Family Friday: Kids Movies That Are Actually Good For Your Kids #3 - Hoodwinked and Hoodwinked 2

Shawn got Hoodwinked 2 which caused us to go back and watch Hoodwinked. Although the movies have many similarities to the Shrek movies, I think they stand on their own very well.

In Hoodwinked, the classic story of "Little Red Riding Hood" is re-examined from the viewpoint of each character in turn:  Red, the wolf, Red's grandmother, and the woodcutter. Related to the classic scenario, is the mystery of the "goody theif." It's more fun to watch the narratives unfold by themselves, so I won't spoil that, but the movie admirably shows how, as one character puts it, "If a tree falls in the forest there will be three stories:  yours, mine, and the tree's."

Hoodwinked 2 took on the story of "Hansel and Gretel," mainly from the perspective of our main characters from Hoodwinked as they get involved in the "Hansel and Gretel Story. while Hoodwinked 2 does not look as in-depth into the fairy tale as Hoodwinked, it still produces some very satisfying twists. The main message of  Hoodwinked 2 is summed up when Red's grandmother tells her, "A person can never really fail unless they give up."  The temerity to keep trying even when things are going badly is a character trait that is badly needed among the children of this youngest generation, and even among the young people of my own generation. I have seen too many of them give up at the first sign or hint of failure as though everything should just be handed to them, and despite continuous protestations that their goals are so very important to them. I strongly believe that this tendency to give up is because members of my generation and below get discouraged when our goals aren't as easy to attain as as they seem to be "in the movies." The fact that a movie is addressing this issue is both amusing and heartening.

In addition to many references to other fairy tales, these movies give subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) nods to The Village People, XXX, Kill Bill, Terminator, Lassie, Starsky and Hutch, Don Quixote, Peanuts, Silence of the Lambs, Entrapment, Mission Impossible, Star Wars, and several others that I failed to either recognize or name. Despite this inundation of references, Hoodwinked and Hoodwinked 2 are a great pair of movies which stand well on their own story-telling merit.

Every Day I'm Stumblin'

I have been looking at how people find my posts, and it looks like people just stumble upon my page. Literally. There is a website called stumbleupon.com where you enter categories that you are interested in and the site directs you to a random site that coincides with those categories. It actually seems like a pretty cool idea for those of us looking to find sites you might never be able to find if you weren't looking for them. I wonder if posting about stumbleupon on a blog that is frequently found with stumbleupon will create a causality loop. Hmmm.....

Angry Conversations With God: A Review

I was browsing for books on world religions in my local library when I came across Angry Conversations with God:  A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir. "Well," I thought to myself, "This has got to be good." It is the story of one woman's journey towards a healthier relationship with God. In this book the author lays out her life:  the times she felt God's presence, the times she feared His absence, how she tried to coincide what she felt God wanted with what she wanted, her desperate struggle to find a church she could be comfortable in and a partner she could share her faith with, and all the ups and downs that connect those struggles.

This book resonated with my own struggles with faith and my relationship with Divinity. I smiled at a lot of instances that the author described that reminded me of my own experiences, especially the experience if trying to keep a Christian faith (or indeed any faith) as a high school and college student. Mostly, though, I cried for the author's pains especially her extraordinarily gifted description of her "Dark Night of the Soul." Now, books, movies, and television rarely engage me emotionally to the point where I would cry. Usually these media give me a more objective than subjective approach. The fact that this book touched me on such a level is the reason I would recommend it so highly. I would suggest this book to anyone who has ever felt lost from God, anyone who is looking to find their way back to God after a fallout with the church or their own faith, and anyone who believes that God has a sense of humor.

UPDATE 7/25/12:  There were a couple of thing I forgot to mention but think I should add. First, I felt as much sympathy for God as I did for the author while reading this book. Second, the book's author is Susan E. Issacs. I put that in the tags, but not everyone looks at those (including me) so I figured it should be in the body of the post just in case someone wanted taht information.

Devoted To My Craft

I haven't posted anything in about a week. This is mostly because I had a detailed commission to keep me busy. My friend is going to Otakon, and he had me make his costume. He is going as Jade Curtiss from the game, Tales of the Abyss. I have to say that I am really happy with the outcome, especially since I went from seeing the character for the first time too finished costume in only one week. I don't think I've ever done that before - usually when I make costumes they are of characters I have been familiar with for months or even years. But this turned out better that I had imagined, and he really does look impressive in it. Here's to you, Tom. Have a great time at Otakon!

Family Friday: Children's Medicine

Something must have happened to children's medicine. Somewhere, someone must have decided that children don't need children's medicine - that they can take the same over-powered solid pills that adults take. Because that was what the doctor prescribed for Shawn this week for his ear infection. Shawn is a heavy for his age, but I don't think it's enough to require a level of antibiotic that gave me bad side effects as an adult. At 8 years old, Shawn is far from mastering swallowing a pill whole. That required me to grind the pill up into powder and mix it with applesauce and cinnamon. Of course, that just made the applesauce taste like medicine and not the other way around. The only way to get the pill down in a timely manner was for me to divide the lump of applesauce/medicine into a number of smaller, more manageable-looking lumps and get him to take them in succession. The advantage of this method was that I got to review fractions with Shawn at the same time that I got his medicine into him. It was an operation that took almost all my patience. But Shawn told me he loves me. It is these all-too-infrequent rewards that make the work of childcare worthwhile.

What's That Up There?

These are my duct tape flower hair ties. I sell them at craft fairs:  $5 each or 2 for $8. They are fun to make, and I have a near-endless variety for sale. But these are only a small sample of what I make. You can see more at my Facebook or Flickr.

Getting Ready For Grave Rubbings

 Some of the headstones in Stonington, CT.

I have been researching interesting grave sites in New Jersey. I got the idea, oddly enough, while I was in Stonington, CT. There was a small graveyard there with beautifully engraved headstones. Later that same week, there was a lecture about the history of the graveyard and the people buried in it. These engravings interested me so much that I started thinking about doing grave rubbings. The stones in Stonington were too delicate for me to try on them, but I thought about doing ones in New Jersey because we have some pretty interesting people buried here and it might be more fun for me to explore the graveyards of my home state. I will be charting how my progress goes, and I will be selling the grave rubbings at Smithville's Artwalk on September 8th this year.

Upcyclers Unite!

Yesterday I went down the main street in Westmont to check out the Creative Reuse Center. It's a tiny storefront filled to the brim with pre-owned things - bits and bob that would normally end up in the trash can like leftover craft supplies, partial bottles of glue, games pieces or games with missing pieces, and obsolete teaching aids.

My first purchase from the Creative Reuse Center

Nothing has a set price, you just pay by donations. I am thrilled to have this as a resource and I expect to go back frequently. If you are ever in the Westmont, NJ area you should check it out :  134 Haddon Ave. Or if you can't make it to my special part of the Garden State, check them out on the web at www.gardenstatecreativereusecenter.com and see how you might make a similar home for creativity in your own town.

Family Friday: Kids Movies That Are Actually Good For Your Kids #2 - Up

"Good Afternoon, my name is Russell and I am a Wilderness Explorer in Tribe 52, Sweat Lodge 12. Are you in need of any assistance today sir?" Boy, if only we were all as brave as that kid.
 needs
Carl is an old man. Never had children; lost his wife, Ellie, to illness. His only regret is not taking her on her dream vacation - Paradise Falls. So when he ends up about to be forced into a "retirement community" he figures he has nothing to lose, and takes his house there by attaching hundreds of balloons to it and flying down there along with Russell who wound up along for the ride because he was under Carl's porch at liftoff. When they land near Paradise Falls, they go through all sorts of difficulties trying to get the house next to the waterfall including meeting up with, and then getting chased by, Carl's childhood hero. Eventually, Carl learns the lesson he needs in order to get back home.

This movie is about letting go:  of the past, of expectations, and especially of material possessions. Only, when Carl lets go of the need to get the house next to the Falls was he able to rescue Russell and his other companions. Up, more than its contemporaries, demonstrates what really matters in life:  the friends you make, the love you share, and the spirit of adventure to really get out and enjoy life.

BRAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNS!!!!

As my friend at Silver Cicada Designs reminds me, it's not too early to start preparing for Halloween. That goes double for me because this year I'm making Halloween products in preparation for Smithville's second annual Zombie Walk which is run by my friends at Underground.

Sewn Back Together Wrong

This wacky shirt is called "Sewn Back Together Wrong" inspired by the first Metalacolypse episode in which the band members of Dethklock (totally fictional and brutal to the point of absurdity) try to bring back their cook by sewing his dismembered pieces back together - wrong - and write a song based on it which plays during the closing credits.

To make this shirt, I cut the shirt from the middle of one shoulder seam to just under the opposite armhole then I twisted this top part to put the armhole where the neck hole should be and the neck where the armhole should be. Then I punched small holes along the cut edges and sewed them back together with strips cut from another tee shirt that I stretched into cords. I cut off and reattached the opposite sleeve in the same way.

This is the shirt I will be wearing, but you can see more as I make them at my Facebook page, and please come visit me at the Zombie Walk on Sunday, October 28th. Learn more about the Zombie Walk on their Facebook page.

A Web Store Home Of My Own

Last night, I finally made myself a web store. I only have my Tarot prints up on it right now, but if all goes well, I will add T-shirt tote bags and purses made from upholstery fabric. Check it out at www.phoenixrefashioning.bigcartel.com.