Porn: Less story, more action. We never talk anymore …

It’s an old joke: Playboy – I get it for the stories. Nowadays, porn has even less need for story, according to the New York Times.

The pornographic movie industry has long had only a casual interest in plot and dialogue. But moviemakers are focusing even less on narrative arcs these days. Instead, they are filming more short scenes that can be easily uploaded to Web sites and sold in several-minute chunks.

Guys with short, um, attention spans, need an Internet quickie. They can only focus 3-5 minutes, which leaves no time for story. Think drive-thru window, not sit-down meal.

All action, no talk is troubling to the actress known as Savanna Samson. Like any observer of good narrative, she wants more character development.

“I used to have dialogue,” said Ms. Samson, whose given name is Natalie Oliveros, and who is one of the industry’s biggest stars, told the Times. “Getting it on in one hardcore scene after another just isn’t as much fun,” she added.

 

Michael Jackson: ‘Hyper-creative’ storyteller

Michael Jackson was a storyteller through multiple platforms.

Through what his collaborators call “hyper-creative” storytelling and marriage of narrative storylines to vocals and choreographed dance, Mr. Jackson carved a method of marketing and self-expression that set the pattern for artists for the past two and a half decades and onward.

Traditionalists conceive of story in narrow vehicles – books, movies, plays. But as the King of Pop demonstrated, content is king; well-told stories will find an audience, no matter the platform. Self-expression is boundless, as today’s digital media demonstrate.

As for MJ’s farewell, that story was told in an array of social media forms – including Twitter, CNN.com’s iReport and YouTube – and reached an audience inconceivable when “Thriller” was released in 1983.

And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller

Fittingly, Jackson went out in a gold-plated coffin and a spectacle of song and dance. Quite a finale.

Update [07/08/09] – One emerging narrative about the memorial. “It was a macabre circus.”

 

Telling stories in 140 characters or less

Yes, you can tweet a story. Use #storytelling to search and mark.

Hat tip to Director Tom.

 

CEO – storyteller in chief

Nice article in Forbes last month captures the power of CEOs having a story to tell. Not bullet points, not key messages but a real tale.

What’s stickier in your mind – viewership stats about “American Idol” or that Adam Lambert finished second?

Same communication theory applies to companies. Do you know the marketshare of Dos Equis or are you more intrigued by the story of the Most Interesting Man in the World? For corporate storytellers, audiences listen when executives tell how they got their start, what they’re doing now and where they’re going tomorrow. As Forbes said:

Our lives are a series of stories woven together–our own stories and the stories of those around us.

Great leaders–religious, political or business–realize this and are good storytellers. Jesus spoke in parables. Krishna and Rama came to life through the stories they told. The Torah, Judaism’s founding legal and ethical religious text, the first five books of the Old Testament, is not a boring list of rules but a set of moral lessons and commandments intertwined with a wealth of life stories.

 

Jury duty: The civic duty we hate

Jury duty (I served on Monday and am on call the rest of the week) is all about narrative. Everyone has a story to tell, most of all the defendant, or, specifically, the attorneys representing the accused.

The most common narrative about the jury system is that it is a burden and it is a circumstance to be avoided more than highway rush hour in the rain.

Many colleagues approached me with ways to avoid jury duty. Say you’re quick to make decisions. Say you’ve been a victim of crime. Say you’re fearful of criminals.

No one in the office advised me to call  anyone involved in the criminal justice system a moron or say that jury duty was a waste of time – though the tactic worked for one Montana man.

Avoidance of jury duty has spawned books, Web sites and laws. Some governments will ask you to serve – even if you’re dead. Some jurors commit fashion crimes when they arrive. Other potential jurors say they’ll use the opportunity as a legal soapbox to practice jury nullification.

I haven’t been in the courtroom this go-round but know that the questioning will revolve, to some extent, around what I know about the case and the people involved. Less is more, to the inquisitors. As Mark Twain described it:

We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don’t know anything and can’t read.

Or who don’t mind being there.

 

Telling story through humor: Or, my middle name is “Steve”

Barack Obama reveals his middle name … John McCain provides the pet name … as offered by his opponent.

It’s an old saw: Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Obama and McCain appeared together Thursday (Oct. 16) at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner.

McCain roast of Obama.

Obama roast of McCain.

Pool report comes from the New York Times’ Jeff Zeleny:

Sen. Barack Obama was preceded – actually, introduced – at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner by Sen. John McCain, who took the first turn at the lectern. He delivered many lines that left Mr. Obama laughing out loud.

“I can’t shake that feeling that some people here are pulling for me,” Mr. McCain said, turning to the far side of the stage. “I’m delighted to see you here tonight, Hillary.”

Mr. McCain assured those in the ballroom that his rival was not fazed by being called, “That one,” during the second presidential debate.

“He doesn’t mind at all, in fact, he even has a pet name for me: George Bush,” Mr. McCain said.

Mr. McCain offered several words of praise, which Mr. Obama acknowledged with applause and a nod of the head.

“My opponent is an impressive fellow in many ways. Political opponents can have a little trouble seeing the best in each other. I have seen this man at his best. I admire his great skill, energy and determination,” Mr. McCain said. “It’s not for nothing that he has inspired so many folks in his own party and beyond. Senator Obama talks about making history and he’s made quite a bit of it already.

“There was a time when the mere invitation of an African American citizen to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage and an insult in many quarters. Today, it’s world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. And good riddance.

“I can’t wish my opponent luck, but I do wish him well.”

After a handshake, Mr. Obama took the lectern for his turn.

“I was originally told the venue would be Yankee Stadium. Can somebody tell me what happened to the Greek columns that I requested?” Mr. Obama said.

Later, he added: “I do love the Waldorf Astoria. I hear from the doorstep you can see all the way to the Russian Tea Room.”

(Yes, Mr. McCain laughed. A lot.)

Mr. Obama, noting his age, said he did not have the pleasure of knowing Al Smith, but added: “From everything Senator McCain has told me, he was a great man.”

Then, he gave a shout out to Mayor Bloomberg.

“The mayor recently announced some news that he would be rewriting the rules and have a third term, which prompted Bill Clinton to say: You can do that?” Mr. Obama said.

As Mrs. Clinton laughed on stage, Mr. Obama added: “I’m glad to see you made it Hillary. I hear Chuck Schumer tried to tell you that we really did move this event to Yankee Stadium.”

Mr. Obama continued with Mrs. Clinton, saying: “She’s the primary reason I have all this gray in my hair now.”

Mr. Obama called it “a tribute to American democracy” that the two rivals could come together two weeks before the election to “sit down at the same dinner table without preconditions.”

He drew boos from the crowd when he tried making a joke about AIG, noting that the fine wine and gourmet food resembled a retreat of the troubled insurance company.

Finally, Mr. Obama did a riff on the question that Mr. McCain has been asking voters: Who is the real Barack Obama?

“I actually was not born in a manger,” Mr. Obama said.

“Barack is actually Swahili for That One,” he added.

“I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn’t think I would ever run for president,” he continued.

He predicted that several October surprises were likely to occur, including: “My middle name is actually Steve,” he said, speaking over loud applause. “Barack Steve Obama.”

The McCains – the senator and his wife – clapped only tepidly when Mr. Obama said, “Fox News accused me of having two African American children in wedlock.” The crowd, it seemed, wasn’t sure how to respond.

Mr. Obama praised the service that Mr. McCain has made to the nation, saying: “I’m proud to be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you.”

He closed on a serious note.

“No matter what differences or divisions or arguments we are having right now, we ultimately belong to something bigger and more lasting than political parties,” Mr. Obama said. “We belong to a community, we share a country, we are all children of God. In this country there are millions of fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters, who need us very much – especially now.”

The motorcade waited about 30 minutes before departing at 10:20 p.m. for the final event of the evening: the fund-raiser with Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel.

Update: Changed video to YouTube links. Had problems using VodPod to link to MSNBC highlights. Ugh!

 

Storytelling on the radio: Bringing narrative to life through many voices

Storytelling comes in all forms. The radio show “This American Life” lets you listen to nicely crafted narrative. Our first exposure to storytelling comes as kids listening to the grown-ups read stories or relate oral histories. Blogger Jeremy Rue writes that the radio show demonstrates an incredible gift for storytelling.

They have perfected the narrative of a story unlike anything else I’ve seen. Each of their stories enraptures the mind and single-handedly turns my commute to one of experiencing a riveting feature film.

Poynter also lauds “This American Life” from WBEZ in Chicago and quotes Alex Blumberg, a producer for the radio show, on how to develop narrative non-fiction. A key element is finding the right voices – some are soloists, some add to the chorus. Aptly orchestrated they create the music for the narrative.

Ask people to tell their stories, ask about key moments, and get out of the way. Moments are the key in radio, Blumberg said. He said he asks people, “Was there a moment when…” Or he simply says, “Tell me the story of when…” That puts people in the position of telling their own stories rather than answering a reporter’s questions.

 

Plumbers suddenly flush with celebrity

The nation hasn’t talked about plumbers this much since the Nixon administration.

Plumbers-as-superheroes is a story typically reserved for Thanksgiving – their busiest time of the year thanks to the annual flush rush.

History is clogged with famous former plumbers: Rocker Ozzie Osbourne, dance lord Michael Flatley and actor Lee Marvin all professionally wielded plungers.

A recent novel even featured the son of a plumber of modest means. Alas, the story needed better flow, reviewed as a “maladroit narrative that relies on clumsily withheld secrets for suspense and that encumbers the story of Corey’s coming-of-age with ponderous and unconvincing meditations on matters like noblesse oblige, the responsibilities of privilege and working-class resentment of the rich.”

But, for the next 15 minutes, no plumber carries more celebrity than Joe.

At the third and final presidential debate, the candidates finally got around to addressing America’s most pressing question: What does Joe Wurzelbacher want?

He’s the new American idol, according to the Guardian in the U.K.

… heroic pipefitting everyman Joe the Plumber … He’s on the early TV shows today; a reality TV series and a range of Joe the Plumber merchandise will surely soon follow. But if you’d booked him to fix your toilet in Toledo this morning, you can forget it.

Narrative can plumb great depths, showing that anything can become a story.

Update: [New York Times] – “A tug of war over Joe the Plumber.”

Update: [Comedy Central] – Joe’s not registered to vote?

Update: Forgot about Nintendo’s Mario and Luigi. And then there was Albert Einstein …

 

Writing narrative, state by state

The states where we live in can propel us on our most vivid tales. Each U.S. state is a unique seedbed of narrative.

Our home states remind us of nostalgic venues where we grew up, creating experiences that roll around in the memory like baseballs in the grassy fields of Little League days or beads of sweat collecting during August sunrises on Florida’s sugar-white beaches.

“You can think of each state as a little mind,” says author John Jeremiah Sullivan, who spent his childhood in Louisville and was tapped to capture Kentucky for the new book State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America. “And they’re all kind of bent in their own particular way.”

Or as New York Times reviewer J. R. Moehringer wrote:

“Americans still feel uniquely defined by whichever state they call home. … That familiar, multicolored map hanging in every grade-school classroom is a periodic table, setting out the 50 basic elements of our national character.”

What narrative does your home state evoke?

 

Economic crisis full of villains, would-be heroes

A narrative arrived in your mailbox. It’s the disaster story you don’t want to read: your mutual fund statement. Capitalism’s superhero of Irrational Exuberance has – for now -fallen to the Kryptonite of subprime ooze and other nasitness.

It’s narrative to be sure. Tension and conflict abounds. There’s even true characterization:

• There are the economic jesters.

• There are would-be heros.

• There are villains – secret and otherwise. The main protagonist is the boogie man FDR warned about in 1933.

People are panicking. You’ll be hard pressed to find someone who can look you in the eye and tell you they’ve crunched the numbers and concluded stocks are worth 24% less than they were 10 days ago.

The current plot drags on as narrative and counternarrative debate who let the devil in the house. In many places, the story is propelled by the notion of a financial virus, a contagion sweeping the globe. The struggle: Find the antidote.

The financial crisis creates rich story. Too bad it also makes for a poor 401(k).

Update: Time magazine – Wall Street takes a breather while “forces create a cohesive narrative.”

Update: Boomers may end up working longer.

Update: CNN’s iReport shares memories from the Great Depression.