George Kelly

"Storytelling is ultimately a creative act of pattern recognition," Coupland says. "Through characters, plot and setting, a writer creates places where previously invisible truths become visible. Or the storyteller posits a series of dots that the reader can connect. In times of information upheaval like right now, the attempt to locate patterns is one of the few ways to survive and not be dragged into the churn." - George Kelly

I thank the phenomenon of shuffling mp3 players, bouncing us between styles; the diminishing importance, and relevance, of genre boundaries; and the way in which music has become less about coolness, and much more about unbridled enjoyment. There is nothing strange about having a place in your heart for music that is improving and challenging, and another for huge, rousing sentiments that make you cry in taxi-cabs, long for a lover, or yearn to sing loudly, and proudly, with those you love most. And that's exactly what Don't Stop Believin' does, for the young and the old, and those who believe music reached its apotheosis with the concept of Adult Oriented Rock. - George Kelly

Every disaster movie derives its suspense from trying to guess which of the characters will survive and which will expire. One of the disappointments of "2012" is how predictable the crash-and-burn list turns out to be. As in many of these epics, the characters who have committed some kind of extramarital transgression are the ones marked for death. Cecil B. DeMille would have been pleased. - George Kelly

Programmers and publishers of online text: Please deliver us a long-overdue future in which we read – and write – in columns that move progressively sideways. After all, that's exactly the effect we create when we read an old-fashioned book and turn the page. - George Kelly

You can't tell a good story without conflict — the story can't be beautiful or meaningful. We're taught to run from conflict, and it's robbing us of some really good stories. - George Kelly