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Ernest Hemingway Quotes, Plotting Stories, and Arrested Development

If you don't know who Ernest Hemingway was, I suggest you go to your closest bookstore, ask for an Ernest Hemingway book, get yourself a cup of tea/coffee, and spend the rest of the day reading. He is a classic of American literature. He is praised for all of his works, winning various prizes and honors like the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize for literature. Simply put, if you love books and writing, you should listen to his words of wisdom carefully. Here’s seven of his (millions of!) quotes I that find most inspirational.

1. "There is no friend as loyal as a book"

2. "My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way."

3. "The first draft of anything is shit."

4. "Write drunk. Edit sober."

5."There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."

6."As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand."

7. "All you have to do is write one true sentence. The truest sentence that you know."

I find all of them pretty great, and they have really inspired me (don't worry, I don't drink) to write more, and better. Also, I found this link through reddit, which explains the two ways of plotting a story, which are both very useful, but I found the second way (architect) to be more sophisticated, yet very effective. If you're too lazy to click on the link and read it, here is the overall order of how an architect story should go:

• Beginning
• “Uncomfortable” event
• Plot turn 1
• Midpoint
• “Everything’s wrong” event
• Plot turn 2
• Resolution

I have also been watching Arrested Development with my mom, and we both find it hilarious. But I think the reason why everybody loves it so much (well most of it is the hilarity) is because it uses the architect story plot very intensely. Arrested Development follows various different characters, all with their own problems and sort of mini-plots, that all lead to the resolution, and somehow they manage to connect all those mini-plots into one huge problem that later gets resolved.

Anyways, I hope you get inspired by Hemingway and write your very own story using the architect and gardener way and later watch some Arrested Development.

Have a good day!

Sam

TED Talks

If you ever have an extra 18 to 20 minutes in your life, I recommend you watch or listen to a TED talk. They have taught me a whole lot, and the stories coming from the people that speak them are incredible, and range from innovative to emotional.

So if you ever find yourself at the writer's block (see what I did there?) just listen to these 6 awesome TED talks about storytelling, and what makes a great story. They do actually help, and I find all of them sort of amazing and my role models. (Isabel Allende for my stories, J.J Abrams for my film making, and Scott McCloud for my comics)

So when you go on a road trip with your family, just bring your iPod with some TED talks downloaded, and listen for a good hour.

Have a frantastic day!


Sam

A Note on Violence, and the Gun That Triggers it

I'm fairly late to the party, but recently Jim Carrey decided that he's not going to support "Kick Ass 2". If you haven't seen or heard about Kick Ass, it's a pretty violent movie which focuses on an anti hero, who is basically a teenager with no experience in crime-figthing that goes on a mission to be a superhero. I actually loved the movie and the comic book that it was based on, and this summer when I heard there would be a sequel, I was super excited. Even more excited when I heard Jim Carrey would be in it. I'm actually a huge Jim Carrey fan, and have watched all his movies, interviews, stand up comedies, and videos. But I just can't stand his statement and arrogance to not support the movie because he thinks the movie would trigger violence, leading to elementary school shootings and such.

Chloe Grace Moretz, who plays Hit Girl in the film, spoke against Jim Carrey. "It's a movie," Moretz recently told a reporter. "If you are going to believe and be affected by an action film, you shouldn't go to see 'Pocahontas' because you are going to think you are a Disney princess." If a violent movie influences you to hurt others, you were a psychopath way before watching the movie. Something was bound to trigger you either way. Mark Millar, the guy who wrote the comic book, also shared his opinions on Jim Carrey's decision. "For your main actor to publicly say, 'This movie is too violent for me' is like saying, 'This porno has too much nudity. We'll have to go and see this now.'

  Besides, Kick-Ass involves comic violence in which vigilantes kill bad guys. Surely a film that involves the torture of innocents, like the main character, is more of a concern. Anyways, maybe I'm making too much of a big deal. Jim Carrey is an amazing actor, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with his opinions. It's the exactly like the Clint Eastwood situation. I think people these days just need to focus on the work itself, not anything else, and not judge the movie because the actors spoke against it, or because it's coincidental that a terrible shooting happened during the movie's production, or because the director has different political views.

I'm getting a little too far from the topic (like most of my blog posts) but I think the bottom line is well stated by a reddit comment "the bottomer line is that Jim Carrey is a known bipolar whose emotions fluctuate greatly. That's part of what makes him such an amazing character and actor. In short, to an extent, the dude is crazy. Disagree with him but don't hate him for it. It's his view point even if it's not mainstream or even politically correct."

I hope you watch Kick Ass. It's pretty violent though.

Have a good day,
Sam

An Excuse to Playing Video Games

If your parents ever tell you to stop playing so many video games, just show them this article. I did. One thing's for sure, video games have really enhanced my procrastination techniques.

Writing Prompts/Sentences

The worst part of writing almost anything, especially fictional stories, is the beginning. You have to try to make it simple, smart, original, interesting, and make your audience wanting for more in one sentence or two. No pressure, right? Well, I have made it easy for you, my friend. I will give you a really good starter and you get to write the story. One of my newest personal hobbies is taking a good starter and thinking of the millions of possibilities the story could be shaped and written. So, without further ado, here is a list of some awesome sentences that could make a good story.

•   “Samantha always felt awkward talking to friends at their own funerals”

•   “Harvey was insane, but he wasn't hurting anybody”

•   “She dreamed of black birds up on the clear blue sky” 

•   “I would like to apologize for my behavior thus far.”

•   “It wasn’t much- but it was everything”

•   “It was a little rock, just like any other floating through space.”

•   “As the stranger stepped into the town of Silari, the wind and the desert started whispering Alizee's name.”

•   “Besides the sound of bacon sizziling the room was silent. Just six months ago a silent room this close to the hallway was hard to come by.”

•   "Mr. John Warren just wanted to eat his sandwich."

•   "They say your whole life flashes before your eyes when you die. What bullshit.”

•   “The nuclear flash burnt a hole into one of Albert's retinas, which was fortunate, because he had been searching in vain for a place to hide the secret formula for the perfect martini."

•   "Long fingernails impatiently tapped against the wooden window frame."

•   “Nothing is free: warmth costs what the fire burns.”

•   “In the face of an unanswerable question, some need an unquestionable answer.”

•   “One morning, Don Pedro came to understand there is no distance like the lack of it.”

•   “Elizabeth, I killed daddy.”

•   “When the hardest person to live with is yourself, how much more are you willing to take?”

•   “Receipts filled his pockets, like tokens to his regrets spelled out in numbers.”

I hope that’s enough to get you started on writing short stories. And in case I don’t see ya, good morning, good evening, and good night! (Truman show really is a great movie. Highly recommend watching it)

Disclaimer: I didn't make up all of these. Some are mine, some of them are from books, poetry, movies and the internet. 

Poverty

I'm incredibly lucky to have enough money for food, shelter, water, and even a private school. I'm more than lucky. Sometimes people forget how lucky they are, and they take for granted their gift of having enough money to survive and have a stable, economically, happy life.

I found this blog the other day (it's about what to shop when you're broke like a canyon) and I found it incredibly fascinating and made me think for a really long time. What really intrigued me about the post that I found most particular was the part where she explained how buying small luxuries keeps you sane. "Again, living without this stuff makes you feel poor. Sometimes you need to have some small luxuries to feel human, and personally, my need to feel human is more important than my need for broccoli." I'm not sure about you, but that makes me think a whole lot.

I suggest you read the whole thing, and after that read this reddit thread that also makes you think... about humanity and poverty.

Whilst reading both, listen to this masterpiece of a song that goes along well with reading about this subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbO2_077ixs

Sorry for the short and bitter post this was, I've been kinda down this past week or so, but don't fret, it will pass.

See you all next time,
Sam

Graduating, Being Open-Minded and One Piece

Now that I'm graduating Middle School, passing on to a new school with new everything, I think it's time to reflect. In less than 5 days, I will graduate my 3 years of being a pre-teen and according to movies and books, will have the worst/best time of my life the following 4 years. I have moved schools MANY times, and I'm quite used to it, so making new friends will not be hard for me. And every time I move schools I learn something valuable. But this school has taught me the possibly most important value that grown adults still don't have, which is to be open-minded. Living in a city like D.C, you see diplomats and politicians almost everywhere you go, (it's a small city, ok!) where I would say only 1/3 of them are open-minded. I think that being open-minded can really solve some of the nation's problems. If more people in Congress are open-minded, the more agreements there will be, leading to less problems! But, there are still people who refuse to be open-minded the smallest bit, like people who believe in conservatism. But this could be a whole different post (in fact, I made one about open-mindedness), and I don't care much for politics, so let's move onto my point. This school has taught me so much, and I will appreciate and remember that when I get older. The past years I have learnt some things about the world around me, particularly myself, and to opening my mind (see what I did there?) to new ideas. Thank you, Alice Deal, for an amazing three years. 

Now, being open-minded isn't only about politics, religion, or opinions. I recently started watching this anime show called "One Piece", which is surprisingly amazing, and it's one of the only anime I've ever watched, considering I'm very new to this "genre". If you're not familiar with anime, it's Japanese (or Asian? I don't know) cartoons, but they're less cartoony as Looney Tunes, and more of what I call art. Each frame is like it's own masterpiece, and the creativity as well as the character development is both amazingly well written and original. I recommend it very much, but if after 15 episodes you still don't like it, oh well, being open-minded doesn't mean you have to agree with me or others. It's about listening to other people and being understanding of what they say/do. So go out there and do something and do something different today, even if it's something extraordinary like traveling to India or as small as watching all 7 seasons of an extraordinary anime.

Peace out! 

-Sam :D

Some cool links:

One Piece fo free: http://www.onepieceofficial.com

How to be open-minded: http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Open-Minded

Conservatism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_States

An open-minded article about not being open-minded (woah... meta): http://gideonz.tripod.com/articles/OpenMind.htm

Holocaust Poem

Growing Up

Even though I'm only 14, people are already starting to plan out their future, what they want to be when they grow up, where to go to college, and such. I find all of that kind of stupid, knowing exactly how your life is going to go and all of that. Though I have to admit, I still really don't know what I'm going to be, or exactly who I am going to be. I remember when I was a kid, all I wanted to do was to be a taxi driver, or a garbage truck guy. I was unaware, of course of the economic factor of those jobs, and how those jobs were not jobs that I should supposedly "dream"of.

 Looking back at that, I find it sad that my dream of driving through the city were crushed by the stereotypical "I want to be a lawyer!" or "I want to be a doctor!" type of kids that told me that their parents taught them about money. And I think whoever wants to be a taxi driver or a garbage truck guy should be one if he wants to. Society has built this mindset of lawyers and doctors that are happy because they gains lots of money, but money can't buy happiness. What I'm getting at is that you shouldn't want a job just for money. Do it because you like it, or else what's the point in life? Money?

Trophy

This one's kinda dark. If you don't understand the joke, go suck a duck.

Also, a lot of people tell me they can't see the comic. Click to enlarge it! Have a good week, guys.

Two Comics in one?! It must be my birthday!

Huevos Rancheros

My mom taught me how to cook Mexican Huevos Rancheros. Damn.

The Chair

Stop motion is one of those things that you hate at first, but the finished product always looks super cool. I made this with my friend Duran yesterday, because we didn't have anything else to do. We took a chair and a camera and saw what happened next. This is still a work in progress, and if you ignore its clique sound effects and its amateur editing it's not half bad.

Relatable Comic #1

With all my term papers coming up and advisories closing... I feel you Calvin.

Is It Possible to Become Less Biased?

I often ask myself this question while I was watching the 2012 election, or just watching Fox News. I find it incredible how biased people are, not just on the Fox network, but in everything that we do, we are biased. But to answer the question, I believe that the answer is yes. I think it's really hard, especially if what you're biased against is something you strongly believe in. I know, for instance, that I (and many of us here in DC) are biased to the liberal/Democratic side. Recently, I've been trying to see why right-wingers believe what they do. Unfortunately, the only answer I can come up with is, because they're morons. Which sucks. I'm going to still work on it, but it's not going to be easy. So what do you think? Is it really possible to become less biased, or become extremely open-minded?

Take Care!

Sam

Comic Sunday! Theme: Movies

Inspired by Terminator 2, that I watched for the first time a few days ago.

Also, I wanna introduce something new. To get more inspiration for my comics, I wanna do a theme each week, and for the readers to decide on the next theme. So comment below the theme you want me to "comic" about next time!

Anyway, here's the comic;

5 Worst Movies of 2012

I've been watching lots of movies recently, (ya know, cuz of Oscars and stuff) and I thought it would be cool to make some blogpost inspired by movies. But before we get on into our list, let's talk about my best friend. The Oscars. Overall, I thought the Oscars were pretty good this year, I thought Seth McFarlane did okay, definitely better than James Franco. Argo definateley deserved that Oscar, and Jennifer Lawrence is too friggen hot. We all knew Daniel Day Lewis would win best actor, and Anne Hathaway supporting actress. Now that I think about it, the Oscars weren't even that great.

Okay, on with the list. In contrary to the Oscars, which praise excellent films, I will shame on the horrible ones. Well, at least on my opinion.

5. Wrath of the Titans- Jesus Christ, how bad is Wrath of the Titans, the sword-and-sorcery sequel to Clash of the Titans that nobody wanted, directed by the dude who made us go mad with last year's horrifically stupid Battle: Los Angeles? Three months after seeing it, we can't recall anything about its plot, and that's because there really isn't one in the first place.

4. Borat- Truthfully, the fact that Sacha Baron Cohen lazily rehashed his Borat/Bruno shtick to make the more traditional Hollywood comedy The Dictator isn't the worst thing about the film. What truly weighs The Dictator down so much that it sinks faster than a fat man floating without Swimmies is its total disregard for intelligent social satire.

3. Battleship- My friends and I made a game in which we all betted to see which Michael Bay movie would be worst. We had a Michael Bay marathon, and I put all of my money on Transformers 3. Sadly, we all agreed that Battleship had to be one of the shittiest movies ever. It was inspired by an 8-year old's board game, except with a twist: Explosions every 30 seconds and aliens taking over the planet, cuz why not?

2. Rock of Ages- This could have been No. 1. It really could have been. A few people strongly encouraged it as well. But I ignored them the same way I ignored how much I detest Russell Brand. In fact, Brand had nothing to do with my decision, at least not his acting. If I were going to sack this film just based on acting alone, well, that honor would go to Alec Baldwin, and it really pains me to say that.

1. DRUMROLL PLEASE FOR THE WORST MOVIE OF THE YEEARRR...

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE SLAYER

This movie was so bad that I almost wanted to walk out of it. I pirated it.  I’ve said too many times that bad movies can be good if we simply shut off parts of our brains and expect certain things from them when we walk into the theater. In the months leading up to the release of this film adaptation on the Great Emancipator as a malicious opponent of the blood-sucking undead, I championed the possibility that director Timur Bekmambetov could make a good movie. 

I was so wrong. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was an ambitious project that failed to capture the underlying silliness of the book, which was essentially the only thing this had going for it. If Abraham Lincoln had lived long enough to see this film, he would have let the vampires win.