Michael 12

Last year of pre-teen?  Scary, but he's still kid-hearted, which we love.  As a special wish, Michael used his savings to host a Universal Studios trip - school day, no less - for 4 lucky friends + Jack.The boys love the physical comedy of Lucille Ball. BTW, vintage TV seems to be the way to go as a reprieve from the onslaught of kiddie humor and action hero entertainment these days. Chaplin, Marx Brothers, Three Stooges.  Or classics, such as Jacque Tati's Mon Uncle, which inspired Monty Python.

The tour was actually fascinating, though much more ramped up as a "ride," compared to decades ago when I went as a YMCA summer camp leader.

The Flintstone's cave-man mobile.

French philosopher, Baudrillard, noted that the border between Disneyland and the rest of Southern California was entirely arbitrary, as the line between fantasy and reality was blurred here.

No accident that the examples of postmodernism were, more often than not, from Los Angeles, a city whose major livelihood stems from making the real fake and vice versa.

The disaster scenario (plane crash) fabricated above reminded me anew of the power of image-based media, not only in reproducing catastrophes, but inspiring it. No accident that the 9/11 pilots' most treasured accomplishment was controlling the image of the planes crashing into the towers; Hollywood spilling, even tragically, into everyday life.

Hallow's Eve

This marks a return to blogging, after an Instagram detour - our foray into social media had mixed results. Initially a concession to Michael's felt need to relate to peers, it quickly devolved, as the desire for attention moved center stage; felt contrived somehow.  Following entities  - Disney, websites, individuals 2x removed - showed how quickly the lives of children were integrated into imnpersonal social space and ad cycles.

Anyway, I give you our Minion!and Zorro!  Michael never saw the shows before; the cape and mask were key.

Carolyn dressed as a Ratatouille chef!

Our Halloween affairs have been low-key affairs: mummy dogs!

Graveyard dip. Father?son nerds.

The mathematician taking inventory.

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Reformation Day, All Saints' Day, and All Hallow's Eve fall on roughly the same day, though celebrated discretely.  Scaring spooks as a victory high-5 for believers 1000 years ago reclaims - in theory - the old practice, but its mostly just about candy and scary decor.  That case of Noh dolls in the above photo - a medieval form of theater with direct links to Japanese Buddhism - is curiously in the background, gjven that many Noh plays similarly invoke spirits as a rebuke, trying to rid the present of unwanted ghosts needing to continue their journey in the afterlife.

Still, the revolving door of pagan-Christian-pagan-Christian traditions each coopting each other's practices makes the mind spin.

And given the change in church practice this fall - we are now meeting at a sister congregation in Santa Clarita 40 minutes away - the rhythm of the church calendar is at once familiar, even as a particular church becomes distant and strange.  Congregations, seasons, cultural iconography - all seem to be in motion.