GRIZZLY PEAR
he found an apple on the dining table.
Daddy, you picked a big apple!
妈妈! 爸爸 picked 了一个很大的苹果!
(Mama! Daddy picked a big apple!)
(Actually, Mama picked it)
~
妈妈! 我要跟一个人玩. 但是不是你和爸爸!
(Mama! I want to play with one person. But not you or Daddy!)
你要跟姐姐玩,就好好问她.
(If you want to play with your sister, just ask her nicely.)
~
弟弟,给爸爸抱抱!
(Come hug Daddy!)
NEVER!
big grin.
䷺䷅
disperse
foam
coalesce
foam
they turn off the lights
tell me to jump out with claws
RAWR!
they emerge from their fort
clang sticks against metal lids
RAWR!
they scream, giggle, race back to safety
sneak out with a flashlight
RAWR!
they tell me that I’m scared of the light
I shrink away in fear
rawr?
the moon monster
waits in a dark bathroom
䷫䷱
wrap a melon
willow leaves
lunar mana
My sister and I toyed with this PortaSound PSS-460 as kids.
The kids now dance to the drum kit (max volume!)
In between, it sat in our empty house;
While we stayed with parents when he was born.
A squatter took over one Thanksgiving —
A young blond woman with a ponytail.
She quietly left with her black backpack.
I found the keyboard on a dresser, plugged in.
I occasionally wonder about her,
Plinking tunes on this toy Yamaha over a cold, dark holiday.
~
This memory of everyday magic was sparked by a beautiful poem and rendition by Nadia Gerassimenko.
She spent half an hour going through the Disney catalog.
She was intrigued by the princesses in the sequel.
We started with this one.
We watched it a few years ago but forgot the story.
The bugs are scary.
The 8-bit breaks up the monotony of CGI.
A thrill a minute.
A simple fable with the usual Disney lessons.
Why isn’t it better known?
Why isn’t it lauded as a modern classic?
Great fun for the kids,
Great love letter to the parents’ childhoods.
Is it the lack of princesses?
Is it missing a surreal song and dance routine?
Ralph Breaks the Internet:
The internet is a big place, so it makes sense that the movie felt less focused than the first one.
Still, it was a fun time with the kids.
The cameos of the Disney Princesses were great, but they also need that little extra to keep interest in the story.
The boy is always taciturn at the end of a movie, but this time he announced
“姐姐 (Sister) I hate the gigantic Wreck-it-Ralph!”
Most importantly, I’m happy to report they had a song and dance routine this time.
Plus the Eeyore cameo might convince the kids to watch Winnie the Pooh!
He jumped on her chair,
Pushed her off.
She offered to share
He punched her.
I demanded he apologize.
He grinned, shook his head.
姐姐自己念书.
(Sister can read her own book then.)
Ten minutes later,
He wants her to play.
你先道歉!
(You first apologize!)
He cried on the floor,
As Mama cooked french toast.
Grabbed paper and
Purple crayon.
Shoved the sheet
In her face.
Play!
Now!
你做错了什么?
(What did you do wrong?)
Another tantrum.
䷕䷹
peach
toy
zappy
At breakfast, he asked
(Did you take a)
“Shower?”
He asked Mama
晚上吗?
“Night?”
Oh!
He doesn’t know
Grey mornings.
Still groggy,
He was eating
Dinner.
䷘䷢
no disease
delusion
no medicine
joy
The kids were intrigued by the lychee shells that mama peeled for an after dinner snack. We filled up a bowl to float little pink boats. A miniature ocean for little folks.
Whoohooo!! Fast, non-stop action!
Actually, it could have used an an extra three episodes (for a traditional 13 show season) to add breathers and character development. I slot this next to Arcane — a fun show that doesn’t reach the stratosphere of top-line classics.
Be forewarned, this is a dystopic, gritty world with lots of gratuitous blood and cyborg babe cheesecake. It might be fun, but it’s beyond extra.
Someone on Reddit compared the women in the series against the ladies in Neon Genesis Evangelion. The comparison was dead on. Cultural tropes live a long time.
The difference is that Neon Genesis Evangelion went truly fucking bonkers as Hideaki Anno suffered a mental breakdown, which gives that classic an edge.
Studio Trigger is merely wild.
~
PS: One minor gripe that applies to many TV shows. The characters would have all landed in a better place if they just sat down and talked it out. I guess their refusal is why they suffer exciting lives while we enjoy our mundane existences.
white gold disc
rising between freeway signs
through the blue-beige haze
shrinking above orange dawn dust
~
turning up Buffalo
hills stand flat in the twilight
layers of vertical geography
under an inverted terrain of clouds
~
two men in the rain
chatting on the embankment
homes swept away
from the culvert below
䷫䷿
berry wrapped melon
words fall from the sky
hidden lines