Maurice Broaddus's Blog, page 53

Nip/Tuck (Season 5.2) – A Review

"Deeply Superficial"

Nip/Tuck is what it is. It's an over-the-top look at our culture's fascination with physical beauty, how it defines (and traps) us, and how no pretty the outside it, there is no covering the deep scars of untreated wounds. The season 5.2 DVD set picks up right after the events of the (mid-)season finale, picking up right after Sean McNamara's (Dylan Walsh) attack from his former agent. The season continues to mine the lives and characters of this broken collection of f...

Zombieland – A Review

"Time to nut up or shut up"

Zombies continue to be hot. The current boom in zombiephilia may have some of its roots in the literary realm, from the horror of Brian Keene's The Rising to the comic ridiculousness of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. They have had a parallel surge in film, from the "fast zombies" of 28 Days Later again to the comedy of Shaun of the Dead. Zombieland is very much in the comedic tradition.

The movie review in a sentence: Zombieland delivers on what the trailer pro...

Spirit & Place Commercial (Shoot)

The Spirit & Place Festival is now in full swing. I was asked to write an essay for them (and recorded it for our local NPR affiliate). This Friday I will be joining my fellow essayists for a live reading and Q & A:

As part of Big Car's event at the Wheeler Arts Community and in partnership with Second Story, a reading will be featured from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. during Friday's event only. This will feature eight of this year's Spirit & Place essayists, each reading the essay they contributed...

Finding Our Way Home

Thinking about my relationship with my wife has—running it through the filter of Henri Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son—has made me realize a lot about my relationship with God. And vice versa. When you wander down a dark tunnel, the longer you walk in that darkness, the longer it will take you to find your way out/back again, pure and simple. It's a long, self-exposing journey.

Whether we realize it or not, we're all looking for a home where we could feel safe. A place of belonging...

Happy Blogiversary

Today marks my five year blogiversary. Five years ago today, I declared that I hate blogs and LiveJournals because "I think that they destroy the writer's mystique." Of course, I follow that blog entry with a rant about "crazy @$$ squirrels" and then affirmative action before the space also doubled as a repository for my reviews for Hollywood Jesus. That pretty much set the tone for my first year.

As for a brief overview for the rest of the years:
My top ten best/favorite blogs of 2005
My top...

God Doesn't Have Writer's Block

I've written about the church's uneasy relationship with art and spoken before of how story impacts my Christianity, but I've been thinking lately about how the many in the church have an uneasy relationship with story. Which is ironic considering that a good chunk of the basis of our faith is rooted in lessons provided by a collection of stories.

Our imagination is an amazing gift. Our ability to conceive ideas and construct stories is beautiful. It joins us to our Creator and is part of w...

On "Killing teh Genre" and the In Crowd

Like all good cycles, every so often in horror community there arises the discussion about the death of the genre (say for example this discussion over at Shocklines) and how all the truly "good" horror is to be found in, yet ignored by, the small press. Of course this discussion is a matter of perspective, as over on the Horror Writers Association, they are arguing/wondering why the nominees for their Bram Stoker Awards are so heavily weighted towards the small press while ignoring the fact...

Checking in on My Arch-Enemy

Long time readers of my blog will remember that as part of the up and coming writer code, it's important that you do one of two things: 1) randomly attack either Brian Keene or Nick Mamatas or 2) get an arch-enemy. Though I had temporarily resigned, it has been a while since I've checked in on my arch-enemy, Nick Kaufmann. So I've decided to check in and see what he's up to (after all, you should always know where your enemies are and if they are being more successful than you. Remember, ...

Winners and Losers

I was trying to explain to my wife why I was sitting at my table with my ten sided dice that I wasn't rolling imaginary D&D characters (which REALLY would have been the sign of a problem), but rather I was randomly picking the winners for my book giveaway contest.
Without further ado, the winners are:

-Samantha
-Degood
-Taerb

Because I am prone to making up rules as I go along, I decided on some second place packages:

-Meljprincess will be getting a copy of Heretic's Daughter
-Gaby317 will be getti...

BOOK GIVEAWAY CONTEST!!!

Believe it or not, I normally find Halloween an annoying time of the year (the wife and kids, however, have the entire house decorated all month and only rotate the decorations in time for Christmas). But this year I'm feeling generous, as I usually get when dealing with other people's stuff, so let's do a book giveaway. From the Hachette Book Group we have:

The Heretic's Daughter By Kathleen Kent ISBN: 031602449X

Sins of the Flesh By Caridad Piñeiro ISBN: 0446543837

When Ghosts Speak By