The Curious Lives of Two Completely Normal People

One for the Plus Column

2011-10-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

Where to begin?

We recently sped off for a jaunty little overnighter at the Great Smokey Mountain National Park...

Photographic Evidence.

...No no no. Can't start there...

We'll try again. >Ahem< Meridth and I have been to a National Park or two...

Photographic Evidence

...it's not out first rodeo, y'know? And the thing that I have quite recently discovered to be idiosyncratic about National Parks is this: the area around the park is entirely dependent on the regional character of the surrounding area.

Too wordy? Check this: the town right outside of Zion National Park in Utah is called Springdale. It has a population of 457 people. You can buy a sandwich there. Maybe a bowl of soup. If I recall, there might be postcards. Outside of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park there is a two-headed hydra of an eyesore called Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. I've been scouring the interwebs all week looking for photographic evidence of this abominable temple to the excesses of our baser impulses but, by gum, the local Chamber of Commerce must have a PR firm on retainer. I wish I'd stopped and drunk it all in (Metaphorically. With my camera.) so that I could Make. You. Understand. It.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Why is Pigeon Forge, TN home of the "largest permanent Titanic museum in the world?" (Secondary question: why are there impermanent or traveling Titanic museums that are larger?) It's so very far from anything relevant to the great sea disaster of 1912. The museum lurches into view like the bloated corpse of a beached whale, the last thing you'd expect to see amongst the verdant Appalachians.

Reminds me of nothing so much as Toon Town from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."

This was one of literally dozens of establishments providing the weary traveller a taste of that hill-folk charm. (Is that the PC term? Is it "Sons of the Soil," maybe?) But honestly, no one comes out of this looking good.

Quite literally, I'm afraid.

I'm a bit insulted that someone thought I'd like to witness this gastric train-wreck, that is, until I remember that this is the face that these people want to present to the world. Really, I feel bad that they'd sell their identities for the rupees of monied Indian tourists so...cheaply.

To whom these shows are catering is a mystery to me. Anyone with a shed of dignity (or anyone from the States and not looking for an 'ironic' evening) would sooner eat at...even a Shoney's. Those who might take a shine to this brand of humor, however, are probably on vacation from (or more probably with) relatives not at all unlike the colorful characters portrayed on stage, in which case they'd just as likely choose the Shoney's too because...let's face it, the dinner show comes with them.

There goes the neighborhood.

Then there is this:

Behold the spectacle

For my dial-up using readers, whose clanging, steam-driven modems are busily shuffling through the requisite punch cards to load this miraculous image, pictured above is a building which has been humorously constructed so as to appear as if it has somehow tumbled on its axis and alighted on it's surprisingly sturdy roof. Lo! It is EVEN still safe to ENTER! (for a small fee)

This one gets to the heart of the cheap chintz that is Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. Alright, it's an upside-down building. Maybe there's a wax museum inside. Maybe a maze of mirrors (we saw four on the main drag). The only people who really want to find out, who are even willing to pay for the privilege, are under ten-years old OR vacationing with children under ten AND ignorant totally of how to relate to them in any meaningful way. This is the ultimate non-vacation.

As you drive through 14 miles of this, outlet malls, museums dedicated to torture devices, shops selling "As Seen on TV" merch, two separate amusement parks, miles of go-cart tracks, shops selling racks upon racks of photorealistic airsoft guns (gotta wonder what the Indians think of that), souvenir shops the size of airplane hangers, hotels advertising creek-side rooms, fast-food restaurants, haberdashers, and a gosh darn space needle, you forget why you came here in the first place. The park...

Behold the spectacle

There's a smallness to GSMNP that you won't find in Zion or Arches, and I don't mean that as an insult. The lush forests, turning in the autumn afternoon, offered an intimacy that can be absent from the craggy vistas of the awe-inspiring Rockies. Furthermore, nestled in the park there are a number of plain wooden churches, some built in the 1880's, which speak to a time when these lands were the home of the progenitors of those now manning the booths and culturally-insensitive stage shows. So little remains from that America that I'm grateful that these human steeples can peek out humbly above the trees, a part of the landscape.

Submitted without snarky comment

Now I understand that everybody's gotta make a living and the tourist trade has clearly allowed these towns to support a population roughly 20 times the size of Springdale, UT, but at what cost? When I see the cheap goods, prices marked way high, the airsoft guns, the replica weapons from popular video games, the "hand-crafted" dolls and discount Indian jewelry, it's evidence to me that people aren't sure why they came. A family will arrive, traffic will move at a snail's pace up this Stars-and-Bars version of the Las Vegas strip (of which I am also no fan), their children will get hungry, have to pee and soon they'll find themselves abandoning their coveted spot in the line of cars, getting out to "stretch the legs" and "take a leak," Timmy will clamor for a replica Legend of Zelda shield and an airsoft Kalashnikov, dad will relent because he's tired of hearing the boy whinge, and they'll all wander about a "Ripley's Believe it or Not" Museum of Hollywood Cars pretending that they're a family.

This is a true story, I swear on my life. The traffic just cleared up right before the entrance of the park, like everyone just got caught by all the things to do right there at the doorstep of one of America's great National Parks.

Uschi + hiking

Now the park's mojo isn't perfect. First, it's free. There's a provision in the state law that says that the road that cuts through the major pass here has to remain toll free, and that sounds like a good thing, but it's not. I'm not going to say that...wait. Strike that, reverse it. I AM going to say that it keeps the riff-raff out, but I'll explain what I mean. I have no intrinsic problem with casual enjoyers of nature. But the free entrance to the park has encouraged a lot of motor-hiking in GSMNP. What I mean is there are a number of roads that just circumnavigate the park. On a busy weekend, it's like being stuck in LA traffic with a pretty back drop. I'm not saying that every National Park should be inaccessible by anything less hardcore than a pack mule, but what happened to encouraging people to get out of their cars and walk more than 20 feet to meet and greet with Ma Nature? We got babies and we found a few easier trails. There was a particularly nasty snarl of traffic, it took us the better part of 30 minutes to go the half-mile to where we could see what was holding things up. A black bear was snatching a snack from a high tree branch 150 meters away and every Mother's Son pulled over their minivans so they could get out and get a snap of a blurry black smudge in a tree. What made it all the more sad is that not ten minutes after pulling off onto what was literally a "road less travelled," we snapped these out the windows of the HHR:

The little son of a gun crossed right in front of us.

Why am I mentioning all of this? Not just the bear, but the whole thing? Where does it all meet back to connect with the issues of the day? Here it is folks, the next time you hear someone shoot their mouth off about how 'Big Government' is the bane of existence for all America-loving patriots, think about this: if there was no National Park, if the Federal Government of the United States didn't mark a line in the sand, how far up the Blue Ridge Mountains would this glut of cheap crap go?

I'm truly grateful for the wise conservationists and politicians who gave us the National Parks system, but I'm gonna go that next metaphorical step. We used to have a pretty good system set up in America. Managers and owners would provide jobs. Workers would fill them. Everyone knew the rules of the road and everyone stood to gain. The last thirty years of deregulation in this country has proverbially pushed that line up over those mountain peaks, and temporarily we all got richer. You can't blame the individual t-shirt shop owner, he was just trying to get his share, hustling to get ahead, keeping up with his neighbor. Nobody looked up from their cut to see that we were destroying the very thing that made the US so attractive in the first place. I don't know why the GOP debaters keep bringing up illegal immigration. It's slowed significantly since the recession started. And they keep saying that regulations kill jobs? Well a lack of regulation in our food industry is killing people. Long story short, I'm sick to death of politicians running to fill positions in a government they seem to despise. I'm sick of people's stark refusal to recognize the important role of government in facilitating business, both domestically and internationally (Whose Navy keeps the shipping lanes clear? Bank of America's?) And I'm 'bout sick up to here of people saying they love America but hate the US government. To me, it's just south of treason, and it's gotta stop.

Alright, said my peace. It was an excellent trip. It's late and I still haven't regaled you with the dandy yarn of how I almost destroyed the HHR. ("The guidebook said the road was perfectly safe for cars!") I guess it's just desserts for all the griping I did about motor-hiking.

The road in question. Looks tame now...

Felix: Just About Funned-Out

Cheers!

END TRANSMISSION

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

2011-09-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Movie Reviews. I said movie reviews were coming, right?

Oh look, here's one now!

What can I say about 1984's "Streets of Fire?" Well, the obvious thing is where have you BEEN all my life?

The answer's going to be "Bottom of Blockbuster Bargain Bin," isn't it?

It's hard (very very hard) to explain what "Streets of Fire" is. First, there is an obvious relationship between this movie and the director's previous work. Remember the vaguely post-apocalyptic characteristics of the gangs in "The Warriors?"

Egads! Baseball mimes!

That sort of stylized ridiculousness (crucially played completely straight) is back in "Streets of Fire." Set in a relatively peaceful district of a troubled major metropolitan area (Times Square ca. 1982 remixed through The Thunderdome), the architecture, costumes, cars, music and attitudes are a mash-up of post-war Americana and the 1980's view of the post-apocalypse. Rockabilly blends with New Wave. Shoulder pads rub shoulders with pompadours.

This must be Flockabilly...of Seagulls?

If this all seems a little...high concept they keeps the plot pretty tight. Remember Double Dragon?

No. Not this one.

This one.

For those new to the Beat-em-up genre. The large gentleman in the white skinny jeans is about to gut punch the girl and hoist her over his shoulder. The garage in the background opens revealing a wicked red Camero and Billy and Jimmy Lee. They fight to save her. The End.

That's more or less the plot of "Streets of Fire." An ex-soldier fights to save his ex-girlfriend (now a well-regarded music star) from a gang. And there's more to this video game connection as well. Thinking back, beat-em-ups really had a double-dose of earnest silliness. Looking back at the plots of classics like Streets of Rage (you fight a gang that has gone to the trouble of training kangaroo enforcers), Final Fight (whole roast turkey's found in rusty oil drums restore life), and especially River City Ransom...

ESPECIALLY River City Ransom.

...which really latched on the that 1950's America aestetic, these games all share that neon, bubble-gum absurdity that I really enjoyed in the movie.

The cast has a surprising number of familiar ("Hey I KNOW that guy! What is he from?") faces. Rick Moranis plays against type (Alright, he's still a nerd. But he's a pretty commanding one.) and That-Lady-Who-Played-Kevin-Costner's-Wife plays a rough-and-tumble dame.

Who is also an ex-soldier. Army must be cutting back on reenlistment bonuses. Or basing them on some kind of reverse drabness scale.

But it's not the plot or the cast or even that weird setting that makes this one pop. It's actually the dialogue. No. Not at all in a Tarantino way. It's snappy and wry but ultimately goofy, And yet it works. In the same way that Tarantino's movies are steeped in the traditions of the genre films he grew up with, director Walter Hill clearly has an affection for the schlock and grind, yet even in something like "The Warriors" which is all about brawling street gangs, there's an earnestness, an honor to his heros. Tarantino can only rarely film something this blissfully unaware of itself (the bar scene in "Inglorious Basterds" comes to mind).

And it's not silly in the arch and epic and wonderful way the classics like "Flash Gordon" are. This isn't a film that is so bad it's great. In fact, for many it's going to be so bad it's bad. It's more like a film you made with your friends one summer if your friends had access to dozens of exploding motorcycles, a rain machine, the set from "The Outsiders" and the budget to hire Willem Dafoe.

Willem Dafoe moments before the film's climactic railroad hammer fight.

Did I not mention that Willem Dafoe plays the psychotic villain? That he channels Eric Von Zipper via the video for "Beat It?" That the movie ends with a mano-a-mano duel with railroad hammers? Hm. How could that have slipped my mind?

Here's the catch sports-fans: parts of the movie haven't aged well. It opens with the ex-girlfriend in concert belting out an 80's power single. It's a liability. You have to just soldier through that man. You won't regret it. Number 2: it has another medley near the end featuring beloved staple of easy-listening stations "I Can Dream About You." By that point, you'll have likely already invested in the movie and you'll just let it slide. (Protip: avoid eye contact with anyone in the room.) Third: Bill Paxton's in it.

Boo!

However in the plus column we have Ed Begley Jr's cameo, a cigar chompin' sheriff, a railroad hammer fight, and hey! Bill Paxton's in it.

Yay!

Walter Hill said he made the film because he wanted to cram a bunch of awesome stuff into one movie and then he rattled off a list: "...custom cars, kissing in the rain, neon, trains in the night, high-speed pursuit, rumbles, rock stars, motorcycles, jokes in tough situations, leather jackets and questions of honor." If you can read that list without snickering, this might be a movie for you. Meridth waltzed in during the last twenty minutes and found herself enjoying it, but well confused at my enthusiasm. I thought about it a minute and then explained that if I'd seen this movie when I was 10 it would have been my favorite movie ever. At 30, it's flaws are so apparent, but who doesn't want to be a little less cynical about movies these days?

Cute Picture Overload!

2011-07-26T21:18:00.001-07:00

I know many of you (most of you) (all of you but my mom) are bored to tears of pictures of my progeny. I'm sure that in this long hiatus since March you've found other outlets for wit and repartee and you never really missed pictures of my kids to begin with. I get that.

Don't worry, there will be more movie reviews. I might talk about a book or two. I might even reveal a project I've been allowing to percolate. Meridth also will reveal sundry thoughts and wholesome wisdom that she's thought up in her deranged artist's brain.

What I'm saying is that we're gonna do stuff that isn't about our kids. But today is not that day. LAUNCH BABY PICTURE MONTAGE!

Okay, this is quite simply the cutest picture imaginable. Uschi loves her grandpa.

Piggy-pig pig tails.

The Many Moods of Master Felix:

Food Happy

One-Quarter Happy

Half Happy

Full Happy

Too-Happy-For-My-Own-Face Happy

Drool Happy

Seriously, I could post pictures of this kid's open-gob smile all day. Wonder where he gets it....

Uschi has discovered quite a few creative outlets. We haven't quite decided whether we're right or left handed yet, but all the same, she loves to paint...

...draw in the bathtub, (The shape at the bottom is 'mummy.' Daddy's on the upper-right and Uschi is upper-left. Her words.) ...

...and investigate the paranormal.

(She also likes to dance to Sousa's most feisty marches, but we haven't got a photograph of that.)

Speaking of my mother...

...we shanghaied her for the midnight showing of HP7 Part B. Good times were had by all. (Review by Bat-Mer to follow.)

Cheers all. We won't let this sort of disgusting down-time occur in this publication again and as always, your patronage, comments, and cash monies are always welcome.

Ham and Cheese

2011-03-29T10:38:00.001-07:00

So, like any normal loving but sleep deprived parents, we think our kids are tops. Here are some reasons why you just might wish you could be in the Gimbel family under age 2.

1.Felix. Felix is the ironman wonderboy. No kidding. He's been holding his head up since day 1. (Seriously, no lies.)

He is not interested in this thing called bending or curling. I'm convinced he has only one joint in his body. We hold him and he stands as straight as he can be, right down to his pointed tippy toes. When we lift him in the air, not one part of his body bends. He goes right into the superman position. It's pretty weird.

He's definitely a family man. He always likes to be held and can only stand with being put down for a few minutes.

But when he's being held by mommy or daddy, grandma or grandpa, he is ALL CHEESY SMILES. He is so incredibly happy. He even is a big fan of Uschi.And fortunately Uschi's a big fan of him. We thought we might have some jealousy issues, but she actually likes this strange intruder. Sometimes he's a bit boring. But we can't all be perfect.

Speaking of which...

2. Uschi. She's pretty much the hammiest kid I know. She goes out of her way to crack people up (as you may or may not have seen with the video of her laughing that I posted on facebook).

She just started doing this thing where she gives me this big crusty face that's so silly, I crack up.

Por ejemplo:

She got me laughing:

Yeah, she's funny...

...and we're pretty lucky.

Word-tastic

2011-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is, of course, an outfit our little fashionista picked out for herself.

Uschi's been a mouthful of words lately. Thought you Ursa Nerds might like to know what she's been saying. (Or signing).

Good Girl - (Pronounced "Good Ga")
Mom (Just Mom thank you very much)
Da da (She also does the sign)
RADAR (Pronounced clear as crystal)
Dog - ("Goggy")
Ice (She LOVES to eat ice. We use to get daily requests for it)
Mas (Spanish for more. She also does the sign language for more)
Clock (Pronounced with a super light "l" sound)
Quack Quack ("Cack" "Cack")
Duck
Map (She learned to say this from that annoying map on Dora the Explorer)
Nat (Her uncle that is)
Bacca (My family's nickname for her Grandpa Nick. Pronounced "Bach")
She knows the sign for "Night Night."
Book
This
That
Yes
She knows the sign for "All Done."
She knows the sign for "Drink" and "Food"
Amen - ("Ay Ma")
She knows the sign for "Light"
Bzzz (The noise a bee makes)
Goodbye ("Good ba")
Roar ("Raaa." What dinosaurs, big cats, bears, and angry people say.)
xylophone - ("zyle")
Banana - ("Naa")
Stitch (From Lilo and Stitch. Said as is.)
X - (For Felix)

Sleep... Oh! how I loathe those little slices of death.

2011-01-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hooray for Felix and Uschi. Two reasons why Edward hasn't seen the whites of my eyeballs for a few weeks.

Felix and Uschi are having a smashing time though. Uschi has is a conservative friend of Felix. She thinks he's cute, but incredibly boring.(Talk about snooze fest)

Uschi's really getting into picking her own clothes out and is a big fan of flowers on her head.

Even the hats have to have flowers on them.

We're happy to have our little nuclear family. One mom, one dad, one daughter, one son, and a dog.

We're also glad that at least some of us are getting some sleep.

A Season of Sequels: Part II - The Babying

2011-01-13T18:07:00.000-08:00

By now many of you may have heard the vicious rumor that we birthed some strange goblinoid; a half-reptilian, half-cephalopodic man-beast from beyond the rings of Saturn. Not so. Observe the well-appointed stature of the above specimen. I think you will all find, or can be reasonably expected to be convinced, that this man-child is well within the parameters for a normal pupa-stage human, yes?

And before you ask, no, that orifice perched atop his jaw is not a lamprey-like, tooth-lined feeding tube, used to burrow through the chests of his victims, (see below)...
...nor is it to be used, as in the case of the Mynock, to attach the body to the plasteel cockpit of starships in order to frighten Wookies and droids alike, (again, see below)...
...it is, however, utilized in the neigh-constant quest for nourishment. In fact, the pictured subject was observed to feed from its host successfully quite soon after this picture was taken.

In truth, the birthing process this time round was such a 180 degree difference from the birth of Felix' sister that it bears telling, though the biological nature of the details are best left to less public venues. Suffice it to say Meridth was inside the doors of the hospital a mere 15 minutes before the baby's birth, maybe 20 including the zombie-shuffle down that seemingly endless hall from the entrance to the maternity ward, and that my 1996 Subaru was five minutes shy of a proper Catholic baptism.

Beyond that, I'll let Meridth fill in what details she'd like in a later post. Speaking of the mum...

...doesn't she look superb? She burst several blood vessels and was absolutely convinced that she looked a wreck, but I'm still only pretending to be able to see them, just so she doesn't think I'm short-shrifting her pain. And me?

I'm not letting this one get in the way of my leisure reading.

We brought Uschi in today to meet Felix and the results were not unexpected.

"Buttons? I LOVE buttons."

"Hey Ed, Meridth! Did you guys see this? There's BUTTONS on this bed!"

"Look, I'm showing you a BED with BUTTONS, get it? I mean it looks like any other bed out there, but...y'know...buttons. Never seen anything like it. Bed. Buttons. Meridth, don't you get it?"

"Little brother? Yeah, whatever Ed, that's fine, but get a LOOK at this BED!

As long as we can take that bed home, they'll be thick as thieves.

Thanks for all the good wishes, yous guys. We can feel 'em floating in the ether. And since I neglected to mention the details that everyone always ask for:

We proudly announce the birth of EDWARD FELIX GIMBEL at 9:32pm central on the 12th of January 2011. The baby was measured at 8lbs. 4oz. and 22.5 inches long. Mother and son are in good health and great spirits. Father and sister are missing them both. They'll be home tomorrow morning and any visitors and well-wishers are welcome via telephone, text, email, tweet, Facebook wall posting and even in person.

A Season of Sequels

2010-12-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

I've put a lot of thought into this and I think the hubris of the evil Galactic Empire is best exemplified through the second Death Star, the one that was under construction in 1983's Return of the Jedi.

Yes, this is what I do in my spare time. Choke on it.

Think about it. The Battle of Yavin (where the first Death Star was destroyed - duh!) took place only a few short years before the debut (and subsequent destruction) of the second Death Star (Battle of Endor). With the Empire's defeat at Yavin, which, remember, was so very catastrophic and unexpected that Grand Moff Tarkin refused even considering evacuation AND where the only survivor of the roughly 1.5 million on-board escaped by accident, you would think that the Empire would have applied those "leassons-learned" to their super-weapon design in the future.

No sir. They just built a bigger mousetrap, because that was really the biggest problem with the first Death Star: it was about 7 times too small a target. And as everyone knows, a gigantic two meter exhaust vent was a little too excessive. I mean if an untrained farmboy could hit it with a proton torpedo well... So they decided to fix that by...wait a minute...they still had gigantic shafts that led through the superstructure of the space-station? Right to its volatile easily-explodable core? Big enough to fly freighters through?!? Aw for Pete's sake!

So the Empire just kept chugging along with nary a thought of changing course in spite of overwhelming evidence that it would be good to change everything about what went wrong before. Wait for it...

Hang on. It even kinda looks like the unfinished second Death Star. Weird.

I've been at it again. I should have known that once Meridth pointed out during the last debacle I had with the dreaded McZoo that I'd be better served if I had a McRib instead of mere bacon to represent pork, I'd have to try it again...this time at full magnitude! So there I was again, eyes resting upon those sundry cartons, each a small treasure chest of cardiac distress. Each taunting me, ever taunting!

NEVERMORE!

They really forced my hand with this one. November was McRib month. For the first time in many years the McRib would be available nationwide (and I mean WIDE) at your local neighborhood McDonalds. It wasn't going to last though. Just a narrow window to squeeze my engorged body through to become one of the elite: a Full-on McZoo veteran.

So I engaged the target.

Ugh! Unbelievable!

That photo says it all, the greasy discarded bread discs, still glistening with unholy nectar. I can't believe I'm finding myself here again. What is wrong with me?!? There has to be some support group for this...

So let's do the math: that's a 1/3 pound Angus burger at the bottom, then the McRib patty, a grilled chicken slab, and a Fillet-o-the-Fish on top. And a red onion. For flair. It may seem incongruous to the entire spirit of this ill-advised exercise to select the grilled chicken in lieu of its fried and breaded brethren. I admit, it's the road less traveled.

Fast-food and a Robert Frost reference. Who loves ya baby?

And brother, that made all the difference. Meridth asked me at half-time how it tasted and I was (and am) ashamed to say it's extraordinarily delicious. So much better than the McZoo I. I'm forced to conclude that it is because the Fillet-o-your-Fish and the southern-style fried chicken I had with the first McZoo simply overloaded the grease-center of the taste-bundle at the apex of my spinal column. (I looked it up on wikipedia.) This time around with the Fillet-o-Phish as the sole "breaded/fried" entrant, I got the blendation of greasy-beefy, sauced-an-mold-injected, faux-healthy and breaded/fried. It's all about balance, friend.

Yep, balance. It's the peak-level yoga position of meals, right there.

Am I going to hell for this? Maybe. Between all the factory-farm terror, the oppression of the hispanophonic McDonalds workers required to bring me the meal, the amount of exercise I will have to (and already have had to) do to purge my roller-coaster -ride of a body AND the remote possibility that some impressionable thing will read this blog-entry and foolishly try to emulate, or worse still, to top my absurd quest for gonzo-food creation...

Hey kids! Why not top your favorite pizza with MORE PIZZA?!?

...there's certainly a case to be made for my infernal eternal rest. That being said, I regret nothing.

And will never ever do this again.

Quoth the Accused to the Inquisitor...

2010-11-05T23:54:00.000-07:00

So we've been busy since August, I hope that goes without saying. I mean, we'd never forget YOU, our very special blog-community.

It's my fault really. I stumbled upon this little site, you may have heard of it, it's called the Facebook. And Lo, I became complacent and satisfied with blurbs, unfocused photography and half-remembered song lyrics and forgot - nay NEGLECTED - the subtantive (substansive?) (substantial?) uh...beefy platform I've got here to utilize.

That's my excuse. Meridth's is simpler and more biologically messy.

Anyway, we've got some interesting stuff in the pipe. Uschi photography (at the request of my parents) is set to exceed last year's totals by some thirty percent. However, I've got some reviews of film, music and television on the way, so stay tuned to this station.

Out.

Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.

2010-08-26T18:43:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY USCHI!!

We actually celebrated early because Daddy was going to be gone for awhile doing secret guy training.

But it was neat because Aunt Emily and Uncle Karl were there:

Aunt Betsey and Uncle Richard and cousins Nora and Calvin were there too:

Uschi misses them all a lot. She keeps telling me.

She has had lots of fun with Grandpa and Grandma though.

Claudia actually taught Uschi how to roll her arms today. So cute.

Some interesting things you may or may not know about little miss Sushi Pants.

*She has 11 teeth in her mouth, including three molars. She can eat almost anything we eat up to raw apples. Sometimes she gets greedy though and stuffs too much in her mouth.

*She LOVES people. Whenever we're out she will always chat and wave and smile at people. She is so social.

*She thinks she is hilarious. She always makes faces at me to get me to laugh and then she will laugh because she knows she's being funny.

*She can make the sign language for eat, milk, bed (as in to go to sleep), and phone. Some first words were "da da" "go go" (for the Go Dog Go! Book), and her most favorite is "this." You know how you teach kids words... "this is a toy, this is a doll." So whatever she is holding in her hands is a "this."

*Anything can be used as a phone. I especially like it when she uses pretzels for phones.

Anyway, Hooray for Uschi. We're really lucky to have her. I can't believe she's a 1 year old officially. I can't wait to see what happens next.

To Bed or not to bed

2010-07-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

Edward and I would like to say that one of the things that we are most looking forward to after this next move is a comfy bed to sleep in.

Random Gimbel facts:

Years 1-3 years of marriage we slept on a mattress on a floor.
Year 4, in England, we shared a bed that was a little bit bigger than a twin size and that unfortunately had bed bugs.
Year 5, while staying with my parents, we had a "normal" bed.
Year 6, back to the mattress on the floor.
Year 7, being that I was pregnant I found a box-spring and frame on craigslist.
Year 8, transient and in Texas we are sleeping on an air mattress that has consequently sprung a leak, and have therefore moved to the floor.

Hallelujah, we are almost done with this bed nonsense. Why the lame sleeping circumstances you ask? Lots of schooling + lots of student loan bills + regular bills+ fancy computers = no comfy beds.

Glad that period is OVER.

ps. If any of you are familiar with this infamous bed, you and I are the bestest of best friends.

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dogs Tails

2010-07-15T20:14:00.001-07:00

You heard us right. Edward Felix Gimbel (Felix for short) is going to be born January 18, 2011.

Just thought you might want to know.

Film Review: Airborne (1993)

2010-06-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Today's film review is a delightful little blast from the nineties called 'Airborne.' Don't remember it? Yeah, it was slight, unimportant, nonsensical really. No big stars, no real plot, no chance during awards season. Yet I remember seeing it at 12 or 13 and pretty much loving it. Why? It's got roller-blading (or in-line skating if you prefer) and a delightful fish-out-of-water story of a cool guy in a square place: Cincinnati.

Did you watch the trailer? What's not to love?
The plot is an oh-so-clever reversal on 'The Karate Kid;' cool surfer guy Mitchell "The Goose" Goosen from California is forced to move to Cincinnati when his professorial parents go on a research trip to Australia. His laid back style, wise adherence to the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and less-than-macho hair attract the aggressions of the tough-guy jocks and hijinks ensue.

In this clip, you get the whole, unmitigated Mitchell Goosen experience. Both barrells of highly-concentrated, California-grown 'laid-back.' This is what everyone in California sounds like, right?

Did I mention that Seth Green plays his unconfident, formless cousin who he convinces to be himself to earn the love of a plain girl?

That really elevates things.

So finally, Mitchell's parents send him his in-line skates (or roller-blades, if you will) in the mail and he finds an outlet for his frustrations. We are then treated to a montage of Mitch "bladin'" across Cincinnati collecting a following of like-minded shredders and BMX kids, some so enthralled by his moves, they depart the stoops upon which they were loitering with nary a thought to their abandoned juice-boxes (I'm not making this up.) In the meantime, Mitch meets an intelligent and prudent young girl (she carries an umbrella) with whom he wiles away an afternoon in a botanical garden, proving his sensitive bona fides by identifying sundry flowers, yet asserting his manly-virtues by rebelliously skating throught the verdant horticultural expo. How awesome is that?

Naturally, his inamorata is the little sister of Jack, the jock's ringleader. What's a skating long-haired pacifist landlocked surfer to do? Naturally, he has a lucid dream about the situation in which he finds himself on 'the perfect wave' which is guarded by a hispanophone shark named Pepe who says: "La ola es mia." The wave is mine. Whoa.

So Mitch proceeds to ingratiate himself into Jack's crowd by participating in roller-hockey contests against "the preps," wealthy-types from a rival school. Also: The preps ringleader, an albino named Blaine, is the unwilling ex-boyfriend of Mitch's gal-pal. So there is that.

The epic epic climax is initiated when Mitch and the boys challenge their rivals to a race down Cincinnati's Devil's Backbone. (An aside: I assumed this Devil's-Backbone-in-Cinncinati thing was a bunch'a hooey, but there is a Devil's Backbone Road in that fine mid-west city. Go figure.) Will Mitch be forced to abandon his Gandhi-inspired pacifism because of the brutality of this race? Will the preps finally be brought low? Will Mitch find true love with that girl who's name I can't remember?

Seriously, you need to see it to find out.

Oh yeah, and Jack Black's in this movie.

Seriously, watch it on Instant Play on your Netflix. Do it today!

Here by popular demand...

2010-06-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

So on Tuesday Uschi started to dance. Seriously I'm charmed. Anyway, I've been trying to get a video of her doing it, and she always stops when I pull out the camera. So in this video she's sitting on my lap, and I did my best... but people with motion sickness, beware.Uschi's favorite bands, you ask? RATATAT, The Presets, Thom York, and Bjork. Thank goodness it's not Chuck Mangione.

Why I Need Meridth: A Gonzo Tale

2010-06-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

When Meridth isn't around I have the tendency to go off the rails just a bit. When she was in NYC for the summer of 2006 I watched all three (at the time) Terminator movies back to back to back, had a severe case of food poisoning, worked 60 hours a week, ate 1500 Otter Pops and ran seven miles every morning. It was a gonzo summer. Suffice it to say that Meridth centers me in an important stabilizing way and when she's gone, things tend to become pear-shaped, like an ill-formed lump of clay on a potter's wheel...

...which leads us to this peculiar photograph. What is it? What does it mean? What does it have to do with my dignity? It's simple really...

BEHOLD THE McZOO!!

Yes, like the cast-off cigarette butts tossed aside by the wheezing emphysemic, these buns are the husks lesft over in the construction of this...this...monstrosity...this abomination. What is it you ask? What drives a man to so alter the natural constitution of the 'burger' phenotype? What was its unholy aim? It's an elegant theory actually...like the ancients in their construction of the Tower of Babel, I only sought to reach the heavens of deliciousness by melding all the varieties of animal flesh offered on the McDonalds menu into one Voltron-like mountain of meat. How could this be a sin?

So one Saturday last month I rolled up to the drive through and ordered one Third Pound Angus Bacon Cheeseburger, one Chicken Selects Chicken Sandwich, and one Fillet-o-Fish...

(Meridth: "It would have been cooler AND grosser if you had the McRib." Edward: "Don't I know it, but you have to work with what's available and Bacon = Pig. Good enough for me.")

Looking at them all just sitting there with their accusing stares was intimidating. Like the Tell-Tale Heart, I was consumed with madness. Working swiftly and with surgical precision I deconstructed the sandwiches, unveiling their meaty cores and combined them, knitting flesh-to-flesh like a culinary Doctor Frankenstein. And the result was no less monstrous and incapable of being loved.

In his epistle to the Romans, Paul called me out as one of the "inventors of evil things" chasing that stupendous and gonzo line between culinary genius and coronary disaster. I ask you: what was the result?

I was so preoccupied with whether or not I could combine so many different meats, I never stopped to think if I should!

Next month I'm going to try to stick two pieces of each type of meat on one sandwich and call it the McNoah's Ark.

I like this guy...

2010-06-16T05:29:00.001-07:00

It's Edward's birthday today, so I've been thinking about how stinking lucky I am to claim this guy. First off he's a pretty great dad. Uschi's certainly a fan.He's also a pretty entertaining friend(Here we are moving from Monterey to San Angelo, only taking what we can in our car. Everything but the kitchen sink anyway.)Hooray for Edwards and hooray for Birthdays.

Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?

2010-05-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

Yes I WILL go out of my way to use a palindrome. Welcome to the new era in which Frank Frazetta, classic fantasy artist (art seen directly below), died on Monday the 10th, and in his postmortem I thought I could vent about one of my biggest pet peeves.So Frazetta was beyond talented. Beautiful painter, amazing at figure work, and he certainly got a lot of teenage boys excited about the fantasy genre (a little too excited if you ask me). I have two bones to pick with him. (No pun intended). First he certainly objectified women to high heaven and in my opinion he smutted up one of my favorite genres, but secondly, he claimed to be the Alpha and Omega of illustration, specifically for fantasy. In his biography he states over and over again that he was one of a kind, that he bucked the trend, that he was so unique and such a child prodigy that we humans are blessed to claim him. And all I have to say is this: You are a big fat copycat. RIP. I realize that nobody creates in a vacuum, and we artists are all attempting to recreate what already has been created in order to be innovative. Most everyone, including me and especially the great artists, are inspired and even might borrow the color palette or a composition, or an idea for a costume from the previous greats... But as you can see in these illustrations, Frazetta basically added new background to pieces that he liked of Howard Pyle (pictured above), and NC Wyeth, and certainly others that I have yet to identify. And I wish it were a one time thing, but I've seen many other pieces that directly echo these great masters of the Golden Illustration.

Arg. I HATE copycats.

Over and out.

Hehe.

2010-05-06T05:35:00.000-07:00

This is why having babies is advisable.Uschi has been doing this on a regular basis. I think it started because we, like all normal parents, blow raspberries on her stomach.

Matilda McBean Won't Clean Under Her Bed

2010-04-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm totally charmed...

I'm in the running for a writing contest online and basically they have the most adorable kids read your story and the story that is watched the most wins millions. (i.e. $1,500). Go check it out. It's at Smories.com Do it. And yay.

ADDENDUM: Apparently you can watch it multiple times and it will increase my chances of winning the contest. It's lasting all throughout May, so click back often and tell your friends!

The Girl Who Could Fly...

2010-04-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

...only an inch or so high.

So when Uschi is happy or excited or even angry she flaps her arms like little wings. It totally cracks me up and I finally got it on video.

She's a pretty happy girl all together. Especially when she's eating something crunchy.

Or plastic-y.

The End.

Special Guest Post: RADAR

2010-03-17T23:51:00.000-07:00

Alright. I admit it. I'm jealous. I used to be the center of the universe. But no, that round lump of a baby ruined everything for me.

Can I help it that she does this twinkle toes thing whenever someone lays her on the floor?

I mean... she just does this and they start talking about how cute she is and how fun she is.

She can even hold those stick things with her opposable thumbs. (Show off).

Yeah. I'm pretty jealous. How could I not be?

Especially when she seems to be rubbing it in.

Oh well.

Ethan, Oh Wherefore Art Thou Ethan? Oh Yeah, Utah.

2010-03-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

One of Uschi's baby friends just moved away. And she is mad. Very mad. Actually she's just teething. But he was a cute friend and I miss his mommy.(You know you're close friends when you let them poke your eye out.)

This is Uschi's face two seconds later, unfazed and happy.

Here they are full sized (Michelle, Dan and Ethan). See how neat they are? That's right.

Here's Me, Uschi, Dacia, Griffith, Michelle, and Ethan. (Sniffle).

DVD Review: "Zombieland"

2010-02-22T20:58:00.001-08:00

I'm sure some of you are belaboring under the delusion that I am a 'big fan' of the zombie subgenera. While I am genuinely appreciative of the various gifts and brik-a-brak that some of you may or may not have given me because you think I love zombies, the truth is that I'm incredibly picky about which zombie movies I love, particularly since we are suffering through a glut of zombie-related media. It seems you can't throw a rock and not hit one of these shambling menaces. To tell the truth, I only 'love' two zombie films - the original 1968 'Night of the Living Dead' and 2004's unrelentingly perfect 'Shaun of the Dead,' if anyone is keeping track - although I have a certain appreciation for sundry other examples in the subgenera - the original 1978 'Dawn of the Dead' comes to mind. I know I shouldn't love you; you insult my intelligence and belittle my taste, and yet...

So I guess it goes without saying that I came into last year's 'Zombieland' with some skepticism. I mean as far as zombie-related comedies go, 'Shaun of the Dead' was certainly the exception that proved the rule. It took the combined talent of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and (not pictured) Edgar Wright to pull of the unprecedented mix of hilarity, poignancy and violence. If it took the combined Voltron-esque talent of that calibre to produce a zombie-comedy, what chance did shoe-gazer Jesse Eisenberg have? I saw the unfortunately-similarly-titled movie 'Adventureland' and hated it. And frankly, I was more than a little concerned that 'Zombieland' would quickly devolve into an example of the death-of-narrative-cinema, just showing clever kill after clever kill. What I didn't realize is that Woody Harrelson was swinging for the fences with this one. His manic 'Tallahassee' is like a previously-unknown loony-toon packing more heat than Yosamite Sam by a long shot. And it's not a stretch to say that Woody digs deep in this role with an emotional twinge that holds that note just long enough and then tosses out a fine 'Titanic' joke. Well-played, sir!Mr. Harrelson swinging for the aforementioned fences.

I was not displeased with the two female leads and, although the basic conception of their characters was refreshing, they were given surprisingly little to do, and in the end suffer from an unfortunate case of damsel-in-distress syndrome. Oh well.

Now the film deploys a number of tactical gambits which I imperfectly but not inaccurately will describe as 'gimmicks.' (They aren't 'gimmicky' per se but they are certainly not seamlessly integrated.) One is the appearance on-screen of the written text of a number of rules for surviving the zombie plague. The character of Jesse Eisenberg will relate these rules via a voice-over and the text will appear on screen. It's ironic, because my wife and I have been catching up on the JJ Abrams tv show 'Fringe' and one of the only real problems we have with the show is the appearance of 3D words hovering over the establishing shots describing the location. It's almost the same typeface used by 'Zombieland' and yet, I found it amusing in the movie. It was a small sign or indicator of the tone of 'Zombieland.' And I suppose that's the best I could say for this movie: don't over-think it. It's droll, a bit random, and good. Genuinely entertaining.

As for the other noticeable gimmick, the less you hear about it the better, suffice it to say it's an unexpected cameo. And it's comedy gold. "Whoa there, hold on. Is that hombre giving out spoilers to OUR movie?!?"

So there you go. It's a solid movie, well worth your time. Does it have much gore? No, not more than your average action movie. There is a bit of questionable content in the opening credits that nets the film it's 'R' rating (along with its proclivity for profanity) but it's an isolated incident and you ought not let it change your mind. Unless you like lady-zombies, in which case your mind oughta be changed, weirdo.

But if you're looking for a zombie drama, just as a last aside with regard to zombie media I do lovelovelove, I can't recommend Max Brooks' 'World War Z' highly enough. It's available in paperback and a smashing full-cast audiobook edition (featuring the talents of Mark Hamill and Henry Rollins. Together at last!) and, rumor has it Brad Pitt's production company has acquired the film rights, so get on-board now and tell your friends you read it first.Don't know why I should shill for amazon.com but click here to order the paperback. Best ten bucks you're gonna spend today.

Can't Not Post It

2010-02-07T21:45:00.000-08:00

If you're sick of me gushing about my daughters extreme aptitude for cute, avert yer gaze.

DVD Review: "Moon"

2010-02-04T23:39:00.000-08:00

Bored yet of supercute babies eating semi-solids? Me too. So in an attempt to engage with those readers who may have no interest at all in the eating habits of our spawn and may actually want more of the hard-hitting coverage that has come to characterize this blog-product, we offer you a taste of what's been streaming into our skull via that sole source of at-home entertainments, the DVD player, fed a steady flow of media-disks from Netflix. Ho yeah!

Let's talk about Duncan Jones' first feature-length movie, "Moon." But first let's talk about Duncan Jones.

Here's a picture of your father that I've plucked out of the mists of the internets.

And here's a picture of Duncan Jones' father.

Based solely on genetics, which of you is better equipped to make a trippy yet thoughtful, seventies-inflected sci-fi film seeped in otological angst and possibly sinister technology? The child of Mister Whitebread over there? Or Ziggy Frickin' Stardust? I mean David Bowie is a one-man macro-culture with all the identities he's got floating round. Talk about existential. The guys got to commit ethnic cleansing just to choose a deli sandwich.

To tell the truth, the less said about Duncan Jones' awesome dad the better. While it's impossible not to think of the doomed Major Tom as the film's protagonist takes his "protein pills and puts [his] helmut on" the film would be fantastic regardless of the directors genetic background. Seriously, did you see that poster? It's unique and I knew I had to see any movie whose poster had such great design.

So what happens in the movie? Yeah the setting...it's on the moon. Connect the dots, man. Yeah. There's apparently an extremely lucrative source of neigh limitless clean energy to be harvested from the dark side of the moon. The process however necessitates a human operator to monitor the mostly-automated process. Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) is one such observer at the tail end of a three year contract with Lunar Industries. Throughout the lonely tour-of-duty, Sam's only had the company of GERTY, a centralized AI for the lunar base with only a crude animated face to express emotion (voiced brilliantly by Kevin Spacey)

Communication between the lunar base and Earth is a dicey affair so most communications are pre-recorded messages from his wife and infant daughter. To reveal much more beyond that would be disingenuous frankly, but watching Sam Bell slowly come to grips with his situation is really amazing. Rockwell was robbed awards-wise this year. The word tour-de-force has been bandied about a lot vis-a-vis this film and for once I don't think it's hyperbolic. Rockwell carries this movie start-to-finish and its success (and believe me, the film is successful) is a testament to Rockwell's ability to make this utterly fantastical situation feel oh-so relevant. It's almost Kafka-esque with Bell as a reluctant Gregor Samsa. (Was that pretentious or what? Boy-o!) But honestly, Rockwell made me believe in the relationship between Bell and GERTY, and as the third act played out, I found myself caring more for GERTY, with his clumsy 8-bit face, than I ever did for WALL-E, and believe me, I liked the Pixar flick a lot!

The design of this movie is a great feather in its cap. Some independent films can't hang in regards to design, but "Moon" is punching well above its weight and I'd happily set its design (if not its somewhat lacking, if sparse, CG effects) against the designs of Sam Rockwell's other sci-fi film of 2009, a small little movie you might have heard of called "Avatar."* And I mean that. I mean, just look at that poster! It is somehow utterly unique while simultaneously remaining totally iconic of the kind of 1970's sci-fi that clearly inspired director Duncan Jones. And on top of that it works as an advertisement. It hits all the tonal points and communicates that this isn't sci-fi action or a space opera. It's paranoid and isolating, thoughtful.

Honestly though, if my Kafka reference and continual use of the word 'thoughtful' are making you hesitant, thinking that this is somehow 'Art Haus' fare or that you need a BA in comparative literature to enjoy it, hold on! It's actually pretty thrilling too. There's intrigue, distrust, an imposed time limit that rolls the pace of the movie right along. And in case you've surmised from my ambiguity regarding the plot, there is what might loosely be defined as a >ahem< "plot-twist" though I wouldn't be inclined to use that word. I think the plot is in of itself pretty twisty, and in that Twilight Zone-ish fashion the plot would certainly 'work' independent of the ontological undertones.

And Meridth loved it too.
"GERTY! I told you, you don't eat my Corn Pops! My name is right on the box! Buy your own dude!"

* As pointed out by my beloved friend Alex, Sam Rockwell is not, in fact, in 'Avatar.' No, I know! What was I thinking?
They don't even look remotely like each other! Wow. That's egg on my face. But now that I'm thinking about it, what would Sam Rockwell have done with 'Avatar' in the place of Sam Worthington? Would it have improved the movie?

I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

2010-01-20T20:20:00.000-08:00

Uschi is almost 5 months. Almost. A few weeks ago her pediatrician told me that she probably would be ready for solids between now and 6 months. I started reading some books, last weekend Edward and I bought spoons and bowls. We hadn't even gotten rice cereal, the perennial favorite for starters. Yesterday my brother, Nat, was eating a big bowl of cereal. Uschi looked at it and started wailing (which is VERY atypical for her). She was so mad I didn't give her any cereal. So we had to go out and get the darn stuff, because like I said we didn't think she'd be ready for food this early. So today was the big day. Milk was not enough and Uschi let me know how inadequate it was. Anyway, I honestly thought that she would maybe be overwhelmed or change her mind about this whole new food thing. No, no. She got extremely angry in the evening and demanded another serving. I realize that there are those of you who think that I should have stuck with the typical one serving a day thing. But really, Uschi is certainly my boss and she would let me have it if I didn't give her the appropriate portions.

Australia, Christmas and so on and so forth!

2010-01-17T22:41:00.000-08:00

Yawn, no updates since oh-nine? Preposterous!

^That's Australia. Neat, eh?

^I guess they took a 14-hour drive to Queensland. Uschi tolerated it alright I hear, but boredom was inevitable.

^Of course she was thrilled to see her father again after three weeks.

^And Christmas with Grandpa Ed and Grandma Claudia was pretty great too. Observe Grandpa's festive antlers.

^We stopped briefly while driving down to the LA area post-Christmas in Santa Barbara just to prove to Uschi when she's a landlocked toddler next year that she was once in California. Not that she was all that happy about it...

And yeah, that's about all for now. Update complete...

My Brother-in-Law Looks Like This

2009-12-13T22:41:00.000-08:00

It's true.

And obviously I mean the guy on the right.

Not Krusty.

Viste?

2009-11-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

One of my friends is an amazing photographer and one of my other friends has a pretty cute baby...

What do ya know?

This Is Halloween.

2009-11-03T00:14:00.001-08:00

This costume cracked me up. When we tried it on I couldn't stop laughing. I dunno. the idea of a baldish baby wearing hair was too amusing.

Anyway. We had a Halloween Party in honor of Uschi's baby blessing on Sunday.

We had lots of neat friends and family come out to consume fatty goodness and beat monster piñatas to a pulp.

It was good and necessary.

Radar liked it. Especially since he got to dress up as a banana.

The End.

Cutest Baby Ever

2009-11-03T00:07:00.000-08:00

Sorry world. I know you're jealous.

She likes to mimmick lately. Here she is looking at me and cooing.

Her favorite thing to do is stick her tongue out.

Uschi's also been smiling a whole lot lately. Sooo cute.

Halloween for Weenies (Guest Post by Aunty Adri)

2009-11-01T16:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had a fabulous Halloween party at the Gimbel abode, filled with Wookies, Leah's and Obi Wan's with sneakers. I won't bore you with all the details. No body wants to read about those anyways... I'll just let all the pictures speak speak for us. Sufficient to say, we all had a glorious time and ate far more candy than a human stomach can handle.

But I must tell you the best part of the festivities (or at least the most memorable) had to do with Bobbing for Donuts. Strung across the large, low hanging branch/trunk of the Gimbel's tree in the front yard were a dozen or so donuts at various mouth heights. When the judge yelled go, all the children, and a few adults attacked the circular nuggets of sugary joy. It was quite hilarious and a bit awkward to watch. The result of the competition? David finished first. Rachel got donut stuck in her braces. And Edward ate 2 donuts.

Pictograms from Babyland!

2009-10-11T22:36:00.000-07:00

So my sister and her husband and her professional cutie Nora were all in San Franciso last week. We visited.

This was the very first time that Uschi got to meet a Gimbel/McKean relative so it was a pretty big deal. Look how excited she is!

Meridth and I picked out an obligatory gift for my neice -- she super loved it. Anything involving wooden hammers and I'm on-board.

Anyway, more pics!

In this pic, Nora is showing off her HUGE biceps while Uschi looks on, well impressed.

The start of a real smash-up hug. Too bad Uschi's not quite ready for prime-time.

One of these things is not like the other...

These are from this morning before church. I caught her mid-yawn, but I was thinking it looked more punkrawk.

Uschi's not a big fan of my non-shaving long weekends by about day three.

Finally, what with the baby's colic-y temperament, we're always looking for new ways to hold her -- ways that will either minimize or maximize pressure on her gas-filled innards.

Cheers! Go ahead! Leave a comment! Tell us how cute our baby is! I DARE you!

Exhibit A

2009-09-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

One of my friends noticed that when I get excited I always seem to talk about wetting myself. Well, I have to say that it is pant wetting time. As Natalie mentioned below, yesterday little Uschi was working hard on her tummy time. For awhile now (2.5 weeks) Uschi's been able to lay on her tummy and push off my hand and basically scoot her body across the floor away from my hand. She usually just drives her head into the ground, however yesterday and today she has officially done what's called in the military a high crawl. That is, she can scoot along the floor (using my hand to propel herself) and she just started to chicken wing her arm forward to keep her body in balance and to continue moving forward. This typically starts anywhere from 6 to 10 months.

So how cool is Uschi you ask?

Answer: Very.

Happy One Month Uschi!

PS. The evidence is at the end of this video, around 53 seconds in if you want to skip me "speaking baby."

Special Guest Post

2009-09-25T21:38:00.001-07:00

This is not Edward.

This is Natalie!

For those of you who don't know me, I've been friends with Meridth since we were freshmen in the dorm together at BYU. I'm visiting right now from the beautiful, buggy, muggy state of Maryland, and I came to meet li'l Uschi.

This is her.

And, I have to tell you, Uschi is one busy lady. She is always working on something, which shows hilariously in her face. I've never seen a newborn with so many facial expressions, although sometimes it's tricky to figure out what all her little faces mean. She has one that looks politely horrified that keeps making me giggle.

This morning, Mer called me excitedly into the room, because Uschi had done a remarkable thing. We tried to recreate it, and (amazingly) it worked. Uschi was on her front, having "tummy time," and Mer put her hands under Uschi's feet to that she could push herself forward. That itself shows an impressive amount of strength, but after pushing herself up, little Uschi was off balance, and she threw her arm up in front of her body to catch herself. It sounds like a fluke, but she actually did it a second time as well. This shows an extraordinary amount of coordination for a lady who is one month old tomorrow.

(We tried to do it a third time when Edward came home, but Uschi firmly pointed out that she is not a performing monkey puppet to do tricks on command, and politely declined.)

She also managed to stick her thumb in her mouth this afternoon. Tasty.

I've known Meridth and Edward for quite awhile, so when I was trying to come up with a gift to crochet for her, I decided to personalize it to what I would imagine their spawn would be like.

So, naturally, I made a pirate teddy bear.

It is named Cap'n Ursa, the Pirate Teddy. It's kind of dominating Uschi in this picture.

But she likes it. you can tell because she's smiling at me. 'Cause we're friends.

Bless.

Natalie

Squeeker squeek squeekin.

2009-09-16T12:53:00.001-07:00

So Ursa minor has been pretty congested of late. I'm sure as newborn this would be frustrating and quite confusing. Anyway, being the terrible parents we are, we have been delighting in the squeeky noises she makes. It almost sounds like somebody jumping around in a vinyl suit.

Anyway, I obsessively have to post more pics of Uschi.

Hee haw.

Alas, alak.

I'm not so sure about this bath thing.

Nevermind.

She's Elora Danan, the future empress of Tir Asleen, and the last thing she's going to want is a hairy chest!

2009-09-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

Edward's been pretty great at keeping you all posted on what's going down in Uschi-town. I just wanted to say a big fat thanks for everybody's support, comments, delicious food, and of course the presents :) I think most likely that Edward's going to be the main blogger for the time being that I'm pretty occupied being a vending machine.

...but I just thought you might want to see my obsessive mommy perspective on how cool we are now that Uschi's here.

Here's little Uschi's first sponge bath experience. (She's so mellow).

First off, Uschi, since about day 2 has been able to pic up her head and turn it from side to side, in a wobbly way, of course. Edward also put her on her tummy a few days ago and put his hands against her feet and she about kicked herself off the bed, which really freaked me out. But this makes me want to confront all the other moms out there and say something like, "My baby can kick your baby's butt." Cos she can, let's face it.
Anyway, before our little star was born we had concerns about how Radar was going to react. He had always been a little too enthusiastic about kids, jumping all over them and stuff. Well fortunately Radar seems to have the deepest respect for Uschi. Evidence to be seen below.

Uschi has inherited her daddy's really long fingers and big feet. In fact, Uschi doesn't fit into socks too well either her feet are too big or her ankles are too small. We currently have to just wrap her feet in a blanket.

She also smiles in her sleep. It's obviously not an emotional smile, but it totally makes me feel all squishy when I see it.
Unfortunately we haven't been able to take a picture of her when she does this pirate stare. One eye is puffier than the other and when she get's frustrated she squints one eye at you.

Anyway, enough blabbing... back to feeding I go.

Uschi Day + 3!

2009-08-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

I'm turning into one of those new parents who posts every single picture ever taken of their child. Yuk! But since a lot of people have asked about the grim and gritty details of the labor and all that, I thought I'd chime in to correct any of the inaccuracies Meridth has perpetrated in phone conversation. It's not that Meridth is dishonest, just forgetful. The story is correct in broad strokes but I think I can improve on the sequence of events.

So on Tuesday night I had to conduct at the local cub scout pack meeting. It was a good time and I brought Meridth along because of her advanced state of pregnancy. Meridth had been feeling random contractions throughout the day and we thought that it might happen that day. We did go in Sunday night because Meridth was leaking some fluid that we thought might be amniotic in nature, so we wanted to be cautious. After the scout meeting on the way home I bought Meridth a frozen delectable from the 31 Flavors (which she ended up throwing up two hours later) and we started writing down the contraction times. 8:17, 8:22, 8:27, 8:31 they were getting to be exactly five minutes apart. By 9pm we called the Birthing Center at the hospital and they asked Meridth about her birth plan. Meridth was non-ideologically interested in having a natural birth (just to see what that was all about) so they told us it would be best to wait until she couldn't stand it anymore before coming in.

It was exactly at 10:54 that Meridth decided she couldn't stand it anymore. I called the Birthing Center and grabbed the last bits and bobs we needed and by 11:06 we were on our way. Now I wasn't entirely sure we were going to have Uschi that night because we were still about two weeks out from the due date so I called my work and let the know I probably wouldn't be in the next day.

At the hospital we were taken to one of the birthing rooms and Meridth sat on the bed and had everything checked. And I put Tim Burton's Beetlejuice in the DVD player. Tuesday morning Meridth had seen the doc and he had said she was only dilated to a 1.5 so she still had some distance left to go before 10. Since Meridth had been suffering since 8pm, we figured she'd be up to at least a four. No dice, the nurse said she was only dilated to a two. Boo to that. Fortunately Dr. Walker was coming by for another patient at about half-past eleven so he peeked his head in, noticed Meridth's very regular contractions (like you could set your watch by them) and said we probably shouldn't go back home tonight. Just to speed things along he also decided to break Meridth's water.

And speed things along it did. We had 8cm to go until 10 dilation was reached and the doctor estimated that would take until 8am Wednesday morning, about a centimeter an hour. In fact, Meridth was fully dilated by 4am! But to go along with that speed, Meridth had to endure pretty intense contractions. By maybe 12:35 she asked for her first 'hit' and the nurses gave her a med designed to relax the mother and treat the anxiety more holistically. This was not even close to enough. By one in the morning, Meridth graduated to local injected anesthesia but only a single contraction went by before Meridth said "Y'know? I'm ready for an epidural." That wife of mine doesn't mess about.

So the anesthesiologist rolls in and we sign the forms saying that it's okay if Meridth dies from it and Meridth is sitting up and I'm in front of her and all I can think about is how much I want to see this huge needly-thing injected into my wife's spine, but I don't want to get in the way. I'm very interested in the dirty details of medical procedures, but in this case I had to settle with the salad-plate sized blood stain when the doc was finished taping all the kit down onto Meridth's back.

Anyway the epidural made my wife as happy as a clam who suffers from uncomfortable numbness and manageable pain (the sort of clam with a decent HMO) and she was able to doze for about an hour before the pushing started. Me and Meridth were ready and refreshed for round two. 5am! Fully dilated! Ready to push! We went at it for a half-hour then the nurse gave us permission to rest again. And by 5:45 the Dr. Walker showed up for the main event. Pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing! Curl up toward the fetus! Push were my fingers are! PUSH!

And just like that I started seeing a tennis-ball sized hairy lump appear from points unknown. Hmmmmm... I thought to myself, that's a real small head for a full-term baby. And suddenly Ka-boom! There was her head! I'd only seen the point of her little cone-head, so it looked smaller coming out that way. It was pretty out-there.

So the shoulders. And the rest. And the placenta. And there it all was.

When the doc was stitching up Meridth she started saying, "Uhhh...should I be feeling that?" Turns out that the tip of the epidural had worked itself out despite all the tape and what-not. So the doc tore it off and left it on the floor and treated the stitchy-region locally. Dr. Walker's pretty sure that it came out before the major pushing started so you could say that Uschi was born naturally. If you were so inclined.

Now you might be wondering why Uschi was in the hospital for two whole nights. I guess she had a poo on her way out that morning and had swallowed some of it, which wasn't good for her digestion. So throughout that first Wednesday she was burping up black bile. Late that night she had her innards suctioned out and the next day we just checked her diapers for the right colored poo. Friday at about noon the stars aligned and the poo-colors were spot on and we went home.

RADAR has been so good with the baby, it's pretty amazing. He's been mellow but curious about his new sister and has gained an undisclosed amount of weight while he was hanging out with the neighbors. What a great dog!

And that is that great friends! Thanks for all the millions of metric tons of support you have given us in the last ten months and we wouldn't dare have a baby in a world without people like you. Pat yerselves on the back!

Uschi Day + 1!

2009-08-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

More pic? Yes please.

We're both pretty tired here.

My chin is HUGE!

Mommy's tired. We wanna go home.

I'm too cool to poop.

Being a dad is cooler by the day.

Happy Uschi Day!

2009-08-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

And so Meridth gave birth to Ursa Adriana Gimbel this morning at 6:46 am after about twelve hours of labour and about two hours of pushing. She's 7 lbs. 13 oz. and is 20.5 inches long.

Whatta team!

That's Dr. Stephen Walker. He apparently has a beard.

Warm...

...and cold.

More pics to follow. See 'em here first.

Adventures in Babyhaving

2009-08-16T00:36:00.000-07:00

(Me at about 36 weeks aka the beginning of the 9th month.)

So I have some family and friends that are currently obsessed with my anatomy. Mostly the size of my tummy, hence the recurrent "here I am with a large belly" pic. There are those that are also interested in the nitty gritty details, that to be honest make me a little queasy. I'm beyond excited about the having a baby, but the physical baby having... well, let's just say it's gooey and painful and hopefully it will be over sooner than later.

Anyway, this last weekend my mom flew out from Australia to visit us in San Francisco. Edward and I have a thing for cities. I hope that we get to live in one of them. I love love love all the architectural goodies that you can find in San Fran.

I don't remember the name of this cool store, but please do note the stormtrooper, Vader, and Boba Fett on the wallpaper.

My mom went on her honeymoon 36 years ago to San Francisco so we decided to take a commemorative photo with dad there in spirit.

Here's me, mom and belly under the classic Transamerica Pyramid.

Needless to say, it was a nice weekend. I can't wait to do things like that with Ursa Minor.The End.

Tagged by Red Star Mama...

2009-08-05T23:44:00.000-07:00

Is it that time again? I remember doing these via email in the lab of the Reading/Writing Center at BYU Hawaii back in 1999. Plus ça change I guess.

- What is your current obsession?

Edward: Well, my studies but not by choice. Uschi of course who is due to be born anytime in the next four weeks.

These are all bland but not-untrue answers, but here's the true truth: I'm fascinated with conspiracy theorists. More accurately, I'm interested in the psychology of the pursuit of esoteric knowledge. I think that the hunt for secret knowledge is a deeply seeded driver for a lot of the human condition and conspiracy theorists more than any other group believe that 'they' have discovered the true secret about 'how the world works.' But like I said, there are strong impulses toward this in other facets. (e.g. Everyone has that friend, or had that friend in the 90's, who had to be the first to be into an obscure band/writer/artist/trend. They wanted to have something that no one else had.)

Meridth: It would be easy for me to say Uschi and Art. Both of which are true. But I've also really been enjoying being a blog spy lately. I am super voyeuristic by nature. I love waiting for hours at the airport. I get to stare at people and listen into conversations and there's nothing they can do about it. Bwa ha ha ha! I definitely find it interesting what people choose to reveal about themselves or their lives. What can I say? I'm nosy.

- What do you hate the most that everybody else seems to love?

Edward: I donno. That's kind of a dumb question. I might come back when I'm done and replace this with my question. If not, and until then, I'll just say...dry heat. Give be humidity and stop that blasted sun from roasting my pate.

Meridth: The Twilight Series. Sorry world. First off, I have never really liked girly girl stuff. I didn't like these types of books when I was growing up. I have to say that they were compelling enough for me to read the series. I was compelled by two reasons. First, I am a sucker for fantasy. How dreadful is that? But really, who doesn't want to love a story about modern vampires? Second I'm a bit OCD about having to finish what I start. (Talk about ridiculous dedication). So being that I have read the books I feel like I can comfortably say... they suck. The writing feels so amateurish. Stephanie Meyer is always using cliches like "Bella turned on her heel" or "her heart broke into a million pieces." Also, for some reason whenever someone in the book is feeling lusty or full of gooey love, their eyes always have to "smolder." Blech.

- What are you wearing today?
Edward: Like right now? A pair of shorts. Sorry, but that's all. I get warm doing my homework. I had a friend whose dad was all hirsute and he always hung around sans shirt and I never got it. I'm gonna be that guy. Thanks Ken.

Meridth: PJs. When you are blimpish or rotund in nature... it really is important to be comfortable. That is until you take your dog for a walk and you don't want the neighbors to see your stinky, bra-less self.

- What's for dinner?

Meridth needed (NEEDED) a whopper and I opted for chinese noodles and garbanzo salad with vinegar and mint. Quick, full of fiber, sodium and monosodium glutamate. (That's bad.)

Meridth: Yum.

- What would you eat for your last meal?

Edward: Honestly, I think I'd skip it if I knew I was gonna die. I mean your body releases your bowels after you expire and I don't want to hinder the clean-up any more than necessary. Plus I wouldn't want to die with a full stomach, all heavy and burpy. I wanna go without thinking about my GI tract.

Meridth: That's what he said.

- What's the last thing you bought?

Edward: The aforementioned Whopper hamburger value meal. (I remember when I discovered the word 'aforementioned.' 10th grade maybe? It was a popular one in my papers for Mrs. Strickler's 11th grade English. I just couldn't believe all those words got mashed together like that.)

- What are you listening to right now?

Edward: Okay Stereogum, one of those hipster music websites, commissioned a number of obscure indie-type musicians to do covers from the 1995 classic Björk's Post. (It's a free download available here.) But caveat emptor ladies and gentlemen: this compilation is dreadful and I'm only dutifully listening to it out of a quixotic sense of obligation. I wish Meridth were here to make me turn it off. I'm totally deleting it, nothing 'possibly maybe' about it, as soon as I'm done.

Also: they did another covering OK Computer. I'm pretty sure it's awful too but, one man's trash...

Meridth: I heard the tail-end of that so-called music. It really was that awful.

- What do you think of the person that tagged you?

I think Jenn and Justin both are pillars of the community, real salt a'the earth people with the sort of gumption and commanding dignity and personal hygiene that are the hallmarks of great men like Napoleon, Mustafa Ataturk and Grimace. Indeed, what IS not to like?

Meridth: Often Edward and I have friends that are much cooler, way more interesting, and much more higher in the social status of life. We cling to these people like leaches. Thanks Jenn and Justin. You make us look good.

- If you could have a house, fully paid for, and totally furnished anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Edward: Meridth would say London and I am inclined to agree, but I was thinking about Khartoum, the capital of the Sudan. I mean alright, there may or may not be a genocide taking place in the south of the country, and a handful of US diplomats were murdered there by Black September in the seventies and it was an early HQ for al-Qa'ida, but if you can get past all that, a spacious dacha maybe on a vineyard overlooking the Blue Nile, we'd live like colonial raj. It'd be awesome. Plus the Sudanese are really cool people.

Meridth: I have a hard time getting past all that. Let's stick with London.

Edward: That or Fort Wayne.

Meridth: Fort Wayne's right out.

- What is one of your hobbies?

Edward: I voraciously read. I like rucking. (i.e. carrying a heavy pack some dreadful distance.) It's a kind of self-flagellation

Meridth: Wikipedia is a hobby of yours. Let's be honest.

Edward: True. I'll look something up and then just follow the links until the necessary amount of time has effectively been wasted, hopping from topic to topic like Frogger.

Meridth: My hobbies are my obsessions. Uschi, Art, I would have to include reading as well, and unfortunately the Internet.

What are your favorite smells?

Meridth: Fruity smells. Smells definitely have been a big issue during this pregnancy. They are the main reason why I projectile vomited the first 6.5 months. The smells I mainly hated were Edward's gym clothes sitting in our car and chicken.

Edward: Um. I donno...dumb question again. Favorite smells? Like to smell in exclusion of other smells? I like the smells athat are associated with what I'm doing. Like cooking. Great smells! But If I'm working out, hiking or in the shower, me no like-y.

What is your favorite color?

Meridth: "Red no blue!" Actually I like all colors as long as they're complimented nicely with other colors. But I have a pretty serious aversion to pink. Ironically for those familiar with my art... I do use pink. Sometimes it's a necessary evil.

Edward: I gravitate toward earth tones in dress. I like different colors in art. Again, like smells, I like color where I find it.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your wardrobe?

Edward: There's a grey tee I've had since 2002. Good stuff.

Meridth: The chaco sandals that my puffy feet barely squeeze into. Thank goodness for adjustable straps.

What is your dream job?

Edward: Donno. Ice cream man, but I'd only end up eating my own wares.

Meridth: I've been doing okay as a freelance illustrator (magazine work, portraits, logos)... but I would like to publish some Picture Books or Middlegrade novels AND get payed lots of money for it.

Describe your personal style.

Meridth: I use to take this very seriously. My style was very very important. I guess the important rule to me is minimal effort plus interesting colors and retro clothing. Minimal effort I've got down... but Edward and I haven't had the ducats to upgrade our wardrobe for awhile now. We're currently a step up from hobos (thanks to the laundry machine).

Edward: I used to have a real thing against any shirt that had words or stripes. It was all solid colors for me. I still have an allergic reaction against tee shirts with witty slogans.

What are you going to do after this?

Meridth: Walk the dog and get back to that one illustration I'm illustrating. :)

Edward: Well, now that a day and a half has passed and it's now 5:53 on the morning of the 7th, I'll be taking a shower getting dressed and going to work.

What inspires you?

Meridth: Pretty broad question. I cried in Coraline because the design was so phenomenal. Whenever I see something beautiful I always have a longing that I could have been part of that project or desires to create something equally awe-inspiring.

Edward: Inspires me to do what? Go on a three-state killing spree? You can't wait for inspiration, sometimes you just have to grind through a block. At least that's how I've had to approach writing.

Who was the last person you kissed?

Meridth: My boyfriend.

Edward: 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky/this guy.

What delighted you most today?

Edward: RADAR.

Meridth: Toast.

What is something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t done yet?

Edward: Do gravy shots.

Meridth: Visit all the National Parks.

New Question: Which was your favorite Beatle? George, Paul, John or Ringo? And, of course, why?

Meridth: I used to be a big fan of John, mainly because I love all of the odd songs that he writes like, I am the Walrus and Mean Mr. Mustard. That is until I found out what a big a-hole he was to his oldest son and first wife and many others in general. If the song Run For Your Life doesn't give you a window in his soul I don't know what is. ("Run for your life if you can, little girl, Hide your head in the sand, little girl, catch ya with another man, that's the end, little girl.") So needless to say post High School I switched over to Paul. He's written some really beautiful songs like Yesterday, Hey Jude that he wrote for John's older son, Julian, in sympathy because of his parent's nasty divorce and lack of John's presence in his life.

Edward: I always liked the apocryphal 'fifth Beatle', who may or may not have actually existed in a tangible way. Fame always attracts hangers-on. But seriously, I loved Paul's work with MJ in the 1980's. The girl is mine.

We tag: Tim. Our fantastically blogless friend. Whatcha gonna do about it, huh, Tim?

Liquid Luck

2009-07-13T02:41:00.000-07:00

So as luck would have it I have a certain anonymous friend who has a certain anonymous brother who is a film projectionist. Which is why it is 3:43 AM and I just got back from seeing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I have been impatient to see this movie ever since I thought it was going to be released 8 months ago. So I just about wet myself when I found out that I was going to see the movie 3 days early.

I guess what I would have to say that I was impressed against my will, as this is my favorite of the Harry Potter books and I was expecting to be thoroughly disappointed. Anyway, brace yourself for my half delusional review (mild spoilers included). The overall tone of the film was perfectly creepy. There was a point where I felt like I might have nightmares. (Hopefully that doesn't come to fruition). The acting was superb and the cast has always been a perfect fit, except for the fact that Richard Harris from the first two movies understood how to play Dumbledore much better than Michael Gambon ever did. But I have to say that he (Dumbledore #2) didn't bother me at all in this movie. Quidditch was kept to a minimum that didn't affect the pacing of the film and was a nice break from all the heavy stuff. The special effects were wonderful and the look of the film was delightfully dark. Draco Malfoy haunted the screen and gave great pacing to the film and brought an appropriate sense of uneasiness. The altered death scene with Harry perfectly capable of physically responding whilst Draco confronted Dumbledore was an excellent change of pace. The audience could visually see his trust in Snape being destroyed and I thought this added to the emotional climax of Dumbledore's death. Really, as of now in the wee hours of the morning, my only complaints are Harry's heavy make-up job when McGonagall addresses the three after the cursing of Katie Bell (Harry has on some pretty luscious lipstick and darkened eyebrows), and the scene with Ginny and Harry in the Room of Requirement was unnecessarily awkward with Ginny. (Blech).

Anyway, overall a success. I can't wait to see it again. (I hope it holds up in the re-watching.)

Good night all... or should I say good morning ;)

Nathaniel at Davis, 19 June 2009...

2009-07-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

So our brother was received his commission with the US Army a week or so ago and we thought it apropos to post some pics of the event for the Ozzie branch of the McKean clan.

Congrats to El Tea Nathaniel and his Ozzie parents!

The Poms

BREAKING NEWS: Bath time for RADAR II: The Stinkening

2009-06-22T23:29:00.001-07:00

RADAR got skunked tonight.

We got him in the bath in about 90 seconds and before the two-minute mark were dumping V8 all over the poor pup. We had no pure tomato juice on hand so we made due. Lets just say that RADAR wasn't a fan and I wasn't too thrilled about scraping the thick bits out of his fur, but...most importantly, it seems to have worked moderately well. I'm a little skunky, the living room has a certain degree of skunkiness and if you get up in RADAR's grill, you'll detect some skunk, but all in all a vast improvement.

We'll keep you posted.

A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet

2009-06-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

So for those not in the know, we're naming our little girl "Ursa Adriana Gimbel" or "Uschi" for short. I have to say that Edward and I knew that this would probably be an unpopular name for our American friends and family. (Although it's quite a popular name in Germany). It's interesting though, because when you are great with child, everybody wants to know the gender and the name. We have had the occasional honest response of "I don't really like that name," a pursed lip or two, or an awkward silence. People not liking our little girl's name doesn't really bother me. I don't really like all the names that everybody names their kids, but that doesn't really matter because after the fetus becomes a child, the child whatever his/her name is becomes "Bobby" "Susy" or "Gertrude," not "that kid with a name I don't like." What really bothered me was when a few people told me that they wouldn't call our Uschi by her name (Uschi or Ursa). One loved-one told me that she would prefer to call her "Ruby" and the other told me that she was going to call our girl "Addy." I guess I would like all my loved-ones to know, that I didn't really ask your permission or advice in what to name my child. She may or may not like her name, and only time will tell with that one, but I find it interesting (and honestly a bit annoying) that some of the people I care for think that we're going to somehow change our minds because they wouldn't have handpicked the name for us.

Anyway... just venting.

Copycat

2009-06-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

So I just found out that Cosmic Debris Etc., owner of the all too familiar Emily Strange comic character of fashion and comic books (who will soon get her own series of novels from HarperCollins, and has a movie deal, a line of hair products, themed guitars, and even a limited-edition soft drink in the works) will be suing writer and illustrator Marjorie Sharmat and Marc Simont who wrote and illustrated one of my favorite childhood books Nate the Great. Cosmic Debris Etc. claims that Emily Strange does not in anyway infringe or is similar to Rosamond.

As you can see the character itself is almost an exact copy of the other (less desperately nonconformist) character, Rosamond, from the children’s book series “Nate the Great”. Emily the Strange, according to the wikipedia page, was “created” in 1991 to promote the Cosmic Debris clothing line. The Nate the Great series was first published in 1978 and continue on into the 80’s.

"Emily the Strange is a young, slim girl with long, straight, black hair and wears a short black dress. She has four cats (named Mystery, Miles, Sabbath, and Nee-Chee).

Rosamond (who predates Emily by a decade) is a young, slim girl with long, straight, black hair and wears a short dress. She has four cats (named Super Hex, Big Hex, Plain Hex, and Little Hex).

Emily’s cats now have distinguishing features, but originally they differed only in their sizes (exactly like Rosamond’s cats)."

This is incredibly disturbing to me. I hate the idea that someone could make money off of someone else's idea. But the fact that Cosmic is suing the owners of Nate the Great, saying that Emily is it's own original creation and that Marjorie Sharmat and Marc Simont have no right to sue for damages... it's just maddening.

Arg.

30

2009-05-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

Edward had told one of his co-workers that it was my 30th Birthday yesterday and she responded with a concerned, "How is she dealing with that?"

That totally cracked me up when I heard it. Turning 30 felt the same as turning 29. It's like when your hair grows. It happens so slowly it feels like it's always been the same length. But recently I have been running into random people talking about how horrible it was when they turned thirty. Like as if they were mummifying right before your eyes.

Anyway, I think that I wont be bothered until 80. That's getting a bit old. But then again maybe I'll be part of a smashing bingo club and too busy to know the difference.

Holy Genetic Disorders Batman!

2009-05-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

So, being a future first time parent I have been reading anything I can get my grubby little hands on. Whether it is an article about bodily fluids, fetal development, or the natural process of a pregnant ladies abs splitting (yikes). They're all fair game. In addition to this baby obsession I also have been raised mainly in Washington state and California and these states tend to be pretty environmentalist. Edward and I had already decided that we were going to have a go at g diapers. They have a cloth exterior that only needs to be washed when Uschi goes #2 and they have a biodegradable insert that you can flush down the toilet. The insert will biodegrade in roughly a week vs. up to a century with regular plastic diapers. (This is just speculation since plastic was only invented 144 years ago and since then everything that has been created in plastic (except for the small amounts that have been incinerated) is still in existence. We basically have no proof that plastic will biodegrade in 500 to 1000 years or more, and that's kinda scary when you think about it.

Anyway, so a dear friend of mine sent me an article on plastics. It was quite frightening. I have already been paranoid about baby products made in China because of all the lead coming out of there. But getting products made anywhere else, especially baby products is nigh unto impossible. Anyway, come to find out that most plastic bottles are made from bisphenol-A (or BPA) which puts your newly developing baby at risk for mental retardation or genetic abnormalities. There are some plastic bottles that are made out of polyamide and are suppose rid you of the risks associated with BPA. Medula is a brand that has BPA free bottles. So we're going to use those bottles when we're out and about, and glass bottles at home.

Next on the list? Teethers. So I have a friend that's obsessive about the 1800s. She mentioned that glass bottles and the teats used for babies in the 1800s where lined with or leaked lead, which is really creepy. The teethers made today (and many other baby products like the classic rubber duck) are most often made of phthalate-laden PVC which has been linked to cancer and reproductive harm. Yup, talk about creepy.

It almost seems like no matter what I do... little Ursa is probably going to grow a third arm. But no fear, dear friends... Kmart, Sears, Target, Toys "R" Us, and even the store I loathe most, Wal-Mart, have pledged to keep PVC items off the shelves. And if you got a baby gift that is supercalifragilistic. You can always call the manufacturer's toll free number to inquire if it contains any PVC.

Anyhow, this was definitely an interesting read this morning. Good luck to us all.

Over and out.

ps. I linked some reputable articles (like to WebMD and Best Life) to this post so that you can be reassured that I'm not just rambling.

Here are a few more from Time and EcoMall.

Pregnant-ville

2009-05-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

For those of you weirdos interested in the size and shape of my belly, this was what it looked like 2 weeks ago at 5 months. Clothes are starting to feel very dumb.

I like this Guy

2009-04-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some top reasons.

He's got a pretty chiseled head and a very fluffy dog.

He's got some pretty fab dance moves.
He's into art.

He likes to climb on things. There's a small village of people living in his beard. That is, when he has a beard. He's comfortable with himself. Really comfortable.

He's pretty flexible.

He's pretty large in stature.

He likes to do manly things.

He can transmit radio-waves from his hair. He's my best friend.

Happy 6 years stinky!

The Raccoon Mafia

2009-04-21T21:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning at about 0445 I was on my way to work driving south on the CA 1 when a raccoon darted in front of my car. I hit him. I was a bit bummed out about it at first, but soon forgot about the whole thing.

Until this morning. Our recycling had been ravaged and raccoons had pooed on my Subaru. Although there are raccoons a'plenty in our neighborhood, they'd never bothered us until last night. Coincidence? I'm sure.

"We gots a message from Rocco da Mask! Dat palooka you whacked was made. There's gotta be consequences!"

Sugar and Spice

2009-04-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

So we found out this last week that we're having a girl. We're incredibly excited about it. She's pretty mellow in my tummy. She barely stretches out so I have to be really observant to notice the tapping. Anyway, here's a video of the ultrasound. (You might want to mute it cuz my doc is talking about fetus pee.) But yea. So we're going to name are little girl "Ursa Adriana Gimbel."

Ursa after the constellation/Bear,

and Adriana after my great great grandmother/sister.

The Austrian nickname for Ursa is Uschi, Uschi like Sushi (Yum), so that's mainly what we'll call her. And Ursa Minor because we're clever like that.

Anyway... so there you go.

Eunuch Dog

2009-04-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

So dear Radar got neutered about 2 weeks ago. I have to say being a dog must suck. Radar really likes going on rides with us because to him that means something really neat is going to happen. Like a walk on the beach or hanging out with his dog buddies at the park. But of course when I took him to the vet it was all very different. That is to say he got to hang out with some interesting looking people and some pretty nervous looking dogs. It seemed exciting anyway. That is until he woke up from his nap and realized that his manhood was snipped off. It was pretty painful the first few days, but the worst was that dreaded humiliating collar. Not only did he look absolutely foolish, but it was impossible not to scrape the collar on the floor because of how incredibly short his legs are in comparison to the "normal" width" of his neck. In addition to that, he kept bumping into things because he wasn't use to the width of this huge plastic thing. Anyway in celebration of his BIRTHDAY today (one year old) were taking the thing off and he's going to eat delicious scraps from the table.

Mini-burger MATCH UP!

2009-04-08T19:05:00.001-07:00

Just cos March is through, must the MADNESS really stop. "No sir, it must not."

With that, I bring you a welterweight showdown of epic scale and truly vivid dramatic scope. These beefed up contenders may seem small, but in a mano-e-mano, no-hold-barred, duke 'em up (or out) who emerges victorious?

In this corner the crown prince of the franchise characterized by royal deliciousness and a laissez-faire "Have it Your Way" attitude, the Burger King Burger Shot.

And the challenger, the blue-collar man with a shady past, the Jack-in-the-Box Mini-Sirloins.

Even before I got my hot little hands on these twin treasure chests, the opening salvos of the coming war were released. You see, the BK Burger Shots were almost half as expensive (burger for burger) than the Mini-Sirloins. One to BK for price.

Still, that lack of cost shows. Lets go to the side-by-side comparison...

...would you look at that. That deflated sad-sack on the right is the contender from BK, while that robust fellow to his right is the Jack-in-the-Box entry.

And look at the wreck that is the alleged "tear-an'-share" concept BK has given us. Between you and me, it looks like an open lesion. Appearance has to go to Jack.

Lets talk taste! First up, the Burger Shot:

Okay this thing has a soft, golden, carb-riddled bun that has the texture of cotton-candy and the weight of a Buick. Because of the aforementioned 'tear and share' concept, it has the propensity to get pretty manhandled in transport from box to gob, but no harm, no foul, right?

The first-taste impression was a little disconcerting. Dominant taste? Ketchup. Hmm. There is however a tasty pickle and a bit of gooey yellow cheese-fooode which aren't so bad. Inside, the meat is nothing to write home about, (Har.) and even comes with what I MUST assume are artificially applied grill marks. Really, if you've eaten at Burger King in the last sixty years, the taste of the burger shot will not surprise you in the least. What was surprising was the little touch of rare-ness in the burgers I got. See exhibit No. 1-

I donno if you can see that sickly pinkness, but there you go. I imagine that it can't take too long to grill these little firecrackers, so maybe mine came right off the heat with a quickness. Still, as I said, the taste was mediocre at best and outside the novelty of eating a really small burger, you'd do just as well ordering a cheeseburger.

Look at this thick little beastie! And no, the bun doesn't have that "spun-from-a-unicon's-mane" lightness but they gave it a kiss of toasty, which was a nice touch. And the beef! Look at them side by side:

Ah! Don't be fooled by that pickle on the left. That BK patty is about as thick as a hobo's wallet and, compared to Jack's, about as tasty. The beef on these things was good quality, make no mistake. That was the dominant flavor of the Mini-Sirloin. Just beefy-beef. The onions too, were tasty and welcome. All around, good news for lovers of diminutive ground-meat sandwiches.

Seriously, clear winner here. Taste trumps value. Looks are just a bonus.

Just don't eat them all in one go.

Ashley Rocks!

2009-03-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

So I'm not much of a phone person. I pretty much hate it. I dunno why really. It's probably because it's hard for me to double task while I'm on the phone and I feel guilty about not being productive. I will, however, talk on the phone to the people I care for anyway. But that happens a lot less often than some would prefer.

...anyway, I always look forward to my 12 year old niece, Ashley's phone calls. She is very intelligent and one of the funniest people I know. Listening to her talk is better than watching t.v. I wish I could tape record our conversations to give you a true taste of what it's like, but from my foggy memory, here are a few excerpts.

So we were talking about places that we wanted to live. Ashley has some Italian in her so she wants to live in Italy. I'm sure most of you know Edward and I lived in England for awhile and I really want to live there again. So I was explaining to Ash why England is cool. So I was talking about the great museums and the really old castles.

Ashley: I don't like castles.
Me: Why?
Ashley: Cuz they're like, so 80's.

(That's probably one of my favorites.)

I've been working on a book dummy including penguins and I told Ashley about it. Ashley was incredibly disturbed and told me that penguins scared her because they "walk funny."

Seriously, she cracks me up.

Then sometimes she goes off into random-ville. She was talking today about how she got bored in class the other day so she decided to think about chicken. Then she convinced her friend to think about chicken. So the next day when her teacher was reviewing what he taught (I think it was a he) she couldn't remember anything but chicken.

He he. I love it when Ashley calls...

Aren't you jealous?

Fall/Winter Ketchup

2009-02-22T00:37:00.000-08:00

So we know what you've practically gnawed your fingers to the very bone wondering and wondering about what's been going on in the 'nuts an' bolts' section of our portfolio. I mean we've posted posts pertaining to a number of perfectly timely events, such as the release of stop-motion animated films and...well I guess that's been about it in the last few months. What can I say? Meridth gets excited.

Oh yeah, I guess we posted about that baby thing too.

Anyway, they had Halloween last year; I don't know if you remember. We went to a super keen party with some mates of ours and were subsequently whupped in a make-shift costume contest, although I'd say we did alright, time-constraints notwithstanding. What could we do? One couple was dressed up as Popeye and Olive Oyl. Can you say pwned?I went as a nerd. (I know! Huge stretch of the imagination, that!) Note the dragon tee and Vorpal Sword +3. Not pictured are the specs I'm sporting. Guess I should have turned down the AWESOME on that cowl of mine so you could see it. Meridth went as an Edo Period Samurai. Note the historical accuracies: purple was a very very popular color in those days. And when the fashion conscious samurai was without his obi belt, a polka-dotted scarf from the Gap would have been a suitable substitute.

So pumpkins:
that's mine on the left. It wasn't a good Halloween for me I guess cos I also got whupped it the highly ritualized and traditional pumpkin carving contest. Meridth's pumpkin was brill...
...particularly at night. But then again......the other Meridth's pupmkin was almost equally wicked. Tha's right: in the time it took me to paint and carve that crappy Jack Skellington-meets-a-'97-Goth-convention train-wreck, Meridth carved two turbo-cool pumpkins. I lose.

Next: AQUARIUM DAY!

Monterey is home to Monterey Bay. (Or maybe it's the other way around, but...) And Monterey Bay is home to Monterey Bay Marine Preserve. And because of the Monterey Bay Marine Preserve they built the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Which is the location Meridth and I went on the second Saturday of November last year. Pretty rad.

How rad you ask?This rad. Oh, unconvinced? What would you say to...

...footage of cute roly-poly otters?

What?! Have you no heart? What about......still photos of a roly-poly young fish enthusiast? Meridth is really good at taking surreptitious photographs of innocent bystanders. She's like a hitman with a 6-megapixel handgun.

Anyway, that was way fun and I could post boat-loads of pictures about it. I won't. Suffice it to say that the otters were ultra-cute, the jellyfish were stunning and the sharks were really rather intimidating. The day's only down point came as a small booth were they told us about the unethical behavior displayed in the commercial tuna fishing market. Serious bummer cos I love a tuna sandwich.

What's next...uh...T.giving!
Meridth's super-cool team came up and down from sundry CA locales for a veritable bender of game-play......and...uh...other hijinks.

RADAR was pretty much in hog-heaven. Between my brother-in-law's gnarly toes and Nick slipping him random bits of bird-flesh all weekend, we turned into the biggest McKean Fan around.

Up next: musing on silent films.

So we all knew that Meridth was cool. I mean, she's been pulling-off those Tina Fey glasses since the Clinton Administration. Then along comes the Lon Chaney classic "The Unknown" in a NetFlix envelope one afternoon and I finally get it: Meridth is the coolest gal ever. There. I said it.

Now watch out what you read about this movie before you spool it up on your DVD device. A well-placed spoiler will do just that--spoil a great moment in the history of celluloid. (Since y'know, I know you guys all dash out of your houses like gang-busters to snatch up all the books, movies, comics, vacation pamphlets, candy bars and dinner rolls we suggest to you. Gosh, it's great to have minions like you!) That said, it bears mentioning that 1) the movie is about an armless knife-thrower in a freak show. 2) It ends with horses trying to dash a man to bits. And 3) the choices made in the movie are just so eerie and narratively fitted and fan-freaking-tastic that you'll just want to proselytize for the film; to get out and talk with people about it, get it out there for people. Wow!

Chistmas rolled in about two weeks after we saw The Unknown. It was a rather low-key affair this year since we just hung out here with RADAR and an XBOX 360. Meridth and I have been adapting various British Christmas traditions into our oeuvre. THis year we tracked down some classic Christmas Crackers (pictured below) so we got some schmarmy cereal-box-bottom toys, a snap of gunpowder and wrinkly paper crowns. Yeah. Go England. Way to celebrate. Ours sadly didn't state on the packaging that they were "awesome." We had to come to that conclusion on our own. Which we did, shorly before snapping this candid at about 12:07 AM Christmas morning.(Oh what?! Yeah? We were still up that late on Christmas Eve. Yeah, we opened our presents 'on' Christmas...it was after twelve anyway...who are you to judge? We had a busy day, alright? Those zombies on Dead Rising weren't going to kill themselves. Seriously!)

Seriously? Are you bored yet? Is this entry too long? Look, it's late and since we're pretty sucky at ketchup maneuvers, we'll let this one end here with a "to be continued" thingy. Maybe invoke a bit of a Zeigarnik Effect. Yeah. Look THAT one up...

End transmission.

Coraline in 3-D

2009-02-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

3-D you say? Isn't stop motion animation in 3-D already?! Okay, so as duly noted I am a huge fan of Henry Selick. The Nightmare Before Christmas is absolutely amazing and I think the world needs to be filled with more stop motion films like this. Along with that I think that Neil Gaiman is one of the great writers and for me everything he writes turns into golden donuts. Yummy.

So yes yes I know you all know this. What I find delightful is the fact that I went to this movie on opening day, of course, but I was really put off by the fact that I was forced to watch this movie with 3-D glasses. Wearing glasses on glasses is a bit uncomfortable, but not only that there was a bad taste in my mouth left from my 3-D experience with Nightmare in 2006. The movie left me dizzy and less than impressed with the 3-D animation becoming more 3-D. So really I thought the 3-D was gimmicky. I was really reluctant to participate in what I thought was an attempt to draw more viewers on opening day.

You can see where this is going. I cannot tell you how amazing this film is. Again the story is fantastic and the design is DYNAMITE. What I love about the 3-D is that this film was recorded specifically for a 3-D experience. Meaning that for every second there are 24 stills to slowly move the animation. This is typical for any type of film really... but this film had a still for the right eye and the left eye to create the 3-D effect. And the result was phenomenal. The foreground, middle-ground, and background were presented in such a designerly way. I have never seen 3-D movie look so beautiful. I don't want to watch this film without that experience ever again and I hope that they develop something so the home-viewer can have the same enjoyable experience. Unfortunately this movie will only be in 3-D up to three weeks after it's initial release so if you haven't seen it yet I urge you to see it before time runs out.

Coraline received a 88% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes and from me a 4 out of 5 stars.

Terrible Baby Names

2009-01-29T23:00:00.000-08:00

So I have to say that I am beyond amused with the humorous suggestions of what we should name our nameless baby (for now he/she's nicknamed Beavis Irene to cover both genders).

Some suggestions posted were:

Emerifin (from Will)

Derchum (from Rachel)

Besight (from Tim)

Nospr (from Kari)

I remember when I worked as a secretary I came across the name "Pimpish Landing." No joke. So I was wondering, what are some of the most horrendous names that you've heard of? I'm serious. Maybe we'll end up naming Beavis Irene with one of them. ;)

Yippie!!

2009-01-25T19:45:00.000-08:00

Annoying conversation anyway...

2009-01-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

So, this last week I was having a conversation with some associates of mine. Their husbands are learning Arabic for various reasons. We were talking about all sorts of boring things, the weather included, when randomly one of the women mentioned to me that her friend's husband hates speaking Arabic because he hates the Arabic culture. I don't remember exactly how I responded but I find this statement to be highly offensive. First off linguistically there are more than 250 million Arabs in the world. Talk about a broad stereotype. Who says a Sudanese Arab is the same as a Saudi Arab. I mean really this is a ridiculous thing to say. Secondly it is absolutely absurd to dislike something that one doesn't understand. Unfortunately, thanks to 9/11 I feel like we Americans find it a-okay to have prejudices towards Arabs. Most of them are religious terrorists anyway, right?

So yeah, that conversation has been burning a hole in my head.

The End.

"Nazis. I hate these guys."

2008-12-26T20:20:00.000-08:00

So it's a Gimbel family tradition to see a movie on Christmas Eve. I love this tradition, so Edward and I have kept this as our tradition. However this year we were not interested in any movies that were out on Christmas Eve, so we opted for Boxing Day instead. Our movie for this year was Valkyrie. First off, this movie was fantastic. Edward and I were sobbing at the end, and grateful for a darkened movie theatre so we could emerge with dignity. There are so many reasons I love this film. The cinematography was excellent. The casting was fantastic. But what I was incredibly impressed with was the heightened intensity of the climax. The movie's subject was the July 20, 1944 plot of German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and set up of a cout de' etat. As an audience, whether anyone knew of this plot or not, we all know the outcome of this movie. Even so, whilst watching this movie I was overly anxious, knowing that the plotters would likely be killed and subconsciously hoping that the movie would turn into fiction so their plot could succeed. I was pleased to find after some post-movie online research (i.e. Wickipedia), that the only historical inaccuracy was that the original plan for Operation Valkyrie was proposed by General Friedrich Olbricht and not Colonel Count Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise). I strongly recommend this movie to everyone. It's about time a "mainstream" movie came out featuring Nazis not as the cardboard cutouts you might see in an Indiana Jones movie. At least Indiana Jones pumps up the campyness and cartoonifies it's characters, being very self-aware, whereas other WWII era movies show all the Nazi soldiers as heartless evil-doers bent on the destruction of humankind. I think we Americans forget that there was a lot of Nazi resistance and our one dimensional portrayal of the German's at the time is shortsighted.

Hooray for this movie. Go see it.

Ho Ho Ho!

2008-12-22T00:48:00.001-08:00

...and a bottle of Rum.

Have a delicious holiday everybody :)

Obsess-much

2008-12-17T23:02:00.000-08:00

Okay. So I have this thing for stop-motion animation. It makes me want to cry I love it so much. I dunno what it is. Maybe it's the idea of a bunch of brilliant artists working together to create something amazing. Maybe it's all the textures. Maybe it's because the movie seems so real and tactile. I get beyond excited when a stop-motion movie comes out and as I've said recently, the fact that one of my favorite Children's Books is coming out makes me triply giddy. But I have to say that the PR for Coraline has really outdone itself. Coraline.com is updated and I think I spent a delightful hour (of time I didn't really have) maneuvering through the website. It is absolutely fantastic. There was one bit I couldn't quite figure out. In Mr. Jones' Study there is a piano, and I'm assuming you have to play something to get something... if anyone figures that out definitely let me know.

Alright I will nerdily sign off.

~Meridth

More Ham than Hamstring

2008-12-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

So I just started running. I not really wild about it. I know there are those that really enjoy the thing. Like my friend Ashley who's an absolute addict or my dad who has run 2 marathons and a slew of half marathons. Once upon a time I use to be a pretty fit athlete but I was really good at lifting weights, throwing heavy objects and sprinting fast. But my doctor told me that I should become a marathon runner for health reasons (I have issues with my insulin). So last week was my first week as a "runner." (Not counting the year that I did Cross Country in High School forever ago.) And guess what? I ran 14 miles last week!!! I was so proud of myself that I was telling everybody about it. Anyway, I guess my goals are to get to some sort of zen state ("You know like how many babies can you fit in a tire") and not think about the fact that I'm running. I've been listening to books on tape and that's helped the time pass.

So there you have it...

The end.

Last day of a four-day-weekend

2008-11-23T19:49:00.001-08:00

So on the 11th Meridth and I went hiking. Cool, huh?

So this is about half a mile into the hike and the camera is facing North. Note the big rock with the arrow above it. It is a reference point. What does it refer to you ask?

Well here is the arrow again. Look how much smaller the lump of rock we were by has become. Are you impressed with our bipedal fortitude?

Last reference. It was a gorgeous day to be out. Warm and breezy by the ocean. Sadly RADAR couldn't come with. There aren't a lot of dog-friendly trails in the CA State Park system. Still California is awesome. Except for the fires of course. The trail we were going to hike were closed from the fires down here last summer. Boo.

Here's a rough outline of our course. The red arrow is the parking lot. The orange arrow is, in fact, the spot we pointed to earlier. The lump of terrain? Yeah. The mustard yellow spot is where we turned back inland. And green was where we turned left and started back for red. It was about eight and a half miles all told and we knocked it out in about four and a half hours. Lots of fun. Well worth the unsightly tummy-sweat.

Meridth found some things to love too.

Neil Gaiman is a demi-god

2008-11-20T11:27:00.001-08:00

I feel like I'm going to repeatedly wet myself. I absolutely love the book Coraline. Edward bought it for me when it was released in 2003 (right after we got married). Mainly because I am a huge fan of both Neil Gaiman for the wonderful stories he writes (you probably know him as the writer of the story/movie Stardust) and I adore all the artwork of Dave McKean. So I am delighted to say that the Coraline.com website is up and running and appropriately creepy. Once you get to the website there will be a place to key in a password that open up secret documentary vignettes that can be unlocked on the Coraline movie site.

stopmotion
buttoneyes
moustachio
puppetlove
armpithair
sweaterxxs

Really this film's going to be so freaking great. The same director, Henry Selick, was the guy who directed The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach and Corpse Bride etc is directing Coraline too.

I cannot wait for the movie to come out this February 6th!!!!

ps. I just found out the sent the coolest mysterious packages to the press for promotions. You should check that out too!

pps. My good friend Andy Erekson works there at LAIKA as an Enviornmental designer and illustrator... which really makes me much cooler by default :)

'Tis the Season to buy lots of crap that you do and don't need...

2008-11-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

So yeah... it really is that time of year to start on that Christmas Shopping thing. Why you say? Because you don't want to be stuck shopping on Christmas Eve or sending out Christmas Cards out in January. Because... that's dumb.FREE shipping at my Greeting Card Shop for orders of $20 or more before November 21st.

Okay... I'm done with my shameless promotion :)

Bath Time for RADAR!

2008-11-09T00:31:00.000-08:00

Today we had a nice long walk downtown with RADAR but about halfway through it started raining! Well, the mud and dirt just caked on a dog this low-to-the-ground so we had to fight back.

What a punk!

A Joke I read on the wrapper of a Laffy Taffy

2008-10-31T18:21:00.000-07:00

"Why don't monsters eat clowns?"

Alright, let's just stop right there. I cannot think of a more scary or disturbing image than a monster eating or not eating clowns. Wow, years of therapy undone in a blinding flash of confectionary anarchy.

The answer of course is "They taste funny."

Edward: "I hate these." -- Meridth: "No you don't."

2008-10-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

A classic photo for a classic "Getting to Know You"-type game.

What? Are people doing this again? I remember getting these emails in the late 1990s and before that they appeared as folded notes in study hall or the infamous chain letter. Thanks (or "Thanks." if you prefer) go out to Meridth's high school mates Jenn and Andrea for conjuring up traditions best left to moulder.

Things I Plan to Do Before I Die

1. Mer: "Visit every National Park in the US" -- Ed: "Wear a tweed suit with patches on the elbows." (Mer: "Ooh, I like those.")
2. Mer: "I wanna go back and visit my Argentine Peeps." -- Ed: "Drive through a drive-thru car wash."
3. Mer: "Live in England again." -- Ed: "Buy a Bill Watterson original Calvin and Hobbes strip."
4. Mer: "Maybe babies?" -- Ed: "Shiv a prison guard."
5. Mer: "Train circus fleas." -- Ed: "Learn to play the guitar."
6. Mer: "Publish books. Plural." -- Ed: "Find Jimmy Hoffa's body."
7. Mer: "Eat a really good steak." -- Ed: "Ditto."

7 Things I Do Now

1. Mer: "Chase RADAR, our corgi, round the house." -- Ed: "Study."
2. Mer: "Illustrate stuff." -- Ed: "Complain about studying."
3. Mer: "Peddle stuff I illustrate on the internet." -- Ed: "Work out."
4. Mer: "Walk places with my dog." -- Ed: "Complain about working out."
5. Mer: "Listen to audiobooks while painting." -- Ed: "Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction"
6. Mer: "Listen to NPR." -- Ed: "Ooh, me too! Particularly 'Wait, Wait don't tell me!'" (Mer: "Me too, me too!")
7. Mer: "Watch "The Office." -- Ed: "Not sleep enough. Does that count?"

7 Things I Can't Do

1. Mer: "Turn invisible." -- Ed: "Roll my tongue." (Mer: "I can!" [she does] Ed: "Show off.")
2. Mer: "I can't get behind libertarians. Sorry." -- Ed: "Yeah, I can't get behind unqualified politicians. Interpret that as it pleases you."
3. Mer: "I can't watch sex scenes or graphic violence in movies." -- Ed: "I can't resist a good hamburger."
4. Mer: "I can't walk on a balance beam. I will fall on my head. I will." -- Ed: "I can't not smell something stinky when someone says 'Agh! This smells terrible, here smell!' I can't not do it!"
5. Mer: "I can't grow back an arm if it's cut off." -- Ed: "I can't tell the difference between tap water in various places in the US. It all tastes the same to me."
6. Mer: "I can't hear very well out of my left ear." -- Ed: "I can't have hoped for a more affable roommate."
7. Mer: "I can't believe you just said that. That was really sweet." -- Ed: "I can't believe it's not butter."

7 Things That Attract Me To The Opposite Sex

1. Mer: "Hmmm...Edward." -- Ed: "People named Meridth."
2. Mer: "The idea of no more girl-roommates ever." -- Ed: "If a girl is knowledgeable in an obscure field, like the history of furniture. Awesome o'clock!"
3. Mer: "Someone that likes art/literature/languages." -- Ed: "Short hair."
4. Mer: "Good conversations." -- Ed: "She has to have both eyes. Sorry Amazon Cyclops." (Mer: "What about four eyes?")
5. Mer: "He has to have a plan for the inevitable period when the dead rise from their graves with a vicious hunger." -- Ed: "She has to be willing to shoot me in the face in the inevitable period when the dead rise from their graves with a vicious hunger and my carefully laid plans fail spectacularly."
6. Mer: "He has to be a big fat nerd." -- Ed: [with incredible sarcasm] "She has to see me how I really am."
7. Mer: "He has to like hanging out with me cause I love hanging out with him." -- Ed: "Her stink has to be kept to manageable levels. With creams if necessary." (Mer: [laughing] "I don't stink or use creams!)

7 Things That I Say Most Often

1. Mer: "Aaaaarrrgh!" -- Ed: "Hm."
2. Mer: "What a cute pupper-poo! What a nice booooy!" -- Ed: "Oh, him's a good RADAR-pup!"
3. Mer: "What the crappy-crap?" -- Ed: "The fact of the matter is..."
4. Mer: "Sucktown, USA." -- Ed: "Lately I've been switching consonant sounds in words I say from 'voiced' (e.g. 'b' as in 'boy') to 'voiceless' (e.g. 'p' as in 'pong'), thus 'Costco' has become 'Gazdgo,' and 'supermarket' becomes 'zubermarged.' It's pretty dumb."
5. Mer: "I'd like to confuse cabbage with bok choy sir!" -- Ed: "Grrr."
6. Mer: "Where do you want to go to eat?" -- Ed: "I don't know, what do you feel like?"
7. Mer: "It doesn't matter, I want to go where you want to go." -- Ed: "Okay, is there anywhere you don't feel like going?" (et cetera, ad infinitum)

7 Celebrities I Admire (Mer: "I think admire is a strong word when applied to celebrities." Ed: "How about 'Celebrities that don't offend us grievously?'" Mer: "Okay."

1. Mer: "I like Will Shatner." -- Ed: "Dang, you stole mine. I loved his 2004 album Has Been.
2. Mer: "I like Jack Black. 'There is no charge for awesomeness...or attractiveness.'" -- Ed: Stole mine again! I'm going first next time."
3. Ed: "Simon Pegg. 'Hot Fuzz' was easily the funniest movie I've seen since...well, "Shawn of the Dead." -- Mer: "Curses! I going back to first, idea-stealer!"
4. Mer: "I like the animation director Brad Bird, known for "The Iron Giant" and "The Incredibles". -- Ed: "Good one. Wasn't mine. I like Abe Lincoln. I mean sure, he didn't make animated feature films...but he did free the slaves.
5. Mer: "Jessie Willcox Smith was like a celebrity in her day, she was among the highest paid illustrators in the Golden Age and she demanded equal pay for women artists. How cool is that?" -- Ed: I'm all about Kurt Vonnegut, pretty much.
6. Mer: Queen Elizabeth. Totally influential figure, rocketed England out of the Dark Ages, elevated her nation to a world power, defeating the most powerful navy in the world. Not bad for a lady of that time period." -- Ed: "Close, but I'm going to go with Queen Elizabeth II. I mean imagine everything she's been through since she ascended the the throne in 1952. Think of all the heads of state she's gotten to know, the Popes, the warlords, the Prime Ministers, Soviet premiers. If I could have a candid 'tell-all' interview with anyone living, it'd be her."
7. Mer: "I'm really digging the music of Amy Winehouse, the musician...not the the junky." -- Ed: "Is Superman a celeb? Kal-El rocks!"

7 Favorite Foods (I will have no problem coming up with these...)

1. Mer: "Sushi." -- Ed: "Baklava."
2. Mer: "Dolma" -- Ed: "The Turkish Kababs they sell in Austria/Germany."
3. Mer: "Anything Thai." -- Ed: "Hot and Sour Soup."
4. Mer: "Cafe Rio's Chicken Salad" -- Ed: "Meatloaf Sandwiches"
5. Mer: "A good pot roast. Yum." -- Ed: "A thick hamburger with crisp sweet pickles and crisp lettuce. Ooh, and onion!"
6. Mer: "Steak!: -- Ed: "Dried fruit!"
7. Mer: "My dad's cooking." -- Ed: "Her dad's cooking."

7 People Who Need To Do This (Ed: " I don't like the compulsory tone this question is taking with our blog's guests. I say that we don't put anyone down...show this survey who's boss." Mer: "And I say that whoever wants to do it should do it."

1. Mer: "Anybody!" -- "Ed: Sign up today, space is limited."
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Laffs for All!!

2008-10-05T16:45:00.001-07:00

Absorb it!

"Bad news in the chocolate factory."

2008-09-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

If you can guess that quote... I will put you on my "coolest people ever" list.

So I have some horrible news peeps. So listen up because this will effect the plummeting economy as it will seriously effect/damage all the creative arts community's businesses. The Senate passed their version of the Orphan
Works legislation by hotline yesterday (meaning by phone... the bums). While both bills would devastatethe creative arts communities, the Senate version of the bill (S 2913) is much worse for our cause than the House bill (H.R. 5889). We are
deeply concerned that the House Judiciary Committee might now abandon their version of the bill and adopt the Senate version before adjournment. We are desperately trying to reach members of Congress to implore them NOT to adopt the Senate version of the bill. Given the financial crisis our country is facing, surely this is not the time to risk our nation's intellectual property as well.

What to do?

1. First, decide to TAKE ACTION NOW...

2. If you haven't already clicked on the link to send a letter to
your representative, please do that now. USE THIS LINK

For our international artists and colleagues click this link.

3. CALL members of the Judiciary Committee (see list below) and tell them the following:

a. You oppose this controversial bill
b. This is a VOTE DECIDING ISSUE for you
c. We do not need to have a copyright crisis on top of an economic crisis
d. Ask them NOT to adopt the Senate's version of the bill
e. Ask them not to pass the House's version of the bill without a full and open hearing

4. SPREAD THE WORD- if you belong to an arts organization, please share this information with them. If you haven't yet imposed on your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to contact their representatives, NOW is the time to ask for their help. (If you have already asked, please do it again.)

5. STAY ALERT-- Check out the Illustrators Partnership website

6. And for those of you who believe in the power of prayer... praying
couldn't hurt.

Thanks for all your efforts... together we can-and must-make a difference.

~Meridth

Sarah Palin Action Figure!

2008-09-21T16:54:00.000-07:00

Well, not quite, but close.

So flashback to the year...2006 maybe? I'd just got accepted into the MA program at GIPIS and we were spending some time before I left with our great great friends Daniel and Christy Hughes. Somehow the talk got on to a perennial topic where Meridth and I are concerned: our mutual hatred of Bratz and Barbie dolls and that whole schtick. (I mean really, big surprise that!) I mentioned in jest that the only way I'd get our kid a Barbie was if she came with a rotary cannon.

Anyway, back to present day when I got done with basic and I finally moved back in with Meridth she presented me with a thoughtful gift from Daniel: this attractive action figure woman armed to the gills. Charming. I let is sit in the box for several months but I finally had to yank it out and have a lookie-loo. Wow! 'Destiny' is as cool as advertised. And I'll bet she can field dress a moose too.

And ah yes...lest I forget there was in fact a Sarah Palin action figure released. True story. I guess it's tapping into her 'bad-girl' 'librarian-gone-naughty' appeal. Yuck.

Way back in the day...

2008-09-16T16:57:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time in 1983... I was 4 years old. I actually remember painting this. Inspired by Jackson Pollock of course. I was talking with my Visiting Teachee (Mormon Speak) about how our personalities are innate. I have always always been drawn to art. It's just weird that I didn't realize that was a key part of my personality. (I'm a little slow at times). If I wrote in my journal I would often illustrate the events, but mostly it was just pictures.

This is an elephant and a very large tulip that I drew in 1rst grade.

Here's the weirdest drawing I found. (Age 8)Heehee. It cracks me up. My drawing of God has noodle arms... so that is a bit peculiar. But it's always reassuring to know that God is better than gold.

Anyway, a bit of shameless self-promotion, I just set up shop with some t-shirts and stuff of my work. You can click the link in the side-bar if you're interested.

The end.

Some Very Serious Movie Reviews

2008-09-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

Okay so I've been digging up my old journals again and this entry from 5th grade (1990) really cracked me up. "What I like about The Princess Bride.

This is one of the good best movies I've ever seen. It has adventure [and] excitement. Fred [Savage] is pretty funny and so is the other actor in the fire swamp [he's] good. You have to be smart and strong to survive in there. Here's a line from a actor,'Rodents of unusual size, I don't believe in that.' And right then a rat about his size jumped right on him."

What cracks me up is that my favorite actor was some lame kid with 5 minutes of screen time... and that my favorite part of the movie was the large angry muppet moment.

On to the second review "The Little Mermaid.

It's funny an adventurous. [There's] a line [I like],'You give merchildren permission, they swim all over you.' This movie you've gotta watch. Sounds babyish... naaw. I think it's just plain cool.

Suggestion. I think you should watch both movies."

Two things: I like how I'm explaining to my fellow socialites that to be into a children's movie really is cool. I also like how my goldfish of a memory is displayed here with Sebastian's memorable and now annoying quote.

Hehe.

Tour of the House or Tales of the War Zombies

2008-08-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our home, so nice of you to stop by. You're just in time for Club crackers and crab dip.

Oh! You've noticed our tastefully framed vintage Collier's cover art. Yes, funny story about that. I found a bunch of original newspaper and magazine art from 'round the turn of the century in the trash in the basement of the BYU museum of art a few years back. One man's trash and all that...

Here's the front room. It's big, but only because we don't have anything to put in it. >SHRUG< It's been nice having hard wood floors because our dog hasn't been 100% perfect in his potty training regime. (Although he's been near perfect over the last three weeks.) Let's see, what else...um...we bought a used couch and a pair of book cases. It's still not enough to hold our millions of books. Note the horizontal bits beveling. Yikes. We've enjoyed living here. Good times sitting on the couch curled up with the dog watching reruns of Freaks and Geeks. Really weekends here seem to come pretty quickly. I'm working pretty hard, but the time does roll by.

Here's the kitchen. I'm throwing together a batch of Fluffernutters and Tang here. Uh...it's basically just a kitchen. Why don't you stroll down the hall while I get the marshmallow cream off of my fingers.

What I like about the place are the sundry gnarly trees both in the back and the front.

Meridth likes the location because it is a mere three minutes walk away from what looks like a post-apocalyptic zombie-infested deadzone. Observe:

Note the grass growing out of the gutters on the roof. Cool.

So why are there a number of abandoned military houses surrounding our neighborhood? Well, we live, really, in a decommissioned military facility that is in the midst of great changes. There used to be a number of units that were stationed in the Fort Ord area and there were also facilities for basic training as well. At any rate, the military is moving away from the Monterey Peninsula save for the Presidio (where I go to school) and the Naval Postgraduate School, located just east of downtown Monterey. Meridth and I still can't fathom why there should be such an abundance of truly eerie trash and bric-a-brac among these abandoned houses, but it certainly would make a picture-esque setting for a low-budget Mad Max remake.

So RADAR is super-cute and we pretty much love the crap out of him. This is him riding in the Subaru on our way downtown. Since we don't have friends (too busy, too nerdy) he hasn't had the chance to socialize too much so we'll occasionally go downtown or by the Fisherman's Wharf just to get him used to buses and ladies who want to squeeze him.

"Never let him know, that you know, what he thinks you don't know that you know... Ya know?"

2008-08-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

If anyone can guess that quote.... then I owe them a cookie.

So I thought it was extremely important that you, my good friends, where aware of the types of preferences I have for sweets. My absolute sugar stumbling-block would have to be gummies. But not just any gummies... specifically the gummies that come outta England or Germany. How snobby can you get? the texture and the flavor is flat out superior. My favs are Percy Pig gummies (from England)... but here I've only been able to find Fred Ferkel gummies from Germany which are pretty similar . I find it extremely amusing that sweets would be named and shaped after a pig. It's a lot liking naming a plus size clothing store The Dress Barn. (Which really really irritates me btw.)

I also am a huge fan of the German made Haribo gummies. But more specifically the bears and the colas.This is important for you to know and you will be tested on it later...
...yum.

Split Open and Melt

2008-08-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

So I went to the SCBWI Conference (for Children's Book writers and illustrators) last weekend. It was fantastic! If you guys are interested in more details, feel free to visit my art blog. It was pretty exhausting and so very nice to be back with Edward and Radar. So we've had Radar for a little over a month and he's 15 weeks old. (So cute!) I thought I'd give you all a taste of what we've been living with:

Radar has the squattiest legs ever so it's taken us awhile to figure out his doggy gestures (like when he's doing his business... we pretty much can't see it... which can be a problem when you are potty training). Anyway, here's Radar ready to pounce on Edward.

Radar sometimes just starts speedily chasing himself around the house. It's pretty hilarious. I've been trying really hard to catch it on video but he usually stops when I pull it out. So here's a more mellow version of Radar's hyperactivity.

So apparently Corgi's ears pop up within the first 6 months. Cute little Radar had one ear pop up before the other.

He had his other ear pop up last weekend when I was gone... ok cheesy as it sounds it felt like he took his first steps without me. This is part of the "17 Mile Drive" in Monterey... so beautiful!

Here's one with Radar "smiling".
(I love our family :)

Probably One of the Worst Days of My Life

2008-07-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

(Starting from the bottom clock-wise here's a pic of Angela Campo, Stephanie Parry and me at the end of 9th grade) It's interesting to think about your childhood through an adult lens. I remember myself as being confident, independent and obnoxious... which I'm sure I was, but while reading through my old 9th grade journal I discovered my old girly/ gullible self.

"December 22, 1993

Today was probably one of the worst days of my life. I don't like to be sad but I guess it had to happen. Stephanie Parry and Jenn Woodhead... they've been keeping a secret from me for months. I've been getting so frustrated because they keep on talking about the secret right in front of my face. So I go over to Stephanie's house, cause I admit, I miss her a lot, and she tells me about her going out with this gorgeous model and them kissing etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then she says that she's going to the New Years Eve Dance with him & his convertible. Josh (that's the model's name) is going to get his "little" brother, he's fifteen, to go with Jenn.

She forgot all about me. I felt so left out I could cry. Then I told Stephanie how I felt and she started laughing and not even seeming to care about how I feel. Well I'm going to this New Years Eve dance even if my "best friends" don't want me there, and I'm going to go and tell that Josh person a piece of my mind. By the way I honestly believe that this Josh is a fake. There's no doubt in my mind. But we'll see."

Oh the drama!

I guess you had to be there...

DATELINE: MONTEREY, CA!

2008-07-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1: Quid pro quo

Meet Lilly's new cousin RADAR. He's a Pembrooke Welsh Corgi and he's 10 weeks old. Meridth and I have been wanting and wanting a dog for months and months. We found a website for a breeder not too far away and realized that we weren't in the "reasonable financial circumstances" to buy a purebred, champion-sired Corgi. So we haunted the pounds and shelters, looked and looked for bargain-basement puppies but came up nil. In desperation Meridth emailed the breeder and asked if we could arrange for a monthly payment plan. After receiving the email, the breeder (see her website here) clicked onto Meridth's website and fell in love with Meridth's art. So a trade was arranged. We get a handsome young pup and she gets a unique logo to spruce up her website. Win-win!
Note his cute-as-can-be long squatty body and foxy, intelligent head. He is one handsome bloke. Plus we got just about the mellowest dog ever. After just a little tummy-ache on the four-hour drive home, he spent the whole trip cuddling or sleeping. And I still haven't heard him bark. We've got ourselves a wicked good training book and we've already started to work on walking him on a lead. Seriously though, he 's not going to need much training he's so chill. Anyway, with the four-day week-end just warming up, we're going to train him up to be we smartest dog in town. Yep. Best. Puppy. Ever.

Chapter 2: Movie Review -- Hancock

Who remembers 2000's Unbreakable? Setting aside the director's follies of late, (Mer and I have decided against seeing his latest, the vaguely titled The Happening. We'll save that for Netflix.) Unbreakable was a movie that deconstructed the superhero genre and the modern conceptualization of what it means to be a hero. This was the sort of context wanted out of Hancock, the sort of meta-level questions I wanted the film to examine. Plus with Will Smith, I figured I'd get charm and humor for my $8 in the mix. No such luck.

The movie opens pretty much where the trailer does: Will Smith is a jerk superhero who fights crime. Fine. That's what I came for. The film adds Jason Bateman and a miscast Charlize Theron into the mix as the PR guy trying to change Hancock's image and his wife who is strangely interested in Hancock, just like in the trailer. Hancock goes to jail for his destructive heroism where he inserts one inmate's head into the rectum of another (just as advertised) and finally is released after the city realizes how much they need him, while he simultaneously realizes how much he needs them, and foils a high-tech bank robbery, just like the trailer promised us. Maybe I missed it, had a nap or a long blink, but that movie ended and this odd second movie started. I don't wish to reveal over much about this disjointed and goofy second movie, but it kinda poops all over the first movie. Everything that the first movie almost touched on (i.e. the loneliness of power, the expectations of heroes realistic and otherwise, the jealously of the powerless, the cult of celebrity) is tossed to the side. "Oh." I thought while watching the second half "Hancock isn't lonely and self-destructive because he has deep unfulfilled needs vis-a-vis his hero-status, it's because of X." (where X=the near dues ex machina that passes for a 'plot-twist'). In sum, the movie's awesome potential was wrecked by a ridiculously muddled narrative thread and bad bad badbad writing.

Grade: C-

Chapter 3: Everything else.

Things are okay everywhere else. School is tough. Meridth's art improves daily. Monterey is gorgeous.