For What It's Worth

Technophobes of the World Unite!

Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."

For some of us, “of a certain age/generation,” every new tech thing is yet another time we can get flummoxed and frustrated. How often have you opened that new tech device, camera, digital picture frame, or new “smart” phone, and felt anything but “smart?” I sometimes put the “thing” aside, stare at it a few days, and then finally get the courage to open it up.

What often follows, more often that I’d like to admit, is something doesn’t work right. Even learning the so-called simple things, like attaching and sending a photo via e-mail can sometimes be confusing. My favorite is when the only help you can get is online, but you can’t get online because of some connection problem. Or better, when you take their suggestion to call them for help before you return the darn thing. 

Call them? Are you kidding me? Do you really want to be connected to someone who doesn’t speak English all that well, in a far-away time zone. That’s, of course, after you’ve gone through the voice-menu options, and typed in your life story, which when you finally do get someone on the line asks you for all that information again!  ARGH!

The Years of Living Vicariously

Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."

To some degree, everyone lives vicariously through his or her kids.  The question however is a matter of degree--how much?  It’s normal to want the best for our kids, but when we project our own failed opportunities or fantasies, we may be crossing an inappropriate line. 

That was happening to me when my son’s musical ability blossomed and I was that parent beaming while I taped every performance of his.  Then, when he got his 15-minutes of fame and jammed with his rock ‘n’ roll idol, Chris Cornell (http://bit.ly/ay3IRx), I tried to milk it for all it was worth.  Was that for him or for me? 

We parents need to ask ourselves why we are so interested when we get too involved, or too caught up in our kids’ lives.  I also found myself enjoying--is it vicariously or not--my son’s first romance?  I wonder if my curiosity and pleasure at his relationship is just a projection of my own failures, at his age, with girls?  

The Real Life Version of "The Event"

NBC’s "The Event" Probably Isn't "The Event"

by Richard M. Dolan, Keyhole Publishing

As of this writing, NBC’s new series, The Event, has not aired, although there certainly is a great buzz about the show among people interested in UFOs. 

Even though the four minute trailer doesn’t explicitly mention UFOs or aliens, it’s not hard to imagine that, somehow, these themes are important to the series. The President learns of a deeply secret CIA operation dealing with “others” of some sort who are held in a secure base in Alaska. “So this is true,” he says, “this is all true.” He is brought to their location and meets their “leader.” He is going to hold a major press conference, but there is an attempt on his life. What is happening, according to The Event’s Wikipedia entry, is “the biggest cover-up in U.S. history; a coverup which shapes the very core of mankind as a whole.” 

Makes you wonder, for sure. 

Other bloggers, such as Larry Lowe, have discussed their knowledge that The Event is UFO/ET related. So has Steve Hammons speculated on this likelihood on American Chronicle. I’ve also been quietly told by another researcher involved in exopolitics that this is indeed the case. 

I learned about this show sometime during the summer. At that time, I talked about it with Bryce Zabel, my intrepid co-author of the upcoming A.D. After Disclosure: The People’s Guide to Life After Contact. Bryce and I had spent the spring and summer writing about what the world really will look like following the Disclosure of the UFO/ET reality here on planet Earth. So you can see why we would be especially interested in following this “event” for a major broadcasting network, especially since our own book is complete and due for release in late October. 

With the release of a major television show based, it would seem, on something to do with a significant Earth-changing “event,” I can only reflect on what I think will be the real Earth-changing event. 

That will be the Disclosure -- whether by an American President or some other major public figure -- of the reality of a non-human intelligence interacting with humanity. An intelligence that is connected to the UFO phenomenon, and that is, fundamentally, “not us.” They are “Others.” 

This does not mean they are extraterrestrial, though of course they might be. Perhaps, too, these Others inhabit some other dimension of reality. Or maybe they are humans from another place or time. Or maybe something entirely different, or some combination of possibilities. Dealing with them, trying to understand them, was one of the key issues of our book, but by no means the only one. 

Can INCEPTION Save the Movie Industry?

Friday at 12:01 a.m., the first batch of non-critic moviegoers will see "Inception", Christopher Nolan's new sci-fi existential heist flick.  This week, critics spiralled into an ego war, some lauding the film as a cinematic masterpiece while others decried it as a cinematic con job.  Even now, tempers are flaring with the RottenTomato meter hanging in the balance.  

Meanwhile, industry execs have kept a wary eye on "Inception"'s marketing campaign, and are even more eager to see the film's opening box office numbers.  What has garned all this interest and controversy?  

As many reviews have stated, "Inception" is one of too few original films coming out recently that is not based on any pre-existing property and seems to be marketed mainly for adults.  If you take a moment, most moviegoers would be surprised by just how many "adapted" materials hit the screens nowadays, as opposed to say the 80s or 90s when spec scripts so frequently were bought and produced.  

On top of this, "Inception" has kept many of its main plot points secret, relying on the unusual visuals of its trailers and the star power attached to it to garner audiences interest.  The traditional industry tracking agencies have struggled to track interest in "Inception," somehow unbelievingly ignoring it's trending on Twitter and other social networking sites.  The hype and interest surrounding "Inception" -- from an industry standpoint -- resides in the abysmal box office summer where nearly every film -- regardless of its proven market pre-existing property or star power attached -- has underperformed miserably.  Even "Twilight: Eclipse" saw a 60+% drop-off in tickets its second weekend, spelling doom for the film's box office longevity.  The only films so far to over-perform are children's flicks, which guarantee at least two tickets for every targeted member of the demographic (parents have to accompany their kids).

Old Dogs & New Tricks

Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."

I had lunch with a good friend the other day and the subjects we covered really made an impact on me, as I reflected on them. I had just come from a lesson in using social media, where I’m learning the new technologies that are popular in our culture now, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Smart Phones, I-everythings, etc.

While I’m not a total novice, I do admit that every time a new “thing” comes out, it fills me with dread. I face having to learn it, figure it out, and even understand it. Frankly, I did not “get” Twitter at all until my lessons finally penetrated my middle-aged, failing hard-drive of a brain. And that was also after reading “Twitter for Dummies”--and I’m not kidding.

My friend shared with me that he’d heard that every generation now has a six-year shelf life, meaning that every six years, you will be out-of-date and behind the current level of technology. So, his 10-year-old was losing to a four-year-old. It’s mind-boggling the speed of these changes in all our lives. And our children are growing up in the midst of it, knowing nothing different.

My boys don’t tweet, and aren’t interested. They text non-stop and do it at speeds I can’t even fathom. Where did they learn this? It’s mostly all thumbs vs. traditional typing, though their phones have typing pads that are laid out in the traditional way, albeit just a bit smaller. They don’t bother with voicemail, saying that they see who called with the “missed call” function and therefore don’t bother. It’s the same when I call them. They just tell me they’ll see that I called, so they don’t listen to my messages, which I’ve stopped leaving, as I’ve had to adapt to their ways.

Father's Day Is a Melancholy Day for Me

Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."

Father’s Day for me is now a melancholy experience.  I certainly appreciate the attention that I get from my two boys and my wife.  My younger son tends to make an artistic gift for me, since he’s the artist of the family, while my older one will scribble some sweet sentiments on a piece of scrap or notebook paper, and my wife will usually make me a glorious meal of my choosing. 

While I appreciate all this love showered my way, I also get melancholy over the memory of my late father, who was a wonderful man.  I’ve written about him before, but I want to always keep his memory present in my mind and the minds of my boys.

Writing about my dad for his eulogy was not as difficult as some might think.  My sentiments and praises came easy, just as being such a loving, good man seemed to come easy for him.  He was from that “Greatest Generation” though he didn’t serve in the armed forces during World War II, due to the military deferments because he had just had a son and his particular occupation was much needed on the home front. 

Is Being Right Enough?

Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."

How often have you made a choice, in which you knew that you were right, yet it turned out wrong? If we, as adults and parents, can do this, what can we expect from our children, especially our teens?  

I still can’t get over the fact that human brains don’t fully develop until their early twenties.  I learned this from a lecture by Dr. Bruce Powell, dean of a local private school, and expert on raising teenagers. So, for teens, their judgments, empathy, and other functions, like knowing when to keep their mouths shut, just aren’t present.  Yet, we expect them to often behave as if they were fully adult. 

Knowing our teen’s limitations is the first step in knowing how to be the best parent you can be. Knowing my own failings and character flaws is further awareness for being that good parent that I’m always trying to be and advocate.  In this regard, speaking from experience, letting go of my ego is often the biggest challenge. 

Can Our Teens Deal With Their Raging Hormones?

Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."

Teen energy, angst, and anger manifest itself in so many ways. Every day it seems that we read about some teen that has done something unusually self-destructive, and occasionally destructive to others. Columbine was an extreme example of this.  Many so-called “normal” teens tend to use or abuse the ol’ standbys of drinking, drugs, and sex to handle these emotions and changes.  For my own 16-year-old, his reaction has been mostly anger.  The irony is that I’ve found this to be both good and bad. 

How hormones affect the average teen have been studied and documented, but no one really knows definitively their effect since each teen reacts in different ways.  The same is true for most women’s experience with menopause, as my wife has suffered horribly while for her mother it was a blip on the screen of her mid-life. Will has done a little of the aforementioned “standbys” stated above, to some degree. But he’s done nothing extraordinary, over-the-top, or that different from all teens with the possible exception of his recent angry moods. 

The Best Thing About Getting Older Is...Hmm, I Forgot

Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."

I had lunch with a good friend the other day and the subjects we covered really made an impact on me, as I reflected on them.  I had just come from a lesson in using social media, where I’m learning the new technologies that are popular in our culture now, such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkenin, Smart Phones, I-everythings, etc. 

While I’m not a total novice, I do admit that every time a new “thing” comes out, it fills me with dread. I face having to learn it, figure it out, and even understand it.  Frankly, I did not “get” Twitter at all until my lessons finally penetrated my middle-aged, failing hard-drive of a brain.  And that was also after reading “Twitter for Dummies”--and I’m not kidding. 

My friend shared with me that he’d heard that every generation now has a six-year shelf life, meaning that every six years, you will be out-of-date and behind the current level of technology.  So, his 10-year-old was losing to a four-year-old.  It’s mind-boggling the speed of these changes in all our lives. And our children are growing up in the midst of it, knowing nothing different. 

Sometimes It Really Is a Wonderful World

Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."

Many things struck me on my recent trip to the Canary Islands, Morocco, and Portugal, but the children affected me the most. The more I travel, the more exotic the places, and the more I realize how similar we all are.  And the kids strikingly make that point as their faces so often reflect the joys of life--in spite of whatever hardships their countries may be suffering.  To me, that is the hope for the future when I otherwise occasionally get discouraged by world events. 

 

For instance, we went on a camel caravan in a very remote area, an hour’s drive from Marrekech, Morocco.  The 4-Wheel drive vehicles took us to what literally felt like the middle of nowhere.  We arrived at a small village that looked as if it was built from adobe and seemed in ruins. It was actually home to several families, and we saw some young kids exuberantly playing in the dust and dirt, alongside the various animals running around (chickens, donkeys, turkeys, etc).