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Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Wednesday Whittleings - Splash Down!



Wednesdays are my day to randomly babble. Sometimes about children's books, others about writing, and whatever else strikes my mind. Random thoughts...random whittleings.


I'm late this morning thanks to a very busy weekend. But then, Summer break and having the kids at home tends to do that. It's not just the kids which are keeping me on my toes. Book events add to the stress...uh.... fun!

Since I don't have a 'baby-sitter' and take the kids with me everywhere I go, we've been shaking things up to keep these events interesting. How? We make day trips out of them!

Saturday was a book signing in Ozark, MO....which meant a trip out for ice cream (who can say 'no' to ice cream?) and a trip to an old Mill...which turned out to be a bit of a bummer. The entire thing was under construction and behind a chain-linked fence :( 

But that doesn't ruin the fun! 

Tuesday was a book talk and rock painting in Mountain View, MO followed by Rocky Falls Shut-Ins....






The kids are now convinced that my book events are super fun to attend (with things like this afterwards)

Then, we went to see Avengers Endgame (yeah, we were late with this) and....
well...
honestly...
we were disappointed.

While we understand what Marvel was doing and wanted to give the entire thing 'deep meaning' and wrap it up with a sense of humanity and personal notes....  

Sorry. We don't want superheroes with personal notes. 

I mean, how fun is it to dream about being your favorite superhero when you watch him wrap things up like that? A superhero holds a special place in a child's heart. They are the impossible dream of strength come true! They stand for all which is right and the power Good has over Evil. And this movie....well, it destroys that mirage. 

When writing, I've been told not to undercut the 'power' of my own characters. While things can weaken them at times and while they do need to develop and learn, once we chop their feet out from under them without any chance of getting back up, we've killed them. The awe, which they inspire disappears with them. The sense of magic is gone. In Kidlit, this is not a good thing. Kids need to dream...to hold those heroes with them forever.

Reality bites. They know that too. Being able to believe in the impossible dream with these heroes is one of the wonders of being a child.

So for us, the move was a thumbs down. While the effects were top-notch and the fight scenes amazingly cool, the story line blew it.

And what's up with all women heroes now walking around with chips on their shoulders? I mean, I love strong women (go get them, girl!), but I'm slowly growing weary of this silly mold feminism is trying to push. Can't we as women be strong and kind and humble and be willing to ask for help when necessary and wise? Arrogance and 'get out of our way' is not a great trait in my opinion. For any gender.

OH, and while I'm on movies (I'm ranting today), we were excited about seeing the trailers (we're kind of strange in that way) and thought 'Cool! let's see what new movies are coming!' We were hit with Toy Story 4, the next Star Wars, and The Lion King. All remakes or continuations. Seriously? We're beginning to lose hope on the originality end of things too.

I mean, they could make an awesome kids/family movie out of Music Boxes. Just saying :)

To wrap up my whittleings...here's a couple pictures from our Memorial Day BBQ. We weren't going to do anything special, but then my oldest called and wanted to celebrate. So, we ended up having a wonderful day then too.




Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day and are staying safe from the severe weather. And what are your thoughts on 'movies'?

10 comments:

  1. All the superhero movies on a "reality" kick these days, which I'm fine with despite the fact that doesn't really make any sense, but where the movie failed for me was in trying to be "smart." You can't be smart about time travel. It makes no sense. The less perimeters you set the better, otherwise you end up with a confusing mess. And I'm all for Iron Man having a kid, but Pepper could have already been pregnant when the first movie happened, because the actual real-world implications of that time gap would be horrifying, and yeah, thinking about all that ruins my enjoyment of the movie. I just have mixed feelings about it. And I feel like Hawkeye feeling like a terrible person was blown out of proportion, but maybe I'm just crazy for thinking his rampage was fine. I mean, weren't all those dudes kind of terrible anyway? Okay. End rant. :P

    It's really fun that you and your kids make a day of your events! There are so many cool places near where we live that so often go overlooked. This is a great opportunity to explore them, plus it's so exciting that you have all these events to go to, as well!

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  2. That's the best thing you can do - take the kids and make a day of it.

    I liked Endgame but I agree with your take on feminism.

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  3. Tonja,

    Sounds like you have a great plan to please all for your book signings. I hope you have many more wonderful days like this!

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  4. Your kids are darned lucky to have such a great writer-Mom!

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  5. Congrats on all your book events! That's awesome.

    I've been going to less and less movies since they usually give me a terrible headache. I think the series are gaining traction on venues like Netflix and Hulu. Book adaptations like The Handmaid's Tale and Big, Little Lies are so amazing. Series have more time to develop characters and have a more intricate story line. The old dream of having a book made into a movie might very well change into "I hope my book is made into a series!"

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  6. Looks like you had a great time with your family!

    I guess I hadn't thought about the deep stuff relating to the Avengers. I was impressed with the special effects.

    I agree with your comment about female characters with chips on their shoulders. Not appealing!

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