Movie Review: Taken

Even though I was pretty sick on Friday, I needed to get out of the house, so I saw Taken with Marie.

It came with her sister's recommendation - and this is a sister whose favourite film is Legally Blonde. Not an action flick fan.

But there was action aplenty. It was kind of strange - like Kramer vs Kramer meets James Bond. That's strange in a really good way - it's good to see an action film with 3-dimensional characters and believable backstories - and in a bad way, too - once the action was over it reverted to a "family issues" film, and that kind of felt unsatisfactory.



I also found myself overthinking the whole thing - a bad habit of mine - and wondering what message the film was sending.

In many ways it was a typical hero story - that our protagonist is the only guy who knows how to save his daughter, that the whole system is against him, he can trust no one and must rely on his wits and his fists (used in equal amounts, and very proficiently) to get through.

It was extremely exciting, and yes, the hero wasn't completely invincible (only 99%). But it made me reflect on why I enjoyed Signs so much. Hero movies where the main guy is always in control are sheer escapism. Life can be much more like Signs - overwhelming and confusing, and a reason to turn to one another for help.

So my verdict on Taken - a terrific ride, but reflective of an individualistic mindset that is gradually fading away as we all seek to rediscover what it means to live in a society.

Sapphire and Steel

Like many of my generation, YouTube has given me the ability to analyse some of the key media experiences of my childhood - experiences like Sapphire and Steel.

That program used to give me the willies! Whether it was the music, the weird storylines, the sense of muted discomfort - it was just such a well-done show.

Sometimes when you look up a show from your childhood, you find that your imagination was doing all the work, and it was actually poorly done (a lot of Doctor Who's special effects come to mind here!).

But with Sapphire and Steel (as well as The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) it was just as good as the memory. And even better, consumed as a grownup.

I wonder if JJ Abrams ever watched Sapphire and Steel? They put into practice the idea of a Mystery Box like no-one else I've seen. We viewers didn't have a clue who Sapphire and Steel actually were, or why they were doing what they did, but we sure wanted to find out what happened next!

After staying up way too late last night watching Sapphire and Steel on YouTube, I'm going to take some of that mystery and incorporate that into today's writing projects. Will it help me? You'll just have to find out ...

The blog post about nothing

Blogging every weekday is kind of addictive - most days I have something interesting to say.

So I find myself sick on a Friday, with very little in my head, and yet still I want to blog.

But scratch anyone these days, and you'll find something they have to share. I'm the same ... so what can I share?

• Blogging every day must be something Google likes - or something - because just about every post I've done has received a comment or two. Is this because I'm posting every day? Or because I'm posting on consistent(ish) topics? Is it because of Twitter?
• Or is it just that blogging and commenting has become a mainstream part of society, compared with my other blogs in the past, which didn't often get comments?
• Or maybe I've just become a better writer? That's always a possibility...

I've also been thinking about how Twitter is kind of like blogging, only better. Just this morning, I posted a link which in turn led to a minor conversation. In the past, that kind of conversation could - theoretically - be held through a blog post and comments. Twitter speeds up conversations and helps us learn things from multiple perspectives. Which is a really good thing.

So there we go... this post wasn't about nothing, after all!



Nothing

Learning through pop culture

I don't know much about history...

Well, actually I do, but not because of my Social Studies classes. The things I find most useful now, I learnt through wasting time.

(the image doesn't have anything to do with this post - but ain't it cool? Find the original here)

I learned what ambergris was from a Donald Duck comic. I got inspired to take Latin classes through Asterix. I got interested in geopolitics through the expanding, imaginary Star Trek universe.

And I learnt about branding from just about everything around me. Part of the Generation X experience, I suppose, although it probably started in earlier generations.

I look at my childhood passions, some of which have survived into adulthood:

(Actually, this is almost in order of appearance)

Reader's Digest (seriously!)
Lego
Popeye
The Smurfs
Knight Rider
Dr Who
Star Trek

They're all brands, and they all needed managing. So it's kind of cool as a student of branding, to be able to delve into the myths and legends of my childhood and discover some solid business lessons.

What about "young people today"? What's the time-wasting stuff they're learning?

You already know what I'm going to answer, don't you. Social networking, social media, etc.

What are they learning?

They're learning about branding, but as producers as well as consumers.

They're also learning about how to get along. Look at the reality TV shows that are popular - they're kind of cruel (notice how the Joker's evil plans in Batman are just like reality TV?) but they expose the way we relate to each other and make ethical (or unethical) choices.

Where did your most valuable learning come from?

Why you shouldn't live as if today was your last day

Sometimes people lay that out as an instant key to know what's important in life. It's not ... if today was my last day, I'd probably try to do everything ... and not do anything well.

More inspiring for me is ... what would you do, if you had 50 years, and could only do one thing? Even forgetting 50 years, what about if you could do only one thing TODAY... ?

Of course, life's not like that, and neither is business. Businesses especially have to diversify their operations in ways that don't always feel comfortable or make brand sense. That's why we have brands - for ourselves as much as for others - to know what it is we're about. And why we do the things we do.

But having that thought - what if I could only do ONE thing? - is a great place to start. Who knows, you might actually get something done, and in a lot less time than 50 years!

Writing for B2B magazines

Ben's writing an article for Startup Mag, and he asked me what I wished I'd known about writing for business-to-business print magazines when I started, 8 years ago.


(a magazine I haven't written for)

Here's what I told him:

Biggest thing I've learnt in writing both for print and screen is to
outline first. Think in outlines, in skeletal structures. Make sure
you have a solid backbone to the story then flesh it out.

Secondly make every word count. It's very tempting when you're paid by
the word to pad out, but resist the urge, and you'll create stuff that
people actually want to keep reading.

With quotes ... use direct quotes sparingly. Before I did print
journalism, I did radio copywriting, so my early articles are filled
with speech marks everywhere. Synthesise, rather than quoting.

And - I always forget this - always ask for a high-res photo of the
person you're interviewing at the time you're interviewing them.
300dpi resolution, JPG or TIFF format should work for most publishers. Not that you'll be taking these photos; these are often provided by interviewees or their PR companies.

The Dark Knight and Word of Mouth

"You've changed everything."


Batman changed the face of Gotham City's crime, and we've changed the face of trusted recommendations.

To be honest, The Dark Knight's trailer didn't grab me. At all. But when friends offline and online started raving over it, unanimously, without one negative review, I paid attention.

I'm glad! We finally saw it on Friday night on the big IMAX screen. So, so good on so many levels. An immensely satisfying filmgoing experience.

Then last night I was weeding out the RSS feeds in my Google Reader. My criteria for what stayed:

• relevant
• consistent
• consistently relevant :)
  
• helpful
• made me feel connected
• informative

So now I'm trying to apply the same ideas to my own blog. Please let me know how I'm doing? I've opened comments to anyone; you don't need to login to comment. Thanks!