Sofia's Duet Recital

This morning, Sofia performed a piano duet at her school. Luckily, due to a weird testing schedule at my school, I was free to attend with the family. Sofia did great, but don't take my word for it. Check it out:

Be Kind Rewind

I went to see Be Kind Rewind last night with my movie buddy, Peter. Ever since I saw the trailer, I've been eagerly anticipating this movie. I like Michel Gondry's offbeat style, I like Jack Black and Mos Def, and the story sounded especially appealing since 1) I once worked in a movie theater, where, like the guys in the film that work in a video store, you get to know movies way too well for your own good, and 2) my friends and I used to make our own little no-budget movies for years, sometimes with the participation of our friends and family who enjoyed seeing themselves on the screen when we would debut our films. In short, I could identify with the premise of Be Kind Rewind pretty strongly.

And I thoroughly enjoyed it. I laughed more than I usually laugh at movies. And the movie had a sweet heart to it, which I wasn't really expecting. It was almost Capra-esque. Was it light fare? Sure. Was it funny? Yes. Was the story improbable? Most certainly. But the film asked for a willing suspension of disbelief fairly early, with the camouflage scene. That moment said "this is kind of a different world these guys inhabit, so please go along for the ride." I have no problem with movies that run this way, and Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind asked for the same suspension of disbelief. What I have a problem with is movies that aim to be real to life, like snippets of our actual lives, and then whack us with a situation so ridiculously unreal that we can't buy into it or relate to it...that's when they lose me. But Gondry let us know early on what we were in for, and I got it.

Warning: there be spoilers in this paragraph. But the movie stayed realistic in some areas, just enough to make it not seem so removed from reality that we felt detached from the story. For instance, even though Mike and Jerry make enough money to save the building (improbable that so many kooky misfits would be lining up to rent homemade ripoffs of Hollywood movies..and paying enough to net $60,000 in a few weeks) their plans are thwarted by the Hollywood lawyers (bringing the almost "magical realism" of the story a little more down to earth). And even though they band the community together to create their own heartfelt epic, they still ultimately lose the building. When you look at the grand scheme of the storyline, what would have been more realistic? The classic Hollywood ending would have had the community saving the building and they all live happily ever after, perhaps transforming the video store into a little low-budget community production house. Instead, the inevitable happened. The building was lost. But the main characters, and the community, gained something even better. That's Capra, isn't it?

I don't know. I just like this kind of movie now and then, where a departure from reality doesn't have to be conveniently explained with something logical, like "it was all a dream" or "it was actually one character's mental illness imagining such and such." It's a departure from the norm, which is probably why the movie will not do well at the box office. In fact, as the credits rolled, I asked Peter if he liked it and he said it was the worst piece of trash he'd ever been subjected to. He continued his strong condemnations until I mentioned that I liked it. It was interesting (and unusual) to have that wide of a gap on our take on a movie.

I haven't read any reviews yet, on purpose. Dom once said that he didn't read reviews before he saw a movie, because then his natural response to the movie would be tainted. I agree with that. So if there's a movie I want to see, I avoid the reviews until after I've seen it. Now that I've written some of my thoughts, I'll check out what others are saying.

But regardless of what the critics say, I wholeheartedly recommend this movie.

Little Twelvetoes

Bella was just watching Schoolhouse Rock (or "Schoolrock House" as she calls it). We were watching some of the math songs together and I just had to blog about the one for the 12 times table. It's called Little Twelvetoes. And it's possibly the weirdest, most abstract Schoolhouse Rock video of them all.

You would think 12 would be an easy one to write. Eggs. Months. A dozen. But no, the Schoolhouse Rock writers decided not to go the easy route. They came up with a "what if" scenario that would have even Einstein scratching his head.

For those who don't remember their Saturday morning cartoons in the 70's, let me refresh you. It goes like this:

What if instead of 10 fingers we had 12? We'd naturally then have 12 toes as well. And then our entire number system would be based on 12 instead of 10 (which subtlety but brilliantly theorizes that our number system grew from counting on our own hands and feet). Here's where it starts to stretch your mind. This number system based on our 12 fingers and 12 toes wouldn't be 1 through 12. It would still end in 10, but we'd have 2 additional digits in there. Hey, let's call them dek and el. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, dek, el, and doe.

This trippy revelation is posited by an overgrown farm boy as he contemplates the starry sky (I think we know what they're growing somewhere on that farm...this is the 70's). Then, he imagines that somewhere out in the universe is a being with 12 fingers and 12 toes who must enjoy the benefit of easily learning his 12 times table, and soon the song about Little Twelvetoes swings into high gear.



Something tells me after writing brilliance such as "Unpack your Adjectives" and "Conjunction Junction," the writers were a little burned out. I can picture them, late at night, deadline staring them in the face, maybe imbibing a little in the studio. Hey, I think I've got it! And Little Twelvetoes is born.

To my Valentine

Some people know a lot about wine

I hear Pinot Noir is the rage

But the one thing I know about wine (I’ve heard)

Is that it improves with age.

Which got me to thinking about my wife

And how we were young when we met

And how we’re both different 14 years later

We’re responsible adults, and yet,

It’s hard to remember the way that we were

When barely out of high school

When we spent our last dollars on CDs and movies

And talked through the night by the pool.

But now I can see the woman she’s become

She fascinates me more and more

She’s softer and quieter and wiser and still

Has the laugh and the spirit I adore.

And as much as I typically try to avoid

Dewy-eyed love poems that rhyme

I just had an urge to be a big sap

To praise my best love of all time.

Love you, honey!

King of Kong

Last August, Dom blogged about a documentary he saw about the guy who has held the world-record for Donkey Kong and how an unknown challenger threatened to take the record from him. It sounds really corny, I know, but Dom really lauded the film. So when we recently switched from Blockbuster to Netflix, I remembered The King of Kong and put it on our queue.

It came yesterday and I watched it last night. Dom was right. It was fantastic! You would never think a movie about a vintage video game could be so compelling. Totally sucked me in. I literally applauded at the end. I wanted to write a letter to Steve Weibe and tell him that he was my hero.

I watched the bonus features too, which were lengthy and kept me up way too late on a school night. As a result, I'm a bit bleary-eyed today at work.

But it was worth it.

The King of Kong. Check it out.

Play

Bella was playing in the bathroom this morning while I took my shower. I turned off the water and watched her play while I dried off. She had 3 dolls: a stuffed bear, a ratty old baby doll with no clothes, and a little stuffed Elmo. She was alternating between each "baby," wrapping them up in a little blanket, holding them and rocking them gently, nursing them, all the while talking to them in a quiet, reassuring voice. Occasionally she would speak for them, in a higher pitched voice, and then answer them in her Momma voice. She sat on the floor with her back turned to me, and her pajama pants were falling down a little, showing her "plumber's crack." The whole scene was just so sweet. I just wanted to watch it forever.

I did take far longer to dry off than I needed, because I knew when I stepped out, it would disrupt her world of play and kick start the regular daily routine.

I could have stood in that shower all day.

The Dentist

I've never liked going to the dentist. A couple of years ago, I signed up for a different kind of dental insurance through work, so we had to choose a dentist from a list. I guess we got lucky, because we've all enjoyed the dentist we chose. His name is Sean Ziaei, or Dr. Z as we call him. He's a young, Persian dentist (though not a Baha'i) who is perfectly willing to have us all there at the same time. It's just a very comfortable family atmosphere, which we appreciate. He loves our teeth, and he loves our family. It's good.

But as warm and fuzzy as our dental trips have been, Isabella has still been hesitant to let him look in her mouth. It hasn't really mattered, since she's still so young. But now that she's 3, we're ready for her to start getting check ups with the rest of us.

It's a delicate situation. We don't want to force anything and create (potentially long-lasting) negative feelings about going to the dentist. We want her to ease into it and develop a healthy relationship with the care of her teeth.

With that in mind, I devised a little ceremony for Bella. We had our 6 month cleaning scheduled for this past Monday, and we were going to be adding Bella to the event for the first time. So before we left for the dentist, we all sat down at the dining table. I had 5 tea candles on the table and one at a time, oldest to youngest, we lit a candle and shared some fond memory of our first trip to the dentist. I mentioned being given a free toothbrush. Cristina talked about how nice it was to be given care and attention by her dentist. Sofia's memory was of a TV in the ceiling playing cartoons and being given funny sunglasses to wear during the exam. Alex remembered being asked what flavor toothpaste he wanted (bubble gum). And then it was Bella's turn. She wanted me to help her light her candle. She seemed excited about being a big girl and going to the dentist like the rest of us.

But when we got to the dentist it was a different story. Though she wasn't happy about it, she let them take 2 X-rays. And though she wouldn't sit in the chair by herself, she finally (sort of) opened her mouth for Dr. Z to look in. He looked in for a few seconds (literally) and said "she's fine!" Baby steps.


It's a start. 6 months from now, Bella will be 4. Hopefully she will be a little more comfortable with the experience then. I'm sure she will be.

And by the way, Sofia needs braces and Alex has a cavity.