A Kansas Funeral

Here's a preview of my next post. The Mad Scientist's grandma passed away last week so we drove out to Kansas. I had completely forgotten the ways of the plains. The mid-west is special and I'm not even being completely sarcastic either. So here's a preview of my weekend in a tiny town in Kansas.

Hipster Easter

Yeah. This happened.

Indy's Girl

I am the disappointment of Indiana Jones.

I just got back from a special screening of Raiders of the Lost Arch and I've forgotten how much I loved that movie. Not really forgotten but left behind a hazy fog of horrible summer action movies.

via http://geektyrant.com

I was born a girl with high anxiety and a poor memory for science and history. I knew from an early age I couldn't be Indy, but I could strive for Spielburgian greatness by emulating his leading ladies. Strong, smart, loud and opinionated. (Except you Willie. Sorry but you must grow a pair and stop the screaming...) I try to embody that sexy leading lady but it doesn't always work out that way. But for Indiana, it is worth trying.

Much like Bond, no woman could hold him. Yet unlike Bond, he was vulnerable. Jones bled and every fight was not so easily won. (And lets not forget his famous phobia.) Indy could get excited by architecture and history. A relic could send him off into a whirlwind of excitement. The man got off on mummies.

It's the passion, drive, daring that made me love him.

All these reasons and more are why I love him. Those three films (Four? There wasn't a forth one. No such thing.) had a great effect on my relationship choices for better or worse.

Hell, I did marry a scientist.

Treasures from Japan

Y'all know this, but I'm going to say it again.

I'm not normal.

Now some would say, "Pix, nobody is normal! We're all special like snowflakes!" And I'd say, "You're mom is a liar..." Then I'd probably throw in a mom joke about how I banged her in the back of a Ford Fiesta. Anywho...

I was in Japan a few weeks ago and while all the other tourists are buying little geisha dolls and decorative fans at the gaijin huts, I'm at the toy stores, vintage shops, department stores, dark alleyways negotiating deals on the black market. Yeah. Not really. But yeah, I'm cool like that.

So I thought I'd share some of my fun finds! First on the block, Crystal 3D Puzzles! Now I love puzzles and always have. I wouldn't say I'm very good at them but they're hours of turn-your-brain-off fun. So when I saw this mini 3D puzzles I had to snag one. There were many to choose from (Mickey, Donald, Winnie, etc) but I chose Stitch because he's so damned adorable.  

I have never seen this in the states before so I have to assume they're a Japanese or Eastern thing. I put it together pretty quickly, although it definatly worked a whole other part of my brain. And here's the result!

He's super happy on my book shelf.

And on the subject of puzzles, check out these!  They're so cute! 

Nanoblocks are like teeny legos. They allow for more detail and they are super fun. I got Tokyo Tower, of course, and a llama, of course. 

Then there's this beauty!

Yeah, it defies convention. It sees your ice 'cubes' and says "No way JACK! I'm doing my own thing!" 

Actually, it's supposed to melt slower because of the less surface area but I just thinks it looks pretty in a glass. And it blows the minds of my (imaginary) party guests. 

Then there's the crown jewel in my collection: 

The Wedding Kimono. 

 Yeah, I am fully aware I'm already married. You should have seen the kimonos for married ladies. They looked like someone had died. They were so black, no light escaped them. Joy and happiness disappeared. They made me sad. So I bought this instead. I'm a happy cucumber.

Do Call Me Shirley

I make me sick.

Not for something I've done or because I've got the stomach flu. This movie I'm watching is so adorable and cute and sweet that I kind of want to vomit rainbows and sunshine. In a good way.

I'm rewatching The Little Princess. (Enough said?) Made in 1939 starring a 10 year old Shirley Temple and based on the charming little book by Frances Hodgson Burnett that I read as a child and perhaps deserves another read through. Yet, I digress.

When I was little, I wasn't the carefree child from fabric softener commercials. I was a little ball of
anxiety. I didn't sleep, make friends or do my school work. So the school councilor told my mother to put a tv in my room. When I woke up in the middle of the night I could put the tv on for company and after my homework was done, I could watch cartoons and decompress. On one of these long nights when sleep wouldn't come, I switched on my little black and white tv. (Literally, there was a dial to switch on... and bunny ears to adjust. Younger readers should google this...)

On one of the 6 stations I could get, there was a movie starting, staring the teeny Shirley. The Set-up: Her wonderful, doting father was headed off to a "little" war but was leaving the sweet, beautiful and rich Sara Crewe in the capable hands of Ms. Minchin who ran a posh boarding school. Most love the kind Sara, except a few who are jealous. (Ahem, the EVIL little Lavinia) Things take a turn though when she receives word that her father has been killed in battle and with no more money coming in, the wicked Ms. Minchin
sells all her nice things and makes her a maid in the house for all her school mates. She rooms with Becky, the other house maid girl and they create fantastic fantasy worlds to keep their spirits alive. Sara will often sneak out at night to search the wounded solider hospital, for she is certain her father would never die and leave her all alone. Time passes and Sara grows tired. She is worn down by the work and has a moment of hopelessness, hunger and hatred for those that are so cruel, something one doesn't see often in Temple films. On the final trip through the wounded hospital, running from Ms. Minchin and certain doom, she goes room to room, bed to bed and walks right past her father, in a head bandage. He doesn't remember her. It tears your god damned heart out. Just as she is walking away, he mumbles, "Sara...Sara..."

The tears flow, Ms. Minchin gets it good and Sara, her father and Becky live happily ever after. And I was enthralled.

Shirley is credited for saving the entire film industry at the time. She attributed herself to Rin Tin Tin, saying people in the depression needed cheering up so they fell in love with a girl and a dog. And that probably explains why I loved her movies. When you little and a little freaked out by the world around you, Shirley Temple is a beacon. A warm light in the cold night.

Shirley fell out of fame slowly as she got older. She focused on humanitarian efforts in Ghana and Czechoslovakia and did a lot of good in the world. In 1972 she went public with the news of her double mastectomy, something that was not talked about back then, which was pretty damned brave and awesome. She also supported Nixon and the Vietnam war... We're not all perfect I guess.

I'm truly sad to see her go. I'm going to eat some gum drops and watch Bright Eyes in my tap shoes.