Creative commentary plus crafty composition

Archive for the ‘Arts commentary’ Category

Tinted Behaviour

Are you one of those adults who secretly (or, perhaps, not so privately) unwinds with coloured paper images?

This subject is the focus of an article in the current issue of Psychology Today. The rather reflective subheading is “Buyers may come in for the nostalgia but stay for the inspiration”. (more…)

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Arts commentary, Behaviour & Relationships, Personal Development, Uncategorized

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Blended Genres at a Screen Near You

A note received yesterday from a screenwriting site noted the vast array of recent film releases featuring comedy blended with other genres. Some of these reflect evolution in our social mores. Examples included:

  • Action comedy, such as ‘The Kingsman’
  • Dramedy, such as ‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’
  • Horror comedy, such as ‘Vampire Academy’
  • Female Empowerment comedy, such as ‘Trainwreck’
  • Mockumentary, such as ‘What We Do in The Shadows’
  • Senior Comedy, such as ‘The Intern’

(more…)

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Arts commentary, Humour, Uncategorized

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Complex Terms, Message Reinforcement

I like to think of myself as pretty well versed in a range of our language, including how it relates to grammatical terminology. Thanks to the September edition of Toastmaster magazine, that belief system is heretofore, thanks indeed to a brief but cogent article identifying little-used terms representing selective message repetition.

Two words are introduced, neither of which per se have been familiar, I suspect, to many of us, although the underlying applications as rhetorical devices have been observed over time. (more…)

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Arts commentary, Personal Development, Uncategorized

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The Expurgated Versions

Part of the brilliance of gifted comedians and satirists is their ability to take concepts of language or expressions and twist them into shapes which activate response. Their translations generate laughter thanks to the vulnerability of the underlying version of normalcy.

Consider the ‘Book Shop’ sketch from Monty Python. (more…)

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Arts commentary, Humour, Social & political humour, Uncategorized

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Life Lessons from ‘The SIMPSONS’

A TV show that has been around as long as THE SIMPSONS has had its own life cycles, disguised by its animated construct.   Although the characters technically haven’t aged, the way they appear, and the increasingly tangential nature of their world, have gone through a version of evolution. Even the annual “Treehouse of Horror” satires and parodies have gone past exploring easier source material (such as with the classic “The Shinning”) to the extent that even the aliens don’t appear as regularly as they used to. Ah well, that’s show biz. (more…)

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Arts commentary, Behaviour & Relationships, Humour, Social & political humour, Uncategorized

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PASSWORD Was Once (mainly) a Game Show

Our lives these days are filled with passwords, exacerbated to the extent that we conduct aspects of our affairs on-line.

There are many theories and rules-of-thumb about establishing passwords: use different ones for everything (but where do you safely store the list?), use the same core, but not easily deciphered, pattern so it’s easy to remember (but what if someone figures out the first domino?), frequently changing them, etc. (more…)

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Arts commentary, Behaviour & Relationships, Personal Development, Social & political humour, Uncategorized

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Getting Carded

It seems the art of sending and getting greeting cards is a declining one, certainly insofar as customary paper manifestations. Hanging up fewer and fewer Christmas cards results in less decorative ambience than it once did.

I find that on-line access to services such as Hallmark e-cards (for a minimal annual fee) provides a key benefit missed by the traditional card, namely immediacy. (more…)

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Arts commentary, Behaviour & Relationships, Humour, Uncategorized

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Words in Pictures

What do words like cognoscenta and volte-face have in common?

Allowing that the first of these has a seemingly unrecognized end spelling issue (presumably should end in i or e), these are both rather uncommon words I have found in re-reading a book by sci-fi master John Wyndham, perhaps best known as author of “The Day of the Triffids”. His writings stem from the middle of the last century, so he may be excused for using a little older, ornate language, but it is certainly not arcane. (more…)

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Arts commentary, Pictures speak volumes, Social & political commentary, Uncategorized

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Life Lessons from ‘The Newsroom’

Anyone fortunate enough to have viewed the HBO series ‘The Newsroom’ is aware of its brilliance in characters and conviction, while exploring topics of the day, albeit with an American focus and viewpoint. Fortunately, the nature of character development is such that elements of everyman are revealed, especially in personal relationships – so the vitality of the stories can resonate with an audience beyond the U.S. border. (Having a few non-Americans in the regular cast helps.) (more…)

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Arts commentary, Behaviour & Relationships, Humour, Social & political commentary, Uncategorized

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Subject to Interpretation

There are many popular phrases which have a built-in double entendre; this can stem from the individual words, or from the expression itself, open to tangential, perhaps oxymoron, interpretations; when these are applied to stripped down storytelling (ideally with clothes still on), the imagination can be pushed onto a different path…

Warning: If it looks like a new beginning, chances are the old beginning needed to have an upgrade. (more…)

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