Yes, Tangled is a Disney musical...and yes, I thought it was awesome. There are several reasons for this. One of the first reasons is that Tangled essentially made Han Solo the main guy. I have a theory that the Han Solo character makes any movie better. Nobody likes a weak guy. Han Solo isn't a weak guy. He is a guy that is a little bit bad but deep down is good and he is a manly guy. Lately, some of the movies I have seen have guys that are not all that manly. No guy wants to be like those guys. That is why chick flicks are generally unpopular with guys. This is all my theory of course. I just thought it was nice to see a Disney prince that was, well, Han Solo.
The other thing I really liked about Tangled was the fact that the animal side kicks didn't talk. That always bugged me a little. The dragon in Mulan was an exception but that was only because Eddie Murphy was funny and because he was supposed the be a sort of spirit thing. All those talking animals are really just annoying...like Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars episode 1.
The other reason I liked it was that the princess wasn't a self absorbed jerk. Ariel...total jerk and rotten daughter. Jasmine...spoiled jerk. Snow White...more or less brainless. Belle...well, I guess she was mostly OK. The princess in Tangled seemed a genuinely nice, albeit a little sheltered, girl. She was just likable.
The other thing I really liked about it was that it didn't rely on potty humor. It just didn't need to go there and that was actually pretty impressive. Dreamworks tends to put a lot more of that in their movies. Not that I don't laugh at some of the potty humor in other movies. I am a guy after all. However, I am always much more impressed when they can manage to make a good movie that doesn't rely on it so much.
Aside from those things the music was good although not as memorable as some of the other movies. It didn't really have that signature song that sticks with you like "Beauty and the Beast" but the music was comparable to other Disney movies. In the end, it was just simply a very good movie and you should go see it.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
A video with our photographer friend
I shot a video last weekend for a friend of ours, Kristen Duke. It was fun to go do. Kristen is a mostly self-taught photographer here in the area that has a good eye and can really make people look good. She also does a good job of snapping off photos when you aren't looking. These candid photos are often my favorite because they show something different that the smiling at the camera photos. I honestly get a little tired of the smiling at the camera photos because after a while, they all look about the same and they lack real personality. Anyway, here is the video I made for her.
Kristen Duke Photography Session from Jayson Wilkinson on Vimeo.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Riley's controversial Reflections contest video
If you have seen Rachelle's post, then you know that Riley and Kaiya recently participated in the school Reflections contest. They won in their categories (photography for Kaiya and video for Riley) which isn't totally surprising because they were the only ones to enter those categories. They have got a lot better though and I think this year they have a chance to go a little further. Anyway, the thing I wanted to mention was that it turns out that Riley's video is a little bit controversial. See if you can spot the controversial part (hint: it's near the end)
Did you spot it? It was the part where Riley took the plastic bags and threw them in the trash. The controversy was in the fact that he didn't appear to throw them in the recycling bin. Now, just so you know, we usually save the plastic bags for use with other things. However, I have to admit that we don't do this 100 percent of the time and I also have to admit that we often save the plastic bags because they make great trash bags for throwing away disposable diapers. I suppose that this makes us fairly rotten people in the eyes of some. That is actually fine with me. I'll admit that I don't feel like I have a moral obligation to recycle (even though I think it is a good idea). To me, being a good person has very little to do with whether you recycle or not but much more to do with how you treat your fellow human beings. If you had to choose, would you rather have a kid that tries to do nice things to others or one that always remembers to recycle? I would take the nice kid every time...even if he does throw away a few plastic bags every now and then.
Did you spot it? It was the part where Riley took the plastic bags and threw them in the trash. The controversy was in the fact that he didn't appear to throw them in the recycling bin. Now, just so you know, we usually save the plastic bags for use with other things. However, I have to admit that we don't do this 100 percent of the time and I also have to admit that we often save the plastic bags because they make great trash bags for throwing away disposable diapers. I suppose that this makes us fairly rotten people in the eyes of some. That is actually fine with me. I'll admit that I don't feel like I have a moral obligation to recycle (even though I think it is a good idea). To me, being a good person has very little to do with whether you recycle or not but much more to do with how you treat your fellow human beings. If you had to choose, would you rather have a kid that tries to do nice things to others or one that always remembers to recycle? I would take the nice kid every time...even if he does throw away a few plastic bags every now and then.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Kyndall the Lock Picker
Kyndall is a stinker. That is just how it is. However, she has proven time and time again to be a very smart stinker. One of the funniest things happened the other day that proves this. For some reason, I was finding that kids were getting in to Kaiya's room. We have the standard door knob covers that are supposed to prevent kids from getting in to rooms that we don't want them to get to.
These are fairly effective at preventing most kids as well as many adults from getting to these rooms. However, for some reason, Kaiya's room kept getting vandalized. I had originally thought it was just because Kaiya kept forgetting to close the door but I was proved wrong. Ryder was frustrated one day at nap time (when we read them stories) because he wanted to get a story from Kaiya's room and the door was shut. He was getting really mad when I came over to him. Just before I got there, he yelled, "Kyndall! Break it!" I turned around and saw Kyndall come over and whip out a little screw driver. She then proceeded to break open the "child-proof" door knob cover with the screw driver.
I was amazed that this little girl that refuses to be potty-trained was smart enough to figure out how to break in to an off-limits room. We made sure all of the screw drivers were out of reach and have had much fewer break ins.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Cleaning house
There are a few things we do nearly every day. One of them is wake up, one of them is eat, and the other is clean the house. I can't tell you how tempting it is to not clean up the toys every day. I think our quints are at possibly the worst age for making big messes. I have to hand it to Rachelle, though. She is determined to live in a clean and mostly clutter-free house.
When we originally signed the papers to buy the house we currently live in, it just felt right. We were going to have an upstairs room for kids to play in and the rule would be that toys were never allowed downstairs. It was going to be a perfect house with a storage room and a slightly bigger garage where we would have enough room for two cars as well as the lawn stuff and my tools.
Jump forward 3 and a half years and we find a few big bins full of toys, a hamper full of dress up clothes, 5 tricycles, and a big metal teeter-totter shaped like an airplane...all downstairs. We also have taken the storage room and made it a bedroom for the boys and used the extra garage space to store various food and kid things that we will need for the future. We also have a van that is a little too big for the garage and a bunch of strollers and other things that would make it impossible to fit anyway.
The good part is that the current house is almost perfect for what we need. All of those original plans are gone but we are left with a house that could potentially last through all of our kids. Kind of nice how things have worked out even though they are not as we originally planned.
Keeping it all clean though is another matter. On most nights we all pitch in and try to clean everything up before going to bed each night (some help more than others). The dishes, the toys, and the clothes are the main things that need to be picked up every night. This has become harder as the quints have gotten older and have been able to go in more places in the house. On any given day, we will end up finding toys from the same bin in 5 different areas of the house. We try to let them only play with one bin at a time but they are at the age where they can pull the toys out themselves so it is harder to keep them to just one set.
They nearly all like to hide toys so that they can feel some ownership. I think possession is a big deal with these kids because there are very few things that they actually "own". Because of that, they like to take toys (like little cars) and hide them in their tricycle seats or in bags that they carry around. Find a bag that Kassidy is carrying around and you are almost guaranteed to find a bunch of purple blocks, a doll, and maybe Rachelle's Ipod.
Tonight was particularly rough for some reason. It just seemed like everything was everywhere and it was hard to look at it and get up the motivation to clean because I know that in just a few hours, all of the toys I have just cleaned up will be taken out again and spread all over the house. However, thanks Rachelle for making us do it because it always feel better each night when things are clean, the house is quiet, and I can pretend like I am a normal person who can just sit here and write a blog entry in peace. Ahhhhhhhh......
When we originally signed the papers to buy the house we currently live in, it just felt right. We were going to have an upstairs room for kids to play in and the rule would be that toys were never allowed downstairs. It was going to be a perfect house with a storage room and a slightly bigger garage where we would have enough room for two cars as well as the lawn stuff and my tools.
Jump forward 3 and a half years and we find a few big bins full of toys, a hamper full of dress up clothes, 5 tricycles, and a big metal teeter-totter shaped like an airplane...all downstairs. We also have taken the storage room and made it a bedroom for the boys and used the extra garage space to store various food and kid things that we will need for the future. We also have a van that is a little too big for the garage and a bunch of strollers and other things that would make it impossible to fit anyway.
The good part is that the current house is almost perfect for what we need. All of those original plans are gone but we are left with a house that could potentially last through all of our kids. Kind of nice how things have worked out even though they are not as we originally planned.
Keeping it all clean though is another matter. On most nights we all pitch in and try to clean everything up before going to bed each night (some help more than others). The dishes, the toys, and the clothes are the main things that need to be picked up every night. This has become harder as the quints have gotten older and have been able to go in more places in the house. On any given day, we will end up finding toys from the same bin in 5 different areas of the house. We try to let them only play with one bin at a time but they are at the age where they can pull the toys out themselves so it is harder to keep them to just one set.
They nearly all like to hide toys so that they can feel some ownership. I think possession is a big deal with these kids because there are very few things that they actually "own". Because of that, they like to take toys (like little cars) and hide them in their tricycle seats or in bags that they carry around. Find a bag that Kassidy is carrying around and you are almost guaranteed to find a bunch of purple blocks, a doll, and maybe Rachelle's Ipod.
Tonight was particularly rough for some reason. It just seemed like everything was everywhere and it was hard to look at it and get up the motivation to clean because I know that in just a few hours, all of the toys I have just cleaned up will be taken out again and spread all over the house. However, thanks Rachelle for making us do it because it always feel better each night when things are clean, the house is quiet, and I can pretend like I am a normal person who can just sit here and write a blog entry in peace. Ahhhhhhhh......
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Someone actually recognized me from the show
On Saturday, I was coaching Riley's YMCA volleyball team. We only had 5 players show up but our team is really spunky and they did a great job even though we won one and lost two. Our team has half boys and half girls which is the first time there has been more than 2 boys on the team.
Anyway, after we were done, and getting ready to leave, one of the mom's from the other team came up to me and said she recognized me from the show on TLC. It was funny because she started by saying "You probably get this all the time but...". It was funny because I DON'T get that all the time. In fact, that instance was the first time something like that has ever happened.
Remember when you were a kid and thought that if you were ever on TV, you were automatically famous? Well, as you probably know, that is just not true. In the last few years my family and I have been on every news station in Austin, on a TLC special last year as well as a commercial for a local grocery store (HEB) in Texas and nobody has ever recognized me before unless I am with ALL my kids. Even then, they often confuse me with somebody else. In fact, if you think about it, if you were to see somebody from one of the families on one of the TLC shows on the street would you recognize him or her? Chances are you wouldn't have any idea who they were (unless it was Kate or Jon). Who remembers all of the various people from the various TV shows? I would guess that nobody remembers them except their families. And that is just fine.
Anyway, after we were done, and getting ready to leave, one of the mom's from the other team came up to me and said she recognized me from the show on TLC. It was funny because she started by saying "You probably get this all the time but...". It was funny because I DON'T get that all the time. In fact, that instance was the first time something like that has ever happened.
Remember when you were a kid and thought that if you were ever on TV, you were automatically famous? Well, as you probably know, that is just not true. In the last few years my family and I have been on every news station in Austin, on a TLC special last year as well as a commercial for a local grocery store (HEB) in Texas and nobody has ever recognized me before unless I am with ALL my kids. Even then, they often confuse me with somebody else. In fact, if you think about it, if you were to see somebody from one of the families on one of the TLC shows on the street would you recognize him or her? Chances are you wouldn't have any idea who they were (unless it was Kate or Jon). Who remembers all of the various people from the various TV shows? I would guess that nobody remembers them except their families. And that is just fine.
What not to wear for Halloween
I was looking through the paper this morning and noticed something interesting. If you are a woman and want to buy a Halloween costume, you primary decision will be which kind of prostitute you want to be. Am I just old fashioned or did anyone else notice that? You can choose to be a pirate prostitute, a princess prostitute, a super hero prostitute, and many more! What a great idea! Lets go ahead and encourage the women of our world to make themselves into objects. I wonder if any guy looking at a woman wearing one of those costumes is wondering if that woman can carry on an intelligent conversation. Probably not.
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