By CJ Tiernan Shakespeare once wrote something about names and roses (c’mon, you know the one). Anyway, he was wrong. A name can make or break the essence of a character. Han Solo tells us he’s a lone wolf. Ted Lasso tells us he’s in charge of corralling a group of individuals. Mickey Mouse tells us he’s a mouse. Sometimes, the writer just goes wild with it. Princess Consuela Banana Hammock is a name a character (who already has a name) makes up for themselves. Inigo Montoy

By CJ Tiernan Jim Carrey is one of the funniest actors to ever grace the silver screen. His comedy chops are unmatched by absolutely everyone in history (with the possible exception of Robin Williams. See my Top 11 on his Movies here). As such, he has amassed an impressive filmography over the last 35 or 40 years. His signature move is an elastic face coupled with a Gumby body. He moves his body as though he's made of rubberbands and Jell-O brand gelatin and his comedy is b

By CJ Tiernan Production Design is the term used to describe the creation of the visual world of the film. It is the sets and props that one sees on screen. If asked to describe it like one of your French girls, you’d call it the Mise-en-scène, which translates to “placing on stage.” Long story short, it’s everything you see in front of the camera, or the physical world of the film (that isn't a human). Color, design, placement, lighting, and so much more go into sculpting

By CJ Tiernan Creating something new is hard. To conjure something from nothing takes time and effort. This is a list showcasing people braggadociously showing off their skills. They have created something new, inside of something they created. My list, drawn from books, movies, and TV shows, illustrates invention within creation. Hat tip to all you intrepid writers. This is my Top 11 List of the Greatest Fictional Games in the history of fiction. 1. Jumanji – Jumanji - M

By CJ Tiernan This will be a list of Christmas Songs that skew more toward the secular side of Christmas or don't qualify as Christmas Carols. I also tried to choose only songs by the original artist, as there have been countless covers of the best Christmas songs over the years. I have a separate list for Christmas Carols, which you can view by clicking here. There was also an effort made to reduce the number of repeat artists, as my taste in Christmas music is relegated lar

By CJ Tiernan Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. If you live in the midwest like me, you experience cold, snowy days, imploring you to while away your hours indoors, by the fire, with a mug of cocoa in hand watching Christmas movies. Nearly every Christmas movie has its foundation built from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. One of the main characters has a change of heart at the end and discovers the true meaning of Christmas and basic human decency. My dad

By CJ Tiernan Adages, Idioms, Axioms and Proverbs. These are phrases that we use, some almost daily, to convey our thoughts and our meanings. They're often things we've heard from others over and over again and they serve as a shortcut (our brain is always down to clown with a shortcut) to deliver our message, or an opportunity to avoid answering the truly daunting questions like "How are you" and "How have you been?" I am always positively smitten when I encounter a characte

By CJ Tiernan I haven't seen a lot of movies from this range of time. I was born in 1988, so movies from 1969 on back weren't regularly ones I would stumble upon. In fact, a majority of the movies on this list were ones I saw as a kid (as five of them are animated). I'd say they're all rated G or PG, but some of them came out so long ago they predate the MPAA. That may or may not be true, but the rating system back in the day was crazy. Have you seen "Splash"? That movie is r

By CJ Tiernan When you first hurdle the childhood benchmark of learning to read, it opens up a world of possibilities. Suddenly, you can pick up a book and read it all on your own (Awesome!). You can both explore a new world, and learn and grow doing it. It creates your first real moment of autonomy as a human being and sends your squishy little brain into overdrive. Below is a list of my 11 favorite books that I read as a child. I read these books over and over and over agai