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Appealing to All Audiences: Humor in Children’s Movies

~ Georgia Tell ~ Leave a comment

After years of not watching children’s movies because my younger sister has been an adult for a while now, I watched two children’s movies this week (thanks to my new MoviePass subscription which I just started trying out). The first was Early Man — a claymation movie like Wallace and Gromit in which Stone Age people attempt to win back their land from Bronze Age colonizers by playing soccer. The second movie was Peter Rabbit — a live action continuation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter that is considerable more bold and wild than the book.

I’ll be honest, I don’t remember ever reading The Tale of Peter Rabbit as a kid, so I’m definitely not an original purist. I loved this modern continuation. I went to see Peter Rabbit by myself since everyone else was busy, but it was so funny that I was laughing louder than the kids in the theater with me.

I did not love Early Man. It made me want to cringe. It wasn’t a bad movie. By most standards, the plot was fine, not too simple (which is something I problems with in a lot of films). The animation was what one would expect from a claymation film. The humor was lacking though. I’m sure it would’ve made children laugh (though my fiancée and I were the only ones in the theater when we went to see it). It had really good messages (girls playing soccer, aw yeah!) and was super wholesome (except a little theft).

What was the main difference between the two films? The fact that the humor in Peter Rabbit could be funny to two different generations for two different reasons. Both movies had slapstick humor — like when Dug and his tribe run away from the giant, toothed duck or when Peter and his family assault the young Mr. McGregor with a classic rake-to-the-face bit. However, the jokes that Peter cracks throughout the movie speak directly to internet humor today. Maybe it’s because I’m a millennial, but I thought it was hysterical. When I have children, that’s the movie I’m more likely to choose.

If you think about all the super popular children’s movies, the hugely popular ones featured humor that would amuse both children and adults. The Incredibles, Minions, Frozen? They were all great, because as an adult I can watch them and still enjoy them, for different reasons. Well, some of the same reasons too… who doesn’t love animated movies?

I, however, have never seen a Veggie Tales movie in my life. The reason? My mom didn’t want to sit through that, even though she’s an incredibly kind and giving woman. The one with money wins when choosing the movie. Probably why I was brought up on action movies and psychological thrillers — my dad’s choice.

Feel free to add your take in the comments!

Loving My Own Poems

~ Georgia Tell ~ Leave a comment

As I continuously chip away at the mountain of poetry I’ve written since 2015,  I get to sift through the dust and bones of my momentary thoughts. Most of the time, I cringe. Seriously, I thought that was remotely good? Yes, yes, I did. But then some days the poems I transcribe to this website actually make me smile.

It’s mainly the story-driven poems that I discover I love. The ones that set a small scene and surprise me a year later with my sometimes morbid, sometimes starry-eyed and hopeful plots. In Poem #568 and Poem #570, I wrote what I would describe as horror poems, which is probably not my usual fair. Mostly, I just loved reading them. It was a good feeling. I really wish I knew what I had been doing those days to have those poems pop into my brain.

Maybe it’s a bit narcissistic of me, but I love those poems. They are unpolished and off-the-cuff. They are also fun to read.

Anyway, feel free to comment with how you feel about your old poetry! Do you love it? Do you want to burn it? Why?

Goodreads Giveaway of “The Friendship Ruse”

~ Georgia Tell ~ Leave a comment

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Friendship Ruse by Georgia Tell

The Friendship Ruse

by Georgia Tell

Giveaway ends February 12, 2018.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

*This giveaway is over, and I already sent out books to the winners!

Free Poems #4 – falling_in_love(“better off”) & sometimes

~ Georgia Tell ~ Leave a comment

Twitter user @heisawolf — aka Juansen Dizon — asked me to write a #freepoem for him today! I haven’t gotten a request in a bit, so as soon as I had a moment I launched into it.

Just to preface this first poem, I’ve been learning Python, a programming language, on Codecademy.com (awesome resource, by the way!). I will paste the text below, but you really should look at the picture to get the poem in its true form.

falling_in_love(process)

boy = “open”
girl = “open”

def falling_in_love(process):
if process == “ideal”:
boy = “in love”
girl = “in love”
print “They live happily ever after.”
# Who believes in fairy tales anymore?
elif process == “complicated”:
boy = “in love”
girl = “not ready”
print “He hurts.”
# The likely outcome.
elif process == “better off”:
boy = “doesn’t notice her”
girl = “not ready”
print “They never love, but they never hurt.”
# Wouldn’t he rather?
else:
print “Uncharted territory.”

falling_in_love(“better off”)
# Sorry.

My second poem has a bit of a more hopeful tone.

sometimes

sometimes
he likes her
like a lot

sometimes
she doesn’t
feel the same

sometimes
sometimes
it works out

Feel free to request a #freepoem of your own! Contact me on Twitter @GeorgiaTell or submit to my contact form!

 

Why I Wrote an LGBT YA Novella

~ Georgia Tell ~ Leave a comment

When deciding whether or not I wanted to published my debut book The Friendship Ruse, there were a lot of things to consider.

First of all, I’m not a gay guy, which is what the book is about; I am, however, part of the LGBT community. But humans write about aliens all the time, so I decided even if I wasn’t a part of the community, I could and should write about it.

The next big consideration was to write it as a novella or a novel. In my head, I originally had the idea for a three-part book that was fairly long, but when I finished part one, I realized it had a very defined beginning, middle and end. I think it’ll do the story more justice as three novellas in a series — I’m currently writing the second one!

The last consideration was that the story is Young Adult, but seeing as I read more YA than other age ranges, that’s a-okay!

After hitting “Publish” a few days ago, I can honestly say that the psychological effects of self-publishing are so good. Just having my writing out there and available is what I’ve always wanted. Also, writing this book has been so much fun, and it’s made me more comfortable in my own identity.

Get out there and write, folks!

You’re A Bad Poet, And That’s Okay

~ Georgia Tell ~ Leave a comment

You’re a terrible poet. You’re also an awesome poet whose writing touches people (this all assumes you’re reading this post because it’s relevant to you).

For example, I’m in a poetry class that has a lot of workshops where read and critique each other’s poems. Sometimes my classmates love my poems, sometimes they don’t. The same is true of their poetry.

It’s the name of the game with art that you can’t be universally loved. Not everyone loves van Gogh. Not everyone loves Monet. Not everyone loves Silverstein. But there are many people who like van Gogh and Monet and Silverstein.

I adore Silverstein’s poetry. I’m a huge fan. I couldn’t put Where the Sidewalk Ends down when I was a tween. The binding even started falling apart from so much use. However, I have met people who don’t love Shel Silverstein. Just like there will be people that don’t like my poetry and my writing.

Style in writing and art is highly subjective. As much as I would love to be profuse and literary and full of description and emotion, my poetry is meant to be read with an even cadence and lots of silence. Some people will love it! I get feedback from my classmates that they think my poetry is great (we do have a class rule about being positive, just full disclosure), which is way more important than the folks who just don’t jive with my style.

So, please, don’t get down on yourself if someone criticizes your poetry. Someone likes it. That someone might be me or your mom or some retired man in Wisconsin. You can do this! So can I!

Enjoy this wonderfully positive and gentle video of the great painter: Bob Ross! As he says, “you’ll make beautiful things!”

Feel free to send me your poetry on my contact page or on Twitter @GeorgiaTell!

Free Poems #3 – Finding Peace of Mind

~ Georgia Tell ~ Leave a comment

I had another request for a #freepoem on Twitter! This time the person kind of gave me a larger realm to work with: life struggles and finding peace of mind. I’ll admit having such a broad topic made this one a little harder, so I searched my personal experience to come up with my version of peace of mind.

Calming down after a long and busy day is a Herculean task, especially for me. I was doing NaNoWriMo this month, but I had to stop because I was getting snappy with the people I love — mind you, I finally found a method that works for me… voice-to-text, and I was certain I’d be able to finish this month. As a result, I’ve been trying to appreciate the small calm moments that happen all the time, and that’s what this poem is about:

momentary pause

you find it everywhere
among hassle and chaos

it is the green light
on the busy commute home
a breath let out as you
take your foot off the brake

you find it everywhere
among toil and discord

it is the slide of the deadbolt
in your front door
quiet at last as you
shut out the world for the night

you find it everywhere
among strife and trouble

it is the heavy unconscious
on the 300 count sheets
sleep slips in as you
drift peacefully away from the struggle

Thank you for reading! Feel free to request a #freepoem from me on Twitter or on my contact page!

Free Poems #2 – For K.M. Pohlkamp’s Apricots and Wolfsbane

~ Georgia Tell ~ Leave a comment

Fellow writer K.M. Pohlkamp messaged me on Twitter to request a #freepoem for her novel Apricots and Wolfsbane. This was such a fun request, because the novel is adult historical fiction about a female assassin who uses poison. That inspired me right away with this short poem:

of the same kind

a drop of poison
thief dead on the floor
saw off his finger
he keeps the ruby ring no more

There’s something about historical fiction that makes me want to rhyme! You should read an excerpt from the book to see the rich inspiration for this poem.

For the second poem, I tried to encapsulate the most unusual aspect of the protagonist which is that she is devoutly religious and reconciles this with her killings by confession. Here it is:

I enjoy

the squeak of a chair
watching their eyes realize
life was draining away

the stillness of the body
when my poison won
taking proof

the silence when it was done
echoing in my head
until confession welcomed God’s voice back

Hope you like them! Check out K.M. Pohlkamp’s website!

Feel free to message me on Twitter @GeorgiaTell if you want a #freepoem.

Poem: wanted to title this “analarchy” but looked up the definition and decided against it

~ Georgia Tell ~ Leave a comment

she was fourth
fourth favorite in the group
she knew this and said it like it didn’t make her want to tear her hair out
fuck
how?
I should stab my eyes out with the corner of the frame she gave me
a badly drawn version of my cat
she smiled
said she loved us
we were the greatest
it makes me want to vomit
did I think of her as fourth?
I want to say no, but there’s a part of me
this vile disgusting part of me that knew exactly what she was talking about
exactly
if I was her, I couldn’t stay
I couldn’t say things so sweetly
she loved us
she loved us
when we would drive to Barnes & Noble after she was called home
to talk, to pace the parking lot until 11:23pm
when we didn’t tell her we were getting together to eat ice cream
when we would sit in my car in front of number one’s house until 12:16am
talking about how miserable we were
fuck
I’m second
I know this, even though really don’t want to know this
I don’t know how I stayed
how she stayed
knowing there was this distinct hierarchy
we were the greatest
maybe that’s why no one talked to us
why we’d pull out of the Jack in the Box drive thru at 10:54pm and eat the buttermilk ranch slathered chicken strips lamenting how it was so hard to make friends while staring at that same leafless tree in a pot
how we were just too cool
we were intimidating
maybe we were just assholes
and I wasn’t even first asshole
and she was fourth

I don’t usually write long poems. But I had an interaction with a friend of mine recently that inspired this poem.

Bottomline: Hierarchy just breeds bad feelings. Let’s all become hippies, grow tomatoes and milk goats.

Free Poems #1 – Depression

~ Georgia Tell ~ Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, I posted on Twitter offering to write poems for people for free. Yesterday, a stranger messaged me asking me to write a poem for their friend with depression. First of all, this person is obviously such a sweetheart. Secondly, I was way too excited about this: my first #freepoem!

I’ve been sick for the last few days, but I grabbed my graph paper notebook and began writing immediately. It’s a sacred undertaking, and I take it seriously.

metamorph

insurmountable black of the darkness
he wants to not exist
always tired and perpetually missed

he cannot climb out of darkness
is there a purpose to exist?
a target he always missed

when a caterpillar happens to exist
eats and eats, not a leaf missed
he cocoons in darkness

a butterfly begins to exist
the opposite of darkness
a sight not to be missed

a light exists in the darkness

Sestinas are hard. I originally tried to make “metamorph” into a sestina, but it was ultimately a slave to the form. Instead, I honored the idea of the form and made it my own.

bottle cap necklace

bottle cap rolls
from the park bench
to the store
and around the block
a child picks it up
made into a necklace
with a shiny chain

This poem was much quicker to write and conveyed the lost-and-found-and-upcycled feeling of recovering from depression. I hope you like the freeform “bottle cap necklace.”

As an endnote, feel free to message me on my contact page or on Twitter @georgiatell if you want a free poem!