Tim DeRoche's Blog, page 5
July 30, 2018
The “unhinged delirium” of preacher/musician Claude Ely
We visited a new church in Highland Park yesterday, and the band played “Ain’t No Grave” by Claude Ely, which is just amazing. It’s basically proto-rock-and-roll …written in 1934.
Claude Ely was a preacher, songwriter, singer. Legend has it that Elvis’s mom took him to Ely’s tent revivals, and it’s not hard to hear Elvis in this recording. The Washington Post said that Ely had an “unhinged delirium.”
What a find.
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July 27, 2018
First page – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
I *love* this kind of movie open. Note that this was originally Scene 40 and they moved it up to the very beginning. It’s the first thing we see.
It’s a workplace. Spielberg — he not only directed but also wrote the screenplay — captures the banality of the workplace. The air traffic controller is “a bit bored,” and his colleague yells at him “mildly.”
Spielberg isn’t afraid to get a little bit technical. He uses words that the typical reader won’t understand… midwatch, data block, non-...
July 25, 2018
Double meaning – The “broken windows theory” vs. the “broken windows fallacy”
By Tomas Castelazo – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Two influential ideas from the social sciences. A theory and a fallacy. With the same name.
The broken windows theory was first introduced by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling in 1982. The idea is that small signs of disorder in a community — like broken windows — can increase the sense of lawlessness and lead to more serious crimes. Police leaders in the 1990’s and 2000’s used this theory to justify a crackdown on lots of small offense...
July 24, 2018
Three Identical Strangers – an emotionally devastating meditation on Nature vs. Nurture
If you can get past the annoying re-enactments, Three Identical Strangers is a fascinating and emotionally devastating documentary. On the surface, it’s the story of three triplets separated at birth and reunited in their early 20’s. But it resonates far and wide.
When I was younger, I very much leaned toward the Nurture side in the Nature vs. Nurture debate. In college, I remember telling my roommate Marc that I had an aversion to bugs because — when I was a kid — I was trying to catch a...
July 23, 2018
Jonathan Gold — Los Angeles loses a great writer, a champion of the city, and a Motörhead fan
The great Los Angeles food writer Jonathan Gold has died. For several years, I used his book Counter Intelligence to plan out my weekends, which challenged you not only to try new types of food but to discover new corners of the city. Through him, I found restaurants that are still my favorites today, from El Sazon Oaxaqueño to the Apple Pan, from Casa Bianca Pizza Pie to Pollo a la Brasa.
Gustavo Arellano in the LAT: He deserves a spot in the pantheon of Los Angeles writers, alongside Cha...
July 21, 2018
Impressive failure — the key to screenwriting and parental bonding?
Orik gets an "A" for effort. #baby #rollingover
A post shared by Tim DeRoche (@huckandmiguel) on Jul 21, 2018 at 6:23pm PDT
One of my screenwriting teachers turned me onto this idea of impressive failure as an important tool in getting your audience to bond with the protagonist of your film. Think of Luke Skywalker and all the ways he fails in the first hour of Star Wars…
Tries and fails to convince his uncle to let him join the Rebellion Tries and fails to rescue the droids fr...Impressive failure — the key to screenwriting and parenting
Orik gets an "A" for effort. #baby #rollingover
A post shared by Tim DeRoche (@huckandmiguel) on Jul 21, 2018 at 6:23pm PDT
One of my screenwriting teachers turned me onto this idea of impressive failure as an important tool in getting your audience to bond with the protagonist of your film. Think of Luke Skywalker and all the ways he fails in the first hour of Star Wars…
Tries and fails to convince his uncle to let him join the Rebellion Tries and fails to rescue the droids fr...July 19, 2018
A Huck Finn moment with my daughter in the Florida panhandle
A Huck Finn moment from our trip to the Florida panhandle #huckfinn #toad. Is this a #fowlerstoad?
A post shared by Tim DeRoche (@huckandmiguel) on Jul 16, 2018 at 8:33am PDT
Sesame Street teaches that correlation isn’t causation
Just realized what the punchline of this skit is about.
