« February 2006 | Main | April 2006 »

March 26, 2006

oopsie

Naomi had her first accident today. No, not the diaper-related ones, every kid has had a million of those by this age, but today, for the first time, she made a mess out of something.

Specifically, we were having our lunch on the coffee table in front of the TV (yes, I know, its just like college). We had our food and our drinks positioned, so we thought, in a way that Naomi couldn't reach them.

Wrong.

While Jenn was momentarily distracted with the Internet and I was watching George Mason wreck everyone's bracket, Naomi had managed to reach for a plastic bag that was on the table that contained our egg rolls inside. And this bag had somehow wrapped its way around Jenn's cup of caramel macchiato from Starbucks.

And everything came tumbling down, courtesy of She-who-gets-into-anything-and-everything. I guess in hindsight, which I didn't think until now, we are lucky that she didn't spill the drink on herself (it was hot). But in the moment, there is a big coffee stain on the carpet, and Naomi sitting there, of course not understanding what the big deal is.

And my reaction.

"NAOMI!!! That was BAD! VERY BAD!"

And I put her immediately into the playpen. Partially to "tell" her it was wrong, but also to get her out of the way while we cleaned. Luckily, most of the coffee had gotten onto a washable kid mat, but there were still stains which we ended up steam cleaning. She cried for a while, since she doesn't like being in the playpen, but she also spent her fair share of time just watching me clean the affected area.

But now I'm thinking of children and discipline. Is it too early? Naomi is at the phase right now where she gets into everything, meaning cabinets, shelves, bags, and all she wants to do is grab and pull out EVERYTHING. She doesn't understand what not to grab or where not to go. For most people, this means breaking out the childproofing cabinets and gates and fences, but for now, we've held off on that. We've trying hard to be less paranoid and more allowing of these behaviors, as we're thinking that it allows Naomi to learn and explore. But when more things like this happen, it makes me wonder whether we need to start setting limits, and how we do them.

Posted by spoof747 at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2006

fridays

fridays mean less when you work the weekend.

you want to know what kind of day this has been?

as i was about to jump off of a conference call with a client, i was so frustrated i swore under my breath -- and realized the mute button wasn't glowing red anymore.

its been that kind of day.

Posted by spoof747 at 06:23 PM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2006

commuting vignette #3 - now you don't see that everyday

a pigeon just flew into my BART car and kept banging itself against windows thinking they were the way out. I would have snapped a picture, but the windows it was banging against were RIGHT NEXT TO ME. And I had no place to back away because I'm sitting at the very end of the car. The BART operator came out and finally was able to grab the bird (he was wearing gloves) and let it free outside, and it flew off, apparently none the worse for wear. I wonder if this was some sort of sign.

Then again, a bird bashing its head against window after window probably isn't a very good sign of anything.

Posted by spoof747 at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2006

tv show review: black. white.

Jenn and I have been anticipating the debut of the FX documentary miniseries, "Black.White" The premise involves a black family made up to look white and a white family made up to look black and their experiences with the world and with each other, as they also shared a house for the duration of the show. We watched the premiere episode today and it fulfilled its promise as a show which intrigued us and promoted a lot of discussion about what racism is like today, in overt and in subtle forms.

The "White" family in the show, consisting of Bruno Marcotulli, Carmen Wurgel, and her daughter, Rose Bloomfield hail from Santa Monica, while the Sparks family of husband Brian, wife Renee, and son Nick come all the way from Atlanta (the show takes place in various Los Angeles locales). That fact itself seems to manifest itself when Bruno and Brian both take a walk around town to gauge peoples' reactions. Brian perceives racism in a lot of behavior that Bruno finds more innocuous. Then again, they *are* taking a walk in Los Angeles. Maybe I'm a bit sheltered being here in California, but I feel like racism is not as prevalent or as strong here as it might be in other parts of the US (ie the Deep South). Other than that, Bruno and Carmen definitely came off as more ignorant/naive about how race affects things (since they're white, some people would say, "What did you expect?). It was hilarious when Brian, in whiteface, went out golfing, and later, took on a job as a bartender for a bar predominately frequented by whites.

I'm looking forward to watching the remainder of this show.

Black.White.
FX
Wednesdays at 10pm

Posted by spoof747 at 12:25 AM | Comments (2)

March 08, 2006

clever bear

I heard about this the other day, but didn't realize the extent of the prank pulled on USC basketball player Gabe Pruitt during the basketball game vs. Cal. I have to give props to whoever came up with this:

When USC guard Gabe Pruitt took his first trip to the free throw line early in the game, the Cal student section hollered in unison: "VIC-TOR-IA, VIC-TOR-IA," and then yelled out a telephone number. Pruitt glanced back at the crowd in horror and bewilderment before clanking his free throws.

It turns out that a couple of mischievous little bastards from the Cal student section had been IM'ing with Pruitt all week under the identity of "Victoria," a fictional UCLA hottie, and Pruitt was eagerly anticipating a date with this nubile co-ed back in Westwood after the game. In preparation for the date, Pruitt had handed over his digits, which the Cal student section recited back to him in unison.

and below is a great picture of the Cal players at the game (and no, they weren't laughing at Gabe):

Posted by spoof747 at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2006

be careful what you wish for

pretty much since she's able to indicate, Naomi has shown a preference for Jenn. and by that, I mean, "when she's upset, only mom can carry her and comfort her". There are even times when she's not upset, but she doesn't want to go to anyone else, including me. A few months back, this was evidenced by the fact that she was ok with letting other people carry her, but when she saw Jenn, she'd lean herself in that direction to get Jenn's attention to hold her. Recently with her continuing physical development, it has only become more obvious. When she doesn't want someone to hold her, she goes limp, relaxing her shoulders to make it hard to pick her up. And even when you do, she starts pushing away from you and looking around for her mother. Even the sound of Jenn's voice will catch Naomi's ear and she'll look around frantically.

I think it goes without saying that this has caused its share of difficulties. Because of this marked preference, we are reluctant to let other people (ie the grandparents) babysit for any length of time, since sooner or later Naomi will want to look for her mom. There was one time when we left her for a few hours with Jenn's parents to come back and see Naomi passed out on Grandpa Hew from crying so hard, and his shoulder soaked from it. That's also affected what Jenn can do each day. Because Naomi needs to be around her and at the same time carves her own path of destruction through everything, Jenn spends the majority of her day watching and cleaning up after the Master of Disaster (my new nickname for her). Also, while I understand that this is a phase that nearly all children go through where they display a preference of parent, its discomfiting to find that she doesn't really want to be near me, and also it lets me only do so much to take Naomi off Jenn's hands.

So it was kind of a shock this weekend to watch as Naomi actually came to me on her own and not actually want to go back to Jenn. It was actually good timing as well, because of our need to work on Peggy's wedding invitations (Well, good for Jenn since she got to work on her part. I wasn't able to spend as much time on mine) It was nice to see that Naomi actually wanted to spend time with me and play and interact with me. We went through all of her toys, we played in all the different rooms, I used all my tricks to amuse her and make her laugh. And it utterly exhausted me to do so. I ended up crashing for a nap on Sunday afternoon, which is very unusual for me and very annoying for Jenn, since from her perspective, she has to deal with Naomi on a daily basis, and a weekend with her (not even a full one) tired me out. I guess that I have to get used to this, since Naomi has shown us that she can switch her parental preference at any time now. (She did go back to wanting Mommy Sunday evening, so the current theory is that she comes to me if she wants to play and she goes to Jenn if she wants to eat or sleep).

Posted by spoof747 at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

March 03, 2006

its a card, card, card, card weekend

the rainy weather here this weekend is coming at an opportune time for us. we have got a huge load of things to do to work on my sister's wedding invitations. We volunteered to help make them and we've only got a short time to put them together. The only problem is, when Jenn is home, Naomi takes up all of her time, and when I'm home too, this frees up Jenn (when Naomi is ok with coming to me) but then I can't take care of the stuff I need to do for the invitations (I'm in charge of the fonts and the map design).

Anyone interested in babysitting?

Posted by spoof747 at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)

March 02, 2006

spawning of obsession

I might have mentioned in times past that I have an addictive personality. One aspect of that is that when I get into something I like, I *really* delve into it.

The latest case in point is after (finally) watching Batman Begins, I've been re-reading all of my Batman graphic novels and going to the web (where else) to check out what is the latest in Batman toys that are out there.

When I think about all the toys that I've had, I want to kick myself for not holding onto some of them. My parents actually got some toys for me that would be worth a fair amount of money (ok, they definitely weren't mint after I got through with them, but still!). I had a diecast toy of the Batmobile from the 1960s series. I also had quite a few 4" action figures from the 1980s set, and even was given the Batcave and the matching Batmobile to go along with that. I think one of the coolest Batman toys I had was a 12" figure that you could attach to a zipline and he'd grip it and slide right down it. Yep, I'm definitely not going to give Naomi grief if she wants to hold onto her toys as she gets older. (Except for stuffed animals, the house is too full of them as is.)

And now that I've returned to the web in search of the new kinds of toys that are out there, its amazing what they've come up with that were literally what I dreamed manufacturers would make when I was a kid. I'd play with my toys, make sad note of what they couldn't do, and think how cool it would be if they came out with toys that could. Its nice to know I wasn't the only one who lived that kind of life. Take the Batman action figures of my childhood, for instance. The ones that I played with as a child had no elbow joints and no knee joints. Poses? He could either march in a goosestepping fashion or look like he was flying, which Batman does NOT do. So after all these years, it was nice to hear that they finally came out with action figures that could actually pose well. The industry buzzword for this is POA or Points of Articulation. The more, the merrier, and the more poseable the figure will be. Back in the day, the Hasbro GI Joe figures were the pinnacle of articulation, especially after they introduced a cut joint in between the elbow and the shoulder, allowing for so many more arm poses. In recent years, Toybiz bought the Marvel license and proceeded to redefine articulation with its popular Marvel Legends series. I believe they are on like the 10th or more wave of characters, all of which can be put into a multitude of poses. And they are the hottest toy out there, snapped up by kids and adults alike.

So apparently what Hasbro did last year was actually come out with very poseable, or their word, "superposeable" Batman action figures. Exactly what would have loved playing with when I was a kid. Except they made one small error, they didn't actually end up selling them in the US. The stores at that time wanted action figures that tied in with the Batman Begins movie (which ironically started me on this latest obsessive jaunt) and they figured that the buying audience wouldn't go for just a "regular" Batman action figure. It doesn't matter that these were actually better toys, with a higher playbility factor. I can't speak for kids anymore, but I know that's what I looked for when I was a kid. Plus there is the growing audience of adults who collect toys (I wonder why that is?) that definitely recognizes things like poseability and quality manufacturing. So now I'm resorting to trolling on eBay for people who *were* able to buy these from places outside the US.

Now when am I ever going to find time to actually play with this stuff once I buy it?

Posted by spoof747 at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2006

movie review: batman begins

Yes you really read this right -- I am only now catching up to some of the finest movies of 2005. Thanks to Irene and Jarvis who graciously lent us their copy.

I was really looking forward to watching this movie. Like many others around my age, I eagerly awaited the Batman movie that was made in 1989. While we grew up on the Adam West Bopp Kazam Pow Batman television series and enjoyed it for what it was, something never quite added up. The first thing in my head was, "Is Batman supposed to have a gut?" Then when I really got into Batman from a comic book and graphic novel perspective around high school, and I saw that it was nothing like the television series. When Batman (1989) finally came out, I dragged Jake out and we went to see it. There was no way it could match up to the hype that was generated for it, and a lot of reviews made note of that. At the same time, to a high school kid, this was pure candy. I picked up the VHS tape as soon as it came out and watched it over and over again. Watched the fight scenes to see whether Michael Keaton could really hold his own (sadly, no). Watched my favorite lines of dialogue (Who are you?!? I'm Batman. Excuse me, have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?) over and over.

And then I watched in horror as the Batman movie franchise first got weirder (Batman Returns) then devolved into outright camp (Batman Forever). I never even gave George Clooney's Batman a chance (in Batman and Robin) because of the negative buzz.

And now, Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale were able to put together what many were calling the definitive comic-book movie, *and* the definitive Batman movie. That's a pretty tall order, considering that comic books have been made into better and better movies as of late. Spider-Man really hit all the right notes, as did X-Men. Did I think Batman Begins matched up? Oh yes. However, a note of caution, I am fairly big Batman fan (not geek-level, but close). I've read the best Batman graphic novels of all time (Dark Knight Returns, Year One, Long Halloween) and can quote backstory for him. At one time, I actually owned a hardcover compendium of Batman comics and for some stupid reason which doesn't make sense to me even now, I GAVE IT AWAY. (probably when I was trying to convince myself that I was growing up and had no need/interest in comics anymore).

I watched it with Jenn which made for an interesting contrast because she didn't watch it through the same eyes I did. She knew Batman was Bruce Wayne, and that was about it. For the first half of the movie, which featured Bruce more than it did Bats, Jenn just couldn't get into the movie. "What's with all this backstory?" is a paraphrase of what she said. She eventually fell asleep and finished the movie the next day, which I'm guessing a lot of non-fans would be in the same category.

This movie does take a while to get started in a traditional sense. Unlike Nolan's Memento, or the 1989 version of Batman, the story here is told in straightforward, linear fashion, with the occasional flashback to Bruce Wayne's childhood, and once to him around his college years. But it really nailed all the key points of the storied Batman origin, with only minor revisions. Characters were pulled from a lot of different stories, which showed that the writer (David Goyer) really knew Batman and had a knowledge of the characters that have come through the Batman comic universe. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman all seemed dead on as Bruce Wayne, Alfred, and Jim Gordon, respectively. It took me a while to get used to Michael Caine as Alfred, seeing as in the comics he's bald with a pencil mustache and has a much slimmer build than Caine does, but Caine got the chemistry perfect between Bale and him. The one misstep I felt was the casting of Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone. This guy is supposed to be an Italian mob guy, the Mafia Don. Instead we get an Irish accent (I think) -- not quite what I was expecting. Maybe Nolan didn't want a stereotypical Soprano-like mobster, but it took a little to get used to.

Many people also made note of the explanatory nature of the movie. They took great care to ground the movie in a form of logic, in the sense that all of the devices in Batman's arsenal (the Batmobile, the utility belt, the batarangs) all made sense. Even the cape became something useful, instead of a standard dashing superhero accessory that had no function except to flutter in the wind. I have to give extra points to Goyer and Nolan for coming up with that one. Everyone takes the cape for granted but its a big part of the Batman costume and many artist over the years have depicted in myriad ways that make Batman look alternately graceful, menacing, and mysterious. (Then again, some draw the cape in ways that would cause Batman to trip all over it if it were actually true to size). The only story to feature something similar was Batman: Year Two, with the then not-yet-famous Todd McFarlane drawing. He had Batman with a huge cape looking like he was flying, without any grappling lines and such. But it was never explained, so I still think the writers here deserve the credit for coming up with the whole memory cloth - cape as glider/air brake angle.

From a fight scene perspective, I wasn't expecting much, given how high the bar has been set in recent years with the new generation of martial arts movies (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Matrix, etc.) But the choice here for the style of filming the fight scenes surprised and delighted me. The first Batman fight scene setpiece, with Batman taking down Carmine Falcone at the docks, took the viewpoint of the criminals that were trying to fight Batman. From the first guy, who was abruptly grabbed and disappeared into a boxcar, to the big fight scene, where they showed flash clips of this whirling black-garbed figure, a punch here, a spinkick there, someone who you can't really see but is basically whaling on your ass. They took pains to actually depict how Bruce Wayne fought as himself and how he learned to fight as Batman. The new addition to his backstory of being taught ninjitsu by Ra's Al Ghul, while not canon, does connect the dots of how Batman is able to sneak around and take nearly anyone by surprise. It was a shame that they had to keep this movie at a PG-13 level, otherwise, I'm sure the story would have let Batman make use of some of the cooler weapons in his arsenal, such as the Bat shaped throwing stars that appeared throughout.

While the aforementioned pacing is fairly slow in the beginning, the movie does pick up, and by the time it reached the explosive (literally) ending, I actually let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. That's how good this movie was.

This movie gets a solid A in my book.

Postscript: I can't believe I forgot to mention this, because there was something that did bother me about this movie. The script made a bad habit of having characters recite lines back to other characters that were said to them previously. I actually noticed this during my first time watching and I noticed that this happened at least 3 times. Sure, it makes for a good comeuppance moment, but really, in real life, who remembers the exact thing that was said to them and then gets a moment in which to throw that back at someone? It happens every now and then, but 3 times in the same movie? To me, that's a bit of lazy screenwriting. Sorry David Goyer, that's my only beef about this script, otherwise it was terrific.

Posted by spoof747 at 03:06 PM | Comments (0)