Category Archives: Movies

Social Anxiety and Star Wars: A New Hope

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Social Anxietyin Movies

Star Wars isn’t the first movie you think of for social anxiety. No character in the series actually suffers from shyness or has difficulty speaking—unless you count R2D2 and Chewbacca. However, Star Wars does have a message we can use, considering the Force (mindfulness) and the Dark Side (social anxiety). Continue reading

Social Anxiety in Movies: Inside Out

Social Anxietyin Movies (1)

Inside Out is an animated Pixar movie that takes place inside the mind of an 11-year-old girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias). In the Headquarters of Riley’s mind, we meet the different emotions that make up her personality: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust. Throughout the film, these five emotions work together to influence Riley’s behavior and her memories. Continue reading

Social Anxiety in Movies: He Was a Quiet Man

Social Anxietyin Movies

He Was a Quiet Man is about Bob Maconel (Christian Slater) a bullied loner who secretly plans to kill his co-workers…until someone else beats him to the punch. Bob saves the day by killing the shooter and becomes a hero at the office. Continue reading

Top 10 Movie Influences for Trick or Zombie Treat

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My novel Trick or Zombie Treat is difficult to categorize. It can be for middle grade readers, young adults, and adults. It has horror, comedy, science fiction, fantasy, action, adventure, and drama. The characters include ghosts, zombies, vampires, werewolves, dinosaurs, basketball players, pop singers, and more. Maybe the best way to give a feel for what my book is like is to list the movies that influenced it. So without further adieu… Continue reading

Social Anxiety in Movies: Dummy

Social Anxietyin Movies

Dummy is about Steven (Adrien Brody), a shy socially awkward almost 30-year-old man who gets fired from his job and decides to pursue his dream of becoming a professional ventriloquist. He uses his dummy to help deal with problems involving his family, friends, and love life. Continue reading

Thumbsucker Part 3: Behind the Scenes

thumbsucker-set

To conclude my Social Anxiety in Movies series on Thumbsucker, I will take a look behind the scenes of the film at the actors, writers, and director.

Here are the first two posts if you missed them:

And if you haven’t seen the movie, you can Rent Thumbsucker Online or Buy the DVD.

Continue reading

Thumbsucker Part 2: The Reviews

film-sucked

My review of Thumbsucker was already running long, so I decided the break up the post. Part two will focus on the reviews of the film. If you haven’t seen Thumbsucker yet, I highly recommend you seek it out. The movie is well worth watching whether you suffer from thumb-sucking, social anxiety, or anything else. (Or if you just like good movies.)

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Social Anxiety in Movies: Thumbsucker

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Thumbsucker is about Justin Cobb (Lou Pucci), who at 17 years-old, still sucks his thumb. His thumb-sucking has led to problems with friends at high school and at home with his family. The story follows Justin through his various attempts at trying cure himself of his thumb-sucking. Continue reading

Social Anxiety in Movies: The 40 Year-Old Virgin

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I first saw The 40 Year-Old Virgin when it came out in theaters in 2005— hard to believe it’s already been ten years. I remember laughing a lot and thought it was a funny comedy, but I didn’t think much more of it than that. The thing I remembered most about the movie was probably Steve Carell’s famous chest-waxing scene. Continue reading

Podcasts Taught Me Everything I Know

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I love podcasts. I’ve learned more from free podcasts than I did from a $200,000 college education. There’s a podcast for literally every topic under the sun. Actually, there’s about twelve for every topic under the sun. A podcast can be broad or extremely specific. It’s basically radio on-demand. You listen to exactly what you want, exactly when you want to. And it’s completely free–except for the Audible and Stamps.com commercials that sponsor just about every podcast, though you can skip over them, anyway. While there are some podcasts I listen to for pure entertainment value, I listen to many more podcasts to learn. Continue reading