cirque du bebe

In previous posts and comments on other people’s blogs, I proclaimed not only my love for Pixar but my son’s love for it as well. I try not expose him too much to it as it IS viewed either on television or via my computer and as I’ve been told so many times, children his age are not supposed to watch television. Although, I just recently read something on BabyCenter about how 15 minute increments (controlled watching of selected material) for children under 2 shouldn’t hurt them (and other mommy guilt laden topics). But that’s not what this post is about, so I digress.

Since moving the “office” to our basement, I’ve found it lonely and boring for some reason. Maybe it’s because the window in our previous “office” location overlooked our street and I could watch the comings and goings of the world. Now I just have a sliding glass door that looks onto our fenced in yard. So to give myself some “company” and if I need some background noise to make working easier, I’ve been putting on movies. This is better than daytime television because A) most daytime television is boring or just plain stupid, B) I’ve already watched all of the movies we own so I can block it out should I need to put more concentration into something. I know some people find this concept baffling — when I worked in an ACTUAL office, I listened to my iPod often. That was to BLOCK out certain individuals in the office though. So I suppose I got used to background noise and when there is none, I can’t work. (BTW, Monsters, Inc. is on in the background now because DH is gaming and I’m, well, I’m writing this!)

Okay, back on topic!

I’ve been watching a LOT of Pixar movies lately. I simply LOVE Finding Nemo and could watch it over and over again. It has so much to offer besides a cute story and amazing graphics. Many palatable lessons for young and old alike exist in its storyline. Most of Pixar’s movies have this quality. Maybe all? I’ll need to rewatch Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 2 to verify this as I haven’t rewatched them in a while.

For instance, in Finding Nemo, there are two obvious lessons. One, parents should not overprotect their kids because it could just drive them into danger. Two, kids should listen to their parents and not stray to far from them because the world IS a dangerous place. In The Incredibles, there are a few good lessons but the one that always strikes me is the one about the “bad guys” and how they don’t show restraint like the cartoon bad guys. In Monsters, Inc. there are some sutble statements about our society (e.g. use of energy, assumed views of those we don’t know much about). But there are so many others. I’m not going to state them all here — today anyway.

I do want to catalogue these lessons somewhere so when Monkey is old enough to comprehend we can talk about them after viewing the movie.

Enough of my extolling the virtues of Pixar movies. Which one is your favorite and why?

P.S. I’ve had some posts in queue. Sorry for the onslaught.

I know I’ve been lagging on the posts about this. But given that most of my readers don’t watch, I didn’t feel it was very pressing. If you HAVE been watching and haven’t watched your recording for this week, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!

So since I last posted about DWTS, these individuals have been voted off:

Adam Carolla
Priscilla Presley
Marlee Matlin
Shannon Elizabeth
Mario
And last night, Marissa Jaret Winokur (again, apologies to anyone who hasn’t watched their recording).

This season I was really hoping a woman would win since it’s only been men winning except for the first season. However, as I’ve stated before, I think Kristi, the only woman left, had an unfair advantage going into this. I mean, if anyone saw her tango last week, I mean … C’MON! She might as well have been wearing ice skates during that spin! (DH keeps teasing, pretending to be her, saying “Um, could we like put some water on the floor and then like make the room really cold?” I don’t think I’ve ever heard her use “like” in this manner but he puts a lot of “likes” into sentences when trying to imitate a woman. Not sure what that says … hmmm.)

So my new favorite, since Shannon was voted off, has been Jason. He’s fantastic! Very smooth and deliberate with all of the dances. Plus, he’s definitely a looker.

However, my second choice would definitely be Kristi. The woman does work her butt off and it shows (in her dances and her actual butt). Maybe the producers chose her because they knew people would be rooting for a woman this time (or at least the women probably would be). And they knew, she’d kick everyone’s ass. I dunno.

Who is your favorite to win and why?

P.S. I know today is Wednesday and I owe everyone a Politics Wednesday post (for about two months now!). However, I have an idea I’d really like to devote some time to so it might have to wait until next week. Sorry!

BTW, DH doesn’t watch regularly. Only when I have it on. I’m sure he’d like me to make that clear.

Update below

I apologize for skipping last week’s post about DWTS but I will say that even though he wasn’t as great of a dancer as the remaining stars, I was sad to see Steve Guttenberg go because he seems like such a nice guy. Such a nice guy, that when DH was watching it with me he commented that something must have happened to him, either he had a scary accident or found religion or something because the guy is just super nice and most people aren’t THAT nice naturally. Or maybe we’re just cynical.

Moving on …

This week’s performances were really good. Since my memory is not the best, I jotted a few notes while watching this week so I could blog about them later. Here are some of the things I noted which might peak the interest of anyone watching or even not watching:

KRISTI — Great dance, as always, but the band did a HORRIFIC job on New Order’s Blue Monday. Poo Poo!

PRISCILLA — Also danced wonderfully, the judges were out of their minds, she deserved better scores.

ADAM — I’m not going to spoil this one for anyone who DVR-ed it and has yet to watch — this means you, Dana — HOWEVER, you’ve really got to see the shananigans he pulled this week.

MARLEE — Very good, Judge Carrie Ann Inaba’s reaction was surprising (again, won’t spoil it).

MARIO — Really liked the choice of music for his paso doble. It’s so interesting when the dance couple chooses music that you wouldn’t normally choose for a particular type of dance and it works well none the less.

JASON — Was good, sexy, although I’m not sure the judges glowing marks were quite warranted. I thought Priscilla’s dance was on par and either she should have received marks like his or vice versa.

CHRISTIANE — Good paso doble. Cheryl’s outfit was very dirty as usual. Sidenote: This is DH’s favorite dance instructor, not sure if it’s the outfits or the body or the hair or what but he’s always very interested in what she’s done for the week so I leave the shows on the DVR just for him.

SHANNON — Some drama with her dance instructor (I won’t spoil it). However, their dance was excellent and her dress was beautiful.

MARISSA — Her dance was great but whoever did her makeup should be slapped. They made her look too harsh. It’s the paso doble, not a horror fest people!

Last nights results show was pretty good. Most of the time I fast forward through everything to get to the results or guest professional dancers, but this time I found myself watching a good bit of it. They had these two kid couples (ages 8-9) each doing a dance and had the judges pick which one would come back for the rest of the season. They were so cute and VERY good! Although, I felt bad that one couple would lose. Such is life though, I suppose. (I will be posting a topic on this very soon.)

So if you watched, or watch later, feel free to post your comments about the dancing!

I just reread this and I apologize for my apparent boycott of apostrophes, especially for the possessive nouns!

Looks like 33% of us were correct in choosing Kristi Yamaguchi as one the week’s winners. I was going to discuss this more but I’m still sick and Monkey was a major PITA at bedtime (he had a shot today and got a late nap).