth of Middle-Earth’s detail, and the extensive background material. It truly reads like an historical travelogue filled with interesting sights and people. (And you’ll also encounter some significant differences from the movies, chief among which being that Aragorn is not a wimp.) Continue reading “First Graf(s): The Fellowship of the Ring”

Why I Love: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

IT’S THE EPISODE-BY-EPISODE CONTINUITY. It’s the attention to detail (even in the direction). It’s the character development. (It’s also the characters.) It’s the insiders-feeling treatment of religious faith. It’s the strong female roles (mostly). It’s the sometimes-complicated political schemes. It’s the merry departure from physics (spaceships don’t swoop and dive, dudes!). It’s the treatment of alien cultures as complex, internally consistent organisms. It’s the realistic chemistry between O’Brien and his wife Keiko. (It’s also the making-fun of the lack of chemistry between Worf and Dax.) It’s watching Nog grow from a juvenile delinquent to an essential and important member of Starfleet. Continue reading “Why I Love: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine“

5 Thoughts: Re-re-RE-Viewings

0. THERE ARE FILMS THAT YOU see once and say, “Meh.” Then there are others which grab hold of and mold your psyche in unexpected ways; movies that cry out “Watch me!” and require repeated viewings to grok in fullness — films that, while deep enough on their own, reveal new depths as the viewer grows with life-experience. Here are five to which I return every couple of years to measure myself.

1. Casablanca. Perhaps the greatest movie ever made, it has everything — romance, intrigue, honor, superb acting / writing / directing, Humphrey Bogart. Who doesn’t want to watch Bogie go from cynic to idealist and wind up fighting Nazis with someone he barely trusts? Continue reading “5 Thoughts: Re-re-RE-Viewings”

Metaphoraging Roundup: 2018

IF A GOOD FRIEND HADN’T died this year and cured me of a years-long writer’s block, I wouldn’t be posting this.

But he did, so I am, proffering 2018’s Top 10 Viewed Pages and Posts at this writing:

1. Home page / Archives: (683 views) marks people who have happened by from seeing my URL posted in various places (including email .sigs, business cards, our local radio station and Facebook), and/or those exploring more than the seven posts visible on each “page.”

2. Fie on Death, and the Pale Horse He Rode In On (180) is John Wheeler’s cyber-eulogy, its link posted in numerous online fora where his friends could see it. Continue reading “Metaphoraging Roundup: 2018”

First Graf: The Timetables of History

AN AWE-INSPIRING WORK, The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events by Bernard Grun is one of those books that have to be seen, and leafed through, to believe. (My own copy, of the 591-page edition First Touchstone Edition which begins at 5000-4001 BCE, only goes up to 1978 CE; revised editions are available through your local independent bookstore.) As the title states, Timetables proffers to the curious what happened in each year (or, in the book’s early parts, each date1-to-date2 era) in seven categories: History and Politics, Literature and Theater, Religion and Philosophy, Visual Arts, Music, Science and Technology, and Daily Life. Continue reading “First Graf: The Timetables of History”

Why I Love: Star Wars

IT’S THE BLUE INTERTITLE PROCLAIMING “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” It’s the concept of the Force: nakedly nondual, essentially Taoist, but not preachy about it. It’s the costumes. It’s the sets (even the CGI ones, but especially those of handmade origin). It’s the original spaceship designs. It’s the lightsaber battles, especially the long-awaited-by-fans Darth Vader v. Obi-wan Kenobi duel in Episode III. It’s the way each film ups the special-effects ante for the whole film industry. It’s the details. It’s the recycled sounds; especially for R2D2, the jawas, various droids, etc. (It’s also the Wilhelm Scream.) Continue reading “Why I Love: Star Wars”

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