1. Long movies of corn being eaten (21MB)
2. Short movie of corn being eaten (6MB)

Yes indeed.

Ode to a Plum

There was some serious oratorial accompaniment, most of which was in iambic heptameter. Sadly, it was also in ancient French, so it was way over my head.

And for an encore, a preview of a new work:

The Ennui of Modern Existence

sniff. Pass the tissues.

No more Martha Graham documentaries before bedtime, I think.

magical fruit, indeed!

(image from Amazon, of all things)

We’re big fans Herr Professor Erlbruch (and there’s more to come). The phrase that comes to mind is “pitch-perfect.” Not frenetic attempts to emulate kid’s thinking, but simple little stories with room for both kids and adults to ponder a bit.

Perhaps the best element of this book is the space in back to write your own answers to the big question.

In a similar vein is Sara O’Leary’s Where You Came From.

(image courtesy the publisher’s site)

We featured Sara’s previous book When You Were Small a few months ago. The conceit of this book is the same, the art remains lovely (thanks to Julie Morstad). At the risk of gross simplification, Where You Came From is the baby sister of When You Were Small — sweeter and a bit less jokey. Nice.

(image from Amazon UK)

We recently borrowed Alex Higlett’s Egg and Bird.** On first blush it seems like the usual repetitive inanity accompanied by pleasant but underwhelming sketch art. But the conclusion is a pure metaphysical cliffhanger sure to mess with kids’ heads. I love it!

** I understand your keen disappointment at not having a credit-card-stealing Powell’s link. Apparently, this book is only available in righteous Queen-fearing countries. Uh, which means none of you will be able to borrow the book and understand what I’m on about. Bugger.

The Big Question is:

• Are there plums today?

And if you allow two more questions into your cosmology:

• Will there be plums tomorrow?
• Why not?

• A rhythmic (pendulonic?) swiveling at the waist with arms bent at the elbows.
• A “happy feet” tap-dancing which also indicates extreme happiness.

Come to thing of it, that’s the extent of my own dance repertoire. She’s stealing my moves!

In any case, I’ve posted a short movie from today’s dance proceedings. It’s two and a bit megs, and let’s be honest, is probably of limited interest unless you share genetic material with the moppet. The unsteady camera work is because the cameraman is doing a little “happy feet” dancing of his own. The soundtrack is “Satellite Skin” from the delightful Modest Mouse EP “No One’s First and You’re Next”. Yes, really. I’m pretty sure it’s not the part with the swearing.

So far musical education has been mixed, hampered in no small part by dad’s sub-par taste in music. Here are the hits and misses, as indicated solely by the presence or absence of dancing.

Hits:

• Monk
• Flaming Lips
• Guns N Roses
• Morphine
• Elvis Costello with the Attractions and/or Imposters
• New sold-out Modest Mouse

Misses:

• Coltrane
• solo Elvis Costello
• Old keepin it real Modest Mouse

Did you get everything you asked for?

Other than the fact they were taken on Christmas day, I can recall absolutely nothing about these photos.

It couldn’t have been important.

This year the cool kids are stumbling over slumbering sea lions.

No bean sprouts were threatened in the creation of this blog post.