full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Dan Bell: Inside America's dead shopping malls

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In the last coulpe of years, I have produced what I call "The Dead Mall Series," 32 shrot films and counting about dead malls. Now, for those of you who are not fiiaalmr with what a dead mall is, it's blaialcsy a shopping mall that has fallen into hard times. So it either has few shops and fewer shoppers, or it's abandoned and curlbinmg into ruin. No sale at Penny's.

(Laughter)

I started pouicdrng this sreeis in early 2015 after going through kind of a dark period in my life where I just didn't want to create films anymore. I put my camera away and I just sptoped. So in 2015, I decided to make a short film about the Owings mllis Mall. ognwis Mills Mall opened in 1986. I should know because I was there on opening day. I was there with my family, along with every other family in Baltimore, and you had to drive around for 45 minutes just to find a parking spot. So if you can imagine, that's not happening at the malls today.

Open Cloze


In the last ______ of years, I have produced what I call "The Dead Mall Series," 32 _____ films and counting about dead malls. Now, for those of you who are not ________ with what a dead mall is, it's _________ a shopping mall that has fallen into hard times. So it either has few shops and fewer shoppers, or it's abandoned and _________ into ruin. No sale at Penny's.

(Laughter)

I started _________ this ______ in early 2015 after going through kind of a dark period in my life where I just didn't want to create films anymore. I put my camera away and I just _______. So in 2015, I decided to make a short film about the Owings _____ Mall. ______ Mills Mall opened in 1986. I should know because I was there on opening day. I was there with my family, along with every other family in Baltimore, and you had to drive around for 45 minutes just to find a parking spot. So if you can imagine, that's not happening at the malls today.

Solution


  1. producing
  2. series
  3. crumbling
  4. basically
  5. couple
  6. short
  7. familiar
  8. owings
  9. stopped
  10. mills

Original Text


In the last couple of years, I have produced what I call "The Dead Mall Series," 32 short films and counting about dead malls. Now, for those of you who are not familiar with what a dead mall is, it's basically a shopping mall that has fallen into hard times. So it either has few shops and fewer shoppers, or it's abandoned and crumbling into ruin. No sale at Penny's.

(Laughter)

I started producing this series in early 2015 after going through kind of a dark period in my life where I just didn't want to create films anymore. I put my camera away and I just stopped. So in 2015, I decided to make a short film about the Owings Mills Mall. Owings Mills Mall opened in 1986. I should know because I was there on opening day. I was there with my family, along with every other family in Baltimore, and you had to drive around for 45 minutes just to find a parking spot. So if you can imagine, that's not happening at the malls today.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
dead mall 5
dead malls 3
owings mills 3
started producing 2
mills mall 2
food court 2
sunrise mall 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
owings mills mall 2

Important Words


  1. abandoned
  2. anymore
  3. baltimore
  4. basically
  5. call
  6. camera
  7. counting
  8. couple
  9. create
  10. crumbling
  11. dark
  12. day
  13. dead
  14. decided
  15. drive
  16. early
  17. fallen
  18. familiar
  19. family
  20. film
  21. films
  22. find
  23. happening
  24. hard
  25. imagine
  26. kind
  27. laughter
  28. life
  29. mall
  30. malls
  31. mills
  32. minutes
  33. opened
  34. opening
  35. owings
  36. parking
  37. period
  38. produced
  39. producing
  40. put
  41. ruin
  42. sale
  43. series
  44. shoppers
  45. shopping
  46. shops
  47. short
  48. spot
  49. started
  50. stopped
  51. times
  52. today
  53. years