C.W. Howell

C.W. Howell

Apr
24
Forest and treetops - the first metaphor in Joy Marie Clarkson's You Are a Tree

You Are (Not) a Machine

Reflections on the machine metaphor inspired by Joy Marie Clarkson's book You Are a Tree.
10 min read
Apr
02
Joshua Commands the Sun to Stand Still by Gustave Dore

The Day(s) the Earth Stood Still

The 2008 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still is a flawed but still worthwhile movie, addressing technology and humanity, but also the nature of remakes.
9 min read
Mar
19
The Green Knight movie, the poem "Gawain and the Green Knight," and the video game Red Dead Redmption.

The Terrible Permanence of Technological Memory

Is redemption possible in a world where the machine never forgets?
10 min read
Mar
02
An AI generated image of hands, poorly drawn and badly proportioned

We Weren't Prepared for How Stupid the AI Struggle Would Be

Science fiction depicted the rise of AI as thrilling, existentially complex, and philosophically rich. The real world crisis is a lot dumber.
12 min read
Feb
17
C.S. Lewis and English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama)

Reading C.S. Lewis's Academic Books #2: English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama)

A massive and magnificent literary history, English Literature and Sixteenth Century is Lewis's most intellectual work, and also some of his wittiest.
14 min read
Jan
31
A celestial map of the Ptolemaic geocentric system

The God of this World: A Review of Kenogaia by David Bentley Hart

A review essay about David Bentley Hart's most provocative book, the novel Kenogaia. On God, tradition, design, and Calvinism.
14 min read
Jan
15
Godzilla Minus One: Life, Death, and Yukio Mishima

Godzilla Minus One: Life, Death, and Yukio Mishima

Godzilla Minus One is a tribute to the original movie, but it also wrestles with the legacy of one of Japan's most controversial figures: Yukio Mishima.
14 min read
Dec
24
Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

A brief note of thanks and well-wishes for the end of the year
2 min read
Dec
11
The Sincerity of Videogame Storytelling

The Sincerity of Videogame Storytelling

Games have always had good writing (if you knew where to look). Now, more creators are using the medium to tell stories that only games can.
10 min read
Nov
27
GPT-4

ChatGPT Round-Up: AI in the Classroom

It's been six months since my viral tweet about ChatGPT, and the articles I wrote on it are now published. Time to revisit?
10 min read