Bri Castellini – Marlon Brando Fans are Snowflakes – @brisownworld

Hey there, Brando Fandos. Larry Brody here, loving how Bri Castellini gets straight to the heart of a very important matter…yet again:

Check out Bri’s YouTube Channel HERE

Oh, and for the record:

Bri Castellini is an indie filmmaker and Community Liaison at Stareable, our favorite web series hub.

Watch Bri’s award-winning web series, Brains, HERE

This post first appeared on her seriously cool blog.

That oughta keep you busy for awhile!

 

What is a Word?

At last! Our favorite etymologist, Arika Okrent, gets down to the nitty gritty. Here it is, the foundation for what to most writers is – our absolute true love:

How many of you are sitting there right now and scratching your heads? Yeah, us too.

Sigh…

More about Arika, YouTube’s Patron Saint of Wordsmiths

Diana Vacc sees “Cobra Kai: Season One”

by Diana Vaccarelli

—SPOILER ALERT—SPOILER ALERT—SPOILER ALERT—

May 2, 2018, YouTube Red released the first season of Cobra Kai, a TV sequel (well, YouTube is sort of TV) to the classic Karate Kid films.  I’ve binge-watch Season One and was surprised and delighted by what I viewed.

The series begins thirty years after the last Karate Kid film that ended with the very satisfying All Valley Tournament between Cobra Kai dojo leader, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio). Daniel (Macchio) was the victor, defeating the bully, Johnny.

As this series opens, Johnny is a drunk and at rock bottom when he witnesses Miguel Diaz (Xolo Mariduena) being bullied and decides to take him under his wing and reopen the Cobra Kai dojo.  This reignites his feud with Daniel and brings changes into both their lives.

THE GOOD:

  • The team of writers led by co-creators and showrunners John Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald nailed the characters and came up with an unexpectedly sharp storyline.  Johnny’s drive  to change the image of Cobra Kai dojo into something positive and his mentoring of those he once would have called nerds is believable and exciting.
  • The change in Daniel  to the successful arrogant businessman was a big surprise, as was how hard he tries to stop keep Johnny’s new Cobra Kai dojo out of the Ally Valley Tournament. I really wanted to know,  “Why, Daniel, Why!” (And shouted it out a few times, I admit.)
  • What a relief when Daniel redeems himself when by mentoring loner Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) in karate.  It turns out Robby is none other then the son of Johnny (Zabka) and wants to get back at him at all costs.  Daniel decides to coach him the way Mr. Miyagi did for him.
  • I appreciated the twist in the story arc in which the nerds turn into the bullies of the school at the end of the season, much to dismay of Johnny.
  • All this conflict makes this show one to watch and keeps you clued to the screen.

THE BAD:

  • I wasn’t disappointed at all in this series and am glad to learn at the writing of the review that is has been renewed for another season.

THE REST:

If you’re a fan of the Karate Kid films and/or a lover of martial arts and insightful TV writing, you won’t want to miss out on Cobra Kai.

Diana Vaccarelli is TVWriter™’s Critic-at-Large and a TVWriter™ University grad. Find out more about her HERE

Web Series: ‘Distance’

Whoa. At last a web series that’s truly ambitious.

Distance is the story of a long distance relationship from two entirely different perspectives. Instead of being one creator’s take about the effect of such a relationship on those in it, this series uses two different directors – a man to tell the man’s story and a woman to tell the woman’s – and shows each episode in two distinctly different ways.

Watch the trailer and you’ll see what we mean:

What can we say except, “We love this?” Oh, wait, of course. We can add a question to this conversation, so it comes out as:

“We love this. Do you?”

Just trying to get your perspective….

Distance is HERE

Latest from the WGAW on Sexual Harassment

Received this email yesterday. In a word – okay, two and a half words – “We’re trying.”

For which all of us I’m sure are grateful. This is a hell of an important and very complex issue, but I for one am confident that more improvements will come.