You’ve heard of KISS – keep it simple, stupid. Well, I have noticed of late that those around me – and likely me, as well – tend to complicate things overly much.
I have some examples, of course.
For years, I have been annoyed by sportscasters who talk about the “keys to the game” and what “strategies” some coach or other should employ to win the game. In my experience (and at my age, that’s a lot of experience), the team with the most points at the end of the game wins. So….score more points. It’s that simple.
The same premise counts, in my opinion, regarding books, television shows, and movie. People will talk about aspects of these media things like scenery, character development, nuance, and costumes, but for me, I just want to know if it was a good story. We give out awards for things like artistic direction, photography, editing, and all kinds of other things in movies and television shows, but only one award for writing. The plot is the big thing for me. If it was a good story, I’m excited to read it or watch it. If not….I’ll pass. It’s that simple.
Take the following case in point – a film I saw in 2012 with a best friend. It got great critical reviews. It won two awards (best foreign film and best costumes) and was nominated for several others. The acting, I guess, was considered amazing. But I didn’t really think so for one simple reason: the story stunk. It was horrible and boring. It was about an artist and long scenes (I mean really, really long) were filmed watching him watch a model. Or look at a brook. Or we were staring at his arthritic hands – for a long time. At one point, I left the theater for the bathroom and when I came back, several minutes later at least, the scene had not changed! This is all I remember about this movie, because the actual story was ….nonexistent.
For me, the story is everything. It’s that simple.
I can and do apply this principle to cooking. I love to watch internet and Facebook shows with recipes, but I do get impatient when the headline says “simple, easy meal” and…it’s not. Often, the headline will say “3 ingredients,” but it turns out there are 7. I’ve seen videos where the person says, “This simple recipe is one that I feed my family all the time.” It takes 90 minutes to prepare, uses 14 ingredients, and then takes an hour to bake. That’s not easy, or simple. This person clearly doesn’t work full time. At least, when I worked, I did not have 2 ½ hours to make dinner! If you want me to think a recipe is easy, it has to have 3 ingredients or less, take 5 minutes to prepare, and cook for less than an hour. It’s that simple.
Yesterday, I was with a friend in a new deli and I noticed a certain brand of potato chips for sale there. I was excited and said, “Oh those are just the best.” She asked me, “What makes them the best?” I guess I could have said a lot of things, but what came out of my mouth was, “The taste.” It’s that simple!
KISS – was one of the top lines in the USMC for me – doing things fast and simple was always a gret idea- especially when fighting the enemy!! THis is why I think the bible should be’read in shcools like it used to – a simple story with some great ideas about life and freedom!
Perhaps we could get this done in government TOO! make each bill ONE item and pass or fail on that idea – simply make it readable and common sense might prevail!!! Good grief, lets go back to simple story lines that speak to the heart and mind of us!!! Good one again, Sis!!