December 6, 2009

Voila! Timmy The Red-Nosed Reindeer Monkey

Sometimes I see something and it just clicks. As I've said, thinkgeek.com is one of my favourite places in the universe. They have a website with real humour, beautiful and innovative design work and products that appeal to me (and generally make me giggle). So, it was unsurprising when I went to their site the other day and saw their holiday header image and it made me giggle beyond the telling of it.

First, ThinkGeek's mascot is Timmy the Monkey. Being a Red Monkey myself, of course I like any site with a good monkey mascot. Being a pixel monkey myself, I appreciate the site's look and aesthetic. (What's not to like about that gorgeous robots to zombies background fade?)

Second, any site that uses nice renditions of my favourite puppet or claymation characters also has my full attention.

So to see Timmy the Monkey done up as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from the 1964 Rankin-Bass movie just delighted me and I knew I had to have a Timmy the Red-Nosed Reindeer Monkey of my very own. Preferably one with a light-up nose.

Also, after being sick as all get-out for a week with this damn sinus infection from hell, I needed a project I could immerse myself in and yet remain quiet and still and restful. So, I grabbed some bricks of Sculpey and Fimo and cleared off the glass drawing table and began kneading the polymer clay. The light colours on Timmy are just plain tan Sculpey. The darker area is tan mixed with chocolate and the antler nubs are chocolate Sculpey mixed with black Fimo. The black eyes and red nose are also Fimo.

The problem with working in Sculpey is the stuff is ridiculously soft. That makes it exceedingly difficult to get it completely smooth and exceedingly easy to get small flecks of other colours embedded into each other. The head construction was fairly easy, but smoothing out the seam of the ears was difficult without leaving further marks in the soft clay. It went pretty well, though, including the inlay of the tan into the ears.

Then I started the body. I toyed with the thought of using aluminum foil to take up some of the bulk, but to be honest, I've never had success using that method - I just never seem to get the clay smooth again over the crumpled foil. So, his body is a massive chunk of Sculpey. Then I cut a diagonal line to create the joint for one leg - just to see if this method would make a better joint for the legs. It did. I was pretty happy with that ... and then it was time for the damn arms. Really, the arms weren't so bad, but trying to do the hands in the incredibly soft Sculpey was an exercise in masochism. Eventually I got it. Unfortunately, during the baking, both arms sagged downward more than I'd anticipated.

So he turned out pretty well, but that wasn't quite enough for me. I wanted a light-up nose, too. So, I carved into the back of Timmy's little head. I needed a slot big enough to slide a 3V 2032 button battery (often found in watches or super-slim remotes). I also needed a hole to insert the LED. Wiring him up was far easier than I thought at first - the area was small enough that all I really needed to do was slide the battery in between the wires in the LED - no additional wiring really needed. I could just take the battery out to turn it off. Far simpler than trying to embed both wiring and a switch inside the Sculpey head - particularly since I didn't want to bake the wiring along with the Sculpey.

There ya have it! Timmy the Red-Nosed Reindeer Monkey.

Posted by Red Monkey at 3:39 PM | Comments (4) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Sketches | Stumble

December 5, 2009

Timmy the Red-Nosed Reindeer Monkey

It's no secret that I enjoy being a massive geek, so it's no real surprise that I adore thinkgeek.com. I logged in over there the other day, only to discover their holiday theme is up ... and it's based on the old clay-mation Christmas specials like Rudolph. In fact, one of their designers has mocked up a Timmy (their mascot monkey - hello, I am the Red Monkey, you KNOW I love thinkgeek!) as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The header with that image is not on every page, it's in a random rotation at the moment, but play around a bit on their site and you'll see it.

I LOVE it! Of course. So, since I've finished the last of my major projects (other than cleaning the house), I decided that the perfect sick-time activity this weekend is making a Timmy the Red-Nosed Reindeer Monkey. I am going to try to hit Radio Shack tonight and pick up a red LED to put inside him as well.

So, this is the head, pre-baking. It's primarily Sculpey with a bit of Fimo in the nose and mixed into the antler nubs.

Building the body's going to be very interesting ....

Posted by Red Monkey at 4:07 PM | Comments (1) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Sketches | Stumble

November 17, 2009

Woot.com

So I love Woot.com - they have some of the best copywriting anywhere. Case in point - the copy for Homeland Security Wireless Day/Night Camera Kit – 2 Pack:

A sign was painted
Said: Private Property

Chorus: This land is homeland This land is my land From the chain-link front fence To the back fence I’ve planned From the Coxes’ driveway To the Hingles’ swingset This land’s surveilled for me to see

Well, they say a man’s home Is that man’s castle Where he won’t get harassed And he won’t get hassled But thugs are out to get me And they’re all around me That’s why this land’s surveilled for me to see

Chorus

I installed those cameras Just as a precaution So that all the hoodlums Would know that someone’s watchin’ ‘em I haven’t seen them lurking So I guess it’s working This land’s surveilled for me to see

Chorus

Every night and weekend You can find me poring Over all my footage Though it’s mostly boring Just kids when school’s out And the mailman on his route Is all I’ve surveilled so far to see

Chorus

So no one’s done a crime yet But if someone did, though I know I would catch it Catch it right on video And when that happens I’ll get so much gratitude They’ll “thank god for your CCTV”

This land is homeland This land is my land From the chain-link front fence To the back fence I’ve planned From the Coxes’ driveway To the Hingles’ swingset This land’s surveilled for me to see

Ahhhhhhh, gotta love good copywriting.

Posted by Red Monkey at 6:21 AM | Comments (0) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

October 18, 2009

Where the Wild Things Are

1963. Maurice Sendak. Where the Wild Things Are

This is a children's book iconic, so well-known, so beloved ... and so short ... it's hard to believe Hollywood would even attempt to make a movie out of it. Of course, they're making re-makes of re-makes, so I suppose they've totally used up all of their creativity anyway. I could rant, but why waste the energy? We all know Hollywood's been sucking for a long time now and that they're making movies designed to be understood by people who've done so much crack and huffed so much paint they can barely stand upright.

Let's face it. Most Hollywood movies don't encourage thought. Those that do, get panned as too artsy or high-falutin'.

(Yes, I'm generalizing. Overstating the case. That's not really a good thing either, but let's roll with it for a minute.)

Anyhow, back to Sendak. When I saw Todd McFarlane's Where the Wild Things Are toys, I was over the moon. I was teaching at a university and my students were working on their essays during class. I was on a computer in the front of the room, ready to help if they needed anything - a student walked up while I was discovering these toy/statues.

"What's that?"

"Where the Wild Things are action figures."

"What's that?"

I blinked. He had never seen the book. So, the day before Spring Break, I brought the book in and after we'd done a little work, told them they could leave if they wanted, but those who wanted to stay, we'd sit down on the floor and have a little story time. I promised it would be quick. There were a couple of kids who started to leave ... but since the bulk of them were already plopping their butts down on the floor, most stayed. I think only 1 or 2 actually left.

Upon hearing that this book was to be made into a movie, I was furious. And it was going to be a live-action flick instead of animated. I was HORRIFIED.

And then I saw the trailer.

I was hooked and couldn't wait for it to come out.

It was absolutely fantastic.

It is not a typical Hollywood flick.

It is not a movie for children the same age as the book's original audience.

It is primarily a movie for adults, not because it's too scary or inappropriate ... but because kids aren't really the target audience. Spike Jonez is mostly reminding us what it was to be a child. The immediacy of emotion, the attempts to fix everything, the surety that a good story could fix the world just by your own force of will and belief. The mercurial emotions - gleeful one moment and devastated beyond the ability to explain in words the next. In fact, the movie is largely about being without words ... and learning to find words ... and being content knowing that sometimes words are completely unnecessary.

I've seen criticism that this movie encourages bad behaviour in children. Not really, although children do mimic what they see and they are sure to mimic the snowball fights and dirt clod wars and perhaps even the odd moment of biting. But they do this because they are children, just like Max and just like Max they are learning how to deal with their emotions and urges ... and their anger.

That's the core of this flick. How to deal with anger, with relationships, with living in community with other people.

Kids are not born knowing how to deal with anger. They are not born understanding that their actions have consequences both emotional and physical.

Max, in the beginning of the film, is a very angry little boy. He's ultimately pretty good at heart, but he is a wild thing. He is acting out. On the one hand, he wants to fix everything and make everyone happy all of the time. On the other hand (or claw), he doesn't know what to do with the anger he feels when he's lonely or sad or can't help his mom to not be sad. And with all of that confusion and anger and frustration, he behaves, oddly enough, like a child.

This is not to excuse him, mind you. His behaviour is unacceptable. His mother's reactions are not depressing, at least not to me, they're freaking realistic. She is tired. She is stressed. And while the boy is a wild thing ... she is obviously doing something right as he's also kind-hearted (when he thinks things through all the way).

However, children have to act like children in order to learn how they are supposed to behave. And if we ignore bad behaviour, they learn nothing and they act like Charlie Weis when they grow up. This movie does not hit us over the head with the punishments Max gets in order to learn how to behave ... that's a typical Hollywood gambit. Max learns it more organically than that. And sure, it's pretty obvious that there a Wild Thing that rather parallels Max ... but I think the movie manages to make that character an extension of Max's psyche in a way that's more of a literary foil than a dumbed-down version.

It's a film that captured, for me, what it was to be a child. It captured all of the things I promised myself I would never forget - how hard it is when no one has time for you, how impossible it is to explain yourself and what you're thinking and feeling sometimes.

Kids watching this flick may act out for a while after seeing it. Testing boundaries and to a certain extent, feeling that momentary freedom of just acting rather than thinking. The movie walks a very fine line with Max's behaviour. As adults, I don't think we need to see his mother punishing him because really, we get that Max gets it - how bad his behaviour has been. It's subtle, but it's clearly there. Children - well, it depends on the maturity and intellectual capabilities of the specific child (or their attention span - the movie isn't really paced for kids). Some of them will get it. Some of them will think Max got away with murder and that they can as well.

If you take a child to this movie, it's up to us as adults to DISCUSS it with the kid afterward. Not hammer them about what was right or wrong about Max's behaviour. Not point out how much trouble they'd be in if they ever behaved that way. Discuss all of it. Ask them if they ever feel that lonely. If they ever get that terribly out of sorts that they feel like an out-of-control wild thing. Tell them how you used to be. How you sometimes still feel those feelings. And what you do to cope with the feelings and still behave like a proper person instead of a wild thing.

I loved this movie because it's not a passive thing. Sure, you can turn your brain off and watch it if you want. You might even enjoy it that way.

But if you engage with it and with other people ... if you discuss it ... the issues it brings up ...

Well, then it's a film that is as timeless as the book itself. A book which caused quite a bit of controversy itself when it was first published. And even more when it snagged the Caldecott.

One of my favourite bits (and it's giving nothing away, it's depicted on some versions of the movie poster) - is the parallel between Max and a Wild Thing walking through the desert and the very similar poster for the absolutely wretched George Lucas flick. Without overdoing it, Jonez is making a comparison, I think, that each of us has an Anakin/Vader battle of our own. Really, Jonez probably places more emphasis and symbolism on the desert the characters cross and its mere existence on the island of the wild things more than he was making a nerd reference to Episode One, but the visual "one-liner" was just one of many delights I found in the movie. For me, that was a still frame every bit as rich and engaging as a page from Sendak's original book.

I hope the movie does well. Maybe it will encourage Hollywood to make more films that don't require we turn off our brains and mindlessly consume without engagement.

Posted by Red Monkey at 6:50 PM | Comments (6) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Storytelling: She was, of course, supposed to be sleeping. | Stumble

August 4, 2009

At the IMAX

Having really enjoyed the IMAX 3d version of Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, we waited to see the Half Blood Prince until our local (local-ish - was a good 40 minutes or more away) was showing it. So, Saturday, we slogged across the stupid time-zone line and caught a 6:00 showing (7 our time). Didn't think to feed the animals before we left ... major oops.

The movie started out in 3d with no warning which made most of us wonder WTF before hurriedly grabbing for our over-sized glasses. The beginning was of course somewhat different from the book. It's so difficult to distill a 650 page hardback into a reasonable length movie - even a very beloved book. Maybe even especially because the series is beloved. There were tons of subplots and rich details left out - but most of them I thought were decent enough cuts given the medium.

The acting was, as usual, spot on. Hermione's character and Ginny's character are really starting to come into their own a bit more. Hermione's not quite the insufferable know-it-all who also insists on following all of the rules as she was in the beginning of the series - but then, that goes for the books as well as the movies.

I thought many of the visual ways of displaying the disasters caused by the Death Eaters were quite well done. They didn't seem to blow the entire effects budget on them, they didn't seem to over do it ... a nice balance. I missed things like the bits with the prime minister and "the other minister," but it seemed a decent enough cut. I was slightly disappointed by the whole prior to getting to Hogwart's look at the Weasley's store, but again, seemed a good enough cut.

But I should have been warned when the way that Dumbledore arrives for Harry and they go on their little before-school-starts errand to attempt to hire a new teacher, that the director was going to change up the story. It was a minor change and I mostly enjoyed it. Dumbledore doesn't show up at the Dursleys' house to pick up Harry as in the book. Instead we get a scene of a typical teenage boy - I won't give it away because I thought it was a charming little scene that you should have a chance to enjoy. What did bother me a bit at the time and much more later, was that it seemed some crucial plot bits were being changed or left out.

It wasn't long into the beginning of the movie before the little red circle slash through glasses symbol came on and we removed our glasses. The 3d was nice, but I was really looking forward to the end of the movie and the scene in the cave with the Inferi - surely that would be 3d again and it would be spectacular.

I was a little more concerned when the director and/or screenwriter added a completely new scene to the movie. Yes, I'm talking about the one involving the Burrow. Again, I don't want to give it away for those who haven't seen it, but why? Why add this scene? It was long and it was unnecessary. By long I only mean that given actual plot lines that had been cut, why add something that didn't originally exist in the books? It just seemed quite stupid to me. I was disgruntled to say the least.

Once they got to school? Let me say this: not only did Rowling really nail the relationships between 15 year olds ... so did the director and the actors. Oh my! The strutting, the peacockery, the exasperation, the machinations, the confusion ... all of it was spot on. Just absolutely nailed it. I laughed my ass off at the sheer reality of it.

My real gripe with the film and my very real concern with the two movies that will follow (by the same director) is that the entire set up for the quest in the final book was seriously botched. First, the umm, "little friend Felix" was not shared as it was in the book. Which meant the big fight inside Hogwart's was missing. More troubling, Dumbledore didn't explain what he was supposed to explain. I mean, we know Dumbledore had a difficult time explaining much, but the movie Dumbledore did not fully explain the quest to Harry as much as he did in the book. Harry was not charged with finishing finding the Horcruxes (Horcruces?). Harry was not reminded by Dumbledore that he needed his friends. The entire scene at the cave was quite truncated (and, just by-the-by not in 3d either - I was quite disappointed by that - what was the point of the IMAX version if they didn't do that?). Several key plot points were left out of the cave scene as well, all of which REALLY makes me worry about the final book's two movies.

Overall, it was a decent movie. I'm not sure it was worth the price of the IMAX ticket given the short shrift on the 3d, but it certainly is worth the evening price at a regular theatre. The acting is splendid - there are tons of laughs in what is ultimately a serious and dark movie. With that, at least, I thought the director and the screenwriter did a marvelous and balanced job.

But sending Harry into The Deathly Hallows with even less of a clue than he had in the books? I'm concerned. Guess I'll find out next Thanksgiving and the following July if I was right to be worried.

Oh, and by the way, if your child has NOT read Half Blood Prince and somehow has managed to NOT find out who dies at the end, you might wanna freaking tell the kid before you take him to the show. I was quite surprised to find a 12 year old boy all but bawling into his mum as the lights came up. Was obvious he hadn't heard which character in the novel died at the end.

Posted by Red Monkey at 5:43 AM | Comments (0) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

July 16, 2009

Chipotle

I adore Mexican food. Having grown up in Texas, this isn't too surprising. The first time I saw a Chipotle burrito joint, I thought, "Meh. Yuppy poser. Whatever." However, living in freaking Indiana has made me enjoy even Taco Bell, so when we got a Chipotle here, I went to check it out.

And fell in love.

Seriously, I'm salivating just thinking about it.

To top it off, they appear to be a socially conscious and attempt to be better than fast food (despite the fact that their burritos, at 1000 calories, are two meals). Their website - always one of my main measuring sticks - is well-done and concentrates on both informing and being fun. And, you can place your order via internet and have it ready for you to pick up.

Being a serious geek, I love that.

So, when I realized I had to be on that side of town (of course it's about as far away from both my house and my job as it could possibly be and still be in the same town), I immediately placed an order for my favourite burrito. Looked forward to it all morning.

First, it took me a solid twenty minutes to get through town and get to the restaurant. Okay, I expected that. But then I had to wait for my order. Okay, it's noon. They were swamped. I kind of expect to wait a little bit. The cashier takes my name, tells it to the girl running the "call-in" orders. She finishes the order for the man ahead of me ... and then starts another order. And another burrito. Dammit, I'm right here and I only had one burrito. After about 10-15 minutes, she tries to hand me a huge bag. Hungry, tired, frustrated, I'm sure I snapped at her a bit, "I only have one burrito." Her eyes widen, she asks my name and she apologizes a couple of times. I pay, grab mi burrito y guacamole and skedaddle. I still have to run to the art supply store to exchange something and then hit the mall to look at a book in Barnes & Noble - which was the real reason I was on this side of town to begin with. I needed to look up how to do something in a program and couldn't find the information online anywhere - so I needed to eyeball some computer books and see if any of them were worth buying.

Traffic on this side of town is always horrendous. It's the shopping strip. Block after block of strip malls, restaurants, freestanding stores and finally the only "real" mall in town. It's hell to drive over there, which is why I rarely go. People irritate me.

So I book it into Barnes & Noble, beeline for the computer books, rapidly find the information I want - it's literally about 4 sentences - and leave without buying. I'm not paying $10 a sentence for the information I needed! The rest of the book is stuff I already know. I'm practically running back out to my car, because I hate to be late. I have one hour for lunch. Sixty minutes. I knew I was going to run long and I told the "big boss" that before Ieft. And while he was fine with that, I wasn't. Mostly because I hate being late, but also some because I'm not on salary. If I was late, I was losing money despite the fact that at least some of this trip was work related.

So, of course, the parking lot is a freaking nightmare. It's poorly laid out which means cars are coming up where they should be going down instead. There's not really enough room for two cars to pass comfortably, which is why the designer tried to put up a Do Not Enter sign, which everyone then promptly ignored. So that's a little stressful. Also, some poor schmuck had a flat tire. He pulled over as far as he could, but his location is encouraging people to go the wrong way so they don't have to drive next to where he's changing a tire.

I finally get up to the turn where I can start to get out of the parking lot ... and the old people in the van ahead of me stop. STOP DEAD. GET OUT OF THE VAN.

There is a freaking line of people behind us and they decide this is a good time and place to change drivers!

I ate my chips and guacamole and tried not to scream foul things at them. Maybe I just needed some food to settle down. After all, it was 12:30 or 12:45 by this point and I hadn't eaten since my little breakfast bar at 7:00.

I finally get out of the mall parking lot and fly all the way back through town, bolt into work and clock in. Twenty minutes late. Grrrrrr If the kid at Chipotle had just been on the ball, I would hardly have been late at all. Damn.

I get upstairs and between the heat, the guacamole and chips and the general stress, I'm just not hungry any more. I decide to eat the burrito for dinner. Nummy nummy dinner. Definitely looking forward to this.

So, I finally get home after my frustrating and long day, crack open the burrito and take a huge bite.

Heaven.

After a few more bites, I'm thinking, something doesn't taste right. There's something funky here.

I hate rice. HATE RICE. Hate hate hate hate hate. Always have. I don't like the taste, the texture, nothing. Eww. So of course, when I ordered my burrito, I specifically did NOT check the rice button. No way. No rice for me.

Damn burrito is full of rice, of course.

Having come at the end of a long and stressful day, this is my breaking point. I go to the Chipotle website and look for the contact us menu button. Now, while their website is fun, if you don't happen to run your mouse over the logo in the upper left, you probably won't realize that their menus drop down from there. So it took me some time to actually find the contact us menu item. And I left a fairly polite but firm message that I was pretty darn ticked off. Chipotle is a rare treat for me since it's across town and I had really been looking forward to that burrito.

So someone from corporate emails me back on Monday, which was pretty darn fast considering that I emailed them Friday night. The woman was quite nice, very apologetic and wanted to make things right. She let me know that she'd contacted the specific store and let them know so things like this didn't happen again. She asked for my address, presumably to send a coupon or something. I was good with this.

But the next evening the store manager called and apologized. She wanted to know what she could do to make this right. I told her I thought corporate was sending me a coupon and I was good with that. And that's true. It was lunch rush and I can certainly understand the confusion at the register and making me wait. That's a really easy mistake that you're just never going to 100% eliminate. The rice, well, that was not so easily excusable. But, it's not like I'm allergic to it - it wasn't going to kill me or make me sick, it just made the meal less enjoyable. And, pulling a lot of it out of my burrito reduced the calories.

But the manager insisted and wanted to know how many people I worked with.

The long and short of it is, five lucky co-workers and I are getting free burritos tomorrow for lunch. Yes, I have to drive 20 minutes there and another 20 back to go get them, but hey, free food! Happy co-workers! Woohoo!

Now, think about this for a minute. This is less than $50 that the store is spending (retail priced, not their cost). They have made me more eager to go back to Chipotle. They've impressed my co-workers. My supervisor is ecstatic from a personal level - hey free food - and she's impressed on a marketing level. Plus, they're getting some more free advertising out of me via an unsolicited blog post just because I'm impressed with the service. This could have been a lost customer (it wouldn't have been because there's such a dearth of good Mexican food around here - but I would probably have gone there less due to the sour rice taste in my mouth). Also, any time Chipotle came up, I'd probably whine about the time they filled my burrito with rice. And I'd probably embellish the story as the years went on. (Trust me, I do not take rice burritos lightly. That's some shit I'll hang onto for years.) That word of mouth damages their brand.

Instead, they made me ecstatic. They impressed my co-workers. We will quite likely talk very positively about Chipotle now - beyond damn good burritos, they have great customer service even when they make a mistake. Chipotle doesn't advertise on TV. Instead, they are invested in word of mouth - they like to give away burritos and let their food do the advertising for them. They appear to not just do it for the crass free advertising, but also to honestly help folks out (they gave away burritos to those displaced by Rita and Katrina).

I am not saying they're the perfect company - I'm not sure there is any such thing. But this is definitely a company that gets it. They're not giving away the bank, they're not acceding to ridiculous demands (like a retail company taking back a cordless phone that the kids threw in the pool, without any receipt and admitting it was over a year old - but that's another story).

I'm impressed.

And I'm really hoping my burrito is made right tomorrow! Nom nom nom nom

Posted by Red Monkey at 8:08 PM | Comments (0) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble