Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Repeating old quotes, wisdom in books, stories, movies, etc.


I guess in almost every book, no matter whether it is a romantic story, thriller, mystery, drama, sci-fi, fantasy or a combination of some genres, there are some wise, eternal thoughts. And there are so many published books already, plus the enormous quantity of the new books published every year, that probably today no one could think up something new. Yet, this truth should be more encouraging than disturbing. Repeating old, well-known quotes could be done using new facts and discoveries, so they could become more attractive, memorable and impressive. Or the same result could be achieved with a new way to express a quote?
What J. K. Rowling used in her first Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone (To a well-organized mind, death is just another big adventure.) is the old quote of Peter Pan: To die will be an awfully big adventure, from J. M. Barrie's book. Yet, her quote is deeper and more serious as it seems?
I guess many people have heard or read the old legend of the North American Indians: ‘There are a bad and a good wolf in any human’s soul that are in constant fight. The one you feed will be the winner…?” I used something similar in a book of mine but with new scientific “prove” and fact: “Even in the hottest fire there’s a bit of water.” The meaning is similar but the bit of science and facts could make a quote like this more useful? That way one could learn not only some wisdom but some physics too.
Books, stories and movies could be used to also repeat the wisdom of the old philosophical teachings and systems. Using a new, more simple and efficient way to reveal such wisdom could make them much more popular. Do you remember Pay It Forward? A movie/book about what a wonderful world we would live in if we really helped one another… Exactly what Christian, Muslim and many other religions in their origins were trying to show us too. There are many wise thoughts in many other movies, cartoons, etc. All of them are not just said in these movies, but are “backed up” with a lot of events, adventures, etc, so one could really understand their meaning. If you watched Samurai Jack for example, you’ll remember how much of the ancient Japanese wisdom one could see and hear there: The one who runs with aggression walks without dignity, You’ll never ne able to win unless you defeat yourself first, The one who wears a mask cannot see what hidden inside of him, etc. There’s a famous, ancient Bulgarian saying: Every evil leads to something good. I can’t remember the equivalent in English, but I do remember that the events in The Lord Of The Rings showed how much truth it contains. Remember that Gollum, one of the most treacherous and evil beings, was the one who destroyed the ring of power and actually saved the ancient Earth? I guess every author must strive to show this wisdom in his/her works, I strive to do that in every book of mine too, I hope I did it well in my Tale Of The Rock Pieces, “repeating” the wisdom of The Lord Of The Rings – One can fight money only with money. I hope too I’ll be able to show some of eternal Buddhism’s wisdom in my soon to come The Opposite Of Magic, namely the importance of balance in life…
I guess the list is as long and enormous as the Universe itself…;).
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://allanbard.wordpress.com, http://www.myspace.com/ivan_allanbard, http://www.facebook.comivanstoikov.allanbard
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Monday, August 1, 2011

The best way for education.


All the students I know hate going to school no matter where they have to graduate or attend their classes… All the school-boys and school-girls I knew in the past, when I had to go and spent a lot of hours in the most hated, grey building in the neighborhood, had the same “kind” thoughts. I bet all the students in the future will despise too any minute in the dull classes, while they are waiting in despair for their turn for exam and grades, well-deserved or not…
And though many people would point out many reasons for this hatred (the awful bullying of the stronger and older students, boring and narrow-minded teachers, the long classes, etc), I guess the main cause for the students’ disgust is the dull, boring way all the subjects are thought. If you think I’m wrong, just remember some quotes of some great minds: Don’t let school ruin your education. Mark Twain, or It’s a miracle that curiosity survives the formal education. A. Einstein.
I’m certain that many other people think like me, there are many evidences about that. For example, I remember a movie (but not its title, sorry) where a teacher tried some new, funny methods to teach his students. To attract their attention, and make them silent and listening to his lessons, he promised them they’ll see him vomit as at every 15-20 seconds while they were silent and listening, he would drink one small box of chocolate milk… Then, he thought up a rap song with the names of all the presidents of USA and all the important dates in history… All the students found out studying could be fun too and finally became the best students in their school with the highest grades at the exams at the end of the year!
This was just a movie of course, and almost everything was exaggerated, but I could give other similar examples from real life. In the past, a friend of mine was so fascinated by Rocky, the first movie about the famous boxer, that he woke up at 6 o’clock every morning before school and ran and trained his body for about an hour just because he wanted to be like his hero from the movie. That was actually something which no teacher or good manual could make him do before that!
Another good example of the power of the funny and better way for education and inspiration were two kids of a friend of mine. They were so fascinated when I told them my first Tale Of The Rock Pieces, that they began to do exercises every day and didn’t do all the stupid things their coevals did like smoking of cigarettes and drinking strong drinks. Even today, when they are shrewd youngsters, they still take a good care of their health and like to read and learn all the interesting facts about animals and plants’ life and remember my story... The reason for all this good behavior and inspiration of theirs were the many incredible adventures in my book and the excellent way of life of my heroes, or the interesting facts about animals and plants… I guess I don’t have to write here that no teacher of theirs was able to inspire them that way, no matter how hard they tried and what good reasons they showed them to follow their teachings…
I guess anyone could point out many similar examples and that many teachers could use such good methods like good adventure stories or movies in their classes for really good results?
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, htpp://allanbard.hpage.com,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI,
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/ivanstoikov.allanbard