Dirk Flinthart's Blog, page 5

Still More Thoughts on Depiction and Appropriation.

Yeah, dull. I know. But this is tricky stuff. Publishing being what it is, a new or low-profile writer who wants a useful relationship with the small presses (which are a great place to kickstart a career!) needs to be aware that unlike the big publishing houses, small presses are likely to get benefit from […]

Australian Government To Install Arse-Recognition Systems In Public Toilets

In a press release today, Mr Dink Halfwit of the Australian Department of Computerising Things That Really Shouldn’t Be Computerised announced the forthcoming installation of biometric recognition systems in public toilets all over Australia. “We’re already setting up to do this at airports using facial recognition,” he said. “But why stop there? After all, there […]

Diversity, Representation, Appropriation… Again

So, on the heels of the discussion regarding cultural appropriation, I want to dive into tricky waters again. Not to offer any answers, but to raise questions and expose some dangers, hopefully with the result of provoking some talk and maybe hearing ideas and directions from others. This time around, I aim to explore the […]

Nightmare and Waking

I don’t usually recall my dreams. But those that stay with me… well, being a writer for many years now has long ago plugged my narrative sense straight into my subconscious. I’ve had dreams wherein I scornfully recognised plot devices which were supposed to lead to further developments; dreams where I realised a certain character […]

Appropriation, Fiction, and The Hero With A Thousand Faces

Lately there’s been considerable fuss about the concept of ‘cultural appropriation’ as applied to the process of creating fiction. In the most extreme form of application, the idea of ‘appropriation’ makes pretty much all fiction morally unsound. According to this interpretation, you are meant to write of experiences and cultural mores that you personally embody […]

Review: The Return of the Caped Crusaders

  Oh. My. God. A few months back, I went to the local cinema to watch the animated version of Alan Moore’s iconic The Killing Joke — an absolute classic in graphic novel form adapted to screen. The cinema was packed. The movie? Wow. It sucked. I mean… it really sucked. Today, however, I went to see […]

Review: X-Men Apocalypse

  Who are all these weird-ass people and why should we give a toss anyway?   Ugh. It was AFL Grand Final day, and a number of my good friends in this area begged for an alternative to hanging around while their parents watched beefy men chase a chunk of leather around the field, so […]

Acquired Tastes

According to the psychologists, there are — broadly — two human responses to new phenomena. Some folk are more inclined to look suspiciously upon the new, while others bounce up with tails wagging to see what’s happening. By and large, I fall into the latter category. I like music from all over the world. I […]

The Great Gerund Hunt

“It was close. So close I could smell it, even through the stink of fear-sweat and the rough tang of the city streets. Gerund. Once you get that scent… once you’ve smelled it, that cloying mix of blood and carrion and jasmine and chocolate, you’ll never forget it. You’ll never mistake it. You’ll never be […]

Review: Dr Strange (the movie)

  But probably the not the one you think. Look — Doctor Strange is one of Marvel’s more interesting characters, and I’m as pleased as anybody that Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be playing the Sorcerer Supreme on the big screen. But the truth is simple: old Cumberbunny isn’t the first. Back in the dim, […]