Top Ten Things I’ve Learned From Horror Movies 2007
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In the spirit of humor and Halloween, today I’d like to post my top ten list of what I have learned from watching Horror movies.
1. All folklore is true. Bloody Mary, the Boogie Man…Jason they are all real. Don’t test their existence.
2. Don’t be alone; around anything mechanical that can possibly kill you. Like a garage door opener, a mechanical vise, chainsaw, pulleys
3. Make sure to keep your car in good condition for a quick getaway.
4. Anyone covering their face with a mask or their hair is bad. Run as fast as possible.
5. If trapped in a boarded up house or bus stay away from the windows.
6. Travel in groups of at least three. I used to travel in twos, but I ended up leaving my friend alone with the killer. You can guess what happened next.
7. Don’t invite anyone into your house.
8. Don’t go out on a full moon.
9. If someone says “I want to play a game”, respond immediately with “I don’t want to play a game”.
10. If someone in your group runs back into an area teaming with werewolves, zombies, vampires and/or ghosts to get their dog, let them go, they deserve to die.
Any to add?
The Pursuit of Motivation
October 30, 2007 by marvin
Filed under Books, Inspirational, Movies
Lately I’ve noticed numerous postings regarding ways to motivate oneself. There’s apathy among many people. And I see many people answer these posts by advising to write down how they want to see their lives. I’ve always felt, that’s not good enough.
A movie/book that really displays intense desire and motivation is ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’. Here is, Chris Gardner, a man with a child who became homeless on the San Francisco streets. Because of his situation he was highly motivated. So much so that his determination and resourcefulness
Chris’s actions in the movie/book demonstrate intense motivation. Sometimes you really have to feel something is at stake. Maybe it’s the lives of your family or the thought of being homeless. If you don’t have that, it’s easy to be complacent.
How do you guys motivate yourselves? Can you think of good examples of someone who had to dig deep to motivate himself or herself in order to accomplish a specific task? Please share.
What we can learn from Writers
Think I’m crazy for creating a blog that talks about things to learn from books, movies and tv? Think again. When we are at a loss of what to do in a situation we can go to our friends, historical figures, and I believe characters in books, movies and tv.
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Great Writers either know their material or they research it thoroughly. Like Author Golden who wrote ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ after hitting a roadblock he started actually researching everything he could about the culture and the time period. And he interviewed actual living geishas. He threw away his five hundred-page manuscript and started over. He ended up writing such a realistic account that others believe he was writing about an actual living and breathing person.
Writers come up with an enormous variety of situations from normal to far extreme situations that hopefully none of us will ever have to worry about. But a key to how these characters react or pro act is the fact that writers have time to really consider and explore the outcomes these characters go through. Like Santiago, a character from ‘The Alchemist’, who has to decide between continuing down the path he is currently on and traveling down the path his heart wants to follow.
Because these actions are well thought out, oftentimes these actions are valid for the situation and makes for a valid source of guidance. This applies doubly so if a writer were to do a story based on actual events. How does President Dedmon, from ‘We Are Marshall’ convince the commission to continue the football program? How did Rudy Ruettiger, from Rudy make it into Norte Dame? Whether or not you agree with how the characters deal with a particular situation you’d still have to admit they could teach us something. But, it’s up to us as observers to learn.
So when you think you are at an impasse and looking to family and friends isn’t fruitful. Try looking to what other people in actual events did. Barring that look at what characters in similar situations did.
What do you guys think?
Featurette : Clip of the Week
October 26, 2007 by marvin
Filed under Clip of the Week, Inspirational, Movies
If you compare this clip with the one in the theater you will that the camera was shaky to say the least, the video is grainier and the sound quality isn’t the greatest. But, I think you will also find that this clip has a hundred times more impact. It was played on the Marshall Football field for people and fans of the Thundering Herd where the events in the movie actually happened.
Gordon Ramsay: A Real Mentor to Restaurateurs
The search for a mentor led me down many paths. Most of them I read about in books or see them on TV. Then I happened upon a show called ‘Kitchen Nightmares’. Gordon Ramsay whose restaurants won multiple Michelin Stars, published several books.. This is a man who knows how to build a successful restaurant from the ground up. He’s someone I would call the perfect mentor for anyone who would want to start their own restaurant. Not only because he knew how to run a highly successful restaurant and what standards they should apply to their business but also he knew the psychological pitfalls an owner can fall into.
In the episode titled “Did I stutter?”. Ramsay believed that the owner’s fear of failure was keeping the restaurant from succeeding. At first I was thinking, what is Ramsay talking about and the restaurant’s owner kept asking him, ‘what are you talking about?’. Then I saw it. I understood just what he was talking about. Every time Gordon suggested a change he didn’t like it. In the owners mind if he stopped doing what he was doing it would mean he failed. Finally the owner realized what Gordon was talking about. it was an Ah hah moment for him.
I really envied these lucky restaurant owners who had the opportunity to learn from an internationally acclaimed restaurateur. Not everyone gets the opportunity to be guided by someone so far down the road we want to travel down. Not everyone has someone point out clearly something that we are blind to, something that is keeping us back.
In another episode, where he turned the restaurant Dillons around. He called the restaurants cleanliness standards awful. The owners said they received a higher than average grade from the City and they clean the kitchen once a week. Gordon took the owners on a tour of his kitchen. Gordon’s kitchen defined clean, the owners inspected the fully staffed kitchen. Gordon told them his kitchen is cleaned twice a day!
Watching a couple episodes, patterns begin to emerge. Setting aside cosmetic changes to the look of the restaurant, the menu, food and service. One of the key things Gordon seems to apply is to bring out the owners passion for his business and try to make that passion seen, felt and known within the business. Once this is done the whole feeling within the restaurant changes. The owners drive is increased, the ambiance of the place feels more important and personal. Once this happens the owners change for the better.
My way has been to study everything I could about the greatest people in the field I wanted to be successful in; while at the same time have a deep understanding of who I am and what I am capable of accomplishing in the hopes that I’m not being blind to something. To sum it up what I learned about business from watching the show is:
- Set a higher standard for yourself and/or your business
- Bring out your passion into what you do. Make sure it is felt in your product or service
- Don’t be afraid to fail. Failing teaches us what not to do.
How about everyone out there? Have you had the opportunity to learn from an expert or mentor or hidden monk in your field?
Success Through Observation
I read a post from John Chow’s website. He received an email asking about when a blogger should call it quits. John Chows answer as well as many other comments were if you’re no longer having fun then quit.
The answer though sound, I can’t help but feel there might be better advice. I wonder what the ultimate mentor would say. Where is the forgotten monk that can offer real help?
John Chows site is great, actually it’s better than great. He offers great advice and rakes in a heck of a lot of money. I’m following his book. Because who wouldn’t?
So what do you do when you don’t know how to get to where you want to be? For me it’s all about observation. Being an avid reader and a keen searcher of forgotten monks you should learn from the advice of someone successful, observe them and learn the things they don’t know to tell you. Sometimes there are things they do that make them successful that they don’t know to tell you about. Oftentimes these can be critical things.
John Chow’s blog is very successful. He freely gives his great advice to how to monetize. Now I haven’t been able to read his entire site. But, I can tell you one thing I noticed that doesn’t seem to get enough press on his site. It’s the fact that John seems to set very specific measurable goal on a periodic basis. Whether it is to become a SEO Expert or to beat Shoemoney’s RSS Reader Number he always seems to have a measurable goal. If you are not accomplishing your goal whatever that goal is, then you have to do something different and if you run out of options and you still aren’t accomplishing your goal then quit.
What do you guys think?
Humorous Lessons From Star Wars
Apparently a fellow blogger sees some value in my subject. In my first post The Slightest Nod I was still narrowing down what my blog is all about. I was starting to get a little worried whether there’d be any interest in my subject matter. Then I ran into The Movie Blogs: 8 Life Lessons From Star Wars All Kids Should Learn a humorous take on lessons to be learned from Star Wars. Enjoy
Start At the End and Work Backwards
As you know, I really enjoy stories, specifically ones that surround a unique protagonist. I find the whole mythos surrounding a protagonist fascinating. Take the protagonist from the last action movie I saw last weekend; ‘The Lookout’. Not a great movie, not particularly well written, or directed; but the movies plot device was something unique and useful.
The movie’s protagonist Chris Pratt received a severe head injury. He suffered a loss of certain memory functions and experienced problems with sequencing. As a result he constantly wrote down his daily tasks in his notepad in order to remember them. Chris lived with his best friend Lewis, a blind man paired with him by social services.
One day frustrated with his progress with memory sequencing, Lewis suggested that he “start at the end and work backwards”. And it is in that one characteristic that saves this movie from my circular file cabinet.
***Spoiler Warning***
Of course later in the movie he gets into deep trouble. Two ruthless men kidnap his best friend. He really thought long and hard about how he was going to get out of the situation. Then he remembered what Lewis said, “Start at the end and work backwards”. So he wrote down his main goal, “Save Lewis”. Then, he thought to himself, ok before that I have to “Kill Gary” and so on and so forth.
***Spoiler Warning***
The plot device really illustrated the importance of writing down your goals. Sounds simple, but how often have you heard the advise to write down your goals? Probably the only thing missing from that advise is to write down the sequense of steps to take you to your main goal. And after writing them down check them off one by one.
Take a lesson from Chris Pratt. Write down your main goal and work backwards. What do you think?
How Rush Limbaugh Turned Lemons into Lemonade
October 22, 2007 by marvin
Filed under Inspirational
About a month ago, Jessie MacBeth was sent to prison for six months for lying about being in the military and speaking out against the war. Rush talked about this in his show calling Jessie and any other person who fakes military service whilst making up wartime atrocities a phony “phony soldier.”
Forty-one Democratic Senators sent a letter to Limbaugh’s Corporate headquarters, Clear Channel Broadcasting, demanding an apology.
Limbaugh said he was speaking of real “phony soldiers” — men who had lied about their military service and invented stories of wartime atrocities.
In a classic move of turning lemons into lemonade, Limbaugh put the senatorial letter up for sale on eBay, with the proceeds going to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, one of the finest charities in the land.
Founded in 1995, the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation gives educational bonds to the children of Marines and federal law-enforcement agents who die while on active duty.
To everyone’s surprise, including Rush, the top bid for the letter was $2.1 million by Betty Casey, a long-time listener to Rush and a trustee of the Eugene Casey Foundation, a philanthropic organization. On Friday Rush matched the Foundation and donated an additional $2.1 million of his own money giving the organization a total of $4.2 million
Kudos Rush!
The Slightest Nod
October 15, 2007 by marvin
Filed under Inspirational, Movies
“Once upon a time in China, some believe, around the year one double-aught three, head priest of the White Lotus Clan, Pai Mei was walking down the road, contemplating whatever it is that a man of Pai Mei’s infinite power contemplates — which is another way of saying “who knows” — when a Shaolin monk appeared on the road, traveling in the opposite direction. As the monk and the priest crossed paths, Pai Mei, in a practically unfathomable display of generosity, gave the monk the slightest of nods. The nod was not returned. Now, was it the intention of the Shaolin monk to insult Pai Mei, or did he just fail to see the generous social gesture? The motives of the monk remain unknown. What is known are the consequences: The next morning Pai Mei appeared at the
When I was coming up with an idea for a blog I really felt it had to be something I know a lot about. Something I love to talk about. Something I wouldn’t mind doing. That ‘something’ turned out to be stories. I know a lot of stories from books, history, movies and many other sources.
But, I didn’t think I could write strictly about stories by itself. In order for people to want to read my blog I had to offer something that people would want. And I think that, everyone, including myself, wants to be more successful in various aspects of their lives.
One way to learn to be more successful in these various aspects is to learn from others. We learn from our friends and if we’re lucky we learn from really good mentors. I’ve read many books that claim the best person to learn from is a mentor someone who has been where we are now and knows how to get to where we want to go. But mentors are difficult to find. I know, I’ve searched high and low. And my search has always met with disappointment. Then one day I realized that characters in the stories found in history, books, movies and TV were unsung or forgotten mentors. These storytellers in their writing have explored, with their characters, endless situations and actions that we can learn from.
Which brings us to this blog. This blog is about finding and learning from mentors within stories, books, movies and tv. I don’t mean characters that do things perfectly all the time. These characters make mistakes too. And it’d be smart to learn from their mistakes as well.
My idea for a blog was born. But I needed to take things further and actually get my own URL and a name that would help me brand my blog. Taking a lesson from the book ‘the Purple Cow’ by Seth Godin I wanted a URL address that would be visually memorable. The word
As I went through possible names one word kept standing out. That word was ‘Monk’. For the purpose of this blog, I decided to use the term monk and mentor interchangeably.
When I hear the word monk I picture a solitary monk standing on a hill overlooking a field of green grass. A scene similar to the one Douglas Adams painted in his book ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ of the electric monk. If you read the book you’d know the electric monk’s special job. A Tivo’s job is to record shows for you, a microwave’s job is to cook for you, the electric monk’s job was to believe for you.
I later added “the forgotten” as a way of differentiating our monk from others and to recognize that sometimes we forget to learn from history, books, movies and TV. The Forgotten Monk is any character in stories from history, fiction, movies and TV that through their actions and results have something to teach us. Will
We use the term ‘monk’ a little differently on this blog. In this monologue given by David Carradine from the movie Kill Bill 2. Pai Mei is my forgotten monk for today, the great teacher, the mentor who went unrecognized. Because his actions went unnoticed there were severe consequences.
This blog is our acknowledgment, our recognizing of overlooked actions. It is our slightest nod in return to all the forgotten monks out there. The unsung heroes from history, books, movies and TV that we can still learn from in the hopes we can avoid severe consequences.