Vikingdom: the reviews which aren't.

Vikingdom is a film by KRU studios of Malaysia, starring Dominic Purcell in the lead role of Eirick, a Viking warrior on a quest to, basically, save the world from the tyranny of Thor (who appears to have gone somewhat mad).

Vikingdom should, by all accounts, be an enjoyable film. Indeed, I played a role in it, as Warick, a Viking Warrior who volunteers to join Eirick’s quest. Warick is a man who has not made his name, in life and sees the quest as a means to do so. How that turns out, I will let you find out, by watching it. My character accompanies Eirick throughout the entire quest, to the end of the film, so it is quite a good supporting role, in terms of “screen time”.

What I witnessed on the filming of Vikingdom leads me to believe that it should turn out to be a pretty good film, by Malaysian standards. I cannot say how polished the final product will be, by international standards, however, because I have not seen the final cut – in fact, I have not even seen a rough cut. The thing is: no-one has seen these things, to date. Not even the director, Yusry Abdul Halim (a.k.a. Yusry Kru), will have seen it, because the film is not yet finished – there is much post-production work still to do, including music, and CGI and, perhaps, some editing work.

Given that Vikingdom has not been seen by anyone, I found it very curious indeed, to stumble on a site on the Internet, a bit like IMDB, but not IMDB, that had a listing for Vikingdom, there. Guess what? There were 25 votes/reviews of Vikingdom on this site. That is right, 25 people, who could not have seen the film, have voted on its merits. I was a bit stunned by that. What was even more telling is that all these reviews/votes were bad ones. Yet, what I had seen in the making of it, did not justify such low votes at all. It was immediately very clear what was happening: enemies of KRU Studios were voting down the film even before it had been released, or any footage had been shown. People who had issues with KRU Studios were taking it out on Vikingdom by attempting to spoil its filmic reputation even before it had been completed, never mind released.

A lot of people put a lot of work into Vikingdom. It does seem unfair that some people who have fallen out with KRU Studios (and there are certainly such people around, for I know of several) should attempt to smear the efforts of those who have worked hard to make Vikingdom the best film they can make.

Then again, the film review site should not allow reviews or votes on a film, before that film has been released. Such votes are meaningless since they cannot be genuine responses to a film that no-one, not even the director, has seen in its final state.

I hope you go to see Vikingdom when it comes out. The film is expected to be released internationally. It is a Viking saga based on an ancient poem, the Necklace of the Brisings, I believe. It stars Dominic Purcell (Prison Break), Natassia Malthe (Bloodrayne), Craig Fairbrass (Eastenders), Conan Stevens (The Hobbit, Game of Thrones, Spartacus), Jon Foo (Tekken) and many others, including someone called Valentine Cawley, in a decent supporting role.

From what I have seen of the film, during its making, this 3D film promises to be entertaining...so go along and take your kids! As for reviews...it was fun to make, so it should be fun to watch. When you do get a chance to see it, let me know your thoughts on it, below. Thanks. It should be out sometime in 2013...when it has actually been finished!

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

My new Bacon Number.

Idle curiosity prompted me to go to the Oracle of Bacon – which is a Bacon Number calculator – and check my name in its database. I was rather surprised to see that my new Bacon Number is 2 (if documentaries and TV shows are allowed).

A Bacon Number is the distance between a person, and Kevin Bacon, the Hollywood actor. Conventionally, it is calculated using feature film appearances, but there is an extended version that takes into account TV documentaries and other TV shows. Under the extended version, my Bacon Number is just 2. The reason for this is because I appeared in a TV show with Mark Dolan, the British TV presenter called The World’s Cleverest Child and Me. He, in turn, appeared in a show in 2011 entitled X-Men First Class 35 mm Special, with Kevin Bacon, himself. (That would mean that Mark Dolan’s Bacon Number would be 1).

Of course, Ainan’s Bacon Number would also be 2 – so too would my wife’s and my other two sons Fintan and Tiarnan. We all have a Bacon Number of 2, if documentaries are considered.

This situation tells us more about Hollywood and the TV and film industry than it does about us, however. It is very clear from this, that the film world is very small indeed – and highly interconnected. Because we have appeared in a few shows, that is enough to put us very close to Kevin Bacon, in terms of professional separation (shared projects).

The only way for my Bacon Number to get lower, now, would be to work with Kevin Bacon himself. That, however, I cannot imagine being likely. After all, what project would bring us together? We shall see if such a thing ever happens.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

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

Is talent enough?

In the past week, I have been invited to audition for a film. It is quite a big film, in that there is a Hollywood partner involved, with a local company. It would be great to get the role...

The audition went well. The Casting Director said of my performance: “You are one of the best actors we have seen.” So, he likes my acting. However, he went on to say: “However, I am not the one who makes the decisions.” He only presents the possibilities to the Director and his board...but does not himself decide whom to cast.

Now, I have had experience of casting in Asia, before. Perhaps my remarks apply to casting everywhere. In the past, I have had Casting Directors say that my acting was great...but that they were looking for “someone blond”, or were “going for looks”. In other words, they were casting for APPEARANCE, over substance. This was a particular problem in Singapore, where it was quite possible for a casting person to choose an incompetent, non-actor, who looked good, over an experienced actor, who didn’t fit their “look”, requirements. Of course, the result of this kind of casting was that, sometimes, the performances that resulted were really bad – the entire integrity and quality of the work was compromised. Yet, the production people never seemed able to see this as a problem. They didn’t realize that their superficiality was damaging the resultant work.

The film I cast for this week has definite promise. I have seen the art material and the intended look of the work – it looks like it is going to be stunning in that sense. That, however, worries me a little. You see, if they are too much concerned with look, then they might not choose me, because the role I would like is for someone who is more muscular than I am, supposedly. So, if they focus too much on looks, they might choose a gym rat, over me. That, however, would be a mistake, I think, from the point of view, of securing the best performance in the role – that, I am sure, I can deliver.

I see this period as a test of the production. If it is focussed on looks, then they might choose someone else. If it is focussed on the best performances possible, then they are likely to choose me, given what the casting director has said. If the former, then they are making the classic Asian casting mistake and this is likely to be a compromised production, that is less good than it could be. If, however, they choose my performance, they are aiming for quality of performances and the film is likely to be a very good one. I hope it is the latter: we shall see.

I shall keep you informed as to which they choose.

To answer my own question, I would to say that, often, talent is not enough. An actor can be brilliant at acting and still not chosen for a role. It might be decided that they are too young, too old, too fat, too thin, too muscular, not muscular enough, too dark, too light and so on. Once they start placing too much importance on appearance, there are a million reasons why a particular actor might not be chosen – even if, by their performance, they would be perfect for the role. Personally, I think the process is dumb: they are getting hung up on trivialities and not seeing the core. They should cast the core, and ignore the minor disparities at the edges – after all, styling can deal with some of them, anyway.

I hope to have good news soon.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175 To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I 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. There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks. 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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/
This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.).

Tiarnan on moral complexity.

Last month, Tiarnan, three, at the time, was talking to his mother about character. He stood still before his mother, with his customary serious expression on his face, when he is about to mention something of significance. It gave him a presence that demanded attention - so Syahidah duly gave it to him.

"Mummy, you shouldn't always choose the good guy, because sometimes the good guy can be bad, and the bad guy can be good."

It was an interesting comment, for it showed that Tiarnan's understanding of morality and character had gone beyond black and white, and now incorporated every shade of grey, too. For him, character was not clearcut, anymore: there were ambiguities and blurrings of categories. To me, this seems a sign of a maturing grasp of the nature of people - for no-one is perfectly one thing or another, but a blend, instead, of various dispositions. Tiarnan has come to understand that, already.

Seeing childhood, from the outside, as I do, as a parent, it amazes me how quickly, very young children come to understand the world, when you consider how little time they have had to do so. They seem to come an insight of what it is all about upon very little exposure indeed. It seems to me that they are better able to do this, than a typical adult: ie. come to an understanding based on little information. Young children, in my experience, do this very well.

In a way, this is very revealing, because it goes beyond the world view that Hollywood would have little children believe: that of the pure good guy and bad guy division. Tiarnan has seen much Hollywood fare...but he has also been observing the world itself. His conclusion is clear: all is not clearcut, the world is not black and white, but grey. It is, I feel, a step towards a maturer understanding of the social world.

(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.html

I 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.

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.)

Brotherly love vs. Harry Potter.

Which is more powerful in the life of a child: brotherly love or the magical wizard, Harry Potter, lord of the box office? Well, yesterday, that was put to the test.

Syahidah had planned to take Fintan and Tiarnan to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This seems quite apt since they are both "half-bloods", themselves...though, I have yet to secure the title "Prince" for them!

When Syahidah arrived at the cinema, where I waited, she had only Tiarnan in tow. Fintan was nowhere to be seen.

The story turned out to be a sweet one. On leaving for Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, Syahidah noted that Fintan was hesitating.

"Are you coming?", she asked him.

"I don't want to see Harry Potter: Ainan will be lonely.", he said, looking at his brother who was soon to be left behind.

Syahidah objected that he would not.

"You can't see it...but he is very upset.", he said, concernedly. Perhaps the "upset" he thought he saw, was the thought of being left home alone, without his brothers.

Syahidah relented and let Fintan stay with his brother. She was touched to see that he cared so much about his elder brother that he would forego the film she knew he so wanted to watch.

As it went, however, it was lucky that Fintan didn't go to see Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince - for it was a dire concoction. Syahidah judged it as being up there with Transformers 2 as among the worst films she can recall seeing. Truly, Hollywood is churning out trash these days. She particularly criticized the PLOT as utter nonsense - and that would seem to be J.K "I don't plagiarize, honest" Rowling's fault. She also observed that it had disturbingly close similarities to elements of the Lord of the Rings - except that LOTR was fun, well put together and skillful - none of which could be claimed for Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince.

Now, I wasn't able to see Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince myself, at that time...even though I had gone to the cinema: so I consider myself lucky not to have wasted another couple of hours in a darkened room.

Given the creative poverty of Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, it is fortunate that Fintan's brotherly love is stronger than his taste for all things Potter. It seems, therefore, that his brotherly love has wisdom in it, too, as well as sweetness.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

Hollywood is dying. The signs are clear. All you have to do is to have had the misfortune to watch Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. I did. I wish I could get those hours of life back - for I sure did waste them.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is a very distinguished movie. It distinguishes itself by being, in fact, the worst film I have ever seen. Since enduring it, I have tried very hard to recall anything as bad. Even Japanese Godzilla type nonsense is not as bad, for at least the special effects are amusing, in their ineptness. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, is just inept on every level that it is possible for a story to be inept. The plot is drivel. The characterization doesn't even begin. The acting is so "cardboard cutout" that I began to wonder why, in fact, cardboard cutouts were not, in fact, employed instead of Shia La Boeuf and Megan Fox, both of whom showed little evidence of acting ability. However, it is difficult to know where to lay the blame: was it the director for not directing them...or the editor/director team, for choosing to show them at their worst?

My favourite parts (for all the wrong reasons) were when Shia "I won't trouble you by actually acting" La Boeuf, went into a strange twitching fit every time he had messages from his splinter of the Allspark (I know...sounds like nonsense, doesn't it? Because, of course, it is...) The twitching was so overdone, each time, so monstrously overacted that it was abundantly clear that neither actor nor director had the remotest idea of how real people behave. I shall remember that twitching for a long time to come.

Michael Bay is famed for not directing - he just blows things up. He is a man who doesn't make movies, he makes money. However, that is why Hollywood loves him: Hollywood exists not to make movies, but to make money. If Hollywood could make more money not making movies, but just pretending that they do - they would stop making movies immediately. Oh, dear, they have already thought of that: Michael Bay's work is the evidence.

This "film"...well, actually, "series of explosions", distinguished itself in another way: it put me to sleep TWICE, despite the noise and the chaos. Perhaps it was the repetitiveness of it all that did it. I actually fell to sleep TWICE in the final 30 minutes explosive finale. It was the sheer dullness of those dull, seen them before, robots, fighting each other, in dull, seen them before, ways. It was the most boring half an hour I have ever suffered in a cinema.

Sadly, this "film" is not the great failure it deserves to be. Indeed it did 583 million dollars at the box office (in the US, I believe) in the first 5 days. Thus, the world's film audiences are damned to receive a deluge of such nonsense, in the future. That which makes most money, is that which will be most copied.

The big question is: why does a film as dire and dull as Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, do so well at the box office?

My only conclusion is that the human race, itself, is in decline. People have lost any vestige of taste or discernment that they once had - and now, they really do not know what a good film is. They don't recognize deficiencies of plot, characterization, acting, or directing. If it blows up, is brightly coloured and moves fast, they think it is great. The global film audience is basically at the level of a toddler, when it comes to film comprehension: they are excited by something visually stunning, even if it is mind-numbing as well. They don't notice their minds being numbed...because that is the permanent state of them.

I see little hope for an upsurge in public taste. Every passing year seems to see an incremental decline in what people are and in what they seek. A comparison of the public tastes of people in my childhood and those, now, reveals a perturbing decline. Of course, it may be Hollywood itself that is to blame by acculturating people to nonsense.

I cannot see any present mechanism that could reverse such a trend. The only thing that would work would be if Hollywood suddenly started losing money on Transformers X, or whatever it will be. Once empty "Michael Bay" type films start to lose money, then Hollywood will try something else. Oddly, people get what they deserve, in a way. If great films, with great acting and great writing and interesting premises, were the biggest films at the box office, that is exactly what Hollywood would be striving to make. So, you have the power to change the situation: seek out the best films that you can - and avoid the trash, and urge others to avoid the trash, too. In time, there may be a change...and great films may once more become dominant.
(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.

If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Hollywood stereotypes, in Tiarnan's eyes.

Tiarnan, three, is, as most three year olds are, an avid consumer of Hollywood products - with a bias towards cartoons, over "real" films - though he likes those, too. Today, he had something funny to observe about them.

Tiarnan turned to his mummy with a slight frown on his forehead.

"Why do bad guys have small heads and big bodies?", he asked her.

She would have laughed, but for the seriousness of his intent. I am not privy to her answer...but only to his question. However, the question itself is funny - and telling. It immediately called to mind the Terminator movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger...a man big of body, small of head (by proportion)...or any of the other tough guys. Then, again, thinking of the cartoons he watched, it was most clear that he was right: the bad guys competed with each other, over muscularity and sheer body mass.

It is refreshing listening to Tiarnan talk of how he sees things. In his eyes, the world seems new, again. It is also oddly surprising to witness the natural wisdom of his questions. He asks the questions we would ask, if only we were still alive to the world, and its ways.

Perhaps I should have a talk to him about how intelligence is undervalued in some quarters...Hollywood in particular...and how brawn/beauty is elevated to a place it does not deserve. Funnily enough, it is in America that we find the worship of the physical taken to its extreme. That is just what Tiarnan was noticing in their cartoons, of course.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Barack Obama and the video store.

Sometimes, serendipity seems almost wise in what it presents to us.

Today, I came upon a most serendipitous sight. I was browsing in a video store, when I saw a video entitled "Barack Obama" in bold letters, with the subtitle: "The man and his journey". He seemed rather happy with himself, on the front cover, as you might expect. I was amused, however, at the video next to Barack Obama. It was entitled, "The Mesmerist". So, if you read left to right across the video shelves, it went: "Barack Obama, The Mesmerist". How funny and how telling, for what is he not, but a mesmerist who has captivated the mind of America and the world beyond?

There is something hypnotic about his presence on the stage, something that makes you think that what is being said is significant in the way Great Men say things of significance - and yet, when you look at the words, alone, when he is no longer there to say them, they seem pallid things of little strength and meaning. What we are witnessing, of course, is Barack Obama's charisma, at work, which invests his every word and every deed, with a seeming significance way beyond its actual import. More than any other President, he seems instinctively to understand the essence of stage presence and how to use it to his advantage.

Barack Obama has perfected the role of the President, as the President is envisaged by Hollywood. He comes across as a mature, solid, stable, reassuring patriarchal figure, the Father to a Nation, a man on whom all can depend. The only problem is, that it is difficult to discern how much of this impression reflects the true nature of the man, and how much is no more true of him, than an actor's characters are true of the actor themselves. It may be that the image Barack Obama projects is as distant from his true self, as that of Anthony Hopkins and Hannibal Lecter - or it may be that he is close to the role he portrays and that much of what we see is truly Barack Obama himself. At this point in time, it is not possible to know which case it might be: we will just have to watch and learn more of him, over time. However, it is true to observe that he has mesmerized his nation. Whether this mesmerism is an act, or comes unbidden from his natural character, the fact remains that he has an essentially hypnotic hold over his nation. In such a state, a nation cannot be expected to clearly assess his actions, words and deeds and judge the true quality of the President they have elected. It will take until the spell has broken, somewhat, and the nation is no longer fully enamoured of him, before they start to see him clearly, as he truly is, rather than as he projects himself to be.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Hollywood good guys and bad guys.

Hollywood is a world of good guys and bad guys, of lines between good and evil carefully drawn. It is world in which there can be no mistaking who is good and who is evil, unlike in the real world, in which spin, media control and other measures can obscure what is truly evil and make it seem to be better than it is.

Children, however, have a way of seeing through to the core of things. Fintan, five, likes his Hollywood films and cartoons as much as any other child, but he doesn't just watch them, he considers them, too.

The other day, he turned to his mother, suddenly, with a question on his lips, as is his way:

"Mummy: why do the bad guys always lose, when they are bigger?". His eyes puzzled up at hers, sure that something wasn't quite right in this picture.

Now, I don't, at this moment, know Syahidah's reply...but the question alone is revealing enough. He had spotted an inconsistency between film and reality. In the real world, the big guys tend to win. In film, this is not necessarily so: if they are big and EVIL, they will lose against the heroic good guy. Fintan wasn't happy with this picture since it conflicted with his understanding of likelihoods.

The funny thing about it is that many adults may have overlooked the truth that Fintan had spotted: the EVIL guy does tend to be more powerful, more dangerous, larger, more difficult to defeat - yet, he (it is usually a man) is always defeated by our daring Hollywood hero.

It is sweet to watch Fintan try to reconcile the world of the TV/Film/Cartoon to the real world, sketching out where they meet and where they do not. I find that he sees things that often we tend to overlook - perhaps because he is actually thinking about what he sees, instead of just receiving it passively.

I hope this habit of thought endures and that he is always someone to question what he sees and what he learns.

Regarding the winning of the good guy...if only it were always so in the real world, too.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Wall-e, Hollywood and environmentalism.

I have just enjoyed Wall-e from Disney Pixar, with my family. What I particularly enjoyed was the underlying message of the film. You see, more than anything else, Wall-e is a comment on the state of the world today.

Children get their education best when they least notice it. A cinema is a pretty good place to educate children on important issues. Thus, I would like to congratulate Hollywood and Disney Pixar in particular, for Wall-e.

I am not about to spoil the film, but I can say this: it preaches a very clear message about the perils of not caring for the environment, of allowing Man to become successively more lazy and dependent on machines and on the probable future of Earth and Man if we continue to do and be as we are. These are important issues for children to confront and understand so that, when they become adults, they might live in a way which does not contribute to these problems.

I would urge every parent to bring their children to see Wall-e, even very young children will be able to understand the film - and let them imbibe the message it has, for the state of our world today. Clearly, the film is an extensive comment on the nature of, in particular, modern America and where not only is it ahead, but where it presently already is. In a way, the film is quite chilling in what it predicts, but is so without making the audience too uncomfortable. In fact, I found myself laughing at things I shouldn't really have been laughing at, while being made aware of how awful such a situation actually would be.

So, if you want your children to grow up environmentally aware, active and protective, I think Wall-e is a good place to begin their education in what will happen if nothing is done.

See it.

Watching the film gave me hope that Hollywood - often seen as an evil force in the world - could actually help the future development of the world by producing responsible films that educate the audience on important matters such as environmentalism and the likely future of Man if we don't change our ways. They serve as powerful warnings and are more likely to be heeded since they won't be perceived as lectures.

Well done, Disney Pixar...I hope to see more of such films, for the future adults of tomorrow to learn from.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Hollywood from a child's perspective.

Fintan likes his cartoons, but that does not mean he accepts them unthinkingly.

On the 29th June, Fintan came to me with a plastic "Kung Fu" panda in his hands. He had recently seen the film and rather enjoyed it. However, something was puzzling him.

"Daddy..."

"uhuh."

"What do pandas eat?"

"Bamboo."

"Then why does Kung Fu panda eat noodles?"

He had caught me at a moment when a ready answer wouldn't come to my lips. So, I am not sure I gave him a satisfactory answer to the question. However, it does show me that though he had seen the film when he was four, he didn't just accept that it could be, without questioning its premises. Clearly, it had niggled at him that the panda should eat food he had doubted a panda would eat.

This leads to broader matters, of course: children learn about the world from the films they see - but what exactly are they learning? Much of what they see in films relates in no way at all to the real world. Is this a beneficial thing? Is it harmful that children gain inaccurate understandings of the world from Hollywood? Fintan, at least, is thinking about what Hollywood is telling him - and doubting it. Yet, I would think most kids of his age wouldn't do that - they would just accept Hollywood's version of reality as in some way real, some where else that they haven't been to.

Of course, one may say that there is a lot of time for them to grow up and come to a truer understanding of the world - but some of the things that Hollywood "teaches" through its films are never outgrown - they inform even adults' view of the world. This can only be harmful. Indeed, the Mythbusters are making a good living out of debunking the myths - or lies, in fact - that Hollywood perpetrates. The world view it represents does not correspond to the real world in so many ways that we might overlook.

In a way, I am happy that Fintan is not accepting Hollywood's version of reality without question. There is the sign that he is thinking for himself and checking the facts of the situation with external reality. That can only be healthy - for it means that the model of the world that he builds for himself, over the years, is likely to be much more accurate - and therefore useful, than that built by a child who is in the habit of accepting whatever is told to them, without question. I only hopes he keeps it up.

I have to add, of course, that even though he doubted the film's premises in certain respects, that didn't stop him from enjoying it. He was able to view it from two perspectives: that of enjoying the tale as it unfolded, but also that of examining it for veracity and consistency with what he knew of the world.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

August Rush, Child Prodigy Musician

There is a film out, by the name of August Rush. It tells of a child prodigy musician. Unsurprisingly, my wife and I decided to go to see it, to see if it had anything insightful to say about prodigy. It didn't.

August Rush is the kind of film that I would wish never made. It is full of stereotypes and cartoonish characters - indeed, the central character, "August Rush"/Evan Taylor, is a cartoon prodigy - so shallow is the depth of his portrayal, by the director and writer. I will say nothing more of him, other than to say that there is little that can be said.

As regular readers of my blog will know, I am not fond of plagiarism - indeed, it is one of my abiding hates. Unfortunately, August Rush is one of the most plagiaristic, derivative, composite films I have seen in many years. Virtually, the entire content of the film is borrowed from somewhere else.

There is a main character, Wizard, who is just like Fagin, from Charles Dickens. The prodigy, August Rush, is forever hearing music in the world, just like Bjork, in her film of quite a few years ago, the name of which eludes me. Indeed, there are scenes of rhythmic sound and natural notes, sounding in the world, just like those that appear in the earlier film. It nauseated me to hear such imitativeness. Then there is a scene where August Rush fills a room with musical notes - they were appended everywhere, all over the walls, and all - just like the famous garage scene in A Beautiful Mind, in which we find a room filled with the jottings and connections drawn by John Nash, on every surface.

Anyone well versed in the filmic culture of the last twenty years, or the literature of the last two hundred, will find themselves recognizing virtually everything in this film, as being derived from something else. Watching the film became a kind of game of "Spot the theft".

I found it ironic, actually. You see the film concerns a boy of great creative and prodigious power - but the film itself showed that its creators had none of either power, at all. Nor did they have any real understanding of prodigy.

We left the cinema thoroughly unenlightened - except for a new appreciation of just how few thinking, creating people there are in Hollywood these days.

Don't rush to see August Rush - unless you are a masochist (or know nothing of film or literature and won't recognize the incessant borrowings.) On second thoughts, even if you don't spot the thefts, the film isn't up to much: it adds nothing to the world, and takes a couple of hours of your life away- an utter waste of time.

(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.)

The Oscars and the Writers' Strike in Hollywood

The Oscars nearly didn't happen this year. The wonder of it is the why: because they almost didn't have any writers to tell them what to say.

I found this marvellously sad. The world's supposedly greatest actors nearly couldn't have a celebration of their own achievements because those who put words in their mouths were on strike for more money - and a fairer share of new media earnings.

I have nothing untoward to say about the strikers - for writers are, indeed, an ill-treated and often forgotten breed. Yet, at the same time, I found it rather absurd that grown adults, with great reputations in their field, had need of writers to supply them with thoughts. There is something in that which, to me, indicates that these talents are not as great as one might suppose them to be: take away their writers and they are hollow vessels with nothing worthy of their own to say. Were this not so, they would not have been frightened of a writers' strike - and would not have contemplated either a cancellation of the oscars or a change of format so that no writing, as such, would have to be on show. Apparently, a lot of canned clips of past greatnesses was likely to have supplanted the usual speech giving fest.

In a way, I find it objectionable that the performers coming up to collect their awards should, so often, have had someone else write their words for them. This means that we do not get a personal insight into the actor's genuine reaction. We do not see them as they are: we see them as a writer thinks they would look good being. It is isn't interesting, to me, to see, once again, how they perform with another person's words on their lips - I would like to see them, as they are, with just their own thoughts on their lips. If it should be that they do not have enough of their own thoughts to actually give a coherent speech, then I would like to see that too. I would like to see these people, whose lives are lived as artificial performances, as they really are. It would be much more instructive.

What we see as an actor's work, is the conjunction of the contributions of many people. We see their lighting person, at work, their make up artist, their director, their cameraman, their writer and so on - and amidst all of this, we see the actor. What would be great is, if every year, at the Oscars, we actually got to see these people as they are: sans everything. No special lighting, no-one to do their make up, no direction, no interesting camerawork, no writers to feed them lines. It would be so much interesting to actually see these feted people as they are.

Some of them would shine under these circumstances. These people would, I feel, be genuine talents with something real to offer. Others, would fade to nothingness and dullness if deprived of the support network of other talents that is always with them. The lesson would be a rich one. We would finally see who is a real talent and who is not.

Unfortunately, such a situation will never be. The non-talents of Hollywood (who have convinced us that they are talented) would never allow themselves to be seen as they really are. Those among them who wouldn't mind such an exercise - being possessed of real, solid talents, would, no doubt, be in the minority and therefore not have a sufficient voice - even if it possessed them to be so upfront about the reality of themselves. The Oscars and Hollywood in general, will continue to be an artifice - a thing divorced from reality - and we will continue in our ignorance of what these people who are held up to us for admiration, are really like.

Unless we are fortunate enough to meet and get to know one of these people in person, we will never know them as they actually are. We will only ever be consumers of their carefully constructed images. They speak - but their words are not their own. From their reaction to the writers' strike (ie. panic) it seems likely that they have nothing of their own to say - in the main. Are people with nothing to say for themselves then worthy of our collective admiration? Is a hollow vessel worthy of public fame?

Deep down, I don't think many of us think so. However, the image that is crafted for us to consume is so cleverly done that few of us pause for a moment to consider that the image has no substance and is not representative of the person we attribute it to. We come to admire that which is not truly there.

I, for one, am all for writers' strikes, therefore - the longer lasting the better. It would be best, in fact, if writers were forbidden from writing for actors who are to collect awards. It would be our only chance to see these people as they truly are.

I, for one, would definitely tune in to see such a show. As for the real oscars: I can barely watch them. The artifice is too much for me - so I tune out after a half hour or so.

Let writers show us what they do - by not doing it. Let actors be revealed as they are.

That is what I would call a show.

(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.)

Heath Ledger: "Natural Causes" or Karoshi?

There is speculation on the internet that Heath Ledger, the actor, may have died from "natural causes". This is said because rumour has it that the toxicity level of the drugs in his system would have been insufficient to kill a man.

I don't know if this is true. The official autopsy report is not yet out. However, granting that it is so, then we have to look elsewhere. Some are saying that he just had a heart attack. This sometimes happens, even with young, non-obese people. Sometimes, people have an undiagnosed heart defect or disorder and the first thing they know about it, they are dead. This may be so. However, there is another explanation: karoshi.

Karoshi is a Japanese concept - it means "Death from overwork". Let us look at Heath Ledger's life in the last few months: he was filming non-stop; he was sleeping very little; he spoke of being "stressed out"; interviewers described him as "twitchy" and "on-edge". He was a man who clearly was pushing the limits way too much. It could just be that he is a victim of overwork - a death by karoshi.

Again, we come back to the realization that his fame killed him. Whether it be suicide, accidental overdose or overwork/karoshi, Heath Ledger's work as a film star is what killed him.

His case is a reminder that, no matter how "well" our careers are going, no matter how many "opportunities" are coming our way, no-one should ever set aside a reasonable degree of rest and peace and quiet for it. To do so, is to risk an early demise. Perhaps employers in general could learn a lesson from this example: don't push your staff too hard - if you value your employees isn't it better to push a little less hard and let them get enough rest, so that that employee is able to continue to contribute to the company long-term rather than burn-out/breakdown/drop dead?

Everyone should be allowed to rest - and not just rest in peace.

(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.)

Mira Sorvino and scientific fame.

Bizarre as it might seem, Mira Sorvino is famous in the scientific world.

Now, you might wonder how on Earth a Hollywood actress could become known in certain quarters of the scientific community, in a scientific context. What did she discover, you might wonder? When did she find the time to fit a PhD in, in between all those films? How does her film-set schedule allow for laboratory experimentation and profound theorizing?

Well, it doesn't. You see Mira Sorvino having become famous in Hollywood, has been acknowledged by the scientific community in a way which gives her a strange kind of fame. You see, Ainan, 7, pointed out to me, yesterday, that a newly discovered chemical has recently been christened Mirasorvone.

Ainan is fond of filling his mind with rare and obscure scientific information - and this chemical fact is just one nugget. I am informed that there is a beetle called Thermonectus Marmoratus. This beetle uses the newly noted Mirasorvone as a chemical defense (so it is not, actually a very nice chemical!). The common name for this beetle is the "Sunburst Diving Beetle".

The chemical was discovered by researchers at Cornell University. These fans of Mira Sorvino decided to honour her, by naming it after her, owing to her appearance in the film Mimic, which has a strong connection to insects. Curiously, they didn't name the chemical after her character, Dr. Susan Tyler, in the film - but after the actress herself. I suppose Mira should be thankful for that - otherwise she would have missed out on a kind of fame which never dies.

It is my guess that Mira Sorvino will now be known, by some scientists, for as long as there are scientists to know anything. In this way, her scientific fame, modest though it is, being restricted to one chemical name, is certain to outlast any Hollywood fame, she accumulates. Long after all her films have crumbled away, and no-one even remembers what Hollywood was - or, perhaps even, what America was - the chemical name will persist in scientific records - and Mira Sorvino's fame, will endure - even if it is as a nasty chemical. What a strange thought that is.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, who brought Mirasorvone to my attention, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, or Tiarnan, eighteen 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, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children. Thanks.)

Celebrity: gift or creative genius?

We live in a celebrity obsessed world. A world of Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and baby Suri; a world of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and baby Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt; the world of Mel Gibson, Madonna, and Sharon Stone. A world in which Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, James Dean and Marlon Brando are still remembered. From the coverage these people receive, one would think they were the most important people on Earth: but are they? Are they the best of people? Is celebrity the product of natural gift, inner creative genius - or is it a gift of luck, itself?

Some celebrities are certainly gifted. James Woods is profoundly gifted, with an IQ of 180. He may well be the brightest working actor in Hollywood, though perhaps not in the wider world. Madonna's IQ, I once read, is 140 - so she is moderately gifted, on her way to highly gifted. Sharon Stone's is apparently around 150 making her highly gifted. One could argue whether or not these people were geniuses - in the creative sense - and decide, most probably, that they were not: but they are definitely gifted in the sense of IQ.

Is it necessary to be gifted to be a celebrity? The short answer is a clear no, as most would have observed if you have watched celebrity interviews. Many of them are clearly not very intelligent. It seems that luck and perseverance alone, are enough. A pretty face helps, too.

Is celebrity a reward to giftedness? Most certainly not. Most gifted people live relatively successful lives, but few attain fame - there are so many factors involved in that besides talent, or gift, or even simple intelligence.

Ainan Celeste Cawley, my six year old son, is a scientific child prodigy, with a prodigious gift in science, and a grasp of conceptual matters beyond most adults. He is not, however, a celebrity. Scientists generally don't achieve acclaim, even if they produce volumes of quality work. Why is this? Fame is determined by what the public want to know and generally they don't want to know about scientists or science. Apart from Linus Pauling, Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer, how many scientists, in modern times, have truly made an impression on the public? Very few compared to the vast numbers of scientists who have lived and worked in that period.

Fame, then, is not an inevitable reward for giftedness. To be gifted, a genius, a child prodigy - or a savant - is its own reward. These gifts confer the ability to see more in life, understand more, feel more - and contribute more to life, than the ungifted, untalented, ordinary are able to.

Who is more important to the world: a celebrity, who is ungifted, but famous, or a gifted person who is talented, but unknown? I would say the gifted person, for though they may not be leading a high-profile life, their actual true contribution to life is likely to be greater. This becomes clear once we see through the glamour of fame, and judge the actual merits of their achievements.

Whether or not my children become famous for their achievements, their genius, prodigy, gift provides the only significance that is necessary. That they are gifted is significant. Being a child prodigy, is significant, whether or not that is recognized widely, it does not change their intrinsic worth, which could not be higher.

For me Ainan Celeste Cawley, 6, Fintan Nadym Cawley, 3, and Tiarnan Hasyl Cawley, 9 months are my pantheon of celebrities/little Gods. That few know them, matters little, for their worth and their unique gifts are most evident.

If your children are gifted, or show genius, or prodigy of any kind, then know that that makes them as important to life as anyone. Though the creative among us may often not receive the acclaim they deserve, they remain the most important of people: a world of god-like celebrities notwithstanding.

(If you would like to learn more Ainan Celeste Cawley, six, a scientific child prodigy, and his brothers, go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html )