Author Archives: benclemmerwsp

Lets Talk: An open consideration – By Stephen Stachofsky. With the birth of my second son looming close on the horizon*, I am thrown into a mental state that I find very difficult to describe. I am here listening to music in my office, in my house, in my town, in my state, at aContinue reading “Storytelling Breakdown Blog Entry 025”

Under Pressure – By Ben Clemmer. There’s a quote from Robert McKee that has come up several times in these blogs, “true character is revealed in the decisions a human being makes under pressure.” I’m up against something of a recency bias here, but my character in a D&D campaign just had one of theseContinue reading “Storytelling Breakdown Blog Entry 024”

Thoughts On Batman After Watching The Snyder Cut – By Ben Clemmer. What I’m about to say is not a new idea, but it is one that has been thrown around every time a new Batman movie comes out. It feels like the creators of Batman films, or films featuring the character, have read theContinue reading “Storytelling Breakdown Blog Entry 022”

A Game I’ll Always Remember – By Ben Clemmer. From the title, I couldn’t blame you if you came into this with some expectation I’d talk about the matchup between Gonzaga and UCLA from this past Saturday. I have grown up as a fan of college basketball and even had some good luck in bracketContinue reading “Storytelling Breakdown Blog Entry 021”

Paying Attention – By Ben Clemmer. A few blog posts back, I wrote about starting to teach a COMM 121 class at my alma mater. One thing I have regularly attempted to expose my students to is TED. I’ve pulled in talks dealing with everything from procrastination to being a better listener. I’ve shown talksContinue reading “Storytelling Breakdown Blog Entry 020”

Let’s Talk: You Have To Learn The Rules To Break Them – By Ben Clemmer. I am often blown away by the design that goes into tabletop games. I say design with the intention of applying a couple of different definitions. The first is the beauty of the components of the game. The detail thatContinue reading “Storytelling Breakdown Blog Entry 019”

Let’s Talk: Just Turn The Difficulty Down – By Stephen Stachofsky. I’ve covered everything now from movies, to D&D, to music. I am now about to rant a little on video games. I have been gaming for a long time. I remember playing the first Call of Duty, and thinking that the old Medal ofContinue reading “Storytelling Breakdown Blog Entry 018”

Let’s Talk: DC Comics On Film – Elseworlds Part 3 – By Ben Clemmer. To start this one out, I should mention that I have one more short movie treatment in me before I need to pause this exercise for longer than the break I’ve already taken. As I look ahead, there’s a few filmsContinue reading “Storytelling Breakdown Blog Entry 017”

Lets Talk: The Music Of The Last Samurai – By Stephen Stachofsky. SPOILER ALERT for the film, but you’ve had 18 years… The Last Samurai was directed by Edward Zwick, scored by Hans Zimmer, and released in 2003. Set in the mid 1870’s as Japan was closing the Edo period and moving into the MeijiContinue reading “Storytelling Breakdown Blog Entry 016”