When it comes to meta and murder, no one does it better than fake psychic detective Shawn Spencer. And being as this is October and Halloween is just around the corner I thought I’d use this edition of Reference Humor to break down Psych’s Friday the 13th homage “Tuesday the 17th” As always bold numbers represent the time at which the reference happened and Spoilers abound for a wide variety of films. Scroll down at your own risk. You’ve been warned (cue evil cackle). 00:00 The episode title is a reference to the slasher film Friday the 13th (1980) 00:24…
Category: Geekdom Come
The Franchise-Green Arrow
Core Concept: Green Arrow is not an overly original character. Created all the way back in 1941, this hero is essentially an amalgamation of Batman and Robin Hood. It took a long time for his writers to come up with an idea that moved beyond those two core influences. It took until the 70’s in his joint adventures with Green Lantern for the hero to develop an identity all his own. Oliver Queen is at his best when he is seeking out social justice in addition to that of the vigilante kind. His political life, his commitment to the little guy,…
The Franchise-Doctor Who
If you’re not excited for Jodi Whittaker’s debut as the Doctor this Saturday you’re either not familiar with her work or a terrible person. As a devout Whovian I can guarantee you I’ll be glued to my seat the second that distinctive music begins to play. But for those of you a bit less fanatic about a sci-fi show that’s been on the air for over fifty years I thought I’d use this edition of The Franchise to give you a bit of a primer. Core Concept: “A Mad(wo)man with a Box” The Doctor may be a Time Lord with…
Troping the Riff- The Asylum Episode
There is nothing more difficult to quantify than someone else’s’ reality. And if I told you that I had lived a life battling the forces of evil or traveling the stars you would assume, and perhaps rightly so, that my perceived reality had gone a little far askew of the reality everyone else was living in. If I persisted with my delusions, there would be little choice but to have me committed to an institution. This is something we all accept as part of the real world and is a far more likely explanation for what is going on than…
World Building 101: Economics
As writers of fiction, we all have a particular part of our imagination we like to indulge the most. For some of us, that means spending hours on end crafting a sophisticated socio-political hierarchy for our new world. For others, it’s about creating wondrous mythical beasts or monstrous creatures born from a nightmare realm. While still others revel in inventing new types of technology or systems of magic. Very few writers get into the world building game because they love exploring the what if game of economics. I am one of those few. Which is why it is with great…
Troping the Riff- Groundhog Day
Haven’t you ever had a day go so horribly you wish you could just get a mulligan? A do-over. A chance to go back in time and correct whatever mistakes you made and get the day right. Well if you have then you are in luck because this edition of Troping the Riff is for you. Today we’re going to talk about one of the most standard plot tropes out there, you are about to experience a Groundhog Day. (and I don’t mean the holiday.) This is one of those rare tropes that actually gets its name from the movie…
The Franchise-Predator
Today marks the release of The Predator, yet another attempt at rebooting the Predator film franchise. After the critical and commercial failures that were AVP: Requiem and Predators this is a franchise that is in desperate need of a win. And while I have found the trailers for this reboot rather unimpressive am still holding out hope since it features Olivia Munn who I’ve had a crush on since her Sloan Sabbath days and Friend of the Blog Keegan Michael Key (by Friend of the Blog I mean that after a long night of drinking and telling me President Obama…
Troping the Riff- The Ancient Menace
The signs are all there. Time the prophecies warned us about is coming. Darkness comes and the end of all things is at hand. It has returned. The ancient enemy. Or at least that’s what they tell me. Because in today’s Troping the Riff we tackle perhaps the oldest trope in storytelling: The Ancient Menace. The Ancient Menace is a storytelling trope that dates back as far as the earliest mythologies. It is an evil that was present either before or at the creation of the world or at least before the current civilization came to be. This great and…
World Building 101- History
There is a term in storytelling called ‘in media res’, it means to start your narrative not at the beginning of your story but in the middle usually in the middle of some tense action. While I can appreciate the idea of starting your tale with a little bit of action in order to hook your audience. I’ve never fully appreciated the term ‘in media res’ because, in my opinion, all stories begin in the middle. There is rarely, if ever, an occasion where your story does not rely at least partially upon events that occurred before your narrative began.…
Reference Humor: Chuck Season 1 Episode 6 “Chuck Versus the Sandworm”
In this entry, we’re taking a look at an early episode of one of the geekiest shows ever to air on network television: Chuck. Chuck never shied away from its geekiness and a such it was home to more pop-culture references than you can shake a wookie at. Let’s queue it up. As always bold numbers represent the time at which the reference happened and spoilers abound for a wide variety of films. Scroll down at your own risk. Okay, let’s get started. 00:00– The title is a reference to the Dune franchise which began with the 1965 novel Dune…