It's hot

Just to let you know my status right now is: sweltering hot. It's about eighty degrees in this apartment and not going to get much cooler... especially due to the fact that I'm scared to open the door because I don't want a) some burglar creeping through the window or b) cockroaches to rejoice upon finding a new home. So that's why I'm hot and not doing anything about it.
I thought it was time to update my blog. It just came upon me. It'll take a while to get used to this space. It doesn't quite feel like mine yet...

Preparing for Uganda

I'm going on a missions trip to Uganda, and I just finished reading "Mack and Leeann's Guide to Short-Term Missions", by J. Mack and Leeann Stiles. I might have read it too fast, but it was so interesting that I couldn't put it down. Maybe I'll go back and outline some points.
One main lesson I took from it, however, was the fact that if you can't evangelize in your own country and culture, it doesn't make it any easier when you're in a foreign country. They said that to prepare ourselves, we should already be practicing evangelism so that the transition from America to wherever we are will be as smooth as possible.
I struggle with evangelism because I don't often see opportunities to talk about my faith. The thing is, there are plenty of opportunities, but my eyes aren't open to them. Also, when they do arise, I'm so at a loss for words because I feel that I don't have enough knowledge to share. I think this can easily be fixed by brushing up on my bible knowledge and liturgy about my church. I need to pray continuously, though, that I remain sensitive to the fragile culture in Uganda, and not feel like a "soldier of Christ".
One chapter in the book talked about a couple of missionaries who went to Guatemala and started their work by setting up their own little farm. The wife dressed in indigenous clothing, and helped out her husband who worked the land using modern techniques. They didn't advertise what they were doing, but they quietly went about their work and waited for curious people to ask more about their methods when they saw how much produce the couple was able to yield.
I know that my trip is the shortest short term trip that you could take (ten days), but I would rather be overprepared than underprepared. Who knows what God could do to my life while in Africa within that short period of time?

Liberation

I am now free to write whatever I want on this blog. Yahoo! That was a cry of enthusiasm, not an allusion to the internet search engine.

I am so thankful to God that he got me through this semester and this year- it's been by far the most challenging and rewarding.

I hope to start writing personally instead of academically, though I still want to keep up some of my previous posts to show what one of my passions in life is.

That Sweet Suite World

In my Writing for the Tween Sitcom class, I chose to write for The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. It turned out to be a fun exercise. Writing for children lets you tap into your wacky child's side of creativity, which I think is the happiest place to go.


As I write in another journal entry, I am usually too afraid to go into the dark places of my imagination, so writing for a Disney show is a good way of doing that. The story still required tension and rising action, however, but if you look at some of these episodes of Suite Life on the Disney Channel's website, you'll find that it gets as dark as Zack and Cody being divided by a friend. Yes, I love kid's channels.

Suite Life is, by far, the easiest show for grownups to watch. Hannah Montana is a good show and has an intriguing theme of living two lives, but I feel that the Suite Life tells better jokes overall and reaches out to a larger audience. There's something for everyone: Zack and Cody for twins or young boys, Maddie and London for young girls and teenagers, Carey for struggling single moms, Mr Moseby for the Dads out there who are forced to watch, and Arwin for all the freaky people in the world... like Jim Carrey.

I can't wait to finish my spec script, sell it, and keep Suite Life on the air!

James L. Brooks-- What a Nice Man

Yesterday I attended the Jack Oakie and Victoria Horne Oakie Lecture Series at Norris Hall on campus to hear James L. Brooks speak. I really don't like public lectures. I kind of feel like they cheapen such giants in the industry, especially when the interviewer is unprepared (not naming any names). Brooks was a very interesting person to listen to because he told of experiences in a narrative-type way (imagine that, he's a screenwriter!) and gave us students advice for the future.

As a writer, he believes that story is the most important thing of all, which is counter to what USC teaches that character is more important than anything else. However, Brooks has had a lot of success writing and producing Taxi (of which we screened 2 episodes) , the Mary Tyler Moore Show, the Simpsons, and more, so I think he knows what he's talking about. Brooks has won 19 Emmys and 3 Oscars-- that's more Emmys than anyone in television history.

His advice to writers: do your research. When he wrote Taxi, he went to a cab company in New York and spent a whole day hearing conversations and seeing people, and finished the day with a cast of characters to write for. I could spot, however, the fact that he doesn't put character first, as the episode of Taxi that we saw was so structurally tight, but I didn't get a sense of the characters. Maybe I need to watch a whole season. Or maybe I wasn't invested in it because I don't like public lectures. Anyway, he spent a great deal of time discussing the importance of actors and how they must be communicated to properly. They have a tremendous responsibility of being the face of the movie or show, so it's important that they are as developed as possible.