ALL I KNOW, I LEARNED FROM POP CULTURE

It feels like that sometimes, doesn't it? When people ask my kids where they go to school and, of course they reply they are homeschooled, the next question is most always aimed at me: "How do you do that?" Certain days, when I'm feeling irritated about having to answer this same question over and over again, or maybe I'm just feeling smug... I say "Heh, it's not that hard. I just put them in front of the t.v." It's kinda true though. I mean, not the part about putting them in front of the t.v., but the role that media today plays in our reality, and quite frankly, in how we relate to one another. For example, the title of my post about my impending birthday (YOU PUT YOUR WEED IN THERE) is a line from a movie that Jeff uses everytime anyone talks about anything floral. It's as predictable as the sun rising each morning, and I knew as soon as he read the content of my post, that exact quote would automatically pop into his head. Or take my brother-in-law, Nate, who has a song for everything. I'm not sure I've had many conversations with him where it didn't end with a correlating verse from one song or another. The guy's a walking IPod!



So in keeping up with our lofty goal to make our kids the smartest on the block, we took them to two movies this weekend. Thursday night we got to see an early showing of "The Dark Knight" at a private function. Jeff and Brit were awarded our tickets after attending a seminar on all new things nerdy in the IT world. We really liked the movie, but I won't say much more. I don't want to be the spoiler in case readers have not yet seen it. Here's my only comment... IMO, the Joker character lived up to all the hype! If you're a fan of the Batman movies, this one is worth the full-admission price.



Movie #2 was "Mamma Mia" this afternoon. We went to the Off Broadway production when it came to Capitol Theatre this past year and looooved it! We really liked the movie too, but it wasn't "Phantom of the Opera" good. Of course it's never apples to apples when you try to compare a live, onstage performance to a motion picture performance. But, again, worth seeing on the big screen. The music can't be beat! It was just a little weird for me to see James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) break into song, while wearing a skin-tight, metallic jumpsuit. Yep, just a little weird.

What did we learn? We learned a $150,000,000 budget gets you a pretty, darn, good, action hero movie. We learned that not all A-list actors should be cast in certain roles, simply because they are A-list actors. And, most importantly, we learned that Gotham City is not a great place for a family vacation, but Greece looks like a fabulous family destination! It's great to get a heads-up about these things before booking airfare.