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