Writing! articles from February 2007

Writing! archives from February 2007

1,000 words.
February 1, 2007... Help us roll out the red carpet for Oscar, the celebrated mascot of the annual Academy Awards. He is going to be welcoming the crowds to the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on February 25. Here's your chance to give him a hand: Put yourself in...

At the movies: The Namesake.(write stuff)
February 1, 2007... If Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri isn't already a household name, she soon will be. On March 9, her best-selling novel The Namesake comes to the big screen. Directed by Mira Nair of Monsoon Wedding fame and starring Kal Penn...

Roots: Black History Month.(write stuff)
February 1, 2007... Since it was founded by scholar Carter G. Woodson in 1926, Black History Month has been commemorated every February. This month marks the birthdays of two men who had a major influence on African Americans--Abraham Lincoln and Frederick...

Bookshelf.(Write stuff)(Un Lun Dun)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 1, 2007... Un Lun Dun, the long-awaited young-adult novel by British author China Mieville, hits bookstores February 13. Full of fantastic imagery and wordplay, this adventure into the imagination is being compared to classics such as The Phantom...

Mark your calendar.(write stuff)(Calendar)
February 1, 2007... February 7 Laura Ingalls Wilder's Birthday (1867) If it weren't for the pleading of her daughter, Rose Wilder, the author of the classic Little House books would have never written down stories about her childhood years on the...

Illuminated obscure words.(write stuff)
February 1, 2007... 'Uttering a word is striking a note on the keyboard of the imagination.' --Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher A.Word.A.Day (wordsmith.org/awad) is a free e-mail service that delivers a new word, along with its pronunciation,...

Origins.(wordplay)(history of word funny)
February 1, 2007... There are more than 500,000 words in the English language, many of which are derived from tongues as diverse as Latin, Greek, French, and Arabic. This month, Writing gives you the scoop on the origins of the word funny. Funny Business ...

Fun for all and all for fun.(Word Web)
February 1, 2007... The word funny isn't alone. Each of the words in this web can be traced from the Old English root word fon. Beside each word is the date of its earliest recorded use and definition. Root: Old English fon Source: Oxford English...

Sticky situations.(wordplay)(Cartoon)
February 1, 2007... Don't try anything funny! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Who's the boss of your sentence? A live report from Sentence Street.(grammar slammer)
February 1, 2007... Smiley Slickguy: Breaking news! Earwitness News has just received word of a fight on Sentence Street. We have a reporter on the scene. Blabby? Blabby: Thanks, Smiley. As far as we can tell, it all started with a disagreement between a...

So, you want to write movies? A handy guide for the first-time filmmaker in you.
February 1, 2007... When assigned a project or a paper, have you ever wished that you could make a video instead? If you answered yes to that question, you're a bit like Los-Angeles-based filmmaker Andrea Richards. As a high school student, she once wiggled...

Fade in: how and why to write a screenplay.(why write?)
February 1, 2007... When I was 10 years old, I starred in my first movie. I played Stevie-Boy, a pint-size superhero of 1970s suburbia. My two older brothers played the bad guys. The film was shot on a Super 8 camera (the same camera that had captured my parents'...

At the movies: with movie critic Stephanie Zacharek.(behind the words)(Interview)
February 1, 2007... Most of us like to kick back with a good movie after a long day at work or school. Not Stephanie Zacharek. She sees a movie and then goes to work. Zacharek reviews movies for a living. For the past 10 years, she has been a film critic for the...

John Wilkes Booth.(student writing)(Excerpt)
February 1, 2007... On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by a famous actor named Wilkes Booth. What you are about to read is an excerpt from a fictional account of that fateful day. The text in red is taken from a real document, Booth's diary. This...

Write words.(Excerpt)
February 1, 2007... Peter: I still Lave no idea what to write. J. M. Barrie: Write about anything. Write about your family, write about the talking whale! Peter: What whale? J. M. Barrie: The one that's trapped in your imagination and desperate to...

Reeling with words.
February 1, 2007... BACKGROUND MATERIAL The writing process is an essential component of the movie industry. Because students have a strong interest in films, we invite you to use this issue of Writing to engage students in developing the skeleton of a short...

Make a storyboard.
February 1, 2007... Name -- Every TV commercial begins with a storyboard. A storyboard is like a comic strip. Each panel, or frame, has an image with an action and some dialogue. Here's your chance to create a 20-second commercial. Using pictures or words,...

Structuring a screenplay.
February 1, 2007... Every good film starts with a good screenplay, or visual story. Unlike a novel, where the action unfolds in the mind of the main character, or a play, where the action unfolds through the words of the characters, film is a visual medium. The...