Pleasantly Surprised...

I haven't watched Saturday morning cartoons in forever...well, since I was a kid. But the more Saturdays that my husband and I spend at home, I find myself flipping through the channels to find nothing else but the multitude of animation.

Emma's too young at this point to understand what she watches, but an hour of her being mezmerized by the latest colorful character allows me to catch up on laundry and maybe get a shower. So, we turned on the Saturday morning cartoons and let her sink away into her trance that lasted a solid 45 minutes.

Now, I don't expect much from television in general. Most of what is on is vulgar, profane, laden with sex, infidelity, cursing and so on and so on. My expectations were no different for these children's shows; I just prayed for something that wasn't violent.

Anyway, we settled on 3-2-1 Penguins. I'd never heard of this show, but Emma seemed interested and it was way better than the anime on the other channels so we stayed with it.

To my surprise, at the very beginning, the Granny character was teaching her granddaughter (Michelle) about the importance of keeping promises. And then (this is the best part) Granny breaks out a book titled HOLY BIBLE and read a verse from Proverbs. My mouth hit the floor. I was amazed at what I'd just seen (a cartoon Bible) and what I'd just heard (a cartoon character talking about Scripture)!!! On public TV! I ran into Jon's office and was spouting, "Oh my gosh!! Granny just read the Bible to the little cartoon girl!!"

Isn't it sad that we're shocked when this happens?

But to think I had concluded that ALL programs were inappropriate (even children's shows). Only to learn that there are stations and producers and writers who do still care about the young eyes and ears out there. There are actually shows dedicated to teaching children right and wrong, life lessons and even (gasp!) about God!

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Then, as if my day couldn't get any better, Veggie Tales came on and the episode was a loose translation of the Book of Ruth in the Bible. Again- total amazement!

Thanks Qubo Channel!

New Season of Hell's Kitchen

I feel somewhat silly posting this after my last entry- a feeble attempt at fancy food!

The new season of Hell's Kitchen airs Thrusday @ 9pm on FOX.

And for those Charlotteans out there, one of our own is representing- Her name is Lacey and she is a corporate buffet cook from the Queen's City!

Hope she doesn't get called a bleeping donkeh! Yeah?

Twilight the Movie

I went to see Twilight the Movie while I was home for the holidays. I could barely contain my excitement (like a little schoolgirl) as we bought our tickets and despite mediocre reviews, I set out to ignore them and happily form my own opinion.
Which was sure to be a superb one I might add. My mom was with me as she insisted on seeing the movie before she read the book because most movies aren't half as good as the actual read. However, again, I just new this movie would be different.

It wasn't.

As for the casting, I must say, all of the actors met my expectations for the characters, especially Robert Pattinson as Edaward Cullen. But that's where the buck stopped for me.

Overall, I guess it was ok, but my imagination must be too vivid for my own darn good because the director left a lot to be desired in telling what she thought was a decent representation of Stephenie Meyers' masterpiece. That may be why she was replaced by someone else for the next movie based on the second book, New Moon.

My main complaint wasn't so much the acting or the storyline (which stayed fairly true to the book); it was more the graphics. They were really poorly done. I mean I know with a low budget production you can't get the same caliber as say The Matrix or Harry Potter, but you can at least have better make-up!! On a positive note, though, it did have some great dry humor- that aspect was portrayed excellently.

In any event, I will most definitely go see the next installment when it hits theaters in November and I still remain a faithful fan. But for the time being I'll stick to the Forks, WA and Edward Cullen of my mind!

Twilight

I swore I wouldn’t get caught up in the frenzy that is the Twilight series books and movies.
I categorized these into two slots: teenage & vampires…neither of which I was interested in reading about. That is until I visited my parents over the Thanksgiving holiday and had nothing better to do.
My step-mom has all the books, she has read all of the books and she is intent on seeing the movie so I probed to see what all the fuss was about. Our conversation ranged from the shear creativity of the books to the philosophical issues involved. In the end, I was both intrigued and also bored, thus I started reading.
All I can say is, “WOW”! And I’m just through book one and about half of New Moon!
I’ll admit, it’s all very fantastical and I feel a little juvenile reading it, but it definitely is a well told story!
Mrs. Meyer did an excellent job at writing these books in my opinion; I’m envious at what she even refers to as her novice ability!!
I cant wait to read the rest!! TEAM EDWARD ROCK ON!!