"You stole my story."

My friends say I have a rather sick obsession with Johnny Depp, considering he is 3 years younger than my parents... (but in my defense, I thought he was fantastic BEFORE he became Captain Jack Sparrow. More specifically, I fell in love when he was Ichabod Crane in "Sleepy Hollow" in '99. Yes. I was 10. Just roll with it.) He's a great actor. And he's pretty for a 40-something. And bad-ass.

Anyway! When I picture writers, his portrayal of Mort Rainey in Stephen King's "Secret Window" is pretty much what immediately comes to mind. Sloppy, eccentric, cabin-on-a-lake-in-the-middle-of-nowhere, generally in a torn robe, eating Doritos while someone else attempts to clean his house, and then of course getting annoyed with her for doing it incorrectly... you get the picture.

Beyond that... he's witty, and he's got an attitude. He knows the point of his writing, but still lets it take on a life of its own. (Quite literally in "Secret Window," unfortunately for his wife...) Critical of himself, but knows that he's capable of turning out good work.

Here's the trailer, just to give you an idea.



Brilliant movie. Top 20, definitely.

Others might not agree, of course. It might be a creepy movie with a creepy plot with a creepy lead character... And that is because what we write and what we read and what we enjoy all come down to personal preference. How we write depends on the audience and how we want them to perceive what it is we are writing.

Take the two articles I found for class, for example.

1. "10 Quick and Easy Ways to Lose 10 Pounds," in Glamour. Very clearly directed to a female audience. It's a colorful article, with pretty fonts, pretty pictures, pretty colors... all geared toward making weight-loss seem a heck of a lot easier than it is. Every single "quick and easy way" is phrased in a friendly tone: "Rethink what you drink," or "Learn these portion shortcuts" instead of saying, "Stop drinking pop" or "Stop eating so much." It's filled with friendly reminders that you can control yourself and still be a happy camper. It's also interesting to me that the girl they chose to pose at the beginning of the article is someone who would generally be considered more "curvy." Sort of the "You're okay in your original skin, but here are some tips in case you don't think you are."
   
2. "Death by Exercise," in Men's Health. This was an interesting article about the rare occasion of working out too much with the unfortunate result of ... death. Strong language. To the point. No fluff. It has specific facts and stats, like how heart disease can be prevented by healthy physical activity, even citing timed workouts and their benefits or disadvantages.

You can tell that one is clearly for a woman, the other is clearly for a manly-man. It makes me wonder... Are men more interested in actually learning about their health, and women are more interested in just feeling better? I suppose it would make sense, I guess, as women are supposedly more centered around emotions and men are supposedly more in tune with the logistics of things. I don't know. Just a thought. It's just the way the articles read.

To touch on the other clips that were posted... I absolutely adore "Stranger than Fiction." I have this weird thing with that movie, though. If I watch it, I end up narrating everything going on around me. Completely involuntary. It just happens. (More on this line of thought at my tumblr blog here)

It makes me think that there is a bit of a writer in everyone. We all have thoughts, feelings, urges to make our opinions known... Channeling those thoughts into blogs, journals, books, story lines, speeches, text messages or whatever is somehow freeing. Getting our point across is fulfilling.

"Only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story. And this one is very good. This one is perfect." -Mort Rainey, "Secret Window"