It took us three tries to get a player to recognize the DVD. It was a no-go on the XBox, and the first laptop we tried didn't like it at all, either. I popped into my PC, and it worked. So, the kids spent the happily watching the mostly animated film.
I have to admit, when I heard the first strains of the first song, I cringed. It reminded me of memorable-for-the-wrong-reasons music of the 1960s. I found it on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMVyA4YfZYo
I'm glad we stuck it out for those four minutes and nine seconds, though. The movie was terrific.
The animated sequences, which were the bulk of the movie, by far, were produced by Chuck Jones, a familiar name to the golden era of Bugs Bunny cartoons. I certainly heard a number of familiar voices from the Bugs & friends cartoons in the "Phantom" movie.
The storyline was engaging and entertaining, as we followed Milo through a magical word containing the dueling kindgoms of Dictionopolis (where words ruled) and Digitopolis (where numbers were all that mattered).
Seeing the movie makes me want to read the book (published in 1961). I have no idea how I missed it during my childhood. I thought I read every book in the Lake Shore Elementary library, and how could Mrs. Lumpkin NOT have this one on her shelves?
And speaking of Mrs. Lumpkin, I wasn't sure if her name had the 'p' in it or not, so I Googled it and was delighted to discover this Vancouver Public Schools video, made last year when she turned 100! How great is that?!
http://youtu.be/kZnwvGGbRBA
ROAR OF THUNDER: The third time was the charm for SpaceX's SES-8 satellite launch, its first geostationary transfer mission.
A Falcon 9 rocket got off the pad super quickly and with a tremendous roar - they certainly had that launch mic-ed well! Today's launch was SpaceX's first commercial one from its pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. There should be plenty more where it came from, as SpaceX has nearly 50 launches on manifest, 60 percent of which are for commercial customers.
GARDENING: We've long since cleaned out our beds, but sowing and reaping is still on our minds. We visited Magnolia Garden Center this afternoon (where a customer would have loved to buy the ugly Christmas sweater right off CJ's torso), and the kids read their monthly Junior Gardener's club newsletter from Sky Nursery, in Shoreline.
The newsletter included a funny "Mad-Libs" type fill-in-the-word page, which the kids had fun with, as well as an announcement about a haiku contest. Kids were asked to submit haikus about gardening, wildlife or nature.
Here's what Annabelle came up with ...
Plants and animals
Living in harmony
Wonderful nature
And here's CJ's
Watering my tree
you grew to be so tall
I see your beauty
CJ's haiku could be classic. Save it.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to "Toll Booth."