Monthly Archives: January 2019

‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’; just not as far as you might think

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In spite of its implications for “Avengers: Endgame,” Sony has released a “Spider-Man: Far from Home” trailer, which clearly shows that Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker, is alive and well and on Earth, and so is Nick Fury. The “Far from Home” title doesn’t indicate Spider-Man is still in space. Instead, he’s in Europe. Seriously, Europe? That’s far from home after traveling to the planet Titan? Oh, I have so many questions.

The first question is: How does this school have so much money? When I was in school, we had to have permission slips, our parents had to pay, and we barely got to go on a field trip to the park across the strip in elementary school. Flash forward to high school, and I had zero field trips. Nowadays, it seems like it would be even more difficult. With schools cutting budgets for the arts and fun while focusing on the core of reading and arithmetic, how does Spider-Man’s school have enough money to take the kids to Washington, D.C. much less Europe? The cost of insurance alone would be staggering. What school district does Parker go to?

Peter Parker is supposed to be poor, right? Even if his aunt can afford to put him in an upscale school, can she afford all these trips and their associated costs? Is Stark footing the bill? Was the fundraiser at the beginning really for Spider-Man?

How do his classmates not figure out he’s Spider-Man? Kids aren’t that dumb. Spider-Man shows up in Europe at the same time as the class? He was also in D.C. and saved MJ and disappeared from a bus while there was a super fight going on outside. Maybe it’s a case of Clark Kent’s glasses.

“Peter Parker here to pick up a passport, please” tongue twister? How many times did Tom Holland have to say that before he got it right?

Are we going to get a Doctor Strange/Spider-Man crossover? Mysterio seems to be using the same kind of magic as Strange does, and we all know Doctor Strange is coming back from Thanos’ snap, just like Spider-Man and Nick Fury.

Spider-Man is facing off against the elements. All of the monsters have the same form but are made from one of the four elements – fire, earth and water. Only wind is left out. I’m not sure how to phrase that as a question, just more of an observation.

If you have answers or more questions, leave them in the comments below. Check out more of my movie-related commentary. Watch for my “Avengers: Endgame” commentary coming soon!

Curiosity, being childlike and Questlove’s experience getting older

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Being childlike is important to creativity. Children are curious; they ask questions about everyone and everything. They don’t care who is better. They don’t care about their egos. They don’t care if someone is stepping on their own creativity. They play with abandon and talk to famous people with the same irreverence as the talk to their parents and friends.

“When I was ten, I was curious with reckless abandon. There wasn’t any fear about consuming things: if they interested me, I took them in. I ranged far and wide because I wanted to see what was out there,” says Questlove. “Now that I’m older, I’m more cautious. I’ve whittled my influences down to my pantheon of drummers and singers and guitarists, and it’s hard for new people to crack the shell.”

In “Creative Quest,” Questlove calls this a “hardening.” He says that there are some artists about whom he “feels a certain way,” which he explains is “nuanced form of snark.” It allows him to slow roll “whatever envy you admit by not admitting.”

This not-quite jealousy keeps Questlove from listen to a few artists “at all.” It may be that he doesn’t want to be influenced by or learn more about the artist or he feels a certain way, and “it gets worse with age.” Questlove recognizes this as a problem, this “brittleness,” and he says that as a person ages, he or she is going to have to deal with it.

There are a million reasons why its hard to be curious as you get older. Even with the Internet, it’s harder to satisfy that curiosity. Who has time to find out and understand why solar panels work? Who wants to learn new information that could challenge old, long held beliefs? Who wants to find someone younger doing something better in the same field wherein they both work?

It’s easier to keep on living with the information that one has accrued and not to challenge that status quo in one’s own life, even when one specifically self-describes as a creative. It’s much harder for people who think they’re only a little creative or they’re not creative. However, adopting a childlike acceptance of your own limitations and taking wonder in what other people are doing in your field (like children at play) will help you become more creative and have better ideas. It’s in the challenge and the questioning of the status quo that creativity thrives. Find the space that allows you to play, to be curious and to create.

For more on creativity and Questlove, check out: “‘The Pirate Union’ and collaboration” and the links at our Creativity page.

If you liked this essay, you can get more in ‘Penguinate! Essays and Short Stories.’ To improve your creativity, get ‘Disneyland Is Creativity.’

‘There Are No Penguins in Alaska’ available for preorder

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In case you haven’t heard, “There Are No Penguins in Alaska,” and I wrote the book on it. Penguins, polar bears and Eskimos all live in colder climates, so many people come to Alaska expecting to see penguins! However, there are no penguins in Alaska.

If you would like to know what kinds of animals live in Alaska, my children’s story, featuring the drawings of Antonisa Scott and Oscar Feliz of Transcend Studio, talks about bears, sea life, birds and more while imploring the reader to remember that there are no penguins in Alaska. It’s available on Kindle for preorder and will be delivered Feb 28, 2019. You can preorder a hard copy coloring book here at penguinate.com!

Alaska is a beautiful country with wonderful summers and long, dark winters. To experience it fully, you really need to live there. If that doesn’t appeal to you now, after going through this coloring book, it may, especially if you have an irrational fear of flightless birds because there are no penguins in Alaska. Get your copy ordered today!

Speakers’ Club Jan. 12, 2019: A Taste of the United States

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Baby Shark #32 on Billboard’s Top 100:

The Minister’s Cat:
https://youtu.be/r8UyP3RQC60?t=167

What American foods are available in Blago?

M&Ms, Snickers, Bounty, Snickers, other candy bars; Oreos; Nesquick; Lays, Pringles; Coke, Fanta, Sprite; Special K cereal bars; Orbit gum

Dodo Pizza, KFC, Subway, Cinnabon, Royal Burger, Hot Dogs, Heroes café

What’s the purpose of advertising?

Cheetos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dPxEDF3Vvw

Snickers:

https://youtu.be/tDkTNMK1V50

What’s the purpose of differentiation in the same product?

“Any customer can have a car painted any color he wants so long as it is black.” – Henry Ford on the Model T.

Snickers fire, espresso; Cheetos fire, puffs, stars…

Pumpkin spice everything… but mostly coffee

https://youtu.be/wYVR_woysK4
https://youtu.be/IkgLRPHCtio

Peppermint… Gingerbread…

Limited edition:

‘The Pirate Union,’ collaboration, and Questlove’s ‘Creative Quest’

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When Edward Allen and I wrote “The Pirate Union,” we were in college. We passed the manuscript back and forth at least once a week with a reading for our friends on the weekend. Fast forward to years later, and Questlove describes the collaboration process for creativity (and “The Pirate Union”) perfectly.

“This was a collaboration,” writes Questlove in “Creative Quest” (p. 102) about working with Tariq, “We negotiated briefly, but most of the energy in the process was spent participating. He waited eagerly for my beat so that he could get going with his lyrics. I excitedly assembled my beat because I couldn’t wait to hear it with his lyrics.”

Ed and I weren’t writing music. We were writing a story, but the feel was the same. We only had one rule: We couldn’t kill the other person’s characters. This kept us from having to start over and having a book full of dead characters (though with the success of “Game of Thrones” maybe we should have killed each other’s characters).

What we did instead was try to find situations that would stump the other author. Sometimes, one of us would write just one sentence. Other times the situation would be much direr. “He leveled the gun at Chantel and pulled the trigger, firing three shots. ‘Three in the head, you know they’re dead.’ Chantel jolted back, dropping Charlie, her head cracked hard against the floor. Mr. Bigbottom smiled down at them and grotesquely blew on the end of his pistol like a cliché cowboy.”

Chantel wasn’t my character, so I couldn’t technically kill her. Ed’s jaw dropped; how could he write her out of this situation? I thought for sure, I had him. And then he smiled, he came up with a solution in seconds and took the manuscript from me. “I know exactly what I’m going to do,” he said. I was afraid and excited. How would he get her out of that situation? Chantel grew into one of my favorite characters.

“Collaborations work best this way, when there’s a mutual desire to see what the other adds,” writes QuestLove.

Like Tariq and Questlove in school, Ed and I had an audience who was also waiting for the next installment, and “The Pirate Union” is better for it.

Preorder for penguinate.com at Lilac City Comicon 2019

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You can order any penguin that you see on our site or come up with your own costume for the penguin to cosplay in. (You could go as twins.) If you need reasons to preorder, check out the top 3!

Give me my stuffed penguin!
without costume $25.00 USD with costume $45.00 USD
Color or black and white?
Which costume would you like?
  • Blue Ranger
  • handmade stuffed white penguin
    handmade stuffed white penguin
  • Peppermint Penguin
    Peppermint Penguin
  • Hatched penguins
    Hatched penguins
  • Patch Penguin ready for adoption!
    Patch Penguin ready for adoption!

Order your books here. Then they can be ready for you and you won’t have to worry about the stock getting sold out!

Books
Disneyland Is Creativity $15.00 USD Haunted Mansion Is Creativity $15.00 USD Penguinate! Essays and Short Stories for Creativity $10.00 USD The Pirate Union $15.00 USD The Treasure of Nikolai Nikolaevich $10.00 USD The Curse of the Golden Kopeck $10.00 USD My Life in the Projects $10.00 USD There Are No Penguins in Alaska $5.00 USD
  • Skull wearing jester's cap with crossed swords underneath
    Pirate Union cover
  • Haunted Mansion Is Creativity
    Haunted Mansion Is Creativity
  • There are no penguins in Alaska
    There are no penguins in Alaska

“Daddy’s Home 2”: Laughs and Heart

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“Daddy’s Home 2” is a sequel that’s better than the original and proves that, in this case, more is better. The premise of old-school, toxic masculinity meeting new-world, kinder, gentler men uses a time-tested winning formula composed of slapstick, the absurd, and a heart-felt change in the characters that makes sense. While the writing sets the film up for success, it’s the casting and the acting that keep the film together.

Brad (Will Ferrell) and Don (John Lithgow) play to type as the uptight, over-emotional dad and granddad. Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) is the tough guy trying to change and adapt to a new reality while his father, Kurt, played by Mel Gibson, is stuck in the 1980s, womanizing and espousing the old values of masculinity that still work for him, but are, at the very least, questionable in the era of #metoo. The confrontation between the two styles of living comes into conflict as Dusty tries to conform to a life his father seemingly disapproves of.

“Daddy’s Home 2” plays to the strengths of its stars. The changes in character are believable, and even in the most absurd cases, the movie is never so far out there as to invoke disbelief, which is odd as a comedy. These qualities make “Daddy’s Home 2” a high-quality movie that isn’t just about getting belly laughs, which it does throughout the film, but it also explores the relationships between family members, especially fathers and their sons. For some, this film may seem like a guilty pleasure, but look closer and you have a film that really finds its meaning in the season. For more about the movies check out my other blog posts.

Kendall Jenner’s acne leads to ‘moving’ and ‘raw’ announcement

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When Kris Jenner announced that her daughter Kendall Jenner (Reality TV star since 2007, age: 23, net worth: $30 million) would be sharing a moving story and hashtagged it with #bethechange #finallyasolution #mydaughterinspiresme, people immediately speculated what the announcement might be. Would Kendall come out as gay? Would she be going to rehab? Would she reveal she’s pregnant? Was she abused as a child (she spent half her life on reality TV, so…)? Was she raped or sexually assaulted? It would certainly be something momentous. The rumors and speculation grew. What would she be changing or offering a solution to?

The announcement ended up being a commercial… for an acne treatment… meh. And Kendall got raked over the coals for it, though a few tweets predicted that would be the announcement.

A year ago, when walking her first red carpet event, Kendall felt amazing. Her hair, makeup and dress were perfect, and she was on top of the world. When she got back to the social media world, people had pointed out her acne, and it hurt. Then some others helped her change her view when they supported her bravery and courage for going out there with acne. “But I still want it gone.”

Having acne isn’t a world-changing announcement. It isn’t something worthy of all the drama, but there are two things worth noting in this announcement. This is the worst thing that’s happen to Kendall, and it points to a worse problem than just acne.

People who were upset that this is the worst thing that’s happen to Kendall in her life need to stop and think about their gut reaction. Does anyone really want to hear that someone’s been raped, sexually assaulted, or going to rehab? No, because that means something terrible has happened and no decent person wants that for anyone else. It’s awesome if this is the worst thing that’s happened to her. Some people bullied her about her looks, which are ingrained in who she is and what her job entails, and others came to her defense as a virtual support network that helped her keep her self-esteem intact. “But I still want it gone.”

Women have to deal with judgement about their looks all the time, particularly those in entertainment and modeling, who provide role models and expectations for those normal women who have everyday lives, children and not enough money for food or rent, much less to go to the gym and the spa. Women are told they need to spend time and money on how they look. They need make-up, moisturizers and creams and a little black dress. Things that most men don’t have to deal with.

But Kendall didn’t make it about men or societal expectations. Instead, she made it about herself. Her fans helped her turn her energy around and make her feel better about the acne. However, that doesn’t mean that she wants to have it. “But I still want it gone.” This tag says she’s doing it for herself, and if that’s true, then good for her and good for her all the way to the bank.

Netflix’ ‘Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events’ is a masterpiece

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Normally, I would write a review about the brilliantly conceived, written and executed Netflix series “Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events.” I would describe how Patrick Warburton’s deadpan and world-weary delivery sets the stage as he narrates the unfortunate events. I would espouse how Neil Patrick Harris cements his legacy as one of the most versatile and amazing actors of his generation with his portrayal of the nefarious Count Olaf, who inspires fear, loathing and dread while also creating an absurd and funny villain. I would wonder how Lucy Punch, portraying the evil Esme Squalor, gets all of these roles that downplay how beautiful she actually is. I would talk about the big-name guest stars, like Joan Cusack, Sara Rue, Nathan Fillion and Cobie Smulders. I might even say something about the social commentary, incompetent adults, wise children and more…

But, dear reader, a review of Netflix’ “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” would inevitably be spoiler-filled or unfinishable. Instead of writing about this amazing adaptation filled with laughs and tragedies, I will only say – The song’s lyrics tell you to look away, but you won’t be able to. Binge watch this masterpiece of story-telling and enjoy. (You can read a review of the first episode here.)