Madness

Big changes at work the personal result being my commute is going from 45 minutes to 15. Woo hoo!

Lots of camping.... Erin and me at a Daddy/daughter Girl Scout campout in NW Georgia.
Liam, Erin, and I at a Halloween campout with the Cub Scouts.

Listening to an endless but very entertaining Twain's "Innocents Abroad" on book tape.

Finn had his adenoids removed and, like the King from Mario 3, he's back to his old self again.

We're heading to Disney (again!) for Halloween with a bunch of Kerry's family with many going as Pixar characters. Finn will be Woody, Erin- Jessie, Liam is going to be the magician with the rabbit from one of the shorts, and me... as some might guess, I'm going to be Ken.

Disney is ripping off PBS

Until just recently with the ease of DVR (or whatever exactly the Tivo-like thing on my cable is), PBS had always been the default with the kids. Liam and Erin grew up with Clifford, Sesame Street, Thomas, Bear and the Big Blue House, Bob the Builder, Dora the Explorer, The Wiggles, and Arthur. I did end up learning the characters, many of the songs ( "I'm the map" and my personal favorite "Backpack" being just a few), and I'm still quoting lines from the Thomas shows as if they were Matrix or SuperBad references. Anyway, I know what I'm talking about when the subject of early 2000's PBS children's television comes up... as it so often does.

Before I had a family, I never thought too much of Disney's animated films. I did remember enjoying "Cinderella" and I had even saw "Beauty and the Beast" in the theater but really... the genre wasn't on my radar. Of course, having kids totally changes that and at times it seems like Disney is the only thing ON you radar but I have to admit, I did come to appreciate the classic films. "Cinderella" and "Bambi" both have moments of genius. Even some of the later ones are decent and, of course, Pixar is in a class all itself but no one really considers them "Disney", right?

Yes, they are often sappy and sometimes full of cliche but one thing I wouldn't have accused Disney of is a lack of creativity. And here, folks, is where the above ties together. Based on some of the stuff I've seen on their cable channel, however, I have to now say they are blatent rip-off artists.

All of a sudden, the Disney channel has several shows that do more than borrow from the PBS shows but instead look to steal the audience for the originals with flashier copies. First, there was "Handy Manny" with his talking tools which is an utter pirating of "Bob the Builder" and his tractors. "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" is not precisely Dora... I mean it's got the classic Disney characters but they are soulless and the whole feel of the show is like the Dora episodes with the backpack ("Toodles" in Mickey's case) being completey ripped off. If that was it I wouldn't even have noticed but then theres the "Imagination Movers" which is the Disney version of The Wiggles.

But the straw that takes the camel's cake is that goddamn Chuggington. I could go on and on about how it is inferior to the old Thomas shows but I'm only here pointing out how it's an example of the current practise of Disney of ripping off PBS.

The bastards.

Be sure to tip your waitress

"Finding Nemo" was the first movie my first son saw in the theater. It's a great movie. I have probably seen it twenty times and it's played in my house likely 40 - 60 times (and it's not even in the top 3 movies played).

Marlin the protaganist has had his wife and dozens and dozens of his childeren savagely murdered. He raises the sole survivor who is then abruptly taken from him. The whole movie is about him trying to get to his son. He finally reaches Nemo only to find (or so he thinks) him dead. He then turns his back on his only remaining friend and tears out on his own.

If it ended here, they could make: "Avenging Nemo: The Outlaw Josey Whales"