When Doubts Assail, Be A Bilbo!

This is a wonderful post about dealing with doubts in terms of Bilbo Baggins!

E.E. Rawls Writes

Bilbo the Hobbit was a practical and steady character, who never let a situation get the better of his emotions. When we face and battle doubts, perhaps we should do what practical Bilbo would. Doubts might assail us left and right, whether it be concerning a project we’re working on, or a goal we hope to succeed in, but it’s what we do when we face such doubts that counts.
(below quotes are Bilbo’s)

We work on that project, that goal, that thing we’ve put so much sweat, blood and tears into, and once it’s near completion, we give the result a worthy name…

“I will give you a name,” Bilbo said to it, “and I shall call you Sting.”

I named my project (a novel) Strayborn. What name have you given your project or goal? Once it’s named, maybe you’ll give yourself a new and fitting title that goes well with the work you do. Bilbo titled himself as:

“I came from the end…

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Neil Gaiman’s The View From The Cheap Seats: An Early Recommendation

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org)

I do not usually recommend books before I finish them, but I will make an exception now. I have begun reading The View From the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman, and I am taken with it. In this book, Gaiman discusses a variety of topics, including books, reading, and writing, and he does it with great perspective, wit, and insight.

Here are a couple of selected quotations from this book:

 

“We writers–and especially writers for children, but all writers–have an obligation to our readers: it’s the obligation to write true things, especially important when we are creating tales of people who do not exist in places that never were–to understand that truth is not in what happens but in what it tells us about who we are. Fiction is the lie that tells the truth, after all.” (13)

“Albert Einstein was asked once how we could make our children intelligent. His reply was both simple and wise. ‘If you want your children to be intelligent,’ he said, ‘read them fairy tales. It you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.'” (15)

 

As I said, I have barely begun this book, but I am thoroughly enjoying it, and I recommend it highly. Read his book to explore a great writer’s thoughts on writing, books, fantasy, and more.

 

(https://pixabay.com)

Favorite Horror Films of the 1950s: Horror of Dracula

This post takes my series on horror films into the 1950s.

charles french words reading and writing

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/)

I am returning to my series of examinations of horror movies through various decades.  After the great horror  cycle of movies from Universal Studios in the 1930s and 1940s culminating in the Abbott and Costello spoofs, serious horror movies vanished for a period. They were replaced by the spate of giant critter movies spawned by the fears of nuclear fallout post World War Two and the ominous threat of nuclear armageddon of the Cold War.

(https://en.wikipedia.org)

In 1958, Hammer Studios, a British film company initiated a new cycle of horror films with the release of Horror of Dracula (the American title) or Dracula (the British title).  This film not only allowed this film studio to emerge as a major force in horror films, but also it spawned a new cycle in horror that would span nearly two decades. The film starred Sir Christopher Lee as Dracula, Peter Cushing as…

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day of remembrance

This is an excellent post that needs to be read about Memorial Day.

spearfruit

Today is Monday and a national holiday here in the United States.  We celebrate Memorial Day today to honor those that have died while in service fighting in any war.

Image Provided by: http://www.forbes.com

But as usual, with most holidays, we decide to celebrate it for something else.  Memorial Day is now celebrated as the unofficial start of summer, picnics and camping season.

Image Provided by: keystonerv.com

From Keystone RV Company website article ‘Why You Should Never Wish Someone a “Happy Memorial Day”’ –

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day as a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America.  Since Memorial Day honors those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation you should not wish someone a “Happy Memorial Day.”

The above-mentioned article has ‘11 Facts You Didn’t Know about Memorial Day’ – click the link…

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Honoring Memorial Day

Please honor those who served and fell this Memorial Day.

charles french words reading and writing

(https://pixabay.com)

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend, but I also hope you remember why this holiday exists.  The word “holiday” comes from “holy day,” and the remembrance of this day and its purpose should be sacred. It was originally known as Decoration Day after the end of the Civil War, and it was designated Memorial Day in the 20th Century.

This day is intended to honor, give thanks, and remember those who have sacrificed their lives for The United States of America.  Please honor the fallen and the wounded on this day.  I realize the day was meant originally for the dead, but I extend my wishes and  thanks to the wounded also. Regardless of political beliefs or stands on a war, these are the men and women who fought to keep us safe, and they deserve our remembrance.

They deserve our thanks and our honor.

Please…

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Quotations on Patriotism

(https://pixabay.com)

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”

                                                                    Theodore Roosevelt

 

(https://pixabay.com)

“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it.”

                                                                     Mark Twain

 

https://pixabay.com)

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

                                                                     John. F. Kennedy

WHAT MAKES BAD WRITING BAD

This post is an excellent piece on writing.

Pen & Paper

Virginia Woolf: “The psychic risk of a novel such as Woolf’s The Waves is vast – particularly for someone for whom psychic risk was so potentially debilitating.”  This article is Written by Toby Litt who is a London-based writer. Hospital, his latest novel, is published by Hamish Hamilton. ( A reblog from 2015)

Bad writing is mainly boring writing. It can be boring because it is too confused or too logical, or boring because it is hysterical or lethargic, or boring because nothing really happens. If I give you a 400 page manuscript of an unpublished novel – something that I consider to be badly written – you may read it to the end, but you will suffer as you do.

It’s possible that you’ve never had to read 80,000 words of bad writing. The friend of a friend’s novel. I have. On numerous occasions. If you ask…

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Favorite Horror Films of the 1940s: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

(https://en.wikipedia.org)

This film might seem like an unusual choice for my series on horror films, especially since it is primarily a comedy, but I do have a fond place for this movie in my heart for several reasons.

As a youngster, I loved the hosted horror films shows that often appeared on Saturday afternoon, and I saw most of the Universal Studios horror films on those shows.  Also, I heard several times from my parents that they saw this movie when they were on their honeymoon in Washington, D.C.  Additionally, it is an extremely funny movie.

(https://commons.wikimedia.org)

This film, made in 1948, was the completion of the Universal classic horror movie cycle, and it included the big three monsters of the Universal pantheon: The Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, and the Wolfman.  One of the signals of the end of a film genre cycle is when it reaches parody, and this film qualifies.  Horror very often is a reflection of the concerns of the larger world, and with World War Two completed, the fears of the world had changed and would be seen more in new science fiction films. (I examine some of these movies in my series on Science-Fiction films.)

(https://en.wikipedia.org)

The premise is silly and features Dracula attempting to revive the Frankenstein Creature, and Larry Talbot, the wolfman, trying to find a cure for his lycanthropic infection. I should add that this is one of the finest performances by Lon Chaney Jr. despite the comedic tone of the movie.  Of course, Abbott and Costello are brilliant in their comedic routines. This movie never fails to make me laugh, no matter how many times I have seen it. Bela Lugosi plays Dracula for the last time, and Glenn Strange takes his turn as the Creature.

(https://ils.unc.edu/dpr/path/horrorfilms)

If you have not seen this movie and you enjoy the classic Universal Studios horror films and you love slapstick 1940s comedy, then you should watch it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

 

 

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Glass Footsteps

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Shadow of the Wind

This is a wonderful review of an extraordinary book!

Green Life Blue Water

“This is a place of mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.”
Carlos Ruiz Zafón – Shadow of the Wind

I don’t really like subjecting books to a rating system as I think it seeks to make banal and categorical that which is confounding and elusive. Life is a participatory endeavor, not something that can be put on a shelf with a descriptive label, and literature, especially exceptional literature, not only mimics the truisms in life, but often shows us the way of it, helping us to sort out our feelings in a manner that the heat of the…

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