Good Morning!
Jul. 30th, 2005 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoney321The sun is shining, the tank is clean... Okay, the tank has algea creeping up the sides, but that's neither here nor there. Yesterday, we took the kids to see the National Geographic documentary, The March of the Penguins. ATTN: ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chrissykiedis: you do NOT want to see this. Okay, you SHOULD, but my tender little fillet, the rare scenes that show the hardness of life for Emperor Penguins in th Antarctic made me hang my head with sorrow, LITERALLY. So you will have an "Old Yeller" type reaction.
Three whole minutes of silent, pristine footage of the continent. The cleanest place on our planet. A little history lesson from our Pangea days, and then you see a blurry image, like a woman in a burka in the desert. Hee! The camera pulls in and its the line of penguins making their trek (70 miles!!) to the innermost section of the ice cap to mate.
The footage of the penguins finding their mate, along with Morgan Freeman's narration, "We don't know what they are looking for in a mate, we only know when they've found each other." Cut to a picture of two penguins leaning against each other, eyes closed in bliss. They kiss. They stroke each other. There were several minutes of them making love, and let me tell you, I felt like a voyeur.anelith? Don't worry about the kids. It's not gratuitous, and it's so moving and sweet, it shouldn't be a problem if they ask, "what are they doing?" I replied: loving each other. They accepted that.
The movie goes on to REALLY show the harshness of life there, how nothing is more important to the new parents than to protect the egg, and the images of the fathers, walking on their heels for FOUR MONTHS with the egg balanced on the tops of their feet to protect them from the ice, and the inevetable horror of what happens if that egg falls off and lands on the ice... We sat in horror, too. My son had his hands over his mouth and was saying quietly, "Oh no! Oh no!" to himself. Astounding. And the overwhelming sorrow the parents displayed was heartbreaking. They hang their heads in their sadness and make quiet hooting noises to each other.
But before you think this movie is harsh and sad, it is about LOVE! It's the Moulin Rouge of the documentary world! Okay, that'll make sense to about ten of you. The babies! Their teeny faces! There immediate recognition of their father and mother! The parents sitting stock still and looking at their baby for the first time! They just... they just beam at their new child. Birds. So beautiful. The babies growing up, learning to walk, learning to play and group together... Those moments had everyone in the audience laughing and giggling. Everyone stayed in their seats until the credits were done. EVERYONE. Even small children. There's a little "how we did it" montage alongside the credits that is amazing, by itself.
As we left the theater, my son said to us, "Now that's what I call a good movie. It wasn't cartoonic, or have fighting, it was real, you know?" Heh. Alright, Paula Kael. He's nine. I love that he is so wrapped up in his PlayStation and Manga and all the things that certain groups tell you will desensitize your child, and he's my most sensitive. The sad things really hurt his heart, but overall, the movie is so joyous and uplifting.
In other news, my three year old (soon to be four in a week. OMG.) told me yesterday she was made in a factory, with glue, and her hair is made from owls. Heeee!
Finally, if you've friended my baby comm,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
celeb_letters2u, and you like what you've seen, feel free to pimp it. Or tell me where to go pimp, because I'm clueless in that regard. I've gotten over 150 hits on the User Info page alone, so I'm interested in getting that number waaaay up. Some fic coming later. Beautiful day today. Life is good. But first, I must drink coffee...
chrissykiedis: you do NOT want to see this. Okay, you SHOULD, but my tender little fillet, the rare scenes that show the hardness of life for Emperor Penguins in th Antarctic made me hang my head with sorrow, LITERALLY. So you will have an "Old Yeller" type reaction.Three whole minutes of silent, pristine footage of the continent. The cleanest place on our planet. A little history lesson from our Pangea days, and then you see a blurry image, like a woman in a burka in the desert. Hee! The camera pulls in and its the line of penguins making their trek (70 miles!!) to the innermost section of the ice cap to mate.
The footage of the penguins finding their mate, along with Morgan Freeman's narration, "We don't know what they are looking for in a mate, we only know when they've found each other." Cut to a picture of two penguins leaning against each other, eyes closed in bliss. They kiss. They stroke each other. There were several minutes of them making love, and let me tell you, I felt like a voyeur.
anelith? Don't worry about the kids. It's not gratuitous, and it's so moving and sweet, it shouldn't be a problem if they ask, "what are they doing?" I replied: loving each other. They accepted that.The movie goes on to REALLY show the harshness of life there, how nothing is more important to the new parents than to protect the egg, and the images of the fathers, walking on their heels for FOUR MONTHS with the egg balanced on the tops of their feet to protect them from the ice, and the inevetable horror of what happens if that egg falls off and lands on the ice... We sat in horror, too. My son had his hands over his mouth and was saying quietly, "Oh no! Oh no!" to himself. Astounding. And the overwhelming sorrow the parents displayed was heartbreaking. They hang their heads in their sadness and make quiet hooting noises to each other.
But before you think this movie is harsh and sad, it is about LOVE! It's the Moulin Rouge of the documentary world! Okay, that'll make sense to about ten of you. The babies! Their teeny faces! There immediate recognition of their father and mother! The parents sitting stock still and looking at their baby for the first time! They just... they just beam at their new child. Birds. So beautiful. The babies growing up, learning to walk, learning to play and group together... Those moments had everyone in the audience laughing and giggling. Everyone stayed in their seats until the credits were done. EVERYONE. Even small children. There's a little "how we did it" montage alongside the credits that is amazing, by itself.
As we left the theater, my son said to us, "Now that's what I call a good movie. It wasn't cartoonic, or have fighting, it was real, you know?" Heh. Alright, Paula Kael. He's nine. I love that he is so wrapped up in his PlayStation and Manga and all the things that certain groups tell you will desensitize your child, and he's my most sensitive. The sad things really hurt his heart, but overall, the movie is so joyous and uplifting.
In other news, my three year old (soon to be four in a week. OMG.) told me yesterday she was made in a factory, with glue, and her hair is made from owls. Heeee!
Finally, if you've friended my baby comm,
celeb_letters2u, and you like what you've seen, feel free to pimp it. Or tell me where to go pimp, because I'm clueless in that regard. I've gotten over 150 hits on the User Info page alone, so I'm interested in getting that number waaaay up. Some fic coming later. Beautiful day today. Life is good. But first, I must drink coffee...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 06:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 06:54 am (UTC)But I love your daughter's creation-explanation. Also, owls are cool.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 07:06 am (UTC)Soooo engaging and lovely.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 07:08 am (UTC)Owls ARE cool, and she'll tell you they are both boys and girls, which makes them cooler. I was interested in hearing her explanation ofhow they turned owls into hair and glued it to her head. "They."
:-D Kids are funny.
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Date: 2005-07-30 07:29 am (UTC)How do you find out how many "hits" a user info page receives?
no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 07:35 am (UTC)Cool, huh?
no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 07:59 am (UTC)Speaking of animal documentaries, have you seen People of the Forest? It's a PBS documentary that aired years ago - it follows a tribe (group? I don't know what the group name is) of gorillas over twenty years. Donald Sutherland narrates it and it is *amazing*. It's a wonderful documentary for children - there are some scary parts (males battling for dominance of the group) as well as sad parts (when some of the gorillas die), but it's one of my favorite movies of all time. Very, very similar to Penguins but in this one, since it focuses on a select group and follows them for years, you really get to know the animals (Ollie Longface, Fefe, Flint, Figgan...). I can't recommend it enough.
I think you can rent it at most video stores. If not, I have it and could send it to you if you'd like to borrow it.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 08:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 09:04 am (UTC)I've been wanting to see that movie.
MISS YOU!
Oh, and how do I kill plants with vinegar, again?
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Date: 2005-07-30 09:11 am (UTC)I MISS YOU TOO! You need to see the doc. It is luffly.
To kill plants with vinegar: make a solution of 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water in a spray bottle. Spray the evil plant's leaves. Wait for a sunny, hot part of the day the most effectiveness. You may have to visit the plant again in a few days (say... three?) and hit it again. The salts from the vinegar draw out the water from the plant (Hypotonic/hypertonic solutions - do we remember our science classes?) and thereby killing the EVOL dandelion. Or what have you.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 09:13 am (UTC)Nova and National Geographic have been producing some amazing shows lately. (Did you catch the Nova special on Brazil nuts? Seriously: it was AWESOME. A three parter last month.)
I'm a science dork.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 10:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 03:28 pm (UTC)Drinking a beer, flipping through flist, then writing. At no time does Caza love or food factor. I've had 4 bottles of water, a big ass coke and a banana, followed by a Miller Lite. Oh, yum!
Anyway, Austin's all cool and stuff.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-30 04:17 pm (UTC)Also, your kids are so awesome Laura!
I have to get ready for a wedding reception soon. Maybe I'll catch you later tomorrow. Send me an email about when you're available for YIM, if you can! *mwah*
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Date: 2005-07-30 05:10 pm (UTC)The whole videogames/tv-desensitizes-you thing is crap. So many kids will cry at the Lion King and then play Super Ass Kicking Skull Crushing 4 (for XBOX).
And I have now joined the community and shall pimp it, although I think a lot of the people on my flist are on yours . . . ah well. Effort will be made. *smooches*
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Date: 2005-07-30 05:39 pm (UTC)Sometimes it's aggravating to be out in the suburbs when the cool stuff is in the city. Then I think we should be grateful to be as close to Boston as we are -- we could be even further away. But why does a movie like this not get wider distribution?
Your kids are so great. Owls? Are they a special favorite, or did that come out of some unexpected place?
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Date: 2005-07-30 06:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-31 09:03 am (UTC)Are you writing???
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Date: 2005-07-31 09:07 am (UTC)I'm taking pics later for you.
What's happening today?
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Date: 2005-07-31 09:09 am (UTC)*smooch to YOU*
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Date: 2005-07-31 09:10 am (UTC)Go see it! Take the drive! It's lovely!!
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Date: 2005-07-31 09:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-31 11:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-31 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-31 12:24 pm (UTC)"But I'm pretty when I lie." GAH!
I've been writing like a FIEND this weekend.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-01 01:17 am (UTC)Almost all the music I like could be aptly described as "lush".