the bouncey zone

Stress reduction tip:

Never do a raw Google search on the name of an entertainer (singer, actor, writer, or artist) whose work you admire. If you do, you will turn up some kind of commentary by that person. You will quickly learn that your hero is either a raving lunatic or badly misinformed about how the world actually works. Or both.

Usually the insanity involves politics and/or religion.

Generally it’s better to avoid even asking for a famous person’s opinion. Does it matter what a few random strangers think? Is someone whose only claim to fame is a great singing voice automatically an expert at economics? Does a gifted actor really know anything about foreign policy? Does a clever writer’s store of researched knowledge automatically guarantee wisdom?

Maybe. Or maybe not. Everyone has many talents, and everyone is imperfect. My point is that sometimes it’s not worth the extra emotional drama either way.

So, if you’re a singer, stop talking and start singing – preferably about something pleasant. Actors, stay out of politics unless you’re actually running for office. Just look at the camera and follow the script. Writers: Shut up and go write a good story that will still be relevant in 50 years.

If you must try to change the world, please remember that old adage about flies, honey, and vinegar. People who disagree with you are not always your mortal enemies. A little charity and professionalism go a long way.

I’m sick of the venom that’s been so fashionable lately…

Happy new year!

Last night we left Scott with his grandparents and went to see King Kong with Dana’s brother. I liked it. Unfortunately, so did an annoying family who sat a few seats down.

They talked constantly, treating the theater as their own private living room. The worst offender was a grown woman, well-dressed, apparently the mom of the family. She was VERY LOUD!

After about 45 minutes of unwanted commentary, Dana finally asked them politely if they could please be a little quieter. The main talker was baffled. Surely Dana couldn’t have been talking about her.

When the message finally sank in, the talker was ticked. She’s a grown woman, and we don’t have any right to talk to her that way! She can talk anywhere she wants! Then she moved over two seats and groused about how rude we were for several more minutes.

Then she talked for the rest of the movie. Confronting her again an hour later didn’t help. Other people in the area were drifting away for other seats. There were no other blocks of 3 seats available for us, so we were stuck there.

It made sense from her perspective. The movie speakers were technically louder than her voice, so what was the problem? It simply never occurred to her that what she was doing was socially unacceptable.

Some people shouldn’t be allowed in the theaters.

As for the movie itself: It would have been a good show even if no other King Kong movies had been made. It’s even better, though, because it’s very faithful to the black & white 1930s version. In fact, before you go see Kong in the theaters, you really should watch the original first. [1933 version on IMDb] [Buy it from Amazon]

Pay attention to the details. The natives’ costumes and dance, the advertisements in lights, the battle with the dinosaur, Fay Wray’s dresses… Then go watch the new version. It’s great fun.

My only complaint about the new King Kong movie is that it’s too long. There are many overwhelming action scenes set on Skull Island that could have been left out. Some of the quiet ocean time could have been trimmed a bit with no overall change to the story.

But even at 3 hours, it’s worth seeing.

The flight back to OKC boards in two hours!

Scott and I watched the Baby Einstein Language Nursery DVD together this morning. In general, it’s a sequence of poems and songs in several languages, recited or sung while colorful things happen on screen. The goal is to expose little ones to foreign sounds, thereby improving their future educational potential.

The concept is good, but the implementation could be better. The recitations and the actions have almost nothing in common. They just wave random toys around. Sometimes there are moments when the toy makes sense. Mostly these moments are when a jack-in-the-box pops up and says the equivalent of “hello”.

Sometimes it’s worse than random. The counting is almost unbearable. Voices will count up to 20 while a hand slowly takes away five items, or a clock’s hands spin out of control, or a rattle shakes with no apparent rhythm. In another scene, a voice recites the Hebrew alef-bet while blocks with unrelated Roman letters are stacked up and toppled over. I wanted to scream.

Scott loved it when I counted along with the Japanese voice. Ichi, ni, san… What a smile! Daddy is so funny!

The special features include some video flash cards in the various languages. It shows a picture, then shows how it’s written, and finally has a voice say it. I found it interesting that the Japanese parts are written entirely in the hiragana script — not kanji characters. Of course, Scott was trying to eat the remote control instead of watching the flash cards.

Honestly, I was bored silly through most of the DVD. Scott was interested at first, but soon he was acting bored too. Maybe we’re just spoiled by Signing Time. I must admit that this DVD is far less annoying than any purple dinosaurs or technicolor lemurs. The technical quality of the filming and audio recording is excellent. Maybe this one would be good for a little variety.

I don’t recall seeing any other Baby Einstein videos yet. I’ll have to watch more of them sometime.

We saw Serenity on Saturday. I liked it. Without spoiling much for those who haven’t seen it yet, my main complaint was that it wasn’t long enough. It needed to be a TV mini-series. Given the 2 hour time limit, I thought they did a pretty good job.

I also had some technical and philosophical gripes with centralized camera monitoring and wave spamming on an extended solar system scale. But never mind, it’s just a movie. Go watch it for yourself.

You don’t have to have seen all of the Firefly episodes for the movie to make sense, but it really helps.

This week we’re watching the entire Firefly series – this time in the right order and including the never-aired episodes. The movie Serenity, which continues from the TV series, is due for the theaters in a few days. I want to be ready for it.

At Dragoncon and FenCon I saw many people wearing “Joss Whedon is my master now” t-shirts. Jayne’s hat was a common sight as well. Apparently excited fans have been hand-knitting them. A few even go around in fancy suits and blue gloves.

This is going to be fun.