Here's a little excerpt from a larger piece of fiction I've been working on, posted over at Five By Five Hundred. It's completely out of context, but that's okay; I think it works alright on it's own.
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Thom Dunn is a Boston-based writer, musician, and utterly terrible dancer. He is the singer/guitarist for the indie rock/power-pop the Roland High Life, as well as a staff writer for the New York Times’ Wirecutter and a regular contributor at BoingBoing.net. Thom enjoys Oxford commas, metaphysics, and romantic clichés (especially when they involve whiskey), and he firmly believes that Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" is the single greatest atrocity committed against mankind. He is a graduate of Clarion Writer's Workshop at UCSD ('13) & Emerson College ('08).
Mow That Lawn! Yeah!
Hey kids! Remember the '90s? Remember "virtual reality"? Remember Jeff Fahey? And mowing the lawn? Of course you do. In my latest piece for Tor.com, I take a look back at the 1992 film classic The Lawnmower Man to see just how well the evils of "VR" and dial-up modems still hold up today.
"Flowers For The Lawnmower Man" on Tor Dot Com
EPIC THEMES (and...some other stuff over there)
Jonathan Hickman is a comic book writer who has mostly taken over the two main AVENGERS books, and has also published a number of highly acclaimed creator-owned books that took remarkably innovative approaches to graphic narratives. But as much as I've enjoyed most of his work (especially his Secret Warriors which is one of my favorite Marvel series in recent years), I've noticed something...off...about his story telling (Red Mass For Mars and The Red Wing in particular both start off really cool and then...don't really go anywhere). Over at Tor.com, I've provided a detailed analysis of this strange narrative voice, but what it comes down to is that Hickman likes to explicitly tell his readers about his huge, epic, sweeping themes using marvelous spectacle and narrative devices. Then he finds a plot that works as an excuse for him to tell you about these themes and use these spectacles, and fills the plot in with characters, 'cause I guess you need those, too. And the theatre professional in me realized that this flies right in the face of Aristotle's POETICS, which have long formed the basis for our understanding of Western dramatic storytelling.
I'll let the rest of the article speak for itself:
"The Strange Poetics of Jonathan Hickman" on Tor Dot Com
Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Dhaoibh!
(that's "Happy New Years" in Irish, 'natch)
It's a busy end to the Holiday Season, with back-to-back-to-back celebrations, but here's a quick update on some things. First, a little New Years poem I wrote over at Five By Five Hundred about 2012's significant lack of jetpacks. I also wrote a little blog / essay about my brain as a writer entitled "Less Talk, More Rock" for the Boston One Minute Play Festival, which is this coming weekend, January 5-7, at Boston Playwrights Theatre, and features two short plays that I wrote. I have very specifically avoided rehearsals, so I'm excited to see what's going to come out of the little bits of text I wrote. If you're interested but unavailable to make it to the show, the 8pm performance on Sunday, January 6 will be streamed live on HowlRound's NewPlay TV, so you can watch the whole thing from the comfort of your laptop.
That's all for now; see you in The Future!
Merry Christmas (Eve)!
I figure must people are busy spending time with their families (as they should be!), so here's a quick update for you to enjoy while you're in the bathroom or waiting for family to arrive or whatever. First, over on Five By Five Hundred, I whipped up a brief little parody piece after one of my own family's favorite traditions that I think everyone can enjoy -- "'Twas The Night Before Christmas Break."
And then there's this:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDheBMWy7Ic]
You're welcome. Merry Christmas! (and equivalent non-Christian holiday greetings, of course)
Molesting a Metaphor
Just a quick update -- it's been a rather intense weekend for everyone. But here's my newest post on Five By Five Hundred, a quick little wordplay piece of prose that attempts to go too far on the idea of "molesting a metaphor" (based on a recent LitReactor.com article on how NOT to use a metaphor). I don't know, it just sounded fun. Enjoy!
"It's a Metaphor, Fool" on FiveByFiveHundred.com
Music To Soothe Your Jangled Innards
Quick update about a few events I've got coming up. One, I'll doing a show THIS Friday, December 14 at the All Asia in Central Square, Cambridge with my / Boston's premiere all-male hard rock Lady Gaga cover band Alejandro and the Fame. These shows are always a blast for everyone involved, and are almost always guaranteed to sell out, so make you get there (lookin' at you, People On The Other Side Of The River Who Missed Our Last Show Because It Was Allllllll The Way In JP Oh BooHoo). Admission is a scant $6, and we hit the stage around 10:30pm! I'm also excited to announce that I'll be performing a short set for MORTIFIED at Oberon on Saturday, December 22. For those who haven't heard of this, MORTIFIED is a night of performance in which real-live grown adult humans read horribly horribly embarrassing things from their high school journals / AIM transcripts / etc, and hilarity ensues. And so, during my set, you'll be treated to some particularly painful gems that I dugout from my high school and middle school songwriting notebooks. Ever wonder what kind of angsty tunes I wrote when I was 14 (including "Dot of my 'I'" and instant never-classic "Fuck You Hotchkiss Lane")? Here's your only chance to hear them live! More information to come when I got it.
And finally, I was asked to write up a few scripts for the 2nd Annual Boston One-Minute Play Festival at the Boston Playwrights Theatre, January 5-7. I believe the evening as a whole contains about 100 one-minute plays (yes, really, but c'mon, that's barely an hour and a half!), so I'm sure there's going to be some great variety. And if you don't like a play, well, just wait one minute! I will say that writing a play, complete with a status quo, conflict, rising action,and denouement is remarkably more difficult than you might expect it to be, but I'm pretty pleased with what I came up with (and I should be blogging a bit more about it soon over at their website).
That's all for now, folks! See you Friday!
Holiday Special
Today on Five By Five Hundred, I decided to kick off our celebration and excitement for the upcoming holiday season. No, not Christmas; I mean the end of the world! With only 12 days left until the supposed Mayan Apocalypse / World Shift / New Age / Another Boring Saturday Where Nothing Significant Actually Happens Or Changes, I decided to tweak one of your perennial holiday favorites and update it for the times. Enjoy!
"The 12 Days Of Apocalypse" on FiveByFiveHundred.com
ALSO! In case you don't already follow the rest of the daily exploits on 5x500 without me telling you (for some bizarre reason I don't know why you wouldn't), we are currently taking submissions for a new weekly contributor to join us on Sundays! Follow link to learn all about the necessary submission information in handy haiku form. All we ask is that you post a new something every Sunday in keeping with the theme of the website. "What's the theme of the website?" you ask, like some fool who hasn't even been paying attention. "Glad you asked!" I respond through gritted teeth. I pause for a moment as I hiss in my breath and explain that the only criteria is that must write something and that it must be under 500 words. Poetry, prose, scripts, rants, memoirs, serial fiction, serial murders -- whatever, it doesn't matter, just as long as it's under 500 words. Simple enough, right?
If you think you have what it takes, check out our submission guidelines. We look forward to hearing from you!
Why I Hate Journey (the band)
I get asked this question all the time, so I think it’s important for me to finally come clean and set the record straight: why do I hate the band Journey so much?
Read MoreThe Truth About Thom Dunn: Revealed!
I think when most people meet me for the first time, they get a pretty good read at who I am, and nearly all of them leave this first encounter with an awareness of most, if not all, of these essential Thom Dunn truths:
- I really like comic books
- I really like beer
- I really like being awesome
- I am awesome
- I really like being Irish
- I have much better taste in music than you, and if I don't, I will gladly engage in friendly albeit heated debate with you about it
- I really, really hate Journey
Most of these facts require very little explanation, but it's the last one that does occasionally lead to controversy.
I've decided that it's time for me to set the record straight once and for all, and explain myself to the Internets.
But keep in mind that the truth can sometimes be a bitter pill to swallow. I think I might be mixing metaphors there, but I don't care. You have been warned.
"Why I Hate Journey (the band)" on FiveByFiveHundred.com
Timey-Wimey Stuff
And here's another new article I wrote for the fine folks at Quirk Books about one of my favorite things in the entire world: time travel paradoxes. Time to make your head spin!
"Classic Time Travel Paradoxes (and how to avoid them)" at Quirk Books
More Fictional Music Stuff
I actually wrote this article quite while ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it hit the waves of the Internet today. Similar to another post I did over at Tor, this one breaks down a few of my favorite fictional rock bands (some of which have managed to become nonfictional as well, which is a particularly impressive feet). Check it out!
Five Of Our Favorite Fictional Bands at Quirk Books
In Progress
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Today on Five By Five Hundred, I've posted a little preview of a larger prose serial I'm working on. So it's cryptic, sure, as part of a much larger whole, but I think it stands decently on its own. Enjoy!
"The Crash" on FiveByFiveHundred.com
The Beauty of Meat Loaf
This is something I've been meaning to do for a while, but this week on Five By Five Hundred, I decided to take some prose and apply it to music. Meaning, I've tried to recreate a song with words instead of music. And what better song to try this little experiment on than Meat Loaf's (and Jim Steinman's) magnum opus "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)," because c'mon, that song's awesome. Also I'd advise you read all the way to the end...
"'THAT'" on FiveByFiveHundred.com
Too Busy
First of all, thanks to everyone who came to our Alejandro & the Fame show this past Saturday. We completely sold out the venue, which is always a cool feeling*, plus Shaymus Moynihan and the gang at the Midway treated us with some truly fantastic hospitality while we were there. (Read: free drinks) Anyway, point is: it's Monday, and after a hard day of writing, I've got a new piece up at Five By Five Hundred about time. We could all use more free time, yeah? And yet, somehow, no one blames the government. Maybe they're taking all of our free time, hrmmm? Even though it's supposed to be free?
Yes, I know, that sounds ridiculous. But it made for a fun little flash fiction sketch.
"FREE TIME" at FiveByFiveHundred.com
*Although, at the same time, it was kind of depressing, because apparently people come out in droves to see 5 guys shredding their way through Lady Gaga songs, but no one cares about original music. But I digress.
Tomorrow We Vote For Our Lovers
Because everyone's obviously feeling inundated and overwhelmed with all of the political commentary consuming the Internet, I decided this week to give everyone a break, and write something quick and simple about love and romance for Five By Five Hundred instead. Just kidding. It's a metaphor, fool.
"New Girlfriend" on FiveByFiveHundred.com
Superhero Politics
Instead of the usual political opinions, I tried instead to write a piece that explores politics without being overtly political. Although my editors at Tor were initially hesitant of the controversy, they were ultimately pretty pleased with the product! And so, my latest article at Tor Dot Com explores the centrist politics of Brian K. Vaughan's Superhero-Turned-Mayor-Of-New-York-City epic Ex Machina, which actually takes an impressively (if ultimately depressing) nonpartisan view at the ups and downs of American politics, only with lots more punching and invaders from alternate realities (obvi).
"Ex Machina and the Great Political Machine of Brian K. Vaughan" on Tor Dot Com
All Actors Are Robots (no but seriously)
In an effort to combine my seemingly disparate interests, I pitched an idea for a new column to my editor at Tor.com, focusing on the depiction of sci-fi and fantasy in the world of theatre. People don't typically think of plays as being bastions for weaving elegant tales of aliens and dragons and cyborgs (oh my!), but in fact, you'd be surprised! (In theatre, we just cover up the "genre" gimmick by giving it some pretentious name like "magical realism" or "futurism" etc). Anyway, here's the first of such columns, exploring RUR (Rossum's Universal Robots), a Czech play from the early 20th century that actually introduced the word "robot" to the world.
"SFF Onstage: Rossum's Universal Robots" on Tor Dot Com
One Minute Play Festival!
This year, I had the honor of being asked to contribute two plays to the annual One Minute Play Festival, and I have to say, writing a one minute play is a much bigger challenge than you'd expect it to be. The festival hits the stage in January, and I'll share information about the performances when I have it. In the meantime, I posted one of the plays as my weekly post over at Five By Five Hundred, so you can check it out there. Generally speaking, these plays are meant to be open-ended vehicles for the director, more than a chance for the writer to show his stuff, but I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out.
"The Call" at FiveByFiveHundred.com
Awake
I'm sure I'll go back and post my specific feelings about this at length, but my friend Scotty passed away this weekend. For now, instead of getting into the emotional stuff, I shared one of my favorite memories of my Scotty over on Five By Five Hundred, because frankly, it was the only thing I was capable of thinking of. Rest in peace, brother.