Advanced Essay Writing, Spring 2013

The act that I like the most was Act 1, Don’t I Know You, because it made me unexpectedly laugh. That story started smoothly and at the middle surprises me with that twist when he said “And then the kid with the camera came along” And then surprises me more when he explained that the kid just wanted to take a picture of him and his girlfriend and the kid didn’t want a picture of the actor.
Act 20, The Greatest Moment I Ever Saw On a Stage, made me cry. The song that those teenage girls from a detention center sing for their parents has a sad tone that touches my heart.

Act 2, No, Of course I Know You, I like the intrigue and suspense on this act. Who was that woman? The narrator made me think and I did use my imagination and at the end the narrator surprise me when without telling he show who that woman was.

Act 6, Reaching Out With Radio, the food situation at the cafeteria in juvenile detention was hilarious. I like how the guy gets so angry for the questions from those 2 kids.

All four stories have vivid details that I can easily picture the scenes in my mind.

There were two Acts that I don’t like or don’t get it. Act 5. Scallops clapping?? And Act 10, it was funny?? I don’t get. Why people were laughing.

20 Acts in 60 Minutes

My favorites were:

1) Act 3: It’s Commerce that Brings Us Together

2) Act 13: More Lies

3) Act 19: Hard Life at the Top.

“Well, we lost it. So you can quit advertising it.” This concluding remark in Act 3 is funny and honest at the same time. That’s probably why I chose the rest of the acts in my list– a strange blend of innocence and humor, juxtaposing each other and giving these stories more dimensions and thus making them satisfactory. In this particular act, we get a glimpse of an American life which is hard to come by for those who live in the city and treat technology as their second nature. There is humor in their list of objects they are trying to sell and the unapologetic tone with which they announce them.

“Ohh, it’s mine; I keep change in that.” Act 13 is probably the funniest out of the bunch. Even though the college kids in this act are lying, there is this innocence about them that they are even embarrassed to admit to eating half a grapefruit and a can of black beans that they decided to erase any evidence of them ever existing by packing the other half of the grapefruit and the empty can in their bag. And the event that unfolds thereafter is just one of the few moments in life where life seems to be imitating a movie.

Whereas the very last act, although sans any laughter and guffaws, screams humor in the form of sobriety. You can’t help but laugh at the young cadet’s gaffes on their very first day at West Point. One is not sure whether to pay heed to the morbid histories, that the narrator relays, of the young cadets or the comedic scene of the scene at hand. “Is your last name Doe?”

When you listen to TAL, most of the time you like a story without knowing exactly why. I think the same is here as I try to choose the ones that I like. But I usually tend to like stories which are told live, rather than the ones which sound more like a monologue. Usually, I don’t look for particular themes or genre when I listen to TAL, but I do prefer to listen to stories that are personal, and tend to avoid those which sound like a reportage. However, the stories that I have listed above have this feel of remoteness– something that you yearn for when you live in a city.

My favorite act by far was the last (Act 20). I also liked Act 7,  Act 10, Act 11 and Act 16.

I think in a way, each of these stories are very different. Act 20 is the one that for me was the most emotional and moving one. Act 7 was the most whimsical in the sense that the characters were made up (the penguin and Mary Poppins). Act 10 was the most consistant in format. Act 11 was funny, and the ending was surprising. Act 16 was told in a kind of interview fashion.

3 identifying qualities

1. these stories were relatable and universal in a way

2. these stories have depth beyond the literal format/ progression of the storyline

3. the way each of them was told was very vivid, interesting and easy to follow.

Even though each of these acts is different in their own respects, I think the reason I connected to these stories the most is because each of them had something more to say. Act 7 was not just about made up characters, but about expectation versus reality, the idea of rejection, and the fact that the beginning of the story was a kind of flash forward of what would happen to the character of the penguin was very well done. Act 10 is also saying something more, maybe about how everything we say can be dumbed down into a category and every argument into a childish retort; it kind of shows the progression of every argument and portrays the template for every argument that, in my opinion, everyone has ever had. Act 11 is about the lies we tell (and how we cover them up), the lies that we believe that we later uncover; and how it changes our perspective of people and our original set of beliefs. Act 16 is about things going unnoticed, the fact that this guy sat next to a printer for a year and no one had bothered to ask his name; this concept can be expanded to just general things that are there but we never notice, or even the random encounters we have with people that are shallow and thus of less importance; it kind of shows how we classify people and shows our human nature in a way: since this man did not play an important part in their daily routine, they did not bother to get to know him (i think everyone has faces in their head whom they have interacted with and never put a name to- I know I am guilty of that). Lastly, act 20 the kids collectively singing to their mothers was so moving and in a way really well told. I think because it was told from someone observing the situation and not participating made me feel like i was there watching those kids sing, i felt the tears, i saw the mothers in the audience and i saw the little hearts. Its about apologizing and accepting the apology, its about doing something collectively to make an effort to change and fix something shattered, like hope transcending the cell. I think over all, it was really interesting to see how much can be told in as little as 2 minutes.