Ursula K Le Guin remembers freedom

If you are a writer who hasn't read the brilliant Ursula K Le Guin, drop everything and get yourself to a library. Here is her powerful and inspiring acceptance speech for the National Book Awards.

Twin Peaks Detectives

Dale Cooper discovers things have changed in the last twenty-five years of television.



Since so many of you are Twin Peaks fans, here's a clever knitting pattern to make your own Black Lodge gloves.

The power of media and makeup

Stars without makeup. They really do look just like us. Remember that the next time you're comparing yourself to a celebrity.

Disney Princesses Reimagined as Different Ethnicities

Check out this eye-opening project

Time for NANOWRIMO!

National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) is upon us!

November is when thousands of writers across the globe commit to writing 50,000 words in 30 days (what I affectionately call a "Vomit Draft"). Whether you want to write a novel, a screenplay, or a songbook, COMMIT and use the power of accountability to just do it already!!

The beauty of NANOWRIMO is it gets you out of your head and onto the page, lets you write stream of conscious instead of editing yourself, builds community with other writers, and gets many projects flowing that authors would otherwise never start.

Here are our Los Angeles Resources.

Here is NANOWRIMO's fabulous list of books on writing, including Stephen King's On Writing." Great advice from the creator of NANOWRIMO, as well as success stories of published authors.

Writing Mythical Archetypes

When you go to write your next project, think about designing your characters first.

We've talked in Media Arts 129 about mythical archetypes.

Because so many of you share my love for Twin Peaks, here is a brilliant article outlining how some of the beloved characters can be divided into eternal archetypes that fulfill humankind's constant need for mythical and meaningful storytelling. Notice how each archetype has a runner-up category...like The Lord of the Rings, Twin Peaks employs doubles and twins.

Warriors! Come out and Plaaaayaaay!!!

We are watching one of my favorite movies tonight in class. It is a crazy masterpiece by a writer/director who has amazing craft. And it based on Greek military history, as recounted by Xenophon in Anabasis.

Here is a terrific article on a New Bev showing of this cult film that all your favorite directors love.


And here's the link to rent it for $2.99 on YouTube, because you know you now want to go make all your friends watch it!