I never realized how much the Beatles' Yellow Submarine was seeded into my psyche until it just hit me like a colorful explosion this Halloween!

When Ken and I first moved into our house 19 years ago, the previous owners and good friends warned us: this is a house on the corner of “Halloween and Halloween,” and you will get over a thousand kids each year, so be prepared. We were up for it all. Each year we project a movie on the house and then dress up as its characters. When the kids were young it was a full family affair; now it’s Ken and me and Rosie. We’ve shown Young Frankenstein, Fiddler on the Roof, Wizard of Oz, and Thriller with a flashmob in the driveway. This year it was the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. I hadn’t seen it since we took our daughters to a singalong at the Castro theater when they were young. It was my favorite movie as a kid, and I was mesmerized by it once again. Most people who stopped by knew every word to every song. Ken’s favorite moment was when a 7 year old smiled, rubbed his chin in a very philosophical way, and said “Yellow Submarine, that’s a classic.”

As I was reappreciating this genre-busting creative explosion of color, of blue meanies, of the Beatles coming on at the end of the film as themselves with props, I realized, OMG, the cover of for my book 24/6 was absolutely drawn from my love of this movie!

There it was. This is a perfect example of how art plants powerful seeds in your mind that grow into your thoughts and eventually come out in some different permutation! Art can move you in ways you never fully realize until it just hits you like a colorful explosion of insight.

Here’s a shot of my dad Leonard Shlain, brother Jordan and sister Kimberly in the early 70’s when he was surprising my mother, Carole, for her 40th with a Beatles-themed magical mystery surprise party on a cable car through San Francisco with incredible stops along the way. Here was the best part: he let me stay up all night…

Here’s the 2025 version. All you need is love, Tiffany