Omnium-gatherum
Matt Hanson’s Brain Archive
November 28, 2005
She’s 3
We had a kid birthday party for Kaley last weekend, the theme of which was ’shapes and colors’. Cake, ice cream, presents, and games were the order of the day. Also in this gallery are pictures of Kaley on her actual birthday, the day after Thanksgiving this year, when we were at Me-Meres house.
The Terrible Two’s?
While the age of two is usually called the ‘terrible twos’, the time between 2 and 3 was when Kaley underwent an amazing transformation from baby to an independent communicative toddler. This ia an amazing time of language development where they start off with perhaps a couple words at the age of two, and by 3 they have an extensive vocabulary and talking in complete sentences. Kaley continually uses words that I wonder where she learned them from. She knows colors, shapes, can count by rote to 20, and can actually count things to 3 or 4. It’s amazing how far she’s come in a single year.
Potty training is another big devlepmental milestone and I cannot stress this enough…take your time and you will have less problems in the long run. We waited until Kaley was showing an interest, about 2 and a half. In about a month she was fully potty trained. The terrible two’s are present in all children I’ve ever met - referring to the tendency of them throwing tantrums and the difficulty in communicating with them. Encourage them to use words and don’t respond to communication via whining, or tantrums. But perhaps we just had it easy. Despite the occasional difficulty I am looking forward to watching Maizy through her two’s and am curious what the similarities and differences will be.
November 19, 2005
Mr. E.
Of all my years of grade school one stood out the most. It was 5th grade at Weatherbee School in Hampden, ME and my teacher was Mr. Edinger. Of course we were 5th graders so we made fun of the guy quite a bit. He was a bit of an old coot, but that is precisely the reason why I remember him so much. For all I know he had died years ago, but he didn’t. Jason C. sent me the obituary link and it was with a bit of sadness that I read Mr. E. died Monday.
In reading the obituary link I learn of all those things that as kids, we never knew, or would have cared about. He was a WWII veteran, had 2 sons and 2 daughters. He was from Jersey. He was 83.
To us he was just crazy old Mr. E, source of many stories and memories that I and my friends still share from time to time. Mr. E.’s life from the obituary was all news to me, it’s like I didn’t know him. But for many other readers that short newspaper clipping summed things up nicely. Kids memories aren’t used to write obituaries. Here the things you won’t read about Mr. E in the newspaper.
One night, in his youth, Mr. E. had car problems and he found himself under the hood. A passing truck driver tapped his horn, perhaps due to a deer…Mr. E., startled, lost his right pointing finger to the second knuckle in an engine fan. As a teacher, Mr. E. couldn’t exactly point - so he used his entire hand to point to things which became the Mr. E. symbol amongst our impressionable young minds. This (along with the Atari Boxing and the mind of Paul Bradley) brought about a whole new kid past-time - Mr. E. Boxing. I will not even attempt to explain the intricacies of that inside joke.
Mr. E. was the easiest teacher to imitate - one merely gestured with his hand (and pointing finger folded in) and said one of the many Mr. E. catch phrases, “Stay on the MacAdam, son”, or “I’ll be giving you a Think About Recess sheet”. Yes, the Think About Recess sheet, Mr. E’s answer to the more normal recess detention. In this version you would stay inside and fill out a worksheet that asked questions such as “would you rather be outside playing?” and “how does being inside during recess make you feel?”. But alas, I cannot tell you stories about how I answered such questions as I think I may have gotten one, once (i think), and if so it probably was probably because I was hanging out with Bruce Simeoni.
Fifth grade in Hampden, ME, in 1983, was the year that the the whole 5th grade was divided into girls/boys and we got our first introduction to puberty. Mr. E. was in charge and gave the talk to all us 10 year old boys.
Mr. E.’s favorite group, in 1983, was Air Supply. At the end of the year the whole class pitched in and we bought him the (vinyl) album The One That You Love.
Mr. E. was also found of singing - he had a whole collection of historical songs we sang in class. One civil war era song Cumberland Gap had always partially stuck with me.
Cumberland Gap is a mighty fine place,
three kinds of water to wash your face.
Cumberland Gap is a mighty fine place,
three kinds of water to wash your face.
Lay down boys and take a little nap,
fourteen miles to Cumberland Gap.
Lay down boys and take a little nap,
fourteen miles to Cumberland Gap.
Check out the complete lyrics and historical context info, or a listing of recorded songs.
My best to Mr. E.’s family and friends.
November 14, 2005
Kung-Fu Hustle
There are three main styles of the Wuxia, or “Kung-Fu”, film. The Bruce Lee style is real, or as a real as it can be and still be a good movie. There there is a more fanciful style that frequently uses “wire-fu“. The characters in the film perform amazing physical feats, such as jumping/flying, running up walls or tree limbs. The popular Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is such a film, as are countless others. The third style of Wuxia film takes the fantasy element one step further. Heroes and villians, no longer content with amazing feats of physical prowess, are now endowed with supernatural abilities. They are the Chinese counterparts to Western Superheroes.
Kung Fu Hustle falls into the third camp with it’s Super-Heroes, and Super-Villians, who can fight, jump, fly, destroy city blocks by yelling, grab bullets from the air, and even get knocked into outer space and survive a fiery re-entry through the atmosphere. Kung-Fu Hustle has amazing special effects and a unique story. Perhaps it is the fact that I am a Westerner but in many Wuxia films I am unable to even guess what will happen next. Kung-Fu Hustle is like going to the circus as a bright-eyed, naive young kid, continuously amazed at the sights and sounds, no preconceptions about the end, and giddy with the plain silliness of at all.
If you are not a fan of the genre you may very well think it’s a horrible piece of drivel, non-sensical, stupid, and with no redeeming qualities. For the non-fan here’s the litmus test: If you thought “Big Trouble in Little China” was stupid then stay away. If you liked it, and you like the western super-hero genre, and think The Tick is funny, then it will at least entertain you.
As a fan of the Kung-Fu genre, and of bizarre films in general, Kung-Fu Hustle is an amazing film, and among the best of it’s kind. I would give it a rare 5/5.
November 10, 2005
The Pumpkin People
I’m back from another work trip to Port Jefferson, NY. It’s been busy and I hadn’t gotten a chance to post the rest of the Pumpkin day pictures - the pictures of everyone with their pumpkins. Except this year it’s not just the people and their pumpkins, Beady the malformed scarecrow has also gotten involved. These are the important pictures as it helps me keep track of Who’s Who in the land of pumpkin carving.
Who seems most pleased with their pumpkin ? Who seems upset with their performance? Can you see the pure madness on the faces of the practioners of this barbaric ritual?
