Okay, yes. I realize I’m a little — maybe even a lot — late to the party, but I just went and saw Disney’s The Princess and the Frog with Zippy the Monkey Boy, Speed Racer and two nephews. It was actually pretty fantastic.

I went into this movie, Disney’s first movie done with traditional [...]]]> by Richard

Okay, yes. I realize I’m a little — maybe even a lot — late to the party, but I just went and saw Disney’s The Princess and the Frog with Zippy the Monkey Boy, Speed Racer and two nephews. It was actually pretty fantastic.

I went into this movie, Disney’s first movie done with traditional pen-and-ink animation rather than computer animation, with a little bit of trepidation. They kept trumpeting how this was their first African-American princess and I was worried that burden would bring with it a heavy handed helping of moral lessons that would drag down any possibility of a good story.

Dude, was I wrong. This thing was great.

For starters, the racism of the 1920s South is shown with subtlety, rather than a sledgehammer. The film shows the luxury of the white citizens, while the black citizens live in a more run-down manner. And not because they don’t work hard. The princess, Tiana, is first shown as a young girl, bonding with a young, rich white girl while Tiana’s mother does sewing for the rich girl. Tiana and her mother take a long ride home to their small house, where they meet Tiana’s father, a renowned chef who wants to open his own restaurant, a goal Tiana shares.

Being a Disney movie, one of the main character’s parents have to either be dead or die in the movie and, this time, it’s the father. He’s passed on a powerful legacy to his daughter, which is also the theme or meta-message of the movie. Wishing on a star is full of baloney. If you want to get anywhere, you have to work hard and be better than the next guy. A fantastic message, and a surprising one, coming from a company that tells little dudes to “wish upon a star.”

And, of course, being a Disney movie, it wouldn’t work without some talking animals, a funny sidekick (in this case a firefly) and a mustache-twirling, cackling bad guy. Oh, and Tiana and the titular frog have some adventures in the swamp and also witness great beauty, as well as falling in love. It’s all right. Tiana is a frog at the time.

Dig a little deeper. Work a little harder. Not bad lessons to learn. And it doesn’t hurt that this one is actually pretty funny as well. For the moral alone, I’m giving this one five (5) dudes out of five. Nice work, Disney.

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Here in North Carolina, today is a virtual holiday. It’s the day all three of my little dudes go back to school following the Christmas Winter Break. It was two weeks of fun, frolicking and fast food. It was also two weeks of a crowded house, cranky dudes and just a tiny bit of [...]]]> by Richard

Here in North Carolina, today is a virtual holiday. It’s the day all three of my little dudes go back to school following the Christmas Winter Break. It was two weeks of fun, frolicking and fast food. It was also two weeks of a crowded house, cranky dudes and just a tiny bit of crushing pressure.

Either way, I think I need a vacation from my vacation.

Actually, it was pretty nice. We were in Dallas to visit with my dad’s side of the family, we had my wife’s, known to me as She Who Really Enjoys A Gift, family over at our house a lot, and even a visit from my brother-in-law and his family. The only thing missing was a visit with my mom and she’s coming up this month to see the little dudes play sports.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple of weeks. The only issue is that I like, no, need, to have a little alone time now and then. Not something I was likely to get around this many family members. In fact, other than the toilet, I can’t think of any time I wasn’t in eyeshot of a family member. Yeah, I spent a lot of time in the toilet.

Following this vacation, I think I can recommend for all us dudes that, when this sort of thing happens, we need to schedule out some time to renew our vigor and vim. That is, some time alone.

Which is something I’ll finally get today. With the little dudes off to school, or back to the salt mines as they like to say, and my better half back to work, I’ll have time to myself. Time to, well, work. Oh, and join the flood of moms and dads who hurl themselves into the gym this time of year to start resolutions they’ll have forgotten about by April. I’m telling you, it’s tough to get a spot on a elliptical machine during the winter/early spring months.

Still, it’s something I’m willing to go through. And so should you. Exercise is a great idea any time, but especially so when you need to get rid of a little stress, a certain tightness in your shoulder muscles from hunching your shoulder up around your ears in anticipation of the next scream, shout or squeal.

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There’s a growing movement in this country, mostly sponsored by older folks, to raise the age to obtain a driver license from the current 16 to a more reasonable 18. I was never very much in favor of it. Until my oldest little dude, George of the Jungle, neé Sarcasmo, started taking a car [...]]]> by Richard

There’s a growing movement in this country, mostly sponsored by older folks, to raise the age to obtain a driver license from the current 16 to a more reasonable 18. I was never very much in favor of it. Until my oldest little dude, George of the Jungle, neé Sarcasmo, started taking a car out on his own. Now that’s knowing terror.

Especially since the accident that forced his name change. He’s George of the Jungle now because of the theme song that ends “Watch out for that (ooooh) tree!” because that’s what he managed to hit in his first accident. Yeah, he was backing up and a giant oak tree jumped out at him. No way he could have avoided it.

We weren’t happy, but we managed to live with it.

Until about two weeks later. When he hit a car in the grocery store parking lot. A parked car. Let me repeat that. George of the Jungle managed to hit a car that was not moving and was not even in his lane of the traffic flow. In a parking lot where he was going just barely over the speed of a walk. And his excuse? “I don’t know.” Yes, seriously.

I know we’re fortunate that he’s had two accidents and no one was hurt. Believe me, I’m very thankful for that one. I just want him to learn from these accidents, but I’m not sure that’s happening.

And the worst part of this one is this: He was driving my car, not the beater we got so we wouldn’t have to worry about nicks and dents.

So now we’re going to have to round up the scratch to repair my car, his car and the car he hit.

Can you guess what he’s doing right now? Yep. He’s out looking for a job. And when he does find one, not only is Uncle Sammy gonna take a major bite, but so is the First National Bank of Jones, which is foreclosing his loan. Right darn now.

The irony, though, is he’ll have to do all the driving to get himself back and forth from work.

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