#100factsaboutme

For those of you who didn't see me blowing up your Twitter feeds and Facebook walls over the last few weeks, here's a meme that I did.  (Bonus Fact:  The first time I heard the word "meme" was when I read F. Chong Rutherford's script "Meme" on TriggerStreet).

100. Met my future wife on a blind date in January 1987 and got married that October.

99. Majored in TCOM (Film) with minors in Humanities and History at Ball State, so I'm really good at Trivial Pursuit.

98. Made about 30 short films on Super-8 between 1980-1987.

97. The first time I ever heard the term "homeboy" used was via Johnny Depp on 21 Jump Street.

96. I think the best overall dining experience I've had on the planet was at Joseph Decuis. http://www.josephdecuis.com/

95. Married the Valedictorian of Blue River Valley High School Class of 1983.

94. On our honeymoon, we made the mistake of going to see the new Michael Douglas movie--Fatal Attraction.

93. Got married in the Kitselman Center at Ball State University in 1987. #100factsaboutme

92. Had a recurring nightmare all through the 80s (Reagan Era) that a nuclear flash goes off outside my bedroom window.

91. I made an unbreakable vow to call my daughter Sarah every time I hear "Sarah Smile."

90. The first date my wife and I had was at a health food place on the Ball State campus called Kazoo's.

89. Was active in Boy Scouts on into high school. Rat Patrol, represent!

88. My earliest memory in life is my dad riding me around the Ball State Duck Pond on the back of his bike.

87. Have kept a blog detailing my attempts to read 50 books/yr for the last 3 yrs: http://www.onthebookbeat.blogspot.com/

86. Played clarinet in the Anthony Elementary School band (but never learned to read music).

85. The older I get the more I like hotter and rarer food.

84. My favorite article of clothing is the big comfy green sweater my wife knitted me; second, my Carhartt jacket.

83. Somehow developed shellfish/seafood allergies as an adult.

82. Probably my favorite long-running D&D character I gamed was a Fighter/Magic User/Thief half-elf named Pollux.

81. Have had pneumonia twice and still not sure how to spell it.

80. The first book I ever bought for my Kindle was Shepard Rifkiin's "The Murderer Vine."

79. I played outfield and sometimes pitched for the Anthony Aces Elementary School baseball team in Muncie, IN.

78. I think the first time I was in Fangoria Magazine I reached the first pinnacle of my screenwriting career.

77. Screenwriters are in either MovieMagic or Final Draft camps; I use MovieMagic but also think Celtx is pretty good.

76. The first screenplay I got paid to write was the spy thriller "Player in the Game" which never actually got made.

75. I've completed two 24 Hour Comics Day events. http://www.24hourcomicsday.com/

74. Although Dr. Strangelove is my favorite movie ever I bet I have seen When Harry Met Sally more times.

73. That being said, I think my favorite album of all time is Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.

72. When I need creative energy I like to listen to The Fifth Dimension Greatest Hits on Earth and ELO's Out of the Blue.

71. I think my favorite song over the longest time is probably Strawberry Letter 22 by The Brothers Johnson

70. Started my blog on August 19, 2003: http://johnoakdalton.blogspot.com/2003/08/i-have-been-told-for-while-that-i.html

69. I never thought CDs would catch on because they just seemed to me to be little records.

68. I want to go to the Macy’s Parade before I die.

67. Was once very adept at the Video Toaster.

66. If I go to Hell, it’s likely because I stepped in a puddle then cussed in front of a priest on the Notre Dame campus.

65. Probably the most surprising person who ever sent me an email was Michael Tolkin. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866062/

64. Told everybody I voted for Mondale but secretly voted for Reagan.

63. Have never figured out how to blow a bubble with gum.

62. Didn't start liking football until I played the 1983 San Francisco 49ers on the Statis Pro football boardgame.

61. A lot of people don't believe I don't know how to play Solitaire, but I have never been alone long enough to learn.

60. My brother and I stayed up late to watch the start of MTV in 1981. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw6xesXLIAA

59. The first Doctor Who episode I ever saw was "The Androids of Tara" and that was an awful good place to start.

58. Once almost cut the ball of my thumb off opening a can of tuna. 8 stitches closed it up.

57. I was at Six Flags St. Louis the day the gondola crashed in 1978.

56. I think the only comic I still wish I had was a Suicide Squad #1 John Ostrander wrote a personal note to me in.

55. The first DVD I ever owned was "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

54. When I first learned to shave, Aqua Velva was my aftershave of choice.

53. The last time I cried reading a book was Larry McMurtry's Streets of Laredo (though I did have pneumonia at the time).

52. The last time I cried was when I heard Johnny Cash's cover of Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."

51. A bird once pooped on my head when I was riding a bike. What are the odds of that?

50. Given a hard hat as a gift when I left my last job because I had gone several years without being knocked unconscious.

49. Kicked out of AV in high school for drawing (and taping to the wall) a comic strip called “AV in Space.”

48. Had a pet tarantula as a kid.

47. Kept stats for my daughter’s basketball team for six years.

46. Can be heard on DVD commentary tracks for “Among Us” and “Peter Rottentail.”

45. Probably have re-read Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” more than any other novel.

44. Did not learn to type until I took a course in college.

43. Wrote a fan letter to President Jimmy Carter in sixth grade.

42. Earned my first actual paycheck in high school videotaping varsity wrestling matches.

41. The first TV show I ever worked on was camera on "The Phipps Gospel Sing” on WIPB-TV.

40. I was an active member of the Pen Pal Club on PBS' Big Blue Marble throughout the 70s and early 80s.

39. My first car was a 'vette. A 1979 Chevette we bought from my gym teacher. I shared it with my brother.

38. I have never watched the final episode of "The Prisoner" because I never wanted to end.

37. Played a pawn in a human chess game at a Renaissance Festival.

36. The first song I ever called a radio station to request was “Telephone Line” by ELO at 990 WERK in Muncie IN.

35. I have seen a lot of famous people but only asked for one autograph (from Carl Erskine, for my son).

34. My daughter and I were both born at Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie Indiana.

33. Since I didn’t have a bank account as a kid, I used to keep all of my money in a copy of Spillane's “I, the Jury.”

32. I was named Big Brother of the Year for east central Indiana in 1993.

31. I have been active in Big Brothers/Big Sisters more or less continuously since 1987.

30. The first song I played through without getting booed off stage on Guitar Hero was Fascination Street by The Cure.

29. I have had two gold teeth (one of them I finally had to pull).

28. Until my mother retired from hairdressing, nobody else had ever cut my hair.

27. The first D&D module I played was White Plume Mountain.

26. The first movie I watched on HBO was The Last Remake of Beau Geste.

25. For whatever reason the Golden Age Flash has pretty much always been my favorite superhero.

24. Have stood in the DMZ and looked into North Korea.

23. Was in New York to watch a taping of Late Night with David Letterman in 1988.

22. I was brushed with a foul ball and knocked down at a Reds game last season.

21. I was at the first Pacers game ever at Conseco Fieldhouse, with my dad and brother.

20. Stood on the Great Wall of China.

19. Took a square dancing class in college.

18. Wrote the script for, and appeared as a suicidal Nazi, in the direct to DVD "Black Mass."

17. Wore a bigfoot suit in the direct-to-DVD movie "Among Us" which I also wrote.

16. I am mentioned in the acknowledgments for Haven Kimmel's novel "The Used World."

15. In college, I was a DJ for a carrier-current radio station in a dorm at Ball State.

14. Several times I was the guest host for "Now Showing," a movie review show on WIPB-TV.

13. I won a David Letterman Telecommunications Scholarship in 1987.

12. I was Freshman Writer of the Year for the Ball State Daily News in 1985.

11. Characters in the short films "The Hook" and "The B-Team" are named after me.

10. I used to host a public access TV show about comic books in Muncie, Indiana.

9. The first movie I remember seeing was The Barefoot Executive.

8. My first R rated movie was Alien.

7. I was an extra in the movie Hoosiers.

6. I "sang" in a punk band called The Johnnies in high school.

5. M first CD was Pearl Jam Ten.

4. My first cassette was Bryan Adams Cuts Like A Knife.

3. My first 8-track was Wings Greatest Hits.

2. The first .45 was "King Tut."

1. My first concert was Adam Ant, opening act The Romantics.

And Glowed Like Burnin’ Coal

People keep tagging me on these Facebook memes and this one caught my fancy so I thought I would try it.  It is supposed to be a list of the 15 most influential writers in your life, off the top of your head.  Here we go:

1.        E.M. Dalton—my wife has published short fiction and poetry, so how can I not list her as the most influential writer in my life?  We have been together since I was 20 and just celebrated our 23rd Anniversary.  I think it is one of the great injustices of the world that I have been paid more to write piranha and frankenstein and bigfoot movies than she has to write fiction that could influence the human condition.

2.       Robert Heinlein—I am afraid to go back and reread these books but as a kid I read and reread his novels, like Have Spacesuit Will Travel and Rocket Ship Galileo especially.

3.       Mickey Spillane—my fevered teen years were spent discovering these, especially loving My Gun Is Quick and Kiss Me Deadly and Vengeance is Mine.

4.       Joseph Heller—solely based on Catch-22 which I reread often as a teen and probably most influenced my writing now.

5.       Cornell Woolrich—wrote haunting noir like Rendezvous in Black and The Bride Wore Black and was the sole ripoff/influence for my senior Honors Thesis at Ball State University, Deadlines, and my first attempt at an adult short story, Dead Wong.

6.       John Lennon and Paul McCartney—especially Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, Let It Be and Abbey Road.

7.       Chester B. Himes—I found him as an adult and loved his political, allegorical noir and would someday like to write something as good as The Heat's On or The Real Cool Killers.

8.       David Gilmour and Roger Waters—especially Wish You Were Here, Meddle and The Final Cut.

9.       Bob Dylan—especially Blood on the Tracks and The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.

10.   Philip K. Dick—a raging genius who when great is untouchable;  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and A Scanner Darkly and Clans of the Alphane Moon and The Man in the High Castle and Martian Time-Slip just the tip of the iceberg.

11.   Joe Bob Briggs—in the early 80s I saw his funny movie reviews in a college newspaper that we used to  receive in the newsroom when I worked at the Ball State Daily News—I think it was The Daily Texan--and had no idea who he was (for the longest time I thought he was a student—this is before the internet), but immediately tried to emulate his writing style.

12.   Michael Tolkin—when I was trying to learn screenwriting I read a lot of bound screenplays that I checked out from the library, and really was influenced by the commentaries that he included; much later in life I blogged about this and was surprised to get a nice email from Michael Tolkin, and I have never forgotten him reaching out to me.

13.   Samuel R. Delany—I am coming to him later in life but only wish I could write as imaginatively as him;  Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand I think is a great novel that I wish I wrote but Nova ain’t slouching either.

14.   Roger Ebert—when I was a kid I actually thought he was at the local PBS station in Muncie, Indiana; I worked there later and never saw him around.  He is only growing in influence with his writing.

15.   Haven Kimmel—I have to end where I began, with a writer I actually know, my wife’s best friend growing up and the first friend of hers I met when we married.  She is a bestselling author who, strangely and possibly to her own detriment, has always cheered on my humble screenwriting career.

There’s fifteen, and if I did this again tomorrow I might juggle it a bit and include Terrence Rafferty, William Goldman, and Steve Gerber, but this is awful close.

The Changing of Sunlight to Moonlight

I haven't done a meme in a long time; this is one that I did that is popping up all over Facebook like meth labs in the hills of Kentucky. And is about as addictive. So, here's 25 Things About Me:

-I met my wife on a blind date in January 1987 and we were married that October.

-I have been knocked unconscious a lot, including every job I ever had (except the last one, where I passed out, and the current one, which the meter is still running on).

-I was the first person to win a Letterman Scholarship at Ball State for scriptwriting. When I stood up to accept the award, being a young smartass at the time, I thanked the Smith-Corona typewriter company and the creator of White-Out.

-I was given tickets to the Letterman show as part of the scholarship and my wife and I went to see the show in 1988. The studio was smaller than you would think. The guests that night were Isiah Thomas, Chris Elliot and Terrence Trent D'Arby.

-Much to the chagrin of practically everyone I talk to about it, I always read the last chapter of a book before I start it. And no I did not get that idea from Billy Crystal in "When Harry Met Sally."

-I have been involved with Big Brothers/Big Sisters since 1987 and have had three Little Brothers. The one I have now is 13 and the first one I had is now, unbelievably, 34.

-As an adjunct faculty at Ball State University I was the advisor for a student group that produced a minority public affairs program. I am still proud that they named their annual Outstanding Leadership Award after me.

-I was flattered to see that the short films "The Hook" and "The B-Team" both have characters named after me.

-I was the Ball State Daily News Freshman Writer of the Year in 1985. I had not yet learned to type and wrote all my stories in longhand.

-My nickname in high school was "Ace."

-I have never learned to play Solitaire and don't understand a lick of it.

-I also could not blow a bubble with a gun to my head.

-The very first movie I ever remember seeing is "The Barefoot Executive." The first movie I saw when we got HBO as a kid was "The Last Remake of Beau Geste." The first R- rated movie I saw was "Alien."

-My favorite comic book character growing up was, for whatever reason lost in the dustbins of history, the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick. I used to call him "Pot Head Flash" before I knew the subtle connotations there, as he wore a winged Mercury helmet. It is still my favorite superpower.

-When I was a kid, there were three measures of coolness: seeing Star Wars at least 13 times, being able to go see the R rated version of Saturday Night Fever instead of the PG version, and being able to stay up all night watching Sammy Terry. I only could do one of these.

-In general I do not like to watch a movie over again, nor do I like to start watching a movie if I miss the beginning.

-I listen to ELO's "Out of the Blue" and The 5th Dimension "Greatest Hits on Earth" over and over when I need inspiration.

-I have probably read "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller more times than any other book.

-I loved "The Prisoner" TV series so much I never watched the last episode because I never wanted it to end.

-I have walked on the Great Wall of China and stood in Tianenmen Square a year before it took on a new meaning.

-The first record I bought for myself was "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd from a garage sale across the street--it still hand the stickers in it. The first one given to me was a .45 of "King Tut" by Steve Martin by my friend Todd Merickel in 7th grade. The last 8-Track I bought was "Wings Greatest Hits." The first cassette I owned was Tom Petty 'Hard Promises." I played it with the 8-track adapter. The first CD I owned was "Ten" by Pearl Jam.

-To my secret shame, the first rock concert I went to see was Adam Ant, with The Romantics as the opening act, at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

-Like most teenagers in the early 80s, I was briefly in a punk band. It was called The Johnnies.-

-With a friend, I hosted my own cable access show in Muncie, Indiana, called Back Issue. It was about comic book collecting, and we produced around 75 episodes circa 1997-2000.

-I have always drawn my own comics, made my own zines, shot my own movies on Super-8 and video. I now know this is called DIY but we used to call it being a nerd.

Ain't Nothing Like The Sky To Dose A Potion

Some British people selected the top 50 horror films of all time and then some other dudes decided to make a blog meme out of it, showing in bold the ones you HAVEN'T seen. Let's see how much I'm keepin' it real, shall we?

1.The Exorcist. William Friedkin (1973) 2.The Shining. Stanley Kubrick (1980) 3.Alien. Ridley Scott (1979) 4.The Silence of the Lambs. Jonathan Demme (1991) 5.Saw. James Wan (2004)6.Halloween. John Carpenter (1978) 7.A Nightmare on Elm Street. Wes Craven (1984) 8.Ring (Ringu). Hideo Nakata (1998) 9.The Wicker Man. Robin Hardy (1973) 10.The Omen. Richard Donner (1976) 11.The Birds. Alfred Hitchcock (1963) 12.The Thing. John Carpenter (1982)13.Lost Boys. Joel Schumacher (1987) 14.Dawn of the Dead. George A Romero (1978) 15.The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Tobe Hooper (1974) 16.Jaws. Steven Spielberg (1975) 17.The Blair Witch Project. Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez (1999) 18.An American Werewolf in London. John Landis (1981) 19.Se7en. David Fincher (1995) 20.Poltergeist. Tobe Hooper (1982) 21.The Amityville Horror. Stuart Rosenberg (1979) 22.Candyman. Bernard Rose (1992) 23.Scream. Wes Craven (1996) 24.Carrie. Brian De Palma (1976) 25.Friday the 13th. Sean S Cunningham (1980) 26.Final Destination. James Wong (2000) 27.The Evil Dead. Sam Raimi (1981) 28.Hellraiser. Clive Barker (1987) 29.Hostel. Eli Roth (2005) 30.Salem’s Lot. Mikael Salomon (2004) 31.The Descent. Neil Marshall (2005) 32.The Hills Have Eyes. Wes Craven (1977) 33.Wolf Creek. Greg McLean (2005) 34.Misery. Rob Reiner (1991)35.Rosemary’s Baby. Roman Polanski (1968) 36.Child’s Play. Tom Holland (1989) 37.The Orphanage. Juan Antonio Bayona (2008) 38.The Entity. Sidney J Furie (1981)39.Nosferatu. FW Murnau (1922) 40.Night of the Living Dead. George A. Romero (1968)41.House on Haunted Hill. William Malone (2000) 42.The Haunting. Robert Wise (1963) 43.It. Tommy Lee Wallace (1990) 44.Audition. Takashi Miike (1999) 45.The Changeling. Peter Medak (1980) 46.The Mist. Frank Darabont (2008) 47.Suspiria. Dario Argento (1977)48.The Vanishing. George Sluizer (1993) 49.Shutter. Masayuki Ochiai (2008) 50.Planet Terror. Robert Rodriguez (2007)

Like any list, I don't totally agree with this--it leans a bit heavily on newer films, and makes only token nods to some great foreign genres--but I did better than I thought. No doubt there is some flat-out scary stuff in the first dozen or so. And respect for including Hoosier director Robert Wise!

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

I'll Play The Radio On Southern Stations

Generally I try to reserve the summer months to write a spec script that is exactly something I want to read. Thus, all of them are comfortably gathering cyber-dust, but I am glad I wrote them.

Last year I was too busy writing or rewriting seven screenplays for four different producers and in 2006 I took the summer off, but before that I think the last one I did was TIMON OF ATHENS, my modern dress, original prose version of Shakespeare's most broken play, which after patching up a b-movie script or two I thought I might be up to the task for. Loyal readers know that after a thunderous silence I recently released my version of TIMON OF ATHENS under a Creative Commons license at this very site, hoping it will find a home.

So when I started thinking about this summer's script, well into June now, I thought I might write this year's spec for Creative Commons, and go one better and write it on the Celtx 1.0 platform. People are always asking me about Celtx because it is a free open source software for screenwriting (and some other things). As far as I know, the world is split between Movie Magic Screenwriter and Final Draft; I happen to be a MM guy because the first person I sold a script to had it and loaned me a license during the project, so I pretty much had to learn it. When I got paid, I bought it for myself. But I know just as many people love Final Draft and I know it works fine. And those two are pretty much the industry standards.

But this Celtx looks pretty interesting, so I downloaded and started playing with its features. Now I just have to think of what to write. But when it's done, it will be posted free under a Creative Commons license on an open source software. Pretty interesting to think about, eh?

I always compose a "Secret Soundtrack" of songs that help get my juices flowing. That dovetails nicely, I think, to this Seven Songs meme I poached from Warren Ellis:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs.

Warren Ellis is much cooler than me and if I actually listened to any of his song choices my head would probably explode, as I live in a humble rural area of America's Heartland. Thankfully I do have a kid in college home for the summer who happens to be blasting music out of her room all of the time, so some of the more hipster choices of America's youth have filtered into my subconscious, basically frozen musically around 1983. But these are a couple of songs that are getting my juices flowing for writing this summer:

1. WELCOME TO THE BLACK PARADE by My Chemical Romance. Gives me chills. And read THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY too.

2. GOLD DIGGER by Kanye West. Reminds me of those fun, clever raps of the early 90s.

3. FLAGPOLE SITTER by Harvey Danger. I want to publish zines, and rage against machines.

4. CLUMSY by Fergie. I know this goes against my very nature, but somehow I like the 30s-style men's chorus coupled with the 80s-Pong sound FX.

5. MERCY by Duffy. Retro-cool, kinda goes without saying.

6. CRAZY by Gnarls Barkley. This dude knows what he's talking about.

6. I WILL FOLLOW YOU INTO THE DARK by Death Cab for Cutie. Takes me back to the early 80s New Wave. Also, my daughter just got back from the concert and keeps playing it over and over.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Top of the World

Smells as Sweet

I don't do a lot of memes on my blog anymore, but sometimes one really strikes my fancy:

1. YOUR SPY NAME (middle name and current street name)
Oak Lone Oak. True!

2.YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME (grandfather/grandmother on your mom's side and your favorite candy):
Vermont York. OK.

3. YOUR RAP NAME (first initial of first name and first three or four letters of your last name):
J-Dalt. Yeah, 'bout right.

4. YOUR GAMER TAG (a favorite color, a favorite animal)
Blue Kitten. Don't understand this one, must be too old.

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (Mom's/Dad's middle name, and city you were born in):
John Muncie. Funny.

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first three letters of your last name, last three letters of mother's maiden name, first three letters of your most recent pet's name)
Dalamspan. Good one.

7. JEDI NAME (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards):
Koa Smillaiw. Even better.

8. PORN STAR NAME (first pet's name, the street you grew up on):
Daisy Colson. Kind of limits the kind of parts I could take, unfortunately.

9. SUPERHERO NAME ("The", the color of shirt you're wearing and the automobile your mom drives):
Orange Olds. Not too inspiring.

10. YOUR ACTION HERO NAME (first name of the main character in the last film you watched, last food you ate):
Jaguar Ribeye. Kinda cool.

Not sure this one worked out the best for me, but there it is. Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

...and Tom Cruise as John Oak Dalton

I haven't done a meme in a while, but this one, from comic book scribe Will Pfeiffer, cracked me the hell up. The important thing is not to cheat and make yourself seem cooler. With my MP3 player, not a problem.

Got this meme from my old pal Nik Dirga (now living in New Zealand, but still posting at his pop culture blog, Spatula Forum). It's called "If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?," and here's how it works:

1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5 . When you go to a new question, press the next button 6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.

Opening credits: "Magic Man," Heart

Waking up: "Operator," Jim Croce.

First day of school: "Shining Star," Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Falling in love: "Little Less Conversation," Elvis Presley (remix).

First love song: "Please Come to Boston," Dave Loggins.

Breaking up: "Lost Without Your Love," Bread.

Prom: "Dancing Shoes," Nigel Olsson.

Mental Breakdown: "Solitary Man," Neil Diamond.

Driving: "Hello, Darling," Conway Twitty.

Flashback: "Let's Get It On," Marvin Gaye.

Getting back together: "Domino," Van Morrison.

Wedding: "Who's That Lady," The Isley Brothers.

Birth of Child: "Spiders and Snakes," Jim Stafford.

Final Battle: "Treat Her Like A Lady," Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose.

Death Scene: "Shelter from the Storm," Bob Dylan.

Funeral song: "Tangled Up In Blue," Bob Dylan.

End Credits: "Kiss An Angel Good Morning, " Charley Pride.

Reading back, it looks like I cheated, but I didn't. It's like playing "Dark Side of the Moon" and watching "The Wizard of Oz." It's just funny what happens. Try it and see!

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Turn the Page

I haven't done a meme in a long while, but this one on pal Chris Hardie's blog struck my fancy, with answers off of the top of my head:


1. One book that changed your life?
Feature Film-making at Used Car Prices by Rick Schmidt.


2. One book you have read more than once?
For a while I used to re-read Joseph Heller's Catch-22 every year.


3. One book you would want on a desert island?
D&D 3rd Edition DM's Guide.


4. One book that made you laugh?
Candide by Voltaire.


5. One book that made you cry?
Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry.


6. One book you wish had been written?
One more Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones book from Chester B. Himes.


7. One book you wish had never had been written?
Mein Kampf by Adolph Hitler.


8. One book you are currently reading?
Michael Connelly's Echo Park; I've been hooked on his Harry Bosch mysteries for a while.


9. One book you have been meaning to read?
My Life by Bill Clinton.


Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Holla Back

My pal Tom Cherry has a nice write-up of the "Postcard from Farmland" video here.

I haven't done a meme for a while, but I found one I liked at writer Paul Guyot's site. Here it is, with answers off of the top of my head:

1 - Imagine it’s 2015. You are visiting the library at a major research university. You go over to a computer terminal (or whatever it is they use in 2015) that gives you immediate access to any book or journal article on any topic you want. What do you look up? In other words, what do you hope somebody will have written in the meantime?
Hopefully my tell-all biography.

2 - What is the strangest thing you’ve ever heard or seen at a conference? No names, please. Double credit if you were directly affected. Triple if you then said or did something equally weird.
One time I was at a conference at Notre Dame and I tripped on the sidewalk, messing up my dress pants. I let loose a cloud of invective and stood up to find myself face to face with a priest. Triple points, and another lap in the Lake of Fire!

3 - Name a writer, scholar, or otherwise worthy person you admire so much that meeting him or her would probably reduce you to awestruck silence.
I don't get starstruck, but maybe Bill Clinton. If my wife was not with me, that is.

4 - What are two or three blogs or other Web sites you often read that don’t seem to be on many people’s radar?
I don't know what's on people's radar, but a few blogs new to me that I have been reading lately and haven't yet added to my sidebar include:

http://www.unmediated.org/

http://scribblefaster.blog-city.com/

http://www.podcastalley.com/

Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

I Was Made to Love Magic

Here's this week FridayFive, from the blogisphere phenom Fridayfive.org.

When was the last time you...

1. ...went to the doctor? The summer before last, when I started getting sick right before I went to Panama City, Florida, as I didn't want to go for a two-week vacation and be sick the whole time.

2. ...went to the dentist? I went for a cleaning sometime in the last eighteen months or so, not sure.

3. ...filled your gas tank? A week ago Thursday, as I was going to Indianapolis the next day to the Madame Walker theater for a jazz show. I have a 02 Windstar that usually needs tanking up every ten days or so.

4. ...got enough sleep? I had a migraine Sunday night so I went to bed about 8:30 p.m. and slept until about 6 a.m. the following morning.

5. ...backed up your computer? About two weeks ago, since we just had a monumental crash. Nobody does back ups until they have a big crash, I've noticed.

Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Standing in the Shadows of Love

Here's the latest from FridayFive, a website (see sidebar at the left) that is popular in the Blogisphere. I've kept doing it because some readers of my humble blog have been writing me and telling me their answers, and glimpses into the psyche of said readers is always interesting.

At this moment, what is your favorite...

1. ...song? "Bernadette" by The Four Tops

2. ...food? Pork BBQ

3. ...tv show? "The Apprentice."

4. ...scent? Nomad, my aftershave. It goes with my rugged, individualistic, manly, nomadic personality.

5. ...quote? "I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,/ And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,/ And in short, I was afraid." --T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.


Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

I thought I would try this FridayFive blog phenomenon and see what I think (you can follow the link to your left). Here's this week's entry:

Answer the following five questions in your weblog or journal. Make sure you leave a comment here with a link to your post (or just leave your answers in the comments section here).

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?

God, no, but it's all relative. When I lived in Minnesota, two feet of snow and subzero temperatures would be a lovely spring day. Indiana weather ain't great in the winter, but it's not that bad. But when I visited San Jose or Orlando in the winter, then yeah, it seemed bad. But at least we have more seasons than "rain" and "sun."

2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?

My extended family, in a cabin in the woods. A convenient BBQ place or a bar nearby would also be nice.

3. Do you do have any holiday traditions?

I have to go downstairs first to prepare to take pictures of the kids coming down and showing their mock surprise, as they usually have already sniffed out all of their presents.

4. Do you do anything to help the needy?
I have worked with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of East Central Indiana for quite a few years and helped out at the recent Christmas party. It is a great organization.


5. What one gift would you like for yourself?
Honestly the first thing that came to mind was a new six-foot fiberglass ladder.


Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.