Friday Fun: Ira Glass on Storytelling, 4 Parts

These videos have been all over the place recently, and I didn't want to lose track of them. If you've never heard Ira Glass's program This American Life on NPR I highly recommend it. I've spent many a Saturday afternoon working or cooking a meal and listening.

I especially like the third piece, where he talks about how important it is to create lots of work, in order to develop good work. In other words, don't quit when you're frustrated-- everybody goes through it. So get yourself a cup of tea (hot or iced, depending on your climate), sit back, and enjoy. And then get creating!

Books and Doors

"A book is a series of pages held together at one edge, and these pages can be moved on their hinges like a swinging door." – Remy Charlip

Mon Nouveau Film Favori

I confess that I barely watch TV anymore. (Unlike as a kid, when I was even a card-carrying member of the Keith Partridge fan club. How could you not love Keith?) I do, however, adore movies.

To me, films are like picture books in the sense that the director has to balance the verbal and the visual parts of a story. And then there is the way scenes are designed-- the crop, the angle, the pacing. There's so much to learn.

This past weekend, out of the 218 movies currently on my Netflix queue, we watched Paris Je T'aime. (Yes, Paris! So I, of course, am enthralled!) Without spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it-- it's a collection of 18 different shorts of 5 minutes apiece by 18 different directors. (All in Paris!) Some are better than others. I laughed at some, cried at some, and was aching to know more about some. Some had fascinating twists. Some were "arty" and I didn't quite get them. Some were more slice-of-life, and some felt like a nugget of tiny, perfect little story. So much to absorb! So much to think about! So much I can apply to my own work. This one I must own.

Oh, and did I mention that they all take place in... sigh... Paris!