Barbie & Oppenheimer are here to save us.

July 21st, 2023 is one of the most anticipated days in recent cinema history that I can recall. With Barbie and Oppenheimer both set to finally arrive in theaters, it's difficult to remember a single date that had movie-lovers as universally excited as this approaching Friday.

We've had our fair share of monumental moments in film over the last few years, from Everything Everywhere All at Once and Parasite's refreshing and exciting Oscar victories to the return of James Cameron after over a decade with Avatar: The Way of Water, but there is something about this Friday that feels different.

The Box Office

I despise the focus on money when discussing film, but it is an unfortunately unavoidable fact. It is money that has drives what gets put on cinema screens, and it is money that has created a tunnel vision from studios in recent years.

If you've looked at the selection at your local Regal or AMC theater in recent years, does it not feel like the types of films being shown have narrowed?

For example, I went to a Regal location last week for a piece I wrote on Sound of Freedom. Needless to say, I needed a pallet cleanser afterwards. My options at this theater were:

• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
• Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
• The Flash
• Insidious: The Red Door
• Joy Ride

That is, in total, six films. Four of those six were sequels. The other two options were a 90-minute comedy from a Family Guy writer and a QAnon riff on Taken. For some reason, Asteroid City was not being shown.

It paints a grim picture of the current state of film, or at least the films you can see at the theater.

We are here for a reason, though. The success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe through the 2010s drove the sequel fever that was set off by Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. DC's attempts at a counterpart Extended Universe have mostly failed critically, but that hasn't stopped them from trying, and it hasn't stopped theaters from loading their screens with those attempts.

Franchise Fatigue?

Only recently, with Black Adam, Flash, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods, have the DC films truly tanked financially.

The Marvel fatigue seems to have set in as well. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came and went without much fanfare, and Thor: Love and Thunder was downright loathed. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 did well both financially and critically, but that put a cap on a story thread that likely won't produce a follow-up.

A big factor in this super hero fatigue has been the fact that, frankly, people have lives outside of these franchises. The general audience was able to follow closely enough in Marvel's first decade, from Iron Man to Avengers: Endgame, that that finale had widespread cultural impact. Since then, the universe has become unrealistically unwieldy.

Want to see the new film? Well, you've got to watch these other three films, as well as two other Disney+ shows. Oh, and there's going to be several easter eggs that you won't grasp unless you've been reading the comics since 1965.

And that's just Marvel.

Between Mission Impossible and Indiana Jones and Transformers and Insidious and Fast and Furious, you've got around 30 movies to watch if you want to get all the references and understand why the guy two seats down from you just gasped at a benign character introduction. (Just imagine where we'd be if Star Wars hadn't taken a cinematic hiatus to regroup).

Eventually, people with jobs and families and a variety of hobbies are going to give up. They're going to stop trying to keep up with the frenetic pace that all of these franchises demand you consume their content at.

That is where Barbie and Oppenheimer come in.

If you're headed to the theater for either of these films, you don't have any research to do beforehand.

Oppenheimer homework? Well, you know how World War 2 ended when the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan? Here's the story of the guy who built those bombs.

Barbie homework? You know what a Barbie doll is, right?

In both cases, you can go a whole lot deeper on the research front. There are plenty of fascinating details on Robert Oppenheimer and what he went through in constructing these bombs, and there are plenty of interesting discussions on the Barbie doll and the way she has reflected things like societal gender roles and female body image.

None of that research is absolutely necessary to know what's going on in these films. If you've got the general jist, you're good to go.

What's at stake?

These are two standalone films that are building massive cultural momentum as their release date approaches. Their projected box office numbers are staggering.

I'm not advocating for the death of franchise filmmaking. It's not usually my bag, but these films are not devoid of value. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the greatest cinematic achievements since the invention of the camera. That first decade of Marvel was genuinely fun. Even as unwieldy as the universe has become, I'll always have a soft spot for Star Wars.

However, these franchises have usually pushed aside more original films like Barbie and Oppenheimer. There was the time Disney pushed Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight out of the Cinerama Dome. More recently, Tom Cruise fought exhibitors to show his seventh Mission Impossible film instead of Oppenheimer.

The existence of franchise films is not a problem. Their use of the bully pulpit to strong arm cinemas into shutting out more original films is where the issue lies.

Now, we head into the weekend of Barbie and Oppenheimer on the heels of Mission Impossible 7's lackluster opening weekend. The numbers suggest that Oppenheimer will have a much stronger showing.

If these two films succeed at the astounding rate they are expected to, at the same time that so many franchise films have fallen flat, it is a rebuke of the status quo, and a demand for something different, that studios will receive loud and clear.

Do you hear that?

 I turned 22 and it only got worse from there.

I am increasingly relying on sating my hunger by feasting

on the happiest episodes of strangers

on the internet,

but last night when my phone screen lit up,

someone had gone missing, again.

& I rolled over, went to sleep, hungry instead.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

Somedays, I just stare at a picture of me

clicked in the kitchen,

holding the coffee mug with my lover's unshakable stains.

Moonlight was leaking through the window

dominating the wan glimmer of the refrigerator's heart.

& I was not sad

& the flavours of the city I love

lingered in my mouth - my only mouth

which was not yet a graveyard

for all whom I loved and I still had room

under my tongue for anyone who'd love me.

***

do you hear that?

It's the last workday of the month

I and some of my colleagues celebrate the crisp cash

in our bank accounts,

what a shame it is to spend it

on half-baked freedom.

in this town where much of the joy is lost in the need to hold it

in this town where the mailman unfailingly hand delivers my debts

and asks me to consider myself fortunate

enough to just have my name on anything at all.

***

A wave of anger rises with the rising water

that separates my brother and me

and the land between us has grown

more treacherous.

In the blood-soaked earth,

seeds of hope and yearning

for a coveted return to their distant home lands are sown

by reluctant hands.

& nourished by the baptismal waters

of a girl who never returned home

just around the corner.

& tenderly the seeds germinate.

birthing roots of fractured innocence,

and shoots of silenced laughter.

***

I hate myself for letting that poet in the park

(fingers dancing on a typewriter,

choreographing verses with a rhythmic clatter

like of raindrops drumming upon a tin roof

under the skies where children look up

for bombs)

somehow successfully sell me a world

where kids sprint barefoot,

through sun-drenched fields of golden sunflowers,

petals kissed by gunpowder smoke.

their heads swaying gracefully like men in formation

marching in the graveyard, they can't see yet

as the summer breeze carries whispers

of both life and strife,

the air rich with earthy fragrance

and lingering battle cries.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

I hate myself for letting that poet in the park

sell me a world where

no house burns at the end of love,

all surrenders don't end in blood,

and people dance to the sound of

machine gunfire.

where the fragrance of a comet's tail

seduces comatose constellations back to life

and stars are not just stars but

portals that open only long enough

to forgive ourselves.

***

so do you hear that?

the sound of rain

leaving footsteps on my heart

and the way my heart turns them into

heartbeats.

the sound of my back

cracking

as I carry the weight of my deads

as I learn everything about love

through the absence of it.

***

Father's Footprint Challenge Winners

 Whether we like him, know him, love him or revile him, everyone's got one. He is half our DNA and maybe sometimes the source of all of our frustration or joy.

So often in society, fathers are depicted as one of a few stereotypes. Same with mothers. But for this Challenge, we wanted to read stories about individuals who happened to be fathers. We wanted to learn about your lives through your fathers. Not only how they impacted you but how you took their impressions and created your own lives.

Your essays were filled with spirit and pain, love and good riddance. Above all, they confirmed that no father is the same as any other and therefore none of us are the same. It feels obvious as we write it but so often we forget that every face we see is an individual sprouted from two more individuals.

Here are the winners of the Father's Footstep Challenge and spotlight on one of the Runners-Up. You can check out the full list of winners HERE.

$500 Grand Prize Winner

Alvin Ang for An Open Letter to My Workaholic Father

We received so many incredible essays for this Challenge it was truly difficult to choose a winner. But there was something very true in the writing of this essay, the way the speaker addressed his father and spoke of him simultaneously. We felt that he was lamenting his father while celebrating him. This may sound convoluted, this duality, but it's exactly what we do as humans. We celebrate people even when they cause us pain, we learn from them but only later, years after the lessons were given. And isn't that what fathers and parents do? They champion us, tear us down, raise us, give us their all, abandon us, love us too much, and yet, ultimately, they shape us.

This essay is about misunderstanding leading to understanding. It's a perfect encapsulation of growth and perspective. It's heartwarming and heartbreaking. We were especially moved by the prawns and the hurt in their eyes, the same confusion young Alvin may have had toward his father. That's good writing. Congratulations, Alvin Ang!

$250 Second Place Winner

Ronke Babajide for Our Fathers' Dream and Disappointments

Babajide's essay gave us the feeling that she was still working out her feelings toward her father and his native Nigeria. This is what drew us in most, this very human fact that we are constantly reevaluating and further understanding our parents and their history and how it has affected us. We felt a sense of thanks but also frustration at the source of so much of the author's success, her life trajectory. What could have happened? What should have happened?

This essay was also beautifully written, exacting and clear, just like the sciences themselves. We learned so much about a generation of men and therefore so much about their children. Thank you for teaching us and congratulations, Ronke Babajide!

Honorable Mention

Tim Bentley for The Architect

We loved this essay for its unbridled reality. Stuffed with colorful detail and a billowing voice, it was a very fun read, even if the details of the story are less than fun or funny. Still, we could hear Bentley's good cheer in the face of his step father. We felt like we met the man who wrote the essay. A lot of people search a long time to find such a confident voice. Well done, Tim Bentley!

Oubliette

 Damage seeps through unseen fissures, fracturing thoughts while sinew starts to atrophy, stripped down to pale bleached bone–a snowy hiemal white. An unwelcome affirmation that

Insipid winter's come again to steal my fragile mind. A sleight of hand, a trick to bury me alive in snowdrifts never once suspecting, while

Solstice doldrums pick apart my scabs and stitches,

The ones that hold my rotting innards from spilling out, exposing all my dreams and lies and shameful secrets; how I yearn for summery salvation.

Respite. A bit of warmth to thaw my frozen heart, burn away the self doubt. Instead I lie supine, shivering as indigo eyes search starless skies from the cold, clay floor of my homemade oubliette,

Aching to glimpse Ursa Major at its zenith; all the while knowing there's a price, a sacrifice demanded for that estival luxury–the hunger of a

Capricorn moon starved of tenderness and warmth, needing sated,

Taking and stealing and draining me dry until the emptiness echoes throughout my crystallized soul. Time stretches until...

I become ravenous too. Hunger pains drag me from distracted slumber as dormant seeds take hold.

One small stalk of viridescent growth breaches soil not yet freed from frost, blissfully unaware of its doomed fate. An innocent sacrifice that drives the crippling numbness away; pins and

Needles bringing long-dead tissue back to life, pushing away winter's loveless embrace. On the cusp of vernal blossoming, I awaken–renewed.

Challenge Accepted. Mission complete

I think we can all agree that Vocal is great at capturing our attention with the endless array of challenges. Just the word itself is enough to turn heads. "Are you challenging me?" Who doesn't love a good challenge? It's almost like a dare. "I dare you to write something that people will read and find engaging. And if it fits the bill, you might just gain some recognition among other things."

Enough said, I'm in!

The majority of my profile content is full of past challenge material. This doesn't mean that it's all I'm here for, I love creating non-challenge material as well. With working a full-time job and other projects looming, I make sure and reserve time to finish entries I'm committed to submitting.

Completing a challenge is not only a good feeling but also stretches my abilities as a writer. I'd never written a haiku before, let alone knew about the specific structure. But I do now. This is one of my favorites that I wrote for the Quadra Haiku challenge.

Another fun test was the Ludicrous Limerick challenge. Of course, I knew about limericks but never took the time to learn the backstory or structure. (shame on me) After reading some of the entries and getting some great examples, I sat down to write. I think I did 6 in all. This one was my favorite from that bunch.

Next, I opened my browser one day to see a new challenge called the Full Moon. Write a poem inspired by a dream...Easy enough, I thought... At first, I struggled with the style I wanted to use. I ended up writing two entries. I liked the rhyming one better that was inspired by one of those nights where you wake up frequently just to fall back to sleep and have another crazy dream. Check it out here.

Not too long ago, I found myself faced with the Get Comfortable challenge. Write a poem that celebrates what gives you comfort. This one could go in so many directions, but I chose to write about the comfort of my neighborhood.

I joined Vocal in February of 2021 after seeing an ad on Facebook about entering a contest for the Black Book challenge. I clicked on it, and it seemed legit. It wasn't like some of these sites that take you 30 different places before you get answers to what it's all about. Vocal was pretty clear about who they were.

Entering that challenge was humbling. I thought my entry was sound, brilliant, unique. I was wrong. First off, I sped through writing it. 2nd, it was full, I mean full of errors, mostly with tense. It went back and forth from past to present like a deranged time traveler. I revisited the entry and fixed it all but must have generated some laughs at Vocal. The ideas were plentiful, the execution (in some cases), horrid. This was a huge wake up call. I had to become more attentive with editing... and I did.

Before Vocal, I wrote a short story series that's still has potential. I also wrote short skits for video projects that I was involved with. Back in the day, I wrote a 250-page mystery-thriller novel that sits there waiting until the day I rewrite it. Also, in my portfolio, I wrote a screenplay that I fell in love with called Beautiful Scars, a slasher-thriller about a tattoo artist. I do plan to rewrite that one.

Thanks to all the content available to read on Vocal from other creators, including resources, I've learned a great deal about editing. But it's not over, I'm still learning…

Now, let's go straight into what really gets me going as a writer. I love everything paranormal. I also love Horror, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi and thrillers. I have examples of all of them in my profile. Fiction is my thing. The idea of looking at a blank sheet of paper or screen, then producing a story from basically nothing is amazing to me. I applaud creators everywhere that have found success in doing this. Dedication and determination are two words that come to mind when understanding the drive that makes us continue to create and share. In most cases we have no choice but to feed this insatiable urge to write, it's who we are.

Inspiration is a huge factor in developing ideas. This is where challenge prompts come in. They are the inspiration for us to create. Not every challenge may interest us but most of them do. Some people say, it's outside of my comfort zone. I get that. For example, you're not going to write a horror story if you're afraid of the dark to begin with. I don't know what my comfort zone is because I want to be open to all possibilities. Romance is by far, the lowest on my list of things I want to write about. I tried it once and it turned out okay. Writing a complete romance is different than having a MC being romantically involved as part of their character build. My so-called romance entry was written for the Dream Date challenge a while back before commenting was instated. It was the challenge where you had to mention a Glass of Merlot. If you dare, check out Why did I call him Frankie? my one and only entry for that one. It has 20+ reads, zero likes, zero comments, lol.

Back to what I'm all about. I highly recommend 1109 Blackthorn Lane written for the Broken Mirror challenge. The title actually started out as an entry for If walls could talk challenge, which was the only challenge I intended to enter that stumped me. I was excited all to hell about it but couldn't bring it together. I must have begun writing the entry 3 different times with multiple titles just to give up and throw in the towel. I just didn't like where any of the attempts were going. So, I admitted defeat. (Bows head in remembrance) But I liked the final title I chose for it and used it for The Broken Mirror Challenge. One creator, Morgana Miller commented.

"Ahh what a horrifying concept, and such an apt metaphor for the haunting dread of art unfinished. So well-written! I really enjoyed this."

One of my top 3 favorite entries was spawned from the Christopher Paolini Fantasy challenge. I started this story quickly after learning of the prompt. I trashed it even quicker. The original Idea was boring and would turn out similar in concept to many of the entries. The prompt: A grown dragon finds a lost — or abandoned — toddler in the forest. Write a fiction story about what happens next. - I worked hard on the story. I would say, 2-3 hours each seating for about 20 days within the allotted time frame of 37 days before finally hitting the submit button. If you enjoy fantasy with a palpable twist, Check out Tywrick below. One commenter, Rick Henry-Christopher said,

"Outstanding craftsmanship. You brought this story full circle to a resolution that was both creative and satisfying."

On a lighter side of my challenge submissions, I decided to have a little fun and show some versatility with the Improbable Paradise challenge. It's a fun story with some unlikely characters. One creator, Heather Hubler said,

"I loved this storyline! So fun and clever. Wonderful work!!"

For my Honorable Mention, I want to include something psychological and intense. It was written for the Campfire challenge. The Doppelganger includes some violence and was written before content warnings were an option. One thing to note is...It's a work of fiction, and not overly violent. One creator, Roy Stevens wrote,

"This idea would make for a really interesting screenplay don't you think? There's lots of action and some seriously twisted identity transfers for the audience to enjoy. Anyway, I enjoyed it myself."

Dharrasheena, the queen of horror wrote,

"This blew my mind! Fantastic take on the challenge. Loved the story"

I never expect to win any of these challenges, who does? I'm sure it comes as a shock to the 1st and 2nd place winners every time. We all know our potential as a contender but with so many great writers on this platform and so many entries that none of us can physically read the majority of, (except the judges of course) the odds are stacked against us. It boils down to the creative content, the execution, and in most cases the literary quality of our submissions...

Thank you so much for taking this brief journey with me to highlight the fun I've had creating on Vocal. Most of these stories would have never materialized if it wasn't for Vocal challenging me. In a way, Vocal is like our own little Masterclass where we can write, learn, get better and inspire each other with our creations and advice... I'll see you at the next challenge.

***Bonus ***

Below is a mere handful of the creators I'm loving. The links are to their profiles. Please show them some love and read a story. One of the links goes directly to a story whose title has relevance to Vocal. The story itself is a must read if you haven't already. Drop the title in the comments if you have time to search for it. Thank you.