Happy June 1st everyone!
I have been youtube-crawling today around the cinema pop-culture side. And as I was watching assorted comments and commentary on a whole lot of YA (i.e. Young Adult) and children's books and TV/film/animation series, from Harry Potter to The Last Airbender to ...

The Oversimplification of a Child Hero's World
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, June 1, 2019Realistic Escalation
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 11, 2019
There comes the time when you may have a scene that starts off quite innocuously. It might even start all fun and games. But sometime during it, the atmosphere changes drastically, and things escalate, seemingly out of nowhere.
What used to be a chill scene, now is suddenly a strife ...
Unanswered
Banes at 12:00AM, May 9, 2019
What's in the Box?
An iconic part of the movie Pulp Fiction is the McGuffin that Jules and Vincent deliver to their boss, Marcallus Wallace. It's a briefcase that, when you open it, glows on the face of the person looking at it and absolutely astonishes them. Is ...
A Proposed Counterargument
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 4, 2019
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK
I was amazed and surprised to see that I wasn't the only one that had an idea to talk about setup and payoff and Game of Thrones this week! The lovely Emma Clare did it ahead of me, and she ...
The Normal Ones
Banes at 12:00AM, May 2, 2019
There was an episode of the show ‘Supernatural’ a few years back where Dean met with the literal personification of Death. This Creature - one of the most powerful, if not THE most powerful, would take human form once in awhile (or when some ancient agreement demanded it). He would sometimes ...
Pure Evil
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 20, 2019
I've talked about villains before and how they can be very nuanced in their motivations (without those motivations being redeeming) but today, thanks to Emma Clare's Friday post, I became inspired to talk about abject, absolute, abominable villainy! The twirling mustache type, the one that is so pure ...
On Reviving an Era
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 6, 2019
I had a meeting the other day with a director, who asked me “how do you approach a historical era to keep true to it?” and “how do you keep from being biased?”
I fear that I eclipsed the poor guy with my soap box lectures, but that aside, I ...
The Use of Nightmares
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 30, 2019
When they happen, nightmares can be anything from a terrible experience to a nuisance that can be settled with a warm cup of tea or chocolate. And while they harp on our peace of mind and our precious time asleep, the general consensus among psychologists is that, if it isn ...