Black Swan Stunt Double Speaks Out

So Sara Lane a soloist with the American Ballet Theater spoke out about how Natalie Portman didn't really do much of the dancing in her film The Black Swan. Anyone could tell Natalie didn't really do most of the dancing. Half the times you couldn't see her face in the film. Looking at the time she was cast for the film, and when the movie was released.

There is absolutely NO FREAKING WAY she could have been a classically trained ballerina in two years, and the fact that Portman took credit for the dancing is astounding. What I find even worse is how the film didn't even give credit to Sara for the dancing in the film. I trained in classical ballet for years, and let me tell you something it takes years of training to develop all of those skills.

The only movie on dancers I ever really liked was Center Stage. The company used real professional ballet dancers from dance companies and didn't have to waste film time training dancers. Natalie Portman is just insulting to everyone who is a dancer pretty much stating you could be a professional ballet dancer in two years.


*news clip below*

Advice to Writers: Chuck Wendig

The Core of Every Good Story is a Character for Whom We Care

The core of every good story is a character for whom we care—and not just care a little, but care deeply. This alone is no easy task: Such a character must be likable, but not annoying. He must have virtues but remain imperfect. She must possess the potential for sacrifice, for selflessness, for selfishness, for evil. He may be funny, but not only that. She may be serious, but not only that. He comprises many dimensions but not so many that he seems unreal or unpindownable.

~CHUCK WENDIG

This truly is a good quote about characters. In writing, sometimes our characters are based off of ourselves, or someone we knew deeply. One contemporary story I wrote was similar to one of my past experiences. I wrote it as a way to reach out to teens but I'm hoping an agent will want to pick it up. As an author we want our characters to get remembered by the audience who is reading them. In an interview I saw on TV with New York Times Bestselling Author Jennifer Wiener, she said something that clicks if you write in a contemporary setting. Jennifer said, "I write characters people can relate to." With a contemporary story, it makes sense to want the characters to be like everyday people. So they will be left breathless when they reach the last chapter of the book. You want the characters to be burned into the minds of the reader.

Advice to Writers: Mona Simpson

I am back! And I really should be updating this blog regularly but I am a student and school is very important. So I'm back with another quote.

Unplug the Phone and Close the Door

I unplug the phone and close the door and just stick with it. I don’t ever go out for lunch and I don’t take vacations. I like to be awake when no one else is: either just before dawn in the morning or late, late at night. Silence helps.

-MONA SIMPSON

YES! This is what a writer needs to follow when it comes to locking yourself in the writing cave. My house is always busy, and people are always disturbing me when I'm writing. Also when I wrote for unnameable online communities. I have to lock myself in my room, with soothing sounds of nature in the background so that way I could get some decent peace of mind to write my stories. Sometimes, I'll go to sleep at 7pm just so I can wake up at 4am when the rest of the house is asleep.

Black Swan

I went to see the Black Swan in theaters yesterday. Since I used to be a dancer I will always watch movies dealing with theater, music, and ballet. I had seen the trailers and I wanted to see this movie very badly. I actually really liked the premise for it. 

A ballet dancer for the New York City Ballet wants to be the best. The company is doing Swan Lake for their fall show, but the catch was there would be two dancer, one for the black swan, and one for the white swan, so the director puts it to where the dancer has to be able to do both roles. Nina works hard to achieve her goal in becoming the Swan Queen and trying to get the role drives her to insanity.

I loved this movie. What I really liked was the film portraying how everything in the performing arts is about competition. In this art your friends are your competition because everyone is vying for the same spot. I didn't like some of Natalie Portman's roles as Nina but when it got to the scenes of her going crazy I felt like those really stuck it to her. The only thing I didn't like was her taking credit for becoming a dancer in two years. There was a stunt double used, and yes it's true you really can't become a professional dancer in two years.

Here's the trailer for the movie.