The Great Jack-o-Lantern Quest: Part #2

Contestant #2: Vash the Stampede

Okay, this was daddy's idea. Vash the Stampede is the primary character in our favorite Anime series (Trigun), as well as our lost little guy's middle name. As a result, Jack thought it appropos to carve the likeable Christ-type into the pumpkin as a Jack-o-lantern.

Seen here are both Vash's characteristic face and crossed fingers, which represent his favorite "war cry" and motivation for his actions: "Love and Peace!!!". Dad went a little overboard, however, in insisting that we actually carve the Japanese Kanji writing characters for the words "Love" and "Peace" in the side of the pumpkin as well.

It also turned out better than expected, but it will be up to you guys to tell us which is best. Shown here are both lit and unlit Vash faces, as well as lit and unlit Kanji.

Le Birthday DuJour!

Six years ago today (October 19th, 1999), we were welcoming Elijah Kellen Magruder into the world! Since that day, he has grown to be an individual who is characterized by a razor-sharp mind, a vivid imagination, a tender heart, a mouth that runs even more than his dad's (which... granted... is pretty hard to believe), and a nearly tireless love of food and cooking. Ask Elijah what he wants to be when he grows up and he will probably tell you that he wants to be a chef... along with a Predator-US Navy SEAL-inventor-writer/actor. Shown here are picture of Elijah opening a children sized chef-hat and apron that his mom found on-line, along with a superb gourmet children's cook-book, which Elijah has already enjoyed pouring over to find delectible desserts and entrees.

Along with the chef-gear, he also received a cool telescope/microscope from Mim and Pip, a Predator action figure, and also had a great birthday party at Kindergarten in which he got to hold a globe and "rotate around the sun" (a candle lit in the middle of the room) to symbolize the 6 years that he has been alive. No, it wasn't an ancient Druid ritual or require that we sacrifice a chicken afterward. Yes, it really was cute, despite the pagan sound to its description.

It was a very good day!

The Great Jack-o-Lantern Quest: Part #1

Okay, so Jack is a little fanatical about Jack-o-lanterns, and since Halloween is one of the few holidays he believes worth celebrating, not just any Jack-o-lantern will do. As a result, each year has progressively become the all out quest to find the perfect specimen, and this year is no different.

So then, this year, we have....

Contestant #1: A Predator

This was Elijah's suggestion (not surprising), and we featured a carved Predator mask, complete with dreadlock carvings on the left, and the cut-out of a shoulder-cannon on the right. You may also notice that there is a clan marking on the "forehead" of the mask. This marking is equivalent to the mark used by "Scar" (the Predator who befriends Lex and helps her to escape the Pyramid of Death in the recently released "Aliens vs. Predators" movie) as an added feature of "realism".


You can see both the "unlit" and "lit" designs, which, quite frankly, we all felt turned out very well. Image of what one "really" looks like is also included below.

Anime Review: Otogi Zoshi

What do you get when you cross Disney's Mulan with a Feng Shui class? Otogi Zoshi.

Survey: Because this story very definitely takes place in two separate eras (more on that below), you really must review it as two separate stories:

Vol 1 - III
Young Lady Hikaru Minamoto takes up the quest of her terminally ill brother Reiko to retrieve the lost pieces of the fragmented mystical Magatama in order to bring healing back to the capital city of Heian-Kyo (the ruling center of the Heian Empire during Japan's Feudal Era). A master archer and formidible warrior herself, dressed as her brother, and aided by her friends Tsuna, Sadimitsu, Yurabe and Kintaro, she travels to the distant reaches of the empire to engage animal-like ninja (the Tsuchigumo's), pirates, Scandanavian Viking-Samurai (weird, i know), and the traitorous Onmyogi (Daoist priests who are secretly trying to overthrow the empire). Largely succeeding only through the sacrifice and determination of her friends, and her own unconquerable faith in her conviction that she is doing what is right, Hikaru is eventually forced to decide between personal love and corporate sacrifice to save not only the Empire, but the world.

Vol IV
Hikaru, Tsuna, Sadimitsu and Kintaro are all reincarnated into 2005 Tokyo teen personalities, which is kind of a cool concept, except that the story takes a massive dive south from there. In almost a bizarre Scooby-Doo fashion, the group sets out to explore the "mysterious phantom train" that haunts the tracks of the Tokyo subway line late at night, as well as understand the supernatural forces which are attempting to destroy the entire city by manipulating the Daoist forces of nature (Wind, Water, Fire, Earth) in a sort of Feng-Shui H-Bomb. I tuned in and out through the final couple of episodes as even the "track record" of the characters (which you already like and enjoy from the first 3 volumes) isn't enough to hold one's attention, until the final "climax" of the story in which Hikaru has a strange out of body reconciliation with her Heian self and somehow saves the city.

Thumbs Up:
The series is set actually fairly well in a historical period called the Heian Era (794 - 1185 AD) in Japan. During this time, there was a lot of weirdness that reigned in the country, and it was only loosely held together by an overly corrupt political system that depended heavily upon its bureacracy rather than its capability. Such is fertile ground for the series, which itself is actually based on a supposedly true legend about a young noblewoman who took the guise of her secretly dead brother to save Japan and reunite the empire.

The series also has some fun twists, some deceptive characters (you think they're bad... but they're not. Or you think that they're good... but they're not), some great animation, and some fantastic fight sequences.

Thumbs Down:
The series has a WAY dorky ending, so basically, watch the first 3 volumes... they're fun. Skip the last. It stinks.

Overall Rating (1 to 5 stars): ***

Anime Review: Gunslinger Girl

Most recently, Sami and i finished a nifty little Anime series called Gunslinger Girl. Below is my analysis and recommendation if you are interested.

Synopsis: Set in contemporary Italy, an organization overtly called The Social Wellfare Agency secretly operates crack units of assassins called Fratello which consist of an adult "handler" and a cybernetically enhanced and mentally conditioned young girl. According to the Agency, each girl has been given a "second chance at life" as each was taken from terminal or critical medical scenarios and given their superhuman abilities in exchange for their services as assassins against the current Italian government's enemies. As the subtitle suggests, however, "the girl has a mechanical body. However, she is still an adolescent child". As a result, the series delves deeply into the psychological and relational issues of each girl not only coming to grips with her own identity and actions, but poses some fun questions about the very real upcoming issues of the limits and responsibilities of GNR (genetics, nanotechnology, robotics) experimentation, particularly as they relate to humans.

Thumbs Up: The series accomplishes whatever objectives it might have in regard to creating compelling characters and involving you in their (albeit twisted) lives. Each girl has a unique reason for being in the Agency, as well as a unique or preferred weapon of choice. Ricco, for instance, prefers the Dragunov Sniper Rifle, and is often positioned to provide cover from elevated positions for other Fratello who are engaging an enemy at closer proximity. Before being recruited for the Agency, Ricco suffered from a terminal illness that prevented her from moving her body or developing any relationships until she was a young teen. As a result, the Agency's equipping her with a body that allows her to move with superhuman strength and speed, as well as providing her with a network of "friends" who care about her (i.e the other Fratello girls) motivate her to do anything to keep those treasures. At the end of the day, Ricco's actions are horrifically cold-blooded, but her motivations are equally innocent and simple, and so it is difficult to fault her for her actions or motivations.

Similarly, each girl's "handler" as well has their own story for not only joining the Agency, but continuing to stay involved, and so each Fratello has its own unique "feel", making for a decent story line. In addition, most of the action sequences are superbly animated, combining high speed movements with at least pseudo-realistic combat maneuvers (the girls use actual marksmanship techniques, as well as "real" Judo/Jujutsu or percussive techniques in hand-to-hand scenarios) for an overall fairly accurate feel of the blinding combat efficiency of the units.

Thumbs Down: Overall, the series has an overtly melancholy tone. The girls and their adult supervisors struggle with whether they are more "human" or "machine", and so each responds to them accordingly (and not always positively - some handlers literally treat their girl counterparts as little more than dogs). In addition, as it becomes more and more apparent that the "conditioning" process has negative side-effects on the girls, it becomes a progressively more and more painful process to watch as adults continue to subject them to increasing degrees of "manipulation" in order to acquire the desired effects and wipe away their natural innocense or other barriers which could jeopardize their effectiveness as assassins. The questions that are posed through the series are often valid ones, but watching cute little girls being turned into cold-blooded murderers isn't exactly a pleasant thing to watch happen.

Overall Rating (on a scale of 5 stars): ***

Rub a Dub, Dub... One Girl in a Tub...

Here is Peri all set for her daily convention with the Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick Maker. It's kind of a wonder that she actually fits into the little laundry hamper the way that she does, but the picture was just too cute not to take and post.

There's a One Dollar Bill with this note... or maybe there isn't. Know what i mean?

Sami sent Elijah to his room for multiple infractions yesterday. After about 15 minutes, the following letter was slipped under his door, accompanied by a crisp $1 bill (left over from his birthday money).

In actuality, the letter reads, "ifiletmeatyiwi". In "5 year old-ese", that roughly translates to, "if you let me out, you can have this". There's a picture of a dollar bill on the note as well in case Sami didn't know what the real dollar was supposed to look like, i guess.

To my knowledge, no one has ever given him a class on bribery, but we thought it was pretty amazing that it occured to him "naturally". Those instincts will either serve him well... or land him in jail, i suppose. Time will tell.

Take me to your leader!

According to Elijah, he's really a Predator (from the 20th Century Fox movies -- which, according to "back story" are actually a group of aliens who call themselves Yautja and travel to Earth for hunting parties in which they track and hunt human prey for sport) from the planet Saturn, who escaped to Earth shortly before Saturn blew up several hundred years ago. Along with a small band of highly elite warriors (who are also Kindergarten aged and who bear names of striking similarity to students in his class), he now functions as the Predator Leader, seeking out Aliens wherever they may be found and terminating them with merciless ferocity.

True to actual Predator technology, Elijah is seen here sporting various weapons of his own design and manufacture. They are listed as:


Wristblades: Each Predator's "faithful standby" weapon is a set of two rather nasty looking, jagged and extendable blades that emanate from his arm gauntlet. The blades are excellent for use in melee situations, and are also quite useful as ambush weapons when the Predator is "cloaked" and sneaking up on his prey.





Shoulder Cannon:
In addition to a triple beam sighting mechanism that issues from the Predator's helmet, each Predator possesses an impressive plasma casting cannon that is mounted on his shoulder. The cannon blasts a bolt of concentrated plasma with the use of a "smart" targeting system (i.e. it can track and hit a moving target once the target is locked) at anything that it deems to be worthy prey.




Net-Caster Pistol: In order to immobilize prey, Predators will often use a propelled "net caster". This weapon utilizes a high tensile strength wire with its own set of serrated "teeth" (to prevent the prey or its potential allies from attempting to cut through it) and a high powered series of staked winches which kick in upon impact to ensure that the prey is uncomfortably immobile long enough for the Predator to "finish" it. This weapon is of limited utility against Xenomorphic "Aliens", however, as their molecular acid blood burns through the net cables too quickly to immobilize the alien for long.

The cleanest ears in the world...

Peri pictured here making sure that her ears are ABSOLUTELY the cleanest ears on the planet.

Love and Peace!!!!

We received notification the other day the Kenji's stone was in and had been placed at his little grave site. The stone is pictured here, and if you're wondering what the Japanese Kanji writing says, it is the symbols for "Love" and "Peace".

Next on Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom"...

Hello, i'm Marlin Perkins with a crew of elite safari photographers in this rare instance in the animal kingdom. Here we have a common Freakus Fiveyearoldius, whose normal habitation is the impenatrable citadel of urbanly constructed plywood, and also the common, ground-dwelling Worthless Weinerdogius at his side. Normally, the two species are mortal enemies, but in this rare footage (brought to you exclusively by Mutual of Omaha), they appear to be co-habitating quite nicely.

Truthfully, we can't figure out how the boy managed to get Mina up there as she normally hates it, resists it, and won't come up into it even if you bait beg or carry her up there.

Convenience at its best...

I suppose if this were "Tool Time" with Tim Allen on the TV show "Home Improvement", he would say that Peri had discovered the "ultimate man's bathroom". It's one part toilet, one part Laz-y-boy, and one part TV-watching bean bag.

You could totally just "veg out" in this rig, take care of pottie business, relax and never leave "Seasame Street with Elmo" at the same time.

Ah... what a life!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Remember in Ghostbusters when the guys eventually get to the top of the building at the end of the movie and meet up with "Gozer the Gozerian"? Remember how "it" ("I thought Gozer was a man?" "It's whatever it wants to be...") looked like this kind of cotton-swabbed man-chick with red eyes that shot lightning bolts out of its finger tips?

Well, i can't vouch for the red eyes or the lightning bolts, but this pic of Elijah in a bubble bath conjured images of the favorite 1980's action-sci-fi-comedy flick. So long as he doesn't ask us if we're gods, attempt to hurl us from the top of a 120 story skyscraper, or turn into a giant marshmellow-man bent on wreaking havoc throughout the city, i think we'll be okay.

This Year's Christmas Hit: "Pottie Me, Elmo"

The last few days, Peri has shown some significant interest in learning to "go pottie". Apparently, she is a little gender-confused as well because she seems insistent on "standing" to pee ("Hey, if daddy and big brother do it, why can't she?!"). Anyway, in order to be compliant and encouraging, we purchased a little "pottie seat" for her, and she has been very excited to pursue it with vigor.

But the MOST interesting recent development is that not only does Peri want to learn to go pottie, but apparently, her best buddy Elmo wants to learn as well. We came out of our room this morning to see Elmo propped up on the little pottie (pictured here), and while we didn't stick around long enough to see whether (or what) "Elmo-poo" might look like, we did think it was hilarious that she felt the urge (pun intended) for Elmo to learn as well.

Later, Sami had to rescue Elmo from the "big pottie" (Elmo suffered a soaked right foot, but that's all), but all in all, Elmo has been quite the encouragement for her. Shown below are Peri and Elmo sitting together on the pottie (which now also doubles as a sort of baby La-z-Boy) resting and taking in a movie after a hard day of harassing mommy.