The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall

What stories do you like? What ways do you like to engage with stories?  The answers to these questions vary widely from person to person.  You may like to read romance stories, while others like to watch comedic ones on TV.  Others prefer the storytelling in music. 

How about this: Why do you like stories?  What is it about story that is so important to us that we have created so many forms of storytelling?  Tales at the water cooler, gossip magazines in the grocery store isle, entire stores filled with books, and large rooms where you sit and watch a screen while surrounded by strangers are all venues for stories. Why?  This is the question that Jonathan engages with in his book.

Martha Marcy May Marlene – script review

This is a first for me.  While I’ve reviewed movies before, I’ve never reviewed just the screenplay.  Last week I decided that I should read more screenplays.  I read a lot of novels and non-fiction books, but if I want to write screenplays, then I should be reading screenplays, both professional and amateur.  While I won’t review all of them, Martha Marcy May Marlene left me with a lot of varied thoughts.  I have not seen the film.

Martha is a young woman who became entangled in a cult.  She was welcomed into the community and greeted with kindness.  Though it was a lifestyle new to her, she seemed to quickly grow into it.  Growing into the cult further began to reveal a darker side.  Though she had made the cult her life, Martha realized she could not stay.  So she runs away, and when she does so, she fears for her life.

The Story Telling Animal - book trailer

Review coming May 30th. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

The 13th Tribe by Robert Liparulo

After the Israelites were caught worshiping the Golden Calf at the foot of Mt. Sinai, they were severely punished by God.  They are punished by God for their sin.  However, Liparulo paints a picture in which the true extend of the punishment is not completely revealed in Exodus.  Of the Israelites, a number of them were placed in a 13^th tribe.  This tribe was cursed with immortality, keeping them separated from God.  They hope to gain God’s favor by killing sinners.

The tribe, still alive today, has something huge planned.  Outfitted with advanced technology they are planning one of their largest strikes yet.  In their planning they cross paths with Jagger, a man with torn faith.  When Jagger’s family is pulled into the fray he must find a way to stop this group of immortal vigilantes.

Stitching

A friend of mine is directing a short sci-fi film and is trying to raise money to fund the project. Have you ever wanted to back a movie? Maybe be an executive producer? Or do you just love science fiction? If so, you should check out his Kickstarter page and see if this project is something that interests you.

Here's a short video with some information about the project.

Quiet by Susan Cain

We often pride ourselves on being able to identify certain types of people.  This is especially true of extroversion and introversion.  We use terms like ‘shy’, ‘quiet,’ ‘a people person,’ ‘outgoing,’ and ‘talkative’ to describe them, usually knowing that these terms point to introverts and extroverts.  What we’re not as good at is recognize why people react certain ways and when it is better to act introverted or when it is better to act extroverted.

Susan Cain subtitled her book, “The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.”  An introvert herself, her main focus is introversion.   One of the key factors in determining what someone is, is their level of sensitivity.  Introverts, she writes, are more sensitive to stimuli and more easily overwhelmed.  She explains that this is why introverts prefer interacting with smaller groups of people, tend to not enjoy public speaking as much, and tend to prefer working in environments with less external noise.  An important thing to note here: When Susan writes about qualities typically embodied in introverts they are often generalization.  In many people they may be true, but it others it will be false.  Some introverts are perfectly fine with public speaking while some extroverts have terrible stage fright.

Blue Like Jazz - the Movie review

Blue Like Jazz opens with the basics of story structure: Setting, Crisis, Climax, and Resolution. This underlying theme of storytelling seems to be inspired by the accounts told in Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, were we learn about the process of writing Blue Like Jazz.

In the film, Don works at a plant which makes pre-ready communion cups.  He plans to attend a Baptist college not far from home.  His dad, described, as ‘the Hobo,’ encourages attendance at Reed, a school which has been called one of the most godless campuses in America. Of course Don refuses.  However, at his church Don is confronted with a hypocrisy which seriously shakes his faith.

Confused and angry, Don decides to take up his dad’s idea.  At Reed he meets Lauryn (in the men’s room) and she introduces him to Reed.  When she discovers his religious background she warns him, “Get in the closet, Baptist boy.”  Don also meet social-activist, Penny, who he quickly falls for, as well as connecting to a character referred to as ‘The Pope,’ an atheist who is designated to be ‘God’s voice’ for the campus.