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Comic Book Fans Unite! The Watchmen Movie Coming Soon!

By Lisa Pawlowski on

I knew what I was getting into before I married my husband. The piled up boxes of comic books in his room in college were my first clue.

Right now there are about nine cardboard comic book crates in a closet in our house. And the thing that has him down right giddy is the fact that “the best comic book of all time” is finally being turned into a movie. On March 6th, The Watchmen comes to the theater.

When we were dating, he told me about the book and said that, while it was dark and full of anti-superheroes, the story telling and art were great. He kept stressing to me that, even though I wasn’t a comic book fan, I would enjoy the story.

We got married and over the years, he’d bring up the Watchmen occasionally, wondering why I hadn’t read it yet. Finally, we went on vacation one year and had to spend many hours in a car. He brought The Watchmen with him so he could read it once again. Since I hadn’t thought to bring any reading material with me, I gave it a shot.

I couldn’t get through it. There is a part where a female superhero gets raped and that’s where I stopped. Call me funny, but I just don’t find that sort of thing entertaining. He told me that he thought that part would bother me, but that if I just kept reading, the story would get better. I don’t like reading stuff that’s so unpleasant.

These people aren’t likeable. I don’t want to spend time with them. To me, a hero doesn’t have to be flawless, it’s better if he isn’t. But I don’t want the protagonist to be an asshole, either.

My husband will most likely go to the theatre by himself to see it. He did go with me to see Sex In The City but that was because I’ve been dragged to all the X-Men movies (I can still recall the excitement emanating from him when we saw the first X-Men movie and he finally got a look at Hugh Jackman as Wolverine-his favorite character).

There was another comic book my husband suggested I read- the Bone Comic books. But after his recommendation of The Watchmen, I was wary of what he considered good. It was my kids, who really enjoy the books, who urged me to read them. And you know what? They’re really good and I’m about to read the last one of the series.

Is Palin Ready for Office?

By Lisa Pawlowski on

As a political conservative, I’ve written previously about how thrilled I was that John McCain picked Governor Sarah Palin as his vice president (See my recent article here).

I wasn’t the only one who was excited by his choice. McCain’s poll numbers enjoyed a bounce after the announcement. Donors infused money into his campaign.

Then the handlers kept Palin away from the press, fueling speculation that they were trying to protect her. Finally, the McCainiacs parsed her out to Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric for interviews—and it wasn’t good. She didn’t sound articulate, confident and like she had a firm grasp of what she was supposed to say.

I found myself wincing as some of her answers to Couric’s questions. Sure, I thought the question about McCain’s voting record unfair. But Palin’s answer about foreign policy experience gave me pause. Then the poll numbers drifted down.

I watched the debates and I held my breath before Palin and Biden came on. I wanted so badly for her to do well. The question everyone viewing at home asked themselves was, “Which Palin will show up tonight? Will it be the charismatic one who made an appearance at the Republican convention? Or will it be the inarticulate one the media has been interviewing?

Both vice-presidential candidates did well, and I was relieved that Palin didn’t crash and burn. But Biden obviously had a better grasp of the issues.

So here is where I’m at. I’m more confused than ever about whom I’m going to vote for. I know where I stand on things, but I don’t see anyone representing me, and, it pains me to say this, but I have serious reservations as to whether the one person who I think could represent me is ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

An Independent’s Perspective on Voting

By Lisa Pawlowski on

My good friend, Barb, bakes four loaves of bread for her family every weekend because she doesn’t trust the additives and chemicals in store bought bread. Even though she’s a nurse and works in the health industry, she doesn’t take her daughters to the doctor unless she absolutely has to because her pediatrician always tries to pressure her to get her girls vaccinated against HPV (Human Papilloma Virus).

She makes her own soap because she doesn’t like the detergents and chemicals found in the bars you buy at the grocery store. In other words, Barb is an independent, do-it-yourself kind of woman who is mistrustful of many things most people think are okay.

Barb was over at my house a couple of weeks ago to instruct me in the ways of soap making, my newest hobby. I’ll let you insert your own Chuck Palahniuk joke here. Eventually, the conversation turned to politics.

“So who are you voting for?” Barb asked.

“I’ll probably vote for McCain. There are some things I don’t like about him but he’s closest to the way I want to see things run.”

“If you don’t like him, then why are you voting for him?”

“It’s either him or Obama and I disagree with Obama on more things than I do McCain,” I said.

Barb said, “I had this same conversation with a co-worker. If you don’t like who you’re voting for then you’re part of the problem. Vote for the third party. People in Washington keep expecting you to pick between the two parties and they aren’t going to straighten up if you keep voting for them.

My co-worker told me I must like throwing my vote away. But I don’t see it that way. I think it’s throwing your vote away if vote for someone you don’t like. Your true voice isn’t being heard.”

Not surprisingly, Barb is a big Ron Paul fan (I think she may have done work for his campaign and/or contributed money to him) and plans on voting for him in November.

We talked about other things. She plans on having her house paid off next year because she thought the economy is too uncertain (she called that one). And she told me about the study done in Australia where eighteen women died after getting the HPV vaccine (“The vaccine just protects against four strains of HPV out of a hundred different kinds. It’s just not worth it to me.” she said.)

I love talking to Barb and I admire her a lot. She has her ideas and convictions and she sticks to them. That’s something you don’t see very often. More importantly she always gives me something to think about.

What Is The European View of the United States?

By Lisa Pawlowski on

My husband, Kevin, recently came home from a European business trip. Over the course of a week and a half, he visited Poland, England and Ireland. Even though he was across the Atlantic Ocean, he knew exactly what was going on in America because of the constant European news coverage of the Democratic and Republican conventions.

Given the time frame and the pervasive news, the first question everyone asked him when they found out he was an American was, “So, who are you going to vote for in the election?”

Kevin honestly answered, “I don’t know, yet.” And then usually the inquisitor would go off on Bush. They love Obama and they see McCain as another four years of what we’ve had for the past eight.

And it wasn’t like 75 percent liked Obama and 25 percent preferred McCain. No. Of those Europeans who were vocal about it (which was nearly all of them) a hundred percent liked Obama and think there is no way he can possibly lose in November.

In fact, Kevin surprised most of his colleagues when he informed them that the American election is most likely going to be another close race, and that while the media coverage they see over there has all but anointed Obama as president, the Europeans aren’t seeing any coverage of the Americans in the red Republican states.

We’ve all heard the news tell us that Americans are hated everywhere, but my husband found this to not be the case. He said that while the Europeans hated Bush, they didn’t mind Americans so much.

They were able to separate American citizens from the things our government has done. Everyone he encountered was respectful, curious about us, and surprised that the image of America that they see on TV isn’t necessarily true.

I Finally Have a Horse in the Race

By Lisa Pawlowski on

The August 15 issue of Entertainment Weekly featured interviews with presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. It was a light interview in which the reporter asked questions like, “Who controls the remote in your home?” “What was the last movie you saw in a theatre?” “Who do you think made the best president in a TV show or movie?”

Knowing the reporter wasn’t out to get them and that there wasn’t any wrong answer, the candidates felt free to be spontaneous and give readers a glimpse of how “normal” the men are without having an agenda to promote or talking points they had to stick to.

For instance, McCain likes ABBA. The first movie he ever saw was Bambi. And while he never voted for an American Idol contestant, his wife, Cindy, called in for Jordin Sparks of Glendale, AZ. He also thought that Dennis Haysbert on 24 made the best president and his favorite superhero is Batman.

Obama loves watching SpongeBob with his kids, thought Jeff Bridges in The Contender was the best president, watched M*A*S*H growing up, listens to blues, R&B and African dance music, and he likes Spider-Man.

The future of the free world didn’t hinge on the answers the men gave and didn’t give any insight to how either might govern, so why do such an interview?

In this day and age of 24/7 news coverage, image is more important than ever. It used to be that politicians were afraid to go on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or Saturday Night Live, now it’s mandatory stop to pick up some street cred. I’m sure they have handlers telling them, “You have to connect with the people. Voters have to see you as not only able to feel their pain, but as hip.”

While the fluff is fun, there is a down side to it. What if there is a perfectly strong, able leader out there, who could expertly navigate our country through the rough waters ahead, better than McCain or Obama? There probably is one out there, but he or she most likely isn’t photogenic, dynamic or lacks comic timing (along with money-that’s the most important ingredient).

It’s sad to say that our population prefers style over substance and a politician who can’t roll with the flow and deliver one-liners on faux-news programs doesn’t have a chance of winning.

Here’s a scary thought. What if a voter reads the EW interview and says, “Hey, I like SpongeBob, too. Obama’s all right!” or “I’m a Batman fan, also. McCain. I’m voting for you.” I would hope no one would make the important decision of who to vote for based on the article, but I’m sure there are those out there. Only their reasoning wouldn’t be as transparent as what I wrote above.

It would sound more like, “There’s some reason I don’t like that guy. I don’t what it is. I just have a bad feeling about him. So I’m gonna vote for the other man.”

Making decisions based on a gut instinct is nothing new, but it can be idiotic when there is absolutely no logical thought thrown in with it.

To Have, To Hold, and To Submit?

By Lisa Pawlowski on

One afternoon, when my husband and I were watching my son’s soccer game, a woman I had never met before was eager to share with me something she had just discovered.

“I tell you what. I never knew happiness until I learned to submit to my husband.” At first, I tried to politely ignore her and act like I was really into the game, even during those times when my son was sitting on the bench drinking water. But she persisted.

“Yep. It’s just the way the Bible says. A woman is meant to submit to her husband.”

At this, I couldn’t resist. “Submit? Submit? Where in the Bible does it say that?” She quoted the book and verse and I forgot it after she told me. Also, I have never felt compelled to look it up since then. It’s been my experience that people who are familiar with obscure Bible verses, and have them at the ready, are the same ones who can extrapolate the oddest meaning out of the simplest phrase.

I looked around for my husband to see his reaction to all of this. Mercifully, he was prowling the sidelines watching the game and hadn’t heard any of the conversation. “It’s so freeing when you submit to your husband,” she continued.

I snorted, “Yeah, that way when he messes up really bad, or misjudges a situation, you can sit back and say it’s all his fault.” To show her displeasure, the woman gave me a very un-Christian-like glare and moved her chair a few feet away. 

The word submit has never been in the wedding vows and it’s an antiquated notion anymore to even have the word obey remain. Most brides bristle at the word and have it taken it out. I don’t know why the woman was trying to sell me on her idea that women should be submissive to their husbands.

My thought on the subject was, “If you’re happy with it, good for you. But don’t get into my business and tell me I’m wrong.” Generally, the way my marriage works is, which ever one of us wants something the most, that person is usually who wins out. If we disagree on something, we debate it and try to convince the other why we’re right.

After the game, as we were walking back to the car, I told my husband about the woman’s gall. He said he liked the way our marriage was like a partnership. He didn’t want to be married to someone who was willing to keep her mouth shut and go along with whatever whim came to his mind, precisely for the reason I’d mentioned to the woman. If we both made a decision that went horribly wrong, we both would have a share in the blame.

Life’s too complex and stressful to have just one person in charge all the time. A marriage works better when both have equal say in what happens.

Do All Writers Write Books?

By Lisa Pawlowski on
person holding a pen writing on a piece of paper

Do you hear that sound of smacking lips? That’s me trying to get the bad taste of Austin out of my mouth.

That sounds really negative, doesn’t it? It wasn’t all bad. I’m just let down. In my previous post, I wrote with excitement about going to Austin to the Agents and Editors Conference. The trip really was worthwhile. I met some interesting (in a good way) writers and even made a couple of friends.

So what was it that brought me down? The keynote speaker at the luncheon, Sara Nelson, Editor-in-Chief of Publishers Weekly, also wrote a memoir called “So Many Books, So Little Time.”

At the beginning of her speech, Ms. Nelson promised to bust some myths about the publishing industry. There was one myth she didn’t really need to bust for the majority of us. She said aloud that only 1% of all books submitted to publishing houses become published.

Most writers know this but saying it out loud is enough to drain anyone of hope. Ms. Nelson went on to say that even though she had connections in the publishing business, as well as a mother who would do anything to promote her daughter’s book, her book sold well, several thousand copies, but it still wasn’t a runaway blockbuster hit. And she made okay money from it but not a huge amount.

A pall settled over the tables. I don’t think we were truly prepared for someone to tell us the God’s honest truth. I’ve been to other conferences where keynote speakers gave more of an, “If I did it, you can do it” speech. A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of hearing brand name author Debbie Macomber speak.

Ms. Macomber told us that she once had a contest judge read her anonymous entry in front of people as an example of someone who should never, ever write again. Macomber recounted how she didn’t let that one person’s comment stop her. She kept at it, writing and rewriting, all while staying at home raising six children, until one day Simon and Schuster called and wanted to publish her book.

At the A&EC, I guess I wanted hear a fairy tale. That all it will take is for me to publish my book and sell thousands of them is to believe in myself and all my dreams will come true. As I talked to people afterward, most seemed to be asking themselves, “Why the hell am I busting my ass writing? Am I stupid for doing this?”

However, I did meet a pragmatic lesbian couple who saw it differently. “Well, the lady told the truth. If you’re getting into something, don’t you want to know what you’re getting in to?” I admit, they had a point.

After the luncheon, I underwhelmed my appointed agent with my pitch. I gave a snappy, five sentence sales job, delivered with a lot of enthusiasm. “Ms. X, I wrote a light-hearted women’s fiction book about….” She stopped me and said, “No one reads chick lit anymore.”

For those of you who may not be aware, according to publishers in the know, the term “chick lit” is as dead as Latin. To which I replied with a smile, “Well, that’s why I wrote a light-hearted women’s fiction book.” However, she did ask to see my first fifty pages so I really can’t complain.

I compared notes with another writer who pitched to the same lady and heard the exact same thing she had told me. But when my friend pitched to a different agent with the same schpiel, that one was very enthusiastic and had the opposite reaction.

On Sunday, everyone seemed morose. Subdued. For many of the three hundred attendees, this conference was their first ever. They were new writers who thought this would be a good place to start and give them direction. Some were authors who had poured their hearts and souls into ONE self-published book and hadn’t written a sentence since.

Of course, no one would be cruel enough to tell those people that they really didn’t have much of a chance of getting an agent or becoming published if all they’ve written is one book. It takes years of writing and tons of rejection to become a better, worthy writer.

I think all of us left the hotel reevaluating what we want and how serious we are about writing.

I don’t mean to harsh everyone’s mellow so I’ll end this post with something positive I heard an agent say. “There will always be readers. There will always be writers. And there will always be agents.”

When Does Life Start Keeping Score?

By Lisa Pawlowski on

A good friend of mine coaches his son’s Pre-K soccer team. It fascinated me to find out that when it comes to keeping score at that young age, they don’t. Or at least they’re not supposed to.

Without a score, there isn’t a winner or a loser. But try telling that to the kids. When one of my friend’s players asks him, “What’s the score?” he always tells them, “It’s tied, so you better play hard.” To which the kids will sometimes answer, “No it’s not. We have way more than they do.”

The youth soccer organization my friend coaches for probably put the rule there to protect the feelings of the children and deemphasize competition; to promote love of the game and defang rabid parents who live vicariously though their young children. 

This is good in theory, but even if the game is no-score and the tournament doesn’t hand out trophies, we all have a need to see how we stack up in the world. And as my friend’s story illustrates, we start this at a young age.

We all have a driven urge to go out and accomplish something. We need to take pride in things we have earned and achieved. Despite what experts tell you, “being special” isn’t a big achievement and is a flimsy nail on which to hang your self -esteem. After all, in a world where everyone is special, no one is special. Wasn’t that the lesson we all learned from watching The Incredibles?

Competition also helps one learn how to lose gracefully. By losing a ball game, where the consequences are small, it helps a person deal with setbacks and failure later in life. This is an important, learned skill that is necessary to be successful. The person who encounters obstacles and picks himself up to try again and again is the one who will ultimately succeed because the world won’t deny someone who refuses to give up. 

As a writer, that skill is essential when you are constantly faced with a mailbox full of rejection letters.

It can be argued that competitive sports puts too much pressure on kids. To those people I would say that children are already exposed to exceeding pressure leading up to the TAKS test. Children have stomach aches, headaches and insomnia and other symptoms of test anxiety before the test because so much emphasis is placed on it. Believe me, when it comes to the TAKS, the schools definitely keep score.

My friend told me that he wasn’t sure what age the teams started tracking winners and losers. However, it doesn’t matter. No matter what, the kids will keep score anyway.

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