Ben Tylecote

These are some of the books Will Smith told his cousin to read to learn to screen write, which he now does as a job, taken from one of Will's youtube videos. Story - Robert Mckee Backwards and forwards - David Bell The art of dramatic writing -Lajos Egri The moral premise - Dr Stanley Williams Screenplay - Syd Field The hero's journey - Joseph Cambell The writers journey - Christopher Vogler The heroines Journey - Maureeen Murdock Making a good script great - Linda Seger The third act - Drew Yanno The screenwriters workbook - Syd Field Four Screenplays - Syd Field Rewrite - Paul Chitlik

Knowledge and Intelligence. I hear a lot of people nowadays getting the two mixed up. I think there is a very real difference. We've all been there, in school or at work, when someone names somebody as stupid for not having a specific aspect of knowledge. Knowledge can be earnt, it is something that has to be worked for to be gained. However, not having knowledge does not make you stupid.  In my opinion being stupid is the opposite of being clever, not the opposite of having lots of knowledge. Therefore calling someone stupid for not having knowledge is pointless. Intelligence is not something that can be gained or altered too substantially over a short period of time, it is inherent to you, it is part of your genetics. Not having this does not substantially inhibit most people from gaining knowledge. Therefore the less "intelligent" person can still have more knowledge - and inevitably will do in some areas. Both of these traits are overvalued. People who make fun of oth...

We can only truly experience something after coming across its opposite. Recently, that is what I have heard many people say. It is similar to the saying you can only experience the highs after experiencing the lows - a belief that I find to be true. As many people say happiness is not a permanent state, it is something that can be earned.  Personally I relate this to the idea of karma, the idea that bad experiences lead to a good thing and that doing something negative, to someone else, leads to a negative experience for yourself.  That idea is far more abstract than what I propose, although still something I half believe - even though it just probably happens that everyone's life contains ups and downs that some people  happen to attribute to events of the past. My point is that we should remember that everyone's life contains highs and lows. This is a necessary evil introduced by the miracle of evolution. For if everyone was constantly happy then they would have no des...

There are three key ideas when it comes to building a new habit. Whether it is learning an instrument or starting to do your revision regularly these techniques will aid you in doing so. The key idea, introduced to me by  Matt D'Avella (the king of building habits?) is that you can never miss two days in a row. Missing one day is fine. Missing a day, doing a day then missing a day is fine. But missing a day then missing another day - back to back - is not. Applying this has led to me stopping far fewer new habits I'm trying to build and I believe if you stick to this the habit will stick. The next key point. especially when starting a new habit, is to write it down and also write down what time you are going to do it. Making sure to keep the timing consistent is important so it sort of becomes part of your rhythm. Next, at least initially, m ake it supper achievable – for me this meant working out from home instead of making the effort to have to go to the gym. Once you ha...

It is an old book now, the autobiography of Nelson Mandela, that didn't make me have any less desire to read it. Little did I know that just a few weeks after reading it the issue of racism would become so import once again, as it has with the case of George  Floyd. The book gives a fascinating insight into the continent and culture of Africa, that many people, like myself, are so unfamiliar with. Of course, there is far more to the story than just that. You get a sense of the persistence and determination of ANC and all its leaders in the fight to remove apartheid and bring democracy and equality to South Africa.  It is an emotionally real journey filled with stories that go from making you happy to incredibly angry. Alongside the blatant racism that many black people received, you also get a sense of the goodness, that is not swayed by the government's institutional propaganda, in some individuals.  Mandela's story is inspirational to the highest degree. After being bor...

Too many people are addicted to instant gratification such as videos games, social media and fast food - this is a problem. Your body wants drugs like Dopamine and Serotonin to be released into the body, therefore it pulls you towards activities that can provide it. However you should try to not give in to your body - having to  much instant gratification is a bad cycle to get stuck in. "Drugs such as cocaine can cause a big, fast increase of dopamine in your brain. That satisfies your natural reward system in a big way. But repeated drug use also raises the threshold for this kind of pleasure. This means you need to take more to get the same high. Meanwhile, drugs make your body less able to produce dopamine naturally. This leads to emotional lows when you’re sober."  WebMD Now replace cocaine with any activity that is going to give your instant pleasure and you get an idea of what I am trying to say. Practically dopamine is an instant gratification mechanism, however givin...

This action packed book keeps you on the hook until the final pages. It is perhaps one of the only books I have come across that rivals the works of Dan Brown, in the thriller genre. You can tell from the get go the book has been well researched and that allows for it to provide a truly immersive experience. After reading the To Kill a President and To Kill the Truth, also by Bourne, I wanted to read some more of his books, this one in particular was recommended to me. So I did end up reading it over the course of a week.  Overall, I actually far preferred it to the To kill a President and To kill the truth books.  Will is plunged into a deep mystery. People are being murdered. It turns out these people are actually some of the most righteous men in the world, even if not many people know it. Will is a New York Times reporter so naturally writes about it.  It turns out somebody is not to happy about this, as quickly after his story is printed - on the frontpage of arguabl...

It’s going to be a good day, at this point, as far as I remember I literally enjoyed every school day, getting to see all my friends and enjoying basically every subject. Today was extra special though. It was the first day we had a visitor in with our sports scholarship program.  I always loved the feeling, especially in yr7, of going out of class to do something sport related. I recall early on in a science lesson, I think Ms fletcher was our teacher, getting our pulse tested and Archie and I getting called out because we were triathletes so ours would be low.  Our schools sports scholarship program doesn't gain you any money off school, as it is already free, instead you get benefits such as gym membership, training and talks. And today was the first of the talks/ lessons. Today from  Anthony Clark , a former professional badminton player and one of the best the Uk has produced. Anthony Clark first talked to us and showed us videos of his career highlights, he h...

Quick tips:  Food:  Take Boil in the Bag food - it is SO much easier. Whilst all the other teams were spending ages making their pasta, watching over it to make sure it didn't burn, and making a proper meal we just sat their for two minutes and had a full curry or roast dinner, with some chocolate cake, it was great. If your having sandwiches for lunch use warburtons thins or pita bread in general. Clothing: For Bronze and Silver at least, just take two lots of cloths - one set for walking and one for night. Our school told us to take three lots, each set for a night and a day. What a waste of space. Wear two sets of socks (thin and thick, to prevent blisters) Stuff people forget: Spare socks  Torch Snacks for during the day (lots of them) Shoes for campsite Matches Plasters (in case you get blisters) Hay fever tablets (Piriton)(even if you don't end needing them someone else definitely is) Take cards or a tennis ball (something to entertain yourself at the campsite) // ...

I'd been watching some YouTube. It had long been a goal of mine to wake up early and get everything done before the day, for most people, had even begun. Finally, after some tests in the holidays I was ready to try and see if I could manage waking up at 5am for... as many days as I could.  Initially this challenge exited me, I had a plan in place. Everyday I would wake up 30 minutes earlier- to re-adjust my body clock. In the holidays I had done this - just reading in the time I was awake. Now I was at school I wanted to actually get stuff done.  My schedule would be wake up at 5, go and do school work for an hour, then do the  r/ bodyweight fitness Reddit recomended routine . breakfast, school then back to bed at 9 to get 8 hrs sleep - which is apparently the amount of sleep the body needs to fully recover .   The first four days went by and I was on top of the moon, everything was going so smoothly. I was getting all my work done really easily, it seemed like my br...

We on are way back from a day trip. The sun was glistening against the smooth ripples that raced across the lakes surface; the last rays were skipping down onto the shoreline where the ducks waddled gently out of the water. So low was the sun that it beamed right through the windows of the 8 seater van. All seats full with passengers, friends and family.  I was right beside the vans sliding door tumbling into a day dream. Thinking about school, about friends, about sport, about what would happen if you open the door. I wondered whether anyone would be crazy enough to try. I imagined the wind, the fresh air. I bet that would be quite fun I thought, stepping down another rung of the ladder, practically asleep.  "BEN!" I was awake in an instant. The door beside me had slid open. In shock I recoiled. Luckily I quickly managed to get it shut. My mother, who was sitting beside me, was holding firmly onto me - ensuring I didn't fall out. Adrenaline  was pumping through my body. ...

I've already talked about authors "ripping off" one another's style's... Well the new Alex Rider series is out on Amazon prime. These books are the epitome of using another persons structure.  Anthony Horowitz, the author of the rider series, utilises the classic James Bond techniques. Whenever I ponder this I wonder whether copying of styles is such a bad thing, always coming to the same conclusion. I don't think it is. Many of my favourite series are well known to be heavily inspired by other works. Even the Northern Lights, and books of dust are inspired by Paradise Lost, says Philip Pullum - their author.  Overall the combination of new ideas combined with unoriginal ideas is a good thing. Getting a truly novel idea, after so many years of human life, must be incredibly rare, you would think. Yet we can never truly know what everyone has thought throughout the course of history. Therefore, unless blatantly copying word for word, I would suggest using stole...

If I were to write a book, in which a child who was beaten by his farther, had to escape with his mother and brother whom his farther also beat; a child who cheated his way through school; a young man who weighed 300 pounds and yet still turned his life around - you might not believe it entirely plausible. Well Goggin's went on to lose 100 pounds in 3 months to be able to enter navy seal training, BUDS. He then went on to complete hell week, the physical training section of the course, on three separate occasions - having to leave twice on medical grounds - completing his third round of training on broken legs. Hell week is a section through which around 90% of applicants commonly drop out. During his military career he lost some of his friends in operation red wings, the story of  Lone Survivor tells the tale, after which he wanted to help these friends families by raising money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation . To do so he looked for the toughest race in the world ...

Nowadays online I seem to always be being preached to by some kind of "expert", on a YouTube ad, usually trying to get me to sign up for this Amazing! ; Once In A Lifetime! ; Life Changing!... course, seminar or newsletter. Of course, these people or rarely actually experts in anything apart from video advertising. Commonly this kind of thing is one massive pyramid scheme: "sign up for my course for $5 and I'll teach you how to make your own course and get people to sign up for $5". Over and over the process repeats. It got me thinking. Who would I actually be willing to get advice from and furthermore who would I actually be willing to pay for such advice? When thinking about this a few examples pop into my head, tutors and coaches being primary examples. Paying people in these two occupations is common, and this doesn't seem unreasonable. After all, these are people who probably do their job well and advance your ability in an area or skill set that you ar...