Author Archives: T.Z. Barry

2014 in Review: Television

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TV

With 2014 winding down, it’s about that time that every blog on the internet is required to do best of the year lists. Why fight it? People love lists. There are still way too many movies I need to see before doing a top ten films list, so I’ll start with television. I obviously haven’t seen every TV show that aired this past year, but I have seen quite a few— probably too many. This isn’t so much a list of the “best” TV shows of the 2014, as my “favorite” TV shows that I’ve watched this year. And if you haven’t seen any of the following shows yet, don’t worry, there are no spoilers. Continue reading →

Jurassic Park Was My Star Wars

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jurassic park game2

Last week, trailers were released for both a new Jurassic Park movie and a new Star Wars movie, two of my favorite franchises of all time. It wasn’t always that way, however. A lot of writers and filmmakers cite seeing Star Wars as a kid as being the number-one inspiration for their work as an adult, but I didn’t become a Star Wars fan until later in life. The original trilogy was released before I was born, and I had a weird aversion to old movies, so I avoided watching Star Wars. There was something about those 1970s hairdos that turned me off. I remember renting Return of the Jedi on VHS from Blockbuster because it was the newest of the three Star Wars films, but for whatever reason, it didn’t really capture my imagination at the time. Continue reading →

Why am I a Vegetarian?

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For as long as I can remember— basically since I was physically able to feed myself— I have been a vegetarian. People always used to ask why I refused to eat meat, but I never really had a good answer. It wasn’t for health reasons— I ate horribly. It wasn’t because I was an animal lover— I never had any pets and was afraid of dogs. It wasn’t because I was emulating someone else— no one in my family was vegetarian and neither were any of my friends. Continue reading →

The Inception of My Screenwriting: Or the Movie that Made Me Want to Write Movies

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Inception

With the recent release of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, I thought I’d look back at the filmmaker’s career— and mine. Ever since The Prestige, a new Nolan film is an event in my life. He is the single-most influential writer/director on my own writing, and the film of his that has had the greatest impact on me is Inception. Continue reading →

How I Went from Pizzatarian to Plant-Based and Gluten-Free

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pizzatarian

It sounds insane to me when I hear people say they don’t eat vegetables. But I forget that, not too long ago, that was me. I used to be the same way. I ate pizza for at least two of meals everyday for the better part of my life. So how did I get from someone who never ate vegetables to someone to eats nothing but plants? It didn’t happen overnight. It was a slow gradual process with slight changes and additions to my diet over time. Continue reading →

How to Learn the Art of Screenwriting for Free

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adaptation

My first introduction to screenplays was through my college screenwriting class. My professor was helpful in teaching me the basics like three-act structure, and I applied it by writing two short films. A college education is naturally quite expensive, but it wasn’t until a couple of years after college that I really learned how to write feature-length movies. I didn’t pay private script consultants or attend expensive conferences and seminars. I basically taught myself everything there is to know about screenwriting, and I learned it all essentially free of charge. Here’s how I did it: Continue reading →

The Worst Night of My Life (So Far)

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The worst night of my life was May 25th, 2012. The days and weeks before, I’d been feeling chest pains and numbness in my left arm and leg, and it only seemed to be getting worse. After Googling the symptoms, I began to fear it was heart-related. The symptoms always seemed to get worse after I ate, so when I felt the pains after lunch that day, I was too afraid to eat dinner. I got home from work and started crying as I told my mother about my condition. I really feared I was going to have a heart attack. And I was only 26 years old. Continue reading →