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# RobynPaterson.com

Telling Stories

## Sitemaps

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## Posts

- [TAVIN Story Structure (aka The Dopamine Machine)](https://robynpaterson.com/tavin-story-structure-aka-the-dopamine-machine/) - Ever wonder why videogames are so addictive? Or why you spend hours scrolling on Tiktok? And did you ever think – “I wish I could make stories as addictive as those things”? Well step right up, because you’re in luck! Video games, Tiktok, and other addictive behaviors work because they’re tapping into the human reward
- [The Three Central Questions A Good Story Should Answer](https://robynpaterson.com/the-three-central-questions-a-good-story-should-answer/) - It's long been understood that all good stories have a central question which binds them together, and depending on the story, this can be many things, but it's usually some variation of "does the protagonist accomplish their goal?" Does Harry Potter become a wizard? Does Luke become a hero and defeat the Empire? Does
- [The Four Archetypes Characters Go Through in Most Stories](https://robynpaterson.com/the-four-archetypes-characters-go-through-in-most-stories/) - I came across this video today, and I have to say I find the idea of the character shifting between archetypal roles as they go through their story fascinating. The way he presents it, the character goes through four phases: The Orphan (a character cut off from others) The Wanderer (a character seeking an answer)
- [Million Tag](https://robynpaterson.com/million-tag/) - This is interesting. In 2021, Shonen JUMP did a reality TV show in Japan which was a contest where they paired aspiring and talented manga artists with senior Shonen JUMP editors and had them compete to see who could produce the best manga. The winner got serialized and a Netflix sponsored anime of their work. You
- [The Troubled Soul Plot - The Manga Gold Standard?](https://robynpaterson.com/the-lost-soul-plot-one-manga-gold-standard/) - There is no one shonen plot to rule them all, but there is a plot that has basically become a “gold standard” for shonen manga targeted at young adult males. This plot is an outgrowth of the philosophy that has evolved among the producers of such manga and been passed down to each generation of
- [Man vs. Duty - The Eastern Conflict](https://robynpaterson.com/man-vs-duty-the-eastern-conflict/) - In 335 BC, the Greek philosopher Aristotle in his book Poetics wrote that drama was based around four central conflicts: Man vs. Man Man vs. Self Man vs. Nature Man vs. Society He believed that using these four conflicts, playwrights crafted tales which revealed the true nature of the human condition. And, that the hero
- [Why "Gap Moe" is the Japanese Term All Manga Creators Need to Know](https://robynpaterson.com/why-gap-moe-is-the-japanese-term-all-manga-creators-need-to-know/) - The term “gap moe” is a hybrid English-Japanese term which uses the English word “gap” (the space between two objects) and the Japanese word “moe” (萌え, pronounced “mo-eh”, with a Canadian style “eh”) which is a slang term for “to create affectionate feelings.” Together, the phrase “gap moe” roughly means “to generate feelings of affection
- [The Importance of Dead Simple Goals in Manga](https://robynpaterson.com/the-importance-of-dead-simple-goals-in-manga/) - One of the things that the top selling manga have in common is that their lead characters are almost all working towards some overall arching goal. Accomplishing this goal will be the main arc and driver of the overall story, and the series will usually kick off by introducing a character with this goal and
- [Comments are Working Again](https://robynpaterson.com/comments-are-working-again/) - I just noticed that the comments on my posts have been giving errors when people try and leave feedback. I found out it was a plugin that was causing the problem and disabling it did the trick. Sorry to any who have tried to leave comments on my posts but been able to for the
- [Manga Monday: Oshi no Ko](https://robynpaterson.com/manga-monday-oshi-no-ko/) - [This is a running series where I share my thoughts on a different comic on Mondays, sometimes Manga, sometimes American, Chinese, Korean or UK comics. I read a huge amount of comics and thought I’d start to highlight some of the more interesting ones.] Series Name: Oshi no Ko Author: Aka Akasaka Artist: Mengo Yokoyari Tags:
- [KiShoTenKetsu in Manga Revisited](https://robynpaterson.com/kishotenketsu-in-manga-revisited/) - Recently I read The Shonen Jump Guide to Making Manga, and while the book itself was underwhelming for what it claimed to be, I did find a few little tidbits of information that made it worth reading. One of these nuggets was tucked into Promised Neverland writer Kaiu Shirai's final survey entry on page 93
- [Are All Popular Shonen Jump Heroes Trickster Archetypes?](https://robynpaterson.com/are-all-popular-shonen-jump-heroes-trickster-archetypes/) - There are a number of archetypes that pop up again and again in myths, legends, and fiction, and one of these is the Trickster character. This is a character who disobeys the rules and norms of conventional behavior and often lies, changes appearance, tells stories and generally acts in unpredictable ways. This is often contrasted
- [Review - The Shonen JUMP Guide to Making Manga](https://robynpaterson.com/review-the-shonen-jump-guide-to-making-manga/) - The other day I was poking around Amazon, and to my surprise discovered that VIZ had just dropped The Shonen JUMP Guide to Making Manga. This is a book which was published last year in Japanese, and now was available in English for all to enjoy. I couldn't hit that "Buy Now" button fast enough,
- [Paul Chato's Rules for Writing Manga?](https://robynpaterson.com/paul-chatos-rules-for-writing-manga/) - I recently posted Paul Chato’s rules for writing sitcoms, which is an excellent discussion of the topic by someone who spent years in the trenches producing sitcoms. However, reading through Paul’s “rules” I can’t help but think many of these apply to shonen manga as well. So, I thought I’d comment on how they apply
- [Paul Chato's Rules for Writing a Sitcom](https://robynpaterson.com/paul-chatos-rules-for-writing-a-sitcom/) - Canadian writer, comedian, and "Former Network Executive" Paul Chato recently released a video about how to write his favorite form of television - the Classic Sitcom. It's a fascinating video because it's one born from experience and not theory. Also, I think there's a lot to unpack here that I'll talk about in some other
- [Manga Mondays: Delicious in Dungeon](https://robynpaterson.com/manga-mondays-delicious-in-dungeon/) - [This is a running series where I share my thoughts on a different comic most Mondays, sometimes Manga, sometimes American, Chinese, Korean or UK comics. I read a huge amount of comics and thought I’d start to highlight some of the more interesting ones.] Series Name: Delicious in Dungeon (aka Dungeon Meishi Author: Ryoko Kui
- [How I Script the Webtoon Lord of Goblins](https://robynpaterson.com/how-i-script-the-webtoon-lord-of-goblins/) - Since a few people have requested it, I decided to make a video about the script format I use when I script the webtoon Lord of Goblins. And here is the template I mention in the video in RTF format. I hope this helps any creators who are confused about how to format a webtoon
- [Manga Monday: Heterogenia Linguistico: An Introduction to Interspecies Linguistics](https://robynpaterson.com/manga-monday-heterogenia-linguistico-an-introduction-to-interspecies-linguistics/) - [This is a running series where I share my thoughts on a different comic most Mondays, sometimes Manga, sometimes American, Chinese, Korean or UK comics. I read a huge amount of comics and thought I’d start to highlight some of the more interesting ones.] Series Name: Heterogenia Linguistico: An Introduction to Interspecies Linguistics (aka Heterogeneous
- [Manga Monday: Teenaged Mercenary](https://robynpaterson.com/manga-monday-teenaged-mercenary/) - [This is a running series where I share my thoughts on a different comic each Monday, sometimes Manga, sometimes American, Chinese, Korean or UK comics. I read a huge amount of comics and thought I’d start to highlight some of the more interesting ones.] Series Name: Teenaged Mercenary (aka Mercenary Enrollment) Author: KC Artist: Rakyeon
- [Lord of Goblins: How was it Made?](https://robynpaterson.com/lord-of-goblins-how-was-it-made/) - Rob was part of the Moonquill podcast last weekend talking about the webcomic I script - Lord of Goblins with the authors and publisher. Enjoy!
- [Manga Monday: River End Cafe](https://robynpaterson.com/manga-monday-river-end-cafe/) - [This is a running series where I share my thoughts on a different comic each Monday, sometimes Manga, sometimes American, Chinese, Korean or UK comics. I read a huge amount of comics and thought I’d start to highlight some of the more interesting ones.] Series Name: River End Cafe Author: Tanaka Akio Artist: Tanaka Akio
- [Manga Monday: The Fable](https://robynpaterson.com/manga-monday-the-fable/) - [This is a running series where I share my thoughts on a different comic each Monday, sometimes Manga, sometimes American, Chinese, Korean or UK comics. I read a huge amount of comics and thought I’d start to highlight some of the more interesting ones.] Series Name: The Fable Author: Minami Katsuhisa Artist: Minami Katsuhisa Tags:
- [Manga Monday: Bambino!](https://robynpaterson.com/manga-monday-bambino/) - [This is a new running series where I share my thoughts on a different comic each Monday, sometimes Manga, sometimes American, Chinese, Korean or UK comics. I read a huge amount of comics and thought I'd start to highlight some of the more interesting ones.] Series Name: Bambino! Author: Sekiya Tetsuji Artist: Sekiya Tetsuji Tags:
- [A History of Light Novels: The 1970s](https://robynpaterson.com/a-history-of-light-novels-the-1970s/) - The following is an unofficial English translation of a Japanese article about the history of light novels by a group called the Light Novel Research Institute. It is presented here for educational and research purposes only. The original Japanese text can be found here. This is an edited machine translation, so some titles or names may
- [How do People Play TRPGS Around the World?](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-people-play-trpgs-around-the-world/) - Today I stumbled across this fascinating YouTube channel called Don't Stop Thinking which has a series of videos talking to gamers from around the world about how they play D&D (and some other RPGs) around the world. The playlist includes discussions with gamers from South Africa, Italy, Malaysia, Germany, Taiwan, and of course Japan. Here
- [An Eastern Western : Shintaro the Samurai](https://robynpaterson.com/an-eastern-western-shintaro-the-samurai/) - In 1962, Shinichi Nishimura, a TV Japanese producer, decided to create a Japanese TV series which mimicked the American westerns which were still super-popular at the time on TV and Film in the USA. With this in mind, he created a series called Onmitsu Kenshi (隠密剣士, "Spy Swordsman") which was about a wandering government agent
- [Wally Wood's 22 Panels that Always Work](https://robynpaterson.com/wally-woods-22-panels-that-always-work/) - American comic book artist legend Wally Wood created a set of 22 panel layouts that he used as his go-to when he needed inspiration while drawing his comics. The idea was to have 22 ready-to-go ideas when he had two characters just talking to each other or needed to come up with something visually interesting
- [Lord of Goblins became Webtoon.com's #1 Fantasy Webcomic Today!](https://robynpaterson.com/lord-of-goblins-became-webtoon-coms-1-fantasy-webcomic-today/) - The webtoon Lord of Goblins, scripted by this humble writer, hit #1 in Webtoon.com's Fantasy category today in their Canvas section. As you can see below in this screengrab... For those not familiar with it, Webtoon divides their webcomics into two levels: Originals and Canvas. Originals are webtoons which are signed exclusives to webtoon.com and
- [Do All Light Novels Share the Same Plot?](https://robynpaterson.com/do-all-light-novels-share-the-same-plot/) - Last week, I did a series of posts trying to come up with a new definition of what a light novel is. And among the definitions translated from Japanese, there was one from a blog post that seemed to catch people’s attention. The blogger tried to break down the definition of light novels into different
- [What is a Light Novel? Part 2 - The non-Japanese View](https://robynpaterson.com/what-is-a-light-novel-part-2-the-non-japanese-view/) - Previously, we looked at how some Japanese try to define what a light novel is. Now, this time we're going to look at how some non-Japanese have tried to define this style of book. I'm purposely not including my own definition because that will be covered in the third part of this series. Let's start
- [Study the Masters of Manga with Manben!](https://robynpaterson.com/study-the-masters-of-manga-with-manben/) - Today, one of the manga greats, Takao Saito (creator of Golgo-13) sadly passed away, and while reading the outpouring of comments about his death on social media, I came across an interview he did for an NHK series called Manben which is about conversations with manga creators. Curious as to what Manben was, I kept
- [Detective Conan Mystery Formula](https://robynpaterson.com/detective-conan-mystery-formula/) - The following formula, found on Reddit and submitted by user TeraVonen, is a near perfect summary of the typical 2-part story pattern you find in the mystery anime and manga Detective Conan. Conan is the 4th best selling manga series of all time, and the anime has been on the air for over 20 years,
- [The Modern Audio Drama virtual convention playlist is now up on YouTube!](https://robynpaterson.com/the-modern-audio-drama-virtual-convention-playlist-is-now-up-on-youtube/) - These 16 sessions are a how-to by experienced creators and podcasters which cover everything from writing audio dramas (aka radioplays), to setting up your production team, finding people to work on the production, and of course audio engineering.
- [Unleash the Lord of Goblins Webtoon!](https://robynpaterson.com/unleash-the-lord-of-goblins-webtoon/) - In October 2020, by total accident, I saw that Moonquill Publishing was looking for a scripter to turn the popular light fantasy novel Lord of Goblins into a webtoon. (Webtoons are vertical webcomics designed for easy mobile reading in the Korean style.) Looking for a fun creative challenge, I signed on, and as they say-
- [Five Ways for Pantsers to Plan Their Stories](https://robynpaterson.com/five-ways-for-pantsers-to-plan-their-stories/) - For some writers, the idea of plotting out a story is a nightmare. To them, it just takes all the fun out of the writing. For these people, known as Pantsers (as in “Fly by the Seat of your Pants”) or Discovery Writers, the whole point of the story is to go on an adventure
- [The 7 Minute Solution](https://robynpaterson.com/the-7-minute-solution/) - Today, I was going through David Mamet's Masterclass, and he came to a part I found fascinating during his discussion of his play American Buffalo. He talked about how human beings have an "alertness" cycle built into them when they're doing tasks that causes them to mentally take a moment to casually check their environment
- [A History of Light Novels: 2010 to 2015](https://robynpaterson.com/a-history-of-light-novels-2010-to-2015/) - The following is an unofficial English translation of a Japanese article about the history of light novels by a group called the Light Novel Research Institute. It is presented here for educational and research purposes only. The original Japanese text can be found here. This is an edited machine translation, so some titles or names may be
- [A History of Light Novels: The 2000s](https://robynpaterson.com/a-history-of-light-novels-the-2000s/) - The following is an unofficial English translation of a Japanese article about the history of light novels by a group called the Light Novel Research Institute. It is presented here for educational and research purposes only. The original Japanese text can be found here. This is an edited machine translation, so some titles or names may be
- [A History of Light Novels: The 1990s](https://robynpaterson.com/a-history-of-light-novels-the-1990s/) - The following is an unofficial English translation of a Japanese article about the history of light novels by a group called the Light Novel Research Institute. It is presented here for educational and research purposes only. The original Japanese text can be found here. This is an edited machine translation, so some titles or names may be
- [A History of Light Novels: The 1980s](https://robynpaterson.com/a-history-of-light-novels-the-1980s/) - The following is an unofficial English translation of a Japanese article about the history of light novels by a group called the Light Novel Research Institute. It is presented here for educational and research purposes only. The original Japanese text can be found here. This is an edited machine translation, so some titles or names may be
- [How to Make a Romantic Comedy (From the Light Novel Research Institute)](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-make-a-romantic-comedy-light-novel/) - Since actual Japanese sources on writing light novels aren’t easy to find in English, I am sharing translations of some of the more interesting articles I have found during my current research here on my blog. Since my Japanese is poor, this is a machine translation done using DeepL Translation software and is presented "as
- [How to Write a Romantic Comedy Light Novel (from Novenaro)](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-a-romantic-comedy-light-novel/) - Since actual Japanese sources on writing light novels aren't easy to find in English, I am sharing translations of some of the more interesting articles I have found during my current research here on my blog. Since my Japanese is poor, these are largely machine translations done using DeepL Translation software and then revised and
- [How to Start an Isekai Story](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-start-an-isekai-story/) - Isekai, or "second world," stories are a staple of light novels and webfiction for many reasons. They start with a natural hook that makes readers interested, and then they lend themselves to all kinds of fun, adventures and romance. Not only that, they're instantly relatable because the main character is usually from our world, and
- [Five Old Writer's Tricks that Never Fail to keep Readers Reading](https://robynpaterson.com/five-old-writers-tricks-that-never-fail-to-keep-readers-reading/) - The greatest criticism you can say about a story is that it’s boring. But have you ever wondering why that’s such a criticism? Why is it that when we encounter a story we don’t like our reaction is to call it boring? Why not just say “not to my taste” or “poorly put together” or
- [What is a Light Novel? Part 4 - Rob's Definition](https://robynpaterson.com/what-is-a-light-novel-part-4-robs-definition/) - Over the past three days I have looked at the different ways people see light novels. From the Japanese point of viewFrom the non-Japanese point of viewTaking apart the six different ways you could look at light novels Today, we're going to go over my own definitions of a light novel based on looking at
- [What is a Light Novel? Part 3 - Laying out the Perspectives](https://robynpaterson.com/what-is-a-light-novel-part-3-laying-out-the-perspectives/) - For this little project, I went through many definitions of what a light novel is, both from Japan and from the non-Japanese world. And I have to say, as I look at my survey of the definitions, I’m reminded of the parable of the blind men and the elephant. In short, for those who aren’t
- [What is a Light Novel? Part 1: The Japanese View](https://robynpaterson.com/what-is-a-light-novel-part-1-the-japanese-view/) - Defining what a Light Novel is seems to be like trying to grab a greased pig - it's messy, hard to pin down, and you can never quite get a solid hold on it. So, in an effort to understand them better, I decided to look at how Japanese speakers define the Light Novel category
- [Writing Chinese Style, or how to Crank Out 50,001 Words in a Day.](https://robynpaterson.com/writing-chinese-style-or-how-to-crank-out-50001-words-in-a-day/) - Not everyone knows this, but Chinese and European chefs actually take a radically different approach to cooking. In the European style (which we naturally follow in North America), the focus is on short preparation times and long cooking times. This likely came from the nature of European vegetables (lots of tough starches) and the style
- [The (Classic Doyle) Whydunnit Formula](https://robynpaterson.com/the-classic-doyle-whydunnit-formula/) - 'Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?''To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.''The dog did nothing in the night-time.''That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.'― Arthur Conan Doyle, “Silver Blaze” Things might not always go as planned, but there is always a reason why things happen. A
- [The Crazy Tricks Club sneaks into Audible!](https://robynpaterson.com/the-crazy-tricks-club-sneaks-into-audible/) - Those kids from the Crazy Tricks Club have done their best trick yet! They've managed to sneak into the world of audiobooks with the release of the first Crazy Tricks Club book Brains Over Crime on Audible! Read by the incomparable Andrew Joseph Perez, their first crazy heist springs to life in this fun and
- [Origins and Context of Isekai Discussion Video(s)](https://robynpaterson.com/origins-and-context-of-isekai-discussion-videos/) - An interesting discussion about the origins of the Isekai genre. They bring up a couple of good points, including the genre's close connection with The Hero's Journey and some ideas of their thoughts on defining Isekai. Rob
- [Gigguk Used A Million Dollar AI To Prove Light Novel Titles Are Dumb.](https://robynpaterson.com/gigguk-used-a-million-dollar-ai-to-prove-light-novel-titles-are-dumb/) - This is really funny, and some of the titles the AI came up with are even funnier. By the way, I have officially started research and development on the new revised edition of my writing Light Novels and Webnovels book, so expect a lot of LN and WN related content here on the blog in
- [Designing the Second CTC Cover](https://robynpaterson.com/designing-the-second-ctc-cover/) - When it was time to design the cover for the second book of my Crazy Tricks Club series, I already knew a few things. First, I was going to be using the same cover designer and style as my first book. I really loved what my Indonesian cover designer, Lin, had done with the first
- [My Awesome New Middle-Grade Series: The Crazy Tricks Club](https://robynpaterson.com/my-awesome-new-middle-grade-series-the-crazy-tricks-club/) - This is the first book of the Crazy Tricks Club, a fun and fast-paced story about Aiden Fox and the other members of Ridge Hill Jr. High's Crazy Tricks Club. They're a secret team of problem solving students who specialize in doing seemingly impossible missions for the mysterious figure known only as Raven.
- [How to Write Manga: Revised Edition](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-manga-revised-edition/) - I've just released a new revised edition of my How to Write Manga book. If anyone hasn't had a chance to check it out, it's a new and updated version of my popular original textbook. And, if you already have an ebook copy of my original, just have it update to the newest version on
- [Four Essential Stories to Make Your Writing Stronger](https://robynpaterson.com/four-primal-stories-to-make-your-writing-stronger/) - While there are an infinite number of possible stories, the vast majority of them fall into one of four categories. These four “essential” stories are the most basic forms of the stories that humans tell, and by understanding and using them you can quickly put your story into a simple framework that lets you know
- [Mary Robinette Kowal's Short Story Building Process](https://robynpaterson.com/mary-robinette-kowals-short-story-building-process/) - I recently posted about how author and writing teacher Mary Robinette Kowal uses the M.I.C.E. Quotient to help focus her stories, but while going through her blog I found that she also has a very refined process she uses for story development that is quite impressive. Below is the question sheet she gives her students
- [Exploratory Manga -  Educational Manga That Take You For A Ride](https://robynpaterson.com/exploratory-manga-educational-manga-that-take-you-for-a-ride/) - There are a few less common manga genres that probably deserve more attention than they get, and one of these is the Exploratory Manga. Now, when I say “Exploratory Manga” you might think I’m talking about stories like Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Uncharted, or other adventure stories where the hero is going into strange new
- [The Onion Method: Building Better Stories by Talking to Yourself](https://robynpaterson.com/the-onion-method-building-better-stories-by-talking-to-yourself/) - Reimena Yee's Onion Method For Outlining Graphic Novels is one of the more interesting approaches I've seen to planning a story in a while. At first I thought it was going to be another take on the Snowflake Method, but I quickly discovered her approach is something very different. Not only that, it's a more
- [How M.I.C.E. can help writers.](https://robynpaterson.com/how-m-i-c-e-can-help-writers/) - A while ago on the Writing Excuses podcast I heard science fiction author Mary Robinette-Kowal discuss one of her personal favorite ways to structure stories, which is called the MICE Quotient. Mary didn't come up with the idea, author Orson Scott-Card (another hyphenated writer) did, but Mary seems to be its primary evangelist, so I'll
- [The REAL Writing Masterclass - Brandon Sanderson's Lecture Series](https://robynpaterson.com/the-real-writing-masterclass-brandon-sandersons-lecture-series/) - So, as I've mentioned before, I'm currently working my way through the Masterclass courses on writing. I've gone through most of the writers of both books and film they have available, and so far have found two clear must-listen winners - R.L. Stine and David Mamet, both of whom are both informative and entertaining in
- [The Three Mysteries of Arthur Conan Doyle](https://robynpaterson.com/the-three-mysteries-of-arthur-conan-doyle/) - While making my way through Stephen Fry’s astoundingly good Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection on Audible, I began to notice a pattern in Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. Story after story in the collection tended to follow one of three different patterns, and after I started taking notes, I began to realize that these three patterns
- [How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-light-novels-and-webnovels/) - In Japan, South Korea, and China, they’ve been turning webfiction into anime, TV, movies, comics, mobile games, and profit for the past twenty years. This has made Asian light fiction writers some of the best in the world, and they’ve had twenty years to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Twenty years, millions of stories – their success secrets are right here in this book.
- [The (Classic Doyle) Howdunnit Formula](https://robynpaterson.com/the-classic-doyle-howdunnit-formula/) - Solving “impossible crimes” was one of the things Holmes was most famous for, and Doyle was fond of coming up with puzzles to challenge his great creation. In fact, a good way to think of a howdunnit is as it being a puzzle. “How did the killer get in and out of the locked safe
- [The (Classic Doyle) Whodunnit Formula](https://robynpaterson.com/the-classic-doyle-whodunnit-formula/) - Without a doubt, the whodunnit is the most popular type of mystery there is in modern culture, and if you read or watch a mystery story today, it’s probably a whodunnit. CSI? Whodunnit. The Mentalist? Whodunnit. Criminal Minds? Whodunnit. Detective Conan/Case Closed? Whodunnit. Murdoch Mysteries/Artful Detective? Whodunnit. People love figuring out whodunnit! Which is why
- [The Psychology, Geography, and Architecture of Horror: How Places Creep Us Out](https://robynpaterson.com/the-psychology-geography-and-architecture-of-horror-how-places-creep-us-out/) - I found a fascinating paper on why certain things creep people out, which is invaluable information for writers of horror, suspense, and anyone else who wants to play their reader's nerves like a fiddle. Abstract Why do some types of settings and some combinations of sensory information induce a sense of dread in humans? This
- [Dan Brown Masterclass on Thrillers](https://robynpaterson.com/dan-brown-masterclass-on-thrillers/) - I just finished going through the Dan Brown Masterclass on writing thrillers. Lots of good advice for new writers there, and a few little gems for me. I'm not going to write a full review, but I will say that Dan Brown's background as a teacher really shows through. He's thorough and methodical, and covers
- [Star Trek TV : By the Numbers](https://robynpaterson.com/star-trek-tv-by-the-numbers/) - Recently, I found myself in a debate about the quality of different Star Trek TV series. and which one was better than the others. Being the data-minded individual I am, I decided to follow a "reals over feels" approach and collect some data to see what the real numbers were. First, I threw the IMDB
- [Who is Reading YA Books?](https://robynpaterson.com/who-is-reading-ya-books/) - I found some interesting reading on Reddit today in a thread from early 2019 that I thought was worth looking at. It's very challenging to find actual data on the sex of Young Adult readerships since the publishers don't seem inclined to share what they have and individual writers can only work with their reader
- [Workflow for Creating and Marketing Webfiction](https://robynpaterson.com/workflow-for-creating-and-market-webfiction/) - Mcoorlim asked:While I've dabbled in serial fiction most of my experience (and my day job) is writing novels. How can I adapt my skills from novelist to web serialist in terms of both creative production and marketing? My reply: In terms of creative production, the recommended formula for creating webfiction seems to run on a
- [Figuring Out What to Write](https://robynpaterson.com/figuring-out-what-to-write/) - Some writers have problems deciding on what ideas to use and what to leave on the table. However, the solution is pretty simple- you need to sell yourself the idea before you sell it to an audience. If you're not interested, an audience likely isn't either. One approach to solving this problem is writing a
- [Another Book Blurb Formula](https://robynpaterson.com/another-book-blurbs-formula/) - Found this info in a thread on Royal Road on writing good reader-catching story blurbs by Vincent Archer. I thought it was worth sharing, his original source was a bit vague, so I couldn't trace it. (Bolding mine for emphasis.) The blurb is supposed to catch your readers' attention and sell the story, not tell
- [How to Write a Quick Blurb](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-a-quick-blurb/) - A "blurb" or "book blurb"- it's the advertising description that sells your book to the readers. You find it on the back of printed books, or as the description on Amazon. As for how to write a catchy one, most blurbs basically look like this: Introduction (1-2 paragraphs)Hook (1 paragraph)Cliffhanger (1 paragraph) Each paragraph is
- [Webfiction Statistics: Ants Creation](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-statistics-ants-creation/) - This is part of a series of posts sharing some of the research material I collected while researching my book How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels. There was a lot I found that I couldn’t fit into the book, so I thought I’d share it here.The categories listed are translations of the ones the
- [Webfiction Statistics: Korea Combined](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-statistics-korea-combined/) - This is part of a series of posts sharing some of the research material I collected while researching my book How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels. There was a lot I found that I couldn’t fit into the book, so I thought I’d share it here.The categories listed are translations of the ones the
- [Webfiction Statistics: Wattpad](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-statistics-wattpad/) - This is part of a series of posts sharing some of the research material I collected while researching my book How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels. There was a lot I found that I couldn't fit into the book, so I thought I'd share it here.The categories listed are translations of the ones the
- [Webfiction Statistics: Naver](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-statistics-naver/) - This is part of a series of posts sharing some of the research material I collected while researching my book How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels. There was a lot I found that I couldn’t fit into the book, so I thought I’d share it here.The categories listed are translations of the ones the
- [Webfiction Statistics: Munpia](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-statistics-munpia/) - This is part of a series of posts sharing some of the research material I collected while researching my book How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels. There was a lot I found that I couldn’t fit into the book, so I thought I’d share it here.The categories listed are translations of the ones the
- [Webfiction Statistics: Shosetsuka ni Narou! (Let's Become a Novelist!)](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-statistics-shosetsuka-ni-narou-lets-become-a-novelist/) - Shosetsuka ni Narou! (Let's Become a Novelist) is Japan's oldest and most popular webfiction site, and continues to be a place where publishers find their next hot new novelist. Many light novels, including Rising of the Shield Hero, That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime, Kobosuba, RE:Zero, Overlord and a huge list of other
- [Webfiction Statistics: Fictionpress.com](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-statistics-fictionpress-com/) - This is part of a series of posts sharing some of the research material I collected while researching my book How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels. There was a lot I found that I couldn’t fit into the book, so I thought I’d share it here. The categories listed are translations of the ones the
- [Webfiction Statistics: Joara](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-statistics-joara/) - This is part of a series of posts sharing some of the research material I collected while researching my book How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels. There was a lot I found that I couldn't fit into the book, so I thought I'd share it here.The categories listed are translations of the ones the
- [Webfiction Statistics: Qidian.com](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-statistics-qidian-com/) - This is part of a series of posts sharing some of the research material I collected while researching my book How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels. There was a lot I found that I couldn't fit into the book, so I thought I'd share it here. The categories listed are translations of the ones
- [How to Write Manga](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-manga/) - My new book is up! What started as a revision of Write! Shonen Manga turned into an almost complete re-write with lots of new material and approaches. This book now covers how to... Write both Shonen and Shoujo manga.Master the Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu story structure that makes manga unique.Create epic battle manga like Naruto, My Hero Academia and One Piece.Design manga characters that
- [20 Tips for Writing Successful Webnovels](https://robynpaterson.com/20-tips-for-writing-successful-webnovels-2/) - There are a number of survival strategies that Webnovel authors use to try to keep on top of their relentless workload while keeping their audience happy. These are strategies that any serial writer can learn from, although some of them are fairly specific to this meat grinder approach to writing. Keep the story simple -
- [Rob on YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/rob-on-youtube/) - I finally completed a project I'd been meaning to do for a while - convert my various podcast episodes to YouTube videos so that a whole new audience can find them. Thanks to the amazing folks at repurpose.io, the various old episodes of Kung Fu Action Theatre and The Department of Nerdly Affairs are now
- [The Shonen Battle Manga Formula](https://robynpaterson.com/the-shonen-battle-manga-formula/) - (This article is the first rough part of what would later become my book Write! Shonen Manga. I'm leaving it up so that people can see how the book evolved, although a lot of it was later revised for the book.) The Japanese produce more comics than anyone else on Earth, and they are a
- [J. Michael Straczynski on the secret to his writing](https://robynpaterson.com/j-michael-straczynski-on-the-secret-to-his-writing/) - Yep. That's basically it. You need to write until it's instinctual, and that comes with a whole lot of practice. (Which he's had, in spades!) Always keep writing!
- [Write! Shonen Manga is now available on Smashwords for Free!](https://robynpaterson.com/write-shonen-manga-is-now-available-on-smashwords-for-free/) - Last summer, I began revising my book Write! Shonen Manga towards a second edition, however the more I wrote the more it turned from being a second edition into not one, but two different books! The first of these was All the Write Moves which was published last fall on Amazon, and the second one
- [The Rise of Webtoons](https://robynpaterson.com/the-rise-of-webtoons/) - I'm not sure if many people know about this, but Webtoons.com is just starting to majorly take off. My tween tutoring students all read it, and I think it's going to be huge in the very near future. Here's an artist talking about his first month's experience on it I recommend watching... The site is actually the English
- [Writing Manga: The Three Cycle Plot](https://robynpaterson.com/writing-manga-the-three-cycle-plot/) - Japanese comics, or manga, are written as episodic serials- which means they're broken down into a series of semi-self contained chapters where each episode represents a piece of a larger story but is also a smaller story on its own. This style developed because they were publishing stories in weekly magazines and never knew if
- [Xianxia- The Fantasy Genre that's Dominating Chinese Web Fiction](https://robynpaterson.com/xianxia-the-fantasy-genre-thats-dominating-chinese-web-fiction/) - A little over a year ago, I noticed a Chinese name, Douluo Daolu, on the "top 20 manga" of the site Mangafox.com, which I thought was unusual to say the least on a site dedicated to Japanese manga. The site does have Korean and Chinese comics, but to see a translated Chinese one reach a
- [Time to make All The Write Moves!](https://robynpaterson.com/time-to-make-all-the-write-moves/) - A little over a year ago, I released Write! Shonen Manga, and included a section for getting new writers up to speed based on my 20 years experience as a writer and teacher. To my surprise, that writing section got just as must praise from readers as the parts of the book about writing manga, and
- [NaNoWriMo Quickstart Guide – Part Eight: Writing a Synopsis](https://robynpaterson.com/nanowrimo-quickstart-guide-part-eight-writing-a-synopsis/) - Step 8: Writing a Synopsis While you might be tempted to write your story just from your scene list, it's a good idea to take one more final step and make sure everything is in place before you begin the process of turning your story into something people are going to love to read. That
- [NaNoWriMo Quickstart Guide – Part Seven: Organize Your Ideas Into Scenes](https://robynpaterson.com/nanowrimo-quickstart-guide-part-seven-organize-your-ideas-into-scenes/) - Step 7: Organize Your Ideas Into Scenes The next step is also simple and fun - you take your big collection of scenes and try to see if you can arrange them into a rough version of a story. In the paper version, this involves putting them into a box (or a random pile) and
- [NaNoWriMo Quickstart Guide – Part Six: Brainstorm Situations and Scenes](https://robynpaterson.com/nanowrimo-quickstart-guide-part-six-brainstorm-situations-and-scenes/) - Step 6: Brainstorm Situations and Scenes Once you have your cast, it's time to figure out what's going to happen to them. This is where the fun really begins, as all you have to do is start to write down ideas about situations that could happen in your story. Right from Step 2 and 3,
- [NaNoWriMo Quickstart Guide – Part Five: Pick Your Main Characters](https://robynpaterson.com/nanowrimo-quickstart-guide-part-five-pick-your-main-characters/) - Step 5: Pick your Main Characters It might seem strange that it took so long to talk about the characters, after all, you already thought up rough characters when you came up with your Core Premise for your story. However, until everything from Genre to Theme was in place, you weren't ready to actually sit
- [NaNoWriMo Quickstart Guide – Part Four: Picking a Theme](https://robynpaterson.com/nanowrimo-quickstart-guide-part-four-picking-a-theme/) - Step 4: Picking a Theme While an interesting main plot or idea for the story is going to make it interesting to read, the truth is if you want your story to really have any depth, or be meaningful to readers, you're going to need to find a theme for it as well. The theme,
- [NaNoWriMo Quickstart Guide - Part Three: Picking a Core Premise](https://robynpaterson.com/nanowrimo-quickstart-guide-part-three-picking-a-core-premise/) - Step 3: Picking a Core Premise Your next task is to pick a Core Premise for your story based on the pile of ideas you've just put together in the previous step. This step is extremely important and shouldn't be skipped, because your Core Premise is the central idea of your story and the seed
- [NaNoWriMo Quickstart Guide - Part Two: Brainstorming Ideas](https://robynpaterson.com/nanowrimo-quickstart-guide-part-two-brainstorming-ideas/) - Step 2: Brainstorming Ideas Once you've picked your genre, the next step is customizing this story so it's yours. How do you do this? It's pretty simple- the same way every single writer before you made their stories original to them- they drew from their own life experience. Now, you might be thinking, "Life experience?
- [NaNoWriMo Quickstart Guide - Part One: Pick A Genre](https://robynpaterson.com/nanowrimo-quickstart-guide-part-one-pick-a-genre/) - The following multi-part series will offer a step-by-step quick-start guide to putting together a story. Even if you have little to no experience with writing, this guide will give you the basic structure and core ideas you need to tell the story you want. Of course, you will still need to be able to write
- [Plastic Love and City Pop](https://robynpaterson.com/plastic-love-and-city-pop/) - Apparently an early 80's Japanese music genre called City Pop is exploding on the internet right now. As a watcher of 80's anime, I'm used to it, but it is nice to see this music getting it's due. Everything old is new again! Plastic Love (the song taking YouTube by storm) What is Plastic Love
- [The S.P.I.N.E. of Good Comics](https://robynpaterson.com/the-s-p-i-n-e-of-good-comics/) - Previously, I’ve written about the characteristics that make up a good story, at least from the point of view of the audience, and how the writer has five key things they offer their audience in a story, which can be summed up by the acronym S.P.I.N.E.. Skills – the audience learns how to do something.
- [The Importance of the Spine of Action- Game of Thrones and Legend of the Galactic Heroes](https://robynpaterson.com/the-importance-of-the-spine-of-action-game-of-thrones-and-legend-of-the-galactic-heroes/) - The importance of a story's central activity, or Spine of Action should never be underestimated when writing, especially when you're writing longer works. Two beautiful examples of this are George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and Yoshiki Tanaka's Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Two very different epic stories which mirror each other
- [The Task Story - A "New" Genre that's](https://robynpaterson.com/the-task-story-a-new-genre-thats/) - One of the more fascinating things about the internet is its ability to highlight so many different facets of human nature. The internet has brought out the best of humanity in things like charity drives and campaigns for positive change around the world, and it’s brought out the worst of humanity as well, in numerous
- [Stories Made Simple Ep.3 - The Spine of Action (Part 1)](https://robynpaterson.com/stories-made-simple-ep-3-the-spine-of-action-part-1/) - In this episode, Rob begins delving into the Spine of Action, and how understanding it can make your stories better.
- [Stories Made Simple Ep.2- The 5WH Method](https://robynpaterson.com/stories-made-simple-ep-2-the-5wh-method/) - In this episode, Rob discusses the importance of details in stories, what details writers need to include, and how many.
- [Stories Made Simple- Episode 1: What are Stories?](https://robynpaterson.com/stories-made-simple-episode-1-what-are-stories/) - I've been wanting to do a few YouTube videos about storytelling for a while, and finally finished the first one. Let me know what you think! Rob
- [DNA PODCAST 060 – CHINESE WEBNOVELS WITH JEREMY BAI](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-060-chinese-webnovels-with-jeremy-bai/) - In this episode, Rob and Don sit down with translator and author Jeremy Bai to discuss the world of Chinese Webnovels. The trio discuss the history of Chinese adventure fiction being translated to English, how Chinese heroes differ from English heroes, and the best Webnovels for people new to the genre to check out. All
- [DNA PODCAST 058 – LIGHT NOVELS WITH JUSTUS R STONE](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-058-light-novels-with-justus-r-stone/) - In this episode, Don and Rob head East with Justus R. Stone, YouTube Light Novel Reviewer, to discuss the ins and outs of the Japanese and American Light Novel markets. Along the way, Justus takes the pair on a tour of the origins of Light Novels, why they’re growing in popularity in English, and how
- [The Investigation Plot](https://robynpaterson.com/the-investigation-plot/) - Summary: The Investigation Plot is a basically a typical detective/mystery procedural story but with a Japanese twist to heighten the drama. A standard of Japanese TV and manga storytelling for decades, it harkens back to the to pulp detective stories of the American 1920s and 30s, but can be found everywhere from 1980s Samurai and
- [My Favorite Manga of 2017](https://robynpaterson.com/my-favorite-manga-of-2017/) - This has been an interesting year for me, not the least of because I spent half of it working on my first major nonfiction book, Write! Shonen Manga. Now, I normally read a lot of manga, and am always looking for new series to check out, but because of the research I was doing I
- [The Righteous Avenger Plot](https://robynpaterson.com/the-righteous-avenger-plot/) - Summary: The Righteous Avenger plot is an extremely common plot in manga and anime, and appears from time to time in Western media as well. In short- it’s a story where a powerful hero saves a noble innocent from a true villain. Required Characters: A powerful Hero (the “righteous avenger”) A virtuous Innocent An irredeemable
- [The Duel Plot](https://robynpaterson.com/the-duel-plot/) - Summary: The Duel Plot is one of the most common types of Battle Manga plots, as the majority of stories in a Battle Manga are based around it. In its simplest form, it is two characters dueling against each other, usually for some (to them) high stakes prize. Required Characters: A main character An Opponent
- [Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu- a Japanese way to structure your stories.](https://robynpaterson.com/ki-sho-ten-ketsu-a-japanese-way-to-structure-your-stories/) - A while back, I blogged about a Japanese story structure called Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu (Kee-Show-Ten-Ketsoo), which is normally presented as an alternative story structure which doesn’t revolve around conflict. I found the whole idea fascinating, especially since our normal “western” story structure is generally entirely based around characters in conflict (with others, their environment, themselves, society, etc).
- [Write! Shonen Manga!](https://robynpaterson.com/write-shonen-manga/) - It's finally here! Six months ago, I started a "small" project to write a short book on writing Shonen Manga style stories. Now, 310 pages and 90,000 words later it's finished and available on Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, and most other retailers. It's even available in print! If you've ever wanted to know how the Japanese put together
- ["Linguistics, Style and Writing in the 21st Century - with Steven Pinker"](https://robynpaterson.com/linguistics-style-and-writing-in-the-21st-century-with-steven-pinker/) - A brilliant video which changed my thinking about style. All academics should watch it. https://youtu.be/OV5J6BfToSw
- [Wonder Woman has opened my eyes.](https://robynpaterson.com/wonder-woman-has-opened-my-eyes/) - So, I was listening to the Wonder Woman episode of The Story Toolkit podcast, and I have to say it was a major eye opener. The episode itself is about the Wonder Woman movie, and during the show the host Bassim al-Wakil laid out something I had no idea about, but which makes absolute perfect
- [Emotional Emphasis ](https://robynpaterson.com/emotional-emphasis/) - So, I'm puzzling over this quote from Araki's book on writing manga. In Western comic storyboards, panels are laid out with the most importance placed on good drawing composition, and the sketches focus on the characters’ actions. Japanese mangaka, on the other hand, place emphasis on characters’ internal thoughts and emotional reactions. This focus on
- [How to Write a Good Story - The Essence of Story](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-a-good-story-part-one-the-essence-of-story/) - On social media across the Internet, there is a single constant refrain- “How do I write a good story?” It comes from new writers eager to make their eBook fortune on Kindle, young adults who want to join in the fanfiction fray, and even experienced writers who are looking to up their game. It’s lead
- [Review- Manga in Theory and Practice: The Craft of Creating Manga](https://robynpaterson.com/review-manga-in-theory-and-practice-the-craft-of-creating-manga/) - As a writer, writing teacher, and a lover of Japanese comics, I was excited when I stumbled upon Hirohiko Araki’s Manga in Theory and Practice: The Craft of Creating Manga on Amazon the other day. Published in English in June of 2017 (it was published in Japanese in 2015) by VIZ Media, it was of
- [DNA Podcast 47 - The History of Manga Part 1](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-47-the-history-of-manga-part-1/) - Page from Tagosaku and Mokube’s Big Toyko Adventure In this episode, Rob and Don journey back into the past of Japanese comic books to explore it from its roots 1300 years ago until the great experimental manga age of the 1970s. They explore the European roots of Manga, how the medium was shaped by the winds
- [Writing Sports Dramas and other Japanese-Style Activity Dramas](https://robynpaterson.com/writing-japanese-style-activity-dramas/) - If you’ve ever read more than a few manga, or watched a half-dozen anime, then this storyline will sound familiar- a reluctant youth becomes part of a sport, hobby, or other activity, learning the joys of participating in it, making new friends and allies, overcoming enemies and challenges, and progressing from talented newbie to master
- [How to Write a Good Story - Throughlines](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-a-good-story-throughlines/) - The human brain is a pattern-seeking and pattern-making machine. In other words, we naturally look for patterns in the world around us, and will even make patterns out of things that may or may not have an actual pattern to them. In his book Understanding Comics, author Scott McCloud uses the North American design of a
- [DNA Podcast 46 - Interview with Larry Houston](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-46-interview-with-larry-houston/) - In this episode, Don and Rob sit down with Larry Houston, storyboard artist and animation producer, to talk about his history in animation and work on X-men: The Animated Series. The trio discuss how Larry broke into the animation industry back in the 1980’s, what it was like to work with Stan Lee, and his techniques
- [How to Write a Good Story- Human Needs](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-a-good-story-human-needs/) - All stories are ultimately about humans needs- specifically, a human (or human-like being) trying to meet those basic fundamental needs in some way. No matter what the story is about, or how complicated it is, on some level it’s about people trying to meet their needs. So, what are the basic human needs? The concept
- [DNA Podcast 45 - Affluence in the Media](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-45-affluence-in-the-media/) - In this episode, Rob and Don delve into the topic of Affluence in the Media. Where do our ideas of wealth come from? How does the media shape our ideas of what it is to be wealthy? And why is Richie Rich a post-apocalyptic warlord? All this, and Sigmund Freud’s Nephew are waiting for you
- [The Fall of BLEACH and the fate of the Big Three Millennial Manga](https://robynpaterson.com/the-fall-of-bleach-and-the-fate-of-the-big-three-millennial-manga/) - YouTube user Super Eyepatch Wolf posted a fascinating video last year about how the manga/anime BLEACH went from being one of the big three to cancellation. It's a sad but fascinating story that tells you a lot about the manga industry in Japan, and is worth watching even if you don't like BLEACH. (I'm not
- [China makes a play for the Teen Anime market](https://robynpaterson.com/china-makes-a-play-for-the-teen-anime-market/) - One interesting development which has gone somewhat unnoticed during the first half of 2017 was China's streaming media companies entering the teen animation market. While Chinese companies have for a long time been providing animation services for the Japanese market on the production end of things, China is finally making an effort to turn some
- [DNA Podcast 044 - Musical Brains](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-044-musical-brains/) - In this episode, Don and Rob are joined by their friend Richard Moule to discuss music and how it affects us. The trio explore the physical processes behind our reactions and interactions with music and discuss how music and humans evolved together over time. The three also delve into music as soundtrack, and discuss the
- [Microsoft Dictate](https://robynpaterson.com/microsoft-dictate/) - This is interesting. Microsoft has released their new Text to Speech add-on for Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) called Dictate. Which, according to the Project Website- Features Supports more than 20 languages for dictation Does real time translation to 60 languages Commands like "new line", “stop dictation” and "enter" to give more control while dictating Two
- [What Writers can learn from Animators and Comic Artists](https://robynpaterson.com/what-writers-can-learn-from-animators-and-comic-artists/) - Recently I did a post looking at the ideas of a writing guru called Eric Edson where among other things he made the statement that characters in movies only have four emotional states- Mad, Sad, Glad, and Scared. Edson's view was that these are the most common emotions used in film because they're the
- [The S.P.I.N.E. of Every Good Story](https://robynpaterson.com/the-s-p-i-n-e-of-every-good-story/) - We know that stories exist because humans use them to learn from each other- they're a teaching tool we use to pass knowledge and ideas between ourselves. Therefore, it will come as no shock to anyone that audiences must get something from a story
- [Pulp Adventure Generator](https://robynpaterson.com/pulp-adventure-generator/) - I stumbled across this the other day, and it's just too cool not to share! Grab your 10-sided dice, because someone has turned Lester Dent's classic Pulp Adventure Writing Formula into a full-on Pulp Adventure Generator for use with any role-playing game or in your own writing. The above is a sample of the 9-page
- [Eric Edson's Screenwriting Tips](https://robynpaterson.com/eric-edsons-screenwriting-tips/) - One of my favorite YouTube channels is one called Film Courage, which is a channel basically dedicated to interviewing screenwriters and screenwriting teachers. There are some fantastic interviews on there if you’re interested in writing in general, but especially screenwriting. Case in point this interview with writing teacher Eric Edson 12 Useful Tools To Help
- [DNA PODCAST 043 – POST APOCALYPTIC RPGS](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-043-post-apocalyptic-rpgs/) - In this episode, Don and Rob are joined again by their friend Chad to discuss Post-Apocalyptic (Tabletop) Role Playing Games. The three discuss the different ways in which an RPG can be Post-Apocalyptic, the importance of post-apocalyptic hygiene, and then go through the history of the Post-Apocalyptic gaming genre with side trips into movies, anime
- [DNA PODCAST 042 – DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-042-dungeons-and-dragons/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by fellow gamer Jack Ward to discuss the granddaddy of tabletop roleplaying- Dungeons and Dragons. The intrepid trio throw on their adventuring gear and delve deep into the many editions of D&D while sharing their thoughts on how D&D became a cultural fixture in our society. All
- [DNA PODCAST 041 – REMAKES, SEQUELS AND REBOOTS. OH MY!](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-041-remakes-sequels-and-reboots-oh-my/) - In this episode, Don and Rob sit down to discuss the issues involved with remakes, prequels, sequels and reboots, and why at best they’re a tough act to pull off well, and at worst they’re totally awful. Along the way, they delve into the nature of story itself and how stories reflect the writers and
- [DNA PODCAST 040 – MISTER KITTY’S STUPID COMICS](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-040-mister-kittys-stupid-comics/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by Shain and Dave from Misterkitty.org to talk about their ongoing Stupid Comics project where they showcase some of the most awful and unique pieces of comic book art visited upon mankind. Along the way, the four talk about the pair’s Mister Kitty’s Lo-Fi Landfill audio project,
- [New Random Story Generators](https://robynpaterson.com/new-random-story-generators/) - So, using my very limited HTML programming skills, I've put together not one, but two random generators for writers who are looking for a little inspiration to use. The Random Scene Generator gives you a pair of people who are naturally in opposition to each other and a verb which defines the scene they're in.
- [DNA Podcast 039 - Bad Movies We Love](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-039-bad-movies-we-love/) - In this episode, Don and Rob are joined by their friend Chad to talk about the movies that they know are awful, but can’t help but have soft spots in their hearts for. This journey takes the trio from classic 50’s monster movies, to the heights of 80s cheese and the depths of Asia’s cinematic
- [DNA Episode 038 - Interview with Spiritual Medium Mary Bezaire](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-episode-038-interview-with-spiritual-medium-mary-bezaire/) - In this episode, Rob and Don sit down with psychic medium Mary Bezaire to discuss what it’s like to see spirits and be a channel into the unknown. The three discuss a wide variety of topics, from the nature to spirit guides, to the most haunted
- [DNA Podcast 037 - Death and the Nerdly Arts](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-037-death-and-the-nerdly-arts/) - In this episode, Rob, Don and Jack Ward explore the place of death in the nerdly arts. From superheroes who never die, to the real life celebrities who do (for now), and how our own fears of death shape our entertainment of choice, the trio head down a funerary rabbit hole. It’s an episode of
- [DNA Podcast 036 - Interview with Will Meugniot](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-036-interview-with-will-meugniot/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by comic artist and animation director and producer Will Meugniot to talk about Will's long history in the comics and animation industry. In this deep exploration of the animation industry of the 80's and 90's, they discuss the DNAgents, Will's role as showrunner for X-Men the Animated
- [DNA Podcast 035 - The Hero's Journey Strikes Back!](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-035-the-heros-journey-strikes-back/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by Jack Ward for a spirited debate about Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Does Campbell’s opus really hold the key to writing satisfying stories? Jack thinks so, but Rob and Don aren’t so sure, and this leads to a long discussion involving comparative mythology, newspaper comic strips, 1970’s
- [Dan Harmon's Story Circle Evolved](https://robynpaterson.com/dan-harmons-story-circle-evolved/) - Anyone who reads my blog knows that I'm fascinated by story structure, and recently I've been probing the depths of Dan Harmon's Story Circle. The Story Circle was Harmon's way to take Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey and make it into something practical but still all encompassing. This isn't new, Christopher Vogler did something similar in
- [DNA Podcast 034 -What are litRPGs?](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-034-what-are-litrpgs/) - In this episode Don and Rob are joined by the awesome Ramon Meija of the litRPG podcast to talk about the biggest new genre you’ve probably never heard of- litRPGs. The three discuss the origins of this fascinating genre, what makes a litRPG, what books your should be reading, and how the litRPG genre reflects the
- [The point where Anime and North American Animation Diverged](https://robynpaterson.com/the-point-where-anime-and-north-american-animation-diverged/) - Earlier this week, I was having an email exchange with my DNA co-host Don and our frequent esteemed guest Jack Ward about anime and American animation. As part of that conversation, Don took it upon himself to write up a long blog post explaining to Jack how the two animation industries diverged from each other
- [DNA Podcast 033 - Writing Formulas](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-033-writing-formulas/) - In this episode, Rob and Don sit down to discuss story structure. They explore the origins of the 3-act structure, discuss Chris Fox's Write to Market strategy, and break down the Lester Dent Master Pulp Writing Formula and Michael Moorcock's How to Write a Book in Three
- [The Crocodile Princess is coming to the big screen!](https://robynpaterson.com/the-crocodile-princess-is-coming-to-the-big-screen/) - Now that the ink is drying on the contracts, I have an announcement to make. My novel, The Crocodile Princess, has been licensed by Keller Entertainment to become both a graphic novel and a feature film in conjunction with a Major Chinese studio. (Not sure I'm allowed to say who yet, so we'll leave it
- [DNA Podcast 032 - Voice Acting with Kimlinh Tran](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-032-voice-acting-with-kimlinh-tran/) - In this episode, Rob and Don explore the possibilities of sound by talking with voice actress Kimlinh Tran about her experiences and perspectives gained voice acting in anime and video games. They talk about her efforts to improve her craft, why being near entertainment production centers is a must, and why recording walla is so much
- [DNA Podcast 031 - Comics Creator Ben Dunn and Antarctic Press](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-031-comics-creator-ben-dunn-and-antarctic-press/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by comic book creator and founder of Antarctic Press, Ben Dunn. The three of them sit and chat about Ben’s long career in comics, how Antarctic Press came to be, and the ups and downs of running a comic book company. Along the way, Ben gives great
- [DNA Podcast 030 – Interview with Dr. R.N. Shukul](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-030-interview-with-dr-r-n-shukul/) - In this episode Rob and Don sit down with Journalist and TV Producer Dr. Rashid Narain (R.N.) Shukul to discuss Television and Media in India. Along the way, they touch on RN’s career as a cameraman and war correspondent, his time as TV game show producer in India, his time producing documentaries for Fremantle Media,
- [We're stuck in a long distance relationship with copyright.](https://robynpaterson.com/were-stuck-in-a-long-distance-relationship-with-copyright/) - Here's a thought: Copyright Laws are putting us in a long-distance relationship situation with media, and hindering creativity. In a long-distance relationship, what happens is the couple communicate in a superficial way most of the time, and only see each other occasionally as their life/work situations allow. This creates an odd situation where the
- [DNA Podcast - 029 - Our One Year Anniversary Show!](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-029-our-one-year-anniversary-show/) - Rob and Don have been at this for a year, and take a show to look back on 28 episodes of the Department of Nerdly Affairs and how far they’ve come. They discuss the origins of the show, some behind the scenes thoughts about the different episodes and their guests, and finish with a special
- [Magic Leap Concept Explained](https://robynpaterson.com/magic-leap-concept-explained/) - YouTuber Vance Vids has begun doing a series of video explaining what is probably the most exciting Augmented Reality technology on the horizon- Magic Leap and what we know about the Florida-based company that Chinese and American corporations like Google and Baidu are dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into. Everyone who's seen it says
- [Thoughts on Different Story Structures](https://robynpaterson.com/thoughts-on-different-story-structures/) - My recent article where I was trying to unravel the mysteries of writing what I call Procedural Fiction and a conversation I had with my friend Don have left me thinking about the different ways writers use to structure stories. For most people, the Hero's Journey is the one true method by which stories are
- [Writing Creative Procedural Fiction](https://robynpaterson.com/writing-procedural-fiction/) - Heroic Journeys are pretty much the gold standard for modern fiction writing. The vast majority of stories written in any genre are heroic journeys wherein a weak/flawed character grows, develops, and eventually becomes a hero. The standard hero’s journey formula runs like this: Introduction of the flawed character and their world as it is. Character
- [DNA Podcast 017 - All About Ultraman](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-017-all-about-ultraman/) - In this episode, Rob and Don do an overview of the Japanese media titan Ultraman, delving into the concepts behind the series, doing an overview of Ultraman's long history, and talking about their personal connections to the character. All this, and a trip into the world of 80's independent television, are waiting for you in
- [DNA Podcast 028 - The Nature of Nerdliness](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-028-the-nature-of-nerdliness/) - In this episode, Rob and Don sit down with guest Jack Ward to discuss what it means to be a nerd. The trio discuss exactly what nerds are, where they came from, and whether nerds as a concept is even still relevant in modern culture. All this, and why The Nutty Professor was the great
- [Lester Dent’s Master Pulp Story Formula Checklist](https://robynpaterson.com/lester-dents-magic-pulp-story-formula-checklist/) - I've been a big fan of pulp writer Lester Dent's Master Story Formula for a while. I consider it perhaps the simplest layout for a plot-driven 4-act action/adventure story structure I've ever seen, and it really does make it easy for almost anyone to plot one of these stories just by following the formula. (Notice
- [The Lester Dent Master Formula for Pulp Fiction Writing](https://robynpaterson.com/the-lester-dent-master-forumla-for-pulp-fiction-writing/) - Here's the formula that Lester Dent used for writing his stories that I found online. It seems to move around, so I thought I'd post it here in it's entirety. When I first started writing my Little Gou adventures this was the formula I had running in the back of my head as I wrote
- [How to Write a Book in 3 Days, by Michael Moorcock](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-a-book-in-3-days-by-michael-moorcock/) - I stumbled across this article today, it's a collection of advice from Michael Moorcock about how one would write a book in 3 days if one had to do it. Even for those with more time, it's probably worth the read. And, speaking of Fantasy authors, Poul Anderson wrote a good piece about keeping your
- [Classic 12-Chapter Murder Mystery Formula](https://robynpaterson.com/classic-12-chapter-murder-mystery-formula/) - (Note: This has been floating around the internet for years, and I don't know who first wrote it (if anyone does, let me know!) but it's worth archiving and Camp Nanowrimo starts next week, so here it is.) The classic mystery is popular fiction which follows a specific formula. Clever writers may try to change
- [DNA Episode 027 - Horror Hosts with Michael Monahan](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-episode-027-horror-hosts-with-michael-monahan/) - In this episode, Rob and Don sit down with Michael Monahan, author and co-producer of the documentary American Scary, to talk about Horror Hosts. We delve into the origins of the Horror Host phenomena from its early days with Vampira to the megahit Ghoulardi and the modern incarnations which still stalk the airwaves. All this,
- [80's NY Horror Host Morgus shows Godzilla](https://robynpaterson.com/80s-ny-horror-host-morgus-shows-godzilla/) - Ahh, I love old horror hosts. I grew up on Elvira, Superhost from Cleveland (WUAB!) and of course MST3K. This video from the Internet Archive (courtesy Bill Hollweg) is the New Orleans Horror host Doctor Morgus presenting Godzilla. So pop up the corn, grab some sodas and sit down to enjoy (complete with 80's commercials!)
- [DNA Podcast 26 - Indie RPGs with Graham MacLean](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-26-indie-rpgs-with-graham-maclean/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by scholar and game designer Graham MacLean to talk about the Independent Tabletop RPG scene. The trio talk about the origins of Indie RPGs, why D&D was the first Indie RPG, and how the Fruitful Void can make you look at games in a new way. All
- [Children of a Dead Earth](https://robynpaterson.com/children-of-a-dead-earth/) - So, the other day I was reading the Tough Scifi blog, a blog dedicated to Realistic Space Combat (a subject longtime readers will know I'm fascinated by) and there was a reference to a new game called Children of a Dead Earth, which I clicked on out of curiosity. What I got surprised the heck
- [DNA Podcast 025 - The Kevin Doak Comedy Hour](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-025-the-kevin-doak-comedy-hour/) - In this episode, Rob and Don sit down with comedian Kevin Doak to discuss comedy and the nerdly arts. The trio debate which superhero you want to have over for dinner, why the Walking Dead needs more laughs, and the depressed turnout of Batman v. Superman. All this, and why Shawn of the Dead is
- [The Part-Time Writers Podcast](https://robynpaterson.com/the-part-timer-writers-podcast/) - One of my favourite manga of all time is the manga Bakuman, a fantastic story about two young Japanese comic book artists who are trying to make it into the big leagues by the creators of the famous manga Death Note. Although I use the word fantastic to describe it, there are no fancy elements
- [Movie Review- Singham](https://robynpaterson.com/movie-review-singham/) - Friday night is movie night in my household, I collapse onto the couch, pick a movie from Netflix and go to it. This week, I decided to go for something a little out of the ordinary and this poster caught my eye... Now, the fact that it's a clear ripoff of Iron Man's aesthetic aside,
- [DNA Podcast 024 - Interview with Scifi Author Gary Gibson](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-024-interview-with-scifi-author-gary-gibson/) - In this episode, Rob and Don interview Scottish science fiction writer Gary Gibson about his career, writing Space Opera, and why Science Fiction has become boring. All this, and why Zardoz is a classic film, in this episode of the Department of Nerdly Affairs.
- [DNA Podcast 023 - Why you shouldn't be a writer](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-023-why-you-shouldnt-be-a-writer/) - In this episode, Rob and Don discuss the cons of becoming a professional writer (or artist). While the internet is filled with people telling you that you’re one Kindle book away from quitting your day job (mostly by people selling writing how-to advice and services) Rob and Don look at some of the cold, hard costs
- [DNA Podcast 022 - Heavy Metal Thunder](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-022-heavy-metal-thunder/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by music historian Richard Moule to discuss their mutual love and admiration for the musical art form known as Heavy Metal. The trio trace Metal's history and inspirations, and talk about how metal became THE nerdly music of choice. All this, and why Death Metal is really redneck
- [DNA Podcast 021 - Interview with Tim Eldred](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-021-interview-with-tim-eldred/) - In this episode, Rob and Don sit down with comic artist and director of Marvel’s Avengers Assemble animated series Tim Eldred to discuss his career in the comic book industry and how it led him into the world of animation. Along the way, they discuss Tim’s advice for aspiring comic book artists, why getting your
- [DNA Podcast 020 - Tabletop RPG Memories](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-020-tabletop-rpg-memories/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by their friend Chad Hicks to discuss their love of Tabletop Role-Playing Games. The trio explore the history of TRPGS, and talks about their own experiences and growing up playing these games. Along the way, they discuss the appeal of Gamma World, point based vs. random character
- [The key elements of a bestselling novel](https://robynpaterson.com/the-key-elements-of-a-bestselling-novel/) - The Independent newspaper had an interesting piece today about a pair of researchers (Penguin UK editor Jodie Archer, and associate professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Matthew Jockers) who have spent the last 5 years using computer algorithms to analyze 20,000 books looking for patterns that make best sellers stand out. The result is a
- [Thunderbolt Fantasy](https://robynpaterson.com/thunderbolt-fantasy/) - https://youtu.be/WLdEdtcmqaA?t=16m15s A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Kung Fu puppetry of Taiwan, but little did I know that I wasn't the only one who'd taken an interest in Taiwan's Wuxia puppetry- Japanese writing star Urobuchi Gen (the man behind Madoka Magica, Psycho Pass, and Fate/Zero) had also taken an interest in Pili Puppetry
- [DNA Podcast 019 - Ghosts of Saturday Mornings Past](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-019-ghosts-of-saturday-mornings-past/) - In this episode, Don and Rob discuss North American TV animation, tracing it from its roots in the 1950s to the rise of Saturday morning television and its eventual evolution in the age of Netflix. Along the way, they spend time with Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, Josie the Pussycats, the Micronauts, and Goober and the Ghost
- [DNA Podcast 018 - Edd Vick and MU Press](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-018-edd-vick-and-mu-press/) - In this episode, Rob and Don sit down with Edd Vick, founder and publisher of MU Press and Comics F/X magazine, to discuss Edd's history in comics and the independent comics scene of the 80s and 90s. Former guest Jeff Wood, one of Edd's friends and contributors also stops by, and the four of them
- [Review: The Legend of Korra](https://robynpaterson.com/review-the-legend-of-korra/) - So this week I finally took the chance to catch up on the serial The Last Airbender: The Legend of Korra, which is the sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender and airs on Nickelodeon on Saturday mornings. Originally intended as a mini-series, even before it aired the channel upgraded its status based on just
- [Volton: Legendary Defender Review (Very Lite Spoilers)](https://robynpaterson.com/volton-legendary-defender-review-very-lite-spoilers/) - I just finished watching the first season of Netflix and Dreamworks' new attempt at rebooting Voltron, and I have to say I was impressed. This is no surprise, since the people behind the reboot are the same team and studio behind Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and they bring their trademark style of character, action,
- [How to watch Ultraman](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-watch-ultraman/) - After I posted our recent episode of The Department of Nerdly Affairs about Ultraman, I got to thinking about what Ultraman series would be best for people watch as their first one. After all, your first exposure to a show can make a big difference in how you react to it. So, after giving it
- [The Kung Fu Puppetry of Taiwan](https://robynpaterson.com/the-kung-fu-puppetry-of-taiwan/) - As far as I know, Taiwan is one of the few places where puppetry is not only appreciated, but where puppet shows are shown on national television. In particular, the Pili programs of gloved puppetry shows have continued to capture the imaginations of young Taiwanese with their creative and colourful puppet storytelling. The credit
- [Xiao Gou's Blog](https://robynpaterson.com/xiao-gous-blog/) - After reading online how helpful blogging in languages you're learning can be, I've decided to start a separate blog in Chinese so I can practice my limited grammar and vocabulary and maybe learn a bit too. The blog, Xiao Gou's Blog, will only be in Chinese, and contain my simple random posts each week. I
- [Hosting Horror](https://robynpaterson.com/hosting-horror/) - To me, as a kid, Saturday afternoon was a sacred time. I spent each Saturday from 1pm until 6pm watching Superhost Marty Sullivan show old horror and sci-fi movies from Cleveland, OH. In fact, I dare say it was a more religious experience to me than my Sunday mornings at church! As such, I have
- [DNA Podcast Episode 015 - Podcasting Audio Drama](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-episode-015-podcasting-audio-drama/) - In this episode, Don and Rob are joined by Jack Ward of the Sonic Society podcast to talk about Jack's experiences hosting the Internet's greatest audio drama showcase for over a decade and the thrills and frustrations of being an audio drama producer in the podcast age. Slap on your Podjectors and Flip the switch to
- [DNA Podcast 016 - Exploring the Pulps with Gregg Taylor](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-016-exploring-the-pulps-with-gregg-taylor/) - In this episode, Don and Rob are joined by Gregg Taylor of the Decoder Ring Theatre podcast to talk about a subject that's near and dear to Gregg's heart- Pulp Heroes! We talk about the original Batman v. Superman- The Shadow and Doc Savage, how a pulp hero is made by their choice of hats,
- [DNA PODCAST 014: TALKING 80’S INDEPENDENT COMICS WITH JEFF WOOD](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-014-talking-80s-independent-comics-with-jeff-wood/) - In this episode, Rob and Don sit down with former Comics F/X magazine founder and editor Jeff Wood to talk about the West Coast independent comics scene of the 1980’s. The three discuss the origins of Comics F/X magazine, MU Press, the small press black and white comics explosion, and how “three adjectives and a noun”
- [DNA Podcast 013 - Collectible Card Chaos](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-013-collectible-card-chaos/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by James Wegg of No Dice Games to talk about collectible card games (CCGs). The three of them discuss Collectible vs. Living Card Games, the current state and future of CCGs, and the pros and cons of running a gaming store. All this, and (Butt) Crack Gate,
- [DNA Podcast 012 - Pokemon Turns 20!](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-012-pokemon-turns-20/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by their friend Chad to discuss 20 years of Pokemon! They discuss how and why the phenomena has lasted so long, the origins of the game, and why a dark Pokemon movie is inevitable. All this, and a heaping helping of Nerd Rage is waiting for you
- [DNA Podcast 011 - Teen Culture](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-011-teen-culture/) - In this episode of the Department of Nerdly Affairs, Rob and Don discuss the dreaded creatures known as teenagers! Slouching their way from post-WWII suburbia, these strange beings have had a huge effect on culture and media, and the pair are joined by the Sonic Society’s Jack Ward to discuss their past, present and future.
- [Choudenshi Bioman- The First English Dubbed Sentai Series](https://robynpaterson.com/choudenshi-bioman-the-first-english-sentai-series/) - Contrary to popular belief, the first Sentai completely dubbed into English wasn't Zyuranger (Power Rangers Season 1, in 1993), it was 1984's Bioman! A Filipino TV network dubbed the whole series in English in 1987, and released it to some success on the local TV stations. Episode One Dubbed in English here on VEOH.com. Bioman
- [DNA Podcast 010 - Twisted Robot Mego Chicken Theatre](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-010-twisted-robot-mego-chicken-theatre/) - In this episode, Rob interviews Don about his Mego toymaking hobby. They discuss the history of the Mego company, the current state of Mego fandom, and the future of toys in a 3-D Printing world. All this, and the Mego Mangler are waiting for you in this 10th episode of the Department of Nerdly Affairs.
- [DNA Podcast Episode 009 - Clap if you love Gamera!](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-episode-008-clap-if-you-love-gamera/) - In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by their friend Chad to discuss all things Giant Monster! They discuss why the genre has an enduring popularity, and then delve into their favorite Giant Monster films and guilty Daikaiju pleasures. Finally, they talk about the future of Giant Monster movies and what it would take
- [Chinese Web Novel Genres](https://robynpaterson.com/chinese-web-novel-genres/) - After posting a link to my recent post about Chinese Xianxia webnovels, I became engaged in a discussion on the Wuxiaworld Forums about the different webnovel genres in China and their proper names. As a result, I discovered that technically I was wrong in referring to the genre I described previously as Xianxia Fiction- it should
- [Why Star Wars:TFA Failed in China](https://robynpaterson.com/why-star-warstfa-failed-in-china/) - There has been some discussion about why Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the movie that rocked the box office in North America and Europe, comparatively tanked in China. In case you hadn't heard, it opened in China to poor reviews, made a mere $52 Million in its opening week (by comparison Furious 7 made $182 million in China
- [DNA PODCAST 008 – ARE SUPERHERO MOVIES BAD FOR US?](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-008-are-superhero-movies-bad-for-us/) - Welcome Operatives to the Department of Nerdly Affairs. In this episode, Rob and Don are joined by indomitable Jack Ward, host of the Sonic Society Podcast, to discuss actor/writer Simon Pegg’s article about the infantalization of popular culture and society. The trio go deep into the topic, and come out having discussed Nazis, Adult Films
- [Romancing the Three Kingdoms II](https://robynpaterson.com/romancing-the-three-kingdoms-ii/) - For most of my life, I'd heard the name "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" tossed around, and back in 2006 I decided to finally bite the bullet and give it a read. I sought out Moss Robert's translation Three Kingdoms (he skipped the "Romance" part, which no longer works in modern English) and after acquiring
- [Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast](https://robynpaterson.com/romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-podcast/) - Romance of the Three Kingdoms has captivated me ever since I tore through my copies of the Moss Roberts translation (so long, they split it into two volumes). Part history, part mythology and part fiction, Luo Guanzhong's epic has been a staple of Chinese culture since the 14th century, and is one of the four
- [How Koreans get their Web Novels](https://robynpaterson.com/how-koreans-get-their-web-novels/) - Yesterday I had a long and fascinating chat with a recently arrived Korean international student about Korean webnovels. Webnovels (books written specifically for the web) are extremely popular in Japan, China, and of course South Korea, and have become a gateway for new and rising authors in those countries. Recently, I've found myself reading some
- [DNA Podcast Episode 007 - Welcome to Cyberpunk](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-episode-007-welcome-to-cyberpunk/) - In this episode Rob and Don discuss the ways in which the reality has come to mirror Cyberpunk fiction. It’s 2016, and in the 1980’s Cyberpunk promised us Netrunning, Posergangs and Rockergirls! What did they get right? What did they get wrong? We also discuss why AKB48 are the perfect girl group, For-Profit Prisons and
- [2015's Top Chinese Web Novel Authors](https://robynpaterson.com/2015s-top-chinese-web-novel-authors/) - It's very easy to forget that about a third of the planet reads only in Chinese, and that doesn't mean they're reading translated works from English sources. (As might be egocentrically assumed by a Western audience!) In China, (and Asia in general) Web Novels (serialized web fiction) are extremely popular, and their authors can not
- [DNA PODCAST 006 – A NEW YEARS LOOK AT 2015 AND 2016](https://robynpaterson.com/dna-podcast-006-a-new-years-look-at-2015-and-2016/) - Rob and Don are joined by their friend Chad to discuss the nerdly films of 2015. What was awesome? What barely made the grade? And what didn’t the trio like from 2015? Then we forge on into 2016, and discuss why a new film version of The Little Prince excites us more than Batman v.
- [Podcast- Department of Nerdly Affairs Episode 005- Star Wars Memories](https://robynpaterson.com/podcast-department-of-nerdly-affairs-episode-005-star-wars-memories/) - Rob and Don explore the effects that Star Wars has had on their lives, and the culture around them, as they’ve grown up. Comics, cards, toys and the origins of Don’s Beilert Valance action figure are all explored in this episode of the Department of Nerdly Affairs. Listen Here!
- [Podcast- Department of Nerdly Affairs Episode 004- Satanic Panic](https://robynpaterson.com/podcast-department-of-nerdly-affairs-episode-004-satanic-panic/) - Rob and Don explore the Ritual Satanic Abuse panic that gripped America during the 1970s and 1980s and how the game Dungeons and Dragons became wrapped up in it. Then, in the second half of the show, the pair dig deep into the cinematic roots that laid the groundwork for Satanism’s grip over the American
- [One-Punch Man](https://robynpaterson.com/one-punch-man/) - The best anime/manga of 2015 is undoubtedly One-Punch Man, and as a result it's spawned a lot of fanworks, especially of it's awesome opening theme. In honor of this godly work, I'm going to post of a few of the better ones here. If you want to see the anime, you can watch it for
- [Rob's New Podcast- The Department of Nerdly Affairs](https://robynpaterson.com/robs-new-podcast-the-department-of-nerdly-affairs/) - Hi All! It's been a while since I posted to my blog, some of which is because of the usual Fall craziness of being a teacher, but now I have another excuse! I've been working on a brand new podcast called The Department of Nerdly Affairs with one of my oldest and best friends, Don
- [A little perspective change on science fiction writing](https://robynpaterson.com/a-little-perspective-change-on-science-fiction-writing/) - I'm currently listening to an audiobook of Old Man's War, by John Scalzi, and while enjoying it a thought occurred to me. We often say that Science Fiction is based on the phrase "What would happen if?" and then extrapolate out the story from there, but I think that's wrong. Listening to that excellent novel,
- [Review- Dragon Blade (Jackie Chan) (Mild Spoilers)](https://robynpaterson.com/review-dragon-blade-jackie-chan-mild-spoilers/) - I just finished watching Dragon Blade, and I have to say I have really mixed feelings about it. It's a giant pile of awesome ideas and potential wrapped in a badly directed and mismanaged package. The core idea is great- a team of Silk Road mediators in Han Dynasty China lead by Huo An (Jackie
- [Hunter x Hunter (2011) Anime Review](https://robynpaterson.com/hunter-x-hunter-2011-anime-review/) - The manga Bakuman is about two young manga artists (Takagi the writer, Mashiro the artist) who work their way up through the manga industry at it's top selling publication- Weekly Shonen Jump. Written by two veteran manga creators, it's a masterpiece on many levels, and at its core it's both a critque of the industry
- [The Street Fighter](https://robynpaterson.com/the-street-fighter/) - When I mention the name Street Fighter, most of you probably picture something connected with this... This is pretty natural, since the Street Fighter series of video games is a serious contender for the most popular game series of all time, and is without a doubt the best of the console arcade fighting games. However,
- [Review of the new SJW900 App!](https://robynpaterson.com/review-of-the-new-sjw900-app/) - Nailed it! Warning- Lots of swearing.
- [Voice Dream Reader](https://robynpaterson.com/voice-dream-reader/) - I always look for ways to improve my reading speed for books, and recently I came across the iOS app called Voice Dream Reader. It was a little expensive for an app, being $12, but it had glowing reviews and it sounded like what I was looking for, so I purchased it to give it
- [The Power of Privilege](https://robynpaterson.com/the-power-of-privilege/) - The concept of Privilege (in the modern social justice sense) was coined by Peggy McIntosh in 1988 in her essay White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies, and was intended as a new way of looking at social inequality. At its core, the concept
- [Tracking Your Writing Progress](https://robynpaterson.com/tracking-your-writing-progress/) - While you wouldn't normally associate the art-driven author with something numbers-driven like a spreadsheet, the two actually go very well, together. Many authors use Excel and Google Sheets to track their word counts in an effort to improve their performance and to stimulate their productivity. It's a kind of psychological hack to be able to
- [TyranoBuilder- Visual Novel creation made simple](https://robynpaterson.com/tyranobuilder-visual-novel-creation-made-simple/) - I've always been interested in visual novels as an art form, to me they're the idea of Choose Your Own Adventure stories taken to the next level. I also love the sheer democratic nature of them, not only in the choices you can make, but also the fact they're so easy to make. At least,
- [Jackie Chan: My Stunts](https://robynpaterson.com/jackie-chan-my-stunts/) - In a follow-up to my piece on What writers can learn from Jackie Chan from last week, I hunted down a copy of the documentary Jackie Chan: My Stunts from 1999. In a lot of ways, this documentary is the 90 minute version of Tony Zhou's 14 minute analysis, with Jackie revealing all the old-school
- [Rob Talks the Love of Podcasting with Jack Ward](https://robynpaterson.com/rob-talks-the-love-of-podcasting-with-jack-ward/) - I recently paid a visit to the Sonic Society's Sonic Speaks podcast to talk with the incomparable Jack Ward about the history of my podcast- Kung Fu Action Theatre. In the interview, we talk about how I got into podcasting, my experience running KFAT, and my eventual decision to stop doing audio drama. Along the
- [What Jackie Chan can teach us about writing action](https://robynpaterson.com/what-jackie-chan-can-teach-us-about-writing-action/) - Following up my post on what writers can learn from Akira Kurosawa, I'm going to do another blog post on writing- this time based on the nine rules that Tony Zhou outlines in the video below about how Jackie Chan masters action comedy. Naturally, it will be easier to follow if you've watched the video, so
- [Write...or DIE!](https://robynpaterson.com/write-or-die/) - I briefly mentioned it last week in my post on Prepping Your Novel, but I thought I should give the free software Write or Die a little more attention. Originally developed for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) to help people with reaching their daily word counts, Write or Die 2 is basically a carrot/stick
- [FORCEdraft](https://robynpaterson.com/forcedraft/) - A while back, I blogged about WRITE or DIE!, which is a devilish little productivity tool designed to counter writer's block by making noises, showing horrible images, or even erasing your text if you stop writing. I used it for a while, and I have to admit it works pretty well, but what if you're someone
- [What Akira Kurosawa can teach us about writing](https://robynpaterson.com/what-akira-kurosawa-can-teach-us-about-writing/) - I recently watched an excellent short analysis of some of director Akira Kurosawa's film-making techniques by Tony Zhou, and it got me thinking about how we prose writers could apply some of Kurosawa's techniques to our own work. So, before we begin, take the time to enjoy Tony's short 8-minute video. It's well done, and
- [Extra Credits- Sengoku Jidai](https://robynpaterson.com/extra-credits-sengoku-jidai/) - Tonight I stumbled across the amazing collection of videos that is Extra Credits, specifically their excellent short video series summarizing the events of the unification of Japan at the end of the Warring States period. Six very entertaining videos of 5 minutes each that are totally worth your time if you have any interest in
- [Everyday Augmented Reality](https://robynpaterson.com/everyday-augmented-reality/) - One of the issues with running a general blog like this is that is has no real focus. It serves as a catch-all for whatever I feel like writing about or talking about, but it has no real direction to it. That's one of the things that's made it hard to write for on a
- [Random Dramatic Scene Generator](https://robynpaterson.com/random-dramatic-scene-generator/) - I'm feeling rather proud at the moment. I managed to code a simple webpage that generates a pair of naturally conflicting characters and an action verb which defines their relationship in that scene, in other words a Random Dramatic Scene Generator. Of course, by "code" I mean I found an already existing webpage that did
- [YouTube Martial Arts Theatre- Wheels on Meals](https://robynpaterson.com/youtube-martial-arts-theatre-wheels-on-meals/) - Legend has it that when the head of Golden Harvest productions heard that they were about to release a movie entitled Meals on Wheels, he refused to let them use the title. It wasn't that he was afraid of someone suing him- he was afraid of losing money! You see, the previous two big Golden
- [YouTube Martial Arts Theatre- Hapkido](https://robynpaterson.com/youtube-martial-arts-theatre-hapkido/) - Recently, I've been on a jag of watching old Kung Fu flicks on YouTube, which is a bit like eating candy in a candy store! Almost any Kung Fu movie you can name has been uploaded to YouTube, and they literally made hundreds of these movies back in the 70's and 80's. I thought I'd
- [Good Advice from Author Scott Sigler about Writing Your First Novel](https://robynpaterson.com/good-advice-from-author-scott-sigler-about-writing-your-first-novel/) - Post by Scott Sigler.
- [The School of Greatness Podcast](https://robynpaterson.com/the-school-of-greatness/) - The other day I mentioned The Art of Charm podcast, which is about social networking and personal psych-social development. Another great podcast in a similar vein is The School of Greatness podcast, which has a focus more on financial (as well as social) success. The School of Greatness podcast is one of those shows that
- [Parkinson's Law for Writers- Introduction](https://robynpaterson.com/parkinsons-law-for-writers-introduction/) - Although he was not entirely serious at the time, Cyril Northcote Parkinson once declared one of life's truisms- "The demand upon a resource tends to expand to match the supply of the resource." What does this mean? Well, let me give two examples: 1) If you only have $10 for food that week, you will
- [The Art of Charm Podcast](https://robynpaterson.com/the-art-of-charm-podcast/) - Since it's the second day of the new year, I thought I'd start with something about self improvement for 2015. A few months ago, while I was looking around for some podcasts about social networking, I came across what is probably one of the most amazing podcasts I have ever listened to- The Art of
- [Choose Your Own Adventure 2.0](https://robynpaterson.com/choose-your-own-adventure-2-0/) - Back in the days when I was young (many moons ago), and when video games looked like this... ...The closest thing we had to single-player role playing games came in the form of game/books with titles like Fighting Fantasy, TSR's Endless Quest books, and of course the most famous line of them all- Choose Your
- [The Genius- Smartest Reality TV Show Ever!](https://robynpaterson.com/the-genius-smartest-reality-tv-show-ever/) - As I have mentioned before, I am fan of the Japanese manga Liar Game, which is a psychological thriller comic about a group of people playing through a series of seemingly simple social strategy games with their futures hanging in the balance. The basic concept is cleverly played out, and the actual games themselves are
- [Legend of Korra Finishes (spoiler lite)](https://robynpaterson.com/legend-of-korra-finishes-spoiler-lite/) - And with tonight's episode, Avatar: The Legend of Korra reaches it's final conclusion with the end of Season Four. It's been a rocky road for what has turned out to be one of the best animated series Americans have ever produced. The show itself was only meant to last a single season, and then suddenly
- [F.Lux](https://robynpaterson.com/f-lux/) - A little while ago I heard about a program called F.Lux on a podcast I was listening to and decided to check it out, here's the wikipedia entry about it: f.lux is a computer program developed by Michael and Lorna Herf. It adjusts a computer display's color temperature according to its location and time of day,
- [Story Editing Services for Hire!](https://robynpaterson.com/story-editing-services-for-hire/) - My brand new editing website is now live and I'm accepting clients for story editing, proofreading and general editing services. I've decided to take my 17 years as a writer, editor and teacher and put them to good use helping other people make their fiction the best it can be. I love telling stories, and
- [Ghost Hunt](https://robynpaterson.com/ghost-hunt/) - I just finished watching Ghost Hunt on Netflix, and I have to say I'm really sad there's only one season. In addition to having one of the coolest opening songs of any anime (see above video) it's a really unique series- a semi-realistic ghost hunting TV series. This is likely because it wasn't conceived as
- [Cinema Sins: Godzilla 2014](https://robynpaterson.com/cinema-sins-godzilla-2014/) - And this is pretty much exactly what was going through Rob's head as he watched this film...
- [Rob Takes Up Freelance Editing- My Eye and Quill for Hire!](https://robynpaterson.com/rob-takes-up-freelance-editing-my-eye-and-quill-for-hire/) - I've decided to make myself available for freelance editing jobs, starting with an ad on Fiverr.com offering 999 words edited for just $5! What a steal! In addition, if anyone has any other editing jobs they'd like done, please feel free to contact me directly as rob_paterson@hotmail.com and put "Editing" in the Subject line. For eBooks,
- [Welcome to TUMBLR](https://robynpaterson.com/welcome-to-tumblr/) - Can't breathe. Laughing too hard. :-))))))
- [Star Wars Rebels Premiers!](https://robynpaterson.com/star-wars-rebels-premiers/) - This past weekend, the new CGI animated series Star Wars:REBELS premiered on the Disney XD app with the first two episodes strung together into a "movie" (which is all of 43 minutes long...). It's basically the story of how Aladdin comes to join the crew of The Firefly and...err...I mean how EZRA comes to join
- [Why I Hate Football Plots](https://robynpaterson.com/why-i-hate-football-plots/) - I hate Football Plots. I hate them with the passion of a thousand suns. What are Football Plots? Football Plots are when the whole story centers around a piece of information (or item), and the story is basically about the characters trying to get that “Football” to the other end of the “field” while avoiding
- [Reading for Better Writing](https://robynpaterson.com/reading-for-better-writing/) - Occasionally, I get asked by students who want to write fiction what they should read to become better writers. My immediate answer to this question is always the same- On Writing by Stephen King. It's THE book by one of the greatest literary craftsmen of the last hundred years, and in itself almost functions as a
- [Crocodile Princess Excerpt 2/3- The Lin Family](https://robynpaterson.com/crocodile-princess-excerpt-23-the-lin-family/) - For these three days, I'll be posting three chapters as an excerpt from my newly released novel Little Gou and the Crocodile Princess, available now wherever eBooks are sold! ------- Chapter 17- The Lin Family "...His daughter's life for the box." Meiyu stared at the scene in shock- her maid, her closest friend, Little Jing
- [Crocodile Princess Excerpt 3/3- The Happy Ox Inn](https://robynpaterson.com/crocodile-princess-excerpt-33-the-happy-ox-inn/) - For these three days, I'll be posting three chapters as an excerpt from my newly released novel Little Gou and the Crocodile Princess, available now wherever eBooks are sold! ------- Chapter 18- The Happy Ox Inn It was late afternoon when it happened. Baking under the mid-day sun, most of the crew had retreated under
- [Crocodile Princess Excerpt 1/3- Meiyu](https://robynpaterson.com/crocodile-princess-excerpt-13-meiyu/) - For the next three days, I'll be posting three chapters as an excerpt from my newly released novel Little Gou and the Crocodile Princess, available now wherever eBooks are sold! ------- Chapter 16- Meiyu In a bridal caravan, there are few people more uncomfortable than the bride, especially when her father insists that she ride
- [Little Gou and the Crocodile Princess New Release Sale!](https://robynpaterson.com/little-gou-and-the-crocodile-princess-new-release-sale/) - Little Gou's first novel-length adventure is now available on Kindle for just 99 cents for the month of September. Grab it now while you can! The story: “Every last member of the Mao family will die by the Hour of the Rat a fortnight from now." With these words begins a race against time, as the
- [Five Nights at Freddy's](https://robynpaterson.com/five-nights-at-freddys/) - While I'm not a gamer, I do enjoy watching play-throughs by other people from time to time because a good game really is a work of art. Case in point is Five Nights at Freddy's, which is a jump-scare independent horror game that manages to be really good at what it does. The short version
- [5 Reasons Why You Should Visit Taiwan](https://robynpaterson.com/5-reasons-why-you-should-visit-taiwan/)
- [RIP Robin Williams](https://robynpaterson.com/rip-robin-williams/) - When I was growing up, people would always say "Robyn is a girl's name." I would answer- "No, it's not. There's Robin Williams." Now there isn't. Thank you Mr. Williams, for being there from a fellow Robyn. Even if your name was spelled wrong. ;-) Rob
- [Batman: Assault on Arkham](https://robynpaterson.com/batman-assault-on-arkham/) - I just finished watched the new DC animated "movie" Assault on Arkham, and I have to say that to date it's probably the best of the direct to video animated films DC has done. This might be because the main character, despite the title, is actually Deadshot (who is leading the Suicide Squad) not Batman.
- [America's Bad Romance with the Middle East](https://robynpaterson.com/americas-bad-romance-with-the-middle-east/) - The last 50 years of US/Middle East relations summed up in a single powerful music video to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.
- [Amazon's "Secret" Kindle Category Passwords](https://robynpaterson.com/amazons-secret-kindle-category-passwords/) - Being a self-published writer is never an easy thing, it requires you to be half-writer/half-marketer to succeed, and the ever changing self-publishing world is full of all sorts of little tricks and traps. The traps are mostly about people trying to take your money for "services" you may or may not need, and the tricks
- [End of the Month/Camp NaNoWriMo Report](https://robynpaterson.com/end-of-the-monthcamp-nanowrimo-report/) - Well, July 2014 has now come and gone. How did it go for writing? Well, I dedicated myself to participating in Camp NaNoWriMo and writing 50,000 words of fiction in July. What was my total for July? 19,872. (Average 595 a day.) Verdict: Crash and burn! So what happened? I'm a writer who has done
- [Creating a Writer's Step Sheet in Powerpoint](https://robynpaterson.com/creating-a-writers-step-sheet-in-powerpoint/) - Since some people love their powerpoint, I thought I'd share the following I found on how to make a writer's step sheet using it. Enjoy! From eZinearticles.com: When I wrote a 1,000 word article, I don't need an outline. I can keep everything straight in my head. In fact, in many cases, I create an
- [Structuring Your Story](https://robynpaterson.com/structuring-your-story/) - Today I came across the blog Storyfix, and author Larry Brook's 10-part Story Structure Series. In it, Brooks lays out his take on the 4-act structure, and presents it in a straightforward and easily useable way for writers of screenplays and novels to make use of when planning their work. Here's a sample: Introducing the
- [Strange Hero Yi Zhi Mei](https://robynpaterson.com/strange-hero-yi-zhi-mei/) - I've just started watching Strange Hero Yi Zhi Mei on YouTube and I have to say I'm really enjoying it so far. Despite the odd title, this is a good old fashioned swashbuckling action series about a Robin Hood type character in old China that seems to be an adaptation of a Chinese comic book. The
- [Why Kindle Unlimited is Doomed to Fail](https://robynpaterson.com/why-kindle-unlimited-is-doomed-to-fail/) - Amazon has just announced their new "Netflix for Books" called Kindle Unlimited. You pay US$9.95 a month and you can download and read all the content you want to your heart's content. For readers it sounds like a great deal, but for writers it's a mixed bag. Either way, it's doomed to failure or at
- [Skritter for Android](https://robynpaterson.com/skritter-for-android/) - Yesterday, I blogged about the Chinese and Japanese writing study software Skritter, which I know some people are interested in, but turned off by the monthly subscription system they use. Well, good news! Skritter for Android is out and still in beta testing, which among other things means it's free! So if you have an
- [Skritter](https://robynpaterson.com/skritter/) - Hello, my name is Rob, and I'm an iPhone addict. No, I'm not addicted to Farmville, Angry Birds, Candy Crush, or any of the other hyper-addictive Apps that have come out for the iPhone. I managed to avoid all of those handily because I had no interest in wasting my time or money on something
- [Word Crimes](https://robynpaterson.com/word-crimes/) - For English teachers everywhere!
- [Two Stories](https://robynpaterson.com/two-stories/) - Got this in my inbox today, and thought they were worth sharing. -Rob -——— It's been told before, but still worth reading again.............. BOTH are true and worth reading. Read to the end! STORY NUMBER ONE Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing
- [How Godzilla (2014) Should Have Ended](https://robynpaterson.com/how-godzilla-2014-should-have-ended/) - Not one of their best, but pretty cute. "Let them fight..." :-)
- [Memrise This!](https://robynpaterson.com/memrise-this/) - A year or so I found a site called Memrise, which is basically a really advanced memorization card system for helping you memorize stuff. I puttered around with the Mandarin course they had on there, found their system so-so and promptly forgot about the site. Then in May of this year I happened across the
- [June 2014 Writing Report](https://robynpaterson.com/june-2014-writing-report/) - A month ago I wrote a post entitled How Much Should You Write a Day, where I talked about a minimalist approach to writing where you aim for a small daily writing goal instead of a larger one to keep word count from becoming a barrier to writing. Saying you want to write 2000/words a
- [Benshi and Macross 7](https://robynpaterson.com/benshi-and-macross-7/) - Silent films were an international language. Taking advantage of the fact they had no natural soundtrack, they were designed and produced to be understood through purely visual storytelling. Even when dialog cards were later introduced to add key pieces of dialog, the core of the films were still visual. This allowed them to be watched
- [Movie Review: Detroit 9000](https://robynpaterson.com/movie-review-detroit-9000/) - Detroit 9000 should have been called "70's Detroit Action Flick- The Movie" or perhaps "Detroit Cops of the 70's- The Movie", either way it's an odd and unique little time capsule of a film. At it's core, it's a simple cop drama about police detectives trying to find the culprits behind a major robbery and
- [Wengu- Chinese Classics and Translations](https://robynpaterson.com/wengu-chinese-classics-and-translations/) - Today, while searching for a collection of the poems of the Chinese master poet Li Bai (aka Li Po) I stumbled across a marvelous website called Wengu Zhixin, which is a site collecting translations of Chinese classic philosophy and thought into English and French. They have the usual documents like The Analects of Confucius, The
- [Weekend Listening- The Piano Guys](https://robynpaterson.com/weekend-listening-the-piano-guys/) - Musical geeks are the most entertaining geeks, because they find ways to combine their musical talents with their geeky hobbies in fun ways. Case in point- The Piano Guys, who use a variety of instruments (but mostly pianos) to produce fun and creative music videos.
- [Everybody was Star Wars Fighting! Moves for Jedi Combat.](https://robynpaterson.com/everybody-was-star-wars-fighting-moves-for-jedi-combat/) - Comic artist Pere Pérez took it upon himself to design actual combat moves for jedi, and the results are awesome. Below is two of the eight very logical fighting moves he came up with to make use of both the special qualities of The Force and the Lightsabre's ability to turn on and off at will.
- [The Vengeance Factor](https://robynpaterson.com/the-vengeance-factor/) - If you asked me what my favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation was while it was on the air, the answer was simple: Tin Man. It had everything that made Star Trek great, and a lot of starship action that I loved when I was a bit younger. However, if you ask me
- [The Stories of Ken Liu](https://robynpaterson.com/the-stories-of-ken-liu/) - One of the hottest names in Science Fiction today is Ken Liu, a Chinese-American programmer, lawyer and writer who seems to jump into everything he does with heart and amazing dedication. He has won the Nebula, Hugo and World Fantasy awards more than once for his short fiction, and recently announced he's going into Epic
- [Helping Writers Become Authors](https://robynpaterson.com/helping-writers-become-authors/) - There are a few writers out there for whom the act of structuring and planning a novel is as much joy and fun as the writing of the story itself- K.M. Weiland is one of those writers. She has turned her love of structure and the writer's craft into not only a blog, but also a video
- [Epic Rap Battles- Sir Isaac Newton (Weird Al) vs Bill Nye](https://robynpaterson.com/epic-rap-battles-sir-isaac-newton-weird-al-vs-bill-nye/) - Probably the best one they've done in a while! They might be getting their stride back!
- [How to Write a Murderously Good Mystery](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-a-murderous-good-mystery/) - On her excellent writer's blog, writer Karen Woodward has written and put together a fantastic collection of articles on writing mysteries that anyone wanting to move into the genre should definitely check out. She covers setting, victims, making sufficiently intriguing murders, and even delves into the techniques used by Agatha Christie in order to explore
- [Plotting Thread](https://robynpaterson.com/plotting-thread/) - As I discussed in Prepping Your Novel, there are a vast number of different ways you can go about plotting a story. Currently in the Writer's Cafe on Kboards (the un-official Kindle discussion forum) there's a discussion going where different writers are sharing their approaches to plotting their novels. And you know what? Almost every
- [TNG Theme on an NES Keytar](https://robynpaterson.com/tng-theme-on-an-nes-keytar/) - The coolest thing you're going to hear today:
- [Flashpulp Podcast](https://robynpaterson.com/flashpulp-podcast/) - Each Summer, as part of my change in routine, I go through the list of podcasts that I listen to and swap out a few old ones for something new. I might go back to the old ones in September, but to keep things fresh I like to try out new shows during the Summer
- [Brilliant Anti-Texting Ad](https://robynpaterson.com/brilliant-anti-texting-ad/) - Texting while driving is now the leading cause of automobile accidents in North America, and one of the leading causes of deaths. This is a beautiful way to make that hit home! Rob
- [Tom Cruise on The Nerdist Podcast](https://robynpaterson.com/tom-cruise-on-the-nerdist-podcast/) - After having seen the amazing film Edge of Tomorrow on the weekend (go see it, now!) I noticed the Nerdist podcast had an interview up with Tom Cruise and so I decided to give it a listen. I'd heard Tom was an incredibly nice and gracious guy in person, and this podcast totally confirmed that.
- [Udemy- A New Educational Model?](https://robynpaterson.com/udemy-a-new-educational-model/) - Udemy is a site where people can create and post online courses in subjects they're experts in and then charge for those courses. It's a lot like the courses people stick up on YouTube, but with extra materials, a group learning forum, possible interaction with the teacher, and possible actual certification in those subjects. Think
- [Why Your First Draft Should Suck (and That's a Good Thing!)](https://robynpaterson.com/why-your-first-draft-should-suck-and-thats-a-good-thing/) - I'm a couple chapters in to my newest work-in-progress, and it kinda sucks. But that's okay, in fact, that's great! Let me explain. Of the many pieces of advice often handed out to new writers, two are in my head at the moment. The first is "It's okay to suck.", and the second is "The
- [Cozilla: The "Lost" Italian Godzilla Release](https://robynpaterson.com/cozilla-the-lost-italian-godzilla-release/) - Grab Mary Jane and prepare to ride the Galaxy Express! We're going back to the 70's!
- [The Technique of Mystery](https://robynpaterson.com/the-technique-of-mystery/) - In my travels across the net, I recently came across a book from 1914 by Carolyn Wells called The Technique of Mystery. This book is her thoughts on the theory and practice of writing mysteries, and while Ms. Wells may not have been a particularly successful mystery writer, she did put a lot of thought
- [Surprise! Taking notes with pen and paper proven to be more effective.](https://robynpaterson.com/surprise-taking-notes-with-pen-and-paper-proven-to-be-more-effective/) - From: For More Effective Studying, Take Notes With Pen and Paper According to a new study, Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer of Princeton University and UCLA Los Angeles respectively, students who write out their notes by hand actually learn more than those to type their notes on laptops. Over the course of several experiments, Mueller and
- [How Much Should You Write a Day?](https://robynpaterson.com/how-much-should-you-write-a-day/) - Yesterday, I made a post about Tracking Your Writing Progress using a spreadsheet in an effort to develop good production habits. After I posted it, a friend wrote to me and asked how much I thought was a good number to aim for. It seems like such a simple thing, but it was an issue
- [Kung Fu Cooking Girls](https://robynpaterson.com/kung-fu-cooking-girls/) - Your dose of Kung Fu action, served with a side order of fun! This short animated film was made to order for a dull Monday morning! Enjoy!
- [Phasing, a Unique Story Plotting Technique](https://robynpaterson.com/phasing-a-unique-story-plotting-technique-2/) - As a writer, I'm always on the lookout for innovative plotting techniques that might improve my output or help me put together a story faster. Recently, I've been especially focused on how people structure their books, since that's one of my weaker areas and I want to see if it can work for me. I'm
- [I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo](https://robynpaterson.com/i-signed-up-for-camp-nanowrimo/) - Well, it looks like my July is going to look a whole lot like this... Registration for Camp NaNoWriMo's July session opened yesterday, and being the fool I am I decided to sign up. I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing and do more of it, and I figure this will make sure
- [Webcomic- Teach English in Japan](https://robynpaterson.com/webcomic-teach-english-in-japan/) - Ahh, memories. ^_^ This is very similar how I ended up teaching in Japan the first time. A call, an easy interview, a few goodbye parties, and bang...off on the plane into a whole new world! The comic itself is pretty good, give it a read if you're interested in seeing how it goes...And it
- [Look Up and Be There.](https://robynpaterson.com/look-up-and-be-there/) - A great short spoken-word film about the importance of real life, real friends, and real moments. You can find the full text of his poem here.
- [Camp NaNoWriMo](https://robynpaterson.com/camp-nanowrimo/) - As a person in the academic field, one of the busiest months we have is November. It is a month of papers, tests, and general craziness for teachers and students and anyone else involved in education. This is why I've always considered holding National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) in November a seriously cruel joke.
- [The Rocking Self Publishing Podcast](https://robynpaterson.com/the-rocking-self-publishing-podcast/) - Since I'm back in the writing world over the Summer, I decided to hunt around and see if there were any new writing podcasts worth a look. I started by checking out the Author U: Your Guide to Book Publishing podcast, which was interesting but I personally found it way overproduced (it sounds like a
- [Dr. Rodney McKay Vlogs!](https://robynpaterson.com/dr-rodney-mckay-vlogs/) - Well, okay, not entirely true. David Hewlett, Dr. McKay's very real alter acting ego, has just started a video blog on Youtube where he hangs out with fans and geeks out with them. If, like me, you watched Stargate Atlantis for the entirely neurotic and very Canadian McKay, then maybe you'll enjoy this as well,
- [Korean Period Dramas I Love](https://robynpaterson.com/korean-period-dramas-i-love/) - As many people already know, I have an unusual marriage situation in that my wife and I don't share a common first language- hers is Mandarin and mine of course is English. (Technically, we don't share a common second language either, since her second language is Taiwanese, and English comes up a distant third!) One
- [Urban Exploring in Taiwan- The Renoir Resort Club](https://robynpaterson.com/urban-exploring-in-taiwan-the-renoir-resort-club/) - Taiwan seems to be a real hotbed of abandoned places. I think it's because they had a huge financial boom at one time, so people went crazy building thing, and then later just abandoned them when they didn't work out. I love reading about these reports, so I'll share what I come across from time
- [Making a Little Money on the Side](https://robynpaterson.com/making-a-little-money-on-the-side/) - We live in an amazing age, when thanks to the internet people in need across the planet can find people to do almost anything to help them solve those needs. Thanks to this, it's become easier than ever for people to use their talents to make anything from a little money to a full income.
- [X-Men: Days of Future Past (spoiler-lite)](https://robynpaterson.com/x-men-days-of-future-past-spoiler-lite/) - I just saw X-men: Days of Future Past, and I have to say it's probably the best X-men film by a large margin. It's not a superhero film, and deviates wildly from the original comic storyline, but I'd argue those are it's strengths, not its weaknesses. Overall, it's a character-driven science fiction film that involves
- [100 Years on a Toronto Streetcorner](https://robynpaterson.com/100-years-on-a-toronto-streetcorner/) - Time from Kwan on Vimeo.
- [Hammering Home the Horror](https://robynpaterson.com/hammering-home-the-horror/) - I've always had a fondness for oldschool horror, especially the Hammer Horror films from England of the 60's and 70's. They used to show them on Saturday afternoons when I was a kid, and I found them annoying because they were displacing my favorite movies involving giant monsters. However, as I've grown up, I've also
- [Google's Great New Tool for Finding Royalty Free Images for Blogs and Covers](https://robynpaterson.com/googles-great-new-tool-for-finding-royalty-free-images-for-blogs-and-covers/) - Google has recently added an amazing new tool for bloggers to its image search function. You can now search for images that you can use on your blog or whatever based on the license the image is released under. Using this, you can easily find blog-safe images you can use for different topics and not
- [Today I learned the writer for the new Godzilla movie was also the writer for The Expendables and DOOM.](https://robynpaterson.com/today-i-learned-the-writer-for-the-new-godzilla-movie-was-also-the-writer-for-the-expendables-and-doom/) - David Callaham. Now the movie's lack of human characters makes a whole lot more sense. They must have given him the job because he had experience with lumbering dinosaurs! Rob
- [Epic Rap Battles- Superman vs. Goku](https://robynpaterson.com/epic-rap-battles-superman-vs-goku/)
- [Samurai vs. Shadow](https://robynpaterson.com/samurai-vs-shadow/) - Wow. Now that is some seriously amazing choreography!
- [Daikaiju Sushi](https://robynpaterson.com/daikaiju-sushi/) - As many may know, I'm a huge Giant Monster fan, and today I discovered that one of my favorite blogs, Giant Monsters Attack!, has been reborn on Tumblr as Daikaiju Sushi after being dormant for a while. Check it out for all sorts of new and fun giant monster goodness!
- [Godzilla 2014](https://robynpaterson.com/godzilla-2014/) - My first Godzilla movie was Godzilla vs. Megalon. I was seven, and caught it while turning the dial one way on the 13” TV we had. There, on that small screen, was the biggest, coolest monster that I’d ever seen, and even seeing him in those modest circumstances didn’t blunt the power of the King
- [Coolest Get-Out-the-Vote Ad- EVER!](https://robynpaterson.com/coolest-get-out-the-vote-ad-ever/) - We have elections coming up, I think we need to call Voteman! (NSFW, METAL!)
- [Word Counts for Fiction](https://robynpaterson.com/word-counts-for-fiction/) - A common problem for writers is trying to decide how long to make their stories. Now, the proper answer is of course- as long as it needs to be. However, there are still some standards (albeit ones which are slowly changing thanks to eBooks) that most publishers go by when determining how long a book
- [Written Chinese (full)](https://robynpaterson.com/written-chinese-full/) - Yesterday during my Chinese Language class an interesting topic came up: why do the Chinese people keep using their traditional writing system. Currently, as I'm sure almost all of you know, the Chinese use a system based on writing picture symbols (although the picture element has become extremely abstract) where each Chinese Character (called HanZi
- [Check your Privilege!](https://robynpaterson.com/check-your-privilege/) - CBC's The Current on the topic of Privilege. The concept of Privilege as a way to make people think about the unequal distribution of power in society was a good idea, and continues to be a good idea when used as a framing device to promote understanding. However, like most things, it's been co-opted by
- [Monday Morning Wakeup! Meet Hot Musical Metal!](https://robynpaterson.com/monday-morning-wakeup-meet-hot-musical-metal/) - Youtube user 331Erock is an extremely talented electric guitarist with a love for doing heavy metal guitar adaptations of different songs. (He's done over 50 assorted tunes so far.) I thought a few of his better ones would be a great way to start off a Monday morning. Enjoy! :-) This one is guaranteed
- [House of Lies](https://robynpaterson.com/house-of-lies/) - I just started to watch House of Lies on Netflix (Canada), and I have to say the writing is so sharp I think I cut myself on the remote. This (Hard) R-rated comedy about consulting packs a hour's worth of show into half that time, and the episodes I've seen so far are just so
- [Star Wars Rebels Trailer](https://robynpaterson.com/star-wars-rebels-trailer/)
- [New Epic Rap Battle- Rick Grimes vs Walter White](https://robynpaterson.com/new-epic-rap-battle-rick-grimes-vs-walter-white/)
- [Korean Drama- Three Days (Spoiler Free Review)](https://robynpaterson.com/korean-drama-three-days-spoiler-free-review/) - I just finished watching the Korean action-thriller drama Three Days, which I have to say I enjoyed quite a bit. It's a Korean series in the vein of the American drama 24, about the Personal Security Service (PSS) of the Korean President, and how they're caught in a struggle between the President of Korea and
- [(Mostly) Free Online Proofreading Software](https://robynpaterson.com/mostly-free-online-proofreading-software/) - Let’s face it, everyone makes mistakes. Even the best writer misses things, and it’s hard to know what to improve when you’re editing your own work. Whether you’re a blogger, or an author, you’re going to need a little outside help, but the problem is that unless your friends are really good at editing, outside
- [Review: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil](https://robynpaterson.com/review-tucker-dale-vs-evil/) - So, I just watched Tucker and Dale vs. Evil- a deconstructionist horror/comedy in the same vein as The Cabin in the Woods. This is not to say that it’s as good as Cabin, which I’d argue is actually a masterpiece, but it tries to cover some similar territory. The basic premise is that two scruffy
- [The Friend Zone](https://robynpaterson.com/the-friend-zone/) - One topic which has been ripping its way across Social Media recently is the issue of "The Friend Zone", which is a hard concept to explain because there are are so many definitions of it out there. The one which is making the rounds on social media, however, looks like this: Person A likes Person
- [Disney's Frozen - "Let It Go"  in 25 Languages](https://robynpaterson.com/disneys-frozen-let-it-go-in-25-languages/) - There's something quite beautiful about hearing this song so smoothly done in 25 languages. I think it speaks to the idea that we're all one world sharing this planet together, and despite our differences we all appreciate the beautify of song. (Ore no Utau, Kike!) It's also the ultimate musical cover challenge to do it
- [Becoming a better writer through purging "thought" verbs.](https://robynpaterson.com/becoming-a-better-writer-through-purging-though-verbs/) - Chuck Palahniuck (writer of Fight Club, the book) had this great advice up on Lit Reactor that I thought I'd share. His argument is an old one ("show, don't tell") that every writer learns towards the beginning of their career, but he explains it very well in a way I haven't seen before. The whole
- [A Short Film Festival](https://robynpaterson.com/a-short-film-festival/) - I've been going through (very) short films this week for school, and I thought I'd share a few of the best ones I've found. My requirement was that they each be around 5 minutes or less. Enjoy! :-) The Black Hole- a nearly perfect short film. Kung Fooled- Perception is Everything! 2+2=5 - Power is
- [Review- Dredd](https://robynpaterson.com/review-dredd/) - While some of my closest friends are Judge Dredd aficionados, I am merely a casual fan of Dredd and his world. As such, I wasn't really hung up on accuracy or continuity when I saw Stallone's Judge Dredd film, or the current film Dredd. As a result, I didn't hate Stallone's take on it as
- [Basic Minimum Income](https://robynpaterson.com/basic-minimum-income/) - I admit, I find the idea of Basic Minimum Income fascinating, and I think that one day we'll have to start shifting to some form of this for the simple reason that we will simply not have enough jobs for the majority of people to work. We're already getting into a situation where almost all
- [The Emergence of Talent](https://robynpaterson.com/the-emergence-of-talent/) - An interesting meditation on the issue of what "talent" really means for artists.
- [Feeling Social Again](https://robynpaterson.com/feeling-social-again/) - Hi All, It seems that when I updated Wordpress at the end of December, there was a glitch and the tiny little "allow comments" checkbox under each post was now unchecked by default instead of checked, so my last few posts couldn't have comments. I've re-installed Wordpress and got back and rechecked those previous posts,
- [Fun with Opiliones!](https://robynpaterson.com/fun-with-opiliones/) - Opiliones (which we call Daddy Long Legs in my neck of the woods) are a species that most people mistake for spiders, but which are actually their own whole classification of insects. They are a fascinating (if creepy looking) genus that have a number of odd habits, including doing this... Mathew Cobb has more videos
- [The Art of Sam Yang](https://robynpaterson.com/the-art-of-sam-yang/) - Holy Crap is this guy good! His "realistic" Pokemon sculpts are amazing. Check Out Sam's Impressive Gallery Here.
- [The New World of Publishing: How to Keep Your Writing Going for All of 2014](https://robynpaterson.com/the-new-world-of-publishing-how-to-keep-your-writing-going-for-all-of-2014/) - Dean Wesley Smith has written a great article about keeping your writing going that everyone who wants to be a writer should take the time out and read today. Like most things, succeeding at writing is about planning, hard work and perseverance, and the start of a new year is the start of a new
- [Boys and Reading - Is There Any Hope? ](https://robynpaterson.com/boys-and-reading-is-there-any-hope/) - Boys and Reading - Is There Any Hope? - NYTimes.com is a great article about the issue of getting boys reading in an industry dominated by women from top to bottom. I recall in high school where one of our English teachers (a middle-aged woman going through menopause) made us all read The Stone Angel
- [How Powerful Are Algorithms? | Idea Channel ](https://robynpaterson.com/how-powerful-are-algorithms-idea-channel-2/) - Information Determinism. Scary stuff! Sadly, it sounds pretty reasonable. Think about it this way- we become like characters in a console RPG like Fable where every choice we make is locking us into a path because the Algorithms that are looking for key data indicators are channeling us this way and that. Every time we
- [Year in Review- Most Popular Posts of 2013](https://robynpaterson.com/year-in-review-most-popular-posts-of-2013/) - So, what did people read on my blog in 2013? Here's the list of the twenty most read posts. (my own thoughts follow) Keys to Writing a Good Story 841 Naruto creator has gay ending planned? 834 Korean Period Dramas I Love 581 Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lawrence Krauss Have a Throwdown about Manned vs Unmanned Space Exploration 435
- [Happy Holidays!](https://robynpaterson.com/happy-holidays/) - I want to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 2013 has been another interesting year, and I'm sure 2014 won't be boring or quiet either. I hope all of you have a great holiday, and enjoy good times, wealth and health in the coming year! Robyn Paterson
- [Why Feminists Need to Stop Using "Misogyny"](https://robynpaterson.com/why-feminists-need-to-stop-using-misogyny/) - Words have power. Power given to them by their social and cultural context. Different words have different strengths and will produce different reactions from people; for example, if I call someone a "dummy" they generally won't get too upset, but if I call them a "f*cking idiot" there's going to be a strong reaction from
- [Local History Matters](https://robynpaterson.com/local-history-matters/) - Tonight, I attended a lecture at my local community center by a local historian on the largely ignored Eastern half of the city of London, Ontario. My city, as I learned tonight, was originally two- London Proper (what I know as Downtown London) and East London (where the factories and working class people lived). These
- [The Flying Man](https://robynpaterson.com/the-flying-man/) - This short film makes me think a bit of the Alex Ross illustrated series Marvels that came out in 1994- a citizen's eye view of what it's like to live in a world with superbeings and how terrifying that would be.
- [Fukushima--beyond urgent](https://robynpaterson.com/fukushima-beyond-urgent/) - Well, this is sufficiently terrifying. LiveLeak.com - Fukushima--beyond urgent. If Fukushima had a full meltdown with radiation spewing into the air, I'm not sure what I'd do. Then again, I'm not sure what any of us could do except try not to be downwind.
- [Male and female brains wired differently, scans reveal | Science | The Guardian](https://robynpaterson.com/male-and-female-brains-wired-differently-scans-reveal-science-the-guardian/) - So much for the feminist ideal that the only gender differences are learned. Scientists have drawn on nearly 1,000 brain scans to confirm what many had surely concluded long ago: that stark differences exist in the wiring of male and female brains. Maps of neural circuitry showed that on average women's brains were highly connected
- [Jokes for Friday](https://robynpaterson.com/jokes-for-friday/) - I half-read a headline this morning, and it inspired the following joke: A Historian, a Philosopher and an Writer walk into a bar and find the bartender dead. The Historian asks, “What happened?” The Philosopher says, “Who can know for sure?” The Artist answers, “I can make a guess.” or, an alternate
- [The Population vs. Productivity Paradox](https://robynpaterson.com/the-population-vs-productivity-paradox/) - This is one of the most fascinating discussions I've listened to in a while, and also one of the most sobering. Take the time to listen to this episode of the Cracked podcast, it's 100% worth it, although a little unsettling in its conclusions. You don't expect to get something this deep and thoughtful from
- [This 6-Foot, 330-Pound Robot May One Day Save Your Life ](https://robynpaterson.com/this-6-foot-330-pound-robot-may-one-day-save-your-life/) - WOW! The future is here. Scary and cool at the same time! This 6-Foot, 330-Pound Robot May One Day Save Your Life | Danger Room | Wired.com.
- [GUNDAM BUILD FIGHTERS](https://robynpaterson.com/gundam-build-fighters/) - Y'no, I have to say I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying Gundam Build Fighters. It's not a great show by any means, but it does manage to be cute and kind've charming in a very geeky and toy-riffic sort of way. Of course, it also helps I know where all these Gundam suits come
- [Phoning It In](https://robynpaterson.com/phoning-it-in/) - I often think that we are merely becoming mobile data terminals, sub-cells of a greater internet brain that exist more in the virtual world more than we do the actual real and physical world. Perhaps this is irreverable and our destiny as a species, but it's still sad to watch sometimes. I'm as big a
- [On the Hunt for Surivival Horror](https://robynpaterson.com/on-the-hunt-for-surivival-horror/) - After talking about Fatal Frame with some students earlier this week, I decided this weekend to go check out some Survival Horror games- games where the focus is on the psychological/mystery side of things instead of just shooting at monsters. Unfortunately, Fatal Frame isn't available for PC, and I didn't want to spend much money,
- [Shooting Indie Style!](https://robynpaterson.com/shooting-indie-style/) - I put together this guide for my students to help them with their film projects in my media class, and now I'm making it available to anyone who wants to get more out of their mobile phone's video camera. This is a collection of tips and techniques that covers all parts of the film-making process,
- [Stupid Indie Tricks- The Rodriguez List](https://robynpaterson.com/stupid-indie-tricks-the-rodriguez-list/) - When the American Director Robert Rodriguez decided to make his first full film, El Mariachi, the first thing he did (even before writing the script) was sit down and make a list of all the possible resources he had available to him. He did this because he knew if he wanted to make the best
- [Application of the Rule of Thirds](https://robynpaterson.com/application-of-the-rule-of-thirds/) - Fun and catchy short musical tutorial about the Rule of Thirds.
- [Better Photographic Composition - Beyond the Rule of Thirds](https://robynpaterson.com/better-photographic-composition-beyond-the-rule-of-thirds/) - Fascinating lecture on photographic (and artistic) composition. If you're an artist most of this probably won't be new to you, but for a newbie like me it's really interesting stuff. Applicable to everything from CGI work to filmmaking.
- [Ultra-Cheap Cellphone Stabilizer Ideas](https://robynpaterson.com/ultra-cheap-cellphone-stabilizer-ideas/) - A video I made to try to help beginners who are trying to get better footage from their cellphone cameras. Also my first try at actually making a Youtube video, and using Cyberlink Powerdirector 11, which I found very easy and intuitive to use. The whole process turned out to be pretty fun! (If time
- [Stupid Indie Tricks: No-Budget Audio Recording for Indie Filmmakers](https://robynpaterson.com/stupid-indie-tricks-no-budget-audio-recording-for-indie-filmmakers/) - "If it sounds good, it looks good." This is a Hollywood mantra which should also be engraved in the heads of everyone who wants to shoot a film of any kind. It doesn't matter if it's a narrative film or a documentary, nothing will turn an audience off from watching your film faster than bad
- [Stupid Indie Tricks: Shooting Night Scenes with Cell Phone Cameras](https://robynpaterson.com/stupid-indie-tricks-shooting-night-scenes-with-cell-phone-cameras/) - There is a very simple rule- Cell phone cameras and night shots do not mix well. The realities of the situation are simple- the smaller the aperture of your camera (the hole light goes through into the sensor), the lower the quality image will result because it's getting less light for the sensor to work
- [Stupid Indie Tricks- You're holding your phone wrong when taking video.](https://robynpaterson.com/stupid-indie-tricks-youre-holding-your-phone-wrong-when-taking-video/) - The Film Artist demonstrates an alternate way to hold your phone when taking video that I've never seen before. I tried it, and it seems to improve the stability of my iPhone when I'm filming, so give it a try and it might work for you too! via Steady iPhone 4s on Vimeo.
- [On Filmmaking](https://robynpaterson.com/on-filmmaking/) - The more I study about filmmaking, the more I've come to realize it's about preparation. It's about that hundred little things you do before the camera ever rolls that make the difference between something that looks amateur and professional. From the script, to blocking, to proper writing, to finding the right people, to costuming- all
- [La Nuit de l'Alchimiste](https://robynpaterson.com/la-nuit-de-lalchimiste/) - Jaw meet floor. The work of amateur filmmaker Mael Sevestre is amazing. I just stumbled across him tonight on Vimeo, and now I am totally in love with his style. You only need to watch the short 3-minute film below to understand why. It packs more power than most things far longer. (It's in French,
- [Framed - an iphone 4S short story](https://robynpaterson.com/framed-an-iphone-4s-short-story/) - The iPhone 4S was more reovlutionary a camera than most people realize. It really did allow people to wander around with a good quality videocamera in their pockets. While still not equal to a professional camera, it does allow for some impressive work in the right hands and right light. This touching and haunting very
- [New Manga](https://robynpaterson.com/new-manga/) - A new chapter of Shotarou Ishinomori's Robot Keiji (Robot Detective) came out yesterday over on Mangafox. I have to say I like this manga quite a bit, although I'm not sure why. There is a dark, serious tone to the story, but it's so well balanced with the slightly cartoony art style that it keeps
- [Photoshop Rank- MASTER! The Flying Pirate Ship](https://robynpaterson.com/photoshop-rank-master-the-flying-pirate-ship/) - Wow! The picture is amazing, but seeing how it was made just puts my levels of appreciation over 9000!
- [The 10 Commandments of No -Budget Filmmaking with Anurag Kashyap](https://robynpaterson.com/the-10-commandments-of-no-budget-filmmaking-with-anurag-kashyap/) - Anurag Kashyap is a Bollywood filmmaker with over 39 credits to his name, and is reputed to be a master of producing high-quality work on the cheap. (He has won 7 film awards, and had 19 nominations, so it's fair to say he knows what he's talking about.) He did this short series of talks
- [Mutli-Person Wand Duel](https://robynpaterson.com/mutli-person-wand-duel/) - I stumbled across this multi-person Wand Duel today. Pretty impressive for a bunch of students to pull off.
- [The Wand Duel- A Harry Potter Fanfilm Genre](https://robynpaterson.com/the-wand-duel-a-harry-potter-fanfilm-genre/) - I've been spending a lot of time recently watching short films on Youtube, and one of the recent surprises I've had is discovering the "Wand Duel" genre. Similar to the "Lightsabre Duel" genre that has been floating around on YouTube for a while, the Wand Duel genre takes the simple premise of the Harry Potter
- [Ken Akamatsu releases a new Manga!](https://robynpaterson.com/ken-akamatsu-releases-a-new-manga/) - Ken Akamatsu, creator of Love Hina and Negima! has just released a new manga called UQ Holder! which is basically Negima!: The Next Generation. It takes place in the Negima! setting about 10 years after the world became aware of the existence of magic and centers around Negi's grandson who has been living a sheltered
- [Heroes of IP Theft](https://robynpaterson.com/heroes-of-cosplay/) - A slightly amusing and sad situation has popped up surrounding Syfy's new series Heroes of Cosplay (see above trailer), mostly due to a misunderstanding of copyright law on the parts of several parties. It seems that the show contains numerous still shots of the cosplayers mixed in with the video, and this is a bit
- [The Emperor Voiced by Mark Hamill's Joker - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/the-emperor-voiced-by-mark-hamills-joker-youtube/) - Can't stop laughing. Really amazing work!
- [Nero Wolfe](https://robynpaterson.com/nero-wolfe/) - It's so easy in life to stop exploring, especially as you get older. You think "if it's really good, I would have checked it out by now" and just stick with the things you know instead of poking around looking at new things. This is one of the reasons I try to constantly challenge myself
- [D.I.Y.O.F.S. Culture](https://robynpaterson.com/d-i-y-o-f-s-culture/) - D.I.Y.O.F.S. Culture (Warning! Incoming rant! Warning! Explicit Language!) So yesterday, the new 12th Doctor Who was revealed. A Scotsman named Peter Capaldi will replace Matt Smith, and by all rights Capaldi is a fine actor who will do credit to the job. However, this being the internet, what almost immediately followed was a cascade of
- [Quick Rant - The solution to sexism In video games! ](https://robynpaterson.com/quick-rant-the-solution-to-sexism-in-video-games/) - My point exactly! DIYOFS!
- [Getting your Readers over the Infodump Hump!](https://robynpaterson.com/getting-your-readers-over-the-infodump-hump/) - “A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down- in the most delightful way.”- Mary Poppins In some of the writing forums I frequent, a very common situation comes up. A new (usually young) writer will come on, and ask if people will look at the first couple chapters of their new science fiction
- [Ascension- A Novel of the Twin Stars Is LIVE!!](https://robynpaterson.com/ascension-a-novel-of-the-twin-stars-is-live/) - My very first novel, based on the Parsec Award Nominated Podcast (which has had over a Quarter of a Million Listeners) is now up and available for Amazon Kindle. Check it out!
- [Why I  Launched my New Novel Ascenion by Giving it Away For Free!](https://robynpaterson.com/why-i-launched-my-new-novel-ascenion-by-giving-it-away-for-free/) - I blame Goodreads. During the two years it took to write and prep my new novel Ascension, I worked hard to make sure that I could release the best product I could. I wanted it to be a book I could be proud of, and something that could start my journey as a writer on
- [Middle Grade vs. Young Adult Fiction](https://robynpaterson.com/middle-grade-vs-young-adult-fiction/) - On a recent Writing Excuses podcast, author EJ Patten discussed Middle Grade fiction writing, and put forth a fascinating comparison between Middle Grade (fiction for grade 4-6 students) and Young Adult (fiction for grades 7+ students). He said that Middle Grade fiction is all about supporting or maintaining the establishment. The characters in these stories
- [Superman vs. Tony Stark](https://robynpaterson.com/superman-vs-tony-stark/) - I didn't come up with this, it's from Tumblr, but it was so brilliant I had to grab it and share! :-)
- [Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) Review (Spoiler Lite)](https://robynpaterson.com/attack-on-titan-shingeki-no-kyojin-review-spoiler-lite/) - So, I finally got around to watching Attack on Titan, one of the new hit anime of the current season, and I'd have to say my feelings about it are mixed. For those not familiar with the story- in essence, the story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where an army of semi-indestructable giants called
- [Voyage of the Star Wolf- A Review](https://robynpaterson.com/voyage-of-the-star-wolf-a-review/) - I just finished reading David Gerrold's "Voyage of the Star Wolf", a book that has somehow managed to end up as a "classic". In an odd situation, I think this is actually the third time I have read it, but I had to re-read it again to realize that. Let me explain- At some point
- [The ePublishing Scammers come out to play...](https://robynpaterson.com/the-epublishing-scammers-come-out-to-play/) - Author David Gaughran has posted an article over on his blog warning about the growing minefield of people out there looking to sell overpriced services to self-publishing authors under the pretense of being real publishing houses. The sad thing is that the real publishing houses have smelled money and are now also trying to get
- [Marvel's (White) Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.](https://robynpaterson.com/marvels-white-agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d/) - So, ABC finally made the obvious official- there is a new TV series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe called Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. For which you can watch the first trailer below... Looks amazing, doesn't it? Gonna be a heck of a show, and I'm seriously looking forward to it. But, there is something that
- [Fan-Translated Manga I'm Reading at the Moment](https://robynpaterson.com/fan-translated-manga-im-reading-at-the-moment/) - One of the great things about the Internet is that many things which aren't considered considered commercially viable are distributed online by people who have a passion for them. This can be people sharing recipes, fansubbing their favorite TV shows from other countries, or fan-translations of Manga. There are a couple Manga that I really
- [Feeling a Little Evil? - Method to the Madness has been Unleashed!](https://robynpaterson.com/feeling-a-little-evil-method-to-the-madness-has-been-unleashed/) - The long-awaited handbook that belongs on the shelf of every world conquerer has finally been released upon the world! Want to know the in's and out's of supervillain fashion? It's in there! Want to know about care and feeding of your minions? It's in there! Want to know how to decorate that new lair just
- [Shinobi: Heart Under Blade Review](https://robynpaterson.com/shinobi-heart-under-blade-review/) - I finally got around to seeing Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, after many years of almost seeing it but getting distracted by other things. I just re-joined Netflix, and am using it to catch up on movies that I haven't seen for one reason or another but want to, such as this one. In short, I
- [Wolf Children Official Trailer (English subtitles) - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/wolf-children-official-trailer-english-subtitles-youtube/) - Well this looks beautiful. :-) Wolf Children Official Trailer (English subtitles) - YouTube.
- [A Neat Trick for Finding and Getting Rid of Passive Verbs in MS Word](https://robynpaterson.com/a-neat-trick-for-finding-and-getting-rid-of-passive-verbs-in-ms-word/) - I was hunting for a good site today to give advice on Passive vs. Active verbs to another writer and came across this little nugget. The article it's from is good, but this part is gold! Serious kudos to the author! "MS-Word has a great and quick method to finding those “to Be” verbs. The
- [Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Writing Fast ](https://robynpaterson.com/killing-the-sacred-cows-of-publishing-writing-fast/) - Dean Wesley Smith wrote a good piece on his blog about writing speed, quality, and productivity. I definitely recommend reading it if you have the time. Writing Slow Equals Writing Better is a complete myth, a nasty sacred cow of publishing that hurts and stops writers who believe it. — The truth is that no
- [Young Justice Ends](https://robynpaterson.com/young-justice-ends/) - I just watched the series finale for Young Justice today, and I have to say it ended like it began- with a resounding thud! I found the very first episode of this series clunky and a little dull, and this finale was pretty much the same- it was supposed to be cool and epic, but
- [My Advice to Aspiring Authors | Hugh Howey](https://robynpaterson.com/my-advice-to-aspiring-authors-hugh-howey/) - Since some who read this blog are aspiring writers in the prose field, I thought I'd pass along this excellent blog article written by successful independent author Hugh Howey. http://www.hughhowey.com/my-advice-to-aspiring-authors/ He really hits a lot of important points on being a writer in the new e-book focussed market. I also think he is spot-on about
- [DEVO + Daikaiju = WIN!](https://robynpaterson.com/devo-daikaiju-win/) - Devo is back, and they brought giant monsters with them!
- [Writing Excuses 8.8: Writing and Personal Health](https://robynpaterson.com/writing-excuses-8-8-writing-and-personal-health/) - This week's episode of the Podcast Writing Excuses was a very interesting discussion of writing and health (mostly mental health) which was open, frank and well worth listening to. Sadly, mental health issues are a very common affliction for creative types of all kinds, and writers are no exception. I also found the discussion of
- [A Way to Build more Action into your Writing](https://robynpaterson.com/a-way-to-build-more-action-into-your-writing/) - Cartman walked into a room, and then shot Stan, and then walked out. This is an “event”, it’s stuff happening without any dramatic element to keep the audience interested in what’s going on. Too many stories written by beginners are like this, and they lack both conflict and a dramatic core that will keep the
- [Young Justice- Complications](https://robynpaterson.com/young-justice-complications/) - With this most recent episode (216- Complications) and only 4 episodes left before the series is over, Young Justice has shown that it is easily the equal of shows like Naruto (1st series, which I've felt was a big influence on YJ) and maybe superior in some ways. They managed to take the existing DC
- [How To Sell Ebooks](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-sell-ebooks/) - From Joe Konrath's blog: "How To Sell Ebooks I just hit a milestone that is hard for me to grasp. As of January, I've sold over one million ebooks. That's a lot of ebooks. The question I get asked more than any other is: How can I make my ebooks sell more copies? That's actually
- [R'ha](https://robynpaterson.com/rha/) - "Now here's the kicker: German director Kaleb Lechowski is only 22 years old, and created this short over the course of 7 months on his own time. Needless to say, his insanely impressive short has already caught the attention of quite a few movie company execs, and Kaleb will be making his way to Hollywood
- [Monster Roll- Sushi Chefs vs. Giant Monsters](https://robynpaterson.com/monster-roll-sushi-chefs-vs-giant-monsters/) - This looks like awesome dipped in soy sauce. I really hope it gets made! via Monster Roll on Vimeo.
- [Vengeance: An iPhone 4S Short Film](https://robynpaterson.com/vengeance-an-iphone-4s-short-film/) - Some people think you need advanced equipment to make movies and produce media, but the truth is you probably already have everything you need sitting in your pocket right now. Don't believe me? (The making of is here.) While you're at it, check out Film Riot's episode about iPhone filmmaking (which includes a very cool short
- [Kurt Vonnegut: 8 Basics of Creative Writing](https://robynpaterson.com/kurt-vonnegut-8-basics-of-creative-writing/) - Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. Every sentence must do one of
- [How to Shoot a Scene! - Film Riot ](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-shoot-a-scene-film-riot/) - The Film Riot show is must watch for aspiring low budget filmmakers, and this particular episode has a great discussion of doing multiple shots with a single camera. How to Shoot a Scene! - Film Riot - YouTube.
- [Camera Stabilizer Rig for Under $5 ](https://robynpaterson.com/camera-stabilizer-rig-for-under-5/) - Wow! That is just awsome. I'm tempted to make one, although I'm not sure what I'd use it for! If I were a no-budget filmmaker I'd be using this thing nonstop. Camera Stabilizer Rig for Under $5 - YouTube.
- [Short Trailer Robotech Valkyrie Project (English Subs) ](https://robynpaterson.com/short-trailer-robotech-valkyrie-project-english-subs/) - Nifty! Not sure if it will just be a trailer, or a full fanfilm. I suspect a full fanfilm.
- [Brass fixtures fight Bacteria and Spread of Germs.](https://robynpaterson.com/brass-fixtures-fight-bacteria-and-spread-of-germs/) - Hmm. I might just have to have copper handles on the doors of my next home! Plastic and stainless steel surfaces, which are now widely used in hospitals and public settings, allow bacteria to survive and spread when people touch them. Even if the bacteria die, DNA that gives them resistance to antibiotics can survive
- [Space1970](https://robynpaterson.com/space1970/) - As a child of the 70's, I grew up watching all sorts of weird attempts at Science Fiction, from Battlestar Galactica to Space 1999. Now Christopher Mills has set up an amazing blog dedicated entirely to 1970's Science Fiction in all its forms! This blog is dedicated to the science fiction films and television series
- [Productivity Hunt- Google Drive](https://robynpaterson.com/productivity-hunt-google-drive/) - Taking a little tip from Terry Mixon of the Dead Robots' Society podcast with my newest writing project, I'm going to use Google Drive (aka Google Docs) for my writing this time. With it, I can write on my desktop, laptop, iPhone, or whatever computer I happen to be sitting at that can access the
- [The Gate Short Film - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/the-gate-short-film-youtube/) - Nifty short amateur sci-fi film. Excellent FX work.
- [“The Perfect Match” by Ken Liu](https://robynpaterson.com/the-perfect-match-by-ken-liu/) - A nifty short story about social media like Facebook, and where it's all headed. Definitely worth the read: ___________________________________________________ "I thought I told you I didn't want that thing installed," she said as he stepped out of his apartment. Her voice was garbled through some kind of electronic filter. In response to his questioning look,
- [A "lost" Kaiju Film-  Toho-Hammer's Nessie Movie](https://robynpaterson.com/a-lost-kaiju-film-toho-hammers-nessie-movie/) - This would have blown my 12 year old mind! By 1976, the legendary Hammer Films had a script for a new big budget horror film entitled “Nessie” starring the British Isles’ favorite kelpie cryptid. It seemed as though the Loch Ness Monster would finally earn respect as the star of her own horror film. It
- [I did not like Skyfall](https://robynpaterson.com/i-did-not-like-skyfall/) - Just saw the new Bond movie, Skyfall. What a butt-stupid movie! Whoever wrote that thing should be fired, all three of them! (Which means they’re now Hollywood’s go-to directors of choice and will write half the films coming out in the next three-five years since the movie made a zillion bucks!) Total, Utter and
- [Lo Pan Style (Big Trouble in Little China/Gangnam Style Parody)](https://robynpaterson.com/lo-pan-style-big-trouble-in-little-chinagangnam-style-parody/) - A truly great tribute to Big Trouble in Little China. (Watch for a cameo by James Hong- Lo Pan himself!)
- [The Next Star Wars Trilogy](https://robynpaterson.com/the-next-star-wars-trilogy/) - Today, I was talking with my friend Mysterious Pants about the future of the Star Wars movies, and the crazy rumors swirling around what’s coming with them. Things like that they may be doing one movie a year for three years (which I believe), that Clone Wars will be yanked from Cartoon Network after this
- ['The Star Wars That I Used To Know' -  Parody - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/the-star-wars-that-i-used-to-know-parody-youtube/) - 'The Star Wars That I Used To Know' - Gotye 'Somebody That I Used To Know' Parody - YouTube.
- [The Fox's Tale- #Free On #Kindle (for this week only!)](https://robynpaterson.com/the-foxs-tale-free-on-kindle-for-this-week-only/) - I've put my newest collection of flash fiction stories The Fox's Tale up for free on Kindle as part of my five days of Kindle Select free pricing I get every three months. So if you want to check it out and you own a kindle or use a kindle reader- check it out! Rob
- [Thought for the Day: Photo Bots](https://robynpaterson.com/thought-for-the-day-photo-bots/) - I was listening to This Week in Tech today, and in this week's show Brian Brushwood pointed out something I hadn't thought of. There are two things on a collision course right now- Facial Recognition Technology and Privacy. As more and more people put their information into Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and whatever else pops up,
- [Mythical Beasts Travel Posters](https://robynpaterson.com/mythical-beasts-travel-posters/) - Check out the rest at the link below! via Cryptomundo » Cryptotourism Travel Posters.
- [The Sleepover](https://robynpaterson.com/the-sleepover/) - Sigh. New kid.
- [Perhaps one of the coolest car commercials I have ever seen. ](https://robynpaterson.com/perhaps-one-of-the-coolest-car-commercials-i-have-ever-seen/) - It helps if you understand the cultural obsession Asia has with food and food stands, but anyone can appreciate this beautiful piece of animation.
- [China's Future: Military Government or Civil War?](https://robynpaterson.com/chinas-future-military-government-or-civil-war/) - Gordon Chang: China's 18th Party Congress | TVO Main. For better or worse, I think Gordon Chang is right. China is on course for what at best may be a military government, and at worst may be a full-on civil war- and it could happen literally overnight. This might not sound like a big deal
- [A Plea from a Comic Retailer regarding the Disney/Lucasfilm merger...](https://robynpaterson.com/a-plea-from-a-comic-retailer-regarding-the-disneylucasfilm-merger/) - It seems most people are happy about the merger, and think that Disney has done right by the properties it has acquired. But apparently, according to the owners of Toronto's Beguiling comic book store, this isn't entirely so... ____________________________________________________________ Editorial: Keep the Star Wars comic books at Dark Horse, please. Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012
- [The Fox's Tale- Now Available on Kindle!](https://robynpaterson.com/the-foxs-tale-now-available-on-kindle/) - A disgraced musketeer without hope. An orphaned native child. A new frontier. This collection of interconnected short stories follows fugitive Musketeer of the Black Gerard la Russo and his daughter Renard as they navigate life in New France (Canada) at the dawn of the 18th century. Come get them while they're hot! I've released a
- [How to Change the World](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-change-the-world/) - A message for Social Justice Blogs that currently....
- [Amazon Purging Reviews?](https://robynpaterson.com/amazon-purging-reviews/) - I happened to wander over to Joe Konrath's blog today and noticed the top story was about Amazon purging reviews. It seems in response to a recent cry by independent authors for Amazon to police their reviews, they've begun using a heavy-handed algorithm which hunts for reviews by people that might be linked to the
- [Lucasfilm-Disney Merger Reconsidered](https://robynpaterson.com/lucasfilm-disney-merger-reconsidered/) - When I first heard Disney had acquired Lucasfilm I was like... I felt like a million nerdly dreams had cried out in agony, and were silenced... But then, I was like... This might be... After all, what has Lucas really done with it? The only good thing Lucas himself actually did was Star Wars: A
- [Wow, that is just cool! Oldschool Stilt Walkers](https://robynpaterson.com/wow-that-is-just-cool-oldschool-stilt-walkers/) - Now I have to think of a Martial Art to go along with this! That would be awesome! The practical workaround for this problem started with shepherds, but gradually spread to anyone, including postal carriers and law enforcers, who needed to move vast distances quickly. They wore stilts. And not small ones, either. Any stiltwalker
- [Rube Goldberg + Parkour = Awesome!](https://robynpaterson.com/rube-goldberg-parkour-awesome/)
- [Do American Comics still mean Superhero Comics?](https://robynpaterson.com/do-american-comics-still-mean-superhero-comics/) - My friend Don C. proposed an interesting theory to me last night when we were talking, he said that in his educated opinion (and he does know a lot about comics) the age of the Superhero Comic in North America was finished. That while there are still Superhero comics being sold, their future is as
- [Who was the most badass military commander in history?](https://robynpaterson.com/who-was-the-most-badass-military-commander-in-history/) - Today, while listening to the amazing Hardcore History podcast about The Mongol Invasions, I learned the answer to that question- Subutai (1176–1248) was the primary military strategist and general of Genghis Khan and Ögedei Khan. He directed more than twenty campaigns in which he conquered thirty-two nations and won sixty-five pitched battles, during which he
- [S.H.I.E.L.D.E.D. - Resume Video for guy who wants to work on the new SHIELD TV series.](https://robynpaterson.com/s-h-i-e-l-d-e-d-resume-video-for-guy-who-wants-to-work-on-the-new-shield-tv-series/) - The most awesome resume video ever! This is an actual production designer who wants to work on Joss Whedon's new SHIELD TV series, so he put together this video with SHIELD to show why he's the right guy for the job. Really funny and well done!
- [Discworld City Watch Television Series | The Mary Sue](https://robynpaterson.com/discworld-city-watch-television-series-the-mary-sue/) - I'm a HUGE Diskworld and Night Watch fan, so this is great news for me! Supposedly it will air in 2014. A long wait, but likely worth it! :-) It’s been known that a Discworld television show based in the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork and the cast of characters it is associated with has been
- [Why don't I like Heist stories?](https://robynpaterson.com/why-dont-i-like-heist-stories/) - So here's something I've been puzzling over. I like Mystery stories- ones where a clever character tries to puzzle through a challenge and then put all the pieces together to solve a problem. (Murder, Puzzle, whatever.) And you would think that I would like Heist stories (Ocean's 11, Leverage, Lupin III, etc) just as much,
- [Project Play- Aftermath](https://robynpaterson.com/project-play-aftermath/) - Today I attended Project Play, London's first (or is that most recent? not sure) gaming convention of the universal sort. What I mean by that is that there wasn't just Role Playing Games, or Tabletop Games, or Electronic Games, or Console Games, or Mobile Games, or Tablet Games or Classic Games or even Card Games-
- [Project Play](https://robynpaterson.com/project-play/) - The biggest hands-on gaming event in Southwestern Ontario Gaming, Digital Art Showcase, Cosplay and more, to provide gaming opportunities for children in need Fanshawe Student Centre - Sunday, September 16, 2012, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm Project Play.
- [My Second Novel- Little Gou and the Crocodile Princess, is done! ](https://robynpaterson.com/my-second-novel-little-gou-and-the-crocodile-princess-is-done/) - In Summer, 2008 I started what was to be my first novel- Little Gou and the Crocodile Princess. A thrilling WuXia adventure story centered around everyone's favorite gambler in his first long-form adventure. I wrote the first 40,000 words of the story at a rapid pace, with everything coming together like a finely crafted puzzle.
- [Jeremy Rifkin: The Future](https://robynpaterson.com/jeremy-rifkin-the-future/) - If I had to pick three words to describe this interview with Jeremy Rifkin, they would be terrifying, informative, and uplifting. Why? Watch it and find out. A great interview. Mind you, if you pay attention, he also says we're about to be hit by another financial crisis. Sadly I think he's right on the
- [The Last Stand (2013): Official Trailer #1](https://robynpaterson.com/the-last-stand-2013-official-trailer-1/) - Arnie is really starting to look like Clint Eastwood.
- [The Jetsons take place before The Flintstones?](https://robynpaterson.com/the-jetsons-take-place-before-the-flintstones/) - So I was part of a conversation where some friends were discussing this video: The Horrifying Truth About Life in 'The Jetsons' Universe -- powered by Cracked.com And one of my friends who uses the name Mysterious Pants brought up the following mind-blowing theory: "Actually, I like the idea that the Flinstones is, in actuality,
- [4 Things Science Fiction Needs to Bring Back | Cracked.com](https://robynpaterson.com/4-things-science-fiction-needs-to-bring-back-cracked-com/) - A truly great list that I agree with 100%! It's tempting to look around at today's literary scene, with its Twilight and its Fifty Shades of Grey, and wonder if we shouldn't just flush the whole goddamn concept of written language down the toilet -- maybe start again with some sort of hybrid colorwheel/odor system
- [Capitalism vs. Communism](https://robynpaterson.com/capitalism-vs-communism/)
- [What Writers can Learn from Fanfiction(.net)](https://robynpaterson.com/what-writers-can-learn-from-fanfiction-net/) - About once a year I make a point of visiting the website Fanfiction.net, which as the name might suggest is a giant trove of fanfiction, perhaps the largest on the internet with 6.6 million titles as of March 2011. Fanfiction, for those who aren't familiar with it, is a special form of writing where you
- [Guy thinks his sister is hot ](https://robynpaterson.com/guy-thinks-his-sister-is-hot/) - Listen to the whole thing, it's got a great ending. :-)
- [Gun Control Revisited](https://robynpaterson.com/gun-control-revisited/) - I'm for gun control. I have been for a long time, it's probably just a natural part of being Canadian. I don't think we need to carry around handguns to be safe in our country, and I have been all for the idea of restricting access to firearms as much as humanly possible because I
- [Ghost Ends](https://robynpaterson.com/ghost-ends/) - I just finished watching the final episode of the Korean Drama called Ghost that I previously reviewed on the blog. The ending was a week late because of the Olympics, but was totally worth the wait. It was a great roller-coaster of a series, and now that it's finished I have to say it's one
- [Urban Sprawl- Mexico City Style](https://robynpaterson.com/urban-sprawl-mexico-city-style/) - A friend linked to this picture of Mexico City this morning and I have to say it really made my jaw drop. I don't even think the term "Urban Sprawl" does this picture justice, it's like a giant maze of a city. Make sure you click on it and see the full version to understand.
- [Funny Mama - Harry Potter Comics](https://robynpaterson.com/funny-mama-harry-potter-comics/) - I don't usually post links to things like this, but this collection of Harry Potter gag comics really made me laugh this morning, so enjoy! Funny Mama - Harry Potter Comp.
- [John Ralston Saul on The Collapse of Globalism](https://robynpaterson.com/john-ralston-saul-on-the-collapse-of-globalism/) - Just finished watching this amazing 2 part interview with John Raulston Saul that aired on TVO's The Agenda this week. A really fascinating discussion of the real nature of Globalization and how and why Saul believes it failed. I'm not sure I agree with everything Saul says, but most of it does make a large
- [Excellent Interview on Cybercrime with Misha Glenny](https://robynpaterson.com/excellent-interview-on-cybercrime-with-misha-glenny/) - If you get the chance, absolutely watch/listen to TVO's interviews with Misha Glenny on cybercrime. They're really fascinating stuff, even to someone like me who already knows a bit about the topic. Glenny covers not only how it's done, but who does it, and how they get involved with this shadowy underworld. He also talks
- [TeaNoWriMo Results/ Writing Update](https://robynpaterson.com/teanowrimo-results-writing-update/) - Well, I tried to make July 2012 in Teacher's Novel Writing Month, hoping that using this month off could help me boost my creativity and give me a jump forward. How did it turn out? Well, with a goal of around 50,000 words for July I managed to pull of a whopping 6000 or so.
- [The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic - NYTimes.com](https://robynpaterson.com/the-conversion-of-a-climate-change-skeptic-nytimes-com/) - CALL me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of
- [Pixar Story Rules in LEGO!](https://robynpaterson.com/pixar-story-rules-in-lego/) - Alex Elyar on Slacktory has taken Emma Coat's Pixar's Rules of Storytelling and turned them posters illustrated with Lego for great visual results: This is only about a third of the rules, go check out the original page for the rest of them. They're worth taking the time to read (again!). Rob
- [CGI Animated Marvel Superheroes video from 2008](https://robynpaterson.com/cgi-animated-marvel-superheroes-video-from-2008/)
- [In Defense of the Male Miniskirt- Thoughts on the First Season of Star Trek:TNG](https://robynpaterson.com/in-defense-of-the-male-miniskirt-thoughts-on-the-first-season-of-star-trektng/) - In Defense of the Male Miniskirt- Thoughts on the First Season of Star Trek:TNG With the release of the first season of ST:TNG on Blu-Ray DVD in remastered sets this week, I thought I'd comment on what I think of as an overly maligned season of the show. There are many things that people tend
- [Sarnia Bayfest 2012: Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden](https://robynpaterson.com/sarnia-bayfest-2012-alice-cooper-and-iron-maiden/) - Last night I had the honor of attending my very first heavy metal concert at Sarnia's Bayfest music festival. The moment my friend Richard Moule told me about the lineup to last night's show, Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper, I wanted in. I mean, I've been an Iron Maiden fan since my friend Don introduced
- [The significance of plot without conflict - still eating oranges](https://robynpaterson.com/the-significance-of-plot-without-conflict-still-eating-oranges/) - The necessity of conflict is preached as a kind of dogma by contemporary writers’ workshops and Internet “guides” to writing. A plot without conflict is considered dull; some even go so far as to call it impossible. This has influenced not only fiction, but writing in general—arguably even philosophy. Yet, is there any truth to
- [TeaNoWriMo Update](https://robynpaterson.com/teanowrimo-update/) - Well, it's been a week, so I thought I should report on how Teachers Novel Writing Month is progressing. I think I can sum the week up in one short video- I had an idea in mind for a novel about a sleeper colony ship arriving at a new world and the problems that entailed,
- [Penn's Sunday School](https://robynpaterson.com/penns-sunday-school/) - When you hear someone say the phrase "truth is stranger than fiction", they're talking about Penn Jillette. The talking half of Penn and Teller is perhaps one of the strangest and most entertaining people alive, with more stories, and more weird friends than you can imagine are possible. This is why I loved listening to
- [Do people really love cats? Or are they actually compelled to by brain parasites?](https://robynpaterson.com/do-people-really-love-cats-or-are-they-actually-compelled-to-by-brain-parasites/) - So here's a weird thought- Cat Lovers are Cat Lovers not always because they naturally love cats, but because they're actually compelled to be close to cats by a parasite they've picked up which is affecting their brains. Scary, eh? Impossible? Not at all, from the article: Why is it that the elite French perfumers
- [Amazing Spider-Man Lives Up to its Name! ](https://robynpaterson.com/amazing-spider-man-lives-up-to-its-name/) - Like most people, when I heard there was a new Spider-Man film my initial reactions were "why?" and "too soon". I mean, it's been less than a decade since the Sam Raimi films and I consider Spider-Man a pretty tapped out franchise with all the recent animated series and films. However, if Sony Pictures didn't
- [Korean Drama: Ghost (aka Phantom)](https://robynpaterson.com/korean-drama-ghost-aka-phantom/) - I'm now an addict, I admit it. I'm addicted to sharp, well written, high quality television. It's true. In this case, it's the currently running Korean drama called Ghost (also know as Phantom, which can be another translation of its name in Korean) which is an utterly unique and compelling TV series. I heard about
- [Really Good Collection of Editing and Revision Tips](https://robynpaterson.com/really-good-collection-of-editing-and-revision-tips/) - I found a link today to a collection of 20 editing/revision tips that definitely made me think. I'm in the process of editing Twin Stars Bk1 at the moment, and I think I might use some of these as part of that process. One that caught my eye was a suggested style guide: 10. Style
- [Teachers Novel Writing Month](https://robynpaterson.com/teachers-novel-writing-month/) - I hereby declare July as TeaNoWriMo! Which, despite what you may think, doesn't mean you have to drink 50,000 cups of tea in July. Instead it stands for Teachers Novel Writing Month. You see, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) which has become hugely popular each year, has an inherent flaw- it's biased against teachers! If
- [The Warbots by G. Harry Stine](https://robynpaterson.com/the-warbots-by-g-harry-stine/) - In the high-tech laboratories of tomorrow a new breed of super-soldier is born! The brutal face of warfare has been dramatically altered. Armored giants now roam the explosive fields of battle-massive instruments of devastation with computer minds inseparably linked with the brainwaves of their human masters. They are the Warbots, men and machines combined to
- [Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Season 2 Thoughts](https://robynpaterson.com/avengers-earths-mightiest-heroes-season-2-thoughts/) - Thanks to Australia airing Season 2 of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes at a rate of 4/week instead of 1/week like North American TV, I've just finished watching the second (and sadly last) season of Avengers a bit early. (Like 3 months, earth.) I really enjoyed this series overall, and taken as a whole considered it
- [Who wants to live forever?](https://robynpaterson.com/who-wants-to-live-forever/) - What if people could live to 200 instead of just 80 years? Dr. Stuart Kim has already done the equivalent in his studies on how to reverse the aging process in worms, and has learned incredible things about aging. Traditionally, we've always thought that aging was the result of wear and tear on our cells,
- [Legend of Korra: Season One Ending Thoughts (Spoiler Lite)](https://robynpaterson.com/legend-of-korra-season-one-ending-thoughts-spoiler-lite/) - I just watched the finale for the first season of Legend of Korra, and I have to say I truly have mixed feelings about it. As I mentioned in my previous review, Korra is a heck of an impressive show. It's been a great series in so many ways, and I think this is what
- [Entertainment Industry Joke](https://robynpaterson.com/entertainment-industry-joke/) - I heard the following joke on the Dead Robots' Society podcast today, and though I'd share. This joke will only make sense if you understand the entertainment industry. A writer and a producer are stranded in the desert together, crawling their way across the sand. Then suddenly, the writer looks ahead and sees an
- [Free eBook: Suffer the Poisoner](https://robynpaterson.com/free-ebook-suffer-the-poisoner/) - "There's poison in your soup." With these words, Little Gou is thrust into another adventure as he finds himself struggling to get the woman who poisoned him past an army of soldiers hunting her. Even if they can get past the army, their greatest challenge lies ahead- facing an ancient secret society who will
- [Psychologists Discover How People Subconsciously Become Their Favorite Fictional Characters - Medical Daily](https://robynpaterson.com/psychologists-discover-how-people-subconsciously-become-their-favorite-fictional-characters-medical-daily/) - Behold! The power of reading! Psychologists have discovered that while reading a book or story, people are prone to subconsciously adopt their behavior, thoughts, beliefs and internal responses to that of fictional characters as if they were their own. Experts have dubbed this subconscious phenomenon ‘experience-taking,’ where people actually change their own behaviors and thoughts
- [CLANG! A Realistic Swordfighting Game Kickstarter Project](https://robynpaterson.com/clang-a-realistic-swordfighting-game-kickstarter-project/) - Author Neal Stevenson has put his name behind a new kickstarter project to produce Clang, a realistic swordfighting game for the PC. I'll let him explain the details below. Interesting. I'm not quite as excited about it as I was the space combat game, but it's a neat idea and I hope he makes it
- [How Old is Sci-Fi? - Atomic Rockets](https://robynpaterson.com/how-old-is-sci-fi-atomic-rockets/) - There are sites on the internet that one can easily spent a whole day lost in, for some it's Pinterest or Wikipedia, and for me it's Project Rho (aka Atomic Rockets). A whole site dedicated to helping writers get their science fiction spaceships right according to physics, and doing it in the most entertaining of
- [The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar](https://robynpaterson.com/the-22-rules-of-storytelling-according-to-pixar/) - #1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes. #2: You gotta keep in mind what's interesting to you as an audience, not what's fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different. #3: Trying for theme is important, but you won't see what the story is actually about til
- [FB fans aren’t seeing your posts and how to fix it | The Always Upward Blog](https://robynpaterson.com/fb-fans-arent-seeing-your-posts-and-how-to-fix-it-the-always-upward-blog/) - Well, FB has gone public, and the other shoe has dropped. The end of the free ride on Facebook has begun! The number shown doesn’t represent the number of your fans online at the moment; it’s the abysmally small number Facebook bothered to publish in newsfeeds. Yeah. You read that correctly. Most of your fans
- [TorchShips - Real 3-D Space Combat by johncarlgillespie — Kickstarter](https://robynpaterson.com/torchships-real-3-d-space-combat-by-johncarlgillespie-kickstarter/) - As anyone who knows me, or reads this blog knows, I've got this thing about Space Combat (as in, I'm fascinated by it) and have often wondered what a realistic space combat simulator would look like. Well, today I got a message from John Gillespie, who has a kickstarter project to create exactly that! The
- [Just Two Days Left to get The Cat and the Whaler for Free!](https://robynpaterson.com/just-two-days-left-to-get-the-cat-and-the-whaler-for-free/) - The Secrets of the Five Lotus Stance are known by few, desired by many, and held by only one. Unfortunately for Little Gou, that happens to be him! Pursued by pirates, and caught in the clutches of a mysterious warrior sect, Gou must use the power of a scroll he can’t read to get it
- [Time to Stop Reading Song of Ice and Fire (#GameofThrones)](https://robynpaterson.com/time-to-stop-reading-song-of-ice-and-fire-gameofthrones/) - Tonight, I watched the final episode of Season 2 of Game of Thrones, and with it, I have reached the conclusion that I need to stop reading the books. (Spoilers for Season 2 of the TV show and book!) In an earlier post, I stated that I found the first episode of this new season
- [The Save the Cat 10 (STC10) Story Writing Challenge! ](https://robynpaterson.com/the-save-the-cat-10-stc10-story-writing-challenge/) - Since my post on my little creative exercise, The Fox Cycle, yesterday, I've had a couple people write to me with questions about trying the Save the Cat 10 Story Writing Challenge (STC10) themselves. So, I thought I'd take a minute and write up a few simple rules for the challenge that people can use
- [Ten rules for writing fiction | Books | guardian.co.uk](https://robynpaterson.com/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-books-guardian-co-uk/) - The Guardian published a huge collection of top 10 writing tips from various authors, I've posted Elmore Leonard's before, but I thought I'd post Neil Gaiman's and a link to the rest. Neil Gaiman 1 Write. 2 Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down. 3 Finish what you're writing. Whatever
- [Writing Flash Fiction](https://robynpaterson.com/writing-flash-fiction/) - Since some people might be considering doing the STC10 challenge, I thought I'd links to a few places with tips on how to write Flash Fiction. Enjoy! Stories in your pocket: how to write flash fiction | Books | guardian.co.uk. Tips for Writing Flash Fiction | MattMooreWrites The Challenge of Writing Flash Fiction | Hubpages
- [Creative Challenges: The Fox Cycle](https://robynpaterson.com/creative-challenges-the-fox-cycle/) - I think it’s good for writers to challenge themselves, it helps them grow. Back in January of this year, I picked up an amazing book for (script)writers called Save the Cat! by scriptwriting guru Blake Snyder. I’d heard about it online, tracked down a copy at the local bookstore, and poured through it to discover
- [ECCC 2012: Star Wars Trilogy: The Radio Play ](https://robynpaterson.com/eccc-2012-star-wars-trilogy-the-radio-play/) - Most of the cast of Futurama, plus the cast of Animaniacs, plus Batman, doing a readthrough of the Star Wars radioplay script in various character voices. Has to be heard to be believed! :-)
- [Free eBook: The Cat and The Whaler](https://robynpaterson.com/free-ebook-the-cat-and-the-whaler/) - I've just released my newest Little Gou adventure, and to celebrate I'm offering it for free for the next two weeks! Until June 7th, if you go to Smashwords and enter the coupon code NQ67B you can get it in the format of your choice absolutely free! All I ask is that if you enjoy
- [Viva Spider-Man 1989 fan film - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/viva-spider-man-1989-fan-film-youtube/) - While we're on the topic, I just stumbled across this little gem. Viva Spider-Man is a loving live-action re-creation of the old 1960's Spider-Man cartoon down to the camera angles and the way the people walk and talk. It also makes an interesting case for Spider-Man as a period piece. I wouldn't be surprised at
- [‘Spider-Man’ flashback: Nicholas Hammond, reeling in the years](https://robynpaterson.com/spider-man-flashback-nicholas-hammond-reeling-in-the-years/) - I never got to watch the live action American Spider-Man TV series when I was a kid because I didn't know it was on when it aired, but I did watch the "movies" (2 part episodes) that aired endlessly on Channel 43 Cleveland on Saturday afternoons during my childhood. When I was ten I used
- [Spiderman: The Green Goblin's Last Stand ](https://robynpaterson.com/spiderman-the-green-goblins-last-stand/) - For my money, probably my favorite version of Spidey put to film isn't the recent big blockbuster films, it isn't even an official film at all! It's the fanfilm: The Green Goblin's Last Stand. Which is a shot-for-shot adaption of the classic Spiderman story done by a group of amateur actors with almost no budget,
- [6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe About the Founding of America | Cracked.com](https://robynpaterson.com/6-ridiculous-lies-you-believe-about-the-founding-of-america-cracked-com/) - Great article from CRACKED that is definitely worth reading, and ties into my post from yesterday about America's First Gay President. (Thanks for pointing that out, Don!) There's a pretty important detail our movies and textbooks left out of the handoff from Native Americans to white European settlers: It begins in the immediate aftermath of
- [The PA Report - Artemis allows six people take the bridge of a starship, and tell their own story](https://robynpaterson.com/the-pa-report-artemis-allows-six-people-take-the-bridge-of-a-starship-and-tell-their-own-story/) - Oh, I'd love to play this with a room full of my friends! I actually remember playing the old Star Trek Tactical Combat Simulator pen and paper game from FASA which was basically the same thing done with dice and paper, and it was pretty fun on the rare occasions we got to play with
- [Our real first gay president - American History - Salon.com](https://robynpaterson.com/our-real-first-gay-president-american-history-salon-com/) - Salon.com has just published an amazing article about American's first actually 100% real gay president, not one who is just pro-gay- James Buchanan. It's a rebuttal of sorts to this week's Newsweek cover on Obama as "America's First Gay President" for his support of gay marriage. But, what impressed me so much wasn't that the
- [Heroes Disassembled](https://robynpaterson.com/heroes-disassembled/)
- [Fun with CG- Hypergirl vs Gargantua!](https://robynpaterson.com/fun-with-cg-hypergirl-vs-gargantua/) - It all started with a single character, and me fooling around. Next thing I knew, I was living my childhood dream of running Toho studios in Japan!
- [Novelty - Visual novel maker](https://robynpaterson.com/novelty-visual-novel-maker/) - Ahh, the things I would do if I had the time. :-) Especially with Daz Studio still being free, it could be a lot of fun to make a visual novel. Not that I'd expect to make money, or that anyone would play it, but I think it would be a fun and challenging exercise.
- [Silent Shadow of the Bat-Man - Retro 1920s Dark Knight ](https://robynpaterson.com/silent-shadow-of-the-bat-man-retro-1920s-dark-knight/) - A Batman fan-film done in the style of old 1920's silent horror films. I especially like the rogues gallery, which I think will give me nightmares for some time. The producer has clearly done his homework, as this is a truely loving recreation of what films of period were like, down to small details. There
- [The Chopine ](https://robynpaterson.com/the-chopine/) - One of those odd bits of history that one comes across and finds interesting enough to note is the Chopine. I can just imagine what a scene in this period would have looked like with all these fashionable stilt-women wandering the marketplace. "A chopine is a type of women's platform shoe that was popular in
- [Batman, Ace of...What Exactly?](https://robynpaterson.com/batman-ace-of-what-exactly/) - So, yesterday before the Avengers I saw an extended preview for Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, and I have to say I found the whole thing underwhelming. I just have no interest in seeing the film, and thinking about it and discussing it with my friends I think I understand why. Now, it could be
- [Review: The Avengers](https://robynpaterson.com/review-the-avengers/) - Just got back from seeing The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble, to those outside of North America), and I think my take on the film is as follows: After the Blu-Ray DVD version is released, some 15 year old kid using Apple iMovie is going to use it to produce an amazingly cool 80 minute long
- [Han Solo, P.I. - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/han-solo-p-i-youtube/) - Gotta love this video! Great editing! And for comparison to see how well done it really is:
- [Smashwords Releases eBook Sales Data!](https://robynpaterson.com/smashwords-releases-ebook-sales-data/) - As someone who publishes on Smashwords, I got an update today about their company blog, which has made public a powerpoint the owner recently gave on ebook sales. How Data-Driven Decisions *Might* Help Indie Ebook Authors Reach More Readers View more PowerPoint from Smashwords, Inc. Ignoring the advertising speak, it’s some really interesting stuff. Apparently
- [Neil deGrasse Tyson: Atheist or Agnostic?](https://robynpaterson.com/neil-degrasse-tyson-atheist-or-agnostic/) - I'm with Neil. I'm not an "ist", I simply am what I am.
- [The Avengers '78 movie promo - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/the-avengers-78-movie-promo-youtube/) - Brilliant! Althought you might have to be a child of the 70's or 80's to really get it. :-)
- [Where to start your novel?](https://robynpaterson.com/where-to-start-your-novel/) - On a writer's group I belong to, someone asked yesterday where they should start in their process of writing their first novel. I thought I'd post my reply here in case it could help others as well. I don't claim to be an expert on the subject (yet), but I do have some experience I
- [Applying the 6 Act Structure to Screenplays](https://robynpaterson.com/applying-the-6-act-structure-to-screenplays/) - Michael Hauge shows how his 6 Act structure for novels applies to screenplays. An interesting read from the point of view of understanding what goes where in stories. Plot structure simply determines the sequence of events that lead the hero toward this objective. And here's the good news: whether you're writing romantic comedies, suspense thrillers,
- [Stop Certifying New Teachers in Ontario](https://robynpaterson.com/stop-certifying-new-teachers-in-ontario/) - In London, Ontario right now if you want to become an elementary or high school teacher, here’s what you have to do: Do four years of undergraduate university education in your major of choice. ($40,000 basic tuition) Go to teacher’s college for one year (or more for some specialties) to get your certification. ($10,000 basic
- [Flashback! Revenge of the 80s: It's All In The Reflexes ](https://robynpaterson.com/flashback-revenge-of-the-80s-its-all-in-the-reflexes/) - I've fallen out of love with anime over the years, but during the late '80s and early '90s I lived and breathed anime. (I even started London's first independant anime club- Anime London.) So when I heard that the Anime News Network podcast was doing a "Top 10 of the '80s" anime review show with
- [Skyrim- Peter Hollens & Lindsey Stirling - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/skyrim-peter-hollens-lindsey-stirling-youtube/) - I don't play Skyrim, but I have to say his vocal work impresses the heck out of me. Her violin work is great too.
- [Bakuman ](https://robynpaterson.com/bakuman/) - I buy very few manga these days, in fact, I can count the number I do buy on one hand without using all the fingers. But if I had to pick just one manga from that very short list, that manga would be Bakuman. How do I describe Bakuman to someone who hasn't read it?
- [I can't eat that! It's too beautiful!](https://robynpaterson.com/i-cant-eat-that-its-too-beautiful/)
- [Augmented Reality on track to becoming reality.](https://robynpaterson.com/augmented-reality-on-track-to-becoming-reality/) - I've been expecting this for a while. The fact Google is backing this project makes it seem like it will be a certainty, and be soon. First our smartphones will sync with our AR glasses to do this, and then eventually it will be AR contact lenses (they already have these in the prototype stage)
- [Game of Thrones 2x01- or how NOT to do a Season Opener. (Spoiler Free.)](https://robynpaterson.com/game-of-thrones-2x01-or-how-not-to-do-a-season-opener-spoiler-free/) - I just finished watching the first episode of season two of Game of Thrones, and let me start by saying that it was both gorgeous and spectacular at the same time. The production values have gone through the roof (few movies look this good) and the acting was superb as ever. It was a sight
- [The Roundtable Podcast (on Writing)](https://robynpaterson.com/the-roundtable-podcast-on-writing/) - This week I started listening to The Roundtable Podcast after hearing about it on the Dead Robots' Society writer's podcast. The premise is simple enough: each the two hosts and one successful writer help an aspiriing guest writer brainstorm their current project to improve it as best they can. I've listened to the first two
- [Now there's something you don't see everyday!](https://robynpaterson.com/now-theres-something-you-dont-see-everyday/) - An eagle, a fox and my cat all getting along fine on my porch - YouTube.
- [The (Hunger) Shaky-Cam Games- A Spoiler Lite Review](https://robynpaterson.com/the-hunger-shaky-cam-games-a-spoiler-light-review/) - The Hunger Shaky-Cam Games I have just returned from watching a film about an epic romantic triangle between a director, his editing suite, and the shaky-cam that he couldn’t resist. It was a passionate, torrid tale that exploded across the screen like a lens-flare, but unfortunately it was the only thing that was
- [Stuff I watched this week](https://robynpaterson.com/stuff-i-watched-this-week/) - Avatar: The Legend of Korra- a friend sent me a link to a slightly grainy copy of the pilot episode of the new Avatar series. I have to confess, I've only watched a handful of episodes of the original series. I've tried to watch it a couple times, but it always failed to keep my
- [Senior Citizen | Futility Closet](https://robynpaterson.com/senior-citizen-futility-closet/) - Well that's unusual. I'd like to know what Herbs this guy was taking! :-) When Chinese herbalist Li Ching-Yun died in 1933, newspapers were hard pressed to write his obituary. Li had contended that he had been born in 1736, which would have made him 197 years old. In 1930, Wu Chung-Chien of Minkuo University
- [RUIN - Awesome CGI Animated Short Film](https://robynpaterson.com/ruin-awesome-cgi-animated-short-film/) - Wow, amazing production work on so many levels. I'm thoroughly impressed. RUIN - YouTube.
- [The OODA Loop](https://robynpaterson.com/the-ooda-loop/) - Came across this today, interesting reading: The OODA Loop Boyd's key concept was that of the decision cycle or OODA Loop, the process by which an entity (either an individual or an organization) reacts to an event. According to this idea, the key to victory is to be able to create situations wherein one can
- [How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-draw-comics-the-marvel-way/) - Here's a blast from the past! I'd forgotten that Marvel did a companion video to their classic How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way book. It looks like it was done sometime in the late '80s or perhaps early '90s. The book itself is a must-read for anyone intending to do comics, if for no
- [Naruto Shippuden: Dreamers Fight -- Part One](https://robynpaterson.com/naruto-shippuden-dreamers-fight-part-one/) - Well done Naruto fanfilm. Odd that they had the American actors speak Japanese, and the guy playing Naruto is a little old, but overall I'm impressed. Too bad Part 2 isn't available yet, and the ones you see listed are fakes. :-/
- [The Fox Cycle, Story Five- The Beating](https://robynpaterson.com/the-fox-cycle-story-five-the-beating/) - This week's Fox Cycle story is accompanied by my most ambitious digital art image yet. Not only was this the most complex image I've put together in Daz Studio yet, with five characters and props to co-ordinate, but it was also my first attempt at doing postwork on a rendered image. I used GiMP to
- [GIMP - The FREE Open Source Photoshop](https://robynpaterson.com/gimp-the-free-open-source-photoshop/) - For those who might not be familiar with it, there is a free alternative to Photoshop called GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program which is surprisingly powerful and useful, and has a tonne of plugins and tutorials out there. I've been using it in lieu of Photoshop recently (since I can't afford the $600
- [Writing Comics - A Presentation by Angela Melick of www.wastedtalent.ca - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/writing-comics-a-presentation-by-angela-melick-of-www-wastedtalent-ca-youtube/) - Writing Comics - A Presentation by Angela Melick of www.wastedtalent.ca - YouTube.
- [Pretentious Title: Editing for People Who Hate Editing](https://robynpaterson.com/pretentious-title-editing-for-people-who-hate-editing/) - Author Rachel Aaron has recently posted a great piece about how she came to love the editing process over on her blog. It comes at just the right time for me, as I'm finally about to start editing book one of Twin Stars. Good advice any writer should check out, especially a novelist. When you
- [One Piece for real: Usopp's "Kabuto" Zombie Killing Slingshot Spear - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/one-piece-for-real-usopps-kabuto-zombie-killing-slingshot-spear-youtube/) - One Piece for real: Usopp's "Kabuto" Zombie Killing Slingshot Spear - YouTube.
- [CG Art- The Fox Cycle](https://robynpaterson.com/cg-art-the-fox-cycle/) - My journey with DAZ Studio Continues. I spent the week working on images to go along with my currently running Flash Fiction series- The Fox Cycle over on my KFAT page. The stories themselves cover a large span of time, but focus on the former King's Musketeer Gerard la Russo and his Indian adopted daughter
- [Nerd Rage Scale](https://robynpaterson.com/nerd-rage-scale/) - My friend Don C. recently posted this, and I thought I'd share it for consideration: Given how often I’ve seen debate and discussion of redos in established comics and how little cohesion said debates often have, I think it’s time for some sort of standardized scale. This one refers SPECIFICALLY to the indignation that arises
- [Fun with CG II- The Twin Stars ](https://robynpaterson.com/fun-with-cg-ii-the-twin-stars/) - So, I spent a week (and a few dollars) working away on Daz Studio to see if I could put together some decent looking characters for the covers of my upcoming Twin Stars novels. So far, I'm pretty impressed by how well it's gone. Yes, there was a bit of a learning curve, but once
- [Clive Owen - Arthur and The Anglo Saxon Wars](https://robynpaterson.com/clive-owen-arthur-and-the-anglo-saxon-wars/) - Clive Owen - Arthur and The Anglo Saxon Wars is an interesting page on "Authurian" England with some nice pictures of soldiers from that period.
- [Fun with CG](https://robynpaterson.com/fun-with-cg/) - Once upon a time, I was an enthusiast of a program called Bryce 3D, which was a computer graphics program for generating landscapes. I actually used it for a number of other things, since it was primitive (shape) based instead of spline (wire frame) based and much easier to use than the other CG programs
- [American Fencing in the 18th Century](https://robynpaterson.com/american-fencing-in-the-18th-century/) - When we think of fencing during the Renaissance we tend to think of France or Italy, which were indeed the centres of the sword arts. But did you know there was another major center of fencing? Between 1754 and 1787, New York City was a veritable hub for American fencers, with at least fourteen fencing
- [Fencing with five different medieval weapons - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/fencing-with-five-different-medieval-weapons-youtube/) - Wow, some of those moves are very systemized and logical. Quite cool, actually. Fencing with five different medieval weapons - YouTube.
- [I don't normally post cosplay images, but in this case...](https://robynpaterson.com/i-dont-normally-post-cosplay-images-but-in-this-case/) - Beauty and Style, with a captial S!
- [Creative Experiments- KFAT Historical Flash Fiction](https://robynpaterson.com/creative-experiments-kfat-historical-flash-fiction/) - Hi All, Last week over on the KFAT site, my first weekly webfiction story The Inuyama Rebellion posted its final chapter. It's been a fun run, and I have to say I've enjoyed the experiment of writing a weekly piece of fiction in addition to my other writing projects. Of course, I also got a
- [Dean Wesley Smith » The Secret of Indie Publishing](https://robynpaterson.com/dean-wesley-smith-the-secret-of-indie-publishing/) - A must read for anyone who wants to be an independent/self publisher getting into the eBook market. (Especially those who want to make money at it!) I have heard over and over and over from indie publishers how their sales are not what they expected, or how they hope to promote their way to a
- [Good Show Sir - Only the worst Sci-fi/Fantasy book covers](https://robynpaterson.com/good-show-sir-only-the-worst-sci-fifantasy-book-covers/) - What you don't want your book cover to look like! A couple "winners"... What scares me is that this new age of ebook covers will probably produce much worse! If you want to see more, check out this guy's collection here: Good Show Sir - Only the worst Sci-fi/Fantasy book covers.
- [Among the Rivers and Lakes Wuxia Community](https://robynpaterson.com/among-the-rivers-and-lakes-wuxia-community/) - A new WuXia fan community forum has appeared! Among the Rivers and Lakes Wuxia Community. John D., the prolific translator and scholar of all things WuXia has started a new forum for people with a fascination for Chinese adventure fiction. Go check it out! If you want a crash-course into WuXia fiction, and are pressed
- [America's Science Decline - Neil deGrasse Tyson ](https://robynpaterson.com/americas-science-decline-neil-degrasse-tyson/) - Neil deGrasse Tyson shows North America's (sadly, Canada as well) place on the world stage in terms of the development of new science and technology as we fade into irrelevance. Watch it and weep!
- [How Return of the Jedi should have Ended.](https://robynpaterson.com/how-return-of-the-jedi-should-have-ended/) - HA! Dead on! Rob
- [Traditional Publishers are in Trouble](https://robynpaterson.com/traditional-publishers-are-in-trouble/) - From J.A. Konrath's Blog: (Note- Legacy means "traditional publishers" aka Established Publishing Companies.) Right now I'm looking at the Top 10 Kindle bestsellers in occult fiction. Every one of them is self-pubbed. In fact, there are only three legacy authors in the Top 30. I count only ten legacy pubbed in the Top 100, and
- [Fonts for Book Covers](https://robynpaterson.com/fonts-for-book-covers/) - I've been studying up on Book Design recently in anticipation of prepping my upcoming novels, and while Ive still got a lot to learn, one of the things I've slowly been catching onto is the importance of choosing the right fonts for your book- and especially for your cover! The right use of fonts can
- [CTV News | Nice guys make less than 'highly disagreeable' men](https://robynpaterson.com/ctv-news-nice-guys-make-less-than-highly-disagreeable-men/) - Men who score on personality tests as highly disagreeable tend to earn more than 18 per cent more – an average of $9,700 more a year – than men who were scored as most agreeable. Agreeableness made less of a difference in women, but it still meant an average 5-per-cent salary gap for nice gals.
- [Quote of the Day from Machiavelli](https://robynpaterson.com/quote-of-the-day-from-machiavelli/) - "All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer." — Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
- [The Live Action Star Wars Series Gets a Working Title ](https://robynpaterson.com/the-live-action-star-wars-series-gets-a-working-title/) - "It's underneath what's going on," he reiterated about the series' focus, "It's the criminals and the gangs. The guys who are running Wall Street, basically. The guys who are running the United States." Not quite, that would be a series about the Banking Clans and the people actually running the Empire. This should be more
- [Memories of Gamma World](https://robynpaterson.com/memories-of-gamma-world/) - Back when I was a teenager, there was were only a couple of pen and paper RPGs. Dungeons and Dragons was the most popular, but there was another game spoken of in semi-reverant tones that few played- Gamma World. Why did people speak of it in semi-reverent tones? Well, D&D was heroic, but Gamma World
- [The 10% Solution to Editing Your Books](https://robynpaterson.com/the-10-solution-to-editing-your-books/) - Yesterday, I was doing a bit of research on editing as it's a dragon I will soon need to face with pen in hand. While looking for tips I came across references to a book on self editing called The 10% Solution by Ken Rand. Intrigued, I began to look into it and soon found
- [Samurai Horses](https://robynpaterson.com/samurai-horses/) - As someone into Japanese history, I always wondered something- why didn't the Japanese make more extensive use of horses during their wars? I knew they made some use of them, but nowhere near as much as people from other countries did. Since there’s a horse element to this week’s part (and the coming parts) of
- [Merry Christmas one and all! ](https://robynpaterson.com/merry-christmas-one-and-all/) - I'd just like to wish all my friends and readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope the year 2012 is a great one for all of you, and brings you good fortune and pleasant surprises. It better be a good one, since the world ends next December after all! ^_- So party on,
- [Is 50,000 the magic number for e-books?](https://robynpaterson.com/is-50000-the-magic-number-for-e-books/) - I was talking with a friend this afternoon who is something of an industry watcher in the publishing industry, and we were discussing e-book length. Now I’ve thought about the length of e-books for a while, so it was a familiar discussion, but he brought some interesting ideas to the table. His take on things
- [Manga- Liar Game - Who do you trust?](https://robynpaterson.com/manga-liar-game-who-do-you-trust/) - For those who love thrillers with a psychological bent, Liar Game is a unique story along the lines of the manga Death Note. It's a story about trust, deceit and human nature filled with mind games and twists and turns. I highly recommend checking it out if you have the chance, the creator took a
- [sleepyti.me bedtime calculator](https://robynpaterson.com/sleepyti-me-bedtime-calculator/) - Now here's a neat idea! sleepyti.me bedtime calculator will calculate the optimal time for you go to bed to wake up at a particular time based on normal human sleep cycles. I think I'll give it a go and see how it comes out! Rob
- [What Price Nobility?](https://robynpaterson.com/what-price-nobility/) - So, I'm thinking over changes I want to make to Twin Stars in the second draft of the story, and it's mostly little things, but one thing that's come up is the Nobles. I've realized that I haven't done anything to physically distinguish my race of genetically perfected galactic overlords. They basically just look the
- [Advice on Covers](https://robynpaterson.com/advice-on-covers/) - Speaking of the Dead Robot's Society writer's podcast (which I've become a fan of recently), among the myriad topics they've covered, they did two especially good interviews with Robin J. Sullivan of Ridan Publishing. Ms. Sullivan is something of an indie book marketing guru and gave great advice in general in the first interview, but
- [10,000 words of fiction a day? Is that possible?](https://robynpaterson.com/10000-words-of-fiction-a-day-is-that-possible/) - According to author Rachel Aaron it is! While I think my best so far has been around 4,000 (on really really good day) she claimed in a recent interview on the Dead Robots Society podcast that she's managed as much as 14,000 in a single day. (She says she finished a 75,000 word novel in
- [At 91,746 words, the first draft of Twin Stars, Book One (the novel) is finished! Can I rest now? #amwriting ](https://robynpaterson.com/at-91746-words-the-first-draft-of-twin-stars-book-one-the-novel-is-finished-can-i-rest-now-amwriting/) - Well, tonight after two long months of hard work, I have at long last completed the (very) rough draft of my first Twin Stars science fiction novel- right on schedule! I gave myself two months to complete it, and have done so almost to the day! What a long and gruelling experience this has been,
- [End of NTU](https://robynpaterson.com/end-of-ntu/) - Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon the campus is filled with groups of men with cameras following around beautiful women in sexy or strange outfits. They're camera clubs who hire the model collectively to spend a few hours posing for them. It's a good gig for both sides, although one wonders how the models feel
- [Ho! Ho! Holy crap it's Godzilla!](https://robynpaterson.com/ho-ho-holy-crap-its-godzilla/) - This is my dream Christmas Tree!
- [First Capture: 8-page Go Mini Comic](https://robynpaterson.com/brushmen-blogspot-8-page-mini-comic/) - My friend the artist Brushmen just released a cute 8 page minicomic outlining one of the basic rules of Go. Well worth a look! :-) Follow the link you'll find by clicking here: brushmen @ blogspot: 8-page Mini Comic.
- [Scriptwriting R US. (errr...ME!)](https://robynpaterson.com/scriptwriting-r-us-errr-me/) - Every Autumn my college puts out a call for new course ideas for the arts department, with the intent that these course will be taught the following September if there's enough interest by students. I tossed my hat in the ring this time, and the results were just released! I'm the new course designer (and
- [The Swivet [Colleen Lindsay]:  On word counts and novel length](https://robynpaterson.com/the-swivet-colleen-lindsay-on-word-counts-and-novel-length/) - Finally! I found someone who lays out the word count targets for different types of books and genres. She's a former professional agent, and knows of which she speaks! I'd always wondered how long was too long, or too short in terms of word count. Check the link for details. science fiction & fantasy =
- [I am worried about my grade - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/i-am-worried-about-my-grade-youtube/) - Welcome to my life.
- [Jack Kirby's Julius Ceasar](https://robynpaterson.com/jack-kirbys-julius-ceasar/) - This is what you get when you ask a comics legend to be your costume designer! More pictures here: Jack Kirby's Julius Ceasar - Mego Talk.
- [Homophobic Men Most Aroused by Gay Male Porn | Psychology Today](https://robynpaterson.com/homophobic-men-most-aroused-by-gay-male-porn-psychology-today/) - They did tests by showing various types of porn to subjects who had already gone through questionaires to determine their sexual comfort zones. The result was that men who are the most homophobic are actually the ones most turned on by men having sex. Straight men who don't feel anything special about gays aren't really
- [Most Human Like Robot Ever - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/most-human-like-robot-ever-youtube/) - Holy Uncanny Valley Batman! That thing looks like it's ready to start terminating people any day now! No wonder they dressed it as a nurse!
- [BBC News - Kepler 22-b: Earth-like planet confirmed](https://robynpaterson.com/bbc-news-kepler-22-b-earth-like-planet-confirmed/) - Time to build that generation ship! Astronomers have confirmed the existence of an Earth-like planet in the "habitable zone" around a star not unlike our own. The planet, Kepler 22-b, lies about 600 light-years away and is about 2.4 times the size of Earth, and has a temperature of about 22C. It is the closest
- [The Future of Self-Publishing: Co-ops](https://robynpaterson.com/the-future-of-self-publishing-co-ops/) - "That which comes together must break apart- that which breaks apart must come together." - Old Chinese Proverb Today, I was talking to one of my co-workers about the future of the music industry and he was discussing how 100 years ago a musician needed to be a part of a large group to produce
- [Why this may be the last chance to become a Kindle Author before the Indy eBook Apocalypse](https://robynpaterson.com/why-this-may-be-the-last-chance-to-become-a-kindle-author-before-the-indy-ebook-apocalypse/) - What does the new launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire and cheaper versions of the regular Kindle mean for eBook authors? Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that it's very likely that as of this Christmas the Kindle (in all it's versions) is about to go mainstream in a major
- [Teens Gone Wild on the Net! Or NOT!](https://robynpaterson.com/teens-gone-wild-on-the-net-or-not/) - Really interesting study. In fact, they pretty much proved that most of the media's claims about teens going wild on the internet are total BS! In the current study, just 2% of all teens ages 12-17 say they have sent a “sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude photo or video” of themselves to someone
- [Anxious publishers watch Indigo makeover - thestar.com](https://robynpaterson.com/anxious-publishers-watch-indigo-makeover-thestar-com/) - Ahh, capitalism in it's purest form. Take a good idea, pump it up, and run it into the ground after you've destroyed all the competition. Say what you will about government regulation of industry, it promotes stability, whereas capitalism promotes chaos and short-term profits over long-term benefits. In case you're wondering what I'm babbling on
- [Costumes and Gimmicks at Nanning Middle School Sports Meet in China](https://robynpaterson.com/costumes-and-gimmicks-at-nanning-middle-school-sports-meet-in-china/) - This looks like a lot of fun! Aren't our high schools supposed to be the ones teaching creativity? Why aren't we doing this? Looks like China is catching up with the West in other departments as well! Costumes and Gimmicks at Nanning Middle School Sports Meet – chinaSMACK.
- [Brush With Death - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/brush-with-death-youtube/) - Coolest Youtube video you're going to see today. What would he be called, a Pingutomancer? A Paintomancer?
- [Free Book Marketing Podcast Series ](https://robynpaterson.com/free-book-marketing-podcast-series/) - Friesen Press seems to be a former small publisher that are currently marketing themselves as a service provider for self-published authors. It's not a bad approach to the business of publishing, as the role of the publisher is rapidly changing, and as the e-book market is exploding with people who want to self publish but
- [Dark Roasted Blend: Heavy Machinery in Trouble! (Wow Pics)](https://robynpaterson.com/dark-roasted-blend-heavy-machinery-in-trouble-wow-pics/) - The Blog Dark Roast Blend has done it again with another amazing collection of pictures you're not going to see anywhere else. Dark Roasted Blend: Heavy Machinery in Trouble! (Wow Pics).
- [The best video I've seen yet explaining the Credit Crisis in super-simple terms. ](https://robynpaterson.com/the-best-video-ive-seen-yet-explaining-the-credit-crisis-in-super-simple-terms/)
- [Cereal Killer](https://robynpaterson.com/cereal-killer/) - Violent, but a whole lotta fun! I laughed. Be sure to click on one of the cereal boxes at the end!
- [Mar 11, 2011: Japanese tsunami from the point of view of a car.](https://robynpaterson.com/mar-11-2011-japanese-tsunami-from-the-point-of-view-of-a-car/) - The experience of the Earthquake and following Tsunami from the point of view of a dashboard camera, you can even hear all the sounds as well. (Although luckily, it doesn't include any human sounds like the car owner dying, I'm pretty sure the car is empty for most of the video.) What a harrowing experience
- [Breathtaking Images of Earth from 250 miles up at 17,500 miles per hour. #space](https://robynpaterson.com/breathtaking-images-of-earth-from-250-miles-up-at-17500-miles-per-hour-space/) - Words cannot express how beautiful this video is. What an amazing world we live on. via Time Lapse From Space - Literally. The Journey Home. on Vimeo.
- [Walking the Gauntlet](https://robynpaterson.com/walking-the-gauntlet/) - Watch the video of Linda Katehi being escorted away from her office, it's really creepy! As Tim Eldred pointed out, it's like the final scene from The Birds in its subtle omniousness as you see the lines of silent students and photographers staring at her all around. It must have been quite a fightening experience
- [Playtime is over! London's first Go Tournament was a blast!](https://robynpaterson.com/playtime-is-over-londons-first-go-tournament-was-a-blast/) - So, this weekend I ran a little thing called the Forest City Cup- London, Ontario's very first Go tournament. We had 18 people turn out to play from as far away as St. Cathrines, and had a great time playing Go all day. Well, I didn't get to play, as I was too busy troubleshooting
- [World's largest 3D painting creates nifty optical illusion - Boing Boing](https://robynpaterson.com/worlds-largest-3d-painting-creates-nifty-optical-illusion-boing-boing/) - World's largest 3D painting creates nifty optical illusion - Boing Boing.
- [Battle in Outer Space Theme](https://robynpaterson.com/battle-in-outer-space-theme/) - Another great tune from the 60's (actually 1959, but close enough!), this one from the Sci-Fi movie Battle in Outer Space by the music master Akira Ifukube. I think it got reused a lot in later Japanese films, as I remember hearing it quite a bit as a kid.
- [Neutrinos still faster than light in latest version of experiment | Science | guardian.co.uk](https://robynpaterson.com/neutrinos-still-faster-than-light-in-latest-version-of-experiment-science-guardian-co-uk/) - Interesting, especially the idea that we could send messages back in time. Of course, if we can, why aren't we doing it already? Or are we, and we just don't have the means to hear them? The scientists who appeared to have found in September that certain subatomic particles can travel faster than light have
- [UC Irvine Release: World's lightest metal developed :: UC Irvine TODAY](https://robynpaterson.com/uc-irvine-release-worlds-lightest-metal-developed-uc-irvine-today/) - A team of researchers from UC Irvine, HRL Laboratories and the California Institute of Technology have developed the world’s lightest material – with a density of 0.9 mg/cc – about one hundred times lighter than Styrofoam™. Their findings appear in the Nov. 18 issue of Science. The new material redefines the limits of lightweight materials
- [KRYPTO! ](https://robynpaterson.com/krypto/) - Only a current comics geek will get this, but it is cute. :-) KRYPTO! - Superheroes.
- [Greatest 60's Monster Movie Themes](https://robynpaterson.com/greatest-60s-monster-movie-themes/) - The Words Get Stuck in My Throat from War of the Gargantuas (Oh, the irony!) Beware of THE BLOB! (This one's been stuck in my head since I was a kid!) Hail to the King, baby! This is probably the best 60's monster movie theme ever! GREEN SLIME! BONUS! I like this man's style!
- [NOVA | The Fabric of the Cosmos](https://robynpaterson.com/nova-the-fabric-of-the-cosmos/) - Watched the first hour of NOVA's documentary The Fabric of the Cosmos today- what a completely mindblowing experience. I knew a lot of it, but some of the science is really amazing stuff. If you have the chance to see this documentary, I highly recommend it. Although be prepared for a total mind-warp when you
- [True Confession](https://robynpaterson.com/true-confession/) - I just, finally, started to read the first Harry Potter book. (I saw all the films, but didn't bother much with the books.) I decided since I'm thinking of writing a YA Fantasy novel, I should study under the master, as it were. Y'no, she really is as good as advertised. I don't regret waiting
- [5 Ways We Ruined the Occupy Wall Street Generation | Cracked.com](https://robynpaterson.com/5-ways-we-ruined-the-occupy-wall-street-generation-cracked-com/) - One of the best CRACKED articles I've read in a while. Quoted for truth: 5 Ways We Ruined the Occupy Wall Street Generation | Cracked.com.
- [If you thought Italy was bad... ](https://robynpaterson.com/if-you-thought-italy-was-bad/) - Looks like a few countries might be in trouble... From: If you thought Italy was bad... | Business | guardian.co.uk.
- [Your Hibernation Pod is Ready](https://robynpaterson.com/your-hibernation-pod-is-ready/) - This is interesting. If we really can induce controlled hibernation in humans, then the stars may not be so far out of reach after all. Can humans hibernate? The answer, remarkable as it might seem, is an unequivocal "yes." In fact, until relatively recently the idea of humans sleeping through most of the winter
- [Don't Blink!](https://robynpaterson.com/dont-blink/)
- [What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks](https://robynpaterson.com/what-news-anchors-do-during-commercial-breaks/) - Watch the whole thing, it's actually really impressive. Apparently this is a ritual that these two long-time co-workers have built up over time. What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks w/sound - YouTube.
- [How To Use A Samurai Sword Properly ~ www.popgive.com](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-use-a-samurai-sword-properly-www-popgive-com/) - For those writing Samurai fiction, here's a treasure trove of detail! Each school will have different variations of angles, grips and body positions, but here is a fundamental cutting concept that most sword styles share: When delivering a cut, make sure that your wrists are lined up behind the blade handle. It may feel fine
- [Einstein vs Stephen Hawking -Epic Rap Battles of History #7 - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/einstein-vs-stephen-hawking-epic-rap-battles-of-history-7-youtube/) - Had this thing stuck in my head all day!
- [Just got my first payment from Smashwords for Hot Soup](https://robynpaterson.com/just-got-my-first-payment-from-smashwords-for-hot-soup/) - Back in February of 2011, I stuck my short story Hot Soup up on Smashwords as an experiment, and today I received my first payment for it- $9.16. The story is 99 cents wherever it's sold, and is available on a number of services. Here are my sales for the Smashwords network: Smashwords.com (all-time): 2
- [Terra Nova Update](https://robynpaterson.com/terra-nova-update/) - So, an odd thing happened. I was setting my PVR to record Terra Nova and started to see commercials for the new season of House, which is on after TN. House is a show I enjoyed the first couple seasons of, but then the show got stupid, gimmicky and formulaic so I stopped watching it.
- [Attack of the Drones: Taiwan's future military - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/attack-of-the-drones-taiwans-future-military-youtube/) - Y'no, she's got some good points! Go Taiwanese nerds!
- [Happy 7 Billion Day!](https://robynpaterson.com/happy-7-billion-day/) - Is it getting more crowded in here, or is it just me? Unfortunately, I think like Marx, Malthus will turn out to be right, it's just being delayed. Eventually we will reach a point where we outpace our ability to feed ourselves due to climate change or general limits of technology, and then the resource
- [What's the First Horror Movie? This is.](https://robynpaterson.com/whats-the-first-horror-movie-this-is/) - The Devil's Castle, from 1896 is considered to be the first horror movie. At a bit over three minutes long, it's not a hard watch despite being a silent film. One thing that today's viewers should keep in mind when watching is that the audiences of the day had no concept of special effects because
- [CAMELOT ](https://robynpaterson.com/camelot/) - Yesterday, I saw the recent Stratford Festival production of Camelot at the Festival Theatre. Clicking on the link below or the picture above or link below will take you to a real review of the show that I agree completely with, so I'll just skip to my personal comments. For some reason, the whole King
- [Covers from Weird (Eerie Publications, 1966 - 79)](https://robynpaterson.com/covers-from-weird-eerie-publications-1966-79/) - In time for Halloween! This site has a collection of covers from the old WEIRD magazines. I think they live up to their name nicely. Enter! If you dare! BWAHAHAHAHAH! MONSTER BRAINS: Weird (Eerie Publications, 1966 - 79).
- [Missed Opportunities- In Time](https://robynpaterson.com/missed-opportunities-in-time/) - I've started to read reviews of the new movie In Time, and there is apparently some confusion around the movie's setting. For those not familar with the movie, the above trailer will explain it, but the key element here is that people stop aging at 25, and have to actually earn their minutes/hours/days/years after that
- [Webcomic worth checking out- The Meek](https://robynpaterson.com/webcomic-worth-checking-out-the-meek/) - "The Meek is a graphic novel about Angora, an inexperienced young girl who has been sent on a quest to save the world. War looms on the horizon, and at its helm is the Emperor of the North and his hellish adviser. The two countries are overwhelmed with as much terror, crime, disease and revolution
- [Authors I Wish I'd Read As a Teenager- H. Beam Piper](https://robynpaterson.com/authors-i-wish-id-read-as-a-teenager-h-beam-piper/) - Today I finished reading Four Day Planet by H. Beam Piper, which is the fourth of Piper's novels that I've read. He was a pulp sci-fi writer who wrote prolifically for the magazines back in the 50's and 60's and I have to say he's probably one of my favorite writers of the period, so
- [Paranominal and other Weird Stuff Sites](https://robynpaterson.com/paranominal-and-other-weird-stuff-sites/) - I stumbled across this today- Paranominal is a clearing-house website for weird stuff stories of many different kinds- UFOs, Ghosts, Cryptozoology, you know the drill. Seems like a fun place to spend a lonely fall evening creeping yourself out. Although, if you really want to creep yourself out, check out paranormal.about.com's True Stories sent in
- [4 Terrifying Psychology Lessons Behind Famous Movie Monsters | Cracked.com](https://robynpaterson.com/4-terrifying-psychology-lessons-behind-famous-movie-monsters-cracked-com/) - Interesting, and topical for Halloween. 4 Terrifying Psychology Lessons Behind Famous Movie Monsters -- powered by Cracked.com
- [Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lawrence Krauss Have a Throwdown about Manned vs Unmanned Space Exploration](https://robynpaterson.com/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-lawrence-krauss-have-a-throwdown-about-manned-vs-unmanned-space-exploration/) - I have to say, Neil deGrasse Tyson is rapidly becoming one of my favorite people in science, if for no other reason than how darn cool he is. Watching the pressure slowly build on his face as he listens to things he doesn't agree with is entertaining in and of itself, and when he finally
- [Forest City Cup- London's First Go Tournament!](https://robynpaterson.com/forest-city-cup-londons-first-go-tournament/) - It's amazing how some things progress in life. A year ago I was just a single player dreaming of there being a Go club here in London. Now, I'm not only the organizer of a successful Go Club, I'm also working with the Chinese Canadian National Council's London Chapter, and our local Chinese Newspaper to
- [Live Action Ranma 1/2 Special will Air in December!](https://robynpaterson.com/live-action-ranma-12-special-will-air-in-december/) - Apparently someone had decided to do a Live-Action Ranma 1/2 show in Japan, probably out of a mix of nostalgia and lack of ideas. I used to be a big Ranma 1/2 fan once upon a time, until it turned into an endless boring repetition of the same jokes and ideas, but it does have
- [What happens when you mix young teen sexuality with the Chthulu mythos?](https://robynpaterson.com/what-happens-when-you-mix-young-teen-sexuality-with-the-chthulu-mythos/) - The answer is DYE "Fantasy" a video by JEREMIE PERIN, a french animator. Gorgeously animated, and totally horrific. Really, I mean it: NSFW horror- don't watch if movies like The Thing give you nightmares.
- [For god's sake people, stop clicking on mystery links in emails from friends. ](https://robynpaterson.com/for-gods-sake-people-stop-clicking-on-mystery-links-in-emails-from-friends/) - In the last week, it seems many people I know have made the mistake of clicking on a link in an email from a friend. The letters tend to read like this: Subject: Darling/Facebook/I Miss you/RE: (etc) Hey! Check out my new Facebook page! (Shortened link here) These are virus traps that grab your contact
- [Canadian Tories admit that Canadians don’t want DRM rules, push for them anyway – Boing Boing](https://robynpaterson.com/canadian-tories-admit-that-canadians-don’t-want-drm-rules-push-for-them-anyway-–-boing-boing/) - I'm hoping this one will get struck down ASAP by the Supreme Court once it hits, since there doesn't seem to be any way to stop it. Sigh. This is a government that knows its own people hate something with a passion but is going to shove it down their throats anyways in the name
- [New Bill in US Congress would send people to jail for 5 years for singing any copyrighted song on Youtube.](https://robynpaterson.com/new-bill-in-us-congress-would-send-people-to-jail-for-5-years-for-singing-any-copyrighted-song-on-youtube/) - You Americans who read this might want to get on this issue. Although they may not have chosen the best mascot, after all, there are people who would pay just to see Justin Bieber sent to prison... S.978, a new bill in Congress, make it a felony to post videos that contain copyright-infringing music, with
- [Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: Which Way Will You Make More Money? | Nathan Bransford, Author](https://robynpaterson.com/self-publishing-vs-traditional-publishing-which-way-will-you-make-more-money-nathan-bransford-author/) - This guy's posting some real numbers about self-publishing and what makes money for authors. Definitely worth a read. It's author monetization week! Monday through Thursday this week I'm going to have a series of posts on a crucial topic for the modern writer: How to make money. Today we'll start with the books themselves. With
- [Learn to Cartoon with the best of them. (Literally!)](https://robynpaterson.com/learn-to-cartoon-with-the-best-of-them-literally/) - Something for my artist friends- this page is slowly scanning and posting the materials from something called the Famous Artists Cartoon Course. Famous Artists Cartoon Course «.
- [TED Talk- Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liar ](https://robynpaterson.com/ted-talk-pamela-meyer-how-to-spot-a-liar/)
- [This 26-Year-Old Is Making Millions Cutting Out Traditional Publishers With Amazon Kindle - Business Insider](https://robynpaterson.com/this-26-year-old-is-making-millions-cutting-out-traditional-publishers-with-amazon-kindle-business-insider/) - I can never remember her name in conversations, but I do remember what she's doing to the publishing world. Amanda Hocking is the poster child for the new world of Self Publishing, and while she's currently the record holder, we all know that won't last very long. The question is, how long before everyone does
- [R. Scott Bakker Talks about Writing Fantasy, Writers, and Canadian Lit. ](https://robynpaterson.com/r-scott-bakker-talks-about-writing-fantasy-writers-and-canadian-lit/) - Fantasy Author R. Scott Bakker (and fellow Londoner) lectured recently at Fanshawe College as part of Fanshawe's Arts and Letters program, and unfortunately I missed it due to other commitments. (Darn that need to pay the bills!) Luckily for me, they put it up on Youtube, so I could catch it later, and so can
- [Bad Photographers of the World Unite! New Adobe DeBlurring Software!](https://robynpaterson.com/bad-photographers-of-the-world-unite-new-adobe-deblurring-software/) - Damn, now I wish I hadn't gotten rid of all those almost good but a little blurry images I've taken over the years! All I had to do was wait until they found a way to fix them! CSI computer tech has just taken another step towards reality, now they just need to be able
- [Values](https://robynpaterson.com/values/)
- [On Historical Accuracy (And Whether it Matters) (in Writing Historical Fiction)](https://robynpaterson.com/on-historical-accuracy-and-whether-it-matters-in-writing-historical-fiction/) - Interesting post over on Stephane Dray's blog on the topic of accuracy in historical fiction. To me it's an interesting point because I was just thinking about this the other day in regards to the adventure serial I'm writing for fun over on the KFAT website- The Inuyama Rebellion. That story (much like my Little
- [Rob Guest Hosts on The Sonic Society](https://robynpaterson.com/rob-guest-hosts-on-the-sonic-society/) - This week I did a little guest hosting on the Sonic Society podcast, filling in for host Jack Ward. It was especially cool because I got to introduce a new audio drama group, Lifehouse Theatre on the Air, doing a great presention of my favorite novel- The Count of Monte Christo. My part in it
- [AskGaming: What would a genuinely realistic space combat sim look like?](https://robynpaterson.com/askgaming-what-would-a-genuinely-realistic-space-combat-sim-look-like/) - A poster on Reddit named Nodisc asked: Let's assume our technology continues along a predictable path and let's assume that simply existing in space is still the ridiculously dangerous affront to god it is today. Would it be single fighters swirling in pew-pew dogfights? Railgun platforms sniping things from unimaginable distances away? Would there be
- [Mass Destruction (Nollywood movie trailer)](https://robynpaterson.com/mass-destruction-nollywood-movie-trailer/) - What do you get if you breed a used car commercial with the Exorcist? This! Mass Destruction (Nollywood movie trailer) on VinamMovies.co - YouTube.
- [The Next Read- Webfiction Publisher](https://robynpaterson.com/the-next-read-webfiction-publisher/) - Here's an interesting site. It attempts to capture the better aspects of a serialized webfiction site (offering chapters at 10 cents each) and a traditional publisher by also letting readers buy the whole book if it's available and they wish. It's been up around a year and a half and doesn't look like it's had
- [The time is right for serial fiction!](https://robynpaterson.com/the-time-is-right-for-serial-fiction/) - With the advent of the internet, though, we’re back in a perfect environment for serial fiction. It’s easier than ever to publish stories – whether you’re publishing free, or selling subscriptions, or using a tip jar or other method – and it’s easier than ever for people to find and read all sorts of new
- [Jaw Droppingly Beautiful Italian Star Wars Fanfilm- Dark Resurrection](https://robynpaterson.com/jaw-droppingly-beautiful-italian-star-wars-fanfilm-dark-resurrection/) - I just found this today- holy crap! Despite being a fan film, this thing is spectacular! I also like that because it's Italian it has a slightly different esthetic quality to it so it doesn't feel like the same-old Star Wars. Definitely give it a look! Dark Resurrection vol.0 - full movie - ENGLISH SUB
- [5 Sci-Fi Medical Procedures We'll Have in Our Lifetime | Cracked.com](https://robynpaterson.com/5-sci-fi-medical-procedures-well-have-in-our-lifetime-cracked-com/) - As I know a number of people who suffer from various types of depression, this one sounds especially promising. Although I have to wonder what other tricks they can use this technique for, hopefully not #5... #3. The Anti-Depression Magnet The Problem: Depression and the various ailments that spring from it are the scourge of
- [Chinese Rural Substitute Teachers Earn Little & See No Future – chinaSMACK](https://robynpaterson.com/chinese-rural-substitute-teachers-earn-little-see-no-future-–-chinasmack/) - For all those local teachers here in London, Ontario who think the job market here sucks- take a look at what it's like in China. I really admire the dedication of these men to teaching, without them very few of these students would get any kind of education at all. :-/ They have no
- [What do I do with my novel based on a popular podcast?](https://robynpaterson.com/what-do-i-do-with-my-novel-based-on-a-popular-podcast/) - So I have a bit of a quandry. I'm in the process of novelizing (and finishing) my epic space opera Twin Stars. Twin Stars was my attempt to do an massive space adventure story in Audio Drama format, and I produced two seasons of it for a total of 20 episodes of full cast science
- [Astounding HD Timelapse Landscape Video](https://robynpaterson.com/astounding-hd-timelapse-landscape-video/) - Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo. The creator of this stunning piece is Dustin Farrell. "Every frame of this video is a raw still from a Canon 5D2 DSLR and processed with Adobe software," he says "I felt that showing them again with motion controlled HDR and/or night timelapse would be a new
- [Computer virus hits U.S. Drone Fleet](https://robynpaterson.com/computer-virus-hits-u-s-drone-fleet/) - Everyone who didn't see this coming, raise you hand? When you computerize everything, you also make it all vulnerable to infection, especially a networked operation. The only question is who did it, and what other kinds of viruses have also been infecting the systems? A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America's Predator and
- [Subtly shaded map of moon reveals titanium treasure troves](https://robynpaterson.com/subtly-shaded-map-of-moon-reveals-titanium-treasure-troves/) - Looks like we might have a reason to stick some colonies up on the moon after all, or at least cloned workers who think they're the original... “Looking up at the Moon, its surface appears painted with shades of grey – at least to the human eye. But with the right instruments, the Moon can
- [The Life Cycle Of A Novel](https://robynpaterson.com/the-life-cycle-of-a-novel/) - Were you to take a freeze frame snapshot of my current writerly existence, you would find a still image of much juggling. No, not bowling pins, chainsaws, and rat terriers but rather a flurry of writing projects — and, as it turns out, a goodly portion of those projects are in fact novels. BLACKBIRDS is
- [BBC News - Today - The future: Personalised stem cells?](https://robynpaterson.com/bbc-news-today-the-future-personalised-stem-cells/) - There has been a major development in stem cell research in which it may now be possible for stem cells to be created with your own genes reducing the risk of your body rejecting them. Professor Roger Pederson directs the Medical Research Council Stem Cell centre at Cambridge and Emily Jackson of the Human Fertilisation
- [New Podcast (to me!) - Adventures in SciFi Publishing](https://robynpaterson.com/new-podcast-to-me-adventures-in-scifi-publishing/) - My podcasting discovery of the week is the genuinely charming Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast which I discovered on twitter a couple days ago and have to say I'm thoroughly enjoying. The podcast itself is a couple of speculative fiction authors interviewing other Sci-Fi and Fantasy authors about the craft of writing, their approach to
- [Copyright for Canadian Writers](https://robynpaterson.com/copyright-for-canadian-writers/) - How do I protect my idea from theft? In Canada, you automatically hold the copyright to any original work you produce. You can’t copyright an idea or a title; only the written expression of your idea. Someone else might also write a book on jungle cats from outer space but it’s not a problem
- [Pop Didn't Eat Itself: Why Piracy Didn't Destroy the Music Industry](https://robynpaterson.com/pop-didnt-eat-itself-why-piracy-didnt-destroy-the-music-industry/) - ...the US music industry is making less than half of what it made at its 1999 peak of $14.4 billion. It currently makes about $6.3 billion. Why did it drop so fast? Piracy, right? Wrong. First of all, a fun little fact: that $6.3 billion figure is only album sales. Not ringtones, not licensing
- [Who was the rhetorical worst person in history before Hitler?](https://robynpaterson.com/who-was-the-rhetorical-worst-person-in-history-before-hitler/) - Today, the Führer is universally recognized as the embodiment of evil and the most convenient example of a truly terrible human being. Before World War II, who was the rhetorical worst person in history? The Pharoah. via Hank Williams Jr. firing: Who was the rhetorical worst person in history before Hitler? - Slate Magazine.
- [Still think Climate Change is a Hoax?](https://robynpaterson.com/still-think-climate-change-is-a-hoax/) - The only real question is, how long before we open port cities in the Northwest Territories, and how much will jobs there pay? Probably pretty well, actually! COPENHAGEN, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Danish shipping company Nordic Bulk Carriers said it has saved a third of the cost and nearly half the time in shipping goods
- [Justin Bieber vs Beethoven -Epic Rap Battles of History #6 - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/justin-bieber-vs-beethoven-epic-rap-battles-of-history-6-youtube/) - Okay, that is just five flavours of awesome! :-) Justin Bieber vs Beethoven -Epic Rap Battles of History #6 - YouTube.
- [How Much Should You Price Your E-Book? ](https://robynpaterson.com/how-much-should-you-price-your-e-book/) - Fascinating discussion of eBook pricing: Here's the gist of the pricing issue as I understand it. Amazon pays you a royalty of 70% on all Kindle titles priced between $2.99 and $9.99. For e-books priced below $2.99 and above $9.99, Amazon pays a royalty of 35%. That means, the least you can price your
- [How to Use Tags to Help Sell Books or E-Books on Amazon by Nick Daws](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-use-tags-to-help-sell-books-or-e-books-on-amazon-by-nick-daws/) - Article worth reading on Tagging: It follows that getting your book tagged can be highly beneficial. Amazon has no objection to you, as the author, tagging your own book, as doing this helps people find your title and gives them a better idea what it is about. Here are a few tips for getting the
- [The Inuyama Rebellion- Part Thirteen | Kung Fu Action Theatre](https://robynpaterson.com/the-inuyama-rebellion-part-thirteen-kung-fu-action-theatre/) - In another part of the forest, a group of Kurokawa samurai in the command of the guard captain of the summer residence came upon their lord. He was sitting on a rock at the side of the road, and when he made no motion to even indicate he knew they were there, the guard
- [Doctor Who 2011 Finale](https://robynpaterson.com/doctor-who-2011-finale/) - Just watched the 2011 finale for Doctor Who. Wow, what a load of nonsensical magical fairydust crap. I thought last year's "Clap if you love The Doctor" was bad, but this one managed to not only have the same type of ending, but wrap it in a plot that was so convoluted that Dali would
- [臺灣觀光首支全球電影廣告 Time for Taiwan - My Beautiful Island - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/臺灣觀光首支全球電影廣告-time-for-taiwan-my-beautiful-island-youtube/) - 臺灣觀光首支全球電影廣告 Time for Taiwan - My Beautiful Island - YouTube.
- [The US Budget as a Household Budget](https://robynpaterson.com/the-us-budget-as-a-household-budget/) - Found Online: Fiscal responsibility at it's finest: U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000 * Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000 * New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000 * National debt: $14,271,000,000,000 * Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 Let's remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget: Annual family income: $21,700 * Money the family spent: $38,200 * New debt on the
- [When did my life become Glee?](https://robynpaterson.com/when-did-my-life-become-glee/) - So, this morning I was teaching a media class and the topic was radio. I decided that I'd start the class by playing the song Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles, it being appropriate and all. I asked them the standard question of what the first MTV music video played was, and then
- [Best Funny Student Analogies](https://robynpaterson.com/best-funny-student-analogies/) - Found online: Annual English Teachers' awards for best student metaphors/analogies found in actual student papers: His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a
- [Father puts catching fly ball over daughter.](https://robynpaterson.com/father-puts-catching-fly-ball-over-daughter/) - Watch in the top left of the screen to catch what happened. Basically, the father jumped up to catch a fly ball, forgetting his young daughter was on his lap. Ouch! Watch to the end for the look from his wife...Someone's in the doghouse tonight!
- [Review- Terra Nova (TV series)](https://robynpaterson.com/review-terra-nova-tv-series/) - I'll keep it short and sweet, especially since Terra Nova isn't worth a lot of ink. (Virtual or otherwise.) The show looks amazing, but in actual execution is a horribly typical mess that just barely manages to keep its head above qualifying as "bad" and ends up being mediocre. While it's nice to have a
- [Toronto Comic Book Shop Claims to Be World’s First for Kids](https://robynpaterson.com/toronto-comic-book-shop-claims-to-be-world’s-first-for-kids/) - A new comic store focussed on kids has opened up in Toronto, which I think is a great idea. It's ironic, I spent most of my teen years wishing people would treat comics as a general medium and not just as kids stuff, but now that comic companies seem to feel free to stuff their
- [The Inuyama Rebellion- Part Twelve](https://robynpaterson.com/the-inuyama-rebellion-part-twelve/) - The lord of the Kurokawa was starting to grow weary of debating with this tiresome samurai and considered whether the wait was really worth the trouble. “Your lord's rebellion will fail, Yamaguchi-san.” Kurokawa said plainly. “He was most foolish to tempt fate. Now he will lose both his land and his sons.” Read More.
- [Astoundingly cool (and incredibly huge!) picture of the Solar System!](https://robynpaterson.com/astoundingly-cool-and-incredibly-huge-picture-of-the-solar-system/) - An amazing picture of the Solar System. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Systemesolaire2.jpg This thing is about 10 screens wide, so if it just looks like a tiny line at the top of your screen then click on it after it finishes loading. (It's about 18mb in size.)
- [The 1,000 Words Rule of Blogging (Book Excerpt) – Boing Boing](https://robynpaterson.com/the-1000-words-rule-of-blogging-book-excerpt-–-boing-boing/) - I'd say this is good advice for writers in general. I myself need to really work on this. :-/ This word count is not impossible. It’s about two pages of standard paper a day. At first, do not surpass this word count. This is an endurance race, not a sprint. The recommended dosage of 1,000
- [KFAT Updated!](https://robynpaterson.com/kfat-updated/) - The look of Kung Fu Action Theatre has just been updated! I've also combined the fiction section and D-ranger section back into the main site. I will re-integrate the other parts in the coming weeks as well. Check it out, but watch out for wet paint! Rob
- [Scientists discover virus that kills all types of breast cancer ‘within seven days’ | The Raw Story](https://robynpaterson.com/scientists-discover-virus-that-kills-all-types-of-breast-cancer-‘within-seven-days’-the-raw-story/) - Wow...Just...Wow! This is incredible news. Who knows what other cancers this may also be used to treat? Just amazing! Scientists discover virus that kills all types of breast cancer ‘within seven days’ | The Raw Story.
- [7 Keys For Blogging Your Book](https://robynpaterson.com/7-keys-for-blogging-your-book/) - Today's link of note is 7 Keys For Blogging Your Book by Edwin Cozier | Book Marketing Strategies and Tips For Authors which is a collection of advice for people who plan to do the Webfiction thing and stick their book up on a blog as they write it. (Or after they've written it.) This
- [Yeah, about that Nothing Goes Faster than Light thing? We may have made a mistake...](https://robynpaterson.com/yeah-about-that-nothing-goes-faster-than-light-thing-we-may-have-made-a-mistake/) - Well, this is potentiall exciting news! Way to go Einstein! Puzzling results from Cern, home of the LHC, have confounded physicists - because it appears subatomic particles have exceeded the speed of light. Neutrinos sent through the ground from Cern toward the Gran Sasso laboratory 732km away seemed to show up a tiny fraction of
- [Five Big Trends that Will Rock the Future of Media by Smashwords](https://robynpaterson.com/five-big-trends-that-will-rock-the-future-of-media-by-smashwords/) - I don't normally post powerpoints, but this is relevant. Five Big Trends that Will Rock the Future of Publishing View more presentations from Smashwords, Inc. five-big-trends-that-will-rock-the-future-of-publishing from slideshare.net - StumbleUpon.
- [Webcomic- POWER NAP - the sleep of reason brings forth monsters](https://robynpaterson.com/webcomic-power-nap-the-sleep-of-reason-brings-forth-monsters/) - A friend pointed me towards POWER NAP - the sleep of reason brings forth monsters today, which is a nifty sci-fi webcomic with a nice premise- the lead character is a guy who needs to sleep. The trick is, he lives in a world where (almost) everyone can pop a pill once a day instead
- [Qin's Moon 秦时明月 ](https://robynpaterson.com/qins-moon-秦时明月/) - I just stumbled across this series today on the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove site, and watched the first episodes. It's a computer animated WuXia TV series from China set during the Qin Dynasty (210 BC) about a spunky orphan who has come under the protection/tutelage of the Emperor's (former) greatest swordsman. The animation
- [The Inuyama Rebellion- Part Eleven](https://robynpaterson.com/the-inuyama-rebellion-part-eleven/) - The torches which lined the courtyard of the Kurokawa clan’s summer residence had been lit and a small stage had been erected. Upon it the great lord of the Kurokawa sat on a stool in resplendent robes fanning himself casually from the heat of the summer evening. His vassals and lords were gathered around him
- [Ms. Universe, the Cosplay Segement](https://robynpaterson.com/ms-universe-the-cosplay-segement/) - That's not a beauty contestant! That's Five Star Stories mecha cosplay! Sexy bling: Miss Universe 2011 national costumes! - Rediff Getahead.
- [What does it feel like to fly over planet Earth? - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/what-does-it-feel-like-to-fly-over-planet-earth-youtube/) - Wow! Makes me think I'm on a dropship coming into a war zone! Look at the size of those lit areas! How much electricity are we using again? What does it feel like to fly over planet Earth? - YouTube.
- [Scrivener](https://robynpaterson.com/scrivener/) - I'm sure this is one of those programs which everyone has been using except me, but today I checked out a program for writers called Scrivener. Apparently it's been around for years for the Mac, and is quite popular among Mac users, but now they're doing a free Beta for PC users as well before
- [25 Ways To Plot, Plan and Prep Your Story](https://robynpaterson.com/25-ways-to-plot-plan-and-prep-your-story/) - 25 Ways To Plot, Plan and Prep Your Story. I tend to do it Chapter by Chapter and Scene by Scene, but I have tried a couple of these. As a scriptwriter who has recently been turning a couple of scripts into short stories I can raise some caution about the Script and Dialogue pass
- [Peter Dinklage gets his just reward!](https://robynpaterson.com/peter-dinklage-gets-his-just-reward/) - In honor of Peter Dinklage getting the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama, I present Tyrion's finest moment! Well done, Peter! Game of thrones - Tyrion Lannister slapping Joffrey Baratheon - Juego de Tronos - YouTube.
- [Fantasy Author R. Scott Bakker to Speak at Fanshawe on Thursday, Sept. 22](https://robynpaterson.com/fantasy-author-r-scott-bakker-to-speak-at-fanshawe-on-thursday-sept-22/) - Letters and Arts at Fanshawe College presents R. Scott Bakker Fantasy in a Modern Age Thursday, September 22, 2011 Room D1060 at 2:00 p.m. What is the future of book publishing in Canada, globally? R. Scott Bakker knows the score. A frequent guest at conventions, a fan favourite, a dedicated blogger (Three-Pound Brain), and
- [Giant Monsters Attack!: Misleading Giant Monster Movie Posters (Part 2)](https://robynpaterson.com/giant-monsters-attack-misleading-giant-monster-movie-posters-part-2/) - My friend Mr. Mysterious Pants has put up another post in his series on misleading Giant Monster movie posters. Fun stuff! And even though he's right about the poster below, I still love this poster! Giant Monsters Attack!: Misleading Giant Monster Movie Posters (Part 2).
- [Season 4 of Clone Wars starts tonight!](https://robynpaterson.com/season-4-of-clone-wars-starts-tonight/) - Can't wait! Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Season 4 - Extended Trailer [Standard Definition] - YouTube.
- [How Star Wars Saved the Comic Book Industry](https://robynpaterson.com/how-star-wars-saved-the-comic-book-industry/) - The late 1970s were a bad time for comics - declining sales and new forms of media were coming into the limelight, and the local comic book shops were suffering. But then Marvel adapted Star Wars and everything changed. This is the story of a comic book industry without hope, saved by guerrilla marketing, a
- [5 Things You Do Every Day That Are Actually Addictions | Cracked.com](https://robynpaterson.com/5-things-you-do-every-day-that-are-actually-addictions-cracked-com/) - #1 is a bit of a surprise, but the others sound pretty reasonable. I was expecting "checking e-mail/Facebook" to be somewhere on the list too.... 5 Things You Do Every Day That Are Actually Addictions | Cracked.com.
- [Toronto strippers among 'most intellectual' ](https://robynpaterson.com/toronto-strippers-among-most-intellectual/) - On any given night, about 50% of the city's exotic dancers on the job are fresh-faced college or university students who are shedding their clothes to earn degrees, industry officials say. This came as actually no surprise to me at all. I had a friend who once told me the story that a group
- [What is Steampunk?](https://robynpaterson.com/what-is-steampunk/) - I've always had a fondness for steampunk, and an appreciation for the esthetic it presents, but the truth is (if you want me to be honest) I just like giant airships. :-) The short version: But, if you have a little more time, I suggest checking this out. Rob
- [Adventures in China: Strange Expat Jobs](https://robynpaterson.com/adventures-in-china-strange-expat-jobs/) - Ahh, the fun of being a foreign Jack of All Trades! This is where some of the adventure of living in a foreign country comes from! This is the job I'd want! ("Sorry honey! It's my job!") If you can pass off that you are from an English speaking country, a whole slew of interesting
- [Feed me!](https://robynpaterson.com/feed-me/) - Naughty puppy – Boing Boing.
- [Ommwriter for the Win!](https://robynpaterson.com/ommwriter-for-the-win/) - On a recent visit, my friend Jack introduced me to a nifty little program called Ommwriter, and now that I've finally gotten around to trying it out I have to say it's really helpful! Simply put- Ommwriter creates a calm, focussed environment for writers to work and helps block out all the distractions. I'm a
- [Canada’s Tories set to reintroduce DRM-friendly copyright bill without consultation – Boing Boing](https://robynpaterson.com/canada’s-tories-set-to-reintroduce-drm-friendly-copyright-bill-without-consultation-–-boing-boing/) - Canada’s Tories set to reintroduce DRM-friendly copyright bill without consultation – Boing Boing. I knew this was coming as soon as Harper's government won a majority in the election. Prepare for every under the age of 30 to be criminals, folks! (What? File sharing is illegal and I can go to jail now?) This Bill
- [Yasheng Huang: Does democracy stifle economic growth? | Video on TED.com](https://robynpaterson.com/yasheng-huang-does-democracy-stifle-economic-growth-video-on-ted-com/) - Yasheng Huang: Does democracy stifle economic growth? | Video on TED.com.
- [RSS to Post readers suck!](https://robynpaterson.com/rss-to-post-readers-suck/) - I've been playing with readers which take a post from another blog's RSS feed and then display it on yours as a way to automate some processes between my sites. The problem is they keep transferring multiple copies! Annoying! Looks like I'll keep doing it by hand for the time being. :-/
- [The Inuyama Rebellion- Part Ten](https://robynpaterson.com/the-inuyama-rebellion-part-ten-3/) - In the main hall of the summer residence, to the sound of musical accompaniment a small party was taking place. Three men, two older and one in his prime, were being hosted by the lord of the Kurokawa. “Well said, Gempei! Well said!” Lord Kurokawa laughed, having just been impressed by the wit of the
- [In Europe, a crisis teeters toward cataclysm - The Globe and Mail](https://robynpaterson.com/in-europe-a-crisis-teeters-toward-cataclysm-the-globe-and-mail/) - To quote the philosopher H.M. Murdock to his colleage B.A. Barakus- "She's goin' down boy!" In Europe, a crisis teeters toward cataclysm - The Globe and Mail. And now the Germans are talking of using military force to "collect tax" from Greece? Oh yes, this is going to go so well!
- [KFAT Restored!](https://robynpaterson.com/kfat-restored/) - KFAT is now back up again, albeit having lost a few of the improvements and tweaks I put into it last week. Hopefully this won't happen again. I'm still not happy with the site though, so I'll probably be rebuilding it in the near future. Since I want to focus more on writing now, I
- [KFAT Down](https://robynpaterson.com/kfat-down/) - SIGH! And a theme template for Wordpress has crashed the KFAT site, dashboard and all! Thank god for backups, but it will be down for a while.
- [Africans in Guangzhou: Opportunities & Discrimination – chinaSMACK](https://robynpaterson.com/africans-in-guangzhou-opportunities-discrimination-–-chinasmack/) - Africans in Guangzhou: Opportunities & Discrimination – chinaSMACK. is a fascinating article about the lives of a growing African presence in Guangzhou. I knew that China was investing heavily in Africa, but I didn't know how much it was also going the other way!
- [Top 8 Cover Design Tips for Self-Publishers — The Book Designer - StumbleUpon](https://robynpaterson.com/top-8-cover-design-tips-for-self-publishers-—-the-book-designer-stumbleupon/) - Top 8 Cover Design Tips for Self-Publishers — The Book Designer is a collection of things to consider when you're designing your own book cover. Some good ideas here, especially in the comments section. I like the idea of a book series having a visual theme and colour theme as well to make all the
- [Kenneth Branagh and David Tennant on the art of Radio Drama (BBC Radio 4) - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/kenneth-branagh-and-david-tennant-on-the-art-of-radio-drama-bbc-radio-4-youtube/) - Kenneth Branagh and David Tennant on the art of Radio Drama (BBC Radio 4) - YouTube.
- [Why Project Wonderful both Fascinates me and Depresses me.](https://robynpaterson.com/why-project-wonderful-both-fascinates-me-and-depresses-me/) - My friend Brushmen recently sent me to check out a somewhat new-ish site called Project Wonderful. (Note- if you have adblock on, the site will require you to make an exception to see it properly.) In simplest terms, it's an online auction house where people can bid to advertise on websites that have ad content
- [Michael S. Hart - Gutenberg's Founder Dies](https://robynpaterson.com/michael-s-hart-gutenbergs-founder-dies/) - Michael S. Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg died recently. While I didn't know much about him before, I have in recent years become quite the fan of his creation. Project Gutenberg is an amazing resource and one of the finest non-profit ideas I have ever seen. The ability to find public domain books so easily
- [ART by STOWE: DND for 8 year olds](https://robynpaterson.com/art-by-stowe-dnd-for-8-year-olds/) - Illustrator James Stowe was asked to run D&D for his son's 8th birthday party, so he simplified it and produced what have to be the coolest character sheets ever! Go check the others out. The makers of D&D should be hiring this guy! ART by STOWE: DND for 8 year olds.
- [WritingForums.com - Writing Forums](https://robynpaterson.com/writingforums-com-writing-forums/) - WritingForums.com - Writing Forums. seems to be a pretty active forum where writers hang out, exchange stories, and talk about the art and science of writing.
- [Swallow and Dragon - A Chinese Swordplay Novel](https://robynpaterson.com/swallow-and-dragon-a-chinese-swordplay-novel/) - Swallow and Dragon - A Chinese Swordplay Novel. is a new ongoing translation of a Taiwanese WuXia novel from 1959. A little fantastic for my tastes (I like my WuXia heroes slightly more grounded) but looks pretty interesting overall!
- [The possibilties are good for Novellas in the e-book age- But how much to charge?](https://robynpaterson.com/the-possibilties-are-good-for-novellas-in-the-e-book-age-but-how-much-to-charge/) - I just read an interesting short article on the possibilities of the Novella (short novel- 20,000-50,000 words) which have come with the rise of the ebook. In short, Novellas weren't really practical to produce in print form for their size-cost ratio, but now in the age of ebooks they are very much practical and possible.
- [The Inuyama Rebellion- Part Nine | KFAT Fiction](https://robynpaterson.com/the-inuyama-rebellion-part-nine-kfat-fiction/) - The Inuyama Rebellion- Part Nine | KFAT Fiction.
- [A History of Japanese Clothing and Accessories](https://robynpaterson.com/a-history-of-japanese-clothing-and-accessories/) - A History of Japanese Clothing and Accessories is another great site for learning about the clothes worn by people throughout Japan's history. Includes lots of images.
- [The Costume Museum - The Rebirth of The Tale of Genji](https://robynpaterson.com/the-costume-museum-the-rebirth-of-the-tale-of-genji/) - The Costume Museum of Japan is a treasure trove of images of people in the costumes of the different periods of Japanese history.
- [KFAT Fiction Launched!](https://robynpaterson.com/kfat-fiction-launched/) - As will come as no surprise to anyone who was reading my posts yesterday, I've decided to take the plunge into writing serialized web fiction. At first I thought about writing Flash Fiction, and I may still try my hand at it, but for now I'm going to write serialized stories in a more normal
- [Webfiction day.](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-day/) - Thus ends Rob's big day of research into Webfiction. For those who have followed this little journey- congrats! I won't do this every day, but when I'm doing research I will sometimes use this blog as my "note pad" so that others can see what I've found and benefit from my research if they wish.
- [Webfiction- How long and how often?](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-how-long-and-how-often/) - I spent the afternoon catching up on the Webfiction World podcast, and while it had many interesting bits, a few tips from Episode 2- Hows, Whys, Dos and Don’ts stood out for me. One of the hosts MCM did some research (although he doesn't mention where) and found that Webfiction "postings" should optimally be 1000
- [Making Money From Online Fiction – I’ve Done It, So Can You](https://robynpaterson.com/making-money-from-online-fiction-–-i’ve-done-it-so-can-you/) - Making Money From Online Fiction – I’ve Done It, So Can You – Novelr has some great advice from someone whose done it and made a profit essentially giving away a free product. He has some really great notes on the effectiveness of Paypal buttons as well, very scientifically mapped out- I’ve tried PayPal buttons
- [Novelr](https://robynpaterson.com/novelr/) - The blog Novelr is about reading, writing and publishing Internet fiction.
- [Pandamian Beta - The Easiest Way To Publish A Book Online](https://robynpaterson.com/pandamian-beta-the-easiest-way-to-publish-a-book-online/) - Pandamian Beta - The Easiest Way To Publish A Book Online.
- [Web Fiction Wiki - Web Novel and Serials - Muse's Success](https://robynpaterson.com/web-fiction-wiki-web-novel-and-serials-muses-success/) - Muse's Success is a directory of freely available web novels and serials, collectively web fiction. Web Fiction Wiki - Web Novel and Serials - Muse's Success.
- [How to market Serial Web Fiction ](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-market-serial-web-fiction/) - Writer Adam Collings has published a short how-to guide for marketing short web fiction on his blog. If you're interested in writing web fiction, it's worth a read. How to market Serial Web Fiction
- [Tuesday Serial](https://robynpaterson.com/tuesday-serial/) - Looking for some online fiction in a serialized format to enjoy? Well Tuesday Serial has you covered- a site that collects some of the better serialized online stories out there and delivers them up each Tuesday for your enjoyment.
- [Webfiction World | The Webcast Beacon Network](https://robynpaterson.com/webfiction-world-the-webcast-beacon-network/) - Webfiction World | The Webcast Beacon Network. A Podcast about the world of writing fiction online!
- [Jonny Quest Opening Titles on Vimeo](https://robynpaterson.com/jonny-quest-opening-titles-on-vimeo/) - Jonny Quest Opening Titles on Vimeo on Vimeo One fan's love letter to the old cartoon adventure Johnny Quest-
- [Is Flash Fiction becoming a rising art form?](https://robynpaterson.com/is-flash-fiction-becoming-a-rising-art-form/) - Yesterday I I stumbled across a story trying to answer the question- Could I destroy the entire Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus if I traveled back in time with a modern U.S. Marine infantry battalion or MEU? While the story itself was interesting enough, there were two things that struck me as I
- [Split-Minded about Smoking — Risk Science Blog](https://robynpaterson.com/split-minded-about-smoking-—-risk-science-blog/) - Fasincating stuff. Cigarette smoking is actually a form of self-medicating for some people with mental illnesses. I wonder if the whole chemical mess is required, or just nicotine patches would do the job? However, in my time studying, discussing, and thinking about these issues, I came across a new horn of the dilemma. I discovered
- [The Other Fantastic Fours](https://robynpaterson.com/the-other-fantastic-fours/) - There may be arguments over who exactly created the Fantastic Four, and even why they were created, but when Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created Marvel Comic’s “First Family” there was little doubt as to their goals- Lee concluded that, "For just this once, I would do the type of story I myself would enjoy
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-28](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-08-28/) - New post: Updating the Websites http://t.co/SqICEru # Post Edited: Updating the Websites http://t.co/SqICEru # New post: Zombie Themed Engagement Photos Go Viral Overnight | Photos - ABC News http://t.co/5Ir1wZ8 # Post Edited: Zombie Themed Engagement Photos Go Viral Overnight | Photos - ABC News http://t.co/5Ir1wZ8 # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-21 http://t.co/hqKrMdW #
- [“Family Possessions”: Living Environments of Chinese Families ](https://robynpaterson.com/“family-possessions”-living-environments-of-chinese-families/) - “Family Possessions”: Living Environments of Chinese Families is a fascinating piece of anthropological journalism where the photographers travelled around China asking families to pose in front of their homes with all their daily possessions. What an amazing idea to help understand the life conditions and similarities of the people of China. Here's a few of
- [Jim Shooter's Blog](https://robynpaterson.com/jim-shooters-blog/) - Jim Shooter was the Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics during the 1980's, and has started a blog where he's posting about his memories of his time in the comics industry. Interesting and oddly funny stuff if you're a comics geek. When at conventions I often took con people and creators, especially Marvel creators, to
- [Your Nice New Outfit](https://robynpaterson.com/your-nice-new-outfit/) - Artist Phil Noto has been posting some very cool images of the 1960's/1970's Marvel universe he's drawn on his Tumblr blog. Just images of the characters if they were real people. Neat! Your Nice New Outfit.
- [Lanchester's Laws](https://robynpaterson.com/lanchesters-laws/) - From- http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/45945 Lanchester's laws are concerned with balancing military strength of various units. If one is dealing with ancient combat (i.e., pre-gunpowder) Lanchester Linear Law applies, the common sense "relative strength is proportional to number of combatants". (e.g., if the unit Alfa has twice as many men as unit Bravo, unit Alfa is twice as
- [Space Warfare ](https://robynpaterson.com/space-warfare/) - For various reasons, I've been reading up on Space Warfare, with an emphasis on the more realistic kind. While doing some research I came across some great material on the Bad Astronomy and Universe Today forum. In particular there was one thread that impressed me, mostly due to a user named Stuart who is clearly
- [Doctor Who Blink Cat - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/doctor-who-blink-cat-youtube/) - Doctor Who Blink Cat - YouTube. Whatever you do, don't blink!
- [Market crash 'could hit within weeks', warn bankers - Telegraph](https://robynpaterson.com/market-crash-could-hit-within-weeks-warn-bankers-telegraph/) - Market crash 'could hit within weeks', warn bankers - Telegraph. Unfortunately, I agree with him. We're in for a wild ride this fall.
- [Why are today's action movies so bad? - The Week](https://robynpaterson.com/why-are-todays-action-movies-so-bad-the-week/) - Why are today's action movies so bad? - The Week. A video essay on why modern action movies suck. Do you think he's right? Chaos Cinema Part 1 from Matthias Stork on Vimeo. Chaos Cinema Part 2 from Matthias Stork on Vimeo.
- [Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO – Boing Boing](https://robynpaterson.com/steve-jobs-resigns-as-apple-ceo-–-boing-boing/) - Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO – Boing Boing. Does this mean the next iPad will have FLASH?
- [[M/V] Cabi song (Caribbean Bay) 2PM & SNSD - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/mv-cabi-song-caribbean-bay-2pm-snsd-youtube/) - [M/V] Cabi song (Caribbean Bay) 2PM & SNSD - YouTube. My wife is obessessed with this song/video, and now it's stuck in my head too! It's Baywatch meets Korean pop! Although I do have to say, those are some really impressive bodies on those stars. As my wife pointed out, the difference between Korean male
- [Sudden flurry of activity](https://robynpaterson.com/sudden-flurry-of-activity/) - Some of you might be wondering why there's a sudden flurry of activity here on my blog after being semi-dormant for so many months. Well, the truth is that I've always been doing this much posting, but it's all been on Twitter and Facebook. (As my Twitter Feed digests on here show.) I just decided
- [Should Banks Be Public Utilities? « naked capitalism](https://robynpaterson.com/should-banks-be-public-utilities-«-naked-capitalism/) - Should Banks Be Public Utilities? « naked capitalism. I say yes, but then I'm a socialist leftie who threatens everything that Americans (ie Wall Street and the rich) hold dear. :-P
- [Giant Monsters Attack!: Misleading Giant Monster Movie Posters (Part 1)](https://robynpaterson.com/giant-monsters-attack-misleading-giant-monster-movie-posters-part-1/) - Giant Monsters Attack!: Misleading Giant Monster Movie Posters (Part 1). Mysterious Pants leads us through the world of Kaiju posters that did their job a little too well! It kind've reminds me of those Polish monster movie posters, although those were done that way for artistic purposes.
- [Portal: No Escape - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/portal-no-escape-youtube/) - Portal: No Escape - YouTube. A cool short film based on Portal, a game I really should get around to playing one of these days!
- [Short Korean Horror Webcomic](https://robynpaterson.com/short-korean-horror-webcomic/) - 2011 미스테리 단편 :: 네이버 만화. The comic is in Korean, but thanks to a nifty approach to webcomic technology it's not hard to get some thrill from it. Just scroll down and let it unfold. Neat idea. Rob
- [The Earthquake](https://robynpaterson.com/the-earthquake/) - I wonder if FOX news or the Tea Party have started to blame Obama for the quake yet? It has been an hour.
- [What Children Fear](https://robynpaterson.com/what-children-fear/) - I had an interesting conversation with my friend MadUnkieG yesterday that I thought I'd share. We were talking about young adult books and how they age- for example, he said the Corey Doctorow's Little Brother is already out of date because since it was written and published (2 years ago) there have been so many
- [Utah researcher helps artist make bulletproof skin - Yahoo! News](https://robynpaterson.com/utah-researcher-helps-artist-make-bulletproof-skin-yahoo-news/) - Utah researcher helps artist make bulletproof skin - Yahoo! News. Suddenly having flashbacks to my old Cyberpunk RPGing days!
- [Wiseman Educational Services | Proofreading and More](https://robynpaterson.com/wiseman-educational-services-proofreading-and-more/) - Announcing Rob's newest venture- Wiseman Educational Services. After spending years editing and proofreading documents for people, I've decided to make a formal business of it and hang out my shingle! As an English teacher, ESL teacher and English for Specific Purposes teacher I've edited just about everything over the years- from graduate thesis to poems
- [Jack Layton dead at 61 - The Globe and Mail](https://robynpaterson.com/jack-layton-dead-at-61-the-globe-and-mail/) - Jack Layton dead at 61 - The Globe and Mail. RIP Jack! You fought the good fight, and restored the Left in Canada, giving us a new political landscape. Thank you.
- [Guest Post: Photos Show Oil At BP’s Deepwater Horizon Gulf Spill Site « naked capitalism](https://robynpaterson.com/guest-post-photos-show-oil-at-bp’s-deepwater-horizon-gulf-spill-site-«-naked-capitalism/) - Guest Post: Photos Show Oil At BP’s Deepwater Horizon Gulf Spill Site « naked capitalism. Looks like BP's albatros of a drilling site has started to leak oil again. I wonder how fast it will be cleaned up- the media, I mean, to make sure this gets minimal coverage!
- [The Ascent of Money - Niall Ferguson (episode1) - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/the-ascent-of-money-niall-ferguson-episode1-youtube/) - The Ascent of Money - Niall Ferguson (episode1) - YouTube. Great series about how money came to represent civilization, and may also bring about it's downfall...
- [Air Swimmers - Awesome RC Flying Shark and Clownfish! - YouTube](https://robynpaterson.com/air-swimmers-awesome-rc-flying-shark-and-clownfish-youtube/) - I gotta get me one of those! Thanks to Kirk Jacklin for the link.
- [Libya Live Blog | Al Jazeera Blogs](https://robynpaterson.com/libya-live-blog-al-jazeera-blogs/) - Libya Live Blog | Al Jazeera Blogs. The end of the revolution, in real time. History in motion.
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-21](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-08-21/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-14 http://t.co/MZB4X6J # snopes.com: Criminal Uses of Frozen Squirrels http://t.co/9pZrJfo # Maybe it's time we got a little protectionist! I think Dan has it right! Common Sense Podcast: Show 204 - http://t.co/mrVfxhp # Well this could be a problem- Anonymous Vows to 'Destroy' Facebook on Nov. 5 http://t.co/g9Sqvy2 via
- [Zombie Themed Engagement Photos Go Viral Overnight | Photos - ABC News](https://robynpaterson.com/zombie-themed-engagement-photos-go-viral-overnight-photos-abc-news/) - Zombie Themed Engagement Photos Go Viral Overnight | Photos - ABC News.
- [Updating the Websites](https://robynpaterson.com/updating-the-websites/) - I'm in the process of updating the KFAT websites and the Robynpaterson.com ones as well. I've switched to the Twenty-Eleven theme to simplify KFAT's homepage and to upgrade the RP.com page. The RP.com page still looks a bit plain, though.
- [The Libyan War is almost over! Rebels have reached Tripoli!](https://robynpaterson.com/the-libyan-war-is-almost-over-rebels-have-reached-tripoli/) - News reports indicate that rebel forces have begun to take Tripoli, also reports have come in that Quaddafi has already fled with his family. Let's just hope the rebels resort peace and things don't devolve into infighting.
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-14](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-08-14/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-07 http://bit.ly/nKYVDc # Gonna be a fun day on Wall Street tomorrow- Asian stocks plunge after U.S. sell-off - Asia Markets - MarketWatch http://t.co/6pWLHbp # Chinese Posters: http://t.co/8C0Q9Dx # Very cool! 95% efficient Hybrid System Makes Rooftop Hydrogen from Sunlight - Solar Novus Today: http://t.co/rAUaXVy # This is just
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-07](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-08-07/) - Tax revenue as a percentage of GDP in the developed world http://t.co/ziVBuKa via @globeandmail # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-07-31 http://bit.ly/pBd2xt # Editing an essay, trying to get rid of just 5 characters! # (letters and spaces, not people!) # New post: You can't keep your pet? Really? http://bit.ly/pbcXaL # Dark Roasted Blend:
- [Review- Rise of the Planet of the Apes](https://robynpaterson.com/review-rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/) - We just went to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which for those of you who aren't familiar with the franchise, is a prequel to the 1968 classic movie Planet of the Apes starring Charlton Heston (which is available on Netflix Canada). Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 80% rating, and I think that's
- [You can't keep your pet? Really?](https://robynpaterson.com/you-cant-keep-your-pet-really/) - Found on Craigslist. Excuse me while I go hug my dog... :-( You can't keep your pet? Really? ~By a Shelter Director Our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all... a "view from the inside" - if you will. First off,
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-07-31](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-07-31/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-07-24 http://bit.ly/qXW0fc # "Courtesy is owed. Respect is earned. Love is given." --Unknown author, found in Guide to Texas Etiquette by Kinky Friedman # That August 2nd deadline? It's really up on Wed July 27th because it takes at least a week for legislation to go through the system.
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-07-24](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-07-24/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-07-17 http://bit.ly/r2CrtH # What an amazing film, probably the best I've seen this year-- IP MAN TRAILER http://t.co/tVS0Dzk via @youtube # Yep, looks about right- Currently reading http://t.co/X1wyGho # Bill Maher- let Quaddfi be the new leader of Afghanistan! His expertise is uniting tribes and crushing rebels. It's a
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-07-17](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-07-17/) - You know, if the Bees die, so do we. Honeybees’ alarming mortality rate leaves beekeepers looking for answers http://t.co/nXgB1QB # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-07-10 http://bit.ly/o9CC6R # Nice Move, Taipei! Free Public Wi-Fi Launched in Taipei – TechOrange Global http://t.co/GLakG9Q via @techorangeen # Digital sales deal a blow to film studios http://t.co/ibEAUh3 via
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-07-10](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-07-10/) - Thailand Elects hottest world leader on record- http://bit.ly/k7RL2p # Happy 4th to my American friends! # WIPO's Broadcast Treaty is back: copyright nuts want to steal the public domain and kill Creative Commons - Boing Boing http://t.co/nhcqPdr # Half of US social program recipients believe they "have not used a government social program" - Boing
- [WuXia Fiction Anthology Looking for Submissions](https://robynpaterson.com/wuxia-fiction-anthology-looking-for-submissions/) - Got this in my mail today from JohnD, one of my fellow writers of Asian set fiction- I'm now accepting submissions for the Wuxia Fiction Anthology. Go to the main website to find out more: http://wuxia.genreverse.com/ . This is just the beginning of what I anticipate to be a long process, but it's good to have
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-07-03](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-07-03/) - Hollywoodonomics: how Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix "lost" $167M - Boing Boing http://t.co/PVIE351 # Ed Blake Park renewal dream realized - http://t.co/N2BnSxG # An oldie but a goodie- The Case for the Empire | The Weekly Standard http://t.co/TyQazdA # Is pornography driving men crazy? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English http://t.co/2MXaCkK via
- [The Right Timing ](https://robynpaterson.com/the-right-timing/) - In an e-mail exchange today, my friend Don C. asked me a question, and I thought I'd share my answer. But it does raise some questions. How much of what someone gets from something internal, and not attributable to the story at all? Does that mean audience reaction is ENTIRELY due to timing? Is it
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-06-26](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-06-26/) - The sound of Dungeons and Dragons- http://bit.ly/m4nzFu # I so want one of these! - http://t.co/Nzcjoa0 # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-06-19 http://bit.ly/kp3vNJ # Gary Gygax memorial in the offing - Boing Boing http://t.co/sXhNZUr Now they just need Steven Colbert to dedicate it! @StephenAtHome # I can't help but feel that the current
- [Campus Hookup Culture- How much sex do students really have?](https://robynpaterson.com/campus-hookup-culture-how-much-sex-do-students-really-have/) - An interesting lecture by Prof. Lisa Wade of Occidental University on her research into hookup culture on College Campuses in the US. The short version is that students are having more sexual encounters, but less actual sex in the current cultural environment on campus. You can't see the powerpoints in the video, but you can
- [Shape up Hollywood!](https://robynpaterson.com/shape-up-hollywood/) - Why can one guy and a few untrained fighters do this when Hollywood can't? Bloopers!
- [Making Visual Novels](https://robynpaterson.com/making-visual-novels/) - An interesting article about making (and selling) visual novels by someone whose been doing it a while. I even tried doing this myself years ago with FLASH, although mine didn't have any interactivity and was a poor first effort. Although both visual novels (VNs) and dating sims have been gaining popularity in western markets, many
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-06-19](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-06-19/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-06-12 http://bit.ly/lVetk7 # House made of bookcases - Boing Boing http://t.co/0L45kZV # RT @1stpost The beached white male: an American nightmare | News & Politics | News & Comment | The.. http://bit.ly/lXzUnu # Saw Kung Fu Panda 2- Liked the first one, but this one left me cold. Looks
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-06-12](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-06-12/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-06-05 http://bit.ly/iGfCEu # Coming soon to a sky(net) near you! I suddenly feel a need to pull out a lightsabre when I see this thing! http://t.co/D7MQ1si via @youtube # The 4 Blockbuster Videos in London that are closing are 70% off everything as of today. Just bought $180 worth
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-06-05](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-06-05/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-29 http://bit.ly/mBkVDy # Good dicussion in the comments- Will Greeks Defy Rape and Pillage By Barbarians Bankers? An E-Mail from Athens http://t.co/46RWFq0 # BBC News - Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat to 'rest' Daleks - http://bbc.in/lhnRsj # Check this video out -- Transition 前進樂團 Dui Bu Qi 對不起我的中文不好 http://t.co/jnR49IC
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-29](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-05-29/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-22 http://bit.ly/kZRFzg # Chosun Police 3- Episode 3- a murder mystery set in the world of Korean Go in 1897. Eng Subbed. http://t.co/XYrhYal #igo #weiqi #baduk # Spoiled and Confused — China's new urban generation – Part 1/4: http://t.co/4b7g16w # Powered by Twitter Tools
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-22](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-05-22/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-15 http://bit.ly/jmlFYY # New post: Enjoying the Endgame http://bit.ly/inAtho # Oops! Craziest Accidents (Wow Pics) http://t.co/x5GZRjE via @DRBlend # Fear the Boom and Bust Economic Theory Rap- Keynes vs Hayek - http://econstories.tv/2010/06/22/fear-the-boom-and-bust/ # Fight of the Century - Keynes vs Hayek Round Two! http://econstories.tv/2011/04/28/fight-of-the-century-music-video/ # Cover Images? - Yale
- [Fox Kits](https://robynpaterson.com/fox-kits/) - There's a family of foxes living at the end of my block, and I've been meaning to photograph the kits for a while. There are six of them in total, and they run, play and sleep around the entrances to their den every morning. Finally, this morning the weather cooperated and armed with a telephoto
- [Enjoying the Endgame](https://robynpaterson.com/enjoying-the-endgame/) - There’s a new TV series running here on the channel Showcase called Endgame (Monday nights at 10) that I started to watch a while ago with my wife, who is a big mystery fan. The premise of the show itself is original yet simple- one of the world Russian chess masters Arkady Balagan loses his
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-15](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-05-15/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-08 http://bit.ly/mew8hb # Crap, meet pants! -- Japanese ghost mirror prank http://t.co/EANWl5T via @youtube # Quake shifted Japan; towns now flood at high tide - Yahoo! News http://yhoo.it/iLoYxn # The confessions of a Smallville apologist (via @io9) http://t.co/tGWAsV4 # Powered by Twitter Tools
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-08](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-05-08/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-01 http://bit.ly/jdI7Gp # Osama bin Laden is dead: reports - World - CBC News http://t.co/qvqj4ZS via @AddThis # Ah, I love these- New Messin' with Sasquatch Commercial - http://t.co/IvTHeKb via @youtube # Catherine Rinella brings us the first part of a new original KFAT samurai adventure serial! http://fb.me/ELbw0ooh #
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-01](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-05-01/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-04-24 http://bit.ly/fSoBR8 # America appears to be sleepwalking towards disaster – does no one care? - Telegraph http://t.co/ZdTVLaV via @Telegraph # New post: How to Break into the Animation Industry http://bit.ly/eTSbl2 # Cute Sword Girl http://t.co/a7qGv68 via @youtube # Doctor Who- Day of the Moon. Better than the first
- [How to Break into the Animation Industry](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-break-into-the-animation-industry/) - How to Break Into Animation Steve Hickner Dreamworks Director from Creative Talent Network on Vimeo. So, his advice basically comes down to "have a good attitude and think outside of the box", well! Thank you Doctor Obvious! And yes, the reason that there's only two people he knew left on staff has nothing to do
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-04-24](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-04-24-2/) - New link: Forest City Go Club http://bit.ly/ihRa1l # New post: Forest City Go Club is GO! http://bit.ly/hkyV25 # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-04-17 http://bit.ly/fnhODs # Just watched the first ep of A Game of Thrones. Fairly well done, but hard to judge really since I read the book quite a while back. #
- [Forest City Go Club is GO!](https://robynpaterson.com/forest-city-go-club-is-go/) - As I've mentioned from time to time on here, I'm addicted to Go, the best game in the history of mankind. (Well, besides Shining Force, but I digress...) I've also been involved with the Fanshawe College Go Club, which was formed last October but sadly folded as of last week due to the summer break
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-04-17](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-04-17/) - Whoa! Someone actually dubbed Ninja Senshi Tobikage into English as Ninja Robots and nobody told me? http://youtu.be/OvUIDLa7DPg # Flapper's dictionary: 1922 - Boing Boing http://t.co/X6T5G7Y # New post: Now child, join the dark side and....what? You will??? http://bit.ly/hybuRU # Trainee Dalek- http://bit.ly/fSV6yg # Inappropriate Nerdy Pillow Talk: The Video - Topless Robot http://bit.ly/e2tUVL # Brilliant
- [Now child, join the dark side and....what? You will???](https://robynpaterson.com/now-child-join-the-dark-side-and-what-you-will/) - In the Star Wars show at Disney, the kids are asked to become Vader's new apprentice, but they're also supposed to turn him down and help the Jedi fight him. Watch what this kid does...
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-04-10](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-04-10/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-04-03 http://bit.ly/hahPWU # Just watched the first episode of the new Japanese-animated X-men series- Gorgeous Animation. Good story. Can'… (cont) http://deck.ly/~Wj8f3 # Looking for "trashy historical romance graphic novels aimed at older women", does such a thing exist? # Powered by Twitter Tools
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-04-03](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-04-03/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-03-27 http://bit.ly/hMH0nP # New post: What's the most-read Science Fiction Magazine in the World? http://bit.ly/eTzYNY # 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' Creator Terminates U.S. Deal and Sues for Millions of Dollars (Exclusive) - Hollywood Reporter http://t.co/4EVI9aN # Watch flying robots juggle ping-pong balls using tennis rackets (via @io9) http://t.co/EKcttMf # How To Target
- [What's the most-read Science Fiction Magazine in the World?](https://robynpaterson.com/whats-the-most-read-science-fiction-magazine-in-the-world/) - Found this in my mailbox today- Enjoy! Rob China's Science Fiction World On the 30th anniversary (2009) of SFW magazine Sherry Yao reflects on its history to date. Quick links to below: Beginnings A Period of Expansion, A Period of Consolidation, Into the Future. Founded in 1979 magazine Science Fiction World (SFW) is China's leading
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-03-27](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-03-27/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-03-20 http://bit.ly/glnFdl # New post: Thoughts on the A-Team Movie http://bit.ly/dISiEf # Epublishing Bingo card from John Scalzi - Boing Boing http://t.co/SlGBZmN # It's Muslims like Pakistani Actress Veena Malik who make me have serious respect for their religion and culture. http://t.co/1z6kijR # Ninja FAIL! http://youtu.be/HMlu7ZleclI LOL clips of
- [Thoughts on the A-Team Movie](https://robynpaterson.com/thoughts-on-the-a-team-movie/) - It's become an almost standard mantra to describe big budget Hollywood summer films as "video games", but usually that's referring to their overuse of explosions, lightness of plot, and thinness of characters. Now the A-Team film has set a new point in the line between a movie and a game. The best way to describe
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-03-20](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-03-20/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-03-13 http://bit.ly/gFPcgE # In other news, the sky is blue, and water is wet- http://on.io9.com/hLvD5X # Should be retitled- "So you want to work in the Entertainment Industry", oh how true it is! http://t.co/xHnIJXC # Anxious- the UN is voting now on intervening in Libya. # Reality has a
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-03-13](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-03-13/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-03-06 http://bit.ly/ie3VIx # Will it happen in say- 2012? The Earth's Magnetic field may be about to flip. http://t.co/vhdlrIZ via @globeandmail # I have to admit, the new Game of Thrones trailer does look darn good- http://youtu.be/BpJYNVhGf1s Not enough Tyrion in it though! # The 'SuperMoon' and the Japan
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-03-06](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-03-06/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-02-27 http://bit.ly/fSGSXG # Weird (and sometimes twisted) vintage magazine Ads- http://bit.ly/fuGuhW # Oddly charming Romance Manga of the day- Lingere, a story about a women's underwear shop in old Korea- http://bit.ly/gZ5HPS # New post: KFATales Episode Two- The Man Who Was Never Afraid http://bit.ly/hIBPYi # This month, Fiona reads
- [KFATales Episode Two- The Man Who Was Never Afraid](https://robynpaterson.com/kfatales-episode-two-the-man-who-was-never-afraid/) - I just uploaded the most recent episode of Kung Fu Action Tales, this time featuring stories by two different writers besides myself. The first story is The Man Who Was Never Afraid by Brian Dolton, read by Fiona Thraille- a nifty Asian fantasy story. The second story is an excerpt from the Young Adult novel
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-02-27](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-02-27/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-02-20 http://bit.ly/hPom6A # Bizzaro horror-ish art- http://bit.ly/fxNIfl # Libya clashes spread to Tripoli - Africa - Al Jazeera English http://t.co/kQ3U2ak via @ajenglish # 10 Agribusiness Mthds That Could Fail in Next 20yrs- http://ca.io9.com/5765679/10-agribusiness-methods-that-could-fail-in-the-next-20-years # Wisconsin Assembly passes union weakening bill - World - CBC News http://t.co/s5Vw7lj via @AddThis #
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-02-20](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-02-20/) - "The Altethlon Chronicles" – China’s Answer to Harry Potter: http://t.co/X8YrX1l # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-02-13 http://bit.ly/hWpCdb # The Qing Dynasty's Banner Armies: http://t.co/Vqc53d5 # These are action figures (of a sort) made by a soldier serving in Afghanistan from recycled materials, pretty cool: http://bit.ly/h8kiPd # Powered by Twitter Tools
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-02-13](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-02-13/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-02-06 http://bit.ly/i54ATG # Egypt is free! It's over! # Powered by Twitter Tools
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-02-06](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-02-06/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-30 http://bit.ly/eVD041 # KFATales episode 1 is about 96% done editing! I'll finish it up tomorrow. Off to bed! # New post: Kung Fu Action Tales Launches! http://bit.ly/eeYSgp # KFAT's Newest Podcast Kung Fu Action Tales launches! Come check it out! http://fb.me/KVvsYdS4 # So much for London's #Snowmagdeon 2011,
- [Interview with Rob on Wander Radio](https://robynpaterson.com/interview-with-rob-on-wander-radio/) - This past week I was interviewed by the always cool Jack Hosley of the Wander Radio podcast about Kung Fu Action Theatre's recent changes in direction and various topics related to audio drama and e-books. It was a fun interview, so go give it a listen!
- [Kung Fu Action Tales Launches!](https://robynpaterson.com/kung-fu-action-tales-launches/) - My newest Podcast, Kung Fu Action Tales has now launched over on the KFAT site. I'm really excited about this new direction for Kung Fu Action Theatre, and I hope I can help to promote Asian historical fiction through it as well as work with other people to tell a bunch of cool stories. The
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-30](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-01-30/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-23 http://bit.ly/gXUaFC # Is starting to think we're in a new golden age of American animation. # New post: The Cape http://bit.ly/hn9IHf # New post: A New Golden Age of American Animation? http://bit.ly/hA7E72 # Post Edited: A New Golden Age of American Animation? http://bit.ly/hA7E72 # Thundercats Ho! First images
- [A New Golden Age of American Animation?](https://robynpaterson.com/a-new-golden-age-of-american-animation/) - American Animation has always been cyclical in it's quality, something that has driven myself and many people who see it as an art form more than a little nuts. You see, Animation is a medium, much like TV or Comic Books or Music, and for most of my life it's been the poor abused cousin
- [The Cape](https://robynpaterson.com/the-cape/) - There is an old saying to the effect that he who tries to do everything does nothing well and I think that would be my major criticism of the new superhero TV show The Cape. It's really a show that doesn't know what it wants to be, and as a result it ends up being
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-23](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-01-23/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-16 http://bit.ly/gV0pMs # Free Audiobook, Paid eBook? Or Free eBook, Paid Audiobook? That is the question! http://bit.ly/fxz1sZ # RT @KChmils: @theatreinlondon I go to Fanshawe for TV-looking for 5 volunteer actors for a short film. 3 females, 2 males needed! (25-55yrs) # Another Little Gou short story- "Yellow Ribbons,
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-16](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-01-16/) - Busy updating the KFAT site, including every WuXia link I can think of. # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-09 http://bit.ly/ekwg59 # New post: Little Gou hits the Kindle! http://bit.ly/e8LLtU # The first KFAT Little Gou short story- Hot Soup! Is now available on Smashwords! http://bit.ly/fvar4a # New post: Adventures in making an E-Book
- [Movie Night- The Green Hornet](https://robynpaterson.com/movie-night-the-green-hornet/) - So, tonight the wife and I trundled off to see The Green Hornet, which admittedly I didn't have a lot of hope for (based on the reviews) but which my wife wanted to see because his sidekick Kato was played by Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou. (My wife, for those who may not know, is Taiwanese.)
- [Adventures in making an E-Book Cover.](https://robynpaterson.com/adventures-in-making-an-e-book-cover/) - So, as anyone who reads this knows, I just released my first E-Book (actually E-Short Story) called Hot Soup, which I plan to be the first of a series of stories I release to the E-Book world. I mean, I know I can tell a good story, it's a new storytelling frontier, and it's free!
- [Little Gou hits the Kindle!](https://robynpaterson.com/little-gou-hits-the-kindle/) - Well, it finally happened. :-) My first Little Gou short story -Hot Soup- has been published on the Kindle. The story itself is an adaption of the very first Little Gou adventure- Little Gou and the Emperor's Cousin. Although much expanded, I used the original story as the template, and somehow a 10 page script
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-09](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-01-09/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-02 http://bit.ly/eBPmaj # Romantically Apocalyptic- darkly funny and gorgeous webcomic- http://bit.ly/fa5ktN # How did I go 20 years of my life without knowing the sheer coolness that is City Hunter? Why did nobody tell me what I was missing? # New post: A new direction for a new year!
- [The Great Tokyo Manga Kill-Off Begins!](https://robynpaterson.com/the-great-tokyo-manga-kill-off-begins/) - There were those who said there was nothing to worry about, after all, it was only the dirty and perverted stuff that would be reclassified as adult, right? Nope. Anything with a hint of sexuality has just zoomed from the normal racks into the porno section. It's simple really, the store owners don't want to
- [A new direction for a new year!](https://robynpaterson.com/a-new-direction-for-a-new-year/) - As any who have read the KFAT site in the last couple days know, I have decided to make a few changes in my creative directions. The reasons can be found here, but suffice it to say that it was something a long time in coming, and was spurred on by both practicality and my
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-02](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2011-01-02/) - Is there a word stronger than Brilliant? Because I need it to describe the Doctor Who Christmas special this year. ^____^ # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-26 http://bit.ly/fs61qG # The Beast of too much Self-Esteem and Positive Language: http://t.co/PS84L4b # Gorgeous He-Man backgrounds- why didn't the show look this good? http://bit.ly/f70P7j # New
- [New Years Taiwanese Style! Happy New Year 2011~!](https://robynpaterson.com/new-years-taiwanese-style-happy-new-year-2011/) - Nobody does fireworks like the Taiwanese- nobody! Watch it until the end, simply spectacular. (And I'm someone who actually doesn't care much for fireworks!)
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-26](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-12-26/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-19 http://bit.ly/fWpIsI # Someone actually made a video game that's 100% pure audio without a video component at all. http://bit.ly/emFlM6 # United- Amazing new Chinese high quality supermarket has opened for business on Adelaide Street North- grand opening is on the 29th. # New post: Merry Christmas! http://bit.ly/ety2gd #
- [Merry Christmas!](https://robynpaterson.com/merry-christmas-2/) - Here's something to give a little Holiday cheer!
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-19](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-12-19/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-12 http://bit.ly/dM24Wf # New post: Party like it's 1954!- Tokyo Manga Censorship becomes Law! http://bit.ly/hNvaTB # Post Edited: Party like it's 1954!- Tokyo Manga Censorship becomes Law! http://bit.ly/hNvaTB # RT @sonicsociety: Please do your part! It's just a quick signature. To save an important voice! http://bit.ly/exNC14 # New post:
- [How I came to love Go](https://robynpaterson.com/how-i-came-to-love-go/) - I don't think I've ever mentioned it on the blog, but I'm a Go player. It's a game I've come to appreciate more with time, and easily one of the greatest games developed by man. Now, you might think that since Go is from Asia, and I spent years living in Asia, including Japan, I
- [Sage Advice for the D&D Player](https://robynpaterson.com/sage-advice-for-the-dd-player/) - As this week's release of John Rogers and Andrea DeVitos's excellent Dungeons & Dragons #2 proves, D&D and comic books go together like... well, like escapist fantasies set in worlds with super-powerful characters that are built on tenuous, ever-changing rules. And like comics, the D&D rules invite all sorts of questions to figure out just
- [Support the CBC!](https://robynpaterson.com/support-the-cbc/)
- [Party like it's 1954!- Tokyo Manga Censorship becomes Law!](https://robynpaterson.com/party-like-its-1954-tokyo-manga-censorship-becomes-law/) - What happened in 1954? Well, besides the American dub of Godzilla being released, a little thing called the Comics Code Authority was created. From Wikipedia: The CCA was created in 1954 as part of the CMAA in response to public concern about what was deemed inappropriate material in many comic books. This included graphic depictions
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-12](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-12-12-2/) - More magnificent motorcycles- http://bit.ly/ecyiWU # Watched Sym-Bionic Titan- this week we learned the mysterious leader of the earth defense force is named Kane Solomon. ^____^ # Really funny and well done Avengers parody- http://bit.ly/eqo4UD # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-05 http://bit.ly/eA3O0l # Exporting Western Romance to China: http://t.co/0gcQl5N # Harlequin Romance Invades China:
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-05](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-12-05/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-11-28 http://bit.ly/dWcM4I # Douglas Adams definition of Diplomacy: "I'm going to kill my brother and then kill you on the pretense that your brother did it." # Watched the pilot for the Young Justice animated series, was good but not great. So far Sym-Bionic Titan and Avengers are still
- [15 Writers who have Influenced Me](https://robynpaterson.com/15-writers-who-have-influenced-me/) - Note: This is a Facebook thing, but I figured I`d post it here instead. by Miles Reid-Lobatto on Thursday, 02 December 2010 at 11:53 The Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-11-28](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-11-28/) - Sym-Bionic Titan is one of the most brilliant shows- ever! I can't believe how well done this thing is. # They just sync'd a teen girl's "singing in the rain"/I'm in love sequence with a giant robot fight to romantic 80's rock and made it work. # New post: Sym-Bionic Titan- Lessons in Love http://bit.ly/d8xdQA
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-11-21](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-11-21/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-11-14 http://bit.ly/aV3UVb # Housecat vs. Alligators! Fight! Reeeaaaddyyy?!? GO! http://youtu.be/5sAF8gMN9c0 # Just watched an amazing episode of Clone Wars. (S3-Ep10), the whole show just jumped to a new level. http://bit.ly/bxcrai
- [Sym-Bionic Titan- Lessons in Love](https://robynpaterson.com/sym-bionic-titan-lessons-in-love/) - For some reason, recently I've been back in the mood for watching animation. I didn't watch much of it for a long time (with the exception of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which I love) and I think much of that was because there wasn't much out there that could hold my interest. Recently that's
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-11-14](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-11-14/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-11-07 http://bit.ly/dh2ewt # Nifty Science-Fictiony themed action music video set in India- http://youtu.be/1X6yuW40iw0 # The real state of American politics- http://bit.ly/cs7Ozn Spoilers: The Bankers lose, so to the people. # Powered by Twitter Tools
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-11-07](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-11-07/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-31 http://bit.ly/9qgBZl # What can a protest accomplish? How about save the world from nuclear destruction? Proof- http://bit.ly/bxcJs1 # Is done moving, and ready to get back to his life. # Amazing Fan-made opening for the Walking Dead TV series- http://youtu.be/-TWCXE0hsbQ # RT @JackJWard: The echo chamber hurts my
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-31](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-10-31/) - 70% of [stock] trade positions are held for an average of 11 seconds- http://bit.ly/dxd3Xn # Everyone's a fanatic, we all just crave different flavors of Kool-Aide. # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-24 http://bit.ly/dzJc71 # Check who has deleted you http://apps.facebook.com/wdeleonm/ # The real explanation behind ghosts? http://bit.ly/92hJRa Kinda lame, if true. # The
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-24](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-10-24/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-17 http://bit.ly/9mxkFe # Franken Fran hits it out of the horror park once again! http://bit.ly/duHayx # Tomorrow, a month of reno, packing, planning and chaos reaches it's head- we move! On the downside, no internet at home for a week. :-( # I sense a sequel to Snakes on
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-17](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-10-17-6/) - New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-10 http://bit.ly/bG8o5S # "You made a rebel out of careful man's careless daughter." < fixed that for ya, Taylor. # Powered by Twitter Tools
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-10](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-10-10/) - RT @ebertchicago: "Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck." Wise to watch it NOW while it's still online. http://j.mp/dDz0Bg # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-03 http://bit.ly/9UHbxp # Just took possession of his new house. Happy and excited. # Apparently ADHD is genetic. No great surprise there- http://yhoo.it/b3TrE3 # Powered by Twitter Tools
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-03](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-10-03-2/) - The untold story of Chewbacca (ie George Lucas ripping off more people...) http://bit.ly/bEQSYT # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-26 http://bit.ly/aF175S # Sailor Moon Bento Box- http://bit.ly/c0l1zX Creepy yet tasty looking! # New post: Homage ala Formage! http://bit.ly/cuZFtE # Will be releasing Jeannie Lin's reading of a Butterfly Swords sample on the KFAT feed
- [Homage ala Formage!](https://robynpaterson.com/homage-ala-formage/) - A "classic" clip from the movie War of the Gargantuas (worth watching until the end.) And the intro to a recent episode of Scooby Doo Mystery Inc...
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-26](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-09-26/) - at the Mandarin in Pickering. # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-19 http://bit.ly/cZcewS # Once the game is over, the King and the pawn go back in the same box. - Italian Proverb # RT @thecreativepenn: How to get massive exposure for your book with blog book tours http://dld.bz/wtnZ via @TonyEldridge # WTF? The
- [We're out of Ideas!](https://robynpaterson.com/were-out-of-ideas/) - Recently, the Taiwanese publisher of Tong Li Comics lamented on the lack of ideas in the Anime industry. He complained that right now if a manga has even a limited following and is incomplete, Anime producers are racing to turn it into a TV show in order to fill the airwaves with their content. And
- [Pokemon Apokelypse: Live Action Trailer](https://robynpaterson.com/pokemon-apokelypse-live-action-trailer/) - This is a fan-made trailer for a "dark and gritty" Pokemon movie- how long before they really make one? I figure 10 years, maybe 15 tops.
- [The scariest Youtube video I've ever watched...](https://robynpaterson.com/the-scariest-youtube-video-ive-ever-watched/)
- [Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules for Writing](https://robynpaterson.com/elmore-leonards-10-rules-for-writing/) - A good read, and he says some interesting stuff, especially this part: 3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-19](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-09-19/) - The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause. - Mark Twain # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-12 http://bit.ly/c2pmSt # Almost finished the first of the Little Gou short stories, this one an adaption of the first Gou AD. Just one more scene to
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-12](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-09-12/) - Why artists have an unfair advantage at internet marketing http://dld.bz/u6ss via @johntunger # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-05 http://bit.ly/9JtafC # Recording for tomorrow night's Sonic Society. # The Doctor Who animated series that never was- http://bit.ly/c8xIO4 # Fun at sea aboard a cruise ship in very rough waters- (video) http://bit.ly/be1msK # What a
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-05](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-09-05/) - RT @ebertchicago:The billionaire Puppet Masters of the Tea Party are farther to the Right than the naive TPs would dream. http://j.mp/doE4MC # New post: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-29 http://bit.ly/cLGgRB # Something wrong with this image. Like seeing your father naked, or Santa Claus is Mr. Wilson from down the street-http://bit.ly/byaypE # RT @amcgowanca: "An
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-29](https://robynpaterson.com/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-08-29/) - My beagle demands a walk! And he shall have it! # Scarey! The FDA in the US isn't testing the seafood from the Gulf because "it'll be fine, trust us!" http://bit.ly/byutcJ # Scott Pilgrim=4/5 stars (-1 for miscast Cera). It should get an Oscar for best editing. One of the slickest editing jobs I've ever
- [Nathan Bransford's Advice on How to Write a Novel](https://robynpaterson.com/nathan-bransfords-advice-on-how-to-write-a-novel/) - Advice from the blog of literary agent Nathan Bransford on how to write a novel: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/08/how-to-write-novel.html A nice collection of notes and tips for would-be novel writers out there. (Like myself, admittedly!)
- [Looking for Some Weekend Watching?](https://robynpaterson.com/looking-for-some-weekend-watching/) - Looking for something to watch this weekend? This website has a list of 100 classic sci-fi and horror films you can watch online for free! However, be warned that some are on Hulu (so you can only view them from the States) and the more recent ones also seem to be US-only. Still the classics
- [Goodbye Nana](https://robynpaterson.com/goodbye-nana/) - This morning my 99 year old Grandmother, Dorothy Ollerton, breathed her last breath. She was the last of her generation in my family, and managed to outlive her elder sister by 2 years, which I think rather pleased her. (Them being rivals to the end, but only from her side.) She also managed to see
- [Chinese Muslims](https://robynpaterson.com/chinese-muslims/) - So today I came across an interesting bit of information I didn't know. It seems that in the Yuan Dynasty the Mongolian rulers didn't trust the Han Chinese to administer themselves, so instead they imported (sometimes by force!) large numbers of Muslim Arabs and Persians to serve as their mid-level administrator class and serve as
- [Huxley vs. Orwell](https://robynpaterson.com/huxley-vs-orwell/) - Found on Dancarlin.com: What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much
- [What if Kurosawa Directed Star Wars?](https://robynpaterson.com/what-if-kurosawa-directed-star-wars/) - Now and then, something comes along that just oozes cool, and one of these things is... Which is a set of customized action figures done by a skilled toymaker for a "lost" Kurosawa film that bears a striking resemblance to a film by George Lucas set in a Galaxy Far-Far Away. I especially love Han
- [And it's still better than most of the movies on SyFy!](https://robynpaterson.com/and-its-still-better-than-most-of-the-movies-on-syfy/) - King-Kong as remade by kids in the 1970's. Reminds me of the stuff I used to make on my old super-8mm video camera way back when. I wonder what happened to those reels?
- [Twin Stars Book Two ends!](https://robynpaterson.com/twin-stars-book-two-ends/) - With the release of Showdown (part 3), my audio drama series Twin Stars has finally reached it's Book Two finale! Thanks to all who have supported this show so far, and Book Three will start to air in December after a much-needed break! Rob
- [The Evils of Intellectual Property](https://robynpaterson.com/the-evils-of-intellectual-property/) - I highly recommend listening to this lecture. He makes some interesting points. I thought the point about Fashion was especially interesting, it's a whole industry that exists without patents or copyrights, yet is extremely vibrant and successful. To my mind, cooking would also be an example of an industry where copyright is pretty much non-existent,
- [Jane Austin's Fight Club](https://robynpaterson.com/jane-austins-fight-club/) - And for comparison, the original Fight Club trailer-
- [5 Worst Habits of New Photographers](https://robynpaterson.com/5-worst-habits-of-new-photographers/) - A few tips for people new into Photography- http://www.lightstalking.com/worst-habits And while you're there, be sure to check out the article on White Balance.
- [Sherlock Holmes and the Tolling Bell](https://robynpaterson.com/sherlock-holmes-and-the-tolling-bell/) - For those few who aren't familiar with it, the Sonic Society out of CKDU in Halifax, Nova Scotia acts as a showcase for the best in modern audio drama. Each week Jack Ward and Shannon Hilchie show us how the Audio Drama form is not only still very much alive, but thriving in the internet
- [Hayao Miyazaki lays down the law!](https://robynpaterson.com/hayao-miyazaki-lays-down-the-law/) - Japanese Animator Hayao Miyazaki delivered a verbal thumping to a recent interviewer (who was spending more time fiddling with his new iPad than doing this job from the sounds of it)- I’m sure there are many people who want to become omnipotent by getting their hands on this iWhatever. I’ll tell you sir, there were
- [Yesterday's Trains of the Future](https://robynpaterson.com/yesterdays-trains-of-the-future/) - Everyone has their idea of a romantic way to travel, and for me it's always been the train. I guess it's the feeling of both nostalgia and comfort I get from riding them, but to me they represent the classiest way to travel across the land. Now, if only I was riding in one of
- [Hollywood Accounting](https://robynpaterson.com/hollywood-accounting/) - So, apparently Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix made $929 Million dollars, and still managed to lose money. Poor Harry! I guess the recession hits wizards too! Luckily for Harry he's not alone- apparently up to 80% of Hollywood productions lose money, including many blockbusters and TV shows. How is this possible, you
- [Very Cool French Webcomic Artist](https://robynpaterson.com/very-cool-french-webcomic-artist/) - Go check out the site for Bouletcorp, and while you're there both play with the nifty site and check out his webcomics besides the parody I linked to. Some things are a universal language.
- [What happened while Americans slept. ](https://robynpaterson.com/what-happened-while-americans-slept/) - As a global traveler myself, I've always found it somewhere between amusing and annoying how mired in the 1960's the North American view of the rest of the planet is. The images of the world I saw and the whole concept of the rest of the planet I grew up with, is pretty much a
- [Econo-Apocalypse in Cartoon Form](https://robynpaterson.com/econo-apocalypse-in-cartoon-form/) - Some fascinating stuff in this great lecture. One bit that I wasn't aware of was the idea that the US drive for home ownership comes from the idea that people who own homes can't afford to strike. Thus you get home ownership numbers in Germany of 22% compared with 60% in the USA. The corporate
- [Images of New Wellington](https://robynpaterson.com/images-of-new-wellington/) - New Wellington is the Imperial Capitol World in my Twin Stars setting, a gas giant with a temperate layer of breathable oxygen that's been colonized by humans. Using gravity-manipulation technology, rocks from space have been lowered into the livable layer and then turned into artificial networks of floating islands. Since I'm re-familiarizing myself with Bryce
- [A Window into Time- San Francisco 1905](https://robynpaterson.com/a-window-into-time-sanfranciso-1905/)
- [Huston, we have a problem...](https://robynpaterson.com/huston-we-have-a-problem/) - The worst case scenario in the Gulf Oil Crisis may in fact be the reality: http://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2010/06/worst_case_scenario_on_gulf_sp.php So what happens if this is true, and there's no way to stop the leak? The Gulf will literally be a sea of oil unless they they find some way to direct the flow of oil, but if there's
- [Hard Science Fiction- the Silliest Kind](https://robynpaterson.com/hard-science-fiction-the-silliest-kind/) - There has for some time been a movement in the Science Fiction genre called "Hard Science Fiction", which wikipedia defines as: "Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both." Source. (I've also heard it described as "solving the
- [On Time](https://robynpaterson.com/on-time/)
- [Quotes about Audio Drama](https://robynpaterson.com/quotes-about-audio-drama/) - Radio Drama Quotes from Radio Tales of the Strange and Fantastic "Anyone who's ever listened to radio drama will testify to the fact that a play you hear will (remain) in your mind - twelve years later you'll remember it vividly. And the reason you'll remember it vividly is because you've done the work... it
- [Welcome to the United Corporate States of America](https://robynpaterson.com/welcome-to-the-united-corporate-states-of-america/) - Who's calling the shots in the BP oil spill? It sure ain't the US Gov't. The American gov't is working hard at the leisure of the BP corporation to control the situation, and by that I mean the PR damage control situation, not the oil spill. A week ago, NPR's On the Media aired a
- [Welcome to the Future of Spin!](https://robynpaterson.com/welcome-to-the-future-of-spin/) - This is one of those stories that was obvious from the beginning- if one (since Yahoo barely counts anymore) company controls how people seek information, then they also control people's access to information. So why not make a profit by selling it for a buck? Or, even if they're neutral, it creates a system that
- [Twin Stars 209 released.](https://robynpaterson.com/twin-stars-209-released/) - I (finally) got the 9th episode of Twin Stars Book 2 out, two months behind schedule and broken into parts, but it's finally hitting the feed! Originally the story was to be a single episode, but when the first eight scenes of the show alone clocked in at 24 minutes, I knew I was going
- [Why is Twilight Popular? A Short Animated Explanation](https://robynpaterson.com/why-is-twilight-popular-a-short-animated-explanation/) - The Lego Brick effect he's talking about is called "Masking", and is extensively explained in Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, a book I highly recommend everyone read. I think the video's definitely on the right track with this approach, but it's more complicated than this. After all, Stephanie Myers is hardly the first person to use
- [The Leviathan Chronicles](https://robynpaterson.com/the-leviathan-chronicles/) - In honor of the Leviathan Chronicles reaching its season finale, I decided to make a point of giving it a listen and checked out the first Chapter. I don't listen to as many new shows as I used to, and what I knew of the premise for this one didn't interest me much. The moment
- [A Funny Explanation of the European Debt Crisis](https://robynpaterson.com/a-funny-explanation-of-the-european-debt-crisis/) - Oh those clever Aussies...
- [A History of Power Rangers](https://robynpaterson.com/a-history-of-power-rangers/) - I know I'm showing my geek roots here, but it's time to come clean. I was a Super Sentai fan. -_- There, I said it. It's out there. Sentai (and by default Power Rangers) was one of those things I would have sold my left arm to be able to watch as a kid if
- [Hidden Talents](https://robynpaterson.com/hidden-talents/) - One of the great things about Youtube is that it's a mini American's Got Talent of sorts, where all sorts of interesting abilities people have can be showcased for the world to see. In this case, a young actor named Hunter Davis has an astounding talent for sounding like Sir. Ian McKellan and is using
- [The Infoladies of Bangladesh](https://robynpaterson.com/the-infoladies-of-bangladesh/) - In a place where women dutifully give birth in dingy huts, the men know of little outside their fields, and the world revolves around the local mosque; the sight of a "modern" woman visitor astride her bike is a spectacle. The more so as Akhter zaps around with gadgets like a netbook, GSM mobile, blood
- [Nollywood Calling](https://robynpaterson.com/nollywood-calling/) - Nollywood, Nigeria's booming film industry, is the world's third largest producer of feature films. Unlike Hollywood and Bollywood, however, Nollywood movies are made on shoe-string budgets of time and money. An average production takes just 10 days and costs approximately $15,000. - Thisisnollywood.com Every now and then I stumble across something completely surprising on the
- [WuXia versus Kung Fu](https://robynpaterson.com/wuxia-versus-kung-fu/) - Recently I've been watching a lot old Shaw Brothers Kung Fu movies on Youtube, and it occurred to me that from the point of view of someone not really familiar with the WuXia genre (ie most foreigners) there's probably something they're missing when they watch these films. The WuXia genre is the Chinese equivalent to
- [Genre Fiction Generator 2000](https://robynpaterson.com/genre-fiction-generator-2000/) - Care of David Ault and Fiona Thraille comes the solution to all your plotting needs! Stuck on what to write, dear friend? Never fear! The Genre Fiction Generator 2000 is here!
- [John Williams- Musical Plagerist? ](https://robynpaterson.com/john-williams-musical-plagerist/) - So there I am in church for the Mother's Day service, and we start singing a beautiful hymn called "I, the Lord of Sea and Sky" (aka "Here I am Lord").... And a few bars in, I'm thinking..."wait, I know this song..." and by the end of the hymn I remembered where I'd heard it
- [Random things I learned at Podcamp London 2010](https://robynpaterson.com/random-things-i-learned-at-podcamp-london-2010/) - Here are some random things I learned while attending the very cool Podcamp London today: Search.Twitter.com can be used to find people with similar interests in your area by using the Advanced options. So can Twellow- the Twitter yellow pages! Twitter is an important Podcaster's Marketing Tool When doing voice work, some people have to
- [North Korean Humour](https://robynpaterson.com/north-korean-humour/) - Kim Jong Il and Vladimir Putin are having a summit meeting in Moscow. During a break, they're bored, and they decide to take a bet to see whose bodyguards are more loyal. Putin is on the 20th floor and calls on his bodyguard Ivan, opens the window, and says: "Ivan, jump!" Sobbing, Ivan says: "Mr.
- [A bas les aristos!](https://robynpaterson.com/a-bas-les-aristos/) - I recently read The Scarlet Pimpernel (text, audio, movie) by Baroness Orczy, and ran into a bit of an interesting philosophical quandry while I was reading it. You see, the Scarlet Pimpernel is an English nobleman who through disguise and deception rescues French nobility from the Guillotine during the French Revolution of 1792 and spirits
- [Epic Sea Monsters of Tale and Legend](https://robynpaterson.com/epic-sea-monsters-of-tale-and-legend/) - Since I already showed a Godzilla video earlier this week, and I've now shown the king of the monsters, let's take a look at some of his subjects in these two awesome collage videos. I actually like the second one better, but the first one has neat stuff in it too! (Thanks to Richard Bartok
- [The Lizard...The Legend...](https://robynpaterson.com/the-lizard-the-legend/) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7gFlSGXt_k&feature=player_embedded
- [Review of KFAT on Audio Drama Review](https://robynpaterson.com/review-of-kfat-on-audio-drama-review/) - Well, it's finally happened. Audio Drama Review has gotten around to setting its sites on me and Kung Fu Action Theatre. I have to say I'm pleased with the review overall, and consider it a very fair and balanced one. Go take a look when you have the chance. Rob
- [Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Film Challenge](https://robynpaterson.com/sci-fi-london-48-hour-film-challenge/) - Last Weekend Sci-Fi London (UK) held an event called the National 48 Hour Film Challenge where participant filmmakers were given obviously 48 hours to produce a 5 minute science fiction film. On top of that, they were given: A title A prop A line of dialogue And expected to work with them as part of
- [A Note about Matt Smith's first episode of Doctor Who](https://robynpaterson.com/a-note-about-matt-smiths-first-episode-of-doctor-who/) - I just wanted to watch a few minutes of it to test video quality, and was dead tired. Two minutes in I was wide awake and full of energy, and it just carried me along for the whole ride. I was a kid again, right until the end, caught up in a pure voyage of
- [To Free or Not to Free 2- The Revenge](https://robynpaterson.com/to-free-or-not-to-free-2-the-revenge/) - Last night I was chatting with a friend and discussing the audiobooks conundrum mentioned earlier this week- if you give the audiobook away for free, will they pay for the text versions or not? My friend, commented that from his perspective in fact the reverse approach may have netted more fish- give the text away
- [Little Gou and the Kind Word released!](https://robynpaterson.com/little-gou-and-the-kind-word-released/) - After over a year and half, Little Gou is back! I plan for this to be the year of Little Gou, with several more stories coming. Twin Stars has held the sky long enough, it's time for some Kung Fu Action! What's Gou up to this time? Well... Little Gou and Sister Cat race to
- [To Free or not to Free, that is the Question.](https://robynpaterson.com/to-free-or-not-to-free-that-is-the-question/) - One of the writers that a great many in the podcast novel world look up to is J.C. Hutchins, both because of the quality of his work and because he made the dream of many into a reality- he got a book deal from his podcasted novel. He was one of the guys who literally
- [Facial Reconstriction](https://robynpaterson.com/meating-in-the-middle/) - What do Avatars, Actors and Porn Stars all have in common? All of them are looking for the perfect facial expression. The other week when listening to Slate's Political Gabfest I heard reference to an article in New York Magazine about how Botox is changing the film/TV industry. Looking it up, it was a fascinating
- [Blazing Across the Stars](https://robynpaterson.com/blazing-across-the-stars/) - When I was 8, a single series rocked my young world- Star Blazers. The Americanization of Space Battleship Yamato (perhaps one of the most important anime of all time) was an epic to behold, and despite the limited animation it captured our young imaginations in its romantic voyage into space. Each week when the words
- [Heart of a Ronin](https://robynpaterson.com/heart-of-a-ronin/) - A friend recommended an audiobook called Heart of a Ronin the other day, so I snagged the first chapter and gave it a listen during the morning walk. I couldn't even get through the first 45 minute chapter. (And he's released more than 30 chapters at 45 minutes a piece! My god...It's already longer than
- [They should just ask some kids to do it.](https://robynpaterson.com/they-should-just-ask-some-kids-to-do-it/) - The city of Detroit is starting to follow other cities like Flint and has plans to tear down the massive swaths of empty run-down homes that cover much of it's city and replace them with parkland and fields. They're going to spend millions tearing down the homes and replanting trees- to which I say "what
- [Auditions for Twin Stars 209](https://robynpaterson.com/auditions-for-twin-stars-209/) - Auditions are up for Twin Stars Book 2, Episode 9 over on Audio Drama Talk. Two male roles and Two female roles are up, and the auditions closing date is March 14th. This is the the finale for Book 2, and what a finale it will be!
- [New Audio Drama Review Blog (Updated)](https://robynpaterson.com/new-audio-drama-review-blog/) - The other day I stumbled across a new blog called simply "Audio Drama Review", done by an anonymous blogger whose stated intent is to provide the "raw unvarnished truth" in an effort to encourage people producing audio drama to improve their work. The writing is sharp and well thought out overall, and for the most
- [The Affidavit of Isaac Woodward](https://robynpaterson.com/the-affidavit-of-isaac-woodward/) - In an extremely powerful piece of radio history, Orson Welles lets loose with both barrels against Southern Racism after a young black man named Isaac Woodward is blinded by police brutality for daring to speak back to a white bus driver who swore at him first. I have rarely heard Welles so angry, and the
- [Twin Stars Book 2, Episode 8 "25" released!](https://robynpaterson.com/twin-stars-book-2-episode-8-25-released/) - The second from last episode of Twin Stars Book Two is now up for your listening pleasure! Go check it out! Enjoy! Rob
- [History in Manga Form](https://robynpaterson.com/history-in-manga-form/) - When many people think about manga (Japanese comic books) they they tend to think in terms of cliches- big eyes, hyperdrama, weird over-the-top sex and violence, and so forth. Of course, what they tend to forget is that ascribing those things to "manga" is a little like saying that all TV is stupid and vapid
- [Wall Street Journal talks up Audio Drama](https://robynpaterson.com/wall-street-journal-talks-up-audio-drama/) - The Wall Street Journal this week had an article on Fine Rune Productions, one of the higher quality producers of Audio Drama on the net. It's an amazing coup for our artform, and hopefully will help to get more and more people to give Audio Drama a chance. Congrats Fred!
- [Media Anxiety](https://robynpaterson.com/media-anxiety/) - One of my friends, Don, is always getting pissed off at the media for various reasons, but one of his big complaints (okay, besides that they're outright lying to us most of the time) is that people have ridiculously short memories about certain subjects. In particular, they forget that every new form of media/technology has
- [Trees](https://robynpaterson.com/trees/) - I live in the city of London, Ontario- also known as "The Forest City" because of the sheer number of trees interwoven in between the buildings. In fact, if you go up on a local hill and look down upon the city from certain angles you won't even see a city, you'll see a forest
- [Augmented Reality Maps](https://robynpaterson.com/augmented-reality-maps/) - TED Talks has just posted an 8 minute presentation with one of the lead designers of Bing Maps (Microsoft's Google Maps clone) that shows basically how they're one-upping Google Maps. All I have to say is- "Holy Sh*t!" They have not only found a way to make it closer than true 3d, they have not
- [Shin Nian Kuai Le! Happy Year of the Tiger!](https://robynpaterson.com/shin-nian-kuai-le-happy-year-of-the-tiger/) - Happy Lunar New Year everyone! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH62mLC1540
- [Another End of the Empire](https://robynpaterson.com/another-end-of-the-empire/) - I just heard one of the newer episodes of Podcastle today: Another End of the Empire. I have to say it's 2 shades of brilliant, and funny as hell to listen to. A deconstructed story about how an evil fantasy empire meets it's end in the most practical way. I've never heard any of Tim
- [Digital Nation](https://robynpaterson.com/digital-nation/) - PBS in the US aired a fascinating documentary called Digital Nation this week which everyone should watch, but especially teachers since a lot of it deals with the issues of how social media and the net are affecting the classroom and student behaviors. I myself have long felt there needs to be a paradigm shift
- [Twin Stars Review on Wander Radio](https://robynpaterson.com/twin-stars-review-on-wander-radio/) - Episode 48 of the Wander Radio podcast has an excellent review of Twin Stars by Alexa Chipman that is worth listening to. (I'd hire that girl as my head of advertising if I were making any money at this!) Of course, Wander Radio is usually worth a listen with it's eclectic format of music, reviews
- [Twin Stars 207 is up!](https://robynpaterson.com/twin-stars-207-is-up/) - Things get political in the latest episode of Twin Stars! http://twinstars.kungfuactiontheatre.com/?p=470 Get it while it's hot! Then drop by the forums here or here to discuss it! Rob
- [Cracked.com- 6 Most Statistically Full of Shit Professions](https://robynpaterson.com/cracked-com-6-most-statistically-full-of-shit-professions/) - My friend Don sent me this one this morning, give it a read. I'm surprised Teachers aren't on the list, but hey, everyone misses something! ^_^
- [12 Tips to Being a Super-Prolific Short Story Writer](https://robynpaterson.com/12-tips-to-being-a-super-prolific-short-story-writer/) - An interesting article on how to be productive that I found on Io9.com tonight. http://io9.com/5457388/12-secrets-to-being-a-super+prolific-short+story-writer Although in the end the real secret is just write- lots! Rob
- [TED Talks- Life Lessons from an Ad Man](https://robynpaterson.com/ted-talks-life-lessons-from-an-ad-man/) - An amazing and funny 16 minute lecture given by Rory Sutherland about the power of intangible assets in advertising and marketing. Well worth a watch!
- [Google vs. China](https://robynpaterson.com/google-vs-china/) - Want to learn the real story behind the whole Google vs China thing? As usual, TVO's Search Engine podcast is on the case, and reporting the news that all the big networks have failed to get! 10 minutes of your time and you'll learn a lot!
- [The Hard Balance- Accessibility versus Readability in SF and Fantasy](https://robynpaterson.com/the-hard-balance-accessibility-versus-readability-in-sf-and-fantasy/) - Something I had to struggle with when I started to write Twin Stars was the simple question of how much Science Fiction I wanted to put into it. I know it should seem obvious, it is a Science Fiction story after all, but I wanted it to be open to almost anyone to sit down
- [The 2009 Darwin Awards! Enjoy!](https://robynpaterson.com/the-2009-darwin-awards-enjoy/) - Yes, it's that time again for the glorious Darwin awards. Read carefully and feel better about yourself. Here is the glorious winner: 1. When his 38 caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach , California would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He
- [Productivity Update 17/01/10](https://robynpaterson.com/productivity-update-170110/) - Despite a busy first week at school I managed to cast and put into production both Twin Stars episode 208, and Little Gou and the Kind Word. It'll be nice to have Little Gou back again, and I have a couple more Gou stories planned for this year as well. (Likely the gap between Book
- [Things you can't do in Audio Drama...](https://robynpaterson.com/things-you-cant-do-in-audio-drama/) - There are some things that are just pretty much impossible to do in Audio Drama, and one of them is extended action sequences like this... (with thanks to MadUnkieG for the video find...) It may be possible to almost do this sort of thing by using narration and some clever use of dialogue, but it
- [Century of the Self](https://robynpaterson.com/century-of-the-self/) - Perhaps one of the greatest documentaries ever done by the BBC. It literally explains how the general population went from being Citizens to Consumers during the 20th century. Everyone who can should watch this. Here's part 1 of 4, with all 4 one-hour parts being available on Google Video and Veoh.com.
- [Subtext Overload!](https://robynpaterson.com/subtext-overload/) - How's this for a symbol of America? An image of the American President that was hijacked by corporate interests kept warm by a high tech jacket made in a third world sweatshop standing atop a symbol of Chinese power?
- [Review of Team Iron Angel on Alexa Chipman's Blog](https://robynpaterson.com/review-of-team-iron-angel-on-alexa-chipmans-blog/) - My original serial- Team Iron Angel: Black Dawn of the Golden Age - has been reviewed over on Alexa Chipman's blog. It's a critical but fair review that I'm still considering the points of, and would love any feedback on that people want to give. While she likes it overall, Alexa felt the method of
- [The Future of Facebook](https://robynpaterson.com/the-future-of-facebook/) - I was listening today to a great episode of This Week in Tech wherein the main topic of discussion was Facebook and how it's tricked it's users with it's new privacy rules. You should read a more detailed version here on Jason Calacanis's blog, but the short version runs that when they updated the privacy
- [The Heat of the Moment- Spacecraft and Heat](https://robynpaterson.com/the-heat-of-the-moment-spacecraft-and-heat/) - Recently I was having an e-mail exchange with people who know far more about science than I do (which isn't hard to find...) and an interesting tidbit came to light during the discussion. The thrust of the tidbit requires a bit of background, but the point is actually potentially a very important one for Sci-Fi
- [Escapism](https://robynpaterson.com/escapism/) - My friend MadUnkieG has posted a great article on Escapism over on his blog, if you have the chance go check it out!
- [Space Battleship Yamato Live-Action Trailer](https://robynpaterson.com/space-battleship-yamato-live-action-trailer/) - "We're off to outer space..." Those lines started each weekly adventure of Star Blazers when I was kid in the 1970's, and now the Japanese are making a Live-Action Space Cruiser Yamato movie! This is one DVD I'll be sure to snag whenever it comes out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONkh786EbSg
- [Starting the New Year with a Bang! Twin Stars 206 released!](https://robynpaterson.com/starting-the-new-year-with-a-bang-twin-stars-206-released/) - Well, it was delayed a month, but it's finally out! Enjoy!
- [The End of...Russel T. Davies (spoiler free)](https://robynpaterson.com/the-end-of-russel-t-davies-spoiler-free/) - I'm a big fan of Doctor Who. I grew up watching it on TVO in my parent's basement, and yes, I did jump behind the couch sometimes because "my" doctor was Tom Baker, and we all know how his episodes played. I continued watching Who up until it was canceled in my University years, and
- [50 Promotional Ideas for Your Blog/Website](https://robynpaterson.com/50-promotional-ideas-for-your-blogwebsite/) - Black Hat Bootcamp just published a great list of the 50 best promotional ideas, but I think they'd also be a great way to promote a production group or show as well. Give the list a look, it's definitely worth it! Rob
- [Auditions for Twin Stars 208 are up!](https://robynpaterson.com/auditions-for-twin-stars-208-are-up/) - Auditions for Twin stars 208 are up and posted over on the Audio Drama Talk forums, anyone and everyone are welcome to try out! Auditions end January 11th. More auditions will be coming in the next few weeks. Rob
- [Review of Twin Stars](https://robynpaterson.com/review-of-twin-stars/) - I don't remember paying Alexa Chipman, but I guess I must have, because she just wrote the most amazing review of Twin Stars over on her blog. Every now and then there are moments as a producer when you think "this made all the work worth it", and this is clearly one of those moments.
- [A Hillarious Tour of Akihabara's Maid Cafes](https://robynpaterson.com/a-hillarious-tour-of-akihabaras-maid-cafes/) - Another great find brought to you by MadUnkieG! A progressively stranger journey into Tokyo's Maid Cafe scene, as a newbie does the tour with an old hand. I heard there's at least one of these cafes in Toronto now too!
- [A little Pieck me up!](https://robynpaterson.com/a-little-pieck-me-up/) - Courtesy of MadUnkieG, some wonderful illustrations to help with the holiday blues: From Wikipedia: Anton Franciscus Pieck (Den Helder, Netherlands, 19 April 1895 – Overveen, Netherlands, 25 November 1987), a Dutch painter, artist and graphic artist. His works are noted for their nostalgic or fairytale-like character and are widely popular, appearing regularly on cards and
- [Why aren't there more women in...](https://robynpaterson.com/why-arent-there-more-women-in/) - As someone who is getting really tired of “why aren’t there more women in artform X” discussions on blogs like Io9, I decided to answer that question. Now despite what some of you may think the answer has less to do with discrimination, and a whole lot more to do with biology. Yes, I said
- [Best and Funniest Review of Star Wars Episode 1 you're ever going to see!](https://robynpaterson.com/best-and-funniest-review-of-star-wars-episode-1-youre-ever-going-to-see/) - Actually, this is great lesson in both how to tell a story, and how not to do it. Worth watching if you can get over the annoying guy's voice.
- [Status Update](https://robynpaterson.com/status-update/) - Finished rough draft of Little Gou and the Cook (aka Little Gou and the Poisoner). On to Twin Stars 209!
- [A Slave's Revenge](https://robynpaterson.com/a-slaves-revenge/) - Today I was discussing a piece in a TOEFL prep-book about the American Civil War with a student, and one the points that the article suggested was that it was the economic differences between the slave-owning South and anti-Slave North that led to the civil war occurring. The article itself mentioned that the Northerners tended
- [Browser Pong](https://robynpaterson.com/browser-pong/) - A very cute little mini-game for your desktop: http://stewdio.org/pong/ Don't forget to allow pop-ups! Rob
- [The Numercy of Caring](https://robynpaterson.com/the-numercy-of-caring/) - Today I was listening to NPR's On the Media, a great show that I sum up as "how is the media lying to us this week?". It is an analysis of the weekly top media stories from a more critical perspective and I highly recommend everyone give it a listen some times. It's funny, interesting
- [Rights and Responsibilities](https://robynpaterson.com/rights-and-responsibilities/) - As many know, I'm a teacher at a college, and this morning I marked 60-odd final essays as part of the communal marking system our school uses at the end of the term to make sure each WRIT course essay gets a fair grade. Each paper is marked at least twice by people who don't
- [And so this is Christmas...](https://robynpaterson.com/and-so-this-is-christmas/) - Christmas has finally arrived, which can only mean one thing- a break for this poor weary teacher. Well, not really a break since I have every intention of spending it trying to catch up on all the writing this past hellish semester has prevented me from doing. What's on my writing/production slate right now? Awaiting
- [Poetry Jam: Sarah Palin vs William Shatner](https://robynpaterson.com/poetry-jam-sarah-palin-vs-william-shatner/)
- [This Page](https://robynpaterson.com/this-page/) - Hi, and welcome to my new hubpage. This page is in many ways my new Blog, but it goes beyond that. I wanted to make a page that would better represent me on the web and act as a gateway to my various projects- new and old. For now, it will act as a combination
- [Suffer the Children](https://robynpaterson.com/suffer-the-children/) - It's interesting that when we think of history we tend to think of it not just in terms of just men (as feminists often remark) but we also tend to leave out that other percentage of the population- Children. One of my favorite podcasts, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, last week did a show about the
- [Duotrope's Digest](https://robynpaterson.com/duotropes-digest/) - Today while looking through the Podcastle submission guidelines I stumbled across Duotrope's Digest, a search-able database of publishers for poetry and prose. Free, and very well set up: http://www.duotrope.com/index.aspx
- [Rob and Gregg Taylor Discuss Writing on the Sonic Society](https://robynpaterson.com/rob-and-gregg-taylor-discuss-writing-on-the-sonic-society/) - Last week I recorded a roundtable discussion with Gregg Taylor of Decoder Ring Theatre and Jack Ward that will air in 3 parts over the first 3 episodes of Season 5 of the Sonic Society. Find the first part Here! Rob
- [Racing toward the finish line!](https://robynpaterson.com/racing-toward-the-finish-line/) - Just as an update, I'm done writing the scripts for Twin Stars 204-207 and they're basically undergoing pre-production editing. About two weeks back I had a sudden fit of inspiration and shot through 3 scripts in a week, but then hit 208 and it's stopped me in my tracks while I puzzle it out. Buildup
- [Random Stuff for Fantasy](https://robynpaterson.com/random-stuff-for-fantasy/) - Medieval Demographics Made Easy: (for those planning to write Fantasy) http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm The Series Bible for the Masters of the Universe Cartoon from the 1980's: http://www.he-man.org/cartoon/exclusivefeatures/exclusive-mastersseriesbible-intro.shtml Enjoy! Rob
- [Gu Long on writing Action Novels](https://robynpaterson.com/gu-long-on-writing-action-novels/) - Gu Long was one of the great WuXia novelists of Asia, and this is a translation from the introduction of Horzion, Bright Moon, Sabre(天涯, 明月, 刀) by Chowbeng from the SPCNET.tv forums. ~an excerpt from the introduction of this novel by Gulong himself~ Looking at the same storyline from different angles, the novel would turned
- [Fall of the Empires](https://robynpaterson.com/fall-of-the-empires/) - I'm never-ever going to write another Sci-Fi story about Empires or Monarchs ever again. (Fantasy is okay, but not Science Fiction.) When I started Twin Stars I didn't think for a second I was doing anything new or original, and in truth I wasn't trying to be since I was focussed on writing a grand
- [Added](https://robynpaterson.com/added/) - I've added a "revised" version of my post "Size Does Matter" as a permanent page on the blog under the title "Finishing your Radioplays", which you can find on the page list for those who are interested.
- [Pathos-R-Us](https://robynpaterson.com/pathos-r-us/) - Continuing my little "villain themed" line of posts (this should be the last one, honest!) I've thought of another major advantage to not having "villains" but having "opposing characters"- Pathos. I mean, think about it- your job as a writer is to play with your audience's emotions and tell them a good entertaining story. If
- [At What Price Evil?](https://robynpaterson.com/at-what-price-evil/) - Y'no, I'm getting really sick of evil. A strange thing to say for someone who loves romantic (in the old meaning) stories as much as I do, and a strange statement in general that I should probably explain. Recently I've been consuming a lot of media (Dune, Dae Jang Geum, JuMong) that has had a
- [And the Winner Is....](https://robynpaterson.com/and-the-winner-is/) - Recently I was having a chat with a friend about writing and he brought up an interesting anecdote, he said that when the writer Grant Morrison was writing Doom Patrol (a comic he was famous for transforming during the 90's) he had an odd writing rule: 9 times out of 10 when there was a
- [The Needs of the Villain Outweigh the needs of the Hero](https://robynpaterson.com/the-needs-of-the-villain-outweigh-the-needs-of-the-hero/) - I was just having an online chat with a friend about a story he's writing, and when I asked about why the villain in the story did what he did the answer was what I characterized as "hating cats because they're not dogs". It was a motivation, but it wasn't one that the audience was
- [Size Does Matter- Finishing your Audio Drama](https://robynpaterson.com/size-does-matter-finishing-your-audio-drama/) - Something that bugs me a little which I see all the time on the Voice Acting Alliance (and less frequently in the general Audio Drama community) is people starting series that 90% of the time they will never finish. I know on the VAA they're a bunch of youth for the most part and they
- [A Canary named Conan](https://robynpaterson.com/a-canary-named-conan/) - Recently Broken Sea Audio has been forced to take down their growing collection of Conan audio drama and audiobook readings by Conan Properties Incorporated, a company which claims to own and manage the rights to the character of Conan the Barbarian. You can read more about this here. Now while this sucks for Broken Sea,
- [Podcasting your Novel article in TIME](https://robynpaterson.com/podcasting-your-novel-article-in-time/) - TIME recently published an article about the potential for podcasting novels as a way of getting your work out there, mostly focussed on Scott Sigler's work but applying to authors in general of course. Check it out here. Rob
- [General Update or "How I Spent my Hiatus" by Robyn Paterson](https://robynpaterson.com/general-update-or-how-i-spent-my-hiatus-by-robyn-paterson/) - Well, so far the Release Hiatus is going about like I expected. I pretty much goofed off for the Month of January (which was my plan, I needed the downtime). And now in February I'm working hard to get things ready for the next season. On my production plate right now: D-Ranger Adventure 2 and
- [MASK! The Adventure Begins!](https://robynpaterson.com/mask-the-adventure-begins/) - Recently a friend made me aware of an ongoing debate among some circles about the question of how much detail should be given about the characters in a story. Specifically, one group thinks that characters should be presented in only the broadest strokes and left to the audience to fill in the gaps, while the
- [Some Tips for Writing (Superhero) Audio Drama](https://robynpaterson.com/some-tips-for-writing-audio-drama/) - I was recently giving some advice to a new audio drama scriptwriter doing a superhero show and thought I'd post some of it here (edited to remove the parts directly related to his show): 1. Every time the location/ambience changes make it a new scene. In my scripts I title each scene based on the
- [All I want for Christmas is the energy to get my writing done!](https://robynpaterson.com/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-the-energy-to-get-my-writing-done/) - So what's on the slate right now? Well, I finally finished another D-Ranger adventure (La Belle Dame sans Merci) and have ideas for about 5 more of them, just need to get them written. Adventure Three (The Lost Broadcast) is about 60% complete at this point. I'm 70% of the way through a Samurai adventure
- [Writing Slate Update Nov 22nd, 2008](https://robynpaterson.com/writing-slate-update-nov-22nd-2008/) - Wow, this semester has left me horribly behind in my writing. I can blame work, or personal issues, but the truth is I think I just fell into the bad habit of writing in bursts- which is not a good thing! Writer are like piano players, they need to practice their craft on a regular
- [Autumn Fantasies](https://robynpaterson.com/autumn-fantasies/) - Ahh Fall! When a young man's thoughts turn to Fantasy! Well, it's true for me anyways. ^_^ For some reason when the weather starts to chill and the leaves start to turn colour I naturally develop a yearning for the Fantasy genre. Ever since I was young I have always been drawn to Fantasy in the
- [Update Oct 1st, 2008](https://robynpaterson.com/update-oct-1st-2008/) - Well, it's been a busy month and that hasn't left a lot of time for fresh writing. Twin Stars Book One is now not only finished, but entirely in the production line. So with that out of the way I need to focus on several things over the next month: 1) Team Iron Angel's next
- [How to Write a Novel using the Snowflake Method](https://robynpaterson.com/how-to-write-a-novel-using-the-snowflake-method/) - This website discusses an interesting method of plotting and planning novels. The author is a software engineer and uses the same methods he uses to write programs in plotting and planning out his books. Of course this just produces the structure of the story, not necessarily the life that goes in it, but it's one
- [Twin Stars Book One is Finished](https://robynpaterson.com/twin-stars-book-one-is-finished/) - After a long marathon writing session this week I finally managed to polish off Twin Stars Book One. What was originally intended to be a single Episode 8 finale ballooned into a movie-length epic that I will release as episodes 8 and 9. Even then, 9 will be double the length of a normal episode
- [Take My Book...Please!](https://robynpaterson.com/take-my-bookplease/) - An interesting article on Scott Sigler and how he's made his writing future by literally just giving away his work for free! Rob
- [Homage or Formage?](https://robynpaterson.com/homage-or-formage/) - So I was listening to Mirror Image Episode One the other day and the writer did something I really dislike whenever I hear it. (And I've heard it done a lot!) Some elements of Mirror Image are similar to the movie Entrapment and so when the "good guys" explain to the new thief they need
- [It's a Small World After All](https://robynpaterson.com/its-a-small-world-after-all/) - So, recently there was a moment when I was writing Twin Stars when I had both of my leads (who are living parallel but seperate lives in the story) in transit and in a position to cross paths. You know, the sort of scene you get when two characters are both in an airport and
- [Update](https://robynpaterson.com/update/) - Wow, it's been too long since I posted something here. Sorry about that! The main reason (excuse) I will give is that I've been on Vacation for the past two months and for some reason I write MORE when I'm working than I do when I have time off. Not sure why that is, but
- [Sonic the what?](https://robynpaterson.com/sonic-the-what/) - I recently had a chat with a fellow producer who produces audio drama based around Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction, and one of the questions I found myself having to ask is- "why bother?" Now, this isn't some slam against fanfic writers or furry fans (those will be other posts! [Just kidding!]) it's about the question
- [Who do you write to?](https://robynpaterson.com/who-do-you-write-to/) - There's a thread going on over on the Audio Drama Talk forums about "Breaking out"- that is, finding a larger audience with audio drama. The thread starter seems primarily concerned with audience, and trying to improve your show by interacting with your audience. Here's my own reply to the topic... I guess the question then
- [Self-Publishing through Lulu.com](https://robynpaterson.com/self-publishing-through-lulucom/) - I've just spent the afternoon reading through Lulu.com and I have to say it's quite an interesting setup they've got there. Not only do they function as a online printing shop where you can make your own products (Books, CDs, Calendars, etc) they also function as a full publisher for your works as both a
- [Chorus versus Staging](https://robynpaterson.com/chorus-versus-staging/) - There generally seem to be two approaches to presenting audio drama- a staged approach and a chorus approach. A staged approach is exactly like a stage play, TV show or movie- the action is set within a particular environment and is about the events that occur at that place and time. An example of this
- [Speaking in Tongues](https://robynpaterson.com/speaking-in-tongues/) - A post I recently put up on the Audio Drama Talk forums on the subject of having characters in audio dramas speak in archaic ways to represent the setting of the story: People have always used slang, and will always use it, so I see nothing wrong with putting characters speaking ancient (or non-English) tongues
- [Podcast Canadian Audiobook wins Real Award.](https://robynpaterson.com/podcast-canadian-audiobook-wins-real-award/) - The Best Laid Plans, a satire about Canadian politics just won the prestigious Steve Leacock award here in Canada, which might not be that important except for 2 points: 1) It was a self-published book. 2) The author also podcast the book for free as an audiobook to build his audience. Does this mean there's
- [Shifting Viewpoints](https://robynpaterson.com/shifting-viewpoints/) - I just finished Chapter Six of Crocodile Princess out of a planned 26 or so Chapters. It looks like I might be writing mostly about book writing in this blog for a while, but we'll see. I'm sure I'll still touch on audio drama writing from time to time. In effect at the moment my
- [The Keys to Writing a Good Story](https://robynpaterson.com/the-keys-to-writing-a-good-story/) - 1) It's about the characters. The story goes that someone broke all the possible plots down into 36 different situations, and I've heard 7 as well, and 3 (man vs. man, man vs. himself,and man vs. nature). The truth is, it doesn't matter how original your plot is- it's been done before, and it will
- [The Truth about Writers and Writing](https://robynpaterson.com/the-truth-about-writers-and-writing/) - Written in the heydey of the 20th century magazine era, Lemuel De Bra's The Truth about Writers and Writing is an interesting article from 1924 about the realities of writing from someone who made their living writing magazine fiction stories. In a lot of ways, things were far easier for writers in De Bra's time-
- [Oral versus Aural](https://robynpaterson.com/oral-versus-aural/) - I'm running into an interesting question as I work on Crocodile Princess- since this is intended to be an audiobook should I be writing it to be read aloud or read like a book? What I mean by this is that I've found I've been writing it with the intention to be read aloud, but
- [Audiobooks](https://robynpaterson.com/audiobooks/) - I just had the following e-mail exchange with a friend about Audiobooks: Friend: There seems to be a lot of love for Little Gou. It'll be interesting to see how the audiobook goes down in relation to the audio dramas. I wonder what people are more into listening to... Rob: Here's another interesting factoid- part
- [Freedom!!!!!](https://robynpaterson.com/freedom/) - This week, I started something I haven't in a very long time- I started to write a novel. I had tried to write novels before in my youth, but it never seemed to come together and I couldn't seem to finish them. Looking back now, I can see this was mostly my own inexperience with
- [In the Land of the Blind- Clarity is King](https://robynpaterson.com/in-the-land-of-the-blind-clarity-is-king/) - Something I keep coming back to in my discussions with others about writing and producing audio drama is the issue of clarity. To me, the first commandment of producing audio drama is "thou shalt not confuse thy audience", because in a form like this that's 100% reliant on the listener's imagination it's really easy to
- [Writing Speed](https://robynpaterson.com/writing-speed/) - A friend just mentioned to me that she knows of someone turning out a full 20-30 page script in 45 minutes. That's astounding! O_o! My own writing speed when it comes to audio drama scripts is about 6 hours for a 20-30 page script. The time seems to fly by while I'm working, but when
- [The Life of a Pendant Show](https://robynpaterson.com/the-life-of-a-pendant-show/) - Jeffrey Bridges, the incredibly devoted executive producer of Pendant Productions just posted a blog entry outlining the process Pendant shows go through from idea to production. It really is like a professional studio over there! Amazing work, Jeffrey! While the process for a one-man show like KFAT is much simpler, it shows you how many
- [Sine Language- the Japanese art of writing combat.](https://robynpaterson.com/sine-language-the-japanese-art-of-writing-combat/) - So, I've been reading a lot of the Naruto manga recently. Like it (which I do) or hate it, Naruto really is one of the most popular comics and anime on the planet, and it's struck a chord with young people everywhere. As a result, I've spent a lot of time reading the manga both
- [Writing Promos](https://robynpaterson.com/writing-promos/) - I've just finished producing 2.3 of the hardest minutes of audio production to write- my Promo. Ironically enough, it was written in less than 40 minutes (to you who say "it shows", my reply is "you know where the find the exit" ^_-) but that made it no less difficult to come up with. In
- [Murdering Reality](https://robynpaterson.com/murdering-reality/) - In a recent post on her livejournal, fellow producer Niko Ford was complaining that she was having trouble writing a murder mystery story because she couldn't think of many situations where the cops wouldn't just come in and take over and leave our heros with pretty much nothing to do. While modern technology and forensic
- [A Cast of Thousands](https://robynpaterson.com/a-cast-of-thousands/) - Recently I listened to a show called Beta Flight from BrokenSea Productions, and while it was extremely well done on the technical side, on the writing side it fell a little short. The most major problem with it was it's cast, of which there were far far too many, or as I put it in
- [The Honeymoon](https://robynpaterson.com/the-honeymoon/) - And here's the pictures from our honeymoon trip to Quebec City!
- [Rob's Wedding Pictures](https://robynpaterson.com/robs-wedding-pictures/) - At long last! Here are my wedding pictures from June!
- [Wife's Blog](https://robynpaterson.com/wifes-blog/) - For those of you in Taiwan (who read Chinese), my wife Connie has a Blog about her adventures in Canada filled with Photos and other interesting stuff you should go and check out. It can be found at: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/connierob, and will do a better job of keeping you up to date on me that this
- [My Last Week at Work!](https://robynpaterson.com/my-last-week-at-work/) - This was a week of goodbyes for me as I prepared to return to Canada. Luckily I have some amazing students who gave me a great sendoff! I'll write more about this later, but until then here's some pictures of the fun!Final Week at Work
- [Pictures from Chinese New Year!](https://robynpaterson.com/pictures-from-chinese-new-year/) - Chinese New Year 2007I spent Chinese New Year with Connie's family, which included a whirlwind tour of the city of KaohSiung and the beach at KenDing, thanks to Connie's very kind Uncle. They asked me where I wanted to go before I left Taiwan, I said "Well, I've never been to Kaohsiung", and the next
- [Cyberlink Advanced Class Finishes](https://robynpaterson.com/cyberlink-advanced-class-finishes/) - (from L>R: Irisa, Joseph, Me, Mou, Herry and Arthur. Missing: Elisa, Shelly, Cyndi. Remus, Joseph and Gary)Last night I finished my advanced class at Cyberlink, the software company I've been teaching at on Tuesday and Thursday nights for the past three months. While the intermediate class on Tuesday nights were fun, this was the more
- [](https://robynpaterson.com/714/) - Last night I finished one of my two classes at Cyberlink, a Taiwanese Software Company famous for it's products like Power DVD. This class was one of the few all-male classes I have taught in my time here, and it was a lot of fun to teach them and spend time helping them to practice
- [My last day at San-Chong Senior Vocational High School](https://robynpaterson.com/my-last-day-at-san-chong-senior-vocational-high-school/) - Since early December, I have been lucky enough to go each Saturday morning and teach a special class of 20 or so Senior High School students at a local Vocational high school. This class, focussing on "International Trade", wanted to give their English skills a boost, so they hired me to go in and give
- [Merry Christmas!](https://robynpaterson.com/merry-christmas/) - Rob here! Hard at work at the Kojen offices writing Christmas Greetings to one and all while I awaited the annual Kojen Christmas party on the Friday before Christmas! Nigel (head of my school), Rob, Vivian (cutie in grey and back), Dave and Brenda wish everyone a Merry Christmas from the teacher's room at Kojen
- [Gothic Old Building](https://robynpaterson.com/gothic-old-building/) - The reason I always carry my camera with me in Taipei is that I never know what I'm going to see next. As I walked to join Connie for her wedding dress fitting I saw this rather creepy looking old building towering nearby, so I snapped off a few pictures of it. I think it's
- [Warriors of Stone](https://robynpaterson.com/warriors-of-stone/) - Taiwanese, I have noted, have a love of statues. They use them quite a bit to decorate their buildings and open spaces, so I try to take pictures of some of the more interesting ones I see as I wander around Taipei.These fellows were found in front of an office building the other week, and
- [Dennis](https://robynpaterson.com/dennis/) - At lunchtime on Tuesday and Thursdays I've been teaching a pair of loan officers from Cosmos Bank: Dennis and Samy. Their bank was bought out by the GE Financial group and so they have been working hard to improve their English for personal and professional reasons. Dennis is a really friendly and hardworking guy, and
- [Formosa Valve and Fitting Company](https://robynpaterson.com/formosa-valve-and-fitting-company/) - Recently I finished a session (but no the class) at the Formosa Valve and Fitting Company, a company located way out in the suburb of San-Chong where I teach 5 beautiful girls and one distinguished gentlemen. The gentleman was out this day, so unfortunately you will have to make due with a picture of the
- [My Cheating Heart...](https://robynpaterson.com/my-cheating-heart/) - Well, I have to confess, I'm a cheater. A two-timer. It's true, I have another blog....I feel so....ashamed... ^_- Actually, not so ashamed. I have always felt this blog was restricted to my life here in Taiwan, and probably that's why it hasn't been updated at much as it should be. This blog really doesn't
- [Wide Open Spaces](https://robynpaterson.com/wide-open-spaces/) - I often spend a lot of my time when I need to get out on the local University Campus. National Taiwan University is one of the oldest in Taiwan, and a beautiful place. It's just two city blocks from my home, and next to most of the local restaurants, so I often wander there after
- [The Library](https://robynpaterson.com/the-library/) - Nice and imposing, isn't it? A good solid modern campus library! A nearby Japanese-styled student center where I went after taking these pictures. Another shot the library, with it's stone name plaque, a very common thing in Asia. They like the permanence that having things carved in stone seems to imply. I wonder if Connie
- [What lies within...](https://robynpaterson.com/what-lies-within/) - A Taiwanese university cafeteria.Weird modern art in the main hall. Looks like it was designed by engineers! Pay phones! Which in Taiwan mean ugly grey or green boxes! A student checking the announcements and somesuch in the hall, notice how the Japanese theme is carried on inside as well as outside.
- [The way out!](https://robynpaterson.com/the-way-out/) - What lies beyond this door? Oh no! Trees! Triffids would love this place, probably as much as I do. It's a real garden campus. Before crossing the street, look right! And look left!
- [Something Old](https://robynpaterson.com/something-old-2/) - Bicycles are perhaps the most common form of student transportation here, and around the world! Staircase from a Japanese-era building. Another shot of the stairs, experimenting with light and camera angles. The actual building, which I believe is an engineering building. The weathered effect is literally the result of the extreme weather here in Taipei.
- [YangMinShan](https://robynpaterson.com/yangminshan/) - So, today I joined Connie and her mother in a tip up YangMinShan mountain to one of it's many parks! I met them at the train station, and then two bus rides later there we were outside of the visitor center.. I took this picture because I thought it was sad they had to put
- [YangMinShan1](https://robynpaterson.com/yangminshan1/) - The area we were is called TsinTiangGang, and here's a map! The rules of the park! I like the part about not playing with Oxen! As if I need to be reminded! Up into the clouds....Well...More clouds! Hard to believe that this rolling pasture is at the top of a mountain range! It looks like
- [YangMinShan2](https://robynpaterson.com/yangminshan2/) - Rob takes a moment to enjoy the surprisingly comfortable top of the mountain. The breeze was warmish, the grass soft and I was a bit tired....a good place to nap, and I was hardly alone in doing so! Connie's mother returns from her walk to find Rob asleep when he should have been on guard
- [YangMinShan3](https://robynpaterson.com/yangminshan3/) - A father-daughter moment. She thought he was sleeping, and learned that not all is as it appears! A nice Chinese-style Gazebo where you can sit and look out at the landscape while you eat your lunch. Time to go home! Off to the bus! But wait! There's a lineup! (Which we spent nearly a half
- [A bad habit...](https://robynpaterson.com/a-bad-habit/) - As I was walking home, I suddenly noticed that there was a Roach on the sidewalk walking along with a cigarette in it's mouth. Originally it actually had it by the end, just like a smoker, but by the time I whipped out my camera it had it by the middle. Too bad, it looked
- [Moon Festival Friday Continues..](https://robynpaterson.com/moon-festival-friday-continues/) - Pi-Pi, Connie's Uncle's family dog. Cute, energetic and dumb as a post. Connie's mom looking majestic as usual. (And I'm not just saying this because I'm marrying her daughter next year!) Yum! Chicken Feet! All yours, honey! No, I don't want any chicken feet, but thanks for asking!Rob
- [Moon Festival!](https://robynpaterson.com/moon-festival/) - As last Friday night was the Chinese Moon Festival holiday, which is basically the equivalent of Canadian Thanksgiving. It's a harvest festival, to celebrate the end of the year by family getting together. Normally they have a barbecue outdoors and look at the big full moon. Connie, her mother and I went to Connie's Uncle's
- [What is Podcasting? Watch this short PSA video and find out!](https://robynpaterson.com/what-is-podcasting-watch-this-short-psa-video-and-find-out/) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpciLIA0Kn4Well done!Rob
- [Trails in the Sky](https://robynpaterson.com/trails-in-the-sky/) - Thursday was an extremely clear day, and the clouds just seemed to hang in the beautiful blue sky, I was so impressed I snapped a few shots...The more planes went by, the more lines were left. It created quite a pattern. X marks the spot! (Sorry, I couldn't help it!)
- [Drinkest Thou Coke! Or Else!](https://robynpaterson.com/drinkest-thou-coke-or-else/) - There is a huge World of Warcraft advertising campaign going here in Taiwan, which includes this giant poster (it's about 7m tall) outside an internet cafe in downtown Taipei. I thought I'd snap it just for my WoW playing friends to see.
- [Rob's Foray into Podcasting](https://robynpaterson.com/robs-foray-into-podcasting/) - I have started a Podcast called Kung Fu Action Theatre wherein I read WuXia action-adventure stories translated from Chinese for an English audience. I am doing it to try to promote the Chinese WuXia genre (their equilvalent of Westerns, really) which is largely unknown except by a few people outside of Chinese culture. If you're
- [More Trading on English](https://robynpaterson.com/more-trading-on-english/) - Elaine is an extremely sweet woman who never stops smiling and probably has one of the biggest hearts I've seen since I came to Taiwan. When I last saw her, she was off to pick up to birthday cake so she could show up at her boyfriend's home at midnight and surprise him with it.
- [Trading on English](https://robynpaterson.com/trading-on-english/) - Tonight I had my final class (and dinner) with my students from the Yuan Ta stock trading company, almost all of my students were members of their risk assessment department, and let me tell you, they were one smart group of people! We went to a great Italian restaurant called HAAS, which had really good
- [EUROpean Tour is Over!](https://robynpaterson.com/european-tour-is-over/) - Today I finished teaching the second of my two classes at EURO RSCG, the local advertising company I've been teaching at for about three months. This was the lower level class, who are still working at getting the hang of English. They were a pretty rambunctious group, and pretty noisy sometimes, but a lot of
- [Cutie](https://robynpaterson.com/cutie-2/) - Connie's brother's girlfriend, Yu-Mei, decided she wanted to get a dog and so not long ago it came to visit the Kang household. His name is Cutie, and as you can see, he fits the description. Dogs of this type (I refer to them as "toy dogs" or occasionally "rats") are extremely common in Taipei
- [EURO RSCG Advanced Class](https://robynpaterson.com/euro-rscg-advanced-class/) - So yesterday I finished my first teaching session with the advanced class at the EURO RSCG advertising agency, which I have to say has been a heck of a lot of fun. Front Row: (l>r) Verona, Tina, June, Estella, Fiona, KevenBack Row: Knight, Rob, Chris, RuthThey were a great class, really creative and fun to
- [A Lovely Dinner](https://robynpaterson.com/a-lovely-dinner/) - A few weeks ago my friend (and former student) Chalk (the smiling guy in the back) called me up and asked if Connie and I would like to go for dinner. Of course we accepted since Chaulk is one of the nicest guys I know here in Taiwan. He took us to what would best
- [Sunset at Sunlit](https://robynpaterson.com/sunset-at-sunlit/) - I know I've been remiss in writing in my Blog recently, I just got finished a nasty round of colds and some culture shock that didn't leave me much in the mood for Blogging, and I apologize for that. I have, however, been taking pictures, so it's time to get some of them up! This
- [Graduation Day!](https://robynpaterson.com/graduation-day/) - Last Sunday was Connie's graduation from University, and as a result all her immediate family gathered together early Sunday morning at a McDonalds near the graduation site for breakfast. (Hmm...maybe I should sell this story as a commercial to McDonalds...) After breakfast, we left for the site and met up with Connie's friends, co-workers, and
- [Congratulations Honey!](https://robynpaterson.com/congratulations-honey/) - There's always time for a hug!
- [Bouquet](https://robynpaterson.com/bouquet/) - One of Connie's high-school classmates met us at McDonalds and gave her this lovely giant bouquet of flowers, which I ended up carrying around for the rest of the day. (It was worth it, though. )

## Pages

- [Tools for Planning and Writing](https://robynpaterson.com/story-plottingformulas/tools-for-planning-and-writing/) - Russell Blake’s Outlining Method– He uses spreadsheets to plan out his work in detail and has a system for color coding them and keeping the pace up. Rather impressive. This is a hyper-productive author who writes almost a book a month using this method. The Subway Method of Mapping Out Your Story- This is a technique
- [English Webfiction Sites](https://robynpaterson.com/english-webfiction-sites/) - A list of sites hosting English webfiction, both translated and original. Wattpad - biggest English webfiction site in the world, hard to get noticed, 80% female readership Royal Road -lovers of Fantasy and litRPGs Moonquill - Rising webfiction platform and publisher with website and app. Stories must be accepted before being published on the site.
- [Outlining Methods](https://robynpaterson.com/story-plottingformulas/outlining-methods/) - The Snowflake Method- A systematic method of outlining, this one starts with characters and eventually leads to a spreadsheet list of all of your scenes. (Speaking of which, here's a Scene List Spreadsheet in Google Drive to use with the article, you can Make a Copy to your own Google Drive, or just plain download
- [Middle Grade and YA Newsletter](https://robynpaterson.com/newsletter-signups/middle-grade-and-ya-newsletter/)
- [Short Story Writing Formulas](https://robynpaterson.com/story-plottingformulas/short-story-writing-formulas/) - The Lester Dent Master Formula for Pulp Fiction Writing– Meant for short stories/novellas, but still a useful guide to writing adventure stories by one of the true masters of the pulp genre. (He said he never failed to sell a single story using this formula.) I’ve shortened it down to modified checklist you can find here.
- [Mystery Story Formulas](https://robynpaterson.com/story-plottingformulas/murder-mystery-formulas/) - Classic 12-Chapter Mystery Formula– This article outlines the standard formula used by mystery writers through countless stories in the past century for Whodunnit's and Cozy Mysteries. The Two-Body Plot: A Useful Four-Act Murder Mystery Structure - Writer John P. Murphy outlines the story structure used by author P.D. James and others. A really good article,
- [How Japanese Storytelling is Different](https://robynpaterson.com/how-japanese-storytelling-is-different/) - A while back I watched a video on the Silent Manga Audition Community channel where they talked about role pairs (dramatic pairings of characters, like cop-criminal, or teacher-student, etc) and their importance in manga. And since then, I’ve been pondering why the manga creator in the video thought they were so important. Now I finally
- [Thanks for Being a Reader!](https://robynpaterson.com/write-shonen-manga-extra-files/thanks-for-being-a-reader/) - Please enjoy these free stories with my compliments: Choose your Format: MOBI for Kindle Readers ePub for general e-readers PDF for PC and MAC Choose your Format: MOBI for Kindle Readers ePub for general e-readers PDF for PC and MAC
- [Creative Works](https://robynpaterson.com/about-2/creative-works/)
- [My Books](https://robynpaterson.com/about-2/book-table/)
- [Writing Formulas](https://robynpaterson.com/story-plottingformulas/writing-formulas/) - The Quintessential Action Adventure Plot Outline lives up to its name, and you will find no more complete outline for writing a pulp adventure, spy story, martial arts story, superhero story, or other action-packed tale than this amazing outline by writer Dixon Kinquade. However, since so much choice can be a little intimidating, I've put
- [Story Plotting/Formulas](https://robynpaterson.com/story-plottingformulas/) - Each writer has their own way of plotting that works for them, and often they must go on a sort of writer's journey to find that particular form of planning their stories that just clicks with the voices singing a chorus in their heads. For some, it's as simple as writing a short synopsis of
- [Writing Tips and Theory](https://robynpaterson.com/story-plottingformulas/writing-tips-and-theory/) - PIXAR's 22 Rules of Storytelling- is a collection of 22 "rules" that Pixar storyboard Artist Emma Coats picked up during her time there and which are good for any writer to consider and think about as they're writing. It's not so much a system for planning and plotting as a collection of things to help
- [Write! Shonen Manga Extra Files](https://robynpaterson.com/write-shonen-manga-extra-files/) - Here's the editable word processing files to help you make even better use of Write! Shonen Manga's techniques in your own writing. (Right click and save to download.) Character Sheet DOCX Battle Manga Planning Sheet DOCX Big Story Questions Worksheet DOCX Note: Bookmark this page if you want to find the files again, or email
- [WritingNewsletter](https://robynpaterson.com/newsletter-signups/writingnewsletter/)
- [Finishing your Shows](https://robynpaterson.com/writings-on-audio-drama-production/finishing-your-shows/) - Size Does Matter - Finishing your Radioplays – by Robyn Paterson (With special thanks to Bill Hollweg, Gregg Taylor, Julie Hoverson and Cryswave) “To be a writer, you must write, and you must finish what you write.” Robert A. Heinlein One of the most frustrating things as a fan of amateur radioplays is that many
- [Writing for Audio Drama](https://robynpaterson.com/writings-on-audio-drama-production/writing-for-audio-drama/) - Writing for Audio Drama: An Overview By Robyn Paterson (with special thanks to Fiona Thraille) “Life ain’t art.” – W.O. Mitchell So, you wanna write audio drama (aka radio plays), and you’re wondering how you’re going to do it. Well, I have good news for you, and I have bad news for you. The good
- [Random Story Generators](https://robynpaterson.com/random-story-generators/) - I have written two random story generators to help writers who are stuck or just looking for a little inspiration. The Random Scene Generator gives you a pair of people who are naturally in opposition to each other and a verb which defines the scene they're in. The Random Action Adventure Plot Generator gives you
- [Random Dramatic Scene Generator](https://robynpaterson.com/random-story-generators/random-dramatic-scene-generator-2/)
- [Random Action Adventure Plot Generator](https://robynpaterson.com/random-story-generators/random-action-adventure-plot-generator/)
- [Short Bio](https://robynpaterson.com/about-2/short-bio/) - Robyn Paterson Executive Summary: Author of The Crocodile Princess and Pirate Knight, both available on Amazon.com Founder, Head Scriptwriter, Audio Editor and Producer of Kung Fu Action Theatre Podcast. Produced 47 full-cast audio dramas between 2006-2011. Co-host of The Department of Nerdly Affairs Podcast, founded November 2015. Lecturer at Fanshawe College of London, Ontario since
- [Action, Scifi and Fantasy Newsletter](https://robynpaterson.com/newsletter-signups/mature-readers-signup-list/)
- [General and Young Adult Reader Newsletter](https://robynpaterson.com/newsletter-signups/general-and-young-adult-fiction-signups/)
- [Portfolio of Work](https://robynpaterson.com/about-2/creative-works/portfolio-of-work/) - Written Works Fiction: Novels: Ascension- A Novel of the Twin Stars Little Gou and the Crocodile Princess Short Stories: Little Gou Stories: Hot Soup (an adaptation of the audio drama Little Gou and the Emperor's Cousin) The Cat and the Whaler (an adaptation of the audio drama Little Gou and the order of the Perfect
- [Reviews of Rob's Work](https://robynpaterson.com/about-2/reviews-of-robs-work/) - Rob's work in the field of Audio Drama has been reviewed on the following sites: Established Audio Review- Twin Stars (December 30th, 2009. Silivren.net) Established Audio Review- The Adventures of Little Gou (Nov. 24th, 2009. Silivren.net) Established Audio Review- D-Ranger (Oct 16th, 2009. Silivren.net)
- [Writings on Audio Drama Production](https://robynpaterson.com/writings-on-audio-drama-production/) - Some essays I have written on the subject of producing Audio Drama — Finishing your Shows — Keys to Writing a Good Story — Narration 1A1 — The Perils of Fan Fiction — Thoughts on Narration — Writing for Audio Drama
- [About Rob](https://robynpaterson.com/about-2/) - A Short Bio Personal Accomplishments Teaching Resume Media Appearances Reviews of Rob's Work
- [Personal Accomplishments](https://robynpaterson.com/about-2/personal-accomplishments/) - In addition to having lived and taught in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, since 2006 Rob has been the producer of the Kung Fu Action Theatre audio drama production group, an online entertainment company that produces monthly online radio dramas and short story readings. Working with actors and talents people from all over the world,
- [Thoughts on Narration](https://robynpaterson.com/writings-on-audio-drama-production/thoughts-on-narration/) - It was a dark and stormy night… This is perhaps one of the most famous (if clichéd) bits of narration ever written, and is a suitable place to start this article on…you guessed it! Narration! Specifically narration as it relates to Audio Drama. There are as many kinds of narration as there are types of
- [The Perils of Fan Fiction](https://robynpaterson.com/writings-on-audio-drama-production/the-perils-of-fan-fiction/) - The other day, I was listening to a Star Wars audio drama called Conquest of the Empire, a fairly well engineered audio drama set shortly after Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. It opened with an epic starfighter battle, but there was no dialogue and no narration to tell me it was a starfighter battle,
- [Narration 1A1](https://robynpaterson.com/writings-on-audio-drama-production/narration-1a1/) - Narration 1A1: It was my darkest and stormiest night… So, you’re going to write your epic Star Wars audio drama in the grand tradition of NPR and many others. You’ve got characters, you’ve got a story in mind, now you’ve just got to write it and go, right? Wrong! There’s a really big decision ahead
- [Keys to Writing a Good Story](https://robynpaterson.com/writings-on-audio-drama-production/keys-to-writing-a-good-story/) - 1) It's about the characters. The story goes that someone broke all the possible plots down into 36 different situations, and I've heard 7 as well, and 3 (man vs. man, man vs. himself,and man vs. nature). The truth is, it doesn't matter how original your plot is- it's been done before, and it will
- [Media Appearances](https://robynpaterson.com/about-2/media-appearances/) - Rob has done interviews about his role in producing Kung Fu Action Theatre with several established podcasts: Wander Radio Snark Infested Waters Sonic Society (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) He has also done public talks about Audio Drama Production, most recently presenting at Podcamp London, a social media un-conference held in his hometown of

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- [Lord of Goblins](https://robynpaterson.com/category/lord-of-goblins/)
- [Manga Writing](https://robynpaterson.com/category/manga-writing/)

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- [Edge of Tomorrow](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/edge-of-tomorrow/)
- [The Nerdist](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/the-nerdist/)
- [Acting](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/acting/)
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- [Lester Dent](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/lester-dent/)
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- [Epic Rap Battles of HIstory](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/epic-rap-battles-of-history/)
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- [Classics](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/classics/)
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- [Li Bai](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/li-bai/)
- [The Piano Guys](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/the-piano-guys/)
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- [Gaming the System](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/gaming-the-system/)
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- [Bad Romance](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/bad-romance/)
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- [Playthrough](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/playthrough/)
- [Five Nights at Freddy's](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/five-nights-at-freddys/)
- [Excerpt](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/excerpt/)
- [Chuck Palahniuk](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/chuck-palahniuk/)
- [Writing Advice](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/writing-advice/)
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- [Choose-Your-Own-Adventure](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/choose-your-own-adventure/)
- [Art of Charm](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/art-of-charm/)
- [Pickup Podcast](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/pickup-podcast/)
- [Self Improvement](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/self-improvement/)
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- [Social Hacking](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/social-hacking/)
- [School of Greatness](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/school-of-greatness/)
- [Business](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/business/)
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- [Jackie Chan](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/jackie-chan/)
- [Random](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/random/)
- [Random Dramatic Scene Generator](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/random-dramatic-scene-generator/)
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- [Scene](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/scene/)
- [Everyday AR](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/everyday-ar/)
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- [Sengoku Jidai](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/sengoku-jidai/)
- [Warring States](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/warring-states/)
- [Shogunate](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/shogunate/)
- [Akira Kurosawa](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/akira-kurosawa/)
- [Cinema](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/cinema/)
- [Tony Zhou](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/tony-zhou/)
- [FORCEdraft](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/forcedraft/)
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- [Sonic Speaks](https://robynpaterson.com/tag/sonic-speaks/)
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