Columns

Write Stuff – Glistering Prose

LOL. ROFL. YMMV. If these initialisms have you scurrying for the comfort of your Strunk and White, You’re not alone. It’s popular these days to bemoan the falling standards of written language. Literacy, punctuation, and grammar have slipped into the morass of text speak and misspelled blogs. Or have they? When it comes to the… Read more »

The Mindful Bard – The Illusionist

Film: The Illusionist (Sony Pictures Classics 2010) Director: Sylvain Chomet Original Script: Jacques Tati (adapted by Sylvain Chomet) Genre: Animated ?Writers and people who had command of words were respected and feared as people who manipulated magic. In latter times I think that artists and writers have allowed themselves to be sold down the river…. Read more »

From Where I Sit – Advice To and From Writers

Would-be writers seek out the counsel of those who have succeeded. We hope for kernels of inspiration and, please dear God, some shortcuts to success. We latch onto any crumbs of insight or advice buried in the countless how-to books and blogs which have become an industry unto themselves. I especially love to hear about… Read more »

AUSU Update – Autumn 2011

Update on AUSU awards program AUSU has long had a student awards program to recognize outstanding students and assist those in need. Over the course of the last couple years, though, we’ve sought to revamp and revise our awards portfolio to improve existing awards and add new ones! We now have a wide array of… Read more »

The Mindful Bard – Metropia

Film: Metropia (Atmo 2009) Director: Tarik Saleh Script: Fredrik Edin, Stig Larsson, Tarik Saleh Cast: Vincent Gallo, Juliette Lewis, Udo Kier, Stellan Skarsgård, Alexander Skarsgård, Sofia Helin ?If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face?forever.? George Orwell, 1984 Brazil’s 1984-Style Matrix in 21st-Century Sweden At the end… Read more »

From Where I Sit – Wish I Was an Early Adopter

Since finally committing to (and following through on) writing a book, my life has been a blur?not of parties and adulation, but of hard, hard work. In this new world, writing and publishing the book is only the first and arguably the easiest of many steps. A real writer is chomping at the bit and… Read more »

Write Stuff – A Critical Success

I have a confession to make. I recently read a P.D. James novel and hated it. Okay, maybe not hated. But every time I recall the experience, every time I’m tempted by the thick lure of a James paperback, the dull grey memory of Death in Holy Orders washes over me?along with a sense of… Read more »