Modern Day Dad

Tauntaun Sleeping Bag, Boy-rettes and a Pink Plastic Octomom Sculpture

Even though last week was my kid's spring break from school, I've managed to write about some pretty interesting stuff over at Babble in the last month or so. Some of my favorites are:

The Tauntaun Sleeping Bag. The Empire Strikes Back's favorite beast of burden made into a kid's sleeping bag. And I thought they felt cozy on the outside.

Boy-rettes. Alterna-hipster boys with long hair need something cool to keep their long hair out of their eyes. And while I know I shouldn't have a problem with this, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that this didn't rub the wrong way.

The Kata 3N1 Camera Bag. Easily the best camera bag for parents I've ever tried. If you've got a DSLR and kids then you need one.

The Snuglette. It's the Snuggie - the blanket with arm holes - for kids. With an equally bizarre television commercial.

Octomom Scultpture (pictured). This is just nuts. And creepy. And funny. And art?

Dumbo Jumbo?

My wife was reading a small book based on the Disney movie Dumbo to our two-year-old this evening, and she brought up a good point. If Dumbo's mother's name is "Mrs. Jumbo," then Dumbo's full name is Dumbo Jumbo.

At first I suggested that maybe she never took Dumbo's dad's name, or maybe they were never married. Forgetting the fact that this scenario would be pretty progressive for the story of a Disney movie from 1941, were any of that actually true she'd be "Ms. Jumbo." Nope. His full name is definitely Dumbo Jumbo.

Which leads me to wonder what kind of a mother would name her kid "Dumbo Jumbo?" It has to be at the top of the list of all time worst names. Don't you think a mother who loves her child as much as Mrs. Jumbo obviously does in the movie would have thought it through a little better?

Which further leads me to wonder if the actual writers of this whole Dumbo story even realized that they were naming their lead character "Dumbo Jumbo." I can only imagine they probably liked the name "Dumbo" and then wanted to name the mom something else kind of like it and came up "Mrs. Jumbo." But when you think it through, it's really a terrible choice.

I think I should probably stop thinking it through now.

Of course, if you're interested in watching the movie yourself, you can get Dumbo (Big Top Edition) for $16.49 from Amazon.com. But be forewarned. When Mrs. Jumbo tries to help her son and the animal trainers keep her caged up and tied down, it will probably get to you too.

Sesame Street Monster Gallery. Dad research I never thought I'd have to do.

So we're in Borders this past weekend, my 20 month old was acting up, and in a moment of desperation prudence, we bought her this simple Elmo board book called "Monster Faces." The whole book is just faces of different Sesame Street monsters making faces. You get the idea - hungry face, sad face, angry face, silly face, happy face etc.

It worked and calmed her down, except for the rest of the day (at least while she was with us in the stroller shopping) she wanted to know the names of the monsters. Every single one. Over and over.

And to be honest, after Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Oscar the Grouch and Zoe I was kind of at a loss.

So later that night, I spent a little time looking on the magical internets, and I stumbled on the Muppet Wiki, specifically the Sesame Street Monster Gallery. If you've ever wondered what Elmo's dad's name is (Louie) or what the name of that baby monster is (Baby Natasha), it's definitely worth checking out.

Check out the Sesame Street Monster Gallery, and if you're shopping for a baby check out the super cute Monster Faces board book.

Jennifer Lopez must love PBS Kids Television.

So I bought a copy of the People Magazine with the Jennifer Lopez twins in it this week (purely for research for my blogging job, I swear) and while my wife was looking it over, she noticed something. J-Lo named her kids Max and Emme, which also happen to be the names of the boy and girl on PBS' kids' show Dragon Tales.

Which in as of itself is only mildly strange, except now my three year old knows J-Lo's kids' names.

"That's Max and Emme," she tells me whenever she sees the magazine. In fact, she just did it as I was writing this post.

Why am I not entirely comfortable with this?

The voice of Dora.

I don't know why this only occurred to me now and not two years ago, but what does Dora the Explorer really look like? That is to say, what does the person who does the voice of Dora look like?

Once again, hooray for YouTube.

Jack's Big Music Show DVD this month.

I must be slipping, because there's a DVD of Jack's Big Music show releasing in less than three weeks and I didn't even realize it. But thanks to MDD reader Andrea, now I'm fully caught up. Hopefully in my house Jack's Big Music Show: Let's Rock! will hopefully take the mantle of favorite DVD from Dora the Explorer: Super Babies (which, quite frankly, if I have to hear that "Super Babies" song one more time that DVD might have to disappear).

And for those of you also asking, I haven't heard any word on any other Jack's Big Music Show merchandise, but if I hear anything I'll pass it along.

In the meantime, you can pre-order the DVD (releasing October 23) from Amazon.com here.

Breaking news on CBS: Dads change diapers.

I missed the segment about stay at home Dads on the CBS Early Show yesterday, but I was just able to watch it online here. I thought it was fairly straight forward and obvious. And considering some of the portrayals of involved dads in the media it wasn't bad, just slightly condescending (my favorite was the Hannah Storm comment at the end "Does it meant they're actually changing diapers?...I'm glad we're making progress!" Ugh.). Thankfully they got a hold of Gary from Freelancedad.com who represented us well I thought. Nice job Gary.

The thing that bothered me the most about it though was the fact that they used the same old, tired clips from the movie Mr. Mom. Goddamn that gets under my skin. Then I read Greg at Daddytypes' take on the Mr. Mom thing in the segment yesterday, including his tete-a-tete with an Early Show producer about it, which made me feel a lot better. Thanks Greg.

Liveblogging the CBS Early Show Segment On  'Hip Hands-On Dads' [daddytypes.com]

On TV: Diaper Bags for Modern Dads [CBS.com video link]

Also on MDD, my old post from 2004 (where was Hannah Storm then?) - Diaper bags for dads.

How 'bout that? The new TWIB is terrible.

I'm going to use this Major League Baseball All-Star break to complain about something that's been bothering me for a while.

When I was a kid and very much into baseball, I used to love watching This Week In Baseball. Before ESPN, before Baseball Tonight, before "Web Gems," it was kind of a highlight show that showed all the great plays and bloopers of the previous week. Hosted by Mel Allen, it was also a Saturday morning kid's show with youth-focused segments like famous players showing baseball fundamentals (like Ozzie Smith showing you how to stop a ground ball for instance). And best of all it was a show that your mom and dad might like watching with you too. Oh, and it had a classic theme song.

So now that my oldest is rooting for Big Papi right along side me, I figured I could introduce her to TWIB and maybe it could be something that we would enjoy on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately the show isn't even close to what it used to be.

The newest iteration feels like you're watching some kind of lame 30 minute infomercial. They rely heavily on "film look" video and the segments themselves often feel like some third-rate episode of MTV Cribs. A lot of my problem with the show is due to the unbelievably bad voice over work of the current host "Buzz Brainard," who, although he's a fine voice-over guy, has all the narrative excitement of a guy reading a billboard. He even sounds condescending at some points, as if he's talking down to the kids. I'm not saying anyone could replace Mel Allen, but can't MLB Productions find someone with some baseball credibility who can also convey some of the excitement of the game?

You be the judge. Check out the latest TWIB segments at MLB.com (and be sure to click on the "Classic TWIB Theme" link at the top of the page).

Yo Gabba Gabba! So yummy! So yummy!

Has anyone else noticed on Noggin the promo for this new show coming out in August, Yo Gabba Gabba? It's a crazy song with this nutty furry green monster who is eating and singing. And it (mostly) goes like this:

THERE'S A PARTY IN MY TUMMY!
So Yummy! So Yummy!
THERE'S A PARTY IN MY TUMMY!
So yummy! So yummy!

The song is like LCD Soundsystem meets Newcleus, meets The Electric Company, and let me tell you it's freaking infectious. The tag line is "Yo Gabba Gabba! Life Lessons with a Beat." BIz Markie is even going to be a guest host on one of the episodes. THE BIZ for chrissakes!

It's premiering on August 20th, and I for one (oh yeah, and my girls) will be watching.

Check out the "Trailer" for the Yo Gabba Gabba! season at their old web site.

Maraka the Explorer

Apparently last weekend there was a great Dora the Explorer parody on Saturday Night Live.

Can you help Maraka and Mittens save the baby penguin? Only if you have free will.

SNL - TV Funhouse: Maraka [YouTube - Thanks Pat!]