Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 624

One of those annoying My daughter is perfection posts. But the video is damn cute.

Based upon my daughter's behavior this evening, I suspect that she is vying for a new dollhouse or perhaps an extended bedtime. 

Clara is playing with her little people.  They are spread throughout the living room, which she informed the dog tonight is now her room.  Elysha tells her that it's time for dinner.  Without being asked, Clara spends five minutes putting away all of her little people before coming to the dinner table.  

This was a first.

After dinner, Clara informs me that she needs a bath. 

Elysha is already running the water into the bathtub upstairs. 

And then she ends the day by reading Olivia Helps with Christmas to us in what can only be described as one of our proudest parental moments yet.

I might get her the dollhouse, but I'm not budging on the bedtime.

Movies that are better than the book: Part 2

A quick update on yesterday's post by the same name:

It turns out that as I was writing my list, Jason Bailey at Flavorpill was making a list as well, and his is complete with video trailers, which makes my list look considerably less impressive. 

Of course, his story can only be read by clicking through ten different pages, which I find incredibly annoying, so at least my post is easier to read. 

And we have some agreement in our lists as well. 

My list, as you recall, included four films:

The Firm
Forrest Gump
Minority Report
Fight Club

Yesterday I added Jaws to the list after several readers reminded me of the disparity between the book and the film (I actually re-read the book last summer).  Specifically, there is a section in the book in which Ellen Brody is considering having an affair as her husband battles a man-eating shark, and I have found this plotline to be tedious and distracting.  Spielberg apparently felt the same way, since it does not appear in the film.

Also, the ending of the book is convoluted and anticlimactic at best, with the shark being dragged underwater by the sinking Orca. 

Granted, it's slightly more realistic than blowing up the shark by shooting the tank of compressed oxygen in his mouth, but the chunks of shark splashing around Brody in the final scene of the movie are priceless.  So Jaws is now on my list. 

And in terms of the Flavorpill piece, we agree on The Firm and Jaws. 

Bailey also includes the following films with corresponding books that I have not read:

The Princess Bride (which is an overrated film)
The Graduate
Dr. Strangelove
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (which was mentioned by readers yesterday)
MASH
The Godfather (which several readers insisted should be on my list)

Bailey also includes the film High Fidelity on his list, which I thought was excellent, but I did not think it distinguished itself enough from the book in order to be declared superior. 

He included the film Stand By Me, which is based upon Stephen King's novella The Body from a book that also contains the novella upon which The Shawshank Redemption is based.

Quite a book.  On film rights alone, it probably paid King enough to be set for life. 

I had a friend also suggest The Shawshank Redemption to me, and while both Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption are outstanding films and quite possibly better than their literary counterparts, I did not feel that they  were enough better to make my list.

But I might change my mind on this over time. 

Especially The Shawshank Redemption.  Damn that movie is good. 

I suspect that the rest of the films on Bailey's list are probably better than their literary counterparts, which leaves me to wonder if I should ever read the book.  I have been told that One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and The Godfather are excellent novels, but if the film versions are better, what is a guy with a million books to read and a limited amount of time to do?

Waking the dead

My sister tweeted this today:

I've had my license for 20 years and I always thought that the larger vehicle always had the right of way. Apparently that's only true at sea.

This is not surprising. 

I took my sister out for her first driving lesson when she was sixteen.  We drove around the cemetery where our mother is buried today, the same cemetery where I learned to drive two years earlier.

Fifteen minutes into the lesson, she drove up an embankment and knocked over a headstone. 

I never took her for another lesson, and have not tried to teach another person to drive since. 

Movies that are better than the book

I just finished reading Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. 

The movie, as you may know, is a classic.  A genuinely great film.  And I feared that this would be one of the rare instances that the film is better than the book.

I almost didn't read it for this very reason.  I bypassed it several times, choosing other books in favor of it, afraid of being disappointed. 

But eventually I decided to read it, and I loved the book.  I'm glad I read it. 

But unfortunately, I was right.  The movie was better.

Sacrilege, I know.  But not unprecedented.

In my life, I have encountered three other films that were better than their literary counterparts.

The Firm by John Grissom.  Though I loved the book, Grissom's ending lacked the punch and surprise that the film provided.  I was disappointed by the way the novel sort of petered out at the end, whereas the film captivated me until the final scene. 

Forrest Gump by Winston Groom.  The book was not good at all.  In this case, I saw the film first and discovered much later on that it was based upon a book.  How anyone could read that novel and manage to create the Academy Award winning film based upon it is beyond me.

Minority Report by Philip Dick.  The literary version is actually a short story, so it's hard to fault the book for not measuring up to the movie.  But it didn't.  Dick's version of the story reads more like a detective story set in the future,whereas the film is a more provocative look at the future through the lens of a detective story. 

And now Fight Club joins my list.  Like The Firm, I liked the book quite a bit, but also like The Firm, the ending of the film far surpasses the ending of the novel.  I also think that there are moments in the book that suffer from the limitation of first person narration that the film is able to avoid.

But that's it.  Four films better than the books after a lifetime of reading. 

It's interesting to note that in three of the cases, I liked the book a lot but liked the film even   There were also a bunch of instances in which I thought the movie was as good or almost as good as the book, but none were good enough to overtake the literary version of the story. 

And now Charles Portis's True Grit is sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read.  And once again, I'm worried.  I just saw the Coen brothers' version of the film and thought it was remarkable.  I'm hoping the novel measures up.

We'll see. 

Any movies-better-than-the-book that you would like to suggest?

Ousted zebra

Elysha and I came upon this scene today, left behind by our daughter. 

As you can see, Yellow Curly Cue and Bathtub Penguin each have seats at the table, but Stuffed Zebra has been thrown a considerable distance from his chair.

What did Stuffed Zebra do to deserve this kind of rejection?

Only Clara knows.

One-time Ronald McDonald Childrens Charities volunteer imposter

I recently wrote a post about the American Legion-styled pins that I would like to wear denoting some of my past accomplishments and positions in life.  I received quite a few questions about some of the items on the list, so I'll be explaining them in more detail in the coming week. 

Today I am dealing with the proposed pin:

One-time Ronald McDonald Children's Charities volunteer imposter

I've actually written about this on a previous blog, but since more than one person asked about it and that original blog no longer exists on the Web, I thought I'd share it here for my new audience.

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When I was 19 years old, I was living on my own in every sense of the word. 

My step-father had lost his job, invested my mother's lifetime disability pension in a pyramid scheme, purchased two brand new cars in order to convey the image of success to his would-be customers, and lost it all within a year. 

Eventually he stopped paying the mortgage and didn't tell my mother until our childhood home was in foreclosure.  Three weeks before they were to lose the house, he disappeared for a week of camping in Maine, leaving a note on the counter informing my mother of their financial situation and telling her that he wanted a divorce.

I had moved out two years earlier and was struggling to make it on my own, living with a friend who was attending college and living off-campus.  My sister was still living at home, finishing her last year of high school and my mother was beginning to suffer from the early symptoms of adult-onset muscular dystrophy.  Their situation was dire.  A month after finding my step-father's note, the two have moved to a run-down apartment in Woonsocket, RI, barely able to make ends meet. 

Financially speaking, I was alone, taking care of myself, working without a safety net.

Forgive me the excessive backstory, but I include it because I have told this story to people who simply cannot fathom not having family in their lives to lend support in a time of need.  These are fortunate souls with parents and siblings and aunts and uncles who are intimately involved in their lives and willing and able to do almost anything to help them in a time of need. 

This was simply not case for me at the time of this story.  And it's important in terms of the decisions I ultimately make.   

And so one day in June of 1990, I drove up to Laconia, New Hampshire to spend the weekend with a girl.  As I was driving home on Sunday afternoon, near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border, I had a blow out.  Not only did the tire go flat, but it came apart, throwing rubber all over the road. I was in the middle of no-man's land, miles between exits, and the tire needed to be completely replaced.

To make a long story short, I eventually used the last of my cash to purchase a new tire, rolling it miles and miles down the highway and putting it on the car myself.

Quite an ordeal and a story in itself, but not for today.

As I climbed back in my car to complete my trip, I looked at the gas gauge and realized that it was almost empty and I was still about two hours from home.
This was in the days before cell phones, and even if I had one, there was no one who I could have called for help.  My roommate and best friend, Bengi, was the only person in my life who could have brought me money to get home, but on this particular weekend, he was out of town, and I had no means of contacting him. 

I was more than 100 miles from home and on my own. I needed to find a way to fill my gas tank.

I took the next exit off the highway, drove to the nearest gas station, and made the attendant an offer:  my luggage, my watch, and my driver's license in exchange for enough gas to get me home.  And I'd pay him double when I returned with the money.

He refused.

At this point I didn't even have enough fuel to make it to the next gas station.   As I sat in my car, considering my non-existent options, my eyes fell upon my McDonald's briefcase, complete with the golden arches symbol across the front.  I was managing a McDonald's in Milford, Massachusetts at the time and had left for New Hampshire from work the previous Friday. My briefcase and uniform were still sprawled across the back seat.

Donning the uniform and grabbing the briefcase, I walked from the gas station into the nearest neighborhood (quite a hike) and began going door-to-door, claiming to be collecting money for Ronald McDonald Children's Charities.

At the first house, a lady gave me  three dollars.  At the second house an older gentleman gave me a twenty dollar bill.

I couldn't believe it. Two houses and $23.

Gas was about a dollar a gallon back then, and the money was more than I needed to get home.

As I hiked back to the station, I promised myself to more than replace the money that I had just acquired on behalf of the charity.

So for years, I would frequently drop a dollar into those collection containers whenever I visited a McDonald's.  Not counting the loose change that I also tossed in, I ran my total to $606 before I wrote about this story a few years ago on a now-defunct blog and decided that I could call it even with Ronald McDonald Children's Charities.

A return of thirty times their initial, albeit stolen, investment seemed fair. 

And telling the story after so many years of secrecy relieved me of a lot of the guilt associated with it. 

I still toss coins into those collection containers from time to time, but not with the guilty conscience that I once had.

And that is how I become a one-time Ronald McDonald Children's Charities volunteer imposter.

Childhood indicator

I love this video.  Watching it brings back honest-to-goodness moments of pure joy.

The fact that I can identify almost all of the videogames featured is indicative of the kind of remarkable childhood that I enjoyed.

Throw that atheist down the stairs

I had no idea that I was required to preview nursery rhymes before reading them to my daughter. 

But apparently so. 

Last night I read the nursery rhyme below to my daughter and was horrified by the words coming out of my mouth.   

The modern day translation to this nursery rhyme goes something like this:

Hey, look.  A goose is in your house.  Where is it going?  Upstairs and downstairs and into your bedroom.   

Oh, and while I was in your bedroom, following the goose, I found an atheist who refused to acknowledge God's existence.  So I grabbed him by the leg, dragged him down the hall, and flung him down the stairs.

Damn atheist.  Serves him right. 

The latest

Some recent writing-related news that I thought I'd share: 

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We sold the Korean rights to MEMOIRS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND this week, bringing the total number of languages that the book will be published in to eight! My super agent is simply super.   

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The rock opera that my friend and collaborator, Andy Mayo, and I wrote has been approved for a staged reading at our local playhouse, complete with real actors, a real director and a real band.  

This is the first step in a someday-maybe-full production of the show (and hopefully the sale of the script), and we couldn't be more excited.  We're looking at weekends at the end of October or beginning of November for the reading, and once we lock up a date, I'll be sure to share it.  The reading will be open to the public, and there will be opportunities to comment on the script and music after the show via a moderated question-and-answer session.

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It looks as if I will be conducting writing classes at a local bookstore this summer, and this may include a class on finding a literary agent.  I'll keep you updated in the event that you are interested in attending. 

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I have two appearances coming up in April and May. 

I will be speaking at the the Books on the Nightstand retreat from April 8-10 in Manchester, Vermont.  The registration for this event is closed, but if you love books and reading, you should consider downloading and listening to the Books on the Nightstand podcast, hosted by Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness.  They are the organizers for the April retreat, and their knowledge of books and the publishing industry is second to none.   

I will also be speaking at the Connecticut Book Festival on May 21-22 at the Greater Hartford Campus of the University of Connecticut.  This event is open to the public and will include writers such as Wally Lamb, Jim Benn and Connecticut Poet Laureate Dick Allen. 

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I think I have finally settled on my next book.  Over the past month, I have been working on four different novels simultaneously, including a sequel to MEMOIRS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND.  I was hoping that as I wrote, one story would assert itself as the next to be born and shine above the rest. 

To be honest, this hasn't really happened.  All four stories are proceeding along nicely, but trying to write four books at the same time is making me crazy.  So I've settled on one for now.  My editor and publisher may request some input in terms of my next book at some point in the future, so my decision may change, but for now, I am officially working on THE PERFECT COMEBACK OF CAROLINE JACOBS, the story of a woman who decides to return to her hometown after more than twenty years in order to issue the perfect comeback to an insult that was directed at her in high school.

There's much more to the story, of course, but that's where the idea began.

Thanks as always for all of the support!

We never got to the war part of the Civil War

The problem with American History class (sorry, Mr. Beane) was that never got to the good stuff. 

Take the Civil War.  I recall with blinding acuity the days and weeks that we spent studying the causes of the Civil War, many of which are now being debunked by modern day historians who now claim that the war was mostly about slavery. 

Hour upon hour dedicated to the study of the economic disparity between the North and the South, the debate over state's rights, the difference in cultures, and more.  I remember sitting in my seat, listening to the lecture, praying that we would turn the page and finally see cannons firing, soldiers marching and battles erupting. 

And then it did. 

On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on the federal troops at Fort Sumter.  An artist's rendering of the beginning of the battle was splashed across the page of my history book.  I can still see it in my mind's eye.   

Three classes later, the war was over. 

Three days.     

Since high school, I have read entire books about the Battle of Gettysburg, the use of naval power in the war, Sherman's march to the sea, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Chickamauga, the changes in military leadership during the war and more.  

All this and much, much more was covered in my high school history class in just three days.   

I realize that there is a limit on the amount of time that a teacher has to teach the content, but if you want your students to be interested in history, you can't strip out the best parts.

Yes, the causes of the Civil War are important, and yes, Reconstruction was an important time in our country's history and in many way still impacts our nation today.  These things must be learned.   

But for a student, and especially a boy, to study the Civil War and not spend a day or two learning about the weapons used at the time and the tactics that led to the Union's victory at the Battle of Gettysburg and the hunt for John Wilkes Booth following Lincoln's assassination is doing a disservice to the student and to the study of history in general.

It's conflict that makes history so compelling, and sometimes this conflict occurs on the battlefield.  Not every student is going to spend his adult life reading about the intricacies of the war on his own, and especially not if the war has been sanitized and abbreviated in high school. 

Leaving the guns and swords and blood out of history class is a mistake, and it's one that I hope does not happen as often as I fear it might.