GRIZZLY PEAR
We were shopping in Ikea and after a coupon, we ended up owing only 28 cents.
I pulled out a dollar and handled it in cash.
In return, I was given a few nickels, pennies, and a fifty cent piece.
Pretty cool, the girl got really excited!
If it isn’t a gimmick, well then it should be one.
About eight months ago, a woman broke into our house while we stayed with our in-laws.
She got to live out of the cold for about a week before I found her sleeping on some sofa cushions in the living room.
Aside from breaking into the back door, she did no damage to the place, and was quite good at making sure the neighbors on both sides had no idea she was there.
However, she did take the risk to hook up our little casio keyboard and presumably played it a little.
I can’t say I’m fond of the incident, but it’s odd what your memory will latch onto months after an event. I hope she will get a handle on whatever demons are keeping her on the streets.
We all should have a little music in our lives.
While our girl still prefers to go to Disneyland, I’ve noticed that she and her brother seem to get quite a bit of joy playing around the house or in our small excursions around town.
If my eyes aren’t lying to me, rolling around the backyard in a plastic wagon garnered as many laughs and giggles as hanging around the magic kingdom.
Going to a neighborhood park is not an all encompassing “total experience” like going to an amusement park, but in the moment, I don’t think it’s that much of a dropoff for the kids.
Not that I plan on shortchanging the kiddos on resort experiences that we can afford, but I don’t think the marginal ROI is nearly as much as the marketing hype would like us to believe.
After half a decade of buying cheap books at the friends of the library store, we now have enough volumes to fill up six slots of the Ikea Kallax shelves. So the girl and I sorted out our own private library this weekend.
The first division we made was fiction and non-fiction, which were then sorted the rest out by author’s last name. Apart from confusing the illustrators and authors, and a child’s tendency to get distracted it went really smoothly. Some highlights from the exercise included:
In all, it was a fun exercise. It was quite interesting to go through all the books we’ve collected over the past few years, and even better to plumb the depths of a five year old mind.
For the past week, I’ve gotten sucked into a corner of educational youtube that is focused on european medieval arms and martial arts, also called HEMA (historical european martial arts).
The channels are all quite fun to watch, some favorites being scholagladiatoria, Modern History TV, Lindybeige, Skallagrim, Shadiversity, and Tod’s Workshop.
But then, I just realized that I haven’t practiced my tai chi for the past week. I’ve traded real life for the much easier (and amusing) point and click universe of internet television.
In a world before children, I had the free time to have it all. Now, life really is zero sum game. If I’m living vicariously, that means I’m not living in reality.
Our daughter caught a cold and was exiled to the guest bedroom for a couple night.
She went from barely filling out a cradle to comfortably fitting out a twin sized bed.
Life moves fast.
Or maybe it’s just the change in context that makes you aware of what done happened.
Last night, my wife and I snuck off to watch a movie after the kids fell asleep.
Summer Wars had won the 2010 Japan Academy Award for animated film. It is indeed a very nicely done film, but was ultimately just a fun fluffy popcorn flick with lots of action.
It’s a little unfair to come away slightly disappointed, since I find a lot of Disney and Pixar fare just that as well. But still, I guess all these years of watching Studio Ghibli films has made me expect just a little more in its core.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s worth a watch, but unless I’m missing something, it is just what it says it is.
This morning I ended up falling down a youtube rabbit hole indulging in the little boy’s fantasy of arms and armor.
The first was in the classic youtube format of a nerd geeking out in front of a camera. The info was great, I found the conversation about swords where the sharpened edge on the inside curve very interesting. But ultimately it was a monologue with a few video accents.
The second was a bit more polished production about armor and weaponry. This must have involved a team, not only did it involve an archer and medieval armor, it also included a visit to the range with modern body armor.
And of course both were totally free, after a pre-roll advertisement. Shadiversity is clearly a personal project, nicely done, but not super polished, but I’m scratching my head what is the business model for the Modern History.
I most likely shouldn’t ask too many questions and just enjoy it.
We really are in a golden age of free content, it’s all out there as long as you have an internet connection.
Talk about being late to the party.
Actually I had seen this one, when it came out, on someone’s downloaded screener.
So I finally decided to watch the “real” thing on my 32″ TV.
Wow.
I fully expected for the CGI to feel dated, but it held up great.
I think the movie may have been tarnished by the reputation of the sequels, because I planned on getting bored during various parts of the movie, especially since I already knew the plot.
Nope.
Maybe they got plodding and indulgent in those latter two films, but this first one takes you from here to there and done. It did exactly its job and cut out.
And since I came of age in that era, I still have an affinity for long black trench coats, boots, and leather…though you’ll never catch me in the last one.
“Guns, lots of guns.”
I am way, way late to the party. And I haven’t yet seen one of his feature films.
My favorite director is now Spike Jonze.
In the past, had I recognized the name as auteur, which made me assume he was one of those guys that tries too hard.
The other day, I fell into watching his music videos (thanks youtube!) and was utterly blown away. He is a master of his craft. He was great on a budget, but made fancy ones as well. It felt like every next video was my favorite. He knew timing exquisitely and suspense and climax.
I would find myself jumping out of my seat and laughing out loud.
And half the time I didn’t like the music!
Here are three videos, each a decade apart – 1999, 2009, and 2019.