Pressing Puzzles

With All Hallow's Eve around the corner, I thought I'd take a minute to address the evil doers that make the heroes who they are. No, I'm not the bad guy! I'm actually sure why I have had this fascination with the bad guys other than the fact that they make the good guys good. What I found ironic in many stories, the villain tends to have a deeper back story than the hero. I guess in many ways, I always wanted to know what prompted the villain to be so bad.  I remember when I was younger, G.I. Joe was still big and my brother and I always played with either other with our action figures. The funny part was that we didn't ever argue on who was going to play who because my brother what all the G.I. Joe figures and I had all the Cobra figures. I really loved the characters from Cobra: Firefly, Destro, Copperhead, the twins Tomax and Xamot, Zartan and most people's favorite...Storm Shadow! They even had the coolest vehicles so for me it was a no brainer; though...

One of the things that I get sometimes when people find out that I have Asperger's Syndrome is they all want to know what is my special gift. I guess this is a ligament inquiry because after all, many people how have been featured on television or movie that are autistic seem to all exhibit some form of talent that most people don't have. Not only do people inquiry about the talent, but how intelligent are you when it comes to these attributes? Some great examples of people with these talents like Dr. Temple Grandin who was revolutionary with her treatment of cattle, Albert Einstein of course developed the equation of E=MC2 and John Elder Robison has the special ability to modify amplifiers, rebuild cars and several other mechanical feats that few people can do. There are even others who can look at a city's skyline and then sit down in a studio with no picture in hand and then redraw the skyline to the last detail. I think you can see his talent on YouTube.  I gu...

Here is one of those funny times when it's really easy to say, but harder to do. For some, giving an apology and meaning it can be two totally different things all together. When I was growing up, I will honestly say that I did as little apologizing as I could. Please don't think of me as cruel or heartless, it's just that when something happened to someone else I just didn't see the need to apologize especially if I had nothing to do with the problem. There were other times when I just wasn't simply aware that an apology was needed. I can recall many times when I mom forced me to apologize for something I might have said or done. Of course, I was not very happy for two reasons, one - I didn't like my mom forcing me to say 'I'm sorry' when I wasn't; and two - I felt like it wasn't my fault so why would I apologize for something I had nothing to do with the issue. As I've gotten older, I have learned to be a little more cognizant of w...

I realize in today's family, the roles are changing rather drastically. I can think of another time when roles in the family were shaken up since World War 2. Life today seems more like unwed mothers giving birth to fatherless children and if they are married the couple only has about a 50-50 shot of staying married. I realize this doesn't seem to make sense, but that's the reality of the world we live in. Traditionally, in any house, the father was the person who was always considered the 'head of the household', but that role has deteriorated through the years. How did this whole idea start? Not surprising we can look to the Bible for the answer. As I mentioned back in a previous blog about Leadership, the book dictates that the male is the head of the household and will be personally judged on the spirituality of the members of the family. So we as the males have a heavy responsibility on the welfare of everyone in the family. Sadly, this task for the male o...

Being a director like I have for several years, there are things that I've had to deal with in this business. This isn't the professional method of directing, but this is my perspective on how to be a director in any medium. I will probably address the proper method of how to treat actors, but that is not the sole focus on what I'm going to share. As a director you will have to deal with people who think they know it all and you can't say anything that will benefit me. The problem that most amateur actors forget is that acting is an art form, but it's also an occupation. I think people tend to forget that acting is work...hard work. One of the things that I try to let the kids know is that it's a very difficult business to get into. I feel like they need to hear the truth about the world of entertainment. I tell them that they have to 'want' it very badly and do almost anything to get in. An internship is a great way to get your foot in the door, bu...

A large gathering people didn't bother me too much, but as I've gotten older my opinion has changed slightly. Now granted, I'm not talking about getting in the right crowd or a bad crowd, but just a large mass of people in one general location. I remember going to rock concerts, sporting events, museums, conventions and not be fazed by extremely large groups of people. I don't know if it's my age. I don't know if it's the new medication that helps me be more aware of my surroundings. All I know is my views on crowds have changes quite a bit. The idea of this posting actually came to me when I was in an elevator. Since I don't ride very many elevators I never gave this a lot of thought, but other than family or friends I tend to dislike elevators if other people are in it too. I handle the situation well enough, but when I enter and I don't see any one around immediately then I'm pushing that close button as fast as I can. There have been sev...

Recently we had a tragic event happen here in Kansas City. A five-year old boy that was autistic, ran out past the fence and headed toward the neighbor's pond. Sadly, the authorities found that the boy had drowned in five feet of water. What I'm going to address is how we have a tendency to put an idea in our head and go with it until we accomplish our goal. Here was the news story: KANSAS CITY, MO. —The drowning of a 5-year-old Cass County boy with autism on Tuesday is raising awareness about the special attraction that bodies of water have for children on the autism spectrum. Statistics show that nearly half of all children with autism wander. For a child with autism, that type of wandering means the child is on a mission and knows exactly where he or she is going. Children with autism are often drawn to pools and other bodies of water. Experts said they find them beautiful and are fascinated by the way light sparkles on the water. Experts said that attract...