I enjoy watching movies but I hardly ever go to the theater any more. Seriously, I don’t see the point of spending $10 to watch a movie when I can buy the DVD for the same price a few months later.

This evening The Book of Eli came on HBO and I decided to watch it since it was free. Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman are two actors whose work I enjoy so I expected the movie to be decent. It was.

The Book of Eli is set in a post apocalyptic world. 30 years have passed since war broke out and civilization was destroyed by, what we are led to assume, an exchange of nuclear bombs. The movie follows the basic hero’s journey plotline. We meet Eli, a lone wanderer, as he is hunting for food in the woods. But soon it becomes clear that he is not walking around the U.S. for fun and hijinks. He is on a mission.

As expected, he gets into a few scuffles along the way which draws the attention of Carnegie. He is a corrupt town leader who wants to expand his meager empire and is looking for a specific book he believes will help him do that. I’ll save you the suspense because you’ll know almost immediately anyway. He’s looking for the bible.

Carnegie finds out that Eli has the last remaining bible on Earth. Apparently, people blamed the bible for the war that broke out which is not surprising. In retaliation, people hunted down and destroyed all of the bibles except for one. The last bible came into Eli’s possession because, in keeping with the religious theme, he heard a voice that led him to it and tasked him with taking it to a safe place.

In addition to attracting the attention of the power hungry antagonist, Eli unwillingly acquires a sidekick in the form of Solara, played by Mila Kunis.

The movie makes no attempt to hide its religious theme. Eli frequently quotes scripture and the bible is held up as an important book that will give humanity the hope they need to rebuild from the ashes of destruction. I feel, though, that the movie had a much greater point to it than that.

As an atheist, I generally don’t go around defending the bible. In fact, when I realized that Eli had the last remaining bible in the world, I was hoping that somehow it would get lost or destroyed in some freak accident in the movie (it doesn’t). But in this case, I will make an exception because I want to make a point about something that often gets lost in bible thumping/bible stomping debates that atheists and theists engage in.

No matter what people say about the bible, at the end of the day it’s just a book of stories. The book, in and of itself, is neutral. Where the problems arise, and what the movie illustrates perfectly, is that the book can be used for good or evil depending on the intentions of the person holding it. Eli wanted to get the book to a place where he believed it would give people hope. Carnegie, on the other hand, wanted to use the book to control people for his own personal gain.

But the bible is not the only thing that is used to abuse and control others. It’s just the most recognizable. There are plenty of other tools and ideologies out there that attempt to do the same thing with varying degrees of success. These days I find myself being annoyed by vegetarians and vegans who claim I’m evil because I eat meat.

“They are living creatures,” they shout as they gobble down a salad that came from…a living entity, plants. They stage protests and throw paint on people wearing fur all the while committing the same “crimes” against nature that they accuse meat eaters of doing. Just because you can’t hear plants scream as you are ripping them out of the ground or cutting them down doesn’t mean they feel no pain.

Even worse are raw foodists who have declared a war on cooking. But that’s a whole other blog post.

Anyway…where was I? Oh yeah, the bible, a vegetarian diet, paint; these are all tools that can help or harm depending on how they are used. This, I think, is the actual message of The Book of Eli.

Overall, I found the movie to be formulaic although the cinematography was decent. Denzel Washington did very well with his character as did Mila Kunis. Gary Oldman was a little campy but I enjoyed his performance nonetheless. There was a subplot that they could have pursued which I think would have made the film more interesting but they didn’t go there. Although there is a moment at the end when you are genuinely surprised the movie was fairly standard cinema fare.

Have you seen The Book of Eli? What was your impression of it?

I have had a little bit of free time, though. I’ve played on Twitter a little bit, started reading my novel, worked on a few short stories, and watched some porn.

That’s right. I watch porn.

Although there are some good adult films out there, the vast majority of it is bad acting, bad filming, and bad sex scenes. This may make you wonder why I watch it if it’s all so bad. Well my fellow freaksters, I watch it to get ideas. I’ll be upfront and honest. I’m not terribly experienced in the sex department so I have to rely on my imagination. Reading stories by other writers, viewing images, and watching movies (including porn) keeps the light bulb over my head lit.

Surprisingly, though, watching porn has also taught me a valuable lesson about writing. Everyone knows that most porn is created for men. Just like most romantic and erotic stories are written for women. This has a lot to do with the different ways men and women are sexually stimulated. But one thing remains the same whether the sex happens on video or on paper. The viewer/reader wants to be a part of that fantasy.

I realized this when I noticed that in a lot of porn videos you don’t hear or see much of the man. Sure you see his penis and maybe parts of his legs or torso. Generally, though, the camera is all over the woman and you get to see every inch of her including the fact that she’s not a real blonde. It was then I understood that men who watch porn want to be able to pretend they are that guy who is having sex with the hot girl on the bed.

It’s the same for female readers of romantic and erotic stories. She wants to be the protagonist who is getting drilled into the bed. Fiction stories, at least in this part of the industry, is all about creating a fantasy world where the reader can leave behind the laundry, the piles of work on their desk, their crazy mother in laws, their demanding bosses, and the rebellious kids and enter a world where they are secret agents, vixens, starship captains, wives with skills, or whatever the protagonist happens to be in the story.

Romantica, erotica, and porn all feed the same need; escapism.

After experiencing this moment of clarity, I began looking at my stories with new eyes. It became clear to me what they were missing and why I really wasn’t satisfied with them. They lacked elements that drew the reader into the story and made them want to interact with it.

So I’ve decided that’s my goal for the New Year. Even though I have finished a novel, I’m going to concentrate on writing short stories until I feel like I have a good handle on my storytelling.

If you are in the same boat, here are a few articles I found online that may help:

♠ Connecting With Your Reader

♠ How to Write Sex Scenes

♠ How to Write Erotica: A Woman’s Tips

♠ 13 Ways to Create Compelling Characters

♠ Short Stories: 10 Tips for Creative Writers

♠ What’s Your Pleasure?

♠ Dialogue Secrets

Oh yeah. I finally found a Twitter handle I can live with. If you are on Twitter too, look me up @WordsByDaria.

Life is what it is. I say this all the time but I really should start saying is life is what you make of it. If you spend most of your time complaining and reflecting on the bad things that happen to you, then life is going to suck pennies. If you spend time appreciating the good things in your life, though, then you will always have double rainbows.

So once you have your fill of L-Tryptophan, take a moment to reflect on all that is right with your world. You may find that life is much more wonderful than you first thought.

And now, back to the feast!

P.S. Also take time to remember those people who aren’t fortunate enough to have food or family this Thanksgiving. Fill up a couple of plates and visit neighbors, friends, or associates who may be spending Thanksgiving alone. They’ll appreciate the company.

Or make a donation to the hunger relief organization of your choice so that others may be blessed with healthy meals too.

Namaste

(Thanksgiving Graphics from WishAFriend.com)

Anyway, imagine my surprise when I went to register my name and found there was someone else in the world named Daria Black. Imagine that. Worse, they beat me to the punch and registered the username. Double worse, they are actually using it. I tried to resort to using my old internet handle, Smutwriter but, once again, my plan for Twitter domination was spoiled. Someone is using that one too.

After about 10 minutes, I finally came up with a handle that no one was using and that I actually liked. The only problem is that the domain name is registered to a popular porn blog. So I’m stuck in this strange place of having to decide whether to a) butcher my name b) resort to using my middle name again c) come up with something equally cool that no one is using, or d) keep using my current handle and cross my fingers that no confusion arises in the blogosphere.

I’m kind of leaning towards option C but between NaNo and my day job, I’m kind of tapped out in the creativity department. For now, I think I’ll use option D until I can come up with something clever.

I finally decided that I’m going to start blogging again. Don’t expect too much, though, until after the New Year. I’ll be way too busy jumping off bridges with the rest of the cool kids.

Namaste

I’m irritated by this. I really liked that theme and the only reason it is being removed is because of a petty argument that Matt is having with Chris. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Matt is trying to bully Chris in to making changes to the license his themes are under which are not opensource friendly, apparently.

I’m giving a lot of thought to moving my blog back to my domain. The reason I had it sitting here was because I didn’t want to pay for web hosting or have to worry about updating it etc. *Sigh*. I don’t know. I’ll see. If I decide to start blogging again, I’m going to have to move it anyway. So, I guess I should just do it and get it over with.

News

Life hasn’t changed that much. I’m single again and back on the East coast. A friend of mine has invited me to move up North where she is and I’m seriously considering it just because, well, I’m not really doing anything else at the moment. I’m letting life catch me up in its breeze and carry me wherever it goes.

I’m participating in NaNoWriMo this year and am up to about 20,000 words. Not quite halfway but still doing pretty good. This is the reason why I have been thinking about blogging again. I figure that if I finish a book and want to sell it, I should probably build up some sort of readership who would buy it. It’ll be awhile before the book is polished enough to start shopping it around to publishers so I’ve got lots of time to think it over.

Lastly, I’ve sold Figmeant.com to a really nice lady whose last name is Figlar. She’s starting a copywriting site and thought it would be an awesome play on words. I have to admit, I was really sad to let it go. But, since it was just sitting there, I figured someone should get some use out of it. I had held out the hope that one day I would start a writing community again but it was really just wishful thinking on my part. Oh well, such is life.

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and that you laugh loud and dance without inhibitions. Namaste.

These are the times when I like to play a game of Magic Eight Ball with Google. I’ll type in a vague question and see what comes up. Sometimes I get things that fit the question. Sometimes I get things that are way off base but offer a bit of entertainment value. At the very least, combing through the search result keeps my mind busy and allows me to forget, if for an hour or two, how depressed I am.

So today I typed in “What’s the Point?” and got these results:

A Youtube video of Bill Hicks talking about life being like a ride on roller coaster.

A partial transcript of a question and answer session where the questioner asks “What is the point of of living in a universe with no purpose?” wherein the responder offers a pretty damn good answer.

A page on Global Voices Online discussing “What is the point of MBC Persia?” which is apparently is a new television station launched by satelite television company MBC that offers news and movies translated into the Persian language.

Angry Bear asks “What’s the Point of Credit Default Insurance?”. At first I thought he was talking about that credit insurace credit card companies want you to sign up for when you get their card that supposedly will pay your credit card balance should you lose your job. Only it wasn’t. I’m not sure what the post was about as the entire post flew over my head. Maybe you’ll have better luck.

Also on the list was a book on the UK Amazon.com site called “What is the Point of Being a Christian?” Good question. One that I asked myself some years ago and you all know the result of that.

And last but not at all least, Humphrys Family Tree answers the question of “What’s the Point of Family Trees?”. Fascinating stuff.

So the moral of this post is that anytime you are feeling lost, depressed or just plain bored, play a game of Magic Eight Ball with Google. You might get some interesting answers in return.

Anyway in honor of Groundhog’s Day, here are some fiction prompts that involve a little participation from you. Your duty is to grab a coin and assign option one to head and option two to tail. The fate of your character depends on the outcome of the coin toss.

1. A bride is nearing the end of her wedding ceremony when her ex-lover stands up and objects. Does she a) abandon her future mate and ride off into the sunset on the back of a Harley with her ex or b) tell the ex to hit the road and say “I do” to her current stud muffin?

2. A police officer is assigned a case where a fellow officer is implicated in the crime. To make matters worse, they hate each other. Does the character a) ignore their heartfelt pleas of innocence and pass the case on to another officer or b) take the case?

3. A character is given a chance to go back in time and stop a terrible dictator from ruining the world. Do they a) go back and assassinate the dictator or b) try to change a pivotal point in the dictator’s life that made them they way they are?

4. A human is cloned with the specific purpose of harvesting their organs. During their lifespan they become self “conscious”. It is necessary to remove their heart for transplant and they refuse. Does the doctor a) perform the surgery or b) refuse?

5. Two tribes are meeting to discuss a cooperative effort between the two tribes that will help all of them survive the coming winter. However during these talks, one tribes son insults the others daughter in such a way that requires the one tribe to declare war on the other. Does the tribal leader a) does as his culture demands and declare war or b) overlook this transgression and let his daughter live in shame for all of her days which means sending her away from the village to fend for herself.

6. A character brings home their lover to meet the family but the lover has already met one of the siblings as they were involved a few years before. Does the sibling a) pull the character aside and tell them about the past relationship or b) keep their mouth shut and hope it never comes up over eggnog at Christmas?

7. There is a fire in a three story home and a character is trapped in the room. Do they a) jump out the window and hope for the best or b) go rushing through the fire and hope for the best?

8. A former thief is extorted to engage in grand theft or be sent to jail. Does the thief a) perform the heist or b) call the extortionists bluff?

9. a college student goes to their dorm room only to find a large hole in the middle of the room. When they open the door to leave their room, they find that it now leads to a different dimension. Do they a) jump down the hole in the floor or b) walk through the door.

10. A child wants to make money to buy the latest game console. Do they a) open up a lemonade stand or b) get a paper route.

Nonfiction

1. Tell us about a time when you hit the wall with your face and how you managed to climb over it.

2. Pick someone you admire and tell their story of how they hit the wall, climbed over it and the lesson you learned from their story.

3. Pick which human invention or historical incident you think has set humanity back the most and/or continues to keep us from moving forward in our development.

4. Write an article on the most common setback encountered (in any topic) and how to overcome them.

5. List the top ten setbacks encountered by any person, company or society that actually stopped them from moving forward.

Fiction

6. A knight goes to rescue the princess with really long hair that is trapped in a tower. Except she won’t let down her hair, tells him she doesn’t need to be rescued and to go away and mind his own business.

7. The luckiest man on Earth suddenly becomes the most unlucky man on Earth and much woe befalls him.

8. A popular band loses their lead singer and guitarist in the middle of their world tour.

9. A character is trying to quit smoking and promises to pay anyone a sum of money if they are caught smoking. They are caught smoking.

10. A character spends days working on a report for a very important client only to find out, last minute, that the client changed their requirements.

1. Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights activist who helped bring the indignity of racism and discrimination to the public fore.

2. Mahatma Gandhi, a political and spiritual leader in India and the India Independence movement.

3. Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield, inventers of the magnetic resonance imaging or better known as the MRI.

4. Bill Gates, owner of Microsoft

5. Rosalind Franklin, physicist and crystallographer contributed to the Crick and Watson’s model of DNA by producing a clear x-ray of a strand of DNA.

6. Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, the first web browser, server and editor.

7. Mikhail Gorbachev, a Russian politician who helped to bring an end to Communism in Russia.

8. Esther Hobart Morris, a leader in the women’s suffrage movement. She was the first woman to serve as a Justice of the Peace in the US.

9. Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the US. Several measures that he passes resulted in the abolition of slavery.

10. Leonardo Da Vinci, a Renaissance man who’s painting, journals and various inventions survive him to influence the world today.

Nonfiction

1. Pick a topic, any topic, and write an article on how a person would achieve a set goal in that topic. For instance, how would a person go about losing weight or quitting smoking?

2. Tell us your story of how you achieved goal you set out for yourself.

3. With teen millionaires becoming the norm, write an article for teens discussing the importance of goal setting and how to do it.

4. Write about ten (or as many as you can think of) of the strangest goals you have ever heard of and whether or not the person accomplished their mission.

5. Discuss what you consider to be the most important goal that humanity as a whole should be working on.

Fiction

Write story with the following prompts as the theme.

6. A character decides they want to become a vampire.

7. A puppy decides that it is going to get itself adopted by a family.

8. Two siblings have a party (or other social event) they want to go to but one of them has to stay home and babysit the youngest sibling.

9. A character decides they are going to break the world record for the most number of days without sleep.

10. A ghost decides it is going to break the underworld record for scaring the most people out of its house.