Kids and Monsters

I have been interested in Japan since catching Robotech back in the 80's.  I remember setting my alarm just before 6:30 AM, so I could get up an watch.  We had just gotten cable at the time and it was on a station out of Indianapolis.  I bought a bunch of VHS tapes and asked my grandma to tape the shows for me in order.  Being the great grandmother she was, she just smiled and said sure.  The tapes died on me a few years ago, but since then I have been interested in things from Japans.

Awhile back, the boys were sick and I was sick of watching kids programming.  My boys seem to have unique taste in shows. They dislike Backyardigins, Deigo, Bob the builder. They don't care for Seaseme Street, Mickey Mouse Club and Dinosaur Train, but they will watch those. Just to name a few.  It seems the more popular a show is, the less they care for it.

I was flipping through Netflix looking for some original Star Trek shows they could watch, but couldn’t find any on instant play. I don't remember how, but the movie Them! came on the screen.  One of my favorite movies from the 50's and it was on instant play. Great!

The boys LOVED it!  The giant ants are not even on screen that much, but they absolutely loved it. My wife wasn't so happy. I told her it was rated G, but she thought this more a technicality than any sound judgment. We went from Them! to the Dr. Who show Arc in Space, one of my favorite episodes of Dr Who.  Who knew bubble wrap could look that menacing.

They watched Them and Arc in Space several times each. After watching them, my wife came around to the point of view that they were not that bad.  As long as I watched the show first to refresh my memory of what was in the show.  One thing she has always complained about is that they never interact with the TV shows. 

Frankly I wouldn't want to talk to Diego either, but that's just me.  Don’t even get me started on Toodles.  Can there be a more annoying catch phrase for a show?  Besides Wonder Man’s constant need to say he is second to Thor in strength in the late 70’s Avenger comics.

They interacted with these movies unlike the kids programming.  They would be talking during the movie to each other about what was happening, going to happen and what they liked.  They built tunnels through out the house to hunt gaint ants.  They cut up an entire ream of paper to make the green slime monster, not to mention used all the green markers we had.  They built a space station out of carbboard boxes, which they tore down to make into more ant chambers.  These movies sparked their imganiation in ways no kid show, except Curious George can. 

We had a long car trip coming up and I wanted a new DVD for the car.  Walking through the store, I notice they had Ultraman Season 1 the first 20 episodes for 5$!!  I started yelling with excitment in the store. People were staring at me and the boys wanted to know what I had.

We hurried home and put the DVDs in. It was great!  I forgot to cook supper I was so caught up in the shows.  The boys loved it. The man behind Godzilla is responsible for the Ultraman shows.  So yes, we watched an old Godzilla movie.  Ultraman, being a TV show, gets to the monsters quicker so they like that better right now. Not by much though.

My wife isn’t sure about these shows still.  Well except all the smoking that goes on in some of the movies.  Its either watching some mind numbing soul sucking kids show which stimulates no one or something that gets us all talking about the moon, rockets, ants, the sun and anything connected to these shows.  I don’t think she gets monsters in the way we boys do, but she likes the kids interest in science.

Well I need to fill the pool, the boys want to play Godzilla and Ultraman some more.

Last Day of Work

I am officially done with work now.  I wasn't working a whole lot the last months anyway, as I was informed that the papers I wrote would not be read.  I am  glad to be out of there as something was going on.  One of the best workers we had left a couple of months ago, because his work was being ignored too.  Feels weird to not be working, though my wife would argue that.

Its just that staying home isn't work for me, which is the reason I am the one doing it and not her. I have an idea of what we will be doing, so hopefully I don't have to change it again.  We will be doing a hybrid kindergarten/preshool lessons.

One, because they were completely bored with the preschool math and reading I tried this spring. The might be a bit bored with the kindergarten math program for the first couple of months two.  They are more advanced than I thought. Two, they want to do something because their friends are in school. I was hoping to go slow and let them grow up. Their birthdays are both just after the cut off, so I have time.  I really wanted to do kindergarten next year, but that isn't going to happen if I want to keep them interested.

Its good to know that the boys even when I don't really know what I am doing. I have read all the books. I talked my wife into this over the last couple of years.  I attended a couple of conventions to learn more about it. Now its time for me to do it.