The Americanized remake of this highly acclaimed Swedish film releases soon and it brings great apprehension to me. The original is highly dramatic and artistic, while covering a terrible and distasteful issue of “Men Who Hate Women” – The story’s original title.

In short, it’s a character story of a girl who was physically abused, something the author was all too familiar with, as he witnessed a gang rape of a girl in which he did nothing. Lisbeth was the young girls name and is also the name of the main character. While it sounds like a story many would choose to avoid, it is steeped with numerous messages that all healthy individuals should take time to contemplate.

I find the idea that when good men do nothing, evil flourishes, becoming a revived mantra within our nation. I’ve seen it as a true factor in everyday life from the simple things to the devastating. Our culture has raised a generation of comfortable people who have nothing to fight for, nor do they desire to help fight the battle of the weak or innocent. We have become complacent in our nice lives and lack the adventure that once made America great.

Our political correctness has allowed us to judge who is worthy of help and who is not, as we’ve lost track of the preciousness of humanity. While The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is stark, dark and raw, it inspires empathy and action. I have no doubt that much of the strength behind the crime mystery novel is based on author Stieg Larsson’s life changing experience, for it is truly original and ground breaking – Not Hollywood manufactured.

Unfortunately, I dread the possibility that the Hollywood version may not hold to the same strengths revealed by the original. There will undoubtably be more explosions, craftiness, and eye candy. The real question is, will the story be respected and maintain the same high level of revelation as the original? I doubt it, as most stories of that nature do not make box office successes, but rather change society’s thinking patterns.

The original explores the life of a girl who has integrity within her own distorted world of men who hate women. The audience can appreciate her choices to do nothing, while she stands by and watches evil men perish. However, based on Hollywood standards, she may turn into a girl who seeks revenge, which is foreign to the story and it’s deep heart rooted messages – We shall soon see.

If subtitles aren’t too difficult for a viewer to manage, I highly recommend watching the original before experiencing the Americanized version of the film. The character study alone is fascinating and brings a level of true life to bare that would stir any casual movie buff. However, this story is not for the weak of heart, nor is it for the judgmental who would passionately suggest that these types of stories should never be made public or be on the silver screen.

The film is truly a cinema classic and should be watched by all filmmakers, but especially Christians who think that the only good movies are those that take a good person and transforms him to a better person. These filmmakers need a reality check and this film will give them a huge dose of a depraved reality that has gone unchecked by the Christian community. Our nation needs them to open their eyes and this film might do it.

My dad was one of the most creative people I knew. He was also left handed, which is a sign of right brain activity. My mother was far more analytical and right handed, a sign of left brain activity – This is not to say she wasn’t creative, but that she preferred to live in the left brain. While everyone uses some level of both sides of their brain, we tend to have one side more dominate than the other. The right brain controls the left side of the body and the left brain the right side.

I took two free online tests this morning to see what the systems thought of my dominating side. Both tests revealed I was right brained. The one test suggested I was 75% right brained, while the other 69%. I figured that since most statistical analysis is accurate within a +/- 5%, I could trust the test.

What was interesting is that the one test gave a breakdown of areas of dominance and how I process information. It was also the longer of the two tests. For instance, one of the ways I process information allows me to fully understand something if I see it. This does not suggest I have problems understanding intangibles, but that I have to see it in my minds eye first to understand it.

During a recent talk I boarded an intangible concept on friendship using symbols and diagrams. It allowed the audience to see and understand something that is typically vague and allusive of meaning. It became concrete for them. While several of the people were amazed at how I could do something like that off the top of my head, it came natural to me because I always see the visual in my minds eye so I can understand the complex and vague.

A psychologist once told me that the reason I struggled with reading as a kid, was because I was still memorizing 50,000+ symbols. While some people are able to understand a word based on each individual letter that makes up a word, my mind sees the word like a logo as one image. Therefore, I had to memorize what it looked like before I could properly read it.

When I give directions or write a story, my natural inclination is to describe it visually or as I see it in my minds eye. I understand the complex based on a series of images and remember things in that same fashion. It is the same ability that allows me to see how an entire motion picture will look before anything is filmed. And yes, it does mean that I can create and watch all kinds of movies in my mind for my own entertainment.

Access to the right and left brain is different than the determination of the dominant side. Most women can switch back and forth between both sides of the brain all within a split second or during the middle of a sentence, while men struggle to transition to the other side of the brain, but they can do it. Those who are center brained, like I am (according to a Bell Labs test I took a dozen years ago) can easily move back and forth at will. This ability gives me great insight into both sides of every situation, but the down side is that I might second-guess myself often.

Intuition, which was my highest score, has its life in the right brain. This allows you to determine an answer to things with your gut that is amazingly accurate. I recall a time were my logical friend was working on an intense computer program that had taken him about 36 hours of troubleshooting and he still hadn’t arrived at an answer. I asked him to share with me what he was trying to accomplish to see if I could help.

After laughing at my foolish request because I didn’t even know the programming language he was using, he humored me and spent a few minutes explaining it. A thought immediately popped into my head and I suggested that he consider… He was intrigued and dove in. Within a few hours he had completely solved his problem based on my recommendation.

My friend and I experienced numerous scenarios together as he would use my insights for troubleshooting. It didn’t take long for him to decide that I was accurate 99.99999% of the time, leaving room for human error. These experiences always caused us to laugh, as I was able to solve numerous problems that I didn’t understand.

These moments typically happened after he spent hours of research struggling to find an answer, but had less than 80% of the information necessary to solve the problem. It wasn’t magic or spooky, just a combination of innovative, intuitive and creative mental processing abilities functioning as I was made to function. However, he was made very left brained and couldn’t even begin to comprehend how I could do what I did, since it was “impossible” without the right information.

But consider that the right information for the left brain is different than the right information for the right brain. I know numerous people who can read the non-verbal communication that people give off when they greet someone they haven’t met before. Within a few minutes I can tell you more about them than most have summarized after a dozen meetings. Right brained people just use different tools to come to the same conclusion.

There is far more going on about the left and right brain than what a blog can handle. Numerous books have been written on the subject and various tests are online for educational and entertainment purposes. I suggest you take time to find out which side of your brain is dominant and what area or type of processing you use most.

Copyright © 2011 By CJ Powers
Photo © Ilenia Pagliarini – Fotolia.com

With the folding of the literary world into the visual world, many speakers are looking for new ways to capture the visual attention of their audiences. Charismatic personalities have a head start, but all are capable of making a visual connection.

Word pictures and stories are the easiest visuals that can be shared. This weekend I heard a story about a young boy who bolted out of his house toward school after a quick bowl of Captain Crunch cereal. It happened in snow-covered Wisconsin, but the blanket of snow didn’t hinder the boy.

He ran into the school and was surprised to see it empty. He walked the halls and couldn’t find one student at their lockers. After giving a careful listen, he wondered if the Sunday evening service about how to survive missing the rapture had come to fruition.

He combed the halls and found one teacher sitting at her desk, but the sight didn’t comfort him, as he knew the teacher all too well. He sprinted back home knowing that if his mom were there he would be all right, especially since she clearly knew God.

Shouting through the house in search of his mom, he found his brother, which didn’t give him any peace, as he knew his brother. Finally, he found his mom and was relieved. The rapture hadn’t happened. He would be just fine, but would also read the Bible more veraciously to make sure he didn’t miss the real rapture that was yet to come.

The story took me on a memorable journey and taught a simple lesson that surpassed the fading of information – 24 hours after a speaker shares key information only 15% of it is remembered. Yet, we tend to remember pictures forever.

I recently received several compliments a week after my last speaking engagement. The comments were based on the chalk talk I gave and each person commented on the picture I drew. Anything directly associated with the picture was remembered, but everything else was already forgotten.

By reducing a talk to a series of pictures, we can test the memorability of our message. It’s a process that also helps us clarify our message. Everyone knows the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words and most can confirm it by sharing scenes from the latest movie they saw.

The idea is to make sure your key points can be visualized. It doesn’t matter what form it takes, as long as it can be seen and not just heard. Those who have photographic memories will be most thankful, but everyone will find your shared concepts more understandable and memorable.

Copyright © 2011 By CJ Powers