Preview: Lessons learned at San Diego Comic Con 2013

For those or you who came here by way of Freshly Pressed, I need you to keep an open mind when it comes to this blog’s premise. The exploration of storytelling in all its forms. Not just the forms you like, not just the forms I like. I’m making such a disclaimer because of my next confession. I’m a nerd. Before I was a dancer, writer or actor, I was a nerd. If you’re not one I will allow His Majesty Wil Wheaton, King of the Nerds, explain to you what it means to be one.

The following was recorded by a new mother, who asked our king to leave a message behind for her newborn daughter on why it’s awesome to be a nerd.

Beautiful, right? I’m not crying. I’m just leaking liquid pride. I want to have a kid just so I can play that back for him/her. Although this particular speech happened at the Calgary Comic Expo a few months prior to the Comic Con I attended, it was the subject of much conversation. This speech became the theme of the only experience at Comic Con worth telling all of you. Not that the celebrities, previews and cosplayers weren’t awesome. It’s just that this story, one I haven’t told anyone yet, had such a profound effect on me that it rendered all else moot.

I’ll have that story for you on Tuesday.

Related articles

• Comic Con 2013 (probingthecosmos.wordpress.com)
• What’s it Like Being a Guest of Honor at San Diego Comic Con? (tor.com)

It’s almost time to shoot the Schmidt!

A little bit bout myself. I watch a lot of television. I mean a lot of television! And with an optimum combination of Hulu, appointment viewing, Netflix and DVR I’m able to watch it without compromising any social or professional time. Fall is on it’s way and I can’t wait to see some of my favorite characters again: Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper, Community‘s Troy and Abed, and my favorite, New Girl‘s Schmidt.

Take note: I didn’t mention any protagonists or main characters among this list of favorites. Not Jessica Day (New Girl), not Richard Castle (Castle), and definitely not that winey Ted Mosby (How I Met Your Mother). On Tuesday we’ll be talking about the former three, not the later three, and how things may be changing for the show stealing supporting role.

Until then, enjoy this montage of one of my favorite supporting characters of all time.

Related articles

• Dr. Sheldon Cooper, for the win. (justdance5678.wordpress.com)
• Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on New Girl, Walking Dead, Glee, Big Bang, Nashville, PLL and More! (tvline.com)
• Every T-Shirt Sheldon Cooper Has Ever Worn In The Big Bang Theory (makeuseof.com)

Trust me… Just trust me!

We’ve explored the ensemble masterpiece authors couldn’t make up in the Superbowl, the body’s narrative in dance, and even the storytelling power of video games. I haven’t steered you wrong yet, have I? So I’m going to need you to trust me when I say there’s a criminally underrated tool for learning the mechanics of storytelling.

This tool has been hiding under your nose for some time. A few of you are rabid fans, a few of you scoff at it the moment you see it, and more than a few of you secretly indulge in it as a guilty pleasure. Ratings don’t lie, and since I’m working under a pen name I have no problem admitting World Wrestling Entertainment taught me a lot about storytelling. Now before you unfollow Crown Town Scribe take a few minutes to view the tearful retirement speech of Mark Henry, one of the WWE’s most dominant superstars.

Shocked?

Good.

WWE can teach storytellers and writers a great deal in terms of pacing, originality, audience perception, and as you saw plot twists. Find out more on Tuesday.

Guest Blog: Are Video Games Literature?

We’ve been talking about this a lot lately. Thought I’d give you a doctor’s point of view.

Interesting Literature

By Dr Alistair Brown, Durham University

To ask “Are video games literature?” seems a pointless kind of question, like pondering whether a film is the same thing as a poem, or whether a Rembrandt painting tastes like cheese. Yet asking this question is a necessary provocation, because it helps us to think about how and why video games and literature might elicit similar reactions in their players or readers, even if they set about this process in quite different ways.

That we even ask the question about whether video games might be “literature” or for that matter any other form of “art” is significant, because it shows that we are at least approaching video games with an open mind. The late, great film critic Roger Ebert got many things right, but when it came to video games, he was notoriously unfair in claiming that “video games can never be…

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Preview: Superbowl Pt. 2

Just prior to the wildcard game on January 6th, 2013, the man above, defensive captain Ray Lewis announced that he would be retiring at the end of the season. Fans and spectators reeled upon hearing the news, but his fellow Ravens, having barely made it to the Playoffs, were determined to send him off with a Superbowl Championship. First they had to get past the Indianapolis Colts, who managed to rally behind a golden boy rookie quarterback and a coach who was diagnosed with cancer. With such motivation, how could the Ravens possibly win?

And even if they did, this would be their last game at M&T Bank Stadium, and this would be the last time 70,000 Ravens fans would see Ray’s entrance dance.