Several of the other blogs I check out are on Blogger, so I have a profile there. I didn’t bother to answer their Info questions, but thought I would bring them, and my answers over here:
Interests: My interests are wide and varied; I like music, movies, books, cooking, and eating. However, my wife would tell you that my passions are my family; Middle Earth; Rush; and my imaginary friends Owen and Samwise.
Favorite Movies: Man, is this difficult. I like lots of movies. Although I tend to prefer comedies I like all kinds of movies, from dramas like American Beauty and The Usual Suspects to adventures like the Indiana Jones movies or the Jason Bourne series to fantasies like Back to the Future and Dragonslayer to animations like Toy Story and Shrek to sports movies like Hoosiers and A League of Their Own to science fiction like the Matrix and Twelve Monkeys to musicals like Paint Your Wagon and Brother Where Art Thou to quirky things like Momento and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Some movies that deserve special mention: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – one of the great bonding experiences I had with my Dad was watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid; Field of Dreams – maybe the only movie experience that is better than the book; The Princess Bride – this one is just as good as the book, but in movie form; Across the Universe – great music from the Beattles performed by great artists and in an interesting story line; the original Longest Yard – another bond with my dad movie; Bull Durham – THE baseball movie. I have to mention The Lord of the Rings movies, but to be honest it’s hard for me to be objective about them. They are really great movies, however, it’s sort of like if someone made a movie of my life; no matter how good it is, it wouldn’t ever be “right.” As good as the movies are, there is just too much about them that isn’t “right”.
Favorite Music: I like lots of music. Big, big Rush fan and typically I’ll gravitate to loud drums and quitars with complicated beats. But I like many, many other styles as well – lately I’ve been listening to the gospel group Take Six. It’ll be much easier to say what I don’t like: anything country. I just don’t understand country music’s appeal. And rap. Rap isn’t really music, is it?
Favorite Books: The Lord of the Rings will always be at the top of my book lists. I still read it every couple of years. My favorite author is John Irving: I enjoy just about anything he writes. Recognizing that even in his library there are going to be some that are better than others, I would put A Prayer for Owen Meany and Cider House Rules at 
the top. There are so many good books: Memoirs of An Invisible Man by H. F. Saint; Boys Life by Robert McCammon (“this one’s for the boys!”); Glory Road, Stranger in a Strange Land and Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein; Pastwatch, The Lost Boys and Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card; Stephen King’s Dark Tower series; Jack Finney’s Time and Again and From Time to Time; Weaveworld, Geek Love; many of Ken Follet’s books; Einstein’s Dreams; Anatomy of a Murder; Burden of Proof and Pleading Guilty by Scott Turow; John Varley’s Gaen Trilogy; The Princess Bride, Magic, Ragtime, The Dragon Riders of Pern, Bid Time Return (better known by it’s movie title: Somewhere in Time); can’t forget Harry Potter!; Bill Pullman’s Amber Spyglass; The Time Travelers Wife, etc, etc, etc… My book list could go on and on forever and ever.
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Several years ago American Express ran a series of tv and print ads with the tag line “My Life, My Card.” The ads featured well known personalities giving responses to what are, in theory, introspective questions about their lives. So, for the “About Me” section of the blog I’ve stolen their questions and answered them:
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| Childhood ambition | to be just like my Dad |
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| Fondest Memory | playing ball in High School |
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| Soundtrack | Rush |
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| Retreat | Middle Earth |
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| Wildest dream | Time Travel |
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| Proudest moment | probably still to come |
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| Biggest challenge | conquering my own internal demons |
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| Alarm clock | is usually unnecessary, there just in case |
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| Perfect day | guitars, books, physical exertion, and good food |
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| First job | cutting asparagus |
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| Indulgence | the Geddy Lee Fender Jazz bass |
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| Last purchase | a high quality travel bag |
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| Favorite movie | there is no way I could pick just one |
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| Inspiration | my wife |
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| My Life | is very good |
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now, my question for you is that since your wildest dream is time travel, what would you do with that power? when would you go back to, and what would you do?
What makes you think I would go back? Perhaps I’d go forward!
Initially I’ve thought of the idea as just a great opportunity to observe: just to see the Chigaco fire or the San Francisco Earthqauke, to be there when Columbus realizes he isn’t in India, or check out whatever it was that inspired the King Arthur legends. Or even to see geological events: the forming of the mountains or the carving of the Grand Canyon. Or the actual formation of the earth, moon and solar system.
And the people: I’d like to observe Tolkien as he tries to get the story of middle earth down, or Abraham Lincoln as he makes those tough political decisions. Wouldn’t it be cool to see Jesus actually alive and walking around, or even futher back to Moses and the Pharohs?
The observational opportunities would be incredible…
As to what I would do… excellent question! Do you think that if I went back I could change anything, or is everything the way it is and can’t be changed – if I am to have gone back, then in the past I already have and whatever happened has already happened even though I won’t do it until sometime in the future. If I can change things, how would we know – would the future we’re in now be obliterated and some other future take it’s place – and then could I get back to where I started or would it cease to be?
I have a book that explores the idea of waking up one morning and being yourself 20 or 30 years ago and then having to live your life over again. That idea has stuck with me – if I woke up tomorrow and was 18 again I would probably head right out to Toronto and hook up with a couple of kids putting a band together….
If you go back in history, then please come forward and tell us what REALLY happened 🙂
I also am a John Irving fan Craig. In a college course I had, I was introduced to him by an instructor who required us all to read ‘A Prayer for Owen Meany,” and it is one of my all time favorites. It is rare I encounter another who has also read it, so I got a kick out of seeing it on your list. Didn’t care for the movie adaptation though – as is usually the case. Did you ever read The Grapes of Wrath? That is mesmerizing too. I think you’d like it if you haven’t yet read it..
I should clarify that in college I wasn’t actually introduced to him, but to his work. The instructor had met him personally, and she idolized him. I liked The World According to Garp too. : )
Robert – “A Prayer for Owen Meany” is also my favorite Irving book. I used to use it a lot in teaching lessons on faith, as Owen says, “FAITH TAKES PRACTICE.” The movie adaptation really was bad, so bad in fact, that Irving withdrew from the project and made them change the name. I was glad he kept control and stayed with the movie version of “Cider House Rules” – and won an Acadamy award for his work on that screenplay. It seems like I read “Grapes of Wrath” in high school – I barely remember it, and what I remember is that I thought is was depressing. That was probably because I was so young… or maybe it was depressing – just as some of Irving’s work could be considered depressing. I’ll have to read “The Grapes of Wrath” again.
It was depressing. It had a devastating ending. Apparently, audiences hated the ending to the movie adaptation with Henry Fonda so much they reshot it to have a happy ending. But it was uniquely written, and gripping. Like the movie version of Titanic, it was a story set against real events. I read it in two or three nights as I couldn’t put it down. : )
I liked Cider House Rules too. I liked the movie based on it as well.
It’s funny that I don’t remember the ending – just that the book was so depressing. It’s hard to imagine, because I most always finish books I start, but maybe I didn’t finish it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the movie. Often I enjoy tragedies, but there was just something about “The Grapes of Wrath” that didn’t connect – probably because I was so much younger. I’ll read it again soon.