Saturday Spotlight: Jim Sullivan

I grew up way out west in California.  Not the cool, glamorous part like Hollywood or Malibu, but just out somewhere in the center of the desert.  Want proof? The town is called Desert Center.  Google it right now and you'll find news articles and blogs proclaiming it a ghost town.  I know this because after being free of the place for almost 25 blissful years, I decided to Google it (took a page out of Lot's wife's book), and that's exactly what I found.  One guy, Jim Sullivan, goes to all kinds of these ghost towns, explores and posts pictures which, frankly, cut me pretty deeply.  He beautifully captured the despair I felt as a city girl living in a town whose population hovered around 300 people at the time.  Our closest Wal-Mart, movie theater, drugstore... our closest HIGH SCHOOL was an hour away.  Keep that in mind as you look through the pictures.  Here's a sample of the ones that hit me the hardest, but for sure check out his blog.  There are tons more there, and he's done quite a few other towns, too.

 

John Lithgow

As I mentioned the other day, my big kid is a bookworm.  So much so, that one of his birthday party themes was his favorite book, Marsupial Sue Presents: The Runaway Pancake.  I was really surprised the first time I saw that it was written by John Lithgow.  Yep, the creepy weirdo from Dexter, The Twilight Zone and 3rd Rock From The Sun.  Crazy, right? But actually, he's written a handful of kids' picture books and my favorite is The Remarkable Farkle McBride.  It's just fun.

Anyway, since this is The Bookworm's thing, I'll most likely have him draw a picture (he's to little to write a real letter) and include it and copies of the birthday pictures with whatever fan letter I end up sending to John Lithgow.  Here's how it went down: In the book, Auntie May mixes together some batter, puts it in the oven, does some housework and checks on her pancake only to find it gone. No spoilers, guys; this is all on the first page. At our party, I mixed up some batter, put it in the oven and read them the book.  Then when we went to check on our pancake, guess what? It was gone! We looked all over the house and in the backyard (especially the bouncy house), and then back to the kitchen again, where we found a DIY pancake bar and a pancake 'birthday cake'.  It was crazy fun and everyone loved it! We had a good time involving John Lithgow and no kids were frightened. True story. Here's proof.

  

Saturday Spotlight: Me!

I've decided to spotlight myself this week! You can find me on Twitter here, on Google + here, guest blogging for Beachy Writers Beaching here or on my Facebook page here.  My Facebook page says I'm a novelist instead of a blogger, but that's just because I'm very optimistic. 

So go check me out.  Go! Get to clicking!

The Bookworm and The Villain

It will soon become apparent that I have two kids.  They're adorable little guys and I'll have occasion to use their pictures on my blog from time to time.  I'm still a bit hesitant to post their real names, so from here on out they'll be known as The Bookworm and The Villain.  If I say The Bookworm, you'll know I mean the big one.  The Villain is the little guy.  In older pictures it's more evident which one is big because The Villain hadn't quite caught up to him yet but as the pictures get more current you can tell them apart by their hair.  The Bookworm's is short.

So yeah, okay, I was listening to Mr Hahn in Psychology class in the 11th grade.  I know how the pressures of assigned family roles can affect a small child's psyche.  But listen, my kid really IS a bookworm!  They both are, kind of.  And the little one, he legit has the exact Kylo Ren haircut, except in blond.  My husband and I discussed it on our way home from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and then a stranger mentioned it to us in a shoe store. So really... what am I supposed to do, not call him The Villain? Come on, guys.  It's out of my hands.

Aisha Tyler

Okay, so Aisha Tyler is SO GREAT.  She's a hilarious comedian, she's on The Talk and she's crazy gorgeous. But to get to the part where I feel like she's actually affected my life you're gonna have to hang with me a minute. 

Did you ever see Hairspray? The new one with Nikki Blonsky and Zac Efron? Well, there's a scene where Lil Inez tells Tracy, "Good for you, girl! You made it on the show!"  Which is a huge deal, because it was the 60s and Tracy didn't have the ideal TV 'look'. 

Every time I see Aisha Tyler on an old Friends rerun, I get super excited.  That line runs through my head and occasionally I tear up (I'm that typical old lady who cries at, like, EVERYTHING).  Now I can think of no better use of my blog on this MLK day than to Congratulate Aisha Tyler for a job well done.  So, Ms Tyler:

Good for you, girl! You made it on the show!

I ripped that photo off from Time.com but they appear to have acquired it the honest way from NBC.

Saturday Spotlight: Nerd Out With Me

I've decided to try doing an occasional Saturday Spotlight to bring your attention to something new and exciting that I love, and that you might not have heard of before.  It will mostly be indie or fledgling projects, like books or bands but today it's a blog.  And, no, it hasn't escaped my notice that at this point, anything I spotlight will already be much more well-known than myself.  I enjoy irony.

So, this Saturday a super fun blog called Nerd Out With Me is in the spotlight.  This blogger, Tig, is a stranger to me but seems like a pretty fun dude.  He does a 'guess the movies' thing every Tuesday where he posts screen grabs and you can then wrack your brain like you're taking finals, trying to remember what movies they're from.  There are also "pic dumps" on Wednesdays, which feature nerdiness in photograph form.  He posts a ton of pictures relating to movies, video games, TV shows and all kinds of pop culture stuff.  It's seriously SO great. Check him out and let me know what you think.

If you have any spotlight suggestions, comment them below because I'd love to check them out.  Thanks, and don't forget to subscribe!

Harry Potter

I had originally planned on posting this two weeks from Monday, but with the tragic death of Alan Rickman this morning, I felt that now was an appropriate time to show my appreciation for Harry Potter and the whole wizarding world.  The words that I had prepared for you were very different.  They had a different vibe and a different purpose.  I was going to tell you how I originally got into HP and how the books compared to the movies for me; stuff like that.  Alan Rickman's death has affected me much more deeply than I would have expected, so I've kind of spent the day exploring why that might be. 
 

To set the scene: When my husband and I were just dating and he wanted to bring me home to meet his family we were both active duty military.  We weren't stationed near either of our home towns, so meeting the families was a risk.  If you didn't like them or if they didn't like you, guess what? You just gotta ride out the rest of the week in their house, that's what! Thankfully, when I got there everyone was just cool and very chill.  His mom is the best and today she's one of my very best friends.  At the time, though, I was just the awkward outsider in the middle of a fun, awesome family. Over Christmas break.  So...

I had only recently begun reading the Harry Potter books and I'm not sure I'd even seen any of the movies, but I already loved their whole magical universe.  And now in a stroke of luck my little brother-in-law to be was a huge fan too!  Over the years we've seen the movies together, discussed the books (and others), compared our Pottermore sorting results and vowed to go to the Universal Studios HP theme park whenever it's open and I have a sitter and two nickels to rub together.  When he was little, he was a super fun buddy to have around and now that he's grown he's really such a great friend, just like a real brother to me. 

So you know how they say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step?  My journey of creating and loving a whole new family began with a single book, one whose most awesome character was greasy old Severus Snape.  Even before I knew definitively that Snape *spoiler if you've lived in a cave for the past decade* is a good guy, I liked and trusted him more than any other character.  He seemed the most like a realist who could take care of himself and I like that.  Alan Rickman portrayed him so perfectly that in that one area (as well as many others) the book was not better.  He was letter perfect and it's crushing that there's no more chance to meet him and tell him to his face how he played a part in the life that I'm so happy to have created for myself.

If you're looking down and reading this, Alan Rickman, I hope you paid attention.  It's all true.

Star Trek

About two years ago I went to my first con.  When I checked to see who the speakers were, I found that the biggest name was John de Lancie, who played Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation and turned out to be just lovely.  I had seen the new Star Trek movies and enjoyed them, but I hadn't ever seen any of the shows and I'm pretty sure all I remember of the original movies is... Sea World.  Something about Sea World.  Is that even right?

At any rate, before the con I took to Netflix to see what was up with de Lancie's Star Trek.  And would you like to know what's up with TNG? IT'S AWESOME, THAT'S WHAT.  From the very beginning I loved Brent Spiner as Data and by the last episode I was really sad to see the show and my time with Michael Dorn as Worf coming to an end.  Of course, I liked all of the other characters too.  LeVar Burton is amazing in every project he touches, and if you're not following Wil Wheaton's blog (at http://wilwheaton.net/) get over there.  I really love how he writes, and his book, Just A Geek, will not disappoint. But most importantly, let me tell you a little bit about Brent Spiner.  The man played an android expertly, and with so much more heart than you'd expect.  Even the points designed to show you that he can't feel will give you all the feels.  There were also a lot of opportunities for Brent Spiner to play different characters on the show and he nails it every single time.  He's just supremely talented.

If you haven't watched the show and don't plan to, you can go study acting by heading over to Netflix and looking up Episode 17 of Season 7, called Masks. That's an education, right there.  Brent Spiner could've gotten an Emmy from me on the spot if I was in charge of anything.  Go look it up, I'll wait.  And in the meantime, if you have anything else you've seen him in that you enjoyed, or if you just have anything to mention about TNG, leave it as always in the comments section below.  Thanks for dropping in this week, and don't forget to subscribe and tell your friends!  

And now my car proudly proclaims my Trekkie status.


***EDIT*** Here's where you can get your own decal or license plate.
https://m.facebook.com/JPOriginalsBowTies/
They're personalized; just email and tell her what you want. Prices are very reasonable. 

Michael Jackson

When I was in second or third grade, I remember we had to write in journals every day.  The only entry I actually remember is one day I couldn't think of anything interesting to write, so my teacher told me to just make something up.  Well, I did.  It went something like this: Yesterday, I met Michael Jackson.  He was really nice and we got married.  I moved to Hollywood to live in his gigantic house and now we are going to live happily ever after. 

I'm sure there was more but that was about a zillion years ago and besides, I'm already embarrassed enough as it is.  When I was a kid, I had all the tapes, the MJ stickers, I checked out MJ books from the library... all of the crazy.  Now that I'm older, I've just gotten worse.  I'm no longer interested in marrying Michael (or any of the remaining Jacksons) but I've got an alarming amount a good bit of stuff collected and of course my Jackson 5 tattoo, which you can see here.

It was cheaper and easier than having NERD tattooed across my forehead.  

When he died, I had just moved to Germany.  We had been there for just a few days, not even a week, and I was so excited for the move.  I love to travel and explore, and my husband and I were planning a night out to celebrate our anniversary.  When he got home from work that day and I cheerfully greeted him at the door, he seemed worried.  His exact words: Oh, you haven't heard yet.

That evening was rough, and it was bittersweet.  I was genuinely happy to be where I was, and with the man that I loved, celebrating a wonderful milestone.  But everywhere -literally every place- we passed was blaring Michael Jackson out into the streets.  In the next week or two I had people contacting me to make sure I was okay.  Some were people I hadn't heard from since I moved, and even people I hadn't spoken to in years emailed to offer condolences.  It was completely surreal and it struck me as bizarre, since I had never even met the man.  But honestly... it actually helped.  In some inexplicable, unquantifiable way it really helped me.

As always, leave your notes in the comments if you have any Michael stories. And don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss a week.  No spoilers, but next week will be nice and nerdy.