Patton Oswalt gives details about Star Wars Episode VII.
He lost me at Moon Knight. But got me back at Colossus.
Author: King Tom
Happy Birthday Hope
Last year, in a post for Hope’s second birthday, I mentioned she had a “halo of hair that would make Art Garfunkel jealous.”
Well, Hope is now three. Her hair is even crazier and she’s become an amazing little person. Last year, she could say a sentence or two and follow along in conversations. Now, she’s telling whole stories and picking up on every little thing The Civee or I say. And she’s a great big sister.
Here she is over the past 12 months. The Civee mentioned that I messed up, going side-to-side with the pictures instead of up and down. To which I reply, my blog, my rules.
Happy birthday, Hope!
Tell Me a Story
Hope is really into stories right now. I don’t mean storybooks (although she loves being read to) or fairy tales. Hope loves when The Civee or I tell her stories about things that happened to us.
Every time we drive past Riverside Hospital, she wants to hear about the time I broke my ankle (and thanks for bringing it up Hope, no it is not embarrassing all these years later). She loves the story of when The Civee sat on a pile of fire ants (I kind of like that one too). And she can almost go line-by-line about the time King Classic got hit by a home run at Yankee Stadium.
It’s great that she’s so interested in our lives. But there are times when she wants to hear the same story over and over. And I’m not only talking about night after night. I mean she wants to hear the same story again right after we’ve told it. And it’s not a stalling tactic to delay bed. She’ll ask to hear stories at dinner time, or on the way to the store.
But The Civee pointed out to me a while ago that this isn’t a bad thing. There was an article in the New York Times explaining that telling kids stories about people in their family gives them perspective about their family.
Decades of research have shown that most happy families communicate effectively. But talking doesn’t mean simply “talking through problems,” as important as that is. Talking also means telling a positive story about yourselves. When faced with a challenge, happy families, like happy people, just add a new chapter to their life story that shows them overcoming the hardship. This skill is particularly important for children, whose identity tends to get locked in during adolescence.
So telling and re-telling these (and other) stories is a good thing. And with some luck, generations of Chansky children will be able to tell the tale of when King Classic got hit by a home run at Yankee Stadium.
Luke Knows Who I Am
When a baby starts making noises every now and then a noise will sound like a word. Aww-duh sounds like all done. Baa will sound like ball. And a burp can easily be confused for the word burlap.
But over the past few days, Luke has consistently made a Dada sound. While looking at me and smiling. While waving as I walk in the room. While clapping.
I think it’s safe to say that I am his favorite word.
The Civee has done a lot of great work with Luke, taking care of him at all hours of the day while he’s been sick. But I haven’t heard many M sounds.
I guess I’ll have to work with Luke on some of those M sounds.
The Force is With JJ
I’ve been a fan of a number of JJ Abrams’ projects for a while.
Alias was an incredible TV show. Lost was one of my favorite shows ever. And I thought the Star Trek movie he directed was great.
But still, I had my issues with him. He left Alias in the middle of its third season and Lost right after shooting the pilot episode (this was a bigger problem for Alias than it was for Lost). And while the Star Trek movie was very entertaining, story-wise, it was a lot like the original Star Wars.
So a few months ago, when it was announced that Abrams would direct Star Wars Episode VII, I thought he was a decent pick. He’s a Star Wars fan and loves the material, but I’ve had some misgivings about his involvement in his other projects.
But after reading part of an interview JJ did with Empire Magazine, I think that he’s the absolute best pick. In describing how he, who was not a Star Trek fan, made two movies for some of the world’s most discerning fans, JJ said he’s taking a similar approach to Star Wars: “I feel like I can identify a hunger for what I would want to see again and that is an incredibly exciting place to begin a project.”
As a fan, he’s absolutely right.
Swing, Swing
Last weekend, the weather was amazing. Very spring-like. This weekend, the weather is not any of those things.
Here are Hope and Luke from last Sunday, Luke’s first time in swing. I think he had fun.
Happy President’s Day!
The Most Dangerous Children’s Book Ever
Earlier tonight, Hope asked me to read her a book, a request I always grant. She had the book in the picture to the right, saying “Daddy, that’s Darth Vader.” I wanted to continue the conversation so I pointed to the other figure on the cover, asking her if she knew who it was.
When she answered in the negative, I said “that’s Darth Vader’s little b….”
And then I realized there is no way I can read “Darth Vader and Son” to my children. I would be a horrible father and person if I let my children even look at this book before watching any of the Star Wars saga.
So I finished my sentence.
“…buddy. Hey, let’s read something else.”
I immediately hid the book, vowing to myself to get it out of the house as soon as possible.
I’m glad that Hope and Luke have some exposure to Star Wars (something I think The Civee probably disagrees with me on). And I’m looking forward to watching the movies with them when they can understand and sit through something longer than an episode of Sesame Street. A few years ago I read an article online (which I can’t find) where the author suggested watching in a different order (4, 1, 2, 5, 3, 6 (even possibly cutting out Episode I)). So this is something I have put some thought into.
Star Wars and its characters are ubiquitous. I’m glad my children will have it around (again, The Civee may disagree here). There are a lot of great Star Wars-related toys and educational materials. And the book does have its moments. But what was the Lucasfilm licensing department thinking with this book?
I’d rather Luke and Hope play with Jar Jar and Ewok rock ’em sock ’em robots than be spoiled in this way.
So this book will disappear for a long, long time. And hopefully, by the time Hope and Luke get around to watching Star Wars, there will be some surprises left.
When Imaginary Friends Turn Into Imaginary Enemies
Over the past year, Hope has had a number of imaginary friends. But her imaginary friends are all real people. Not members of our immediate family, but friends or people from school who happen to tag along with us everywhere we go.
Hope has been fixating on one of her friends lately, a teacher from school she sees once a week. She will constantly tell us what the teacher is doing. The other day, however Hope shared something new. She came to dinner and said “I don’t like [imaginary friend] anymore. She hurt my feelings.”
At that point, I didn’t know what to think. Had the teacher done something to hurt Hope’s feelings? Was Hope just making this up? Am I ready to start dealing with my daughter’s hurt feelings?
If I had to guess, I would say the teacher did something as a teacher that Hope took the wrong way. To a point, to her, her feelings were hurt. We’ve been talking about feelings with her for a while. But I didn’t know she was aware feelings could be hurt.
I asked Hope about why her feelings were hurt, or what her friend did, but she wouldn’t elaborate. Still, I was ready to console and help her. I’m sure in the future, her feelings will be hurt for concrete reasons by real people. And it won’t get easier to hear or to deal with but it will be okay.
It’s a few days later and things are back to normal for Hope and her imaginary friend, which I guess is good. Hope hasn’t talked about her feelings being hurt. But then again, her imaginary friend is back to doing everything with us.
Weezer: The Angel and the One (Live)
Finally.