Inside the Brain of E.C. Henry

The Constant Strive for Perfection

I don't know you can not watch Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors play, and not love him.  This is one of the smallest guys on the court, but he is a deadly accurate shooter, and very skilled ball handler.  I know the best NBA player of all-time is Michael Jordan.  His greatness will never be eclipsed, sorry LeBron.  But right now there is no other player in the NBA I'd rather watch than Stephen Curry.  It's like when he shoots the ball, it's going in, even from long, long range.   He's perfect.  The perfect shooter.  

The strive for perfection.  Some people have it, some people don't give a shit about it.  Take me & my brother, Derek.  Me, I want nice things.  My brother, could care less.  My brother is loved by everybody he ever meets.  Me, I'm an asshole that everyone hates usually at first sight, but for some people who start off giving me the benefit of the doubt it takes a little longer.  I'm the perfectionist.  My brother is the loveable slob.  Maybe perfection isn't all it's cracked up to be.  And some people like Jordan, Stephen Curry, and LeBron James make it look so easy.  Why I can still remember an NBA came where Michael Jordan actually closed his eyes when he was shooting a freethrow.  

I la-ove the Oscars. I get so hyper-inspired by watching them, there aren't words to say.  To me the Oscars mean the best of the best.  People like me--only people who are recognized for their work which is something I have yet to acheive.  BUT, the Oscar feed that inner desire within me to do my best.  

So what is my best.  Well, I'm constantly striving for that.  Don't think I'm the best writer in the world, but I do try.  Sometimes I just shake my head at myself and I just gotta laugh.  The prolog for my epic fantasy novel started out at like 26 pages, it's now up to nearly 60.  But that's what the constant strive for perfection does to works of art, it lenghens them and adds depth.  

I can spend hours on one single paragraph.  Tweeking it.  Re-listening to in.  Then tweeking it again.  In all honesty, writing is a grind--even when you love the subject matter in which you are writing.  And I do love what I'm writing, I guess I'm just too experimental and slow witted.  Really, I'm quite the dipshit.  

But sometimes even dipshits can strive for some misguided form of perfection.  Who knows, maybe someday I'll even be done.  (Just don't hold your breath it won't be anytime soon concerning this epic fantasy novel)

Lots of fun distractions these days too to occupy myself with.  Have done a lot of work on the home improvement front.  Finished building that bin in the garage to hold wood.  Got the garage in a managable form of organizaion.  And I even cut up that fallen tree in our septic field and got most of the wood stacked in that wood bin I built.  So proudly I attest that work IS being done to transform my parent's 5 acres from a dilapetated state, to something nice.  And even my unkept brother who has heart issues is trying to help out a little.  

Got my tax refund back, but can't cash the check yet till I check with the IRS.  This year I tried using an IRS sposored e-file, thought drinking beer would make the process more enjoyable, but in doing so I fucked-up and didn't clock in the jury duty money I earned in 2015.  Sooo... I had to mail in an ammended tax form siting the correct amout I was due back.  But when I got the check from the IRS, I found they gave me the higher amount of the e-filie, instead of the ammended form I sent in to them.  Not sure if I should cash this check, or if they intend to send a 2nd check for the right ammount.  Gotta call the IRS tomorrow and TRY to get some answers.  

So what's on the docket for the next week?  Well-p gotta clean my room, and finish splitting and stacking some wood I cut up in the forest. I'm finding out that running a chainsaw is good workout that gets me tired pretty quick.  Gotta be careful with that too, running a chainshaw is very dangerous.  Also I need to finish digging out the stump of the fallen tree I cut up in our septic field.  BYW: in rural location the "septic field" is the area where your septic tanks are burried.  It takes all the waste water from your house, and in the event it gets plugged up or goes bad it MAY need to be dug up.  Hence, you don't plant trees in your septic field.  Anywho...

Chris Rock did an OUTSTANDING job hosting the 2016 Oscars.  I really liked his opening monolog and liked what he had to say.  Chris Rock is an awesome speaker, funny too.  I hope he gets to host the show again, because of all the Oscar telecast I've can remember watching, he was the best host--by far!  The worst would probably be Ellen DeGeneris.  You'd think that she would have been the best, but that year she was snapping off pictures of herself with Hollywood stars in the midsn't of the telecast was really off-setting to me.  That, and the fact that she's a reknown comedian who wasn't funny at all when she was hosting the Osars, imo.  

After watching the 2016 Oscars probably the biggest shock to me was how many Oscars "The Fury Road" won.  Even after seeing "Spotlight" with the Oscar for best picture I STILL have no intention of ever watching it; being a Christian I just don't like the subject matter of trying to expose priests' infedelities in film  Is that an important news item?  You bet!  But to watch a film about that...  Not for for me.  Not ever.  Kinda just like "Room": the story about a woman and her son's escape from being held captive against their will.  Remember that story from a suburb in Clevleland, right?  Again, an important NEWS story, just not something I wanna see for 1-1/2 to 2 hours played out on the silver screen.  

Though writing is grind for me, I love doing it.  I think I'm very good story teller, it just takes me a while to get there.  I'm a grinder.  Always have been.  I've always been that kind of guy who wanted to be good, but never really was.  NEVER good at sports.  NEVER good with people.  Seldom good around the house.  Kind of an asshole, but a self-realized asshole if that makes any difference to you.

Gosh, I do want to work with Judd Apatow.  Gosh, I do want to work with Alejandro Innaritu.  The Oscars will always get dreamers like me to dream.  Dream, and strive for perfection--like Stephen Curry.

2016 Oscars E.C. Henry Style

Ever since I started writing, feature length movie scripts I've had an affinity for the Oscars.  Some years watching the show I could feel my heart burning with longing, as the people up for awards were my heros that I wanted to work with--with them being involved with the production of movies based off MY scripts.

But over the years some of the award categories were EXTREAMLY B-O-R-I-N-G!!  Like best short film, best animated sort, ANY best forein anything film.  Snore, who cares.  But best film, best orignial screenplay, best adapated screenplay, best director, best actor and actress--MUST watches.  Still are... But this year the Oscar really lack luster.  What I mean by that are people that I'm rooting for.  Movies that moved me and I want them to be honored.  Last year, I fell in love with "Birdman" JUST before the Oscar cerimony.  This year, I think the best two movies I saw were: "Inside Out" and "The Duff".  Sure I liked the new "Star Wars" movie BUT I didn't LA-OVE  it, and years from now I won't remember that movie as being iconic.  I really liked "The Hateful Eight", but it was just too bloody and disgusting in spots for me to gush over it.  Best action picture of the year was "The Fury Road", BUT this movie really suffered with it's lack of engaging heros or bad guys.  Rather you're just left to root for that bazerker turned good guy who falls in love with one of the girls that Mad Max is rescueing.  

And now this year there's the undercurrent of "lack of diversity" in the Oscars.  To be honest I really don't understand this beef, and on the surface lever that I precieve it I see it as whining by people jealous by other people's success.  C'mon, this 2016, NOT 1963 in deepest, darkest Missippi.  And with the laud that Ang Lee got a few years ago for "The Life of Pi", and Tyler Perry making films right and left, isn't racism dead?  I just don't buy that there's real injustice here.  Just jealous people who didn't make great enough art to get recognized.  

Sigh.

So this year, I'd like to hand out my own Oscars to people that I think deserve in movies that I saw.  Can't be interesting enough to get me to go see your movie.  Sorry Charlie, you'll get no Oscar love from me.  So without further ado, here's the categories that I feel like belong out there for this year's crop, along with the winners and worthy runner-ups. 

2016 E.C. Oscar for Best Break-out Performer in the Movies. Winner: Amy Schumer.  Now I know NOW that Amy had a comedy show for a couple years before this year, but I didn't know who she was untill I acted on my curiosity and checked out her Comedy Network show, "Inside Amy Schumer" for myself.  Now, she out partying with Jennifer Lawrence and writing a script with her.  WOW!  Breakout, indeed!  

2016 E.C. Oscar for Best Use of Music in the Movies.  Winner: Quentin Tarantino and composer Ennio Morricone in "The Hateful Eight".  I really like the background music that Quentin used in this film, especially early on when the stagecoach is making its way through the snow-covered roads in the mountains.  Very good showmanship by director and composer here.  

2016 E.C. Oscar for Best Ensamble Cast in a Movie.  Winner: Trainwreck--in a landslide!  LeBron James, Tilda Swinton, Brie Larson, exc.  WOW!  Judd Apatow has a knack for putting lots of interesting characters in his movies and making even people who have minor roles in his films stars.

2016 E.C. Oscar for Best Theme or Message in a Movie.  Winner: "Inside Out".  Justification: A movie that helps a young, maturing girl in her early teens deal with a devistaing movie across country.  After watching this movie with my 7-year-old nephew, he totally got the message, was entertained and learned something at the same time. A marvelous feat for a movie to be able to pull off.  A movie worthy of this E.C. Oscar.   

2016 E.C. Oscar for Best Celebrity in the U.S.  Winner: Taylor Swift.  HUGE Taylor Swift fan.  Whenever I see her my heart swoons for the person she could be (the next great rom-com queen).  But even apart from that in 2015 we saw Taylor repeatedly being kind to the less fortunate, and even opening up her own mother's cancer scare to draw awareness to the early testing.  And then there's her and Kanye West.  Her and her beau, Calvin Harris.  In this crazy age we live in, I kinda like watching Taylor Swift do her thing, and just be an outstanding celbrity.

2016 E.C. Oscar for Most Daring Filmmaker.  Winner: Alexadro Innaritu.  This guy went from the drama, "Birdman" to going out in the freezing cold woods to make "The Revenant".  THIS guy is not complacenet.  He doesn't just stick with what's worked before.  He challenges himself, and proves that's he's not a one-trick pony.

2016 E.C. Oscar for Best Director of a movie.  Winner: Judd Apatow.  This guy took Amy Schumer's script and made it sing.  One of my biggest gripes with Judd's moives over the years was their endings.  Well, the ending of "Trainwreck" IS the PERFECT way to end a rom-com.  Have the leads made a confession of love, then make-out, then roll end credits.  Boom!  That's how it should be done, perfect.  And since Judd showed me something, that he's gown as filmmaker and knows how to end a film well, he wins the Oscar.  Truth be told when I saw "Trainwreck" for the 1st time, I left the theatre crying.  Why?  Because I wanted to be the one who gave Judd the script which had an ending like "Trainwreck" had.  But that damn, Amy Schumer beat me to the punch!  

2016 E.C. Oscar for Best Supporting Actor or Actress in a movie.  Winner: Nicholas Hoult as "Nux" in George Miller's "The Fury Road".  Justification: Nicholas gave us a character to root for in this movie.  For my $$ he trumped both Tom Hardy AND Charlize Theron.  The Nux character was probably the most original and exciting character in the entire Road Warrior series--and for that Nicholas Hoult gets an E.C. Oscar.  

2016 E.C. Oscar for Best Scene in a Movie.   Winner: Hans Solo confronts Kylo Ren on the bridge in "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens".  The first time I saw this I was on the edge of my seat.  Harrison Ford trying to be the father that he never was, and Kylo's struggle to accept or reject his father's loving invitiation was an EXCELLENT display of good writing coupled with A-list acting to maximize the effect.  So this group award goes to: Harrison Ford, Adam Driver, J.J. Abram and writers: Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Ardnt.  

2016 E.C. Oscar for Best Male Actor or Best Female Actor in a Staring Role.  Winner: Mae Witman as "Bianca Pipper" in "The Duff".  2nd place: Amy Shumer as Amy Townsend in "Trainwreck".  

 2016 E.C. Oscar for Best Movie.  Winner: "The Duff" a teen, rom-com.  2nd place: "Inside Out"  3rd place: "Trainwreck".

 

So in closing, I really had a lot of fun at the movies in 2015.  Found a lot of suprices along the way too.

E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

P.S. Sorry about NOT doing this post a couple days earlier on Sunday, BUT I was hard at work building a woodsed in my dad's garage.  More to come on that later when I update the progess I've been making on the home improvement projects arround the house.  Till then, enjoy the Oscar, I know I will.  Even on a year when I'm not that geeked about who's up for what, it still dream time of sorts for a person such as I and hopefully for yourself too.

How to Be Single and the Re-Emergance of Strong Female Character Arcs in Romantic Comedy Movies; EIIRCM: Volume 63

I don't think I've enjoyed watching the character arc of the leading heroine in a romantic comedy unfold as much as I liked Dakota Johnson's "Alice" personal, love story/arc unfold in the jem of a movie: "How to Be Single" (2016: screenplay by Abby Kohn, Mark Silversteiin, Dana Fox, book by Liz Tuccilo) than I have in a character in years.  Why did I like Alice/Dakota Johnson's character arc so much?  Well, that's easy; because Alice's is a story of love lossed because she wanted to see what the other side had to offer.  Alice, the lead protagonist in the story, begins with a break-up with her boyfriend of several years because she wants to try the single life in New York on her own appart from him for a while.  The committed boyfriend does NOT want Alice to go, but she is insistant.  And guess what, the grass isn't greener on the other side!

So what is meant in evaluating a movie based on character is the inner story being worked out in that character's life over the duration of the film.  It's like the overall story, BUTas tied to main lesson or theme explored by what happens to the main character.  And in the case of "Alice" from "How to be Single" her character arc is does she become a more better rounded person as a result of leaving a committed boyfiend/girlfriend relationship to explore a lifesytle that is foreign to her.  By the end of the movie, and by definintion the end of Alice's character arc, she comes to the conclusion that, yes, she is comfortable in her own skin and has mastered the art of being single and successfully arived at a new level of existence. 

BEST message in a rom-com in YEARS!!  Boo-yay!  And guess what, I don't agree with Alice's ulitmate character arrival.  I think being single SUCKS, and I'd rather be in a committed relationship where you have someone to share your life with.  So I think Alice got it wrong.  BUT that's the beauty of the movies, it allows you to follow the trajectory of someone else's point of view in light of their life circumstances.  Make sence?  This is where the personal message of the movie either resonates with you, or fails to do so.  In my case, I found myself TOTALLY engeaged in Alice's life and was rooting for her throughout.  I really like this movie, "How to be Single" when it deals with Alice and the ups and downs that she goes through in exploring the aftermath of leaving a committed relationship, just because you got mommentarily bored with it.  If you prefer leaving a committed relationship to see what else is out there, you're risking A LOT.  Love is precious.  And it is NOT everywhere.  I am so proud of the greater message of this JEM of a movie, "How to Be Single", because it brings home the fact that being single is wayyy less attractive than sharing a life together with your soulmate, at least in my opinion.  Don't believe me, okay, fucker, maybe you'll believe it if you hear it from one these old heavy metal ballads from the the '80s:

   

I did not see Dakota Johnson is her breakout role in "50 Shades of Grey" and I have NO INTEREST in watching a movie that from MY perspective appears to be all about the gradual corruption of an impressionable girl by a rich and sucessfull sexaul male.  But I did go into "How to Be Single" having watched Dakota Johnson's earlier hosting of "Saturday Night Live" last year.  

Now Alice in "How to be Single" has a character arc that goes back and forth as she and her ex-boyfriend have numberous run-ins.  Gradually Alice grows in her singleness and learns to embrace it with a substantial amout of help from a lecherous bartender who is vey much like the Barney character from CBS's "How I Met Your Mother".  Now, for my money I thought Alice ended up arriving at the wrong conclusion for her love life; she's not better off single and becoming a more self-realized version of Rebel Wilson's character in the movie.  Alice is better of being in love with her soul mate.  We all are.  Singleness SUCKS.  That's my feeling.  

Buttt... I'm always open to alternative viewpoints, and that's what you're getting here.  Besides Alice, this movie also gets into the romantic struggles of Alison Brie's character (Alison Brie was in NBC's "Community" 1/2 hour sit-com) and Leslie Mann.  HUGE fan of Leslie Mann, but her character arc and love story of an aging career woman who finally decides to get artifically inseminated--then finds a committed man that she falls in love with, was rather boring.  That love story felt old, and done before.  Not only that, but done better before.  I did like Alison Brie foray in love in this movie as a know-it-all, who is secretly desperate to find love--and nearly does with the lecherous bartender that Alice ends up shagging several times.  Rebel Wilson's character is a catalyst for change in Alice's life, but she's also over-the-top comedy relief that feels more like a cartoon character than an actual living person.  

Still, I LOVE the approach of giving the audience three love stories and character arcs for the audience to follow.  Sure beats the risk of ONLY having one love story, where if you're bored with that, you're stuck.  I LOVE the approach of giving the audience more and giving them choices for what to key on.  That's the way I think, folks.  When I write a story I love to pack a lot of different stuff.  Not trying to draw the attention away from the main thing, but rather give multiple avenues that people can go down and explore--as they so chose to do so.

So is "How to be Single" an iconic romantic comedy?

No.  It's funny in spots, but not overly so.  Alice's character arc is extremely interesting to explore in a high concept kind of way, but her scenes don't hold up to the heroine's of the all-time greats.  So, no, I wouldn't put "How to be Single" in my top-25 of the all tiime best romantic comedies, BUT "How to be Single" IS a worthwhile, romantic comedy that explores women's forays into modern romances.  

Last summer we had Amy Townsends strong character arc in "Trainwreck" and now some six months later we get Dakota Johnson in "How to Be Single".

YESSS!!  The romantic comedy genre is starting to show some signs of life--and it's coming from the women!  Women with strong character arcs that give the audience something to think about.  I am soooo for moives like that.  Suddenly, I'm feeling better about modern movies and the people behind the scenes making them.  

Now "How to Be Single" wasn't the only movie I saw last weekend.  I did get out to see "Zoolander 2" (2016: written by Justin Therox, Ben Stiller, Nicholas Stoller, and John Hamburg) too.  Unfortunatly, "Zoolander 2" was really, really fucked-up.  How fucked up was it?  This movie has its last main sequence a ritualisitc child sacrifce being perfomred by the leading fashion designers of the world!  O, sure the TRIED to make this scene funny, but the dark and foreboding setting and context was too much for a very weak brand of humor to overcome.  

I couln't believe how weak the Derek Zoolander and Hansel characters were in this movie.  Reprising these characters.  Didn't.  Work.  At.  Alllllll!!!  Bad.  Bad.  Bad.  Bad.  Bad.  Even Mugotu, when he finally arrives is a complete bore too; he even had a sequence with his gay, black assistant that was nearly IDENTICAL to a scene they had in the first Zoolander movie.  

The one saving grace of this movie was the epifany I had about Kyle Mooney (a Saturnday Night Live, regular perfomer) who has a minor role in Zoolander 2, as a dissing, young DJ.  My epifany was that Kyle Mooney would make a GREAT Brandon Little, who is my main protagoninst in "Give It Up for Chimpy" and "Love, Music and Monkeys" which were the 1st and 4th script that I wrote respectuflly.  "Give It Up for Chimpy" is the story about a love-sick zookeeper who leaves the job he knows to save the live a special case monkey, the two of them then go on to host a late night talk show where the Brandon's dream girl works.

New "Give It Up for Chimpy" dream roster:

Brandon Little: main protagonist: Kyle Mooney

Stacy Dutchman: main protagonist's love interest: Taylor Swift

Jim Poland: the Bellamy/wrong guy: James Franco

Chimpy the Monkey: ME!  E.C. Henry--or someone who can do Chimpy on par with me (a.k.a, someone who's ready to let it rip and go full money AND be able to do Jim Carey-eque facial mannerims)

Olga Klonhoffer: Glick's wife: Amy Schumer

Glick Beckler: wise-cracking smartass: Mathew Lillard (the guy who played Shaggy in the earlier Scobie Doo movies) or Pete Davidson, who also on Saturday Night Live

Alexander Doyle: Brandon's mentor at the late night talk show: Steve Higgins (Jimmy Fallon's side kick on the Tonight Show)

Director: Judd Apatow

 

"Give It Up for Chimpy" sigh... STILL a dream of mine.  Maybe someday.  The cool thing is, I thnk Kyle Mooney, is ready to go big in a feature length movie.  He does clown really well, and I THINK he's got the make-up to do the schlub arctype well too.  

Sorry for the late post and missing my usual Sunday post, was kinda depressed and sore on Sunday.  Spent the weekend planting fruit and trees--in the pooring rain!  Then I hit the bottle hard...  I'm bad, I know.  I need someone to give me a spanking!   A hottie that is.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

Portraits of Great Romances that Grace the Wall of Fame; Exploring Issues in Rom-com Movies: Volume 62

If you were to site the "great romances" and see them as a collection on the wall, who would be there and why?  Which king and queen would sit atop the thrones of the ideal--as you see it?  It's weird the way life, art, and the annual time of romcance, what with Vallentine's Day 2016 coming up, can sometimes converge and result in a sparking me to write a post like this.  But right now I'm my writing life I'm re-editing a sequence that explores how one prospective romance is viewed over the context of a myriad of romances over a course of nation's history, and how society bares down and UNJUSTLY scutenizes a young couple's romance threatening to destoy this tender flower before it has a chance to blossom.

Hey, at least they were in love at one point in their life.

Writing this, I'm reminded of that ill-fated romance that happened princess Dianna and prince Charles in the early 1980s.  Princess Dianna was a relatively pretty, Brit that the press just seamed to love to hound and photograph.  If memory serves me right princess Di and prince Charles had a couple kids, then gradaully over the years drifted apart untill at last they divorsed.  Their's started out with such promp and fanfare yet ended in such trajedy: a divorse and then later Dianna died in a car crash, I believe when she and her love interest were racing away from being photographed by the paparizzi.

Princess Di: an idealized femme fetalk who set the bar for romance back in the early 1980s

Are any of the three main romances that I've got in my story in any way reminiscent of the ill-fated Dianna and Charles fiasco?  Yeah, come to think of it, they are.  Though I NEVER thought of the parallels and simularities untill now.  Scout's honor, I'm not lying here.  Two of the three main romances in my epic fantasy novel are high profile romances that are scrutenized by the public.  The middle one, which is the one that I picture Taylor Swift staring in, is publically low profile, but is aso the one that ends in trajedy unlike the other two.  The fist romance that's explored in the Prolog is NOT one of the main romance, BUT it is a highly significant, high profile romance that helps set the overvieiwing framework which sets a historical bar and framework which compares quite interestingly to my story's, A, number 1 romance.

"Don't worry, Princess Di, I'll right your wrongs and inspire the world with the kind of love affair your mystique could only alluded to."

Right now my mind is in a place of kings and queens and how their portraits which carry on in the minds of later generations remember that couple.  Where they remembered as being loving to one another?  Or was their coupling a matter of convinence and priviledge?  Did they marry out of love or practicality?  Today, in place of princess Di, we have Kate Middleton.  In all the pictures I've ever seen of Kate Middleton, she looks EXTREAMLY happy.  I get the sence that she's genuinely in love with guy she married.  

Here in the states the portaits of romance that grace the wall of America's fame come in the form of celebry actors and actresses, and that romance it typically fuel in the public consciousness by entertainment TV programs, and the tabloids.  And the crazy thing is, I think it's a good thing that this is celebrated.  Why?  Because we all need the embers of love in us to be feed and fueled.  God knows I wish that the rom-com genre of movies was going getter, but in it's absence perhaps a different form of romance has been sowed into the public conscoiusness from certain movie stars.

"O George, I love you so much.  But should we really be making an appearance on this dipshit's blogsite?"

"Well, Amal, we are known for giving to charity."

Are you a crusader of moments?  Well, if you are perhaps the Amal and George Clooney romance is one that you respond to:

Justin & Jen: a portait of modern, hip love

Do you respond more to the choices and tastes of the ideal girl-in-waiting?  Well, if you do perhaps the ongoing Jennifer Anistion watch is something you respond to.  Never been the bigger Jennifer Aniston fan, (been more of Jennifer Love Hewitt kind of guy, though that's only because her looks remind me of three girls from my that helped shape my view of what romance is).  Still, whether you find yourself attracted to Jennifer Anniston's plight or not, the tabloids feature her frequently so it's inevitable that you form some kind of opion about her either way, even if that's dismissive.  Personally, I'm glad Jennifer Anistion finnaly found her man, and bliss.

"Okay, now you''ve really pissed me off.  Time to go in the volcano, loverboy!" 

The one actress that I've gravitated to the most is probably Meg Ryan.  She's just got the right unique blend of good looks, light-hearted percieved personna, and easy-to-like appeal that has stood the test of time for me.  Her and Tom Hanks' coupling is iconic.  And I can't really think of another pair of man and woman that has stared in several rom-coms' that is really as deserving to be the facing portait as that of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.  Again, no dissrespect intented to Rita Wilson, who is Tom Hanks wife in real life, nor is any disrespect intended towards Meg Ryan's love life.  But movie wise, I openly pose the question is their another man/woman combo better than Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan?  

I say, no.  They're the best.  They belong as the featured portait that graces the wall of romance's wall of fame.

So who graces as my personal love interest on my own personal hall of fame?  Well-p, for starters I'm 46 and single as fuck so it's not like I can say my wife is the featured girl there.  And since I don't have active love interest either, I'm dinda fucked there too...  But thinking about this, this past week ONE girl came to mind from my past.  The biggest and best, one-who-got-away.  Won't give you her last name, but her first name was Trish.  She was Jewish girl that I got introduced to by one of my managers at a fast food restaurant I was working at when I was working my way through my post-high school training to become an electronic's technician in the early 1990s.  This girl was tall for a person of Jewish descent.  Her mother was a full-blown Jew, her father was a gentile.  And I THINK that's why Trish liked me and considered me as a romantic prospect: in her mind our potenial romance was mirror of sorts for her own parents...  But I digress.  Anywho, looking back on it now, I sould have taken Trish more seriously than I did.  I didn't realize what a gem she was when I was taking her out back then.  Trish was a Messianic Jew, which means she a person of Jewish dissent who believed that is ths Son of God.  Going to Trish's church the couple times I did was a joy for me, and Trish was involed and knew how do dance in several Jewish celebratory dances, which was something later in my life I started getting into.

E.C. and Trish, these two are not!

My problem with Trish was that I was too immature to know what I wanted back then.  My plan was hell-bent on becoming an electronic tech.  Trish, on the other hand, as about to graduate from nursing school and next on her list was getting married and starting a family.  I feel so honored that for a while Trish considered me as the guy to fill that role for her.  Too bad I didn't love her back then, like I've grown to love her now.  If I had to do it all over again, I would have bent over backwards for Trish.  I would have gotten her love me in a deeper way.  In retrospect I realize now that Trish was good for me, and would have made a great wife and made me very happy in every conconcieble way.  

I'm such an asshole their really aren't words to describe how bad I am or how badly I fucked up with Trish.  At the time, back then, I wasn't smitten with her at all.  The breaking point came when she came over my where I was living, met my mom, I got bored with her--and my younger brother ended up being the one who drove her home.  THAT was one of the most dissrespectfull things I ever done to a woman.  And though I felt no shame in that back then, retroactively I'm the shame of it now.  

Retroactviley I profess my love to Trish, though I know it's way, way to late for that now.  Trish had a plan, and after I fizzled out of her life, she quickly found someone else and got married.  

Still, I would put Trish up as the featured portrait on my own personal romantic hall of fame.  Trish deserved it.  She was a great upstanding woman who wanted to do right by God.  She had a very good heart.  And I should have treated that angel that graced my life for brief period of time better.  Sure, there were other girls in my life that I was more attracted to more phsical/horny way; but all things considered Trish had the best blend of everthing as whole.  And my that I mean as whole that a man could love and build a life with.  Just wish I could have to come to that conclusion when it mattered...

One stange postscript to this time in my life was the fact that Trish's young brother actually took time it upon himelf to attend the same class in electronic tech school where I was going.  His name was Robert--and he was a most strange kid.  Book smart, yes; But Robert had no desire to be a hand's on Mr. Fixit, which is what that school in this tech. school were in training to do.  I think Robert JUST took this class becasue he wanted to know why I would romantically reject a dish like his older sister.  I'm a romantic, dipshit, Robert.  That's why I dropped the ball with your sister.  I'm was a dipshit who didn't know he wanted yet.  Wish I could have told ya that then, would have saved you waisting several months your life studying to become proficent in profession that you really had no interest in.

Still, Happy Vallentines Day 2016 to all who visit my blog and read my posts!  I hope this season is filled with enchantment for you all, and that you have someone to be romantic with.  That your own thone room has a chair of it's own for the missus in your life.Back in my 20s and early 30s I used to vow that next year's Vallentines Day was going to be the one where I finally had a girlfriend to share romance with and enjoy that special day with.  That year never came for me.  I write many think of what I write as a cautionary tale so that I can help someone out there NOT make the same mistakes I make.  Romance is not a given.  Girls don't always come your way.  And the older you get the less your chance is of meeting a single girl that's a legitment romantic prospect become.  So I'll spend Vallenties Day 2016 alone as I have all past and prior ones, crying, no doubt, inside lamenting my own singleness.  The only saving grace being, that my romantaic starved heart sometimes finds solace in the great romances that invision and help come fruition on the pages for my writing.  I may not be a romantic in real life, but I am one at heart.

Love, and Happy Vallentines Day from:

P.S. Up next will be a post of mine where I devle in to the appeal, or lack thereof of the Coen brohthers: Joe and Ethan; as I just got back from watching their latest theatrical release which is entittled, "Hail, Ceasar!" and I have mixed feeling about it and them now.