Eric Mrozek's Blog, page 16

Three Challenges For Books In The 21st Century.

Reading is old. Very old.

A part of any person’s education involves reading a lot of books, but an odd refrain is that Americans are reading less and less with each passing year. And if you look at traditional media outlets, it is often treated as a cause for alarm. 23% of Americans Didn’t Read A Book In The Past Year!Our culture is getting dumber! People just don’t appreciate fine art anymore!

It may seem disheartening to see headlines like that, but it’s time to propose an alternative way o...

Four Issues That 24: Legacy Must Avoid.

It’s good to be back… or is it?

It’s no secret that24helped to define the counter-terrorism genre inthe 21st century. While the most recent incarnation (Live Another Day) went off the air about three years ago, Fox recently announced that a spin-off series will premiereafter the Super Bowl in February. Going by the title of24: Legacy, this new take on the “real-time” drama promises another half day that is supposedly based off of the raid that took outOsama Bin Laden.

Since the show is fast a...

Revolution Writing Diary #1 – Rise And Rise Again…

Observe!

Crosspost: freeeaglestudios.com.

As promised, it’s time to begin a series of writing diaries to show you the progress behind our upcoming novel,Revolution. While we don’t have a firm release date yet, we can tell you that it is the final chapter of The War of the Democratic Coalition series and will face a lot of changes as we move from the drafts to the final copy. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t give you a few morsels of interesting information here and there!

The Stakes A...

Let’s Talk About Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

They actually picked the right actors and actress for the job! Who knew?

As of this writing, it’s been a little under two weeks sinceRogue One: A Star Wars Storyhit movie theaters in the United States. The movie is doing well at home and abroad, so it’s the right time to have a two-part discussion about the film, its’ place in theStar Wars saga, and how the future of the franchise can evolve from some of the decisions during production.As for an opinion on the matter, I believe that I can sum...

The Star Wars Holiday Special Is A Glorious Wreck!

It’s so dense; every single frame has so many things going on…

Have you ever seen a piece of entertainment that was such a mess that it goes from bad to worse before winding up all the way back at awesome? Have you ever desiredto watch something that will make you want to repeatedly slap yourself in the face while you’re shaking with laughter? Did you ever look atThe Phantom Menace and wonder if it could get any worse? Well, wonder no more!

The Star Wars Holiday Specialoriginally aired in Nov...

The Top 7 Songs Of 2016.

And here they are!

2016 has been a year with a lot of ups and downs, especially in the music industry.It took a big hit with the loss of icons like David Bowie and gave us new stories to celebrate. With nothing else left in the year to comment on, it’s time to take a look back at the top seven songs of the past year.

Why did Ipick seven? Because we’re supposed to settle for nothing less than perfection!

7. Delta Goodrem – “Wings”

Delta Goodrem is a hidden gem of Australian pop music.While sh...

Make Entertainment Great Again!

Hashtag that!

It’s no secret that you, me, and everyone we knowshares a deep and abiding fascination for popular culture, whether it is in the form of books, films, television shows, or video games. Personally, I believe that the process of storytelling is an important reflection of our own world, as it shows what a particular society lives and bleeds for at a given point in time. Yet with all of the entertainment controversies in this day and age, I feel that we’ve lost a sense of perspectiv...

Five Star Wars Legends Characters That Disney Needs To Put Back Into The Canon Yesterday.

Cue that John Williams score!

It’s no secret that the debate over Star Warshas reached a fever pitch with the release of the sequel trilogy and the upcomingRogue One. Ever since Disney bought the franchise back in 2012, there has been concerned debate about everything from a loss in quality because of a yearly assembly line to the destruction of the Expanded Universe. In this article, I’d like to take a look at the failed opportunities that came along with the rise of the new canon.

What did...

#DumpStarWars And The Failure To Understand A Saga.

Against all odds.

Recently, I discovered that some supporters of Donald Trump are launching a boycott of this month’sRogue One: A Star Wars Story. I thought it might be interesting to comment on this latest fiasco because there’s a fundamental misunderstanding about the Star Wars franchise. In addition, it also points out that cultural libertarians have to split their attention between the Regressive Left and this newly formed entity that I like to call the Regressive Right.

The two are simil...

Black Mirror Shows Us How Technology Can Be Our Hope… Or Our Downfall.

When you look into the abyss, does it look back at you?

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 3 forBlack Mirror.

When we think of technology, our society tends to look at it with a mixture of optimism and suspicion. We marvel at the advances that have done everything from curing diseases to creating more realistic games, but we also cringe at the thought of losing jobs to automation. As our world changes around us, we must as ourselves one question: What if certain technological...