Howefitz Blog

I am the father of a teenage girl. Twilight? Yeah, I’ve heard of it. Here are my feelings on the phenomenon. Come with me… if you dare!

Since the dawn of teenage entertainment, what could possibly be described as ‘gothic’ has proved to be popular. What was popular while you were growing up?

Teen Wolf (1985)

OK, so not necessarily gothic, Twilight features werewolves as well as vampires, so I had to find an example of a werewolf other than Lon Chaney, Jr.

Monster Squad (1987)

Before this becomes a list of Halloween flicks of the 80′s, let’s focus on the vampires, shall we?

I’m so glad today’s FatherHood Friday theme is ‘Books’, because it gives me a chance to review an all-ages comic book I just discovered called ‘Lions, Tigers, and Bears‘.

‘Lions, Tigers, and Bears’ is the story of a little boy named Joey Price. Joey has just moved away from his grandmother who he’s close to, and is scared of being in a new place without any friends. As a going away present, his grandma gives him a set of four stuffed animals called ‘The Night Pride’. The lions and tigers in the set she says will chase the beasties away.

I’m up way too late, but I have to tell you about a giveaway going on over at the Jolly Mom! They have partnered with Delta Children’s Products in order to give away a toddler bed to one Mom (or Dad, I hope!) of her choice, either featuring Disney’s Fairies or Disney/Pixar’s Cars! Personally, I’m hoping to win the Cars bed, but feel free to enter anyway!

Mine! Mine!

Good Luck! Make sure to stop by JollyMom.com to see how you can get up to eight entries in this giveaway!

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Every once in a while, a movie comes along, beats you over the head and changes your life.

I personally have had a few movie moments like that. Some of those were in animated films. But I don’t think any of them affected me quite like Disney/Pixar’s ‘Up‘.

I’ve been a Pixar fan since practically the beginning of the studio, when I saw their short ‘Luxo, Jr.‘ in a presentation called ‘Beyond the Mind’s Eye‘ on PBS. My first post on this blog was ‘Wall-E Restored My Faith In Pixar‘. Needless to say I was excited about ‘Up’, I just didn’t realize how excited I should be.

The smell of stale gym socks infused my nostrils with testoterone and bravado. I had just finished swimming at the rec center and was changing into my dry clothes when a young muscular man struck up a conversation with me.

“Hey how’s it goin’?” he asked.

“Good, you?” I answered. All the fears of high school locker rooms flooded irrationally back. Does this guy want to kick my ass? Why is he talking to me?

“Great!” he answered. “So do you have kids in here?”

Calli and Daddy crack each other up! Ok, Calli cracks Daddy up...

It has been said that laughter is the best medicine. I am a huge advocate of this. I laugh all the time.

I laugh when I’m happy.

I laugh when I’m nervous.

I laugh when something’s funny.

Most of all? I laugh at my kids.

It’s funny how kids know exactly what to do. They are probably more in tune with your likes and needs than any of your adult friends.

Just a few examples:

Recently, through the magic of social networking, I came across an organization called the Comicbook Artist’s Guild. They are an organization of comic book professionals and beginners that get together for the sheer love of comics.

Their first anthology comic: Iconic, will be formally released at the MoCCA fest in New York City, being held June 6 and 7, but they were nice enough to let me peer inside it’s pages beforehand so that I can tell you a little bit about it.

Click here to buy your very own copy of Iconic!

Monday, we went for an ultrasound at 24 weeks. As long as everything goes well, this will be the last pictures we see of the little tyke until he is born. It got me to thinking about all the preparation that occurs when one is having a baby.

The latest image of the latest Howelett. Isn't he cuuuute?

We like to occasionally visit our local thrift store in order to maybe snatch some nifty schwag at a bargain. My wife generally migrates toward the clothing and I head for the media: books, CDs, movies…

Today’s visit to the thrift store resulted in my finding an album I had no idea existed, but I’m so glad I scooped it up!

‘Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music From Vintage Disney Films‘ is just that: a compilation of various artists adding their own spin on Disney film music. The artists on this album are unlike anything I’ve ever seen with Disney music.

Recently, while perusing the graphic novel collection at my local public library, I happened across a charming book called ‘Amelia Rules!‘. I instantly fell in love with the spunky 4th grader. I also became a huge fan of the creator.

Jimmy Gownley is a cartoonist who cares. With ‘Amelia Rules!’ he set out to create a comic with classic comic strip sensibilities that did not talk down to kids. His success at this is overwhelming. Jimmy is a co-founder of Kids Love Comics!, an organization that promotes literacy through comics. Something I can certainly relate to and support.