It's Story Time (Part I)

I was in my car today listening to a Radiolab NPR podcast when I got a sudden urge to blog. Radiolab along with many other NPR podcasts consist of numerous stories about interesting things told by interesting people. I was listening to one of these stories when I realized how much I love stories, which explains why I like a lot of other things. Whether the medium is movies, TV shows, radio, books or even videogames, I always have a blast getting immersed in a good story. I just want to explain why I love each of these story telling mediums, given that the story itself is of course a good one.

This will be the first of a 5 part series. In each I will give a rundown about why I love story telling in the mediums I mentioned before. I hope you enjoy this series and that you can appreciate stories and their tellings as much as I do.

Why I love movies...

I love movies because they are usually the most visually appeasing medium of story telling. The creation of a movie requires millions of dollars, so all the little details and minor things are almost always top notch. Although some movies are 3-4 hours long, that's still much less time to work with than most other story telling mediums. It's an art to portray an entire intricate story in such a short time.

I'm a movie buff and I try to pay attention to a lot of things that most people don't notice or don't care about. One of my favorite, and probably most subtle, factors of movies is the pace of the story. I get all irritated if the pace of a story isn't balanced, but at the same time if I find myself watching a well balanced movie I can really loose myself in the story. I'm also big on dialog. The Breakfast Club is a great example of this. The story is just about five high school kids stuck in Saturday detention together. Not a lot happens and it's definitely not graphically driven, but the dialog is so good that it blows me away every time.

I really like watching movies by myself. Yes, I go to theaters all by my lonesome and watch newly released movies. I love it. I'm on my own accord and I don't have to worry about anything but getting myself absorbed into the plot of the movie. Two of my favorite movies that I always find myself completely immersed in no matter how many times I watch them are The Shawshank Redemption and Fight Club.

I'll probably blog about this in more detail, but the quality of a lot of movies today are really lacking compared to older movies. I personally blame piracy for this mediocrity. I'll put that post on my to-do list once I'm finished with this series.

Movies can also appeal to everyone. Whether you like adventure, action, romance, horror, comedy, etc. you can enjoy a movie. So if you ever find yourself with a couple hours to spare. Look up movie times, find a Redbox, visit a Blockbuster, go online to Netflix.com and find a good quality movie and plop down on the couch or a comfy theater seat and loose yourself in a story.

On a side note regarding the Oscars, I liked Avatar but I also liked Hurt Locker. Yes, the Hurt Locker isn't for everyone, but it's a great story and the intensity was off the charts. I had a headache from the sometimes shaky camera and my constant teeth grinding from all the stress. They're two good movies, and everyone should stop complaining that Avatar should have won best picture. Did you know that a science fiction movie has never won best picture? Stop hating and just appreciate movies for what they are.