It's Wednesday ThinkTalkers, that's three days into the work week. And today, the number three is the reason for our blog. Ever notice that your mind tends to naturally think in threes. No? Well, it does. Research shows that there is in fact a rationale behind the use of 'three' in story-telling, and Careerealism writer Andy Robinson shows that you can use this "Rule of Three" to hook potential employers.

Of all the interview questions, the ones that I dread most? The ones that address strengths and good qualities. This question has managed to manifest itself in some form in almost all of my interviews. Naturally, you might respond that you are self-motivated, trustworthy and hard-working. Funny that…so did everyone else.

It is your goal to set yourself apart from other candidates during the interview. So how do you answer a question truthfully without giving a generic response?

Simple: get specific.

I love Super Troopers. I mean L-O-V-E, love. I think I watch it multiple times per year. I have it on my iPhone and have been known to take in a select scene or two in a cab, on the metro or in a moment of downtime. So, needless to say, when we got the chance to interview Broken Lizard member, actor and, now, director Kevin Heffernan, I was pretty excited.

You may know him as Farva, Lars or Landfill, depending on your Broken Lizard film of choice, but what you may not know is that Kevin recently got his first taste on the other side of the camera with the crew's newest film, The Slammin Salmon. Another hilarious entry in the BL catalog, 'Salmon tells the story of one night in the wacky restaurant of a former Heavyweight champ, played brilliantly by Michael Clarke Duncan. And, of course, the rest of the Broken Lizard gang is along for the ride as well.

Kevin gave some great advice for aspiring actors and directors, discussing the early days as a comedy troupe at Colgate, and trying to score gigs in New York City. Kevin also discusses how he made the transition to director and how it has shaped his perception of what it means to be an actor. But there's much much more as well, so check out our interview with Kevin Heffernan.

So I recently got to see an advance screening of director Jason Reitman's new film Up in the Air. If you've ever watched the Director's Cut, you should have a pretty good idea of how into movies I am (I'm not doing this for the money, kids ... well, at least not only for the money). And personally, I think Jason Reitman is doing some of the best work out there at this current moment.

Up in the Air tells the story of a corporate downsizing expert who loves life on the road ... until life gets complicated and his travel is threatened. The film stars George Clooney and Vera Farmiga (and Zach Galifanakis, and Jason Bateman and Anna Kendrick and ...!) both of whom I just completely dig. I'm not sure there is anyone out there I enjoy watching more the George Clooney and I've been smitten with Ms. Farmiga since The Departed.

Anyway, the reason I got to see the film is because next Wednesday we will be interviewing Reitman here at the ThinkTalk studios. If you aren't familiar with his work, check your pulse, because you may not be of this world. He first made waves with the hilarious (pseudo) satire Thank You For Smoking and was a hit last year with the funny, smart and endearing Juno.

Reitman is certainly one of the most talented directors working today, and on top of that he has some great genes. His father, Ivan Reitman is a longtime producer and director responsible for the greatest films of my youth: Stripes, Ghostbusters, Kindergarten Cop ... most of which were before any of you were born, but are classics nonetheless (except Kindergarten Cop; that was a joke).

Our interview with Jason Reitman will be Wednesday, November 25th, so be sure to check him out and get your questions in before the interview. Reitman is a talented director, with excellent work and experience behind him. I'm sure we're going to have a great interview. I know I'm certainly excited and you should be too. Check out the trailer for Up in the Air below.

In a not-too-distant future an unknown occurrence has eliminated almost all life from Earth. As a man and his young son attempt to make their way south they encounter harsh terrain, bandits, hunger and cannibals. Through it all, the man must encourage his son to continue the journey and maintain hope.

Sound pleasant? This is Australian director John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road. John joined us in studio recently to discuss this adaptation as well as his career in general. (Watch the trailer for The Road here)

Among other things we discussed the challenges of adapting a book by the famous author, specifically one dealing with such a difficult and non-commercial topic. John also shared some insight into his unique directing style, which involves creating a solid outline and production plan for his crew that establishes the style and tone of the film and uses visuals like photos to help set the mood. We also talked about the importance of networking and connections in the film industry, as John was able to parlay his early work directing videos and collaborating with musician Nick Cave into a successful career in directing, marked by his breakout with 2005's The Proposition.

Overall, I was personally impressed and enjoyed The Road. I was equally impressed with John's ability to adapt such a difficult topic, and it will be interesting to see if the popularity of the book can carry over to the film adaptation - something that is certainly not a given with this type of story line. To see the entire interview, check out John's show page. To get you started, here's the first part of our interview:

Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times mergers and acquisitions reporter and author of the new book Too Big To Fail. Andrew has some great tips for aspiring reporters as we discuss how he crafted this epic account of the Wall Street Crisis, his writing style, and how he got his start at the Times.

Andrew's been a pretty popular guy lately, as the book has been a best-seller. In fact, today's New York Magazine pokes a little fun at Andrew with an excerpt from his follow up, Too Big to Fail and ZOMBIES:

Geithner insisted that the Fed had AIG under control and again attempted to move the conversation along. But Pandit pressed on.

"What about Merrill?" he asked.

It made for an awkward moment, as Merrill CEO John Thain was only seats away. He had remained notably silent during the exchanges.

"You guys get this done for me, and I'll make sure I can take care of AIG and Merrill," Paulson replied. "I'm a little uncomfortable talking about Merrill with John right in the room." He glanced uneasily at Thain, whose face, everyone suddenly became aware, had taken on a deathly pallor. "John," said Paulson hesitantly. "Have you been bitten?"

It was then that Thain let out a gutteral animal howl. Half-rising from his chair, he lunged toward Pandit. "BRAINS!" he moaned.

Funny, funny stuff. But, seriously, it's a great book about what went wrong with Wall Street, and Andrew himself is a great example of a successful career in journalism. So watch, listen, learn and enjoy:

Jared Hess was a relative unknown when his 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite hit theaters. Fresh out of Brigham Young University, Jared struck gold with the big screen adaptation of his short film and hasn't looked back since. His newest film, Gentleman Broncos is a similarly themed off-beat comedy featuring Flight of the Conchords Jemaine Clement, American Pie's Jennifer Coolidge and Michael Angarano. Last week, Jared joined ThinkTalk in the studio to discuss his newest film. The interview is available now and you can watch it below:

In the spring of 1986 Len Bias was one of the best college basketball players on the planet. Coming off of a spectacular senior year at the University of Maryland, Bias was drafted second overall in the NBA draft by the defending champion Boston Celtics (widely considered one of the greatest assembled teams of all time). Two days after the draft, Bias was dead of a cocaine overdose and the fates of players, coaches, teams and the nation were drastically changed.

This is the topic of director Kirk Fraser's documentary feature on Len Bias, to be broadcast tonight on ESPN as part of the 30 for 30 series. We were lucky to catch up with Kirk to discuss the making of the film and his career in general. Kirk's a fascinating study of how smarts, determination and marketing can help get your passion and career on track.

Kirk was a relative unknown outside of his home of Washington DC when he began developing Without Bias. But a trip to the Sundance Film Festival changed all that when he and his producers plastered poster advertisements for the unfinished film all over main street. The effort garnered interest and he began to discuss distribution, eventually snagging the opportunity to produce his film for ESPN's documentary series. For more info on Kirk's career and the film, check out our interview below:

One of my favorite recurring events at ThinkTalk is quickly becoming DC's annual National Book Festival. For a show (like our Blank Page) that aspires to secure advice for aspiring writers from well established writers there is hardly a better venue.

To give you a quick behind the scenes, basically we head over to the National Mall (about 5 blocks away from our studios) with a camera and a host. Then they just let us loose on the mall to collect words of wisdom from the 50 plus writers roaming the grounds, signing autographs, lecturing and seeking attention (just kidding on that last one). It's kinds of like an Old Country Buffet for the literary minded.

This year - taking a cue from our experience last year - we had a better strategy and were able to get a lot more interviews and cover a lot more ground ... which is good for everyone. We were able to score some advice and career tips from:

Novelists:

• Junot Diaz
  
• Nicholas Sparks
  
• Lee Child
  
• David Baldacci
• Colson Whitehead
• Rick Riordan
  
• John Grisham

Non-Fiction Writers:

• Gwen Ifill
• Paula Deen (who is an Erika fav!)
• James L. Swanson

Cartoonist:

• Jeff Kinney

All in all, I pretty good score, I think. Now, there is a ton of useful and helpful advice packed into these bites. So, even though you can visit the National Book Festival 2009 page and watch them consecutively, we have also broken them up per author, so that you can browse around to the writers who pique your interest. Also, over the next few days, we'll post one of the interviews here, in the blog, so you can follow along here as well. Enjoy ... and hopefully you learn some great writing tips.

First up, Junot Diaz, the Pulitzer-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao:

We just wrapped up an excellent interview with director F. Gary Gray, who was in town to discuss his new film Law Abiding Citizen. Gary is definitely a very talented and smart director who simply loves what he does. We talked about a number of topics, from the craft of directing, to the technical hot-to's of the job, to how he has accomplished so much in his career. The interview will be available at ThinkTalk.com next week, so be sure to check back for that.

I also want to give you all a heads up about some other guests we have coming up. Aside from Sharon Lechter, which we've already taped, I'm very excited to be joined by New York Times Financial Journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin. Andrew writes a regular column for the Times and also edits the daily Mergers and Acquisitions blog DealBook. Andrew will join us to talk about Financial Journalism, his career at the Times and his newest book on Wall Street Too Big to Fail. Make sure you get your questions in for Andrew right away

Along with Andrew, we're excited for our interview with director Kirk Fraser, who most recently completed a documentary for the very cool ESPN series "30 for 30." Kirk's documentary, Without Bias tells the tragic and heartbreaking tale of University of Maryland Basketball player and Boston Celtics draft pick Len Bias ... who died of a drug overdose before ever playing a game in the NBA. If you've got a question for Kirk make sure you get it to us soon.

OK, I think that takes care of what we have coming up in the immediate future. If you can't stand the wait, check out our Q&A with director Michael Moore or An Education director Lone Scherfig. And stay tuned to ThinkTalk.com.