A Cleverer Version of Myself

Shakespeare, novels, monsters, dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:33:00 +0000

I've been totally consumed with preparations for Shakespeare Camp this year. We are doing A Midsummer Night's Dream this year, which is... well it's got a lot of great stuff in it. So we're pretty excited. Excited to be doing it, and excited to be getting it over with. Life is flying by this summer and it's all we can do to hold on and try our best to keep up.

We saw Predators last weekend. I understand the reviews aren't that great but we enjoyed it. It was big and dumb and fun. When did Adrien Brody become an action star? When did Laurence Fishburne start looking so much like my grandma? Crazy.

Saw Inception yesterday. Wow. Just... wow. Some of the best action scenes I've ever seen. And wow, the writing in this movie, the ideas that are proposed. I found myself just grinning through SO MUCH of the film.

I'm preparing to send my first novel out again. I've got maybe seven short stories out for submission and they pop into my head from time to time. But really, novels weigh on you. It's different. I've struggled with my first novel for four years and I only now feel as though it's anywhere close to being ready for publication. What makes a novel ready? At what point do you have to just make yourself stop and present it to the powers that be? I don't know. I'm only beginning to feel any sort of confidence as a writer.

Also, my brain has been soaking lately. Since I haven't been writing much new stuff, I've just been revising and taking it easy, letting my brain act as a sponge. Then, finally at about 5:45 on Thursday afternoon, it was like someone turned on the lights and I started having a lot of new ideas. They're not all great, obviously. And they're not all perfectly formed, obviously. But, Robin McKinley recently said in an interview that finding story or novel ideas is like being in a dark room and picking things up. Mostly you just pick up stones, but sometimes, every now and then, you pick up a puppy. That puppy feels different from the stone. It's warm and it breathes. It's a story, or it might grow up into a novel. For about three months, since I finished the rough draft of my second novel, I've only been picking up stones. Stone after stone after stone. Now I'm starting to pick up puppies again and it makes me feel really... hopeful. Like I'm going down the right path after all. This is good.

We're off to camp now. I'll write when we get back. Have a great week!

Post Independence Day

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:55:00 +0000

It's been a strange week. It's Friday and I'm only now catching up on sleep after last week's events. My dreams have returned to normal... well, normal for me. I'm sleeping through the night, mostly.

And, here's what I've done this week:
I ran about seven miles, barefoot. Hill sprints are FUN!
I made tie-dyed paper, more on this in another post (when I get the photos off my camera)
I watched like a million episodes of Burn Notice. Great show!
I played some serious Borderlands. Raided the armory of General Knox TWICE.
I am becoming a MASTER of PlayDough:

There's not been a lot of shooting lately. As I've mentioned before, I live in an old farm house. And, it's on the property of a working, educational farm. In some ways this is cool. But in a whole lot of other ways it's really, really not. For instance, there's almost no privacy. Farm hands tend to loiter on our property, away from the eyes of the boss man, to pick up extra hours. They bang and hammer on pipes that never seem to go anywhere or paint the same door over and over again. Whatever, I don't care what they do, but they're in my backyard till after dark.

So, this morning, I got up a little after dawn and when out in the rain to shoot. THIS... now THIS was cool. I shot in the pouring rain and in the drizzling, spitting, sticky rain and in the hazy after-rain that rolled in over and over. I even made a video, as I'm trying desperately to correct my form, and someday, if I'm brave enough, I might put it up here.

I hope you had a great week and I hope your super-secret hobbies are developing nicely. I'm hoping to sleep A LOT this weekend and see Predators. I'll let you know how that goes.

Oh, one more thing, A friend of mine today told me I was as much a bad-ass as Zoe. If you don't know who Zoe is, here's a picture in the way of explanation:

Needless to say... I was pleased.

Target Practice.

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:09:00 +0000

I prefer not to talk on the phone. I've never, not even once, spoken to my best friend over the phone. I just don't have the attention span... or... I don't know... something to sit and listen to someone I can't see. Therefore, I count myself exceedingly lucky to have come of age in time for the internet. I talk to my friends through email, gmail chat and facebook. Which is wonderful. I've moved around A LOT and this method of communication makes it soooo much easier to keep up with those few souls I've decided are worthy of digital conversations.

Not that the conversations are anything special-- I'm simply overwhelmed by any sort of communication, even when all I have to do is smack on a keyboard for a while.

Anyway, sometimes I'm surprised by my own weirdness. Especially when it's so easily accepted by my peers.

Here's a sample that struck me today:

C.A.: I'm so tired!
Me: Me too! Uggh...
C.A.: I can't wait to get out of here.
Me: Oh hey, I found an apple!
C.A.: Congrats! What are you going to do with said apple, shoot at it tonight?
Me: No. I'm just going to eat it like a normal person.

Suddenly, I was taken aback. There are parts of this digital dialogue that made me really happy!
Number 1: I'm glad that I've reached a point in my life where I can freely shoot a longbow in my backyard, if I want to... and no one's telling me to put on shoes or wear sensible clothing.
Number 2: I'm glad that I've surrounded myself (virtually anyhow) with the kind of people who not only abide with my craziness but also find it endearing enough to naturally assume I'll be shooting fruit instead of eating it.
Number 3: My friends think highly enough of me as an archer to assume that I actually COULD shoot an arrow through an apple. I can barely hit the target as it is!

In the end, I did eat the apple. But, as I chomped away, I thought of how much better it would've looked with an arrow running through it! Thanks, C.A.!

Airbender.

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:48:00 +0000

It's been a hard week around here. A tragedy befell my family and I have taken a few days away from my regular life to help members of my family cope and to deal with this emotional strain myself. It feels like about a million years since Monday and I'm trying today to slide back into my own skin which now feels... different, unfamiliar. Maybe I'll write more about this later. I'm not sure that I'm ready yet.

Today, as an extension of this attempt to get back to my life, I went to see the long-awaited Airbender movie. Scott and I were HUGE fans of the TV Show. We own every box set. We've watched each episode multiple times. We LOVE it.
We were optimistic about the movie. Even though Shyamalan white washed the cast. Even though the preliminary rumors weren't good. Even though there was not a single good review once released. Even though the trailers looked less than promising... we walked into the theatre with all the fanboy hope we could muster.
We were, of course, let down. A lot of reviewers have said that the acting is wooden but... it's my opinion that these kids (and adults) were doing the very best they could while trying to say really god-awful words and being really, really badly directed. There is both too much and not enough story here. Night both stuck too close to the story and also tried too hard to separate himself from it. The lines were all heavy handed and loaded with philosophical garbage that didn't mean anything. There's no character development and an overabundance of bad expositional narration.
On top of everything else, M. Night up and decided he didn't like the way any of the character names were pronounced so he CHANGED them. I cannot even begin to describe how absolutely jarring and appalling this was to both of us.
From what I understand, fanboys across the four nations are calling for a re-do. I personally wish there was such a thing as brain bending, so I could have this wiped from my memory FOREVER. In fact, the most entertaining thing about this mess was a small group of 8-11 yr old boys who did a running commentary. Normally kids talking through a movie really irks me but this time, hearing lines like, "That's not how you say it! What's going on?" and "They didn't drop the wave! That sucks!" made Scott and I feel totally justified in our hatred.
I'm considering watching a few episodes over the next few days, to remind myself why I loved the show so very, very much. But, I'm not sure I even can. Not yet. I need something else to cleanse my palate. Maybe some Star Trek. Maybe some Dr Who. Maybe just a really long nap.

Will report again soon.

A Little Something About Courage

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:05:00 +0000

Watching X-Files today, between writing and other various activities. I'm in Season Three, where I think this show really hit its stride... Darin Morgan certainly helped out quite a lot with that. This is the guy behind such astonishing awesomeness as "Humbug," "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose," and "War of the Copraphages." Today, in fact, I watched another vintage Morgan, "Jose Chung's From Outer Space."

I remember watching all these when they and I were both fresh faced and new. Then, I watched them again just after I graduated high school and they were airing on Sci Fi like they'd forgotten they had other stuff to program. Now, in 2010, these episodes especially seem quite a lot like an old friend who's always been there, never changing, never leaving. But, of course, I have changed, I did move away, I did grow up. And, "Jose Chung" is still brilliant. In fact, he's even more brilliant than I'd remembered.

This episode is chocked full of the self deprecating sort of humor that made the unlikely comedy in The X-Files stand out. Hypnotic suggestion and confusion. Wishful thinking on the part of a space nerd and Mulder alike. A pilot dressed as an alien, claiming to have been abducted by real aliens, who is later abducted by his military higher-ups. And to top it off... Alex Trebek and Jesse Ventura as a pair of oddball Men In Black.

Of course, you can't go wrong with lines like this: "Well, hey, I didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage."

or this: "One of them was disguised as a woman, but wasn't pulling it off. Like, her hair was red, but it was a little too red, y'know? And the other one, the tall, lanky one, his face was so blank and expressionless. He didn't even seem human. I think he was a mandroid."

or: "That's a bleepin' dead alien body if I ever saw one."

Jose Chung is all around a truly superb example of X-Files at its best. And, I find that I can learn a lot about writing from this viewing. Who knows what I'll uncover in it when it inevitably creeps back into my life five or ten years from now.

June roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:50:00 +0000

What did I watch in June? Where did I go?

All of the second season of X-Files (awesome) and I've found that while the standalone episodes are AMAZING, I have absolutely no patience for the mythology anymore. Every time they drag out Mulder's sister, it makes my eyes totally glaze over.

The A-Team. SWEET! This movie was the absolute BEST kind of big, dumb fun. It was exactly what it should've been: wild, cartoony, high-octane action with exchanges like, "Are they trying to shoot down that drone?" "No, they're trying to fly that tank." Yes. Perfect. That's exactly what we wanted.

Finished up the first season of Justified. Good show. Damn good writing, even better casting. It's underplayed but funny and action packed without losing its sense of real drama. It took a couple of episodes to find its voice, but once it did, this show really hit its stride.

Went to the Biltmore house. I grew up within about five miles of this mega-mansion but had never been. Scott and I planned a trip to see my family and my very generous and kind uncle footed the bill for all of us to visit. We had a blast! That place is crazy. But you're not allowed to touch anything. Which is too bad since about half of that place is covered in velvet. Still, we had a wonderful time. I can't wait to see what July holds.

Easing in.

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 03:22:00 +0000

Well, I'm back. I don't know if this is going to take, but I'm here to give it another go. To give it the old college try. To see if this stuff I ramble on about while walking around my house in the summer heat is worth anything... or if it's all just a bunch of incoherent drivel.

I don't want to forget some of this stuff. Yes, even the stuff I think while I watch 10 year old episodes of X-Files... or the stuff I think about while running around the track like a hamster... or the stuff I think about while standing in the bread isle (which I HATE.)

So, here I go. Dipping in my toes... testing the water. I may run away screaming out of an irrational fear of drowning or I may not. We'll see.

Of Heaven and Angels

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:26:00 +0000

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.
-Pearl S. Buck

Imagination Takes Flight

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:01:00 +0000

I've been working with kids for over ten years now. (I know...it's crazy. I can't believe it either.) I grew up in some kind of weird art limbo between backstage and art studios. Then, I worked in theatre institutes for children. Then, I opened my own Shakespeare Camp for children. And now I work full time promoting literacy and art with children...as well as teaching inner city kids about nature and farms and ecosystems and evolution. It's a pretty kick-ass living! As a consequence of my work, I often get to do really, really cool things with kids... like the mural my preschoolers did, or the robots we made, or the insane day of finger-painting...

This week, we made wings!

These wings are SUPER easy to make.

Supplies: poster board, elastic cord, brass brads, decorative stuff (markers, crayons, etc)

1- Just find yourself some plain poster board (or colored poster board, or double sided poster board)

2- Fold the poster board in half and cut something that looks sort of, kind of, wing-shaped. The wings pictured here are a bit fancier but you can really just cut a sort of oval shape for really nice wings... as long as you're mostly symmetrical then you can't go wrong!

3- Hand the wings over to child (or self if you're making some grown-up wings) with markers, crayons, crêpe paper, glue sticks, sparkles, glitter, stick on gems, ribbon etc etc etc.

4- While child goes CRAZY with their wing making, cut two lengths of elastic cord (the kind used for beading) about a foot long.

5- Tie either end of these cords to brass brads.

(In Total You will need: 2 stings, 4 brads)

6- When child is finished making crazy wings, stick the brass brads through the poster boards from front to back. The puncture will go from top to bottom of the wings, NOT side to side, you want the top of the string above their shoulder and the bottom under their armpit. I sized mine so they were taught when placed on the wing.

5- Child will wear wings like a BACKPACK.

Some fun books that go with this activity are:

My kids had a blast with this craft. They ran around the room like crazy winged super kids forever and could not be stopped! The wings are not really very durable, but they're easy to repair (tape) and just as fun/easy to make again the next day!

Nerdy Baby Etsy Find!

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:09:00 +0000

So the other day I was be-bopping around Etsy looking for fleece skirts (I'm on a mission, more on that later) and Star Trek geekery (as always) and came across this fantastic shop. After perusing the goods for a while I felt confident that by the end of the year I would be totally bankrupt after ordering every single item this woman has in stock. I don't even have kids, I'll be using upcoming baby showers as an excuse to buy this stuff!!

Tiffany Ard is the artist and she runs a wonderful blog. If you go by, tell her EnsignRose says hi!

The items in Tiffany's eclectic shop are all pretty amazing, original, and knock-your-geek-socks-off hillarious.

My favorites are:

"Baby's First Book of Physics"

"Nerd Baby Prime Number Counting Chart"

And

"Newton's Three Laws of Motion Art Poster"

Which I am SOOOOOO ordering for my living room.

If you would like to go buy some of the items and keep me from spending the entire contents of my bank account on Tiffany's work, you can visit her Etsy Shop or her Webpage!

Toddlers and Paintbrushes

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:33:00 +0000

So... I'm becoming one of those reclusive types who refuses to venture into the world (for anything besides toilet paper and Star Trek Box Sets)... or interact with any human beings (in person or online) for any reason. And this mentality seems to be bleeding into my blogging as well. I'm sorry about that. I hope to post as much as possible but things just keep piling up.

Anyway...

Last week I set my toddlers loose with a ton of chubby, stubby paint brushes, tempera paint (mixed with dish liquid...very helpful!) and giant white rectangles of construction paper.

The tots had a blast, mixing colors, swirling the sloppy paint around the paper, getting their hands (and faces, and hair, and toes somehow) messy with color.

Some of the parents thought I was crazy to give their two and three year old children paint brushes and big cups of paint, some thought I might be a childhood art guru, and all were pleasantly astonished by the work their children produced, the enthusiasm they showed toward the joy of painting, and the pride they displayed when spreading great puddles of color across blank white paper.

I love process oriented work and emphasize it as much as I can. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a fruitful and wonderful semester with my kids.

Today I made...

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 17:28:00 +0000

I've always really enjoyed leaving curious little objects laying around for other people to find: origami animals, weird notes and drawings, the little plastic toys from quarter machines...

But I was thinking that I'd like to do something with a little more purpose, a little bit less obscure, so that whoever finds it knows the intent of the one who left the item. When you leave these odds and ends, there's the hope that they'll make someone smile but there's always a chance they'll say, "Did some poor child lose their tiny plastic dinosaur? Oh dear!" And I don't want that.

So I made these:

These little glass gems have things inside that make me happy: elephants, crayons, breakfast etc. And on the back they all say, "Please enjoy this free smile!"

I hope to spread a few laughs and a couple brighter days with these.

What do you think? If you make some and spread them around, let me know how it goes!

It's in a book.

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:39:00 +0000

I cried the day Mr. Rogers died. I have very strong feelings about the new direction Sesame Street is taking and, I've never lost my childhood admiration of LeVar Burton. (I even have a letter to him drafted about how much he influenced my life and how much his work on both Reading Rainbow and Star Trek have impacted me...never sent...worry it'll seem creepy)

When I was a kid, Reading Rainbow and Star Trek came together in one episode and I almost lost my mind!

Both of my parents worked and I was a latch-key kid from a pretty early age. They both loved to read but I spent a serious amount of time (and still do) in front of the television. And, of course, we didn't have cable (which I choose to pay for now over just about anything else) so I watched A LOT of public broadcasting. I pretended to be Grover on a daily basis, I got in a fight with a kid at school after defending Mr. Rogers, and I begged for books every year for Christmas.

Reading Rainbow has just been cancelled, partially because of a lack of funding, and also because of the different direction that educational programming is taking, under legislation from the Bush Administration (the same group who gave us the disastrous "No Child Left Behind")

The idea is that educational programs should teach kids "how to read" not "why to read" While I understand, and agree with their tendency toward programming some straight up phonics (Sesame Street!) I find the cancellation of a show that instills a love of reading to be abhorrent. What does it matter if kids can read if they're never told why they should.

Kids are already subject to their libraries and arts programs being stripped away. Layoffs of librarians, media specialists, and humanities teachers are rampant throughout the country... and no one in charge seems to worry about whether the kids will be damaged by the loss.

Art, music, dance and theatre all teach kids invaluable lessons in critical thinking and creative thinking, not to mention all the tactile, visual, immersive benefits a child gleans from the process of making and doing art.

Books teach kids that they don't have to be where they are now. They teach them about exploration. Books will forever be a resource to the child who, like me, needed somewhere to go, something to learn about, something to grasp onto. But even if they take their little, still developing finger, and scroll it under the words and sound out the letters and understand a story... even if they're congratulated on the amazing feat of learning to read. If they're never taught how many doors it can open for them, then a very important door may have closed.

Reading Rainbow was a rare and beautiful resource for children and it instilled in me, and countless other kids, a love of literature that exceeded the twenty-six year run of the show.

I'll miss it.

Beam me up, Doctor.

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:26:00 +0000

This weekend, the husband and I are going to Cleveland for a film festival. Woohoo! A friend was explaining to me the various sights to see in Cleveland and I had to explain that, no, when you're at one of these things, you don't really leave the hotel. We made a huge exception in Las Vegas because I'd never seen terrain like that and thought I might die if I spent another minute in a smoky casino.

But, I am really excited! Just getting out of our (no AC) house is going to be fun, and meeting up with other filmmakers and writers and the like is always such a refreshing experience! I think it'll be a real blast, so I'm excited!

In the meantime, I'm still sort of trying to escape the funk that took hold of me last month. I did finally manage to write two brand new stories. One--not so great, the other--pretty good! And this morning, I'm doing some art to try and get my creative mojo back together.

I'm experimenting with coloring a mandala type picture which, it turns out, is pretty meditative and I find myself contemplating all sorts of story and plot elements while I do this...hopefully I'll eventually have a breakthrough!

Hope you all are well! I will get back to posting about kid stuff as soon as I get my kids back (we're on a break right now) and I miss them so much!!!

Have a great weekend and remember, if all else fails, do what I do and watch a carefully combined mixture of Dr. Who and Star Trek.

Preschooler Mural

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:31:00 +0000

All summer I've been working toward one very specific, and possibly way-too-ambitious art project: A Preschool Mural

On Monday, my preschoolers and I accomplished this feat with astonishing results.

I wanted a fully immersive, fully collaborative arts project that we could all enjoy working on without worrying too much about the final product.

In addition to the massive roll of butcher paper I managed to secure to our brick wall, I sat out Finger Paint in bowls, Tempera (mixed with some soap) in paint cups, and even more trays of Tempera with spongy rollers.

My instructions were basically, "Go wild."

And they did:

As we finally wrapped up, (we could've stayed out all day!) we were all up to our elbows in various colors of paint. Thankfully, I'd thought a hose might be a good idea... turns out, it was much appreciated by all...as was the mural we ended up with!

Music Craft: Homemade Ukuleles

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:49:00 +0000

This monday, we made ukuleles!

I've played a cheap, baby pink ukulele (which I LOVE) off and on for about a year and really wanted to do a music craft, but I've always been a bit musically challanged and wasn't really sure where to start. Thankfully, a friend pointed me to this site, which contained a kleenex box guitar. I really liked the craft, but needed to modify it for my purposes, so that's what we've done here.

Each child gets one empty tissue box (the long kind) to work with. I gave all of mine a whitewash with tempera paint ahead of time so their artwork would show up a good deal better.

I gave them all markers and shape stickers and they went crazy with their boxes for a while before they got four rubber bands.

The rubber bands go lengthwise across the guitar to make strings (I used four, like a ukulele) and a cut-to-size wooden dowel fits nicely under them to help make a better, more crisp sound.

A wooden paint stirrer (free or very cheap at most hardware stores) is finally taped (I used heavy duty packing tape) along the back of the guitar, covering the strings and providing a pretty sturdy handle.

In the end, this is probably the most popular craft I have ever done with the little ones.
They had a blast running around the room with their new ukuleles. They could even be seen laying back on the floor, rockstar style, strumming like maniacs. At one point they formed (completely unprovoked) a marching band and walked in a giant circle whilst playing.

It was a sight to behold and none of them wanted to leave.
I can't wait to do it again!

Art and Rearranging

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:41:00 +0000

Hooray! I finally changed my blog!

I have been hoping to get some art and my new "logo" up on this blog for quite some time and last night, after some serious html wars with blogger, I managed to get things to look pretty much like I intended.

The new art at the top is mine, obviously, and I'm hoping to get it onto a T-shirt pretty soon... just have to get a day that I can pull out all of my screen printing supplies and get organized.

For your viewing pleasure, I'm also posting some of my other work which is in colored pencils (the cheap kind I have at work...meh...) and ink.

Hope you all enjoy!

Tactile Art: Playdough and Temepra Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:50:00 +0000

What happens when beige dough combines with color in a child's hands?

Well-- crazy melted, marbled snowmen in July for one thing.

I often try to emphasize tactile experiences in my work with very young kids. It's an important part of development and I think something that is often lacking in formal education simply because we don't really think about it that much.

We're always feeling things all over our bodies, all of the time...but we're just used to it. With kids, there's still a whole world of sensory experiences out there to be discovered and treasured and learned from so I try to work these things in whenever possible.

I find that introducing new smells and textures and sounds to kids really produces an amazing amount of questions, which is something to be treasured about childhood-- curiosity.

This week we made kid-colored-dough:

First, I made a batch of classic homemade Playdough:

3 cups flour

1.5 cups salt

6 tsp cream of tarter

3 tbsp oil

3 cups water

Then, after it had cooled enough to touch, I rolled it into a log, then sectioned it out into hand sized blobs.

Next, I made a little well in each blob and poured liquid tempera paint into each one:

Then, I closed all the little secret color blobs up carefully and put them aside:

Finally, I gave each kid a beige blob. They looked up at me like they'd been seriously ripped off.

"But Miss Rose, where's the color?"

"Well, you have to play with it to make it change colors."

Then they got all excited.

They had an absolute blast squishing the dough and paint together. At the end, some blobs were fully colored, some were marbled and many hands and tables were totally covered in tempera. It was a wonderful experience for the kids, their caregivers and for me!

The Cosmic Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:51:00 +0000

I watch a lot of TV...obviously...and last night, Nova Science Now came back. Woohoo!

If you don't know about Nova Science Now, you haven't been spending enough time with your local public broadcast channel.

The show features Neil deGrasse Tyson who acts as host and takes the viewers through each segment with his own, interesting, quirky, weird-ass style. I freaking love this guy! Between each segment, he dresses up, does a bit to illustrate the point then sends us on our way.

Last night they featured (among other things) a diamond factory (hooray for no more blood diamonds) and the guy who invented Captchas. Yeah, captchas... the things you have to fill out to prove you're not a machine. He also decided that he wanted to make it so that the millions and millions of people using captchas would work at a bigger goal. So, he unified the internet users into a work force that's now translating all of the back issues of the New York Times and a ton of really old books from the Library of Congress.

Every week they cover about five different, current science and technology topics. Next week, they're covering the "autism gene" and the hunt for alien life, among other things. It's shaping up to be a good season, but really, anytime you get Tyson on the screen talking about science concepts, it makes me happy!
The show's fantastic and every summer Scott and I look forward to it.

If you're interested in the show: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/

Adventures in Fingerpainting.

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:11:00 +0000

The entire time I've worked with Toddlers, I've promoted messiness and tactile exploration of art... much to the disdain of the mamas who bring their children to me. We've dot painted, play doughed our hearts out, roller painted, worked with stickers till the sun went down etc... but one little thing was always tugging at my inner-creative-crafty-art instructor...

We had never finger painted.

Well, I was really nervous for one thing. Even though the moms usually thank me for the things "we would never do at home!" I can always see that little sparkle of "Jesus all Friday, my kid is orange!" behind their eyes.

But, I was bound and determined to get these kids into finger paint this summer and...wow...just...wow. It was AWESOME!

Here are some of our results:

The Next Doctor

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:34:00 +0000

Last night, Scott and I FINALLY got to bring back the Pizza and Doctor Who tradition when BBCA aired "The Next Doctor", written by Russell T Davies.
It was far too hot for us to cook the pizza (95 degrees and no AC) so we ordered from Domino's and had an absolute blast watching this amazing show.

I love how Rosita seemed to be a combination of Rose, Martha, and Donna and thought David Morrissey was spectacular as "The Next Doctor" . David Tennant was wonderful as always and Davies' writing really made the history and terrible pitfalls of being a Time Lord come alive in this special: "I suppose, in the end, they break my heart"

Now I really can't wait for July when the Torchwood Mini-Series and the next Doctor Who special will air!

Baaaa... Farm Craft

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:35:00 +0000

One of my all time favorite children's books is "Woolbur" and I do a variety of story times around it. It's all about a little sheep who doesn't fit in and it really worries his parents who finally tell him that he has to be like all the other sheep so he'll fit in. This really bothers Woolbur, but he is clever and good natured and decides that in order to meet his parents' demands, he'll just teach everyone else to do the things he does.

Sometimes I use the book when talking about individuality, sometimes when talking about art, and sometimes I use it for farm animals.

When that happens, I like to drag out paint stampers and have the kids go crazy making rainbow sheep, cows, and chickens. I did this last week and it turned out really well!

First, I roll out loads of butcher paper and draw

a ton of farm animals all up and down it:Then, the kids go crazy:

Then they get to take their new, rainbow farm home:

I may be creating a new breed of sheep here, but I can't say I really mind.

Attn: Avatards

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:54:00 +0000

Here's the first Teaser released for the new Avatar movie, called simply- The Last Airbender, which I actually really like.

I think it's quite wonderful! I would be worried with anyone attempting to turn this amazing show into a live action movie but I really think Shyamalan has it together on this one. I can't wait!

Theatre Number Four

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Thursday night, Scott and I went to see Star Trek for the eighth time.

We both knew, going in, that our Star Trek days were numbered. Even though I've brought home a ton of episodes from the library and we have just as many at home on DVD, and we watch it where ever else we catch it on... it's just not the same. Seeing it on the big screen provides something different, something big--obviously, and something intense and surreal.

We got our tickets at 10:10 and looked at the big #4 printed across the little piece of paper then headed down the long hallway. The full force of the end of this brief and wonderous Star Trek movie going era hit me when I realized just how far from the bathrooms our theatre was. The toilets are always conveniently placed next to the big theatres, where new releases live and where hundreds of people pee in unison whenever a summer blockbuster lets out.

No, our theatre was #4 and it was all the way at the end. You know the one. We opened the door and as the tell-tale signs of a theatre not being cleaned enough swept over us, the slight mildew scent, the underused door stop, the sheer smallness of it, I said, "Ah, theatre number four." and Scott said, "Where new releases go to die."

But it was a great experience. We were the only people there, and for one of our final (maybe the final) time for viewing this movie... it was great.

I still cried in the opening, and laughed throughout, and I still noticed small things that I'd never seen before. So all in all, it's been great. I hope it's not over, but if it is-- we've loved every minute of it. Even, and maybe especially, all the minutes spent at the end of the hall.

Triumphant Return

noreply@blogger.com (Ensign Rose) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Hello!

I am back from my trip to the wonderful world of Shakespeare. We had an absolutely wonderful time and our production was possibly the best we've ever done.

I don't think I've ever really said much about the camp, so I'll say it now.

I founded it six years ago with help from my local community college and for the last five years, my husband has helped tremendously as a director and fight choreographer. For about three months leading up to June, I do the prep work. Scott and I select the play based on a billion different factors. Then, I cut the script (with Hamlet that meant bringing 4 hours down to 45 minutes) then I do the PR with help from my liason at the community college. Then, I work with Scott to choose who'll be on our staff, and we decide on a set design and a costume scheme.

I develop audition packets for the kids ahead of time and when we show up on Monday morning, the kids (ages 10-16) audition. We rehearse and learn about acting and Shakespeare for a week and by Saturday, we have a 45 minute- 1 hour play with full set, costumes, lights and sound.

We push the kids like we would push adults. We treat them like adults and we give them our respect because we expect an enourmous amount of work out of them during that week.

Another thing that I should probably mention is that I do this with kids from a very rural area where most families live below the national poverty level, we charge a mere fraction of what other camps (who refuse to do a full play) charge, and, often, this is the only fine arts experience the kids get all year long. (Arts programs are being cut like crazy throughout Kentucky)

I love my camp, and I don't believe that there's anything quite like it elsewhere. What we do, who we do it with, and the time frame we do it in are all pretty amazing. The quality of work that the kids manage to produce year after year is also up to the standard of nearly every adult play I've ever seen.

Each year, as we wrap up the week, when the kids and their families are all smiles and the play they've worked so hard for is suddenly over, Scott and I look at each other and can't believe we've pulled it off again. Then, we wonder if we'll ever be able to match the greatness of that year's production. (ie- This year, the entire cast was perfect by Thursday, we had an amazing fencing match with real stage-combat swords, the costumes were fantastic, the stage was abstract and matched the production perfectly, and my idea of Ophelia's grave really worked!)

I've seen kids grow up in this camp. Some of them are interns, some have gone on to other things, and some are driving themselves to the theatre every day. I love them fiercly and I'm so proud of them. I miss them when I have to let them go back to their lives, and I can't wait to see them all (we have a 98% retention rate) next year.

Every summer, about three days after it's over, Scott and I can usually be seen moping around the house wishing we were back there, reliving our camp experience, directing those kids and seeing truly astonishing, creative, brilliant things coming from them.

We're not sure what's next for us.

We hope only, that "next time" will be possible.