Throwback Thursday: Old-School YA: Virginia Nielsen's Mirror, Mirror

Super-mysterious!

Hey All!

Thanks for hanging with me thus far! I've got a ton of exciting things planned for this blog in the weeks ahead, but my schedule has gotten CRAZY. I hope to be posting at least once a week once September hits, but you never know! And now, on to the review...

This week, we'll be taking a look at Virginia Nielsen's Mirror Mirror, published in 1983 by Scholastic's Windswept imprint.

When a friend of mine dug this out of an old box, I really wanted to get excited about this book. But while reading this, I couldn't help but compare it to a Lifetime channel movie. This book has: twins separated at birth, secrets, freak accidents, a psycho murderer, and forbidden, but chaste love. The story moved at a good pace, so there wasn't much time to be bored, but at 155 pages, there wasn't much time to be engaged. The main character, Gillian Topper was a little bit too lovesick lapdog for my taste, and I didn't care enough for the other characters, either. I kept wondering how a book like this would be written in 2013, and perhaps that also contributed to my displeasure. There were some lovely descriptions of Gillian's Valley and Gerry's San Francisco, however, but other than that, this book fell flat.

If you're curious about old-school YA, I would pick this up just for fun. The book is peppered with old-fashioned expressions like "going steady" and "that's neat!" that are sure to make you giggle! When writing descriptions of setting, Ms. Nielsen's writing is tops. But other than the fact they are twins, the main characters are just not that interesting.

My unofficial rating: for teens ages 13 and up, due to adult themes and violence.

Photo Credits

The cover photo of Mirror, Mirror was taken from here. Thank you!

Throwback Thursday: Thundercats are Loose!

Thundercats, HO!

If you were fortunate enough to have been a child for a part of the 1980s, you might remember a gem of a cartoon called Thundercats. (There was a 2011 remake of the cartoon with the same name, but we won't address that in this blog entry). Today we're going to be totally 80s, and talk about what is wrong, and oh so right with Thundercats!

My memory of the cartoon is a little fuzzy, so I wanted to watch one of the beginning episodes. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the first episode. Instead what I found (thanks to YouTube!) was the 1985 Thundercats movie, Thundercats, HO!, which is really more of a mini-series as it was composed of five separate episodes meant be watched on five separate occasions. This means, there was a ton of pointless fights, times where Lion-O ran off alone, got in trouble, was rescued, lather, rinse, repeat, and it happened all over again. The prisoners Lynx-O, Pumyra, and Bengali escaped their captors on three separate occasions, only to be captured again. The plot didn't actually pick up until the last 20 minutes, or what would have been the last episode in the mini-series.

I don't want to talk too much about the absurdity of the plot (the all-powerful and immortal Mumm-Ra sends his goons to do his bidding, but they are always defeated by the Thundercats. If he is so powerful, why does he have to rely on incompetents to do his bidding?) the bad acting, or the sometimes bad animation. I want to talk about the magic of the 1980s that Thundercats embodies.

In the world of the Thundercats, it's perfectly fine to be half-animal, half human. It's even better if you're half cat. It's even better if your name comes from the animal you're supposed to be (Lion-O, Cheetara, Lynx-O). It's even better if you wear leotards. It's even better if you have the technology to go to outer space, but no cell phone. It's even better if you can talk to dead people.

Today for once, I won't talk about plot holes, or political incorrectness. I just want to talk about the freedom to be absurd. The freedom to make up a crazy story, and believe in the plausability of the story, and just have fun with it. There were a couple of times in the story where I felt that if my seven year old daughter had the chance to write for Thundercats, she would absolutely make the same choices. That's how imaginative it was. Pure, creative, craziness, where everyone is invited to join in and lose themselves in this world. Everyone is invited, everyone is welcome--especially cats in leotards!

Parents please be aware, this cartoon is not for small children due to violent images.

Photo Credits

The lovely Thundercats picture was taken from this site.

ABC Family's The Fosters

Tonight I watched the pilot episode of ABC Family's new series, The Fosters. I will be honest with you. I really, really wanted to hate this show. ABC is owned by Disney, and Disney is evil, right? And somehow, after watching the trailers, I felt that the show was trying too hard to be diverse and interesting. It almost seemed like the casting directors had a checklist of races and ethnicities they needed to have in the show. There was Teri Polo playing the blonde police officer, Stef, with the heart of gold. Sheri Saum plays the African-American vice principal of a perfect charter school, and Stef's wife. She also has a heart of gold. Stef has one biological child from her previous marriage with her ex-husband, who happens to be Latino. They adopted a pair of fraternal twins, Mariana and Jesus, played by Cierra Ramirez and Jake T. Austin who used to be their foster kids. And our protagonist, Callie, played by Maia Mitchell rounds out the cast. Before I watched the show I wondered, could they really pull off all the roles without falling into tokenism?

Thankfully, I was pleassantly surprised. If you watch the show, you will see that there are so many layers to the characters that you really begin to feel for them and relate to them as human beings. The acting is superb overall, with each actor adding depth to the characters they portray. By the end of the hour (which flew by) I saw them as a regular family facing struggles like any other. If that is the message the show's creators were trying to send out, I would say they succeeded.

My only complaint would be (and this probably not a problem for anyone else but me) is the lack of chemistry between Stef (Teri Polo) and Lena (Sherri Saum). I wonder if they did this on purpose?

Please be advised, due to violent scenes, this show is for older children.

Photo Credits

The Fosters logo was taken from here.

International Friday: Upin & Ipin and Friends Episode 1, Season 5

Welcome to the first "International Friday" post at Eating Kids' Media! Here we will explore kids' media around the world, because let's face it-- the world is wide and interesting!
Let's get blabbing!

I finally learned how to center a photo!

Upin & Ipin is a 3D-animated cartoon about five-year-old twin boys who live with their sister and grandmother in a village in Malaysia. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this show. I've seen bits and pieces of it, thanks to my Indonesian relatives (Upin and Ipin is also broadcast in Indonesia, oddly enough, with Indonesian subtitles) but I've never actually paid attention (Upin and Ipin's voices always annoyed me) so I always ended up leaving the room after five minutes. But something inside me said it might be a good topic to explore, so here we are today.

The episode I chose to watch was Episode 1, Season 5, "Belajar Lagi?" (Study again?). I chose this episode at random, because I knew that the characters don't age, like the Simpsons, so it wouldn't matter which episode I watched. In this episode, Upin and Ipin come back to school after an unnamed school holiday. There's lots of drama and excitement as they prepare for school, see their newly-renovated classroom, catch up with old friends, and play a game in school. After watching this 20 minute episode, I can honestly say that I am an Upin and Ipin convert.

Upin and Ipin is just pure kid fun. They might be Malaysian kids, but they act like any other kid on the planet. Everything about life is amazing to them, from the shoe polish that their sister uses on their shoes, to the way their new classroom shines. This show is a celebration of the magic of being a kid, without being too heavy-handed or moralistic. My favorite scene, and this is a SPOILER ALERT, in case you were thinking of watching, is when their classmate, Mail walks in to the classroom like a cowboy. When Mail's classmates ask him what's wrong, there is a unified gasp of horror when he answers, "circumcision." Circumcision is an everyday thing in a Muslim-majority country like Malaysia. But to see it through the eyes of a child brings laughter and joy to even a jaded adult like me.

If you're looking for something different to watch with the little ones, or you just want a good laugh, I recommend Upin and Ipin. I would like to say one final thing, however. I am not familiar with the socio-political situation in Malaysia, but there was one character who gave me pause. Upin and Ipin's classmate, Jarjit, is a Sikh boy (evident from the turban he wears) with a booming, adult voice. I'm not exactly sure if this is a stereotype, or if this is meant to be derogatory. If anyone out there knows, feel free to drop me a line, and I will post your answer on this page.

Photo Credits

The image of Upin & Ipin was taken from here.

Coming soon! Let's get some print media up in here! Plus a guest blog (or two) from my writer/editor friend, Shabana! Stay tuned logged in!

Also, don't forget to comment, share a post, or email me. My electronic door is always open!