The One That Got Away

For years I have been listening to those commercials advising me to get my precious "Kodak moments" on film. And they always make it look so easy too.

Well, all right then, if it's so easy, why haven't I been more successful? It's certainly not because I don't have opportunities. In fact, I had a wonderful opportunity one winter day a few years ago.

Throughout the night it had been snowing here in rural west central Wisconsin, and although I knew my bird feeders were almost empty and it's part of my routine to fill them first thing in the morning, I decided to wait until the snow had stopped. The cardinals, chickadees, juncoes, blue jays, pine siskins, goldfinches, chipping sparrows, nuthatches, hairy woodpeckers--and the occasional downy woodpecker--wouldn't want mushy sunflower seeds. And besides, they still had a little bit left.

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Too Good to be True

The whole thing had started about a week earlier when I was paging through a pet catalog and came across a section devoted to dental supplies. "Simply squirt into your pet's mouth and the specially formulated solution goes to work immediately to kill bacteria and improve dental health," said the description.

At that moment, one of my cats -- who was sitting on my lap -- turned his head in my direction and yawned. A few seconds later, a blast of kitty breath which smelled like rotten tuna fish hit my nose.

"Right," I said, as I paged toward the back to find the order form.

The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that the dental solution sounded like an excellent idea. After all, it wasn't just for cats. You could use it on dogs too. And what self-respecting pet owner doesn't want her cats and dogs to have clean teeth and fresh-smelling breath?

A few days later when the box arrived in the mail, I opened it immediately.

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Spielberg vs. The Shark

While the film "Jaws" is a classic, the story behind
"Jaws" production is legendary. It's this legend that
inspired "Courage & Stupidity," a new short 25-minute film
about the making of Spielberg's classic (the title is a
reference to Spielberg's comment about what he thinks of
when he remembers the production of "Jaws.")

The film written and directed by Darin Beckstead stars the talented New York stage actor Todd Wall as the young Spielberg with a supporting role of Steven's pal George (based on George Lucas) portrayed by Aaron Fiore.

Sponsored by Panavision and Kodak film, Courage & Stupidity was shot in Salt Lake City and is a very
professional looking piece of work, as evidenced through
the crisp photography by Brian Sullivan (who was the 2nd unit cinematographer on Chris Columbus'
"Bicentennial Man.")

Courage & Stupidity had its premiere in New York City at the Queens Film Festival and screened at the International World of Comedy Festival representing the United States opening night. The film has recently been requested by Warner Brothers, DreamWorks, LucasFilm and is an official selection of 2005's Newport Beach Film Festival.

In a recent review, Movies Online wrote "Big studios and directors need to take an example from Darin Beckstead who wrote and directed this short. I would encourage people to check it out."

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Ecstasy: How Dangerous is This Wildly Popular Drug?

In February 2004 a 16-year-old girl in Connecticut went to a house party with some friends. She took a powdered form of the popular drug known as ecstasy with her friends, went into seizures and later died. In April 2004, a 14-year-old girl in California took ecstasy at a sleepover with two friends and died the next day from an overdose.

These stories are not rare-in fact, 2.6 million teens report having experimented with ecstasy in 2003 and hundreds of teens have died taking such drugs, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Ecstasy is used by kids in their early to late teens and early 20s because it promotes a euphoric feeling by releasing a chemical in the brain called serotonin (the same chemical that, when lacking, is linked to depression).

This drug, chemical name 3-4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA, is different from other illegal drugs in that many kids mistakenly believe it is safe. Common among white, middle- and upper-class kids, ecstasy-also called the hug drug, beans, Adam, XTC and the love drug-is thought of as a safe way to get an intensely pleasant, high feeling.

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Thumbs Up

Do you remember how sensitive you felt about being "different" in some way when you were kid?

Maybe you were shorter than your classmates. Or taller. Or had darker hair, or lighter hair. Or maybe you wore glasses.

Well...my difference was thumbs. That's right, thumbs.

I know it sounds silly, but for a long time I envied the other girls who had petite thumbs. And yet, it wasn't until we were completing a class project one day in elementary school that I realized just how "different" mine were.

The teacher had divided us into three groups, and each group was supposed to decorate a bulletin board with a winter scene.

My group had decided to make snowmen, and since every snowman needs eyes, nose and a mouth, we elected to use thumb tacks.

I had just pushed in the first tack when a girl from my group spoke up.

"What happened to your thumb?" she asked.

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Too Young to Survive?

Eight o'clock on a beautiful June morning in southern Wisconsin. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. And I was on my way to the stable where I boarded my two horses. Little did I know that in just a few minutes I would become a "momma kitty."

As I slid open the barn door I saw the calico cat. The previous evening she had been plump with kittens, but now she was suspiciously thin, so I knew she had given birth during the night.

"After I feed the horses, you'll have to show me where you hid your babies," I said to her, scooping dry cat food into the dish.

The calico settled down for a snack and I began measuring out grain. There were six horses pastured together with stalls in this barn. I was going to let my horses in, so I figured I might as well feed all of them.

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A Comedy of Comic Book Industry Errors

Although lacking in popularity for years, the mid-50s through early 60s brought back a
resurgence of the superheroes. This in itself was not bad, especially since I like superheroes. But
as the publishers wanted to cash in on this rebirth, all other genres within the comic book
industry started to fade. The romance comics, the westerns, the hard-boiled detectives, the war
comics and science fiction comics all started to pass by the wayside.

The superhero was being driven by the market forces, which became to exist in the US comic
book industry. Suppliers and consumers alike developed an obsessive preoccupation with
superheroes, which ultimately became a detriment to the medium as a whole. By catering too
much to the limited market of superhero lovers, a much broader audience became neglected. One
analogy presented in the past was that superheroes are like really good desert. We all like desert,
but who can eat it all the time?

Another concern with this market saturation was the aesthetic merits under the weight of the
superhero longevity itself. This was not necessarily the fault of the genre itself, but of the market
upholding its lone cash cow. The very nature of art of storytelling within the superhero arena,
was greatly affected. We all have learned from the time we were young, the fundamental
elements of storytelling. There is the beginning, a middle and an end. The telling of superheroes
defies these fundamentals. There is a beginning, a continuous middle and NO end. The most
obvious (and arguably most drama killing) story telling convention is that a leading superhero
character can not die, at least, not for long.

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