Climb of the Century
My latest musical composition.
Posts
al Awlaki, the “Uncanny Valley” and Writing Empathetic Characters
2 al Awlaki , the “Uncanny Valley” and Writing Empathetic Characters By Melanie Anne Phillips Co-creator, Dramatica 1 2 Recently, al Awlaki (the infamous “American” Al Qaeda) was killed by American forces . He was viewed as a great threat because of his ability to speak to the domestic population of the United States in their own language and culture and to inspire terrorist acts by those susceptible to his message of jihad. While these allegations are certainly true, they alone do not explain the intensity with which Awlaki was both feared and despised. In fact, there is another quality he possessed that amplified the trepidation and derision he precipitated: he fell into the “Uncanny Valley.” “Uncanny Valley” is a term generally used to define any non-human entity whose attributes are just human enough to be disturbing. For example psychological test have been run that chart an empathy line against robots whose features range from fully mechanical to...
Heaven and Earth | Pine Mountain Club, California
The view of our cabin the day after a major storm.
Tarnished Karma - Rainy Day Honky Tonk Women
Wrote and recorded this yesterday, just for fun. Gotta let you hair down once in a while, especially on the weekend. Best with headphones or ear buds.
Tarnished Karma - Rose's House
Another of my original songs. This one was recorded in the 1980s. I've recently released a remastered version as well.
Ability and Story Structure
“Ability” and Story Structure By Melanie Anne Phillips Co-creator, Dramatica 1 What’s “Ability” have to do with story structure? If you look in Dramatica’s “Periodic Table of Story Elements” chart (you can download a free PDF of the chart at http://storymind.com/free-downloads/ddomain.pdf ) you’ll find the “ability” in one of the little squares. Look in the “Physics” class in the upper left-hand corner. You’ll find it in a “quad” of four items, “Knowledge, Thought, Ability and Desire”. In this booklet I’m going to talk about how Dramatica uses the term “ability” and how it applies not only to story structure and characters but to real people, real life and psychology as well. To begin with, a brief word about the Dramatica chart itself. The chart is sort of like a Rubik’s Cube. It holds all the elements that must appear in every complete story to avoid holes. Conceptually, you can twist it and turn it, just like a Rubik’s Cube, ...