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'?