A true Halloween story...

A true story as relayed by a friend of mine at ATK:

For the last two months Matthew has been asking us if we are going to attend his music program October 25th at 7pm? And, if we are excited to see him perform? When I say that Matthew has asked us this everyday for the last two months I mean THE LAST TWO MONTHS - EVERY DAY.

It's important to note that he has called it his "Music Program" for 2 months also.

Of course costumes are involved and lucky us right around halloween. AND it has to be separate from his Halloween costume because he CAN'T be an animal for Halloween he's "8 Mom!"

So I asked him if he wanted to be a lion. "No" Adrian is a lion and then people wouldn't be able to tell us apart. So off we got to an actual costume shop an hour away 2 Saturdays before Halloween.

Once we arrived we had only 2 animal costumes to choose from -not a huge surprise. I mean really, how many kids want to be an animal in third or even second grade for Halloween? That's a whole other topic - but I thought there might at least be more than a penguin with a red bowtie and a Dalmation. The kid on the Dalamation package looked so nerdy I would have tripped him walking down the hall.

So, I said to Matthew "looks like your're going to be a penguin!"

"OK Mom" as he's trying to decapitate Rose with a sword and vise versa.

$40.00 and one foam Penguin costume later we're golden! WE'RE GONE!

Sunday evening when baths homework etc. needed to be wrapped up Matthew had to try the costume on one more time to make sure it fit AND that the dog was still freaked out when being chased by an 8 year old penguin.

This morning Matthew proudly brought his costume to school for dress rehersal.

When he got off the bus I asked him if his music teacher liked his costume and he said "yes" and that he is the only penguin in the program! Thank God! HOME RUN!

Then Matthew adds "You know why Mom? Because there are no penguins in the Rain Forest".

RAIN FOREST? WHAT RAIN FOREST?

"Yes that's what our program is about!"

You never said anything about a Rain Forest! I didn't get a memo on the god damn Rain Forest! You just said you had to be a *&#@&^* ANIMAL!!!

"Oh, yea. It's about the Rain Forest. Can I have some Halloween candy?"

So, the Merkel family will sat proudly in the audience taking pictures of the only known penguin to EVER live in the Rain Forest of Franklin Elementary Colorado.

And Matthew? He didn't feel out out of place or odd. No, not our Matthew.

He is not a man amongst men, but a penguin amongst the Rain Forest!

Funniest. Movie. Bit. Ever...

It's Friday and I needed a bit of the old Inspector Clouseau humor.

Who composed "Spider Pig"?...

Today Styopa left a comment regarding the version of the Spider Pig theme that I called "Tim Burton-esque" saying that it was composed by Danny Elfman (who wrote the Simpsons theme song, as well as the theme song for Desperate Housewives). But I looked up the credits and found that, while it is true that Elfman wrote the Simpsons theme song, Han Zimmer wrote the original soundtrack for the Simpsons movie, and that would inlcude the more layered version of the spider pig song.

He has had quite a successful career (see below) and now is working on the original soundtrack for the next Batman movie - The Dark Knight.

Hans Florian Zimmer (born September 12, 1957) is a German composer, best known for composing film scores.

Born in Frankfurt, Zimmer began his musical career playing keyboards and synthesizers with, among others, the bands Ultravox and The Buggles ("Video Killed the Radio Star"). In the 1980s, he started composing and producing soundtracks for movies. His breakthrough came in 1988, with the theme for Rain Man, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Since then, Zimmer has composed music for many major movies, such as Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Crimson Tide, The Rock, True Romance, Driving Miss Daisy, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Pearl Harbor, The Thin Red Line, The Last Samurai, Cool Runnings, Black Hawk Down, King Arthur and Batman Begins. In 1995, he received an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the animated movie The Lion King.

Awards and nominations:

Academy Awards

1989: Rain Man
1995: The Lion King (won)
1997: The Preacher's Wife
1998: As Good As It Gets
1999: The Prince of Egypt
1999: The Thin Red Line
2001: Gladiator

Grammy Awards

1991: Driving Miss Daisy
1995: The Lion King
1996: Crimson Tide (won)
2001: Gladiator
2007: The Da Vinci Code
2007: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Golden Globe Awards

1995: The Lion King (won)
1999: The Prince of Egypt
2001: Gladiator (won)
2002: Pearl Harbor
2003: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (nominated for best song)
2004: The Last Samurai
2005: Spanglish
2007: The Da Vinci Code

Here comes Spider Pig...

In my review of the Simpsons Movie I mentioned a Tim Burton-esque version of the spider pig song that is played at the end of the movie during the credits. Well, ask YouTube and you shall receive. Here is the song over some stills from the movie.

Simpsons Movie first look - from Prague...

I'm not sure why the Simpsons Movie opened 30 hours earlier in Europe (or at least in Prague) than in the US, especially since Transformers hasn't shown up here yet. But it did, and I was at the 6:10 PM showing in the Slovansky dum cinema, just down from the Mustek metro stop.

The movie is showing on about 25 screens around the city and this is the only one where it is in the original English and not dubbed into Czech. To end the suspense, I give the movie 4 out of 5 stars. I had high expectations and I wasn't let down. I mark the movie off only for a couple of slow spots and the lack of more guffaws.

The story in the movie is like it is in the TV show - preposterous and of little consequence. Albert Brooks does a very nice turn as the greedy and evil head of EPA, of course in the Republican administration of Arnold Schwartzenegger.

The residents of Springfield have been naughty boys and girls, polluting Lake Springfield almost beyond saving. Lisa convinces the town (with her presentation "An Annoying Truth") to mend their ways and not pollute the lake anymore, but Homer can't control himself and dumps a silo of bad stuff into the lake rather than at the EPA-approved drop off site so he can get a doughnut giveaway.

Homers waste tips the scale and the lake generates mutant squirrels, resulting in the EPA encasing the town in a glass dome (see what I mean about the plot?). Because no one can leave the town due to the dome things get pretty bad in Springfield. And when the town figures out that Homer was the cause of their misery they take matters into their own hands.

As you might expect, Homer has an opportunity to make amends late in the film and things end happily. All of the old favorites are there, but most only briefly (since there are about 300 characters). Alas, there is no Kang or Kodos. I recall Patty and Selma showing up in Marge and Homer's wedding video, but not speaking (maybe I missed something). There are also a couple of new characters - a new Irish boyfriend for Lisa and an Inuit wise woman who Homer calls "Boob Lady".

Stay through the credits and you will be treated to a fantastic, Tim Burton-esque version of the spider pig song (spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider pig does), as well as Maggie's first spoken word.

The Simpsons may have degraded a bit since their prime in the early to mid 1990s, but it still delivers the goods. Go see the movie if for nothing else than to make your family seem sane.

The Simpsons Movie in Prague...

Today (Thursday) is the premier of The Simpsons Movie in Prague. According to the internet (so it must be true) the movie doesn't open until tomorrow in the US. Of course, the challenge here is finding it in English. Although it might be amusing to watch it in Czech, I would prefer the original voices, and a language I understand.

So I went to www.expats.com and started checking the web sites of the individual movie theatres, of which there are many. Starting at the top and working my way down I kep seeing the same words - Český dabing (dubbed in Czech). Doh!!! One after another, only Český dabing. Ah, but one theatre with three screens showing The Simpsons Movie actually had, in English no less, "in original language"! I'm saved. The theatre is Slovansky dum, where Kathy and Noah and I have gone for a couple of movies as part of a group from the international school.

So, tonight at 6:10 I will be in my comfortable stadium seat with my tub o'popcorn and 2 liter cup of Coke Lite all settled in to enjoy the movie. I will try to post my review tomorrow.

Note: It's been a long time since I have been to a movie where I have had great expectations. The more recent movies I have seen I expected to be bad, so that when they sucked less than I expected I judge them as being pretty good. I have the bar set pretty high for The Simpsons Movie.