Comic Books May Be Next. Manga At Least.

Leila and I are still feeding our new Anime addiction. Working our way through all the Hayao Miyazaki films available at our local library (Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle are good ones to start with if you're interested.)

One of my favorite things about these is trying to pick out the whose who of Western celebrities that do the voices in the English versions. Billy Crystal being the easiest to place thus far in Howl. Just a couple classics are Cary Elwes as Baron Humbert von Gikkingen in the Cat Returns:
A more handsome version than what Elwes has regrettably aged into since the Westley and Buttercup days.

And... Christian Bale as Howl:

It took me a while to place CB. Likely b/c he wasn't dropping the F-bomb!

We just started on Castle in the Sky featuring a (pre-Dawson) James Van Der Beek and Anna Paquin. We watch them in chapters as they're all over 2 hours long.

Go right ahead and throw the "GEEK!" comments at me.

Miscellany

So I think I’m going to have to blame Facebook for ignoring ye olde blog. I mean, by the time I’ve updated my status 12 times in 24 hours there’s really only so much more I can relay. But here’s a brief effort to jot some random doings down in no particular order or relevance…

Starting with the biggie... The Inauguration of our nation’s 44th President was pretty much words cannot describe. I was so very happy and moved to be in town one week ago today. Yes, my view of history was had from a cozy law office with beer, buffets and legitimate bathrooms, but had I stayed home I would not have gotten to see the glowing smiles first hand, join in spontaneous chants of Obama, watched the cold crowds break into the electric slide to stay warm, taken dozens of fuzzy birds eye pictures of Suburbans are armored limos etc….

The Weather - Why does it seem that the colder winters get, the less snow seems to fall? It appears to have started lightly again and I guess we may have/get a couple inches out there, but I want a legitimate snow day! As in the school cancellation is made the night before and I get to lay around in sweats all day and take my kid out to play. If there is ice tomorrow as called for, I’m simply not having it. I don’t even own snow boots since our winters have been such duds for so many years now. No way I’ll be sliding down our two hills to the main road in the car to get Leila to school or on my feet/ass to get to the bus stop.

The Kid – is “bright.” ‘nuff said. We seem to be easing off some of the 3.5 year old attitude and maybe moving into a pleasant pre-4 stage. Fingers crossed. I’m enjoying discovering Anime with her. Geek that I am probably should have gotten into Anime long ago! I still love Pixar for visual effect, but aside from the exceptional Wall-E, the art of Anime storytelling is so much richer. We have thoroughly enjoyed The Cat Returns (w/ voices by Anne Hathaway and Carey Elwes) and Spirited Away. I’m also really enjoying that Leila will now sit quietly with me at night and listen to me read a chapter of a Narnia book. Harry Potter can’t be far behind.

The National Harbor – just across the river from us is quickly becoming a new favorite lets just get out of the house for a few hours weekend spot. Will be great in warm weather when we can take water taxi from Old Town. Nice to walk around the marina and play on the relocated “Awakening” statue. Some good restaurants (Rosa Mexicano!) And the Gaylord hotel/convention center is impressive. The baby Bellagio dancing sound and light fountains that play at 6:00, 7:00, 8: 00 and 9:00 are a HUGE hit with Leila (OK, I kind of dig them too.)

TV – SO glad to fall back into the rabbit hole of Lost. Don’t get the time travel at all, but totally game for the ride. 24 really hit its stride last night and had me breathless at the edge of my seat. Grey’s Anatomy reminded me what a dramatic wallop it can punch last week (RIP Erik Stoltz.) And I’m consistently 3 week behind on the Walker Family antics.

Vacation – is on the horizon! Leave is approved and tickets bought for Nicaragua 3/13- 3/23. Flor de Cana, here I come. We have an Abarca family wedding, which tend towards all night affairs, and I’m hoping to get some beaching and touring in too.

That’s all for now.

Baby Jude

Is already 4+ weeks old! He looks pretty much like Carter and this is about the only state I've ever seen him in.

Leila loves raspberries

Enough so that I find myself spending $4.99 on a teeny tiny container for her in the dead of winter. So we were at my mom's house Friday night with the Armands for a Louisiana fish fry (I'm glad baby Jude has arrived b/c now we should get to see more of Danielle's family and the truckloads full of cajun food they travel with!) After I ate 3 pounds worth (literally, that's how much my weight was up on the scale Saturday morning) of fried fish, shrimp and jalapeno hush puppies I scooped up Leila's berry dessert for her. Her signature way of eating them is to stick a berry on each finger. Danielle asked her who taught her how to do that and she looks up at us w/o skipping a beat and responds "I'm bright." We were rolling after verifying that was indeed what she had said. That smirk there is a very self-satisfied one, no?

The only good in Grey's right now...

... is Kevin McKidd. And a psychotic guest turn by Erik Stoltz. I've really missed Erik Stoltz in my life. I think I'll have to dig out my VHS copy of Kicking and Screaming.

But back to McKidd. I don't know how I missed that he was in Trainspotting. Yeah, that's him third from left with the purdy hair. How young does Ewan McGregor look? That's yet another movie to add to my re-watch list.

..

In follow up...

The kid came home from visiting the Abarca family in Connecticut with a 5 foot tall Sleeping Beauty doll. OK, perhaps it's 4 feet tall. And she talks. In a frightening automaton voice. Leila calls her Susan. After Susan from Narnia. Go figure. We'll have to get her a bow and arrow set I guess.

Standing up for the Princess

Am I the worst mom in the world? I’ve been reading these tirades against “Princess Culture” on the DC Urban Mom’s listserv I’m on for the past several days and I just don’t get. I fully agree that the INDUSTRY is much more out of control than it was when I was a kid - you can’t even get past the dollar bins in Target without being bombarded by Disney doodads, but am I really skewing my 3 year old’s body image for life and teaching her that she needs to sit pretty and wait for a Prince to swoop in to save her by allowing her to watch The Little Mermaid, play with her new box set of 7 Disney Princesses (yes, 7 – she’s been asking for Barbie’s and to my eyes at least the diverse line up of Jasmine, Belle, Mulan, Ariel…was much preferable, but apparently not!), or put on a tiara from her chest of princess/fairy dress up clothes? Seriously?!

I fully understand the impressionability concerns and intend to do the best I can to foster a healthy body image, confidence and self reliance. But her overhearing me say, ugh, mom needs to exercise, my jeans are to tight one too many times is probably way more damaging than allowing her to comb Sleeping Beauty’s long blonde hair. Frankly, I grew up on the same Disney movies, granted w/o so many of the tie-in products, and I love re-experiencing them (over and over and over again) with Leila. Indeed, the bulk of her Christmas presents came straight out of my childhood – Colorforms, Tinker Toys and a Viewmaster Oh My! She plays with her dolls for a few minutes then asks me to get out Colorforms and help her create scenes. She also received her # 1 request: “a baby that pees.” It’s gross and ridiculous, but watching the way she nurtures her baby “Isabella” as a little mommy, it can’t be all bad for her development and imaginative play skills. She’s also just as likely to pick up her plastic sword and shield and pretend to be Peter from Narnia as she is to drift into Princess La La Land. Yes, I’ve also probably damaged her for letting her watch Narnia so young, but it inspired her to request the book – the same Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe book I was enthralled with as a somewhat older kid – and while she won’t sit through a chapter of my reading it yet, she walks around holding it and narrating stories about the few illustrations properly identifying the character names etc. Anyway, while I don’t dare jump into the flames of my listserv, I’d like to advocate as strongly as I can for letting kids be kids and embracing the Princess phase with all its satin and jewels for the short time it lasts.