Guest Post: That Thing You Love Doesn’t Always Love You Back by Spencer Ellsworth
‘Til All Are One, Buy All Our Playsets & Toys! I’m just old enough to have been raised on VHS tapes. Every weekend in the 80s, my sisters and I would go to the little video store in our tiny California town, right next to the feed store, to pick something out of the 1$ rental shelf for the weekend. I always picked Transformers: The Animated Movie. This piece of ’80s insanity is a hyper-violent, bonkers-weird, hour-and-a-half toy commercial. Hasbro wanted to clear the 1984-1985 model toys, especially those that weren’t selling well, from toy store shelves and introduce new characters. So the first half-hour of the movie, ahem, transforms the franchise. Unlike the syndicated cartoon, a consequence-free zone of stun guns, the animated movie follows Megatron as he mows down Autobots with gruesome detail, climaxing in the brutal death of Optimus Prime from a gaping stomach wound. Oh sure, these are robots with scratched chassis and cut fuel lines, but they fall and scream and mutilate like the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan.
Adventures in SF Parenting: Retro Playtime
Technology is awesome, just sayin’. As I explained in my post “Video Games are Edumacational,” I fundamentally believe that video games can be a wonderful educational tool for children. Beyond that, merely interacting with technology actually gives children a leg-up in our tech heavy environment. With schools utilizing iPads, Smart Screens, and computers on a regular basis, those children who have interacted with technology at home on a regular basis have a distinct advantage over those who have not. Having said all this, there is something equally crucial about putting down the tablet and picking up a game of Pick-Up Sticks.
