Smiley takes the Bus

This Monday Smiley began taking the school bus to school.


He loves it. He waits, staring out the living room window until it pulls up, then yells 'bye' and runs out the door. His friend Jay-Jay rides with him, offering him a manic 'hello' wave when the bus pulls up.
He tells everyone about it; in fact when he visited my Mom his first words were his version of "take bus".

Me? I hate it. I'm proud of him, and happy that he enjoys it, but it makes me a paranoid nut. I've kept that to myself, and I'm getting better, but oh my.

He-Haw

Man, I'm tickled pink!

Today the mailman delivered two envelopes from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Inside of each was a 'fan' letter to me that was mailed to the newspaper and then forwarded to my home. Unfortunately, I'd ripped open the first envelope thinking it was my check, then got so excited after reading the letter that I greedily tore open the second. That's a pity, because I would have liked to have preserved it for my future musuem. Ah well. :)

* * *

Bridgett - I read your comment on Scott's departure before having a chance to watch the recorded show. No matter - it was actually a better viewing experience, as I didn't have to sweat out the Anoop-Scott drama. As for his early departure, I think the top five *has* to be Adam, Danny, Allison, and Matt, with Kris or Anoop battling it out for the numero cinco. Long story short, whether he went home this week or next, the exit was coming soon.

* * *

Another reason I'm excited: for the first time in a few weeks the whole Slapinions family will have the opportunity to sit down and enjoy a real dinner together. That's odd that it's odd, as from the time of YaYa's birth on we ALWAYS shared dinner together, and 99% of the time, no matter the entree, fruits and vegetables were on the plate.

I don't think I've seen a vegetable that wasn't sliced and on top of a meat patty in a week. Some parts of working evenings SUCK.

My criteria tonight is firm: meat, starch, veggies, and a fruit. Oh man, I can't wait.

Mama Mia!

Yeah, I like ABBA. Sue me. I haven't had a chance to see the stage version of Mamma Mia! and was eager to watch the movie.

Simply put, it tells of Sophie's attempt to discover the identity of her father in the days before her wedding. The trouble is Donna, her Mom, (played by Meryl Streep) was very . . . adventurous one week twenty years ago, and there are three potential Daddy's. Each gets an invitation to attend the wedding and adventure ensues, while the music of ABBA develops the characters and moves the plot forward.

It's good to see the continuing (if small) revival of movie musicals (High School Musical, Enchanted, etc.) and I was pleasantly surprised, watching the subtitled version of the film, at how many of the lyrics are polished and literate.
I'm not sure if it's a flaw carried over from the stage version or not, but both Lisa and I felt the movie felt disjointed at times. There were some ludicrously naive plot points: the daughter who's sure she'll recognize her father on sight and that when she does "everything [in her life] will fall into place"; the fact that Donna seems unable to put two and two together, turning this into an elaborate episode of Three's Company; and Sophie's out of left field actions during the wedding.

Small complaints, all in all. My biggest problem with the film was that some people (cough Pierce Brosnan cough Meryl Streep cough) were hired for their name and not their voice. Pity that. Kudos to Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) for her great voice and natural beauty, both of which help elevate the film above the norm.

2.8 out of 4

American Idol 4/7

Once again I'm up too late because of this dang show. I'll try to keep it short.

* * * *

1. Danny - Ah, I wasn't bowled over. It was good but not great.

2. Kris - I like the guy a lot, but this did sound like souped up, jazzified elevator rock. Not good.

3. Lil' - Wow, she's really fallen off a cliff. So much talent gone to waste. I noticed her Tina-esque steps and knew it was over. Every week she promises to improve, and every week she sucks.

4. Anoop - It was fine, but a little bland. He'll stick around.

5. Scott - I thought it was OK, especially for a Scott performance, but the guitar was a joke. I also think he's a bit of a prick for how he reacts to the slightest criticism from the judges. But again, an OK night for him.


POLITICALLY INCORRECT STATEMENT OF THE WEEK - I'm not the only one who's mentioned this, as I've heard it frequently out and about, but I'm guessing I'm the only yahoo brave enough to do it in print. Scott's eyes, for obvious reasons, fail to track like normal, and the Polar Express like phenomenon is highly unnerving.

Did I miss something? Has it become somehow insulting or demeaning for a blind or severely impaired person to wear sunglasses? Seriously, is this viewed as an insult now? And if so, someone better go out and tell Stevie Wonder. He was still wearing them when he was on the show, and I don't think there's a human being alive who doesn't respect the man.


6. Allyson - She rocked it. I don't think she'll win this competition, but she could have in at least two of AI's seasons, if not more.

7. Matt - Wow. Wow. Wow. I was blown away. This was a million times better than last week and the only, the ONLY song from tonight I'd enjoy listening to on the radio right now.

8. Adam - My DVR failed to record his performance, but thankfully it was present on the subsequent recording of Fringe from the next hour. It was good. Not standing ovation good, as Simon claimed, but very good. A little theatrical for my taste, but I'm starting to think the guy i going to wind up like David Bowie, with a specific if odd persona, style, and arrangements. Therefore I'm going to start judging him against his own standard, rather than as how he stacks up against the other performers. I'm not sure how he'd fly in the pop world, with the exception of an AI driven first album, but there's a niche he'll fill somewhere in the recording world.

* * * *

My bottom three: Lil, Kris, and Scott.

The real world bottom three is hard to pick, as mediocrity was the norm, bringing favorites down a peg: Lil, Kris, Anoop.

My guess is Lil goes home, and it'll be no loss.

Another Column of Mine will be in the Paper this week

After the publication of that snow column last week I wrote the editors and told them I'd gladly take any assignment they wanted to parcel out.

To my genuine suprise, they had me write a column on the departure of Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who'll be assuming the same office in New York on the 15h.

Barring an outright rejection by the editor, it should be in The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel this (Good)Friday.

Eight weeks between the first publication of mine and the second, five weeks between the second and the third . . and ten days between the third and fourth. Booyah!

I'm gonna miss this gig when it's over.

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Boring Life for Me

Lisa's up in Green Bay right now at a New Kids on the Block concert with some friends, which means I had to (gasp!) parent on my own for a night, shuffling the kids to and from school and dance class. The big test will be tomorrow morning. Lisa won't get in until the middle of the night, and will be out of commission for the morning prep-for-school rituals. And I am not a functioning human being at 6:30 A.M.

Speaking of the New Kids, they are embarking on another tour over the summer (or an extension of this one, take your pick) and you'll no doubt hear us yak about them again in the coming months.

BTW, their song Two in the Morning won a KISS Combat Challenge on the radio here. And it's 2009. Wow. Whodathunkit back in 1990?

* * * * *

True story: YaYa and I were dispatched by my Mom to pick up my father from a local church(not my own). When I asked for my Dad by name a woman got an odd look on her face, then came up and offered me her hand.

"I thought I recognized your picture from the paper, and that name is hard to forget. You were in the Journal a few days ago, weren't you? The article on snow. Oh, I thought that was dead on. I LOVED it. Are you writing anything else?" The woman wasn't 'meet the rock star' giddy, but she was reaching the 'meet the smooth jazz star' plateau.

I swear to you, I thought it was a candid camera moment and that my Dad set me up. But no, I guess she was legit. It was the only 'out of the blue' congrats, but I've had a few from people that vaguely know me (or of me), some of which had very sweet things to say.*

Huh.

Anyway, what's that old anecdote about Caesar having someone whisper 'fame is fleeting' in his ear? You could tell YaYa was proud, but she's old enough now to treat such feelings towards her parents as 'uncool'. Here's her official take on it: "I hope you don't think you're famous now. Cuz, uh, you're not."

:)

*Meanwhile a family member flat out said they didn't like it, and you know what? I appreciate their honesty.

* * * *

I burned my right ring finger last night cooking some Ramen noodles. I always do this idioticly macho 'shake it for a moment, swear, continue on as if nothing happened' routine when I burn myself. Most of the time I refuse to even run it under cold water, but this sucker hurt and blistered up. I all but teleported to the sink. Dang near ruined my viewing of the Match Game, it did.

Memo to college grad: don't grab a metal serving spoon if it's been laying on the hot stovetop for ten minutes.

* * * *

Smiley's Spring Concert

I wanted to post the only two pics I have of Smiley's performance at a concert at his school back in February.





Lump, for the record, was an absolute doll during the performance. In this she takes after her brother, the undisputed king of patient theater-goers, and not her troublesome older sisters.

Smiley's 4th Birthday Party

Smiley had attended his cousin Caitlin's birthday party at a local bowling alley and fallen in love with the sport. So never mind that it seemed a poor fit for a 4 year olds party, the boy demanded it be an occasion for bowling.



And so it was.

Fortunately his birthday fell on a Saturday, so the party took place on the special day itself. We invited all of the kids from his speech class (it is a sub-group of under 10 kids in a class of 37) Most of the kids showed up, among them all but one of the boys.



For most of the kids it was difficult to get the ball down the alley, and more than once the lanes were clogged by balls that stopped dead on their way to the pins. Part of the problem was the venue; when Smiley had first bowled it was at a place that had ramps the kids could roll the ball down; not where we held the party.

So we wound up 'helping' most of the kids. Not Smiley. He refused help and did, indeed, manage to get the ball down the lane.





Heck, my biggest concern wasn't the stuck balls - it was the danger to four year old fingers and toes!















The party was two hours long and we were given two games per kid as part of the package, but there was no way we were going past ten frames. Uh-uh. (we did hand off the excess games to some of the parents as the party wrapped up). So after the first game we ate some pizza









then fired up the ol' birthday candle and serenaded the Little Man







Afterwards he opened his presents. Throughout most of this JayJay, a blonde girl from his class, sat alongside him.


He appears to have a fondness for her (and blondes in general), a fondness that is returned in full. He gave her a big hug when he opened her gifts, although to be honest he is very affectionate in general and tried to hug everyone who gave him a gift.





















Here's some family pics from the party. (Note: Lump is off the bottle, but a Sippy Cup could not be located for the event)







Man, was he pleased with his party, and so were we! May you have 110 more birthday parties like that Little Man. We love you!

A list, some congrats, and a nasty howling wind

As I write this the wind is howling like mad outside my window, battering against the glass as if I were living in a moody Gothic novel set on a Scottish moor. It is easily the most aggressive windstorm I've experienced since moving into this house.

[We were 'supposed' to get up to six inches of snow Sunday, an amount then downgraded to two to four inches, and then to none as the storm never bothered to arrive. It's like the meteorologists are trying desperately to validate my tongue-in-cheek column, but I'll gladly thank the heavens for nixing the white stuff, thank you very much.]

There is beauty in most things on this Earth, and the wind is no exception. I was reading Smiley a book when I glanced up through his skylight. The bare tree branches were an impressive sight as they fought against the wind, a sight that took our attention off the pages for several minutes.

* * * *

Kudos to my father, who told me today that he'd re-enrolled at UW-Milwaukee in hopes of completing his degree. It's contingent on financial aid, but I'm very proud of him.

* * * *

YaYa is compiling a list of all the books she's ever read, mimicking my own efforts. For the sake of keeping the obsession alive, and because it was a school assignment for her, here are all the books we read to LuLu in March (or rather, all the books we could find when I set out to make the list):

Dora: The Windy Day by Quinlan B Lee
Lady Lovely Locks and the PixieTails: The Golden Ball by Harriet Marcelle
Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree by Eileen Christelow
Walt Disney's Cinderella
Clifford's Puppy Day's: A Snowy Christmas by Quinlan B Lee
Dear Barbie: Too Many Puppies by Lisa Trusiani Parker
Disney's Beauty and the Beast - The Teapots Tale by Justine Korman
Disney's Enchanted: Before the Fall by Tennant Redbank
CareBears: What Makes you Happy? By JE Bright
Goodtimes Storybook Classic: Snow White by Carl Baldassarre
Barbie: Freckles by Mona Miller
Clifford's Spring Clean-Up by Norman Bridwell
Disney's The Little Mermad See/Hear/Read Book
Goodbye Geese by Nancy White Carlstrom

One and just in case I don't get around to a Smiley list: we read Rooftop Christmas tonight.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Before much more of the day slips away I want to go on record and wish my Mom a Happy 62nd Birthday. I hope you have many more Ma! We love you!

Where da Lump? There she is!

Or 'Ginger', as that nickname for her may just stick.

A little bit of this and that

Smiley stole a lit incense stick of ours and strolled around the house waving it like a sparkler. Natually, I took it away the minute Lisa caught sight of him.

No big deal, but you'll have to remember that Smiley still deals with a very bad speech problem. Because of this he ran around in tears yelling "Me dick mama. Me dick. Dada 'ook me dick", and growing increasingly angry when we laughed.

Good thing we didn't take it away from him in a crowded mall, huh?

* * * *

April Fools to me: My DVR failed to record Lost while I was at work, citing a scheduling conflict between High School Reunion and Whatever, Matha. *&#@#$

* * * *

To all friends/family - my cell phone is on the fritz. Sprint is replacing it free of charge, but until Monday or Tuesday you'll have to reach me on the landline.

* * * * *

Because Lisa and I both worked until late Friday evening, we found ourselves with the kids scattered among the grandparents and not one left at home. Hot dog! For the first time in years we hit the road and went out for dinner after midnight, winding up at Jalisco's ~1 a.m.

It was glorious. Not the food (which was good) but being out and about with no little booger-maker to slow us down. :)

This Week's American Idol

Curse my DVR. I have to stop staying up so late to watch this show, especially since it was mediocre at best last night. I feel miserable this morning.

So should 1. Anoop, who was fine vocally but looked awkward on stage. Usher? Are you serious? Lisa said it's a shame that people don't take him seriously because he's Indian, but I don't think that's it. There are a 1000 Bollywood stars who'd do fine in the role. Anoop however, just looks like the uptight computer guy in a college road trip movie, the guy who 'breaks loose' on stage once he's accidentally fed some pot brownies and hilarity ensues. Usher just doesn't work with his image. What's next, a Pussycat Dolls tune?

2. Megan - gag. The allure is gone, is it not? Go home.

3. Danny - I thought he did ok, but nowhere near as good as the judges thought. Could be just me, but I wasn't blown away.

4. Allison - I agree about the outfit. Awwwwfuuuullll. But her voice was strong and showed maturity in the quieter opening of the song. She should stay.

5. Scott - Enough America. To quote President Bush, there is such a thing as discrimination via 'the soft bigotry of low expectations'. If this guy had 20/20 vision he'd of hit the road long ago. His decision to bring out yet another piano ballad reinforces his limited range as an artist, and no, I don't think his vocals are that strong. Was it better than last week? You betcha. That . . doesn't say much. And for gosh sakes, why compliment his 'look'? His family should be all over the AI crew that works on him. He had John Parr (St. Elmo's Fire) hair - and it's not 1985 anymore people!



6. Matt - I love him, but I thought it was weak. The guy is searching for an artistic 'center', and sadly must do so in the public eye. He should stay, but I'm worried.

7. Lil - Her 'edge' wore smooth quickly, didn't it? Old fashioned in appearance and sound, Lil' is quickly slipping into the abyss. Pull it together or risk losing it all.

8. Adam - I dropped out of the Adam fan club after a brief 7 day membership. Wild Cherry is irrelevant and gimmicky today, and no matter how much you may have loved that ho-hum performance it would not fly on a record released in 2009. It just wouldn't. That's a fact. At least the Johnny Cash was edgy. He'll survive, but he's dropped a few pegs.

9. Kris - he rescued the night with a song so damn good it could make the airwaves right now. Excellent job! By far the best of the night.

* * *

Kara is, as the audience shouted out, a 'broken record'. Come up with something other than 'wrong song choice', ok?

* * * *

Who goes? Wow. It was so lackluster a week that many, many people could be on the edge. If it was up to me Megan, Scott, and Lil are on the hot seat (Lil just as a 'warning') with Megan going home.

America will probably put Megan, Matt, and Allison in the bottom three, with Megan getting the ax - but I'm worried about Matt.

Yikes.

Lost "He's our You"

On the eve of another episode I thought I'd go ahead and post a new Lost theory that popped into my head.

A brief recap of the Sayid-centric episode: In 1977 Sayid remains a captive of the Dharma Initiative, despite Sawyer's best efforts to convince them he's not a Hostile spy. Sayid is taken to the jungle and given drugs to force a confession.


It works; he admits everything, but it sounds so outrageous it's dismissed out of hand. Later the group votes to kill Sayid. Sawyer, unable to halt the group's momentum, makes it a unanimous vote.



So much for Sawyer's wonderful leadership skills.

But young 12 year old Ben Linus seeks to befriend Sayid, who quickly notes the abusive behavior of Ben's Dad. Ben apparently lights a Dharma van on fire and sends it crashing into a building as a diversion to rescue Sayid. As they flee into the jungle Jin intercepts them and Sayid renders him unconscious or worse. Referencing a line Ben told/tells him thirty years in the future, Sayid turns to the young Ben and shoots him in the chest, presumably killing the boy.



* * * *

OK. Sawyer: Just as 'reactive' a leader as Jack was and obviously not as stuck on the whole 'don't be a Judas' thing.

But the main development here is the Ben/Sayid encounter and its impact on history. In 'real' life this would destroy the timeline and eliminate Ben and his actions from the life history of the 815 survivors. Personally, I think someone else might have simply taken his place and recreated 89% of his historical actions, but that's neither here nor there.

Why? Because Lost has gone out of the way to emphasize that in their world time cannot be altered. What has happened has always happened, even if we aren't privy to how history eventually conforms to our understanding.

Thus, we have some options.

One - the kid wasn't 'really' Ben, and the Benjamin Linus we know and loathe is an impostor. This is contradicted by prior episodes and the kid's unfortunate facial similarity to the grown Linus. Not a viable theory.

Two - He isn't dead. Could be, but what are the chances a professional killer fails to finish off a little boy at close range? Not viable.

Three: Ben dies. I vote for this one. But does time change? Again, by Lost's 'rules', no. So Ben dies, but somehow comes back to life.

Cue my theory. Ben dies and is resurrected by the island, thus cementing his obsession with the island, his belief in his 'special' status, and his role with the Hostiles.

If we accept that Ben rises from the dead, just as Locke does in the 'present', then it's a good bet that Christian Shepard's manifestation is physical and as complete as either one. Jack's Dad is alive and well on the island.

Here's where I think I *may* have hit a nerve. Locke, Ben, and Christian are 'special' and rose from the dead. Who else among the Losties seems to hold a special relationship [even unwillingly] with the island, a leadership role and ties to many of the other players in the saga?

Jack, who we first see in the jungle, having been tossed from the wreckage and laying apart from the others, his only wound a (Christ-like) piercing in his side.

Was Jack killed in the crash and unknowingly resurrected, leading him to assume the special role of protagonist throughout the series?

Regardless, Ben will 'rise' again. And he will no doubt bear knowledge of Sayid and many of the others with him into the future and force his hand. Thus, the past creates the future, and the future creates the past.

Deep huh? What do you think?

A link to the column

The column is in print and wouldn't ya know it, I actually like the thing. Here's a link to the beast, which in no way excuses anyone in town from picking up a copy.

I'll post the entire piece here in a few days.