Strollerderby : Babble Review

Winter Wonderland Winners . . . Wow!

editors — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:25:00 GMT

As always, there was much too much cuteness in the December Photo Contest. You all made us work hard to pick the winner and winter runner-ups. But Nancy's photo of her snowball lover took the prize which includes the Quinny Buzz 4 with mad accessories and the Maxi-Cosi Mico car seat. Who else gets an honorable (adorable) mention?

Meet Sireesha's chilly little Brooklyn baby -

And Dale Wieczorek Jr.'s mini Santa and his helpers -

Sam's Union Jack looks ready to roll in the snow -

While Jennifer Paulson's babe is doubling as decor -

Never fear, our January Photo Contest is here. Enter the Baby New Year contest to win a "Bringing Home Baby" prize from Medela and Britax worth over $800. We have so much freaking fun on The Babble Playground. You should really join us - today! - April Peveteaux

Wee Hairy Beasties - Holidays Gone Crazy!

editors — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:03:00 GMT

Remember discovering the Mekons on a mix tape with that super cool friend your parents told you to never, ever get in a car with? Luckily a lot of our favorite bands from our youth (and before our youth) are putting out music for the kiddos so you can bond over juice boxes and robot tunes. The Wee Hairy Beasties (led by Jon Langford of the aforementioned Mekons) have been on the kid music scene for awhile now bringing some much-needed hoot and holler to the genre. And the kids love them, see how much here.

The Beasties Holidays Gone Crazy release brings more fun into the alt-country rock kid music scene, as one might expect where the lead singer calls himself Cyril the Karaoke Squirrel (other members include Marjorie the Singing Bee and Monkey Double Dippey). We especially like “Dinosaur Christmas” which manages to feel like a traditional Christmas song while incorporating the term “Santasaurus” seamlessly into the merry-making. - April Peveteaux

Listen to some tracks on the Wee Hairy Beasties MySpace page.

Get Holidays Gone Crazy at Amazon.

Yo Gabba Gabba! DVD & Giveaway

editors — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:18:00 GMT

Part throwback to Sid & Marty Krofft, part sneaker/collectible culture Yo Gabba Gabba! is a fantastic if not bizarro kid show created by members of the So Cal costumed ska band The Aquabats. And they brought their music and movie biz friends along for the (educational) ride. In addition to musical interludes from The Shins, Hot Hot Heat and our own Mates of State, regular segments on Yo Gabba include Biz Markie’s “Beat of the Day” and Mark Mothersbaugh’s “Art with Mark”. But the big stars of the show are costumed creatures Muno, Brobee, Foofa, Toodee and Plex (the magic robot) along side real-life DJ Lance Rock as host/benevolent deity in the sky.

If the cool factor doesn’t impress, you'll still appreciate the life lessons taught by the kid monsters on Yo Gabba: keep trying, don’t give up, don’t bite your friends and even the surrendered - sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

The Dancey Dance Bunch DVD launches the Yo Gabba Gabba! series with four episodes: “Eat,” “Dance,” “Friends” and “Happy” that goes on sale today, and we’ve also got some copies to give away! Also on sale is the soundtrack for the modern classics of Yo Gabba via iTunes download. So go ahead and put aside that Music Together CD and actually enjoy the songs your kids are listening to repeatedly. Pick: “Party in My Tummy” by crowd favorite Brobee, the little green one. - April Peveteaux

Enter to win The Dancey Dance Bunch DVD at babblecontest@gmail.com - subject line “I Like to Dance!” and tell us who your (ahem, your kids’) favorite Yo Gabba character is and why.

Get Yo Gabba Gabba!: The Dancey Dance Bunch (ages 1 +) at Amazon for $12.99.

Fall TV Preview: Imagination Movers - Playhouse Disney

Cole Gamble — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

I should start by saying my daughter and I don't have the same taste in kids’ shows. She's more of a Dora girl; I'm more of a Yo Gabba Gabba dude. I guess I can't blame her; I mostly like Yo Gabba Gabba because it’s just so strange. I can’t expect my four-year-old to share my cultured and detached sense of irony. Yo Gabba Gabba frightens my mother, which makes it a great kids’ show in my book.

What’s This Show About?

So my daughter, Jillian (age 4), and I recently sat down to watch the Imagination Movers a new show featuring a quartet of musicians who dabble in problem solving. The Imagination Movers live in the world's cleanest garage; you could eat an omelet off their work floor. The Movers’ are comprised of four dudes whose acting ranges from merely super excited to psychopathically enthusiastic. They make The Wiggles look like their hopped up on Quaaludes. In other words, just the right tone to get a girl Jillian’s age jazzed.

The Tone

With the Imagination Movers, we’re really in it for the music. So how's that? The Imagination Movers are billed as alternative rock for preschoolers. On their website the they describe themselves as “what would happen if the Beastie Boys collaborated with Mister Rogers.” This comparison isn’t quite accurate, the Imagination Movers don’t rap (the jury’s out on Mister Rogers rap skills). However, they do wear similar jump suits to those worn by the Beastie Boys in their Intergalactic Planetary video. The website further claims the Imagination Movers songs would be right at home on an MTV countdown, which is also misleading. I’d say they were more VH1-y if it weren’t for the fact neither of those music channels play any music. Personally my gold standard for kids’ music is The Backyardigans, with its loopy, surrealistic lyrics and limitless range of genres, from surf rock to folk music. That said, where do the Imagination Movers fit on a scale of kids’ music ranging from The Wiggles (insufferable) to Backyardigans? In the upper registers of the scale, catchy even. I can imagine listening to the Imagination Movers on a long trip and not wanting driving us all off a cliff, high praise indeed.

Details

The Imagination Movers have all the requisite secondary characters: a cutesy girl who drops by regularly, a puppet mouse that lives in their walls and a beige clad man named Knit Knots who represents the utter banality that apparently is anyone who isn’t as peppy as the Imagination Movers. There was a learning factor (they taught us about sound and how it travels in waves) and the show encouraged movement and problem solving. Oh, and the Imagination Movers had enough gadgets to make Bruce Wayne envious, which is a big draw. Gadgets are cool.

The Verdict

But what I think is just a bunch of noise. What did my daughter think? We sat down Ebert and Roper style to hash it out.

Me: How much did you like it?

Jillian: (Opens her arms wide) This much.

Me: Who was your favorite character?

Jillian: The guy with the long hair and the cool goggles (the most psychotically enthusiastic one).

At this point Jillian wanted no more of my questioning, and asked I play the show for her again. This time she walked up closer to the screen and danced along. The show also caught the attention of my normally amuck 2 year old for the duration. So I'd say we’ll be seeing more of the Imagination Movers in our house, and from the dad perspective, it’ll be a welcome addition.

More by this author:

My Daughter Wants A Penis

They Like Big Butts, and They Can Not Lie: Survey Finds Men Prefer Bigger Body Sizes

The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters

The 6 Creepiest Marketing Campaigns Aimed at Children

**The Sh*t List: 10 Bizarre (or Terrific?) Potty Gadgets**

Satan and 9 other bad (but real) baby names

Nipple Jewelry: 5 Products Moms DON’T Need

10 Naughty Things We Do to Our Kids (but keep doing anyway)

The 26 Most Disturbing Kids Movies Ever

What's Next, Shock Collars For Your Kids?!

Fall TV Preview: Sid the Science Kid on PBS

Adrienne Martini — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:00:00 GMT

My oldest kid – she’s six – has the makings of a scientist, if only because she can’t stop asking “why?” every 30 blessed seconds. One of her all-time favorite shows (and mine, if the truth is to be told) is Fetch with Ruff Ruffman, which is a PBS Kids’ program that features an animated dog and kids who are sent out to solve problems. It’s all very silly while remaining smart.

The youngest – he’s three – enjoys Fetch, too, but only because his sister won’t let him change the channel. He has to watch it, unless he wants to go play. And, seriously, who wants to do that when there’s a TV with a talking dog on it?

I doubt he’s getting more than simple enjoyment out of Fetch, which is fine. The concepts are a little to abstract for him to really get a grasp on. Enjoyment has value, sure, but it’d be nice to learn a little, too.

Enter Sid the Science Kid, PBS’ co-production with The Jim Henson Company, which debuts on Sept. 1. Pitched at the pre-school set, Sid explores all of those “why” questions that my older kid can’t stop asking, like ‘why do bananas get mushy” and “why are my shoes shrinking” and “why did mommy ask me to stop talking?”

OK, maybe not that last one.

Still, the Boy loves him some Sid and remained glued to the telly for the entire 25 minutes. His sister, who declared it “lame” when I first popped the disc in, asked to see it again later that night. And again that morning. And again after school. And went to the show’s website to poke around and watch the music clips. Which means we might have different definitions of what “lame” means.

From an adult’s perspective, the jokes are kinda lame, by the standard definition. And Sid’s friends are a little stereotypical, from Gabriela, the tomboy who likes pink, and Gerald, the boy who thinks he’s an airplane. But my perspective is irrelevant because my kids like Sid so much. Which is great because they (and all of their “whys”) are the show's target and it hits that mark well.

Fall TV Preview: Monster Buster Club on ToonDisney

Brett Singer — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:30:00 GMT

This animated series, airing in the U.S. on ToonDisney, is about a club. That busts monsters. Yawn.

Here are the basics: a group of four vaguely ethnically diverse kids are part of a "secret society" that protects Earth from alien intruders. Of course, no one can know that these normal (if a bit annoying) middle school kids are in fact keeping their planet safe. So they live in fear of being discovered… well, that's giving them too much credit. They mention every now and then that no one can know who they are. Of course, they could try wearing masks that actually hide their identities, and not bust monsters while the school play is being performed. In front of everyone they know. But hey, why quibble?

The episode I watched, "Acting Out," explains very little of the background; poking around the interwebs I found out the names of the four main characters, the fact that their leader is an old man who is an alien and the grandfather of one of the members, and also that it is never really explained just where this secret society came from. It doesn't really matter, because the show is a mish-mash of elements from other animated series: think "Men in Black" meets "Power Rangers" meets "Little Einsteins". I'm not going to bother giving you the specifics; if you're interested, check out this page on Wikipedia or the official web site.

The plot of "Acting Out" has the same weird obsession with fame that you find on many Disney shows ("Hannah Montana", "High School Musical"). After the club saves an eight-armed talent agent from a lizard-creature (who turns out to be a rival agent – oh, did I spoil the surprise ending? Good, now you don't have to watch the show) he offers to make them "superstars." They get excited until the old man in charge tells them, "Monster Buster Club is a top secret operation, so you can't be superstars." The kids are, of course, bummed out. One of them decides to make commercials that only air on other planets. Of course, now he thinks he's a big star and he's ignoring his Monster Busting duties. Then the granddaughter of the old man in charge, who is not from Earth, ends up playing Juliet in the school play, and the lizard guy comes after her because he can't get to the kid doing commercials… It's a little bit hard to follow, less because it's complicated and more because it's not remotely interesting.

The animation is all computer-generated; think "Jimmy Neutron" but with a smaller budget. (A review on about.com claims that Disney says the budget for the show is $21 million, but, to paraphrase Chris Rock, somebody must be walking around with $20 million in their pocket.) The voices are either just poorly synced or the show was originally recorded in a language other than English (I think it’s the latter, which is foolish.) In general, everyonetalkseallyfast, which is probably because the characters are spouting some of the lamest lines on television. When the lizard-like alien who shows up in the first four seconds escapes: "He's getting away… and even worse, he squished my fruit." When they encounter said lizard-like alien again: "Don’t stick out your tongue, it's not polite…I've seen faster tongues on an old pair of sneakers."

The show claims to be targeted at ages 6-11, but with so many better entertainment options out there, "Monster Buster Club" will only catch on because the Disney Marketing Machine will cram it down everyone's throats. Not recommended.

image: about.com

Mr. Rogers Talking Keychain

Why the puppy games are better than the Olympics

8 year old blues guitarist not allowed to play in bars

Nastia Luikin's mom watches from the stands (video)

Fall TV Preview: Martha Speaks on PBS

Is it ever OK to hit your kids?

Oy vey, Miley showed her tuchas again

Old Jonas Brothers CD priceless

Family Movie Night – Hairspray

Son stabs father over haircut

Review: Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D

editors — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:45:00 GMT

Note: This week's review is by 9-year-old Alexandra, as told to Babble editor Gwynne Watkins. Take it away, Alex!

I'm glad I didn't get up to go to the bathroom in the middle -- I would rather have peed my pants than miss that! I recommend that movie to people who like action-y science fiction-y movies -- that's me -- I basically read fantasy. I think my friends would like it, or kids older than me. It was scary! I covered my eyes about five times for a half hour at a time. The bird that was extinct was cool, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex. I recognized the names of the rocks from my Rocks and Minerals unit at school -- like feldspar. I thought it was ridiculous when they lit the flare and went up Mount Vesuvius. Also, wouldn't they have run out of oxygen? Trevor (Brendan Fraser) reminded me of Remus Lupin from Harry Potter. And the other guy (Josh Hutcherson) was from Bridge to Terabithia -- I hated that movie! I give Journey to the Center of the Earth: 3D an infinity positive. Unlike Bridge to Terabithia, which I give an infinity negative.

Gwynne would like to add that Alex totally called a couple of plot twists before they happened, and didn't buy that anyone could make the journey the characters make in the film without dying about eighty times. (Also, Gwynne liked Bridge to Terebithia.) Still, both of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and shrieked every time the 3D giant piranhas leaped at us from the screen.

Giveaway: Win "The Muppet Show: Season 3" DVD!

editors — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:00:00 GMT

There are a few different ways to watch The Muppet Show: The Complete Third Season. You can view it as a freakish collection of pop-culture oddities: Gilda Radner singing Gilbert and Sullivan with a seven-foot-tall carrot, Sly Stallone sparring with a talking punching bag. You can look at it as a record of great live performances by the likes of Pearl Bailey and Danny Kaye, or a tribute to forgotten stars like Leo Sayer and Elke Sommer. You can see it as an an absurd backstage soap opera, following Kermit's struggles to keep his show afloat while Fozzie enters group therapy and Piggy threatens her romantic rivals.

But I'd recommend watching it as a child would: Laugh when the Swedish Chef is outsmarted by his own dough. Smile at the unexpected beauty of the African masks singing backup to Harry Belafonte. Let yourself believe the puppets are alive. Season Three is the best Muppet Show collection yet, with fantastic bonus features perfect for family viewing (including a 1968 special called "Muppets on Puppets," which explains the art and process of puppeteering).

And we have three to give away!

Email babblecontest@gmail.com with your full name, mailing address, and the name of your favorite Muppet, and we'll pick three winners at random.

And if you don't win, you can still pick up the set for $32.99 at Amazon. Good luck! -- Gwynne Watkins

UPDATE: The contest is closed and we have 3 winners -- congratulations to Tracey from Ontario (favorite Muppet: Fozzie), Maribeth from Quentin PA (favorite Muppet: Rizzo) and Jeanette from Santa Monica (favorite Muppet: Rowlf)!

Babble Film Review - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

editors — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:09:00 GMT

There's something a little off about these Narnia movies. Anyone who loved the books as a kid remembers how real Narnia seemed: It encompassed both the magical wonder of childhood and the frightening unknowns of the adult world. So why does the cinematic Narnia feel so flat and lifeless? Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, filmed in Slovenia, where I suddenly have the urge to relocate. But between the uninspired child actors and the unrealistic-looking CG characters, the Narnia of Prince Caspian has little more weight than a cartoon. Our child heroes alternate giggling and furrowing their brows, without any sense that they're coming of age, or even that their actions have consequences. The formidable figure of Aslan the Lion has been reduced to an affable animal pal, like Mickey Mouse with a propensity for self-sacrifice.

In this second installment of The Chronicles of Narnia, the four Pevensie children are summoned back to their beloved magical land, only to find that hundreds of years have passed and their kingdom is in ruins. With the help of a reluctant dwarf, they learn that an evil (and inexplicably Hispanic) rival nation has conquered Narnia, forcing dwarves, talking animals, and all other mythical creatures into exile. It's up to the children, and a displaced prince, to reclaim the kingdom.

Aside from filming in Slovenia, the film's creators have made two very smart decisions: the casting of Peter Dinklage as sarcastic dwarf Trumpkin and Eddie Izzard as the voice of swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep. But those same creators added an extraneous love story (which turns a competent female character into a damsel-in-distress) and several excrutiatingly drawn-out battle sequences. The result is a film that wants to be all things to all viewers, at the expense of its rich source material. -- Gwynne Watkins

Hip Hop Friday with video: Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

editors — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:03:00 GMT

Easy by Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

Our fave in the bunch, this dad with the super cool name decided there had to be a compromise between the adult hip hop world and the sugary sweet kid music choices. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo’s new record Easy hits the mark with lyrics that don’t shout "this is kid stuff!" even while referencing robots. No choreographed tunes for your rowdy rhymer, this MC is about freestylin’. He’s also about keeping things positive and we think he got it just right with Gotta Be Me! Check out this vid.

Hip Hop Friday with mp3s: The Dino 5

editors — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:47:00 GMT

Let’s hear it for a well-rounded music education for our kiddos! Baby Mozart was followed by Stones v. Beatles, then you moved on to indie and alt-country and now it’s time for the hip hop. Luckily some kid musicians are also tuned into the new break dancing movement for the under-10 set and are bringing the noise to get your kids rhymin’ and freezin’. We’ll be releasing mp3s to your house all day. - April Peveteaux

Baby Loves Hip Hop presents The Dino 5

The Dino 5 are a power quintuplet steered by super producer and performer Prince Paul with members of Jurassic 5, the Roots, Digable Planets and eMC. These luminaries are committed to making music fun for the littlest fans of the hip hop by telling a prehistoric tale of five dinosaur friends. Check out the most head-bobbable tune, the Dino 5 Theme here :

BabyLovesHiphopIntro.mp3