Ben Starling's Blog, page 6

Bestselling Author Alice Kuipers Interview – Coming Soon

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Bestselling Author Alice Kuipers

has just released her new YA novel

Me (and) Me.

Interview coming soon…

Filed under: guests on Ben's blog, interviews, news Tagged: guest, guest author, interview, new release

Top Secret

[image error]I was stunned to find that I’ve already been offered my first supporting artiste job! I’ll be on set today learning the ropes.

Usually the calls to set can be quite early. But I’ve even lucked in to a relaxing mid-morning start. Which is good news as I want to make a good first impression and punctuality is key. (I would have been up at 4am if needed, but didn’t have to this time!)

Top Secret

Maintaining content confidentiality prior to release is very important to producers. They want and need to prevent any content leaks from site — so no cameras, no mobile phones, no recording equipment of any kind on set. Also I won’t be able to describe anything that happens on set or any details of production. There are strict waivers to be signed to ensure this.

New Places, New Faces

I am looking forward to meeting new people – apparently supporting artistes come from all walks of life. What other careers allow for the kind of schedule flexibility needed for this job? Academics? Drama students? Carers? Pilots? I’ll soon find out.

Get Ready, Get Set…Wait!

My research also tells me that most of my time on set will be spent waiting for the great moment to begin. I’ll be given a mark to stand on, told what small action to perform…and then wait for that great moment to arrive. With lighting checks, organising what can often be large groups and many other kinds of preparation, I understand this can take quite a while.

Not to worry – it’s gonna be great!

Filed under: Acting, articles by Ben Tagged: Acting, article by Ben

Spring Ben-isms!

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It’s not every day you run 5 miles in a record time. Then write 5,000 words, edit a business plan and meet up with an old friend whom you beat at chess in eleven moves. And still manage to cook dinner for twelve. And today wasn’t one of those days.

My oeuvre needs expanding.

I hate the way auto-connect ruins all my testes.

Flat (apartment) below me catches fire (& brimstone). Smoke, eye-watering smells, fire brigade, ambulance, police, mayhem. My smoke alarm doesn’t go off. Grilling a quorn peppered “steak”. Smoke alarm goes off. Explanations please…

PHOBIA OF THE DAY. The fear of invisible words:

Facebook wants to know what my position is at “Author”. Errr…writer?

I mind that my mind thinks it knows what I’m thinking.

I signed up to a website that promised to make me happier. After several boring emails, I unsubscribed. But they kept emailing me. So I emailed them to tell them they were making me unhappy. The rate of emails increased.

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Ben Goes Undercover!

 

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Researching the Next Tale…

With the screenplay of Something in the Water doing the rounds, I’ve decided to refresh my memory of film sets—after all it’s been decades since I starred in an award-winning Suntory Whisky advert that that helped launch the Japanese single-malt industry…though sadly my burgeoning acting career was not so lucky!

Well, I’ve decided it’s time to give it another go. I’ll be sliding deep undercover to research the background for my next story setting…

…and documenting my experiences here!

Setting the Scene

I needed to understand the current industry, so I read You can be a Movie Extra by Ron Martin. Then I tried to commit all the dos and don’ts in that great tomb-ette to memory. Don’t look at the camera or make eye contact with the stars. Dress quietly. Be reliable. Polite. No photos on set (ever!). At the end of the day, get your chit signed; during the day, keep your chat to a minimum.

Who Needs a Fancy Studio?

Next I required photos but with no studio nearby, I improvised: I painted a section of living room wall white and lay a sheet on the floor. Then the photographer did her thing. Shirts were ironed, ties chosen, suits pressed. My tailcoat and dinner jacket were checked for moth holes and size (though made many moons ago, they still fit!) and several boxing-themed gym kit combinations were tried out. No doubt about it: I’m aiming to be the most versatile extra ever.

Apply, Apply, Apply!

Then I applied to four agencies (not allowed for real actors or models, but for crowd casting in the UK, it is quite usual and accepted). Measurements were taken (“I never knew that measurement was that!”), forms completed, un-photoshopped photos uploaded…and within days, my first audition! More form-filling, photos, and speaking into camera. I’m so glad I joined Toastmasters, the international speech-training organisation to help me relax and project my voice (yes, it’s just conceivable I may be offered a line somewhere down the…line).

My hand now hovers over my phone, awaiting the call to set. I’m poised to grab that TV commercial (dog-walker sitting on park bench), that soap (farmer leans against bar), that blockbuster (American tourist on Champs-Élysées as Ben Affleck sprints past).

What better way to spend a couple of days a month? I’ll meet new people, learn about the film word and collect ideas for (possibly more than one) forthcoming story. Better still, I’ve discovered that we foot-soldiers, we, the very foundations of the movie industry, aren’t called extras by those in the know. We’re proud to be known as supporting artistes. How impressive will that be when dropped into a conversation in which I casually mention the time I worked with Jennifer Lawrence?

Another Upside…

Hmmm. That white section of living room wall looks so good that I may have to repaint the whole apartment!

Filed under: Acting, articles by Ben, Ben

Ben Meets Mike Storkey, Toastmasters International President

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Last Wednesday, I met the President… Mike Storkey, President of Toastmasters International. And in my opinion, he trumps most other presidents!

An Afternoon at Toastmasters

[image error]I spent the afternoon of this hesitant spring Wednesday at a Toastmasters event in Docklands, one of London’s shiny business centres.

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organisation that teaches public speaking and leadership skills in more than 14,650 clubs in 126 countries. Clubs can be community based, themed (by language or profession for example), or corporate (clubs open to employees of a certain company).

Mike Storkey was the keynote speaker at this event and glided through his presentation with a pleasing Australian lilt, handling with finesse a wide range of questions in the Q&A that followed. He gave tips on how to launch new clubs, focusing on the challenges of launching corporate clubs in particular.

My Favourite Quote

When trying to persuade your head of HR to sponsor a corporate Toastmasters Club, he warned you’re likely to be asked,

“But what if we expend a lot money and effort to train someone to be an excellent speaker, presenter, leader…and then they leave the company?”

Mike’s recommended answer?

“But what if you don’t train them…and they stay?

A Focus on Leadership Development As Well

One clear message was that Toastmasters doesn’t exist just to help you improve your public speaking—though many people join for that reason. It’s there to build many different skill sets, amongst which leadership features prominently. Pathways, a new programme being rolled out across regions over the next two years, will offer a modern and effective way of helping you achieve diverse goals.

Mike made the point that because of the leadership development benefits that accrue, everyone should also consider becoming a club official: it offers yet another opportunity to build your skill-set in a safe environment. “Imagine,” he pondered, “you get old and decrepit and ask yourself the what if question: What if I’d taken the trouble to improve this or that skill? Where would I be now?”

The best speech Mike ever heard?

Of course he’d heard thousands and admitted sometimes finding it easier to remember a speaker’s face than their words. The most memorable speech for Mike, however, was one that left him thinking about things very differently: the speech given by Mark Brown at the Toastmasters’ World Championship in 1995, entitled “A Second Chance”.

Pausing, he added, “I think The Gettysburg Address was the best speech I ever read, because it was short and powerful.”

Why Ben Joined Toastmasters

I myself joined about two years ago and never looked back. As an author, I know it’s critical for me to have presentation skills – but indeed, it’s invaluable to for almost everyone, no matter what your walk of life. There are clubs all over the world. Take a look and see if there’s a club near you!

 

Filed under: Articles, articles by Ben, events, news Tagged: article, article by Ben, event, events, news

Alysia Seymour Reviews Something in the Air

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Alysia Seymour has posted a review of Something in the Air on her blog.

“Something in the Air is a sweet and emotional read with an unexpected ending that…pulls at the heart-strings”

“Ben Starling does an impeccable job”

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available FREE when you join Ben’s mailing list at ben-starling.com
Also at Amazon http://bit.ly/SITAbtour2am

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Filed under: Ben, books, media, Releases, reviews, writing Tagged: ben, ben starling, books, in the news, new release, reviews

Ben on Radio: When You Wrap Up your Past, You’ll Unwrap a Perfect Present

[image error]Carol Graham interviewed Ben on her radio program, Never Ever Give Up Hope, on November 15, 2015.

Carol says: “From losing his partner to ovarian cancer to his passion for saving marine life, Ben’s life experiences inspired him to intertwine them into his short stories and his novel.   His passion for life and love are evident in his stories. His compassion is evident in his interview.”

Do you live a fear-based or love-based life?  

Listen to his interview to get the answer:

When You Wrap Up Your Past, You’ll Unwrap a Perfect Present

***

[image error]In this interview, Ben also talks about the challenges our oceans face today, life lessons learned from boxing, a guardian angel named Edington, and a short story from his collection, Something in the Air, available on Amazon…

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Filed under: Ben, books, interviews, media, radio Tagged: author event, ben, Ben interviewed, ben starling, books, in the news, inspiration, interview, press, writing

A Poem: POM – Book Your Australian Holiday!

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POM – BOOK YOUR AUSTRALIAN HOLIDAY!

Who’d wanna be a wallabeee?

I wish I knew, said the kangarooo.

I love this land, chirped the cuddly possum,

Yawning, stretching on a bed of blossom.

So Pom, if you need a getaway,

Come to Oz and play for a month and a day.

Let’s meet the locals, who’ll make your stay

A Dame Edna-tastic holiday!

 

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Let’s start in Sydney, our biggest city,

Where the girls are ripped and the Bruces gritty.

A swim off Bondi late at night?

Great white sharks are friendly, right?

Tired of beer, mate? Try our great cider,

Then play dare by kissing a funnel web spider.

In search of a unique culinary dish?

Have you tried raw box jellyfish?

They drift In search of the mankini-ed swimmer,

Who they tickle all over, in time for dinner.

 

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A real Ozzie swills Fosters from a gallon syphon,

While wrestling his twenty-foot amethystine python.

Did you know a drop of wolf spider’s venom

Can amuse fifty lawyers at their annual plenum?

 

Up in Queensland, where the sun’s always yellow,

You may meet a charmingly laid-back fellow:

So be sure to stomp on that buried stingray…

It’ll say thanks with its tail—and make your day!

Then check that travel insurance clause

In case a redback crawls in your drawers.

In the rainforest? That’s where the amiable cassowary,

Rushes over to greet the sun-stroked unwary.

 

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When driving north, on the heat-baked roads,

You can count the two billion cane toads.

Here’s a ripper sport: tug a Taipan’s tail,

It’ll lick your fingers without fail!

Or swim a river with a salty croc,

Whose playful death-roll’s sure to rock.

Then there’s the stonefish, beneath the sand,

They say its venom’s super bland.

Want a buddy with Usain Bolt’s speed?

Introducing our giant centipede!

 

In the coral garden you’ll find a pet

With a beak as blunt as your rusty Gillette.

Known as the blue-ringed octopussy,

Squeeze his head hard to prove you’re no wussy.

Remember that cone shell you found on the beach?

Hold it tight—it’ll do strange things to your speech.

Tie a yellow-bellied sea-snake in a knot?

Try it. You’ll win Gold for projecting snot.

Then end your day with a fun party trick:

Play a game of spot the paralysis tick!

 

Dingo, wombat, bull ant, brumby,

Australia’s wildlife won’t leave you grumbly!

They’re here to greet you, make you feel special,

Cos our hospitals are empty and the examinations rectal.

So people: book your flights, plan your vacations,

But first…write your wills and warn your relations.

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Filed under: articles by Ben, Ben, Ben-ism, Releases, writing Tagged: article by Ben, Ben interviewed, ben starling, Ben-ism, new release, poem, poetry, writing

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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ODE TO A WREN

A graveyard squats beyond a wall

Where they bury dreams with rocks.

As child, as adult, those dreams once called

And on those caskets knocked.

Each year a thinning wail would stray

From walls bulged thicker, taller.

Each day my prayers, more distant, play

In silence to the caller.

Until that sleety autumn noon

When quiet cloaked my pleadings,

As thorns and claws and hooks of Moon,

Tore love from spirit’s bleedings.

Now death puffs its heartless chest

On bones through broken soil,

A waxen, tuxedoed dinner guest

Slurps grinning at the spoil.

Time tried but failed to fix

My endless melancholy,

A constant acid reflux mix

A three-legged border collie.

Okay, so the dog makes zero sense,

I bet you can’t do better,

Onward then with the suspense,

As I struggle with every letter.

One day the calendar did turn,

And a wren, of fluffy breast,

Who’d dined on creepy-crawly things, and a worm

Flew by to build a nest.

The graveyard scared the birdy so,

It jettisoned its eating.

A deluge white as driven snow

Spattered barren soil in greeting.

And in that spattering, a seed was sown

It germinated quickly.

Then roots and trunk and branch were grown.

The plant grew tall, and thickly.

It burst the walls, it let in light,

The voice of hope returned.

The dreams with their attendant might,

Bore fruit in all I’d yearned.

Now love has settled where all was lost,

I’m no longer a complainer,

Remember—whatever the cost—

Keep hold of hope. That’s a no-brainer.

The moral of this poetic crime,

Strained from slurry, compost, grit?

No one’s more certain than I’m

That good can come from s**t.

 

A Valentine’s Day Poem…from Ben to you.

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(Ode to a Wren, Ben Starling, 2016)

Filed under: Articles, articles by Ben, Ben, writing Tagged: author event, ben, ben starling, celebrations, inspiration, new release, poem, poetry, Valentine's, writing

Winter Ben-isms

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Aiming for the goal – everyone’s gotta have a dream!

#4,377 in Ben’s occasional series “Culinary Recommendation of the Day”: grind 4 nutmegs into 1/3rd pint of (fake) low fat double cream. Blend. Pour over freshly steamed Brussel sprouts. Eat. Smile.

2 hours in the gym, 475 calories burned. 2 minutes in Starbucks, 475 calories consumed (choc chip frappuccino). Well, my yoga teacher did say I needed to achieve balance in my life…

I NEED YOUR HELP!! Forget the presidential election. Brexit. David Bowie’s passing and global warming. My life has been ambushed by a far more sadistic, insidious and determined interloper. How do I deal with the frustration of an unopened pistachio?

I have men-flu. (It’s like man-flu but at least twice as bad).

What should today’s rhetorical question be?

Provisional title of my weight loss book: I’m Gonna Need a Smaller Parachute.

I’m informed that 45 of my Facebook friends have birthdays today. 4960/365 = 13.6. 3.3 times as many birthdays as the expected average? Anyone else notice the same thing? Or has Putin hacked Facebook and is playing with the numbers?

With 2016 drawing to a close, I’m naturally devastated to not be included in the New Years Honours List. Looks like I won’t be a Knight of the Realm. It being New Year’s, I shall drown my sorrows in the realm of the night.

Proud to see my cooking still fails the smoke alarm test.

(1) Estimate odds that utility company will screw things up. (2) Phone them to tell them they’ve mis-spelt my name and could they please send out a corrected bill. Make them repeat correct spelling. Twice. (3) Suppress astonishment that it will take 10 working days. (4) On thirteenth working day receive bill with name uncorrected. (5) Review (1) above and smile. There aren’t many dead certainties in life.

My phone suffers from phantom vibrate syndrome.

Following an unexpected explosion – a partial meltdown – a shock that made me jump – last night, my life was cast into darkness. Total, unrelenting darkness. Logic dictates that the eerie silence, the chill wind that accompanied it were coincidental; that the drop in temperature was a trick of body over mind. Alarmed observers might whisper, “Oh no, Ben – it could be a case of OW Syndrome (Open Window Syndrome)” …Time, I think, for a new lightbulb…

Tip of the Day: bored of that monotonous landline “bring-bring” ringtone? Looking for a constant ringing to make you feel wanted and keep the neighbours awake, even when no one is phoning you? Simply pour water down your phone socket.

 

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Filed under: Ben, Ben-ism, writing Tagged: ben, Ben interviewed, ben starling, Ben-ism, humor, humour, quote, quote of the day, writing