Adventure Time fan art

There is an ongoing discussion in our house about the value of fan art.  It stems from The Man and I disagreeing about who owns a fictional character or popular image once it's been digested through human imagination that is not of the creator.  The childs have entered into the discussions from both theoretical and artistic viewpoints.

This morning the childs were on top of the bunk bed, reading Adventure Time comics and drawing pictures.  Adventure Time is a great example of creators embracing fan art.  The back of every comic has a selection of fan art and, as we learned in this PBS Off Book mini-documentary, the Fiona and Cake characters were created as fan art and then adopted by the show.   

Below is girl child's picture of Finn being transformed into a magical butterfly, Barbie Mariposa style.  I'm not sure how Jake fits in but I get that he's becoming extra magical in some way.

I would tell you all about why I think fan art is a worthy endeavor, but I think the PBS fan art video does a pretty good job of it.  Go watch it, we'll wait...

Here is the downside, I think, to having the children consume, imagine and then create anew Adventure Time media: Lumpy Space Princess.  Girl child knows how much LSP pushes my buttons and she loves to indulge in performance fan art.  Here is a little tidbit she gave me this morning (and if you are on my Facebook, I apologize that you have to read it twice in one day):

Me: Girl child, will you please stop talking like Lumpy Space Princess?

Girl child: Oh. My. Lumps. You're just jealous of all my hot lumps.

Me: One...

Girl child: I'm all, like, lumpy hotness and you're all smooth and lame. I can't live under pressure of, like, my hotness! Everyone wants to be all me.

Me: Two...

Girl child: If anyone needs me, I'll be out on my, like, trampoline, being all hot and lumpy...

Exit girl child.

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P.S. Today was girl child's fifty four public performance, with her monologue as the grand high witch from Roald Dahl's The Witches. She wore her cape, of course.

Attack of the Lumpy Space Princess clothes pegs

I knew they'd get around to it eventually.

Yesterday's craft was a bust, at least as far as actually engaging the childs, but then this morning I woke to busy little hands at the table.  The childs had pulled everything out for themselves. 

They didn't fancy the paints today, however (part of me was glad), and the felt pens worked just fine for their project.

Presenting Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum and the Nice King being swarmed by a self cloning cloud of Lumpy Space Princesses.  (Yes, the NICE king - y'all caught that episode, right?)

It's odd to say that only a few short months ago we were completely innocent of the experience of Adventure Time but it has quickly become very dear to my children.  Despite my continuing objections to the show, it does have seem to have charmed my childs.  LSP and Ice King in particular (my kids always love the bad guys best).  Have I mentioned that boy child has asked for the Adventure Time theme to be his special bedtime song, the last thing he hears before he falls asleep?  Actually, since he likes to sleep with a giant preserved bee embedded in glow in the dark resin, singing Adventure Time to him is one of the most normal things about boy child's falling-to-sleep routine.

I swear, the kids aren't always stuck to a screen.  It just looks that way on, you know, the screen.


But, still, it's a fun little show.  And we even found a couple more Adventure Time toys from that giant fast food corporation that I'd prefer not to mention's toys in the thrift stores already.  We'll ride this fascination for awhile yet.

show week one

For anyone who has done theatre, I don't have to tell you how busy and surreal show week is.  For us, we totally suspend our regular activities, mostly on purpose, but sometimes by accident (such as the eye appointments we missed yesterday morning).  Since I can't show you much in terms of my sewing, I thought I'd share some of the strangeness of show week.

Girl child is in full dress rehearsals everyday this week from four to nine in the evening.  That means she comes home about two hours later than her normal bedtime.  For me, I spend that time in the costume room getting the last details together for the show.  It's a high energy sort of occasion and hard to carve out moments to just breathe.  Especially trying to coordinate with The Man to care for boy child and make sure they both get some resemblance of nutrition and attention.  Though boy child would be happy if we left him alone all week with a bucket of cupcakes and his video games, that's not going to float for me.  The Man actually might not mind that plan, either, come to think of it.  Haha, but just No.

The show opens this Friday, then there are two shows on Saturday.  Next week there are four day time shows for school kids, then four over the weekend until the last show next Sunday.  Nearly everyday for the next two and a half weeks is hair and make up for girl child.  She must do her own theatre make up (which looks quite funny close up but allows the audience to see the actor's face under the bright stage lighting) but I still have to help her with her hair. 

Morning are dedicated to relaxing.  Which probably isn't too much of a break from our regular routine but feels extra luxurious when the evenings are so late and frantic.

Apparently having to dodge mom's camera is a hazard of hanging out reading in your bed in your panda hat.  Because being adorable is so hard.

Should I mention while girl child is all chillaxin' in bed, her mom is running around trying to do laundry, clean cat boxes, do dishes, make and pack meals, tidy up the house, discover the burn on the couch (from a make up mirror that reflected the sun through the window and BURNT A HOLE INTO THE LEATHER COUCH!!!), read to boy child, miss doctor's appointments and get the boy to kindergarten?

Okay, moving on.

A sheet of paper I found on the table.  Girl child was testing out her felts she keeps in her bin for the green room for quiet activities.  I don't know whether this is worrisome or just plain funny.  Girl child said that every colour was evil, but evil in its own way, and if the colour could talk, this is what it would say:

No, really she's a good kid.  Just clever.  Which hardly ever translates to sweet and innocent.

One last picture for you.  This is how I find the childs when they get up before me in the morning.  Glued to Adventure Time - yes, they've become devoted fans since the Jake thingee came into our house.

And now girl child is hanging off my arm, claiming my blogging is cutting into her learning time.  Apparently she still wants to do the homeschool thing this week too.  Oy-vey.

a thing

On Saturday, The Man and I make a plan to not bring in any new stuff into our house.  On Sunday, we take the boy child to his friend's birthday party at That Place with a certain clown.  Boy child was hoping they'd have sushi, which goes to show where we're at as a family.  I don't know whether to be pleased that boy child does not know the golden arches is a burger joint or embarrassed that my five year old expects sushi at a birthday party.

No sushi on the big board anyway and boy child got his meal in a box that includes a toy.  Which we had to bring home, of course.  Our first reminder, only twenty four hours into our challenge, that what we possess, possess us.  And now we have a thing here.  I don't even know what it is. 



It has no eyeballs. That doesn't seem right. 

Boy child has, of course, grown unilaterally attached to it immediately.  Every time I look at the thing, it seems to be mocking me, 'You thought you were in control, you thought you could limit your stuff, but no, stuff has a free highway right into the heart of your world and you will never stop us!! HAHAHAHA!'

I admit the battle to the thing, but not yet the war.