Brett's Blog

My Favorite Customer: Image My name is Michael, and I'm banana salesman. It's about as interesting as it sounds, but it's honest work that pays the bills. Honestly, I think I would've been out of a job a long time ago if it wasn't for Sonny. I've known Sonny for around 6 years now, and he's far and away my best customer. He stops by every Thursday and clears out my entire stock every time. I have no idea how the guy is able to eat that many bananas, but you won't find me complaining. He's also just a good guy to hang around with too. Sure, he's kind of short, hairy, and a bit smelly, but so is Danny DeVito, and that guy's a famous actor. I don't really like to judge people too much. Sonny can hold a good conversation, and he's always got some good jokes ready to go every time he visits. Last Thursday, however, things got a bit weird at the banana booth. Sonny came by in the afternoon, as usual, wearing that same outfit

The Monkey King: Image The Destiny of Sun Wu Kung Wow, Sun Wu Kung is just an unapologetic asshole. He is completely selfish, abuses his power constantly, and doesn't care at all about anyone else besides his fellow apes. In the end, Sun Wu Kung is finally punished for his behavior. However the punishment that he gets is a bit too lax in my opinion. He just kind of has a mountain sat on him and then is released when they need him to do something. Even when he's released, he hasn't really changed, and still needs magical artifacts kept on him at all times in order to make sure that he doesn't act up. In retelling this story, I would change the plot to where Sun Wu Kung actually received a fitting punishment that forces him to actually grow as a person (god? monkey?) and change his behavior of his own accord, rather than being forced to do so because of a magic ring. Bibliography - "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and tr

"Don't mind me, just your average everyday human!": Image The Great Sea The image of Sun Wu Kung dressing and acting like a human and everyone just believing it with no argument is hilarious to me. Especially the fact that he was able to do this unnoticed for NINE YEARS. This could definitely be a good basis for a story, especially one with a tone that doesn't take itself too seriously. The Nether World This story really highlighted to me how much Sun Wu Kung is similar to Heracles. They're both very brutish, hot-tempered heroes who like to do whatever they want and solve their problems with big, heavy sticks. They both also seem to make a habit of disobeying the laws of death, and running through the Underworld as they please. I think it could be fun to maybe do a retelling where both heroes are boasting and attempting to one-up each other with their feats. Bibliography  - "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm an

The face had different eyes:   Image Mirror- 6 words My reflection was smiling. I wasn't. Stars   - 25 words Growing up, I always loved the stars. Now that I'm among them, my love is gone. No one told me they had eyes. Call ended . Authors Note- For both of these stories, I used the theme of sight. The idea was to write two stories about seeing something, and not liking what you saw. I have always enjoyed writing horror, and I find that many people have a strange fascination with scary stories (after all, 5 of the top 20 podcasts on Spotify are true crime podcasts about murder). I really wanted to challenge myself to write something that could unsettle the reader in as few words as possible. I also like sci-fi a lot, which served as an influence for the second story. I hope you enjoyed them! Let me know of any criticisms or suggestions for other stories you may have, as I would like to do this again!

Rakshasa : Image The Rakshasas Hold up...what? A random beautiful woman appears to Rama in the jungle, which he knows is filled with monsters and demons, and she not only admits that she's a literal demon, but also explains to him that she wants to EAT HIS WIFE, and Rama's response is "y'know I don't think I'm interested, but you actually sound like the perfect match for my brother!" What is wrong with this dude? I think I could make this into a dark humor-heavy retelling where Lakshmana is killed after trying to date Surpanakha, and Rama is going over what happened in his head while at his brother's funeral. I could make it to where Rama is more of the well-meaning idiot brother that has to explain what happened to the rest of his shocked family. Surpanakha could even be in attendance at the funeral for added comedic effect. Bibliography:  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).

Rama and Bharata meet in the Jungle : Image Rama and Bharata Bharata is a real one. He literally had the throne handed to him and he still declined AND called his mom out for trying to steal the throne from Rama. I did find it funny just how much everyone loves Rama, like the man seems to be unable to do anything wrong (except for Manthara of course, and even then the story phrases it like she kind of deserved her "smiting"). I think it would be pretty funny to play on Rama and Bharata's tight bond in my retelling, and essentially recreate them as caricatures of a "bromance" meme. I could maybe make it to where they aren't brothers, but instead friends that are classic "dudebro" stereotypes and make the story much more lighthearted and comedic in tone. The stakes would probably not be as high in my retelling as they are in the original story, but I would probably make it to where Rama and Bharata both act just as dramatically as if it is

Sindbad the Sailor :  Image He finishes off another drumstick, sauce dripping onto his plate, and discards the bone gently. As he wipes his mouth with an embroidered napkin, he looks me in the eyes with a steely gaze. "So," he asks. "Where would you like to begin?" Wait, let me back up a bit. Today is quite possibly the most important day of my career. I've been a reporter at the Baghdad Herald for 3 years now, and I've been searching constantly for a breakthrough that could get me out of this place. Local newspaper reporting is so incredibly dull, and I've got bigger dreams than writing articles about someone's cat being rescued from a tree. But today is the day that all of that changes, because I got an interview with Sindbad the Sailor. I'm honestly still in disbelief about it. I mean this guy is a living legend and has turned down interviews and biography offers from international news giants, but here he is agreeing to

Sindbad has some explaining to do : Image The Seventh Voyage This story is unique among Sinbad's adventures due to the fact that he did not embark on it willingly. In fact, loss of agency seems to be the theme of this voyage, as none of the things that happen to Sindbad are things that he can control, as he is not only sent on this trip against his will, he is then sold as a slave and forced to hunt elephants for their ivory by his master. This also makes this story unique from the other Sindbad voyages as it seems to be the only adventure where Sindbad actually kills something, even if it is in the act of hunting.  And boy does he make up for lost time. Sindbad kills at least 60 elephants by himself and even when he's cornered by the other elephants (who apparently have a history of murdering slaves), Sindbad is still inexplicably able to make it out of the situation alive, and even ends up with his freedom and more money than he had at the beginning of the voyage

Sindbad faces the giant: Image The Third Voyage Having read the Odyssey  I find the similar, yet different nature of Sindbad  very interesting. Unlike Odysseus, who's illustrated multiple times as a cunning, strong, macho-man, Sindbad is simply an ambitious merchant with a penchant for making it out of sticky situations. This is highlighted in Sindbad's especially perilous third voyage, where he faces off against a horde of murderous dwarves, a clan of equally murderous giants, and a flesh-eating giant snake all on the same trip. But, instead of being the trademark "valiant hero" that slays the monsters, saves his crew and returns home as a famous legend, he survives solely on the fact that he just got lucky. He's not a dashing pirate or hardened warrior, he's just the dude who happened to make it back alive. I could definitely see myself writing a story highlighting this subversion of the tropes and ideas of the hero archetype. I could tell the story

My Storybook project is centered around telling the stories of different creatures that have ingrained themselves into the horror stories of America. Stories of monsters like Bigfoot, Mothman, the Jersey Devil, the Wendigo, and the Chupacabra are all legendary in their different areas of the country and have heavily influenced local cultures. I will be using Wikipedia based sources for many of these creatures, as well as information from select research societies based around specific creatures, such as the Bigfoot Field Researchers' Organization   and the Mothman Museum and Research Center . These may not provide sound scientific evidence for the existence of these creatures, but they do provide key cultural and historical information about the legends of the monsters. I'm playing around with the idea of making this project a Twine-based, choose your own adventure horror audiobook, set in a strange zoo that houses these creatures. I want the reader to feel involved and all

Mothman: Image My Storybook Project, Mythical Monsters of the New World can be found here I hope you all enjoy it, and I appreciate any feedback you can give! EDIT 3/5: I have heavily revised my Introduction, so if you have not read the new version yet, do so now!

Layout of a branching narrative: Image After getting a bit more familiar with Twine through the first and second Tech Tips over the software, I think that I definitely want to use this software for my storybook project this semester. It's simple to use, allows for much greater options when telling a story, and seems to be a great way to brush up on my admittedly rusty HTML skills.  I have always been a fan of "choose your own adventure" stories and other forms of branching narratives, and I've never really had the opportunity to create a narrative like this for a class throughout my time in college. The prospect of having free reign to make a story like this is very exciting, and I plan to make full use of this technology to create a story unlike anything I've ever made before.

Oh Boy, here I go beating people again : Image The Higgledy-Piggledy Palace I think if I retold this story, it would be pretty funny to retell it from the point of view of the spirit with the club. I'd like to think that he's just some dude who likes turning invisible and beating people up with a big stick, and simply jumps at the chance to do so whenever he's asked. Maybe I could even include an angle where God hears Abraham's prayer and understands the urgency of the situation, but all the other angels, who all have crazy powers and authority, are otherwise occupied, leaving him with no other choice than to send in the guy with the club, whose only trait is, you guessed it, beating people with a club. The Rabbi's Bogey-Man This is a very interesting story and one that has a good deal of story angles to pursue if I wished to retell it. I think that if I were to retell it, however, I might go with a more-horror focused style, perhaps borrowing from stori

Moses, the Toddler Criminal: Image The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog This is a very interesting origin story of why dogs and cats don't get along. This story really puts dog through the ringer compared to cat, who pretty much instantly finds food and shelter. It's also a pretty sad story that paints a picture of spurned best friends. If I retell this story, I'd definitely give it a happier ending that shows that cats and dogs can get along. The Water-Babe The mental image of putting a 3-year old child on trial is hilariously absurd to me, even though it's pretty disturbing that they were ready to murder Moses if the outcome was unfavorable. I could definitely have a lot of fun retelling this story in modern context as something like a hyper-exaggerated, Law and Order-style retelling of a Supreme Court case putting a toddler (who also happens to be the adopted child of the President of the United States) on trial for something ridiculous. I could tell it from the

Image from Mindset Blog The two articles I read were " Be a Mirror " by Gravity Goldberg and " How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk " by Adam Grant. Like the authors of these articles, I believe that it's very important to be sincere in your feedback, and not worry so much about if the person receiving your feedback is going to like what they're about to hear. Both authors write about being clear about the fact that the feedback is designed to help the person receiving it grow, which is instrumental in being good at giving feedback. The biggest thing that I've learned about giving feedback over the years is that the person receiving it has to actually want it. Growing up, I would never really hold back when it came to telling friends and family what I thought. My stance on things was always clear and I was the king of giving unsolicited advice any time my friends had a problem. Of course, I would then be furious and confused as my fri