Same name, different neighborhood

Quick note that I transferred this blog over to WordPress. This blogspot URL will stay up as is, but new posts will be over on Wordpress.

Still the same domain name: mythicaltype.com

The RSS feed should update on its own, but to be sure, the feed is here.

After the Dark doesn't work because nothing matters

Besides playing the Netflix game, I wanted to watch After the Dark because I remember watching the trailer when it came out, and it seemed like the kind of movie I would like. But about 20 minutes into the movie, I realized that I would not like it as much as I expected. There are a few reasons for that. Spoilers ahead...

1. Every significant thing happens in the thought experiment, not in real life, and there no real stakes for the characters. 

The exciting parts of the movie are in the thought experiment—how the group survives and the consequences of their choices. But in real life, these students are all just sitting around a classroom. Mr. Zimit, the teacher, threatens a couple of them with lower grades, but that’s it. Other movies have pulled off an alternate space that affects reality. Characters who die The Matrix die in real life. Things go wrong in Inception's shared dreams, and it affects the characters' goals in real life. But it’s difficult to care about what happens to the characters in After the Dark when their classroom discussions have no real consequences.

2. New iterations of the thought experiment don’t propel the story.

We find out more about each character in each iteration, but we still don’t know what the point of the experiment is in the first place. Is this the class’s final exam? Is Mr. Zimit trying to prove something? Is it about character reveals? We don’t know. At the end of the movie, we find out Mr. Zimit wants to be with Petra and was trying to show her that James isn’t the right guy for her. It's the kind of reveal that could work well, but it doesn't here. The writers withheld important information until the end, so we don’t see where the thought experiment is going all along, and that makes it difficult for us to care.

How could new iterations propel a story? Take Groundhog Day for example. We know upfront that Bill Murray’s character wants to stop repeating Groundhog Day. He wants a way out. First, he tries killing himself, but the day resets after each attempt. Next, he tries perfecting the day, and when he finally does, the loop breaks. We know what he wants the whole time—find a way to stop repeating the day—so we can empathize with his situation as the movie progresses.

3. We don’t know who to sympathize with. 

After the Dark has a large cast—20 students plus Mr. Zimit. Down to 10 people in the bunker. And we learn about each character in bits and pieces. All those people and all that information makes it difficult to know who we should be rooting for. It seems like our choices narrow to James, Petra, and Mr. Zimit. Of these three, James is the most likable. He is friendly and honest. He looks out for his classmates. He tries to act in a morally good way. Petra, on the other hand, seems cold, even as she emerges as the leader of the students. We see brief scenes of her and James together and where he is loving and sweet, she is distant and unresponsive. We don’t know if she’s holding back her feelings for James or if she’s lying to him about their relationship. We don’t know what she wants, so we can’t hope that she gets what she wants. And then there is Mr. Zimit who is cast as a villain for most of the movie. He kills the poet, acts impulsively, and withholds information that would help the group survive. We don't know what he's up to, but then at the end of the movie, it seems like we're supposed to feel bad for him.

After the Dark starts with an interesting concept but non-existing stakes, unclear character motivations, and too many characters make it difficult to enjoy the film. You can sit back and watch it purely for the philosophical stuff, but if you think about the story, it feels muddled.

Bullet Journalers on Medium

With #PlanWithMeAugust going on, I've been meaning to see if there are people writing about the Bullet Journal on Medium and the answer is, kind of.

Here are three posts over on Medium that aren't new info if you're already familiar with the method, but may be helpful if bullet journaling is new to you.

• My Week with Bullet Journal
• 6 Common Mistakes New Bullet Journal Users Experience that Lead to Frustration and Abandonment of the System…and How to Get Past Them
• Workflowy Journal: Digital Bullet Journal

New playlist on 8tracks: Solar Flare

I posted a new playlist on 8tracks—Solar Flare. You can listen to it over on 8tracks and the songs are listed below.

1. Oh My Love - The Score
2. Paris - Magic Man
3. Wetsuit - The Vaccines
4. Young Hearts - Strange Talk
5. The Walker - Fitz & The Tantrums
6. She Moves in Her Own Way - The Kooks
7. Love You Madly - Cake
8. Life in Color - OneRepublic
9. Wild Babe - CRUISR
10. Gold Rays - Vinyl Pinups
11. Sea Salt - Sun Culture
12. Stranger - Sunny Day Sets Fire
13. I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers
14. Canyon Moon - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
15. Simple Song - The Shins

Original image by Julia Caesar shared under Creative Commons Zero.

PlanWithMeAugust on Instagram

This month I'm participating in #PlanWithMeAugust on Instagram—a 30-day challenge about how you plan. It's about what goes in the notebook, not what kind of notebook or planner you use. I won't be posting every day but on the days that I do, you can see them on Instagram. 

I have a feeling some of prompts will turn into blog posts here, so there's that. 

Rules and strength in Teen Wolf

Spoilers for episode 5x05 - A Novel Approach

Two things stuck out to me in this episode.

1. Rules for supernatural beings - Kira, Scott, Stiles, and Lydia go to Eichen House to visit Dr. Valack. One of the defenses in the building is that areas are lined in mountain ash, so Scott and Kira can only go up to a certain point. But Lydia and Stiles can go anywhere in the building because they are human. Supernatural beings have to follow rules but humans have free will. Supernatural beings gain power but lose some freedom.

2. Strength and vulnerability - Stiles and Lydia have strength of character (bravery, intelligence, loyalty) but physically, they are more vulnerable than Kira, Malia, and Scott. But then, supernatural strength still has vulnerabilities. Kira isn't completely in control of her power and we see how that's dangerous to people around her. Malia has flashbacks of the car crash from her childhood and it distracts her from her surroundings (she crashes the car she's driving). Scott's downfall is how easily he trusts people, so despite his strength he sometimes lets people get close to him who will hurt him.

A half-year in movies

Halfway through 2015, and these are the movies I have watched so far:

I'm not going to write about each one, because that would be a long and potentially rambly post. Instead, here are some highlights and surprises.

I knew I would like The Imitation Game, but I am always a little concerned that biopics will be a collection of scenes and lack an actual story. Totally not an issue here.

After I finished Odd Thomas, I immediately wanted to watch it again. I love when a movie has that effect.

I watched The Double after I heard that Jesse Eisenberg was cast as Lex Luthor in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. No doubt that he is a good actor, but I couldn't really picture him as a villain until I watched The Double. Still, I'm not sure about him being Lex.

Parallels isn't even a movie but Netflix has it in the movie section, and I didn't know better—it's a pilot for a TV series that never got picked up. Good ideas and then such a let down. 

Everything about Big Hero 6 is stuff that I would like in a movie, but I didn't like it. The animation is stunning and the characters are good. It's a superhero story. From a technical aspect, it's a well-made movie. But something didn't connect for me.

I had zero expectations for Mad Max: Fury Road because I stayed away from reviews, reaction posts, and even trailers. That paid off—Mad Max blew me away. I love when a movie has that effect.

What have you been watching lately? Let me know over on Twitter.

Bits of Screenwriting 101 by Film Crit Hulk

I finished reading Screenwriting 101 by Film Crit Hulk, and I recommend it for anyone who writes stories—not only screenplays.

Below are some of my favorite passages. I highlighted a lot of stuff, so narrowing it down was hard!

Hulk's working definition of storytelling:

a good narrative is compelling to the audience, economically told, feels real either in terms of emotion, detail, or texture, and speaks to some thematic truth that you recognize in yourself or the world at large.

On inspiration carrying you through to the end of a story:

A finished film is as close to the inspiration that spawned it as that original scribbled note on a napkin. To the creator, they are conceptually the same thing, no matter how much they might have changed. Never forget that. Because the germ of your idea can be the thing that must constantly light the fire underneath you as you go forth. When you are in the slog of working out the logistics, you must find that same inspiration. Even if the project radically changes, the idea itself should be a through-line that saves your script throughout the process. The moment of inspiration is both your motive and motivation.

On endings:

If all the ideas in our films mean something, then your ending should say everything. [...] do not look at the ending of your piece as a burden, but as an opportunity. An opportunity to say everything you want to say in your movie. It is an opportunity to be poetic, resonant, and interesting. It is an opportunity to be soulful and underline the purpose of storytelling.

On heroes:

It’s not that anyone can be a hero, but that a hero can come from anywhere.

On the hero's journey, and how you don't have to use that model for a good hero story:

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is 1) about a superhero 2) one of the most respected and successful superhero films ever and 3) and it doesn’t even really touch the Campbell model in any strong way. Instead, it’s built around moment-to-moment propulsion of story. It grounds its characterization in theme and keeps things going in a far more involving and modern way.

On forward motion that keeps the audience interested:

So what I’m saying is that you come up with an idea and it’s like ‘okay, this happens’ and then ‘THIS happens.’ No no no. It should be ‘this happens’ and THEREFORE ‘this happens.’ BUT ‘this happens’ THEREFORE ‘this happens.’

On genre:

Every kind of story is different. Every one of them works with a certain set of expectations and catharsis. And part of being able to write any kind of story means you should know how to write every kind of story.

On Tarantino's mastery of cinematic mechanisms:

People think that Tarantino is always trying to be cool or that he makes “cool” films, but if you ask Hulk this is a spectacular misdiagnosis. Yes, Quentin wants his films to be cool, but that’s not how he actually constructs them! Seriously! Oftentimes, his characters are grounded in a kind of regularity and focus on the mundane. He obsesses in the obscure and the uncool. More than that, he constructs his films in terms of function: his long-form dialogues are just as much about classic innovations of drama and build up and tension. He’s a guy who knows his craft and knows the purpose of every single cinematic mechanism he’s employing.

On the most important thing in writing adaptations:

You want the people of the property to be the same people in the film. That’s everything, really. Audiences just want to recognize the characters they have come to love or be fascinated by.

On getting through the first draft:

Just write the first draft no matter what. Don’t care if it’s good. Don’t care if it even works. Don’t care even if it’s gobbledygook. Just get it done. It doesn’t matter. Get it all up on the page because no one ever has to see it. Remove the paralysis. Get in a place so you can see it all before you. So you can see what needs to be done and how it needs to be changed. And then? Do, like, 7 rewrites... at least.

On having thick skin:

James Gunn said: “The key to show business is to give 110% while simultaneously not giving a shit.” Give 110% percent because you can’t accomplish anything in this business without enthusiasm and genuine intent. Be joyful and take pride when things go well. But don’t give a shit in the sense that you have to take rejection in stride. Don’t let failure bother you.

Chuck, Fringe, and Haven: Story arc similarities

I noticed a pattern.

Chuck, Fringe, and Haven all follow a similar story arc with their male and female lead characters.

The story arc goes like this: a female government agent arrives in town for a specific case. She teams up with a man who has secrets (some he knows about; some he isn't aware of). They start off in a professional relationship. Later it turns romantic. Then, things change:

• Man loses woman
• Woman takes on a new identity
• Woman returns (but is she still the same person?)

This cycle happens at least twice in each show, but despite these similarities, each show explores this story arc differently.

Let's take a look, show by show. (Spoilers ahead. And for simplicity, I'm leaving out most of the sci-fi inner workings in these shows.)

The characters

Chuck and Sarah, Chuck (x)

The female government agent: Sarah (CIA) comes to Burbank to secure the Intersect.
The man with secrets: Chuck inadvertently uploads government intelligence into his brain, via secret technology called the Intersect. That's the secret he knows about. The ones he doesn't know about: His parents worked for the CIA, and his dad was part of the team that developed the Intersect.

Olivia and Peter, Fringe (x)

The female government agent: Olivia (FBI) goes to Boston to investigate deaths on a commercial flight.
The man with secrets: No one knows much about what Peter was doing right before he started working with the FBI. Those are his secrets. The secret he doesn't know about: he was born in the Red Universe.

Nathan and Audrey, Haven (x)

The female government agent: Audrey (FBI) follows a federal prison escapee to Haven.
The man with secrets: Nathan can't feel any physical sensation because of the Troubles. The secret he doesn't know about: he is adopted.

The cycles

In Chuck, the first time Chuck loses Sarah is to a mission—she goes undercover at Volkoff Industries and pretends to turn against the CIA (new identity). After they capture Volkoff, Sarah returns to her life in Burbank. The second time, Chuck loses Sarah to a faulty Intersect she uploaded into her brain. In the aftermath, she loses her memories of him (new identity). The series ends with Sarah asking Chuck to tell her about everything they've been through together, so that implies that they'll try to build their relationship again. So, woman returns but she's not the same as before she left, and the relationship is different.

In Fringe, Peter loses Olivia the first time when she gets trapped in the Red Universe. But there's a twist—Olivia's double (let's call her Altlivia) comes over to the Blue Universe and poses as Olivia. Peter doesn't realize they switched, so he doesn't know that he lost his Olivia. Meanwhile, Olivia pretends to be Altlivia in the Red Universe (new identity) but then she blows her cover and fights her way back to the Blue Universe. Olivia comes back safely but the dynamic between her and Peter is different because of the relationship he had with Altlivia in Olivia's absence. The second time, William Bell's consciousness takes over Olivia (new identity), and Peter loses her temporarily until the team can bring her back. Peter loses Olivia again briefly in season 5, because they are separated and then trapped in amber. But he finds her and frees her. (No new identity in this cycle.) So, woman returns as herself but the relationship changes a little each time.

In Haven, Nathan loses Audrey when she enters the Barn to stop a meteor shower that is destroying the town. Audrey comes back as Lexi (new identity), with a different personality and (seemingly) no memories of Nathan. Audrey is back to herself but later, Mara takes overs (loss #2 and another identity). And then Audrey returns but is ill; seemingly dies (loss #3, no new identity), but then Mara's mother brings Audrey back. At the mid-break of season 5, Audrey seems to be back to herself. So, the woman returns and we're not sure if anything is different.

Even though the lead characters in Chuck, Fringe, and Haven follow similar story arcs, the stories, their developments, and the outcomes are all different.

New playlist on 8tracks: Sepia Summer

I posted a new playlist—Sepia Summer. You can listen to it over on 8tracks and the songs are listed below.

1. A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley
2. Summer of '69 - Bryan Adams
3. Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins
4. Grease - Frankie Vallie
5. Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Swede
6. A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles
7. Come Unto Me - The Mavericks
8. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
9. Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
10. You Are the Woman - Firefall
11. Five O'Clock World - The Vogues
12. Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers
13. The Longest Time - Billy Joel
14. Ordinary World - Duran Duran
15. Here Comes the Rain - The Mavericks
16. Baba O'Riley - The Who

Original image by Schub@ shared via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Colors were modified in the version that appears here.

Bottled water, artificial languages, and promotions

Some stuff I've been reading lately:

17 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Bookstores (mental_floss)

Stop Drinking Bottled Water (Gizmodo)

How an artificial language from 1887 is finding new life online (The Verge)

Best practices from the most active Slack users (Fast Company)

Upon This Wrist (Medium)

How the wrong people get promoted and how to change it (Fast Company)

What If Everybody Didn't Have to Work to Get Paid? (The Atlantic)

Photo credit: Before sunset by Daniel Dudek-Corrigan via photopin (license) Modification: added text

Matt Murdock's ordinary acts

A while ago, I wrote a few tweets tagged #OrdinaryActs, and the idea was that these are little things superheroes do to blend in, to make it seem like they have ordinary lives. For example...

We know a hot cup of coffee wouldn't affect Clark, and we know Peter has excellent hand-eye coordination, but these are everyday moments where they could play up being ordinary.

And then I watched the Daredevil Netflix series and saw that Matt Murdock does these kinds of things too. Even though he has heightened senses and is not in total darkness, he pretends at complete blindness when he is around people in his everyday life.

Small things, like reaching out to touch a door frame or missing someone's hand for a handshake. Relying on his cane as he walks down the sidewalk, but we know he can toss it and run, full-speed, if he wants to.

I love seeing details like that, where Matt acts that way on purpose as part of his disguise.

It's a reversal: He stops pretending when he puts on the mask.

Backpacks, diamonds, and screenshots

A selection of the stuff I've been reading lately.

On screenshots and taking pictures of words (Austin Kleon)

Diamonds Are Bullshit (priceonomics)

A Pox On Your Roller Bags! Why Backpacks Are The Smarter Choice (Medium)

The Tragic Final Days Of My Neighborhood RadioShack (Fast Company)

Why Christopher Eccleston Was The Greatest Doctor Who Star After All (io9)

Photo credit: Panguitch Balloon Festival via photopin (license). Modifications: added text, adjusted colors.

Reverse engineering Odd Thomas

In Screenwriting 101 by FilmCritHulk, Hulk explains the process of creating characters by matching up specific kinds of information to the human body. You start at the feet and work your way up to the head: "You start factual, then get emotional, then ideological, and then amalgamate those details into an actual character psychology."

He details the process and then suggests an exercise: look at an existing character and fill in the information for them.

I want to work through that for Odd, the main character in Odd Thomas (movie version, not book version). I like that this is a superhero story where the character doesn't think of himself as a superhero, and I like the idea of pulling it apart to see how that character works.

So here I go with Hulk's process.

Feet (Physical details and basic facts)

• Appearance: Male, Caucasian, mid-twenties, average height, lean build, dark hair, blue eyes
• Family: Father is police chief. Mother has been in a psych ward since Odd was 12 years old because she claimed to have psychic abilities and had violent episodes. No siblings. Middle class. We don't know about any other family members.
• Friends: Viola (waitress at the diner); Stormy (girlfriend)
• Location: Pico Mundo (desert town in California)
• Occupation: works as a short order cook at a diner. Also unofficially helps out with police investigations because he inherited his mother's psychic abilities.

 

Groin (What does he want?)

• A simple life, because his psychic abilities complicate his life
• To keep his abilities secret (so that he doesn't end up like his mother)
• To be with Stormy

 

Heart (What does he need?)

• Needs to have a purpose for his abilities (he believes they are a gift he is meant to use)
• Needs to have someone in his life who accepts him as he is, despite all the weirdness in his life. (That person is Stormy.)

 

Throat (How does he sound and project himself?)

• Speaks quietly but confidently
• Sarcastic, especially with Stormy
• Gives off a casual, easy-going vibe, despite all the danger that surrounds him
• Is confident about his abilities and insistent when he needs his father's help
• Accepts his abilities as a matter-of-fact—he doesn't brag about them and he doesn't shy away from them. 
• Is honest when he can be (with his father and with Stormy) about what he sees and what he knows. When he can't be completely honest, he tells people what they need to know so that they stay safe.
• Knows how to fight and take care of himself, but he isn't aggressive or violent unless he really needs to be (like when the bad guy is after him or people's lives are in danger)

 

Left cheek ("left-brained" abilities)

• Intelligent, sometimes more than he lets on
• Investigates on his own and sometimes will talk through things with Stormy
• Good observer
• Works a lot like a detective would: figure out a suspect, piece together a timeline, go through a process of elimination until he has a clear picture of a situation

 

Right cheek ("right-brained" abilities)

• Thinks outside the box (because of his psychic abilities)
• Strong belief in justice and righting wrongs
• BUT will break the law for a greater good
• Acts on gut feelings as much as logical decisions
• Doesn't see himself a superhero
• Believes in a higher power and an afterlife (but isn't more specific than that)

 

Crown (Who is this character?)

Odd Thomas is a man with psychic abilities that he uses to solve crimes and help people. Because of the weirdness in his life, he tries to keep other aspects of his life simple and grounded. He is confident about his psychic abilities and helping people but also humble, never bragging about what he can do and never considering himself a superhero. He is intelligent and methodical in solving crimes, but he can also be impulsive. He has a matter-of-fact mindset about his circumstances, accepting his abilities and using them to help people.

Functional fixedness in writing

There's a psych term, functional fixedness, for a concept about being stuck thinking about an object only in the way it was intended to be used. Binder clips are only for holding together a stack of papers and you wouldn't think of using them for anything else.

I have a good memory for concepts but not always for their formal names, so I referred to that idea as the opposite of what MacGyver has. He can solve any problem with simple objects (like paper clips, duct tape, and a Swiss army knife) because he thinks beyond common uses.

I've been thinking about what functional fixedness looks like in writing. It could mean that you stick with initial ideas instead of thinking of other possibilities. It might mean that you don't look beyond usual genre tropes.

So how do you get unstuck? Or maybe a better question is, how do you keep your mind flexible?

One answer is, look at stories and pull them apart. The story could be in any medium—look at novels but also look at TV, movies, comic books, podcasts, plays...whatever interests you.

Ask questions about the characters, story structure, plot, writing style, tone. Figure out what works and what doesn't. Think about why you like or don't like the story.

Stay flexible by paying close attention to stories.

Photo credit: Hallvard E via photopin cc

What I read in 2014

Here's a list of the books I read in 2014. I recommend the ones in bold.

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher (urban fantasy, 2011) 
Cold Days by Jim Butcher (urban fantasy, 2013)

I Wear the Black Hat by Chuck Klosterman (cultural essays, 2013)

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (fiction, 2012)

It's Too Late to Say I'm Sorry by Joey Comeau (short stories, 2007)

Fray by Joss Whedon (comic book series, 2001)

John Dies at the End by David Wong (fiction, 2013)

Divergent by Veronica Roth (fiction, 2012)
Insurgent by Veronica Roth (fiction, 2012) 
Allegiant by Veronica Roth (fiction, 2013)

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon (non-fiction, 2014)

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini (fiction, 2006)

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (science fiction, 2011)