Pilot

An Introduction

                I’ve wanted to start a blog for a while, so I guess I’m just now getting around to it. I’m working this summer at Lodgepole, which is in Sequoia National Park. Up here there is no internet and little to no cell service. It was annoying at first not being able to check Facebook every day, but now that I’ve gone for almost a month with no internet, I don’t miss it. My last Facebook post was very bloggy, and it was the main catalyst for starting this. After only being able to access internet about once every week and a half, and even then with remarkably slow internet, I’ve found that I’m not missing much. It is annoying not being able to keep up with my friends, but I’m not sure how much I would honestly try to do that anyway if even I did have internet all the time. Another thing I somewhat miss is getting updates on all my fandoms. When I don’t have internet I miss the latest casting news, movie trailers, and other announcements. Concerning fandoms, I’ll try to keep the geeking out to a minimum here. That is reserved mainly for my tumblr and occasionally my Facebook page. I also have a Twitter, but I never check it. Like ever. In this blog I’ll mostly write about life updates along with random thoughts and occasional book or movie reviews. But I can’t promise that I won’t occasionally reference movies or TV shows within my blog posts. Within the blog itself, I don’t plan on telling my whole life story, but I may occasionally write about tragic backstory events from my past and other such tales. I may even include works of fiction I am working on at the time.

                One thing I worried about in starting a blog was finding a clever name. Words are some of my favorite things, and I wanted to pick some words that I felt would best fit the tone and direction of my blog. One of the first things that came to my mind was to have a title that would be some kind of reference to something. My tumblr blog is called “This is Home” because it’s the title of a song from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and because I feel at home with the many different fandoms and stories that have become a part of me. Now that I think about it, the word home really does mean a lot to me. I love my family, and I love going home during breaks from school or work. Home is full of memories; not all of them happy but not all of them sad either. Home for me is generally associated with family. I have several “homes”: my literal house in California, Cedarville (which I like to think of as a second home, and my friends my second family), my Uncle and Aunt’s Cabin near Kings Canyon National Park, my old house in New Jersey (which is less of a home now and more of a place in my memory), and of course, stories (which can be in the form of a book, movie, or TV show). Many people underestimate the power of stories. Most of the ones I love are fictional, but that does not make them any less real to me. I have grown attached to so many characters that I feel like they are another family to me. When I read or watch the stories I love, I step through the wardrobe into that home. This home may be bigger on the inside, it may be on a lost island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, or it may be in a galaxy far, far away. One author told me, “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” But of course, by one Captain’s logic, home is where the heart is, so my real home is in my chest. In these homes of fiction, I am a watchful guardian, an obtainer of rare antiquities, the world’s only consulting detective, a voyager of the final frontier, and an unlikely hero thrown on an unexpected journey. I have lived a thousand different lives. I have loved and I have lost. I’ve been right there with my fictional friends when they’ve had to make hard decisions. All of it is real to me. But my interest in these stories does not make me a loner or a recluse. I may be an introvert, but I am glad to say that I have made some friends outside my stories. In fact, many of these stories have helped me with friendships and relationships in real life.

                (By the way, I eventually went with the title “The Chronicles of Michael J. Newman” because I felt it best described what this blog will hopefully be. The title is also kind of a reference to The Chronicles of Narnia, so that’s a bonus.)

The Greatest Story in the World

Now any discussion of stories must always include the greatest story in the world. Not only is it my favorite, but it is actually true. It is also the most widely read and published book in the world. Now I don’t want this to sound like a cliché Christian answer (If there’s one thing I dislike, it’s things that are cliché; usually), but I also cannot leave this out. I hope that someday I can reach the point where I can write about my relationship with Christ and not look back on it and think cliché cliché cliché! I shouldn’t have to be afraid or ashamed of that. It seems that most people in today’s society who speak openly about Christianity are seen as odd. But that shouldn’t matter, but it does, and it bothers me. But I digress…

                The reason the story of Jesus is the greatest story in the world is because 1.) There had never been anything like it before, nor will there ever, and 2.) it’s true. In many movies today, the hero of the story sacrifices himself/herself in the climax and then is restored to life at the end. A couple quick examples are Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger (Caution: there will be spoilers). In Thor, Thor lets the Destroyer kill him during the skirmish in New Mexico. But because of his act of selflessness, Thor’s life and power are returned to him, and he destroys the Destroyer. In Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve Rogers crashes Red Skull’s ship The Valkeyre into the ice, sacrificing his life to save the lives of many others. In the end however, it is revealed that he survived the crash and has woken up in modern day New York (conveniently just in time to join the Avengers right before the Chitauri invasion occurs). People adore these characters and the sacrifices they made because they long for that kind of love. Humans are selfish people, it’s true. No normal human would willingly do something like that. That’s why these characters are superheroes. They do things humans often find themselves unwilling to do. In this way, Jesus was the world’s first superhero. His superpower: love. Greater love has no one that this, than that he lay down his life for his friend. The word friend here refers to the way the sacrifice refers to the saved person. Most of the people that killed Jesus were not his friend, but he considered them his friends. So much so that he willingly gave up his life so that they could live, and many people still don’t realize this.

A Late Warning

                By now, you the reader should have an idea of what this blog may look like. Consider this the Pilot episode of a TV show. Whether or not you want to continue with the show is up to you. I will continue to produce episodes anyway. Now, some things that you the reader should be warned about are 1.) I guess I tend to get off subject quickly; and 2.) I like to write about myself. The first I am usually better at, but this blog has no real thesis to follow, nor will all of the posts. But for the second, I’m human and I like to write about myself. That may seem vain, but to be honest, it’s one of the easier things to write about (second easiest is probably anything related to my fandoms). So what you will read in this blog are the writings of Michael J. Newman. And if that doesn’t turn you away from this blog then maybe I’m doing something right. This blog is mainly for my benefit, to improve my writing and to chronicle events in my life, but I hope that you the reader will enjoy going on this journey with me as I find my writing voice and continue ahead in the life God has planned for me.