Trick or Treat!

Chores

In order to teach TKJr some responsibility and allow him to earn a small allowance, KG came up with a list of chores for him to do after school. Before he can have a snack or watch TV, he has to do the following:

1. Shake sand out of his shoes and put them away.
2. Take lunch box out of backpack, put dirty sandwich box in sink, put lunch box and backpack in green bin.
3. Pick up toys from living room floor and put away in brown boxes.
4. Wash hands with soap and water.

She made up a poster with the list and hung it in the kitchen. TKJr liked it, and so far has been good about doing them. Shortly after KG explained the list to him and hung it up, I found him at the table, busily working with a marker and a piece of paper. At the top of the paper he had written "Mom and Dad", and down the side were the numbers 1-9. I asked him what he was doing, and he told me he was making a chore list for us. He then dictated the following list to me. I wrote it down verbatim, and it is now hanging in the kitchen along with his chore list. I think #8 is my favorite.

1. Eat snacks that are healthy, don't eat spicy ones.
2. Tickle TKJr when he's silly.
3. Take good care of the cat.
4. Never, ever spank Mommy.
5. Put your jammies on quick before midnight.
6. Be an early bird, just like TKJr.
7. Don't blow bubbles with bugs flying in them.
8. If there's a fire in your room, call the fire fighters but please don't run out of town.
9. Always wash dishes when you see little dirt spots on them.

My day off

I finished my eyeball mask:

And the stove has been installed. The building inspector has to sign off on it before we can use it, but it's in:

Scary toys and proof of Claus

Way back in 1980 I just had to have the most awesome, 18" action figure ever made: Alien



What kid wouldn't want such an incredible, nightmare inducing hunk of plastic? I honestly don't know what the folks at Kenner were thinking when they came up with this. A tie in for a R rated horror movie. At any rate, being a monster and sci-fi buff, I wanted it.

My mother, of course, said no way. Being 7, I decided to ask Santa for it, since my mother wouldn't even entertain the idea. I wasn't holding out much hope, since she said she was telling Santa not to get it.

Christmas morning rolled around, and Santa left the usual pile of booty. One of the last presents I opened was a big box, and as the paper peeled away I saw that monster's eyes peering out at me. I exclaimed in joy "Santa got me the Alien!!!"

My mother acted all pissed. "Damn it, I told Santa not to get that for you!"

I remember going back to school, convinced Santa must be real if he went against my parents' wishes and got me the toy I wanted most.

I still have it to this day:

Children shouldn't play with guns. Period.

This past weekend, an 8 year old boy in Westfield, MA blew a hole through his own head while firing a fully automatic Uzi. This was not one of those all too common cases of an irresponsible parent leaving a loaded gun within reach of an unattended child. No, little Christopher was at a "Machine gun shoot and firearms expo." According to the flyer for this event, "It’s all legal & fun. You will be accompanied to the firing line with a Certified Instructor to guide you. But You Are In Control – "FULL AUTO ROCK & ROLL."

Holy jumping Jesus, fuck me sideways.

Now I'm no bleeding heart liberal, and I'm not anti-gun. I believe Americans do have a right to bear arms. I believe in responsible, legal ownership of firearms. If said owner has children, I believe in educating those children concerning gun safety. I even support taking said children to a firing range where they can learn first hand how to operate a fire arm.

But who, in their right mind, would conceive of a "machine gun shoot" for children? Seriously, what the fuck? It boggles my mind that such an event would be allowed to occur in the first place. There is no good reason, NO GOOD REASON why a child should be around or handling a fully automatic assault weapon. EVER.

Guns are not bad. They provide protection. They can be used to hunt. Target practice is a fine hobby. But an assault rifle is for just that: assault. It's only purpose is to kill and maim human beings. Quickly. The words assault and children should not go together. EVER.

Of course a young boy would jump at the chance to handle such a weapon. Boys are trained from the get go that they're cool. That does not mean it should be encouraged. Sweet bleeding Mary, what are people thinking? I seriously can not wrap my head around it.

I really shouldn't be surprised that the devolution of Western society has reached this point. Just the other night I was expressing concern over some of the new toys coming from the good folks at NERF. I'm not trying to be an alarmist here, and I don't think I'm being over sensitive when I say there is something inherently wrong with marketing a foam projectile assault weapon to children. For Christ sake, watch this video for the N-Strike and tell me there isn't something wrong there.


Of course it's wicked fucking cool, and if it had been around when I was a lad, I would have wanted one. But I really think we're crossing a line here, and we need to stop. As NERF guns get more and more extreme, shoot longer distances, shoot faster, it's really only a short progression to making one that will actually maim. Perhaps that's a leap, but the other issue here is training young children to be soldiers.

That ain't right, yo.

Eye'm almost done

The veins are hardening as I type. Tomorrow I'll paint them up and glue them on.

More Halloween goodness

Here are a few more shots of our holiday preparations.

My little front yard cemetery:
Our skel-o-flamingos:
My eyeball with the pupil in place:
I'm getting the iris painted on by a local airbrush artist tomorrow. Almost done!

Fan boy weigh-in

I've been remiss.

Halloween, a wood stove, children et all have distracted me from taking a moment or two to voice up about both Indy 4 and The Clone Wars.

I admit, I went to see TCW premiere more than a little jaded from all the reviews. My mind was not as open as it could have been. That said, I didn't hate it. I found it enjoyable, only slightly annoying at parts, but over all satisfactory and entertaining. The battle sequences were impressive. So I went into watching the series looking for nothing more than a weekly dose of Star Wars. No matter how far removed from ANH.

Well, let me say this: Holy shit. I've been enjoying the hell out of the series. All the episodes have surpassed any expectations or hopes I might have had. The stories are interesting, the animation looks good, and there are enough allusions to all the best qualities of the original trilogy to keep me very happy. Even the stiffness of the human characters is OK by me. I believe it is intentional, as it evokes memories of Thunderbirds. Nothing wrong with a touch of Supermarionation.

They've been exploring aspects of the story between episodes 2 and 3 that interest me. The development of the clones and their relationship with the Jedi. The galactic scope of the war. The evolution of the Imperial aesthetic and architecture. New droids. Those commando droids are pretty sweet, and make sense.

Tonight's episode ended on a really cool and vaguely personal note. The rookie clones were inducted into the most elite of trooper squadrons: the 501st. TK8103, for one, says thank you for the shout out. Super fuckin cool.

So, Indy IV I watched the other night. I didn't hate it. In fact, I rather enjoyed it. It did evoke for me nostalgia for the franchise. Indy was still one cool cat. I liked the limited use of CGI, and the overblown story line was fun. Listen, seriously... there's nothing more far fetched about inter dimensional beings than there is about a mystical Hebrew relic that makes people's faces melt. It was executed well, if not a little heavy handed.

I for one want to thank Uncle George and Uncle Steve for allowing us to continue to play in their sandbox. Sure, they might be trying to steer that box toward a younger generation that they're slightly out of touch with. That's they're duty. Regardless, it's still fun. I'll rate Crystal Skull #3, after Raiders and Last Crusade.

As for The Clone Wars... it's the bomb. Keep up the good work, and you can really go somewhere good with it. I look forward to the journey.

Now, if we could all just band together and do something about JOE.

Eyeball Progress

I'm on the home stretch with the construction of my Residents costume. Here you can see the hard hat glued inside the globe:
Perfect fit!
Now to drill holes for bolts to hold the hat, paint it up, add a screen for the iris and some veins.

Touch a Truck

I spent the better part of my Sunday freezing my ass off dressed in white armor. There was a "Touch a Truck" fund raiser in Weymouth, and I was the lone trooper. Here are a few of my favorite shots:


TK8103, meet T&K
"I don't want stormtrooper Daddy!"
The two faces of Homeland Security
Posing with the ladies
Yeah, I'm cool

Halloween is getting closer...

Only a couple of weeks until Halloween. Here's a peak at our front yard decorations this year:



And a sneak peak at my costume in progress:

I had a fever dream

Just got in from The Bunny Boy show. All I can say is.... wow.

I was standing maybe 10 ft from the band the whole show. An incredible show. I'll post more about it later. For now, I'm still trying to process it all.

What is and should not be

So, yesterday I get home from work and my stepfather says to me "I want to tell you something before your wife gets home."

OK.

He's out of work right now, and apparently has plenty of time to kill during the day. It seems many years ago he purchased the "5 Gates of Hell." He had never worked up the nerve to actually try it on. Until yesterday.

Now, mind you, he's relating this story to me as I'm standing in the kitchen, ice coffee in hand and my children playing in the next room. He manged to force his junk through the rings, and soon discovered it wasn't going to be easy removing them. He was nice enough to tell me he had shaved earlier that morning, so at least his pubes weren't getting caught.

He did manage to get the thing removed in time to pick up my son from preschool, and without a trip to the ER.

So, after he related this misadventure and went home to my dear mother, I had to ask myself: Was I more disturbed that he owns this contraption and decided to play with it (at 60), or by the fact that he so casually decides to relate this tale to me?

The horror, the horror.

Dude, there are just some things you don't share with your children. THIS IS ONE OF THEM!!!!

One week to go...

Needless to say, I can not wait!