James Norman Spielberg:  

I was born in the Bronx, NY, in December 1959 to Austrian parents, so only spoke German until I learned proper English when I went to elementary school. It is a common mistake to assume I'm Jewish because of the name, but I'm not even close. I consider my hometown to be Teaneck, New Jersey since I was raised there and lived there on and off until I was 30. I attended Rippowam under my birth name of Norman Spielberg in Stamford, CT, as part of the class of 1977 and 1978. I received a BS in Computer Science from Fairleigh Dickinson University, it was a decent school and conveniently within walking distance of my mother's house in Teaneck, NJ. I now live in Columbia, South Carolina, partially to get away from the cold northeast weather but mainly because I was offered a job here in 2003. I have three grown up kids in Atlanta, GA, and am happily divorced. I had a deadly serious heart attack on November 2, 2014 and had a triple bypass operation. Like my brother who never quite recovered completely from his, I'm at about 85% of what I was. But being alive is better than not. The two classmates I recall best are Liz Sosis from German and would love to hear from her, she was an awesome school friend !! and we hung out smoking together sometimes and chatted about Led Zeppelin and the Beatles. She remains to this day one of my all time favorite people!! And Tracie Holmes, who is remembered well by everyone, I'm sure. She was such an awesome person who completely intimidated me. I hope she is well and very happy, she deserves no less! Music I like includes The Faith Tones (that's a joke, their album cover is often mentioned as the worst album cover EVER and it would be really cool to own one - ha!), ALL of the Beatles together and as solo artists, and I saw Paul McCartney in concert three time over the years, Pink Floyd, still have a BIG thing for Joan Jett and the Runaways, as well as the Who, Alanis, Sheryl Crow BEFORE she became country, the Who, the Stones, Steve Miller, Kiss, ELO, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, even the Monkees (!), and Cheap Trick. I also particularly adore Debbie Harry and Blondie, When I lived in Manhattan in the late 1980s for three years to be near work, I once passed Debbie Harry on Broadway near 4th Street in NYC one beautiful fall afternoon, she looked EXACTTLY like her pictures. She looked at me and I could tell from her eyes that she saw I recognized her, I looked at her and saw that she noticed me, and then I left her alone out of respect for her privacy. Movies I like include Dark Shadows, Star Wars, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, ANYTHING by Woody Allen, and the Alien films. TV shows I like include Person of Interest, The Big Bang Theory, Xena: Warrior Princess, the Prisoner, the various Star Treks, but Voyager was my favorite as I adore Kate Mulgrew. Her biography is riveting reading. I am asked everyday if I'm related to famous director Steven and there may be an ancient connection, since both our families are from the same part of Europe. People have actually referred to me as "E.T.", which I find highly offensive, or call me Steve by mistake, or send me work emails addressed to Steven because they're too lazy to remember my name. I dislike "Norman" so much, I had my name changed legally in the Manhattan Civil Court on December 16, 1988, and have gone by the name James ever since. ...Expand for more