Category: Television

The Adventure of a Lifetime Are you considering writing a book for children? Maybe you have a young child in your family that loves to be told stories? Or you work with children at a school and they love storytelling time? Or you volunteer at a library and you help out by reading stories in the children’s area? Well, whatever the reason that drives you to consider writing a children’s book, I say go for it!For some years now I’ve been writing and reading my stories at the Children’s Library in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. When we all get together for a storytelling session, I find myself being completely transported into a place of wonder, just like all the children. It’s fun!Conceiving and writing a children’s story will be challenging and to get it just right you will go through dozens of drafts. Yet, it’s very rewarding because when you are reading your story to a group of children and you see on their faces that they are fully onboard, then, at that magic moment, you will realize that you are on the adventure of a lifetime.Let Your Main Character Find YouHow do you start writing a children’s story?Well, I say, first, don’t worry about the level of difficulty of words or length of sentences or who will do the illustrations for your book. Just relax because those things will fall into place.What you do need to do first is to let your main character find you! Yes! Let the character into your life and run with it! Let the main character take you by the hand and guide you through your storytelling adventure.This is a process that has happened to me a couple of times. Let me explain.Never say “NO” to a Story IdeaIn 2015 my first book for children was published. It’s a bilingual edition titled in Spanish,Nena se va de camino con sus amigos, and in English,Nena Goes for a Walk with her Friends.In April of 2019 my second children’s book, also a bilingual edition, was published:En barco de papel: La aventura de María Angelina y su papá Eugenio María de Hostos/In the Paper Boat:The Adventure of María Angelina and her Papa Eugenio María de Hostos.Both books came to me in unexpected ways. For theNenabook, a good friend from the Dominican Republic who is a biologist and mycologist asked me if I could write a story for children about mushrooms. He told me he wanted children not to fear wild mushrooms as “poisonous” but see them as “friends” and as “recyclers” of organic matter. I confess, I had no idea how to do this, but I didn’t say “NO” to my friend’s request, instead, I agreed to think about it, actually, just keep the story idea in the back of my mind. That’s it because I didn’t really think anything was going to happen here since my knowledge of mushrooms is limited to the ones I buy at the supermarket plus I had no formal training in writing for children. But was I wrong!

Last night we debuted Storyrocket LIVE on Facebook, I hope you were able to join us. We had a great conversation on how to get“Traction”for your book or story. Producers are always looking for traction, but there are many ways to get there. Of course, if you’re a New York Times Best Selling author, congratulations! If you’re not, we have tips from a great author andStoryrocketmember,Dorah Blume. Hear her inspiring story and learn what she’s doingto get her book noticed and continue to be at the forefront. See the broadcast here!We are so excited to build a community of like-minded writers and producers that want to share their“warrior”tacticsso that everyone wins. Like I said last night,we want to help get your story to“Hollywood”in the least painful and least expensive way! And there’s no better way than learning from industry experts and also from members (just like you,) deep in the trenches.Our broadcast is also fun, we feature photos from our members from across the globe. Go ahead,send us a pictureholding your book, of the place that inspired yourwriting, your writing group or association, your book signing, or attendance at book fairs and writers workshops. We love to post your picture and give you a shout-out!Also, seeDeborah Bluestein(aka Dorah Blume) do a:90 second live pitch. We call this sectionReady, Set, PITCH. This is a great way to polish your pitching skills, get exposure, and getpositive feedbackto keep developingthose“Pitching Muscles”.Botticelli’s MuseDivided loyalties divide absolutelySubmitted by:Dorah Blume(Writer)SynopsisIn the villa of his irritating new patron, Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli feels his creative well run dry—until he accidentally discovers Floriana, a Jewish weaver imprisoned in his sister’s convent. Events threaten to keep his unlikely muse out of reach, and so begins a tale of one of the art world’s most beloved paintings, La Primavera, as Sandro, a confirmed bachelor, and Floriana, a headstrong artist in her own right, enter into a turbulent relationship.As a passionate advocate of helping writers take their stories to screen I understand the ups and downs of this journey. That’s is why supportisso important and why we are excited aboutStoryrocket LIVE. You are not alone, you are part of a community of like-minded people that supports you with great interviews, expert advice, tips, insights, exposure, tons of encouragement, and love. We call this last oneStoryrocket LOVE. If you joined us last night you saw this at the end of the video, but I’m sure you felt it through-out the broadcast.A huge debt of gratitude to our fabulous co-host and internationally awarded authorDanielle Vann. Couldn’t have done it without you! Abig thank you to ourbehind the scenesStoryrocket team, Ron Karasz, Vladimir Rodriguez, Bianca Vucetich, and all our programmers.Thank you for making it look easy!One last note of gratitude to everyone watching and for your encouraging comments last night. Don’t be shy, send me your pictures, your comments, what topics you want to see, or a note letting me know you are ready to Pitchtogeneral@storyrocket.com.

Last week, we addressed the many challenges facing writers in our new age of broken barriers and floods of books and how far we all go with our self-promotion. Some of us decide this new age of social promotion is not for us, while others embrace it.

On November 1st, 1946, A Matter of Life and Death premiered in London, England. It had been written, directed and produced byThe Archerscreative duo,Michael PowellandEmeric Pressburger. It was shot in Technicolor and the DP had beenJack Cardiffwho in 2001 was awarded anOscar for Lifetime Achievement as Master of Light and Color.The film premiered at the Leicester Square Empire Theatre a short walk away from Piccadilly Circus. King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth II’s parents, attended. It must have been a“full-dress affair”as Conductor 71 (Marius Goring) says of the heavenly trial that takes place during the course ofA Matter of Life and Death. Conductor 71 is also the character that breaks the fourth wall to tell us:“One is starved for Technicolor up there.”I would have liked to have been at that premiere, not only becauseA Matter of Life and Deathhas all the elements that add up to a movie classic, but also because it was presented to the public barely 14 months after the end of WWII. England, together with the USA and allies, had won, but London and many other cities in Great Britain had suffered devastation. Mountains of rubble must have been everywhere in sight, and nature itself must have suffered from the bomb blasts, fires, and catastrophic environmental pollution of war.SEVENTY-ONE YEARS LATERThe day we met for our first film class after Hurricane Maria I chose to showA Matter of Life and Deathto my students at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. The category 4 superstorm had hit us on the morning of Wednesday, September 20. That day everything around us crumbled. The following 3 days and nights were a blur of torrential rain. And even the Caribbean Sea became dark with debris. All modern methods of communication failed. The isolation was terrible. If life in Puerto Rico is a natural Technicolor show, Hurricane Maria had shredded that. Under the gray skies, I wondered if life on Earth had ended.In a way, life had ended as we knew it. We all struggled in our own way as forty days and dark nights passed. But slowly plants and trees began to bloom again and a fighting spirit emerged. Now“PUERTO RICO SE LEVANTA”signs can be seen everywhere and the island’s flag is defiantly flying not only from flag poles but also from car windows, pedestrian road crossings and evenpiragüerocarts. We are down, but not beaten.Amidst this fight, the University of Puerto Rico re-opened its doors to students. It was Monday, October 30, 2017. Two days short of the premiere ofA Matter of Life and Deathseventy-one years ago in London. My first class started at 4:30 P.M. The classroom where I teach had survived the storm and most equipments seemed to be working. As the students walked in, the classroom filled with nervousness, like meeting up with a friend you haven’t seen or spoken to in years. And we were all anxious because soon it would be night and the streets outside campus would become eerily dark as the island’s electrical grid is still mostly non-functional and even where there is electricity, most lampposts do not have working light bulbs.Trying to calm everyone down (including myself), I walked around and welcomed my students back. After some talk about our present crisis,I said,“Let’s watch a movie!”A Matter of Life and Deathbegins with a man in a plane falling out of control through a fog, the wind rushes through the cockpit, near him flames consume the wreck he sits in, and his only companion, a dead body. It’s hellish. The fact is the protagonist, Peter David Carter (David Niven) is ready to die. But before dying he wants to hear another human voice. He uses the radio equipment in the plane to call out. That’s when he connects with June (Kim Hunter). She is his last moment of joy, but he knows there is no way out, and being a poet he quotes Andrew Marvell:“But at my back I always hear, Time’s winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie, Deserts of vast eternity.”Then Peter gets on with it and jumps.THE JOYS OF TECHNICOLORShowingA Matter of Life and Deathwas my way of getting on with it. Frankly, every person in that classroom is going through some turmoil, but we quickly recognized that our protagonist’s predicament was even worst. We were swept into the story. The mood in the room began to change. My students nervously giggled at June and Peter’s unusual falling in a love scene. And then, when the couple meets on the sands of eternity (an English beach without pebbles!) and kiss, well…. my students laughed with relief and approval.As a writer, I know it must have been difficult to settle down to write the screenplay forA Matter of Life and Deatha few months after the end of WWII. Without a doubt, it is a beautiful Technicolor film but it is also about making one’s way out of darkness, physical and emotional. As a unique celebration of life and love, this film has brought some joy and color back to a small group of us in Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. And I am thankful for that!If you’ve never watchedA Matter of Life and Death(also known asStairway to Heaven), I highly recommend checking out this amazing post-WWII film. Enjoy!And on November 11 honor our veterans and remember our national guardsmen and women who are arduously working to help reconstruct Puerto Rico.

Philip K. Dick’s Organic Androids In the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) Philip K. Dick describes an Earth that has undergone a human-made cataclysm,“World War Terminus,” and no one remembers why it began or if any side had won. The specific enemy is left unnamed but the author mentions the Pentagon and Rand Corporation, meaning that the USA was at least one of the involved parties. Moreover, the strange dust covering everything, blocking out the sun, and killing most animals had not been a by-product that neither the military nor business interests had included in their “cost” of war.The author goes on to tell us that this is when the “organic android” had been modified from the “Synthetic Freedom Fighter” and developed as a type of re-location incentive:“Under the U.N. law each emigrant automatically received possession of an android subtype of his choice, and, by 2019, the variety of subtypes passed all understanding, in the manner of American automobiles of the 1960s.”So these androids, like automobiles, became a possession a human would like to show off, especially if “it” was shiny and sexy like the cars rolling off Detroit production belts in the decade of free-love and flower power and also of political assassinations, civil-rights struggles, and the Vietnam War.But beyond their glistening paint jobs, cars have a specific function: They are machines engineered to transport humans from point A to point B.So, what is the specific function of a Replicant?Rachael and The Function of ReplicantsOnce a young human woman after watching Ridley Scott’sBlade Runner(1982) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/ in my class, Angels, Vampires, and Monsters, or De-Cloaking the Human“Other”at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, asked me what was Rachael’s function. Her question was valid, but at the time I couldn’t answer it.InBlade Runner,the other Replicants have specific functions. As police officer Bryant goes over files with Rick Decker we learn that Pris is a “basic pleasure model” (her “incept date” is February 14, Valentine’s Day), Zhora is designed as an assassin (Bryant calls her “beauty and the beast”), Leon is a designed for combat, while Roy Batty is strong, fast and smart, probably a “military overseer” of other Replicant-Off-World-Slaves.These four Replicants make sense as “machines” with a purpose, that is, specifically bio-engineered to help human beings in the labors of establishing colonies on planets beyond our own Earth. In fact in the novel, Philip writes that the new androids are the“mobile donkey engine of the colonization program.”And, as we know, colonization on Earth has been a brutal matter requiring strong bodies capable of endless, hard labor.But here was Rachael, no donkey, but an elegant, well-dressed, and educated being, or as my student called her, the “Lady Replicant.”The “Lady Replicant” Finally ReturnsDenis Villeneuve’sBlade Runner2049http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/ is a visual spectacle, especially if you watch it in IMAX 3D which I was lucky enough to do so under unusual circumstances which I will explain later.I think Philip K. Dick would have enjoyedBlade Runner 2049as it is a brooding exploration, sometimes masochistically slow, of post-human life, a way of life where who or what is human is not clear. For example, there is a character in the film, Niander Wallace played by Jared Leto, that has highly enhanced vision but his eyes have been substituted by cold, metallic orbs. And if our eyes are the mirror of our souls, apparently there’s not much soul or humanity left inside Wallace.In part the author ofDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?was inspired to write his novelafter reading an S.S. Nazi officer’s diary in which he wrote:“The screams of children keep me awake at night.”The officer wrote this in response to the innocents being summarily exterminated around him at a concentration camp. Philip, who studied Nazi propaganda and writings for several years at Berkeley concluded that“these people were not human, that the Nazis were a synthetic organism.”But if throughout the 20thC. and now in the 21stC. humans continue becoming more like “synthetic organisms” then perhaps “synthetics” might be becoming more “human.” And at this crux is where the “Lady Replicant” enters. Rachael’s story gives meaning toBlade Runner 2049, which is set up as a cold case but quickly warms up when the new blade runner, LAPD Officer K played by Ryan Gosling, retires a now-outlawed model Replicant on an isolated protein farm, that is, a worm farm because this is the only thing left to eat on a moribund Earth.In a similar fashion as the first adaptation ofDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,I believeBlade Runner 2049will also become a cult movie with a devoted following. But, if you can, don’t miss it now on IMAX 3D, which I had the opportunity to experience as I recently evacuated from Puerto Rico because Hurricane Maria has left the island with many areas resembling post-apocalyptic scenarios, and life there has become an exhausting matter of figuring out how to survive one day at a time.I dedicate this blog to my students at the University of Puerto Rico who I have not heard from these last 3 and a half weeks because most technology, including communications, has collapsed on the island.Hope you are all well. My heart is with you!Abrazos!

Writing did not come naturally to me. I still remember the first day of first grade in Puerto Rico In my right hand I had one of those thick yellow pencils and in front of me on my desk a wide strip of cardboard paper. The teacher asked us to write our names in large, bold letters, and when we were finished, we were going to pin the strips on a bulletin board.