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  When the stationery cursor blinks indefinitely in the menacing glare of the blank page, deadlines loom more frightening to the writer than dawn to the insomniac. To those whom have suffered from it, writer’s block can be as debilitating as any physical condition that inhibits activity and productivity. It is, however, not only wordsmiths and storytellers who are struck by the condition.Musicians, sportsmen and other professionals suffer tooWhen Fernando Torres transferred from Liverpool FC to Chelsea FC for a staggering £50 million, he became the sixth most expensive footballer in history and the most expensive in British football history. Unfortunately, the once world-class striker played 903 minutes of football for Chelsea before scoring a single goal. His goal drought was discussed in minute detail by the world’s press, which significantly increased the pressure on him to justify his expensive transfer fee.

  Similarly, the intense pressure that Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff felt after the negative response his First Symphony received left the composer deeply depressed and unable to compose any music. The block lasted for three years until the composer finally sought medical help in 1900. He spent three months in psychotherapy, after which he produced what is arguably his most popular work of all: the Second Piano Concerto in C Minor.

  Causes

  The causes of writer’s block are commonly associated with any form of severe stress that the writer experiences. This can stem from external sources such as death in the family, financial or marital issues. Sometimes the source of stress can be internal, where the writer puts pressure on him/herself to surpass previous successes or avoid previous failures.

  According to Wikipedia, when the kind of pressure that induces writer’s block is present, the brain’s functioning shifts from the cerebral cortex to the more primitive limbic system. The limbic system is associated with the more basic processes, such as fight or flight, which primitive man needed to survive in the wild. The fear induced by the stress causes the brain the bypass the creative thinking part of the brain, which explains the writer’s sensation of feeling stuck.

  What can be done to help?

  There are literally thousands of publications that are aimed at repairing or building self esteem. One book that has done particularly well is Timothy Gallwey’s The Inner Game of Tennis. In it he describes the mental strategies that tennis players use to overcome their sense of fear and self-doubt in order to perform under enormous pressure. His ideas became so popular that professionals in other disciplines have adopted them and prompted a series of books including, The Inner Game of Music (for performing musicians who suffer from debilitating performance anxiety) and The Inner Game of Work.

  Another popular book that can be extremely helpful in unlocking creative potential is The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. The book sets tasks and goals over a 12-week period which aims to build self-confidence and promote creative activity.

  For those who are constantly on the go, there is an app called Quiller (developed by Amy Randolph),which helps stimulate journal writing. The app comes with five writing categories and 200 prompts that aim to help the user access difficult emotions and express them through writing.

  A helpful tip from one of the best

  In an article translated for the New York Times, Gabriel Garcia Marquez quotes one of his favourite pieces of advice from Ernst Hemingway: “Each day’s work should only be interrupted when one knows where to begin again the next day.”  Marquez goes on to say that it is the best way to avoid what he calls the most terrible spectre of writers: the morning agony of facing the blank page.

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  Louisa Theart writes for House of Publishers, a new and comprehensive resource for writers who need to find publishing houses and literary agents to help them on their way.

No, not movies that are disasters; we can talk about Michael Bay movies at another time. This is going to be a short list of some of the silver screen’s most entertaining genres: the disaster flick.

I’m not an expert film critic, I’m a guy who loves movies and, unless it’s an absolutely terrible film, then I will most likely enjoy it. So don’t expect an in-depth review of each film, because I don’t do that sort of thing. So without further stalling for time, let’s get to that list.

3. Twister

The most important thing to do when watching a disaster movie is to shut off your brain. You’re here for a good time. If you spent your time worrying about techno babble, then you’re going to miss the point of the entire movie: watching some crazy fun characters chasing down tornados in a truck. That’s awesome.

The basic plot of this movie is that two competing companies are trying to win the hearts of the nation by getting tiny computers up in the air to take data from a moving tornado.  The reason people watch the movie though, is for the wanton destruction.

2. Volcano

I didn’t want to pick two disasters of the same type, so while I enjoyed “Dante’s Peak”, I chose not to include it on this list because a) Tommy Lee Jones has always been, and will always be, more fun on the screen than Pierce Brosnan, and b) I really enjoyed seeing the director’s vision for how a major metropolitan city suddenly had a volcano in the middle of it. Remember, ignore the science behind it because it won’t make sense anyways and just go have a good time.

Seriously though, how would you react if a volcano was suddenly tearing apart the downtown of your city? That’s a really freaky concept and, for the most part, I felt that the reactions to the situation were true to life.

1. Dr. Strangelove: Or how I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb

Okay, so this isn’t a disaster movie per say, but I’d say a nuclear doomsday scenario is scary enough to put this on a list of tornados and volcanos. Besides, I never said that I would only be covering movies where the disaster was a man vs. nature theme.  Not only is it a fantastic doomsday movie, it’s a brilliant satire that makes fun of both sides of the Cold War.

While this movie is filled with classic scenes that any movie fan should know, like the cowboy riding the bomb as it falls from the sky, the best part of this movie is watching the extremely talented and funny Peter Sellers play three different parts: an Air Force Officer, the President of the United States, and the insanely funny Dr. Strangelove. Peter Sellers, the man who brought us the original Pink Panther movies, is a genius and this is one of his best performances.

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By Andrew Whittaker

Andrew is a graduate of Utah Valley University’s Creative Writing Program. He writes SEO articles for companies like Idaho Disaster Kleanup. When not watching movies, Andrew likes to write fantasy and create his own disaster scenarios.

Should you find yourself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, you’re going to be in the most difficult situation you have ever faced in your life, without a doubt. No matter what hardships you have endured in the past, if you’re on the run from zombies, you will never be safe, and you’ll never be secure. You will always be the prey, and you will always be in hostile territory. So what can you do to survive?

There are several general rules that you should follow when you’re forced on the run from zombies. The first thing to remember is that it’s best to find a secure shelter to ride out the outbreak; if you must move from this shelter, then remember that your one goal is survival – nothing more and nothing less. You may find that if you’ve been in hiding for some time that the seduction offered by the freedom you have when you leave your shelter will be huge. Do not fall victim to this trap and keep focussed on your survival.

Make sure, if you are leaving your shelter, that you have a reason for doing so and a firm destination in mind. Not only should you have a plan for where you are going, you should have a backup plan for where else may be safe, just in case you find your original destination overrun by the living dead. The last thing you need is for your final stop to be a zombie feeding ground, but with the ever-changing world during a zombie outbreak, an area that was safe when you left may not be safe when you arrive. Be aware.

Try to gather intelligence before you leave your fortress, however difficult this may be. You may be limited to peeking out of the curtains to see how many zombies you will face on the street, but if you have a radio and can use it to communicate with other living humans, do so. Remember to factor in the weather, the safest and most dangerous routes and whether there are any assets you can pick up along the way. If you’re going to leave your fortress blind, be prepared for absolutely anything and be 100% certain that you are ready to handle yourself.

If you are part of a group of survivors that need to move, try not to all travel together. While strength in numbers is great for defending a location from a horde of zombies, travelling in a large group will reduce your chances of survival due to the human error factor. Even bright red hair on a group member can be seen by a zombie and spell doom for your group. Ideally, travel in a group of three, and if there is going to be more than one group, split up and leave at different times, agreeing a rendezvous point for later in the day.

Finally and most importantly: sleep! It sounds crazy during a zombie outbreak, but if you do not sleep you will not be able to function for long. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can power through to your destination on caffeine drinks – you will lose your sharpness, lose your mobility and may ultimately lose your life.

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A zombie survival expert, Laura Watson has a full zombie plan just in case the unthinkable happens!

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional private detective from the 19th and early 20th century. He was the creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a Scottish author and physician. Holmes was a problem solver who would solve a case using logic and astute observation. There were four novels and fifty six short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr John H Watson. The stories first appeared in magazine serialization over a period of over forty years. 221b Baker Street is the address that Holmes and Watson kept during the time of the novels. The 1st floor study overlooking Baker Street in London is now a museum dedicated to Holmes. Last year saw the 125th Anniversary of the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in the mystery “A Study in Scarlet” and was celebrated worldwide.

Simon Templar (The Saint)

This was a long running series of books by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. The detective is known as The Saint because of his initials ST. He often goes under different names that use ST as the initials including the most popular Sebastian Tombs and Sullivan Titwillow. He has a calling card that he sometimes leaves at the scenes of his crimes which is a drawing of a stick man with a halo. The books often allude to the suggestion that Templar started his career as a criminal and it is also suggested that he is a Robin Hood. In 1962 Roger Moore was cast as Simon Templar in a TV adaptation of The Saint and it is said that he developed his suave quipping style which he carried forward to his James Bond character.

Jim Rockford (The Rockford Files)

Jim Rockford was a television character from the series The Rockford Files. He was a former convict who had been falsely imprisoned. He lives on a trailer near the beach and has plenty of friends and a good relationship with his father Rocky. There are two books by author Stuart Kaminsky “The Green Bottle” and “The Devil on My Doorstep”. The TV show would famously start with the answer phone message by James Garner’s character “This is Jim Rockford. At the tone, leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you”.

Magnum, P.I.

Magnum was an American television show that followed Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) the private investigator living in Hawaii. The show was aired for eight seasons from 1980 to 1988. He was a former Navy SEAL and Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) officer. He lives in the guest house of a posh beachfront estate called Robin’s Nest on the island of Oahu which was at the invitation of its celebrity owner. The celebrities face is never seen but he keeps Magnum busy looking into the quality control of the estates security.

Inspector Jacques Clouseau

Inspector Jacques Clouseau is a bumbling fictional French detective from the Pink Panther series of films in which Peter Sellers played him in the first. He has been played by many actors including Alan Arkin, Steve Martin and surprisingly Roger Moore.

Charlie Hodgson is a private detective who has been working alongside private detective Liverpool. Charlie is a big fan of fictional private detectives and investigators especially Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. To real more articles like this visit http://www.privatedetective-liverpool.co.uk

This weekend I got to see the preview of “Warm Bodies” at one of the Award Preview Screenings held at the Directors Guild of America. It’s partly a family perk having a husband who works in the Film Industry, and partly his duty to review the technical content of all films gaining theatrical release. Warm Bodies is a novel by author Isaac Marion. The book was described as a “zombie romance” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Now we often receive preview screeners from the studios for all of the major releases, but not so much for those films that are low budget straight to distribution.

Why the DGA Protects the Art of Film

You see, each of the Guilds of America protect the art they’ve so keenly developed and challenged over decades. Whether it’s acting, screenwriting, directing or producing, the guilds are a Unionised way of looking after the film arts. Films that achieve the budget to go to theatrical release will end up being reviewed by the committee of members. For those films that don’t get the print and advertising budget (P&A) to get a major theatrical release, the studios have deemed that the box office attraction will unlikely reap back the costs of P&A.
So the studios submit to the Guilds all the films that they want considered for awards. A film that is deemed of low market value to reap back box office costs, may be technically brilliant, but a good story or picture is not enough in itself to win awards.

Why Horror Rarely Wins Awards

Rarely then, do I get to see a preview screener of a horror film. Usually they are straight to distribution release. Often they fall in the low budget category, and because minimum investment has been made on the production value, it stands to reason that there is less technical style and skill involved to determine the attention of Guild Nominations.
Being a horror fan I leapt at the chance to see Warm Bodies. A horror film preview screener? Wow, that’s not been common lately. No doubt Guillermo del Torro’s latest release MaMa will also get the privalidge.

Down to the Review

At first I thought they were going to take the direction that ‘R’ the zombie character whose story we are listening to; was going to be the only zombie affected by an unusual change. I was pleasantly surprised at the U-turn the story took.
And it played cleverly on so many levels. This a film was technically good on many levels, the acting, camera work, lighting, script, etc, and it was an actual relief from most horror films where I put up with disconcerting camera movements and crappy scripts just because of the need for a horror flick.

Corporate Oligarch We Live In

The reason why it was clever: It was communicating about many things, not just the idea of a ‘cure’ but that in a corporate sense we are ignorant of many things. We alienate things outside our oligarch. We victimize ourselves in order to define the protection we need from the outside world.
Here, in this film, I could see takes related to xenophobic racism being cured by education. They cleverly chose to avoid the topic of religion and not bring that into it at all. Aspects of religion would have made the film less impactful. I actually felt choked most of the way through rooting for the struggling zomby – relating to what many people can personally overcome. These points would have been belittled with any introduction of religious symbolism.

A Fight For Tolerance

Of course you can say that organized religion, in the church or whatever your belief system could have been another parallel in the story. But the film was not seeking to find fault with beliefs systems, more so the notion that we can be cured by education and tolerance. Which is the philosophy behind many religions anyway.
There were beautiful points in the film of walls crumbling, not only was this symbolic, but a stark reminder that walls in our society still exist today.
I hope this film does get some awards for it’s combination of clever scripting, deeper than the usual horror story. This is the kind of storytelling that the Film Guilds of America strive to preserve.

@JulianaReedLA on Twitter is actively involved in script development and assisting those with screenplays ready to commit to film with introductions to accredited colleagues in the film industry. If you are looking for guidance, and new to filmmaking, please reach out to her on Google Plus where she’ll be happy to help.