What We’ve Learned (so far) from our JJL Movie Mashups

“Howdy, y’all! Today is the first Monday of the month - and we all know what that means, right! Yep; it’s WILF day (sound of crowd cheering enthusiastically)! And as promised, this time we’re tossing in yet another bit of a challenge, just to keep you on your toes…”

Yes, you guessed it; Robert Hruzek is at it again. We’ve participated in Robert’s WILF (What I Learned From…) round-ups before, and likely will again; anyone who promotes our JJL-revered Ultimate Mashup of Learning, Writing, Joy and Community is an ‘Ike loa Champion we enthusiastically support.
(Don’t get nervous Robert…‘Ike loa means lifelong learning :)

And voila! This month our WILF champ has movies on his mashup list of possibilities, giving us the double-whammy opportunity to see what we have learned from the movies so far…

Right here within these here pages, and just in the scant 17 days of the month, we have mashed up 1) Learning, 2) Movies, 3) Writing, 4) Recreation, 5) Heroes, 6) Children, 7) Relatives, 8) Food, 9) Technology, 10) Space, and a YouTube clip.

1) Learning - All of it!

2) Movies! Our list so far:

• Lars and the Real Girl
• The Mighty Ducks
• Shadowlands
• King of Hearts
• Godfather
• The Waterboy
• Highlander III
• The Insider
• A Beautiful Mind
• Master and Commander
• Gladiator
• Cinderella Man
• 3:10 to Yuma
• Primer
• Harry Potter (all which have been released :)
• Life with Father
• Napoleon Dynamite
• Raising Arizona
• Love & Basketball
• Ocean's Eleven
• The Truman Show
• The Star Wars Trilogy
• The Wizard of Oz

3) Writing about movies, from

• Dean Boyer: Surprised by Joy
• David Zinger: Going with Heart: The King of Hearts
• Dwayne Melancon: Art Imitates Life
• Karen Wallace: Movie nights, Learning Opportunities and Wise Wizards
• Candace Malone: Treats at the Movies
• Joanna Young: Star Wars: Learning The Grand Narrative
• Rosa Say: Change it up!

4) Recreation:

• Dwayne Melancon: "I don't think I'm alone - the other day on the treadmill at the gym, I noticed one of the channels was running "Godfather marathon." They were just running the first two movies over and over for 24 hours!" (Okay, that may be a stretch, but I couldn't resist!)
• Candace Malone: "...both wanted to be professional basketball stars since they were kids and neighbors. Quincy is the neighboring child of a B-Ball Giant while Monica has to work hard to establish herself, and Quincy is born with natural star potential."
• Rosa Say: "...a group of young misfits finding camaraderie and their youthful purpose as an emerging hockey team. In this particular scene their errant coach is m.i.a. for a crucial game, and they convince their school-assigned tutor to pretend she is their coach so they won’t have to forfeit the game."

5) Heroes:

• David Zinger: Charles Plumpick, a kilt-wearing Scottish soldier who is sent by his commanding officer to disarm the bomb. When Plumpick enters the town, he unknowingly leaves the door to the insane asylum open while being chased by the Germans. When the Germans have left the town, all of the inmates leave the asylum and playfully take over the town. The adorable lunatics coronate Plumpick King of Hearts with surreal pageantry as he frantically tries to find the bomb before it goes off.
• Karen Swim: "I've learned that a commitment to excellence will make "work" appear effortless - Don Cheadle is so good in every part that he gets overlooked for awards because it never seems like acting."
• Joanna Young: "I've learned more about how and why Star Wars 'works': explanations of heroic archetypes and the nature of the hero's journey."
• Rosa Say: "The tutor still doesn’t really understand what’s going on, but she’d mustered the momentary confidence to direct them, and in fearlessly changing course, trusting in her direction, the players snap out of the auto-pilot of their losing streak’s grip. The game starts to turn in their favor, and soon victory is theirs."

6) Children:

• Joanna Young: "It's 1977.  I'm 11 years old.  I'm at the cinema with my friends.  As far as I recall, it's the first time I've gone to the pictures as a 'grown up', without my parents."
• Dawud Miracle: "The universe had possibilities. I remember wondering, as a 7 year-old boy, whether these battles really were taking place somewhere in the universe. Then the action figures...I could replay all my favorite scenes every day. As I got older, it was Yoda and his wisdom. And it just goes on from there.
• Karen Wallace: "After that first afternoon, we watched our way through all the (released) Harry Potters over the course of the week… with and without other members of the family. And had great discussions about important life stuff as a result."

7) Relatives:

• Dean Boyer: "Through a painful childhood involving a horrendous schooling and abandoning father he learns valuable, lifelong lessons."

8) Food:

• Candace Malone: "I’ve learned that buying my favorite treats at the cinema, you know $4.00 cokes, etc. is not being fiscally responsible, nor is enjoying my butter laden popcorn helping my fitness goals!"

9) Technology:

• Derek Newman: Spiritual Cinema Circle is a source of fantastic cinema that you won't find any where else.  Each month they deliver some high quality films that truly touch your heart and soul. Some of their films have left an indelible print on my mind.
• Tim Draayer: "I've always had the desire to write a SF story. In years past I've purchased books on creating characters and things of that nature but always talked myself out of the idea. Never thought I was good enough... Who would have thought that starting a blog would allow me to feel the force (the force is strong in this one) and explore far far more than my writing skills."
• Joanna Young: "Thanks for pointing me towards Reel Life Wisdom Karen... now one of my favourite entries in my in-box!"

10) Space and a YouTube Clip

• Just click wherever you see Joanna Young's name!

Those are from Robert's list of Mashup choices, but we didn't stop there!

1---Books:

• Dean Boyer: Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis
• Tim Draayer: The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity, both by C.S. Lewis
• Dwayne Melancon: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• Joanna Young: The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler 

2---Change:

• Pam Thomas: "Sometimes all it takes is stepping one foot outside of the box. Change is good, even change that does not feel so good at the time. Change forces us to grow and to add to our experiences or what I like to consider our life toolbox."
• Rosa Say: As the saying goes, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” If you want more, or you want different, you’ve got to “Change it up!”

3---Experience:

• Dwayne Melancon: "Past performance is not always an indicator of future results – each project requires my dedication, creativity, hard work, and a compelling story so it doesn’t taint my past success."
• Dwayne Melancon: "Making a bad first impression can limit my future success, and make it easier for people to “typecast” me in a way I may not deserve...I don’t want to play the same character all the time. I need to move outside my comfort zone and develop new skills and to expand my repertoire in life – at work, home, etc. – to keep things interesting."
• John: "...everyone, especially men, should watch all three Godfather movies and it is best to watch them all back to back within a day is best, but a week is sufficient. As a better writer than me pointed out, this will provide an excellent education. Godfather will teach how to become a man. This is why it is such an important and eminently rewatchable film. Godfather II can teach how to wield power and the lessons apply to any scale. Finally Godfather III teaches the lesson of quitting while you are ahead."

4---Intuition:

• Candace Malone: "When you have a major hunch or gut feeling about something you gotta dive deeper into it. You never know what the outcome may be. Everything is not as it seems."
• Dwayne Melancon: "Don’t let my strengths make me blind to my weaknesses. I can be awesome in one part of my life, but that doesn’t mean I can get away with being lousy in another part of their life – eventually, “being lousy” will negatively impact “awesome.”

5---Leadership:

• Candace Malone: "...Stone Leadership, think the children’s classic, Stone Soup. Ocean (Clooney) was able to assemble a high functioning team, with each member having input, a unique talent, and buy-in on the project while sharing his vision... Just because someone in your group or work team does things differently to get the job done, don’t write them off, embrace their creative juices and make it work for the mission of the organization."
• Dwayne Melancon: "You don’t need a “star” on your team or a huge budget to achieve awesome results. Any team can be wildly successful if they have a great idea, strong commitment, and the ability to work together toward a common goal."

6---Love:

• Dean Boyer: "Why love, if losing hurts so much? I have no answers anymore: only the life I have lived. Twice in that life I've been given the choice: as a boy and as a man. The boy chose safety, the man chooses suffering. The pain now is part of the happiness then. That's the deal."
• David Zinger: "I love the movie because it is romantic, charming, and carries a powerful message in a gentle and loving way."
• Candace Malone: "Sometimes you have to sacrifice in order to be happy. “What and How much of yourself are you willing to share with others?” When you know exactly what you want you have to take time out, refocus, direct your life, make sacrifices and fight for what you believe in. Whether, its your career or family, you have to take a chance on what you love."

7---Music:

• Joanna Young: "I still get goose bumps as soon as I hear the music and I must have watched the film 2 dozen times (not to mention playing and replaying the LP of the soundtrack...)."
• Karen Wallace: "For me, the music is what does it. I only have to hear those first few chords and I am There... (It's in my head now, as I write this)."

8---Poetry:

• Amy Palko: "I absolutely love this film, Dean. I find it so moving and the acting is just wonderful. I didn't realise that his autobiography was named after that fabulous Wordsworth poem, 'Surprised By Joy'...Such a sad poem which so evocatively captures the reality of Wordsworth's grief at losing his daughter."

9---Science:

• David Zinger: "I loved the blurring of the line between insanity and sanity and that things are not always as they seem. The movie resonates with findings from social cognitive psychology that mentally healthy people do not face reality."

10---Story:

• Steve Sherlock: "...movies are good at telling stories (at least the good ones are). The more memorable the story telling the better the lessons will travel to home, to work, to where ever!"
• John Richardson: "I'm working on a speaking project and the time challenges have made me think twice about how much effort I put into the preparation. It would be real easy to cut things out... but that would create a Godfather 3, and I certainly don't want that. I need to put on my best Johnny Depp impersonation and create a magical presentation, full of interesting characters and interesting places..."
• Joanna Young: "This has helped me understand more about how story functions, and why narratives matter."

Okay, my brain is now Mashed Up enough to last me until Robert's next WILF... there probably was much more learning than this, but I am quitting at another 10!

For those of you thinking, "How did I miss some of those JJL posts?" we have said it before people... the exponential goodness is in the comments! Click in!
~ Rosa Say, for the Joyful Jubilant Learning editorial peeps

P.S. Robert, you have no idea what a big favor you did me with your May 18th deadline... we are only halfway through our May at the Movies, and our contributing authors have been cruising a bit compared to their normal brilliance...more JJL posts may have done me in...we still have a solid week left before Rapid Fire Learning!

What have you learned from the movies? You can get published on Joyful Jubilant Learning too! ~~~ May Details here

Past editions of our JJL participation in Middle Zone Musings writing celebration called WILF:

1. WILF...People: Kung Hee Fat Choy! What I Learned from Clara
2. WILF...Change: Writing Online: It DOES make a difference
3. WILF...Travel: Blooming

Comments

[Joanna Young]

You are brilliant Rosa! Thanks for this stupendous mash-up.

Go on Robert, surely this wins the bonus prize - cookies all round at JJL? :-)

Joanna

[Robert Hruzek]

Gee, Rosa, this is an amazing mash-up! I agree with Joanna - you guys deserves some very special cookies for this one! Help yourselves and pass 'em around!

Can't imbed links here, so you can find them at: http://wowphilippines.com/catalog/images/xmas1.jpg

[Rosa Say]

Mahalo Joanna, however I'm not the brilliant one. Everyone in the family contributing here gives me an awful lot to work with... all of these gems just from seven posts!

[Rosa Say]

mahalo Robert, yummy! The kind that never get stale :)

Reaching for some milk now... (when I wrote this my choice was b-e-e-r)

[Karen Wallace]

Oh. My. Goodness.

Rosa, you're amazing! This is a phenomenal 'mash-up'... I love how you drew out that richness from the comment conversations - they really are the hot chocolate fudge sauce AND cherries on top of the posts here at JJL, aren't they?

:( Robert - I'm getting an error with that link for special cookies, so I am just imagining something yummy...

[Robert Hruzek]

Karen, I just clicked on the above link and got "access forbidden". Figures, doesn't it? Just when you reach for the cookie jar...

Hmmm... on the other hand, I cut and pasted it into the address bar and it worked.

OK; now they're yankin' my chain. I just clicked on the above link again, and it now works,too!

I think I'll just go have a cookie... :-\