A memory for old age.

Today, I saw something which I rather feel, I shall always remember. To some, it might seem like a little thing, but to me, it is an iconic image.

I was coming home, after having been out, about my day, when I noticed something on the gate, to our house. It is a wide, black gate, made of old, much put upon wood. At the touch of a switch, it parts to let cars or people alike, through. However, the surface of the gate has a patina of dust, clinging to it, partially because of the nature of the paint on it.

Now, there is nothing remarkable about dust on a gate, but to me, there was something remarkable on that gate. All over the surface, little fingers had traced pictures, in the dust. They were pictures of happy, smiling people, joyously at play. I imagined, as I saw them, Tiarnan's and Fintan's fingers, drawing in the dust, expressing what was in their hearts and minds. It is clear, there is much happiness there - but also a desire to express it. They had drawn spontaneously on what their world offered them: a dusty gate.

I wished, in that moment, for a camera, but we have none that is working today (we have lost the charger). I hope, therefore, that the rain, which began moments after I saw the images, doesn't wash them away. I would like a photo of that indelible memory, so that I can show others, what I saw that day and explain to them, what it means to me. On that gate, I saw my children's childhood laid out before me. It was a sweet one, filled with innocent happiness. It made me smile, so, to see what they had done. I knew, in that moment, that I would remember that gate and its traced happiness. I knew that that gate would be forever with me, because it captured the essence of my children, as they are now, at the beginning of their lives.

I only hope I can photograph it, before it is gone.

Thank you Tiarnan (four) and Fintan (seven) for showing me what is in your hearts. I am happy to see it so.

I will remember that drawing of theirs upon the gate: the question is - will they remember it too? Will it become a memory of their childhoods...or will it be lost, for ever, as just one more day, in this eternal summer we live, near the Equator?

I hope to ask them one day, and to remind them of their tracings on the gate, in its obliging dust.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

A fiercely independent boy.

A couple of days ago, I asked Tiarnan, my four year old son, an unexpected question:

"Tiarnan, will you have nanobots in your blood, when you are older?"

His eyes evaluated me, as if considering the meaning of what I had said and having a fair idea, but not absolutely certain.

"Nanites", I translated, into a term he knew from a computer game based on Marvel superheroes.

"No!", he said, shaking his head, firmly.

That surprised me, in a way. What followed was even more surprising.

"I want to be Dead Pool...because he has no team."

How interesting...here was my four year old, declaring himself to be an individualist who doesn't want to work in a team. I understood then, why he didn't want "nanites" in his body - because in the Marvel game, all the nanite infected people work together in a giant team. They are not individuals, as such. Tiarnan doesn't want to get lost in a group, he wants to be himself and himself alone.

I think it somewhat unusual for such a young boy to so fiercely declare his independence. It seems to me, that when this is allied with knowledge of what he likes to do - often artistic pursuits, such as drawing, and acting, that here we have an artist of some sort, in the making. He will certainly be an individualist whatever he does become, one day.

Perhaps he will read this entry one day, and have his memory jogged of the day he declared his independence and individuality so clearly. I hope so.

Be what you can and be what you must, Tiarnan - and especially if that means being true to yourself.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Pete Hammond, Box Office Magazine.

Pete Hammond, of Box Office Magazine, is famous in Malaysia. However, he shouldn't be, for he is famous for all the wrong reasons. Here, they call him, "Peter Hammond", generally - and I know his name, because his name is frequently emblazoned on the covers of DVDs in video stores, here, in Kuala Lumpur.

Now, I realize I shall have to explain myself. I had never heard of "Peter Hammond" before, or Pete Hammond as he prefers to be known. However, I often visit video stores in Malaysia and there, his name is impossible to overlook: he is quoted EVERYWHERE. I would say, without doubt, that he is the single most frequently quoted "critic" on Malaysian distributed films. I say "critic" because I have reason to doubt the worth of his reviews.

It is one's normal expectation that the best of anything, becomes the most famous example of it. This does not apply, however, to film criticism. With film critics, the one who praises most, is raised highest, for they are quoted most often. So, to become "famous" as a film critic, all you have to do is to say nice things, about awful films. Your quote will then stand out amongst all available possible quotes and therefore be chosen to market the film in question, being emblazoned across posters, and DVD jackets everywhere. That, of course, is what Pete Hammond seems to be doing.

You see, I have, I confess, been fooled by Pete Hammond at least once. I have actually bought a film, on his recommendation, because the DVD cover had the single word "Masterpiece", printed across it, in large, unmissable, eye punching letters. So, I bought it, watched it, and regretted it. The film in question was far from being a "masterpiece". It wasn't bad, but the expectation he had set up, that it would be a "masterpiece" made an average film seem worse. Thus, Pete Hammond is doing each film he so describes a disservice, by describing them in such glowing terms. People will watch the films based on his recommendation - and will dislike them all the more for being not as good as he describes them. Thus, the word of mouth, for these films, will be harmed, by his description. I am not sure that, ultimately, they will end up with more or less viewers by being so overly praised: more will buy the film in the stores on seeing it, who haven't heard about it - but then again more people will hear disappointing tales of it, from the people they know. Thus it is that such false descriptions may not be as beneficial to a film as the distributors think.

I noticed the word "Masterpiece" by Peter Hammond (they use his full name), for a reason: I have seen it repeatedly used, on many different films. Indeed, it is the only quote of Pete Hammond that I have seen. Every film he reviews, or gets quoted for, anyway, is described as a "Masterpiece". I don't know about you, but I always that true "masterpieces" were rare works indeed. However, according to "Peter Hammond", Malaysian video stores are filled with great Western masterpieces. Every glance around the shop brings at least one such masterpiece into view.

Anyway, I have learnt my lesson. I understand, now, what Pete Hammond is all about. Pete Hammond just wants to be famous - and he has, in his reviews, found the perfect way: just make sure he says something more quotable than any other critic could bear to bring themselves to utter. Thus, he seems to set out to include, somewhere in his reviews, an eminently quotable phrase or two - and preferably the word "masterpiece".

Now, when I see that Pete Hammond has been quoted on a film jacket in Malaysia as saying "Masterpiece", I know what it means. It means that no more famous a critic actually used the word "masterpiece" - otherwise they would have been quoted instead. It means that no-one said it was a masterpiece, except Pete Hammond himself. Thus, on seeing Pete Hammond's name on a DVD jacket, I do something, perhaps unexpected now: I put the film back down and I don't buy it. I refuse to buy anything with Pete Hammond's name on it. I refuse to do so, because I have learnt that the quote is meaningless and that it bears no relation to the true quality of the film in question. Indeed, if Pete Hammond is quoted at all, it tells me that no-one else said anything near as good about it - which means that it is probably crap. Thus, for me, Pete Hammond's endorsement, is a sure sign of a crap film.

So, I would like to thank Pete Hammond for being a trustworthy guide to a film's quality. Pete Hammond has become, for me, an inverse guide to a film's merits. The higher Pete Hammond's praise, the worse the film will probably turn out to be. Thus, Pete Hammond's name is a marker, for me, of films to avoid. He has done me a great service, therefore, and I am grateful for him, for the dedicated way he singles out rubbish films for my focussed inattention.

Nevertheless, Pete Hammond has achieved his blatant goal. He has become famous, at least in Malaysia. Although, here, they insist on what they think his full name must be and call him "Peter Hammond", who may not actually exist. However, it does seem to me that Peter Hammond's variety of fame, might have a drawback. Eventually, when enough people have bought a "masterpiece" and found it wanting, Peter Hammond might actually become famous for being, well, let's put it politely, undiscerning. Others might just say he is full of s***. Either way, they won't be impressed with Peter Hammond (or Pete Hammond, for that matter). His fame, won't come with any respect. The question is: does he just want to be known, much as Genghis Khan is known...or does he want to be respected, much as Albert Einstein is: those are two very different varieties of fame. It seems to me that Pete Hammond will end up more infamous, than famous, which may not be quite what he intended.

There is another way to become famous as a film critic: be honest, be truthful and write with great insight, in well-chosen words that are as much an art form, as the films themselves. If a critic does that, they will become truly and lastingly famous - and will have respect too. So, take some advice, Peter Hammond/Pete Hammond - if you really want to be famous, there is only one way to do it right - be a great critic, instead.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Fintan's battle cry.

We were playing a card game, a week or so ago, beneath the setting sun, outside our home. It was just my three boys and myself, and the fresh evening air. I recall feeling very content, at the time, looking around that table and seeing the three of them, enjoying themselves.

The game had held its little surprises and, oddly, at that moment, Tiarnan was winning. It was a Monopoly themed game, and Tiarnan, though just four, had managed to become the richest, most promising player at that time. His smile to himself, eyes agog at his pile of "wealth", said quite clearly that he was well aware of his leading position.

It was Fintan's turn and, just as he began to place down his first card, he cried out: "Bring on the babies!"

It was a surreal instant. The phrase hung over us, utterly without perceptible meaning. Fintan laughed, seeing my mystification, perhaps, or just sensing his own eccentricity and enjoying it.

"What does that mean?", I asked him, unable not to smile.

He mumbled something about people carrying babies, but I couldn't quite understand what he meant. I let it go.

It was clear to me that the phrase meant something to him - something funny, too. It reminded me, then, of Fintan's curious combination of good social skills, and quirky thoughts. What, I wonder, will he make of this combination of dispositions? Should he ever become some variety of creator, I am sure he will be psychologically equipped to communicate his thoughts, successfully - and do so with an engaging charm, that gets others on his side. I rather feel that this is a better combination of skills than many other more obviously blessed ones.

It strikes me now, that what is most memorable about my children, is the things they say, that I have never heard anyone else ever say...like Fintan's battle cry. Is it possible that Fintan is the first person to ever say such a thing? He certainly is, in my acquaintance, but then I am not acquainted with all utterances in human history. More important, I think, than mere intelligence, is the ability to be different from all others: if one's thoughts are distinct, they will have more impact on the world, than the smartest, but more conventional person, one can possibly find. It is not intelligence, alone, which makes culture grow - but the capacity to be different. My children have both attributes - but of the two, that disposition to be different, is vastly more important than the mere other.

Carry on being your distinct self, Fintan...even if sometimes I don't understand what you mean!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Changing the English language.

Today, someone arrived on my site, with the search terms: "Is Ainan a name?"

I found that most revealing. You see, to use Ainan's name, they must have heard it. Yet, to ask the question, they must also not be conscious of who he is. Thus, Ainan has influenced their knowledge of the world, by placing the word "Ainan" in their mind - but he has not informed them of his existence. This is very interesting and it is overwhelmingly likely to be because of my son, Ainan, for he is the most well known bearer of that name, in the world.

It is a funny thought, but by naming Ainan, Ainan, we have made that word better known. Of course, we could not have known, in advance, what Ainan was going to be like. However, in choosing such a rare name, we have had the effect of making a rare name, widely known. This person in Brighton, East Sussex, in England, who was searching today, has clearly heard our son's name - even if all other details of his story have been stripped from his name, such that the name stands alone and unadorned with any identity, as it appears to be in his or her mind.

It is a strange thought, that. Somehow, Ainan's name has become known to this person, without any other details of his life story or actual existence being known to them. Had they known that a boy called Ainan existed, they wouldn't have to ask whether his name was a name: his use of it, makes it a name, by definition, for he is so named. Thus, they know Ainan's name, but do not know of his existence. To me, this means one thing: Ainan is actually changing the choice of words available to English language speakers - and most probably speakers of other languages, too, around the world. The word "Ainan" is becoming known to them, perhaps by word of mouth, indeed most probably so, since were it by direct media, this person would know Ainan's story well and would know that a boy of such a name existed.

So, even if Ainan has no other effect on the world, (which I doubt), he has already left an imprint of his name upon it. That imprint is growing and spreading and becoming a word in the minds of people all over the world. Some know that he is a boy and of what a boy he is - but others, like my searcher, know nothing but the word. Ainan has, therefore, become part of the languages of the world, a sound in people's minds - a word that ranges from no attached meaning, to much attached meaning, depending on what else they know about who is the most famous bearer of the word.

The thought gets stranger as I hold it in my mind. Is this the first effect of a person upon the world, who is to change it? Do they first change the language...alter the choice of words and terms available in people's minds? Ainan is now a word in hundreds of millions of minds, where once there was not such a word. Over time, the meaning of that word, will grow and change. Should he affect the world enough, the word Ainan, might be a noun of more general meaning, than just a name - or even an adjective. It would have become a word that, perhaps, embodies not only the sound of his name, but the essence of his person. Ainan might one day become a concept, in people's minds: a word that captures what Ainan is. This process has already begun, for he is already a word in people's minds, who know so little about the word, that they do not even know it is a name.

I wonder what the word "Ainan" will one day, mean? What associations will accrue to it? Will they be permanent connotations, that never fade from the languages of the world? Will the word, Ainan, become a ubiquitous one found in many of the world's languages, carrying much the same meaning in each? This is possible, for the unitary concept behind them, at present, is Ainan himself. That he is one being, with this name, presently known and becoming more known to the world, could so easily mean that, one day, his name might enter all the languages of the world, in countries that communicate with mass media. His name might become a single concept present on all tongues.

For, now, however, he is my young son. I know what "Ainan" means for me - and it is something richer, deeper, more rounded and resonant than it could possibly mean for anyone else, except my wife and his siblings. Yet, I know this: something of Ainan is seeping into the world, and staining it with his hue: he is becoming an influence on the wider world, part of it, a shaper of it, slowly, and who knows what, eventually. Though he is but 10 years old, he has already become an idea in some people's minds - and a word, divorced from all attendant meaning, in others. He has began a journey, whose ultimate end cannot be known, in which what Ainan is, reaches out to the world, to touch it. I cannot know the full extent or nature of that touch or its reverberant effects: but that search today (and many other signs) tells me that it has already begun.

Ainan is my young son - but to the world, perhaps, one day, he will seem to be much more than one man's son. I cannot know what that will be, but at its core, there will be a concept, one that grows over time, deepens, enriches, until it is something rather complex indeed. It will be something known to all, understood by some. That concept will be the sum total of the effects of my son, upon the minds of the world.

The way I have written of this, it might all seem rather exotic - but it is not. This process of which I speak, is common to all who influence the world in any way. So, it is not just Ainan who is becoming part of the wider world - but all who become known, in any way, that impinges upon it, in any tangible fashion. To me, however, it is strange that it is Ainan, my son, who is becoming part of the world in this way. I see him as no others can - but I also see how others see him. I see the bridge between the two, as how I know him to be, connects with how others see him. The former, informs and flows to the latter. To my mind, it looks like others awaken to him. It looks like that, at first, all slept, but now some stumble around in growing awareness. We, however, are already awake to what Ainan is. Thus, we watch as the world awakens from its sleep - some to surprise (at him), others to delight, a few, perhaps, to envy...but more and more, awaken each passing year. It feels strange to watch it unfold. First it begins with a word in people's minds, whose origin they do not know, and one day, it might end in changes profound in the way things are. For that is what thinkers do: they change the world, at the level of our perception of it. The world is made anew in the minds of true creators. Ainan has the cognitive foundations of such a creator - but I cannot say what world he will make, one day, or how he may change the one we have.

I know, for sure, however: it all begins with a word, in people's minds, that appears there, one day, and puzzles them. Today, in Brighton, a person wondered: "Is Ainan a name?"

I don't think it will be long before they and all the people like them, will know the answer.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)