by Melinda Snodgrass | Aug 22, 2014 | Blog
Despite being fundamentally solitary creatures I think writer’s have a great need for community. Getting to spend a few days in the home of fellow writers Emma Newman and Peter Newman has been bracing and rejuvenating. It’s like being at a convention without all the stress or in a writer’s room in Hollywood without all the stress. We’ve talked about the business of writing, the craft of writing, run ideas past each other (thanks guys you helped me immeasurably with the...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 23, 2014 | Blog
Home at last and while I’m tired I’m also restless so it seemed like the perfect night to watch the finale of AGENTS OF SHIELD for a second time. Len and I were doing a great deal of hooting and hollering so I wanted to watch it again with a more critical eye. My initial reaction hasn’t changed — it was too damn easy. (Picture Samuel Jackson saying that in his Nick Fury voice.) I had really liked the shake up to the show — SHIELD has been designated as a terrorist organization. Our little...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 16, 2014 | Blog
I had taped the first episode of the new COSMOS with Neil deGrasse Tyson and I got around to watching it last night. I enjoyed it a great deal, and the production values are breathtaking. There were several interesting things that I noticed. One was the use of animation to tell certain historical stories. In particular the story of the Dominican monk Giordono Bruno. He wasn’t a scientist, and his rational for believing the universe was infinite was his belief that god was infinite...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 13, 2014 | Blog
Let me amend that to say I’m longing for a good game. Life right now is a bit stressful, and I’d like to have an escape. I think it’s time for a return to Ferelden and Dragon Age: Origins. I used to just load up one of the Mass Effect games and go play in that world and see old friends, but that ending of game 3 really has rather soured me on that franchise. I may play all three games again knowing I will stop before the end, but I could really use an immersive...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 4, 2014 | Blog
I found myself pondering the art of selling. How people craft a commercial that will hopefully encourage a viewer to buy a particular product. My reaction to two very different television commercials made me realize how very fraught this effort must be. There is a Gevalia commercial that actively makes my teeth hurt, and I swear if Gevalia was the last coffee on Earth I would never buy this product because I find the commercial to be so very, very sexist. You’ve got a book club that...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 2, 2014 | Blog
A few weeks ago I found my mind wandering as I ran on the elliptical machine at my gym, and my mind went wandering back to Mass Effect. In particular I found myself pondering the fate of the clone from the DLC CITADEL. The writers gave us a pretty ambivalent ending for that particular adventure. Yes, the clone fell from the cargo bay of the Normandy either by his/her own choice or because of an action by Shepard prime, but this is Shepard so is he/she really dead? My assumption was no he...
