Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

The other day, whilst in a video store, Tiarnan, five, insisted on buying "Star Wars". He had a choice between a package that contained the first film I had seen in 1976 (the one with Princess Leia and her bun hair style!), which was now labelled no. 4 in the series, or a package containing The Phantom Menace, now labelled no.1. He took the Phantom Menace, despite some misgivings from me about the quality of this film.

It was very interesting to see my sons' reactions to the Phantom Menace. As it began and the titles came up, Fintan exclaimed, in some surprise: "So old-fashioned!". I had to smile. The mystery of it, for me, was that he had enough cultural references to think of that style of writing as "old-fashioned".

Then, the scrolling writing came up, to set the scene - a ludicrous plot out of a bureaucrat's mind, about taxation of planetary trade.

"Is this film just about reading?", asked Fintan a little piqued.

"No, that is just the introduction."

He settled down to watch and, with him, Tiarnan.

Now, you should know that Tiarnan is five, Fintan is seven and Ainan has just turned eleven. The Phantom Menace should be an ideal film for children, however, my sons' views of it were rather telling. As the film progressed, instead of them becoming more absorbed in it, they became more and more fidgety. Even I found it dull. This was, supposedly, a science fiction film - but its subject of politics, bureaucracy and taxation, could not have been less interesting. George Lucas had, it seemed, become a very dull man in his later years. Shakespeare had known how to write of Kings, interestingly, but George Lucas has not mastered the modern equivalent.

About half way through the film, my sons made a decision:

Fintan let out an exasperated: "I am SO bored!", and got up and left.

Tiarnan joined him. Then Ainan, too.

George Lucas' supposed masterpiece was left alone to itself.

What a crappy film.

At this point, I should let you know that this has never happened with any other film that we have brought into the house. Thus, in all their lives, my sons have never been so bored by a movie as they were, by George Lucas' Phantom Menace. A film with so much potential appeal for children, that actually manages to bore my sons, can only be described as a total failure.

They returned about half an hour later, after having played and, rather steadfastly, watched the second half. To be fair, there were some more active parts of the later stages that they enjoyed. Overall, however, they didn't think much of The Phantom Menace.

This now presents a problem: will my children ever see part four, the original Star Wars film - which was, actually, worth seeing, in my childhood remembrance, anyway? It is altogether possible that they won't suffer through the first three, not very good, films, to see the second much better trilogy.

We shall see. However, it was good to see that the hype and marketing surrounding George Lucas' Star Wars oeuvre didn't prevent my sons from seeing the absolute boredom of The Phantom Menace. At least their inner sight, is clear...

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To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

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Talent will out

There is a saying in Britain: "Talent will out". This means that those who are talented will eventually succeed - but is this true? One doesn't have to be very observant, in life, to come across many people who are evidently talented, but not very successful. Clearly, all is not as it seems.

My contention, supported by a lifetime of experience and observation, is that talent, in itself, is not enough to guarantee success in any field. There are simply too many other factors at work, as well. Often, it is not the most talented person who succeeds - but the best connected. This is an example of the "who you know, not what you know" phenomenon.

Acting is a case in point. What is the background of the actors who "make it" in public life? Well, very often, in fact, too, too often, they come from families who are already connected to showbusiness. This explains something I was often confronted with, when I was an actor: the best actors did not necessarily get the jobs - and the ones who did get the jobs, weren't always that good as actors. They had something else going for them: they knew the people involved in the projects. This happened a lot.

I met many good actors in those days. I met many actors who seemed to have much more talent than their famous colleagues - and yet, they were relatively unknown. They had talent but they didn't have the opportunities provided by good connections in the business - and so, ultimately, they failed to succeed.

I use acting as an example, but this phenomenon will apply, in varying degrees, to almost all areas of life: knowing the right people really helps - in fact a lot more than actually being the right person (in the sense of having the talent).

Let us just check out the backgrounds of a couple of famous actors as examples. Ewan MacGregor - of Star Wars fame. Now, those who know him well, won't be surprised, but others, who don't, might be surprised to learn that he had a relative in the original Star Wars film. No doubt that connection helped put him in touch with George Lucas, at the right time. Furthermore he is related by blood or the marriage of his relatives, to three established figures in British showbusiness: Denis Lawson, Shelia Gish (very respected) and Lou Gish. With such a base of connections to start out with in the showbusiness world, it would have been a lot easier for the young Ewan MacGregor to establish himself than his unconnected contemporary competitors.

Another example is Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. He started out his career as one of the most connected individuals you could imagine. Both of his parents work, in some way or other, in showbusiness. His mother is actually a casting director. That is the person whose job it is to select people for roles on behalf of production companies: they are the people who cast actors. Clearly, she would know, personally, many key players in the business, many people able to give her son a job. The same could be said for his father. He is a literary agent - which is more relevant that it seems. A literary agent is connected to the film and tv worlds through the sale of books to them. So, his father, too, would have good showbusiness connections. It is impossible to run Daniel Radcliffe's life again, without his parents connections, but undoubtedly he would have had a hard time of it - and may, in fact, never have succeeded at all, without them. That is what I would expect, anyway, from what I have seen in other talented but unconnected individuals.

There are many talented people in this world who never really get the chance to shine. I met many on my way in England. None of them made it. Yet, many of them "had it" - in the sense of talent. It is a pity really. I have often thought how much better films and theatre would be if the person who was cast was actually the best person for the role - rather than just the best connected person (as it usually is). I rather feel that the quality of that particular art would be so much higher if it were so.

No doubt this observation applies to many other areas of life, too. Everything would be so much better if it was genuinely the best, most suited person doing it. Indeed, it would be good, indeed, if the saying: "Talent will out", was true - but it isn't.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and four months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and nine months, and Tiarnan, twenty-six months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

St. Patrick's Day Parade, Singapore.

Yesterday, Singapore celebrated St. Patrick's Day, one day early. It was thought not appropriate to celebrate it on a Monday (though it falls on one) owing to the sacred need to get on with work.

Anyway, I took my family along to the St. Patrick's Day parade, out of feeling for my long unseen land of origin - and out of curiosity as to how Singapore would celebrate this quintessentially Irish day. The parade was organized by the Irish Business Association of Singapore.

The day began with bizarreness. Our first encounter with the parade was near the Asian Civilization Museum where we witnessed what appeared to be an invasion from a George Lucas backlot: a column of stormtroopers, clad in white shining armour, were being led by "Darth Vader", through the streets of Singapore. Star Wars had come to the equator.

My children were awed by this surreal sight. The stormtroopers were lined up quite a few rows deep behind Darth Vader - who, suitably, was rather taller than the others. They didn't speak to anyone, but stomped wordlessly through the crowd, looking neither left, nor right, but straight ahead. It was most impressive. I couldn't help but think how hot they must be under their all covering plastic attire. Nevertheless, the children were impressed: Tiarnan in particular kept pointing at them, and drawing our attention, whenever it appeared to be drifting with a repeated: "There!" He was amazed. Never in his life had he seen anyone like these stormtroopers. What a treat he has in store for him, when he gets to see Star Wars for the first time.

We followed the Stormtroopers in their deployment towards Boat Quay.

The rest of the parade was equally whimsical. There was a band of bagpipe players, belting out Irish music...but, most oddly, none of them were Irish: they were mostly Chinese. It was quite strange to see the Irish music, with its explicit ethnic origin, juxtaposed to earnest young Chinese (and other asians), playing it. One of the announcers of the event, claimed an Irish grandfather - yet he looked like a purebred Asian to me - so either he jested, or the Irish influence was overwhelmed by the other lines within him. The Irish were present more in spirit than in numbers. At one point, the announcer asked for all the Irish people to put up their hands. I did so - and a scattering of others throughout the crowd - perhaps 10 per cent of the people there. Then they asked the non-Irish to put up their hands: suddenly arms sprouted all around...virtually everyone with their hand up. It was touching in a way, that so many non-Irish would turn out to celebrate Irish culture and tradition. Perhaps there is a yearning here, in Singapore, for the depth of some other cultures - such as the Irish one - with its millenia of traditions stretching back to time forgotten. Singapore doesn't have that. Everything here is so recent. It was warming, therefore, to see so many people turn up to celebrate my national day.

Another local touch was a traditional Malay group, who performed in their own quirky, traditional way. I found this curious in two ways: one, it was interesting to watch from a cultural perspective...but two, I found that it spoke of a local need for recognition. It was a Malay performance, on an Irish day. Again, as with the Star Wars fan group (which they were), we saw a local touch to an Irish celebration.

One group of teenagers, who were playing the drums, took a step none of the others did, in their celebrations: they had had t-shirts made up emblazoned with Gaelic slogans. The effort was appreciated, and their green and white colouring was most appropriate.

Surprisingly, this is only the third time that St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated in Singapore, with a parade. I hope it is the beginning of a long-term tradition. For it was good to hear the rhythms of Ireland, here, on the equator. It made for quite a surreal day.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)