Stephen in my life

So, I've always noticed Stephen King everywhere - Family Guy, the movie Twixt, books, NBC's Revolution. These are just to name a few that popped into my head.

But this weekend it seemed to get a little ridiculous. Here's what happened.

Saturday - I was getting ready to go camping and my neighbor came over to get cat feeding instructions. She said, "Did you hear Cujo bit some dude on his face?" Cujo is her nickname for Britney, the awful rescue dog we have in our complex through our animal hoarding neighbor. She's called Britney Cujo for some time now so I thought nothing of it.

But then....

Sunday - I'm camping and in my tent getting ready for a hike. I hear a boy talking to someone else. It's muffled at first because he's riding his bike past my tent. "....yeah, I've read his entire Dark Tower series, and the Shinning, and......" He rode away. But I think, dang, that's the second time in two days.

And then.....

Monday - I get home from camping and my two neighbors are in the garage, talking. One has some old, red car that's falling apart that he loves. Her name is Sophia. I mention I did not know that she had a name. Other neighbor says, "He should call her Christine."

So that's that. Three in three days.

But then I start to think, how crazy would it be to be SO famous and influential that you and your work become the verbiage of the culture? I was wracking my brains trying to think of someone else who has had this type of influence, who has become a part of the lexicon, of the fabric of society. I mean, yes, you sometimes hear someone call a whale Moby Dick. Or a dolphin Flipper, or a horse Black Beauty.

But who else is not only has work that is re-used and adapted but his own name as well?

Could you even imagine? I couldn't. No way.

...He is OZ....

His writing strikes a common nerve and it sticks. Everyone can relate to it, in one way or another. And, yeah, Sai King has permanently influenced mainstream culture. I'm trying to think of someone else who's had such an effect but at this point I got nothing!

Hmm. Now that you put it that way ... I'm not sure I'd like it very much, if it were me. But, you know, done bun can't be undone. I guess you'd get used to it, but in a way it's a little odd, a bigger sphere of influence than I would probably want for myself.

My son calls Pennywise the stephen king clown. For mothers day at church they got up and said why they love their moms. My son proudily says cause she likes stephen King. How awesome hes special needs and 8. So everyone just smiled.All the places King is talked about. I find it amazing sometimes.

Walt Disney. He's the only one I can think of in ten seconds or less.

I remember when I was a teenager in the 1980's and just getting into SK's books how a lot of people were so dismissive of his work because it was horror, and horror writers weren't "real" writers. My own family was convinced that reading his books would permanently warp my mind (jury's still out on that). Now, not only is he one of the best selling author's of all time, but a pop culture icon. His work is now widely acclaimed by critics, even showing up on prestigious lists like the New York Times' years best. Considering the way his work used to be viewed in "serious" literary circles I'm sure SK must take a little satisfaction in the level of acceptance his work now enjoys. I simply can't imagine a world without him.

Stephen King is an ongoing, ever-growing phenomenon. It's an exciting time in history to be an sK fan. One cannot throw a rock and not hit a TV with a sk-related program playing, which then does not ricochet into another TV advertising plans for an sk-related movie (involving major Hollywood, like friggin Spielberg), which then does not careen off the nose of a cashier pre-ordering two sK novels due for release that year and one which hasn't even occurred to sK yet. Take my word because I've thrown many rocks but never in the same store twice.

Oh, and I got signed by the Sox, yay! Gotta serve my time first, though.

Now it's the time to come up with this. I was listening to radio on work one day last week. When the
radio speaker was talking about that Brits had did a research about loosing weights. And one good
advice was that. Watch horror movies then you loose some weights. (If you skip the candy or popcorn eating at the same time)
and they had listed three horror movies that you should watch to loose weight . You never can image which horror movie came on
first place Shining I couldn't believe when I heard that Shining is so scary that you loose weight when you watch
that. Guess I should give it a try. Of course I try with the exercise before Shining. :biggrin2:

But for all his recognition, awards, etc., I'd still love to go back in time and have him be the Stephen King of Carrie and Salem's Lot, when he was all mine and NOBODY I knew ever heard of him. I'm like that with music too. I hate when groups I love get popular. But, on the other hand, being popular means they make money and stick around longer, so in the end it's all good. :smile2: