Over the past year I have been invaded by vampires. They live in my sixteen year old daughter’s bedroom; on her walls, in her stereo, on her bookshelf, and in her computer. People magazine listed Stephenie Myer as one of the most 100 influential people of the year. She brought the vampires into our house.

The Twilight craze has spread like an unstoppable virus. Spread either by airborne sound waves or by computer, where countless blogs and chat rooms buzz with an addicting blend of romance and fantasy. The power of these stories astounds me. Nearly every woman in my life (wife, daughters, sisters, sister-in-laws, mother, friends, niece’s…) has been pricked by its allure (the teenagers especially). I was curious as a writer and a parent. So far I’ve read two of them.

I rolled my eyes a lot…too many references to “dreamy eyes” and “perfect skin” for my level of testosterone. But, I kept reading. Stephenie weaves a good tale and I found myself intrigued, although I would have been happy with a less oogling. But, I know that’s part of what the females love about it. I’m not quite the demographic.

I’ve read many books on writing, studied the rules, and tried to learn the craft of writing. In fact, I rewrote my book to fix a particular “problem” that I was surprised to find plastered on every page of the two of hers I have read. Based on what I have learned about writing, the books (word by word) are not written well. But before you all flame me for saying that, let me qualify that statement with this: I’m an unpublished author that can’t get signed and she’s a multi-millionaire superstar author. I thought they could have been better written, but I’m going against millions and millions of readers. Obviously I’m the one off base. So it makes me wonder, why have I spent all this time trying to learn the rules? Who made them and why? In the end, they obviously don’t matter and maybe by focusing on the mechanics I have lost a connection with my muse. I did think the storyline was well done. The events, characters, the tension…no complaints there.

Stephenie was named one of the most 100 influential people of the year by Time Magazine. The important question is, how is she changing people? What are people, primarily teenage girls, learning from her stories? A passion for reading? Yes, and that is excellent. A fuel for imagination? Yes, another good thing. Books are a staple for growth, especially books like this that have controversy and generate passion. But at the same time I have seen the extreme obsession that teenage girls show for Bella and Edward and I have a few concerns. Not necessarily huge concerns, but for girls who read the book and don’t analyze and discuss certain issues, I think the influence could be harmful. Those who examine themselves and the reasons the books are so captivating, I believe come out wiser and stronger.

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My original interest in this book was based on the story behind story, rather than the novel itself. John Kennedy Toole wrote this and then became depressed when he couldn’t get it published. After his suicide, his mother repeatedly approached Walker Percy (then a professor at Loyola) and finally convinced him to read it. Thanks to Walker it was eventually published, although 11 years after author’s tragic death. It went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for fiction.

The title comes from Jonathan Swift: “When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.” I really didn’t know what I was getting when I started the audio version (I listen to books during my daily commute), but after that first morning drive I was hooked. Barrett Whitener does a fantastic job of reading, so much so that I’m going to seek him out for future audio books. I’d like to point out, Stephen King (in “On Writing”) says that listening to a book is the best way to experience it and he used to pay his kids a nickel per page to record audio books for him.

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I would like to know how many people, like me, identify with Chris McCandless. I suppose most of us have a love/hate relationship with wealth and possessions. Sometimes I feel right on the edge of turning and walking away…like Chris. The closest I’ve come is walking away from good jobs because it just didn’t feel right. With nothing else lined up, I step into the unknown…somehow things have always work out. I think I’ve managed to stay a responsible parent through all my issues. Several years ago I ripped apart a dollar bill in front of my kids and threw it away. It was only a buck but they still talk about it. I’ve got a $50 bill in my wallet right now. I’d love to burn it…but I can’t bring myself to do it.

Chris gave away his $24,000 trust fund to charity, turned down a new car from his parents, burned his money, and wandered around the western United States meeting people and experiencing the land. His final adventure was living in the wilds of Alaska for several months. It’s not spoiling the ending to tell what happened, it was all over the news. When I say it was his final adventure, I mean it literally. He left behind journals, pictures, and friends to help tell his story.

“Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness…give me truth.”

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I know that world history is tainted throughout with racism, but I had no clue about what happened in Australia in the 1930’s. This is the true story of three girls who were taken from their homes because they were of mixed race and then put into a containment camp. Some of the crazy ideas that mankind has fashioned and executed are downright disturbing. Tearing children away from loving families can be a cheap way way to draw a tear, but that isn’t the focus of this show. It tells the inspiring story of Molly, a 14 year old girl, who escapes with her younger sisters and treks 1500 miles through the Australian Outback to get home. She knows the fence runs right to her village, so they follow it across the continent avoiding the police and rangers searching to capture them.

The girls perform superb. The documentary on the DVD about the making of this movie and history behind the story it as intriguing as the movie itself. The young actresses were picked from rural Australia and faced their own personal struggles as the movie was filmed. They are charming girls and if you follow-up the movie with the documentary you be that much more touched.

The images are beautiful, the story sweet, and the characters moving. It’s another good movie that inspires me to try and do a little more with my life.

If you know me, you’ll quickly understand why I loved this movie. It’s set in South Africa (hoe gaan dit my maat..dang I’m rusty), involves a boy’s passion with his camera, has a cast of troubled youth, addresses poverty, and has plenty of emotional drama. Two young friends find a dead body. One takes his gun, the other his video camera, and they each make use their new toys around the city. As a result, they branch into new directions in their lives which occasionaly cross throughout the movie, creating a nice conflict as the two friends face off from different sides of the track. A young white girl, carrying her own share of issues, becomes involved and introduces a nice flare of romance which does not bode well with her racist father.

This movie sparked several pages of journal writing for me. It touched on teenage issues, the inhumanity of poverty, and the whole Carpe Diem philosophy: what the hell am I doing with my life…wake up Warren! I enjoyed this show and it left me feeling flustered with some of the evils in the world but thankful for the life that I enjoy. I’d have to say watching this show helped make me a better person…or at least wanting to be a better person. Shows that can do that are certainly worth watching.

I must be in the foreign Holocaust movie mode. This one, unlike the last, didn’t just make me sad…it ripped my heart out. How a movie can make my throat tighten, tears well, and stomach knot while at the same time find sweet innocent ways to make me laugh I don’t know. I never would have thought a comedy/drama about the horrors of a concentration camp would ever work. But not only does it work, it excels.

The humor comes from a loving father doing everything he can to protect his young son from the nightmares around them. And maybe that’s why it gets me so much. It’s hard to see any child suffer. That alone is enough to choke me up. But throw in the idea that I have to watch my own children suffer and the knife twists inside me. I want to shield my kids from pain and suffering. I want them to be happy and feel like the world accepts and loves them. Yet there are places where that just doesn’t happen. So as I watch this show and put myself in the place of the father, it melts me. It inspires me to be a better parent to my kids. I certainly don’t face a fraction of his troubles. He shows how parent’s sometimes must resort to extreme measures…even put themselves in harms way if that’s what it takes. It’s hard to imagine the hardships people face around the world. I’m beyond fortunate in my life.

If you don’t sprechen deutsch prepare to read subtitles. It’s also long (2 1/2 hours) but, to it’s credit, I didn’t even realize that until it was over and I saw the time. It’s well done, I can see why it won an Oscar.

I can’t imagine having to escape from my country and start a new life in a hard new land…walking away from wealth and privilege to work on a farm. It’s something that I find myself sometimes wishing would happen to me. It would have to happen to me cause I doubt I’d ever do on my own. But something like that would be good for me.

Life is full of hard knocks. I learn through trial and mistakes. But rough times are not fun so when I watch people struggle in relationships, make poor choices, and push through their trials, I’d like to think that maybe I’m learning something from them. I’d rather learn from their mistakes than have to make them myself. As I experience heartache, anger, and frustration during a movie like this…maybe I’m growing a little bit. Maybe I’ll understand people a little bit better. Maybe I won’t be so judgmental. Maybe I’ll be a better person. With the amount of emotion this film pulled out of me, I have to think so.

There were a few points in this movie I was disgusted. It’s too easy for me to judge people sometimes and some of the choices they made and the things they said pushed my buttons. But I liked the characters and I didn’t want to be angry at them, so I had to let myself understand and empathize with them. Which wasn’t easy because some of the topics are ones that haunt me from my own life. But then, that’s why they pushed my buttons in the first place.

In the end, I resolved my issues with the characters. I certainly can appreciate that life is hard and we all do what we feel we have to in order to survive. We all hurt and feel pain and just want to be happy. Well, most people I know want happiness. Being torn from my home and family, thrust into a the middle of Africa, and then hearing the horrors that befell my loved ones left behind would wring out the best and worst in me. This was a very sweet movie and helped me forget about all of the stupid things I stress about…at least for a little while.

I stumbled across this book a couple years ago before my wife and I were married. A friend had left it at her apartment and I started thumbing through it and couldn’t put it down. I left it on the coffee table and went home with the intent of finding it at the library. When her friend left to go home to New Zealand, she left it with Sandi to give it to me. I finished the book within a few days.

I’ve never understood how my dad could plug away at the same job, year after year after decade. He never complained, in fact, he seemed to enjoy it. It’s never been like that for me. I could digress into an entire disposition about my struggles with work. Maybe it’s my depressive nature, my existentialistic core, or maybe I’m just spoiled rotten and don’t know how to buckle down and work. I get bored with jobs. I like new challenges and I like to be doing things that actually feel meaningful. When those things fall into place I dig in with a passion that might be better described as an addiction. But I’m picky as to what “meaningful” means.

I’ve often felt out of place in the modern world, like I just don’t fit. Don’t get me wrong, I have good jobs and I get good reviews from my employers. I just don’t feel happy about it. I feel like I’m wasting time and spending most of my time doing stuff that doesn’t matter at all. I often wonder if I missed my calling in life…my passions are writing and photography but I got a Masters in Accounting and computers. I can make good money doing those things so I don’t bail and pursue what I love. I keep telling myself some day I’ll do it. When take the time to write or take pictures I enjoy myself so much I feel depressed that I can’t do them all day long. That’s me, too often seeing the storm instead of the rainbow.

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I read this one for the first time years ago. It’s one that I have to go back and reread from time to time to help calm me down when I’m feeling flustered because I want more stuff. Although I read the entire book, the first few chapters were my favorite and the ones I revisit from time to time. It helps stop my wallet from hemorrhaging money and puts me in a mindset where I can really look at what I want.

It’s so easy for me to try and soothe my frustrations and unhappiness buy buying stuff. I mean, I work hard and I deserve to buy stuff, right? A new Xbox game, a new video card, or a new gadget puts a short term thrill back into my life. If my mind has been purged of the frantic need to purchase (which this book helps to do), it becomes a decision rather than a compulsion. I may or may not still buy the stuff, but at least I’m making a conscious choice.

I’ve still got a lot to overcome but this book helped a lot. It’s about conscious living and making decisions based on the things we really want out of life. Reading it gave me a sense of peace and relaxation when it comes to finances. And that says a lot because normally everyone knows to stay away from me when I’m on the computer doing my finances (I transform into a rabid dog and will bite your head off).

This movie surprised me. It didn’t get a lot of press and my expectations were low. But I’d seen some good reviews and thought it sounded interesting. Moments after I clicked play I remember thinking, “this could be really good.” It had a great start. Then I sat spellbound until the end. I had no idea I had just stumbled across a movie that would end up being one of my all time favorites. Then I watched it the next night again with my daughter. I dont’ know when the last time I even watched the same movie twice was, let alone one night after the other.

It filled me with passion. It angered me. It made me want to stand up and do something to help change the world. It’s an emotional roller coaster through flying daggers, bullets, blood, and mayhem. If you like action, conspiracy, government cover-ups, and seeing somebody stand up to The Man, then I think you’ll enjoy this movie. I just wish they would have played a longer version of the 1812 Overature during the first part of the show.