I have seen two movies this year: one movie in the theatre, one movie on DVD, which gives you the grand, impressive total of two movies.

This from a person who used to dedicate entire weekends to movie watching, a person who would’ve seen every Best Picture nominee at least once. Probably twice.

But now? Eh, not so much.

Anyway, one of the movies was Syriana, which David and I saw in the theatre and both liked very much.

The other movie was Crash, which Janie and I watched late one night when I was in Memphis.

We didn’t get it. We were puzzled. Perplexed. Confused. DID. NOT. GET. IT. We thought it was weird.

Crash just won the Oscar for Best Picture.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt more stupid.

Alex’s favorite channel, Noggin, has started running announcements before each show. In said announcements, a friendly female narrator explains the learning objectives for each program.

For example, if you sat down with your child plopped your child down in front of “Connie the Cow,” you would hear Pleasant Voice say, “‘Connie the Cow’ enhances preschoolers’ understanding of science, including observational and classification skills, and recognizing diversity in nature.”

Before “Jack’s Big Music Show,” there’s this big speech about “metacognition skills,” and after the first time we heard it David said, “What’s metacognition?” And I said, “I dunno. Something about thinking or something.” Because we’re bright like that.

My point is this. We don’t hold children’s programming accountable for Alex’s learning. We’re careful about what he watches because we know he’ll absorb what he hears, but we’re certainly not planning to quiz him on the theme of a given day’s “Miss Spider Patch.” We happen to like Noggin because the shows don’t make us want to stick a fire poker in one ear and out the other, and the fact there are no commercials is an added benefit. And of course we restrict his TV to about three channels (Noggin, Sprout, Playhouse Disney) because we don’t want our almost-three year old saying things like, “Mama, I wanna hear ‘My Humps,'” or “Mama, wanna see ‘Cribs’.”

But to think that we let Alex watch TV so that he can master learning objectives?

Hogwash. That’s giving us far too much credit.

I think mothers (and daddies) across America would actually be just as responsive to Noggin’s programming tactics if we heard Pleasant Voice say the following:

“This episode of ‘Blue’s Clues’ provides you, the parent, with twenty two precious minutes in which you may make a phone call, write a blog entry, take a shower, blow dry your hair, talk to your spouse, catch up on email, load your dishwasher, or zone out on the couch. Your child may not take away anything of legitimate educational value, but we think you’ll be okay with that given the twenty two precious minutes you’re about to enjoy.”

Many thanks, Noggin. Many thanks indeed.

A few minutes ago, Alex and I were looking through some of his baby pictures on iPhoto. He has that toddler narcissism thing happening, so he can look at himself for hours.

Eventually we came across this picture:

He looked at it, looked at me, looked back at the picture and said, “Mama! Alex has a chartreuse shirt! CHARTREUSE, Mama!”

Really, I would’ve been perfectly content with “green.”

Hey, MSU Grads –

Pretty apathetic about the MSU Presidential Search? Read these:

Sid Salter’s Take, Part 1 and Part 2
Marty Wiseman’s Take, Part 1 and Part 2
The Reflector
The Meridian Star

I was tickled to see that Clyde Williams is still keeping things stirred up in Starkvegas. He did a bang-up job of that even when I was there…he was the English department’s resident loose cannon.

I’m not exactly sure how the Search Committee can legally “shut ‘er down” like they’ve been doing…but it might not be a bad time to make your opinion known here.

Just FYI, here’s some info on the alleged front runner, if Tom Meredith and all his secretive meetings don’t stop him in his tracks.

It is always cause for celebration when we hold back the Tide.

State – 71
Bama – 58

I need many, many details from those in attendance. Daph, EK – time for you to step up to the commenting plate, and I’m really really sorry that I’ve mixed sporting metaphors.

Seriously, there’s no one I’d rather beat in basketball, not even the Rebels, who I actually feel a wee bit sorry for right now because I think Rod Barnes is a really nice man.

Regardless, I think our young b’ball team is finally coming together, finding their rhythm, getting to know each other, and the future is looking bright for BAS-ketball, Mississippi State style. Maybe we’ll surprise some folks in the tournament.

Way to go, Dogs.

The funniest thing about these pictures – besides a distinctive blurry quality resulting from taking pictures only minutes after waking up – is that Alex and Joe have, unbeknownst to either, nearly identical expressions on their faces.