Platypus of Truth

Well, all my grad apps are in. This time around, it's Brown, Princeton, and the University of Chicago. Wish me luck! I'll probably have news in February or early March. Best of luck to those of you out there applying to grad school this year!

Hi all! In an effort to declutter, I am now posting my thoughts on topics related to the Ancient World over at Old and Forgotten Ways . Currently, I am reposting my series on Shields and Ancient Witches from Eidos at Patheos but, in the future, I will have a new series posting there on the Greek invention of the "Barbarian". This doesn't mean that I'll be abandoning Platypus of Truth. All my thoughts on books, film, art, travel, and life will still be posting right here.

Adding some fine point pens to my collection and trying them out this week. Here, we have a illuminated manuscript doodle, a few doodles from Netflix's adaptation of Blame! and some fan art for Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle . October is almost over, and we will be watching the 2018 adaptation of We Have Always Lived in the Castle  along with staples Coroline and Over the Garden Wall.  We are, of course, waiting for The Haunting of Bly Manor  as The Haunting  series continues. Speaking of Netflix horror offerings, I particularly enjoyed watching the French series Marianne . Fair warning, it's a binger. Also an unexpected delight was the Korean zombie flick Train to Busan . Good horror is never about the horror, but about how the horror sheds a new light on something otherwise mundane. Art, after all, is a way of seeing.

All set for some Grand Alliance Death in Warhammer's Age of Sigmar.

At first I thought, all despairing: "This must crush my spirit now," But I bear it and am bearing, only do not ask me how. -George MacDonald, Translations From the German I'm at it again. All the recommenders are sorted, the letters of intent drafted, and I've opened applications to three schools: Brown, University of Chicago, and Princeton. The great graduate entry push has begun. I'm Irish enough to be cynical and Irish enough not to quit.

It's hard to grow up surrounded by at least 7 historic cemeteries and not be a "fraidy cat". In college, I set myself the task of tackling my fears by committing to watching X Files with the guys every Sunday for a year or two. It worked -a little. At some point, I discovered H.P. Lovecraft, Charles Williams, and Hellboy, and that helped more. I turned to writing my own supernatural thrillers for a number of years until a nervous breakdown and subsequent medication derailed my writing efforts. In an attempt to get re-started, my wife bought me a copy of "Save the Cat". So began my trek into Horror films as I attempted to master the ins and outs of the genre and its subfields. I've generally tried to avoid any obvious drek and keep only to the highlights. After a couple years, here are my favorites in no particular order: Alien - I saw this re-released in the theater during college and it still made me jump. More important is the way it uses the genre to hi...