Todd Lyden

I had never heard of John Hively before. But I was looking for a quote about aging and found this: “It's easy to grow old if you haven't grown up” Wow... I'd not heard this one bit of my psyche put so succinctly before- but thank you Mr. Hively. I turned 40 last year. That sentence does not cause me any great emotions except to wonder the same thing I have told folks for pretty much the last twenty years. "I can't believe that the world has allowed me to enter the adult workspace..." From the moment I felt the freedom of not living under parental control and being loose in the world, I have hardly felt a day like I belonged in it. This isn't to say I have not learned your rules and adapted to how to "be an adult." I never felt like Peter Pan and wanted to stay young, but I always felt like I had pulled something over on the rest of the world. Like a kid who stayed up too late for the first time. That realization that I could...

Thank god my youngest has finally discovered Pixar movies in their glory; especially, The Incredibles. As I rewatched it for the nth time recently, I was struck by one thing. Mind you, the movie is borderline perfection as it is. Very little goes wrong with any of the choices made by Pixar and the director Brad Bird. However, one thing stood out. The music. Michael Giacchino was a freshman film scorer when he was tapped to score this big movie. Sure, he had done Lost and Alias for frequent collaborator, JJ Abrams, but this was his first full on movie soundtrack! Watching the movie, I marveled at how the music added to the experience. One segment ALWAYS made me come back to this film. It is the exciting moment as the family is evading missiles in flight and then get hit! Listen here. I watched that scene realized how I would have STILL been mesmerized by the action and suspense. But listen to that clip again, you can FEEL the action and suspense in the music. It is impossible NOT to put...