Fire goes in...fire comes out the other end.

Val's folks visited with us over Easter weekend. We all had a great time with them and were sad to see them go - except for one thing. They left us a TON of snacks. Val's dad, Lee, just buys random treats every time he goes to the store. Some times it's candy or cookies, other times it's nuts or chips, or crackers. When they left, they couldn't take it all with them, so we got to keep it all! I gathered it all together to look at it all at once (you know, like you do with your Halloween Candy or Christmas presents), and I noticed a trend in the treats.




If you look closely you will see that every box, every bag, every jar contains the words "Hot and Spicy" or "Jalapeno". That's right, we got a life time supply of Hot and Spicy (and pepper jack) Cheez-it's, Jalapeno Pringles, Hot and Spicy Ketchup, Jalapeno Mustard, Hot and Spicy V8, Hot and Spicy Jalapeno Cheetos, Hot peppers, and more. It's a good thing me and Xander like spicy foods (Mia does sometimes too)! The only thing is what goes in - must come out, so we only snack in moderation.


In other news, we make stuff.


This is a Wall-e that CJ made all by herself with a couple of boxes and toilet paper rolls. You might have seen it before.



My big project is a paper/cardboard/foamboard R2-D2 which has taken me forever to build - and still has a long way to go. But I made this handy gadget in the mean time. It's a 5 way switch for head phones. At work I have 2 computers that do different things. Sometimes I listen to music on one, other times I watch (really "listen to") movies and shows on Hulu.com on the other one, and sometimes I listen to my iTouch. This results in a lot of unplugging and plugging of my head phones and constant tangling of and running over of the headphone cord. With this switch, I have one cable plugged into each of my computers, and have 3 empty head phone slots to plug in my itouch and anything else I might want to listen to. Then I plug in my headphones into the single output jack and simply turn the knob to listen to whichever device I want. I searched the internet for something like this and could only find professional audio equipment costing $300! This one cost me about $10, 2 hours, and a phone call to my brother, Joe, to clarify the circuit technology.




I plan on taking pictures of my future projects and posting step-by-steps of them for those who are curious.

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Lately I have been concerned about CJ. She has a lot of boy friends at school. Like any father would be, I've been worried about the things they talk about at recess. I was horrified when CJ finally told me. They all think (and play) that Aniken Skywalker is some sort of hero and is the center of the Star Wars universe! It makes me sick to my stomach to think that my little girl is being deceived by the revisionist histories of the modern George Lucas!

In addition to this revelation, I have been building my own R2-D2 (which should be done in a couple of weeks), and my kids have naturally been curious. Along with that, the kids and I have been playing Lego Star Wars: the Complete Saga. They didn't understand who Luke, Han and Leia were. I tried to explain, but they still just didn't understand. I thought maybe their mother would have "the Star Wars talk" with them, but those hopes were dashed when I excitedly told Valerie about how Duff (from Ace of Cakes) had made the coolest Millennium Falcon cake for some one. She just stared at me. "You know, the Millenium Falcon", I said, "from Star Wars?"
"Oh!", she suddenly remembered, "Is that the big hairy thing?"

Whatever.




So I was forced to step up to my fatherly duties and explain (by my self) that the Star Wars prequels were made after the original Star Wars movies - but that they take place before them. Also that the Clone Wars cartoon is some attempt to extend the prequel experience, but that the only things that actually matter are the original 3 films. I also had to try to explain that George Lucas keeps messing with the original films, changing lines, adding shots, tweaking here and there, until we end up with some warped version of reality. Kinda like Michael Jackson's face.



I figured the best explanation was to simply show the original films to my kids. All three kids sat in absolute wonder through "A New Hope". CJ declared that Luke Skywalker was "really cute, like a twenty! - wait, what number does it go to?" Xander and Mia went around the house fighting with pretend lightsabers. When Mia watched "The Empire Strikes Back" while I was at work one day, she was so excited to tel me what she learned. She said "Luke got his hand cut off! And guess what!", then in a conspiratorial whisper, "Darth Vader is Luke's father! Nooooooooo" I was so excited at her excitement that I didn't even care that she called him "Dark Vader" (Xander says Darth Mater). Yesterday they watched "Return of the Jedi". The girls dutifully informed me that Luke and Leia are brother and sister, and that Han and Leia kiss a lot.


All in all, I feel that my kids have been shown the truth now of what Star Wars is, and are now prepared to handle the peer pressure relating to the prequels and Aniken. Who knows, maybe they will teach their friends by example and we will save a whole generation from the lies that are everything George Lucas has done to Star Wars since Return of the Jedi.

The other day...

This is Andrew Stanton's Oscar for Wall-e. The other day, the day after the Oscars, we had a big celebration and toast (the drink kind not the bread kind). Afterward Andrew stuck around so we could get pictures taken with him and the Oscar. I didn't feel like getting my picture taken because I didn't work on the film, but you can bet I will next year when "Up" wins!


The other day the "Up" character team (the people who worked on all the characters)had a 'We're done!' celebration. We went to Skywalker Ranch. If you know what that is, you know how cool a thing it is to go there. If you don't know what it is, I'll forgive you and give you a clue. Skywalker Ranch is located on Lucas Valley Road. Still don't know? Fine. It's George Lucas's place. By 'place' I mean the huge plot of land where much of his production studios reside.(For those who are still in the dark - he made (cough - and ruined - cough) Star Wars! This is the main house (Where George hangs out).
It's a gorgeous area! Our main goal was to visit Skywalker Sound, where they record/create all the sound for our movies. We saw them mixing the sound for a trailer, but the highlight was playing with foley. Foley is all the natural sound effects. Things like footsteps, the sound of doors opening/closing, etc. In a live action film they record most of those sounds while filming, but nothing exists for animated film so every single sound has to be created by a Foley artist. You've probably seen it on a DVD or at Disneyland. They assigned each of us a sound effect, then they played a clip of the movie and we tried to time our sound effect to fit. The recorded it and played it back - It was soooo fun!


The other day Mia came in my room with a baby doll under her shirt. She said "I'm going to have a baby!" Then made this face and a weird grunting sound and flipped her shirt inside out plopping the baby out.



The other day we had a family Guitar Hero match. While the girls played, Xander, feeling left out grabbed the girl's Barbie guitar and copied them. Eventaually he figured out that his was different, so we gave him a chance. He Rocked! It was so sweet, he had to brush his teeth afterward.



One last thing. They don't teach Art in the schools out here (I mean money is short you know - and how could they afford to pay for Art without cutting the important curriculum that only our schools can teach, like "Gay and Lesbian acceptance") Anyway, in an effort to keep our children from becoming uncultured hippies (rather than cultured hippies), they have (usually untrained) parents volunteer once a month to teach art to the kids.
Valerie is this volunteer in CJ's class. Today Val taught the kids about "Surrealism" (like Salvadore Dali). CJ was excited about it ad told me that they learned "Cerealism".

I'm sorry about the long, political, set-up to that punchline. No I'm Not.

Places to Pee and Places to Play

This past Saturday, Val and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. Actually Monday was our anniversary - we just observed it on Saturday. We took a Go-Car tour of San Fransisco. A Go-Car is a 2 person (side-by-side), three wheeler (50cc) scooter that you drive all over the city while a nice lady in your radio tells you about stuff (based on her gps). We were going for 3 hours, so i thought it would be fun to document all the places where Valerie had to stop and pee (Pregnant ladies have to pee all the time, you know). Well, it turns out that she only had to go twice - right at the beginning (In a hotel across the street from the Go-Car rental), and then when we were done and eating lunch in Lori's Diner (next door to the hotel).
BTW: Lori's was delicious and fun! It was like a 1950's diner with checkered floor and red and chrome booths and fun, friendly, servers.

One of the places we went is the old WWII gun battlements. They are right at the tip of the Golden Gate and were there to protect the bay from a Pearl Harbor type attack. Now they are just a super cool place to play! I expect me and the guys will have to throw on our military gear from Halloween and pose for some pictures! Maybe we'll even get ambitious enough to shoot some video! We'll see.

"Stupid is as stupid does. . ."

George Carlin made this observation: "Just think how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are even stupider!" If you have ever worked in any industry where you come in contact with the general public, you know what he means.

I tried twice before to write this entry and found myself first on one side of the argument, then the other. I think I've finally cleared up my opinion, so here goes.

I was watching the Golden Globes the other night and saw (my childhood hero)Steven Spielberg accept the C.B. DeMille lifetime achievment award. In his speech, he mentioned how the studios were thinking about making films for a broader audience (meaning the stupid people of the world), but he warned them to keep making films for "individuals", and to remember "inspiration". By indivisuals he meant "filmakers, actors, and artists", basically the enlightened few.

The kinds of films he is talking about are the ones that always win all the awards, causing most people to throw popcorn at their TVs while exclaiming "I've never even heard of that one"! You know, the films where the protagonist is a mentally challenged Jew who finds himself working side by side with a sympathetic Nazi in an effort to free the black slaves in the swamps of Louisiana.

So here is where I usually either talk about how elitist artists are, comparing them to the Senate of Rome (versus the plebeians), or contrarily, how artists really are a bit more enlightened than the general public. Instead, all I want to say is this: Imagine you bake cookies. A lot of people may love your cookies, others may not prefer them. What would mean more to you, if your cookies received a compliment from the mailman, or from world renown cookie exper, Mr. OREO? Either compliment would feel nice, but really the one from the guy who knows cookies would feel better. That's the one that would make you want to brag a bit. That's how it is with the movie awards. The Oscar goes to the film that the film experts like the most and so it means a lot to the winners.

You probably don't agree with the winner, but even though you are surely less stupid than the average person, you are probably less enlightened than the average artist pretends to be. Which leads me to this question: Which movie is more successful? The one that wins no awards, but makes $400 million at the box office, or the one that wins tons of awards , but only makes $50 million?

This whole subjet could be debated forever. What makes art art? What makes good art? Who cares? Does art actually have any effect on society or is it just an indicator? Is it arrogant of artists to want to exclude those who don't understand it? Are artists actually more enlightened? Is it mean to point out that most of the people of the world are idiots even if it's true? Does humility require that you be oblivious to the stupidity around you?




The whole point of all this unfocused rambling is a message to (my childhood hero)Steven Spielberg. Mr. (my childhood hero)Steven Spielberg, you of all people know about both types of film making. You, who brought us some of the best films targeted at the masses, like Jaws, the Indiana Jonses, ET,Poltergeist, and Jurassic Park, should know that "inspiration" can come across in films with mass appeal. It is true, that the "inspiration" in your films was never recognized by your peers until you started making films for them instead of us, like Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Amistad and Munich. Why not encourage your peers to try to make films for mass audiences that also have some "inspiration"? Why not make the kinds of movies that everyone will remember and re-watch 30 years later - you've done it before, so make them understand that the value of a film lies in it's longevity - not in it's depressing obscurity - you'd win a lot more awards for sure!

DarthTater and Christmas Zombie Children

Val and the kids visited me at work the other day for lunch. I had a little extra time since I just finished up on "Up" (Coming to a theater near you May 2009), so I took them all to my office. Valerie commented on all my toys on my shelves and was surprised at all my Darth Vader (and other Star Wars) toys. I thought I would share them with you. Here's what's in the above picture (from left to right). This is one of 3 shelves of toys in my office)

A paper Boba Fett helmet I made to fit one of the maquette sculptures of a character on UP (the fat mullett-haired nurse from the trailer).
R2-D2 candy container.
Behind them is a smallish Darth Vader head (the symetrical one from the prequels). It's filled with miniature Darth Vader heads like the one to it's right. That is a sigg water bottle they gave us at work to encorage us to use instead of disposable ones (it's the green thing to do, you know). I glued a Vader head to the lid and use it as a display instead.
In front of that is my Darth Tater. Fitting cross between Star Wars and Pixar. Mia calls it my "Dark Vader Tomato Head".
Next we have Boo from Monsters, Inc in her monster outfit and behind her is a dragon with Nemo in it's hand, being ridden by Kate Bekinsale (actually Anna Valerious from Van Helsing), wearing a paper Storm Trooper helmet while holding a blue bird from Cinderella.
Next is Jango Fett with Boo climbing out of his head and reaching to touch the dragon.
Behind them is a Venom Mask, and to their right is Yoda dancing with Jaques from Cinderella. It's a celebration of Pixar. Though neither are Pixar characters, Pixar started out as a part of LucasFilm, and then teamed up with Disney.
Last is my full sized Darth Vader Helmet. There aren't many things cooler than that!

On to Zombie Children. During the Christmas season the kids watch "Polar Express" - a lot. That movie creeps me out soooo much. Every character looks and acts like a zombie with their dead expressionless faces. Anyway, we also drink a lot of hot chocolate. Because of that movie, every time someone says "hot chocolate", someone in my family says "Yeah, we got it (hot, hot)". They're all zombies too.

My Talented Wife and the Father's Guide to Pregnancy.

I want to share with you one of Valerie's talents. You might think I'm going to talk about how she's an awesome teacher, or super crafty-creative. Or, you might think I would go with her obvious (and recently realized) photography talent. Well, if you thought I was going to talk about those, you're wrong, and if you would stop interrupting me and trying to finish my sentences, I would get to the point - as soon as I share some thoughts.

Pregnancy is different for every woman. It's got to be hard right? I mean they have a parasite inside of them stealing all their nutrients and energy. They get fatter - which seems to be every woman's nightmare. And then there are the uncomfortable things like having to go to the bathroom every two minutes, craving food at odd times, and of course puking all the time.

Let it be known that I am fully sympathetic of all pregnant women.

BUT...
What about their husbands? Pregnancy is really hard for us too. First of all, from the moment she finds out that she's pregnant, she is constantly questioning whether or not she is showing yet. Every man knows that the answer to "Do I look fat?" is ALWAYS "No!". It gets more complicated when you are dealing with a pregnant woman. She is conflicted. She doesn't want to be fatter, but at the same time, she is excited to see the proof of the baby inside her. So if you answer "No" she hears "You're are getting all excited about the baby and just imagining that you can see this miracle growing each day" and she gets frustrated and upset. If you answer "Yes", she hears "You look fat". I try to go with an "honesty is the best policy" approach which just frustrates Val (because her belly is just barely showing so far).

Next you have the cravings. These can actually be a good thing for the Husband - as long as she is craving something you also enjoy. Val craves red meat - delicious! I look forward to her saying "Will you run to a local fast food establishment and get me a burger?" She feels bad about making me go, so she lets me get some for myself as well. So what could be bad about it? Imagine it's mid December. It's cold and rainy outside. The kids are all down for the night, and you have just gotten ready for bed. You climb under your favorite fleece blanket and settle into bed all nice and cozy. You flip on the TV and - look at that - a great show is just starting. -- Something about your total comfort triggers her cravings. Now you have to pull off the warm covers, get dressed, go out into the wet cold night, and miss a good show. But hey, you get a hamburger right?

Apparently pregnancy shrinks a woman's bladder too. Yesterday, in the time we were shopping at Target - maybe 30 minutes, Valerie had to go to the bathroom twice. For some men, this could get really annoying, but the way I see it, it actually means more time for me to play the Demo Playstation 3 in the electronics depatment. So Val, take your time, and maybe you should go one more time before we leave - just in case.

Lastly there is the puking. Most women get morning sickness. Not Valerie. She gets evening sickness. I figure it's really morning sickness - it's just confused. Valerie was born in Korea, so it's on Korean time. Morning there - evening here. This leads me to Valerie's awesome talent. She has total control of her puking. in fact, she seems to be able to decide whether or not to she should puke. She says to me; "I'm nauseous, I can't decide if I should eat or throw up". If we have instantly available food she'll eat, if not, she'll puke - but only when she's good and ready. Seriously, she can totally control when she will puke - the way most people can with going to the bathroom. It's not unusual for her to say that she needs to puke, but on her way to the bathroom she'll get sidetracked by some project and 20 minutes later she say "Oh I forgot, I need to puke". She's AWESOME! You probably already read her thoughts about puking at her blog.

If I don't get to write again before Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!