This time of year, Christmas just seems to take over. Christmas decorations go up in every store. Christmas music blares 24/7 from the radio stations. Television stations trot out the Christmas specials and movies.
Since we celebrate Chanukah, and not Christmas, this XMas overdrive can get tiring quickly. We tend to avoid the stores (admittedly, partly because of the crowds), turn off the radios, and change the channel from the Christmas specials. Once in awhile, we’ll find a Chanukah special, but they are few and far between.
However, in all of this Christmas hoopla, there is actually a Christmas movie that I love: The Nightmare Before Christmas. I just love the tale of Jack Skellington kidnaping Santa Claus (or “Sandy Claws” as Jack calls him) so he can make Christmas in his own image.
Recently, I introduced the boys to this movie. I was apprehensive at first, worrying that they would be scared of Halloween Town’s spooky residents. Instead, my boys were instantly hooked. Since then, we’ve all been singing “The Oogy Boogy Song” as well as the other tunes sung during the movie. I think I’m going to have to buy the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack so we can rock out to it more.
My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do you have a favorite non-conventional holiday movie/special?
P.S. If you haven’t already, go visit FollowerHQ and let me know what you think of my Twitter application.
P.P.S. For a bit of fun, try my other Twitter Application, Rout. It’s a +F in Fun!
Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
Posted by TechyDad on December 15, 2011 under NHL, Play, Review
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Ever since NHL, JSL and B saw a magician during the summer, NHL has been intrigued by magic. He wanted to try doing magic himself right away. Of course, he didn’t quite understand how to do magic. He decided he really wanted a magic kit. A cheap ($1) magic kit from Michaels didn’t seem to quench NHL’s thirst. He wanted more.
Luckily, when Uncle I, Aunt M, Cousin S, and Cousin B came to visit, we exchanged Chanukah presents early. Guess what NHL got.
Yes, that is a Melissa and Doug magic set. NHL begged to open it up. At first, I was reluctant. After all, Cousin B is only one and a half and there were some small pieces. I soon relented, though. Even I was intrigued by what was in the package.
I opened the packaging up and took out a few of the tricks. NHL excitedly looked at each and every piece, wondering what they did. We were having difficulty figuring it all out until I got to the very last (and arguably most important) piece: the instruction manual.
As you can see, it was sealed shut to prevent any non-magicians from learning the valuable secrets contained within. I got to work looking over the magic tricks. Finally, I found an easy one. The disappearing scarves trick.
How did I do it? Well, a magician never reveals his secrets.
NHL also quickly mastered the disappearing/reappearing ball trick and the magic number prediction trick.
All in all, there are about 10 tricks for him to practice. The entire set comes in a magic box that is used in one of the tricks and doubles as a storage case.
The pieces feel very sturdy and are of very high quality (as Melissa and Doug products have a reputation for being). About my only gripe would be the lack of some kind of latch on the magic box to prevent it from opening once closed. Without a closing mechanism, the filled, closed box easily opens, spilling its contents all over.
Still, this is a minor complaint in an otherwise wonderful magic set. I’m sure that NHL will have plenty of fun playing with it and learning the tricks (and, let’s face it, so will I).
Disclaimer: NHL got this toy as a gift from relatives. We weren’t compensated for this review in any way. I just wanted to share what I thought about it.
First, a little history. This isn’t a new carousel. It’s quite old. It was first made between 1912 and 1916, but some of the horses date to the 1890′s.
The operator told us that it is given 15 minute rest times between runs to prevent breakdowns. In fact, we were told, it’s so old that if it ever breaks down, they won’t be able to fix it! Still, 15 minutes is an easy wait as the upside to this being an older carousel is that it goes faster than more recent ones.
During our first run, JSL and Cousin S took seats in a spinner. NHL and Cousin B grabbed side-by-side horses.
Talk about old, this is what played the music to go along with the ride.
After this first run, we looked at a few exhibits that were on this floor. Then, the kids enjoyed some rock candy.
I even got a nice photo of a church that is right next to the museum. Love the architecture.
Before we knew it, our 15 minute wait was over and it was time for ride number 2. Cousin B took a horse again. JSL and Cousin S took side-by-side horses. NHL decided to ride by himself on a spinner. (This was on the other side of the carousel so I couldn’t get good photos of him from where I was supervising JSL and Cousin S.)
When the ride was over, the kids went back to their rock candy until it was time for one final ride. This time, NHL and JSL mounted matching donkeys, Meanwhile, Papa went on the spinner with Cousins S & B.
During the ride, I noticed the beautiful marble eyes that the animals had.
Finally, the ride was over and it was time to leave. Mind you, this was over protests of "one more ride." Still, it was getting late and we needed to leave. It was a fun time and the boys are already itching to go back.
They first ran into a dinosaur. They all marveled the dino standing in front of them. I was barely able to get them to hold still long enough to pose for a photo.
A little further down, they loved seeing, first, a whale’s skull and then a whole whale skeleton.
Even the complete whale skeleton couldn’t measure up to the exhibit were were looking for: Sesame Street. We wound our way through the museum, relying mostly on my fuzzy memory of where it was. Then we spotted something that I didn’t remember: An old A-Train car.
This car was presented in such a way as to let people walk in it and sit in its seats. The kids were instantly in love. They ran all around it abuzz with excitement.
As we exited the train, I spotted the familiar face of a certain large, yellow bird. We had found the way to Sesame Street.
I’ll admit that the exhibit was smaller than I remember. (I think I half-remembered a larger exhibit from another museum.) Still, the kids loved seeing even the small portion of Sesame Street. A bench was positioned so kids could watch snippets of the show on a small television.
Before long, they got restless, though, and it was back to the train car.
Our next big location to visit was the carousel. However, the boys and I stumbled upon a hidden gem. A collection of old fire trucks. What kid doesn’t like fire trucks?
These were right near the second of the museum’s two 9-11 exhibits. This one included (among other things) a heavily damaged fire truck and a girder from the Twin Towers. I must admit that I had to touch it and bow my head a bit when I encountered the latter of the two. Thankfully, the kids were so distracted by the fire trucks they had just seen and the promise of the carousel to come, that they didn’t seem to notice what we were walking by.
Once this was done, we headed for the elevators and went up to ride the carousel.
On Saturday, with Aunt M, Uncle I, Cousin S, and Cousin B in town, we tried to figure out something fun to do with the kids. We decided upon the New York State Museum. Not only is it a nice, bit indoor space with some nice exhibits, but there was a craft activity for the kids to do and a carousel. Just to sweeten the deal, all of this is free.
As we pulled up, we found a spot right near the museum. The kids excitedly got out of the cars and headed in. NHL pointed out one of the only skyscrapers that Albany has. (I grew up near New York City, so I’m used to seeing a lot more skyscrapers.) He also spotted that odd-shaped building in Albany known as "The Egg" (used for concerts and shows).
Heading in, we asked where the kids craft activity was and headed right for it. On the way, we passed by one of the two 9-11 exhibits.
The kids weren’t too interested in these, of course, but they got very interested once we found the animal exhibits.
There were also the minerals/rocks which the kids surprisingly liked. Mainly, I think, because of the colors and sparkliness.
Then, we got to one of their favorite sections: Kids Cove. In this area, were many animal skins, skulls, leaves and other items for kids to examine close up. Whereas most of the museum is hands-off, this section encouraged kids to pick up and take a closer look at the items. (Don’t mind the jackets. The kids were so excited by all that they saw that they didn’t want to stop to remove them yet.)
Leaving here, we located a Woolly Mammoth. This was one of our original directions to find the craft table.
The Woolly Mammoth led us to a Native American village, complete with a house we could walk into.
And Native American wedding clothing.
Finally, we found another mammoth. This one, however, was more skeletal than his friends.
Right by him was the craft table. We had located our first major stop: Kid Crafts. The kids settled in and drew, cut, and pasted shut envelopes. Into these envelopes went some wild flower seeds. Then, they glued the envelope shut and were done.
The person running the event was great. She was able to recover from bad cuts and bad gluing.
After the crafts were done, I got Cousin S and JSL to pose by a nearby dinosaur fossil.
Today is the birthday of the most beautiful woman I know. She’s a fantastic wife to me and loving mother to our two boys. B, I love you with all of my heart. Happy Birthday!
My Aloha Friday question for today is not so much a question, but a request: Please join me in wishing B a happy birthday.
P.S. If you haven’t already, go visit FollowerHQ and let me know what you think of my Twitter application.
P.P.S. For a bit of fun, try my other Twitter Application, Rout. It’s a +F in Fun!
Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
On Saturday, we headed out to the movie theaters. Our waiting was over. It was time to play the music. It was time to light the lights. It was time to meet the Muppets on The Muppet Show… I mean, the Muppet movie.
The movie opens with a montage of scenes of Gary and Walter growing up. As Gary gets taller, Walter remains the same height year after year. Of course, Walter also looks a little bit different as he’s a bit fuzzier than a normal human. One might say even a bit felt-like. Walter’s woes over being different subside the minute he sees the Muppet Show on the television. From that moment on, he’s hooked. He’s the Muppet’s number one fan.
Fast forward to the present and Gary and his girlfriend of ten years, Mary, decide to take a 10th anniversary trip to Los Angeles, California. Gary surprises Walter by telling him that he’s coming too to see the Muppet Studios. A musical number later and they’re on their way.
Oh, yes. There are musical numbers. Characters and extras will just burst out into spontaneous song and dance numbers. My boys and I had heard much of the soundtrack earlier, so we knew what to expect once the music began. Or at least we thought we did. The music took on a whole new light once we saw it in context.
For a quick glimpse into the music of the movie, here’s a Muppets social media comments-enhanced preview:
Back to the movie, though. Gary, Mary, and Walter find Muppet Studios all but abandoned. Apparently, the Muppets went their separate ways a long time ago and people have forgotten about them. Walter stumbles across a plot to tear down the buildings and drill for oil. It’s up to Gary, Mary, and Walter to find Kermit, gather the Muppets back together for one last show to rescue the theater. Along the way, they have to decide what is really important in their lives.
My boys loved it. They were singing parts of the soundtrack for the rest of the day (and requesting that I play them the MP3s after that). I’m still laughing over cameo appearances and over jokes. It was all that a Muppet movie should be. There was fourth wall breaking (After Kermit declines to help save the studio, Mary comments “This is going to be a short movie.”), call backs to their previous movies (as they are gathering Muppets together, they drive past a used car lot out of which Sweetums runs yelling “Hey you guys! I want to come too! Not again!!!”), and new jokes.
I would definitely recommend for everyone to see this movie.
Now, I have one more thing to say about the movie, but it’s a major spoiler. It gives away the entire ending. So, if you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading here. Go on out and see the movie and then come back and read the rest. Go on. I can wait.
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Have you see the movie yet?
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You have? Ok, then.
Anyway, some people were disappointed that the Muppets didn’t win back their studio in the end. They came up way short of their goal and lost the studio to the evil Tex Richman. People said that they should have won. I’ll admit, I was looking for some sort of impossible win as well. I even thought that perhaps Statler and Waldorf would donate the money. (Anonymously, of course. They wouldn’t want the Frog and company to know that they actually enjoyed making fun of the show.)
But they didn’t. They lost. The important thing, though, is that they realized what was important to them. It wasn’t the studio, it was each other. Even without the studio, they would keep performing and stick by each other. No matter what happened, they wouldn’t break up again.
And then Gonzo accidentally bonked Tex Richman on the head just before the end credits and they got their studio back anyway. Leave it to Gonzo to employ a Dues Ex Bowling Ball.
Posted by TechyDad on December 6, 2011 under Memories, Music, NHL
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This year, NHL was able to join his school’s band and choose an instrument. He decided to select the drums. Last night, he had his first concert. The days preceding it were filled with him getting more and more anxious about the big day.
I tried to calm him down with a tale about one of my concerts when I was growing up. I quickly realized why this wasn’t a good story and shortened it. I told NHL that I was very nervous and my orchestra teacher gave me the option of not going onstage. I decided to go through with it and had a great concert. All this is true, but (for NHL’s sake), I left out the part where my nerves overwhelmed my stomach and I hurled in the hallway. I don’t think that detail would have helped him any.
Even NHL’s fortune cookies seemed to be telling him to push through.
In any event, the big day came and NHL went off to his band. Up first was the orchestra. While they played, memories began flooding back. As I mentioned above, I was in the orchestra. I played violin for many years. I was actually kind of coerced into playing. My orchestra teacher at the time seemed overly anxious to get me to join. He asked me how I would respond if, in a future job interview, I was asked what instrument I played. Naive kid that I was, I didn’t want to risk my future employment by not being able to play a violin. (You’d be surprised how rarely that question came up in my job interviews, though. It’s almost as if employers don’t care whether their web master can play a violin!)
In any event, the orchestra at NHL’s school began to play a tune pizzicato. This means that they didn’t use bows, but instead plucked the strings during the songs. Suddenly, my fingers began tingling. I could almost feel those thin, metal strings digging into my index finger with each note played.
Then, watching the kids’ fingers move, I remembered the anxiety I felt over my finger placement. There are about 8 different places your fingers could rest on the strings (including one position with no fingers on the strings). Each finger-string placement results in a different note. There are also 4 strings. Which string to play and which finger placement to use is represented by one note. Just one. When you look at the sheet music you need to see the note, remember that this means to play this particular string with these fingers in place, get them in place, play the note, and then move on to the next note. I was never very good at this. I just could not do all this fast enough.
NHL, luckily, chose the drums. Although this entails playing the bells (aka the xylophone), for which he does need to hit certain keys at certain points, the drums mainly require him to keep a steady beat.
When his time came, NHL went up with 2 of his drumming classmates and played Mary Had A Little Lamb. He did a fantastic job and we were all very proud. NHL realized that his nervousness before the concert faded away and he had a blast.
When you were in school, did you play an instrument? If so, were you nervous before performances?
