A Massive Bob

A Massive Bob

From The Bold Acting Podcast by Reflections from Jason Bryden's More-than-just-an-Acting-Class class in Toronto.

September 30, 2024 · 4 min

About this episode

The episode explores the metaphor of a pendulum to discuss storytelling, performance, and the human experience of adversity and love.

A pendulum is a weight called a bob suspended from a pivot so it can swing freely. In Math there is a simple gravity pendulum that swings without friction. This is so nerds can measure things like amplitude and bob’s trajectory. In real life there are other forces affecting the period of oscillation, like gravitational pull and friction. The pendulum is within us and without. A starving man overeats and is soon vomiting. A suicidal person gets a terminal cancer diagnosis. You fall head over heels in love but soon the head and the heels find their rightful places. Does the stomach learn? Is the depressive impatient for their death bed? Do we ever stop looking for love? Story dictates a massive bob. The greater the distance between adversity and victory the more satisfied the audience. When we tell a story to a friend we consider the beginning, middle and end, we exaggerate and we punctuate. We use expression and our voice and our hands to add the friction. Whether we are actors or not we are wired up to perform. Everyone has to know how to talk these days. Be it an interview, a podcast, a Lunch & Learn, a Tedx or a keynote. We all have an audience to serve. We are always on. Now…

People in this episode

Host: Jason Bryden

Topics covered

  • storytelling
  • performance
  • adversity
  • oscillation
  • self-improvement

Keywords

  • pendulum
  • storytelling
  • performance
  • adversity
  • self-improvement
  • oscillation
  • human experience

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