A New Christmas Classic

Carving Angels by Diane Tolley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Much like how the weather changes in Alberta, ofttimes our lives don't quite turn out the way we think it would. Such is the case in this wonderful Christmas story, "Carving Angels."

The story is told through the blind eyes of a woodcarver, who was once the lead carver in his shop but has chosen retirement with his loss of sight. Ten years have passed since he put away his tools and now he's spends his days waiting. Waiting for breakfast, waiting for lunch, waiting for supper, and waiting to go to bed in order to do it all over again. The only enjoyment he receives is visits from his granddaughter who was born 4 years ago.

She makes a bold move and asks him to carve something for her, as she has never seen him work, just as he has never seen her face. Initially refusing, he decides to accept the challenge and attempts to make something of the block of wood that she brought him to shape and form as only a master can. The passion to create comes alight once more, and he in turn teaches her the woodworking skills that have served him well.

The timing of this renaissance could not have come at a better time, because their partnered skills serve the community in a way that no one imagined possible, and changes the entire community for the better.

I will be the first to admit that this story made me cry three times while reading, and I'm not in the least bit ashamed to admit it. It is a powerful message about the human spirit, and how you can never give up on people, but most importantly how you can never give up on yourself.

While the woodcarver was not the ideal image of a artist, since he had long lost his sight, he still knew his trade. He still knew how to work a piece of wood, how to choose the right piece, and most importantly he was able to determine what needed to be brought out of the wood. Though his blindness was a significant hindrance, he didn`t allow it to define who he was.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It's a story that you will want to have in your home and read again and again.

View all my reviews
Although the author of this work is my mother-in-law, please understand that I am not writing this review under duress, nor do I feel this is a display of nepotism to tout this marvelous story. I read this book over a month ago when I purchased my copy directly from the author, but I only wrote the review now because I spent part of yesterday selling the book at a local Arts and Crafts fair. By the end of the day, I found that I had told a rather concise review to everyone I met. I'm not sure if it was my salesmanship that helped matters, or just my strong love for the story, but it was a joy just to tell people about this great story.

Physical disabilities are much more difficult to live with and/or hide from the world, and I have seen people work with what they have been given and make a fruitful life out of it. I have my own disability, and it has long been something that hold secret because of the stigmas associated with it. After reading this book, I found myself with a renewed sense of worth. It may be difficult to function some days, but I know that I have a family that loves me and needs me, despite my shortcomings, and that's enough to keep me going.

Just as I said in my review, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Upgrade time

Over the past few weeks, I have struggled to make amends with a mistake that I made. I tried to upgrade my wife's netbook, affectionately known as Dory. This computer was named after the little blue fish in Finding Nemo, simply because it was little, and blue. Little did we know how close to the mark we were with the name.

For the six people out there who have not seen this masterful film, the character Dory suffers from acute short term memory loss, like all fish would. This is also something that we found Dory, the computer, became prone to the same malady. There were times when the web browser would crash for reasons unknown, then go on as if nothing happened. We couldn't use the touch pad, because we discovered that she would forget how to boot up if you did that. Then after three years the battery started to give out, and would only last for about 45 minutes from it's original battery life of 2 hours.

Added to this, the netbook was an early version, and was running Linpus Lite. A Linux OS that was very tightly locked down. I finally figured out how to access the root, only to discover the OS had been abandoned for at least two years. All updates, even browser updates, could not be done through the OS. Yet I felt there was a way to get the Firefox updated to Version 3.6 and I tried my best to do so.

This is when I discovered that I don't know Linux very well.

In my efforts to figure out how to upgrade the browser, I had to move some files. Where I moved them to, I'm still not sure. Neither is Dory, and now will not run the web browser because of this. I wasn't sure what I did, but I knew it was bad. Oh, the writer still worked, and the Mplayer would still work when it felt like it, but the one program we used the most was done.

Most people would throw up their hands and give up, but I had a feeling that I could get Dory working again. After learning how to make a boot stick, because Dory doesn't have an optical drive, I installed Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Netbook Remix. Firefox was functional, and on a recent update! Life was good! Until I tried to use the wireless...

While the main driver was Atheros, it was not recognizing the AR5006ES wifi card. It was looking for a AS5001 card. I found madwifi, and had hope that it would work, but after the installation and recompiling the kernel, I had to throw my hands up and call it quits. I had given it a good honest try, and Dory is still a good little internet terminal. So long as you're not trying to do anything too complicated, or busy, or twitter, or would be better with a larger screen or better resolution. And given that if you're going to be using her for longer than 40 minutes, you should be close to an outlet, or else the computer would die.

In hindsight, I'm surprised this day didn't come sooner.

Lack of functional wifi was the last straw, and it was time to scout out a replacement for little Dory.

And search I did. At first I was strongly considering purchasing a Galaxy Tab. Small, compact, cute, and runs Android 2.2 with great competence. What more could you ask for?

What about novel writing?

Dory would still be able to carry out that responsibility, since OpenOffice still functions decently, but if Caitlin would want to novel as well, then we're in a bit of a bind. True, a bluetooth keyboard would solve that ordeal, but iPaq still functions well for an eReader.

Then I did some thinking. Did I really want a tablet, netbook, laptop, or a smartphone?

First world problems.

After some deliberation, I came to the conclusion that while a touch pad interface would be excellent, and an iPad would make use of the app that Caitlin purchased by accident, there was a far better solution, which cost wound up being about the same as a top of the line iPad2. For quite some time I was looking into getting Caitlin a Wacom tablet in order to help with digital art, especially since she's developed a healthy interest in Gimp as of late.

Plus it is our anniversary, and our 100th monthavesary is coming up soon too. It's going to be a boring holiday season...

But where did we get the money for all this? Well, the government finally discovered that we added Bronwyn to our family nearly eleven months ago, and they paid us all the back payments on the tax benefits we should have been receiving. So this isn't so much a treat for us, but for our girls!

At least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself every time I boot up Olivia, which is the name of the laptop that I purchased to replace Dory, and Iris (our desktop) to an extent. While it's not exactly a desktop replacement, it outperforms our desktop on most every scale. Six times as much RAM, hard drive with sixteen times the capacity, higher resolution screen output, and HD compatibility.

But why the name Olivia? First, Memory Express had a TRON:Legacy keyboard on display, so I had that on my mind. Second, one of the actresses in said movie is Olivia Wilde, also did a great job on House, M.D. and I'm eager to see how she does in Cowboys & Aliens this weekend. Third, the name Olivia is nice, and we haven't reserved it for any of our daughters.

So far, so good. But I admit that it's going to take a bit of getting used to to figure out the Windows Live Movie Maker. With the hardware that Olivia has, I'm thinking it shouldn't be that tough. Just have to get used to the minimal GUI, or purchase some more heavy duty software.

Dory, you're an adorable little netbook and you still have your uses, but it was time for something a little more up to date with a bit more guts under the hood.

Welcome Olivia!

Six Eyed Reviews: Winnie the Pooh

A new project that I've been working on with a friend of mine has been a video review series. The most recent installment featured my daughter, as she came along with us to see Disney's latest release Winnie the Pooh. We have another movie lined up for review this Wednesday, so I'll be sure to include that one here as well.

In the mean time, enjoy!

Calgary Comic Expo 2011

The 2011 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo marked the fourth time Caitlin and I have attended, Rini's third, and Bronwyn's first! We had our hands full for the past few months putting together our entries for the Costume Contest, hence the lack of posts. Thought it was a massive amount of effort, a substantial amount of money, and countless hours to get it all together, we had an absolute blast and are already planning for next year.

The Expo is a two-fold event for our family. Not only do we get to cosplay and meet some celebrities, but we also get to visit with my sisters and their families. This year we went down earlier, and spent a bit more time with them. Although we don't live that far away, the expo is about the only time that we get to visit at all.

This event has begun to be a bit of a family tradition for us. Every year I've gone with Rini, we get a picture with R2-D2. Originally, I wanted to get a picture with just R2 and Rini, but the first year she was too scared to be near him by herself. Now, the both of us crowd in the shot without a second thought. In hindsight, I should have got a picture with Bronwyn as well, but she's only nine months old right now! Back in 2008, when Caitlin and I went by ourselves, and left Rini in the care of my sister, she was just over a year old. The next year, Rini was walking around. The year after, she wanted to be in the stroller all the time. This year, it was a bit of both.

We didn't attend many panels this year due to having our girls with us, but there was one panel I was determined to go to, Cartoon Voices 1. I wanted to go to the second one, but we slept in and there was no room by the time I got there. Despite William Shatner and Jonathan Frakes in attendance, I really wanted to see the panel with Jess Harnel, Maurice LaMarche, and Rob Paulson. I seem more drawn to the voice actors, because two years ago, I was bent on attending the panel with Scott McNeil regarding voice acting.

I was very grateful to have attended Cartoon Voices 1, because they talked about how they create characters and stay competitive. Borrowing voices is not a bad thing, oftimes the actors they borrow them from aren't using them anymore! At the end of the panel, Rob Paulson told a story about a child he met with Muscular Dystrophy. The kid asked for an autograph, but Rob didn't have anything with him at the time. But he was wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles jacket, as he was doing the voice of Raphael in the original series at the time. He took off his jacket, signed it, and gave it to him. Later on he discovered that this same kid was so attached to the jacket that he refused to go into surgery without it, such to the point the hospital staff sterilized the jacket, put it in a plastic bag and had it in the OR during the operation!

But that's not the end of the story. The doctors expected that he would only have a year or two left to live, not much longer past fourteen years old. But he still had that jacket, and everyone in the room could attest to that, BECAUSE HE WAS IN THE AUDIENCE. Rob finished the story with the simple but powerful statement, "You can't tell me it's just cartoons."

I wish that I had some time to talk to him, or at least listen in on the conversation that Rob had with him after the panel. The only thing I heard as I was exiting the room was when Rob told him, "Meeting you changed my life."

The rest of Saturday was spent in the Costume Contest, which I will talk about tomorrow. For now, I need sleep. Didn't get much of that over the weekend!

Next year, I think I might book off Friday and Monday. Friday to travel; Monday to recover.

Movie Project - Day 45: Tron (1982)

I have officially run out of excuses not to do another blog post. My back has recovered to the point that I can get around without my brace, I have recovered from my cold, and most importantly, I have a new job! I'm going to get back on the New Year's resolution bandwagon, and try to post something every day, whether it be a movie project or a Bite a time review. I'll have to revisit the Bite at a Time movies, because I actually talk to my coworkers during lunch now! Eh, I'll figure something out.

Back to the subject at hand, the 1982 cult classic, computer assisted Disney film Tron. To be honest, I did things a little backwards and showed her Tron:Legacy before watching the original with her. Add that to my running list of other parental mistakes.

To my amazement, she sat through the entire movie. I'm happy to say my little girl enjoyed this nostalgic marvel, but I'm not sure why she was so entranced. I would love to watch it again with her, but everytime I suggest it, she insists on watching Tron:Legacy instead.

One moment that I watched three times - once by myself, twice to call Caitlin's attention what I saw, and the third time was due to Rini's request to see it again - was when Tron and Flynn meet up again on the Solar Sailor. There is a wide shot where there is a "hidden Mickey" in the background. It takes up the entire background, so you have to be watching for it, but once you see it, it's hard to miss!

One key difference between Tron and its sequel is the floating little character known as "Bit." While it only ever says yes or no, Rini thought it was quite cute! She hasn't been mimicking the lines like she does with other movies, but it brought a smile to her face when the character came on screen.

Yet, she might have just been excited about the Recognizer, which is one of the scenes where the Bit appears. Rini did enjoy the Lightcycles, but she thought it was hilarious when Flynn was running into walls and columns with the recognizer. I'll admit, the sound effects did add an over the top comedic vibe.

For its day, Tron was a breakthrough in computer animation. It didn't have the most engaging story, yet with this movie, it wasn't trying to be a movie to be remembered for the captivating dialogue or character depth. Tron catered to the geek community from the Ring Game down to the "Gort Klattu Barada Nikto" banner in Alan Bradley's cubicle. It was a milestone in computer graphic design and has provided fuel for the creative fires of current CG artists, including John Lasseter.

Does that mean we're going to be watching Tron again in the near future? Not until Rini gets her fill of Tron:Legacy.

It might be a while.

Creative Physio

Today was an adventure, yet for most people it would just be an ordinary day. I drove to work and was there for the full day. Afterwards, I stopped by the mall, dropped off some mail that was missed in the pickup, sauntered around, then got some milk.

To anyone else, that would be a very boring day. For me, it was rejuvenating. That car trip marked the first time I had got behind the wheel of a car for over two weeks. It felt amazing to have that freedom again, and to not worry about being an inconvenience to anyone. I know that my father-in-law didn't mind doing the carpool thing with me, but it really helps in the long run that I can get about on my own. Not only can I pilot the vehicle to get myself around, I can also drive my family around too. Caitlin and I will be able to attend the Arrogant Worms concert on Friday regardless if my brother-in-law will be able to attend. Though I hope he does feel good enough to attend, but since he's going in for surgery tomorrow, it's anyone's guess.

Also walking around the mall, that was something of a workout, since I did it without the brace. Driving was done sans brace too, since the doctor formally told me that I could not drive while wearing the brace. On that note, he also said that I should spend some time out of the brace to strengthen my muscles. Put two and two together, and I am ambulatory! That's not to say it was a completely painless experience. I paused in stores here and there, but most of the time I tried to keep moving so that I wouldn't have a moment to focus on the pain.

I could take some T3 medication to deal with the pain, but the damage it did to my stomach, I don't want to take the risk. And while it does hurt, I know that I'm working at getting better. Plus, it's only been two days since I've tried venturing around without the brace, and while I was at work, I had it on. Made the work day a little bit easier to deal with.

Movie review to come soon. I know I said I was going to try to steer my daughter away from Disney movies, but she has been reading a children's storybook of Cinderella, and Grandma figured it was high time Erini saw the movie the book was based on.

Cure Almost Worse Than Disease

This is not to say that I have a debilitating illness, but rather my appointment today gave me a bit more freedom than my body is accustomed to. After wearing the back brace almost exclusively for the past two weeks, I tried getting around without it for the evening. I am now filled will all sorts of pain, largely located in the lower back, but I'm working my way through it.

We have the treadmill working, and Erini tried to do a bit of physio with me, but she almost fell on her face on the treadmill. Good thing the emergency switch works! She saw the support bar and figured that you had to hold onto it for it to work properly. I have a bit of work ahead of me to explain to her that treadmills are not like shopping carts.

While we did take in a movie tonight, my rehabilitation has drained my will to type much more than I have already. I have enough energy left for a shower, and that's about it.

At least I was able to get something out, and at least I was able to do it without the brace. I'm making progress! Painful progress, but it's going forward!

Movie Project - Day 44: Despicable Me

When you watch something like Despicable Me, you need to have two things in mind. First, this movie is incredibly silly and does not take itself very seriously, and second, the old guy is NOT Eric Idle. With that in mind, my daughter is not familiar with Monty Python (yet!) and I have yet to see her take a movie seriously. In short, she thought it was very funny.

Since we watched this at home, and not in 3D, a few of the scenes did not have the same impact that they would have in 3D, such as when Gru lands the spaceship, or the rollercoaster ride. Some of those shots were pure 3D grabs, and in 2D it doesn't play as well. The story still shines through, and there is a story worth watching beneath all the crazy effects and jokes.

Being a father, I could understand some of Gru's frustrations in trying to get work done and being plagued with the incessant demands of those three girls. My girls are still quite young, and I can wait just fine until they reach the ages of the girls in the film. Erini didn't really relate to the girls that much, because she was too busy laughing at the minions.

The best comparison for those little yellow creatures with prehensile appendages, would be some sort of cousin to the Raving Rabbids only a bit more organized. Only a little though.

DESPICABLE ME: Movie Trailer 4. Watch more top selected videos about: Despicable Me, Movie Trailers

The version we watched was DVD, and the Blu-ray has more special features, such as three shorts starring the minions. And a banana. Not too sure about the details on that, but I'm told it's hilarious.

If it can be believed, we don't own a copy of this, nor do Grandma and Grandpa. It was my brother-in-law from whom we borrowed their copy, and previous to that I rented it from a local rental outlet. However, after watching it again this past week, I think we might look into acquiring a copy of it. We need to get settled in our new place, and that will involve finding a new bed for our daughter. Kijiji stiffed me on that, but we're still looking.

Movie Project - Day 43: Toy Story 3

Seems like some time since I wrote about a movie I watched with my daughter, but I blame all those pain medications I was on. I'm at home, and I took some time to sit with my daughter and watch a movie that had previously given her nightmares, or so was the opinion circulating the household. Whether Erini truly did have trouble sleeping due to the movie or other circumstances, I don't know. What I do know is that after she watched this movie with me, she slept through the night without a peep. I would say the night troubles are over regarding this movie.

Not to say that there are some frightening parts, and not to say that everyone would feel comfortable watching this movie with their children. All I am saying is that I was very glad I watched this with Erini, and I was able to hold her during the scary parts. The parts I think she had issues with were: the garbage truck, the "libary" scene, and the incinerator. All those things were mentioned to me at one point or another in between our viewing in November 2010 and this past week. My daughter remembers her movies quite well, like her parents, and viewing movies with her mommy and daddy will help build good memories of good film.

The other thing I love doing with Pixar movies in general - and Erini has gotten in on it too - is going through the "Pixar Checklist." In every movie, a few things are present. One thing that my daughter has started to take notice is the Pizza Planet truck. She will get up and point it out whenever it appears in most all Pixar movies, though some movies it's quite hard to see eg. Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Up. But she always says, "The Pizza Planet truck is in Bug's Life!" That one is a bit easier to see and the same shot is used in Monsters Inc. ("Mama! Another 'gator got in the house!" "Another 'gator? Gimme that shovel!") Next, we're going to work on pointing out John Ratzenburger and A113.

Most all scary movies that Erini has watched, I've watched with her, and she enjoys them, and they don't bother her. Just having her daddy near her when she's scared tends to help her deal with the concept of fright. I haven't quite figured out why. It could be my baritone voice that has a soothing effect or some other facet of masculinity that I don't realize I'm displaying. Whatever it is, she does well, when I watch a movie with her.

That being said, I did watch Toy Story 3 with her the first time she watched it. The second time she saw it, I wasn't there, and that's when the sleep trouble started. Perhaps there is an exception to every circumstance, and this is no different.

Movies a Bite at a Time #4 - Jesus Camp

As I mentioned yesterday, I am currently healing from an L1 burst fracture, aka broken back. I was only in the hospital for four days, yet the amount of time that I was awake and coherent enough to watch this movie was very short indeed. Caitlin actually brought eight or nine movies for me to watch, but with all the drugs I was on, and the physiotherapy I was working through to get home when I did, I barely had enough time to finish watching Jesus Camp.

It was a very interesting documentary to watch in the hospital, and I really hope that I didn't disturb my roommates too much. Mind one guy never said a word to me, another guy barely spoke at all, and the third guy was watching his television with his headphones in most of the time. If anyone was annoyed with the "Hallelujah!" and "Praise Jesus!" that was coming from Toshi, they never told me.

I like to consider myself a religious person. I have a strong belief and testimony in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us all. But I also believe in personal agency. We all have the power within us to chose what we believe, and to chose whether that belief is right or wrong. For that reason, I strongly believe in a division between church and state, and I don't believe that people should be forced to believe what I do.

At the beginning of the film, a children's Pastor Becky Fisher is interviewed, and she states that she wants to prepare today's children to be Christian soliders, just like Muslims are training their children for Jihad. That sent a very cold chill through me. Some of these children were eight or nine years old, some as old as twelve, but there were all very vocal and firm in their faith.

I've met religious people all over the spectrum. Baptists, Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim, Jehovah's Witness, the list goes on. Living in various cities across the country will do that. The fact is there are good people wherever you go, and there is also insanely passionate people wherever you go. What was presented in Jesus Camp was the closest thing I could categorize to Christian Extremism, and it was a scary thing to see. What was further frightening is that these kids are going to grow up and be a part of the adult community one day. Teaching people to love one another and bear one another's burdens that they may be light, that's a good thing to teach children. Winding children up in a flurry of passionate faith to the point that they'll believe anything makes me wonder how wars will be fought twenty years from now.

Being a father and a patriarch to my family are responsibilities that I still struggle with. Sometimes I can't believe that I'm a daddy, but it's not a matter of belief. I know I'm a father, and my girls are growing up faster than I want them to. The best I can do is adhere to Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child the way he should go: and when he is old, he shall not depart from it.

Teaching children at a young age is the best thing you can do, but more than that, you need to show them that you care for them. Seems I'm making things up as I go along when it comes to parenting, but I do try to instill important ideas in my daughter's mind. Saying prayers and brushing teeth are still a bit of a battle, and I'm sure she won't remember the exact words to a certain prayer fifteen years from now, but I hope she'll remember saying prayer with her family, and will continue to do so on her own.

Would I watch Jesus Camp with Erini? I'm not even sure if I could watch it again with Caitlin. Perhaps my memories of the movies are tainted from all the morphine I was taking in the hospital. Stupid drugs.

Tomorrow: Movie Project continues with facing a nightmare. And winning!

We're rebuilding!

Might seem odd, and it might seem a little cliche, but there has been a bit of a dearth of postings because I injured myself. A poor excuse, because I broke my back, and I can still write with a netbook on my stomach. It's not like I broke my arms, hands, and fingers. I only broke one bone. L1 vertebra, burst fracture. Most common snowmobiling injury, but every now and again you see it with tobogganing.

I'm working on a full story of the break, the hospital stay, and the triumphant return home. I'll be posting it on my "passion" blog once it's complete.

In the mean time, my bone is knitting itself back together again, and I need to take it easy.

More reviews to come. For now, I need some sleep.

Daddy Presents... #1 - Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

As entertaining as movies, music, and video games can be, sometimes Erini prefers to sit with me and read some good books. Such was the case tonight with a couple of her cousins over for dinner and a visit. Right as the evening was winding down, I picked up Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems, and Erini jumped up beside me.

The book is a very simple read, and provides an interactive element for the reader. The titular Pigeon is quite the talkative bird and presents some compelling arguments to let him ride the bus. My daughter enjoys the parts where the pigeon is very frustrated, and there's no words, but rather a black charcoal smudge. When we get to that part, I do a deep throaty growl, and she giggles to no end at that. Her next favourite part is when the Pigeon gets very flustered and screams and shouts and the words look like they have a graffiti design to them. I shout the words and wave the book an inch from her face when we get to that part, and she thinks that hilarious too!

DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS: Movie Trailer. Watch more top selected videos about: DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS

It's hard to say if that was quality time or not, but it was a certain quantity of time. And that's what I've come to learn doing this blog. I try not to worry if the time spent with my daughter is quality or quantity, because to her it's enough that I spent time with her.

Intermission #2 - Coldest Move To Date

I can't say today was the worst move I've ever done - that would be when I moved during a rainstorm, and the rain cleared up after we were done - today was actually quite nice after I noticed a few things. First, we had no stairs to deal with. We're on the third floor, but there was an elevator. There were some issues with the elevator making the most annoying sound in the world when the Open Door button was held for longer than 15 seconds, but at least we were able to unload the pod in two hours, and everything was in the apartment about 45 minutes later.

Second, it was cold and slippery, but we had some tobogganing sleds that we were able to use to bring stuff from the pod to the building door! Made it much easier and fun!

Third, I was ever so happy that I got Caitlin some new boots yesterday, because she was working harder and moving faster than I've seen in some time. Maybe since we went snowshoeing, but that wasn't very fast. The new boots were Merrells similar to the pair I've been wearing for the past five years. They are very warm, very comfortable, and the most important part for my wife, they have very good ankle support. While I paid $150 for mine, I also got the pair at Sportchek West Edmonton Mall. Caitlin's I got significantly cheaper for $18.99 at Value Village. It looked like someone wore them for a couple of days then donated them. I couldn't believe my luck when I found them! Not sure if I'll ever find something like that again, but that's Value Village for you.

My guess is we'll have our first overnight stay in the new apartment will be about this time next week. Depending on how quickly we can unpack everything, or at the very least get the beds set up.

It was rather frightening to see just how many boxes we had, but it was kind of fun at the same time. I imagined that the apartment was a Christmas Tree, and the boxes were presents to which we don't know what's inside, but are pretty sure we're going to like.

May sound trite, but it prevented me from doing something drastic to silence that elevator alarm.

I wonder if Ubisoft has thought of licensing the Rabbid scream to replace klaxon alerts. Just a thought.

Cheat Code #2 - Boom Blox Bash Party

What do you do when you want to play video games with your kids, but there isn't a game that fits for you and your younglings? If you're Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg, you talk to EA, and coproduce one of the more comically violent and challenging puzzle games to come along in some time. Although this game was released back in Spring 2009, it's still a fun title that I'm sure Erini will be able to understand and play along with soon. The controls are a little tricky for her to figure as of right now, but she really enjoys the number of characters and the general chaos of things exploding.

While some reviews cite that this version has some new features and does not include some of the less than stellar features, this is the only version I have played. The challenge of the level is matched by the variety of tools to destroy the blocks. Colour balls change the colour of blocks allowing for matches of three or more blocks to score points. Once the block disappear, the physics engine takes over. Sometimes the bottom of the playing area is not flat, and sometimes the blocks will land wrong and fall out completely.

The grabbing hand makes for some tricky balancing exercises. At times it feels like Jenga, only with exploding blocks. And sheep. Stupid sheep.

Erini's favourite area is the Pirate Bay, and she quite enjoyed the cannon battles. Yet she kept asking to go to the Parrot section, which involved more blowing things up.

The most fun I ever had playing this game was with my brother-in-law in Calgary. He and I were the only ones in a group of six guys who had played it previously, but it was still a heap of fun. We ventured into a space battle, in which you had a certain amount of bombs to throw in a certain amount of time. Eventually, we got the idea to gang up on one person, but that backfired, since you get bonus bombs if you get hit a significant amount.

We also played a version of mini golf, only it was pucks instead of balls, slingshots instead of clubs, and there were elevators. But you did have to hit a red flag! At first it was a joke. Straight away shot, and boom, 100 points. But it got more and more complicated, you had to judge the power you put into the shot, and hope that the other players were not feeling ruthless.

It's fun when my wife gets in on the action too. She doesn't pick up a controller, but she does give me tips on what to do. Once she figures out the level creator, I'm sure she'll have a ball with it though!

I was most interested in this game when I read an article on That Guy With The Glasses featuring the Top 6 Games to Play on a Date. Most of the games I was quite familiar with, but then the final game mentioned caught my attention with earnest. I can't say that I've had the same experience as detailed in the article, but it is one of the games that I has been a great investment.

Cheat Code #1 - Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time

This is the third video game review I've done with my daughter's input, and I only now realized that I should have set it up as a separate series. Since I was cheating previously with the movie project by adding in those review to the Movie Project, the title Cheat Code seemed appropriate.

We originally got this game for Grandma and Grandpa Tolley, since it was mentioned that they wanted more multiplayer games for their Wii. Something that everyone could enjoy and the kids could play along too. This game delivers that in spades. This is the kind of game that you could play for hours, or just pick up for fifteen minutes. Setup takes no time at all as the extra players are added in via the washing machine that is capable of creating temporal rifts. It just pops out of nowhere, spits out a Rabbid, and then disappears again. Much like the Rabbids do as they ride this washing machine through time, making a mess of things, or just adding a story that was skipped over in the annals for history.



The entrance to the game is through a bathroom, and upon entering the main area of the museum, a roll of toilet paper gets stuck to the characters foot. I found it quite annoying at first, but when I played co-op for the first time, I saw how important it was. All the players are anchored to this roll of toilet paper, which makes it quite handy when someone doesn't want to go where you want, or in the case of my daughter, doesn't know how to handle the controls very well. You can drag these characters along, and it makes for great comedy!

Most people know the Rabbids for their unique voice, or rather scream. BWAAAAAAHHH! Erini and her cousins always mention this whenever they ask if they can play the game. In this game, that is taken up a notch. There is an area where you can do Rabbid chorus, and the tone is adjusted by rotating the Wiimote clockwise or counterclockwise.

On feature that I liked quite a bit in previous Rabbid games was the dance sequences. While it is featured in this game as well, it's not at all the same, and it seems Ubisoft directly imported some songs from Just Dance 2 into Raving Rabbids. It's still fun having the Rabbids dance to Jungle Boogie, but they take a back seat to the dance steps demonstrated on screen.

A number of mini games are hidden throughout the museum areas, such as a memory game, object chase games, even a bouncing game. The part I had the most difficulty figuring out was the flying. Erini loved it whenever I crashed, so maybe I was doing something right after all!

Some might argue that these games encourage fighting and violence because of the fact you can beat on other Rabbids at pretty much any time, and there is no penalty for it. The same argument could be said for the Looney Toons, but I don't see my daughter running off to hit her cousins with comically large weapons. At least not those that can inflict lethal damage. I would think that I've thought her well enough what is acceptable and what is not.



My daughter and her cousins love this game like none other, and it would be better if they were able to play the game with me instead of just watch. This really is a great party game, and the more people you have the funnier it gets.

That's why I figured it would be ideal for Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Movies a Bite at a Time #3 - Up in the Air

This movie was ideal for watching at work for the following reasons:
1. It challenges you to figure out what you want in life
2. The language used by the characters was on a level that I would not want my daughter accidentally hearing
3. With the premise of travelling from city to city, it made it easy to find the right moments to stop for the day. Next city, stop.

George Clooney has been lauded for his role as Ryan Bingham, a jet setting business man whose line of work is to fire people. Seems rather harsh, but it's a living, and he does his job exceptionally well. He also does not have anything or anyone tying him down to one place. He has a one bedroom apartment in Omaha, Nebraska, where his company is headquartered, but it has all the amenity and charm of a hotel room. Possibly a hospital room.

When life throws him a curve ball, and the company is thinking of changing their format to videoconferencing, Bingham is faced with the fact he might have to live at one address. Not about to go into the night quietly, he takes one last road trip, showing Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) how it's done in the field. Along the way, Bingham hooks up with another jet setter, Alex Goran played by Vera Farmiga. They have romantic encounters from time to time, even inviting her to his sister's wedding, and he starts to think that he could spend his life with her.

The twists and surprises that follow were typical, but done in an unusual manner. It's hard to say if there is a happy ending, because it largely depends on what you call happy. That was the other thing that made this movie fun, yet annoying to watch on Toshi. The unit does not have a runtime clock to indicate how far along you are in the movie. Also, since I was watching the movie in random increments, I lost track how long I had been watching the movie and the player picks up where I left off, so I don't need to go to the chapter menu to get an idea of where I am in the film. I just kept watching until the credits rolled.

Funny, moving, and throwing in a dash of reality just to keep the viewer in bewilderment, this movie delivers some good entertainment. The line that sums up things the best is when Bingham is giving his sister's fiancee some advice to get over his cold feet, "Life's better with company."

How ironic that I watched this movie alone. And still liked it.

Movie Project - Day 42: Super Mario Galaxy

In view of the past month, I've noticed movies have moved to the forefront, and video games have taken a back seat. Writing this blog does take a bit of time from my day, but that doesn't mean that I have to leave it behind. Also, Erini has been asking to play some games as of late, specifically Super Mario Galaxy. I have not finished the game as yet, but we've both been enjoying the game.

The premise is pretty standard for a Mario game. Bowser comes and kidnaps Princess Peach and Mario has to go rescue her. The twist this time is that Bowser has figured out how to make galaxies with the aid of Grand Stars. These were stolen from an observatory watched over by a mysterious lady known as Rosalina, and there are a number of sentient star forms known as Lumas.

This game works well for playing with Erini, because while it is chiefly a one person adventure game, there is a two player option in which the second player uses the Wiimote to collect and shoot Star bits. This was a little annoying at points, because once she figured out she could shoot stuff, that's all she did, and then the star bits would diminish to nothing. I tried playing with my wife, but whenever Erini saw Caitlin holding the Wiimote, she wanted it back because it was "hers." Oh joy. Should be interesting when she has to share with her sister.

Yet she was able to interact with the game and still enjoy the gameplay, which is challenging for an adventure game. Most games like Wii Sports or Wii Sports Resort work well because of the simple actions to which she can play along. Her favourite is the Samurai Showdown, and I will freely admit it's mine too.

I find it difficult to play this game for longer than an hour or so, mostly because of the 3D spacial navigation. When you're flying from spot to spot, flip upside down, and have limited camera control, it takes a toll on me. I don't get motion sickness as much as I have with first person shooters for PC, but I've learned it's best not to push the limits.

Another reason I wanted to play this game was to get a character unlocked in Mario Kart Wii. I have yet to see if this works or not, but I've read that if you have a Super Mario Galaxy save file on the memory, then it will unlock Rosalina as a playable character.

My wife has been making jewelry of all sorts lately, and some of the beads she picked up looked highly irregular, and almost jagged. The colours were all over the spectrum, but they looked rather familiar.

Caitlin got a Dremmel for Christmas, so she plans on drilling holes and stringing these into some necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Possibly anklets too, but that's only if she can secure some more of these bits.

Coming soon at an Etsy store near you! As soon as we get it going that is...

Intermission #1 - A Moving Valentine's Day

Some people love it, other hate it, and then there are those that loathe and despise the 14th of February. No matter your opinion, we all have our way of dealing with it. I choose to look on it as a time to remember love and share it with those you care for most by showering them with affection in the form of gifts and candy. Kind of like Christmas, but without most any religious significance whatsoever.

It's changed a little over the years, and when I became a father it changed a LOT. This time next year I'll probably be working with my daughter to make Valentine's cards for her classmates.

This year, I just wait until my children are in bed, and I sit back and enjoy some time with my wife watching stuff like this:



We love to laugh and enjoy the company of each other, but today was a very different Valentine's Day. We did the walkthrough inspection for our apartment and got our keys! This weekend will be devoted to super crazy fun time, aka moving house. Shouldn't be that hard since we packed everything up in a storage pod that will be dropped at our new place on Friday.

I have pledged to post once a day for the year of 2011, and I don't plan on having something like a move get in the way of that. I'm just saying post might be a little vapid over the next while.

So things should be more or less the same.

Movie Project - Day 41: Toy Story

Hard to believe this movie was released a little over fifteen years ago, and it is just as good as the day I sat in the Village Tree Mall Theatre in St. Albert, Alberta. You don't forget this movie, but oddly I've forget when the first time was Erini saw it. My wife figures it was Fall 2008 that I opened up my collectors edition Ultimate Toy Box and put Toy Story into the DVD player for the first time. A week later my wife took it out because Erini wanted to watch nothing else, but my wife was very sick of watching it. Hard to believe you can get sick of Toy Story, but she did.

Like any kind of sickness though, if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger, and my wife loves Toy Story enough that she'll let my daughter watch it now and again. Today was the first time I had seen it since 5 Nov 2010, when I did a Toy Story Marathon with some friends to celebrate the release of Toy Story 3. Erini watched the whole marathon too.

During the scene when Woody and Buzz enter Sid's room, and Woody is freaking out about the scene, Erini commented that Woody was scared. Then she really caught my attention when she started talking about Toy Story 3. She said something about Buzz being tied to a chair, and he was scared. I asked if she was scared, and she kept pointing out that Woody was scared, never affirming or denying that she harboured any kind of fear towards the movie.

It's been pointed out that my daughter has trouble sleeping whenever she watched the second sequel of today's movie, and so I haven't watched TS3 since November. I'm hoping that I'll be able to watch it with her sometime soon, and she'll be able to shed her fear. I don't know why, but she seems to do better watching movies with her daddy.

While this was Pixar's first feature film, it was not their first production. Luxo Jr. owns that spot, and the two films have something in common. When John Lasseter premiered Luxo Jr. at SIGGRAPH someone approached him. Lasseter was afraid that he was about to ask some sort of techincal question regarding the film such as the shading or light scatter algorythms used. Instead he was asked if the parent lamp was the mother or the father. With that question, Lasseter saw they had achieved their goal of showing that computer animation was another tool available to animators, but it was story that made it lasting.

This movie, and the other two in the series, have such rich environments there is always something else to find. Sometimes it's a matter of knowing the references to the inside jokes that makes it new, like the carpet on the upstairs landing at Sid's house. Trust me, if you know Lee Unkrich's favourite movie, it's hilarious. Even today, my wife pointed out that Woody's hat right's itself when he shakes his head after the bowling ball hits him. You can focus on details like that after the fourth or fifth viewing.

One day, Erini and I will watch this with director commentary. Hopefully. She might not have the patience for something like that, but it will probably be a few years yet before she'll appreciate extra features like that.

Until then, we'll just supply our own commentaries.

Movie Project - Day 40: Peter and the Wolf

Animation is a peculiar art form. With most other types of film projects, music is added to the film at the end of production, but with animation it's the other way around. Music is the first thing recorded and the animation is adjusted to fit.

In the case of this Disney Mini Classic, Peter and the Wolf, the music was not composed at the Disney Studios, but rather is a Russian symphony aimed at children composed in 1936 by Sergei Prokofiev. While the short is only fifteen minutes, the run time for the entire piece is under half an hour at twenty-five minutes.

Only Sterling Halloway's voice is in this piece as the narrator. Each of the characters have their own voice, but with musical instruments:
Peter - Strings
Bird (Sasha) - Flute
Duck (Sonya) - Oboe
Cat (Ivan) - Clarinet
Grandpa - Bassoon
Hunters - Kettle Drums
Wolf - Brass (trumpets, etc.)

Erini has already learned to love Fantasia, so this wasn't much of a stretch for her to understand. New movies always transfix her anyway, and good music helps too. I was very impressed with how the character instruments were described, and the animation style was very fluid and whimsical, matching the music quite well.

There was an Academy Award winning stop motion production of Peter and the Wolf done in 2006, but unless I get my hand on a PAL converter, we'll have to wait until there's a North American release.

I thought the cassette was rather short with only Peter and the Wolf, and I wasn't the only one, because everyone was a little surprised when another short started up, a Silly Symphony called Musicland.



Completely done without dialogue, this romance story carries itself much like Romeo and Juliet with the two star crossed lovers on different sides of a conflict of musical styles. Erini particularly liked the saxophones, as she thought they were quite funny.

By now, my wife remembered there was one more feature, staring Mickey Mouse and company, Symphony Hour.



Very fun, very cute, but my in-laws, my wife, and myself were wondering just how much was done by Spike Jones. There were some instances where we were all laughing quite hard, such as the donkey accordion.

One thing for sure, my daughter loves to laugh, as she demonstrates whenever we cuddle up together and watch some Pinky and the Brain episodes. NARF!

Movie Project - Day 39: Donald in Mathmagic Land

Call me a nerd, but one of the things that impressed me while my wife and I were dating was that she could accurately recite 11 digits of Pi at the drop of a hat. When I asked her how she learned that, instead of her usual response of "in a book," she told me that she learned it from a Disney short "Donald in Mathmagic Land." Eight years later, I finally watched it. In English. While watching it with Erini and her cousins, I remembered watching it in Grade 8, Late French Immersion. It was a little easier to understand in English!

I'm not sure just how much Erini learned from this short, but I would have no problems with her watching it again. It covers ratios, shapes, and even iterations. The amazing thing is that it's not presented that way. Ratios are talked about using music. Take a string, pluck it, pinch it in half, pluch again, and it's a octave higher. You can continue taking half lengths and the tone will continue going up in octaves.

Such a simple technique, you would think it was around for centuries, and you would be right. According to this short, the Greek mathematician Pythagoras, who developed a theorem based on triangles which later developed into the cosine law, also discovered the mathematical principles behind musical intervals. I would have thought it went back further, but the show is only 27 minutes.

It also illustrated how math is applied to a number of games. Chess is the obvious example, but there was another one that surprised me, three cushion billiards. I've always known that billiards or pool involves force vector calculations and a bit of trigonometry never hurts either. Then you have the trick shots, which involve a bit more luck than anything! But with three cushion billiards, EVERY shot is a trick shot. It was just amazing to watch.

The final segment was the best way to end a documentary on mathematics: mental constructs. Every great discovery was first imagined, thought out in the mind, and then brought to life.

Nature also follows mathematical models to a precision that can only be described as perfect. Shells follow the Fibonacci series, there are a number of flowers that follow a pentagonal pattern, and static bubbles have a perfect spherical shape.

The only reason this short is not in our DVD collection is that I haven't found it for sale anywhere in the city. Or maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.

Movies a Bite at a Time #2 – The Hurt Locker

For a time, I had the idea to view some war movies with my daughter. Then I tried to figure out what I would feel comfortable with a four year old watching. The closest thing I could come up with was an animated telling of the story of Helaman and the 2000 Stripling Warriors. Regardless of the awards and honours bestowed upon any movie, my wife has told me many times over that if I want to watch war movies, I would have to do so alone. She hasn't watched all of "The Dark Knight" because it gave her such a fright. I can't even think what would happen to her if she tried to watch The Hurt Locker.

Many war films have illustrated the famous phrase attributed to William Tecumseh Sherman, "War is hell," but The Hurt Locker puts a different twist to it with their tagline, "War is a drug." The movie chronicles the final month and a half of an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team's rotation, the power struggles they have within the team, and the toll the conflict has on each soldier, with the emphasis on Sergent First Class William James. While most people live in fear that every minute they stay in Iraq could be their last, James takes it all with stride and relishes each moment he has in the field. Borderline reckless, but extremely good at his work, such to the point that his arrogance and addictive behaviour nearly gets his fellow soldier killed in action.

The amount of explosives in the movie outweigh the amount of explosions, if that makes sense. There were only four explosions in the entire film, though there is one scene where they are called to investigate the aftermath of a detonation. The most intense parts where the bombs that don't explode. There is a very palpable sense of urgency and the cinematography is done so well, it feels like you really are a part of the action.

Working in an office is not the same as working and living in a base camp comprised of trailers, but stretching out the movie over the course of a week did give me a bit of insight to how my brother-in-law described his time in Bosnia., "Days of mediocrity punctuated by second of sheer panic." Compressing forty days of service into a two hour movie would remove a lot of the boring bits, though there is a scene where they are doing test blasts. Yet you never see movies about people writing up reports or drafting letters.

All My Circuits: The Movie doesn't count.

Movies a Bite at a Time #1 – Caddyshack

Adding yet another spin off series for this blog, today is the introductory post for Movies a Bite at a Time. This is about movies that I have managed to watch over the course of my lunch breaks. Some of my coworkers consider me crazy for watching movies during my lunch break since I only have about 25 minutes of viewing time available after I prepare my meal. Thus, a two hour movie would be broken into four or five viewings. They argue that movies are media that were meant to be watched in one full sitting, and are structured story wise to allow for that. Plus, they could never do it because it would “drive them crazy.” I started doing this because there are a number of movies that I want to see, but would not be able to watch with my wife, much less would I want my daughter watching.

I unintentionally started off with Caddyshack because my in-laws had it, Caitlin had already seen it, and it starts Rodney Dangerfield. However the version my wife saw was the edited for television version. Less skin scenes, and I'm guessing a bit less language too. I surprised my boss when I was watching it during lunch, and a rather steamy scene popped up that he hadn't seen previously. Thankfully, I was familiar with the fast forward function on Toshi and was able to spare myself from most of the nasty bits and further embarassment.

I admit, with some shame, this was my first time seeing this movie. This shocked many of my coworkers since it is one of the quintessential sports movies, and it was on television multiple times. How I did not watch it previously is not really a mystery, because my parents were rather strict with what we watched on TV, and I didn't have cable until a few years ago. I have yet to see it on TV, but after watching it on DVD, I think I've had my fill.

Bill Murray and Chevy Chase are ridiculously funny and I am very curious to know just how much of the actual golf shots were done by Chevy Chase. The putting scene was like watching a river of golf balls flowing into the practice green hole. Rodney Dangerfield was funny, obnoxious, and fit right in with this film. It's not fair to compare King Kong to this movie, but I felt the final line of the movie left it on a off note, much like "It was beauty that killed the beast," spoken by Jack Black. You hear that line, and you just hope there's something else to follow that up. In Caddyshack, the movie doesn't finish right after Dangerfield's line, but with the gopher dancing, showing the audience that it survived the explosive charges set by Bill Murray's character.

In terms of sports movies, this is one of the movies that showed the lighter side of the sport reserved for the upper class. In terms of comedies, it's one of Rodney Dangerfield's best, and was a stepping stone for Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Harold Ramis in his directorial debut. Ramis has gone on to write and direct a number of classic modern comedies such as Groundhog Day, Vacation, Analyze This, and Analyze That. I'm very much looking forward to Ghostbusters III slated for release in 2012.

Would I ever allow my daughter to watch this? Maybe if it was on TV and edited for general viewing. Otherwise, I would not feel comfortable with her watching the DVD by herself, or until she's eighteen.

Knowing my luck, she's going to see it behind my back as an act of rebellion when she's fourteen.

Movie Project - Day 38: Star Warners

Revisiting the Pinky and the Brain collection, Star Warners was the final episode for the series. This was a rather unusual episode as it had cameos from most everyone in the Animaniacs series as well as a number of other Warner Brothers characters, such as Marvin the Martian. Nearly had a "Squee" attack when I saw him!

Erini didn't tell me her favourite part, but she laughed the hardest and loudest when a Jawa, played by Mindy from Animaniacs, approached Brain2-Me2 and C-Pinky0. I was roaring along with my daughter at the inanely cute conversation.

Brain2-Me2: Please take us to the nearest spaceport.
Jawa-Mindy: Why?
Brain2-Me2: So we can get to the Megastar.
Jawa-Mindy: Why?
Brain2-Me2: So I can take over the galaxy.
Jawa-Mindy: Why?
Brain2-Me2: Because it would be better if it was run by me.
Jawa-Mindy: Why?
Brain2-Me2: Because I'm really smart.
Jawa-Mindy: Why?
Brain2-Me2: BECAUSE I AM! NOW STOP SAYING THAT!
Jawa-Mindy: Why?
Brain2-Me2: Pinky, get her to stop saying that!
C-Pinky0: Why?

Comedy gold! Caitlin was upstairs listening to the episode but wasn't able to hear the last part because Erini and I were laughing so hard. The episode took parts from all of the movies from the original Star Wars Trilogy, mostly notably due to the fact this episode was made before the prequel trilogy was released.

The animated series produced by Steven Speilberg - Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain - are amoung my favourite cartoons. They had a particular mix of sharp wit and absurd behaviour that made it ever so fun to watch, but as I mentioned my previous post about Pinky and the Brain, it was very educational. Animaniacs particularly poked political leaders and had numerous caricatured cameos of popular Hollywood stars. Much like the Looney Toons shorts of the 50's and 60's, these cartoons were a statement of the times, while providing hilarious comedy.

In the latter part of Star Warners, Wakko sees Slappy reading a newspaper, while he just saw her die a few moments ago. When he mentions this to her, she replies, "Eh. Dying is easy. Comedy is hard." Indeed comedy is hard, but when it's done right, it stands for generations, and Star Warners is evidence of that. A modern classic cartoon parodying one of the greatest movies of popular culture shows the strength and tenacity of the writing and the characters.

Now to show her the Star Wars series.

Date Night Screening #2: Percy Jackson and the Olympians – The Lightning Thief

There are only so many movies you can watch day in day out with your daughter before you realize that she needs to spend more time out doors. Or asleep. Plus, there are instances when I need to be alone with my wife, and having Toshi (the portable DVD player) makes it easy for cheap date nights. Caitlin, my wife, loves the Greek myths and legends almost as much as dragons, and since this movie features a Hydra, I figured this was a no-brainer. But life gets in the way, and we were not able to see this movie until recently when I picked it up at EPL.

As much room for success with the idea of having Greek Gods, demigods, and mythical creatures integrated with modern society, there was also much room for failure. There are a few plot holes, but the story keeps its focus on Percy Jackson, and holds to that story line. The movie could have very easily jumped off track and explored modern settings for the myths, but the other myths were treated as compliments to the story and didn't push it too hard.

Since my wife and I were very familiar with the myths, we caught onto some elements right away, and we were impressed how the myth elements were explained and used. When they confront the Hydra, Percy finds out about the regrowth factor after he had done the damage to induce the regeneration. When they were at Medusa's lair and they pick up some gold drachmas, there no huge exposition as to how many they should take, or why they should take them. Might seem a little odd, but we understood immediately.

It was also poignant to watch this with my wife since she was able to explain the character backgrounds, such as Chiron, the great scholar of the Greek myths and father of all centaurs. My wife and I were practically doing a special features commentary while watching the film.

I was particularly pleased with how they handled the Greek parts of the film. I didn't check to see if all the Greek text was accurate, but the spoken Greek, while brief, was correct. Made me think about training our dogs to respond to Greek commands. When we get dogs. Someday.

Wonderful date for my wife and I, and I could see my daughter enjoying it. Except for the scenes in hell. And the Hydra might scare her a bit, but she has seen centaurs before (Fantasia), so that wouldn't completely freak her out. She's also seen Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, so people turning to stone wouldn't give her a start. But that Fury... [shudder]

Maybe when she's four and a half.

Date Night Screening #1: The Thin Man

How my wife and I came across this movie series is shrouded with uncertainty. She thinks we saw it on TV, and I insist we first watched the DVD copy I found it at EPL. Knowing my wife, we probably did watch it on TV first, then I tracked it down at the library to share with her folks. Fast forward to present day, and we have the entire movie series on DVD, which I found at HMV on Christmas Eve.

With the intention of being a facetious customer, I was about to ask if they would honour their Boxing Day prices now, since they were already posted online, but instead I asked one of the boldest questions I have ever posed a retailer, "Can I put this on hold?" Here I am, ten minutes to close on Christmas Eve, and I'm asking to put The Thin Man Collection DVD Set on hold! I told them I would not be able to pick it up until Dec 27, and as far as they could see it was not going to be discounted for Boxing Week, so they put it aside for me. I could not believe my luck.

The premise is almost too simple. A retired dective turned lush and his equally gregarious wife solve a murder mystery as a lark. Everyone they talk to, the media, the police, the suspects, are treated with the utmost respect, and Nick is smart enough to charm every bit of useful information out of everyone, and still let everyone else think that they're helping with the investigation while he sits back and enjoys his life. Quite the atypical detective movie, yet extremely entertaining.

My wife's favourite part is when Nick and Nora are in the kitchen during their Christmas Party.

Nora: Is that my drink?
Nick: What were you drinking?
Nora: Rye.
Nick: [finishes the drink] [nods] Yep, that was yours. [hands Nora empty glass]

I am not the only one to admire this movie. It's listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and I whole heartedly agree. It's an amazingly comic whodunit, and for half the movie the main puzzle is if he's actually working on the case. After the second or third time watching it, my wife and I were trying to figure out just how much of the movie was scripted. The razor wit between Nick and Nora keeps the movie cursing along like a Bugatti Veyron, and even when all the suspects are together and Nick is about to point out the murderer, there are still jokes interjected that fit and don't detract from the scene.

To put credit where it's due, the director W.S. "Woody" Van Dyke visualixed William Powell and Myrna Loy working together well, and also shooting the movie in about half the estimated time. He continued this pattern of making successful movies with unknown or unemployed actors and finishing movies under schedule and under budget, which brought in a substantial amount of money to the studios. Sadly, he was diagnosed with heart disease and cancer, eventually committing suicide in February 1943.

A classic film, but not one I would watch with my daughter quite yet. Though I'm sure she would enjoy Asta, their brilliant terrier, and the Christmas morning scene, most of the humour and drama is too much for her to understand right now.

I'll wait until she's five.

Movie Project - Day 37: Balto

My in-laws raised Old English Sheepdogs and my sister-in-law still has one, thus my daughter has been around dogs for most of her life. True, Siberian Huskies are not the same, but they both fall under working class dogs. Based on the true story of the 1925 serum run to Nome, I was surprised this movie did not do better when it was in theatres. That surprise vanished once I found out it was released 22 December 1995, which was one month to the day after Toy Story hit the screens and changed the world of animation. Had the studio known what a powerhouse of a movie Toy Story would be, I'm sure they would have tried to push for an earlier release date.

I thought it was a good movie outlining the importance of standing for what you know to be right and determination to achieve the impossible. And even more facinating, was the live action scenes in which a grandmother and her granddaughter are walking through Central Park in New York City. They're searching for a memorial, and they pause so the grandma can catch her breath, then she explains to her granddaughter what they're looking for and why it was so important.

The main character, Balto, is half wolf and half sled dog and is outcast by both communities because of this mix. His friends are oddballs as well, a goose that does not migrate and two polar bears that don't swim, and rounding out the protagonists is Jenna, the dog of Rosy, who is later revealed to be the grandmother in the live action sequences.

While you can't change history, Hollywood tends to pick and choose the parts of the story they like in order to make their story work on screen. There was an outbreak of diphtheria in Nome, Alaska in 1925, and the only way they were able to get the antitoxin to the town was via dogsled, and it was pulled into town by a team lead by Balto. Everything else was added for the story's sake.

I understand that a movie only has so much time to tell a story, and in this case the story is more about Balto and the strong personal choices he makes in the face of adversity, therefore historical accuracy was not high on the list. Togo and his team were not mentioned at all, even though they carried the serum through the more dangerous part of the run from Nenana to the checkpoint where it was handed over to Balto's team.

Most all Siberian Huskies registered with the American Kennel Club can trace their pedigree back to the dogs that participated in the 1925 Nome serum run. In fact, because of the serum run, the Siberian Husky became a very popular dog, and was accepted into the AKC in 1930. Some people might think that the granddaughter's dog Blaze is a descendant of Balto. This might have a sliver of hope if that dog was animated, because the real Balto was born, raised, and trained with the goal of making him a sled dog, so he was neutered at a very young age. This fact was left out, as it would would have crippled the series, since the sequels are about the adventures of Balto's pups.

Erini loved the dogs, and since this wasn't her first time watching it, she was able to pick up on a few more things, such as the relationship between Jenna and Rosy. I'm not sure if she just remembers parts at the end of the movie, because she told me her favourite part was when the children were all hugging their parents because they were getting better.

She also likes the memorial statue they find at the close of the film, which I ignorantly thought was made just for the movie. Unless they had this movie planned back in December 1925 when the statue was unveiled, I was very wrong. Not the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

Movie Project - Day 36: Pinky and the Brain

While not this is not a movie, and watching the entire series in one sitting is near impossible since my daughter would never stay still for that long, I thought it would be interesting to see my daughters take on one of my favourite cartoons. We watched a couple episodes on Toshi (our portable DVD player) in order to take advantage of the sunshine today. I was so engrossed in the show that I failed to notice the vast amount of snow falling until after I had turned it off.

Erini thought the mice were cute, and I was pleased there was a lot of phyical humour to the show. The complexity of the dialogue was such that I found it a bit of a challenge to keep up. Of course, the fact there were no English subtitles made it that much more difficult for me to keep pace. There were French and Spanish subtitles, but no English. That disappointed me a little.

Another reason why my daughter sat through as much as she did might have something to do with the voice acting. While I'm sure she wouldn't know Orson Wells from Mel Gibson, Maurice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen have done a number of voices. It could be said they follow the wisdom of Ephriam Levi, "If you have to live from hand to mouth, you better be ambidextrous!" It would almost be easier to say which productions they haven't been in, as their combined voice work has spanned from Inspector Gadget (1985 series) to the Tinkerbell movie series. It's also interesting to note Rob Paulson voiced Yakko Warner, whom my daughter loves because of the Countries of the World song.



I'm sure she'll love Pinky and the Brain just as much once she sees the Brainstem song.



Until we move into our new place, she'll have to be satisfied with watching it on YouTube since that song is on Volume 1, which is currently in storage. We do have Volumes 2 and 3, and that's just fine, because The Really Great Dictator and Just Say Narf are on Volume 3, not to mention Star Warners, in which Pinky and the Brain are featured as 3-PinkyO and Brain2-Me2.

She has quite the affection for R2-D2, since she's physically met him!

Movie Project - Day 35: How to Train Your Dragon

Very odd that even thought I abandoned the idea of doing a war movies week, movies involving battles, explosions, and vast military forces keep ending up in the player! Today's movie was not my choice, but rather my mother-in-law's. This is entire due to her listening to the Academy Award Nominated soundtrack which I borrowed from EPL last week. After listening to the music earlier today, she really wanted to see the movie, and so she put on the Blu-ray copy, which we own.

This was the first Blu-ray movie we've watched in some time, and it was the first one my in-laws have seen since I tweaked the settings. I'm the family technician when it comes to television and home theater setups, and I knew for a fact that I had set up an HD connection from the Blu-ray player to the TV. I never thought much of it until my sister-in-law commented, almost in passing, "Mom and dad need a new TV, because this one isn't HD." I tried to debate my position, and validate the work that I did with the setup, but the fact remained, the picture didn't look that great. Determined to fix this, I fiddled around with the settings on the Blu-ray player, and discovered that it's possible to manually set the resolution output. It had been set to Auto, which would have been fine had an 'smart' connection been used, ie. HDMI. As it was, the connection I set up was a component connection, which is not as complex as HDMI, but is capable of a 1080i output. A push of the button, and Voila! HD quality picture.

Needless to say, Erini didn't really notice. If she did, she didn't tell me. Mind, this wasn't the first movie that she'd seen since I did the tweaking, so maybe she was used to it. Also, this wasn't the first time she'd seen How to Train Your Dragon. This movie is huge favorite in my family, if for the dragons alone. Every time Caitlin watches this movie, she sighs, "I want a dragon." Most girls want ponies, bunnies, or even pot belly pigs! Not my wife. Dragons. If it was possible to breed dragons, she'd do it.

I'm not sure what exactly is Erini's favourite part of the movie. She likes so many. When Hiccup and Toothless first meet and Toothless reguritates the fish, offering it to Hiccup as a token of friendship, she giggles at the grimace on his face. In that same scene, when Hiccup is playing Toothless' game of 'Stay Off the Lines,' she thinks it's hilarious how Toothless changes from happy to angry when Hiccup puts his foot on the line. Then of course there's the BIG dragon, aka The Green Death, and the big fight that ensues.

Worthy of note, in each of those parts, there's not a lot, if any, dialogue spoken. Most of the storytelling is done with the animation and music. When I first played the soundtrack, I put on track 11, "Test Drive."



She knew right away what the music was from and said, "This is Toothless!"

Maybe it's the use of the bagpipes, or just the general atmosphere of the music that makes you feel like you're flying along with Toothless and Hiccup, but it's unique, it's beautiful, and I really hope it wins the Oscar for Original Score. Even if it's going up against Inception. Hans Zimmer vs. John Powell. Eek. I'll just have to watch on February 27 to see who wins.

As far as Oscar potential, would I say this movie better than Toy Story 3? No, but it has been noted by my mother-in-law that Erini sleeps very poorly when she watches TS3. When she watches HTTYD, she sleeps just fine. Having my daughter sleep through the night is a blessing for everyone, so until I find the time to sit down with Erini and watch TS3, and make sure she goes to bed without any issues, and stays in bed, we might be watching this high flying adventure a few more times.

My Oscar pick for Best Animated Feature is still Toy Story 3, since the Academy has yet to base their choices on my daughter's sleeping pattern.

Movie Project - Day 34: The Iron Giant

While I had this on my list of war movies, I had decided to do away with any kind of theme for the moment. Little did I know, I forgot to put this DVD away, and Erini found it. Maybe she remembered watching it previously, or maybe it was the giant robot on the front, but she insisted on watching it. How could I refuse?

I first saw this movie back in 2003 when The Incredibles was being hyped all over the internet. Brad Bird was a newcomer to Pixar, but not to animation as I discovered in my research, and it was this movie, The Iron Giant, that got the attention of John Lasseter. After reading this little factoid, I looked up the movie in my in-laws 2001 Movie Hound, and saw the movie had a rating of three and a half bones. The next day I went and bought a copy. I cursed my impatience when I saw the Special Edition a few short months later.

Not that it mattered, because this movie is sheer excellence, and my daughter doesn't care much for special features. At least not right now. Erini was more interested in the giant robot and all the damage he made. I had to make a couple corrections on her comments, such as at the end when the Giant flies off to stop the missile. She said, "He's going back to where he came from." In a way she was right, since he was sacrificing himself to save the town, but I emphasized the heroic action he was doing, not the fact that he was leaving.

Erini is really starting to pick up character emotions and relationships, but she's still a little girl. After the movie I asked her what her favourite part was. Her reply, "When they're watching the movie at school." Why? "Because it was cool when they were flying around with the planes." She mixed up the beginning and the end of the movie. Oops.

Still, I talked with her about those parts and stressed how the Giant chose to do all that he did. While he was flying through the air avoiding the jets and missiles, he threw his hand in front of his eyes to shut down his defensive protocols. When he thought Hogarth was dead, he gave into his anger and let his counter-measures go full scale. After he saw his friend was alright, he regained control and shut down his weapons.

I'm quite sure my daughter isn't going to go on a rampage and overturn military forces with a casual glance, but she's still young and hasn't hit puberty yet. Uh oh. I have a wife and two daughters. About twelve years from now, I'm going to have a house of horrors once a month! Maybe. I'll have to stock up on chocolate now.