a story

You KNOW classic SF used the limited displays of CRT television and the static of transmitted signals the way theaters use stage makeup and lighting to make inexpensive props look great fine— take advantage of the medium! But it's hard to imagine how it looked if you've only seen Blu-ray HD restorations.

I honestly don't remember how often we realized that the props or whatever were made with recognizable stuff. But here's the more important point, IMO: It didn't matter, because the goal was not assumed to be tricking us into thinking it was real. The goal was to look cool, or to simply get the point across.

The idea that the effects should look "real" didn't take hold until effect technology got a lot more sophisticated. It just wasn't possible before a certain point, so we didn't look for it. The same way that even the most serious music fans weren't looking for double-bass drumming or synthesizers before those things were introduced.

Learning how the effects were done was also fun. Star Wars raised the bar considerably, but what made it so cool was that we knew that those scenes were made with models, lighting, sounds sampled from all over then mixed together, all the clever stuff people did made it impressive.

So it's not for you. Meditations in imagery and sensory experience and feeling and emotion, meditations on human experience, have been some of my favourite pieces of writing. They can be moving, and beautiful, and remind the reader to notice parts of the everyday and how wonderful they can be, even remind the reader that they are not alone.

I have found that approaching the everyday, with its imagery, like the tall grass dancing in the wind, like light shining through the clouds, like the salt that blows in from the sea, as something wonderful and significant and letting it be moving and emotional and worthy of time and consideration, to have improved my experience of being a human being, and has helped me to write stories that I am proud of. Other people, with their lives, and their stories, and their grief, and their hope, and their loss, and their love, their joyous celebrations and those rainy days where they weep, they are all worthy of consideration and they have value.

Fuck this post. Genuinely. So it's not for you, but writing off meditations on imagery and the human experience is fucking damaging, especially in trying to present it as some punchy line easily delivered to young writers who want to make "good art" and are looking outside of themselves for approval and guidance.

Happy Pride Month!

This song was written for every queer person who has ever been told they were loved while being asked to become someone smaller or hide. It was written for those who have sat through the prayers, the lectures, the uncomfortable silences, the conditional acceptance, and the endless versions of “I love you, but...” that never quite felt like love at all. If Your God Needs Me Broken is not a song about giving up faith. It is a song about refusing to surrender yourself. It is about recognizing the difference between love and control, between acceptance and tolerance, between belonging and being asked to disappear. If you have ever felt rejected by family, faith, community, or the people who were supposed to protect you, I hope this song reminds you that there is nothing wrong with who you are. You do not need to be fixed. You do not need to shrink.

I (The Arch) wrote it for my mother....

You do not need permission to exist. This Pride Month, and every month after, may you choose yourself, speak your truth, take up space, and live fully. We are glad you're here.

Love,

Arch & Hand

2pm: "where's the dog he can't possibly have jumped over the fence"

3pm: "hi i live in [another village]! I got your dog here, if you can come fetch him?"