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Posts Tagged ‘Poe’

Where are we going at 1 o’clock in the morning?

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , on November 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Last week we woke the boys up at 1 in the morning on October 29th and told them to get in the rocket sled. We told them we were going a grand adventure. They first guessed AMNH but quickly realized we were traveling the wrong way. So they guessed Philly Museum of Natural History, Museum of Art, Franklin Institute, Camden Aquarium, and the response was no, no, nope, no…. Then they see the sign for Baltimore. Younger son calls out, “Oh, we’re going to Poe’s grave for Halloween!” No, but good idea for next year.

As we drove past Baltimore and they realized they were passing the furthest most southern point yet traveled in their lives, they asked for a clue. We said “W”. Older son then quietly asked, ” Are we going to Walt Disney World? ”

Yes.

Total disbelief.

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Super Bowl

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

First, when I think football, I don’t think Kennedys.  This was the first Super Bowl the boys stayed up to watch.  They had a field goal of a time.  We cheered for the Ravens in honor of Poe.  It was a good game and I actually paid attention to the game in addition to the commercials.  I enjoyed listening to the boys as they grew more comfortable with using football terminology.  We’re not dreadfully athletic so they aren’t very learned in the ways of sports.

Some of the commercials were just silly.  My sons have great reactions to the commercials and really offer an honest perspective about goofy advertising trends.  They couldn’t understand why the Calvin Klein commercial couldn’t have just shown the underwear, didn’t get the gangnam pistachio commercial, and didn’t get the Axe commercial about the astronaut (I don’t think anyone got that one).

My favorites were the Stevie Wonder commercials for Bud Light.  Amazing song, voodoo is always intriguing, and the commercials stayed neutral to the teams playing but brilliantly capitalized on the location of the game.  The spots will always be connected to this specific game.  The lights going out in the stadium?  Very superstitious…

stevie1

A late ad that almost bumped Stevie from his perch was the Budweiser commercial with the Clydesdale and Landslide.  First, one of my favorite songs, sing it, Stevie.  Then the whole Americana of the Budweiser Clydesdales.  They’re tradition.

So in the end, I can safely say my favorite commercial involved a Stevie.  And, the evening actually had an interesting game.  The boys and I made references to Poe, the Miner 49er, and Scooby Doo.  miner 49

We ate a “football dinner”.  And they tried out using football terms in the safety of their living room (sounding adorable as they did.  I just hope I didn’t teach them something the wrong way-I’m not the greatest at football terms).

The Super Bowl did what it is supposed to do, at least for me.  I spent time with people I really like.  Not just my boys, I even spent time with a bunch of good friends through facebook.  Social media worked tonight too.

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An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , , on October 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

What a wonderful time of year to introduce your sons to Poe.  Tonight my sons and I enjoyed reading “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Haunted Palace”, and “The Raven”.  As my sons are only six and eight, we obviously discussed the Red Death paragraph by paragraph, even sentence by sentence, to assist with comprehension.  Still, I knew they’d be interested.  Gothic literature, plague, grand settings, a wonderfully macabre story of elite party guests being trapped and killed by a wicked disease that kills in thirty minutes.  What boy wouldn’t love this story?

I love that my sons are comfortable enough to ask about what they don’t know.  Very William Shatner of them.  They were quite opinionated about the Red Death.  My oldest commented how stupid they were to think that by simply locking themselves away wouldn’t protect them from germs since germs aren’t stopped by a locked door.  With “The Raven”, to be truthful, they got tired of the bird saying “Nevermore”, which reminded me of Bart Simpson’s “eat my shorts”.

“The Haunted Palace” is very sad.  The images of the ghosts floating around, the tattered memories.  The most fun part for me was to get my sons engaged in one of my favorite authors.  The detail in the descriptions and narratives are stunning and create such images for the reader to embrace.  The descriptions of the seven rooms of the apartment in Red Death are exquisite.  To help my sons relate to it, we counted the rooms on our second floor (seven) but imagined each room was as big as our entire second floor.  It helped them to visualize how massive the structure was.  As we read about each room and the colors, we looked around at similar colors in our home.  To capture the picture of the stained glass window, we looked at the small stained glass panel hanging in our living room window and imagined how it would appear with flames shining behind it.

Many people would think that eight and six-year-old boys aren’t ready for Poe, or Hamlet, which they’ve already been introduced to.  The same goes for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  We use different ways to help them connect to it and that includes film.  Particularly for Hamlet, as play are to be seen.  Each story is creepy and connects to our sons.  And, why not?  Life is too short to wait to learn about these awesome stories.

Anyhoo (to quote our eldest’s favorite colloquialism) I must away.  Till tomorrow.  Pleasant dreams of the Red Masque…

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