What-What?! Week of February 19th

Somehow it's the middle of February now.  Actually, I guess since there's only 10 more days left, it's like two-thirds of the way through the month.

The Sad Tale of the Matchbox

Recently, I read an article about a famous children's book in Germany, Der Struwwelpeter (Slovenly Peter).  Apparently, Mark Twain translated the book for his children while he was stuck in Berlin in 1891.  The poems direct translation into English is fairly dry, but you add in the wit of Twain, and they become fantastic examples of dark humor.  My favorite right now is called "The Sad Tale of the Matchbox" -- available to read here, from Listen.org (pdf link) -- I strongly suggest reading it aloud.  Twain's use of rhyme and language turns a very serious, sad story into hilarity.  I need to dig up copies of the rest of the poems, but haven't made the time yet.

Otherwise, we're just goin' along...

What-What?! Week of April 6th

This week has been crazy.  Thursday was my boss's last day with the YMCA, which is pretty sad for those of us staying.  She will be missed (actually, she all ready is).  The new site coordinator was previously our onsite tutor, so it's nice that she knows the staff, kids, and routine all ready.  Things will be different for sure, but I don't think it will necessarily be good or bad.  Just different.

Poetry: Skeltonic Verse

I decided to do a poetry exercise at work a few weeks ago, using skeltonic verse structure (AABB rhyming); this activity had mixed success.  I did have some kids who were actually interested, and some of their poems were pretty amusing ("what rhymes with pokemon?" was a real question).
A few days ago, I happened to find my example poem:

Salami sandwich, you are so nice,
Salami sandwich, I'll take a slice,
Bread, mayo, salami, and cheese,
I'll take two, if you please.

Because salami sandwiches are the best, hands down.  Where most people had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as their childhood staple, my family had salami sandwiches.  At one point, my older brother wrote an entire essay about them.  Nom, nom. :D

Fashion:  KNAPP The Post-War Collection

I saw this collection first on Fashion It So (the Star Trek: The Next Generation fashion blog), then followed the link to this much more substantial collection of photographs.  Some of these pieces are really captivating, while other are sort of hoo-hum, or even a bit dorky (hello, giant protruding pants pockets?).  I like the futuristic military Renaissance faire look, with the heavy fabrics and jewel tones.  Not to mention that all the princess seams are very flattering (even though I think the model has too long a torso for some of the fashions).

I particularly like this asymmetrical hip pocket thing that appears in several of the designs.  I have a few pairs of pants that are lacking in the pocket department, so this is something that I might really wear.

This one has a great 1960s feel to it.

Probably my favorite piece.  This design would look brilliant on a battlemech, too, I bet. :P

I love this neckline.

Really great texture on this top, and those sleeves are so romantic!

 

Check out the rest of the pieces by following the link above.  You'd be surprised at how many more there are in addition to the ones I've posted here.

What-What?! Week of December 8th

This week, my kids watched The Magic School Bus episode about computer programming.  It reminded me part of why I loved/love programming:  When you ask a computer to do something, it will do exactly as you asked it to do.  When you ask a fourth-grader to do something, sometimes they do exactly as you asked;  sometimes they argue with you about how or why they need to; sometimes they start to do it and get distracted; sometimes they tell you they will, only to wait until you're not looking, in which case they start lollygagging; and sometimes they think up the most ridiculous excuses why they don't have to (my favorite this week: "I can't do my homework, because my lips are chapped and it's too distracting").  One thing in common, though, is that both computers and children will do exactly as you've asked them to when you've told them to do the wrong thing.  Yes, I've had this conversation: "What are you doing?" "What you told me to" "...Oh, I see.  Oops.".  D'oh.  >.<

Literature:  I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen via Imgur

My husband came across this gem while browsing Reddit, which follows a bear on his journey to find his hat.  It is a pretty normal children's story, up until this page:

When the husband and I got to this page, we laughed out loud.  We've all had those "hey, WAIT!" moments, and I think the author conveyed it very well.  I like that this book leaves what happened between the bear and the rabbit up to the reader: Did the bear eat him?  Did they make up?  Was the rabbit sorry?  It could be a great discussion point about conflict and conflict resolution, while at the same time being silly enough to get kids interested.  Looking it up on Amazon, I found that it won the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book in 2011.

Fixing that Gas Smell in a Subaru Legacy

Our car has occasionally had this odd gasoline smell when we turn on the air conditioner, but this last week, it's been significantly worse.  When we went looking online to see what the problem could be, we found that it's because of the weather; when it's especially cold, the rubber fuel lines contract and pull away from the steel clamps that fasten everything together, creating a gas leak that can be smelled inside and outside the car.  From the reading that we did, this is pretty common in Subarus, but can also happen to other makes as well.  Luckily, using a Philips head screwdriver and these photos, we were able to fix the problem in just a few minutes.  We only tightened the driver's side clamps, as seen in those photos above, as the passenger side ones (shown here) involve more effort to get to.

Reading:  Hohenzollern Castle via Time Travel Turtle

Browsing the internet, I found this nifty travel blog written by a man who quit his job in Australian broadcast journalism to travel the world.  Though I haven't read through all his posts yet (there's a lot), I did read about his trip to the Hohenzollern Castle in Southwest Germany, which was rebuilt in the 19th century.  The photographs of this are just fantastic.  It is so beautiful, the blue/gold color scheme that runs throughout the place reminds me of Cinderella's castle.  Definitely take the time to look at the pictures, even if you don't read the story that goes with it.

(img via imgur.com, Time Travel Turtle)

What-What?! Week of August 25th

This week has been kind of a rollercoaster – been quite busy, indeed.  We visited my parent’s place and played some Battletech, and my ‘mech was exploded a lot.  My sister took my eldest to the Ringling Brothers Circus in San Jose, which she thoroughly enjoyed; her favorite part was the tigers.  I’m happy that my sister got to take her; I have many fond memories of doing activities with my aunt growing up, and it would really please me if my kids have close relationships to their aunts and uncles.

I was planning on reviewing the new Gamers movie that I talked about last week, but unfortunately my internet is frequently subpar.  The husband and I watched the first ten minutes before the internet died, and that was that.  The downloadable version is available now for contributors (us), and I’ll be downloading that today or this evening.  Next week, look for a full review!

Literature:  Jake and the Neverland… Fanfic?

While looking up source images for my Jake and the Neverland Pirates illustrations last week, I found Jake and the Neverland fanfic.  What is fanfic?  It’s short for fan fiction, where fans write fictional pieces based on characters and settings that they are fans of.  Sometimes, this goes big; for example, 50 Shades of Grey started out life as Twilight fan fiction.  The vast majority of fanfic is, in my opinion, not well written, with a tendency towards fan service and other such ridiculousness.  50 Shades, despite being a best seller and all, is no better than the lot; from the excerpts I’ve read, the language is unnecessarily ambiguous and repetitive.  Some of the relationships are concerning.  In any case, I was momentarily horrified and surprised when I found the above image and accompanying story of Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Movie Review:  Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers (available on Netflix)

My kids love Lego, and when they saw this recommended on Netflix, they begged and pleaded.  Having had seen many awful children’s shows and films, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  It has a bit of everything in it, especially if you grew up in the 80s or early 90s: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, James Bond, some Lord of the Rings-fantasy, and one scene that’s straight out of DuckTales the Movie: Tale of the Lost Lamp.  This film is very cliché, but at the same time, it’s still entertaining.  Clutch Powers is a nice break from saccharine sweet princesses and talking animals, but I can’t say that I’d watch it if I didn’t have kids.

Essay: The Lost City of Z via the New Yorker

Speaking of Indiana Jones... I accidently stumbled on this through an e-mail that Amazon had sent with a selection of adventuring and exploring books – this led me to a book by the same author, published as an expanded, and by some accounts, bloated version of this essay.  The essay itself covers Percy Fawcett’s obsession with a city that he simply called “Z” – evidence of a lost civilization deep in the Amazon basin.  Fawcett was last seen in 1925, when he left on an expedition to find the city with his son and a friend.   The author follows Fawcett’s steps through the rainforest, talking with native people, locals, and an archeologist along the way.  It’s 21 pages, so kind of a long read, but I highly recommend it.  There is also a film in the works, which is slated to star Brad Pitt; let's hope it comes out a bit better than World War Z, hm?

‘til next week!

(images via fanpop.com, videostore-cdn.eu.playstation.com, flickr.com)