The sun is shining, the tank is clean... Okay, the tank has algea creeping up the sides, but that's neither here nor there. Yesterday, we took the kids to see the National Geographic documentary, The March of the Penguins. ATTN: chrissykiedis: you do NOT want to see this. Okay, you SHOULD, but my tender little fillet, the rare scenes that show the hardness of life for Emperor Penguins in th Antarctic made me hang my head with sorrow, LITERALLY. So you will have an "Old Yeller" type reaction.


Three whole minutes of silent, pristine footage of the continent. The cleanest place on our planet. A little history lesson from our Pangea days, and then you see a blurry image, like a woman in a burka in the desert. Hee! The camera pulls in and its the line of penguins making their trek (70 miles!!) to the innermost section of the ice cap to mate.

The footage of the penguins finding their mate, along with Morgan Freeman's narration, "We don't know what they are looking for in a mate, we only know when they've found each other." Cut to a picture of two penguins leaning against each other, eyes closed in bliss. They kiss. They stroke each other. There were several minutes of them making love, and let me tell you, I felt like a voyeur. anelith? Don't worry about the kids. It's not gratuitous, and it's so moving and sweet, it shouldn't be a problem if they ask, "what are they doing?" I replied: loving each other. They accepted that.

The movie goes on to REALLY show the harshness of life there, how nothing is more important to the new parents than to protect the egg, and the images of the fathers, walking on their heels for FOUR MONTHS with the egg balanced on the tops of their feet to protect them from the ice, and the inevetable horror of what happens if that egg falls off and lands on the ice... We sat in horror, too. My son had his hands over his mouth and was saying quietly, "Oh no! Oh no!" to himself. Astounding. And the overwhelming sorrow the parents displayed was heartbreaking. They hang their heads in their sadness and make quiet hooting noises to each other.

But before you think this movie is harsh and sad, it is about LOVE! It's the Moulin Rouge of the documentary world! Okay, that'll make sense to about ten of you. The babies! Their teeny faces! There immediate recognition of their father and mother! The parents sitting stock still and looking at their baby for the first time! They just... they just beam at their new child. Birds. So beautiful. The babies growing up, learning to walk, learning to play and group together... Those moments had everyone in the audience laughing and giggling. Everyone stayed in their seats until the credits were done. EVERYONE. Even small children. There's a little "how we did it" montage alongside the credits that is amazing, by itself.

As we left the theater, my son said to us, "Now that's what I call a good movie. It wasn't cartoonic, or have fighting, it was real, you know?" Heh. Alright, Paula Kael. He's nine. I love that he is so wrapped up in his PlayStation and Manga and all the things that certain groups tell you will desensitize your child, and he's my most sensitive. The sad things really hurt his heart, but overall, the movie is so joyous and uplifting.


In other news, my three year old (soon to be four in a week. OMG.) told me yesterday she was made in a factory, with glue, and her hair is made from owls. Heeee!

Finally, if you've friended my baby comm, celeb_letters2u, and you like what you've seen, feel free to pimp it. Or tell me where to go pimp, because I'm clueless in that regard. I've gotten over 150 hits on the User Info page alone, so I'm interested in getting that number waaaay up. Some fic coming later. Beautiful day today. Life is good. But first, I must drink coffee...