Pintiquinestra

A late entry, but critical to every pregnancy, is Grandpa Tolley's baby name submission. Erini was to be named after a Babylonian Emperor (Shalmaneser), while Baby #2 has been suggested with a name a bit more common place, but still odd. If you are familiar with the full work of Don Quixote, the name Pintiquinestra wouldn't sound quite that out of place. I have to admit it did sound a little familiar when I first heard it, but I think Caitlin and I will stick to the original plan.

We have a name picked out for a boy - Lachlin Joseph Ray - but Friday's ultrasound confirmed that Caitlin is carrying another girl. Hence we will be going forward with the name Bronwyn Bell. With Rini, we were going back and forth about the middle name right up to the instant she was born. In the end, our first born went home with the name Erini Tiana. It wasn't until a few months later that I realized our daughter's initials spelled out the abbreviation for the Latin term et cetra. Now, I'm about to have a daughter whose initials are more closely identified with the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Then again, the worst thing would be to name my children after employment positions and office equipment ie. Desk, Financial, Historical, Bank. I'm sure we wouldn't be allowed to leave the hospital unless we came up with a better name. If the Hospital staff didn't put their foot down, I'm sure our families would.

As this is our second baby, I've been asked many times if this is like rolling off a log. For the first 36 weeks, I would have to agree. But the past four weeks have been new territory. Everyday, I was half expecting the call to come that Caitlin was in labour and I would have to meet her at the hospital. That call never came. It started to feel like it would never come, which my wife would heartily disagree. The due date couldn't get here quick enough, and now that it's passed, tomorrow morning she is going to be induced. Should inducement fail, baby will be removed via Caesarian. One way or another, baby WILL be born tomorrow.

And that's the funny thing. I know that tomorrow, I'll have a baby laying in the bassinet we have set up in our room. Sleeping? Depends on the time of day, but I know I'm going to have to get to bed early tonight. It might be the last time for awhile I'll have the chance to sleep through the night.

Details will follow as I get them, but for now, I'm going to help my wife back a hospital bag.

Godspeed.

Movie Project Day 10: Pixar Short Films Collection - Volume 1

Of all the Pixar DVDs I own, I have not purchased Pixar Short Films Collection - Volume 1, nor implied that I would like to receive it as a gift. This could be partially due to the fact that since we own all the Pixar titles released to date and the short films are included on each of the titles, with the exception of The Adventures of André and Wally B. as it was produced under the Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Project, not Pixar.

However, it is quite interesting to see each of the films together, watching the technology improve with each subsequent film. This volume also contains four quick shorts featuring the lamps from Luxo Jr. which were aired on Sesame Street. I had never seen these segments before since I didn't watch Sesame Street in 1991 when they were produced. In addition to all this, the commentary from John Lasseter and the other directors for each of the short films (excluding Mike's New Car and Jack-Jack Attack) adds a wonderful bit of insight to the creativity, genius, and desperation that was the fuel to create these unique films. While Jack-Jack Attack had no commentary track, Mike's New Car was fresh and young. Moreso young.

For some reason which I have yet to find out, and may never discover, instead of the directors doing commentary for this short film, they had their children talk about it. The short itself is very silly and doesn't add any great character development to Monsters, Inc. stars, Mike and Sulley, and therefore, why should there be any serious talk overshadowing it? Perhaps it was a birthday present to their children, or even more likely, the children asked the directors, who then couldn't find a reason not to let them do it and figured, "Why not?" The result, a commentary track that my daughter absolutely loves.

That not to say Mike's New Car is her favourite of the Volume. Rini has watched the entire disc so many times, I am almost reconsidering purchasing a copy or putting it on a wish list. My wife doubly so. It's still a joy to watch these bits of animation, and since only four of the thirteen shorts contain any type of dialogue, Rini is fine with talking about the films as they are playing. Now, when she watches "Red's Dream", she says "Thank you!" every time he takes a bow. This was brought about by asking what the characters are feeling and how their actions represent that, but after some time it has evolved into making up lines for these silent characters.

While not everyone shares my feelings for Pixar, ie. PIXAR4LIFE, the title alone speaks of what this company has made, and what they have in store. Volume 1 marks the beginning of a collection that both children and adults will enjoy as much, and possibly more than, the movies that coincide with them.

iPressure

28 May 2010 marked an important day for Macintosh aficionados across
the globe with the release of the much praised, sometimes fabled,
iPad. Edmonton, Alberta also had the opening of a new Apple Store.
Tweets abounded from every sector of Edmonton as people clamoured to
get their hands on the precious commodity that had finally been
officially released outside the United States. Not to say that people
weren't tripping over themselves prior to this date. I know of one
person in my local church congregation that has had an iPad for close
to a month now, and I was able to try it out. From my experience,
would I say the iPad is a wonderful device? Yes. Magical? Not
really. Easy to use? Definitely. Would I take time off work to sit
in line to get one? No. Would I search the city to find one, after
completing my regular work day? No. Would I wait until there was
sufficient funds in my bank account before embarking on a search to
find an iPad? No, no, and again I say no.

I have no strong affinity to the Macintosh name - even in my choice of
fruit I would sooner pick Spartan or Pink Lady - and thus do not see a
need to join the masses who praise the works of the great Steve Jobs.
That is not to say that I dislike Mr. Jobs and everything he is
associated with, for if that were so, I would have to stop utilizing
the moderately coherent phrase 'PIXAR4LIFE' whenever I talk about
animated films.

And that is not to say that I was not ever tempted to purchase an
Apple product. Recall in January 2010, after we had received a $15
iTunes gift card as a Christmas gift, I was near ready to purchase an
iPod Touch. This same temptation surfaced when I broke my iPaq in
October 2009, such to the point that I posted the iTem on my christmas
wish list. Once my brilliant wife repaired iPaq, I amended my wish
list. As for the gift card, we used it to buy an album which iTunes
allowed me to burn to CD, and we also aquired a portable DVD player
for half the cost of a basic iPod Touch. This investment was quite
prudent as now we're able to watch movies after Rini has gone to bed,
and also provide some entertainment on long car trips, such as the one
we recent made to Taber.

But the iPad is still a wonderous little device, and once prices drop,
I could see devices similar to it become more the norm. Tablet
technology is not new, far from it. Ten years ago someone gave a very
similar speech to the one Jobs gave in late January 2010. Tablet
computers were to be the wave of the future, and soon they would
become commonplace. Up until 2009, tablet computers generally carried
a four digit price tag, and were fragile like aluminum foil coated in
glass. They might survive one drop, but unless these devices were
protected like the Panasonic toughbook, they were not generally used
for consumer use. Commercial and industrial applications abound, plus
they make for wonderful product placement props on CSI:NY.

At the end of the day, why would I want to throw my hat into the ring
with this new product? Because it's the new 'it' gadget? I would
have the oppurtunity to be at the forefront of technological history?
It's trendy and fashionable? Everyone else is doing it? These are
the questions I find myself surrounded with. Petty, insipid, and
otherwise pointless questions that do not garner the need to be
addressed at this time. True, iPaq's wifi card will only work on
802.11b, but for what I need right now, that's enough.

I would almost consider getting a chinese knockoff, such as the APAD
which my coworker purchased on eBay for a paltry $150. Running on
Android, it has a similar interface, but has the flexibility to allow
for additional peripherals. USB keyboard, mouse, and external hard
drive just to name a few are some of the differences from the iPad.

If I would be using the device for the same functions that I use iPaq,
it would have to be decent for writing, tweeting, email and internet
browsing primarily. Music and movies would be secondary.

But I will have to wait for the day when that want becomes a need.
There are other things that I can devote my attention to right now.
Like the fact I got to help my little girl ride a bike today!

Cousins, cousins, cousins

I can't think of another time when Rini has seen quite as many cousins
as she has today! Last night, we travelled down to Calgary and stayed
the night with my sister and her family. It was rather spur of the
moment because I called her right when we were about to head out the
door. We were going to travel straight to Taber, but when I realized
the travel time was 5 or 6 hours, which would put in Taber around
midnight, I figured it would better if we just went to Calgary, then
continued to Taber the next day.

I used up a moment of brilliance with that idea, and I fear I may not
have another bit of inspiration for a year or so.

Still, it worked out remarkably well on a number of accounts. First,
I wasn't as tired driving, and we were able to spend some time with my
sisters as Liz was over for a visit with Isobel.

We spent a couple hours playing Wii, most of the time playing Boom
Blox. We tried Rabbids Go Home, but it seemed banal compared to the
previous versions we'd played. I was initially excited, because
Raving Rabbids and Rabbids TV are a lot of fun. Nevertheless, I had
not played Rabbids Go Home previous to last night, and I wasn't
missing much. Chris had never heard of the Rabbids series, and I was
rather disappointed that his first game was a rather poor experience.
Eh, you can't have sunny days all the time.

But at the end of May, I would expect there to be rain, NOT SNOW.
That was a horrible slap in the face when we went out to leave for
Taber, and there was 10cm of wet snow piled on top of the car! The
weird thing is that this happened last month when we went to the
Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. It's like we bring bad weather
with us!

Ah, I'm probably blowing that a little out of proportion.

It was great that Rini was able to play with her cousins, second
cousins, and her first cousins once removed. Those were the cousins
that she played with. It was fun figuring out the level of relations
that I had with everyone else, but I confused a few people as well.
Seems a little ironic that I learned how the relation levels work from
my first cousin twice removed.

Time for a change up

I wouldn't say that I'm dependent on my wife, but I do appreciate her input, otherwise how would I have come up with the following: "I have two minds: one's lost and the other is out looking for my wife to tell me where it went.

Something that Caitlin and I have been working on the past few days is organizing our home a bit better. We keep thinking that the ideal thing to do would be to move to a new place, and I can't say nay to that idea, especially with baby #2 on the way and not a lot of place for new baby to sleep, save maybe the bathroom. We were considering putting baby in with Rini, but then realized that would be quite difficult for Rini to sleep. That and it's not recommended for children under the age of six to be sleeping in bunk beds. I'm thinking that the bed manufactures don't want to be sued if young children fall off the beds, because Rini loves climbing up on the bunk beds at Grandma and Grandpa's, plus her cousin has been sleeping in a top bunk for some time now. That six foot bunk at IKEA was a little freaky though. It would be good, but a little freaky.

Though it would be great to have everything done at once, we're trying to tackle one room at a time and the living room is the first on the list. I tried looking on kijiji for some shelving, but we went to Home Depot and IKEA and got much better ideas. True we spent a lot more, but at least with IKEA you don't need to worry about the store throwing away the shelf before you go to pick it up. Then again, they don't have free shelves at IKEA either. Cheap, but not free. Yet I was a little perplexed by their pricing, specifically with the BILLY shelves. I found some online for $80, but when we got to the store, we found some for $50. Quite the drop in price, and yet when we went to the warehouse, we found the $50 shelves we got were in white, while the $80 shelves were in Black/brown. That was the only difference. Same style, same name, EXACT SAME DIMENSIONS, but different colour. I couldn't figure it out. We just went for the cheaper one, paid, packed up and left.

I know I could say something about racial inequality, but I'll leave that for another day.

As it worked out, the shelving that we currently have in the living room complemented the BILLY units better than we hoped. We had an end board for a water bed(?) beside a birch finish BILLY shelf, and things piled precariously everywhere. Now we have the birch shelf in between the two white shelves with the end board on top of the three. And it fits great! The only hiccup was that in order to get the new shelving setup, I had to pull everything off the previous shelves and place them in various spots in the living room. The couch, the floor, the dining table and even the cube shelves we got from Home Depot, which we setup with the hope of using in the living room, but didn't need once we found the BILLY shelves worked so well.

But those wire shelves will not go to waste, because they will fit very well in our bedroom, which is also in sore need of organization. For the past three years, we've had a small bedside table beside our bed, and a large gap to the wall, that we partially filled a couple years ago with a bookshelf from Office Depot. Then I did some measuring and found that not only will the cubes fit there, but the dresser that's been sitting wasting space for the past three years will fit there too. So we're going to move out the bedside table, put in the dresser, and then put the cubes on top.

We did get some under-the-bed storage bins, but made the error of not measuring the clearance under our bed first. Thus, we have to return the bins that are too tall to fit. There is an adage my wife uses with her sewing: Measure twice, cut once. The same could be applied here, only it would be: Measure twice, buy once.

Better make sure I still have that receipt.

Movie Project: Day 9 - Samurai Jack Ep. 27

In the spirit of continuing to expose my daughter to new shows, we took a stab in the direction that most would not tread. Genndy Tartakovsky is one of the revolutionary animation directors of the aughts and turned the page for the animation industry. I have have been a fan of his work since Powerpuff Girls, in which he directed a few episodes. He finally went out on his own with Dexter's Laboratory, and then went on to do Samurai Jack. He is most famous for the Clone Wars microseries commissioned by George Lucas which served as a transitory work for Star Wars Episodes II and III. He has not worked with the current Clone Wars Series, nor does he have any plans to work with Lucasarts anytime in the near future. Currently, he is developing a feature length production for Samurai Jack.

Please note this does contain spoilers to the episodes content.

What better way to introduce this brilliant director to my daughter than with one of the more unusual episodes of the series. This is a little bit of an understatement, because all episodes of Samurai Jack stand apart from each other. In this one particularly, it features a character which my wife and I channel when we get frustrated. There is no explanation regarding most characters, and most are only seen for one episode, with a few exceptions such as the Scotsman. In this episode, Jack accidentally bumps a misanthropic wizard with an incredibly short temper. Although Jack apologizes for his error in genuine humility, the wizard flies into a rage and transforms Jack into a rooster, although he is referred to as a chicken, clucks like a chicken, and even the episode is titled "Chicken Jack."

It's hard to say just what the inspiration behind this episode was, but the bulk of the show has Jack competing in robot pit fighting. It could be referred to as cock fighting, but Jack is the only bird we ever see. As the episode progresses, it is hard to know how the continuity of the series is going to carry forward, because it seems that Jack is doomed to a life as a prize fighting bird, imprisoned by an irresponsible master. But just when almost all hope is lost, and Jack starts to accept his lot, the tables turn. The fat, rude, and slovenly man who found Jack is dressed to the nines ready to take Jack to a main event fight, when he bumps into the irascible wizard. POOF! Jack is back and the fight manager is now a chicken. It is one of the biggest WTF (What The Fruitcake) moments in the series.

Although Rini was a little scared by all the fighting that occurs during the pit fighting, she did enjoy the ludicrous plot and over the top characters. She especially thought the fact that Jack was a chicken was particularly funny.

Nonetheless, I'm quite sure that Rini will have to watch the episode a few more times before she fully understands why my wife and I shout, "ALWAYS!" in order to lighten the mood when we're hot under the collar.

Movie Project: Day 8 - Treasure Planet

Movie Project was on a bit of a hiatus while I was recovering from a back injury. I have since learned that just because water is dripping on concrete steps does not factor out that there could be ice on said steps. On a related note, it is a very terrifying feeling to forget how to breathe.

In the spirit of the Movie Project, I picked a title that I was not sure Rini had seen, or if she had, it had been some time since she had seen it. Truth be known, I had not watched Treasure Planet in years, and it has special significance for me. True, it was a box office bomb met with tepid reviews, but holds a fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, and it was also the first movie my wife and I saw in theatres. The first movie we saw together was Bandits, but we're not going to show that movie to Rini until she's in her teens.

Back to Disney's 43rd animated full length feature, and the first to be shown in both regular screens and IMAX at release, I kept watch to see what would be the hook for Rini. Whether it would be the pirate story narrated by MegaByte Tony Jay, the solar surfing, or any one of the zany and odd characters that are featured in the movie. Rini was moderately engaged up to when Morph appears on screen, and that was what hooked it for her. Much like Abu in Aladdin, another one of Rini's favourite characters, Morph adds a very strong comedy relief to this science fiction themed retelling of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic.

The movie itself can be a bit of a struggle to figure out, especially if you take into account the facts about the vacuum of space that would tend to not allow for open vessels. Though I will admit that an anthropomorphic cat voiced by Emma Thompson would not be near as hot if she were wearing a space suit similar to that of Dr. Doppler's instead of the feisty pair of thigh high boots. Sometimes you have to relieve your sense of logic and just go along for the ride and Treasure Planet is definitely one of those movies. If you can get over the fact that in this movie space is NOT a vacuum, then you can also grasp the concept of a planet that is one massive construct with plant life growing on its metal surface.

Another movie that is strewn with scientific inconsistencies is WallE. It's not really fair to put Treasure Planet on the same page as WallE as the story behind the Pixar marvel is very powerful and original, while the other is a fancy dazzle display of 2D animation on top of 3D decorated with a mild, adapted tale.

Did Rini like it? She did ask to watch it again today and she laughed when Morph did his cuckoo crazy impersonation of B.E.N. during today's viewing. She also did her own little, "Cuckoo" to echo Morph's. I'm certain this will not be the last we've seen of this movie.

Sometimes I wonder if we are spoiling our daughter too much with the theatre setup we have at home. While it is nice to watch movies on a big screen, Caitlin almost prefers the surround sound we have, since it allows for the details that occur off screen as does in Treasure Planet. Another movie that has little easter eggs in the rear channels is Cars. When Mia and Tia (they're like, his biggest fans!) are carted away by security, they shout "WE LOVE YOU, LIGHTNING!" you can hear Mia/Tia shout, "No, I love you more!" when the camera goes back to Lightning McQueen.

Eh, time will tell.

Movie Project Day 7: The Wrong Trousers

Taking things in a new direction, we switched out Disney, and put in a classic Aardman production, The Wrong Trousers. Rini has already taken a shine to some of Aardman's more recent work, and certainly enjoyed this production.

Wallace and Gromit are a very interesting pair: Wallace jabbers on and comes up with zany inventions, while Gromit, his faithful canine companion who never utters one word and whimpers very rarely, is the principle figure in carrying out these wacky plans. In the case of The Wrong Trousers, Wallace and Gromit get tied up in a criminal heist. I would have thought Rini would have more of a reaction to Feathers McGraw since she seems to be enamoured with penguins at the moment.

We were going to watch another Aardman short today, but Rini was insistent on watching Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure. That being said, we did have time for the short after dinner, but I was in the mood to play Rock Band.

I also discovered something rather disturbing regarding Disney movies. Most people remember the great shock when Bambi's mom died, but has anyone really taken a good look at the body count Disney has racked up as of late?

Up until the 1980s, Disney was keeping a pretty short hit list: Snow White's Stepmother, Bambi's mom, and who could forget Prince Philip's bold battle with Maleficent. Body count: 3. With Disney's 25th picture, The Black Cauldron, the Witch King was pulled into the cauldron after Gorgi sacrificed himself. Body count: 5. Then the witches "make a bargain" and bring Gorgi back. Body count: 4.

Then it goes up steadily.

Great Mouse Detective - Ratigan Body Count: 5

Oliver and Company - Sykes, Desoto, and Rosco Body Count: 8

The Little Mermaid - Ursula, Flotsam, and Jetsam Body Count: 11

Rescuers Down Under - McLeach Body Count: 12

Beauty and the Beast - Gaston Body Count: 13

Return of Jafar - Jafar Body Count: 14

The Lion King - Mufasa and Scar Body Count: 16

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Judge Frollo Body Count: 17

Hercules - Meg Body Count: 18 (Later resurrected by Hercules - Body Count: 17)

Mulan - Soliders on the Great Wall(?), Scout, Chinese Army, Village, Hun Army, Shan Yu Body Count: Approx. 450

A Bug's Life - Hopper Body Count: Approx. 451

Tarzan - Clayton Body Count: Approx. 452

Dinosaur - Lots of Dinosaurs Body Count: Approx. 1000452

Atlantis:The Lost Empire - Everyone who wasn't under the crystal's shield when the
city sank, 85% of the submarine crew, Rourke, Helga Sinclair Body Count: Approx. 2000454

Treasure Planet - Billy Bones, Mr. Arrow, Mr. Scroop, a lot of crewmembers Body Count: Approx. 2000467

Brother Bear - Sitka and Koda's mom Body Count: Approx. 2000469

Finding Nemo - Coral and over 400 eggs minus Nemo Body Count: Approx. 2000900

The Incredibles - Numerous Supers, Syndrome, military personnel(?) Body Count: Approx. 2000931

WallE - Entire WallE Fleet minus Main Character WallE and Auto Body Count: Approx. 2001932

Up - Ellie and Charles Muntz Body Count: Approx. 2001934

The Princess and the Frog - Ray Body Count: Approx. 2001935

Hmm... Maybe I should get Rini to watch Tora! Tora! Tora! next. I think that has a lower body count than Dinosaur.

Movie Project: Day 6 - Alice in Wonderland

First, the good news: Rini sat through 95% of this movie. The bad news: Neither one of us really understood what was going on most of the time. Caitlin has a better handle on what Lewis Carroll was trying to get across in the book, and therefore has a bit more insight to the meaning behind the scenes in Disney's 13th full length animated production, Alice in Wonderland.

When the movie was originally released, it was met with scathing reviews, which makes sense. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as a parody on the upper class manners and protocol of British society, the which to be displayed in a cartoon format would send it over the top in terms of whimsy and inanity.

All of a sudden, I'm not surprised Rini was able to stay seated for most of the film.

I thought that she would have been completely attentive every time the White Rabbit was on screen, but that wasn't the case. Of course, this movie has a lot of characters and a lot to take in, and the sequences don't really flow together. Then again, having five directors working on the movie didn't help much either. Nothing is explained, mostly because the explanations would take another three movies, and wouldn't be nearly as entertaining.

That's not to say the movie was a waste of time. The classic animation style was very fluid and conveyed the appropriate sense of chaos which was prevalent throughout all the Wonderland scenes. Nevertheless, knowing the artists studied Nazi films as reference footage for the card scenes was rather creepy.

Rini's biggest reaction was when the Cheshire Cat made the Red Queen pull her dress over her head, thus enraging the Queen. At this point Rini got up and shouted, "I'M MAD!" I replied, "Yes, she is mad!" Rini didn't miss a beat and piped up, "ME TOO!" She calmed down for the last few minutes for her to see that it was all a dream, but I'm thinking that she'll have to watch it again to fully understand what was going on. And next time, I think she'll watch it with mommy, since Caitlin has read the book, and actually understands most, if not all, of the movie.

As for rewatch-ability, I asked Rini what she thought of the movie after the credits rolled, to which she had no response. Scaling it down a bit, I asked if she thought it was fun. A brief "yeah" was enough to placate my insecurity of showing this movie to my three year old daughter though the film has been known to plague children with nightmares for years. At least amoung some of my friends. Nonetheless, I wasn't overly worried because she has seen both Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, and has not become overly warped because of it.

She's going to kill me in my sleep now. Isn't she.

Movie Project: Day 5 - Santa's Workshop & Pluto's Christmas Tree

There were a couple of features that I tried to watch with Rini today: Cinderella and Johnny Lingo (1969). With Cinderella, she watched about 20 minutes before she went to 'go look for mommy' and with Johnny Lingo she was constantly squirming and got up and left not even five minutes in. She came back around the middle for the wedding feast, but I think that was more of an accident.

By the end of the day, we were faced with only a few minutes before bed, and I was thinking that I would have to strike this day. However, I knew that Mickey's Christmas Carol was not that long in run time, and might work as a last minute feature.

I decided to err on the side of brevity though, and instead we watched two of the three other shorts included on the disc. I knew she had seen Small One before, but Caitlin said to try Santa's Workshop first, since she was less familiar with it. It's a cute, whimsical little short typical of the Silly Symphonies, and Rini particularly liked the penguin toys!

After those six minutes of simple, yet charming animation, we watched Pluto's Christmas Tree. This six minute short was cute enough that Rini wanted to watch it again, and being only six minutes, I figured I would indulge her. To say that there is any sort of lesson to be learned in this short would be a bit of a stretch, since the plot revolves around the miscommunication between Pluto and Mickey. Once Mickey snaps out of his indifferent state of mind and starts to strangle Pluto for wrecking the tree, he sees the two chipmunks, Chip and Dale, and he welcomes them into their home for Christmas, instead of chasing the vermin out of the house or encouraging Pluto to eat them. Still, it's cute, the chipmunk voices of Chip and Dale are enough to send you into giggles, and it has enough cartoon violence to tolerate two viewings back to back.

Was it the best thing to show her on Sunday? Probably not, but it was short, and she actually sat still for everything. As an added bonus, she went to sleep with little to no fuss! I'm just hoping that we can build up her attention span so that she'll sit through Toy Story 3.

Movie Project: Day 4 - Dumbo

Headed over to the in-laws today so my wife could have some room to cut out a pattern. Knowing this would require some concentration on her part, I knew it would be wise to bring along something to entertain and distract Rini from what mommy was doing. In this spirit, I felt that we could bring along Day 4's movie, Dumbo. I didn't know how long it would take to cut out the pattern, but I also knew there was a number of other features on the DVD, and there are a number of toys at Grandma and Grandpa's, so I wasn't worried.

After I set things up on the 50" screen (one of the pluses of watching a movie at the in-laws), we settled in to watch the Disney's fourth animated classic. The beginning credits were a little new for Rini, since she's used to modern films where the credits roll at the end, but the upbeat circus music kept her attention long enough for the movie to start.

I'm not sure what her opinion is on bird, but she does love baby animals, and you have to admit, the baby animals are adorable in this film. Watching this movie again, I found that there isn't a whole lot of dialogue in the first fifteen minutes or so, and Mrs. Jumbo only ever says two words in the entire movie. Dumbo himself has no dialogue at all, and thereby makes it very easy for kids to relate to the character since his only channel of communication is through body language.

Also lending to the lack of dialogue is the fact that the movie has six major musical numbers and one reprise at the end, though the clown's song, "We're going to hit the big boss for a raise," could technically count as another song. Putting that much music into a 64 minute feature does tend to crowd out dialogue.

Nevertheless, the movie still stands tall on the simple premise of Dumbo's plight as an outcast due to his physical anomoly, compounded with the seperation from his mother, who was put in solitary confinement due to her righteous indignation towards some rude teenagers. With the other circus elephants deciding to ostracize him further due to his unusual appearance, Timothy Q. Mouse attempts to correct this injustice and befriends Dumbo. Though it seems to be the perfect model of high school social circles, the only thing that Rini seemed to be attune to was the fact that Dumbo was sad. Then again, she doesn't quite have the communication skills necessary to relay everything that she understands, but this would not be the first time that I don't completely understand my daugther.

Whether Rini was able to fully appreciate the number "Baby Mine" with its wonderful demonstations of relationships between parent and child is beside the point. I'm just glad she agreed to sit with me during that song, because that song always makes me cry. Moreso now that I'm a father.

Immediately following the 'mother & child' moment, the movie leaps into the Pink Elephants. This was the moment that I wasn't sure how she would react, but she was in gigglefits when she saw Dumbo and Timothy drunk off their stumps. Something you don't see in animated productions much anymore, but I'm not about to put the Futurama movies on the list. Once the booze bubbles morphed into the Pink Elephants, she was moderately interested, but then took off and started playing with toys.

My sister-in-law told me earlier that the movie gave her nightmares when she was young, and I think this was the scene that did it. I'm not certain of that, and neither is she, but I'm just glad that she was alright with her sons watching the movie with Rini and myself.

I would have thought Rini would love when Dumbo learns to fly, and especially the crows, but much of the humour in that scene revolves around the dialogue, and especially all the double meanings in the song "When I see an Elephant Fly." It was a little above her head, as it was above my head when I first saw it.

Her interest held for the finale when Dumbo got his comeuppance, and when the sprayed all the other elephants with peanuts.

I've learned a few things from watching movies with my daughter, one of them being, don't watch movies right before bed. Showing this movie in the middle of the day, with her cousins, definitely helped Rini focus on the movie for the first half. A shame every day isn't Saturday.

Before I put this movie in, I knew it had a substantial rewatchability factor, and from my daughter's response, I would say she shares my opinion. I don't think it's in her top 10, but I would think Dumbo is in her top 20 somewhere.

Movie Project: Day 2 & 3 - Tinkerbell 2 & Opening Ceremonies

I am cheating big time on this one here. I know that I said I would get Rini to watch a new DVD everyday, and then do an entry about it, but tonight was too good an opportunity to pass up. Literal history in the making tonight with the Opening Ceremonies of the XXI Winter Olympiad in Vancouver, BC. Right next door! Heck, if we were living in Vancouver, I would have tried to go there! Barring that, we were able to watch it on TV, and we could watch highlights online if we want to.

At the start of the parade of the athletes, Rini was not very pleased at all with what we wanted to watch, and even shut the TV off at one point! She is a cheeky little girl, but when we told her that we were going to watch the Olympics tonight, she ran off to her room and cried for a little while. Eventually she came out, and started loading DVDs in our laps, but eventually she relented and resigned herself to playing while we watched. The only time that she really paid attention to what was going on was when they had the dancing performances, the moment of silence for Nodar Kumaritashvili, and the lighting of the cauldron which had a bit of a hiccup, but was still cool. By the time Wayne Gretzky was headed towards the outdoor cauldron, Rini was randomly throwing herself onto the couch. Yeah, she was done.

The day previous, I was able to sit down and watch a movie with her though. Mind, I think she was a bit more cooperative since she was the one who picked the movie. Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure is not by any means a movie that she was watching for the first time with daddy, but it was a movie that she enjoyed, has some good morals, good music, and has cute characters (fae and fireflies). I'm not sure what it is exactly that she likes about Tinkerbell, whether it's the CGI, the good story, or music, but it has an excellent mesh of them, as well as making memorable characters. This might be due to the Midas touch of John Lasseter; Rini takes a shine to most all projects he has been involved with, whether in a producing or directing role.

That being said, I'm not sure how much she likes Mickey's Christmas Carol although Mr. Lasseter was an animator for the film. Perhaps I'll put that on the list, since I was hoping to have Dumbo be the next feature we watch. The last time Rini saw that 60 minute marvel was about a year and a half ago. I would hope that she would be able to sit through that one at least.

Though I'm not sure how she'll react to the pink elephants.

Movie Project: Day 1 - Aladdin

My wife and I have an extensive DVD collection. Some titles, I am ashamed to admit, we have purchased and not yet watched. Some titles we have not watched together, and some we have not watched since we have bought them, but have watched previously.

In order to get some use out of these many titles we own, I figured it prudent also to educate my daughter about different movies. That, and I'm starting to get tired of watching Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan everyday. Thus today, I endevoured to break her out of the movies that she has cemented into her three year old mind by dusting off Disney's Aladdin.

This was initially met with a barrage of tears and complaining about how she wanted to watch Up instead, and I couldn't really blame her. Though Aladdin won Academy Awards for Best Original Song and Best Original Score, Up has three Oscar nods, one of them being Best Picture.

Nevertheless, Rini had protested a number of movies/shows that she later loved, such as Toy Story, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Fraggle Rock. I figured this would be just like any other. She would protest, and then settle down and watch the whole thing with barely any fuss.

Boy, was I wrong! The only reason that she tolerated the movie was because of Abu, Aladdin's spider monkey companion. She would screech like a monkey whenever he had screen time, especially during the first musical number "One Jump." She was quite enthused up to the point when the Genie appeared. After that, it was a challenge to get her to sit on the couch longer than two minutes. To say she had completely lost interest might be a bit of an overstatement, but she started to insist upon changing the movie out, and watch Up in its place.

Right before the "Prince Ali" number, I stopped the movie in an effort to calm my daughter down. At this point Caitlin was ready to give up on this for the day, and put in another movie to save us all from the incessant whining to change the movie. I was near ready to put in Veggietales to get some kind of peace, but I instead decided to continue with this 1992 Classic, disregarding the plea from my daughter, in the faint hope that her opinion on the movie would turn positive.

With the choice of watching of the movie or going to bed, Rini decided to stick it out. Having something to drink helped as well, and we all watched the rest of the movie with minimal fuss. She didn't seem to have any big reactions, positive or negative, for the remainder of the movie, probably since we were encroaching on her bedtime by the time the credits rolled.

Aladdin is going back on the shelf, and is probably going to stay there for some time. At least until baby #2 arrives.

Overall, I think Rini liked Aladdin, but it's not something I would bring on a road trip. Pixar still holds that crown.