Given that it’s the holiday season, and we’re all busy either a) with family or b) holing up in our respective pandemic bunkers, I thought I’d share some of my favorite webpages on art and story-making I came across over the past year. Whether you need an excuse to hide from the in-laws, or something to read with all the doors and windows shut, you’ll find something good here.
Of Screenwriting & Other Such Things
- Octavia Butler is having a (sadly posthumous) renaissance at the moment; her “Rules for Predicting the Future” will never go out of style, and I recommend it to anyone interested in writing any kind of fiction.
- If you’ve ever wanted a comparative analysis of what distinguishes a decent screenplay from a great screenplay, this side-by-side comparison of two Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade scripts, the latter one written by the inimitable Tom Stoppard, gives you just that.
- Gabino Iglesias, at Tor, rightly argues that writing horror can be an instructive exercise for any writer.
- The pandemic forced lots of theatrical creatives online. You can watch Julia Mounsey and Peter Mills’ experimental show Protec/Attac on YouTube.
On Animation
- In October of last year, Vulture catalogued “The 100 Sequences that Shaped Animation.” Through the magical link portal, you can read about each one and watch many of them.
- If you ever wanted to learn how the folks at Pixar do what they do, the astounding “Pixar in a Box” chronicles the process, and gives you an introduction to each step.
- Watch the full, deeply bizarre “The Little Island,” by influential animator Richard Williams.
- And then go read this 2019 thinkpiece all about Williams and his work.
Of Computers & Coding Design
- Dramatist Magazine hosted a debate about various playwrights’ favorite writing software. I enjoyed it more than I should have.
- At Coding Font, you can find your “true love” coding typeface, whether that’s Courier or Ubuntu or IBM Plex. Also for fans of typography.
- Over on Medium, Clive Thompson has a lovely piece about the simple art-making programs he’s created.
- Also, visit Open Processing for more ingenious, beautiful little (games? art objects?) coded things.
- Want the best browser-based computer game I’ve found in a long time? Try Survive the Century.
And lastly…
One good, unorganized link for you that didn’t fit anywhere else, but might be the best of the bunch:
- I never thought an obituary could be out-and-out hilarious (as in, can’t-stop-laughing-even-in-the-middle-of-the-workplace funny) until I read this.
Noah Lloyd 