PLAY

Listening to the boys play often is very revealing of aspects of their personalities. After seeing the new Star Trek movie, terminologies and scenes have been incorporated into their fantasy space world, for so long dominated by Star Wars, although tempered somewhat by several seasons of Voyager that they watched with me. And of course there are a lot of funny comments, as they manuever their Lego-built starships into situations. I rememeber hearing, "Captain. Shield down to 60 %; shields down to 80%---shields down to 1080%!" What??? There was no explanation as to why they were increasing in power as they went down.

Joey likes to be in control, wants to be destroying, delights in action. "Bring out the ion cannons.!" I remember him responding to his brother saying "I'm going down," with "No. You can't." What? He often does not like it when Chimo tries to change the storyline. Chimo, for some reason, tends to like the backstory and also wants to rescue people (as in one scene where Joey was willing to leave the crew of a spacestation that was under attack, and Chimo kept saying, "But we can't leave them.") Joey was worried about attacking forces, while Chimo was saying "We don't have medical transporters!" Note, not transporters, medical transporters. Joey likes to take over ships Chimo has built and put men aboard and fly off for adventure; Chimo will spend a lot of time in the contruction of a space station (elaborately done, with ducting and all). Both boys have good imaginations though, which is nice.

Joey

Here are a couple of shots of my eldest.

READING

Joey and I finished the second volume of Neil Gaiman's books that we have attempted together, The Graveyard Book. The story is about a small toddler whose family is killed, yet he escapes the executioner and wanders off to a local graveyard. There the local denizens, mostly ghosts, take up the child's cause and decide to raise him withing the safe confines of the cemetery. The book won for Gaiman a Newberry Medal, and it certainly is deserving in many ways. Although the book appears to be aimed at a slightly older audience, Joey enjoyed it (not as much as he did InterWorld, however), and he followed along attentively to the story. Unfortunately, I did not like all of the writing, as I felt it was awkward and clunky at times, which seemed to come out more vocally than had I just been reading it quietly. Perhaps he didn't have a strong editor to reign him in. The many English colloguialisms were a challenge at times, but we managed to get through them without too much strain. I also have to admit that I got a little teary eyed at the end, but I no doubt that we will be seeing Nobody (Bod) Owens and Silas again.



In addition, Chimo and I have been reading. We finished the Illustrated Classics of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, and have started Peter Pan. He has advanced his reading level to where he is nearly equivalent with the kids in his classes. The teachers are very happy with him. Here is apic of him I caught on the sly while we were waiting for a lunch place to open up.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

Well, if I haven't almost overdosed in glorified geekiness this week. First, we attended the Star Trek movie (oh, do I so much want to see that on IMAX) on Saturday, and then I finished watching season 4.0 of Battlestar Galactica. I was a bit down, and not a little irritated, that they ended the series with the almost predictable arrival of the fleet at a devastated Earth. And I was further depressed because the series was something I watched and enjoyed with Angela. Then I checked to see if there was any additional information I could gleen from IMDB about the series, when I discovered (much to my glee and delight), that there is another season! Yippee. Will have to wait until it arrives at RCPL, but I was much improved in mood. Especially since I will now get more time with Grace Park (I like her mannerisms) and the beautiful Rehka Sharma. I know that most of the guys are probably smitten with the Cylon blondes (Helfer & Lawless), but I like Boomer and Tory (she will be even more evil, I suspect). The cast is really awesome and the storylines most often have been pretty enjoyable. I was a bit shocked when I heard Bamber talking in his regular voice on one of the features. The character I like the best is the Chief, however. I hope he gets some special path to redemption. I also like Agathon. Kind of sucked that Cally was killed.

Joey dancing

Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't. This is Joey dancing backstage two years ago at the Wizard of Oz. He is eight in this video. He is dressed up as one of the munchkins. The video was taken by my wife at the Koger Center for the Arts. Can't figure out how to make it straight up, instead of on its side; if you know how to do so, please let me know.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=13420289

There is a link to a video made by one of the mothers, which shows Joey in the background, in his little tiny dance role, in this years performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DMSF7c6VkU

TELL NO ONE

Tonight I watched a French film (with subtitles, of course), titled TELL NO ONE. It was a pretty good mystery/thriller. The main character, a pediatrician played by Francois Cluzet (who is a near dead ringer for Dustin Hoffman), receives an email from his wife, who was supposedly murdered and cremated eight years ago, and the police (after finding two male bodies with her safe deposit key) are convinced that the doctor is guilty and reopen the case on him. Kristin Scott Thomas plays his lawyer (she is beautiful); I liked that she played a lesbian, and that they portrayed her as normal, and didn't use it as some way to make the film more salacious. There are some good chase scenes and twists. There is a ruthless, well-funded gang of enforcers, especially a sinister woman with a claw grip, that muddies the waters as well. I recommend it.

STAR TREK

Took the boys to see the new Star Trek movie tonight. I must admit that I was more excited than they were. But from the opening scenes to the closing they were riveted in their seats and totally absorbed. Joey turned to me at the end and said, "Dad, that was awesome." I thought the movie team did a wonderful job, and I thought it stayed true to the original. OK, I am a geek, but I loved it. Live Long and Prosper.