Michael T. Starks

Category: Storytelling

  • Telluride Again!

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    I’m back home after another amazing experience at the Telluride Film Festival. One of the things I love about the festival is that I feel at home there. It’s a beautiful location, the people tend to be friendly, the movies are always impressive (in one or more ways), the Noon seminars and Conversations are engaging,…

  • Blue Moon

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    Blue Moon, directed by Richard Linklater, is one of the best movies shown at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival. It tells the story of Lorenz Hart after the opening of the musical “Oklahoma!”. We see his love of the craft of writing, his struggles with alcoholism, and his thwarted drive to reach higher levels of…

  • Who Needs Sleep?

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    For the past two nights, I’ve been lucky to get about four hours of sleep each night. Usually, I need at least six hours to feel energetic during the day. I suppose my lack of sleep is due to excitement. I’m not having trouble falling asleep. It’s just that I wake up around 2 AM…

  • Telluride Film Festival

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    I’m excited to be returning to the Telluride Film Festival this year. I’ve had so many great experiences there that are worth remembering. “No matter what kind of year I have had, if I come to Telluride, it’s been a good year.” — Werner Herzog Here are some of the people I’ve met, listened to,…

  • The Purpose of Writing

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    Many people write to influence others. While all writing may be at least somewhat influential, that’s not my primary goal. Most often, I write to understand myself. Writing is a form of thinking. If we’re not able to clearly communicate our ideas to others, it’s unlikely that we clearly understand them ourselves. The act of…

  • The Benefits of Software

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    The benefits of software are often one or more steps removed from the software developers who actually do the work. Here are a few examples from my career as a software developer. Why does this matter? Software developers feel good about their work when it is well designed. This is an intrinsic motivator. That being…

  • Better?

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    There are people who do better than me in every area of life. Ramit Sethi is wealthier than me. Lee Smolin, Carlo Rovelli, and others are much better physicists than me. Robert Reich, Richard Feynman, and others are better teachers than me. Linus Torvalds, Donald Knuth, Bjarne Stroustrup, and others are much better computer programmers…

  • Positive Changes

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    We live in a time of change. I suppose that all people who have ever lived would agree. Which is to say that humans have always faced times of change. The question is whether we’re moving our world in a positive or negative direction. In many ways, the world is better off now than when…

  • Improving How Society Works for ALL People

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    If you’re among the 1% of people who make LOTS of money in the USA, you might think everything here is working fine. That’s NOT the case! When 99% of people are not seeing productivity gains reflected in their paychecks, the system is NOT working for our society. While other issues matter, income inequality is…

  • Convenience

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    Modern progress is characterized by a movement toward convenience. Using a telephone is more convenient than sending a telegraph. In some ways, streaming content can be more convenient than watching DVD’s. When dishes and laundry had to be hand-washed, this activity took much more time than when dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers could be used.…