Thursday, July 08, 2004
Back from the family trip. It was a wonderful time, despite a gum wound inflicted by a tortilla chip that became infected. I spent the first few days enjoying the Happiest Place on Earth with the sensation of a screwdriver being rammed into my jaw. Then again, my dad spent the whole trip knowing that his bank had misplaced a disturbingly large percentage of his net worth in an account transfer. So, you just gotta forget it all and enjoy seeing Disney World through the eyes of a child.
The child, in this case, was my two-and-a-half-year-old nephew Nolen. Here are some of Nolen’s impressions of Disney World:
On the tram ride in, he asked where the tram’s mommy is.
When we arrived at Animal Kingdom, he looked up at a brontosaurus skeleton and asked, “Where’s the dinosaur’s pee-pee?”
At Typhoon Lagoon, a water park filled with inner tube rides, water slides and a huge wave pool, Nolen refused these fleeting pleasures in favor of a sand pile he was studiously arranging by the kiddie pool.
And every day, the threat of a super-tantrum brought on by over-tiredness caused my sister Sophie and her husband to enjoy the theme parks with a ever-lurking sense of panic.
In line for the raft ride Sophie got parental advice from a woman with six children in tow, one of whom was named Keanu.
The news announced some study that determined this presidential election will be decided by the people who live on Highway 4, a Florida road that cuts through a bunch of swamp land and the Disney World Resort. Which is somewhat disturbing, considering how many “Mickey Mouse in 2004” T-shirts I counted.
Hopefully they were all tourists.
Got some good news during the vacation: “Buttleman” is in the Had To Be Made Film Festival. What’s special about this one is that instead of being held in a particular location, they have an arrangement with about thirty or forty ma-and-pa video stores throughout the country. Each video store has a display for the festival, and they release a different volume each month. People rent them and vote on the winner through their website. I’ll post more info when I have it, but the “Buttleman” volume should hit the shelves early next year.
The movie on the plane going home was “Along Came Polly”. During the climactic scene where Ben Stiller finally dumps two-timing Debra Messing, the girl sitting next to me pumped her fist enthusiastically and repeatedly shouted “Yes!”
Strange, but it was such a sincere gesture, so totally genuine, that it actually affirmed something for me about the magic of movies.
The child, in this case, was my two-and-a-half-year-old nephew Nolen. Here are some of Nolen’s impressions of Disney World:
On the tram ride in, he asked where the tram’s mommy is.
When we arrived at Animal Kingdom, he looked up at a brontosaurus skeleton and asked, “Where’s the dinosaur’s pee-pee?”
At Typhoon Lagoon, a water park filled with inner tube rides, water slides and a huge wave pool, Nolen refused these fleeting pleasures in favor of a sand pile he was studiously arranging by the kiddie pool.
And every day, the threat of a super-tantrum brought on by over-tiredness caused my sister Sophie and her husband to enjoy the theme parks with a ever-lurking sense of panic.
In line for the raft ride Sophie got parental advice from a woman with six children in tow, one of whom was named Keanu.
The news announced some study that determined this presidential election will be decided by the people who live on Highway 4, a Florida road that cuts through a bunch of swamp land and the Disney World Resort. Which is somewhat disturbing, considering how many “Mickey Mouse in 2004” T-shirts I counted.
Hopefully they were all tourists.
Got some good news during the vacation: “Buttleman” is in the Had To Be Made Film Festival. What’s special about this one is that instead of being held in a particular location, they have an arrangement with about thirty or forty ma-and-pa video stores throughout the country. Each video store has a display for the festival, and they release a different volume each month. People rent them and vote on the winner through their website. I’ll post more info when I have it, but the “Buttleman” volume should hit the shelves early next year.
The movie on the plane going home was “Along Came Polly”. During the climactic scene where Ben Stiller finally dumps two-timing Debra Messing, the girl sitting next to me pumped her fist enthusiastically and repeatedly shouted “Yes!”
Strange, but it was such a sincere gesture, so totally genuine, that it actually affirmed something for me about the magic of movies.
