Read more about the article Melfka’s Best of 2019
As a Side Note

Melfka’s Best of 2019

Do end-of-year lists have a point? 355 days is enough time to both get acquainted with massive amounts of creations and… forget about a lot of them, no matter how good they were. Yet, those subjective “the best of” lists do have an appeal of discovery of another person’s favorites that in the next year might become mine.

Nowadays I’m more focused on creating rather than consuming, so I don’t have dozens of books or tv shows to pick from, but I still can point toward my favorites, so here’s a meager Melfka’s Best of 2019 list. (more…)

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January 6, 2020
Read more about the article Waiting for the Witcher
As a Side Note

Waiting for the Witcher

I first read the Witcher series in my early teens, grabbing the books off the bookstore’s shelf as soon as they were published. Through years to come, I’ve re-read the saga almost as much as I used to read one of my other favorites, The Count of Monte Cristo. At some point, I knew pieces of dialogue and descriptions by heart, and reading those books impacted my growth as a writer.

Yet, my relationships with the Witcher’s derivative works were—so far—very lukewarm. Can the Netflix’s upcoming series change that? (more…)

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December 15, 2019
All Things Art

30 Inktober Witches

Back in October I took part in Inktober: a challenge for artists that encourages daily drawing and sharing art. It wasn’t my first time. Last year I had fun with quickly-drawn dragonflies (that later became regular guests on my social media), and this year I decided to push myself a bit more. By common demand (expressed via Facebook and Twitter polls), I was to draw witches.

I’m not very good with anatomy, so I had to settle for simplified humans rather than realistic ones, and many of the prompts pushed me far beyond my comfort zone, but all in all, I had fun, and missed only one day due to work overload.

If you weren’t following my witches on social media, you can find them here. (more…)

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December 9, 2019
Read more about the article Does Gotham Need Batman?
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Does Gotham Need Batman?

I don’t have cable tv, so I watch many of the popular shows months or years after they were aired, when they become available on Netflix or Amazon Prime or when I buy their blu-ray editions. This is why I only recently caught up with Gotham, the gritty series focusing on James Gordon’s youth and his first steps in Gotham Police Department.

Generally, I’m not a fan of DC Universe, and even though when I was young, I enjoyed the 80s and 90s Batman movies, the new ones didn’t manage to enthrall me, so naturally I was quite dubious about the show, but in the end, it surprised me in many positive ways. (more…)

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July 22, 2019
Read more about the article 4 Horror Movies I’d Watch Again
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4 Horror Movies I’d Watch Again

Let’s make something clear: I’m not a horror fan. I don’t get grossed out by flying intestines, but watching gore most often than not bores me. At the same time, the atmospheric, fear-instilling scenes tend to annoy me. After all, there are only two options: either something will jump out or not. And since those scenes consist only from slow exploring or long shots and silence with nothing else to carry them through, I tend to catch myself muttering, “Get to the point already!” I don’t mind a slower pace in a movie narration, but whenever it feels like a drag, my mood is lost. (more…)

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October 29, 2018