M. Night Shyamalan is a great story teller. Okay, okay –The Happening was not so happenin'. I actually never saw it because a reliable friend and M.Night fan did not recommend it. Let's be reasonable––greatness cannot happen with every try. Even Mighty Casey struck out, and so did Babe Ruth....a lot! And he was theGreat Bambino!
Back to M. Night being a great story teller. His stories start with a great concept. He uses vivid imagery and captivating cinematography, which only draws you into the characters and dialogue. He develops the story behind the story. I find myself just listening and watching the story unfold instead of working to follow or piecing the story together. When I watch his movies, I don't go to watch a movie; I go to betold a story.
Thus/therefore/hereafter/thereunto/consequently/without further ado, this post's subject line explains it all (and reveals my biases)!!
My dad sends an occasional email forward; and they are occasionally funny. Instead of contributing to the email forward game I am just posting it here.
Customer Service --- Computer Repair
Caller : Hi, our printer is not working. Customer Service: What is wrong with it?
Caller : Mouse is jammed.
Customer Service: Mouse? Printers don't have a mouse!!!
Caller: Mmmmm??..Ohreally?... I will senda picture.
[UPDATE: The Picture didn't initially post. Here is the picture, which is the very punch line for the joke. Sorry for the delay.]
Write a letter to your state representative (I say this one because I have never done it, and I cynically believe it won't make a difference. Two to three generations ago this happened all the time. Maybe one day I will do this).
Decrease your digital intake.
It is still February, which means it is Black History month. Next time you are in a public place, shake a black person's hand (especially an older person who has witnessed much of the Civil Rights struggles) and tell them, "Isn't it wonderful that you (if you are white) and I can be in the same line/building/restaurant/other location?!"
Anonymously leave a grocery store gift card in a friend's mailbox.
Instead of telling your pastor how good (or bad) the sermon was, ask him how the gospel is shaping his life today.
The previous post (and this one, too) were published via email using Evernote.
I use Evernote, which is a free capturing application. Please click the link to check them out, but I just wanted to clarify that the post itself was not "From Evernote."
I wrote it (and this one, too) but just emailed the post directly to blogger using email.
I love the pause I experience after a profound statement. You know, the pause that makes you stop everything you are doing, thinking, and saying so that you can direct every ounce of your being towards concentrating on what was just said.
These moments usually happen to me after reading a great sentence in a book or hearing a great line in a movie. It is the zinger, the punch-line, the climactic statement; the focus of all that was said before and the point of what is said after. It is the proverbial "hmmm" moment.
That moment invites you to respond. But how? With a clarifying question; with a skeptical eye; with a cynical sneer; with an agreeable smile; with an argumentative retort? The possible responses are truly infinite. The experience, however, that I am talking about is when the singular, appropriate response is silence.
My whole day has been characterized by that response: SILENCE. I think of words but none come. Saying, "Wow!" or even a jaw-drop insufficiently expresses the silence I am experiencing. This silence has weight and power; I attempt to respond but I am held back. Fear, almost terror, begins to qualify this silence. Though it is the safest place to be.
By now, if you have read my blog before that is, you should know that I occasionally brainstorm a list of "assignments." They are lists for you and for me to consider doing sometime today/this week/soon. As I do more and more of them, I will introduce them less and less.
Today's Brainstorm:
mail a handwritten thank you note
start using google reader for your online news/blogs/websites
don't assume recycling gets the job done; use less and resuse more
comment on this blog sometime; give some feedbackand constructive criticism
Good morning! This post is about posts that don't get posted.
I just spent twenty minutes reflecting on how my morning gospel reading (Matt. 14) is relating to circumstances in my life. I sat and thought; I sat and typed; I sat and re-read; I sat and edited; I sat and decided...not to post it.
Why? Some things are too personal. So I wrote this lil' ditty instead. Just because most of our life functions in the cloud doesn't mean you have to publish everything in the cloud. And honestly, not everything written is publish-worthy (so, PD, get over yourself)!
Today's takeaway: keep it to yourself and/or verbally tell a close confidant. Don't broadcast it to the whole world who probably won't see it anyway. (If you never read this post, you realize the irony in these last two sentences.)
So, getting a Mac was my first step; finding the website Lifehacker was my second step; and my final step into geek-dom was joining Twitter, where I can follow other gadget geeks. I came across this nifty tip today and have used it with almost every email I sent out today.
It is a great follow up tool. Click the link and watch the video.
Over the past the past six months, I have desired to write more. Starting this blog was one avenue to write on a consistent basis. I don't really care about people reading (well, that is a lie).
Communication is important, and there are many different mediums. For instance, it is a life-dream of mine to write a screenplay. I would like it to be made into a movie, but I am realistic about those chances. Still, writing a screenplay swirls in the back of my mind.
I also think it would be cool to write a novel. I appreciate the abilities of Lewis, Tolkien, and Rowling to weave a world with their words (how about that for alliteration; I didn't even edit that for style!). However, I do not think I have the mental fortitude to tell a story worth telling. There is nothing I could say that hasn't been said already. (I have a theory that whenever I have a thought I should search C.S. Lewis' writings first. [Related post about this])
If I were to start writing more seriously (I mean, how serious is blogging, right?), than I would want to be an essayist. Not only is that more romantic than saying, "I'm a writer," but who does it anymore? Emerson? Lewis? Twain? I'm sure there are fascinating essayists out there. I suppose I haven't heard about them because they aren't dead yet. That is an interesting thought to consider: what's going to happen to people's blogs when they die? Will college students of the future be required to read Blog Anthology of 21st Century, Vols. 1-1,000? It would probably be something else I never read in college.
I promise I have a point with this post. I was thinking about writing this morning and a conversation happened in my head (no, I didn't hear voices). The conversation began, "What do you do?" This of course made me think of Office Space. Please be advised that the video below does contain profanities; it's still funny though.
Social media works. I am convinced. It is amazing how fast information (old and new) zooms around the vast vaccum called the internet. So much information lost in its space waiting to be accessed.
Although I participate in the technology and affirm its benefits, I try to keep it within reality. So, consider my pondering mere speculation; it is not a prediction. I am not smart enough nor well-informed enough to stay ahead of the trends to make predictions.
Social media (perhaps, just speculating) may grow into a never ending black hole of lost information. A blog post here, a tweet there will never be seen because something else got posted a micro-click later. Thus, for social media to continue as is, it must maintain its purpose: communication. If it no longer serves as a means for communication or collaboration (both positives) towards productive results, than social media will implode just like the housing bubble with no valuable content to hold it up.
Until the dust settles...I am perfectly content in making a few posts, sharing a few links, spending "facetime" with my family, friends, neighbors, and reading a good ol' fashioned book.
