Steven Joiner

During the spring and summer of 2007 I wrote a series of articles for myRegence.com (Regence is the largest health insurer in the Northwest/Intermountain Region of the US including Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Utah). The series was entitled “The Lifelong Learner” and it covered a range of topics, most having to do with helping people understand learning styles, memory, and, at the end, perspectives on parents and endurance events. The latter two categories make sense to me inasmuch as I learned a lot from both subjects. These articles are meant to be easy to read and informative in an instantly applicable way. There were among my favorite writing projects from 2007. (more…)

I was talking to a friend yesterday about an old debate I continue to wage with several of my best friends. They have this unfortunate tendency to critique summer/winter blockbuster action films with the same eye as more “serious” film. While I agree that it is always nice to have a compelling story and well-developed characters, I also know that I don’t go to action films expecting any of this. I find the total lack of expectations extremely liberating. I also love it when a film packaged in the usual blockbuster-with-toys-in-a-happy-meal-and-enough-other-cross-promo-hype-to-completely-saturate-our-reality turns out to be quality cinema. That is a very nice surprise.

However, in order to apply some semblance of standards to a film genre bereft of anything but CGI, hot stars and starlets, and explosions a plenty, I developed what I used to call my 50/50 rule: an action film needs to take up 50% or more of the screen time with action–explosions, chases, fisticuffs, gunfights, etc.–and 50% or less dialogue, plot development, character development, and, well, anything that is not action. (more…)