Star Wars and awesome stories in general

The entire universe of Star Wars has been a huge love of mine for as long as I can remember.  I also can't actually remember when I started to be involved in the story.  For years, I've watched the films and read many of the novels that have spun off from those movies.  When the animated Star Wars movie came to theaters a few years back, I went and enjoyed it more than I probably should have.  I have literally dozens of Star Wars books in all shapes and sizes and I've read many of them several times over.  My question for this post (yes it does relate to out themes this time) is what makes a story so lovable, so addictive that people follow it for years.

First, I want to look at stories that fit this mold.  One of course is the Star Wars Universe.  Others include Middle Earth (Lord of the Rings) and Narnia.  Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings books from 1937-1949 and Lewis published his Narnia series between 1950 and 1956.  Despite both of these being decades old, the stories are timeless and as appropriate now as they were then.  Like Star Wars, these worlds are absolutely huge.  There's so much going on and so much that can go on. 

This is what these stories, and others, have in common.  It's easy to lose yourself in these worlds and every time you revisit them you may see something new.  That's one of the reasons why I fell in love with Star Wars.  There are so many characters, stories, and worlds that it's almost impossible to cover it all.  Lastly, I felt like I belonged in the universe, that I almost had a personal connection with the characters from these stories.  Does that make me weird?

The Mystery of Teen Lit: An Analysis

Over the past several years, you could hardly walk down the street without hearing or seeing some reference to Twilight, Hunger Games, or some other super-popular series.  What doesn't entirely make sense is that reason that these books have attained the level of popularity that they have.  Although the news one typically hears stems from the movie release of one book  adaptation or another, rather than the release of the book itself, the time, energy, and money for a movie would not be put out if there was an absence of guaranteed success (colossal failure of Mortal Instruments aside).  The enormous success of both the Twilight and The Hunger Games movies attests to that.

Returning to my original point of why Teen Lit is so popular, I'll express some of my own opinions.  Teen Lit capitalizes on several things that make it easy to relate to these books : the desire to "get out of here," heroic themes, and romance, to name a few.  In many of these books, the main character is stepping out of their comfort zone and going to a new place: Katniss to the Capitol, Percy to Camp Half-Blood, and Bella  (back) to Forks.  The protagonist also has to step up and be a hero, much like the Epic Poems of old.  These traits are admirable and allow readers to relate to a protagonist.

Perhaps the real secrets of Teen Lit will never be uncovered, and that's OK.  I for one am able to enjoy both Teen Lit and "grown-up" books and have no problem letting people read whatever they enjoy.  I just really needed a blog topic.

All those holiday tunes...and stuff.

Quick disclaimer: I'm not bashing Christmas or any other holiday, just the time at which people begin/continue to recognize it/them.

'Tis the season and anybody turning on B101 will know, without a shadow of a doubt, just what season it is.  Around the first of December all of the classics start rolling out and keep us Jingle Bell rocking... until March.  I have to ask, why? The same question pops up when I see candy corn on the shelves in Rite Aid or Wal-Mart advertise costumes in August.  Just let summer end first!  Enough whining though, here are my thoughts: people can't get enough of the holidays.  People are more than happy to turn their thoughts to Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas (and leave them there) because of all the happy memories we have associated with these Holidays.
   
Alright, so we can't get enough of the holidays.  The next question is, why does unfeeling corporate America hop on the bandwagon and start up the holiday ads in November (Kmart, I'm looking at you)?  Answer: $$$...$.  Coca-cola in particular has a huge amount invested in being associated with the holidays; they've practically trademarked Santa, with his genial, ruddy face and bottle of Coke.  There have been several market studies that agree with the fact that a consumer is much more likely to spend when there's an emotional tie, says my Marketing class.

Returning to my original point, and having given some serious thought to the matter, there really isn't any harm to come from an early/late celebration of the holidays.  Whatever floats your boat really.  I may just be a cynical person who likes order a bit too much.  Fortunately, we've got the Constitution, which allows me to say whatever I want and you all to do the same, and I sincerely encourage you to do so.