I attended the Course for the Woodbadge, the main training for leaders in Scouts BSA (what used to be officially called the Boy Scouts). The course goes all the way back to Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouting movement. He realized the need for trained leaders and had them come to Gilwell Park to camp and learn the whats, hows, and whys of scouting.
Camp Oest, a Scout-owned camping facility, became Gilwell Field and we participants were Troop 1. In addition to learning leadership skills and theories, we also saw models of den meetings, pack meetings, field assemblies, patrol meetings, patrol leadership meetings, interfaith services, etc. etc.
The main meeting hall
We played a lot of games too because Scouting is described as "games with a purpose." One game was the Whatzit Box. Our individual patrols had to identify what was in the box. A lot of people used their phones to find out what was in the box. My patrol successfully figured out everything on the last day.
Whatzit Box
We played other games in the field, hopefully some I will be able to take back to my Cub Scout pack.
Another tradition (from summer camps, not from Gilwell) is the Trading Post. At summer camps, the post sells snacks and drinks and bric-a-brac. This trading post had various patches, pins, and paraphernalia from the patrols.
Trading Post
The field where we had opening ceremonies was nearby. I made the mistake once of crossing the middle of the field. One of the Woodbadge staff corrected me. Subsequently, I was sure to walk around the edge of the field.
Gilwell field
Flags at half mast for when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died
Another fun activity on the first weekend was building and launching bottle rockets. We did a good job decorating. Our design worked well until the rocket got caught in a tree. Unfortunately I did not catch that moment on film.
Our rocket in action
That night, we had some other challenges, including stacking cups as high as possible.
Our stack
My patrol
We had to decide on a patrol name based on the animal assigned to us. The course includes all sorts of familiar animals like owls, eagles, buffalo, antelopes, and foxes. My patrol was the bobwhite patrol, which left us scratching our heads. A bobwhite is a small North American quail that lives on the ground. After some discussion, we decided to call ourselves the Boogie Woogie Bobwhites. Between weekends, we worked on a flag, a t-shirt, and a silly hat for our patrol.
Our flag (thanks Christina for designing it!)
Our t-shirt
Our hat (thanks, Ron!)
The patrol in shirt and hat
We had a lot of other prep work too, including making plans to help out our home units. As individuals, we came up with a vision and five goals to work on in the next eighteen months. The course isn't just for learning skills, it's for applying them.
Another project was planning our own dinner for Saturday night of the next weekend. We were given a modest budget which was supplemented by some donations (thanks, Steven). We had surf and turf as the meal we cooked for ourselves.
Steak, potatoes, and salad
The surf part of the meal
After dinner, we had a nice campfire where we read special letters from our patrol guide (who was so awesome) and the scoutmaster for Woodbadge. We got to know each other a little better, too.
Campfire!
Sleeping is never good for me while camping. I did my best.
As ready as I'll ever be for sleep in a tent
The course had a Disney theme which was used throughout the presentations and activities. The scoutmaster even had a six-foot Mikey Mouse who accumulated more and more decorations.
Mickey the scouter
The program was great and inspiring. I am looking forward to working on my goals.
About thirty years after the original Mary Poppins movie, grown-up Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) is a recent widower with three children. He struggles to make ends meet, since he's had a hard time adjusting and his wife was the one to do the books. One day, some lawyers from the bank come knocking on the door, threatening to repossess the house. He's an employee of the bank as was his father. Little clemency is offered by bank head Wilkins (Colin Firth). The family owns shares in the bank but can't produce the certificate to prove it. If they could find it, they'd keep the house. In this time of crisis, who should show up but Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt). Can she restore the joy of youth to the kids (who have had to take on too many adult responsibilities) as well as to Michael and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer), who fights for workers' rights much as her mother did for women's suffrage?
The movie starts off a little slow and dark but soon hits its stride. Lin-Manuel Miranda plays Jack, who basically serves the narrative purpose that Burt (Dick van Dyke) did in the original film. He's an everyman who knows Mary Poppins and spends most of his time joining her and the kids on adventures. The Burt/Mary romantic undertones are completely gone because Jack is interested in Jane Banks. Jack is a fine dance and duet partner for Mary Poppins. The low energy of the first few songs gets washed away by much stronger material in the middle and the end. Blunt does a great job as the title character. The fantasy sequences are amazing to look at and fun. Naturally, the movie has an upbeat finale that really shows the joy Mary reinjects into the Banks family's lives.
While it's not great like the original (which is an almost impossibly high bar to reach), this film is a lot of fun and worth watching. The songs are enjoyable but not particularly memorable and the plot is very familiar but still enjoyable.
Pete is your standard Disney orphan from the 1970s. He's been bought from an orphanage by a horrible family, the Gogans, who want Pete to do all the chores. He escapes them thanks to help from his invisible pet, a dragon. Pete and the dragon flee to Passamaquoddy, a New England seaside fishing village. The invisible dragon blunders around a bit when they walk through town. The destruction is naturally blamed on Pete. Pete is befriended by Nora (Helen Ready), the lighthouse keeper's daughter (though she seems to do most of the work). Lampie (Mickey Rooney) is the keeper, though he also is the town drunk and his claims to have seen Pete's dragon are benignly ignored. The next day, Doctor Terminus (Jim Dale) arrives. He's a quack doctor selling miracle cures. He finds out about the dragon, is eventually convinced it's real, and decides to seize the dragon to use various body parts for real quack medicine. Plenty of opportunities for conflicts, comedy, and cinematic magic ensue. Along with a bunch of musical numbers!
The special effects blending the live action with the animated dragon are impressive considering it's a 40-year old movie (it came out the same year as the original Star Wars movie!). The actors put their heart into it but the script isn't quite strong enough to allow for great performances. The songs and dance numbers felt more like Hello, Dolly! than like a seaside musical, so it doesn't quite match up tonally. For an adult, some of the plot points and details are lazily glossed over, but I don't think kids would notice.
This is a typical Disney blend of live action and animation. It's no Mary Poppins, it is more like Bedknobs and Broomsticks--a perfectly fine way to spend two hours.
This year's remake looks a lot more impressive in the special effects department, and the makers have dropped the musical numbers:
I'm not sure about Pete as Tarzan of the Northwest, especially after the real Tarzan movie performed so mediocrely. The story is so different that I am curious about the source material and what's in the original story. According to Wikipedia, the story by Seton I. Miller was an unpublished short story. Bummer! If the kids want to see this, I will gladly take them.
Finding Nemo (2003) co-written and directed by Andrew Stanton
This summer has lots of sequels and remakes coming out, so I'm reviewing the earlier works and seeing if they will inspire me to see the new films!
Nemo is a clownfish who lives with his father Marlin. Marlin's wife and the other children were all killed by a barracuda when Nemo was still an egg. Naturally Marlin is overprotective of Nemo, but that needs to change now that Nemo is old enough to go to school. The first day's lesson is at the Drop Off, an area where humans have been known to show up. Marlin races after the class and tries to take Nemo back home, especially since a trio of kids is playing "how close will I swim to the boat" with Nemo. Nemo is mad about the overprotection and swims all the way to the boat. A human diver shows up and captures Nemo. Marlin can't keep up with the boat and enlists the help of Dory, a Blue Tang who has a short-term memory problem. She saw where the boat went but they go astray and have all sorts of odd and exciting adventures following one clue (a lost diver's mask that has an address on it) to find Nemo. Nemo meanwhile makes friends with the other fish in the diver's office fish tank and helps with their ongoing escape plans.
The computer-animated recreation of the underwater world is amazing and beautiful. Marlin and Dory wander through many environments (a deep-sea trench, a field of jellyfish, a tidal current, a whale's mouth, etc.) that are distinct and detailed. Their journey is a Homerian odyssey, meeting many strange and enchanting characters.
The movie is thematically moving. A parent's search for a lost child is a classic story made more dramatic by Marlin's trauma-enduced attitude toward Nemo. Marlin is a classic case of a father who loves not wisely but too well. As he goes through his journey, he learns to trust others and to take risks, giving him a more balanced outlook on life, a happier attitude, and a closer bond with his son.
Highly recommended, though having watched it a dozen times with the kids, Finding Nemo has lost some rewatchability (which is not true for The Incredibles--I'd watch that again in a heartbeat by myself).
The sequel Finding Dory (out in US theaters as this posts) looks suspiciously similar to the original, judging by the trailer:
If the kids want to see it, I'll go with them. I'd have to hear some good reviews to watch it on my own.
Frozen (2013) directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
We've finally taken the children to the cinema* to see their first movie on the big screen. We chose Disney's most recent hit, Frozen. We even went to a 3D showing, so they got the full treatment (except we bought chocolate instead of popcorn). Glasses are £1 to rent, so we've kept them for future cinema trips. The theatre even gave us child-size glasses!
Mommy, J, and L
I'm glad to report that the children behaved themselves quite well in the theatre (unlike some of the other children who were making comments quite loudly).
On to the review--Frozen tells the story of two sisters, daughters of the king of Arendelle. Unfortunately, there are two problems. First, the older sister Elsa has the power to make things freeze but not have full control of it. After a childhood accident where Elsa almost harmed her sister Anna, the parents have Anna's memories altered so that she doesn't remember her sister's special abilities. The girls are separated from each other and isolated from the rest of Arendelle in the castle.
The second problem is, after a few years, the parents go on a trip and die. The girls grow up in a rather austere life which is finally intruded upon by Elsa's coronation, when people are again invited into the castle. Elsa barely makes it through the coronation ceremony without her power going haywire. Meanwhile, Anna has met and fallen in love with a prince from a faraway land who has come for the celebration. He is quite charming and seems like such a good match that he proposes and she accepts. Ask Elsa for her blessing at the ball, to which she says, "You can't possibly marry someone you just met." Things escalate and Elsa's power go out of control. She flees to the mountains. Her power has caused a massive winter storm that causes perpetual winter in Arendelle.
Anna decides to go after her sister, eventually joining up with Kristoff, a mountain man whose ice-selling business is hurting thanks to the July deep freeze. They search for Elsa to bring her back home and end the storm.
The movie is quite delightful. The songs are good and the story moves along at a brisk pace. The animation is beautiful, especially the several snow and ice scenes. The 3D is fine though not remarkable.
Where this movie really shines is the relationships between the various characters, especially the sisters. Most parents probably agree wholeheartedly with Elsa when she forbids her sister to marry a man she's only known for a day. They've had a strained relationship due to their isolation from each other (which is partly Elsa's own choosing since she does not want to hurt her sister). They try to love each other but are unsure of what is best.
The theme of what is true love is well-explored throughout the movie. At one point, a group of pleasant trolls try to marry Kristoff and Anna to each other. They sing a delightful song about how Kristoff is a "fixer-upper," comically describing his foibles (both physical and social) that she needs to know about and put up with. As the song progresses, the trolls realize Anna needs some fixing-up too, and not just her dress. While highly comical, the song also points out that we all have our imperfections and that love needs to be more than idealistic romanticism. The theme is explored with a sort of depth rare in Disney princess movies.
I highly recommend the movie and my family enjoyed the outing.
*I had a bit of debate with J about the pronunciation of "cinema." He claims everyone at school calls it a "cinemer." Is it the Yorkshire accent or the fact they are young children?
Dual/Duel reviews are an online smackdown between two books, movies, games, podcasts, etc. etc. that I think are interesting to compare, contrast, and comment on. For a list of other dual/duel reviews, go here.
The timelessness of fairy tales can be seen in how they are re-imagined and re-told by each generation. Often, purists seek out the original text and any deviation from that is considered, well, deviant. Such an attitude, while understandable, is a bit stagnant. Bringing new ideas or twists or perspectives to a story can provide a deeper appreciation. It's like seeing a statue in different lighting or from a different angle--nuances of meaning or interpretation can shift in unexpected ways.
One classic tale (though it is relatively young by fairy tale standards) is Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. After a long stretch of mediocre animated films, Disney was able to renew its artistic creativity and excellence with the 1989 release of their musical animated extravaganza, The Little Mermaid. The music is great. The animation is top notch. The characters are well-drawn and well-performed. The story is mostly faithful to Andersen's tale except for the typical "Disneyfied" ending. Has a Disney princess ever failed to get her man? At the time of the release, conservatives complained about how the movie endorsed children defying their parents, since Ariel was ultimately seen as right in seeking out the human world against her father's wishes. But King Triton is a more nuanced parent than someone like the step-mother in Cinderella, who apparently is okay to defy since she is baldly evil. The controversy was never quite convincing to me back then; even now, with a young daughter, I still can't agree with the criticism.
In 2008, Studio Ghibli, home of master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, released Gake no ue no Ponyo which was released in America as Ponyo in 2009. The story is inspired by Andersen's story but set in the contemporary world. Five-year old Sosuke lives in a cliff-side home with his mom Lisa. One day he saves a goldfish with a humanish face, brings her home, and names her Ponyo. She likes him as he does her with the innocent and immediate friendship that five-year olds have. She's the daughter of a wizard and a sea-goddess and thus has magical powers. But her powers will fade if she becomes human like she wants to. When she's recaptured by her dad, she accidentally releases a potent brew he's working on. This causes a massive storm creating problems for the sea-dwellers and the land-dwellers too. A somewhat heavy-handed environmental theme is subsumed into the larger theme of living in harmony, having a balanced approach to life much in keeping with the Golden Rule. Ponyo's story is a great blending of real life, magic, and whimsy.
Even though both movies are based on the same story and are animated, it is not so easy to compare them. They both incorporate big, beautiful imagery that fires the imagination. Ponyo is a bit more fanciful. They both use music well. The Little Mermaid is richer here as a well-executed musical. The Little Mermaid is set in a quasi-medieval/Renaissance world (at least the human part of it) that is standard for Disney fairy tale flicks. Ponyo's use of a modern day setting is more bold, opening up new storytelling possibilities. Miyazaki takes full advantage of those possibilities.
Andersen was a story teller of a different type from the Brothers Grimm. They collected folk tales from oral traditions. Andersen crafted new tales that still have the mythic or timeless character of the tales handed down from generation to generation. Indeed, his tales now are handed down like the Grimms' tales. Andersen would probably favor Ponyo as something newer, fresher.
This is a tough call, but I have to give it to Ponyo for its greater originality. While The Little Mermaid is a classic, I might be a little burned out on it. Certainly both are great films. Both are worth owning and watching multiple times.
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