What-What?! Week of March 12th

I forgot it's Daylight Savings, that archaic event that we, for some reason, still enact each spring.

Masochism, I suspect.

Anyway.

The Lego Batman Movie

Yesterday, we took the family to go see Lego Batman.

The children generally liked it -- the two boys especially.  Saffron thought that it wasn't as good as the original Lego Movie, but overall was still pretty good.

The husband and I enjoyed probably the first two-thirds of the film of the best.  I thought a lot of the lead-up and explanation were hilarious -- there were tons of great scenes with nods to other Batman films and comics.  The ending of the film was a let down -- in my opinion, some of it is exactly like watching the Lego Movie again.  There's also a plot hole, which I will not reveal.  But it's there, and it's highlighted by the ending, too.  That in particular is disappointing -- I've watched enough Lego-related made for TV films and TV shows that I know they can be excellent at continuity... they just forgot that when they made this film. xP

By far, though, the most irritating thing to me about the entire film was not the plot hole, not the Lego Movie ending, it was everyone's smartphones -- they are all very largely branded with the Apple logo.  I don't have an example of this, since none of the promo images I can find show it, but it is so obvious.  It honestly makes me think a lot less of Lego.  My kids don't need to see that branding, I don't need to see that branding -- it's obvious what those items are even without branding.  I know Lego has been making tons of money recently.  How much did Apple pay them?  Do they really need the money from Apple?

Overall, not a bad movie.  I did enjoy the most of it, and the children liked it.  Not sure this will be one that we buy, though.

What-What?! Week of January 17th

Today is momentous.  My youngest child has gone an entire week without wearing pull-ups.  The end of the diaper era is nigh.

I have somewhat mixed feelings.

On the one hand, screw diapers.  On the other, when did my kids get so big?

Time marches on.


In other news, Saffron has a new haircut:

It is short and poofy and adorable.  She'd been asking for such short hair for a while now, and we finally got around to making it happen.

Movie Review:  Mickey, Donald, Goofy:  The Three Musketeers

This is a film that's available on Netflix, and the kids just latched on to it.  It is the classic Three Musketeers, but (of course) completely different in every single detail.  For a direct-to-video film, it's actually quite good.  The jokes are funny and not irritating, and the plot is entertaining.  The part that I enjoyed the most, however, was the music; the film took seven classic songs, including excerpts from The Nutcracker, In the Hall of the Mountain King, The Blue Danube, and stuck new lyrics on them.  It also includes parts of The Pirates of Penzance as an opera that the characters attend.  It was entertaining, and I would recommend checking it out.

What-What?! Week of September 13th

This week, I set out to do three things.

I'm not done with one of them yet, and haven't even started the other two.

One of my favorite of Murphy's Laws of Combat is "No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy".  Probably one of the most applicable to everyday life, as well.

Anyway, what adventures have we had this week?

I found out that the odd little plant with red berries that's coming over the back fence (tagging along with the blackberry bushes) is a bittersweet nightshade.  It is poisonous.  This is bad.  So I (carefully) dispatched it.

There's another berry bush around on the side of the house that is a common snowberry.  It is also poisonous.  This is bad.  I am dispatching it today.

I suddenly feel the need to look up every other plant in our backyard now.

I also made a pizza.

 

The big kids decided to joust.  Surprisingly, no one was hurt.

Movie Review: Song of the Sea

This is a recent addition to Amazon Prime, and made by the same studio and director that did the Secret of Kells.  The story follows two somewhat-disagreeable siblings who free the fairy people and ultimately save the spirit world.  It is classic hand animation, and quite beautiful to look at -- like watching a children's book come alive.  I liked the story of this film much more than the Secret of Kells, simply because it felt way less depressing.  There's a lot of great mythology to it, and it felt like the story took place in a complete world; it wasn't just a little make-believe corner or something.  It all fit together believably.  The innocence of the main characters and how they get swept up into the adventure reminded me strongly of My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and other Miyazaki films.

The children and I all thoroughly enjoyed watching Song of the Sea, and would highly recommend it.