Boy, boy, crazy boy,
Get cool, boy!Every now and then I wonder if my boys will be the cool kids at school. So far, it’s not working out that way. They’re both too smart and even “gifted,” and that sets them apart. The older one plays the cello, is in a gifted program, and recently competed in a robotics program (I thought that was cool). The younger one is just as smart and plays piano. A friend at work keeps telling me to sign them up for football or hockey – then they’ll be cool, he says, but I can’t. Jock does not equal cool, IMHO. Yet, I asked the 10yo who the cool kids are in school and he quickly named some kids, most of them jocks-in-training.
Got a rocket in your pocket,
Keep coolly cool, boy!So, I realized I had to do some home schooling in cool. Last summer, they watched
This Is Spinal Tap. And they loved it. The 7yo even put a cucumber down his pants to re-create a scene. They’ve talked about building miniature models of Stonehenge. And have enacted the scene where Harry Shearer’s character gets stuck in the egg. Sometimes they’ll quote the movie and laugh about drummers spontaneously combusting. (As I was typing this, I asked my husband how to spell Shearer, and it caused my 10yo to quote the movie yet again.)
Don't get hot,
'Cause man, you got
Some high times ahead.I think, though, that I was most proud of their comprehension and astuteness when we were watching an episode of
The Simpsons that had some sort of rock band on and my younger son asked, “Are they making fun of Spinal Tap?” We explained that both Spinal Tap and the Simpsons were parodies. Isn’t that cool? Teaching a 7yo the meaning of parody?
Take it slow and Daddy-O,
You can live it up and die in bed! To increase their knowledge of rock, parody and, well, The Beatles, we recently rented
The Rutles. And now the 7yo is singing “Ouch,” and both boys have described what a truly “Tragical History Tour” would be like. I’m proud.
Boy, boy, crazy boy!
Stay loose, boy!Another ouch: I recommend the DVD
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, if only to see Yoko Ono perform while in a large black plastic bag. And to see what Keith Richards once looked like.
Breeze it, buzz it, easy does it.
Turn off the juice, boy!Later this month, we’ll take them to NY’s ComicCon. The boys and I read comic books (or, to be cool, graphic novels). They read manga – Japanese comic books. I’ve been reading “adult” (but not that kind!) comics. Last year I read
Ultra: Seven Days and liked it a lot.
Now I’m reading the
Fables series and am distraught because I’ve read the novels 1 through 4 (which contain the comics 1-27, for the most part) and have book 6, but not book 5! So I don’t know what’s going to happen with Snow White! I'll hunt for it this weekend, and I’m going to start reading
Watchmen soon.
Go man, go,
But not like a yo-yo schoolboy.Last weekend I read
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. The book has gotten really wonderful reviews and has been named to all sorts of best novels lists, even
Time's
"All-Time 100 Novels." It was good, but I expected more. I think I was disappointed because I knew the "secret" of the book and, so, nothing was a surprise.
Speaking of which, there are going to be many surprises at work next week. And we'll all have to... well... play it cool.
Just play it cool, boy,
Real cool!
