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Enticing Ancient Egypt

You know when you’re in elementary school and the teacher asks you the age-old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. Unfortunately, when I finally figured out that answer, I was in my 30s – but it’s archeology. Not only being an archeologist, but an Egyptologist. I’m not too entirely sure where my passion for Ancient Egypt came from. Perhaps the mystery and intrigue of it all – the ingenuity and advancements, the breathtaking craftsmanship, the Pharaohs’ and the lost tomb of Cleopatra, beliefs, religion and politics. And let’s not forget the connection between Ancient Egypt, mathematics, astrology, medicine and the afterlife.

Captivation

All jokes aside, Ancient Egypt is a civilization that has captivated the world for centuries. How Ancient Egypt progressed, was remarkable and the vast technological advancements we still don’t even know about today. How did they do it? Why did they do it? Their secrets lost in sand and time. Seeing pictures and videos of the tombs, chambers and temples of ancient Egypt with all it’s glorious art and carvings, always leaves me breathless and astonished. I often find myself watching endless documentaries and series about Ancient Egypt, and each time I’m left more intrigued. I never understood the passion over ancient history before – until now.

Documentaries & Series

There’s been a lot of documentaries I’ve watched over the years about Ancient Egypt.. and honestly, probably more than I’d like to admit. Here are a few series and episodes that are at the top of my mind that I’ve enjoyed:

Daydreaming

Though I’ve never been to Egypt, I often find myself envisioning being there and visiting the ancient temples and tombs. Seeing the carvings myself, the stars painted on Nefertiti’s tomb ceiling, and the familiar gold mask of Tutankhamun. Unfortunately, due to conflicts in the world right now, traveling to Egypt is not a viable option. I will continue to live vicariously through Josh Gates and the great Zahi Hawass, while I grow more knowledge through documentaries and research.

Now, lets that a walk together through the mystifying Ancient Egypt.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C08JcXkyKJG/?igshid=ZWQ3ODFjY2VlOQ==

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No Country For Old Men

“Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this.”

Anton Chigurh, No Country For Old Men

It’s Christmas morning. Mariah Carey is playing over the speakers quietly. I slowly rise up from under the blankets and make my way downstairs to join my family around the tree. Little about myself; I love giving gifts, but am a horrible gift receiver. I think it’s because I have a tough time hiding my feelings. “Socks?! You shouldn’t have.”

My girlfriend at the time hands me a gift, beautifully wrapped in gold and red. I carefully tear all the paper off and in my hands I now hold a box. “Nature Valley Granola Bars? You shouldn’t have!”

“No, Cody. Inside the box..” I am politely told from a voice across the room.

Inside, there is no granola to be found. But there is a blu-ray disk.

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men was released in box offices November 2007 and features incredible cast members such as:

The story is set in the in 1980’s on the Texas – Mexico boarder. While out hunting for antelope, Llewelyn Moss stumbles across the aftermath of a drug exchange gone horribly wrong. After exploring the scene, he discovers a lump sum of cash (2.4 million dollars to be exact) and can’t resist taking the money. This could help solve a lot of problems in his life, but instead is the start of many more.

Unknowingly to Moss, the briefcase of cash contains a GPS tracking device. This is when our antelope hunter, becomes the hunted, and must escape the literal hands of death. Enter Anton Chigurh, now listed as #44 on Empire Magazines Top 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

“If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?”

Anton Chigurh
No Country For Old Men

Little spoken words. Music quietly played through out. Intense scenes of chaos. An ongoing battle between good vs evil. Well developed characters. I had no idea that Christmas morning I would be opening a box that would, not only become my favourite present, but also my favourite movie recommendation to others.

No Country for Old Men is almost considered, by me, a modern day Charlie Chaplin silent film. Almost completely removed of all music and spoken dialogue for much of the film, the strength of the film are the provided by the outstanding performances from the entire cast of actors. Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss, for example, often builds tension in scenes without saying a single word.

“One of the things you realize about gettin older is that not ever’body is goin to get older with you.”

Llwelyn Moss, No Country For Old Men

The Coen Brothers did an amazing job on this film. If you don’t believe me, take a look at this list of awards this movie has won since released in 2007. I highly recommend you sit down and watch this movie, not once, but a couple of times. I have seen it, I believe 5 times now, and each time I pick up on another small, but big detail, I missed the time before.

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Assignment #4

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The Travel Horror Story

My live-tweet storytelling takes readers on a journey through the worst travel day I ever had – and don’t just take it from me, the lady next to me who had been travelling for 30 years agreed.

I lived in Turkey at the time and was just trying to visit my dad in Helsinki for a nice trip and the airline said ‘lol, bet’.

In all seriousness, it took me over 26 hours to get from my apartment in Ankara to a hotel room in Istanbul (a mere one-hour flight) with roller coaster turns along the way. Interested? Check it out here:

Storytelling Principles Used

I used various different writing techniques to help keep my writing suspenseful for this story.
1. This story was told entirely from my point of view. I had no clue when the number of lines would end or when I would get out there. Readers also experienced this as I did
2. I used different style and form, some portions where I make exclamations like ‘I was DONE’ helps get across the frustration and strain of the whole incident without getting to descriptive. The formatting and capitalization did that work for me
3. I left a number of my tweets on a mini ‘cliff hanger’ that encouraged readers to go to the next part to figure out just how the story could have gotten worse.

I also used some common themes of my experience to help tell the story better, including relatability (I’m sure we all have a horrible travel story in some capacity), emotion and authenticity. This is how I would have told the story verbally to someone sitting next to me.

I also tried to include paragraph breaks at the end of sentences to keep the content uncluttered and more appealing to read.

Overall this experience was horrible, especially considering I was a pretty new traveler at the time. But, I got through it and I hope you will too! Thanks 🙂

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Film: Mulan (1998)

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all”

Mulan is an animated Disney movie from 1998 based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. In the story Mulan leaves home to take her father’s place in the army during the Hun invasion. The movie follows her path from being an outcast to becoming a strong warrior who eventually saves the Emperor and China.

Why I love Mulan as a Story

I’ve loved this story since I was a child, it had the perfect combination of action, drama, romance and suspense especially for an animated film. Additionally, Mulan was one of the first female-lead Disney movies that wasn’t a princess and made the lead character a regular person that didn’t include a traditional Disney version of ‘femininity’ and happily ever after.

Mulan & the Four Principles of Good Storytelling: Universal

As a story, Mulan hits every single point of Pixar’s four principles of good storytelling and incorporate a number of its 22 rules of storytelling. The first point, “great stories are universal” applies because many of us have struggled with being an outcast, trying to fit in or facing adversity to better yourself. We can also all relate to the reasoning why Mulan chose to risk her life and potentially bring dishonour to her family: the love of her father and being worried for his wellbeing and wanting to make her family proud. These themes are universal among many people in society and helps the audience connect to this story.

Mulan & the Four Principles of Good Storytelling: Clear Structure and Purpose

Mulan also has a very clear structure and purpose as the audience can easily follow along the different steps of her journey to get to the final. The structure, based on Helping Writers Become Authors website would (generally) be:

  • Mulan fails at the matchmaker
  • Mulan takes her father’s place in the army
  • The Huns challenge the Chinese army
  • Mulan retrieves the arrow at the camp
  • The Chinese army is attacked
  • Mulan is discovered as a woman and let go of the army
  • The Huns kidnap the emperor
  • Mulan kills the Hun leader
  • Mulan returns to her family with honour as a hero.

Mulan & the Four Principles of Good Storytelling: Simple & Focused

Mulan as a story is also very simple and focused, while many elements are going on the primary focus is Mulan finding herself and growing into a warrior who honours their family. By keeping this focus, we feel even more connected to the character and root for them even more because we know what they are working towards.

Mulan & the Four Principles of Good Storytelling: Give a Character to Root for

Finally, the last principle of good storytelling, Mulan is absolutely a character to root for. Through her rejection at the matchmaker to her going through base camp and getting stronger and initially being rejected by the other soldiers we all want to see her succeed and bring honour to her family. They showed not only her highs and lows but also how she got from her lowest to her highest.

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