Little Mr. Sunshine: A Blog Is Not a Book Is Not a Movie – My First V-blog (Prelude) Episode 7

Yes, there is a video and you will get to watch how I humiliate myself later this week.  Think “Little Miss Sunshine”.

Ever since I have started this mini-series, the most common questions I have received from the people around me (whom I am grateful for their frankness) are: Is there a video? Where is the video? What is in the video?  And the most common feedback is: I don’t get it.

A Blog Is Not a Book

Recently – after I have started the series – I read somewhere that publishing a book that reads like a blogger’s website just won’t work.  People simply won’t read such a book.  I can’t recall the reasons why and I wonder if the reverse stands too.  My only rationalization is that online readers probably have the habit to sit in front of the computer and spend only a fraction of their time to read a post before they point-and-click onto something else.  Reading a magazine or a book in contrast captures a much dedicated attention and longer attention span from the readers.

And hence, perhaps online readers prefer a more upfront, direct statement (pretty much how this post begins) rather than to bury the answers of what-where-and-is-there somewhere towards the end the 1st episode of this mini-series.

Little Miss Sunshine

Recently – also after I have started the series – I watched “Little Miss Sunshine” on cable.  It’s an awesome film.  I am not saying this just because I am a big fan of the little girl Abigail Breslin.  The film talks to me.  It really does.

Throughout the film, we are all aware that the seven years old girl Olive has a performance to make, for a competition.  But what’s in that performance?  No one knows, until the very end.  For the benefit of those who have not watched “Little Miss Sunshine”, the little girl’s performance at the beauty pageant is borderline awkward, borderline embarrassing, and borderline obscene.  Her stage performance – that has been kept secret to her family till the very end of the movie – is taught by her grandpa who is a borderline pervert.

Imagine only watching that little girl’s performance on stage and not the rest of the movie, I highly doubt if you would think too highly of this critically acclaimed movie.  The important part of the story, I observe, is the journey itself less of the end goal.  “Little Miss Sunshine” is a touching story on how this courageous little girl Olive manages to move and change the people around her who are disillusioned about their lives.  That is the journey I am talking about.

This mini-series is meant to be a journey for me, the various little steps in getting there.  The video itself, much like Oliver’s final stage performance, is less important.  Maybe I ought to be less subtle next time.

Or perhaps I need to remind myself that it is hard to make a blog to read like a movie.

The Closing of a Little Chapter

This episode marks the end of the prelude series and I know I have been confusing the living soul out of you.  My apologies.  Well, it’s absolutely not my intend.  I have a lot of fun writing this series.  Something different, something slightly more serious yet random, something closer to my heart.

PS. This hand drawn whale by me as seen at the beginning of the post carries a subtle message of “Save the Planet” in my upcoming video blog.

My 1st v-Blog Mini-Series:

• Episode 1: A New, Shall I Say, Mini-Series and I’m Still Not Sure About It [Jun 8]
• Episode 2: The Coincidental Encounters and the Incidental Chain of Events That Leads to This [Jun 11]
• Episode 3: The Cycle of Learning and Sharing: Why Be a Caterpillar When You Can be a Butterfly? [Jun 15]
• Episode 4: Of Dr. Nanorobot, Human Power Plant, Chip Implant, Eyeset, and More [Jun 25]
• Episode 5: Storyboarding at 24 Frames per Second [Jul 9]
• Episode 6: Stripping My Own Song into Just Four Lines and an Orange Lit Valve That Glows Within [Jul 23]
• Episode 7: Little Mr. Sunshine: A Blog Is Not a Book Is Not a Movie [Jul 29]
• Episode 8: My First v-Blog: A History of Chips (That Matters to Me) [Jul 31]