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What I like about it and its sister series Torchwood is that it is, at heart, a series of short stories. Good sci-fi fantasy stories wrapped in a superhero fiction shell. Anyway, finally saw the whole season after an extended absence. I watched the first two seasons when they were broadcast so was looking forward to the reunion. Wow. Freema Agyeman was absolutely fantastic. She portrayed a more than capable assistant and followed up Billie Piper's Rose superbly. David Tennant has now made the role his own with his unique mannerisms that are now essential to the part. The selection of stories used for the season were all good, I couldn't find fault in any. It definitely equals Season 2 in quality. Blink was a favourite of course, but the Shakespeare episode also stood out because I'm a fan of period drama so it was great to watch. The stories are crafted with enough emotional twists, turns and character development that makes them riveting viewing. If you haven't seen this season or any of the reborn Doctor Who you are missing a treat.
I recently fulfilled a long held dream of touring two of London's most famous landmarks. First up Westminster Abbey, built in 1065! It was morning, pouring with rain and I forgot my umbrella so got a little soaked by waiting for my mate Pete to arrive. I had arranged a verger led tour which is basically a guided tour of the Abbey. Going insde the place was huge and beautifully ornate. Our guide was great and very humourous which helped the enjoyment of the tour. The group was a fair size with tourists from worldwide. We went through the history of the Abbey from its Royal beginnings, it's role as a church and the many famous people and royalty who are buried there including Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens. It's most important role however, in my opinion, is as the place where the coronation of the Queen (or King) takes place. Simply breathtaking. I was blown away with the history and beauty contained in this building and recommend you check it out if you're in London. From there we went to the Houses of Parliament, which was not currently in session, and after passing the heavy security we congregated in the main hall into separate groups to be paired with our guides. Again I was impressed with the architecture and the history. The Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) is a stunning place and the heart of government here in the UK. The current building was built in 1834. Elected Members of Parliament who represent their constituents come here to debate, examine and pass proposals for new laws for the betterment of the country. This happens at the House of Commons which has a green decor as compared to the red decor of the House of Lords. We first walked through the House of Lords before entering the House of Commons. Both Houses serve as a check on the government with the Lords consisting of many experts in their fields. The House of Lords is also the final Court of Appeal. Until now I had only seen all this on TV with the State Opening of Parliament and Prime Ministers Questions so it was great to witness it in real life. The paintings and statues of royalty and past Prime Ministers was cool to see too. Parliament is important because although the government runs the country, Parliament holds the government to account. This is the place where the laws of the land are set so everyone should pay the place a visit. Overall, with regards to both the Abbey and Parliament, I was just amazed at how much I didn't know, which is good as I'm always up for learning new things.
Andy Murray has just ended an incredible run at the US Open Tennis tournament. He reached the final by beating Rafael Nadal but Roger Federer was just too strong for him in the end. Federer has now won the US Open five times! An incredible feat. Serena Williams won the women's final in emphatic style, her ninth Grand Slam title! Quite simply beauty in motion. Murray's achievement though is astounding. Years of hard work and determination have pushed him to the point of breakthrough. Disappointment can make you even more focused to achieve your goal and succeed. It is only a matter of time before he and Anne Keothavong win a Grand Slam (Major Tennis) final. We truly live in inspiring times.
Google has entered its tenth year of existence. Most people on the web use Google for one reason or another. I find it an excellent tool which does exactly what it says on the tin. Search for information. Google has reached its position simply by being the best at what it does and by constantly seeking and implementing new ideas to help people. The latest invention is called Chrome. It's an internet browser, a piece of software that let you surf the web. The current and most widely used brower is Microsoft's Internet Explorer which is a great tool in itself. Chrome has taken Google's innovative qualities to produce a different experience. I'll be checking it out, it's always good to have a choice of quality tools to use as you go about your daily life. Check out this explanation of Chrome in comic book format by respected comic book creator Scott McCloud. The next ten years will bring even more wonders from talented individuals. All of us have potential to do something amazing and help people. You just need belief.
The olympic games may be over but the paralympics, again held in Beijing, China, featuring the best of the world's disabled athletes has just begun. It continually amazes and inspires me when people overcome obstacles, physical or mental, to strive and achieve. I try to apply this way of thinking to the way I live my life with varying degrees of success. Hard work and a dream are really all it takes to move forward. Check out the results at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, here. This is the Beijing Paralympics logo and the mascot called Fu Niu Lele;
Cliche, as I understand it, refers to a lack of originality. It's when you read a new book or comic book/graphic novel and the story, artwork and sometimes even the title (character name) feels like the same old thing. Nothing new seems to be added. The same applies to movies. The result of cliche, in my case, is an extreme feeling of boredom which totally turns you off the story. One big yawn. This is one of the factors that creates a poor story and, in fact, any piece of writing. The very nature of the production line approach in comic books and movies means that lack of time will produce a certain amount of cliche. Recent movies I've been disappointed by include Prince Caspian and going further back, Bulletproof Monk. I have enjoyed The Matrix and Lord of the Rings movies as examples of fresh storytelling. There are quite a few good stories out there but only a few great stories. The difference, I believe, is measured in the factor of originality in the work. The key should be for a writer to constantly find ways to help prevent their work becoming a cliche of itself over time.
Story by Robert Mckee. This book has awakened a newfound joy for understanding life. Captured in a story. I'm learning that all great writing, has a duty to display the good and bad in life to be seen as realistic. This is interesting for me as the majority of my writing to date on this site has been to focus mainly on the positive at the expense of the negative. My personal view of life is idealistic and optimistic no matter what lays before me. On this site however this worldview can have the effect of creating a kind of one sided view of life with no contrast. This is something I am looking to improve to enhance my writing in future. Rewrites. These are something else I'm discovering about the art and craft of good writing. Especially the concept of 'The first ideas you put down are what you have absorbed from everything you've ever read and watched'. This will make the writing cliched. Given that a lot of my past articles on the site have been more or less first drafts, that got me thinking heavily too. I'll ideally like to rewrite a body of work at least five times to weed out the cliches and add originality. I'm constantly trying to improve the quality of what I do here and the less cliched I can make it, the better. The rewrites will apply mainly to the GrowlerVerse short stories which I am researching and developing but I want to see an overall increase in quality of my articles here over time.
What a fantastic Olympic Games! Beijing produced an extraordinary extravaganza amid some amazing results. Jamaica's Usain Bolt was crowned the fastest man alive by winning the 100 metres and 200 metres sprint finals. Michael Phelps achieved a record 8 gold medals in one games, and Team GB came away with a 19 gold medals. The best result in 100 years. And now, London is the host city and the 2012 Olympics are rapidly approaching. What I like about the whole thing is the inspiration it gives by seeing the athletes who worked hard to succeed at their goals and winning against the odds. Valuable lessons for all. Learn more about the London 2012 Olympics!
I've recently been exporting my music collection to iTunes in a long overdue mission. The reason being so I can give the physical vinyl records and CDs to my local Oxfam and British Heart Foundation charity shops. I haven't heard some of the songs in an age. A lot of R&B and hip-hop stuff from the nineties and beyond and pop, rock and world music. What struck me when looking at the production credits was the amount of talented and creative people involved in making those tunes. Only a few artists have survived the test of time to continue to make great tunes. People like Mary J Blige and Usher who have taken control of their product and used great business sense and excellent advisors to create a strong team around them. Working with the best can only make you better and perserverance will ensure you endure and outlast the competition and stand the test of time. And I have to admire the sheer genius of the software pragrammers who came up with the Gracenote technology that recognises music from old vinyl records and CDs and converts it into MP3s. Simply amazing.
The Beijing Olympics in China have seen some great performances and feats and Team GB have been magnificient.
All in all, these Olympians are successful, positive people who push themselves to the limit to reach the pinnacle of their goals. I was also impressed by the animated characters created for the BBC Olympics coverage by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, shown below. Creativity in motion!
It's been a lot of fun discovering how much I didn't know about the art of storytelling. In fact, I can go so far to say that I didn't truly know what the purpose of a story actually was until now and that's after years of enjoying reading them. I do know a great story when I read one though. It's all about showing great characters and their journeys through life in an entertaining, honest and emotionally engaging way. Finding out that stories have a structure and that to create one it's wise to use a framework and build around it makes a lot of sense. A bit like building a house I suppose. I've always enjoyed writing but it's tended to be unstructured and spontaneous. Storytelling will be a new skill I want to practice and eventually master and showcase on GrowlersWorld. Make no mistake, this will be a long term process. I don't expect to be a master overnight but I will continue to have fun learning and you will see the results right here in the GrowlerVerse section of the site.
One creative soul that has inspired me is George Lucas. The story of how he got his dream project, Star Wars, off the ground is nothing short of amazing! And to turn it into a worldwide smash was just icing on the cake. When the film first debuted in 1977 it broke the mold in sci-fi feature films with its incredible special effects and created the term blockbuster movie. As a pioneer, Lucas went on to create studios for sound and special effects which are still in use today. But the real achievement was the story of Star Wars. An action adventure like no other, the first trilogy remains one the best pieces of cinema storytelling ever devised. Great characters, great locations and great action. The films are just as fresh today. It shows that making great stories can be done.
I've recently had the good fortune to re-discover the storytelling quality of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I used to catch the odd episode when it showed on TV and enjoyed it casually but I never appreciated the complexity of the whole series, season by season. Until now. Watching the characters being introduced, grow and change organically has been a revelation. Of the seven seasons my personal favourites are seasons two, three and six. They're works of art! The screen writers have enthused a level of quality that I haven't seen since reading the best superhero fiction in comic books. The continuity and consequences, the way past events are remembered and added to future storylines are just ingenius. The dialogue between the characters is so fresh and like nothing else out there. Covering the range of emotions from laugh out loud funny to tear wrenching despair. With a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure. No wonder so many screenwriters are now writing superhero comic books and vice versa. This cross pollination has lead to greater quality in superhero fiction across the board. Joss Whedon, the creator of the Buffy universe, both writer and director is a true inspiration. I loved his recent film Serenity and have to admit as of the time of writing I've yet to watch his TV series Firefly which set the scene for that movie. I'll get to it though, because I want to examine and learn the craft and enjoy work from one of the best in the business.
One of my goals is to constantly develop new content for this site. An area I'm branching into is character storytelling. I've called it the GrowlerVerse. This has involved me learning and studying the basics of storytelling. A story involves a plot which usually consists of certain essential elements to keep people entertained. You know how you felt when you really enjoyed a great movie, a book or a graphic novel? Why did you love it so much? That was down to an excellent story being told. That's what I'm aiming for. Great entaining stories. Look for the GrowlerVerse concepts to be fleshed out over the coming months.
The Millionaire Mind by Thomas J Stanley PhD. A great read so far which includes the nuggets of 'think differently from the crowd' and 'hard work is more important than intellect in achieving success'. This provides an amazing framework on how to build and maintain success. Of course, the most important thing is having the discipline to put it into practice. That's where the fun begins!
Check out this cool animated prequel of the upcoming film Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Created by Mike Mignola who is a creative genius and got his start in the world of superhero comic books. Having created his own character, Hellboy, he has gone from strength to strength. Showing you what can be done with persistence and talent. Go see!
What a fantastic final! Rafael Nadal has finally won the men's singles title at Wimbledon for the first time! Beating five times champion Roger Federer in a thrilling match. What drama! What passion! It came down to who was mentally stronger and who wanted to win the most. And there can only be one winner! Great stuff! And check out all the past men's title winners and ladies title winners! That winning mentality is not easy to come by but it can be nurtured and achieved with hard work and practice.
This is a great piece of writing by the man who brought you the original Jungle Book. An inspirational passage and something to remember. The poem is called 'If' Enjoy. If you can
keep your head when all about you If
you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can
make one heap of all your winnings If
you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Some of my current goals and dreams are; To inspire and motivate people to achieve, through this website. To make a living from doing what I enjoy, to achieve a basic level of fluency in Mandarin Chinese by August 2009 and to be able to play the violin to a good standard. Boiled down to 'helping people and enjoying life'. It's good to have a few things to go for so once you've achieved one goal you can go on to another. Always have something to aim for at all times to keep yourself fresh.
Constant And Never ending Innovation. The key to recharge your creative batteries! I heard this phrase in from entrepreneur Simon Woodroffe. I recently read the autobiography of Walt Disney who used this to great effect. After having a massive success with his animated creation Mickey Mouse in the 1930s, its popularity began to decline. He countered this by inventing a new character Donald Duck which was a huge hit. He then ventured into quality animated movies starting with Snow White and then live action movies including Mary Poppins. All of these projects were enormously successful. Not wanting to rest on his laurels he decided to reinvent the theme park, creating Disneyland and DisneyWorld. The amazing thing is how his creations are still popular and well known to this day. He learned to make his service and products so good that they grew organically by word of mouth. Because of his hard work, dedication to quality and the team he gathered around him. If you want to be the best you must surround yourself with the best.
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley PHD and William D Danko PhD. This is a great read with some fantastic and timely recommendations. It follows the formula of surveying many millionaires and displaying the findings as a series of patterns and lifestyle choices. Very handy in the midst of the credit crunch and everyday life. Of the many points raised are the importance of frugality (living well within your means), hard work, saving and investing. Basically aiming to be financially independent and self sufficient. This is a long term journey. An amazing eye opener! And remember, to achieve your goals you need the willingness and ability to work hard, take risks and sacrifice.
I enjoy watching football and tennis. Spain won the Euro 2008 football tournament. Venus Williams won the ladies singles Wimbledon 2008 title for the fifth time, playing against her sister Serena. 14 year old Laura Robson won the girls singles at Wimbledon, the first British player to do so for 24 years. What do all these feats have in common? Sport involves competing against the best to win. Whether it be as a team or individually. Playing against the best helps you to raise your game and sets you on the path to greatness. The sheer force of will and hard work needed to dig deep and overcome your opponent is inspiring and can be applied to help achieve your goals and dreams. So the next time you feel like a little encouragement, watch a sport and watch the best in the business ply their trade.
Ever wondered how websites remember who you are and what items you've placed in your shopping cart? Here's a great explanation from Google. The whole idea is amazing and ingenious and shows you what can be accomplished by hard work and innovation to make people's lives easier.
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