Two human children are forced to operate a mechanical clock under the supervision of an intelligent cow.

So it's basically Anathem meets The Far Side.

Bunny has just graduated from Sprout to Nick Jr. This means I'll no longer be subjected to the Sprout lineup and I'll have to put up with Nick Jr. instead. In honor of this occasion, here are my ratings of the Sprout shows I've been watching with her, where 5 = great and 0 = Barney.

Thomas and Friends - 3.
A solid three. Apparently kids love it, for reasons that completely escape me. It's solid and sensible, with lots of lines like "Sir Toppam-Hatt was cross with Thomas. 'I'm cross with you, Thomas,' said Sir Toppam-Hatt." But it's not in-your-face annoying, and there's nothing to really complain about. So, 3.

Wibbly Pig, Kipper the Dog - 5.
The only two shows I actually enjoy. They are clever, attractively animated, and cute but low-key. The characters don't feel the need to SHOUT! EVERY! WORD! Even the theme music is fun. I still catch myself singing under my breath, "Hey Wibbly! What-tare we go-ing to dooo to-day?" or "Like a dog, like a dog, like a dawwwwg ... now that's a toad not a frog!"

Angelina Ballerina - 4.
I'm not super engaged by the show but Bunny loves it - of course it helps that it's about a ballerina. I like that the situations and conflicts are presented realistically, and the voice actors' various accents sound natural and not exaggerated or caricatured.

Sid the Science Kid - 1.
Ugh. Just ugh. Take the kid's microphone away NOW.

Caillou - 2.
Caillou's saving grace is that it annoys me slightly less than Sid. Caillou's voice gives me a headache.

Super Why - 3.
Shakespeare it is not, but what it lacks in dramatic depth it makes up in educational value. It does, actually, get Bunny involved in the reading exercises, so I'll give it credit for mission accomplished.

OK, I will admit that I was not prepared for "Thomas and Friends" being narrated by George Carlin.

("'Well, for one thing,' puffed Thomas ...")

When I'm not captive to Bunny's entertainment on Sprout, I'm currently involved with my own TV obsession - 'Hatufim'. It's the Israeli series on which 'Homeland' is based. I have the first two seasons on DVD, with English subtitles. (My Hebrew is good, but not so good that I don't need captions.) It's just a terrific show - psychological spy drama, with plot twists galore. Major Haim Cohen is the military psychologist charged with questioning two returned POWs about their time in captivity - trying to ascertain how much information they may have given the enemy, and, even more important, whether they may have been "turned". And then he runs up against this sooper-seekrit top-level Mossad operation ... wheels within wheels. Great stuff. Very intense, definitely not advised for children! BTW, the dialog is mostly in Hebrew, with some Arabic. Like I say, it's captioned, so you don't have to know Arabic or Hebrew to enjoy the show - but it helps if you can tell which language they're speaking, because it's not always the one you expect!

I'm working again, doing one of the things I do well - office services. Don't ask me why, but this stupid, picky, administrative stuff is what I'm good at. I've got a gig with Ricoh, and they're rotating me through the several sites they run in downtown San Francisco. I'm doing copy center, mailroom, reception, and probably some filing. I'm enjoying the work and getting good performance reviews. It's good to be back in the professional world.

Bunny went to Disneyland over the weekend with a friend and the friend's mother. She had a good time (although friend's mother was beat). She's doing much better these days - the tantruming hasn't entirely disappeared but it is definitely tapering off.

And now for your listening pleasure, here is Miss Bunny with "Molly Malone":

is my date for "Home Alone". Perfect thing for young impressionable minds.

She has a crush on Macaulay Culkin. Got to say, for a 10-year-old kid (his character is 8) he's a pretty awesome actor.

The story arc is so different when it's in a world with payphones and answering machines instead of cell and mobile internet. 1990 seems a lifetime ago.

I keep thinking Rainbow Light is a pony.

So, my little Bunny is home sick today. Once she gets her appetite back, I'm thinking of doing something fun for her and making a Little Bear -themed meal. Now, this is a challenge, because the Little Bear characters' diet is ATROCIOUS! They are constantly gorging themselves on cupcakes, pies, gingerbread cookies, muffins, cakes, and so on. But so far I've hit on fish (because Father Bear is a fisherman) and blueberries (which figure prominently in a couple of episodes and in the LB movie).

Any LB fans out there have any ideas?

Keeping the little munchkin entertained is no easy task, and I haven't got the patience to sit through "Barney". Fortunately there is some tolerable programming for infants and children out there.

One item we discovered on the internet was this lovely collection of lullabies (what is the correct plural form, anyway?) with animation, produced in Russia. (Proof that Russia is good for something besides LJ spambots.) Unfortunately the original domain http://www.lull.ru/ is expired, but some of the videos have been immortalized on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=www.lull.ru&search=tag

You can also do a search on the Russian phrase " Колыбельные мира ".

Here's the Turkish one:


There are also features in Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Ukrainian, Armenian, and several other langugages. Enjoy.

PS - Here's the Wikipedia entry on the project, "Lullabies of the World":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lullabies_of_the_World

Lullabies of the World (Russian: Колыбе́льные ми́ра; tr.:Kolubelnyye mira) is a Russian animated project begun in 2005, whose goal is to create animated music videos to musical performances of lullabies (in their original languages) from countries around the world. All of the films are directed by Yelizaveta Skvotsova. It is made at Metronome Studio and supported by the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography of the Russian Federation.

20 lullabies are currently completed, and more are being made. The project has received high critical praise within Russia and won a number of awards at film festivals. ...

And an English-language site:
http://www.animator.ru/db/?ver=eng&p=show_film&fid=6889