I'm a little out of the loop right now but I hope the commercial below is shown during the Super Bowl. For any man who was once a boy and for all parents who have children with fresh and large imaginations there is no way someone can't relate to some if not all of the below.

The first six seconds of this commercial are almost identical in tone and detail to the original Star Wars movie from the white hallway with the black floor to John William's orchestral score. This was the scene when George Lucas debuted of one of the baddest baddies of them all: Darth Vader. Except for the fact that this "Darth" is only three feet tall, clad in plastic, wearing a helmet that's entirely too big for him and probably has nary a sinister intention short of having mind control over dolls and the family dog.

As someone who contemplates "The Force" at least once a week this commercial hit home. It was a double whammy, reminding me of my childhood and causing me to smile about the silly and fun moments of parenthood.

It's only February, but I'm nearly ready to claim this as the commercial of the year. But that's just me.

Agree or disagree? Hot or not? Is it a smash or simply trash?

E.Payne is the author of Investing In An Emotional Letdown and I Didn't Invented Sex. For the past 3 years he has posted 600+ articles about fatherhood, marriage and everything in between here at Makes Me Wanna Holler.com. To learn more, click here.

No record amount of snow is going to stop the party over at Super Bowl Gospel 2011 in Texas..

Do you love gospel music and football? Well tonight's your lucky night!

Now in it's 12th year the Super Bowl Gospel Celebration is the first and only gospel event sanctioned by the NFL for Super Bowl Weekend. The concert series features Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum selling gospel and contemporary Christian and mainstream artists, such as CeCe Winans, Israel Houghton, Donnie McClurkin and Mary Mary. And just in case you didn't know marquee NFL players and the NFL PLAYERS Choir will be there too!

The event also serves as a fundraiser with a portion of the proceeds benefiting national and local charities. Close to $400,000 and 5,000 tickets have been donated over the last eleven years. This year's recipient organization is PESC, a charity that distributes grants to high-quality non-profits providing historically underserved children with arts, education, health and wellness programming. To learn more visit the PESC Website.

You can follow the live Tweets of the events and related happenings at @SuperBowlGospel

The Super Bowl Gospel Celebration is produced by Results Marketing & Media Inc. This year's official sponsors are Verizon Wireless, American Family Insurance, The Word Report, Felcor Lodging Trust and School of the Legends.

Disclosure: This is a Press Post

E.Payne is the author of Investing In An Emotional Letdown and I Didn't Invented Sex. For the past 3 years he has posted 600+ articles about fatherhood, marriage and everything in between here at Makes Me Wanna Holler.com. To learn more, click here.

Today I noticed something on the front page of the February newsletter from my daughter's school. It's theme is centered around Valentine's Day, of course:

SPECIAL

"I love you not for who you are.
I love you because of how I feel when I'm with you."

Be blessed. Make it a great weekend!


E.Payne is the author of Investing In An Emotional Letdown and I Didn't Invented Sex. For the past 3 years he has posted 600+ articles about fatherhood, marriage and everything in between here at Makes Me Wanna Holler.com. To learn more, click here.

Over at Black And Married With Kids.com I authored the post 10 Things Wrong With You - In Your Marriage. In it I translate the leadership strategies of author Marshall Goldsmith to the marriage relationship and raise the notion that being good at what you do doesn't preclude being good at who you are...

In December of 2010 I wrote the post Why Can’t We Just Get Along. It was an open letter to all. A lamentation over the friction that exists between the sexes and within marriages. Hopefully those who were impacted by it were able to contemplate areas that they need to address. But it should not remain a mere contemplation.

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There is a business book that challenges successful leaders to become even more successful. The author, Marshall Goldsmith, wants to make his readers better. His main premise is in the title. My interpretation of it is as follows: You’ve gotten to where you are and that’s great. You’re a titan of the industry, but are you really as great as you think you are? Things have remained pretty steady for a while and they’re headed toward becoming stagnant. Your workers are uneasy. Morale is low. Although you are THE MAN (or THE WOMAN) nothing is changing. Why? Because what got you to this point isn’t going to take you to the finish line.

The same can be said for marriage. It is a corporate and cooperative experience, after all.

What’s Wrong With You?

In his book, Goldsmith identifies 20 bad habits that keep people from achieving real success in the workplace. Interestingly they are all interpersonal and behavioral rather than shortcomings in the area of skill or performance. In his words:

“They are egregious everyday annoyances that make your workplace substantial more noxious than it needs to be. They are transactional flaws performed by one person against others.”

Out of the 20 he lists, I’ve identified a “Top Ten” that play out in the marriage space.

To learn these Top Ten Bad Habits and read the rest of the article, visit 10 Things Wrong With You - In Your Marriage.


E.Payne is the author of Investing In An Emotional Letdown and I Didn't Invented Sex. For the past 3 years he has posted 600+ articles about fatherhood, marriage and everything in between here at Makes Me Wanna Holler.com. To learn more, click here.

I've finally decided to throw my hat in the eBook ring. Love Notes will be available for download just in time for Valentine's Day.

Love Notes is easiest described as a neat and tidy collection of poems and short stories concentrating on the elusive and insanity causing thing called love --- of course, from the male perspective.

Stay tuned for updates. The most important being it will be available for download right HERE!

In the meantime, please feel free to share, email forward, FB, tweet and retweet (with the hashtag #LoveNotes), FriendFeed, GetGlue, YouTube or whatever it is you do when doing you via the Internet. Talking with someone about it also an option... Just a thought.

Also, let me know what you think of the cover above. Over a year ago I was blessed to capture the kiss of the two lovers featured on it while snapping pics of the Hudson River at the Yonkers Waterfront. I've looked at my shots of them again and again and thought to myself, "How random?" Now in 2011 this random picture is falling into place as a piece of a much bigger picture.

Peace.

E.Payne is the author of Investing In An Emotional Letdown and I Didn't Invented Sex. For the past 3 years he has posted 600+ articles about fatherhood, marriage and everything in between here at Makes Me Wanna Holler.com. To learn more, click here.

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Catching you up just as promised...Some Wednesday motivation for you...




E.Payne is the author of Investing In An Emotional Letdown and I Didn't Invented Sex. For the past 3 years he has posted 600+ articles about fatherhood, marriage and everything in between here at Makes Me Wanna Holler.com. To learn more, click here.

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As per my stats on GetGlue my house is a cartoon-watching household --- animation domination on full tilt. This is for two reasons: 1)I have 2 kids spaced 10 years apart who seem to agree on most cartoons they watch together; and 2)my wife and I are some cartoon watching grown folks who never stopped watching them from childhood.

One the absolute favorites around the house is The Incredibles. Released in 2004, my daughter recently got hooked on this movie. She now refuses to watch anything else. Here, every viewing for us is almost like watching it for the first time. But why wouldn't we? We live it every day.

Mr. Incredible/Bob Parr - His strength is immeasurable and he's seemingly physically invulnerable. His exaggerated shoulders and back are an illustration of the weight he carries: that of the world. But at times has the attention span of a flea. He reminisces about the good old days, but loves his family. He's the father and the husband.

Elastigirl/Helen Parr - Flexible isn't even the word to describe how agile and flexible this superhero is. She's poised and constantly focused on what needs to happen in the moment and in the next. She's ferociously protective of her kids. She keeps her man Mr. Incredible in line (often to his chagrin) and gives him the love and support he needs to thrive. She is the mom and the wife.

Violet Parr - The teenage daughter of the Incredibles has the ability to disappear and throw up force fields at will. She's shy, awkward and often unsure of herself and where she fits in the world. Sounds like most teenagers...

Dashiel "Dash" Parr - The little brother. A hot ball of energy who is moving a mile a minute. On in the case of this young man he's so fast he can run on water. He antagonizes his older sibling to no end and drives his mother up the wall at times. Anyone who owns a preschooler - grammar school student knows this all too well.

Jack Jack - the baby. At all appearances he is "normal" possessing no powers at all. But at the critical moment at the movie's end when he gets upset we see the full breadth of his capabilities. He morphs into a screaming fireball to a possessed demon to a lead weight. The parallels don't get any more obvious.

According to these characters most families are incredible. And maybe they are. Although I'm sure most haven't seen The Incredibles as many times as the members of my family and myself have. I'm not sure I've met anyone who can honestly say they didn't enjoy the movie. Can you?



E.Payne is the author of Investing In An Emotional Letdown and I Didn't Invented Sex. For the past 3 years he has posted 600+ articles about fatherhood, marriage and everything in between here at Makes Me Wanna Holler.com. To learn more, click here.

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