Fresh out of Radioactive Clay

Conflict, change and transformation.

That's what makes life worth living, or so the writers of the world would have you think.  Think about the most interesting conversations you've had in your life.  Put these questions to them.

What was the conflict there?  What did each person involved want out of it?

What was the change or transformation that happened?  If something ws resolved, or two people came to an understanding, who compromised and why?  What were the motives?

Do that, and you feel a little like a puppet master right?  Always analyzing, always trying to read into the motivations of the other person.  That can get you in a world of trouble if you really do apply this to everyday life, because nothing is that tidy.  Most often you don't know what you're after, really, and then to try to anticipate what the other person is saying will get you swiftly kicked in the proverbial balls.

What I'm finding about crafting these things for yourself is the problem solving aspect is the most fun of it all.  Put two (or more) people in a room, find out what they want, what hurdles stand in their way, and how will they resolve it.  Play this game when you're watching a movie and it will ruin it for you.  Enjoy.

MotD: Hostel Part II - Two days in a row movies about man hunting man.  NOT planned, funny tho.

I like Eli Roth.  Not so much a fan of his "torture porn" but the craft and sensibility that he brings to the films themselves.  Cabin Fever was fun and low budget entertaining.  Hostel was creepy and gory around a good hook.  Along those lines, I like what he did with Hostel II.  Horror sequels are usually very much the formula that worked in the first one.  Different types of kills, but same themes, wash, rinse the brains out of your hair, repeat.  Roth does a nice thing with this sequel in that he pulls back the curtain on the bad guys a bit, to let us see how the whole kidnap and kill kids operation works.  What it accomplishes is making it less of a torture porn horror, tho there is certainly plenty of gore, and more of a story of the people who would partake in this.  It's a nice change of pace, and a necessary one to keep the interest up.  Certainly not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.