Hello Beautiful Thinkers,

I’ve been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender again. It is one of the few cartoons that doesn’t feel overly cheesy when I see it again. I’m nearing the end when Aang is about to face the Fire Lord, and he is unwilling to kill someone to save the world. Even though it seems like the only way to protect the world and stop the villain, Aang is unyielding in his refusal to take a life. He is determined to find another way. Write a prompt where your character is convinced there is another way to achieve a goal even though there is an obvious one that might hurt someone.

Keep Dreaming Beautiful Thinkers,

The Boy In The Heart Shades

Hello Beautiful Thinkers,

I watched Tangled again this week. As with most Disney movies, the villain is my favorite part. They usually get the best song and their motivations are almost always more interesting than those of the heroes. Mother Gothel’s motivation for keeping Rapunzel hostage is the magic healing power of Rapunzel’s hair. But her means of holding onto Rapunzel in this story are fear mongering and emotional manipulation. Rapunzel is emotionally abused and thinks that she’s being kept safe there. Write a scene of your own that explores these tactics of manipulation.

Keep Dreaming Beautiful Thinkers,

The Boy In The Heart Shades

Hello Beautiful Thinkers,

I finally saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It felt like the longest movie ever. There were some good parts throughout, but overall it wasn’t my favorite in the series so far. There are a few different moments in the movie where the person in charge of things changes hands. I won’t say any more, in case any of you are worried about spoilers. Write a scene where the power of being in charge of something shifts from one person to another. Was it handed over willingly? Was it taken by force? Or neither?

Keep Dreaming Beautiful Thinkers,

The Boy In The Heart Shades

Hello Beautiful Thinkers,

I went to see The Greatest Showman this week. It was a pretty good movie. I love musicals and it has been a long while since I saw one on the big scene. The character’s in the movie grow more confident through being entertainers for the circus. It’s actually a method that works very well for some people. Write a scene where a character becomes more confident or discovers something new in themselves by performing in front of others.

Keep Dreaming Beautiful Thinkers,

The Boy In The Heart Shades

Hello Beautiful Thinkers,

In honor of our first week of Halloween, today’s movie was the 1995 version of Casper! Everybody loves a ghost story or at least most everybody does. After all, we wouldn’t be telling them still if there wasn’t something about them we loved. Today write your own ghost story but make sure that you give the ghost some sort of odd quality that you otherwise haven’t seen in ghost stories before. Like Casper, his friendly demeanor is very unusual for ghost stories.

Keep Dreaming Beautiful Thinkers,

The Boy In The Heart Shades

Hello Beautiful Thinkers,

I rewatched a movie I used to love as a child this week: Quest for Camelot. This story follows a young woman and a blind man who want to become knights of King Arthur’s court. These two heroes gave us a story with some much-needed diversity when the movie came out in the 90s. From the very start of the journey, the heroes make a lot of narrow escapes on their way to Camelot. Write a scene where your characters escape danger seemingly by luck or because of some sort of well-timed, narrow escape.

Keep Dreaming Beautiful Thinkers,

The Boy In The Heart Shades

Hello Beautiful Thinkers,

My friend and I went to see Disenchanted last week while it was in town. It is a musical about the fairytale princesses and telling the “truths” of their stories. The songs are geared towards an adult audience and these are not the version of the princesses you might remember from Disney movies. Covering subjects like racial stereotypes, body image issues, and gender roles, the songs are wickedly funny. It was a great time. I found a performance “All I Wanna Do Is Eat” on YouTube and posted it below to give you all a taste. The musical definitely makes you question what princess movies teach our children. Write a scene in which you create the princess that you’d want to learn from.

Keep Dreaming Beautiful Thinkers,

The Boy In The Heart Shades