Hollywood Blood

As a pop culture geek who grew up in the Star Wars (original trilogy) generation, I’ve picked up some odd, geek knowledge in my youth. As a father, I never thought I would be imparting some of that odd knowledge to my own children, at least not until a recent inquiry my 7 year old son made to me. He wanted to know if the blood you see on TV when someone gets cut or hurt was real.

Now, the reason he even questioned whether it was real or not is because in our household we try to separate reality from what we call TV or movie magic. Our children know that monsters like Godzilla aren’t real (in fact, they know it’s a guy in a suit and they still love it) or that zombies are just people in make-up. We’ve been to Universal Studios to see how things in movies are made. They know that characters in theme parks are just people in costumes.

So, instead of sitting there and telling my son that it was fake blood and leaving it at that, I took it as an opportunity to educate in a fun and interesting way. I learned many years ago that makeup artist Rick Baker, who worked on Star Wars, made screen blood with Karo syrup and red food coloring.

I headed to the kitchen with my son and took went to the cabinet and pulled out some Karo syrup and some red food coloring. I placed some of the Karo syrup into a small, clear plastic container and added a couple of drops of the food coloring. I mixed it up and I could see a big grin on his face. He was impressed, especially when I put some on my arm to show him how it looks.

“Can I taste some?” he asked.

“Sure, but it is going to be very sweet,” I replied, as if that would deter him, suddenly realizing that no child would ever refuse to eat something after you’ve told them it would be sweet.

He thought that the syrup tasted like honey and he couldn’t wait to show his little sister the TV “blood” we had created when she woke up from her nap.

Sometimes as a parent, we find ourselves just telling our children why things are the way they are but many times it is great to surprise them with odd knowledge you might possess to make the answer much more interesting and fun.

Ni Hao, Round Eye!

"Daddy, why does Kai-Lan have such round eyes?"
"That's what you call an idealized representation of Chinese features."
"What does that mean... idealized?"
"It's when art tries to improve upon reality."
"Oh... so, round eyes are better than narrow eyes?"
"Well, DUH! Don't you watch television?"
"I want round eyes too."
"Well, if you're lucky, you can marry a man with round eyes, and maybe your children will have round eyes too."
"I wish mommy married someone with round eyes, so that I could have round eyes also."
"I'm sorry honey, but that's what happens when you marry a man for the content of his character, regardless of his epicanthic fold."

Asian Grandparents on Jakers

Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, is the animated show about Piggley Winks, an anthropomorphic Irish pig who shares stories of his childhood in Ireland with his American grandchildren.

At the end of each episode is a segment called "Meet the Grandparents" in which real-life human children talk with their own grandparents about their childhood experiences...

From the episode "Dannan's American Cousin" is a Filipino granddad, or Lolo, as we would call him:


From the episode "Wish Upon a Story" is this Chinese grandma, with her grandson. I know, I know, the kid obviously doesn't look Chinese. That's probably because he is one of many white kids adopted into Asian families. ;)

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan on Nick Jr. February 7, 11AM

By now you may have already heard of the upcoming Nick Jr. show, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, which premieres on February 7.

A la Dora and Diego, Kai-Lan and her pals are bilingual, speaking Mandarin and English interchangeably, but with an added emphasis on biculturalism. "Ni Hao, Kai Lan reinforces the idea that being bicultural and bilingual is being American," going beyond just ethnic food and festivals.

The curriculum for the show, as outlined on the Nick Jr. website includes the following:

• Mind-body connection -Typically, television portrays excitement as the good emotion to feel. In many Chinese-American communities, the good thing to feel is often calmness and contentment. Feeling excited and feeling calm can both be happy feelings, but they differ in how aroused the body is.
• Perspective-taking - In many Chinese and other East Asian families, children are encouraged to take the perspective of others to maintain harmony in relationships with other people.
• Being a good member of the group - Ni Hao, Kai-lan also emphasizes the Chinese and Chinese American value of being a good member of a group.
• Social & Emotional Goals - Highlight cause-and-effect thinking about social and emotional issues germane to preschoolers and to support preschooler's social and emotional development.

Our lil Sunshine is probably too young (12 months) to get anything useful out of the show. But in the absence of a Berlitz course, you can bet that this RiceDaddy will be watching hoping to learn as much Mandarin as he can.