Inner Child

I sometimes tell people that all you ever needed to know in life is in the animated Pixar classic "Finding Nemo". If I could only keep one single movie - that would be the one. Why? Lots of reasons, but that's a movie I've seen 50 or more times and hope to see 50 more more times.

I went to see Toy Story 3 last night. It was wonderful. I don't generally provide detailed movie reviews here but I'll make an exception here.

I'll admit that I tend to have a perhaps unfair sense of doubt when it comes the the third installment in a series of movies. Often, by then, the creativity and care that made the first in the series wonderful has long since been drained so what's left is a disappointing death march more appropriate for direct to DVD than to a theater. I'm a little concerned that Shrek 3 is on that path....

There are certainly exceptions to this rule. For example, I feel that each of the Bourne movies was great in its own way. Lord of the Rings? That too.

But this movie last night may well have been the best of the already stellar Toy Story series. Although I've already used the word to describe it the one word that comes to mind to describe it is "wonderful". It was another Pixar masterpiece that somehow finds a way to make you laugh and cry, that makes you appreciate the adult messages but also tickles your inner child, and is as visually stimulating, creative, and just generally "fun" as anything you'll see any where any time.

The "score" of this movie on RottenTomatoes.com (that's where I go to get information about movies) is 99 - see it here - that's the highest I've ever seen. In my opinion, it's well deserved.

There were a number of trailers for upcoming movies prior to the film that I'm also very much looking forward to seeing.

Here's one:

Here's another one (from Disney):

There were a couple of others, as well. It was a fun night at the movies, and another enjoyable evening with a very special friend.

On a more serious note, I was enjoying my first cup of coffee this morning and there was a story on TV about a young Yale woman who has cancer and is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. Those kinds of things really move me, and this one did as well. A group of friends have rallied around her to help in a worldwide search for a donor match. They've dubbed it "Become Mandi's Hero" (read about it here):

There's a website for the effort that gives the simple steps to follow to become part of the network of marrow donors (see it here). I'm going to sign up as I'm sure that there are many, many people like Mandi who are in need of donors...

Lastly for this morning, I'm headed to my very first baby shower today. I'll have more on it later, but this is another "first" for me. I'm not quite sure what happens at a baby shower, but I've asked friends and am looking forward to this. A friend who has grown children and I were shopping to buy diapers for the event and we both agreed that we enjoyed our parenthood years when our kids were young, but we're both glad that those years are done.

As Father's Day comes and goes I'm sure I'll spend a little time thinking about my continuing enjoyment of being my son's dad. People can assign whatever words that make them feel comfortable to it but the fact of the matter is that my son has one dad and that's me - it's a role I very much enjoyed when he was a kid and it's a role I continue to enjoy today. I'm very much enjoying the opportunity to relate to my son as an adult now but no matter how old he gets (or I get) he'll always be my little man. Anyway - I'm sure that I'll have some of those flashback moments to my own experience of being an expecting parent today.....

Gotta go. Lots to do before the baby shower. :)