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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Isolation of Interest: More thoughts on Learning

Posted on 4:21 PM by christofer D
 If you ever want to get better at learning, become a teacher—you will see all of the things people do that stop themselves from learning. One thing we do that blocks us from learning is that we listen/read with an agenda. In magic this is called isolation of interest.
Here is a story I have told before, but to make a different point, about a magician who was teaching a class on magic in Las
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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Movies I Like: Sunset Boulevard

Posted on 3:20 AM by christofer D


“Grab ‘em by the throat and never let ‘em go.”—Billy Wilder, talking about the audience.



The Major and the Minor, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole, Stalag 17, Sabrina, The Seven Year Itch, Witness for the Prosecution, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, and The Fortune Cookie are just some of the classic films co-written and directed by the great Billy
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Monday, November 15, 2010

Mountain Music -- The Movie

Posted on 6:00 PM by christofer D

Last year I was asked to direct a three-minute documentary for MTV. This was for their show $5 Cover and the short films were companion pieces called B-sides. Several filmmakers made shorts for the show and as far as I know MTV has never done anything with them.

They wanted us to do something about the Seattle music scene, but not a typical Seattle music story. So my producing partner and I
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Monday, November 8, 2010

Movies I Like: Shadow of a Doubt

Posted on 4:59 PM by christofer D

Alfred Hitchcock’s directing career spanned form 1922 to 1976: 54 years. He started with silent film and saw the advancements of sound (he made the first British talkie), color and even 3-D within his lifetime. And he was a master of filmmaking almost from the beginning.



Some of his classic films include Blackmail, The Lodger, Rope, Strangers on a Train, Lifeboat, Dial M for Murder, The Man
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Monday, November 1, 2010

A Lesson From Paddy Chayefsky

Posted on 4:42 AM by christofer D


“When you ask a writer what their story’s about and they give you plot you’re in trouble.”—a paraphrased quote by director Sidney Pollack.

In the 1950s Paddy Chayefsky made a huge splash with a teleplay he had written called Marty. Marty would then become a hit movie and an Academy Award winner.

Chayefsky wrote many things of note in television, film, and theater. He was a writer’s writer (
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christofer D
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