We Grits all sat together on the sofa last night and watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on network television. It’s been many years since I saw this show, and Calfgrit7 had never seen it before. Calfgrit4 saw it at preschool a few days ago. (We all saw A Charlie Brown Christmas last year, so they were familiar with Chuck and friends.)

The things that stand out to me, now, about this show: 1- the art is so very basic, even amateurish-looking; 2- the voice acting is very out of character for 8-year old kids. Now, for the record, these two notes aren’t complaints, they’re merely observations. Although I would complain about the voice acting if it wasn’t a classic of American culture.

The thing about the voice acting that just gets on my nerves is that the kids speak so formally, and no one uses contractions. They do not use contractions. This just grates on my nerves. But . . .

Calfgrit7 loved the show. Loved it! He was laughing out loud through the whole thing. He fell off the sofa a couple times laughing so hard. Calfgrit4 didn’t laugh out loud, but he had a smile on his face the entire time. I could tell he was enjoying the show, but he just wasn’t being boisterous like his big brother.

Cowgrit and I kept looking at each other and smiling at CG7’s giggling. I remember enjoying the Charlie Brown shows as a kid. But I don’t find them funny or particularly entertaining as an adult. I wonder how old I was the last time I laughed out loud at Charlie Brown? At what age does this thing stop being funny?

Bullgrit

We were on a family outing for the evening, and Calfgrit7 was sitting beside me showing off his latest Pokémon cards. Cowgrit had bought him a new pack of cards since the last time we played the game, so most of these were new to me. I was trying to read them, but I didn’t have my new glasses with me.

I could read the hit points and attack damages, barely. But for the attack descriptions, I had to hold the card about two feet from my face, and shift it just right to get good lighting on it. God, getting old sucks.

Then CG7 pointed to a part of the card I was holding and asked, “How does this power work?”

I pulled the card closer to my eyes, I held it away from my eyes, I shifted it this way and that to get lighting, and then tried reading, “Lustrous Orb. If . . . an . . . Active . . . Pokemon . . . has . . . Weakness . . . to . . . water . . . type, . . . Palkia’s . . . attacks . . .”

“You want me to read it for you?” my second-grader asked me.

How freakin’ pathetic am I? “Thanks, but no,” I said. “I can read it. Just give me a minute.” I finally did finish reading it, and I explained it to him. (I gave him my best guess, anyway, as I’ve never seen this kind of power on a Pokemon — it’s not a Poke-POWER or a Poke-BODY.)

When we got home, after the boys went to bed, I pulled out that card from his stack left on the kitchen counter. I put on my reading glasses and tried to read it again. Holy geez, but it’s difficult for me to read that tiny writing even with my glasses on. The next time I play Pokemon with him, I’m going to need a magnifying glass at hand.

It’s sad for me to think that being able to read the dag-blame game cards are going to start being an obstacle for me to play games with my boys. Do I need to petition Pokemon to make special large print versions of their cards?

Bullgrit

Warning: This post may be too much for the squeamish — those who prefer not to think about where their food comes from.

Last week there was a video making the rounds of the Interweb of a certain “political celebrity” giving an interview while a turkey slaughter was happening in the background. There was a lot of hullabaloo about the scene, and about the celebrity showing no concern about the activity.

All you citified folk who’ve never seen food “prepared” from the farm, let me tell you what I’ve seen.

My granddaddy and grandmomma (on my father’s side) lived on a farm. I visited usually every weekend (at least on Sundays, after church), and I’d sometimes spend a week there in the summers. On the farm, they had chickens, pigs, and goats.

I’ve tried milk still warm from a goat. (I didn’t like it.) I’ve collected eggs from the chickens in the morning, watched my grandma cook them, and ate them for breakfast. I’ve seen a chicken’s neck wrung, watched it kick and flap until it stopped. I’ve seen pigs castrated — not something I want to see again. I’ve petted a pig one day, watched it slaughtered the next day, and dined on its delicious meat the next.

My grandparents (on my mother’s side) were seafood lovers. I’ve caught fish and crabs, watched them be gutted, and loved the cooked meat.

My step-dad was an avid deer hunter, and I sometimes went with him. Though I never managed to kill a deer, myself, I’ve seen them killed. I’ve watched as a deer was skinned, dressed, and the meat cut up. For years, my family ate deer meat (instead of beef) killed by my step-dad, or one of his hunting buddies.

None of the people above would have ever thought it anything odd to be photographed while a slaughter went on in the background. Hell, they wouldn’t have thought it anything odd to be performing the slaughter in a photograph. The process was no more unusual to them than picking apples off a tree or picking ears of corn off a stalk.

Slaughter happens. It has to happen if we’re to eat meat — and I eat meat. So, although I don’t enjoy seeing the process, (and I haven’t seen it in many years, now), I just can’t get all upset when someone else has no problem with the process.

Bullgrit

The idea of a Star Trek movie that goes back to the beginning, bringing the characters of Kirk, Spock, and crew back for a new generation sounded, to me, like a great idea. I hated the last couple of ST movies I saw because the stories were so nonsensical, and seemed to ignore the great concepts laid down in the TV series. It’s like the writers didn’t even try to make the plot and dialog logical and believable. And they seemed to throw the ST canon out the window.

But the idea of taking the story back to the original? That, I was looking forward to. See, Star Trek is more than a science fiction show — the stories (at least with The Original Series and The Next Generation) were morality plays, philosophical exercises, and even political commentary wrapped up in a sci-fi presentation.

Sadly, though, now that I’ve seen the latest trailer for this new movie, I see that the setting may be going back to the original characters, but the story is going further into the action adventure genre. Why? This kills the whole concept of Star Trek. Original ST stories were not action adventure romps. Some of the episodes had a bit of action and adventure, but the series wasn’t just a vehicle for fighting explosions. It was a platform for thinking.

The new trailer for the new movie shows nothing but action and action. Driving/flying fast, things blowing up, fighting, and sex. As should be obvious from things I’ve said in my other posts, I’m all for action and adventure in my movies. But ST should be more than that. And there’s nothing in the trailer that even hints at any kind of morality play, philosophical exercise, or even political commentary (although I am very tired of political commentary, nowadays).

So, I’m disappointed. They’ve taken everything good about Star Trek — everything that made Star Trek what it was — and just tore it up and threw it away. The whole Star Trek franchise is dead to me, now.

Bullgrit