captain underpants

As I walked outside preparing to go running this morning, I was immediately accosted by one of my neighbors' daughters who asked me if I wanted to buy something for 10 cents. Well, it wasn't really in my plans to buy something for 10 cents at that moment, so I said "no, thank you". But as I was heading to the car she added that she was trying to prove she could raise the money to buy a gerbil. Wanting to support her, I walked over to the market she had layed out in her front lawn... it was a hard choice to make: there were five or six dolls, some clothes for toddlers, and one book: the Adventures of Captain Underpants. Which one do you think I chose?


great literature needs no commentary

But there was an unexpected bonus inside, and even though I gave her 25 cents instead of 10 cents, I think I got a steal. For inside, the artists provided a special Flip-O-Rama, where you could flip two pages in rapid succession and achieve an animation something like this:


great art is like great literature

I used to do those little page-flipping animations in the corners of my books, with two people doing kung-fu. There was usually a scene with a flying kick and a head popping off and bouncing around on the ground. Of course, mine were always stick figures...

Underpants have suddenly emerged as a theme in my life. Last night, I went to visit my friend F, as I always do on Friday night. This time his wife, C, was home (she's usually on call at the hospital), but he didn't kick me out immediately because we hadn't talked since I got my verdict on my defense. So while I was there, little N asked me to read him a book, like he usually does. And usually it's something about a trip to the zoo, or monkeys playing the drums, or something cute... But this time, he pulls out the unparalleled: Once Upon A Potty, by Alona Frankel. I didn't quite know what I was in for, but I was suspicious all the same. Anyway, I got about two sentences into it before F and C realized what I was reading and started laughing; of course, that brought the other kids upstairs. And so I soldiered on with my usual dramatic rendering of little Joshua's wee-wee and poo-poo, the story of a boy's first foray into an independent life .


greatness begins with a potty