The world needs Spiderman

Aunt May: I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams.

More than ten years ago, Joy was out for the evening, probably a Relief Society activity. I decided to catch up on my movie watching and rented Spider-man 2 with Toby Maguire. I cleaned and fixed our fan while I watched.

I had been in a hard place that week. I forget what was going on. It was just one of those times when it was hard being the Dad. 2-3 small kids, trying to get tenure, not feeling like I was good enough or capable or up to the job. I don't recall what year this was so I'm not sure what my church calling was, but chances are pretty good I was feeling overwhelmed about that too.

And I watched Peter Parker struggle. Everything that could possibly go wrong for him does. One by one he loses everything he cares about, all so he can keep on being Spidey. Eventually the stress gets to him (spoiler alert for an old movie) and he lets go. Throws his suit in the garbage. Done.

But he still doesn't get what he wants. Everything still goes wrong, and the world gets worse because there's no Spiderman there. Finally he has a talk with Aunt May, who tells him that the world needs Spiderman, and she says the quote up above. And he accepts who and what he has to be, because that's who he is and who, deep down, he really wants to be.

It thrilled me.

It gave me strength and courage to keep going when it was hard, and to look forward with hope. 

I bought the movie. It's sat in our collection ever since; hasn't been watched. Until now.

So Hyrum tells me he knows the Disney collection because that's most of what we watch around here, but he doesn't know the superheroes. We talk about which of the many, many movies he might want to watch and we settle on Spider-man 2 with Toby Maguire. Today's the first day of school for JT, so he's not home. Nia is out with Joy and I just finished posting one of my classes, so let's take some time to watch some more Spidey.

Hyrum Maguire?

We paused so I could get back to work just after Aunt May's speech, just before Doc Ock comes back to get him. And I look at my boy. My talented, smart, capable, honest, forgiving, noble boy. My amazing son.

And he's leaving in 10 days for college. It's a wonderful adventure. And I know, I know he will continue being and becoming someone amazing, someone who will be a hero in the lives of people. And I said to him,

"Hyrum, it's hard to be a person of great responsibility. Everyone has expectations of you. I want you to know that I know you will do great. And no matter what you choose, I will always love you."We hugged. I cry (a lot). 

Golly, I'm going to miss him!

I know that there will be days and nights for him when it gets really hard because he's going to do so much, and some days too much, and he's not going to feel up to all of it. It happens to most of us at some point. And I just pray, that on some night when when he feels that weight on him, God will send him something to remind him that there is a hero inside him, something to help keep him honest, give him strength, make him noble, and finally allow him to keep on going forward with pride, even when it feels like the cost may be high.

Who knows? Maybe he'll even find this. Excelsior!

Happy 4th of July!

We enjoyed watching 1776 as we do each year. Nia made a turkey, and it was one of the best we've had. We had the missionaries over as well who encouraged us to consider all we are grateful for, including our country. I enjoyed much less physical pain than I have had in a week.

To end the evening, we left dear America and went to medieval England for A Man For All Seasons. It tells the story of Thomas More, who is portrayed as one of the last honest men in a corrupt, power-hungry government. He refused to sign a loyalty oath, admitting the Pope had no authority to let King Henry VIII marry his brother's widow and therefore he was free to marry Anne Bolyn. He did not speak against the king either, so it took years in prison before someone came forward with false testimony to support his execution. There are any number of outstanding quotes from that film, courtesy of imdb:

------

Thomas: Some men think the earth is round, others think it flat. It is a matter capable of question. But if it is flat, will the King's command make it round? And if it is round, will the King's command flatten it?

------

• William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
• Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
• William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
• Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

-----

• The Duke of Norfolk: Oh confound all this. I'm not a scholar, I don't know whether the marriage was lawful or not but ***, Thomas, look at these names! Why can't you do as I did and come with us, for fellowship!
• Sir Thomas More: And when we die, and you are sent to heaven for doing your conscience, and I am sent to hell for not doing mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?

-------

Sir Thomas: I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.

-------

And let's end this post with a quote or two from John Adams, celebrating both men's commitment and integrity:

John: There are only two creatures of value on the face of the earth: those with the commitment, and those who require the commitment of others.

John: Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Courtesy of ChatGPT

20th Anniversary

Patrons of the Arts,
June 2023

DW: We are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year. Rather than having a larger trip, we decided to devote special time every day for a bit over a week, making 7-10 dates together.

Joy: We went for time together and for variety. Our goal was at least a couple hours together every day.

DW: We officially started with Pride and Prejudice at the Granbury Opera House. We were pleased to see that they still have their list of supporters from 2023 up, which includes us! 

Joy: We had some nice conversations with the people we sat near. When we first sat down, they had some windows on stage at really odd angles and we were thinking that was strange. The windows came down either at the front or back of the stage depending on if the characters were inside or out. It was really a good impetus for us to watch some more of the movie (Firth and Ehle). The love story seemed a lot more abrupt in the play!

DW: It got me thinking about the real challenge of taking a novel as complex and character-rich as P&P and turning it into something for 90-120 minutes. Some characters are just going to end up on the cutting room floor. And in this case, the growing love story between the two main characters was one of the casualties. Intermission ended, Elizabeth walked on stage, and said, "Well, that was a lovely six weeks in Derbyshire!" and you now knew we had skipped Lady Catherine and every conversation that would redeem Darcy in her eyes. But it's easier on the set designer! The letter shows up, telling us Kitty has run off, and Darcy happens to call on her whole family to learn the disaster. Lady Catherin did still show up at the very end.

Joy: I thought she did a good job. I liked how they did a flashback to the ball at Merytown, talking about what happened while other characters danced and Darcy insulted. I think they didn't have near enough of an idiot for the dad, which I don't see as an improvement. He's really supposed to be a comedian in the show.

DW: I was impressed to see Mary played for laughs.

Joy: Mary was done well.

DW: And Mr. Collins was more of a fop, less cringe, with his over-exaggerated bow. Mrs. Bennett was in too much self-command.

Joy: No kidding!

DW: And afterwards we got on the free trolley for a short ride around the square in the dark. The trolly ride reminded Joy of the Cinderella carriage ride we took after the family dinner on our wedding day.

DW: Over the 20 years, we have had to replace Joy's wedding ring a few times. She likes opals, but opals aren't really good at staying put in their ring setting. The first time we had to replace it, I hid her new ring in an unopened jar of Nutella. We opened it for New Year's and Joy was very pleasantly surprised to have a new ring.

Conversations with JT - Incredibles 2

Last week little JT started pointing finger guns at people (which is against house rules - no shooting people) and saying "Pew pew." He shot everybody. A lot. A little concerned, I pulled him aside for an interview.

D: Why are you shooting people?
JT: "To stop bad guys."
D: There are no bad guys here. And who do you know who stops bad guys with guns?
JT: "Super heroes."
D: JT, the superheroes don't use guns. Superman doesn't use a gun. Wonder Woman doesn't use a gun. Batman doesn't use a gun [in most of his incarnations]. Green Lantern doesn't use a gun [except in his day job in the military, I guess.] The X-Men don't use guns. The Avengers don't use guns [Good thing he doesn't know about Iron Man. Or Cap's day job. I would probably lose this argument if he knew anything.] Who uses guns?
JT: "The Incredibles."
D: What? Mr. Incredible doesn't use a gun. Mrs. Incredible doesn't use a gun. Frozone doesn't use a gun. Dash doesn't use a gun. Violet doesn't use a gun. Jack ... ... ... -Jack...


"Pew-pew. Pew-pew"

[Riiiiiight. We just saw Incredibles 2 with Pop and Grandma.] So you're Jack-Jack?
"Yes! I am. I shoot fire and ice."
Okay, well, JT, Jack-Jack doesn't shoot a gun. He shoots from his eyes. Will you please shoot your fire and ice from your eyes instead?
"YES!"
[We practiced that a little. Another crisis averted thanks to ... LISTENING!]


This morning JT says
"I can run really fast like Dash. I have a Super Mario hat that can make you speed up real fast. At super limit, and then super speed. I cannot have glasses with them, but fight because I'm trying to defeat a bad guy so there is no any bad guys left. Then my friends can just live with me, but I have to not let them run away from me because they all really disappear and they get in their homes."

What was your favorite part of the movie?
JT: "When this guy had a bicycle and could go really fast like me. Remember, that mom had a bicycle."
D: A motorcycle?
JT: "Yeah. Remember in the Two? Remember we watched it? Remember you saw it. You saw it in a big screen. Maybe we should watch it again!"

JT: "I can do better than they can do. I can shoot fire bolts and ice bolts out of my hands - only when there's bad guys. I don't do it any time someone is around me who is good. But if they stay around, I think 'Maybe he is a bad guy,' and I shoot it. And I say, 'What are you doing, standing around here?' Now can we eat breakfast?"

My daughter, the porg

Porg: the other, other white meat

As part of our Father's Day tradition (three years and counting!) Joy got me a Star Wars movie - the Last Jedi. The kids eagerly snatched it from my hands to study the front cover picture. John-Thomas spied with his eagle eye something ... CUTE! I showed them a couple clips of the porgs, most importantly of Chewie not eating one.

So now my two youngest are baby porgs. Every day they enjoy being "baby X..." - Baby kittens, baby mice, baby hamsters, baby crocodiles, baby horseys ... and now they are baby porgs.

So my little girl is curled up in a ball on the giant, pink, plush beanbag chair. "This is my egg. Baby porg hatched from this egg."

I informed her that porgs are most likely mammals, and therefore were born from their mommies' tummies, not in an egg.

She adroitly responded, "Daddy, sometimes the things in Star Wars aren't real life."

Moana - the video game I want to see but won't get

I'm envisioning the Moana civilization building/resource management simulation. It takes place in the time of the ancestors... (wavy flashback lines)

Bug eyes at the botanical gardens

JT clearly likes movies that scare him just a little bit, like the cartoon Hobbit and Willow. He asks to watch them, but then later tells us he is scared of the bad guys. Or as he puts it, "Cared bug eyes!"

This was a prominent topic of conversation while we wandered the Dassie Trail of the Pretoria National Botanical Garden.

"Cared bug eyes!"
What bad guys are you scared of?
"In a movie. Gandaf."
Are you scared of the dragon? "Dagon say Raaaaar!"
Are you scared of the goblins? "Yes." Are you scared of the spiders? "Piders, yes!"
Do you want to watch The Hobbit again? "Yes!"

Well, JT has found a new bug eye, er, bad guy. This bad guy has bug eyes: ants.

A tree suitable for nesting

We loved wandering through the Botanical Gardens. They were beautiful. The day was exceptionally pleasant. We hope to go back again just before we go back home to see what new flowers have blossomed.

But going to the arboretum was a mistake. The arboretum is not a building or a covered structure - it's just a place where the trees are particularly good for building nests so you can hear the birds sing. It's also a place where the dirt has gathered into ant hills on the road.

My hero!

Ants COVER the ground. It's not quite an eat-Indiana-Jones level ant invasion, but there are a lot of em. JT sat down for a moment to examine the ants. He was suddenly covered in ants biting him. He held up his hand to us and you couldn't see his thumb for how thickly the ants were crawling. We brushed and batted them off, but more were climbing onto him (and us, I suppose).

We picked him up and made a run for it. We couldn't run far enough to get away from them because they were everywhere.

We did finally find a place where we hoped the ants were different and hadn't been alerted to eat him, set him down, took of his most of his clothing, and brushed the remaining ants off. He was grateful.

JT spent the rest of the walk telling us he was scared of bad guys and ants. Princess was also feeling ... antsy. I couldn't blame either one. When we sat down for a second, I kept my feet off the ground too to make sure more didn't join us. Joy was fascinated by the sideways-growing tree, so we got a picture of that.

I suppose we should have taken this as a warning

JT does still want to go back to the botanical gardens for another Dassie Trail walk. That was nice. But we won't be visiting the arboretum again!

......

This morning he pointed at a decorative statue of an Irish soldier in the breakfast room.
"Is it bug eye?"
No. He's a good guy.
"Oh. Fun joke."

Trek Wars

A long time ago, I boldly went there and did that in a great big table! But first I told an epic story of self-discovery:

Several months ago, I pondered: which do I like better, Star Wars or Star Trek? I thought about factors from each universe I preferred, made a big long list, and wondered how I would ever be able to tell which factors were more important. I love them both! But I supposed I prefer the Trek universe to the Wars universe. This been my base assumption for 20 years, back when I was Grand Mof of Empire Strikes Back in the Star Wars Club and the official ambassador of the Star Trek Club in high school. I set the project aside.

Then the announcement came of a seventh Star Wars movie. I was ecstatic. It was all I could talk about around the dinner table for a few nights, much to my wife's dismay. I hadn't been this happy since ... Cello Wars, I guess.
Then the announcement came of a second Star Trek Reboot movie. I ... said okay. Good. I'll see it when I see it. Oh, Gary Mitchell, hunh? Good ol' Gary. Yeah. K.

That doesn't sound like a boy who prefers Trek to Wars. It might be a boy who prefers old-Trek to Wars to  reboot-Trek and that's a question for another day. But now the question was really bothering me. Trek or Wars?

Finally a friend of my brother's on Facebook asked me to rank order the Star Wars movies, and I had a hard time deciding whether Phantom Menace or Clones belonged on the bottom. I realized that I now have the skills to do this ... This calls for a table!

And an easier question came. Which do I prefer: Star Trek movies or Star Wars movies? Strip out the books and the television series and my sundry toys and action figures and Christmas tree ornaments and the Data pez dispenser I got for Christmas in my stocking. Then add Space Balls and Galaxy Quest for fun. What about the movies?

That I can now answer. The best:

T/W		Epic	Comedy	Action	Pathos	Ch Dev	Fem	Rewatch	Villain	Wut	Music	DW	sum
T8	Contact	10	5	10	10	6	5	7	10		10	10	83
W5	Empire	10	0	7.3	10	10	4	10	10		10	10	81.3
W4	Hope	10	4	7.3	7	7	3	10	7		10	10	75.3
W6	Jedi	10	2	7.3	7	8	3	10	10		8	9	74.3
W3	Sith	9	0	8.7	10	10	2	3	10		8	6	66.7
T2	Khan	10	2	2	10	4	2	7	9		6	5	57
T7	Generations	4	7	3.3	3	8	2	6	4		10	8	55.3
	Galaxy Quest	4	10	5.3	1	8	2	4	4		4	7	49.3
T4	Voyage	8	9	0	4	5	4	10	0		0	9	49
T6	Undiscovered	6	3	6	7	8	3	3	6		0	5	47
T3	Spock	7	8	6.7	5	2	3	4	4		0	7	46.7
W2	Attack	7	1	9.3	-2	7	4	4	7	-5	8	4	44.3
T11	Reboot	8	4	7.3	6	4	2	2	0	-3	6	2	38.3
W1	Phantom	4	3	7.7	3	0	2	5	3	-5	8	6	36.7
T9	Insurrection	4	8	4	4	0	4	3	2		0	5	34
	Space Balls	0	10	0	0	2	1	4	5		0	7	29
T1	Motion Picture	4	4	0.7	3	3	2	3	0		8	1	28.7
T10	Nemesis	6	3	5.3	4	2	1	1	3	-5	0	4	24.3
T5	Frontier	4	5	2	2	6	0	3	1	-5	0	2	20

My favorite may be First Contact, but it's pretty clear that Star Wars has the advantage in the movie department overall. And even though I think the new prequel could have been done much better (here's my favorite version - totally constructive, but terrible language), even at its worst, Star Wars beats out about half of the Trek movies. And to answer the FB question: Phantom Menace is 8 points worse than Attack of the Clones.

Description of categories after the break:

Christmas Pictures of Prince

Santa brought Prince many wondrous things - things so wondrous it was really hard to get his face in a picture with the gift:


A big red ball, TWO Mario toys, and a talking Lightning McQueen, plus these little medieval figures on the left and a Wii game. For those keeping count, Santa must have found several of Prince's gifts on sale and was not as lucky with Princess'.

He got two Wii games - Big Brain Academy and Toy Story 3.

Big Brain Academy is apparently designed for 8 year olds, so he currently gets a D on their learning test... but wait. My 4 year old can get a D on a test for an 8 year old? Sweet! ... I get a B--? Funky.

Toy Story 3 is his favorite activity to choose as the family game. I get one life to make progress, then he and Joy get 3-5 lives to figure out what they are doing until I move us forward again. It looks very well made and we're enjoying it.

Best Disney Animated Villains

Behold, another awe-inspiring table!

After my post about Disney's animated animal sidekicks, the idea that most attracted me was doing my own villains list. I know, I know, I lose a lot of hipster cred doing something so totally mainstream ;)  I still think it is an interesting exercise trying to quantify WHY certain villains stand out. Descriptions below the break, and as always I am open to discussion, improvements, and filling in gaps for movies I don't remember well enough.

It turns out that 2 villains stand out far and above the rest, with 7 more also notably triumphing (>65 points) over other, mediocre villains (35-51). At the bottom, 5 fell far short of the others (<30)

Top Two (tied at 84/90)


Other villains who scored at least 65


Are you as surprised as I am that every one of the Top 10 either wears a black hat or has pointy hair? I will also point out that Jafar, Scar, Prince John, and Gov. Ratcliffe sport evil goatees, while Hook, Shan Yu, and Merlock have evil pointy mustaches. It is rumored that Ursula has a faint, evil mustache as well, but that they photoshopped it out at her request.

Updated: Added Ending

	Cunn	Str	Evil	Plan	Song	Able	Hench	Actor	End	DW	Sum	Chron
Ursula	8	10	10	8	10	10	8	2	8	10	84	14
Jafar	10	10	9	10	4	9	10	2	10	10	84	18
Dr. Facilier	8	6	10	5	10	7	8		10	10	74	33
Prof. Rattigan	10	6	10	10	6	10	4	5	5	5	71	12
Claude Frollo	10	8	8	2	10	7	6		10	10	71	22
Judge Doom	10	7	10	8	0	10	4	5	8	6	68	13
Syndrome	8	10	9	8	0	7	10		5	10	67	29
Scar	10	6	10	8	6	5	2	3	8	8	66	19
Maleficent	2	10	10	7	0	10	10		8	8	65	6
Captain James Hook	8	7	9	6	0	2	8	2	4	10	56	5
Lots-O'-Huggin Bear	10	0	7	4	0	10	8		4	6	49	35
Percival C. McLeach	8	4	7	2	0	8	6	5	5	4	49	16
Gothel	8	0	7	4	10	7	0		7	6	49	34
Charles Muntz	10	4	7	0	0	6	10	3	2	6	48	32
Shan Yu	3	9	10	2	0	10	10		2	2	48	24
Randall Boggs	8	8	7	7	0	5	0		5	6	46	28
Hopper	0	6	7	2	0	8	10	3	5	4	45	25
Merlock (Ducktales)	4	10	9	4	0	6	0	5	2	2	42	15
Queen Grimhilde (SW)	6	6	6	4	0	6	6		2	6	42	1
Prince John	2	8	4	2	0	0	6	5	5	6	38	9
Red Queen	0	8	7	0	0	4	8		8	2	37	4
Gaston	4	4	6	2	4	4	8		2	2	36	17
Shere Khan	4	9	7	0	0	8	0		4	4	36	8
Gov Ratcliffe	2	6	5	0	4	2	8	3	4	2	36	20
Stinky Pete	7	2	2	2	0	5	0	5	4	8	35	27
Lady Tremaine	6	2	6	0	0	6	4		4	4	32	3
Chef Skinner	2	2	1	0	0	2	4	3	10	4	28	30
Cruella de Vil	2	0	5	2	2	2	4		5	0	22	7
Madame Medusa	0	2	6	4	0	2	4		3	0	21	10
Brer Fox	4	0	3	2	0	0	2		6	4	21	2
Sid Phillips	0	0	10	0	0	2	0		8	0	20	21

5 most pitiful Disney villains. Let's face it, they were overthrown by mice, dogs, and a bunny. Not supervillain material.

The ethical problems of being a fanboy

Disney bought Star Wars. Movie 7 is on the way. I am extremely happy. Gleeful.

But I have a conundrum. [By the way, the comments on this thread regarding the plural of conundrum are some of the best grammar Nazi reading I've done in a long while. Brilliant.]

Surely Darth is going to make more appearances at Disneyland now. He's a much more practical autograph character than Solo or Leia, R2 can't sign very well, and 3P0 has fairly limited mobility. He already shows up a few times a day to test the kiddies' Jedi reflexes, but doesn't stick around for autographs.

Yet. Suppose he does. What is a fanboy in development economics supposed to do? Somehow it just doesn't strike me as right to squeal like a little girl [not that there's anything wrong with that] while asking a genocidal mass-murderer for his autograph. I mean, it would totally encourage real life mass murderers!

I do know he's fictional. I am rationally aware that it would be the caps-locked scrawl of an 18 year old, not even the Scottish guy whose name has been forgotten since the masterful James Earl Jones gave his voice. But for some strange reason the thought of standing in a one hour line to get that signature seems vaguely appealing.

And I'm worried that is sick and wrong.

What's Prince been up to?

Well, for the most part he's been running around wearing one of my or Joy's t-shirts for potty training purposes. As a natural consequence, he's gotten very few pictures lately.

(In this picture, Joy was not very certain about Princess sitting in his lap, but it worked out well.)






But it is definitely time to crow: he successfully managed to go an entire week without any potty accidents. We'll be throwing him a small party next week to celebrate.

What else did he do over the summer? Let me see...

Pop and Grandma bought a "structure" for the kids to play on. I helped Pop (a little) in assembling it. Then Prince and I could play pirates. He also practiced walking up slides a lot.

On July 4 we went to the Elks Lodge where they had some bouncy castles. Prince still loves them.

I blogged earlier about his success at going 4 days without a potty accident. Here is the proud boy at IHOP. It took about 2 months to go from 4 days in a row to 7.

Our first day at Disneyland Prince was very happy to see Minnie again. Even though she came over to our table 2-3 times during breakfast, he was most interested in her this first time outside.

Joy and I took turns attending the Redlands Temple. I fed the kids lunch during her turn.

We went to beautiful Solvang. Prince played with fountains, balloons, sunglasses, t-shirts, trains, and anything else he could get his hands on. A wonderful time was had by all.

One of the things Joy got me for my birthday was a cartoon version of The Hobbit. I had just introduced it to Prince that week. When he saw me open it and tell him it was something for both of us, he suddenly remembered he should give his parents a gift and claimed that this was his present to me!

Joy had forgotten to prepare one for him, so was happy for him to claim one. It was kind of funny.

When I picked Prince up from school to go to the airport, his teacher gave him a Nigerian outfit, sized much too big for him. Normally they would have had time to try it out on him, tailor it, and so forth. But we were leaving a month before the end of term so there was no time.

This is also the very first picture of the new camera, Prince with his Grandma at the grocery store.

Prince loved playing with Grandma on Sundays. They threw stuffed animals back and forth in the family room while everyone else watched the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Music and the Spoken Word broadcasts. 

Prince also got a scooter and fell in love with skateboards. We brought the scooter back to Nigeria with us, but left the skateboard I had when I was 13 back home. Joy is not at all certain he's ready for it (I quite agree). We'll see how long it takes him to learn how to scoot around without crashing too often.

On the other hand, it seems to me that one of the prerequisites for skateboarding is being an indestructible kid, and there's no one who fits that bill better than Prince the Tank.