Friday, November 30, 2012

Tikki Tikki Tembo Isn't Accurate? Stop The Presses!




I picked up Tikki Tikki Tembo from the library after being overcome with a wave of nostalgia. I brought it home, and read it to my daughter, and found myself laughing at the ridiculous so-called "Chinese folktale" being retold by Arlene Mosel.

There are a number of things wrong with this version of the folktale, starting with the fact that the origins of the folktale appear to be Japanese, not Chinese. "Tikki Tikki Tembo" aren't Chinese sounds, "Chang" is a surname, and doesn't mean "little or nothing", the characters all seem to be wearing Japanese sandals, and in one scene, Chang bows backwards, which just looks weird, and which no one ever does.

I was expecting Tikki Tikki Tembo to die, given how long he'd been in the well. But he is miraculously saved. I think there are some versions where he dies.

As to whether there's any damage done, or whether I'll do any to my daughter, I don't think so. I tried to follow this tedious discussion on a Children's Lit listserv, but it only served to frustrate me.


Saturday, November 24, 2012

Favorite Videos Of The Week

This week I've got some pretty random things, but they're all well worth watching. In this first one, Alicia Keys gives a soulful rendition of the Gummi Bears theme song on the Jimmy Fallon show. It's amazing how long it takes before she cracks. It took a while before I even realized she wasn't singing another R&B song. 


An oldie but goodie - Christopher Walken in Pennies From Heaven, an old-school burlesque musical. The sequence is called "Let's Misbehave", and features a really young Christopher Walken as tempter. I've never seen this movie, but I think I should!


So I didn't really care about the AMAs other than PSY's performance with MC Hammer. But that was kind of underwhelming compared to P!nk's performance, which was incredible. This first video is the original music video for her song "Try", and the second one is the AMA performance. It's a really unusual video, in that the focus is on the dance, and the dance actually tells a story. It's also visually disturbing, and turbulent. Amazing.




Saturday, November 17, 2012

Favorite Videos Of The Week


"The Heat" is a female buddy cop movie, starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy of "Bridesmaids" fame. It's nice to see women getting in on the Judd Apatow-style comedy action. 


David Chang and Anthony Bourdain just never stop working, do they? "Mind of a Chef" is a 12-part PBS series that focuses on a particular food for each episode. The first one is about ramen. It seems to be very complementary to Chang's magazine Lucky Peach.


GoldieBlox is a Kickstarter-funded toy that teaches engineering concepts, and is designed to appeal to girls. I'm not crazy about the pastels or the blond white girl (maybe future iterations will have a more diverse cast) that seems to be the protagonist of the story, but I really like the idea. I wish the video had shown more about the actual toy. 



In Shanghai, there's a real-life "marriage market" in which anxious parents bring out profiles of their single sons and daughters to hopefully find a good match for them so that they can get married and provide them with grandchildren. Actually, their daughters and sons might already be in relationships. Their kids might not even know that they're being set up. I wonder how many successful matches there are. 

Marriage Corner from A Year To Think on Vimeo.

Ever wanted to make your own Sriracha? Try this one out!

JoJo's Sriracha: Bringing More Hot Pepper Flavor To The Party from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Favorite Videos...U.S. Election Edition

With the U.S. presidential election happening tomorrow, there have been a lot of great videos popping up all over the place. I've collected a bunch of my favorites here:

If you, especially those of you who live in swing states, could use a breather from political ads, Quinley & Kubat's got a solution for you:



This little girl is sick of the election, too. 


Jay-Z's getting in on the act, saying that he's got "99 problems, but Mitt ain't one":



If you don't vote for Obama, these old folks will watch you while you have sex. This video is from Michael Moore and MoveOn:


Joss Whedon endorses Romney for the zombie apocalypse: