Monday, March 19, 2012

Sam and Sir. Elton

Today, I dropped something off at a friend's house and Sam and her brother waited for me in the car. I left the radio on and when I came back, Sam announced "Mom! My favorite song from Gnomeo and Juliet came on while you were gone!"
I told her I was happy for her and asked what song it was. She didn't know what it was called, but "It's totally my favorite song!"
Okay, well, all the songs from Gnomeo and Juliet are Elton John songs, so I started fishing around a little--she just told me a few days ago that she also loves "Bennie and the Jets" so this kid is clearly a fan of Sir Elton. I am too, so I think that's kind of adorable.
"Sam, does it go 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart?'" I sang?
"Yes." Well then problem solved. "Oh, wait, Mom. No. No it doesn't."
Hmmmm....was it the new one "Hello, Hello?" I sang a little more. Not well. I'm no singer.
"Nope."
I pretty much gave up on trying to sleuth the song she was talking about until she mentioned it again a few hours later. Plus, I'm really stubborn and it was going to bug me.
I asked her to sing it for me, and she told me she couldn't. She was trying to think of a way to help me though. "But mom...it's about 'if I was a scorcher.'"
Carefully, I repeated "If I was a scorcher?"
"Yeah."
"A scorcher? What's a scorcher?"
Sam looked at me and said "I have no idea."
I thought about that for a few minutes while Sam and Peyton had a snack and then suddenly I yelled excitedly "If I was a SCULPTOR!!?? Sam? Could it be sculptor?"
Sam smiled and said "YES!"
I tried a few more of the lyrics to see if they rang a bell and Sam was saying "Yes, yes!! That's my favorite song! The one from Gnomeo and Juliet!"
Oh. "Your Song." It's one of my all time favorite songs too.
Carry on with your day, citizens. That's exactly what we did.

I am so glad I figured it out though. I also think it's funny that Sam is an Elton John fan. I mean, she's three, and first "Bennie and the Jets" and now "Your Song" added to her "favorites" list in less than a week.  Still, it's way less weird than that intense little obsession she had with Neil Diamond when she was two. In all seriousness, she loved him and only wanted to listen to "Sweet Caroline" for a month or two. At least I also like Elton John. Makes this phase much easier to handle should it continue.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Rock-afire Implosion

So, Netflix suggested I watch a documentary called "The Rockafire Explosion." (Netflix also thinks I'm really weird, but that's a whole different post.) It popped up because I watched and loved "Being Elmo" so I figured they must be pretty similar.
Anyway, my first thought upon seeing it listed was "No way! The Rockafire Explosion, there's some way back memories. Sweet." I do remember the Rockafire Explosion, and Showbiz pizza. I even had my 3rd or 4th birthday party there. Here comes a good little dose of 80's nostalgia, right? Wrong.
The whole documentary is about people who really love the Rockafire Explosion. Really really love it. Like this was more a prolonged episode of TLCs "My Strange Addiction" than a documentary about an audiomatronic 80's band for kids. There were creepy tattoos. There were a lot of people who basically felt that nothing good had happened in their lives since the 80's and they just wanted their Showbiz pizza back. The main story was about a guy who saved up his money from his job as a roller skating rink DJ  (yes, they still have those, and talk about living in the past!) to buy and put an entire re-created show of the original robots in his basement. This was in 2008. Yep. He saved up thousands of dollars to buy a set of robots that hadn't been opened since 1983 and dedicate a home to them. He programs them to sing more current songs, which is kind of awesome on YouTube until you realize that he's not some bored millionaire with money and time to burn--he's put his whole life into this.
I was watching in amazement, unable to look away, when Sam came down and asked what the animals were. I explained that they were what we had as a kid, before Chuck E. Cheese came along and replaced them (I didn't get far enough into the show to see how the people felt about Chuck E. Cheese, but I get the distinct impression they're out for his blood, or motor oil, or whatever.)

After a few minutes of watching the performances with me, Sam says "So, uh, was it supposed to be scary when you were a kid?"
Me: "No, it was supposed to be fun, like Chuck E. Cheese is for you." Apparently the 80's technology doesn't translate, and a friendly mouse is a lot less scary than a full size gorilla, wolf with a creepy puppet, or giant bear.
Sam: "Are you sure? Because this is kind of scary." Seriously--this from a kid who watches the old 1990's Disneyland sing-along-song with the Country Bears without so much as flinching. Her favorite song is "Grim Grinning Ghosts" with the Witch from Snow White, and the Rockafire Explosion was creeping her out.
Me: "I know, Sam. I know." And it was scary, on many levels.  Not the least of which is that I found it in the Netflix category "Popular with people like you" so I spent the whole hour I watched thinking "Holy Crap! These are my people? What does that mean? What do you mean by THAT, NETFLIX?" Not a good feeling.
I've learned that some memories are most definitely better left in the past.  Way in the past, looking through that beautiful haze of nostalgia.
Also, if Sam ever got a tattoo of Yo Gabba Gabba in 20 years, it would kill me. I might keep this documentary in my back pocket as a cautionary tale for the teen years.